Monday, March 19, 2007

"The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not mov'd with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils." - W.S.

There was this lingering image of happiness, now lost...




I loved going to the Fox Theater with my father to catch the latest Kung Fu film. The days you thought you'd have forever and take for granted are gone. Now it will host Nancy 3jram (but i appreceite them re-modeling)

I miss the Pandora theater, before cable or satelitte when they showed an Arabic film, that made the immigrant collective laugh from joy and cry from longing. ( I loved watching Ghawar, even if I couldn't understand him and remember my father and his friends talking about the "good ole days". Now it's an office building.)

I hate my friend for turning my childhood movie house into a grocery store. (bastard, sorry J...yeah, I know people gotta live) The Camelot was a bit of heavenly escape that was just down the street. Watched my first Bruce Lee flick there, got into my first fight after such flick.

Can't even remember the name of the dirty, smoke-filled dive in Lebanon that I was told was destroyed in the war. I film on the 3eid for khams 2roush was a delight.

I saw my first horror film at the Ford-Wyoming Drive-In (this one is still there, it even expanded)


13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fox Theatre :( Was there a couple of years ago to see Fairouz! U just brought back a beautiful memory! But now, its all just memories!

Anonymous said...

Nice work transient...

I saw my first movie ever at the Camelot. My dad took me to watch "The Golden Child" and I had no idea what was going on. It's kinda sad actually...my first movie ever was a mediocore Eddie Murphey vehicle.

transient said...

wow D, you saw Fairuz there? well now you can see Nancy. In the 70's it was just a neighborhood film house. Sure it was run down, but now it is a star palace where a Fairuz ticket would cost $500.

doghouse, the Camelot was great. I tried to save it, but no one wanted to invest in a theater, so the grocer buddy won.
do you remember the Westborn? now Ford-Tel and Dearborn are gone too.

Anonymous said...

Yeah I was there and it was a great concert! Had a great time :)

$500 wow, can't remember how much we paid for the tickets!

Anonymous said...

bro, go reveal yourself to mone...he'll write you a poem ;)

transient said...

dareen, laysh bakheli bil shi3r?

I love Fairuz, but will not pay a lot for anyone.

Going to see Marcel April 5th (1/10th the cost of other Arab concerts)

Anonymous said...

He was wondering who u were? cuz you left him a comment on his blog with one of those creative names of yours :)

I was actually planning to go to Marcel's concert in April..but now with the move, I have no time. I think my sister and her fiance' are coming that weekend to visit us and say bye to me :(

transient said...

I left mone more obscurity.

So you are not coming here again? of well. I'll take pics for you.

Anonymous said...

for sure take pics! I'll try to make a trip there before I leave, but I'm running out of time. so, not sure!

Anonymous said...

The Westborn was converted into a massive Belle Tire store right? Also, the Ford-Tel was practically my entire movie-going experience for most of my childhood because we never could afford to go to the "real" theatre. I have a lot of fond memories of that place. Also, I think the old Showcase theatre on Telegraph is about to close...at least that's the rumor my cousin fed me.

transient said...

yes Westborn is Belle Tire and Ford-Tel was horrible but still had memories, I took my children their as well, now we go to Allen Park.

Dearborn Showcase IS closing. I hope it's not another Walmart going up.

I can't really enjoy places like Fairlane. That's why I watch films at home with the family or at the studio with Radfan and the Otherites.

Such is life, we are relegated to nostalgic ramblings of old men.

Mounir said...

it s really too bad that heritage stuff is not as preserved as it should be..
Damascus which also have lots of heritage is not as kept as it should be...some of the oldest places were wiped up to place building and parking lots there.

But for Beirut, I went there couple of years, I haven't seen it for many years since I was a kid, so I don't remember too much. I loved the down town, Hariri did magnificent job there.. but one thing really saddened me is the destruction of the trees, when we went up the mountains, you could see these small houses here and there and the greenery getting less and less.. very sad!

transient said...

Hey mone it reminds me of a Janis Joplin song where on of the lines was "the paved paradise and put up a parking lot."

Beirut was beautiful but right on the next block there were buildings half fallen from previous wars. It was selective rennessaince.

Trees has always been an issue, we destroy them, the invaders destroy them, the corporations destroy them, no one plants new ones, then we wonder where they went.
The pine and cedar trees have disappeared from whole regions in Lebanon.