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Your Stories and Memories about Glen

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robduloc
Posts: 398
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2014 1:43 pm

Re: Your Stories and Memories about Glen

Post by robduloc »

You know, for the 50th Anniversary Mike Love, who owns the property rights to The Beach Boys' name enforced a new rule or policy, no talking to fans or signing autographs on the side for free, under penalty of heavy fines, all talking and signing has to be through meet and greets, ranging from a hundred to five hundred dollars.

A Hundred guarantees a meeting, signing, and pose with at least two Beach Boys with the understanding it will usually be Mike Love and Bruce Johnston, five hundred possibly 4 members and a sound check.

A sort of cattle call for fans, if you ask me.

Here is the clincher, we were first in line at one of these shows at an outdoor venue, a winery, the line was next to the side of the stage, and we got to hear the warm up for free, and you know what, the sound man played Glen Campbell songs over the system all morning long.

How about that, sitting under the shade of a tree with my teenager, and Glen Campbell in the mix floating freely in the air all around us, like the wind rustling through the leaves.

Tall oak trees, as I recall, to serve as an umbrella. Seriously, I'm not making this up... after seeing The Beach Boys live in concert over 56 times, to have Glen Campbell be a part of the 50th Anniversary Reunion, nothing quite like it ever before... good call on someone's part.

Well, I guess Bruce Johnston's sister lives up here and even though she approaching her seventies had just gotten married, there was a wedding party in front, Bruce Johnston broke code to risk talking to the group on the other side of the grass which was sectioned off.

He had his side of the lawn and they had theirs, in line with the rest of us who arrived early for a chance to jockey for the festival seating nearest the stage, why weren't his family a part of the meet and greet.

Someone nearby approached me and pointed out Johnston was in short range, he could see by all our memorabilia that we were huge fans and heard a number of stories while waiting in line that morning when I had met the group at past shows.

My son and I collected our things and approached the party, Bruce Johnston stopped, looked at me and all our albums and said, "Don't even think about it"!

It was all over, he left his sister and her party shortly after that, we headed back to our place in line, a fitting end of over three decades trying to crash and meet the group.

After years of sensory which hotels to crash, my sensory said to turn around and try and get one last glimpse of Johnston or what I would describe as a Beach Boys sighting.

He was walking up the garden path to the cottage where the meet and greet was to be held, it was still early in the afternoon, in his summer apparel, short sleeves, short pants and long socks, he turned to look over his shoulder at me, like I was crazy and needed to make sure that I hadn't crossed the line and following him.

No, I'm not Charlie Manson.

A look of resignation over his face, an odd time warp for both of us, you have to be paying customers if you want to try and be a friend.

All the years of of being a card holding musician, the limits and confines of the music trade had come to this.

Mike Love e-mailed Brian Wilson, Al Jardine and David Marks to announce that they were fired from the group, you see for some time, Love had a version of the group backed by Johnston and supporting musicians who work at pay scale, announcing that version of The Beach Boys would continue to play the casinos.

No more underage venues with successive generations of fans or burgeoning families that want to experience the musical legacy first hand, I guess you have too wait to turn 21, for that.

And so yeah, I can see why their sound man wanted to play Glen Campbell that afternoon, he wanted to clear his mind!

Ever so gentle,loyal and true and vital.

See you, under the trees.


robduloc
Posts: 398
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2014 1:43 pm

Re: Your Stories and Memories about Glen

Post by robduloc »

Dee,

When Mattie is dumped by Cogburn and the Texas Ranger she high tails it out of town and follows pursuit, the two men in the search party think they've stumped her when they are crossing the river, she doesn't care, she jumps in the cold water with Blackie, she isn't about to be left stranded on the distant shore, she's going to get her money's worth and obtain true justice.

As the men stand on the rig and watch her catching up, Cogburn exclaims, "By God, she reminds me of me".

It's Mattie that has the grit and the wit to survive in a man's world, no matter how sneaky and messy men can be.

There is a history of the Cajun people who suffered from wanderlust and expanded into Texas, it's a huge part of that Country's history, as a child, it wasn't lost on me, Portis had such an exotic name for his Texas Ranger, generations of family and blood relations a million miles from their original home, expanding west.

There are a lot of cowboy movies where someone gets knocked unconscious by being struck with a rock or heavy branch, or you know, get shot in the arm, and still manage to save the day, because it's only a flesh wound.

But here is what I have always thought since I first saw the Film True Grit when it was first released.

The Texas Ranger dies, and comes back to life to save Mattie, he has seen his final glory but his job isn't done, the angels tell him he has to go back and save her before he can go onto his final reward.

He only has a fleeting moment to oblige, and show what he is made of.

You and I should be so lucky, to have our path laid out that way when all our Texas Ranger truly wanted was a dance or two and steal a kiss behind the barn.

Standing in the face of danger, Mattie, Cogburn and Texas Ranger show that they care.

And so, when I bough the original soundtrack, and listen to the opening title, the Texas Ranger is still alive, only he lives in different shape and form than we are used to, in the flowing river, rocky mountain tops, rolling clouds and sun breaking through the trees, these are all things that the Texas Ranger loves and leaves as a gift for Mattie, knowing that her life was spared and that she has more living to do and someday soon, they will be reunited, and who knows, perhaps, their adventures aren't over and their destiny intertwined has only just begun!

The indestructible side of our nature, is perhaps, the most human, a mixture of everything we love and know to be true and good can be captured in the arrangement and song like True Grit.


robduloc
Posts: 398
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2014 1:43 pm

Re: Your Stories and Memories about Glen

Post by robduloc »

Okay, I , uh, purchased the Charles Portis Norwood paperback pictured here on this thread.

Do you want to know something cute?

There are a number of sellers who have to include in their info that their copy have yellow highlights underlined in favorite passages.

As it turns out, reviewers say that Norwood has some of the best or most clever one liners in modern literature.

The yellow underlined passages are some of the most well loved moments and most necessary part of growing up for aging school children.

I might have to buy a copy with the yellow underlined passages for a period piece or window into the addolescent mind of the early 70's!

I hope you know that when I mention another artist here, I want to stay focus on Glen Campbell.

I do have a special footnote regarding the last album and tour I mentioned by Rosanne Cash.

Rosanne and her husband had some unfinished work surrounding her father's estate involving one of the first houses that he grew up in.

Once they found themselves in that part of the world, they decided to travel the back roads to see what they could find, it led to a whole album or series of songs.

She said one of the highlights of their trip was to visit the bridge featured in the song Ode To Billy Joe.

You have to take into account, the movie poster with Robby Benson shows a mammoth steel structure.

To their surprise, Rosanne and her husband found the true bridge is only a tiny span!

If you were to throw something over the side it isn't exactly going to be swallowed up in a tidal pool.

So what the characters did in the song is truly dangerous, and risk getting caught.


robduloc
Posts: 398
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2014 1:43 pm

Re: Your Stories and Memories about Glen

Post by robduloc »

I clicked onto and watched the Gentle On My Mind video at the top of this wonderful forum.

Tears began to swell and temperature rise, the artist with the perfect hair, tone and range.

How does a performer know when to inflect as the red light on the camera turns red to say look into this lens, the world is watching and manage to keep a studio audience enthralled, it's all about hitting your marks, I suppose, with the intimate setting of dinner theater.

But you know, the video is a good example how much living that you can pack into one song, every line and wrinkle in his face reveals some sort of feeling, to place all your faith in a single song and give it your all and push the envelope, changing and raising the key at the end to peak the mood and give some closure, memorable.

And to come here and find Dee's link and Cowpoke's book.

Thank you, for all the insights.

If you want to call up the version of Norwood on amazon.com with the picture from the movie on the front cover there is a trick.

Paperbacks from films in the 1960's were called Mass Market Paperbacks or Mass Market Paperback Movie Tie-Ins.

Ballantine Books usually were the Publishers.

The version Cowpoke posted is going on amazon.com for around 19 dollars with S&H.

As Dee's short documentary attests, there is a Wizard Of Oz element, Norwood is Jack Haley Jr,'s directorial debut.

Norwood's brother in-law is the Cowardly Lion.

Norwood is the Wizard of Oz whose balloon was thrown off course and lay down roots stealing hearts in parts unknown, but it isn't all smoke and mirrors, as roots and new connections deepen.

Much like the Glen Campbell forum!

No doubt, cars have been a whirlwind this century, the best place to high tail it out of a tornado, as a kid I remember what I love about film Norwood the most, the super stock cars of the late 60's and early 70's, Hot Wheels~

And so there is a bit fast forwarding, the men's feathered hair, long sideburns and the women's big hair, between the short span when the book was completed and film was released.

It's all good. Like a good soup stock.


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Cowpoke
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Re: Your Stories and Memories about Glen

Post by Cowpoke »

Rob, actually I wanted to ask you if there is a version of the novel Norwood with pictures from the movie. But, it seems there is one!
Image


I'm a carefree, range ridin', driftin' cowpoke...
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Dee
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Re: Your Stories and Memories about Glen

Post by Dee »

Love this discussion, Rob.

A few quick comments and then I promise to catch up this weekend.....

Wow...your comment really got me to thinking:
I don't know maybe it comes down to you don't pick a film, it picks you.--Rob


I have never thought about a film that way, but come to think of it, "I'll Be Me" chose me for sure. Of course, I went to see it for Glen's story, and then found parallels and lessons for my own life...so the film awakened me in unexpected ways with a new path or direction in my life.

Same with "True Grit" and of course other films that influenced my life for the good. Without these films that chose me, I would not be the person I am today.

Norwood only played for one week when it was released in my city at a local theater...my Mom was in the hospital then, so I couldn't see this film at that time. A few years later, I saw (actually heard bits and pieces of) Norwood on a snowy television channel...talk about a teaser! Finally, I saw this film on Netflix a few years ago. I had known all of the songs from the film, of course, and it was great to see how the music was interwoven into the movie.

Have you seen this "making of" Norwood video on youtube? It is extremely rare...and was almost lost for good except that a long-time Glen Campbell fan found it in the trash, if I remember correctly, and salvaged it, realizing its value:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXGtP4eRUuw [/youtube] --- [Edited Oct. 13, 2015: video removed from YouTube by uploader because a bootlegger downloaded it and sold it on his website.--Dee]

When you wrote:
All my life I've had dreams that I am homeless and trying to make my way home, something snapped or clicked when I saw the preview for Norwood, you got to carry your home in your heart, and it;s the people you meet along the way that alter the course of your life.


...of course, I thought of The Wizard of Oz and Dorothy's quest and the friends she made as she followed the metaphorical yellow brick road (to find what was in her heart all along). I thought about her lines, too: "if I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own backyard; because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with." And, of course: "There's no place like home; there's no place like home; there's no place like home..."

Roseanne Cash -- I have never been to a concert of hers, but hope to...it's on my bucket list. Have you heard her last album? It is great songwriting and music and love that transcends into a work of art.

Finally, I enjoyed reading your post about "True Grit". This past week, I am working on a response to you in my head and will post soon. My main question for you and other members is: who showed "true grit" in this story / film? Who was the character with "true grit"?

Were Rooster Cogburn and our Texas Ranger Mattie's protectors? Or were they created by Portis for another reason? Mattie was an independent-minded, no nonsense, focused woman who sought revenge for her father's death. Did she really need Cogburn? Did the Texas Ranger join the twosome for his own purpose without consideration for Mattie? Is this story really one of redemption for each of the characters?

Can you see this story written by Portis being inspired by a fable or fairy tale? Similar to a fairy tale, three very different people set out on a journey together, sharing a quest for revenge, each with different motivations but united for the same outcome. Along the way, they learn about themselves, they discover or rediscover their strengths and weaknesses. On the other hand, "True Grit" doesn't end with a "happily ever after" ending or does it? :)

BTW, I thought you and fans of "True Grit" might like to read this article with photos and an intriguing map: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/20/trave ... .html?_r=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

To be continued....

Dee


robduloc
Posts: 398
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Re: Your Stories and Memories about Glen

Post by robduloc »

Well, you know, I got a little teary eyed, when I read there is a Norwood with pictures from the film, so thank you.

Lordy, heaven knows that I need to spend more time on e-bay looking up Glen Campbell related items, the book you mention is so right up my alley.

I went to the movies every weekend for two between the summer before 5th and 7th Grade, many of the trailers stand out in my mind in the spirit of the times, two especially, The April Fools with Jack Lemmon and Norwood with Glen Campbell.

Going to movies once a week, I saw a number of previews for many weeks, the only way that I can describe the two I mentioned and I hope you can relate or identify one level or another, they made me feel the oxygen was sucked right out of me and that I was going to black out.

I don't know maybe it comes down to you don;t pick a film, it picks you.

Norwood was only in the theaters up here for a short time, and I missed it, but as I recall, the preview showed Glen Campbell wooing Kim Darby, kissing on her, I knew in a flash or instant that it was a road movie.

All my life I've had dreams that I am homeless and trying to make my way home, something snapped or clicked when I saw the preview for Norwood, you got to carry your home in your heart, and it;s the people you meet along the way that alter the course of your life.

Roseanne Cash performed up here last year, on the night of her father's birthday, she told the audience, poets have a way of feeling estranged and longing for home, funny the great service or void an artist fulfills, I'm sure that we are doing the best that we can do, buying all the records and attending the shows, Roseanne says those people comprise sixth percent of the audience, it's the people she looks for and plays to stepping out in the spotlight.

That's why I love all my live Glen Campbell performances on record when he breaks into a song, it resonates and a big wave of applause ripple through the crowd, he always has to stop and say thank you, he is remembering all the good times and what the song means to him just like we are.

The song never ends, a never ending map or road to the soul, the quickest way home.


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Cowpoke
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Re: Your Stories and Memories about Glen

Post by Cowpoke »

Yes Rob a reply. And, don't fall off your chair, here's another one! :D

I will definitely track down a copy of True Grit. And Norwood, with the flying sausages, sound delicious too. Rob, do you know if there is also a copy of Norwood with pictures from the movies?
And, did you see Norwood in the movies, when it was first released? I believe not many people have seen it in a movie theatre.


I'm a carefree, range ridin', driftin' cowpoke...
robduloc
Posts: 398
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2014 1:43 pm

Re: Your Stories and Memories about Glen

Post by robduloc »

OMG! A Reply ...ooh...

Well you know, Cowpoke, I first purchased True Grit around 6 months of its' initial release, I believe, and that is the sweetest thing, the way the press released an initial copy with pictures and quickly jumped on the opportunity to make it a paperback movie-tie in.

And when I went back to hunt down a copy with pictures, I ended up getting one of the first editions, an English teacher at my school accepted it as a gift, it may be on a shelf at school right now, it isn't too hard to find one with pictures from the film.

Do you know what?

The original paperback had a rustic portrait of Mattie which resembled a old fashion painting or tapestry, well, you can imagine how I felt when the movie tie in had an antique looking picture on the back cover of Kim Darby, my goodness, uhmm...

Well, that was 1969- Spring of 1970, age ten to eleven, fast forward to 2001, I'm still living in my old hometown and get a job cleaning carpets for my school district where I grew up, and wouldn't you know, True Grit had become approved reading and regular part of the curriculum for middle school, I used the clean the storage rooms with shelves and banks of the book, Mr. Portis, what sight to behold, a copy for every family in the neighborhood, wow!

There is a lot of ego in the original story and new version, only the original story never let too much ego get in the way, that would be like a sissy to quit whenever the going gets tough, or there is heated debates and arguments, but you really have to hand it to Portis and the original Director, nothing was going to come between Mattie and her protectors, bruised egos nursing old wounds or hurt feelings.

And Norwood, required reading for every dedicated fan, Norwood slinging sausages across the kitchen that his sister made for him after a hard day's work at the garage slaving away to help pay the rent, directed at her sister's new room mate and boyfriend, I mean, given the situation, wouldn't you?

Yep, you can picture Glen Campbell hurling patties across the old linoleum floor, more ego and hurt feelings to contend with, but we're all on a journey and who knows where this roller coaster will take us, everyone would like to live a parallel line from point A to point B, that is what Portis, he'll tell you in so many words, be prepared to run around or go in circles before you get what you're looking or striving for, well worth the trip or price of admission when you get what you want in the end, satisfaction!

Listen for the roller coaster effect in the arrangements for the Norwood soundtrack and Elmer Bernstein True Grit soundtrack revisited.

Thank you, cowpoke, goodnight, everyone.


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Cowpoke
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Re: Your Stories and Memories about Glen

Post by Cowpoke »

Rob, you just gave me a great idea. I never even thought of reading the book True Grit! Now let's see if I can find a copy with pictures from the movie... :)

What about Norwood, is that worth a read as well?


I'm a carefree, range ridin', driftin' cowpoke...
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