I miss Dodger Stadium! Was reminded of all the good times there by Manny’s wonderful blog post. Thinking back to all the Dodger Dogs, peanuts, Carnation chocolate malts, and the occasional Cool-a-coo… so many memories! And all accompanied by the organ music of Nancy Bea and Helen Dell.

Back when I was in High School, my parents went on vacation to Europe and one of the gifts they brought back for me was this cool Swiss Army Knife, engraved with my name. I still have it and use it whenever we go camping. The corkscrew has come in extra handy! Besides that I’d say the can opener and bottle opener have been the most used tools. Of course I lost the tweezers ages ago, but surprisingly, the toothpick is still with the knife! When my boys are in High School, I’d like to get them their own engraved Swiss Army Knives.

This is one of my favorite movies of all time. I was obsessed with the film Diva, so when Jean-Jacques Beineix’s Betty Blue was released, it was a must that I see it in the theater. Since it was an artsy foreign film we saw it at the Bijou Theater in Hermosa Beach. I loved the movie so much that I went back to the theater a few months later and asked the manager if he had a movie poster. He went into the back room and brought it out for me! I think I still have that at my folks’ house.

The story follows the relationship of Zorg and Betty, as she slowly becomes unstable and ultimately goes insane. But despite the dark parts of the film, there’s lots of funny and touching moments. And the soundtrack is fantastic!

Since I am reminiscing about Japan (only a couple more days until I am on the plane), here’s another song that I used to listen to back then. I was probably December of 1996. I used to put my new Pizzicato Five CD ”great white wonder RARE MASTERS 1990`1996” into my Sony Discman and hop on the Friday night bullet-train from Tokyo Station to Osaka. This song was the soundtrack at the time, zipping through the stations and passing the city lights. I remember arriving in Osaka and waiting at the station, smoking cigarettes until Mariko got off work. Those were such fun times!

Another P5 tune from the disc!

I was jumping around YouTube watching music vids when I came across one of my all-time favorite songs: Ano Natsu no Hanabi by Dreams Come True. It goes back a ways! I think when I first heard this, I was making up my mind to move to Japan and this song kind of clinched it for me. I love it. Here it is from one of their amazing concerts, then the album song below, and lyrics (with rough translation) below that. Natsukashii!

Japanese

Tooku kara mune furuwasu oto ga hibiite kuru
Mushiatsui yami no mukou ga yakete iru
Senkou ga yobisamashita ano natsu no hanabi wo
Kawakaze ga hakonda kayaku no nioi wo

Hito de afureru teibou hagurenai you ni
Majika de mita juugou dama mabataki wo wasureta

Imagoro anata mo dokoka de omoidashiteru no?
Ano hi no koto

Tomodachi ni hiyaka sareta mou natsu no hajime ni wa
Futari shite hana to hoho dake yakete ita

Kawa ni ochiru hanabira ga kieteku magiwa ni
Tateru oto ga setsunakute me o sorasenakatta

Imagoro anata mo dareka to kotoshi no hanabi wo miteru no?
Chitteku kisetsu wo issho ni ikite yukeru hito mitsuketa?

Nokoru kemuri kasumu daisankaku
Shuyaku ubawareta hachigatsu no seiza

Imagoro anata mo dokoka de omoidashiteru no?
Ano natsu no hanabi wo

Kotoshi mo kirei ne ano hi to onaji you ni kagayaku hanatachi

Imagoro anata mo dokoka de chitteku kisetsu wo ikiteru
Imagoro dareka to…

English

From far away, heart-shaking sounds are echoing
steaming heat—burning in the darkness
flashes awakened—that past summer’s fireworks
carried on the river-wind, the aroma of gunpowder

Riverbank so overflowing with people, probably not able to peel off
seen nearby the #10 shell’s flash was forgotten

These days do you too, somewhere, recall… that day…

Teased by friends at the very start of summer
as a couple, only our noses and cheeks were sunburned
flower petals falling into the river, on the verge of disappearing
pattering sounds gentle, couldn’t turn my eyes away

These days are you too, with someone, seeing this year’s fireworks?
Did you find the person compatible through the falling-away seasons?

The remaining smoke, hazy Great Triangle [Altair, Vega, Deneb]
leading part taken away, August’s constellation [Sagittarius]

These days do you too, somewhere, recall… that past summer’s fireworks…

This year too, so beautiful, the same as that day, the shining blossoms
These days, are you too, somewhere, living through the falling-away seasons
These days, with someone…

Translations from DCTJoy.com

Everything But The Girl has been one of my favorite bands ever since high school. Ben Watt is such a fantastic musician and Tracey Thorn’s voice is amazing. I think I’ve seen them live a few times, but that was in the late 80’s/early 90’s… so long ago. These versions of Each and Every One and Rollercoaster are fantastic.

I had the pleasure of seeing the Skatalites way back around ‘91 at the Palace in Hollyweird and it was probably the most fun I’ve had at a show. I think it was because it was nonstop ska and dancing. By the time we left the show, we were all drenched with sweat and I was so sore the next day. The Skatalites are just super. If you can catch one of their shows, definitely recommended!

Hot on the heels of my last revelation, this morning I figured out that Gnip Gnop’s name is Ping Pong spelled backwards. It only took 30 years to come to that realization. Another step closer to enlightenment, I guess.

I found this idea from Derek Powazek’s blog via another blog I follow (sorry I can’t remember which one). You basically set up a smart playlist in iTunes and specify the dates. My “The High School Years” playlist is not very interesting (no really embarrasing songs), and I find that I actually listen to a lot of the songs up to this day. I guess I like the oldies! Lots of English Beat, Cocteau Twins, Everything But The Girl, The Police, Bowie, and Bauhaus. Maybe some of the new wave stuff is a little embarrassing, but whatever! And our iTunes library includes Mariko’s cd’s as well, so I see all the music she listened to during those same years. She really was nuts about Toshiki Kadomatsu! Anyways, try out a smart playlist like this and see if you can dig up some old songs that you might have forgotten about.