THE GREAT GADFLY:

Fried A5

1. If you could only choose 1 cd to ever listen to again, what would it be?

Holy crap, this is a terrible question for me to answer. My first response is that I would cheat and burn a compilation CD of all my most favoritest songs in the world and hinge the rest of my life's listening pleasure on those eighty prescribed minutes of CDR posterity. But gawd, talk about pressure.

My second response would be to opt for a "best-of" compilation, preferably of the boxed set variety - Bowie's "Sound+Vision" collection, or that Prince thing that has a bunch of b-sides or heck, I could envision listening to my Tammy Wynette box set for the rest of my life, if it came down to that. But again, I feel this is cheating, because it's not an "album" proper. Hmmm.

THAT said, I will probably have to go with Lou Reed's "Metal Machine Music", simply because an hour of recorded white noise seems like an apt tie-breaker among the dozens of "wish I woulda" choices I could have made.

2. If you could only choose 2 movies to watch ever again, what would they be?

Easy. "Waiting for Guffman" and "Grey Gardens". "Guffman" due to the fact that I've seen this movie damn near a hundred times (mild exaggeration, but then, maybe not) and I've never not laughed like a brain-damaged baboon (not to mention I'd get a significant fix of the almighty Miss Parker Posey at her off-key finest); "Grey Gardens" because, well, it's "Grey Gardens". Helleau! Seriously, that movie is full of dancing ghosts and beautiful energy and words can't describe my feelings for what was captured in the ninety-or-so minutes of that documentary.

3. If you could only choose 3 books to read ever again, what would they be?

a. The Tao Te Ching. If I had the rest of my life to only read this among two other books, maybe one day I'd feel as if I had taken it all in and "gotten" it. Bits and pieces of it kick my ass, but it's always been far too big a meal to digest in one sitting.

b. "Remembrance of Things Past". The whole damn thing. If I'm gonna be limited to three books for the rest of my life, once again, I want something to which I wouldn't otherwise have thrown such focus. And, well, you know - Proust - I hear he wasn't too stingy with the ol' syntax.

c. "The Watchmen". I re-read the collection of all the "Watchmen" comics a few months ago, and while I remembered the basics from my first go-round, it felt like I was reading it for the first time all over. I'd love to take the time to deconstruct everything that was mixed into that beautiful mess. Faboo.

4. If you could only choose 4 things to eat or drink ever again, what would they be?

DiCoLem (duh), some form of kicky but not-oh-so-sweet red wine, falafel sammiches with feta cheese and hot sauce (I'm salivating just thinking about that one) and baked macaroni and cheese with slightly burnt corners.

5. If you could only choose 5 people to ever be/talk/associate/whatever with ever again, who would they be?

I think I'll only list four, because to list the full limit would simply be too much of an act of exclusion to all the other wonderful, special souls I've met in my life, and that's just yucky and gross and mean. THAT said, right off the tippy top of my head, I would choose my best gal-pal Ms. Renay (duh), my best boy-pal Neeners (double-duh), my oldest (not as in, "she's Methuselah and looks like that old geezer on the Led Zep album cover and she has a beard of bees", but simply rather as in, "we go way way back") pal Sambadelic, and last but not least, dear ol' Mom. Oh, but wait, there's a fifth, so she's NOT the last...and I'll just leave that seat vacant for loved ones past, present and future.

Talk about a good way to end this entry, huh?