If Music be the food of love....

... then what the hell is this?!

When I set out from the East, I had grand plans. Including making a whole bunch of new playlists of music that I would painstakingly craft, perhaps one of each region, or even leg of the journey. There is a scene in my head, that has been there for literally decades, which is how my motorcycle film, the film of my life, MY "ZATAOMM", will open: (It is actually the opening scene of the novel I began some time ago. But it involves a very fast sport bike, tears, a departure, winter lighting, and Bach's Der Kunst Der Fugue.) I imagined thousands of perfect "musical" moments like this as I looked forward to my trip.

Yeah, sure. So, let's talk about what actually happened.

As you all know, time was running short, and I was focused on trying to learn the GoPro (no, that has not really happened yet, but it turns out that the best internet connection to which I have access is the one at work, so I have been dutifully loading video to the web while I work on my office, and try to continue to dig it out from the 80's. (no, I only wish I were kidding)...

BUT: I didn't really have time to make all those wonderful playlists. So I was stuck with what I had - but as it turns out, that wasn't the worst thing. First of all, I have pretty good (read: eclectic) taste in music, and second of all, what I listened to was as often dictated by what would be audible at all, as it happened; and third of all, that didn't keep the magic moments from happening. In fact, they may have been even more impressive for involving music with which I was already pretty familiar, as you''ll see.

Before we even talk about the music, I have to make one thing clear: this is the first time I have ever traveled with an actual sound system designed for a bike. Even if it hadn't been for the entertainment value, I would have thought it necessary for this trip, just so I could hear the GPS. Also, it was supposed to let me control the GoPro (hah!) with my voice.* Before this, I have either lived with the sounds of my ride, naturally, or I have worn earbuds inside my helmet (and because when I was doing this, my earbuds were pretty isolating and very high quality, this was a great experience, because they really cut down on the surrounding engine and wind noise, and I could hear the music really well - while still being able to hear traffic sounds around me).

But, everybody said, no, get an in-helmet system, so I did. I had also bought a new helmet, because it well past time, but in retrospect, wish I had spent more on a quieter one. Oh well.

This is the helmet that I bought... and that little thing on the side is the sound system. Yes, that's it. I mean, there are speakers - wafer thin, that velcro to the inside of the helmet, and a microphone, also tiny and wafer thing that is supposed to do the same thing, but otherwise, that's it: amp, preamp, tuner (it has a radio) and Bluetooth circuits - plus rechargeable battery - all in that little thingy. We truly do live in the future...

 

One of the best things about it is that it holds a charge for ... well, for a long time - I could actually ride for a whole day, and into the night without the charge getting low. Which was good, because, the dance of the sugarplum charging cables every night when I stopped got to be a bit exhausting.... pull out the cables, sort the cables, take the sound system off the helmet, take the GoPro off the helmet, find the outlets, plug in first the computer, then the phone, then the big power bank and then the small power bank, then the cameras, then the sound system... Each of these devices helped with the whole journey, but they each took a toll on the "free and easy" part of being on the road. And then there was the time I lost all those charging cables.... I am really glad that the Scala Rider uses a pretty standard cable.

So - listening to music while riding. It's not, it turns out easy to find much motorcycle music, and one of the best motorcycle songs ever written or performed would be a dangerous earwig - Eye of the Hurricane, by the inestimable David Wilcox, is, while a great song, not something one should listen to overmuch before doing what I was doing.

Still - it's lovely, and reminds me of my mis-spent youth:

Eye of the Hurricane

 So, you can see that I might not have wanted this as a theme song starting out... (note: the caption below the picture is a link to the song on YouTube or Vevo....)

And "motorcycle music" has, in general, a decidedly "metal" edge, that is, mostly, not my jam... (top-songs-about-motorcycles)

As it happens, however, a song that starts several different 80's playlists of mine is, although I never really think of it this way, absolutely a motorcycle song. Also a song I like, for all its 80's excess; it maintains, still, a sort of lip-glossy, romantic hold on my perception of myself as a young man, and I always admired the creativity and "out of the box" thinking behind the iconic video. So:

Remember this video?

As a kid who grew up on Speed Racer, and who was totally into the actualized, short-haired women I was meeting in college, (yes, of course, one in particular, thanks, Lorri... ;-) I loved the video, and the fauxquality that it espoused. I imagined us as a team, she and I, navigating what was also the most theatrical environment we had seen yet on MTV, breaking through fourth, fifth, and sixth walls...

More importantly, this song can be heard in its entirety, even with the cycle going full throttle on the interstate. I must have heard it a hundred times on the trip.

The first song on my workout playlist is Evanescence's huge first hit, Bring Me To Life. It became pretty iconic for me in the months after my knee-replacement surgery, as workouts became a fight to, not just keep up, but regain, some semblance of health. But it was  great for PT sessions that sometimes began before the sun was up, and usually with pretty severe pain. While riding, I often wouldn't know it was the next song on the list until a bit into it, because that intro is pretty quiet, even with Soundcheck on on the iPhone. (yes, I should have mentioned, all audio was provided, via Bluetooth, from my iPhone - really the most ridiculous multi-tasking tool for a journey like this.*) But when the bass line kicks inin, and my head starts to bang at 90 mph., well, there aren't many feelings like that, even if I HAD remembered to put Born To Be Wild on the darned phone (can you believe it?) Also - my workout mix was the perfect accompaniment for any road that was going to prove to be an actual workout - so I occasionally stopped at the beginning of what looked like a real sportbike run - there were a few - and reset to the top of this song:

Bring Me To Life

That's not the only song from my workout mix that made it onto the hot 100 rotation... many years ago, Meredith Sims fueled my love of Toad the Wet Sprocket, and I still rock out to this song regularly:

Of course, it also occurred to me that "Fall Down" might not be the best title for a song on this particular journey. But, god... I love it.

Leaping forward a whole decade, I listened to this song a lot, and it always takes me back to early Round House Theatre days, when I am sure we watched this video a hundred times on the floor of Veroncia Mariani's Home for Boys and Others;

Funny - no where in the song does she say "what's up...?"

I can remember when, in fact, "25 years and my life is still Trying to get up this great big hill" seemed so F___ing profound... But what I didn't remember is how amazing her voice is. Lisa... something. One hit wonders, as far as I know, but that song... still feels relevant today. And when I look at the band in the video, I am reminded that it's been awhile since the changes we are wrestling with now really started happening, for good - we just forgot when the first plane turned left into the north Tower. This is a great song for musing, and contemplating, and just feeling the vibe when you have a few open miles in front of you. You know, like, say... North Dakota.

Some songs on here should require no explanation. Nuff' said.

Yes, of course she is part of my workout mix. Because she's F___ing Joan Jett that's why. Also - if you let this video play through - it goes straight to the other JJ song in high rotation on my trip (and what used to be my ring tone)

I heard the next song over and over; I love KB, and go out of my way to point out to the ids that none fo their woke female superstars (or mine, for that matter - like the whole damned Lilith Fair) would have ever had a chance if it weren't for people like Joan and Kate Bush. But, somehow, it never occurred to me during the whole Ride that whenever I heard this song, I was almost Always. On. A. Hill. I like the song for what it offers in layers... the text, the subtext, and the lovely, heartrending video.

This really didn't occur to me until I was home...

I was always a Bangles fan, and I was surprised to find that only two songs made it onto the road with me - but they were both crucial to keeping my sanity. The first is on my workout mix, and is a cover, but this one is classic Bangles, and I have to credit it with propping my sagging spirits on some of the harder days, because it is just so damned perky:

Walk How?

Surprisingly, this is the ONLY Simon and Garfunkel I had on my phone when I set out:

But I love this cover so much.

Of course, I couldn't let this be the only S&G I had with me, especially, since one of their songs was the song I kept singing to myself as I prepared for this whole ridiculous undertaking... so one night in a motel (South Dakota, if I remember) I rectified the situation, because one simply cannot go on a cross country road trip without this song in one's repertoire:

"It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw..."

"And the moon rose over an open field..."

In all seriousness, I thought of this song all the time. Whether on my own, on a slightly exhilarating, slightly terrifying 24-hour trek, like when I took that picture, or when skirting the rim of Crater Lake, and marveling that so many others were simply traversing the same land I was, just traveling for the sake of travel and to see the sights that the land affords.

At night, I would often listen to music, trying to get to sleep - it can be surprisingly hard to turn off your brain, even through extreme exhaustion. I know there are some people reading this who can relate... and The Boxer came on often enough. I usually couldn't really hear it on the road, because even the live version (I have both on my iPhone) isn't loud enough, even with the volume all the way up on everything, to hear it clearly, and it is too great a song to not hear it clearly. But: it is one of the songs that sustained me - since sometime in my early youth, lying down to go to sleep, on an overnight with Chris Murphy, when I heard the song for the first time, it has been in the litany of ways I heep from giving up - whatever it is that vexes me.

There is music that I tried to use, more than once but gave up on: The aforementioned Der Kunst Der Fuge; Mozart's 3rd Violin, which I have ridden to before; Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra, one of my very favorite pieces of music - all were simply not "loud" enough, consistently enough, for them to be appreciated, no matter how much I wanted them to be a part fo the experience. Some music, however, was surprising in its utility: either for mood, for a driving rhythm, or for some undiscovered appropriateness to the Ride. Dire Straits was a perfect example... and I played both ends of the spectrum...

As a special present, I am adding this video I had never seen before....

This is one of the songs I played most often - and hearing this song come on when i was nearing Notre dame, where i first heard it, was slightly surreal.

Seriously - just look around....

This song was somewhat ironic, as I rode through Wyoming, Montana, the Dakotas, and back through Nebraska; cowboys were all around. And, to be fair, there was a subtle shift in the dynamic between men and women, as I found my way through the "flyover" Plains; but not so much that i felt like throwing this song around. Whatever happened to Paula Cole? Such a talent...

Alannah Miles has been in my rotation for a while, right along with Melissa Etheridge, in a grouping that I like to play when I feel like rye whiskey or Budweiser, two vices I seem unable to abandon totally.

I mean, I'm not gonna drink it, but I still love the song....

Okay - this is has been growing over the intervening months - and I need to simply decide that it is done. I may add more music from the ride sometime later for those of you, who are not too horrified to discover I am still writing about this...

Like the weirdness of listening to Dawes' A Little Bit Of Everything, after actually riding across the Golden Gate Bridge (I wanted to find a place to stop on the bridge to stop and play it - but that wasn't happening - I am still trying to settle an "EZPass-like" fine from the one time we crossed the damned thing...

Or the experience of listening to Hotel California while actually riding THROUGH the "warm smell of colitas..."  Hearing Annie Lennox sing "Love is a stranger in an open car..." when you are alone on the highway, at night in the dark, with one pair of headlights on I-80 that you haven't been able to shake for an hour. Trying to dance to Love Shack while descending a 77-mile set of twisties down a mountain that is trying to throw you off, because: what the heck. Why not go out in style.

But that will be another story.


*The iPhone 7 served as: Phone (not used often, but once I reached the areas where the Internet really is completely a LIE, I often had to call for reservations....; GPS; sound system source; monitor for the GoPro (it really is cool how that works - so I could see what the Hero7 could see while it was mounted on my helmet - astonishing that I still did so badly really...) Mileage log (I endorse MileIQ); text message manager; wallet; flashlight (yes, it's the one I used to set my tent up); weather lookout, complete with radar; calculator (handy for trig calculations when trying to dodge tornadoes); traffic news source (I was able to get traffic text messages in most states, which saved me a lot of time when a portion of I-80 got suddenly closed in Utah); I am sure I am forgetting a lot of functions, but, while I had backups for some of them, the iPhone replaced about twenty different devices, including repair manual for the cycle itself, and first aid manual. OH: ALSO PRIMARY STILL CAMERA. AND SCANNER FOR RECEIPTS AND OTHER DOCS. Also bookshelf - after wrestling with the idea, I decided not to bring any physical books with me. And sometimes I did that on the iPad, which i did have with me, but mostly as a backup for the phone.

So: Go Apple, at least in this case.