Jordanian Sunrise

Time-lapse sunrise, with time-code.

"holes of cultural experimentation"

As mentioned in yesterday's post, "One" was written by Harry Nilsson. Though an accomplished songwriter, Nilsson was also a great interpreter. One of his biggest hits was his rendition of Fred Neil's "Everybody's Talkin'", which was the signature song for a film I have posted on in the past, Midnight Cowboy (1969).

Before it was a film, Midnight Cowboy was a novel written by one James Leo Herlihy (1927-1993), a lesser known figure (at least these days) who lived a remarkable life and whose Wikipedia page is a start. 

Something I learned about Herlihy was that during the 1960s he spent six months travelling the United States visiting communes, from which he concluded that the "holes of cultural experimentation" that the communal experience provides would one day "bring forth new cities and the state will become servant to the communal structure."

This augurs with some of what I have been thinking about lately concerning the impossible city of Vancouver, which is cruel to its youth, particularly those interested not in (market) certainty but in (cultural) ambiguity. If these people were to leave Vancouver for its forested edges, might they be the ones to lay the foundation for the cities Herlihy is referring to? I hope so. Because as things stand, something's got to give.

One (1968)

"One" was written after its author, Harry Nilsson, made a phone call to a friend and found the line to be busy (hence the repetition of the opening note). Like the song in yesterday's post, "One" has been recorded by numerous artists, but the version most of us are familiar with is by Three Dog Night.

One Tin Soldier (1969)

This song was written two years after Steve Marriott and Denny Lane wrote the song from yesterday's post. Although "One Tin Soldier" has been recorded many times, it was Coven's version that appeared in the film Billy Jack (1971), whose titular character, played by the remarkable Tom Laughlin (who also co-wrote and directed the film), passed away sixteen days ago at the age of 82.

Tin Soldier (1967)

At the 102:18 mark of the film I posted yesterday a younger member of the town says to the matriarch, "Old One, I am coming into your mind," and in that moment I was reminded of what Small Faces singer/songwriter Steve Marriott once said of the song "Tin Soldier" (1967):

"The meaning of the song is about getting into somebody's mind - not their body. It refers to a girl I used to talk to all the time and she really gave me a buzz. The single was to give her a buzz in return and maybe other people as well. I dig it. There's no great message really and no physical scenes"

The People (1972)

I love the week between Christmas and New Year's Day. Regular patterns disintegrate, time slows.

As a child, my parents and their friends hosted open houses at Christmas. While the parents partied, the children gathered in the den to watch the films the networks showed at that time of year -- The Wizard of Oz, Lawrence of Arabia, A Christmas Carol (the one starring Alastair Sim as "Scrooge").

Nowadays we are free to construct our own schedules, and for my part I search the internet for the made-for-TV films I watched (or begged to watch) on school nights, in particular those presented by the American Broadcasting Company through their ABC Movie-of-the-Week series.

The film above is one that has stayed with me all these years -- The People.

Cedar, Alder, Arbutus, Fir