That Elusive Disorder
or the Continued Discourse on the State of Jam
in the Guise of a Film Gawker Tending to a Mirror Image
Randy Ray
2007-02-26
Peaches En Randalia #12 Set 2: Grand Prix (180 minutes) >Cleopatra (248 minutes) star n. A pre-supernova entity, usually a model or actor, who exercises creative control over his or her image with a strong personal style and a sometimes eccentric take on life.. Grand Prix by the late John Frankenheimer is the great tale of speed and relationships. Starring Yves Montand about late 60s pre-Formula 1, Grand Prix racing, the film is also a portrayal (or betrayal) of relationships off the American and European roadways—from Monaco to Watkins Glen. Most importantly, the split-screen Cinerama visual experience and state-of-the-art sound pretty much set the standard for films over the next 40 years. The film has many stars from James Garner to Eva Marie-Saint—her finest role was in the timeless On the Waterfront with young juggernaut, Marlon Brando—but Montand commands the screen—immortal, tortured, complex and wrapped in bone-tired fatigue. Quite frankly, the virtual reality scenes of high speed, quick turn racing were light years ahead of its time while the split screen acrobatics matched with crystal clear loud sound predated the landmark Woodstock film by two years. See Grand Prix for what one can do with sights and sounds; see it to understand why Montand says, “When I see a crash, I put my foot down hard because the others let there’s up”—a cruel but apt life lesson. Cleopatra by Joseph L. Mackiewicz is the fairly non-fictional story about the Egyptian queen who gave Julius Caesar a son but Mark Antony all of her love in the face of wretched, circular decadence in the early Roman Empire—a state precursor and template for all of the remaining human empires on the planet, which failed in similar fashion. Like Grand Prix, the film resonates with STAR QUALITY—Elizabeth Taylor when she towered over the thespian universe and Richard Burton, an excellent actor who shadowed just as many demons on-and-off camera as those that raced ahead of him in the dark.
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THIRD PERSON DÉJÀ VU ALERT: Yet another difficult to understand symbolic- metaphysical column about snooty films? Where’s my heady jam wisdom, brahsephine? Our mantra: Jambands are relevant because they create an atmosphere in which participants must communicate with each other, seek new inspiration and quantify their artistic experience. ________________________________________
Now…we have the beautiful déjà vu year of 2007…or as we say around here, the year of the Worldwide Plague of Rock Reunions (WPRR in the East Coast FM radio vernacular): two sides of the same coin—the dodgy (and poisonous) Nostalgic on one side represents the search for the ghost of a past experience; the quest for that elusive disorder, Chaos which provoked such fine gems amongst artisans in the first place, on the other side.
We can run down the list of bands that are reuniting but, is that really necessary? In the future, my recommendation is that when one walks away, walk away; when returning, return—no need for public decree of a final proclamation. Music truly lives, regardless. Its sinuous shape can be viewed from two sides but, the ethereal object must be allowed to breathe on one’s own terms even when another entity attempts sabotage on the legacy, a rich, mysterious legacy that can be damaged by one too many cups of coffee, searching for that elusive disorder of magic once created in glorious yesteryear delirium.Ye speaks in olde cultural terms because ye sees what living history can become—a tattered remnant of our better angels; an overexposed caricature of a once luminous beauty. - Randy Ray stores his work at www.rmrcompany.blogspot.com. He doesn’t listen to the radio, read newspapers, watch television or play video games. Yes, he likes playing with the same detail in a different strand of time to create a new idea. Yes, his twin sons are celebrated this month in symbolic feature and column dual settings.
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