Driving I-95 S. With Freddie.

~ Live & Learn

Tuesday morning.

Early morning traffic is frictionless, commuters float down I-95 S.

It’s 42° F. It’s January.  Soft, light rain. Electronics somehow (?) sense that the windshield is damp, wipers flap intermittently. Miracle. All of it.

It’s quiet in the cabin.

No radio.

No talk shows.

No podcasts.

No playlists.

The soft hum of the engine. The shifting of the sole of my right shoe on the accelerator.

And, those pernicious bumpin’ Thoughts.

Drop by Drop.  From work, from in-progress books, from passages in blog posts, from movies, again from Work and from Work again –  they land. Some gently, some crashing.

“No one speaks, no one says a word, and yet there are a thousand sounds here.” (Linn Ullmann, from “Unquiet“)

And They settle on a clip from a Must-see movie titled Bohemian Rhapsody on the life of Freddie Mercury, the lead singer from the band Queen.

Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide. No escape from reality. Open your eyes. Look up to the skies and see…

And Freddie shares in his quiet moment…

The in-between moments,
I suppose.
I find them intolerable.
All of the…
darkness you thought you left
behind comes creeping back in.

 

Notes: Photo: Takashi Kitajima 

46 thoughts on “Driving I-95 S. With Freddie.”

      1. I have tried all sorts of anesthesia! My current favorite is a very cold, steep woods hike….anesthesia for my skin and fingers while heart pounds and brain burns hot inside.

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  2. Gee, I’m glad to see that I’m not alone with these thoughts, either! It’s a great movie, too, Dave, definitely one to see. Freddie and Queen connected with their fans like no other band ever did …

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      2. Esam and Layla, my husband and daughter, went when I was out of town. Both big fans of Queens, Freddie, and Malik. They loved it.

        If I watch it, the soul of Freddie will enter me. I’m sure of that. He’s so true, real, raw! Like a body born without skin. I know what that will do to me for days. And I will want to hide for days!

        Do you see what it’s doing to our David?
        This is why I asked when exactly David watched it.

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        1. I have to tell you, I saw it twice. And yes, his spirit does enter you… but it was a good thing! And Rami capture that rawness, that insecurity off the stage, that humbleness that was his true self.

          OK then…

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    2. Sawsan; In a way I understand you perfectly. I sometimes am SO taken with a book that I refuse to see the film because it would take something away from MY life-picture I had from reading. Other times I see a film and take the images so in that I find the book ‘not right’. So, in short, I get you – but I also do think (after all my ‘research’ work on YT and newspapers) that this one time you MUST see the movie…. You will only be able to say afterwards whether you were right or wrong – and would it REALLY be that bad if….the soul of Freddie will enter me. I’m sure of that. He’s so true, real, raw! Like a body born without skin. I know what that will do to me for days. And I will want to hide for days!….. 🙂
      Take courage! Go and watch it. Watch it for me too – as it might take a long time for me to view it.

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  5. It’s so funny. I follow another blogger (A Frank Angle) and this weekend’s “concert” is Queen….
    So that said, I love to drive in total silence and let my thoughts go where they will. They do go willy-nilly
    And yes, for some, those in-between moments bring no peace; sad really.

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  8. I am not often anymore ever alone in the car…in fact mid-week was the first time I’d been in the car for a week! Yes, of course we’d leave on foot for those wonderfully necessary walks :)…when we’d be on one of those long car vacations we’d have tons of cd’s along and often we’d find ourselves either talking or journeying on in silence enjoying the magnificent beauty of the Landscape…we’d rent cabins, sometimes along a river, or up on a bench, or in the woods, or next to an ocean, etc were we’d wander along on foot, stop to sit and enjoy the beauty and the quietness of Life…the cabins were great spots to sit and observe!/// When I am alone in the car I cannot allow my thoughts to wander as I wouldn’t be paying enough attention to the duties of driving…/// Freddie Mercury and Queen what energy, insight and amazing voice! and instrumental accompaniment – true phenomenon…and your writing amazing, always…

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  12. I always loved the Queens and Freddie was a beloved mystery to me…. I think I can safely say that I’ve seen just about every interview, scene, behind and beyond the screen snatches YT allowed on this film and I can’t wait to see it.
    But one of the funnier things was that one day, on our way back from Switzerland to France, I made a mini video in the car of what was going on outside and at the end apologized for the song in the background that made me do the video in the 1st place. My son immediately wrote back: Aaaah, Freddie & the Queens, they’re so great!!!!
    And right after that episode, I started seeing stuff coming up from the Bohemian Rhapsody… I love those nonsensical random puzzle pieces of and in my life to fall together to form the shape and fun of my days…. And boy, Malek really, really nailed it. He became Freddie.
    Doing many many miles in the car with Hero Husband, we do what many do; sometimes (less often than we used to) we have deep conversations and discussions, often it’s just the CD playing and both of us in our own little worlds, oftentimes I tell stories because I need to keep him ‘alive and awake’, and not seldom things that occupy my mind lead to in-depth discussions on this and that. It’s mostly a good time to be together uninterrupted (except for business calls) and share precious hours in a confined space and wondering on HOW we manage to be still so together in all our tremendous differences 🙂

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