Lou Reed singing Sweet Jane. Had this song stuck in my head for days last week. This vid from NYC in 1998.
One of my Mom's favorite songs when I was a kid was his Walk on the Wild Side. Until she really heard the lyrics. Until then she liked the part: "...and the colored girls sing doo doo doo...".
So while I'm stuck on childhood memories, over on Livejournal there's a poll of what character from a children's book would you be? And Malcolm the kitten with the blue trumpet pops into my head. Seriously. I hadn't thought of that book for years. Probably hadn't thought of it since the last time I sat in the Ellis Parker Elementary School library reading it. I even thought I might have dreamt it into reality because I couldn't find anything about it up on Wikipedia and precious little (after a HUGE search) on the web at all. But I found a couple copies on eBay and bought a near mint copy of Malcolm Softpaws, copyright 1958 by Joe Bascom.
This was the first "Malcolm" book! This tells the story of how he got his blue trumpet. The one I remembered was Malcolm's Job - where he played at Coney Island for the tourists. There's a couple copies of that one floating around eBay and Amazon too, but they want $30.00 for them! Yikes! Revisiting childhood can be expensive. 
Hee! "Toot toot purr..."
When it came in the mail yesterday, I was surprised at how small the book is. I swear it was a LOT bigger when I was 6! I wonder if the author is the same Joe Bascom who is an artist known for crumpled paper bag paintings? Anybody know? Who would you be if you could be any character from a book you liked as a kid?
On a more serious note, this week also marked the 45th anniversary of the day that President Kennedy was assassinated. His funeral is the first thing that I really remember watching on t.v. That or perhaps Astro Boy cartoons in black and white.
Some say that scent is the thing that will immediately transport one to places in the past. For those of us born as late baby boomers or in subsequent generations media is going to turn out to be the mode of transportation back to our childhoods.
4 comments:
I'd probably be Eore from Winnie the Pooh, or perhaps Mole from The Wind in the Willows, although frankly, I always identified more with Bugs Bunny. Not sure if he would qualify though.
Bugs counts. I don't know The Wind in the Willows I mean I know of it but I've never read it.
Should I feel deprived?
Joe Bascom was my grandfather and it makes me smile to know that his book was one of your childhood favorites. He is in fact the same artist who created the paper bag colored pencil drawings...as well as a slew of other creative works of art. I was lucky enough to have my very own Malcom painted in my childhood bedroom. :)
Hi Cristin! That must have been wonderful to have on your wall! Thanks for confirming the crumpled bag paintings. Was there a "real" kitty named Malcolm who inspired your Grandfather?
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