The next day gave us the first official or at least semi-official meeting of The Table. Present were Wheeler, Baker Bloch, Tin S. Man or Dr. Blood, The Librarian, Curled Paper, Hucka Doobie, and then Old Mabel subbing in for a sick Salad Bar Jack. More was wrong with the famous Mmmmmm than he let on, however. Baker Bloch also seemed to stand in for Karoz Blogger, although no mention was made of that during the gathering.
Wheeler called the meeting to order at 7pm sharp. Following clockwise introductions ’round The Table, eyes turned to Baker Bloch, who attempted to give a brief and to-the-point review of their joint user baker b.’s audiovisual synchronicity “3 Friends of Belleville.”
“It’s much like ‘Dark Side of the Rainbow’,” he started, to which Wheeler quickly injected that they would look at that most famous of audiovisual synchs directly afterwards. “On the audio side, it’s simply the first 3 songs or tracks of Gentle Giant’s 1972 concept album ‘3 Friends’, unaltered in respect to playing time and order but with small breaks between filled in by other music. This would be several of the Erik Satie pieces most of us listened to last night (‘Sports and Divertissements’).”
“Is this 1972 BL or AL?” asked Old Mabel, who had studied all night in preparation for the gathering and was eager to make a strong showing.
“Neither,” answered Baker Bloch. “Remember we’re dealing with the Real World and its Real Time now. So this is 1972 A*D*, which stands for ‘After Death’, that is, after the death of our lord and savior Jesus Christ.”
“Never heard of him,” said Wheeler, trying to move the meeting on. “Old Mabel — and the rest — please refrain from asking questions until Baker finishes his report. Continue Baker… so I know these 3 tracks or songs from this Friendly Giant group are overlaid atop the movie ‘3 Friends.'”
“No,” corrected Baker. “The *Gentle* Giant *album* is named ‘3 Friends.’ The overlapped movie is ‘The Triplets of Belleville,’ an animation released several decades afterwards. A decade being 10 solar years,” he immediately tacked on, seeing more confused faces. Old Mabel wanted to ask about the relationship between these 3 friends on the audio side and the triplets on the visual side but held her tongue.
“The Satie pieces from (‘Sports and Divertissments’) also come in a particular order in the synch, but not 1-2-3, like the Gentle Giant tracks. Instead the pattern is 8-14-2, which, if you’ll notice, forms a *triangle* — another 3 or triplet — of numbers 6 apart.”
“These are the shocks,” injected Wheeler again, breaking her own stated request.
“Yes, I suppose so,” answers Baker.
“Which we’ll also talk about in ‘Dark Side of the Rainbow’. So I think that’s a good segue from one to the other. Anything else Baker Bloch?”
“I suppose not.” He straightened the numerous sheets of his report on The Table and placed them back in his black attache case.
“666, eh,” then states Wheeler reflectively as she searches for the appropriate Youtube video on the meeting screen. “Again.”
—–
Exactly 4 minutes after the start of “Dark Side of the Rainbow”, a sepia toned Dorothy in the 1939 classic “The Wizard of Oz” fell off a pigpen fence while talking to farmhand Zeke about courage, timed exactly with the end of the first track off Pink Floyd’s seminal “Dark Side of the Moon” album (“Speak to Me/ Breathe”).
“This is not just *a* fall but *The Fall*, Baker Bloch explained afterwards, pausing the video here. “This is where true synchronicity kicks in. We are now witnessing something different; not from around here but from elsewhere.”
“Satan?” offers Wheeler.
“Biblically speaking,” answers Baker Bloch. “But this is resolved, it appears, in a later synch called ‘Quadrospirited’ and the beginning of (not TIDE but) TILE. Another song exactly 4 minutes long is involved. A song called ‘Four Minutes’ itself by a member of Pink Floyd again.”
“Oh dear, I need to run,” says Wheeler out of the blue, looking at the clock on the wall. “Nautilus seas and Doreena and Yvonne and such. Baker Bloch, if you would, please wrap up the meeting and then gather everyone downstairs to meet Jiff the Minoan, fresh from the woods. He’ll take over from here. Ta ta once more!”
She vanishes. Baker Bloch looks around The Table at the others, seeing a mixture of confusion and boredom. “Should we continue?” he offers.
“Nah,” states a yawning Hucka Doobie. “Let’s go meet this Jiff creature and get it over with.”
Not what they were expecting.
Sunklands 