Who needs news when you can read diaries? This morning, I have broadened my
vocabulary, thanks to Genibee -- "Non
vale il pena", or "It's not worth the penis" is definitely an expression I can see
myself using, to vary my usual battle cry ("Men!").
And from D, I
learned that George Harrison has died. Though I was barely old enough to listen to
"Let It Be" on the radio when it first came out, the Beatles have been part of the
sound track of my life too. I remember first finding out about Lennon's death (I
like when they call it an "assassination", because that says so much about his
importance to so many people) when a couple of girls showed up to junior high
choir practice the next morning in black armbands. I remember singing "Help!" in
the back of the school bus on field trips. (I'm sure the teachers minded it less
than the ribald songs some of the boys used to sing, though I still remember the
lyrics to all of those, too.) I remember listening to Sergeant Pepper and the
White Album all the way through for the first time, in college, and finally
understanding what can make an album more than a random collection of songs. I
remember how impressed I was in a Drama class when my friend Kevin correctly
answered the professor's question, "Does anyone know what is the connection
between Shakespeare's King Lear and the Beatles?"[1] And I can pull any number of
CDs off my shelf that draw from their legacy, from the Bobs' a capella cover of
"Helter Skelter" to the guitar work toward the end of the Kennedys' CD "Life is
Large", that comes straight out of the Indian-inspired music George Harrison
brought to Western ears. And now two of them are dead.
Maybe I'll go
find the tablature to "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", get my guitar out of the
corner, and see if I can pick it out.
[1]Sorry, I wrote this *hours* ago and just realized I forgot to put the answer to
that one. In one of the Beatles songs ("I am the Walrus", maybe? It's been a long
time) there's an odd bit at the end where you can hear a bit of the BBC's
production of Lear.
Concept II Holiday Challenge: 130638 meters
left to go.