An Autobiography of Association

Friday night Michael and I watched the movie The Skeleton Key starring Kate Hudson, who I may say looks so much like her mother in that movie. And somehow she (Kate) actually looks younger now than she did then. Is that possible? Does it run in the family? She has very pretty hair in this movie as well.

Back to my story. Friday night we watched The Skeleton Key and after it was over Michael asked me, now why did you want to watch this movie? I'll tell you why.

Because Thursday afternoon while the children were napping I watched Disney's The Princess and the Frog, which I had never seen before. I typically wouldn't be all that interested in watching a Disney movie, not on my own, but I watched The Princess and the Frog based on the comments I had heard from some of my friends who found the movie too scary to show their children. It's true that there are evil spirits lurking around in the film, as well as blatant hoodoo references. I know that there are a lot of parents out there who are disturbed by the magical content of many of the Disney films and prefer not to show them to their children, and I certainly respect their opinion. But I also observe that the only difference between this film and Disney's typical enchanting fare is that in this case the magic is given its proper shape and form. When Ursula calls upon the powers of the deep to steal Ariel's voice from her, she's messing with the same spirits that Dr. Facilier does in this film, only here they are called by a truer name. For some reason that makes me feel a little better. I don't know whether it should.

It is also true that Tiana is the loveliest Disney Princess that I think I've ever seen.

The Princess and the Frog is set in New Orleans and features some smokin' New Orleans Jazz, which is another thing that attracted me to the film. I like pretty much any music that features horns, and doesn't shy away from some of the more discordant elements. This set me off on a search for some good ole' Harry Connick, Jr. recordings that I don't happen to have on hand: "Blue Light Red Light," produced in 1991; "She," from 1994; and "Star Turtle," produced in 1996.

We used to have "Blue Light Red Light" on cassette tape. I remember listening to it, Michael and I, on our way to Huntsville at some time early in our marriage. I think it took a little while to grow on me. Our copy of "She" disappeared around the time we moved into our current home. I've looked for it periodically, but never found it. I hope that it didn't get jammed up in the CD player that broke all those years ago. "She" was one of the early albums that Michael and I were able to agree upon. We both thought it was pretty cool. "Star Turtle" I am unfamiliar with. I sampled a couple of tracks on grooveshark today (at a friends recommendation--he recommended the website, not the album) and they were odd. It seemed like a bit of a combination of the other two albums I mention here. They were odd, but I think I liked them. I think I do.

What does this have to do with The Skeleton Key? Little more than another musical reference, and the fact that both films feature hoodoo has a story element. Oh, did I forget that they are both set in the area surrounding New Orleans?

My mother owned a record of The Dixie Cups (I'm  not certain it was this one. I don't remember having the cover), which I began listening to in highschool. We picked up an old record player somewhere, and for a short time I was able to rig it to use a needle that didn't exactly fit. (It also had an eight track on it on which we were able to play the single eight track that I owned, something by Barry Manilow. Something with "I Write the Songs" and "Bandstand Boogie" on it maybe? My mother and I learned how to sing "Chapel of Love" together by listening to this record, which we then performed one time only during a school program. I don't know whether she remembers that. Anyway, the last song on the album was "Iko Iko," which was terrifically fun to sing even if the lyrics made me a little uncomfortable. If you've seen The Skeleton Key you'll remember how "Iko Iko" figures in the film.

The Skeleton Key is where I learned the difference between voodoo and hoodoo. I leave you to look that one up for yourself. I don't have any intention of messing with either. Watching these two films, however, as hollywoodized as I'm sure they are, reminded me that I have a minor obsession with black culture, which I'll discuss later. 

And that is how we wound up watching The Skeleton Key on a Friday night. Because of The Princess and the Frog on a Thursday afternoon, because of the music, and because of a friend of mine who turned it off. The very thought of each of these films made me want to pull out the Louisiana cookbook Michael's grandparents gave us as a wedding gift over ten years ago. It's full of food that I will likely never cook, but it's fun to look at occasionally all the same.

Incidentally, my search for Harry Connick Jr's music let me to listened to Patty Griffin on a Saturday afternoon, but that's a whole 'nother chain of detail.