1. It was a big day for Debbie and me today. We'd decided that we'd like to buy, we hope, one last new car in our life together. Today, after we'd talked several times about what we want in a car, Debbie closed a transaction on a new Toyota Camry. I don't know what model it is or anything, but I know Debbie is happy with its size, the sight lines looking out of the car, and the color (silver/gray -- a little darker than the Sube).
So, this clinches our plan for me to fly to Maryland, join the 4th of July party at the Diaz home, and, eventually, begin a cross country drive with Debbie and Gibbs back to Kellogg via Chicago/Lake Michigan and who knows where else.
2. Debbie and I had some figuring out to do on the phone and we got it all settled around 2:30 (PST) and I leapt into the Sube and, in a flash, arrived a little over an hour later at the Northern Quest Casino near Spokane.
I joined Ed, Nancy, Darren, and Erica for a couple of beers and an order of chicken wings to celebrate Darren's birthday. We seized a table at the Epic Sports Bar and had a lot of fun for about an hour gabbin' away and getting in some good laughs. It was a blast.
The others had a 6 o'clock dinner reservation at Masselow's Steakhouse in the casino, so our little party broke up around 5 or so. I went out on the floor, played machines for a while, didn't win or lose any money, and got back to Kellogg around 7:30, hoping Copper and Luna were all right with the temperatures rising. They were. My efforts to keep the living room at least moderately cool worked.
3. Once settled in back in Kellogg, I retired to the bedroom with my MacBook Air and my external drive and watched the 1976 documentary, Heartworn Highways.
I'd watched this documentary before, let's see, <checks my blog history> back in August of 2010 during a visit to see Mom in Kellogg. I had remembered enjoying the music a lot. I enjoyed seeing Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, and David Allen Coe, and others as young guys and the movie increased my appreciation for the niche of country music these artists were carving out.
Watching it tonight, I enjoyed the music more than eleven years ago. Most of all I enjoyed the style of the movie. Having watched a few Les Blank documentaries lately, this movie was very similar in style. Unlike many documentaries, it didn't have a narrator. In fact, the musicians were introduced to us only if they introduced themselves or if their name came up in the footage they appeared in. Their identities were established once and for all in the final credits.
It's a fluid movie, moving from one artist to another, from one time and place to another, without much sense of transition and it has an unpolished look, almost like a home movie. But it's clear that the director and cinematographer, James Szalapski, has a keen eye for purposeful details. He makes sure they are in each shot's frame and it becomes clear that what might seem haphazard in the movie isn't.
I now know that in the last few years a sequel to this movie was released called Heartworn Highways Revisited. It features contemporary young artists making music similar to Guy Clark, Steve Young, Steve Earle and the other originators of, what?, outlaw country music; it also features musicians from the first movie. We see them in their last years, about forty years after Heartworn Highways was filmed.
I plan on ordering myself a copy of both movies. Heartworn Highways, to me, documents many aspects of life around 1975. Not only do I enjoy the music in the movie, but I enjoy the cars, cigarettes, clothes, and other small details, like those paper cone cups with plastic holders we used to drink coffee out of and the cheap wine the musicians drink as they sit around a table singing "Silent Night, Holy Night".
I'm hoping to dig more into documentaries from 40-50 years ago. I enjoy Les Blank a lot. I'm thinking right now about how much I enjoy both Harlan County, USA and Hearts and Minds from that time period and I think it's time to explore more.
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