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Red Bull trolley race
I went to Brno over the weekend to join participants of Red Bull káry (trolley) competition. I knew it would be lots of crazy fun ever since I was asked to team up with Rui, my Portuguese friend, currently living in the town of Klatovy. It was his idea to built a car and come over.
Rui built The Love Lednička — lednička means fridge in Czech. I’m putting it exactly as he had — half English, half Czech. The four-wheeled lednička was equipped with a freezer (for drinks), a seat (for kids during the presentation, for Rui during the race) and breaks (a really essential part). Painted in blue and green, with a spoiler and with a crew of five crazy misfits dressed a bit hippie, with large bushy wigs, funny glasses and unstoppable good mood, the gang of Flower Power was ready to rock and roll.
Fun started on Saturday night. Roughly 200 contestants were united in a party, together with bunch of great looking Red Bull girls. Without going too much into detail, truth is that vodka with Red Bull is a killer drink. Everybody knows, though.
Sunday was boiling hot. Competitors were presenting their vehicles to endless brownian-motion-like moving crowd and trying to find an inch of shade wherever they could. Heat was hardly bearable, waiting for our turn was agonising.
What we did to kill the time and entertain the spectators was… a song. Rui was singing Marley’s Is This Love and playing guitar so we quickly changed the words. Our world-class collaboration brought this Red Bull song to life in less than ten minutes:
I want Red Bull
And drink it right
We have Red Bull
And a cool lifeWe love Red Bull
Help us win the fight
We drink Red Bull
Every day & every nightThis is love
This is love
This is love
This is love
Love lednička
Those few simple lines were enough to last us until it was Rui’s turn to trip downhill. He went down with grace, waving onlookers as he passed by. And the breaking at the finish was top-notch. Overall, we earned the sixth place out of 45 teams!!
And I’m already thinking about another trolley or maybe a plane… And more so, about another beautifully senseless song.
Martin’s movies — April 2008
I’m not quite sure if it was busyness or laziness, yet the truth is that I only watched two flicks in April. Both decent, though nothing that would make one scream. Here they are:
1. Life Is a Miracle (2004) (Serbia and Montenegro/France)
Knowing previous Kusturica’s movies, there is no surprises. Partly unusual comedy, partly bizarre drama supported by great sceneries, awkward characters and energetic music. A story of an engineer finding himself near the front line of a rising war in Bosnia and losing his family for a short time-being. It is imaginative and multilayered, nevertheless feels a bit slow and somehow tiring.
2. Down in the Valley (2005) (USA)
I enjoyed this one. Starring Edward Norton as mentally unstable modern cowboy (read drifter) and Evan Rachel Wood as underaged object of his desire. What starts as a romance after a casual sex changes into a psychodrama, or rather a drama with a psycho. The change is gradual so viewers get to acknowledge Norton’s character as a weird hero, before he metamorphoses into a freaky anti-hero. Nice indie film. Recommended.
Associations
Do you associate a song with a certain event or vice versa? I do — quite often — not intentionally but rather subconsciously. It just happens to be that way. When I hear a song, I can re-create an occasion; or another similar moment reminds me of a certain tune.
Take The Beatles. I can link their music to the particular time of my youth. I was listening to Help! when I was in the seventh grade; Rubber Soul was my favourite in the eight one. White Album by the summer of that year, just before Let It Be took over completely. Lennon came next and Plastic Ono Band ruled my days as I advanced to the grammar school.
I remember discotheques by a DJ’s favourite track. T Club, a Uni club where I used to hang out while underaged — Forever Young. A high school ski trip — What a Wonderful World. A disco at school premises — I Love To Hate You. My last trip to the border of civilisation with a bunch of young mathematicians — Violently Happy. I could go on and on like that for hours.
Mentioning What a Wonderful World, there’s something else crossing my mind. Songs that are forever a part of one’s memory because of technology: people have learnt to set their own ringtones or alarm tunes that follow them through months until they become annoying and get changed. I had few ringtones replaced, yet I’ve been waking up to Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s rendition of What a Wonderful World/Over the Rainbow since 2005, and it seems it’s not giving up.
Then, there are numbers that are shared and have untouchable intimate quality… ‘Cos one happened to listen to them while being with someone exceptional; and those are moments that are rendered unforgettable. It may be ironic enough that one can recall also tunes used to heal (or enjoy) a broken heart. How good is Stand by My Woman or Into My Arms? How weird can Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft sound?
And a very special category are the songs written for somebody. I managed to pen one or two clumsy ones (with indisputable Gabriel’s help) and seeing they work, they give a loved one goose pimples or make her cry — because she’s been touched! — is the most rewarding experience. Simply amazing.
Of course, fame and money would not hurt either. (But hey, that’s just me trying to be sarcastic to hide that I’m sentimental…)
She’s Out of Control
He’s taking a gorgeous looking Telecaster instead of his Gibson SJ-200 and I think I’m pretty sure which song will follow.
“I haven’t played this guitar for at least 100 years,” he says.
“It was a gift from Laco Lučenič. What a pity he doesn’t see me now, he’d be proud of my virtuosity.”
Good to hear a hint of self-deprecation humor. Well, he has English mother after all. He plays one-chord riff as I expected, then stops and lets the band play the rest — that is Cesta zakázanou rýchlosťou, one of his rare rock driven tunes.
After seeing Miro “Meky” Žbirka for a second time in London, I’ve decided to mention it. Somehow. Besides, I have to count Miro among my influences, surprising as it may be.
His first concert was acoustic without drums/bass. It was great anyway; audience did sing along and everyone enjoyed themselves. Miro has a distinctive voice with enough strength to make his melodies captivating in any scenario.
For his second appearance in London on Friday he brought the whole band as he promised year and half ago, therefore able to play the aforementioned song, which deserves a full electric arrangement.
Now why is the song a core of this article? Is it his best song? I guess not. But if I’d ever have to play live again, I’d be certainly tempted to put this tune into our set now and then. Although more likely the English version — She’s Out of Control. Good work Miro.