Party Lights

Monday night was Party Lights’ dinner & movie night. Karen’s pad has become Party (Lights) headquarters, due in part to her amazing projector screen, which made our movie viewing feel just like a theater, except with comfy couches, beer, and no smelly people.

Karen and her lovely Italian man cooked un bello pranzo (complete with fresh basil from the basil plant). Yum. I think that’s my fork at the bottom slowly edging its way into the pasta. There was also some tasty rosemary focaccia but we scarfed it down before I could get a photo.

Monday’s movie selection was Telstar (thanks Quitty!), a biopic about 60s British visionary music producer Joe Meek. The consensus was a big thumbs up.

Telstar (the song) was the first single by a British band to reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It’s a tune close to our hearts.

It was fascinating to watch how Meek wrote it, not being a musician himself (basically humming the notes and screaming at the Tornados till they played it correctly). Meek was a hyped up, crazy fireball of a man in the Phil Spector vein. Although the movie portrayed Meek as pretty cuckoo bananas, I don’t think he reached one tenth of Spector’s craziness, but that’s probably just cause he didn’t live as long. Tragically, he committed suicide at age 37. Like Spector, he left behind a wealth of amazing music (245 singles - 45 of which were hits), including the Honeycombs’ Have I The Right:

Next up: Wild Zero!