Dealey Plaza

I went to Dallas this past weekend. I initially had around twenty things I wanted to find and photograph, but ultimately I shaved it down to around twelve. Dallas will require a return visit! One of those must-sees for me was Dealey Plaza. The experience of being there was very surreal. The shapes and outlines of the WPA pergolas and peristyles from the late '30s, early '40s, that triple underpass, the mysterious sounding "grassy knoll," the Texas School Book Depository, etc., etc. Those things have been burned into our collective long-term memory from repeated exposure. It seemed as if I'd been there before. I was profoundly moved by the whole thing and found myself unable to control my emotions, twice.

By the time I made it to the cenotaph (open tomb), to make sure I was actually there (going back to the feeling of "surreality"), I needed to slide my hand along the right edge of this low-hewn, black, granite square pictured above as I exited the structure. Out of a feeling of reverence and grief, I was obliged to quietly whisper the man's name ("John....John") as I reentered the Memorial Plaza:

As I walked down Main Street, past the former courthouse, "Old Red," (because the parade route went right by it, I kept thinking: "Kennedy saw this!") it was my first glimpse of the Plaza. That's one of the Plaza's two peristyles constructed by the WPA around 1938. The bronze statue is of George Dealey. And yes, wouldn't you know it, things were under renovation of some kind, so those pylons were everywhere, and the reflecting pools were empty and unaccessible. It's not as if I drove a total of around seven hours (to and from Nacogdoches) or anything to see this stuff. Oh wait a minute, I did. This is like when I went to London in '85 and there was scaffolding up around Big Ben, but that's another story...

Taking a right, this is the other peristyle. This one, and it's obelisk, was constructed in 1940. Walk a few more steps to the right, and there it is, that building:

The window from which Oswald fired his rifle is on the sixth floor, and it is left permanently "opened." Those shadows were cast by the upper portion of the Romanesque Revival, former Dallas County Courthouse ("Old Red").

Walking down Elm Street, from the Texas School Book Depository, this is one of two pergolas constructed for the Plaza, once known as "The Front Door of Dallas." To the left of the pergola is the wall upon which Abraham Zapruder sat as he made his fateful home movie. Also in the picture is the "grassy knoll." Perhaps you can see where the grass has been worn away by countless footsteps.

More of the "grassy knoll" can be seen here (to the right of the steps), as well as the picket fence, behind which it has been theorized a second gunman fired shots on November 22, 1963.

Another iconic image in my mind, the triple underpass/train overpass. I took this one as a train was making use of it.

This is the other pergola. As I walked through this one, I suddenly had a very pungent idea as to where the guys following me around, trying to sell me a Dealey Plaza souvenir newspaper, used the restroom during the day.

I walked across this grassy area in the middle of this shot photograph a couple of times as I explored the Plaza. It is here I had my "private moments," and lost it a little bit. I'm trying to explain in this post the feelings being at Dealey Plaza stirred in me, and it isn't easy to do. I was flooded with memories of 8th or 9th grade, sitting in a classroom watching the Zapruder film for the first time, memories of my mom and dad and remembrances they shared of that day (and Kennedy in general), and dozens of other memories created over the years as I've been exposed to television programs and coverage of November 22, 1963. A lot of that welled up in me as I stood in this part of the Plaza.

From the Plaza, I walked over to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Plaza. This is the cenotaph designed by Philip Johnson.


It seemed so much quieter within the cenotaph. Perhaps it was so designed. Either way, one is overcome with a sense of solemnity. As a Texan, I felt strangely guilty -- that here was honored the descendant of Irish immigrants, born in Massachusetts, educated in Cambridge, survivor of PT-109, "winner" of Jacqueline Bouvier, father of Caroline and John, ascendant to the pinnacle of American power in Washington, D.C., lover of Norma Jean Baker [whom he described as being like "electric velvet" (the dog!)], pally of Sinatra...and it all ended here, in the streets of Dallas, frickin', Texas. As Vonnegut would have said, "So it goes."

"The Wild Side of Life"

The following post was inspired by a reviewing of The Last Picture Show, so you'll pardon the extra twang (or not).

The other Hank
From the Wikipedia entry:

"The Wild Side of Life" is a song made famous by country music singer Hank Thompson. Originally released in 1952, the song became one of the most popular recordings in the genre's history, spending 15 weeks at No. 1 Billboard country charts, solidified Thompson's status as a country music superstar and inspired the answer song, "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" by Kitty Wells.

"The Wild Side of Life" carries one of the most distinctive melodies of early country music, used in "I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes" by the Carter Family and "Great Speckled Bird" by Roy Acuff. That, along with the song's story of a woman shedding her role as domestic provider to follow the night life, combined to become one of the most famous country songs of the early 1950s.

According to country music historian Bill Malone, "Wild Side" co-writer William Warren was inspired to create the song after his experiences with a young woman — a honky tonk angel, as it were — who "found the glitter of the gay night life too hard to resist." Fellow historian Paul Kingsbury wrote that the song appealed to people who "thought the world was going to hell and that faithless women deserved a good deal of the blame."

Thompson's original 1952 recording (you know you're curious about this screencap of that, er, honky tonk, uh,...angel):

Here he is a couple of decades later (January 1980) performing it on Hee Haw, so....hee haw!:

Finally, here is a video I edited that includes the scene from The Last Picture Show in which "The Wild Side of Life" is so poignantly and powerfully used, along with a similar (I think) scene from another movie and universe, tacked on the end. So hee haw! again:

Puppet dictator

Friday nights during the 70's would most often find me and my little sis' watching The Carol Burnett Show. Without a doubt, the cast member who had us in stitches most frequently was Tim Conway (followed closely behind by Harvey Korman). This is a particularly funny skit in which Conway, as was typical, goes off script and cracks up the other performers (Lyle Waggoner is the victim here). I'm not sure folks would find this humorous today, and that can't be a good thing:

"Life in a Northern Town"

From the Wikipedia entry:

"Life in a Northern Town" is a song by The Dream Academy, a British folk rock group. The song was the opening track to their 1985 debut album, The Dream Academy. Reaching #7 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in February 1986, it was their biggest hit.

The lyrics are references to Tanworth-in-Arden (England) native Nick Drake, who died of an antidepressant overdose in 1974. The Dream Academy intended the song as a tribute to Drake.

There were two different versions of the music video. The first one was made in 1984 and was filmed in Hebden Bridge near Halifax in Yorkshire, UK:

This video was later updated when the song became international top 5 hit in 1985. This original one has a cool little Beatles moment in it and seems more "northern town"-ish. How could they (The Dream Academy) ever top this? I think the answer is they couldn't (unfortunately).

"Life in a Northern Town"

A Salvation Army band played
And the children drank lemonade
And the morning lasted all day,
All day
And through an open window came
Like Sinatra in a younger day,
Pushing the town away
Ah -

(Chant)
Ah hey ma ma ma
Life in a northern town.

They sat on the stoney ground
And he took a cigarette out
And everyone else came down
To listen.
He said "In winter 1963
It felt like the world would freeze
With John F. Kennedy
And the Beatles."

(Chant)
Ah hey ma ma ma
Life in a northern town.
Ah hey ma ma ma
All the work shut down.

The evening had turned to rain
Watch the water roll down the drain,
As we followed him down
To the station
And though he never would wave goodbye,
You could see it written in his eyes
As the train rolled out of sight
Bye-bye.

(Chant)
Ah hey ma ma ma
Life in a northern town.
Ah hey ma ma ma
Life in a northern town.
Here they are doing it on Saturday Night Live during my senior year in high school (1985):

John Lennon liked Monopoly

Monopoly: The Beatles Collectors Edition

From John Lennon: The Life:

A small party of journalists, British and American, rode on the Beatles' plane (while on a leg of their 1964 North American tour), filing reports from the campaign trail. he included thirty-five-year-old Art Schreiber, a senior correspondent for the Westinghouse Broadcasting System, whose usual beat was politics and national affairs. Schreiber initially wondered how to get a handle on this very different subject matter; then in a conversation with John, he happened to mention that he enjoyed playing Monopoly. At this, John's sardonic cool melted into schoolboyish enthusiam. "I've got a board!" he said.

from Whimsical Super Genius' photostream

So while the rest of the Beatles' party whiled away in-flight hours with their usual poker game, John and Art Scheiber would play Monopoly, sometimes joined by George Harrison. "George would hardly say a word for the whole game," Scheiber remembers. "But John always got really involved and excited. He always stood up to throw the dice. And if he got Park Place and Boardwalk, he'd be triumphant. He didn't care if he ost the game so long as he had those two properties. We played so late sometimes that I'd doze off to sleep. Then I'd feel a dig in my ribs and hear John's voice: 'Come on, Art...it's your move.'" (Philip Norman, p. 371)

"Wonderland"

From dereck von's photostream
Wikipedia entry:

"Wonderland" is a single by XTC released in June 1983, written by Colin Moulding and taken from the album Mummer.

Although they had shifted in a more acoustic direction on their previous album English Settlement, it was with "Wonderland" that their sound could first be described as pastoral, which became their hallmark for the next several years.

This is one of the few songs from the Mummer sessions to feature drummer Terry Chambers prior to his sudden departure from XTC.

Leader Andy Partridge has subsequently described "Wonderland" as one of Moulding's "most beautiful melodies."

And amen to that. This is one of those XTC songs that early on established Moulding as an occasional McCartney to Andy Partridge's Lennon:

"Get on Your Boots"

Here is "Get on Your Boots," the first single from U2's March release, No Line on the Horizon. Upon the first few listenings, I quite like it, but I can't help but be reminded of The Escape Club.