Monday I was sitting in the waiting room of the optometrist's office waiting for Kris while she was getting an exam. I picked up a copy of Rolling Stone that was on the table next to me. I'm not a big fan of what that magazine has become, but it was a choice of that or Redbook. I flipped to the 'Reviews' page which included new music, movies and books. One of the books was titled "Astral Weeks, A Secret History of 1968" by Ryan Walsh. It's about the famous and influential album by Van Morrison, which is one of my most favorite records of all time. The books gets into details of the time and place connected with the making of the album and talks about people who were in and around that same time and place. My fascination and love for the record is hard to explain in my own words, so here is an excerpt from a review by legendary rock critic Lester Bangs which explains it so much better than I can -
I had to get this book. I wrote down the book title and author so I would be sure to find it the next time I went to the bookstore. Then, the next day at 4:52 a.m. a message came in on my phone from an old friend who lives hundreds of miles away asking me to confirm my street address. I replied with a confirmation and a request to "send more Bings." That evening the reply came back saying "Sorry, I have no Bings to send, but be watching your mail for this to arrive..." followed by a link to Amazon.com which took me to this -
Wait. What? Are you kidding me right now? What are the chances of that happening? It turned out that my friend, Al, had seen the same review in Rolling Stone on one of his phone apps the same day and... knowing we both share a fondness and appreciation for 60s and 70s music (and that album in particular)... decided to order it for me. How cool was that? I told him it must be Divine intervention, cosmic energy, or synchronicity. He opted for Divine intervention, which I am perfectly okay with since it's all pretty much the same thing anyway.
And, guess what arrived in my mailbox today? That's right. Astral Weeks by Ryan Walsh.
Can't wait to get into it and discover the whole story. Was Janet Planet the muse who inspired several of the songs? What was James Brown's connection? And what was up with the radio station owner who believed he was the reincarnation of a scientist from Atlantis? It's all in there. Maybe I'll even find out what really happened on "Cyprus Avenue." If I do, and you're interested, I'll let you know. And...thanks, Al. You're an alright guy.
Roger O'Dea 3/14/2018