Burp Springsteen

I'm at my parents' house, watching TV downstairs. Bruce Springsteen is on, performing a song on acoustic (possibly with band.) I notice his voice is extremely rough like gravel - basically, as he sings notes, one simultaneously hears an ongoing guttural noise behind it. I say, "it's sounds like he's burping while he's singing..." And just at that moment, I catch the tune and lyrics that he's singing. It's a sad minor key lament, midtempo, and the chorus lyrics just repeat the line "It's burpin' right here....it's burpin' right here..." This is presented as very sad. Like the general context is...if you want to see a man whose heart is broken, well, "it's burpin' right here..." meaning I'm right in front of you. I wake up in hysterics.

Sal Charleston

So the last attempt at 'jump starting' the ol' dream blog here didn't work out so well. It is now a year and half later. But here's another:

With my cousin Tom and his dad, in a field near a house in the country. This is our 'first mission'..to infiltrate this house in broad daylight. Espionage/G.I.JOE overtones. I seem to have an action figure with me as if to make the point...the figure has his name written directly on its plastic - the name is Sal Charleston.

Uncle gets in house, second floor balcony. Tom and I waylaid, by two people sitting in field suddenly. We have to pretend to be dozing off...I try to keep one eye just a hair open now and then to be safe. Eventually we move around the house and sneak in ourselves. Very modern inside. Grand piano near central stairway. I want to play it.

Bob Dylan's "Alaska"

Fragment of a dream recorded here, in the interests of jump starting this blog again.

Bob Dylan has a new song and video, and there's a key lyric in there, and it's something along the lines of "I'll never kiss you 'til Alaska." A late 80's era Dylan is seen in the video, lip-syncing while standing near an old railroad car in the dead of winter.

The Village Honors, Elvis Intervenes

I'm in some kind of native village; many, many locals around because today is some type of ritual day. It turns out I'm one (the only non-native) of many who are to be part of some ancient rite of passage ceremony today. It's a great honor apparently, but I'm just trying to get up to speed today. I'm running late for this outdoor gathering when I realize I don't have some totem/artifact that all the other initiates are bringing to the event. I run around and find a nice woman in the market to put together one fast for me. It's sort of a combination of fruit and a folding chair, folks. I realize I have a little time, though I'm late, because there is some music to be performed before the actual ceremony starts.

Finally I'm running to get to the big crowd, but I'm stopped on the way by Elvis. Waylaid is the more appropriate term. He says I need to complete a few tasks for him right then and there, but I'm anxious because of my other important engagement.

Bat-Relief

Only one short sequence is remembered, in which I'm being grilled by my (evil) fourth grade teacher. For some reason, she forces me into an improvised stand-up comedy routine in class. I'm grasping at straws until I hit upon this idea of the Batman movie(s) being overly merchandised... That it's all well and good to have a Batman toothbrush, Batman bedsheets, a Batman tire pressure gauge, etc., but putting Batman on a box of laxatives is crossing the line. This punchline seems to have the desired effect.

$1,000,000

Someone, or some group, has stolen a million dollars in cash. Somehow I'm aware of this, and have some connection with the perpetrators. This leads to me and a female accomplice breaking into a large house to steal the cash from the ones who originally stole it. It's a dangerous operation, but it comes off ok. There's a large garage, with an automatic door that we use to escape with the cash (it was hidden in a mattress.)

We are driving away from the house, suburban street, day time, when I realize how much danger we are in if anyone knows we stole the stolen money. Like having the police AND the mob out to get you. Fears are realized when it is revealed that the cash was marked and easily traced. Someone tries to deposit some at a bank, and it is shown how certain number sequences on the various bills (which look more like bank checks) fit with other sequences on subsequent bills. I think about how if the large amount of cash had been 'shuffled' more before this deposit, the sequence wouldn't have been discovered.

There is another sequence involving a million dollars; this time I've won it, split amongst a group. I consider lending some to someone who appears to be in need, and feel somewhat smug, but all this turns out to be a sketchy proposition. This sequence somehow connects to others, one involving a bowling alley and the other, a movie ticket line.

There is a final sequence before waking involving a vampire and the possibility that I myself am also one. One is seen, and then refers to an 'offscreen' master in darkness. These characters seem to be recurring from another recent dream I've had, but on waking, I don't believe that is the case.

What's The Deal With Things That Get All Over The Place?

Dream in which I'm at my parents' house in NY, downstairs in the den. I've got a new Frank Zappa CD release; it's in thin, shrink-wrapped cardboard case and the cover is vague and obscure. The title has "Helsinki" in it but it is not his real-life Helsinki concert release. But it is live...and as I listen to it on the stereo, It is all "original" to my dream (I made up the music subconsciously.) Somehow, Hendrix guests on a few tracks on the record, though it seems to date from the 1970's. I decide it's not the best thing Hendrix ever did, but that it's the best thing Zappa has done.

There is a lot of intentional avant-garde noise/improv on the record, along with some stellar jazz fusion pieces. My family is moving about, also listening and enjoying (it's Christmastime.) One song is called something like Mnnh: Htaw Mnnnhth Mno or something on the package; listening, part of it is a parody of the old standard, "What a Wonderful World." Someone else is singing it, but all the original words are replaced with random nonsense. Everyone finds it very funny.

The disc is over and the player is about to restart at the beginning, which I don't remember hearing before. On the first track of the concert, Zappa comes on stage and says something like "This song is sometimes called ****** (I forget) but the reallll title is 'Bobby Brown'" and counts it off and a vamp starts. This song I actually know (from real life) and don't want everyone in the house to be turned off by its vulgar and offensive lyrics, so I race over to shut it off. Right before starting to sing, Zappa says to the band over the vamp on the last beats before the verse, "I'm ready!" This seems out of character compared to his usually discreet and accurate conducting.

I don't get to the stereo in time to stop the music before the verse starts, but as I do, I hear it's not the 'Bobby Brown' song I know, it must be an earlier version. But it's not one from real life, it's a 'dream' version. The first line (repeated twice) is...."What's the deal with things that get all over the place?" I'm enjoying it.

I remember the music for that line. Major key, around 120 bpm, fanfare style. The descending melody (if it were C major) is:
What's the deal with | things that get all over the place
E C C G G E E E D D D D

I wake up laughing about this line.

P.S. This is the 100th dream post. New Year's resolution - remember more, blog more.

The County Fair

There's a long sequence where I'm going to play at a large county fair. (Not quite as large as the L.A. County Fair, however.) I'm backstage, there's some confusion. There's an older man, African-American, who is supposed to perform before me, he's also waiting backstage. I believe he has a sax or harmonica. We are hanging around with a few other people when we decide to break into a jam of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On." I'm play the opening; I'm surprised when he also decides to play a second guitar instead of the sax part. I eventually sing a verse; pretty good.

It seems eventually he does get to go on stage proper, and I watch him perform with a large group and chorus. I never get to play; no problem. Afterwards, hanging out with MI and a large group in one area, where we watch on a closed circuit television what's being performed on stage in a different area. There are young boys and girls doing somewhat dangerous fire dances, where as part of their dance, part of their hair or head catches fire. I see how this is done the second time, one boy has some flammable goop on his head. A girl comes out and seems very unhappy to be forced to do this dangerous routine. But without hesitation, she does her act and her mouth, eyelashes, and other facial features are briefly surrounded by flames. The cameras show a closeup and she still seems upset, on the verge of tears.

There is another dream in which I hear that SC has died somehow. I'm not sure about it, and plan on confirming it but never do.

Another where I see MJ and he's reading a George Carlin book with a mixture of enjoyment and embarrassment.