It’s a Bongo Party

Well, I’m back, and hoping my little blog holiday didn’t cost me whatever readership I have. Was up at the Bruce Peninsula for another relaxing week – this time the rental cottage opened directly onto a lakeside beach, and there were horseshoes! (you know, the game where you throw horseshoes onto spikes?) – and then back working, and then not doing much other than reading this (never read it before, superb) and this (enjoying it so far) and watching this and this.

(Quick thought about the second-lattermost thing: I loved the plot arc about Michael dating a British woman without realizing that she was mentally challenged, but wouldn’t the whole thing have been much, much funnier if the audience had known right from the start? The one episode where we do know seemed to pop in comparison to the rest, and yeah, you can argue in favour of suspense or mystery or whatever, but historically Arrested Development was about nothing more than bringing as much funny as possible as quickly as possible.)

(Quick thought about the lattermost thing: I must now admit – to myself as well as the outside world – that I prefer the original cut of Apocalypse Now, and I don’t think it’s just because of the years of familiarity. Some of the extra Redux stuff was interesting, sure, but a lot of it seemed superfluous – I didn’t mind the added scene with the Playboy bunnies, but it didn’t seem to add much – and the French plantation section really did not work for me period.)

Anyway, gearing up for the filmfest, and though I’m currently ticketless I’m still hoping to score a few, like this and this (this last one filmed & set in my hometown) among other things. In honour of the South African-made and -set former, here’s a lovely track from a great South African comp, The History of Township Music, which can be purchased at a reasonable price here and which was recommended to me (well, not to me specifically, but to the world) here. I have to be careful about listening to this on the iPod because I’m liable to adopt a sort of skipping gait, clicking my fingers and pointing and smiling at passersby.

• Solven Whistlers, “Something New in Africa”
  

And back in North America, here are a couple from Davie Allan & the Arrows, who are probably best known for the nugget “Blue’s Theme” but had lots of good stuff in their repertoire, as this very fine two-disc comp shows. I have to be careful about Davie Allan on the iPod because I’m liable to adopt a sort of cocky swagger – which, come to think of it, is probably indistinguishable to passersby from the sort-of-skipping gait.

• Davie Allan & the Arrows, “Bongo Party”
• Davie Allan & the Arrows, “Cycle-Delic”