I'm a fan of film music and a fan of Italian films of the 60's and 70's, so what could be better than an album of Italian film music from the 60's and 70's? Right, nothing. So I bought this little gem that came up on my search for music by Claudio Gizzi, "Delirium of the Senses: Psychedelia in Italian Cinema." It features 28 tracks (the 28th of which is the only Gizzi entry!) drawn from a variety of Italian produced sci-fi thrillers, horror shows, crime dramas, and sex comedies from the era ('66 to '74). While I've seen only a handful of the films in question (though many of the filmmakers are ones I know and respect--Fellini, Pasolini, Bava, Scola, Polanski, Sordi, Guerra, Argento), and am familar with only three of the nine composers featured (Morricone, Rota, and Gizzi) I already love the music on this recording! I've given it a couple whirls in the car (good movie music = good driving music, for me), and found myself highly entertained. If you dig music that will, as the liner notes suggest, "mix Indian music with cool jazz....an organ and marimba-based freak-out with a string quartet....avant garde sound-clusters with a funky backbeat" then purchase this psychedelic smorgasbord. You won't be disappointed. For more on this recording read the words of Uncle Dave Lewis (wtfih?):
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Because you just bought a cute little house in Sellwood, Portland OR, and you're anxious over whether or not you made the right purchase, here is a deluxe version of the five to set your mind at ease: ten reasons you did the right thing: (1) Gino's restaurant. Forget Olive Garden--Gino's is perfect American Italian, what I call neighborhood Italian. Great tomato based sauces, lots of seafood dishes, excellent pasta, good wine list. (2) Mark Humpal Fine Art. A fun little gallery featuring mostly Oregon painters from the 19th and 20th centuries (a few living, but mostly topping out mid-century). Tap into Mark's encyclopaedic knowledge of American art, always delivered in an unpretensious, user-friendly manner. (3) The Ugly Mug Cafe. Has it made the list before? So be it. The best funky little caffeine vendor in the hood. Great art on the walls too. (4) Grand Central Bakery. Just down from the Mugly. Have a rhubarb hand pie and remember why you loved rhubarb so much as a kid. (5) Vino. Bruce Bauer is the nicest, jolliest, funniest, unsnobbiest wine dealer in town. Sample his wares on Friday nights. Get free tastes on Saturdays. (6) Mekong. A great Viet Namese place. Wonderful skewers and noodle salads. Clean, fresh, bright tasting food. (7) All the antique dealers on 13th. Spencer's, Justin and Burke's, Sellwood Antique Collective, Europa, Den of Antiquity (best name!), Era (sadly moving), Farmhouse, 1872 House (?), etc. (8) Spielwerks Toys. Great place to find German (mostly) made toys for Ian. (9) Oaks Park. 100 year-old amusement park is a great place to eat corn-dogs, cotton candy, and people watch. Go into the ancient roller rink and smell 100 years of feet in roller skates. (10) Mike's Drive-In. A fine spot for a halibut fillet sandwich and a butterscotch malt. I could probably list another ten or twenty things I love about Sellwood, but I'll leave it for now. Most of all, I loved our little 103 year-old house--long on charm, short on closet space. I'll miss you grape arbor, maple tree, potting shed, chandolier, gas fireplace, loft, sun room, bamboo floors, nursery, flower beds, back deck, and front porch. I'll miss you all!
Ian's first arrival in the capable hands of K:
So long,
JBF
3 comments:
Bava rec if you havne't seen it already: "The Girl Who Knew Too Much." The title is a silly rip off of Hitchcock, but it's an interesting little giallo--B&W and filmed in key Roman locations (especially the Spanish Steps). Fun.
Oh, and John Saxon is in it!
Other things to love about Sellwood and specifically the little house on Umatilla Street:
1. Trellised blackberries in the back yard that will surely produce a huge crop of winey concentrated tart-sweet purple gorgeousness this year. Worth every last scratch and jab that it took me to get them trained up on the trellis. How I will miss you, blackberry cobbler made with my own blackberries!
2. Black bamboo that doesn't run (unlike that dastardly green damn-boo planted elsewhere in the yard by our predecessors) and softly rustles in any whisper of a breeze, filling the master bedroom with that great, soothing organic sound, which somehow made the hottest days feel cooler. The black bamboo was brilliant. Planting the green should lead to damnation and hellfire.
3. Hanging hammock chairs that sit under the grape arbor. Was there ever a better place to drink beer and lemonade on a hot day?
4. Dogs, dogs, dogs everywhere, and people who love them. Everyone has a dog in Sellwood, and dogs are welcome in almost all the shops. Plus I've never experienced such a concentration of people who know what Rhodesian Ridgebacks are outside of a dog show.
5. The Sellwood Bee. Even though you listed it before, it deserves a double listing. Every time I read it, it made me love my neighborhood more. Ice cream socials. Shameless business plugs disguised as articles about the new businesses in town. Articles about every car collision that slowed our commute. We loved you, Bee!
I hope the owners of the house on Umatilla Street enjoy it every bit as much as we did, and wish them joy of it.
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