[lit-ideas] Re: Sunday Poem/Tony Hawks
- From: David Ritchie <ritchierd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 31 May 2009 17:16:08 -0700
On May 31, 2009, at 3:57 PM, Mike Geary wrote:
US:
I was hoping you weren't finished sending us your Sunday offerings.
In the online intro phil course I'm presently teaching, we're
pondering God.
This is an excellent ponder.
DR:
It would be extraordinary if I weren't wearing people's patience
a little thin; of this I am aware.
I'm not sure what occasions the exchanges between Ursula and David,
but I sure hope it's not a threat by the Laureate to withdraw his
talents.
No, not my style. What you saw was the whole exchange.
I am glad you're back. I've been waiting for this moment to
recommend a series of books which, I think, were written especially
with the likes of you (and me) in mind. I believe I may have
mentioned the first one, "Round Ireland With a Fridge." It's
amusing, the tale of a guy who bets his friend that he can hitchhike
round Ireland, with a fridge. Now and then Tony Hawks, subject and
author, gets a bit philosophical re. life, the universe and the
meaning of hitchhiking with a fridge, but for the most part he just
strives to amuse. With me, he succeeded.
Book number two begins with a bet contracted while Tony was watching
England play Moldova at soccer. Yes, I had to look the country up.
Tony, who had played tennis as a kid and who still reckoned he had
the stuff, boasted that he could beat the entire Moldovan soccer team
at his game. His friend stipulated that the loser of the bet would
have to strip naked in the local high street and sing the Moldovan
national anthem. From this simple premise, Hawks weaves an engaging
tale.
Book three, "One Hit Wonderland" is my favorite, for reasons I
recognize as sentimental. Beginning again with something he did well
in his youth--this time it's pop music--Hawks bets someone else that
he can repeat early prowess. But here the challenge is quite
different. In his youth Hawks had a bit of an accidental hit on the
pop charts. Go to his website and listen to his music--http://
www.tony-hawks.com--and you may reach the conclusion I did; this is a
challenge of a completely different magnitude. Hawks believes, as no
doubt many people in England do, that because country and western
music sounds simple and even daft to them, it's easy to produce a
country and western hit. So off he goes to Nashville, to learn
differently... while riding a bike. Phase two is about an equally
flawed thought--that europop can be mimicked simply by dressing as a
pixie and singing something repetitive and stupid. Phase three is
about a trip to Africa. I suspect this bit was commissioned as an
essay and that Hawks wove it into the book because that's how you
thicken the tale. Phase four was the bit I really liked. It caused
me to remember Norman Wisdom, who was one of my early cinema idols.
And then the tale of how Tony Hawks gets a hit and who is involved in
the enterprise...well I won't spoil it.
Book four, "A Piano in the Pyrenees" you'll read if you've read all
the rest. It's a pretty standard Englishman-buys-a-house-abroad
tale, but it has its moments.
May your summer be enjoyable now that your reading's sorted.
David Ritchie,
Portland, Oregon
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