Queens of the Stone Age

As you might have guessed, this blog is due to a recent concert, Queens of the Stone Age, at Merriweather Post Pavilion, in Columbia, Maryland, on July 17, 2014.   QOTSA (as they are commonly referred to) were the headliner for a change.  I had seen them three times before:  in June and September 2002 at the new 9:30 Club (Washington, DC) on the Songs for The Deaf tour, and in September 2008 on the Era Vulgaris tour at the Ram’s Head Live in Baltimore.   By now Nick Oliveri is no longer with the band.

The current lineup is Josh Homme (vocals & guitar), Troy Van Leeuwen (guitar), Dean Fertita (keyboards & guitars), Michael Shuman (bass), and Jon Theodore (drums).  In the past Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters) has been on drums, and the inimitable Oliveri was the prior bassist.

They have six studio albums now, self-titled (1998), Rated R (2000), Songs For the Deaf (2002), Lullabies to Paralyze (2005), Era Vulgaris (2007) and …Like Clockwork (2013).   I got into them shortly after Rated R came out, and to date that remains my favorite album.  Somehow it breathes more, it’s less compressed, and it has my favorite songs, including “Better Living Through Chemistry.” 

QOTSA’s musical style can best be described – by me, at least – as a funky variant of Soundgarden.  They have their own style, somewhat twisted lyrics and sense of humor.  It has to be heard to be appreciated – if at all.

It’s funny that I didn’t like Oliveri when he was in the band, but I miss him now that he’s gone.   In his absence the band’s stage presence is simply Homme singing and playing guitar backed by 4 competent nobodies.  There are no gimmicks, lasers, light shows, or anything aside from the band.  Homme’s intersong banter is arrogant and nasty, but at least coherent.

QOTSA has a connection with the following three groups, which merit mention herein, as follows:

Kyuss.   Any discussion of QOTSA should include Kyuss.  This was one of the first “stoner rock” bands, active between 1987 and 1997, with a revolving lineup.  John Garcia (vocals), Homme, Oliveri, and Brant Bjork (drums) are the most important members.  They made 4 albums before breaking up, but they’ve reformed recently around Garcia, Bjork and Oliveri as Kyuss Lives.   Apparently Homme still has the rights to Kyuss, so Garcia then renamed the group Vista Chino.  I don’t find the Homme-less material as good as what they did with him.  We actually saw Kyuss in 1995, opening for White Zombie at Merriweather, but I can’t remember that set.  I made up for that by seeing Kyuss Lives in 2011. 

Masters of Reality.   Founder and main member Chris Goss has a close relationship with Homme and Kyuss.  He produced the Kyuss albums and the first two QOTSA albums, including Rated R.  While it may be a stretch to call him “the godfather of stoner rock” (as some do), he undeniably has a major role in the genre.  This band’s material is also good, though I’ve yet to collect all of it.

Them Crooked Vultures.  This was a short-lived “supergroup” of Josh Homme, Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones (yes, the Led Zeppelin bassist/keyboardist), with one self-titled album (2009) and a brief tour I couldn’t catch.  The band they sound closest to is (drumroll, please) QOTSA.  

The Hasheesh Eater

What with the recent legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington, and the increasing likelihood that other states will do the same, it might be a good time to review a major work on a related topic, dating from the mid 1800s, by Fitz Hugh Ludlow, The Hasheesh Eater (Annotated).   Reading his work gives us a vicarious experience without actually partaking of the drug(s), although filtered through Ludlow, the book itself is somewhat of an experience.   Thus, hopefully my readers will forgive me if I adopt Ludlow’s ponderous prose to address this topic.

Who was this man, Ludlow?   He was an American (1836-1870) who lived in New York state.  He went to Union College in Schenectady, New York (northwest of Albany), wrote their “fight song”, and is still mentioned on their virtual presence.  Judging by his appearance in photographs, were he to be portrayed in a modern film, I would suggest that Jared Leto do the job.  In 1857 he published this book, which chronicles his hashish consumption, habit, withdrawal, etc.   Some experiences take place in Poughkeepsie, some in Schenectady, and some in New York City.  However, the NYC he saw bears more resemblance to the depiction with DiCaprio and Lewis, or the London of Dickens, than that of Douglas & Sheen, or the Seinfeld Quartet. 

I read the book in annotated format, meaning a modern writer, Gross, made little footnotes addressing some esoteric topics which Ludlow and his contemporaries would take for granted, yet those of us in the twenty-first century would draw complete blanks on.  The same writer also compiled a Companion.  This includes Ludlow’s later writings on the topic of opium, to which he became addicted after abandoning hashish – surely, out of the metal skillet into the flame over which it hovers – and de Quincey’s Confessions of an Opium Eater, which served to inspire Ludlow to give us his own story, and both are equally tedious and ponderous with too much explanation of things which have absolutely nothing to do with hashish or opium.

Attempting to avoid the same vice, I share: what did Ludlow experience?  The cannabis adventurer of a Dickensian context and demeanor, describes a vast and deep journey into visions, hallucinations, and dreams.  Fantastic landscapes, exotic locales, plunges into the depths of Hell and ascendency into the skies of Heaven, even disembodied voices of both regions loudly barking either praise or condemnation for his audacity to sample the pleasures out of the ordinary mien of mere mortals.  His own source of inspiration was the literature and stories available to him, obviously including Milton and Dante.   Unfortunately for him, no recorded music existed at that time.  To experience such, a music lover would have to consult sheet music and produce the music himself on an instrument, or attend a classical concert or opera at a major concert hall in a large city.  Nor, of course, were moving pictures even conceived of at that time.

It may not be too ambitious of me to suggest that a contemporary adventurer, equipped with a like amount of hasheesh, could be transported to Middle Earth, Hogwarts, or Westeros, or perhaps travel to Rigel, Tatooine, Degobah, or Arrakis, or maybe a distant future when vicious robots adopting human form vied with humans themselves for control of a post-apocalyptic Earth.  Add to this our vastly improved resources for enjoying a wide variety of music in the privacy our own homes, on equipment of unheard of power and quality.  The possibilities for a modern hasheesh user are of several orders of magnitude vaster than what Ludlow could experience.  We might even weep in sorrow for the poor soul, were it not that he had no idea what he was missing.

There may be those of you wondering how Ludlow was able to experience all this.  If you are familiar with the stories of Mr. Marin and Mr. Chong, or the more recent adventures of the Indian and the Korean questing for meat products in New Jersey in mid-morning hours, or even have personal familiarity with cannabis and its effects, the question is even more acute.  Indeed, his accounts resemble more those of Professor Leary and Dr. Hofmann than these other individuals.  The answer lies in hasheesh itself.

The contemporary maconheiro consumes the cannabis by smoking.  He purchases a quantity for personal consumption most likely in the amount of a quarter of an ounce.  This lasts him for several weekends, perhaps three months, depending on how frequently he consumes and how generous he shares with like-minded companions.  In no event, however, could he possibly consume that quarter ounce quantity at one time (well, he could mix that quantity with a cup of butter and use that to cook “consumables”, but that is another story).

However, the special ingredient which makes cannabis so popular is contained in resins within.  These resins can be extracted and concentrated into a more potent form called hasheesh.   Ludlow speaks of “grains”, and consuming hasheesh orally.  The annotator made careful calculations and estimated that Ludlow’s largest doses at a single session equate to an ounce and a half of smokable cannabis herb.  In other words, a year and a half of smoking – at once.  No wonder his escapades were so dramatic and intense. 

As of now, it appears that hasheesh will be regulated in the same form as cannabis.  Of course, the days of simply stepping into the local apothecary and purchasing hasheesh or opium from the proprietor, without so much as a physician’s recommendation, are long gone.  However, events in Colorado and Washington suggest that a return to Ludlow’s apothecary environment, at least as regards cannabis, may not be so far off, as to require consumption of said products to even imagine the reality.  What lies for us in the future?  

Don Felder, Joe Walsh, and the Eagles

Recently we caught Don Felder in concert at the Nikon at Jones Beach Arena, at Jones Beach, Long Island.  Felder was opening for a double bill of Styx and Foreigner.  I had never seen Felder or the Eagles (or Styx) before this, but I had seen Foreigner back in 1985.  Mick Jones is the only remaining original member of that band.

The tickets were extremely reasonable, and a good way to see Eagles material performed by Felder, who was a major member of the band in the late 70s and originally part of their 1990s “Hell Freezes Over” reunion.  Now he’s off on his own but still playing Eagles songs, most notably “Hotel California” – for which he breaks out the Gibson doubleneck guitar (12 & 6 string), which we usually associate with Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin, and “Stairway to Heaven”.  Fortunately we also enjoyed hearing one of his contributions to the Heavy Metal (animated film) soundtrack, “Heavy Metal (Taking A Ride)”, which he joked, “you may remember that film depending on how stoned you were at the time.” 

I read his book, Heaven & Hell, written back in 2009 after he finally settled his differences with the Eagles.  Naturally he comes off as the good guy and Henley and Frey are the assholes.  Of course, you have to take the source into account when assessing this, but my gut reaction is that he is in fact the hero in this scenario (see below). 

Don Felder was born in 1947 in Gainesville, Florida.  As an amateur musician in Florida he worked with Stephen Stills (of CSNY) and Bernie Leadon, the original lead guitarist for the Eagles.  He also helped teach Tom Petty how to play guitar.   Up until joining the Eagles in the mid-70s, he worked with various semi-pro bands but really had no appreciable commercial success prior to the Eagles.

Because of his friendship with Leadon, he also got to know the rest of the Eagles.  In particular, Don Henley (drummer, vocalist, lyricist) and Glenn Frey (guitarist) are the major two forces in the band; Randy Meisner was the bassist.  They were impressed with Felder’s talent and pulled him into the band as it moved in a “heavier” direction than the original bluegrass/country sound they started out with.  Ironically, it was Felder’s friend Leadon who got pushed out when this happened.

The Eagles had two albums before Felder’s arrival, Eagles and Desperado.  Felder contributed to On The Border, then joined full time for One Of These Nights.   In the process of working on material for their next album, Felder came up with a chord progression and the basic structure for an epic song.  He brought it to Henley, who rapidly came up with lyrics, and “Hotel California” was born.  The album itself finally broke the Eagles into the big time.  The stress of trying to follow it up, with The Long Run, broke up the band in 1980.  When asked about a possible Eagles reunion after that, Don Henley – often quite a bitter and cynical bastard – would joke, “sure, when hell freezes over.”

Joe Walsh.  Before the Eagles, Walsh was in a band called The James Gang, with Dale Peters and Jim Fox.  They had three albums, Yer Album, James Gang Rides Again, and Thirds, of which the most popular songs are “Walk Away” and “Funk #49”.   This material is fairly standard 70s blues-rock, similar to Bad Company and Grand Funk Railroad, with some jamming that doesn’t show up on “best of’s” or the radio. 

It’s certainly heavier than the Eagles were, which Walsh joined for Hotel California and The Long Run.  Felder talks about the Eagles getting “heavier” with his own, then Walsh’s, addition, but having grown up on Black Sabbath, KISS, Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Deep Purple, Rush, and other 70s bands, I’d say “heavy” is a very relative word here.  “Hotel California” approaches “Freebird” and “Stairway to Heaven” in heaviness but represents a peak, whereas all those bands have heavier songs than those.  From Felder’s account, much of Walsh’s “heavy” contribution was to the on-the-road excesses, e.g. attacking hotel rooms with a chain saw and throwing stuff out the window.  You know, the kind of stuff we think of with Led Zeppelin and The Who. 

Trouble.  The original breakup in 1980 was a mutual affair.  Everyone was worn out, burnt out, tired of trying to top Hotel California.   The band members went their separate ways and attempted solo careers, of which Walsh and Henley were the most successful.  Felder put out an album, Airborne, in 1983, and contributed two songs to the Heavy Metal soundtrack, which are much heavier than his other material.  

            In 1994 the Eagles reunited, including Felder.  By 2000, Felder saw problems going on.  “Where’s the money?”   According to Felder, Henley and Frey essentially looted most of the band’s profits to themselves and evaded embarrassing questions, whereas Walsh’s attitude was to keep his mouth shut, not ask questions, and cash his paychecks.  Finally, Henley and Frey fired Felder, which is something you can’t do with a partner.  Lawsuits flared back and forth, only resolved by a settlement in 2006.  My impression is that the settlement didn’t do much to resolve the mutual antipathy between Felder and his comrades.          

            As of 2014, Felder tours on his own and still plays 80% Eagles material, which as noted above includes “Hotel California”.  The Eagles still have Henley, Frey and Walsh, and tour as The Eagles.  They play Madison Square Garden and charge $200-$400 for seats.  Mind you, these are the box office prices, not scalper prices.  When Felder asked the Eagles’ manager about the high cost of reunion tour tickets in the late 90’s, the response was, “we’ll charge whatever the market will bear.” 

            We enjoyed the Don Felder concert and got to hear the best of the Eagles material.   My advice to Eagles fans out there is to boycott the Seagulls (as Felder calls them) and help Felder headline in his own right.  Money well spent, for a worthy cause.     

O Que Aconteceu? 2014

Back in 2006 I posted a blog about Brazil’s loss to France in the World Cup.  That game was in Germany, and France won by one goal, 1-0.  A heartbreak, sure, but not the stunner of 1998 or the abysmal loss this was – at home.

            Here’s my “autopsy”, so to speak, applying my own logic to the situation.

The (Not Quite So Beautiful) Game.  Germany went up 1-0…and soon a blitz of goals put the game at 5-0 at the half.  Brazil’s counterattack was non-existent, as was its defense.  In the second half, Germany piled on two more goals to make it 7-0, and finally Oscar scored a goal to prevent a complete shut-out, so the final tally was 7-1.

This was, by far, Brazil’s worst defeat ever.  The commentators noted that the stadium remained full despite the lopsided score, and speculated that the mostly Brazilian crowd was remaining out of “morbid curiosity.”

            So, what happened? (“O que aconteceu?”)  One word: NEYMAR.   Brazilian Coach Luis Felipe (Felipão = Big Phil) Scolari built the team around the Barcelona striker, and when his back was injured by Colombia in the prior game, it was not only game over for Neymar, but also the Brazilian team.  They really did NOT have a plan.  Did they have other talented players?  Yes.  But no one of his caliber.

            Argentina has the same “problem”, which is not an issue so long as Lionel Messi remains healthy and active.  If anything happened to him – Tanya Van Harding, with a collapsible baton, for instance – his team would be history.  Is it so hard to imagine a team anchored around a single player?   Not if you watch the NBA.  Not if you watch how poorly the Patriots and Colts played when Tom Brady and Peyton Manning were injured for entire seasons.  Every now and then an unknown QB steps out from the shadow of the starting but injured QB and rises to the occasion, like Brady himself.  But it’s not likely, and Brazil did not have the depth to survive Neymar’s departure.

            Contrast this with the German team.  Klose is a good veteran, Özil and Müller are also good (I have Müller’s 2010 jersey).  Neuer shines defending the goal, but the German team is far more evenly spread in terms of relative talents.  They don’t have a single irreplaceable player, no star who shines brighter than all the others.  

            Look at 2002, in which Brazil and Germany faced off in the final in Tokyo/Seoul.  The situation was reversed.  Brazil had the more balanced team; although Ronaldo (Brazilian variant) was clearly the star and scored both goals, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho also contributed heavily to the team’s success.  Germany, on the other hand, was anchored by its star, Michael Ballack (now a commentator for ESPN) and he was knocked out, like Thiago Silva, by a yellow card disqualification in the prior game against South Korea.

            Scolari himself countered that Neymar is a striker, not a defender, so his presence on the field would not have helped.  Much as I admire Big Phil – he did bring the trophy back in 2002 - I think he’s wrong here, for two big reasons.

            1.  Neymar’s presence on the field, by itself, inspired the rest of the team.  Messi does the same for Argentina, as Brady and Manning do.  The whole team plays better with him on the field.

            2.  So long as the opposing goalie is conscious, coherent, and competent, you cannot score from your side of the field.   A strong attack keeps the ball on the other team’s side.  Not only does this increase your chances of scoring, it also deprives the other team of the opportunity to try kicking the ball into your net.  The complete absence of any semblance of an offense then puts all the pressure on the defense, which was missing Thiago Silva.  Because – aside from the goalie – the players operate on both sides of the field whether attackers, midfielders or defenders, Neymar’s presence also improved Brazil’s defense as well as its offense.

            Factor that you probably need to take 10 shots at the goal to get one actual goal.   If you can keep pressure on the other team such that you make 20 shots and he can only make 5, chances are the score will be 2-0.  Though Germany’s percentage appeared to be MUCH higher in this game….

            Even if Neymar had played, I’d still have put the odds of a Brazilian victory at 50/50.  Brazil was underwhelming in the group phase and only beat Chile by penalties.  But a loss would have been 1-0 or 0-0 on penalties, not this 7-1 rout we saw.

Allow me to inject three instances of NFL disappointment – as a Minnesota Vikings fan.

1997-1998 Season.  The Vikings made it to the NFC Championship against the Atlanta Falcons.  Despite leading until the end of regulation, they missed a field goal and allowed the Falcons to push them into overtime.  I knew if that happened, the Falcons would win – and they did.

2000-2001 Season.  They get to the NFC Championship again, only to fall 41-0 to the New York Giants.  ??? Which team was this?  How does this happen?  This game, more so than these other two – which were actually close games – is what most closely approximates the sheer disbelief of the Brazil-Germany blowout. 

2008-2009 Season.  We finally get Brett Favre as QB.  He brings us all the way to the NFC Championship game again, this time against the New Orleans Saints.  We could have gone for a field goal.  But Favre had to throw that damn interception, and the Saints did the rest.  I know the Vikings could have beat the Colts, so this was a blown opportunity to get the first Super Bowl trophy.  And the next season was abysmal.

I’ll be rooting for Germany against Argentina, which in itself will be a rematch of the 1986 (Argentina) and 1990 (Germany) World Cups.   As a fan, my allegiances are to Brazil, Germany, and the US, in that order.  Sou Americano de verdade, ich weisse.  Since none of the current roster were playing on the German team in 1990, when they last won the World Cup – US coach Jurgen Klinsmann was on that team – this is their chance to get a victory for themselves.   This is particularly important for Klose, who played on the 2002, 2006, and 2010 teams and will almost certainly not play in 2018.

Hope for 2018?  Neymar is young, he can recover and fight again in Russia.  I’m most optimistic for the US team, though.  Klinsmann had the same problem as Scolari: a key striker – Altidore – suddenly knocked out.  But Dempsey was strong enough to pick up the slack.  Had Altidore not been injured, the US might have tied Germany, beat Belgium, and conceivably gone neck-and-neck with Argentina.  Look at Julian Green, who scored the US’ only goal against Belgium coming off the bench late in the game in his first appearance.  He plays for Bayern Munich, Germany’s top team!  Altidore will be 29, not too old for ’18, though Dempsey will be 35; the big problem is goalie Tim Howard.  For the US to emerge from its group at all, much less missing Altidore, is amazing.  Moreover, more US players are getting experience either overseas on top tier European teams, or in an MLS which is upping its roster with more experienced Europeans.  Beckham was at the Galaxy, Thierry Henry is with the NY Red Bulls, and Kaka will be joining the Orlando expansion franchise.  The irony is that America has more reason to be proud of its own team – which only lost to Germany by one goal – than Brazil has to be proud of this year’s Seleção, even if it was just Neymar’s bad luck to be injured.   Brazil survived its loss to Uruguay in 1950 to win in 1958, and its loss to France in 1998 to come back and win in 2002.  Let’s see if they can do it again in 2018.

Mary Poppins

By this I mean the classic 1964 Disney film, right before the 1965 R&H “The Sound of Music”. 

            It’s London in 1910.  The Banks family sees yet another matronly nanny quit abruptly, unable to manage the two children, Jane and Michael (Karen Dotrice and Matthew Garber).  The father, Mr. Banks (David Tomlinson) is too busy working at the bank, and the mother (Glynis Johns) is too busy as a suffragette, i.e. tireless advocate of getting women the right to vote, to look after or raise the children herself; thus a nanny is necessary.  Along comes Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews) to set things right.  Her supernatural abilities are complimented by a charming and talented chimney sweep, Bert (Dick Van Dyke).  She even brings the children to defuse Uncle Albert (Ed Wynn, the voice of the Mad Hatter from Disney’s Alice in Wonderland) whose incessant laughter has put him up near the ceiling.

            The big sequence in the film is the excursion into Bert’s chalk painting.  Bert and Mary enjoy a meal at the penguin-staffed restaurant while the children enjoy the merry-go-round.  “Supercalifragilisticexpialadocious” is explained at length, until a downpour in real life brings the group back to reality. 

            Mr. Banks disapproves of Mary Poppins’ supernatural supervision, but she calls his bluff by manipulating him into bringing the children to the bank with him on her day off.  Panic ensues when the children prove immune to the bankers’ ecstatic description of compound interest and investment in infrastructure – the head banker (played by Van Dyke himself in heavy makeup) snatches the boy’s “tuppence”, and the boy’s reaction sparks a run on the bank.

            Predictably, Mr. Banks is fired, but with some advice from Bert in chimney sweep mode, eventually realizes that children are children and his role as father has to take that into account.  Finally he’s “saved” and flies a kite with the children, and the bank staff – also flying kites – notifies him that not only is Banks not terminated, he’s made partner.  “And there was much rejoicing…”

            I just imagine MP flying off from London in 1910 and re-emerging in a convent in Salzburg, Austria, in 1937, just in time to rescue another family in need of a wonderful nanny.   Mary Poppins and Fraulein Maria have almost identical roles and missions:  rescuing children from an emotionally distant father.  Obviously, “The Sound of Music” was a true story and “Mary Poppins” was fictional.   I do prefer Julie Andrews as a brunette, and her 1910 attire is more flattering than the outfits she wears in Austria. 

If you enjoyed that, you may also enjoy…

Saving Mr. Banks (Blu-Ray).   Mr. Banks is, of course, the father of the two children in “Mary Poppins”.  This is the story of how Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) managed to persuade Pamela Travers (PT) (aka Helen Goff) (Emma Thompson) to give him the rights to make the story into a movie, despite the fact that the movie would add in music and animation and substantially change many elements of the story.   The movie suggests that Disney finally persuaded her to agree, but it seems that in real life, Disney managed to get her sign off but gave himself the final word on the adaptation.

            So… it’s 1961, and Disney has invited Mrs. Travers to L.A. to supervise some of the work on the film, which has begun despite the fact that PT has STILL not signed off on the rights.  Paul Giamatti plays the Disney-assigned limo driver and BJ Novak (from the US “The Office”) is one of the writers.  But the film cuts to flashbacks of PT herself, as the young girl Helen Goff, in Australia in 1906.  Her father, Travers Goff (Colin Farrell) is an unsuccessful bank manager, dreamer, drunkard – a hopeless bohemian type who can’t seem to survive as a round peg in the square hole of turn-of-the-century Australian banking. 

            At every turn, PT is rude, abrupt, contemptuous and arrogant.  She insults everyone.  She insists on changes everywhere – even when the writers point out that their material comes right out of her books - and pretty much vetoes what we know to be the best elements of the film.  Disney makes concessions here and there, but for his part seems equally determined that the film WILL emerge consistent with his own vision – complete with music and animation – and on his terms.  So it’s a battle of wills between him and PT. 

            Although the enthusiasm of the creative team and the honesty of the chauffeur make some headway into penetrating PT’s extremely gruff and intolerant exterior, they can’t prevent her from petulantly returning to London without signing off on the movie rights.  It takes a personal, surprise visit from Walt himself, and a deep, meaningful conversation in which Walt explains that he does in fact understand Mr. Banks is meant to be none other than Travers Goff, which finally breaks down PT’s resistance and induces her to sign.

            Really:  if you’re going to watch “Mary Poppins” again, no matter how many times you’ve seen it, do yourself a favor and watch this film immediately thereafter.  Hanks has a remarkable ability to dial back the smaltz in his roles and give just enough realism and grit so we don’t vomit up the sugar.  Thompson, of course, plays her as an arrogant bitch we can’t stand.  No wonder she (Travers) was never married, and her only son was adopted; she may have been a lesbian.

            Normally I’m the type who goes back and reads the original source material – as I did on “The Wizard of Oz”.  In this case, I’m less inclined to do so.  The movie seems to indicate that the original character was closer to PT’s gruff but competent aunt.  Granted, the movie was also calculated to make Disney look good at the expense of PT herself.  Perhaps Disney ripped Mary Poppins away from Travers and turned her into a warm, affectionate supernatural being who children might actually love.  In that case Disney not only “saved Mr. Banks”, but also saved Mary Poppins from being the same, cold, heartless bitch that Travers was.  Disney and his writers had children: Travers never did.  Every now and then a film adaptation actually improves on the original story.