Videos / Lions / Girlfriend / Groovy Car Ride

Sunday night

Dream 1: Videos

I was enjoying watching new videos that someone had cut together from old footage for the song "Goin' Back" by The Byrds, and for another song by The Monkees. The Monkees video was much more "madcap," and for awhile I seemed to be be back on the set with them, as they ran around a hotel and did silly things, all the time dressed in matching white sweaters.

Dream 2: Lions

I'd heard that a new documentary film about lions was being shown locally, and called my brother Andrew to tell him about it. He agreed to meet me at the venue, which wasn't a local theater; it was a fancier place, such as the Smithsonian, or the National Geographic Society. There wasn't tiered seating in the theater; instead, all of the seats were arranged in a large rectangle on the same level.

I showed up just as the lights went out. While the screen was still dark, the film began with the roar of a lion. I couldn't see, so I called out, "Andrew!?" He didn't answer, but as the first images flickered on the screen, I had enough light to find him. He was seated on the other side of the aisle from where I was standing, and motioned for me to come over there. Our friends Preston and Mari-Jane were sitting in the next row behind him. At first I saw that there were several vacant seats next to them, so I said in a stage whisper, "Oh, I'll sit back there." Preston and M-J both spoke up, and pointed out that there was an empty seat next to Andrew after all, so I sat with him. As I did so, I noticed that Spike Lee was also in the audience.

Dream 3: New Girlfriend

Apparently this dream took place back in the 1980s, when I worked for Crown Books. I'd met up with my friend, Gordon, and I was with my new girlfriend, who had a complicated personal history -- former marriage, etc. (I don't know her name, but she had blonde hair.) I was standing with my right arm around her, and we were facing Gordon and talking. He had met her once before, but either didn't know, or didn't remember all of the details of her personal life. For some reason she thought it important that Gordon did know these details. She said something along the lines of, "If he's going to know me, he'll have to learn all of these things anyway," and started to quiz him about her past.

Later, when we were outside, Gordon said he had some plans, so he couldn't do anything that evening. I got the impression that he was giving me a bit of a brush-off, but couldn't really blame him, after the girlfriend's wierdness. I watched him walk down a steep hill toward his car. I walked down the same hill, and when I got to the bottom, the girlfriend wasn't around. Gordon approached me and suggested another day that we might get together, a holiday. He said, "All the kids will be out of school." I said, "It's going to be a work day for me."

Dream 4: Groovy Car Ride

This dream also seemed to take place in the 1980s. I was giving The Who's Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend a ride home in a small 1960s car, possibly a Volkswagen Beetle, and we were listening to a tape of The Who's most psychedelic album, "The Who Sell Out" (from 1967). They were sitting in the back seat as I drove. Roger was singing along with the tape, and I was watching him in the rear view mirror. I noticed that as the album became more and more far-out, so did Roger's appearance, regressing to his 1960s look. By the time we got to "Armenia City in the Sky" (actually, the first full song on the album) Roger had a bouffant 'do and was wearing what appeared to be dark blue lipstick. I couldn't stifle the urge to make a snarky comment. I said, "Nice HAIR, Roger."

Eventually we got to their neighborhood, which consisted of old, medium-sized red brick apartment buildings, and Roger had reverted to his regular self. He and Pete got out and went into their respective buildings; they lived next door to each other.

*****

Dream 1: Videos

I grew up watching "The Monkees" on TV when I was a kid, and always found them to be amusing. The Byrds' song "Goin' Back" is featured on a CD that I'm giving out to some people this Christmas.

Dream 2: Lions

I wonder if the lion's roar at the beginning of the documentary is a take-off on the roar of the MGM lion, which comes at the beginning of so many of the classic movies that I like.

Dream 3: Girlfriend

The girl in this dream is no girlfriend that I ever had, but may be modeled on the wife of one of my wife's former co-workers. We were talking about that couple yesterday.

Dream 4: Groovy Car Ride

I've watched a few Who performances in YouTube lately; I've been trying to determine for myself when I think they "lost it," or became uninteresting to me. I liked Townshend's solo stuff up through his "White City" album in 1985, but have little use for what came after that. As for The Who's never-ending farewell tour, I saw them a few times in the 90's, but after awhile they seemed to be going through the motions, and there was no point to see them again. The post 9-11 concert in New York does seem to be an exception, however; they were playing for police, fire and rescue personnel, and really rose to the occasion. That was probably the last high point for the band, in my opinion, anyway.