Stewards of the Visual Exposition
Life in the Slow Lane, a contemplative reflection
The recent death of Glenn Frey, the Eagles's Guitarist at 67 is enough to give even the most dedicated hedonist pause.
I guess when we were younger we all have looked at a famous person and thought, Hey that could have been me. Marlon Brando did not have an exclusive copyright on ©" "This ain't your night"!... You don't understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let's face it. " although he made it famous back in early 1954.
Well, as it turns out that same little movie quote could be used sixty-two years later but with an entirely different meaning. I for one am glad that 'this ain't my night;. But it does cause some reflection on life and it's little twist and turns.
I just got back from the clubhouse and while I was reflecting on the nostalgic past that has been my life, I looked out the window and saw this sight.
Now I will be the first to say that back in the day I would much rather have had a view from the outside looking into the hot tub, but today that view is not nearly as exciting as the old tree outside.
I got to thinking about how the same view has a different context when you add a few years to it. For instance, when I was a kid, the local swimming hole was just a few blocks from my house. I could walk there pay a few cents and swim to my heart's content. I'll bet if you saw this picture in that context, it would bring back many good memories for you as well. But today when I looked at my swimsuit folded into my towel just like the old days, it had a different meaning.
I admit the only time I worried about my weight when I was younger was when they classified the YMCA football teams by weight category. As a small kid I always wished I could gain a few pounds so I could show some of the larger kids that I coulda blah, blah.
However today in my contemplation at the clubhouse shower room, I was struck by another dichotomy. The difference between an Optimist and Pessimist is clearly evident when you check the scales. An Optimist will keep his glasses on when he weights in. A pessimist will either skip the scale all together and or be sure he takes off his watch, glasses and completely dries himself off before stepping on that damn scale. A gallon of water weighs about 8.34 pounds and I can't afford to take a chance on one drop.
So when I heard of Glenn Frye's passing, my first thought was "wow what a shame, followed closely by the 'hey that could have been me'.
Life is good in the slow lane but I have memories when I could run a faster clip. I am thankful for both the old memories and the current memories, regardless of the lane I am in with my blinker still on.
Life in the fast lane.
Go Back
I guess when we were younger we all have looked at a famous person and thought, Hey that could have been me. Marlon Brando did not have an exclusive copyright on ©" "This ain't your night"!... You don't understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let's face it. " although he made it famous back in early 1954.
Well, as it turns out that same little movie quote could be used sixty-two years later but with an entirely different meaning. I for one am glad that 'this ain't my night;. But it does cause some reflection on life and it's little twist and turns.
I just got back from the clubhouse and while I was reflecting on the nostalgic past that has been my life, I looked out the window and saw this sight.
Now I will be the first to say that back in the day I would much rather have had a view from the outside looking into the hot tub, but today that view is not nearly as exciting as the old tree outside.
I got to thinking about how the same view has a different context when you add a few years to it. For instance, when I was a kid, the local swimming hole was just a few blocks from my house. I could walk there pay a few cents and swim to my heart's content. I'll bet if you saw this picture in that context, it would bring back many good memories for you as well. But today when I looked at my swimsuit folded into my towel just like the old days, it had a different meaning.
I admit the only time I worried about my weight when I was younger was when they classified the YMCA football teams by weight category. As a small kid I always wished I could gain a few pounds so I could show some of the larger kids that I coulda blah, blah.
However today in my contemplation at the clubhouse shower room, I was struck by another dichotomy. The difference between an Optimist and Pessimist is clearly evident when you check the scales. An Optimist will keep his glasses on when he weights in. A pessimist will either skip the scale all together and or be sure he takes off his watch, glasses and completely dries himself off before stepping on that damn scale. A gallon of water weighs about 8.34 pounds and I can't afford to take a chance on one drop.
So when I heard of Glenn Frye's passing, my first thought was "wow what a shame, followed closely by the 'hey that could have been me'.
Life is good in the slow lane but I have memories when I could run a faster clip. I am thankful for both the old memories and the current memories, regardless of the lane I am in with my blinker still on.
Comments
|
I also saw this film (Ain’t in It for My Health: A Film About Levon Helm), and I recommend it to any who had a love of the Band. I do not know what the lessons of the documentary are. I do know it is well worth watching if for no other reason to gain a better understanding of the man and his music. He had a great life and lived it to the fullest, but I doubt if he ever found peace with the fact that he and the others could live it but it took Robbie Robertson to write it. It was truly a sad commentary on a life of excess but it was his choice and that is as it should be.
Here are some quotes from a review of the film: "Rock ’n’ roll takes a lot out of those in the profession, few more so than the members of the legendary group the Band. Their first releases “Music From Big Pink” and “The Band” rank 34th and 45th, respectively, in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 best rock ’n’ roll albums of all time, and the Martin Scorsese documentary “The Last Waltz”, about their final performance, is among the best concert films ever made. "But tragedy has been the lot of most of them. Richard Manuel committed suicide in 1986 at the age of 42; Rick Danko died of heart failure in 1999 at the age of 56. And Levon Helm, shrunken and ghost like in the bittersweet, frustratingly impressionistic documentary has, over the years, battled bankruptcy, illness, and heartbreak". www.bostonglobe.com |
|
I swear Bobby Tony; once again, I see it the same way from my now 61 year old perspective.
Last night, I saw a documentary on Levon Helm's last years, and it just made me sad. He was rail thin, and smoked pot until the near end, drank some too. Very sad. The documentary should have been titled: Levon: Still with us, but Wasting Away. |
| Going to college in a parking lot in Atlanta | The Old Rooster Crows, Public Vignettes, Visiting Writers, Literature, The Arts | Chuck Davis African-American Dance Ensemble |
Home
Contact
About
Service Rates
Privacy Policy
Follow on Facebook
Subscribe to Newsletters
Rss Feed
Keywords
Eastern NC Now & ENC NOW © Copyright 1998-2024 All Rights Reserved.
---on whether fame was a contributing factor to his breaking up with The Band -----"It's hard to be clairvoyant enough to see if things would've been different. In the beginning, you're all single and in it together. You mature in different directions. Everybody grows in their own way. And so you start seeing things through different lenses".
---on making music in the late seventies----"A lot of people at that time went into this tunnel of insanity and decadence and self-abuse, and didn't come out the other end. It was a rugged and ragged journey". IDMB MOVIE DATABASE