*Photo taken at dusk from our deck (7/31/05).
I started writing this post yesterday when the thunderstorms hit. The sky outside was bright with lighting followed by deafening (cliches aside - it really was loud) chorus of thunder. I looked outside and was brought back to how I would approach storms like this back home, circa 1986 (or so). Have not even gotten a chance to fully turn my head back to my laptop when, simultaneously with a bright lighting flash, I heard a *pop* and my screen was blank.
Wave of panic. I tried to switch it back on - it did for a second, but it won't fully reboot. Attempted for several times, no pulse... Eventually resigned to the fact that I will have to tap Dell for that warranty. Amazing how one gets to be dependent on computers and not full realize it. So I sat by the window and watched the storm, quieted by the duet of light and sound as I did as a child - only I was not tugging my mother's arm and asking her a ton of questions this time around.
Next morning, I tried to turn on my laptop again and might have said a prayer as I did - Houston (Cambridge), we're back in business.
Sunday early evening, just right after Stacey and I have talked to our selected 3rd roommate, I went to the deck and tried to just relax. That roommate project is somewhat over - one check on my to-do list (i.e. 300-page manuscript). Looked over towards Fresh Pond and caught the sunset which looked like a pink ball of fire. Surely, it was still the sun - but dusk is at the cusp of day and night anyway. I suddenly recall a discussion about the song Pink Moon, by Nick Drake. Imagine a scene where 2-3 people are trying to deconstruct a 2-minute song with lyrics that do not go past a full stanza (we might have had this discourse over some wine, not certain) - quite comical, albeit I remembered it to be insightful.
Blame it on the power of advertising to lure industry enthusiasts and involuntary audiences alike. The first time I saw the Volkswagen Cabrio commercial - I was determined to know what that song was and grab the album next chance I get. This was pre-Googlism fever, so I looked into the Arnold Worldwide Website (previous account holders) for clues, looked for the lyrics - and even tried to dig up my contacts who worked at Arnold.
Some would consider it sacrilegious that a "corporate-fed, pop culture, meme generator" indirectly led me to admire Nick Drake's work. Bottom line is that I got wind of his talent and his life story that equally amaze me to this day - and I am never the same. Soon after the VW ad, his name and his music gained even more ground as it found places in movie soundtracks for The Royal Tenenbaums, Serendipity and Garden State, to name a few. Like most legends, he gained ground posthumously - although not by a conscious choice (and this is what I'd like to believe). His overdose was an accident that leaves this success unrealized by its creator. This tragedy happened in 1974 - Nick Drake was 26 years old...
Last time I checked, so am I. Seeing that I don't have a reason for international acclaim waiting for me yet, whether by music or any significant contribution, I hope fate would give me a good number of years more to work on it first.
"And I was green, greener than the hill. Where flowers grew and the sun shone still. Now I'm darker than the deepest sea. Just hand me down, give me a place to be."
Suggested Albums for a Stormy Night:
Recurring Dream: The Very Best Of Crowded House
Pink Moon or Bryter Layter, Nick Drake
The Bends, Radiohead
Lost in Space or Magnolia Soundtrack, by Aimee Mann
Beautiful Girls Soundtrack
Strangeways, Here We Come, by The Smiths
Central Reservation, by Beth Orton
Automatic for the People, by R.E.M
20th Century Masters: The Best Of Louis Armstrong
The Invisible Band, by Travis
Insomnia and Other Lullabyes, by Cynthia Alexander (a hint of Manila in the mix, thanks Gracie.)
*Any other suggestions? Send them my way - surely there would be more storms to come around.
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