In short, I loved it.

I first heard about Harold and Maude over the summer after my discovery of the music of Cat Stevens. Having him provide most of the soundtrack already gave me a good feeling about the film. I was even more delighted to find that the movie’s feel suited my own personality greatly, namely its randomness. This is not to say that there were no profound moments (because there were many), but I like movies that leave a lot of explaining to the viewer, and Harold and Maude certainly fit the bill in this regard.

But wait, there’s more…

I was shocked and delighted when halfway through the movie Maude gave Harold a banjo to play. Over the summer (when I wasn’t listening to Cat Stevens) I decided to start learning the banjo, due in large part to my introduction to Bela Fleck. This sealed it for me: Cat Stevens, randomness, and banjo. What more can I ask for?

In short, watch it.

Harold and Maude

Here’s a music video with Cat Steven’s/Yusef Islam’s son. The song is great, and the visuals make it even better.

I spent this past weekend in Bear Valley in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The trip was absolutely amazing, and I will be sure to post pictures once I get them (I brought my camera and plenty of batteries, but somehow forget my memory card, so I used a friend’s SD card).

However, the point of this post is actually to share a recent discovery of mine, which some of my close friends would consider an obsession… Basically, on our car ride up to the Sierras, we were out of radio reception for some time, and thus were stuck with three CDs in the van, Rachmaninoff, James Taylor, and Cat Stevens!

As you can probably tell from the title of this post, it is the latter that is now playing on my computer. I understand that I am several decades late to discovering Cat Stevens (now Yusef Islam), but this does not dampen my enthusiasm at all. His songs and lyrics are amazing. This is no small statement for me, as for some time I have proudly advertised the fact that I “don’t listen to music with lyrics” (you’ll usually find me listening to jazz or classical). Cat Stevens has made me reconsider that boast. Some of my favorite songs by him…Wild World, Morning has Broken, The Wind, Father and Son, Peace Train, Moonshadow, Sitting, etc…

This post has reminded me of another topic I have intend to share on TWB, but I’ll save it for my next post.