It’s been a busy weekend for us. We’ve been on the road with my son for his hockey and I missed posting a blog on Friday. I plan to make it up this week.
If you’re a fan of old movies then you might remember the “road” movies that starred Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. Many of the classic black-and-white movies of the 40s and 50s dealt with life on the road. What about “Some Like It Hot” with Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon trying to get themselves hired in an all-girl band? I recently watched a late-night movie on tv that featured the life of another rag-tag group of 40s musicians traveling by boxcar from one city to the next, finally coming to a stop at a honky-tonk establishment run by a mobster.
It’s an enduring theme that has carried over well into our generation. Movies like “Easy Rider” and “Thelma and Louise” have to a certain degree glamorized life on the road. In this day and age when the top bands of the day tour they travel in customized, streamlined buses that are literally equipped with every modern convenience.
I mention this because at one of our home-games over the weekend the visiting team arrived in their own ultra-modern bus with their team colours on the outside of the vehicle. I couldn’t help but wonder about the team’s budget.
There was always a certain romance associated with life on the road. If there was one poet who inspired that romance then it was Jack Kerouac who helped formulate the name, “The Beat Generation.” October 22nd marks the anniversary of his death back in 1969. He was inspired to write about the highway of life because of a letter from a friend that rambled on in 13,000 words. The book that he rode to great heights of popularity among the 50s generation was “On The Road“ published in 1957. A recent tv ad for a certain make of car showed a passenger reading from one of his books.
I was inspired to write this blog today from the amount of time we spent on the road over the weekend. My blog tomorrow will hopefully include some digital images. It was also inspired by an interview with Eric Clapton on Larry King Live over the weekend on CNN. The interview reminded me of “Crossroads” also from 1969.
One final thought about the road tonight from a very old edition of the Britannica.
“Hecate was a goddess in Greek mythology, but she was not of Greek origin. She came into the Greek mythology at a fairly late period, probably after the time of Homer in the 9th century B.C. Hecate was at first the goddess of magic, sorcery and spells; and she ruled a part of the underworld.
“One of Hecate’s powers was that of driving away misfortune or bad luck from doorways, gates, and crossroads. In order to secure her protection the Greek people made offerings to her in the form of food. These offerings of food were called “Hecate’s suppers.’ They were prepared according to religious rules and left at gates, crossroads, or forks in the road. They always had to be offered to her at night, under either a full moon or a new moon.
“Some time in the fifth century B. C. Hecate became a moon goddess along with Artemis (Roman Diana). She also shared with Artemis the duties of protecting mothers and babies at birth. Cakes or loaves of bread were given as offerings to the goddess at the time of birth. In one ritual of this kind the cake was surrounded by torches and placed in a gateway or at a fork in the road. This custom might possibly have been the origin of the modern birthday cake.”
If it’s your birthday soon, I hope you will save me a piece of your cake. The road can be long between stops.
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Don Jackson
Don,
- NancyI can really relate to “life on the road”. My husband and I live 1300 kms apart and in different countries (me in Canada, he in the US). I recently came back from a visit with him, travelling over 14 hours in one trip. I had 2 uncles and several other relatives that were/are long distance truckers. Life “on the road” can be hard, especially on families, but can also be restorative to the human spirit, with gorgeous vistas through the windshield, and friendly faces at road stops. Of course, good radio helps to makek the hours go by tremendously fast as well!