red rain

You know when you think about something, however briefly, and somehow the spheres connive to bring that thought into your reality? Sounds more high-fallutin' than it is.

Por ejemplo: I'm on a bus in Guatemala, squashed seven-to-a-row with the Quiche Mayans and their baskets of avacados, listening to Celine Dion's number from Titanic on the radio for the umpteenth time, when suddenly out of the recesses of my mind drifts this thought like a stinking sulfur gas: "Whatever happened to Genesis?" Yes, it's sad and embarassing. But in the state of near-meditation I had reached bumping along the ridges between Panajachel and Antigua Guatemala, hipbone to hipbone with silent stony-faced Guatemalans, that strange TV-Week thought crossed my mind: "What of Genesis? They used to be all over the radio, and I dont reckon I've heard them for years." Maybe it was the caustic crapness of Celine's worldbeater that took my mind wandering through a high altitude association game, but there it was, Phil Collins' ugly mug in my mind's eye. So later, I wander out to find something to eat in Antigua, and come across a tiny little bar with a buxom matron serving taco-encilada type comida and, importantly, beer. And as I tuck into my cheesy, avocadoey, chickeny quesadilla-things, with a wink from my new best friend, out of nowhere ... "Billy, Billy don't you lose that number..."

Scary isn't it?

Espcially when the Guatemalans have this awesome native music, marimbo chapina, they play on massive xylophones made out of gourds.

But wait, there's more: the reason I remembered that story is not unassociated with Genesis. You see, I've been encountering Peter Gabriel music repeatedly in the last few days: in the cinema, some new movie they were advertising used "Salisbury Hill" as it's main tune (maybe Cellular, or Million Dollar Baby, both of which look shite); in the gym, Triple M (I know, but the powers that be must like it) pumped out "Don't give up" with the populous precision of a political mastermind; and then of the three random cds I grabbed to put onto my new work computer, one was "So".

What a bloody good album.