SOULFISH STEW: June 2023

Friday, June 30, 2023

June 30, 1985 (Revisiting the Past)

I'm going back through what comprised my senior year of high school and first semester of college in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Come along for the ride. New posts every day or so mixed in with other things.

June 30, 1985. It was day 2 of my annual trip to Mississippi with my Mother. We had arrived at Grandma's to find her little shack was not clean and mice were everywhere so we had packed her up and gone over to my Aunt E's house. Her oldest son RC arrived about the same time with his new girlfriend. She was the same age as me, 18, and a very pretty blonde, so I foolishly spent most of my time flirting with her. RC was in his 30's and was a black belt in karate so it's a wonder he didn't break me in two. I suppose he knew I was no real threat. He ran out and rented a VCR along with the movies Rhinestone, Revenge of the Nerds, and Purple Rain.

We watched all of these movies the next afternoon which would have been this day back in 1985. Grandma enjoyed Rhinestone, but she didn't care for Revenge of the Nerds. The infamous shower scene with Booger yelling "We've got muff!" was too much for her. She asked what channel we were watching. RC said, "It's channel 3, it's the only channel we can get right now." She then got up and said she was going home thinking her house was just next door. We eventually straightened that out and she went to bed. It made me sad to see her losing her grip on reality. It would happen to my own Mother beginning in 2014.

I wouldn't stay sad for long in 1985 as Prince was about to rock my world. I had not seen Purple Rain on its theatrical run. I had been a Prince fan since "I Wanna Be Your Lover", but the movie just didn't seem too appealing based on the trailer. Boy, was I wrong!! I loved the film. Prince was great as the moody musical genius and the music was great as I knew it was, but Morris Day and Jerome just about stole the film. I do know that some of the scenes were filmed in Los Angeles, but most of the movie was shot in Minneapolis and 2 of my favorite bands of the moment were also from there, The Replacements, and Hüsker Dü, so seeing the city was exciting. I had even made a mixtape for the trip with The Replacements "Let It Be" on one side while "Zen Arcade" by the Hüskers was on the flip. RC's brother Sammy still lived at home and he happened to have the Purple Rain soundtrack so I would borrow it so I could play it in the car on the way to and from Memphis. This is where we headed after just a couple of days in Ripley, Mississippi.

To be continued.

Thursday, June 29, 2023

June 29, 1985 (Revisiting the Past)

June 29, 1985. It was a Saturday in 1985 and my Mother's summer 2 week vacation from the Greer-Nut Smyrna factory had begun which meant we got up at 3AM to drive to Ripley, Mississippi. This annual event had been going on ever since we had moved back to middle Tennessee after living in Ripley for a year and a half back in the early 70's. I don't recall the exact year my Mother decided that getting up in the middle of the night was the way to go, but it had been the way for many years by 1985. I wasn't too thrilled about it. Plus, even though I was now driving my own car, she wouldn't let me drive her car at all. She wouldn't let me drive until she was in her late 70's. I guess that's one reason I always like to be the driver now. One thing to note is my mother was an excellent driver who liked to go fast.

We'd get to Jackson, Tennessee from Murfreesboro via I-40, jump off the interstate and stop at the same gas station convenience store to stretch our legs, fill up her Buick Electra, and use the restroom. We wouldn't buy any snacks because we had packed drinks in a cooler along with some food the night before. Jackson impressed me when I was a child as it was larger than Murfreesboro, but by this point in time I think it was smaller. Then we'd get through Jackson to find the road that would take us in a straight shot to Mississippi. It was my job on these trips to make sure my Mother was going the right way.

The turn for 18 from a recent Google map

The turn to Highway 18 is unforgettable for me as I loved the right hand turn on to it. Maybe it was because I was done with my navigation duties and I could just enjoy the view of the homes that lined this road out of Jackson. I always thought they were very nice. Highway 18 aka Bolivar Highway would take us through Medon on to Bolivar where I'd always try and figure which old house had the ghost swing as mentioned in the Thirteen Tennessee Ghosts and Jeffrey book. Highway 125 merges with 18 and it was 125 that we stayed on. This highway is very straight with big hills going up and down through tall pine tree forests.

This is a great book!

It doesn't matter, even to this day, how many times I visit Mississippi, I get super hyped as the state line gets closer. Middleton, Tennessee is the last small town we'd race through and soon we'd be seeing the Mississippi sign. There used to be a really nice one with magnolia blossoms on it, but there wasn't anything the last time I came through. You quickly go through Walnut and then Falkner. Several of my Aunts and Uncles went to Falkner School during the Forties and Fifties.

My Mother and I would arrive around 7AM at my Grandma's little 4 room house. There'd be hugs and maybe some breakfast. My Mother would go back to bed and I would wonder if any of my Cousins were around. My Grandma didn't have a television and there was no air conditioning. This had never stood in the way of us having a good time there, but this year was different. The house was not clean this time around and Grandma was quite forgetful. We could hear mice running through the walls with abandon. Alzheimers was making itself known. We decided to take Grandma over to my Mother's sister's house and stay there until we went to Memphis.

To be continued tomorrow.

Wednesday, June 28, 2023

June 28, 1985 (Revisiting the Past)

June 28, 1985. It was the night before my annual trip to Ripley, Mississippi with my mother so I couldn't stay out too late. I worked an easy afternoon shift at McDonald's happy that I had the next 2 weeks off. Later that evening I went and saw St. Elmo's Fire with some of the gang. I really enjoyed the movie that night and became semi-obsessed with the Andrew McCarthy writer character Kevin Dolenz as I thought I was a writer too. Plus, who could fault him for being in love with Leslie Hunter played by Ally Sheedy. I bought the movie poster for this film and The Breakfast Club that year from Collector's World over by M.T.S.U. along with a bunch of old cheap comics. I think they either ended up in the trash or perhaps my father sold them long after I moved out. I got the soundtrack from Cat's Records as I really loved the David Foster music. I probably bought some punk records with it along with Aretha Franklin's "Respect" 45. I was always crazy with my tastes.

Respect!

I'd see St. Elmo's Fire again many years later and find it to be a pretty goofy movie. I found myself disliking the characters as they all seemed suspect. I guess that was sort of the point. We were bystanders watching these people come to grips with their post baccalaureate college days and none of them seemed to have a clue. It does have a great cast though, chock full of Brat Packers.

Tuesday, June 27, 2023

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds with Metric and Garbage June 25, 2023 Concert Review

I ventured out and saw my first concert at the fairly new First Bank Amphitheater in Franklin, Tennessee on June 25, 2023. It's a neat venue located just off I-840 in an old rock quarry. Instead of rocks being carried off, bands come to rock out!! Shirley Manson of Garbage really liked it and told us she saw a hawk during their soundcheck. I was excited for the show since I had gotten 7th row center seats. I didn't shoot any video, but I'm sure if you look on YouTube you can find some videos from this concert uploaded by others. I have seen a few of Noel already, but none sounded as good as what I heard live.

Toronto band Metric opened the bill and they were loud! I had brought my handy dandy earplugs so all was good for my ears. My daughter later talked about how she could feel the bass in her bones. It was pretty intense, but cool. I knew their music thanks to the use of their song "Black Sheep" from the Scott Pilgrim vs. the World movie. Metric is a great mix of heavy tones mixed with synths and Emily Haines's lighter vocals. They were upbeat and fun with a short set. I was amused that Emily, guitarist James Shaw, and bassist Joshua Winstead all wore sunglasses while their drummer Joules Scott-Key wasn't wearing a pair. Maybe the tour manager could only find 3 pairs. Joules was a beast on the drums though.

I actually met Ben Slack for the first time in person at the concert so I spent some time after Metric's set talking to him before Garbage hit the stage. He was in the band Slack which was a great alternative group that even had some material produced by Nick Raskulinecz at Dave Grohl's studio. Ben is recently responsible for getting a historic marker for pinup model Bettie Page in front of her alma mater Hume-Fogg. He also puts out this nice free fanzine called Culture Cringe. It was great to talk music with him.

This tour has Garbage and Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds as co-headliners with Garbage having headlined all the shows so far until the night before in Atlanta. This was fine with me as Noel was the reason I bought the tickets, but I was thrilled to get to see Garbage for the first time. They were an instant favorite when they came along in those grand 1990's. They were also loud enough for my earplugs, but not quite as loud as Metric. Garbage would end up having to cut their set short as there was a potential for storms so we missed out on hearing their cover of "Cities in Dust", but we did get to hear their hits played magnificently. Shirley Manson was in great voice. She went out into the crowd on the sides twice shaking hands while singing and it made me feel so good for those lucky fans. Plus I got a thrill to her Scottish accent when she would talk between songs. Garbage are anything but....they are a top rank rock act.

The stagehands quickly festooned the stage with flowers, a Man City sign, and a cutout of, I presume, Man City manager Pep Guardiola. Then it was time for Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds opening with "Pretty Boy" which is so a Cure sounding song that Noel even got Robert Smith to do a remix for it. It's a great tune with one of my favorite lines being "I wanna change my star sign" which I wondered aloud about to my daughter....."do younger people even care about astrology" to which she answered me by showing the Libra pendant she was wearing. Well played. The set ran for a little over an hour which was really not enough for me, but I guess it's better to leave an audience wanting more. I didn't need earplugs for Noel's set. It was plenty loud, but not deafening.

As I knew it would be, the first half was heavily tilted toward the new Council Skies album which I thought might be too mellow, but it really surprised my how well the songs translated live. "We're Gonna Get There in the End" was sunny sugary pop complete with balloons shown on the screen behind the band. Title track "Council Skies" was a mesmerizer live. "Open the Door, See What You Find" was my favorite from the new album with it's stomping beat putting me in mind of Northern Soul while the background vocals wouldn't have been out of place on Rubber Soul. The crowd seemed to dig the new stuff with many of us singing along and several people a few rows back yelling "Chief!!!" as often as they possibly could.

After a couple of songs from earlier albums it was time for 6 Oasis covers, which is funny since Noel Gallagher wrote all of these tunes, and in most cases sang them. More mind blowing to me, even after all these years, is that 3 of the tunes were B sides to singles. There was a father and his young daughter in front of my family and it was neat to see her singing along to "Going Nowhere", "Half the World Away", and "The Masterplan." My youngest son, who is now 18, went nuts when "Live Forever" was played as this is his favorite Oasis number. Noel had joked earlier that a storm was forecast so he hoped if we survived we'd buy shirts on the way out. The concert ended with the evergreen "Don't Look Back in Anger" with Noel nailing the guitar solo. I don't know if it was the amp setup or just the way they play, but Noel's one solo made Gem Archer's playing seem tame.

A few random observations on the night. The FirstBank Amphitheater is a very nice venue. The staff was very courteous and professional. They were welcoming which is not always the case at music venues. It was pretty hot and the next time I come I think I will take advantage of their policy allowing refillable water canisters of a certain size into the event. I would have saved some money I had to spend on water. I was happy to see the security was very firm when people tried to bum rush the aisles in the front. There was one young lady, however, that security didn't bother who was outside the barrier which made me wonder why briefly until I next saw her behind the barrier taking photos. It dawned on me that she was Noel's photographer daughter Anais. I snapped some blurry pics of her cause I think it's cool she's with her father on tour.

Monday, June 26, 2023

Cinema One July 1975 - December 1975

Here's what played at the Cinema One located at 726 S. Tennessee Blvd in Murfreesboro, Tennessee from July 1975 through December 1975. The ads come from the Daily News Journal. Some trailers thrown in for good measure.

July 1, 1975