Mike Humfreville
Super Nomad
Posts: 1148
Registered: 8-26-2003
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Thought and Music
This morning started way too early after I?d watched several reruns and because I?d re-rummed-and-Coked several times past 1 A.M the night before.
Our neighbors tractor ignited at 6 and attacked our lemon and avocado grove (he owns it). We thought we?d be consumed by a metallic monster. This
evening, though, started as a bore. Mary Ann and I had rented a movie. We?d already seen the most recent rentals.
Then the kids said they wanted a spa party. Great!
Our tiny rented home isn?t large enough to comfortably entertain 20 people across two generations so MA and I retire to the open bedroom to read.
Also, I?m listening to music through a headset, trying to slow down and accept my fading-from-the-American-work-structure and find a new place of
value. I?m not too worried but aware on advice from friends.
I?ve lately found myself collecting books and movies, as we plan to exit this stage to the south at least part time and I want to be fulfilled on
occasion with the things I have grown up used to.
Somewhere I realize I?ve forgotten music. Music has always been the most bonding factor in Baja for me. Actually I never forgot it, I took it for
granted. My mistake.
Several weeks ago I must have had a late night dream that took me back to my younger years reflecting on an age of music I would not regularly have
thought of (I was elsewhere during the evolution from rock-n-roll to ROCK. The Cuban Crisis and early Viet Nam somehow got in my face) to several
songs I couldn?t live without. They were out of our ?60?s and somehow, to me, compelling. I don?t know how I remembered them from so far behind me.
But I managed.
The first one was by Procol Harum is ?A Whiter Shade of Pale.? It?s still played on the radio I listen too, influenced by my 25 and 26 year old
children.
The second I?m listening to as I write (Packoderm once cautioned you that it was necessary to get through my ramblings by listening to my mentioned
music and he absolutely hit the nail on the head) is ?This is the End of the Innocence.? By Don Henley.
I guess if I try and spread this issue wide enough to oblige all of us wanting to retire in Baja California, we should consider the small things we
will miss. Mine is likely to be music. There are many worldly writers and poets; how could we live through the strife with no moving moments? But
our chosen musicians are as varied as our lifestyles.
And when I reflect on the years I have lived across many places on our Earth I think I carry forward music, as an art form for me, the furthest
forward. It has the greatest influence over my core.
On a remote beach in Baja I won?t care about the global political issues I read about daily, bombs, ours or others, dropped on folks military or
civilian trying to do what they can to wrongfully or rightfully protect their turf.
I somehow feel I?ll be with my family and chosen others when a moment occurs that sweeps us out to sea and holds us beneath the swells of October.
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Osprey
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3694
Registered: 5-23-2004
Location: Baja Ca. Sur
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More on Music
I'm a little older than you, Mike, but I was Lost in The Sixties. I live in a small Mexican village that has phone service so I have the many music
channels of Direct TV. I have speakers everywhere, under my ramada which faces the sea, under our palapa out of the wind, all around the house. I
also brought down about 200 CD's which I play when it's stormy and I can't get a good TV sound. I would never have guessed I had so many music moods
but I find myself dailing in the music de jour, enjoying new sounds, loving the programer's mix. With hurricanes, when we lose everything, I just
dredge up my oldest stuff on the harmonica. The beat goes on. The beauty of music is that if you can hum or sing it is portable, easily stored in my
very small cranium, retrievable til I get to room temperature.
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surfer jim
Super Nomad
Posts: 1891
Registered: 8-29-2003
Location: high desert
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For some reason I still hold on to my "collection" of albums from the classic rock days ......well worn and played many times (but not in
years)....not worth much in terms of money but worth much in terms of memories..."someday" I will throw them away.....but not "today"......
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lewm
Junior Nomad
Posts: 50
Registered: 11-9-2003
Location: Montana
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whiter shade of pale
One of my favorite songs. Always glad to here it. A few years ago I heard a version by Annie Lennox. I had to go out & buy it. She has the voice for
it.
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BajaGrrls
Junior Nomad
Posts: 68
Registered: 7-9-2004
Location: Chicago
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I'm guessing I might be a bit younger than some of you, but this post really made me think about what music means to me. The song I played over and
over when my dad died. The way I felt when I bought my first audio cassette (Van Halen's 1984). The song that was playing when Chad Fox asked me to
skate when we were in the 6th grade. So many memories come rushing back to me. I hope to someday be sitting on my own patio in Baja watching the sun
set and listening to whatever puts me in the right frame of mind.
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Mike Humfreville
Super Nomad
Posts: 1148
Registered: 8-26-2003
Member Is Offline
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Music as the Fourth Dimension
It isn't literally of course because typically we don't see it, we hear it.
A movie with no musical score? Not. A rink with no organ? Not. A lift with no "elevator" music?
When I was in the sixth grade I was living in Cuernavaca. We used to pal around at the (rollerskating) rink just down from what was then the central
plaza. We'd hold hands and skate in pairs. My special pal was Sandy McPherson. Her family was from Scotland and she talked with a rich brogue.
Then we'd all gather and play crack-the-whip. What a trip. All the while skating music was blaring in the background.
lewm: guess I'll have to go buy Annie's record.
Osprey: I'm reading up on satellite radio as I plan to retire part time to Bahia de Los Angeles. Gotta have that music. Sounds like your place is
well-rigged.
Thanks for all your comments.
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