Last One?

This marks the end of my “required” blogs for class.  I have not decided, but I may still keep this thing going.  I like expressing my thoughts and having others appreciate the knowledge (some useful, but most is not) that I have acquired in my 27 years. 

I got an email from one of my favorite bands of the time, the Decembrists.  They have a new album coming out in January.  I can hardly wait.  If you have never heard of them, their music is a breath of fresh air. The strange part of the context of their songs is that most of it is in an older dialect. Men are referred to as “rakes”.  Each song tells a different story, but all are married to the sea.  The band is from Portland, or so it makes sense that the ocean would permeate.  The band’s sound is hard to describe.  They use a variety of instruments including the bouzouki, accordion, fiddle, steel guitar, and the hurdy gurdy to name a few.  Each song is like a sea shanty.  One of my favorites is about a boy whose mother is given consumption by a fiendish rake.  With her dying breathe the mother tells the boy to avenge this wicked deed.  It takes the boy most of his life to find the rake, but he does and they end up in the belly of a ship that had eaten their respective ships. I will tell no more, the song is called the mariner’s revenge song. If this sounds appealing to you, check out the Decembrists.    

 

To wear or not to wear...

I remember watching a movie with my mom when I was a little boy, and not being able to take my eyes off of the man on the screen. That man was Harrison Ford and the movie was “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Ever since I can remember I wanted to be Indiana Jones. I wanted to wear that fedora. I always got a new whip around Halloween from the costume store. I wanted to go to faraway places searching for mysterious objects of lore, and be very cunning and smart. Mainly, I wanted that hat. Flash forward: Marty McFly wearing a fedora when he goes back to 1955 in “Back to the Future: Part II.” A few years ago, I saw “The Blues Brothers”. Belushi will be eternally cool in his fedora. But the moment I told myself I had to get my own fedora was when I saw “Casablanca”. Humphrey Bogart looked like that hat was part of him. He wore it like no other, and paired with a khaki trench coat, it became a classic. Another person who makes a fedora look cool is Frank Sinatra. How he felt at the moment changed the tilt of his hat. When he would push it back and show more forehead, he was showing vulnerability. When he would pull it down, always with a tilt toward the right eyebrow, he was darker and more debonair. Jimmy Stewart also knew how to wear a hat. Hunter S. Thompson has been seen in 1975 wearing a fedora along with his RAF sunglasses and cigarette holder.
I have since embraced hats. I have a lite felt brown Bailey, and a black Stetson fedora. The brims and shapes are different. When I put one on, I just feel cool. I just purchased a plaid Ivy cap. I am looking for tweed and a hound’s-tooth one. I wish it was the 1940s and I couldn’t leave the house without a hat and a three piece suit. If you are interested in old-time style, the village hat shop online has tons. Locally, On-Time Fashions down Texas Street has an unbelievable collection. (Not all are bright colored as you may believe, and they don’t all resemble “pimp” hats there) Do not be afraid to be timeless.