Friday, June 3, 2011

YES! More Keith. And Gram Parsons, Too


Poor Mr. Moon. Either he picked up something on his travels or he's gotten whatever's going around here but he's got the sinus drainage and he's not feeling well at all. And he does not complain.
But he came home a little early and we chatted as he changed out of his work clothes and got into his comfy clothes and we were talking about Keith and I asked him, "Does listening to the book make you want to see old videos of him?"
"Of course," he said.
Now I have to tell you, Mr. Moon was a jock, not a rock-n-roller. Music was a part of his life, as it was of all our lives, we who grew up in the sixties and seventies, but not like it was a part of mine. So it's interesting that he likes the book the way he does, which is a lot.

"I'd like to see a picture of Gram Parsons," he said. Now I've played a lot of Gram Parsons recordings for Mr. Moon and Lon and Lis do some of his songs but I'm sure he'd never really thought about Gram as a person and in the book, Keith talks about how much he loved Gram.

You know, men do love men.

Men on teams love their teammates and men love their man friends and men who play music together love each other and it has nothing to do with sex beyond what I imagine sex has to do with women-who-love-each other which is that there has to be a spark of some sort and that's all there is to it.
Not a spark like, "I want to fuck you," but a spark like the feeling you get when you're in the presence of anyone, man or woman, who excites you in some way. Who gets your molecules humming. Whom you know you can trust. Who you feel as if you have known forever in some deep way that transcends but does not exclude anything we think of as sex. Because we humans are so limited in our way of thinking about things, you know. We are.

So I told Mr. Moon that I had a DVD of a movie about Gram Parsons. A documentary and I've talked about watching it here before. It's odd in that Gram was from Winter Haven which is where I spent many formative years of my growing-up and his mama came from folks whose kids I went to school with and so there is that connection. And one of the people in the film who is interviewed is an original member of the Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers and he is a good friend of Lon and Lis's and so I sort of know him and well....
The music world is small, y'all.

And in the movie, Keith Richards is interviewed quite a bit and so Mr. Moon and I settled in to watch it. I gave him two Sudafed and a cheese and cracker plate and we watched part of it together. Mr. Moon sipped some brown whiskey to liquefy the secretions and I drank a martini and there were all those faces, those songs. Keith when he was young and Gram when he was young and Winter Haven and Bernie and it's just really fascinating, to figure out how all of these ends tie together and you don't even have to stretch them to do so. From the groves of Winter Haven where I first learned to kiss boys to Keith Richards...all in one little hour of film.
I finally said, "Honey, we need to stop it now because I have to make supper," and we did and I've got a venison/portabella/onion/pepper meat loaf in the oven and green beans simmering and potatoes scrubbed up and ready to go and here I am, writing this.

I don't know. Just a funny old world. It's a big one but I do sort of believe in that six degrees of separation thing. Not saying that I'll ever meet Keith Richards and say, "Hey man. I knew Gram Parson's people," or anything like that. Nothing like that at all. I doubt I'll ever meet Keith Richards and if I did, well, I don't know what I'd say beyond, "Hey. How ya doin'?"
The few times I've met celebrities I didn't know what in hell to say. When I met Matt Guitar Murphy (who, BTW, was mentioned in Keith's book), it was real-late-thirty in Key West and I shook his hand and said, "Thanks for all the guitar playing."

What more can you say?

Well, I'm going to go make banana bread now.
And I almost didn't post that picture you see above because it's just a little bit...oh, gay.
But you know what?
I think that's perfect.

Love is love and one's beloved is always beautiful.
Mmmm...
That may have been profound. Or even cosmic.

And may have answered a few questions I've pondered lately. Well, Friday night in Lloyd.

What's up with you? Profound or cosmic or just plain old life? Don't discount it, whatever it is. Here we are, tied up together like my mother's gown was today when she had to get her chest x-ray to prove she didn't have TB. "Green-to-green," the woman said, "And white-to-white," and don't you know, there was no green at all?

Life.
Here's to getting your molecules humming.

Love...Ms. Moon

10 comments:

  1. Huh. I just always assumed Keith and Mick had slept together -- not because they're gay but because they loved each other and they were wild. Huh. I adore Gram Parsons and was always in love with the story (perhaps apocryphal?) that he died in Emmylou's arms. Is that true?

    What's going on around these parts? Well, I just fixed myself a margarita and am drinking it alone (not really alone as my three children are around...)

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  2. I liked this post alot...remember the emails I sent you a long time ago? Now, with so much time passed, I can see that things were very much like you described. Cryptic, I know, but I feel like you will know what I mean. Get sleep tonight. I'm going to.

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  3. I love that photo. I love that life is so incredibly alive..

    I'm sipping red wine, sitting outside, exhausted from the past few weeks, missing art, creating, blogs, words.
    But knowing that I've put some good good time in.

    love you Mary .

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  4. Elizabeth- Nah. He did not die in Emmy Lou's arms. Another woman was there. She was an old, old friend. Keith did say that Gram was the only man he ever shared a bed with but it was while they were both kicking heroin. They puked and shit together and then, when they felt better, they played music together. I believe him.

    SJ- I know. I remember. Love you, darling.

    deb- Good. We all need these times to sip whatever and descend and arise to sweetness. Love you, too.

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  5. Things have settled down here. Two aged people who are having health issues do not make for serenity. But all is okay tonight.

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  6. Ever see a movie called "Grand Theft Parsons"? As I recall it was quirky but good.

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  7. You certainly do give me a yen to sip something to get my molecules humming. Ah, well. Presumably they are humming already and I just forget to notice.

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  8. Syd- Man, you are right about that. I'm so sorry.

    Omgrrrl- Seriously? No. I have not.

    A- I know. Presumably they are but sometimes it's hard to feel them.

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  9. I loved the photo and your post. Gram was a beautiful fella.

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  10. Ditto SB, I love the picture too. Keith and Gram are both so brilliant.

    I definitely don't think Keith and Mick would sleep together. Mick and Bowie for sure.

    What a beautiful post, I know exactly what you mean and you're right as always xx

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.