Goodbye, Columbus

Something really weird is happening.

Some forces somewhere obviously want me to know this story.

The weekend before last when I was out in Long Island, I bought a book by Philip Roth from the thrift store, which had apparently just been dropped off by some one. To be honest, I didn’t really notice the title; just that it was short stories. The cover is a rather elegant 60s design, and the text is printed in a handwritten style and is not all that legible.

On Friday I was at the WFMU fair (more on that later), and amongst the records I bought was the soundtrack to ‘Goodbye, Columbus’, by 60s pop greats The Association and Charles Fox (who also had something to do with Bob Crewe‘s Barbarella soundtrack). Anyway, it had been on my mental ‘wants list’ for a while; ever since I heard the title track on an In Hi-fi compilation by Scott. I didn’t know what it was at the time, but figured it out later from the words.

Then on Sunday I was down at the street sale on Avenue A at 12th St, nyc. I was amused to see the VHS video of ‘Goodbye, Columbus’ on sale at $3, and picked it up. Esther and I watched it last night. It was very enjoyable; kind of a weird movie though. The main character has a chin like Rowan Atkinson as Mr Bean. The cinematography was beautiful, and it was nice to finally see Ali MacGraw acting – I think I’d previously only seen her on soundtrack covers (e.g. Love Story; this is a theme with me – I have seen very few movies, and tend to know soundtracks and/or their covers first). It’s a tale of a young couple from different backgrounds. He lives in the Bronx, she lives in Westchester. They’re both Jewish, but he works in the library and is poor; she is at radcliffe college, lives in a huge house and is pampered. Her parents disapprove of him, but put up with him. There isn’t a great deal of plot, but there are lots of nice moments, and a few great ‘party scenes’ where people are frugging away to a cool mod beat (I must check out that soundtrack!).

Shortly after the movie ended, I reached over picked up the Philip Roth book and found it was ‘Goodbye, Columbus’. I was a little weirded out. I guess my subconscious must have logged the title, but I had no idea. It feels as if someone has taken the movie, the book and the soundtrack and shoved them in my face, like someone giving you a magic key in a dream.

So now I’m reading the book quite avidly, just in case there’s a special message in there for me.

Probably just coincidence, but isn’t that odd!

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