On the last cold day of February (before 10 days of bitter cold in March) our friend Jim Bahoosh showed a film at the theater called 1 Giant Leap. See it if you haven't (with surround sound on loud). Full of color and sound and mostly free from the tyranny of narrative, it was like an elixir for our winter brains and a full helping of soul food. We watched it again here at home, but it's better on the big screen with the theater sound. The fusion of east and west, of indiginous instruments and electronica; the huge sound, deep and wide, and the relentless rhythm; it all worked and it opened up new avenues of music for me.
This week I booked two shows for the theater, The Mammals, "subversive acoustic traditionalists," and April Verch, an Ottawa Valley fiddler. Both bands were going to be in Maine for festivals, and I booked them for the night before their respective festivals. We can never afford to be the anchor for anyone's tour.
Speaking of festivals, we'll be in Louisiana for both weekends of Jazzfest, and looking at the FestInt lineup I'm thinking we'll have to zip over to Lafayette for one day of the first weekend.
Here's a Maine thing worth documenting: the same model car collection. Mike, the systems guy at work, has two of these 1985 diesel VW Golfs. One might be working at any given time. The family of Becky, a research person at work, has 5 cars exactly like this one which are either a Ford Country Squire or a Mercury Grand Marquis vintages 1978 - 1989. Her husband likes them for delivering the mail.
I can't see ever buying a new car again unless someone comes out with a small hybrid SUV with all wheel drive. I plan to drive my 2000 Forester until that happens. But buying a used car seems important around here. If you don't, a questioning of your judgement is always there: Couldn't you find a good used one?
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