Difference between revisions of "Chapter 9"
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[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanon Hanon] was a 19th-century French piano teacher and composer. He's most famous for developing exercises for piano students. | [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanon Hanon] was a 19th-century French piano teacher and composer. He's most famous for developing exercises for piano students. | ||
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The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Virtuoso_Pianist_in_60_Exercises exercises], rather than the guy who wrote them, are the primary focus of the reference. These are the basic finger exercises that almost everyone who took piano played for some period, and almost everyone who has had a family member who took piano listend to over and over for seemingly endless periods. They're basically short, hurried, unmelodic scales that work up and down the keyboard without any regard for key. The more advanced exercises feature 4th- and 5th-finger repetitions and trills that are about as pleasant to listen to as a skipping record. They would sound particularly silly on a portable Farfisa, and practicing them on a Farfisa would be strange, as the instrument, unlike a piano, has soft organ keys with virtually no action. | The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Virtuoso_Pianist_in_60_Exercises exercises], rather than the guy who wrote them, are the primary focus of the reference. These are the basic finger exercises that almost everyone who took piano played for some period, and almost everyone who has had a family member who took piano listend to over and over for seemingly endless periods. They're basically short, hurried, unmelodic scales that work up and down the keyboard without any regard for key. The more advanced exercises feature 4th- and 5th-finger repetitions and trills that are about as pleasant to listen to as a skipping record. They would sound particularly silly on a portable Farfisa, and practicing them on a Farfisa would be strange, as the instrument, unlike a piano, has soft organ keys with virtually no action. | ||
Revision as of 19:19, 17 August 2009
- Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.
Page numbers refer to editions with 369 pages, where the story begins on page 1. Not sure if there are other editions with variant pagination. Please let us know otherwise.
Contents
Page 124
Stone Turntable
The name is presumably intended to be a jokey reference to Rolling Stone: a stone turntable being not a rolling stone, but a rotating one.
Page 125
Jurgensen's
Jurgensen's was an upscale, gourmet grocery store with locations in Beverly Hills, Pasadena, and throughout greater LA.
Hokusai's famous Great Wave off Kanagawa
a famous woodblock print. Wikipedia
Page 126
the Boards...
As the surf band that makes it big, the Boards suggest the Beach Boys. Pynchon himself once visited the home of Brian Wilson in Beverly Hills. See Pynchon and Brian Wilson. Perhaps this chapter drew some inspiration from that visit?
Page 128
Dark Shadows. . . The Collins family . . . parallel time
Dark Shadows was an innovative TV show in the late 1960's and early 70's that focuses on the Collins family. The show included many Gothic elements, including vampires, zombies, and witches. It also played with time travel and parallel universes in which the same character would be played by different actors or the same actor would play different characters.
parallel time
This paragraph may be a coded reference to Pynchon's own Against the Day and its reception. Against the Day features parallel universes/time (?) and confounded readers nation- (and world-)wide. This interpretation may be a stretch. I dunno. Bleakhaus 22:59, 9 August 2009 (PDT)
Hanon
Hanon was a 19th-century French piano teacher and composer. He's most famous for developing exercises for piano students.
The exercises, rather than the guy who wrote them, are the primary focus of the reference. These are the basic finger exercises that almost everyone who took piano played for some period, and almost everyone who has had a family member who took piano listend to over and over for seemingly endless periods. They're basically short, hurried, unmelodic scales that work up and down the keyboard without any regard for key. The more advanced exercises feature 4th- and 5th-finger repetitions and trills that are about as pleasant to listen to as a skipping record. They would sound particularly silly on a portable Farfisa, and practicing them on a Farfisa would be strange, as the instrument, unlike a piano, has soft organ keys with virtually no action.
Farfisa
One of the first electric keyboards/organs used in rock and roll. More here.
Page 130
George Formby
George Formby, Jr. performed "Leaning on a Lamppost" (written by Noel Gay) which Herman's Hermits covered. Tyrone Slothrop, protagonist of Gravity's Rainbow is described as "sort of an American George Formby, if you can imagine such a thing."
Page 131
Donna Lee
Donna Lee, way more than Coy's usual 1 or 2 note solos.
abrazo
Spanish for hug.
Page 132
third ballet position
here
louche
Of questionable taste or morality; decadent.
Page 133
1949 Mercury woodie
The Mod Squad drove a Mercury woodie, either a '49 or '50.
Page 138
van Houten, Leslie
b. 1949. A former member of Charles Manson's "Family" who was convicted of the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. She remains imprisoned at the California Institution for Women in Chino, San Bernadino County, California.
Page 144
esta gente no sabe nada
Spanish for "these people know nothing."
Page 145
hijo de puta
Spanish for "son of a bitch."
otra vez
Spanish for "again/one more time."
Page 146
"Cootie food!"
What Doc means is "le coup de foudre," aka "bolt of lightning." This echos Reef's 'rounder Italian'; "Say surly topple!" he would scream..." (page 889) from Against the Day.
The English meaning, if it has one, and the explanation for Clancy Charlock's response to Doc, is unclear. It may perhaps refer to the childish fear of being infected by a sort of imaginary germ borne by the opposite sex and known as "cooties," which - possibly - makes a member of the opposite sex whom you touch "cootie food." Or, it could just be a very idiosyncratic reference to oral sex.
The phrase is apparently used - at least in the South, and not commonly - to refer to unappetizing or unclean food.
Cooties is slang for crabs or lice.
Page 147
Now, Voyager (1942)
from Wikipedia: Now, Voyager is a 1942 American drama film directed by Irving Rapper. The screenplay by Casey Robinson is based on the 1941 novel of the same name by Olive Higgins Prouty, who borrowed her title from a line in the Walt Whitman poem "The Untold Want," which reads in its entirety, "The untold want by life and land ne'er granted, / Now voyager sail thou forth to seek and find." Bette Davis' portrayal garnered her an Academy Award nomination, and the film continues to be popular not only due to its star power but also the "emotional crescendos" engendered in the storyline.
The film includes the line: "Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon... we have the stars."
Page 148
Zubin Mehta
A famous conductor, Zubin Mehta was the Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, 1962-1978. [1]
massé shots
In billiards, a massé shot is when a player strikes a ball with the cue at a sharp angle and causes the ball to curve drastically or even eventually reverse direction. Here's an example. Some pool halls (like this one) forbid this kind of shot because it often leads to scratching or tearing of the felt.
| Chapter 1 pp. 1-18 |
Chapter 2 pp. 19-45 |
Chapter 3 pp. 46-49 |
Chapter 4 pp. 50-54 |
Chapter 5 pp. 55-67 |
| Chapter 6 pp. 68-88 |
Chapter 7 pp. 89-110 |
Chapter 8 pp. 111-123 |
Chapter 9 pp. 124-153 |
Chapter 10 pp. 154-162 |
| Chapter 11 pp. 163-185 |
Chapter 12 pp. 186-206 |
Chapter 13 pp. 207-234 |
Chapter 14 pp. 235-255 |
Chapter 15 pp. 256-274 |
| Chapter 16 pp. 275-295 |
Chapter 17 pp. 296-314 |
Chapter 18 pp. 315-342 |
Chapter 19 pp. 343-350 |
Chapter 20 pp. 351-363 |
| Chapter 21 pp. 364-369 |
