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Finally got through "Dearly Beloveds," the depressing last chapter of Molly Ivins: A Rebel Life, a good 2009 biography by Bill Minutaglio and W. Michael Smith.
Molly Ivins? Think Maureen Dowd, Texas-style, or H.L. Mencken and Jon Stewart combined -- or maybe Dorothy Parker riffing with George Carlin.
Ivins pushed herself nearly to the end, writing, speaking and engaging with multitudes of friends and acquaintances and political enemies. She was sharp, and complicated, and lucky not to have burned out as quickly as Jim Morrison or Janis Joplin. She made it to 62, to the year 2007.
I learned a lot from this book. Ivins would be a terrific subject for a documentary along the lines of yesterday's post.
Before finishing Molly Ivins: A Rebel Life, I picked up a copy of her first book, Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She? (1991). Very good collection of essays. A little snippet from her "How to Survive Reagan" gives a glimpse of her approach to life:
Beloveds, fear not, neither let yourselves despair. Rejoice, I bring you good news. As a life-long Texas liberal, I have spent the whole of my existence in a political climate well to the right of that being created by Ronald Reagan and his merry zealots. Brethren and sistren, this can not only be endured, it can be laughed at. Actually, you have two other choices. You could cry or you could throw up. But crying and throwing up are bad for you, so you might as well laugh. (-- pages 83-84).
Ivins also railed against the W. Bush presidency, and the Iraq War; and she did a lot of work for the ACLU over the years, as well. Yes, a documentary on Molly Ivins is definitely called for. Kathleen Turner played her in Philadelphia earlier this year in Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins, a play by Margaret Engel and Allison Engel, directed by David Esbjornson (via the Philadelphia Theatre Company). That's a start, certainly.
Today's Rune: Warrior.
These three documenaries bundle well together: Tom DiCillo's When You're Strange (2009), Alex Gibney's Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson (2008) and Michael W. Dean and Kenneth Shiffrin's HUBERT SELBY JR: It/ll Be Better Tomorrow (2005).
They are all three about American iconoclasts, and all three touch on similar themes -- the nature of American society, art and persona; the impact of periodically altered states of conciousness. Also, in the latter two Thompson and Selby share an almost frenzied loathing of the "W" Bush presidency.
When You're Strange rounds out Jim Morrison and the Doors very nicely, and there is a lot of footage I'd never seen before. Both it and the Thompson film are narrated by Johnny Depp. The latter provides a good introduction to its subject, the writer, the man, the celebrity. I found this documentary to be more depressing than the other two, especially Thompson's suicide after the reelection of Geroge W. Bush as president of the USA.
HUBERT SELBY JR: It/ll Be Better Tomorrow, despite Selby's physical and spiritual hardships, is weirdly the most upbeat of the three documentaries. This one is narrated in a low-key way by Robert Downey, Jr. I learned more from it than from the other two, but found much to value in all three films.
Today's Rune: Strength.
February 1970: Shocking Blue's "Venus," Sly and the Family Stone's "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)," the Jackson Five's "I Want You Back," Tom Jones' "Without Love (There Is Nothing)" and the B. J. Thomas cover of "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" (after Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 1969) . . . all hits. Forty years later: Michael Jackson, Mariska Veres and Paul Newman are dead, Sly Stone and Tom Jones are recording again, Robert Redford abides.
The Record Bar is gone, as are most of the chains (though a few remnants may remain here and there): Harmony House Records and Tapes; Sam Goody; Schoolkids Records; HMV; Music Zone; Tower Records; Planet Music, Camelot Music. Of these, I liked Schoolkids Records.
But never fear, independent records stores persist, and are celebrated annually on Record Store Day every April. For more on that happy thought, please see: http://www.recordstoreday.com/Home
Good short story collection: Jill McCorkle's Final Vinyl Days and Other Stories (Algonquin Books, 1998). I was working at Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill when her first two books came out in 1984: The Cheerleader and July 7th.
Today's Rune: Warrior.
Way cool stuff in the manner of Edward Bellamy, H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, L. Frank Baum, et alia: Ebenezer Howard's Garden Cities of To-Morrow (1902; originally published in 1898). Howard's vision was not pure fantasy or science fiction, however: he advocated for the actual creation of garden cities.
In the above diagram, Howard's vision calls for a cluster of seven small-to-medium sized cities -- six 32,000 cities arranged around a "central city" hub of 58,000. This garden cities circle zone, ten miles across, embraces 250,000 people (about the size of present-day Greensboro, North Carolina, USA) in 66,000 acres.
The whole garden city wheel is laced together with "Inter Municipal" railroads, canals and roads, and includes underground areas. There are green spaces, reservoirs with waterfalls, and special facilities for a variety of institutions. Charming and almost quaint placements: Home for Inebriates, Homes for Waifs, Epileptic Farms, Convalescent and Industrial Homes; Stone Quarries, New Forests, Brickfields, Allotments, Cemetery. Such is Howard's concept for this initial "Group of Smokeless Slumless Cities." Definitely some usable ideas for the 21st century.
Today's Rune: The Mystery Rune.
I wonder if anyone in the USA has tested or compared any of the observations made by the new economics foundation (nef) in their Clone Town Britain Survey (2005)? The basic idea: "to determine whether your town is a Clone Town indistinguishable from dozens of others around the country; or a genuine Home Town that is distinctive and recognisable as a unique place."
Tweak it so: take any intersection in any American town or city and put it to the same test -- what makes this section or neighborhood or intersection different from thousands of others around the country?
For the original survey in Britain, one was asked to "walk along the high street" and note "the type of shop" and "whether the shop is independently owned, or a part of a regional, national or international chain." A point system aided in determining how much a place was a Clone Town, a Border Town, or a Home Town.
In the USA, what are the most common chains one will see? Depends on where one lives, works, or stays, I suppose. But here are some things to look for (off the top of my head):
How close is the nearest Starbucks? The nearest locally owned coffee shop or café?
How close is the nearest McDonalds (or fill-in-the-blank)? The nearest locally owned eatery? And so on down the line. . .
Figure out the approximate ratio and you could probably figure things out pretty quickly from there.
Today's Rune: Wholeness.
Where's Johnny Appleseed when you need him? I hate large parking lots, heat sinks with not enough trees and too many blank empty spaces. As a species, we are dumb as dodos, aren't we? The sheer ugliness ought to be enough to drive people to suicide -- or me back into my air-conditioned bunker. But never fear -- some people do cherish unique parts of villages, towns and cities a la The Kinks' Village Green Preservation Society. That's my thing, certainly.
For those who prefer ersatz chimeras with their shopping pleasures, why not try the nearby "power center" or "lifestyle center"? Yes, mall developers have thought of everything -- even special shrubberies for the affluent browser. Pretend you're near an old town square -- though actually within easy earshot, eyesight and gasolined aroma of the gridlocked interstate and clogged side roads. The honking fumes are darling.
No trees to shade the hot sun? We must prefer desolation to messy nature stuff. At. Least. While. Anticipating. Shopping.
Today's Rune: Partnership. Happy Summer Solstice! (Photo by ItzaFineDay 2006).
When I was a little kid living in Pennsylvania, adults would drop a name that sounded to me like "Rand Erik." It was only later when I realized they were saying "Rea and Derick." This was a pharmacy, a drugstore with extras. What happened to it? Turns out the little chain was snapped up by Peoples Drug, which in turn was swallowed up by CVS: "Care Value Service."
It wasn't that long ago all sorts of little pharmacies and drugstore chains dotted the land. Much rarer these days. Lest we forget forever, do you remember any in particular from pre-merger years?
Today's Rune: Opening. (Photo: Library of Congress.)
