The Days & Nights of the Lipstick Librarian!

An Aggravating Cranberry-Tinged Weekend

Well, it certainly was a lovely Labor Day weekend: first my car broke down in the Hollywood Video parking lot at 5:00 pm Friday (it was a 1990 VW Jetta--go figure!). AAA said it would be an hour-and-a-half--I barely finished picking up my beloved Tazo ice tea from the Starbucks across the street when we got the call--the tow truck was a'comin'. Then I developed a minor but verrry irritating condition on Saturday evening. I don't want to get into details as to what it was, but let's just say the women out there will understand when I say it involved drinking copious amounts of filtered, unsweetened, 100% cranberry juice. (Hint: six packages of Splenda per 12 ounces makes it barely palatable.) Then I discovered strange scratchings and gouges in my beautiful garden tomatoes. Though I really did want to blame the neighborhood cat (the one that rules our neighborhood--just ask the corgis down the street), I realized it was those ever-so-cute birds nesting in my hedge. If any of you want to get rid of those AOL demo disks you get in the mail, let me know--I'm now coveting them.

In between trips to the loo, I was able to assuage my sorrows by watching the MI-5 marathon on A&E Network. Jenny Agutter is in the series too--hard to believe she's that same teenage girl struggling in the Australian outback in Walkabout. but what gets me in the show is that the short, stubby, screaming boss of the troupe is none other than Peter Firth, the guy with those beautiful, Roger Daltrey-like blonde locks (yes, I do have a Roger Daltrey fixation, thank you very much) in film, Equus. He was also in yet another favorite film of mine: Brother Sun, Sister Moon--a Franco Zeffirelli film complete with a Donovan score! A very fey movie--even Belle and Sebastian would find it a bit too twee.

Actually, BSSM brings up another movie theme dear to my heart: historical/religious hippie movies: films that came out in the late 60s and 70s that tried cashing in on the youth movement. There's two that immediately come to mind, both of them musicals:

• Godspell (1973): A musical recreation of the Gospel of St. Matthew, the movie starred Victor Garber as a singing, mime-vision of Jesus. If I remember correctly, there's even a character that goes around talking to a hand puppet. I loved that movie, especially the soundtrack. I'm still peeved that in reviews of the Matthew Broderick version of The Music Man, the press was shocked to learn that Victor Garger could sing. It's almost as irritating as that revisionist belief that the character of Conrad Birdie in Bye, Bye Birdie was based on Elvis Presley.
• Jesus Christ Superstar (1973): The 900-pound gorilla of hippie religious musicals. Not quite as entertaining as Godspell, but the refrain from Superstar is so irritating that my husband actually began filing divorce papers. And poor Ted Neeley--after 30 years, he's still on the road as JC in musical. If you want the official slackers' take on the movie, rent the first/second season of Mr. Show and watch Jeepers Creepers Semi-Star.

Okay; I'm done for the day. Let me know if you come up with more hippie history or religious films. Hair doesn't count, but just might be able to convince me with Lisztomania....