SOUNDTRACK: THE PEANUT BUTTER CONSPIRACY-“It’s a Happening Thing” (1967).
Who would have guessed that a band from 1967 would come up with a name that seems relevant in 2014 (what with all the peanut allergies). But they didn’t have that on their minds when they named the band.
I’m not sure that I knew of this band (they are mentioned in this story–although I had heard of the Flamin’ Groovies, also mentioned), although by now they seem like an obvious touchstone. Because this is a major hippie band. Indeed, this song seems almost quintessentially hippie. The title, obviously. But also the (sixties) fuzzy guitar, the super funky bass, the group vocals (very Jefferson Airplane). The wild solo with even more fuzz on the guitar. I especially enjoy the descending vocal line at the end of the chorus.
It’s a fun song, although kind of forgettable (possibly because of the lyrics). After the chorus, the most repeated line is “Love is the grooviest thing up til now in the world.” Up til now?
A little research says that the production on their second album is less obviously hippie, but this seems to be their most notable song.
Peace Man.
[READ: September 17, 2014] “Here’s the Story”
This year’s Summer Fiction issue of the New Yorker was subtitled Love Stories. In addition to all of the shorter pieces that were included in this issue, there were also four fiction contributions.
This story takes a look at an already extant story and finds a story beneath it. I didn’t realize this until about two paragraphs from the end of the story when it all came clear. And then in retrospect I realized that there were a lot of hints thrown into the story and either I should have figured that out or, more likely, Gilbert made the hints minor and casual so that, like me, a reader might realize what he or she missed at the end of the story.
I’m not going to give anything away about the story; however, at the end of this post I’m going to put some of the hints that made me tilt my head at the story which proved to pay off in the end).
But without that information, the story was compelling but also frustrating. Gilbert starts out the story so that you know there will be a sad ending: “It ends with his right hand griping her left…the plane is on final approach.” The two people, both married meet and think about having an affair. Both of them are pretty unhappily married with children and living in California. But the story is told as an impartial report: “we also know that seven weeks earlier the Los Angeles Dodgers played their final game of the season.” (more…)
I Just Read About That... 