#243) "Downtown" by Petula Clark - Yes, it is true there are some communities around the country working hard to preserve/reinvigorate their downtown areas, aided by a recent (as in the last ten or fifteen years) trend away from the sterile mall scene - where Orange Julius, a Chinese buffet and Sbarro are the only dining options - in favor of a homier, artsier, more community-oriented shopping/dining experience.
Groovy. But by and large, most downtowns continue to struggle to compete with slickly packaged corporatism. For better or worse, American consumers seem to prefer, and thus gravitate toward, malls and strip malls, those clustered retail areas with "big box" everything, found in the open spaces of a town's outskirts, rather than the narrow streets of city center.
I admit, I'm that way. I like history, appreciate the aesthetic of days gone by, particularly when it comes to architecture, and fully acknowledge the importance of "local" and "community", but I'm sorry, when it's time to spend my hard-earned money on goods, services, or entertainment, I'd prefer not to do so in an old building or space. There's just something about the optics of a 19th century slaughterhouse being renovated into retail space that fails to excite me. It's a nice idea, I guess, and maybe it's good someone is thinking to do it (because at the same time, I don't think everything should simply be torn down either), but give me that sterile shopping mall any day. Same goes with restaurants in old buildings, or worse, in renovated homes. Not down with that at all. When I go out to eat, I want to feel as though I'm eating out, not invited over to someone's house.
I dislike B&B's for the same reason.
When I think of "downtown", whether in a town of 8,000 or city of half a million, I always think of what was, rather than what is, or what will be. And if it's not an area undergoing some kind of well-meaning revitalization, forget it. I never expect to (and rarely do I ever) find anything there but boarded up store fronts, maybe a used furniture store or political party headquarters, a bus station, an architecturally interesting old building perhaps...but nothing ever really going on. Surely no "gentle bossa nova" calling to me, and the "music of the traffic in the city" only making me wish for an escape. And for that matter, mostly unsavory types lingering amidst the glow of the "pretty" neon signs.
That being said, I find Petula Clark's "Downtown" fascinating nevertheless. Not exactly jam-worthy, but worthy of inclusion in any thinking man's road trip mix, as an emissary from a different age, when "downtown" was still the epicenter of every community's constantly shifting proclivities and predilections.
Honestly, seeking out still-vibrant and viable downtowns might be a good side mission - so to speak - of 1/48/50.
"The lights are much brighter there, you can forget all your worries, forget all your cares..."
#244) "We've Gotta Get Out of this Place" by The Animals - The sentiment of this song is what drives all road trips, all escapes out of anywhere. Doesn't really matter if "this place" is a deserted main drag in a small town with a 70-car freight train running through twice a day, or an urban neighborhood with an L train running overhead every fifteen minutes, the impulse to leave in search of something better, the belief that something better lies in wait somewhere else, is powerful stuff, a driving force in life, and represented with compelling urgency by this song's raw 60s sound and singer Eric Burdon's equally raw vocals.
"We've gotta get out of this place, if it's the last thing we ever do..."
