The Plate-Spinning Song - Part 2

I wrote about the plate-spinning song the other day -- Sabre Dance by Khachaturian.

This song is only good for two things. Apparently sabre dancing, whatever that is. And especially plate-spinning. That's what I've heard it used for over the years on TV. If you ever came out -- let's say you picked this for your theme song -- and they saw you didn't have a few plates to spin they'd boo you off the stage.

How precisely they're able to spin plates on the top of a big wavering stick, I never have been able to figure it out. Maybe there's an entry at Wikihow, how to spin plates. I think I won't look and maintain at least that shred of mystery in my life. I believe if I ever tried it, I wouldn't get far before they'd be smashed all over the place.

I'm writing about this because I got an album -- an LP record -- at Goodwill a couple days ago that also has this song, Sabre Dance. I didn't notice it there when I was buying it. I only bought it because it was cheap, looked to be in good condition, and looked interesting. The extra bonus is that now I have an additional version of this great plate-spinning song.

The album is by a group called Ekseption, who look to be fairly famous. I looked them up at All Music and they have an extensive list of albums. They're known for progressive rock. I've heard the name over the years, just by looking at records all the time probably. But I don't remember ever having anything by them. This is their first album, and I think it's from 1968. All Music doesn't have kind things to say about it, saying it's dated and basically nothing worth remembering.

The cover of the LP is different than the one shown at All Music. Maybe the explanation for that is that Ekseption was from Holland and this is a U.S. pressing of the album. So I would guess the artwork was switched for foreign copies. I think it's very boring artwork. The back is the same as the front except it's B&W and there's a group photo spliced in the stage area.

I wish I hadn't seen the bad review, 1½ stars, at All Music. That prejudiced me. But I listened to the first song, a version of Beethoven's 5th symphony called The 5th. It does sound hackneyed. Of course it starts with an orchestral version of the opening of the 5th, then melds into a jazzy/rock interpretation. And of course I listened to part of Sabre Dance. It doesn't get right into the plate-spinning stuff at the first, but comes to it in good time. Of the two tracks I've heard, this is the best one. Mostly for sentimental reasons. Beethoven, bah.

Operation Repo - Matt Flips The Car

That was a crazy episode of Operation Repo tonight. It's a half hour show and it seems like the entire show was devoted to one repo. They got a BMW without any problem. The alarm, a honking horn, is going off and no one comes out. They hook up the car and get going.

But for some reason one of the cameramen gets in the car and refuses to get out when the repo guys tell him to. Stupid. I thought that was illegal. I remember them saying it was illegal when I was a kid, to be in a trailer, whatever is being pulled.

Then as they're going along this one repo guy, Matt, who's a real hothead anyway, has to go to the bathroom desperately, No. 2. So he's driving fast. The other guy is telling him to slow down. He runs a stop sign and about wipes out in cross traffic. Pretty soon they go around a corner pretty fast and the BMW flips over. It's crazy. The camera guy is still in there. They're not referring to him by any name, just the camera guy.

They got him out OK. And I don't know if Matt still had to go to the bathroom, because he wasn't saying anymore. By now he's concerned about the camera guy. The other repo guy is frantic. They have to call in to headquarters, and the owner of the repo place, Lou, comes over. He fires the camera guy and fires Matt.

I haven't been watching this show very long, but they said Matt has been fired before, but not for anything quite this bad.

Funny show. On Tru TV channel.

8½

I just finished watching the film "8½," by Federico Fellini. I've been watching it in pieces all week, since that's the time I have, and finally finished it just now, because it's almost due at the rental place.

It's always listed as a great classic, and indeed it is. The staging, direction, presentation of scenes ... practically every scene is awesome, with people moving about in a kind of purposeful harmony or disharmony. Scenes are shot as symbolic moving pictures. It's a stunner.

I read somewhere that the audio, lines, were added afterwards, so that lends itself to the dreamlike qualities of a lot of the scenes too.

The main character is Guido, a movie director, and the film concerns the ups and downs of his recent efforts toward making another film. He has wife troubles, seems to be feeling very disenchanted all along the way. They're making a science fiction film, and the only set for this is a big scaffold thing that looks like the rocket launching pad. In the screen tests they've shot he seems to be more interested in making a picture about his marriage troubles and personal feelings. But I can't say I have a real accurate sense of what all is going on. I'm reading subtitles then trying to glance up at the scene, and, as I said, I watched it in pieces.

This is my first Fellini film, even though I've read what people have said about them on and off over numerous years.

(Some of the scenes, particularly toward the ending, reminded me of Magical Mystery Tour; and based on what I've read this week, there were lots of imitators and those paying tribute to the film, it's basic feel, etc.)

My favorite scene of all is one that involves a big, wild woman named Saraghina. She lives by the seashore in a concrete bunker type of structure. The boys, including Guido, in a flashback or scene from his imagination, (probably a flashback), leave their Catholic school and go there. One of them pays her a coin and she comes out and dances a risque rhumba, pulling down her top to reveal her upper chest and shoulders. The boys are jumping, clapping, and there's one who's sitting there slapping his face in time with the music. That's cool. I watched this scene twice. It might not be politically correct to say so, but we could have used a neighborhood Saraghina when I was a kid! At the end, a couple of reverend priests show up and chase Guido; the film is speeded up where they're almost like Keystone Kops for a couple seconds; they catch him and take him back to all the other priests and authorities who pronounce, along with his dear mother, shame on him.

The ending is pretty awesome too, where a lot of the characters are back for one big shindig involving four clowns with instruments.

I would like to see it again, but I guess I won't. I need to get the DVD back to the rental place.