Today's freeload is the Ornette Coleman's soundtrack to the film, "WHO’S CRAZY?".
The film follows a group of insane asylum inmates who are being transported by bus. When the bus breaks
down in a lonely place in the wintry countryside, an inmate runs for
it. When two guards hustle to recapture him, the rest of the patients
all escape and elude the guards. Making their way to a desolate and
abandoned brick farmhouse, the uniformed patients find a way in, take
shelter, and construct, in isolation, an antic yet earnest domesticity
that summons the Living Theatre troupe’s wide and wild range of
improvisational skills. The film is more than worth searching out.
The Soundtrack
Ornette playing alto saxophone, trumpet and violin, along with bassist David Izenzon and drummer Charles Moffett, recorded the music in a Paris studio in one take while watching the film projected on a wall. This is the same trio as heard on "Town Hall, 1962" and “At the Golden Circle".
The soundtrack also features a young Marianne Faithfull singing what are probably her most experimental riffs –
written for her especially by Ornette – as she asks, “Is God man? Is man
God?” in an original track titled “Sadness”, which, unfortunately, was not included on Ornette's release. But you can hear it below.
The fact that the statute of limitations has not expired, keeps me from telling all. Suffice to say, it involved height challeged people in drag that resembled Stormy Daniels, bathtubs filled with Aqua Velva, Burt Reyolds' mustache and a flatulent mule.
ReplyDeleteNow THAT sounds like a movie that could never be unseen, but I would love to hear to the soundtrack if it was curated by pmac.
DeleteWhen the statute of limitations runs out, we'll be expecting details.
DeleteI’ve done plenty of crazy things in my days on this orb, so it would be hard to choose the craziEST. However, one such incident involved the mentally ill, in a way, so I’ll just share that one because it seems pertinent to today’s posting.
ReplyDeleteIt was early summer 1971. I had just finished a stint in County for possession of mescaline. Since my release I had been experimenting regularly with Orange Barrel acid to get my mind repaired after the Greybar Hotel experience.
On the way to one of my favorite outdoor trip zones along the banks of the Conewango Creek, I would continually pass the grounds of North Warren State Hospital, a state run facility for the mentally ill. I would see inmates wandering around the fenced-in grounds in various degrees of personal or drug-induced mindsets.
One day, I decided on what seemed at the moment like a great idea. I would ingest a dutiful dose of lysergic, drive to North Warren, stealthily climb the fence enclosing the hospital & trip around the grounds, enjoying the company of the other lunatics. Ingest & climb I did. For the rest of the day I tripped around the property, goofing with & on the other inmates. No one from the staff ever aproached or even seemed to notice me. I was just another loose nut. When I had come down enough that I wanted to go smoke a few joints & relax to The Twelve Dreams...I climed back over the fence & returned to my familiar digs.
What had seemed a good idea had turned out to be great Craziness. To this day, that experience was one of the most sublime moments of my life. The freedom I felt that day did much to shape my ideas of sanity/insanity toward the world around me still to this day.
Thanks, babs for the great share. I know your taste for jazz, but for me Ornette is the all-time greatest. Ran into the Living Theatre (Judith & Julian included) various times when I lived in NYC (22nd between 7th & 8th-around the block from the Chelsea). Have seen Who’s Crazy but not for many years. Gonna search it out & watch it again. You rock, lady.
NØ Sez.
Cool story, thanks for sharing NØ!
DeleteCraziest thing I ever did? Marry my first wife......
ReplyDeleteIn 1969, I was tripping on a sugar cube, and accidentally locked myself out of my third floor apartment, so I went down to the end of the hallway, opened the window, stepped out on to a ledge, and giggling all the way, sided-stepped to an open window in my apartment. At the time I was surfing daily, so my sense of balance was pretty good. So I’m back in my apartment, feeling quite proud of myself, when a few minutes later, there was a knock on the door. When I opened the door, It was the Hermosa Beach Police Department (unbeknownst to me, some busy-body saw me and called the police), who were concerned It was an aborted suicide attempt. After I explained what had happened, one of the officers asked me, “How fucking stupid are you?” I shrugged my shoulders, and the other one told me, “This what the pot does to your brain, if I were you, I’d lay off it young lady!”.
ReplyDeleteI was 13 and on a school trip to Norway. It was in Aurland ( on a branch of Sognefjord) in April and snow was still in abundance. We were playing football with the local kids when the ball wound up in the fjord. I promptly waded in to retrieve it, and have to admit that the water was quite bracing. I didn't think it was crazy, but the Norwegian kids did.
ReplyDeleteMarry my second wife? Marry my second wife.
ReplyDeleteI snorted a qualude in 1974. I would have chopped nose off if cleaver in hand, it sucked. Neal T
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine did way too much "Blow" at a Dead show, so afterward, she opened up a Tuinal, onto a mirror, and snorted it with similar results to yours.
DeleteHere's the link
ReplyDeletehttps://we.tl/t-p8Qf9RwJIe
In the early 80s I was traveling in India and ended up in Kashmir. From there I wanted to continue to Ladakh, India's little Tibet, which was just more up North. There was only one problem, it was too early in the season and the only entrance road to Ladakh went through the snowed under Zoji La Pass... Out of curiosity I decided to give it a try and see how far I could get. A bus ride got me to the last bus station before the pass and I continued walking. At the beginning of the pass the road went up to snowy heights and just when I was about to retrace my steps I saw a tented camp with a bunch of people. I walked over for a chat, turned out they were Nepalis on the way to Ladakh for work! Nepal = Himalayas! I asked them if I could join them which seemed like a perfect solution at the time. They agreed and i spent the rest of the day there until sunset... Once it was dark we set off, reason was that the snow would be more solid, easier walking... Problem I encountered shortly afterwards were my shitty 'made in India' sandals, the extra socks didn't help much against the cold. At every rest stop (among some rocks in the snow) therefore I took off my sandals and started massaging my feet... After a few hours my hands were so cold that I could hardly use my fingers anymore and I just ripped off the sandals... Other problem, the snow's upper layer was frozen, but you always went through it a centimeter or so. That layer was sharp and had cut open the front part of my sandals & socks... However turning back was not an option, just stumbled on and I noticed that the Nepalis were not doing that great either. Somewhere during the night we stopped in the pass. At first I didn't understand why, but then realized that the 'slabs of stone' were actually roofs of completely snowed under houses, a tiny hamlet in the middle of the pass! Inside we took shelter and started some fires. There I finally saw the damage I had inflicted on my feet... Those sandals had already been repaired once before Indian style, with nails & glue! Some of the nails had popped up and ripped the soles of my feet to shreds, the snow layer had cut open my toes... After an hour or so the fire inside had created some warmth and my feet were coming back to life, ouch, extremely painful! The next morning there was no choice but to continue and I repaired my sandals (or what was left of them!) as best as I could, let my feet get frozen and zombied onwards... The others were in similar bad shape, some snowblind, others with frostbite, etc. Later they told me they came from the lowlands (jungle!) of Nepal, no experience with mountains at all! Late in the morning we reached an Indian Army checkpoint where we got medical treatment! I was extremely lucky not to lose any toes or worse...
ReplyDeleteEpic!
DeleteGreat shares.
ReplyDeleteHere's the thing about crazy and stuff of that sort: contingency is inexorable. One cannot withdraw a single event from the chain without reshuffling the deck completely. Regret is a fool's errand. Then there are the close calls, the sad coalitions, and the kinds of serendipity for which eye blinking is suspended.
Zero regrets, even if buying a pedal steel guitar in 1973—instead of going to college—was crazy enough. It's worked out.