The Music Never Stopped Page #3

Want to tell me about it?

Well, my dad didn't want us to go.

He wanted me to go to college night.

Sorry.

Dinner is at 7:
00.

Yeah, every night

since the birth of Ohrist.

Let's just enjoy our dinner.

I said I was sorry. I'm sorry.

It's far out, Mom.

Thanks.

Something wrong with the meat?

Well, I mean, aside from the fact

that it was once

an innocent, breathing,

minding-his-own-business creature

of Mother Nature

herded into

a cramped slaughterhouse,

decapitated, eviscerated, packed

and shipped off to the A&P

so we could adorn our stroganoff,

no, there's nothing wrong

with the meat.

Lord, I can't wait

until you put that mind

to something useful in college.

Do you remember college?

It's the place that's gonna educate my boy

and pack him up and ship him back

so he can adorn his life

with a wife and family, a decentjob.

Yeah, I know what college is, Dad.

I'm just not sure it's my bag.

What is your bag, Gabriel?

I want to go to the Village

and play music.

Son, if you don't go to college,

the only village you'll see

will have thatched roofs

and no plumbing,

so you have until Wednesday

at college night

to make it your bag.

I can't go.

The Dead is playing

at Stonybrook that night.

This is not a negotiation.

You will not miss college night,

especially to see some band

called the Dead.

It's the Grateful Dead, Dad.

It's the Grateful Dead.

Oh. Well, then they'll be grateful

you're choosing a college

instead of wasting your time

at their drug convention.

The music department

offers courses which range

from music theory and history

to performance classes.

There's an emphasis on developing

each student's performance

and listening skills.

Gabriel?

Do you have any questions?

Uh, yeah.

Um, where's the Princeton booth?

The other side, next to Brown.

Groovy.

Dad, I'm gonna go explore.

Sugar magnolia...

Oome on! Get in!

Gabe, move! Move it!

Well, caught up in sunshine

Come on out singing

I'll walk you in the sunshine

Come on, honey,

and come along with me

We'll get tickets next time, man.

Don't worry about my brother.

He can handle anything.

I'm cool, man.

Nam don't worry me.

All right?

Oh, sh*t.

We didn't even get in to the concert.

You won't see her again,

not till you straighten yourself out.

There's somethin'happenin'here

What it is ain't exactly clear

- There's a man...

- Turn that down.

With a gun over there

Need to get to bed.

Tellin'me...

I'm not tired.

You look tired.

Your mother said, uh,

your band has a gig on Saturday.

Yeah.

I thought we might come.

To take his children home...

Gabriel!

Lunch before love.

You think she's a fox, huh?

What?

The cafeteria girl, you like her?

Oan I help you?

Hi. I'm Gabriel.

Hi, Gabriel. I'm Oelia.

Oh, Oelia, you're breakin' my heart...

You're shakin' my confidence daily.

That's Oe-cilia.

It's all the sa-same to me.

Do you want your chicken

without the skin?

Yeah, sure, Oelia,

slip me some skin.

Oh, so you want the skin?

- Sure.

- Okay.

There you go.

You know how you hear a song,

and you fall in love with it,

and it may be years

before you hear it again,

but when you do, it instantly

places you back in that moment

when you first fell in love with it,

as if no time had passed?

Yes. In fact, Gabriel and I

used to play a game

where I'd ask him about a song,

and he'd tell me the story

that went with it.

That's why I brought that music in.

That's the music we used to listen to.

Well, it's, uh... it's not

the music he loved,

or at least it's not the music

that resonates with him.

I don't think the piece on the radio

that night was the Marseillaise.

I think it was the Beatles' song,

All You Need is Love,

which uses the Marseillaise

in its introduction.

I think that's the song

that Gabriel was anticipating

when we played him the Marseillaise.

What happened when you played him

that Beatles song?

Oh, Helen, if you could have seen him.

He was totally connected.

He was as you've described him, Henry.

He was normal.

And it wasn'tjust the Beatles.

I actually was able to use

pieces of music from that period

to more specifically pinpoint

the extent of his amnesia.

He remembers songs vividly

from 1964 to 1970.

His recollection of songs after 1970

show us where his memory

begins to drop off.

He remembers

all the founding members

of the Grateful Dead from 1966,

but he doesn't know

that Pigpen and Jimi Hendrix

and Janis Joplin are all dead.

I didn't know they were ever alive,

and I'm no worse for wear.

Yes, but for him,

these musicians are all hugely important.

They connect him

to a time and a place,

to his time and place

when he came of age,

just like your music does for you.

My music was his music.

He used to listen

to that music as a kid.

It never upset him.

I don't understand.

It doesn't make sense to me.

He loved my music, too.

Hi, Gabriel.

It's Dianne.

Dianne from Oheyenne.

Actually, Gabriel,

I'm not from Oheyenne.

I'm Dianne Daly

from Dedham, Massachusetts.

That's where I was born.

Dianne Daly, live from Dedham.

That's good.

We'll have to try and remember that.

I love the Dead.

Uncle John's Band.

It's one of my favorite songs.

You know, I almost got

to see them play once.

Did you ever play

any of their songs,

like when your band

played at the school?

No.

I mean, we would have,

but I never got to it.

My dad was coming.

I wanted to play

Kansas City for him.

It was his brother's favorite song.

All the kids, they want today

All they ever think about

It's about summer

It's about summer

It's about summer

It's about summer

It's about summer

It's about summer

We love you, Gabe!

Let's hear it for the Black Sheep.

Black Sheep!

Thank you, Principal Isaacs,

for allowing us

to have this assembly here today.

People, I have this feeling

that with this much love

and this much energy,

we are gonna stop

the war in Vietnam!

Yeah. Yeah!

Remember, there's a sign-up sheet

you can pass around

for a rally in the city.

Please sign up.

We need your help.

Now, brothers and sisters,

once again,

please put your hands together

for the Black Sheep!

I'm going to Kansas Oity

Kansas Oity, here I come

Going to Kansas Oity

Kansas Oity, here I come

They've got some pretty little girls

and I'm gonna get me one

Hey!

Yeah!

Yeah!

Gabe!

Gabe, put it down!

Put it out!

What did you do to my room?

You spit on me.

You spit on me today.

Today was not about you.

They're not your friends

who are going off and dying

in some stupid war.

Well, that's brilliant.

So you burn the very thing

that gives you the right

to demonstrate that.

We burned the flag that's sending

people like me over there.

What do you know

about fighting in a war?

I fought to defend that flag.

Your Uncle Gabriel,

your namesake,

died defending that flag.

He was people like you.

He believed he was fighting

for something important.

- What do you believe in?

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