79 AD

What is it about ancient Rome that still fascinates and entertains over 2,000 years later? Spending an afternoon at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art exhibit: Pompeii and the Roman Villa is an experience not to be missed. Fascination with “the last days of Pompeii” is legendary, from poems to books, from rock bands to operas, films, documentaries, television shows, stage shows and even fire works displays have been based on the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79AD. Even John Hollerbach of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory who is working on treadport (a walking  simulation effect for virtual reality) chose pre-eruption Pompeii as a subject for his test applications.  There is a tragic romance about the 2,000 who died that day, 1,930 years ago. Ten percent of the population of Pompeii perished in three meters of ash and from 1748 when their remains were first discovered to this day the fascination with them has continued.

Even the discriptions of the homes found there are stories in themselves. The houses uncovered were named by the archiologists for their occupants: the house of the scientist, house of the gem engraver, house of the artisan, house of the tragic poet and house of the golden bracelets (where the body of a woman wearing heavy gold bracelets was found), for their decoration: house of the black wall, house of the little fountain, house of the citharist, house of the gilded cupids, house of the fawn, house of the colored capitals, house of Orpheus, house of marine venus, house of the wounded Adonis and house of the citharist and many more.  These homes were decorated in the height of fashion for their day. One house had a bathroom floor of silver, another a swimming pool 195 feet in length. Interior gardens were taken for granted. In the Villa dei Papiri alone, 1,800 papyrus scrolls and 100 statues were found. Love, myth and theatre were common themes for decoration and art, sexuality and culinary talent flourished and were catered to.

The populace of Pompeii were a varied lot: slaves, aristocrats, wealthy merchants, soldiers, politicians, gladiators, pirates, prostitutes and artisans. It is estimated that about 20,000 people lived there and although there have been over three dozen eruptions of Vesuvius since 79 AD, including one in 1631 that killed over 4,000 residents, it is the catastrophy of 79AD that captures the imagination. Pliny the Younger, an eye witness to the tragedy was the first to write about it in a letter.   His Uncle, Pliny the Elder was one of the victims. It is estimated that the column of ash was 20 miles high and the eruption lasted over 19 hours.

Tales of orgies, corruption and greed have been used for centuries to rationalize the destruction of the city dedicated to Aphrodite. The story of Pompeii invokes thought of life and afterlife, public life and private life, virtue and corruption, the elite and the slave. The extremes of the city and its abrupt end fascinate. There is even a syndrome named after it, Pompeii syndrome where "people on the verge of extinction ignore all signs of coming doom".

If you can't get to the exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art take a virtual vacation to Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii (40”45’04 N x 14”29’25 E) or if you are feeling really adventurous travel to the tallest known volcano in the solar system. Wonder, drama, tragedy, riches, sex, beauty, danger, Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii have captured the imagination for almost 2,000 years.

Nostalgia at 45 RPM

Amoeba Music claims to be the world’s largest independently owned music store and I believe them. On Sunset Blvd. between North Cahuenga Blvd. and Ivar Avenue it takes up an entire city block. With vinyl record albums taking up about a third of the store, walking through the doors is like doing the time warp.

Sifting through the albums brought back sounds, pictures, smells, parties of two and parties of two hundred, revelations, revolutions, fantasy and history. Shared experiences dovetail between music and movies, between cultural clashes and cultural celebrations, between reality and dreams. It was a shared odyssey of the senses, a journey of new experiences, new sounds, new images, new ideas, challenges and growth. The kind of growth through experience that Mother never taught us. Some of us made it and some of us didn’t. We were in free fall and didn’t realize it until we hit the ground.

There were some albums and experiences everybody had. Who could forget Carole King’s Tapestry, Chicago’s big chocolate bar, and Jefferson Starship’s Red Octopus, a many tentacled heart. Everyone spent a night at the Hotel California with the Eagles. Frampton came alive, Elvis died and the Beatles officially broke up.

Queen rocked us, Led Zeppelin showed us the way to heaven and Lynard Skynard taught us how to fly free. Billy Joel was a stranger and Neil Young said not to let things get you down. AC/DC was back in black and Johnny Cash was the man in black. Rod Stewart told us that with love the first cut is the deepest and the Stones fought off wild horses in the name of love. We learned that if you don’t eat your meat you can’t have any pudding. The building of a wall was documented and another wall came tumbling down.

Bruce Springsteen was born to run and Tommy ran away from it all, retreating into his own world. George Carlin said the seven words you can’t say on radio and Richard Prior set ears on fire with his language and himself on fire with a lighter. We fought killer bunnies and searched for the Holy Grail while some days a hard rain just fell.

Barbara Streisand was born a star, Stevie Nicks vamped it up like a gypsy princess, and Cyndi Lauper just wanted to have fun.

Electric Light Orchestra evolved from a neon hood ornament into a space dock. Jefferson Airplane became a starship. We had aliens from France, Mork from Ork, Wookies and Trekies. Aliens ate meatloaf and Meatloaf flew like a bat out of hell.

Today you can buy an LP to digital music converter, change your old LPs to MP3s and listen to your personal collection on your iPod. You can even share your playlist by docking your MP3 player, but the experience of vinyl still can’t be beat. It’s not just audible, it’s also tactile, visual and above all memorable. It’s a group experience, a cultural sharing rather than an individual, solitary journey. John Belushi went on a road trip and never found his way home, Peter Fonda & Dennis Hooper went looking for America and didn’t survive the trip, but we went looking for America and we found it… in our music.