CDT190
Ken's Talk About Cosmo Street
Whimsy
(1) CDs: 7.95
Side A: Ken Paulson humorously recounts various events both real and fictional from the Cosmo Street era. His whmsical roundabout storytelling captures the mood and spirit of the times providing an unusual insight into the work of the School on Cosmo Street. Side B: A rare recording of improvised music from the same time period. The audio quality has all the quaint charm of an old 78 without the scratches. It also uncannily evokes the atmosphere and mood of `what's happening now' back then in the mid '70's. This talk and musical recording hand in hand effectively portray a timeless moment in the School history.
Synopsis:
The talk is a freewheeling, anecdotal narrative filled with humorous and surreal recollections of various past experiences. It covers topics such as bizarre encounters, eccentric characters, spontaneous road trips, and exaggerated travel adventures. Themes of absurdity, misadventure, and social dynamics weave through the stories, offering a chaotic yet entertaining glimpse into an unconventional lifestyle.
Summary:
The speaker recounts a series of disjointed yet vividly told experiences, including a chaotic method of ordering hot dogs, encounters with strange individuals like Sidney Plotnick and Cesar, and memories from Cosmo Street where unexpected guests regularly altered the atmosphere. There's a surreal sequence involving a trip to an international yoga conference at UCLA, where the speaker is bemused by the presence of attendees in dhotis and by the supposedly compelling lecture given by "Beast."
Other stories include a strange search for communal living space in rural California, during which they nearly bought a derelict house surrounded by cages of dogs, and a misplaced wallet that led to a brief paranoia-fueled accusation of theft. The narrative also drifts into exaggerated tales of world travel, including experiences in India, a gondola ride on the Amazon, an adventure in British Columbia selling nonsensical products to the Eskimos, and an absurd submarine ride at Disneyland.
Throughout, the stories are laced with humor and embellishment, creating a sense of surreal misadventure and playful camaraderie.
Keywords & Key Phrases:
- Cosmo Street
- Sidney Plotnick
- Yoga conference at UCLA
- Black robe candlelight parade
- Benares holy men
- Missing wallet paranoia
- Strange real estate trip
- Dog-filled house
- Amazon gondola ride
- Eskimo icebox scam
- Disneyland submarine ride
- Travel absurdities
Graphic Prompt:
A surreal, dreamlike scene featuring a group of eccentric travelers on a dusty road trip. An old bus packed with odd characters (a man in a black robe, a bearded guru, an overexcited salesman) winds through a surreal desert landscape. A neon-lit roadside diner labeled "Cosmo Street" flickers in the distance. Dogs peer mysteriously from windows of an abandoned house. A massive yogi statue, mid-lecture, looms over a crowd of sleeping figures. In the sky, a gondola floats down an invisible Amazon River, while a cartoonishly oversized wallet hovers above a desolate field. The whole scene is bathed in warm, nostalgic lighting, evoking a hazy memory of wild misadventures.