Sub rosa.
I spent last evening with Mel Torme.
“It was a lovely way to spend an evening.”
From 7:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m.
I conjured the “velvet fog” up.
“Giorgio” perfume by Giorgio Beverley Hills was launched by the design house in 1982, “Giorgio”, is classified as a sharp, flowery fragrance. This feminine scent possesses a blend of floral bergamot, mandarin, jasmine, rose, carnation, orris, sandalwood, cedarwood. musk, moss, and amber. It is recommended for evening wear.”
“A kiss by a lazy lagoon, catching a breath of moonlight”.
It is an unusually warm evening in May, 1986.
I am sitting with my friends Arlene and Patricia listening to Mel Torme.
We are at the Royal York Hotel.
Ah, memories!
Actually, I am just outside of my local “Rexall” pharmacy and I am spritzing myself, with my new twenty dollar purchase, “Giorgio” eau de parfum.
Olfaction or olfactory perception is the sense of smell.
“Some like to live for the moment, some like to just reminisce”,
Inside your nose at about the level of your eyes is a small patch of tissue that contains millions of nerve cells. Each of the receptors recognizes several and likewise, a single odor could be recognized by several receptors.
Reaganomics, shoulder pads, preppies, and yuppies and “Giorgio” perfume is banned in L.A. restaurants due to its intensity.
“Catching a breath of moonlight”,
George Shearing is tickling the ivories while Mel is crooning away.
“The riddle was, how we can remember smells when these neurons are constantly turning over and the new crop has to form new synapses?”
“Memories survive because the axons of neurons that express the same receptors always go to the same place.”
“But whenever I have an evening to spend”,
It is the nineties. Clinton, the recession, grunge and silicon valley.
Arlene, Patricia and another friend Brian and myself are driving to Toronto in a torrential downpour late in August to see Mel at the CNE.
It is one of the best nights of my life, Mel is unusually humble and is gracious enough to invite his small audience on to the stage since we are soaked to our skins.
It will be the last time we will see Torme in concert.
“Can’t think of anyone as lovely as you”,
Brian and I have the age old discussion; Torme or Sinatra?
The August rain has the smell of the oncoming autumn.
We both laugh and decide that Torme is definitely the man, while Arlene is trying to remember where we parked.
Reality sets in,
It is February 2013, Obama, the fiscal cliff and Adele.
I put the twenty dollar perfume back in its box and toss it into my bag and go off to work.
“This was a lovely way to spend an evening,
I want to save all my nights and spend them with you."
Comments
Post a Comment