A BITE OF THE BIG JUICY APPLE
One evening I went to an evening organized by friends who had all been together at different times in various Ashrams..
A beautiful woman caught my eye who I had always admired from a distance, now single I thought I should say “Hello!'
We started to spend time together, she was an artist now living in New York and was relating to the Guru who was continuing Baba's lineage, the young girl who had once been a translator for Baba was now continuing the lineage and was at an Ashram there.
The Yoga had become a world wide network of centers and Ashrams, and had converted two fabulous old resorts in the Catskills beyond NewYork. They had been the 'Place to Go’ in the thirties and forties with big bands and big social events. Now, as an Ashram they were revitalized and were the 'Ashram to Go' with the hundreds of visitors from around the world have her 'Darshan'.
I joyfully reunited with the art director who had come along for the ride to the Indian Ashram on his way to Kashmir.... he had felt irresistably called to return to be with Muktananda in India, had stayed and been producing most of Baba’s publications. After Baba’s passing he had continued designing publications, and was now based in the Catskills.
He had some startling news, skateboarding with some of the Ashram children he had lost control and fallen through a plate glass window severing arteries in his wrist rendering his painting hand useless. It is an incredible story, the Guru blessed his hand and said it would recover, after many years of meditation and exercises practicing his meditation with faith, trust and love, he has since been able to draw and detail wonderfully sensitive and delicate life like drawings, paintings and 'meditative' art, confounding all the doctors who had given little hope in gaining full use of his hand again.
He re introduced me to the Guru, and in front of what could have been a thousand people said "This is Govinda who made A Very Rare Occasion." The Guru gave a beautiful smile and said “Thank you, that is my favorite movie of Baba” and reaching down picked up a long woolen scarf and wrapped it around me.
Many of the New York ‘Creative Community” attended the Ashram and seeing this interaction made me quite popular and an accepted part of their world. New Yorkers know how to party, well this section certainly seemed to throw an event, not just a party .
Some of New York’s top interior designers invited us to their Halloween Party with the theme Roman times. We set out and the streets were full of people in all sorts of elaborate costumes and make up. It was exhilerating to be merged in such creativity. One of the huge props from the movie Dunes, a dinasour sized creature roamed the streets creating even more a fantasmagorical world of fantasy.
The lengths all the guests all had gone to was breathtaking.There were fully out- fitted roman Centurians, beautiful maidens of the court with intricate floral decorations, gladiators, emperors and some pretty out there cross dressers which I wasn't quite sure what they had come as. I'm also not quite sure as to how my simple efforts of wrapping myself in a sheet to look Roman was received, but I had a wonderful night
Invited to the photographer Annie Liebovitz’s book launch of “Women” I met yet another of my heroes.
I stood at the bottom of the Dakota building where John Lennon's life was so shockingly ended, and silently gave thanks to all he had given to me and the world, later I visited his memorial 'Strawberry Fields' in Central park.
IN GEORGE LUCAS'S HOT SEAT
The agency in Sydney was taken over by a bigger agency, a growing trend in advertising, big fish eating little fish!
No room for two Creative Directors! I decided to go freelance again, often feeling very free in Byron working on the beach with no one knowing where I was generating it from.
One of the Creative Directors I had freelanced for had opened his own agency partnering with another 'legend', and invited me to re kindle relationship so when in Bondi I was able to keep the rhythm of work and surf in imy own hours.
I bumped into yet another Creative Director, who too had just opened his own boutique agency and offered me work. They had the Sony account who wanted a small budget cinema commercial for their Surround Sound Home Theatre systems.
A good idea, I thought, would be to do a great soundtrack, fill the theatre in darkness with only the soundtrack and only a simple graphics at the end of it.
The Creative Director liked the idea, and had a great one of his own. See if George Lucas's studio would be interested in doing it.
We contacted his new recording studio 'Sky Walker ranch' in the hills behind San Francisco, asked if they were interested - and they agreed to do it for the budget.
Dee had been accompanying me to quite a few sound recording sessions and was showing an interest in it as a direction, so I said " "Come on- Let's go"
Landing in San Fransisco we were taken to Lucases Industrial Light and Magic to see where much of the magic for Star Wars had been created. Then up to Sky Walker Ranch, just recently built, styled on an early Western Ranch style amongst acres of grapes.
The fragrance of fresh cedar permeated the buildings and there were many pieces of early Western Cowboy Art sprinkled through out
Each breakfast was a surprise as different celebrities would often be there recording, and enjoying breakfast in the sun, I briefly met Jodie Fischer and Ali Akbar Khan the Indian musician.
The big Buzz' was Dee and I taking turns sitting in George Lukas's seat in the studio where he recorded his sound racks. We were given access to the sound library and did 'our version'of an Apocalypse Now style of track.
The theatre in darkness and a black screen, the sound of low level helicopters 'flew in' and 'circled' the cinema, the sound of tanks converged from all around firing the odd shot, followed by the crunch of gravel as soldiers firing shots and dogs followed barking.
The helicopters flew off and everything went quiet, a voice yelled "Surrender, we've got you surrounded!"
Then with an image of the unit appeared:
Sony Home Cinema Surround Sound.
"Ever noticed how much a great soundtrack makes a great movie?"
Job done and 'in the can', Dee and I headed down to Haight Ashbury to see what was left after the Flower Power 'revolution', it was a bit of a trip' for me seeing many llegendary places, Dee thought it a bit old school and neither of us were interested in buying a tye dyed T-shirt. There were still a few hardened or maybe wilted flower children wandering the streets. I did feel an affinity as we had virtually held hands across the oceans back in the daze and probably sang the same songs in transcendental harmony with our versions of ecstatic dancing.
We met a few like-minded souls and were invited back for a sample of the 'local' which left us driving at a snail's pace through the pine forests at midnight on the way back, imagining we had entered the world of the giants.