Posted Sep 22, 08 09:39 AM
(i)Pod People
“So,” Katie, my cousin Rick’s wife intoned. “What kind of music do you listen to?”
You can always tell a car trip’s feeling long when the questions start sounding like this.
I cheerily cued up a track – the prestigious #1 song in all of my iPod’s Top 25 Most Played land. Thank you, Casey Kasem, but “your services were no longer required.”
Katie’s and Rick’s eyes saucered. Their breath audibled “geez’es.” And Latin choirs alto’ed diabolic to Jerry Goldsmith’s “Broken Ice” on the Damien: Omen II score. (Album version – there’s a few seconds differential from the film sequence. I forget which way.)
Talking music tastes usually is a commonality to most. To me, it’s a separation – a reminder that God must have made me when He was going through His experimental phase.
There’s nothing quite like clearing the mind on a hike through Runyan Canyon, Harry Mandfredini’s Friday the 13 ch-ch-ch-CHA-CHA-CHAs piping through the headphones. Or snow-shoeing away calories on the Precor at Bally’s, all to the rusted music box rhythms of Lalo Schifrin’s The Amityville Horror.
The whole stash gets mixed up anyways, but hmmm, let’s see what else is duking it out for pole position on the iPod counter…
“Main Titles” from Psycho II – Jerry Goldsmith. “It’s Not Your Mother” Psycho II. (Guess my favorite composer.) Danny Elfman’s Edward Scissorhands. Again, Jerry Goldsmith – having a great run – with The Swarm. George Harrison’s (not the Beatle) Creepshow. Barry Manilow. The Price is Right showcase theme. (I’m not making this up, folks.) And – oh – the “Blood Bath” track from the climax of… Psycho II.
We’ll pause momentarily here so you can double-check your children and the whereabouts of the family dog.
Music tastes become like fingerprints. Me, I can’t name one song off the current Top 40. (I listen to sports talk radio.) But I’ve discovered the joys of Varese Sarabande – that savior of a label that’s put out hard-to-find CDs (Pino Dinaggio’s Dressed to Kill, Alan’s Howarth’s Halloween II electronic orchestrations). And Amoeba Music – a fantastic reseller on Sunset in Hollywood.
We want what we want. And I want – no, need – my audials as visuals.
It’s like watching a movie – a good composer’s music should become the film’s pulse. So when I write or explore answers to all things creative, I’m looking for a track or album whose tone will reflect and fuse with ideas I’m working towards. The rhythms bring back that rush of experiencing a movie, and thus create in me new images and ideas.
And I keep hitting the rewind button. Yeah, I can listen to the same piece over and over and over and over and over and over.
Pino Dinaggio’s “Bucket of Blood” number in Carrie – you know, the whole slow-motion sequence building up to that terrible practical joke gone terribly wrong.
John Williams’ “Helicopter Attack” from Jaws 2.
Jerry Goldsmith’s “Rebirth” off the Poltergeist soundtrack. (I can still hear JoBeth Williams: “STEPHEN! Don’t let GOOOOO!!!”)
So what did I listen to while I wrote this? Tina Turner.
Posted by Mike Kalvoda at 09:39 AM