Today's topic: ten cars I have had. I've only had 8, and I've owned cars for 48 years. Unusual, yes? Here we go -------------->
1. 1963 Saab - it had a 3-cycle, 2-stroke engine that required a can of oil poured into the gas tank for each tank of gas. Gas station attendants said "you're crazy, lady!" and refused to pour oil into the tank, so I had to do it myself. I failed my first road test in this car because it had a bizarre feature called "freewheeling" that the inspector didn't understand: you didn't have to use the clutch to downshift. "You're crazy, lady!" said the inspector, thinking the transmission was going to fly out of the car.
2. 1963 grey VW Beetle, which I called "the elephant" because it was grey and had a trunk up front. The wheel wells rusted out, so after a rain, I had a sloshing puddle in the back. Also had a huge ant colony under the battery. By the time I had to let it go, there was little left but parts of doors and a steering wheel. 3. 1966 (I think) VW Fastback. Oy vey. One of the first cars to have a **com-pu-ter** in the engine. It should not have had a **com-pu-ter** in the engine because it never, ever worked right. This car was puzzling to some repair guys because it had two trunks: you had to disassemble the back trunk to find the engine. By the end of my ownership, the car got about 150 miles per gallon because the blasted thing was towed everywhere. 4. 1980 Toyota Tercel. Engine cracked at 72,000 miles. 5. 1980-something Pontiac Sunbird, which I purchased by going to a used-car dealer and saying, "what can I have for $179 a month?" I drove it the length of 2 parking spaces, and said "ok." I loved this car madly, and I was very, very sad when I skidded into a tree and destroyed it. 6. 1980-something Nissan Sentra, baby-blue, used, a disaster. Total, total disaster. 7. 1993 Subaru Loyale, 4-door sedan. I will never love another car this much. It fit me perfectly, behaved admirably, and I'd still be driving it if I could have gotten the a/c fixed. 8. 2005 Toyota Corolla, 4-door, cactus green. It's a good, sturdy car, it gives me almost no trouble, and it basically does what a car should do: it gets me where I need to go. Really, that's all I ask.
Today's question: what is your favorite summer beverage? I could just list "tea" ten times. Really, I could. I force myself to drink plain water-with-lemon (or without) a few times a day, winter or summer, because I know it's a useful habit. Hydration, you know. But - my main fluid intake consists of tea. Perhaps I can say it in a more nuanced manner. PG Tips tea, hot. Yorkshire Gold tea, hot. Joy tea from Tazo, hot. This blend is only available in December, so I buy a lot and hoard it.As of today, I have three bags left from a tin that was a gift. Shaken iced tea lemonade from Starbucks or Barnes&Noble - green, please, unsweetened. Decaffeinated hot tea from The Republic of Tea: apricot black mango Ceylon, black ginger peace, black Green tea with pear from the Republic of Tea. Black decaf tea from Adagio, with apricot or strawberry. plain water
(No, this isn't my teapot, but I do have and adore the Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman Evening With cd.) Why so much decaf? Can you see me shaking my fist at my cardiologist?
It's been awhile since I actually, you know, Blogged, hasn't it? Here's an easy one - musicians I have seen, from "Ten on Tuesday." Donovan - several times, beginning at Madison Square Garden, where thousands of people sang "Atlantis" in a gentle, rolling whisper; last time at a LI venue, where he told stories about India and Gypsy Dave. Loudon Wainwright III - !!! Smart, deep, funny, introspective. Tells stories, acts, sings, involves. He's now doing a set of songs about his father, a writer. Two years ago, his surprise guest was Suzzy Roche. The Roches - smart, deep, funny, magical harmonies. Did I mention "funny"? We were sad when Terre skipped the last concert, but charmed when Maggie whipped out a kazoo for "Yaketty Yak." Rufus Wainwright - we have seen him several times. The most magical was at a small LI venue, when it was just him, his piano, and That Voice. Imagine being in the first row, 6 feet away, as he plays and sings "Hallelujah." It just does not get any better. Ray Davies - smart, deep, funny. (do you sense a trend?) Tells stories, sings from his deep, deep catalogue, and makes you wonder why his songs aren't embedded in Great Songbooks. "See My Friends" - here. Enjoy.
Christopher Parkening - the essence of classical guitar, with the pure and impeccable technique to make Bach appear in the overtones. Melanie - of course. And yes, "lost in the overtones," as she sings in "Hold Tight." "Leap off the edge to see if you fall or fly." Vladimir Ashkenazy - a gentleman, shorter than I expected, and more nuanced than his early recordings would have suggested. Ravi Shankar - many times, from large to small venues, with Oregon, Yehudi Menuhin (incarnated spirit), and (nearly) alone. He once told us he was going to do a traditional raga that would be at least 2 hours long. Those in the audience who were not true aficionados groaned. The rest of us experienced true immersion that may have taken hours, but felt like no time at all - true timelessness. Aimee Mann - back to smart, deep, funny. A wonderful voice, exceptional lyrics, and the creator of one of my theme songs, "Humpty Dumpty."
I could go on and on - Randy Newman, Isaac Stern, John Hartford, Lisa Loeb, countless orchestras and soloists, Dan Bern, Glenn Tillbrook, They Might Be Giants, Richard Thompson, Roger McGuinn. A life without live music is just unthinkable.
For the purposes of this list, I'm going to define "childhood" as "under 18," 'kay? And yes, I was a weird, intense child. The Patty Duke Show. I have always been fascinated by twins, whether actual, spiritual, conjoined, or opposite. ("Conjoined?" you ask. Definitely. One of my greatest terrors is losing my privacy; the ultimate loss of privacy would be eternal, physical connection to another person.) Patty and Cathy did not represent two sides of me. If anything, Patty represented an alien creature who might as well have been from "The Twilight Zone" (see below) or "The Outer Limits." Cathy was closer - perhaps, at that time, the closest teenage character to whom I could have had a conversation. The Twilight Zone. Some episodes never have left me, like "Willoughby," and "Little Girl Lost." The first was like a projection of my own dreams: finding a place where I would fit in. The second made me certain that one day I'd find myself in an echoing, hallucinatory nowhere land. My family was so political that I was aware, even then, of the anti-McCarthyite and other underlying themes. Have there been many shows this entertaining and intelligent since?
Dark Shadows. Multiple timelines. Glorious gothic creepiness. A major crush on Christopher Pennock, who played Jebez Hawkes. Star Trek. Leonard Nimoy. Need I say more? Sometimes introduced important themes, sometimes entertained greatly, and always pushed limits. Rainbow Quest. Pete Seeger. Eric Andersen. Richard and Mimi Farina. Donovan. Banjo.
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Steve Martin. Leigh French. Donovan. John Hartford. Pete Seeger (who did, finally, get to sing "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy"). The Dick Van Dyke Show. Smart and funny. Shindig and Hullabaloo. Indistinguishable in my memories - I loved them both. and, finally -
Ben Casey. Broody, intense. Man, woman, birth, death, infinity, and Vince Edwards.
