1. I went on a longer than usual walk this afternoon, two miles. I began by dropping the water bill in the mailbox in front of the former Stein's Grocery building and then made my way to Riverside and walked east and then north to the end of Mullan to check out a house that Stu wanted me to report on. Stu lived in that neighborhood until the spring of '62 and wondered if the Carroll Chaffee house was still in good shape. Unless I got the house wrong, yes, that house is looking good.
I then walked west on Riverside, turned south at Oregon St., west on Cameron, and returned home.
I listened to all of one podcast and part of another.
First, on the Fresh Air podcast, I listened to Sam Sanders interview Craig Foster, the man featured in the movie, My Octopus Teacher. The movie enthralled me and this interview enlarged my understanding of Craig Foster's remarkable experience developing a relationship with an octopus in the frigid waters off False Bay, near Cape Town, South Africa. Like the movie, the interview so deeply engrossed me that I feel fortunate that I didn't walk right into anyone or get hit by a car when crossing streets.
Following the Craig Foster interview, this episode featured a review of the recently released Netflix movie, The Trial of the Chicago 7.
Second, I listened to a fascinating interview on the podcast Broken Record, conducted by record producer, Rick Rubin, with Benmont Tench, the keyboard player for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
Benmont Tench fascinated me, not only with his tales about how he got involved with The Heartbreakers' predecessor, Mudcrutch, and was with the Heartbreakers from the beginning, but also with his personal history with rock n roll, rhythm and blues, country, bluegrass, and soul music. His history, and Tom Petty's history, their listening to all of these styles of music, especially when they were young, encapsulates the history of rock n roll itself. Listening to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers on my own, I think I'm vaguely aware of the influences that energize their music and their sound, but listening to Benmont Tench helped me understand even more clearly how The Heartbreakers' sound is steeped in early rock n roll, country, rhythm and blues, and other styles of the music of the USA.
Want to hear the Benmont Tench interview? Just click here.
And if you'd like to go skin diving with Craig Foster and learn more about his octopus teacher and hear the Chicago 7 movie review, you can -- just click here.
2. Hearing the review of The Trial of the Chicago 7 was just the nudge I needed to watch this movie tonight. It's been on mind for several weeks; tonight I flipped it on.
I feel some obligation to say that this movie is a work of historical fiction -- which I very much enjoy. As in any fiction, in writing and directing this movie, Aaron Sorkin decided what parts of the history to focus on, which to magnify, and he created scenes that have the ring of political and moral truth, but that are not a part of the historical record.
This is just to say that I didn't watch the movie as a historical account (although much of the movie is), but as a way to experience and understand the conflicts between those forces in 1968-69 that were protesting the Vietnam War through demonstrations, rallies, marches, and street theater and those forces that wanted to repress and suppress this movement, by methods of surveillance, infiltration, and violence.
In short, I experienced this movie as telling a specific story in the ongoing and ever-present conflict between those in the United States who are inclined toward cracking down on dissent, bringing the unruly under control, by whatever means, and those who dissent, sometimes peacefully, sometimes confrontationally, but always in opposition to those for whom a sense of order and protection translates into cracking down, often cracking down very hard.
The movie tells its version of the events during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago that led to the new Richard Nixon administration, with John Mitchell as the Attorney General, bringing charges of conspiracy and crossing state lines with intent to incite a riot against Tom Hayden, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Kenneth Dellinger, Rennie Davis, John Froines, Lee Weiner, and Bobby Seales. As the trial progressed, the case against Bobby Seales was declared a mistrial -- so what had been a trial of the Chicago 8 became what we know as the trial of the Chicago 7.
Aaron Sorkin locates his story primarily in the courtroom, but his narration moves back and forth from the courtroom to the movie's portrayal of events in Chicago and it explores tensions that existed between members of the Chicago 7, most pointedly between Tom Hayden and Abbie Hoffman, and, at times, Jerry Rubin.
I was fourteen years old in the summer of 1968. My chief concerns were getting through drivers ed and securing my daytime drivers license and trying to minimize my penchant for making multiple errors as the third baseman for the Schaffer's Babe Ruth team. I was much more into "Hey Jude" and "Pictures of Matchstick Men" and "Lady Willpower" than I was interested in the tensions that were occurring far away from Kellogg, ID.
The Trial of the Chicago 7 took me into a world that I had fleeting familiarity with back in 1968-69, but that was much more familiar to me now that I've read more, studied more, and thought more about those years and how the tensions the movie portrays never subside, are (and always have been) with us, making life in the USA a continuing struggle between those who seek reform and those who want to protect and preserve things the way they are, to maintain order.
Nothing, in my view, is a greater aid to accomplished actors than a well-written script. Aaron Sorkin tells a compelling story and writes masterful words and lines for his actors to bring to life. This movie brought together a superb cast of actors -- I won't list them all -- but, to be incomplete, I loved watching Frank Langella, Mark Rylance, Eddie Redmayne, Sacha Baron Cohen, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Michael Keaton, Jeremy Strong, and the other actors work Sorkin's script, bring the conflicts and tensions alive, and animate this compelling story and all of its complexities.
3. When the movie ended, around 9:30, I needed time to let it settle in, time to ponder all the history I've been reading during the pandemic, and time to enjoy some saltine crackers with cream cheese and salami disks.
I decided that the best way for me to settle down and achieve a more restful state of mind before retiring to bed would be to watch the fourth episode in Season 1 of Midnight Diner.
I'm only going to give away one detail of this episode: its featured dish was potato salad - and the episode ended with excellent instruction for making potato salad.
This episode's story was unusual, introducing a character that, for me, was totally unexpected. The story that unfolded about this character was moving. It was related to the potato salad. This episode perfectly brought to life the contradictions, the kind of surprise, the unexpected juxtaposition of unlike qualities that are common in the haiku. In barely twenty minutes, in a calm and minimalist way, this episode took its viewers deep into the heart of suffering and love.
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