IVIV Penny; pynchonesque social life; music & etc.

[Doug Millison]

My high school classmate and senior prom date, high school graduating  
class of 1970, went on to become an attorney and wound up an assistant  
district attorney in a rural Arizona county.  By then it would have  
been '77, something like that, I lose track.  I thought of her while  
reading Penny.  My friend was a fun-loving hippie girl who wound up on  
the lawyer track somehow (parental pressure?) then followed the yellow  
brick road to her DA position.  She had to put on a very tough veneer  
to survive that scene.  The disconnect with her private self was too  
great, she cracked up within a couple of years.

On a happier note, I'm also happy to report the First Annual Belated  
Inherent Vice Publication & The Beatles Remastered Memorial Jamboree &  
Pool Hustling Tutorial & Discussion of All Things Pyncho-Wikisian,  
held yesterday evening at Tim's Tiki Bar in nearby Oaktown.  Listening  
to the new mono discs: the cliche is true, discovering that amazing  
music all over again. Especially fun:  the John Lennon vocals on A  
Hard Day's Night, and the new version of Magical Mystery Tour.   
"Thrilling," he said, post-ironically.   We also took long pauses  
between clusters of The Beatles songs, to dissect IV, which we agreed  
is after all a pretty fun book and a welcome addition to the Thomas  
Pynchon Library.

Can't recall now exactly where it is in IV, but a fine passage about  
hearing music everywhere, in the streets, coming out of bars and car  
radios, jukeboxes, in the air, for free.  This sentimental surrealist  
agrees, Yeah, that's what it was like. Reminds me of an all-time  
favorite song, "Add Some Music to Your Day"  by The Beach Boys on the   
album"Sunflower" (and thanks again to the P-list friend who sent me a  
copy of that album before it was re-released on CD awhile back).