France, etc.!!!

One of the best things that ever happened to Em & I was that my dad took us to Europe in 1991. We went with him & my wonderful (if occasionally grouchy) sister Amy, and spent time in France & Italy. I will always be thankful that he was so generous as to take Em along as well, and also that we only went to three places. Thank heaven that it wasn’t one of those trips where you try to take in every country in two weeks!! We just spent a good chunk of time in Florence (never a bad idea), a short time in Venice (just enough to believe it), and a large amount of time in Paris. It was amazing!!

The Italian part of the trip was fantastic! Seeing the David, eating the best food ever, plus having a Room with a View at the age of 23 : ) But the part that really made an impression on me was being in Paris. It was all of the usual stuff – Luxembourg Gardens, Eiffel Tower, cheese, etc. – but it hit me at just the right time, and I’ll never forget the first trip up the escalator out of the Metro into St. Germain: the sky, and then the towers, and the street and the complete absence of 7-11’s! Anyway, the whole trip was pretty great and Em and I went back to France five years later for our honeymoon. I think that we partly wanted to see if we had just imagined how great it was, and we weren’t disappointed - we had a whole different adventure, and it was still incredible!! One of the best things about Europe is that it’s been there for a while, and chances are that if we are lucky enough to bring the guys there someday, I would guess that it’ll probably be about the same.

I was thinking about France lately because of the Hemingway thing, and as the laws of synchronicity would have it some more French things popped up. First of all, I read Paris to the Moon again. Not really a coincidence since I can read it any time, but it seemed propitious. It’s by a guy named Adam Gopnik about the time that his family moved from New York to Paris for a few years while their son was young, and during which they had a new baby. Gopnik writes a lot for the New Yorker magazine, and does kind of seem like an extended New Yorker article, but it’s really enjoyable! He gets a good combination of the amazingness of living in the world’s most beautiful city, and the day to day realities of trying to get copies made, or trying to join a gym. Here’s a taste of it:

(Antoine Jacobsohn) went up to the grower and said, in French, “Why is that no one any longer grows green asparagus? When was it that people went over to white asparagus?” The man gave him an incredulous look, and then said, in the beautiful clear French of the Ile-de-France, “You know, I would say that what you've just stated is the exact contrary of the truth.” It was a perfect Parisian tone of voice - not disputatious, just suggesting a love of the shared pursuit of the truth, which unfortunately, happens not to be in your possession right now.
Antoine made the right response. He raised his eyebrows in polite wonder while smiling only on the left side his face, an expression that means, How greatly I respect the vigor of your opinions, however much they may call to mind the ravings of a lunatic. “What do you mean?” he demanded.

It’s a great book, very much in the “comic-sentimental” New Yorker style.

Another thing that happened was that I found a blog that has to be about the most beautiful web site ever created! One thing that Em & I noticed about France is how incredibly rich everything is! Of course this is part of the greatness of it, but it can get a little overwhelming at times. We had some hot chocolate once that was amazing, but was really like drinking a triple chocolate cake!! This blog is totally like that – I have no idea what it’s about (it’s all in French, and mine’s pretty rusty), but it just seems like they just decided to make it about every beautiful thing ever:

http://florizel.canalblog.com/

I also found this; this guy lives in Provence, and if you need a gypsy caravan, he’s your man:

http://www.les-verdines.com/accueil_us.htm

Or you can stay in one as a bed and breakfast!

http://www.lesroulottes.com/

France is so great, but I don’t think that I’d want to live there forever. Miles Davis tried it, and he realized that America, with all it’s problems, was where the soul was. I just heard a great term: “headneck”. This is a word for that unique combination of hippie, country, stoner, and various other weirdo cultures that is about as American as it gets.

As an illustration, Arthur Magazine just put up a great show that is the Dead with Leon Russel and Doug Sahm at the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, Texas, 1972. It’s all Merle Haggard, Hank Williams, and Bill Monroe, but with Phil Lesh on bass and Benny Thurman from the 13th Floor Elevators on fiddle!! God bless America!!

You can download it here:

http://www.adioslounge.com/2008/11/happy-thanksgiving-from-doug-sahm-and.html

One of the great headnecks, John “Marmaduke” Dawson passed away last week. He was a member of the New Riders of the Purple Sage that opened for the Dead so many times. I’ve never been the biggest NRPS fan, but Dawson’s got a reserved seat at the table because he also came up with the musical idea for "Friend of the Devil", which is maybe the greatest song ever!! Of course, it wouldn’t be the same without the lyrics by Robert Hunter, who was obsessed with Mallarme, Rimbaud, and those other crazy French guys. So I guess that it takes all kinds.

R.I.P. Marmaduke.