Where once there seemed to be a bright, shining future now
all seems dark. This past week has been
one of an inordinate amount of bad, sad, gloomy news.
First three icons have died.
Dick Clark’s death was the first announced. American Bandstand lives in such fond
memories of my childhood. Not all of the
new dances those kids in Philadelphia introduced on the show were all that
easy for me to pick up. My father, on
the other hand, was a great dancer. Not
in the professional sense, but when he and my mother were young they used to go
dancing to all of the Big Bands before “the War”, which was WWII. I remember my dad teaching me how to do the
stroll. And then there were all of the
stars Dick Clark brought on the show. I
fell head over heels in love with Frankie Avalon, Fabian and my personal
favorite, James Darren. Yeah, I really
loved those Italian boys. SWOON!
Next was Levon Helm, drummer and singer for The Band. I really wasn’t a big fan of The Band,
although I liked several of their most popular songs. Way back when, I had purchased their Rock of
Ages album. I played it once and never
played it again. A few years ago I gave
it to a young friend, who is a Bob Dylan devotee (not my taste) because I
figured she would enjoy it. 
And then yesterday the death of Jonathan Frid was
announced. My mom always said, “they
come in threes” when a celebrity death was first announced. True?
I don’t know. When you are
looking for a pattern, you usually notice one.
Dark Shadows, after so many years, is back in the news because of the
impending premiere of the Johnny Depp/Tim Burton movie release. It is a remake of the late 60s, early 70s
afternoon ABC Gothic soap opera of my youth.
I was mad crazy for Jonathan Frid’s vampire, Barnabas Collins. Dark, brooding, troubled, sensitive and sad –
what young girl wouldn’t fall in love?
If you read any of the tributes on the web or in the newspapers,
apparently LOTS of young girls did fall in love with Frid/Barnabas and carried
that flaming torch throughout their lives.
While it hadn’t occurred to me before reading the posts, many suggested
that the character of Barnabas Collins ushered in a new type of vampire,
leading the way for Louis from Interview With the Vampire, Angel (oh,my) of
Buffy The Vampire Slayer (personally I’m a Spike aficionado) and Edward Cullen
of The Twilight series. I think the
authors are correct. Jonathan Frid’s
portrayal of the vampire Barnabas Collins was a new perspective on the age old
monsters that previously had only terrified us.
They became romantic figures.
Adding to these sad reports, April 20th was the second anniversary of the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Contrary to Oh, Happy Day! Commercials on TV, all is far from well in the Gulf of Mexico and the states which border it. The dolphin and turtle deaths on the coasts have seen record numbers. The nesting sites of most sea birds are either in decline or absent. Deformed shrimp, fish and crabs are being caught in the Gulf waters. The people aren’t doing well either, experiencing many health problems. To read a compilation of the many stories, check out this link: http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/04/guest-post-the-gulf-ecosystem-is-being-decimated.html
As if that wasn’t enough to drag me to the depths over concern
over the very survival of our planet and amazing wildlife who share it with us,
I listened to Science Friday on Talk of the Nation. You can listen to it here: http://www.npr.org/2012/04/20/151047262/exploring-the-deepest-darkest-spots-on-earth Hope, maybe.
Optimism, not much.
The final thing that brought me to full fledged tears this
morning was totally unexpected. I went
on an Amazon buying spree about 2 weeks ago after listening to Terry Gross’
interview with Carole King (give it a listen here:
Maybe I should listen to it again, because it was wonderful, delightful and just made me smile. But, I digress. One of the things I bought was The Definitive John Denver Greatest Hits. Denver, the epitome of sunshine, rainbows and roses, right? Well, I couldn’t wait for my absolute favorite John Denver song of all time to come on. Calypso, a song he wrote because of his trip with Jacques Cousteau (the man who opened the world’s eyes to the wonders of the world’s oceans and marine life) onboard Cousteau’s ship, Calypso. The ocean, John Denver and Jacques Cousteau, two of which are dead and the other dying at the hands of humans, not exactly where I had expected the song to take me. So instead of feeling transported and uplifted, it was more like a stake in the heart. The tears just flowed.
Maybe I should listen to it again, because it was wonderful, delightful and just made me smile. But, I digress. One of the things I bought was The Definitive John Denver Greatest Hits. Denver, the epitome of sunshine, rainbows and roses, right? Well, I couldn’t wait for my absolute favorite John Denver song of all time to come on. Calypso, a song he wrote because of his trip with Jacques Cousteau (the man who opened the world’s eyes to the wonders of the world’s oceans and marine life) onboard Cousteau’s ship, Calypso. The ocean, John Denver and Jacques Cousteau, two of which are dead and the other dying at the hands of humans, not exactly where I had expected the song to take me. So instead of feeling transported and uplifted, it was more like a stake in the heart. The tears just flowed.
Earth Day, the 42nd anniversary, is April 22nd. Has ANYONE been listening? Right now, it certainly doesn’t seem like
it. It isn't just about US or our needs and our greed - it is about ALL life on Earth.
The future is up to you and me.
Jacques Cousteau inspired me as a child. I tried to watch his specials, the Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau in high school, but no tv's were allowed at the religious school I attended. A science teacher allowed me to watch them at his house, off campus, until he walked in and heard the word "evolution", turned the TV off and banned me from watching again. It was an SDA boarding high school. Nonetheless, I had been so inspired by Cousteau and even Lloyd Bridges "Sea Hunt", that I bought gear and began diving by age 13, alone in lakes. I wanted to be a marine biologist. Later, I met Jacques Cousteau and an environmental physicist, Amory Lovins at a Cousteau Society Involvement Day. I got both their signatures. Later still, I was involved with the OSU environmental center and we invited Jean Michael Cousteau to campus to speak and I got to meet him. At that time, he had had a falling out with his father and brother, Philippe, who later drowned in a sea plane accident. Jacques Cousteau is still my hero. He with Emile Gagnon, invented the scuba tank! My first scuba tank was a US Divers tank, without a safety reserve, with lifetime warranty, built by Jacques Cousteaus company. Purportedly he and Emili Gagnon had a fallout over the invention and subsequent patent rights. I bought it cheap, as a 13 year old, off a doctor, who nearly died diving and was leaving the sport. At that time, one did not have to be certified to get air tanks filled.
ReplyDeleteOkay, now I'm envious. I think Jacques Cousteau inspired a lot of kids. It's just a shame that with the internet, social media & over 250 tv channels, people just aren't getting the message, or any messages of importance, for that matter. I still remember the Cousteau special that filmed at Blue Spring and showed a manatee with a hard pronged garden rake stuck in his/her back. I wonder if any of those old shows are available somewhere on the web?
DeleteI wonder! The Cousteau Society did involvement days, in the 70's, trying to get people inspired to save the oceans, way back then. As a result I began a campaign to increase the US fishing limit boundaries to 200 miles, so that Japan could not rape the oceans with two to ten mile long drift nets, killing everything, and to save the whales. As a child, inspired by Jacques Cousteau, I wrote letter after letter to my senators, including Bob Packwood, of Oregon, who wrote back, urging protection of the oceans. I ran into someone at OSU a few years ago, was visiting a friend who works at some oh I forget, some campus place for writing fellowships. The man I ran into, old by then, was John Bryne. He used to once be president of OSU, long retired, began talking to him, in the little kitchen break room while waiting on my friend and it turns out he was on that international whaling commission way back when I was a protester, demanding a ten year moratorium on whaling. He was telling me how he and other "friendlies" to the moratorium on the commission, brought that about, made it happen. Then my friend popped in. And our conversation got interrupted. It was so interesting to run into someone on the commission so many decades later.
ReplyDeleteWe are in sync on the mourning of recent losses. I've been away from my blog, and just posted about the same 3 folks - then came here! As for the human toll on precious waters and creatures, have been feeling a lot of that hopelessness too, especially regarding the damaging of the Gulf Coast. {sigh}
ReplyDeleteAnd I just commented on your post! Yeah, these men played a big role in the lives of the Boomers. So sad that Mr. Frid didn't get to enjoy a final bit of acclaim following the release of Burton's Dark Shadows movie. It's Depp, so I KNOW you'll be going.
DeleteRegarding the Gulf & the oceans in general, it is so disturbing that with all the info out there, humans seem less concerned, less connected & much more stupid. Could it be that our species is devolving? Hope you will check out the links in the post.
Just a few comments...
ReplyDeleteI loved both Cousteau's programs and Denver's music.
I never watched Dark Shadows since I always associated afternoon TV with soap operas, which I hated. I thought if life was like that as a grown up, I wasn't looking forward to growing up!
I totally LOVE Spike and loved Buffy until she went to "heaven." I especially loved the show where she channeled the elemental energies of the Earth and completely took apart Adam. I could watch that episode again and again - I think women need to learn how to do this and take back our Earth from the corporate monsters/vampires.
The disaster in the Gulf is still completely horrifying and sickening to me and I do find it very disturbing at the lack of concern for it - and I am infuriated that our government keeps allowing these oil companies to drill knowing their record of environmental disasters.
Buffy's final season was my favorite. If you haven't seen it, I think you'd really like it. No spoilers here - watch it. I have the entire series on DVD & just started watching it again for the umpteenth time.
DeleteConnie, I just finished reading this Chris Hedges article and thought of you. I sent an email, but thought I'd post it here, too.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.truthdig.com/report/item/welcome_to_the_asylum_20120430//
I hope to get to it tonight. Thanks for the link.
DeleteWhen you quit, you can immediately feel its decision within 24
ReplyDeletehours, health benefits, which can cause you to not smoke
forever. As you lift out the screen you'll see it is still attached via a ribbon cable. Mobile computing is continuously getting better with best performance, smarter processors, light weight and handy designs, but as we all know, the main power of the mobile computing device (weather it is laptop, mobile, PDA or e-book reader) resides in it's battery capacity.
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