Monday, August 04, 2008

A bit o'this, a pinch o'that...
...another heapin' helpin' of Bloggers' Gumbo for you to digest...
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FROM THE KREMLIN TO TIANANMEN: Super-influential Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn died recently...he was exiled in the 1970's after he'd written "The Gulag Archipelago", a book which basically portrayed the mindless, insensitive flaws of the then-existing Russian Communist System, revealing to the world how oppressed the Russian masses had become under elitist rulers who basically didn't give a damn about human rights. Fast-forward to China, where the Olympics are being held. The Chinese Government is forcing Chinese street vendors off the streets, even if they're nowhere near the site where the Olympics is taking place. Criticism of the Olympics by oppressed Chinese has been basically outlawed. There are 'designated protest areas' far away from Olympic Village where protesters can gather, but they have to actually APPLY for the right to protest...the basic sentiment is that zillions have been spent on various Olympic-related construction projects, while the majority of Chinese citizens find themselves heavily economically oppressed, and now they can't even point that out to Their Own Leaders without permission. Which tells me the Chinese Gov't already knows its citizens are oppressed. No tanks in Tianmenen Square during the Olympics, huh?

My take? The Olympics has NO business being held in China. The Olympics are supposed to be symbolic of the positive coexistence of all races, all countries. Any peacefulness surrounding this current Olympiad in China is being enforced with oppressive jack-booted authority. I honestly have no idea how anyone on the Olympic Committee could have thot having the Olympics in China was a Good Thing. When the Olympic Torch was making its run around the world, there were protests in virtually every relay point in its circuituous route. That should've been the first indication Not All Was Well with This Olympics. And after this Olympiad is over, and the athletes have left, China will go back to once again being a reclusive, authoritarian, closeted, secreted society with no regard for human rights whatsoever. I only hope Politics doesn't result in Athletes' deaths this time around. We don't need another Munich-type Olympic Incident. And it's strange how events parallel one another. Both incidents, Solzhenitsyn's death and the Olympiad in China were front-and-center in today's paper. Oppression ruled the day.
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A FOOTBALL SOAP OPERA: Green Bay Packers' Quarterback BRETT FAVRE, who has 'flirted' with the Idea of Retirement, this year has once again said, "I've changed my mind; I wanna play this year." This time around, tho, Brett will have to compete for the QB position. Except, will it really be a competition? ESPN has said that Favre is the "face of the Packers, if not all of Professional Football". And even if forever-2nd-string QB Aaron Rodgers wins his competition with Favre, he Can't win, not really. Suppose, in a big game, Rodgers throws a pass which results in a costly interception...diehard Packers fans will say, "I bet BRETT FAVRE coulda made that pass." How pathological is Favre's desire to Once Again be the Packers' QB? He turned down a $20 Million-dollar offer to DO NOTHING. The Packers' Organization was gonna PAY him that, rather than have Favre QB'ing for a Competing Football Team. So, Favre didn't wanna quit, but he didn't wanna play for anyone else, either. Stamp your foot, Brett. Get your way, Brett. Favre is a great quarterback, but he's made some really bad throwing decisions which have cost the Packers games. Maybe the Organization didn't want such a headstrong quarterback, and were looking forward to Favre's retirement. But Brett just wouldn't go away. And all of this might just end up getting uglier. Talk about yer awkward situations!
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HELL HAS OFFICIALLY FROZEN OVER: The Seattle Mariners beat the Minnesota Twins tonight...the M's were behind by 6 runs until fairly late in the game, when the M's had a 7-run INNING to take the lead. Most of the time this season, it's taken the M's over two WEEKS to score seven runs. Well, that's just like the M's this year. Start looking good when it's too late to matter. The only question now is, how far behind the next-to-last-place team in their division will the Mariners be at seasons' end? I read in a Seattle Mariners' Fan Blog that it costs $40 to PARK YOUR CAR in Safeco Field's Parking Lot. Oh, rrrright...the $117 million dollars spent on Mariners' player salaries might have something to do with that. Gotta pay for all those low battering averages and hi ERA's somehow...
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IT FINALLY GOT HERE: My latest Ebay acquisition arrived today...it's by the 20's-30's era singer Lee Morse, who I've promoted a LOT lately in this blog. (You can visit my "Yahoo" Miss Morse group at www.groups.yahoo.com/group/Miss_Lee_Morse, by the way.) She recorded constantly from 1924 to 1931. She made a couple more records in 1938. Then, she went unrecorded until 1950! She made two singles that year for the Decca label, and that was it. She'd unsuccessfully tried for a "comeback". And that's a shame...because her voice still sounded full and rich. Only this time, she had a more contemporary musical backing; drums, guitar and Hammond Organ replaced the muted trumpets and clarinets of the '20s and '30s. And, on this record, she sounds surprisingly contemporary, in spite of the fact she was 53 when she recorded it.

Best of all, this Lee Morse record, in addition to being released on 78rpm, was also issued on a '45', so this time around, Miss Morse had the advantage of actually being on a record format that provided High Fidelity, as opposed to the old, noisy shellac of the 78rpm format. Here is the song, "Longing", which is a nice little ballad with a sort of country tinge to it...but the flip side, "Don't Even Change A Picture On The Wall", really gets me going...it's a hot, swingin' little number all about a lonesome soldier who was coming home and wanted everything to be just as he remembered. On the song, Miss Morse sounds positively overjoyed to be back in the recording studio once again, and the interplay between her and her backing musicians is indeed something to behold.

"Don't Even Change A Picture" was actually written by Miss Morse in the 1940's, for the troops of WWII, but, probably, the whole entire material-rationing-thing during that war put the kibosh on the song being released then...I guess Shellac had some sort of strategic wartime usage. However, the song was still current during its 1950 release, seeing as how the Korean conflict was going on then. By the way, during her career, Lee Morse recorded over 200 songs, and she WROTE fully a third of those, which I think is pretty phenomenal.

To hear the audio of both sides of this record, go to Ian House's great website, http://www.leemorse.com/, go to "her songbook", then scroll down to the year "1950", and you can hear the song for yourself. I think it's really grrrreat. (And hopefully I'll have the audio posted to my own Miss-Morse group site soon.)
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And all the while I was typing this, little Jill, my new parrot, slept in her cage. She hasn't moved a muscle in hours. Quite a peaceful little bird. (See the post under this one for details.)

5 Comments:

Blogger raymond pert said...

OK..let's imagine Aaron Rodgers starts for the Packers...let's say its a third and eight in the third quarter, an obvious passing situation...it's a tie game...let's say Rodgers goes back to pass and quickly sees that his first option receiver is double covered and that only a bullet thrown into the tiniest opening would have a chance of being completed...Rodgers doesn't make the throw...instead he scrambles forward a yard or two...the Packers punt and pin their opponent deep into their own territory....are those same Packer fans who would boo Rodgers if he threw the interception you described going to cheer him for not throwing into double coverage...for not throwing the interception Favre would probably throw....cheer him for his good judgement...for not risking field position?

I doubt it.

9:30 AM  
Blogger Mari Meehan said...

Okay, I totally agree with you about the Olympics. It will be interesting to see if things go smoothly. Wanna make any bets?

As for Farve, I'm disgusted Goodell caved into him. Frankly I hope he sits the bench and holds the clipboard. He's had his day. Think about how Aaron Rogers must feel!

1:56 PM  
Blogger Lil ol' me... said...

Hi, Mr. Pert...I believe the die-hard Favre fans would boo Rodgers for not getting the first down. And, if the crowd's not with ya, it's awfully hard to succeed. What I'm saying is, if Rodgers becomes QB, he's gonna be second-guessed into eternity as long as Favre is part of the Packers Organization. For all I know, Rodgers might just be GREAT. I'll also bet he can't outscramble Favre. But...and this is important...I too have seen Favre throw a lot of games away. A couple of years ago, Brett's high interception rate was being touted by football talking-heads as a sign of old age, feebleness and unpredictability.

Ms. Dogwalker...China will display itself to the world during the Olympics, and then tightly zip itself back up again. I hope all goes well. Chinese Communism has always been all-encompassing. Perhaps the IOC, in awarding the games to China, hoped the Olympic Spirit would cause China to See The Light, but that may never, ever happen. As far as the Favre/Rodgers situation, I don't blame Rodgers if he feels awful, but according to everything I've read, he's handled the situation very maturely.

Is this beginning to resemble a sports blog? If so, I'd be like the Budweiser commercial about the All-Sports talking head...I know everything there is about sports except How To Play Them. No coordination! Plus, I probably don't know everything...

7:29 PM  
Blogger Mari Meehan said...

I don't know. To me this will be primarily a great music blog with a lot of little goodies thrown in to keep in interesting! Like parrots! Lol.

1:29 PM  
Blogger Lil ol' me... said...

Hi, Marianne...did you go to the Lee Morse site and hear her music? I get grabbed by all kinds of music, it seems. Which is great; I can go from hard rock and roll to Frank Sinatra to Dave Brubeck and just all around the place. I think I have a desire to hear everything I can before I leave this planet (not that I plan on leaving anytime soon)...

Actually, this blog is more a reflection of zany thots which bounce out from my brain, thru my fingers and they all end up here. Music is a big part of that, tho.

8:19 PM  

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