I’m happy to see that a portion of the young are rising up in defense of liberty and against government’s vast over-reach. In an item in today’s NY Post, two websites are cited: generationopportunity.org and OptOut.org There is still hope for America.
Whenever I think about the musicians who died young, Jimi Hendrix comes to mind first. How would he have evolved? Would he have stayed with rock? Would he have gone strictly to the blues or jazz? Would he have experimented in various genres? Last night ThisTV, channel 111 on Cablevision in NYC, ran the story of another rock star gone too soon, Ritchie Valens (Valenzuela), who had three big hits before he was taken in the plane crash that also killed Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper, dubbed so eloquently by Don Maclean as "The day the music died." La Bamba (1987) is not a great film, rated 6.6 at IMDb, but it has plenty of heart. I hadn’t realized Valens accompanied himself on guitar. The most interesting aspect of the movie is the sibling rivalry between Valens and his older brother, Bob. Amusingly, I used to get Lou Diamond Phillips and Esai Morales, the stars, mixed up early in their careers. Each is fine in his role, particularly the latter. How would Valens have evolved? Surprisingly, he did not speak Spanish. When he proposed covering La Bamba, a Mexican folk song, his manager was skeptical. Valens answered that if Nat King Cole could pull off singing in Spanish, why couldn’t he? The rest, as the cliché goes, is history. The song is still popular, as are Oh, Donna and Come on Let's Go to a lesser extent. The last few minutes of the film are gut wrenching. My eyes glazed. The commentary at IMDb reveals that Valens’ mom has a cameo. She is played wonderfully by Rosanna DeSoto. Directed by Luis Valdez, produced on a budget 6.5 million, it grossed an impressive 54 million. It deserved its success. On a scale of five, 3.25. I laughed as I read the closed captioning during the playing of the title track and saw that "one needs a little grass in order to dance La Bamba."
There was a drone strike on an al Qaeda wedding party yesterday, killing at least eleven. Since Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Streisand, Mellenkamp and other leftists artists haven’t said a word, I assume they now endorse the war on terror. Welcome aboard.
I operated the floating book shop from the comfort of my car today. Environmentalists take note -- I did not keep the motor running. I sat in the front seat about two hours. Several people stopped to take a look at the Russian books, but no one bought until Mikhail came along. He purchased a book he said is very funny. Spasibo, my friend. I packed up immediately thereafter. I hadn't realized how cold it was until I walked to Delmar Pizzeria. Winter hasn't even arrived officially, and I'm already sick of it.
Vic's 4th Novel: http://tinyurl.com/bszwlxh
Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic's Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
Vic's Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h
Vic's Horror Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3
Vic's Rom-Com Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kny5llp
Vic’s Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx
No comments:
Post a Comment