IV "oldies"

[Robin Landseadel]

On Aug 18, 2009, at 6:17 AM, Carvill John wrote:

> Well - SPOILER ALERT.....
>
>
> Mickey Wolmann gets uspet, according to DOc's AUnt Reet, when people  
> fail to spell his surname with the proper double 'n'. ANd the  
> Wolfmann/'Wolf Man' connection is obvious. The legend of a 'Wolf  
> Man' connects to that of Bigfoot, and thence to Shasta, Lemuria  
> etc., all that Californina folklore stuff.

Shasta's not only a particular place on the map with all that Lemurian  
mythology, it's also the concept of "Hippie Heaven," that place up in  
Northern California all good hippies want to go to, that essential  
goal of the hippie diasporia.

I also think of Shasta in terms of Raymond Chandler's anti-heroines,  
Marlowe playing knight to all these 'dames' who turn out to be better  
off left un-rescued. The character Shasta turns out to be another girl  
from an innocent enough background who becomes quite corrupted by the  
"Hollywood" dream. Just like "Farewell My Lovely," just like "The  
Little Sister." Tie "Shasta" to the larger dream of the hippies and we  
see how that generation bought into fantasies from the dream factory  
and ultimately are vanquished by the dream factory. Very, very Raymond  
Chandler.