Three Beautiful Things 01/16/14: Deep Purple's *Machine Head*, Return of the Electric Fry Pan, UCLA and Bill Walton

1.  These different episodes of Classic Albums move me, emotionally and in my head, as I relive tracks from albums I love, and listen to the thinking and imagination that informed each band's sound.  Ever since it was released in 1972, I have loved Deep Purple's Machine Head.  Every track is loaded, and not only "Smoke on the Water", but "Highway Star", "Space Truckin'", "Never Before" and the rest of the tracks rouse me, often bring me to tears as I remember weekend nights listening to CFUN radio from Vancouver, B.C. and drinking beers on the Cataldo Flats where the signal was strong and hittin' Jekyll and Hyde's on Friday afternoons with Stu and playing records in the trailer John and I were renting before we went to the bar for pitchers and sandwiches and pool and during the week getting under the headphones and letting Ritchie Blackmore and Jon Lord and Ian Gillan and Roger Glover and Ian Paice pulse through my entire being,  helping get my adrenaline pumping for exams in courses at NIC and Whitworth or just bringing me joy.  I loved watching and listening to the Classic Albums episode looking at Machine Head today;I enjoyed it well beyond what I expected.

2.  I hadn't had the electric fry pan out for a while and whipped up a dinner of onion, baby potatoes, mushrooms, broccoli, and yellow squash for the Deke and me and it was delicious.

3.  Yes, forty or so years ago, I loved Deep Purple and right along Deep Purple on my love list was the men's basketball program at UCLA.  Watching the Classic Albums episode on Machine Head and being transported back in time suddenly made me wonder if the UCLA teams I loved from about 1967-75 would still look great to me in 2014.  I found clips of the Bruins on YouTube and was blown away by how good those Bruins were.  I especially enjoyed seeing Bill Walton play with such verve, such mobility, such awareness of all that was happening on the court, on defense and offense.  My toe hurts at night and I can't take painkillers, so I watch stuff and I found clips of Walton as a Celtic, as a teammate of Larry Bird.  It was sublime.