Another One Bites The Dust

I'm not trying to be insensitive. Sly Stallone couldn't get the rights to the Queen tune for his Rocky III movie, so he got Survivor to custom write a song that became the subtitle of his movie: Eye of The Tiger. About a week ago I was listening to The Search Is Over, bathing in my own isolation with the soap of lost loves. I have the music for this somewhere but I can't sing any Survivor song since their lead singers, (thru 1982 Dave Bickler) and then Jimi Jamison (in their prime years) both had the high tenor pipes a la Steve Perry of Journey or Kelly Keagy of Night Ranger. It's hopeless for a Bass Baritone to try to sing in that range and even if I lowered everything they still pass my threshold of a one octave spread. Alas, Jimi the voice of Survivor has died and I only learned this looking for a video of this song.


To my disgrace, I actually owned (and wore) the wide stripe jacket with the shoulder pads. I will note that Survivor's golden years corresponded to my own musical awakening so they are forever linked to what I consider formative music. 1982-1988 had a vast variety of musical traditions destroyed and rebuilt and reinvented and I was completely enchanted by it all even if I was under the belief that all musical eras were basically the same. I did not listen to older music, say from the Disco Era, and had never heard of The Hollies or The Dave Clark Five or Nat King Cole; nor did I judge it harshly. I simply had too much brand new music from Madonna, Springsteen, Mellencamp, Survivor, Cyndi Lauper, Toto, Run DMC, Michael Jackson, Van Halen, Hall & Oates, and many strong new wave British bands like Tears for Fears, Big Country, 'Til Tuesday, The Cure, etc. I would still be tested to listen to every song from 1985.

1985, when this Survivor song was released, also included what I consider to be the quintessential 1980s song: We are the World. It's not my favorite, but it represents that era of incredible, optimistic talent all uniting in one room to sing a song written by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson, produced by Quincy Jones, a song about making a difference. There was nothing ironic or parody-worthy about an honestly genuine fundraising effort by the top musicians in the America. It was not viral. It was not mocked. I was living in a small New England town where the very first shopping mall had recently opened. I was addicted to vector graphics arcade games that all cost a quarter to play. A grandstand seat at Fenway Park cost $6.50 and could be purchased at the gate before I went into the game. Hot dogs were $1. African affairs never entered my mind until Lionel Richie sang about them. "There comes a time..." For a very brief time MTV and pop music were amazing vehicles of good. That's the cultural backdrop of this Survivor song and the video is a low budget affair with lots of hairspray and prop cars...stonewashed jean jackets, Carerra sunglasses...lip gloss...broken hearts, but the message is that the music and not the spectacle was paramount. Survivor did not dance...and didn't pretend to dance and they weren't very photogenic either; they were musicians. The topics are timeless but the presentation is trapped forever in 1985, which those who weren't teenagers at that time, stumbling through their Freshman year in high school in 501 jeans that were too short and clinging to the ninja uniforms of their youth, won't understand.

Survivor's songs are idiomatic of the time immediately before Hair Metal cleavage bands took over and got me thinking of oral sex and drugs. They are self-reflective, optimistic, urban-gospel. They had high hopes that hard work would pay off and their lover would forgive them for being aloof. Major key piano licks were blatantly overstated and not considered cliche. Survivor songs are classic mullet hairdo time capsules. These videos made me think I could be a cool musician with long hair and a pretty girl in a fast convertible would still break my heart. I had Madonna's sexy eyes and Survivor's courageous worldview. What could go wrong?

Rock on, Jimi.

Some History

Commander Pancho Villa

As an American student I was filled with so much distorted garbage about American History that I have barely begun to sort that out let alone figure out the distorted garbage involving Mexican History. The basic history lesson for Oggy was, "America is rich and powerful because we deserve it. We worked harder. It's justice. All who stood in our way were destined to fall. Capitalism is mankind's greatest accomplishment." For the most part my teachers broke their own arms patting themselves on the back.

Xanadu

When all else fails, record an elevator musak version of Xanadu.

Al Pastor

"Sin cebolla" means "without onions"...something I forgot to request this time.

not my picture

By request...this particular taco is made "in the style of the shepherd" or Al pastor. It involves a huge shawarma pole of what looks like pre-sliced pork.* This is doused in some kind of salt and sugar syrup and then a gas and ceramic roasting element is put on one side and the pole is turned. I've seen a butane torch used in a pinch. A pineapple is put on top and in my case an onion was put on the bottom. These are small corn tacos and the recommended serving size is 5 tacos but after 3 I start groaning. Tonight I got 2 as a way of reintroducing my bowels to this delicious central Mexican staple. The noble Pig has no friends here in Mexico...all parts of him are used to feed everyone. Carnitas stands are everywhere, as are Al Pastor. Carnitas are less involved and are simply shredded pork chopped up with fried pork fat and hacked bone but in this region street vendors are putting an additional slab of pure pork fat as a garnish. It's really too much for me. One detail I love about carnitas is the tradition of chopping up the pork on an ancient round wooden cutting board that has never been sterilized. Then I know I'm in Mexico.

*Don't ask me if Mexican shepherds watch over flocks of pigs. Methinks the original meat was lamb or goat and it became pork but the name stayed the same.

Home Improvement

This is as good as I can do.

Home: I'm thinking about investing in a good mattress.

The van is running good but now that I really need the moped to run it is having problems. The 1974 Vespa Ciao is 40 years old now but I think the problems are routine...total loss of power, fuel leaks...fouled plug...These are related to timing. I bought the van and the moped back in 2008 and spent a few months getting the moped running as I could only work on it in parks and on the sidewalk between sleeping winos. I last touched the antiquated points ignition system in 2008. Isn't that remarkably reliable? 6 years without even checking the points gap and it's been in three countries. Well, the time has come and I'll be happy if that's the problem. First the carburetor on the van develops a vacuum leak and requires a rebuild, which was the first maintenance I did on the carb in 6 years and now the moped is running rough. My right shoulder also feels like Hulk Hogan has been kicking it. Age, sagging fat, flabby ass, wrinkles on my hand, strange growths of flesh on my leg; life quietly becoming a cycle of maintenance. Sure, you could point out that I own vehicles that belong in a museum...and I won't argue.

Note: 10 hours of messing with the moped and I got some results. The timing was an issue since the points were opening about .1mm instead of .5mm.
Also, why didn't anyone tell me that some modern carb cleaner can not be used in the same fashion as starting fluid? It takes a while for news to get to Old Oggy and I only learned today that store brand carb cleaner, even in Mexico, is not flammable since idiots were probably spraying their carb while the engine was running and starting fires. So here is Oggy spraying inside the air filter with non flammable carb cleaner, thinking it's flammable...and then scratching his bum because the thing won't start or immediately dies. I spent hours hunting for the reason non-flammable carb cleaner wasn't getting my engine to start. I don't recommend spraying carb cleaner directly into a carb on a running engine but technically it won't backfire into a ball of flame as long as it is the non-flammable type. Now I definitely warn against using non-flammable carb cleaner as a substitute for starting fluid unless you are applying for a PhD in futility. The real kick in the ass is that I have a can of starting fluid in the van but assumed they were interchangeable. Damn! But after the timing was fixed and the carb was cleaned and I rubbed magic dust on my balls the moped ran like a wild horse. In fact, I took it out for a test drive and it didn't stop until I was way up on a hill next to a tacos al pastor vendor. I was lost, but I was found. 3 fouled spark plugs and frustration levels were high. Please let it be fixed!

Further note: yes, the moped is basically fixed. The fuel leak is because the gaskets are old and the inlet float needle tip is worn and general deterioration. But the important thing was the performance and I can say it has never been better. I was afraid the cylinder had worn out but it was the damn timing/points gap that was to blame. This moped is the best! On further investigation my carb cleaner is indeed flammable, so I think it kills the engine because it enriches the mixture too much for a two stroke. It's running good. That's all that matters.