still-sound 224. Moon and chemtrails

On Saturday we had an event at the perfume store where I work for a new brand inspired by vintage fragrances.  Barbara Herman, the creator, writes about old perfumes in a blog and came out with an interesting book linking trends in perfume to specific social changes in the twentieth century.  During a presentation at the event, Barbara mentioned Kouros by YSL and passed around scented blotters.  She found inspiration in this fragrance because of its almost-unpleasant animalic funkiness - she argues that 'unsafe', dirty, dangerous scents all but disappeared in recent decades but champions their comeback.  These complex, grown-up smells are challenging and glamorous.

Of course I know Kouros very well.  I got a sample of it from a department store in the early 1980s.  I would dab some on and then listen to the soundtrack of Cats the musical.  I knew the songs very well.  For me the smell and the Andrew Lloyd Weber melodies are inextricably linked.

Brennan told me that Cats was being revived.  First in Paris and then on Broadway this fall.  Yesterday the famous actor Taye Diggs was in our perfume store smelling sweet fragrances.  I told him about the Cats revival.  He told me how when he first moved to New York City in the 1980s he auditioned for the role of Rum Tum Tugger, the rebellious, Elvis-like rock and roll cat.  I thought this was amazing.  I told Taye how I used to to dab Kouros on to my 6th grade skin and sing and dance to Cats.

Brennan and I joked that we'd try out for the new cast of Cats.  We decided that my pug Rosie would probably also try out.  She doesn't like to be left out.  Brennan texted me an image he created at work and said that Rosie had sent it to him.  Apparently Rosie has decided to make her own musical.  This image is completely hysterical.

Tonight I sat in my garden and drank two beers.  Earlier in the day I bought a timer at Home Depot so that the string lights in the fig tree can illuminate every evening and make the space magical.  While driving to Home Depot I listened to the Overture of Cats and remembered how in the actual stage play, the string lights in the set flickered perfectly in time to the music.  As though the lighting director played the light switches like a musical instrument.

I sat back into the Adirondack chair and drank more beer admiring my string lights.  I noticed two chemtrails in the sky illuminated by the full, jellicle moon.