I am really enjoying Neil Peart's book "Roadshow", in which he details his motorcycle journeys all across America during Rush's R30 tour in 2004. Neil is a great writer, as you know from his lyrics, and not only does he bring his personal travels vividly to life but he gives you a real sense of what life is like for a giant rock band on the road, all while throwing in doses of humor and enough personal anecdotes to make you feel as if you are one of his many friends (he seems to know "half the world", to paraphrase a Rush song title). In sum, the book is much more than a travelogue because you get a good idea of just how expansive Neil's life was. He lived a huge life by anyone's standard, packing in more action in a day than most folks could in a month. So even though his time on Earth was short in comparison to many people, it seems like he lived twice that long, so much did he see and do, and accomplish. I'm especially loving his descriptions of the places he visited on that tour, not only on days off but on concert days as well. Accompanied by a traveling partner (his bodyguard) he would ride his motorcycle between Rush shows, out into the back roads of a state, and in doing so he probably covered as much of the American highway system as any professional trucker or driver. He literally rode all over the place. I mention all of this because he also did this in Europe on that leg of the tour, and one of his destinations was to the Skibo Castle in Scotland, a place I had never heard of.
The castle was built by Andrew Carnegie around the turn of the century. Carnegie, of course, was one of the giants of the steel industry and at one point was the world's richest man. In the book, Neil gives some history of Carnegie's life, including the fact that he so loved organ music that he had 700 pipe organs built to be installed around the world. Clearly a man after my own heart! He had some serious dough, and you can see for yourself if you check out the Skibo Castle website. Well, the place is so awesome, and Neil's account of his night there so enthralling, that I thought "Man, I just have to see Skibo Castle someday". He describes dozens of stops he made on this tour, but the Castle sounded like the most impressive of them all. As I am the opposite of Neil in travel - I've barely been out of my home state - I thought, "y'know, I am gonna do me some traveling, and even if I don't have the cash to stay at a place like Skibo, I'd like to see it anyway".
So my point is : who wants to come with me?
Elizabeth, would you go?
I'm just askin'. :):) Google "Skibo Castle" and check out the website. You could even go without me, lol. Or you could be the lead and I could tag along. :)
But yeah, "Roadshow" is an incredible book even for non-Rush fans, and it's awakened the travel bug in me, big time.
Elizabeth, I also liked your photo from home this morning. Your coffee table and chair, corner light near the ceiling and walls all blend with each other in the soft light, but retain their lines to create a designer look ala Charles Eames, with the whiteness offset by your painting. Your coffee nook, if it is that, could be set in the corner of a modern art museum, at least from the looks of that picture. The rectangle of light coming in through the doorway tops it all off. A great shot. :)
Tonight I switched from Sci-Fi to Film Noir, still watching on Youtube and public domain. I found a movie called "The Hoodlum"(1951), and right there I knew had a winner, "Hoodlum" being one of the great descriptive words in the English language, haha. Another indication came from the film's stars, Lawrence Tierney and Marjorie Riordan, who we recently saw in a Sherlock Holmes flick. Tierney became known to modern audiences as Joe Cabot, leader of the robbery crew in Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs", in which he had the classic "Mr. Pink" discussion with Steve Buscemi. I had never heard of Tierney before that, but it turned out he had a long career specializing in Film Noirs and Crime Thrillers, and over the years I saw several of them : "Dillinger", "Born To Kill" and "San Quentin". Tierney always played the "heavy" and created a memorable onscreen persona with his menacing physique and grim vocal delivery. So, when I saw he was starring as "The Hoodlum" I knew it was a cinematic match made in Heaven.
Tierney plays Vincent Lubeck, a criminal since childhood. He's been arrested for everything short of murder, and is about to be paroled after serving half his sentence for armed robbery. The leniency of the parole board is due to a plea from his mother, who has come in person to the hearing to beg mercy for her son, who she says is still young enough to turn his life around. The board votes to release him, against the wishes of the prison warden, who warns them Lubeck cannot be reformed : "He's not like other criminals. He's a Hoodlum! Laws and rules mean nothing to him". But now he's back in society. Will he be able to go straight?
He goes to live with his elderly Ma and his brother Johnny (played by Tierney's real life brother Edward). Johnny owns a gas station. Ma suggests he give Vincent a job there. Vincent doesn't want to work for Johnny, who he resents, but has to show employment to his parole officer, so he grudgingly accepts the offer. While pumping gas, he takes notice that the station is right across the street from a bank, and that an armored car makes a daily pick-up at a precise time every afternoon. Hmmm...probably not good for Vincent to see such a thing, being that he's a Hoodlum who can't stop committing crimes. Vincent is also pretty fast with the ladies. One day Marjorie Riordan pulls in to the station, and it isn't long before Vincent has her on a date. It turns out she works for the bank, so Vincent ever so casually inquires about the methods of the armored car crew. "Gee, y'know I see those guys every day across the street. How many of 'em does it take to make those deliveries? Does one guy stay inside? Oh man, I'll bet they carry a lot of dough"! He pries a few numbers out of her without arousing suspicion, and by the next day he has succumbed to the old criminal urge, calling some ex-jailbird buddies to arrange for "a big job". They're gonna pull an armored car heist.
Vincent is a careful planner. He's learned a lot during his years in the joint, listening to lifers talk tricks of the trade. He knows the key to a successful heist is strategy, working out every last detail in case of contingencies. He tweaks the plan til it's perfect, but he's not so meticulous in his personal life, and this could get him into trouble. His brother Johnny has a fiancee, Rosa (Allene Roberts from "The Red House"), who has a proverbial Heart of Gold. She is always sticking up for Vincent when his brother (and boss) rides him for laziness or insolence on the job. Vincent takes advantage of this situation to play to Rosa's sentiment. He steals her away from Johnny and an illicit romance ensues. Rosa falls in love with Vincent, not understanding that he is incapable of love, or any real feelings for anyone. He's a sociopath, or - as they called such a person in those days - a Hoodlum! Yep, Vincent is a hoodlum, which may not bode well for the romance, but we'll have to wait and see because we have a job to pull, er.....I mean Vincent and his crew have a job to pull. :)
Did he mess up by getting involved with Rosa? Will it interfere with his concentration during the heist? Worst of all, what if Johnny finds out, about Rosa, or the robbery, or both?! He's a real Straight Arrow, that Johnny. No way he'll keep his mouth shut.
"The Hoodlum" is a heckuva good Noir, with two top-notch scenes. One is the heist itself, as good as any of the bank jobs you've seen on film, with a novel get-away plan involving a funeral. The other noteworthy scene comes at the end of the movie. I don't wanna tell you much about it but it features the actress Lisa Golm, playing Vincent's mother in a harrowing, riveting performance, one for the ages in Noir iconography.
Running 61 minutes, "The Hoodlum" has a multi-layered script, not as jam packed with twists and turns as other short films we've seen, but complex nonetheless. Lawrence Tierney didn't possess great range as an actor, but he's able here to get under Vincent's skin and show us his psychology, his resentment and the insecurity it arises from. He's very good in the role, and he was said to be a bit of a tough guy in real life, so maybe that helped, lol.
Two Big Thumbs Up for "The Hoodlum", then. We'll do more Public Domain tonight, so stay tuned. It's now Sunday evening. I went to Santa Susana today for my first hike in three weeks. There were people there, maybe a couple dozen all told which is more than usual, but the park is so huge you can't help but social distance by hundreds of yards. I stopped at Trader Joe's on the way home but there was a line outside so I left. My inner George Bush kicked in : "Not gonna do it, wouldn't be prudent". Now I'm listening to KUSC as I write. CSUN walk coming up shortly, then tonight's movie. See you at the Usual Time. :):)
Tons of love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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