LJ Idol Week 26: Black Hole Sun

[alycewilson]

This is my entry for this week of LJ Idol (therealljidol). This week was an Open Topic.Whenever I hear the song "Black Hole Sun" by Soundgarden, I sing along with a French accent. That song conjures dune grass, cobalt sea and cerulean sky. Hot air, suffused with ocean mist, bug spray and sun block. Me and my sister, with her long blonde hair tangling in the

Comments

[dadi]

I can smell the ponys and the bug spray right there! What a great evocation of that holiday, and how wonderful that you were able to reconnect with your sister like that <2

[alycewilson]

Thank you. I'm glad you felt it came alive for you. We'd always been close, but in that moment I stopped seeing her as the little girl who used to follow me around the neighborhood and started seeing her as a peer.

[lyssa027]

The video for Blackhole Sun used to be one of my favorites when I was first discovering what music is and what my personal taste in music would grow to be [spoiler alert: ecclectic as hell]

[alycewilson]

It's sort of groundbreaking. At the time, it must have been very visually surprising. I'll be honest, though, I didn't have cable television at the time, so I don't think I ever saw it until just now!

[lyssa027]

I saw Chris Cornell in concert several years ago, and he played Blackhole Sun then. I have a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PetWWDUmbqw

[alycewilson]

Very cool! Looks like you had good seats, too!

[encrefloue]

Yes, that song really is a time capsule! Thanks for including us in the in-joke-somehow it feels like of course Black Hole Sun needs to be run through an overly-earnest French-Canadian filter

[alycewilson]

As soon as I opened the link and saw it was by Haley Reinhart, I knew I would love that cover. My husband has shared other covers by her of some of my favorite songs, and I remember when she competed on "American Idol" and made it into the top three that season.

I'm blown away by your response to this piece! I personally was wondering if it was too small of a story, but I concentrated on trying to capture the feel of being there. I like what you said about the ability to coexist with my past selves. Unconsciously, I think that may be what I do: bring back my memories of how I felt at the time, although there's always the current version of myself present, too.

Reading my own comment just now, I realize why so many authors tend not to talk about their own work!

[encrefloue]

I missed that season! I bet she had some killer performances!

There is something to that feeling of being a mystery to oneself as a creator! I do have to spend some time after certain pieces to think on why this new thing came out of me-sometimes it's not even our duty to know the reasons behind what we make...we simply have to make!

[alycewilson]

Agreed! I think my best work sometimes is just a gift from the subconscious, or from something greater, perhaps.

[roina_arwen]

I don’t think I’ve heard that song before, but I loved reading about you and your sister getting closer as adults - very sweet!

[alycewilson]

Thank you! That song was pretty inescapable on the State College, Pa., radio stations at the time, but I often don't know today's pop songs, so I'm not surprised that you might have missed it.

[marlawentmad]

I really admire your memory recall combined with the cozy way you pull the reader into your reverie.

[alycewilson]

Thanks! I like that it feels cozy. Love that word!