lumière des étoiles

lists and lists and lists
2004-07-06 4:18 p.m.

Ah, beef. Hamburgers, Steak, Taco Salad. I've had more in this past week (and weekend) than I've had in the last three months. But I suppose that's what Americana and 4th of July barbecues are all about. I'm just trying not to think about things like recombinant bovine growth hormone (ew!) and other such nasty, alien substances I might have ingested. I'm trying to recover by having anti-oxidant and zinc-rich foods, drinking juice that I make myself in the juicer, and avoiding any processed foods this week. In fact, I've been preparing and eating raw-foods mostly over the last few days, albeit somewhat subconsciously. I think if you're generally pretty healthy and balanced, your body just knows what it needs sometimes, and if you let it direct you, it won't steer you wrong.

The weekend was blissfully slow; a good thing since it's been so hot these last few days. On the fourth we stayed at my brother's party for most of the night, then picked up Bruno, conveniently located at a party around the corner from my brother's house, and drove into Jersey City. From the highway we could see both Manhattan's and Brooklyn's fireworks - they're shot off of boats sitting in the water, so several go off all at once. I was captivated, and something about everyone pulled over on the side of rt 1&9 made me happy.

We met more friends at Uncle Joe's (which is a bar - I confused nearly everyone this weekend when I said "meet at Uncle Joe's, here's the address", and they thought I meant one of my parents' siblings. I didn't catch on 'til a friend said "are you sure it's ok with him if we all come over too?" tee hee!), which was also having its July 4th bbq. I had forgotten there was a terrace behind the two main rooms of the bar; it was wonderful to sit outside and chat with everyone for hours. People were dancing outside on the patio the way they do in Europe - I miss those open air, outdoor clubs and wish more places around here offered such possibilities.

I am finished this week with summer classes, and I really can't believe we leave for our trek so soon. Everything is pretty much in order, but there are a few more things I need to do, and since I'm going to a friend's beach house/party this Friday, Saturday and Sunday to have our bon voyage and all that, I'm trying to process everything as fast as possible today, tomorrow, and Thursday.

So with that, I'm getting manageable things set up this week, music being one of them. As petty theft is difficult to avoid in certain parts of the globe, I always make sure the electronics I have with me are cheap and easily replaceable, and that I never take "originals" with me. This means digging out my old walkman-tape player and making mix tapes, rather than bringing the top-of-the-line cd player my husband gave me last Christmas and a wallet full o' my favorite cds.

This is always the fun part. As imagined images of those places I have yet to see lay themselves over strains of my favorite songs, I get to play with different possibilities and consider the different moods I might experience while traveling. Laying out my expectations this way, setting them to music, in a sense, heightens my anticipation to go. Once there, I'm grateful I thought so carefully about what I'd probably want to listen to.

It is fun to play on the surreal possibilities. I brought several Depeche Mode songs with me to Ghana, for example, because hey, it's just funny to hear early 80's, minor-key, poppy synth music while you're looking out a bus window at the distinctly African jungle. It's also odd and surreal to listen to Johnny Cash in Morocco, Missy Elliot in Ireland, or early Prince on a Greek Island. Things that shouldn't fit eventually do start to, and you've created something all your own.

So what will I include? I have only a starting list, and must limit myself to only four or five tapes because of limited space, but it looks something like this:

Jimmy Cliff, "The Harder They Come" & "Rivers of Babylon"

The Folk Implosion, "Chained to the Moon"

The Fugees, "Ready or Not"

Sinead O'Connor, "No Man's Woman"

Paul Simon, "Injured Coast" & "Mother and Child Reunion"

Forest for the Trees, "Dream"

Gorillaz, "Starshine"

Sting, "Mad About You"

java, "Sex et Alcool"

U2, "I Will Follow"

Desmond Dekker, "Israelites"

Tori Amos, "Etienne"

Bob Marley, "Soul Rebels"

Kirsty MacColl, "Amazonians" & "Mambo de la Luna"

Deep Forest, "Sweet Lullabye"

Ayub Ogada, "Obiero"

Manu Chao, "Me Gustas Tu"

Yes, I'll just get to work on that right now.

xo,