I worried the distance would be a death sentence as I found myself alone in my best friend’s mostly empty new living room, 1681 miles from any possibility of weeknight concerts, impromptu G&Ts and sushi, Galentine’s Day, movie marathons, holiday gatherings, city adventures, beach birthdays, and drop-everything post-tragedy afternoons of comfort TV.
I wish a few Billy Joel songs did not torture my soul, but songs are a time machine.
The songs invited me to sing again. And I realised through that two-week journey, that that was what had gone missing.
Hannah Hunt opens in a seascape. A gentle, pretty song, it initially glides in that ethereal space between sleeping and waking. There’s a quietness, an almost meditative quality to the music that maybe mirrors our narrator’s quest for peace.
day one and two Zep II, day three and four Zep IV, four sticks/ the ciggie slim-jims keeping company with Bonham fills of tom-tom
headlights splay across a country roadway/ single lane both ways in groovy groovin’ grooves/ to the smooth, smooth sound of billie holiday
Over the years, while my mother’s faith in Christianity declined, her belief in country music only increased.
When the plodding piano intro of Don’t Look Back In Anger came through the speakers Oasis’ extraordinary had transformed our ordinary and the truck no longer drove but soared on the melody.
Who doesn't like a roadtrip? And who doesn't like a roadtrip story? Matt Quartermaine, Justine Sless, N.T.McQueen - and others - hit the highway and listen to R.E.M, Clairy Browne & The Banging Rackettes, Karen Carpenter, Boy & Bear, Lana Del Rey...
Shirl did sort me out and I swapped my licence plates with a screwdriver I remembered to bring, because I was an organised adult now.