Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
The summer of 2015 has brought our family a strange turn of events. Maybe we should dub it, “The Year Of The Cat.” First we lost our beloved kitty, LuLu. Then we’ve adopted two small adorable kitties. Now both those cats are sick as fuck!
Little Mochi is in an oxygen tent with pneumonia while Princess Nori slowly recovers from a flu. These “cat dilemmas” coming into our lives reminds me—really, you never know how it’s gonna go.
Well morning comes and you’re still with her / And the bus and the tourists are gone /And you’ve thrown away your choice you’ve lost your ticket /So you have to stay on /But the drumbeat strains of the night remain /In the rhythm of the new-born day /You know sometime you’re bound to leave her /But for now you’re going to stay /In the year of the cat /Year of the cat…
When I started listening to songs for this week’s playlist I was in a serious mood. I searched to fill the hour with a vibey and somewhat somber string of songs. Surfing a number of blogs I found a nice group of new albums and also pulled a stack of deep cuts to choose from. At some point it seemed natural the reach for Al Stewart’s “Year of the Cat.” By habit I always try to avoid “classic rock” radio hits but this song, I should say “true gem,” was singing in my head.
As I read over the lyrics, I noticed a name—Peter Wood. This song was co-written by Peter Wood? A strange feeling came over me. Shit man, I used to know Peter Wood. And yes it dawned on me—his wife used to buy weed from me back when I was “peddling” a bit in high school. I remember seeing Wood play keyboards as a backing musician for Pink Floyd’s The Wall show at the Nassau Coliseum in 1980.
A moment came back—stoned, thinking—”Wow, how cool I sold weed to that guy!”
As I looked past the liner notes I also saw that Peter passed away in 1993. Shit, how weird. I thought about Peter and his lovely wife and how I hadn’t seen or thought about them in many years. How sad it is he died so young…
It just goes to show you. Life, you just never know.
For us, it’s the summer of the cat.
Mochi & Peter Woods RIP
The Idelic Hit of the Week:
Gengahr – Bathed In Light
Cool chicks from the UK.
