(Column) This is the Life: From a hot summer’s day

By Lorne Eckersley

Creston Valley Advance

Sometimes it’s a wonder I ever get at writing this column. This week I had a number of topics in mind, but none was really floating to the top of the list. Then, on Monday night, after eating not one but two very nice meals (one Indian, one Thai — but that’s another story) I spent hours dreaming of actually writing This is the Life or, at least, thinking about writing it. A stomach full of spicy food does strange things to the mind.

Oddly enough, I did awake Tuesday morning remembering those dreams, and came to work thinking I would flesh out the ideas that I had obsessed about overnight.

Then, as is my usual routine, I turned on my favourite Internet radio station and logged onto my New York Times subscription. After dispatching the crossword puzzle in under seven minutes, I turned to the front page and browsed some of the day’s stories — all part of a typical start to my day.

One of the stories that caught my attention was about a young man who has become famous on YouTube, attracting some four million viewers. His schtick? He makes short films comprised of snippets of video featuring him doing a goofy chicken dance in mostly recognizable places all around the world. Matt Harding (a.k.a. Where the Hell is Matt?) has become so popular that a chewing gum manufacturer now sponsors him, paying for his travels all around the world.

Around the world? How about the Antarctic, Middle East, Africa, Australia, Asia, South America and various points in North America? He performs mostly solo, but has recently invited groups of onlookers to join in with him. Backdrops have included giraffes, elephants, the Easter Island statues, London bobbies and a Korean guard in the demilitarized zone. The whole thing is done completely without irony — Harding said he started dancing as a young man, sometimes as a release and other times “just to annoy people.” The Times article said the dancing videos are almost impossible to watch without ending up with a smile on one’s face. And it is absolutely right.

Then, because I was already on the YouTube Web site, I ended up watching a number of videos featuring images from Google Earth, zoom-ins of some of the most peculiar sites, including images of Egyptian goddesses, crop circles, an apparent ghost ship and nude sunbathers captured by the satellite cameras. Some of those videos are set to very esoteric and often compelling music.

So there I was, primed to start writing this column, when a quick check of my e-mail showed a message from a friend, who I shall not identify, a consistent sender to friends the most entertaining photos, jokes and the like. The one that arrived on this day was an attachment with a message that said, simply, “For your musical ear!”

I opened the link to find film of an unprepossessing male standing on stage in Carnegie Hall. He was explaining to a host that “harmonicas get a bad rap.” He then launched first into a lovely version of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, then slipped into a medley that climaxed with one of the most amazing renditions I’ve ever heard of the theme from The Lone Ranger, which, of course, started life as the cavalry charge from Rossini’s William Tell overture. Harmonica Dude, whose real name is Buddy Greene, literally and figuratively, blows the audience, and everyone I’ve since shared the video with, away.

And now to find something to write about.

Lorne Eckersley is the publisher of the Creston Valley Advance.