Have you ever ridden on a carousel before? Mostly known as a ‘merry-go-around’, it is a playful, amusement ride that goes in slow circular motion accompanied with background music.  Not the most exciting ride as you set into centrifugal force; nevertheless, the participation often invokes a nostalgic feeling to the ‘gallopers’.

I just found out about The Carousel, the resurrection of a historic relic (you can read about the sweet history on its website) and I was determined to pay a visit now that the weather is warming up in NYC.  With all the endangered places being threatened to be torn down (we’re looking at the lost of the good old days of Coney Island, the gentrification in old neighborhoods, and all the mom and pop stores shuttering due to high real estate costs), it warms my heart that we are at least doing ‘something’ to preserve and value the past.

Situated ‘almost’ under the Brooklyn Bridge, you are surrounded by the breezy waterfront, the open air, the calmness away from the hectic city, and the opportunity to reminisce your long-lost childhood once more.  Do not be shy to pay up $2 for a brief ride through memory lane.  All ages are welcome.  No discrimination.  Adults, children, babies alike straddled over the horsies or sat in the sturdy carriages.  As the carousel slowly launched into locomotion, just close your eyes and let your mind run wild.  Do you see yourself galloping through a pasture? Remembering the times when you first rode a bike? As memories flashed by and the carousel eventually slowed down, you returned back to reality.  But have no fear.  The good old days might be gone, but the carousel shall be there as your sweet reminder.  Just for mere $2.  What a bargain.

Following on from the previous origins/revelations episode that was Nixon vs. Kennedy, the season one finale The Wheel tackles the fallout of Pete Campbell revealing to Sterling Cooper partner Bert Cooper that Don Draper was actually Dick Whitman and had stolen the former’s identity during the particularly horrific circumstances of the Korean War. The brilliant tense, fast-paced reveal scene in the previous episode meant that Don’s conflict with the season’s main antagonist Pete had already been resolved and left room for the more pressing issues of Don’s family life and infidelities in the finale. In particular, it seems that the explosive finale sees Don’s wife Betty come to the realisation that Don has been regularly unfaithful to her, and denotes a significant change in their relationship. In the first evolution of the union, Betty begins to become more passive-aggressive to her husband, utilising the psychiatrist arc that propped up her season on screen as a means of lashing out at Don. Recognising that Don had frequently been phoning the psychiatrist as a means of gaining introspection into his wife’s psyche throughout the season, Betty goes on the offensive and vocalises her concerns of Don’s infidelity. This scene leaves their rocky relationship balanced precariously on the brink for next season, but isn’t even the pinnacle of the cliff-hanger left in The Wheel which I’ll detail later on.

Meanwhile, Peggy’s rise up the ladder of Sterling Cooper is jeopardised as the payoff to the rumour-spinning arc of her weight gain arrives as immediately after being led to her brand new office, she falls victim to stomach pains and ultimately giving birth to her illegitimate child with Pete as the father. This is an example of the kind of storytelling that Mad Men does so well, as the character had noticeably gained weight over previous episodes, but not so much so that her colleagues’ teasing of her behind her back really give away the twist that she is bearing Pete’s child. I was shocked when watching this reveal for the first time, and the scene is exemplary of the type of subtle foreshadowing that bestows such an esteemed halo around the show.

Moreover, the climax scene of the entire season is magnificently conceived and executed and is perhaps a representation of what truly propels this series into the best-ever genre of television programmes. Charged with setting up an ad campaign for a Kodak product with the prototype name ‘the wheel’, Don leads a touching and insightful pitch to his clients utilising the tagline ‘The Carousel’ and a slideshow of Don and his family and reminiscing over better times. The concept is marketed effectively to the clients and is poignantly astute into Don as a character and as a man. The excellent pitch scene is followed by a touching imagined scene where Don arrives home to meet his family and retreat to Betty’s parents’ for Thanksgiving, yet the reality is inherently bleak and indicative of the depressive fog that clouds over the show. Don arrives back not to the carousel of happy family home but instead to a cavernously empty house, the season ending on that very sombre tone.

What makes Mad Men such a success relies upon the sense of atmosphere captured within the season one finale as an emblem of the entire season. Moreover what makes the characterisation of Don so fascinating and brilliant is that despite his sometimes reprehensible and questionable actions we know that at his core, he is still that little boy looking to escape the clutches of his father, or the young man running away from the horrors of the Korean War and most importantly is desperate to be the ideal family man of Americana that he spends all day pitching to clients. In The Wheel, the tragedy of Don’s character lies in his vulnerability and his self-sabotage that leaves him alone in his house for Thanksgiving. While Mad Men often gets criticised for having little action and relying on the atmospheric tone of the piece, The Wheel is an absolute prime example of the quality of the series, and how sometimes what is left unsaid is far more important than what is.

Someone whose opinion I hold very highly recommends this record release concert at the Living Room tonight. To find out more about singer Nancy Margarill go here.

Official Record Release:
Monday, January 16, 8 PM
The Living Room NYC;
154 Ludlow Street, NYC
Free
w/ Thad DeBrock, Yuval Lion & Christopher Kuffner

Following is the text of Don Draper’s pitch for “The Carousel”:

Well, technology is a glittering lure. But there is the rare occasion when the public can be engaged on a level beyond flash. If they have a sentimental bond with the product…My first job: I was in-house at a fur company. This old pro copy writer. A Greek named Teddy. And Teddy told me the most important idea in advertising is “new.” It creates an itch. You simply put your product in there as a kind of calamine lotion. But he also talked about a deeper bond with the product. Nostalgia. It’s delicate but potent…”

Teddy told me that in Greek, nostalgia literally means “the pain from an old wound.” It’s a twinge in your heart, far more powerful than memory alone. This device isn’t a spaceship. It’s a time machine. It goes backwards and forwards. It takes us to a place where we ache to go again.

It’s not called the wheel. It’s called THE CAROUSEL. It lets us travel the way a child travels. Round and around, and back home again. To a place where we know we are loved. 

If you’ve never watched Mad Men and this clip doesn’t convince you to start watching it, nothing else will.

Enjoy.

the weekend is definitely the highlight of any young family’s itinerary. The parents get to sleep in late (just a little), they get to spend some time with each other (just a little) and mostly the children get 100% attention from the overworked parents (just a little).

Together with some close friends, Michele and I rented a stall in the Belmont Sunday Market all the way in Geelong. Weekends being weekends, Michele and I generally don’t do much anyway besides keeping Levi out of trouble. Besides, the one-odd hour drive to Victoria’s second largest city is always refreshing.

Getting there at 8am, we set up stall and sold knick knacks Michele and I have acquired but have used little of since the early days of dating. Until today we still have no idea how we have amassed so much stuff. 95% of them were clothes but I also had computer paraphenalia and DVDs to sell.

All in all, we made a profit of over $80 for five hours of fun, haggling and sharing ideas with like-minded entrepreneurs.

Flushed with cash, we headed down to central Geelong for a stroll and coffee. It really was a remarkable day; one better had a good excuse to stay indoors as the weather was purr-fect.

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For the past few days we’ve featured quotes from the show. Today we’d like to showcase one of the most beautiful, sentimental moments from the show:

 Mad Men returns for its 4th season tonight at 10 PM/ET on AMC.

The Carousel was the former El Patio Ballroom on the second floor of the car dealership on the southwest corner of Market and Van Ness. It opened in 1966 with a performance by the Yardbirds.

In July of 68, legendary S.F. entrepreneur Bill Graham left the Fillmore Auditorium to take over the Carousel Ballroom. He would rename it The Fillmore West.

Today the Carousel Ballroom is now the service and repair shop of a Honda car dealer. sigh…

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• Grateful Dead – Lost It At The Carousel Radio Ad

• Grateful Dead – Hebrew Radio Ad

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Grateful Dead – Duprees Radio Ad
Grateful Dead – Rate The Record Radio Ad
Grateful Dead – Doin That Rag Radio Ad
Grateful Dead – Port Chester Apology Ad

—3—

Michael and Faye marry as she goes off to medical school, in Richard Paul Evans’ The Carousel. But worldly worries and events threaten to pull them apart. A simple, predictable love story, The Carousel is a good read when you want to let your brain rest.

3/5

Razorcuts – I’ll Still Be There

Razorcuts

7 random songs from my digital music archive will be chosen automatically by iT*nes. So songs from my 1500+ vinyl records are unjustly disqualified to be part of this limited edition series of songs…

Randomness #6: Razorcuts – I'll Be There

Razorcuts

Razorcuts was one of those C86 bands that the UK seemed to be overflooded with in the mid-eighties.

After some singles and a couple of years on the Subway Organisation label, they joined Creation records and released two albums before finally splitting up.

Razorcuts were heavily influenced by the sixties – more so than their C86 piers. The sixties influence is even more prominent in the two spin-off bands Red Chair Fadeaway and The Carousel. Both of these are in my opinion much better than Razorcuts – probably because I prefer female singers for this kind of music.

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