Across the Universe

Finally got to see the movie "Across the Universe" on DVD. Wish I had seen it in the theater at least once. It was "trippy". A real stroll down memory lane. I cried with every song. I remembered when each song came out and what I was doing and thinking. I realized that was 40 years ago and more. I remember when I saw the Beatles in 1964 at the Cow Palace in San Francisco with my cousins Frank and George (Frank's younger brother), my aunt Frances and my Mom, Katie. I don't remember if anyone else was with us. I was 16. Imagine going to something like that with your mother! Things have changed. We didn't think it was strange. We were happy they took us. When the Beatles came out everyone started screaming and jumping up and down, even our mothers! I made my way through the crowd and actually started climbing on to the stage, reaching for John. He was closest to the side I was on, although Paul was my favorite. A female cop grabbed me an threatened to take me to the infirmary if I tried it again. Of course, I obeyed. In the west, popular music defines an era. The Beatles were a huge part of my younger days. The film uses their music effectively and appropriately. Earlier in the day, I had gone to a reading and book signing by Natalie Goldberg. She said she has been earning a living writing for 21 years. She's written 11 books. Her latest one Old Friend from Far Away. She talked about how a memoir could cover a part of your life. It was not a chronological account, but, say, your life in terms of lemon-meringue pie. This film shows how our lives were interwoven with the music of the Beatles. How it defined a generation. From the naivete of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" to "Why Don't We Do It in the Road". We all changed a lot in one decade. The whole world changed a lot in that decade.