tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-167518302024-03-12T16:17:08.443-07:00AtMoSpHeRiC RuMiNaTiOnS...This is either a blog about everything or nothing at all. You be the judge.Lil ol' me...http://www.blogger.com/profile/05375131775477058146noreply@blogger.comBlogger1115125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16751830.post-49392166836319329772012-09-28T18:00:00.001-07:002012-09-28T21:41:41.933-07:00<strong><span style="font-size: large;">ONE MORE POST BEFORE CALLING IT QUITS...</span></strong><br />
<strong><em>I think we've all seen this coming for quite some time now...</em></strong><br />
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I've kept this blog going since the year 2003. That's the better part of a decade. I've been turning my soul inside-out on my best posts, and have been marking time with my not-so-good writings. I was just over 50 when this thing began; now I'm staring 60 in the face. This blog served a valid purpose for me during the first years of its existence; I was able to express frustration, anger, joy, desolation, happiness, sadness and I shared all the good and bad times here. So what's my problem? Simply put, I just don't have any reason to keep this thing going anymore. My heart's not in it. My days are just as full as they've always been; I'm still the same person I was; I still love Oregon and am glad I moved here. I'm still playing guitar, taking photos, and enjoying life as much as I can.<br />
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I'm just running out of mental energy. So why don't I just keep the blog going and post once or twice a month?, you ask. Because it's more irritating if I place upon myself the thought that I need to put something in the blog. It nags at me. I used to feel all self-important after I posted something high and mighty; I'd read back over what I'd just written, not really believing that yes, I was this person who posted all that. I used to swing violently at issues, politics, politicians, and others who I wished would Just Go Away. I used to think I could show everyone how smart I really was by writing on all kinds of topics, and that's a by-product of my low self-esteem; I was the Paper Man inside the computer spewing forth all kinds of stuff, whether I cared about what I was writing or not. Getting out there in front of people was my objective. All of a sudden the playing field was leveled. Here I am, world, and I'm here to take you on!!!<br />
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But I'm not smart. I'm not gifted. I don't have any unique insights into anything. I've long thought that I should do a post on "Who and What am I, This Person Who Blogs?" But I've shared enough over the years, through all my old posts, and readers can come away with an educated opinion of who this person is behind the computer screen. Rather than this blog being All I Do, as it was in the first several years of its existence, nowadays it's often the last thing I think about doing, which happens by the end of the day, when I'm just too tired to care. Finally, Facebook has a lot to do with this decision. Rather than sit here, trying to "compose" for hours and hours, laboring over detailed posts and photo inclusions, when I think of something, I can zip over to Facebook, and just toss it out there. Every fully-developed blog post of roughly this size takes me at least 2 or 3 hours to complete. It's not as if I'm dashing this stuff out with reckless abandon. These blogs make me feel like I'm doing a Term Paper. Ask any of my former teachers...I never EVER did a good term paper.<br />
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But Facebook is getting old, too. It's like a big cyber-billboard for the entire human race, and I weary of the religious and political issues that people seem to plaster all over their Facebook Walls. I'm really tired of all the bible verses and new-age homilies I see posted everywhere on Facebook. But there's enough happening with people I know, former colleagues and classmates as well as current friends, to keep me coming back. I'm not saying Facebook is a wonderful be-all, end-all, but it is a convenient way for people to communicate. I used to wonder if anyone at all read my blog; I do know for a fact people read what I write on Facebook. And I hardly ever read anyone else's blogs, but it's refreshing to know what's happening in a capsule-sized Facebook tidbit. It just fits my limited attention span better at this point in my life.<br />
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I'll close out this last post with a development that happened to me not long ago. As I've blogged about on occasion, I did not have a good relationship with my Dad and I never really did. But I loved him, although he was hard to feel close to. The thought of him has always brought turmoil to my life. He could cut me down to size and make me hate myself, and he often did. Imagine my reaction when I saw his name in the topic line of an e-mail I was sent last month. This person had information on my Dad. Turns out his Dad and mine were on the same Bomber Crew in World War II. He never spoke of his Wartime Service, other than he was a "bomber pilot over Germany". And so he was...<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XLvTN_ljsV8/UGZCoRBRo6I/AAAAAAAADak/OKivSuZh3oE/s1600/DadCrew.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="155" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XLvTN_ljsV8/UGZCoRBRo6I/AAAAAAAADak/OKivSuZh3oE/s200/DadCrew.jpg" width="200" /></a>Third from the left in the back row is My Dad, with his crew. Dad and one other guy in this photo survived the war. Flying one of these huge B-17's was hazardous. I am told of one mission where the Germans made swiss cheese out of the plane, the bullets ripping through the plane, which began a tailspin headlong toward Earth. 500 feet off the ground, Dad managed to pull out of the tailspin and get his crew back to safety in England.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3m8682305XQ/UGZCtzNRpOI/AAAAAAAADas/vAp4v3kgMRI/s1600/DadPlane.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="151" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3m8682305XQ/UGZCtzNRpOI/AAAAAAAADas/vAp4v3kgMRI/s200/DadPlane.jpg" width="200" /></a>Here is my Dad's airplane in flight. It was originally named "Gypsies", but was renamed "Blood N' Guts". He flew at least 35 missions, bombing various encampments and industrial sites in Germany. There are some videos on YouTube which feature the B-17 in all its glory, and as I watched young men readying their planes, assembling for duty, or attending pre-bombing meetings to discuss strategy, I found myself looking for Dad.<br />
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I was literally stunned and the old feelings of uneasiness returned when I'd first received these e-mails about my dad. Those feelings turned inward, chewing me up, and all of a sudden I felt like a 5-year old kid who was being punished for something. Over the last couple of weeks, I find myself coming to a sort of peace about all of this, now that I know a little more about him. The above crew photo was taken in 1944. I was born ten years later. I'd never seen Dad this young before. I'm sure that all his life he was trying to deal with bad wartime memories in addition to dealing with everyday life. My Dad was Strong. And he always was. And when Mom died, he didn't feel as strong anymore. I think that's part of it.<br />
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<em>So, folks, that's about it. It's a fitting way for me to close out the blog, by including something important and definitive. I'm sure I'll see you on Facebook, as well as some of you on "Huckleberries", the blog maintained all these years by D.F. Oliveria of the Spokesman-Review newspaper. It's an interactive blog, and it's absorbing and thought-provoking. It'll be a couple of weeks before I delete this blog; for those of you who live in Coeur d'Alene, you might want to comb back thru my old posts where I used to pass along a whole lot of area history. Take care, everyone...</em>Lil ol' me...http://www.blogger.com/profile/05375131775477058146noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16751830.post-57029212539048003152012-09-11T23:17:00.000-07:002012-09-11T23:18:59.323-07:00<strong><span style="font-size: large;">LET THE WORLD NEVER FORGET...</span></strong><br />
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<strong><em>To this very day, I am in amazement and awe of those whose lives were sacrificed on 9/11/2001. Let none of us ever forget that day. And let the world know that sooner or later, we will "get" those who perpetrate unjustified violence against this country.</em></strong>Lil ol' me...http://www.blogger.com/profile/05375131775477058146noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16751830.post-45550921918741944342012-09-05T21:11:00.003-07:002012-09-08T01:48:12.985-07:00<strong><span style="font-size: large;">KEEPING THE ANCHOR CHAIR WARM...</span></strong><br />
<strong><em>...the saga of Kathi Goertzen and the price she paid...</em></strong><br />
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Have you ever heard a news story that absolutely left you blind-sided? I had just returned home from my 40th Class Reunion in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho and everything went so well, and I'm glad I went because I have some new good memories that I'll have forever. I was expecting to spend the next week operating at a slower pace and just ease back into "livin' Coos Bay style". I was watching Mariners' baseball that Monday night, and one of the sportspeople said something about the death of "mgmmxxph of KOMO-TV news"...I didn't pay any attention to the name. I hooked up with the Mariners' blog-site to comment on the game, and on the news page (the blog is run by The Seattle Times), was an article about Kathi Goertzen, a news anchor who passed away that morning. For quite a few years, things went exceedingly well for her during her news career; right out of college, she secured a news position with KOMO, was a well-known anchor/reporter in the Seattle Area, and she and her co-anchor were the longest-running Anchor Team west of the Mississippi, and as you know, that's rare in TV news, where many hirees are here-today, gone-yesterday.<br />
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Beginning in the late 1990's, though, she began having problems. She lost the hearing in her right ear, and parts of her face began feeling numb. It was found that she had a non-malignant meningioma, just below the right side of her skull, and needed surgery right away. Doctors removed most of the tumor, and she bounced back and continued anchoring the news for another few years before the tumor had once again grown, and once again she underwent surgery. Throughout the late 1990's and beyond, she had surgery six different times for the same tumor. Why "six"? Because not all of the tumor was removed until it was much, much too late. Removing all of the tumor could have resulted in damage to the nerves that controlled swallowing, the ability to smile , and speech. The tumor had wrapped itself around those nerves and just kept growing until the next surgery, because the decision was made not to take out the entire tumor. She'd emerge, recover for a while, go back to her news anchor position, but all the while the tumor was growing...<br />
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Then the process would be repeated; get most of the tumor, control the rest with radiation, hope for the best. Except, the radiation treatments and experimental drugs used on her just weren't effective. Her last surgery involved dealing with not only the original tumor, but an offshoot of that tumor which was growing behind her eye. Her first Surgery was back in 1997. Her second was in 2005. And after that, it was operation after operation, in which the surgeons were able to remove most of, but not all, of the tumor, which eventually spread out to other parts of her brain. Technically she succumbed to pneumonia, which came about due to the harsh effects of all those surgeries and experimental treatments. In 1997,when she was diagnosed, she already had been a news anchor for close to 17 years. And if Surgeons had removed ALL of the tumor back then, perhaps she'd still be alive today. After yet another surgery (in 2010), she was left disfigured and couldn't appear on the air anymore. But she still went to work, doing what she could, landing interviews and helping out in general. One such interview was with sportscaster Keith Jackson. Her speech was easily understandable; Jackson gave a great interview, and cameras pictured Kathi from the back, so viewers wouldn't be shocked by the effects of surgery on her face. (Which didn't look all that bad to me.)<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AxKcS6kO7sg/UEgGhuyF5LI/AAAAAAAADZ0/Di_ut6sQHzc/s1600/kathi_goertzen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AxKcS6kO7sg/UEgGhuyF5LI/AAAAAAAADZ0/Di_ut6sQHzc/s200/kathi_goertzen.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kathi in better times.</td></tr>
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I can't help but think that if she'd had all of the tumor taken out when it was first diagnosed, she'd still be here today. She could've taken pride in the fact she'd been a successful news anchor for so long, and she could still be "in the biz" as far as writing, producing, interviewing, etc. Did the fact that she was a News Anchor, whose facial characteristics are transmitted nightly, influence the choices made NOT to remove the Entire Tumor? Is this, perhaps, a fatal case of putting one's job before everything else? Clearly, she loved anchoring the news, and everyone loved her and were praying for her. Maybe she couldn't face life as Not Being An Anchor. In a way, the job might have killed her. Gotta look good for the cameras, after all. From what I can tell, Kathi was a dear, sweet, genuine and gracious lady. The world can't afford to lose people like her. I'm sure people would've understood if she couldn't appear on camera anymore; indeed, she was gone for long periods of time after some of her more recent surgeries. In 2009 she had surgery, recuperated, came back to her Anchor position, and then had to leave again two weeks later because doctors said the Tumor had Grown Again.<br />
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My major in College was Radio/TV Broadcasting with a Journalism minor, and I've always paid special attention to the world of broadcasting, and the people in that world. It's my sense that Kathi was not ego-driven to a fatal degree, but somehow the relentlessness of the news factored into the decisions made regarding her surgeries, most of all the decisions not to "get it all" because it could potentially be harmful to her career. Indeed, she knew people wouldn't want to see her face, the way it was after her final surgeries. She said in an interview that it would be "unfair to the viewers" to comprehend the news with her looking like she did. She knew she couldn't be an anchor anymore. If she'd come to that realization years earlier, maybe she'd still be alive today. Anchoring isn't everything. Maybe she didn't want to adopt that outlook. But it's just a job. As such it's not worth dying for. No matter how you look at it, her death is a tragedy. My heart goes out to her family, her co-workers, and her viewers.<br />
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<em>This post has been bouncing around in my head for the last week and a hal</em><em>f, and it's been driving me nuts. Everything</em><em> I've seen regarding Kathi, over the internet, television or newspapers </em><em>has been nice and very sweet and supportive and complimentary. Maybe I can't help but see the other side. I've never lived in the Seattle Area, never saw Seattle TV, and knew nothing of Kathi until the day she died. But I do remember a TV station in Spokane, Washington, that I used to watch; they</em><em> had a great weatherman, Peter Colford, who succumbed to cancer in the mid-1990s. Very, very sad. This post is the by-product of several weeks' analyzation of internet writings and all the video I could find. And I've come away thinking, "what a sad story". A tragedy indeed.</em><br />
<a name='more'></a>Lil ol' me...http://www.blogger.com/profile/05375131775477058146noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16751830.post-78848219339440828462012-08-15T00:50:00.001-07:002012-08-15T02:57:02.754-07:00<strong><span style="font-size: large;">AN INCOMPLETE DIARY OF A ROAD TRIP...</span></strong><br />
<strong><em>...and you thot talking on cellphones or texting while driving is a bad thing!</em></strong><br />
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I hadn't been away from the Southern Oregon Coast in six years. But it was bound to happen. I'm talking about The Class Reunion, different this time around because I had to Travel over 300 miles to get there. For years, I lived in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho and graduated high school there. Not this time around! I flew the coop and got out of there only to fly back into the coop six years later for my 40th class reunion. This post, then, documents photos I took on the Sly. For, you see, I shot photos while driving. I'm not proud of that, but I'd already postponed the trip by a day, and I had to make good use of my time. This was also an opportunity to get photos of Other Things Besides My Area Of The Coast. So I did what I did. But I kept the car "shiny side up and between the ditches". <br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IMQCbVbo8v0/UCtDV3G4q6I/AAAAAAAADXU/CWCYasnPsCQ/s1600/CDA+015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IMQCbVbo8v0/UCtDV3G4q6I/AAAAAAAADXU/CWCYasnPsCQ/s200/CDA+015.JPG" width="200" />-</a>First of all, let's hear it for I-5. It's a really great road in that it's mostly level and fairly straight. One hand on the wheel, the other holding the camera. Taken somewhere around 8am, the temperature inland wasn't that much warmer than on the coast. So things started out fairly well. That would later change...<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iRXDax0KEvI/UCtDdYYLU9I/AAAAAAAADXc/szNsg-amFso/s1600/CDA+022.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iRXDax0KEvI/UCtDdYYLU9I/AAAAAAAADXc/szNsg-amFso/s200/CDA+022.JPG" width="200" /></a>Another shot from I-5, looking eastward. The Willamette Valley looks like one big flood plain, and it's easy to imagine the distant hills as islands in an earlier water-logged or glacial environment in which things were leveled out on a grand scale. We're about 150 miles south of Portland here...as you can tell, this is quite the agricultural area...<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-157mNMxEQXs/UCtNp6Ou60I/AAAAAAAADY4/jWG4LebTiBc/s1600/CDA+025.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-157mNMxEQXs/UCtNp6Ou60I/AAAAAAAADY4/jWG4LebTiBc/s200/CDA+025.JPG" width="200" /></a>To get to North Idaho from I-5, you Go to Portland and take a right turn, which sends ya up the Columbia River Gorge. It gets hotter the further east you go, and if it wasn't for the wind vanes on the hills, this part of the country would be uglier than it already is. This is Biggs Junction, which is about halfway between Coos Bay and Coeur d'Alene. "Desolate" doesn't begin to describe this place. This photo looks north toward the Washington side of the mighty Columbia...</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IN5wz_8IMhE/UCtO2GPS3jI/AAAAAAAADZA/WQUbMPoMn5Y/s1600/CDA+031.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IN5wz_8IMhE/UCtO2GPS3jI/AAAAAAAADZA/WQUbMPoMn5Y/s200/CDA+031.JPG" width="200" /></a>Crossing the Columbia River, and negotiating the traffic mess that is the Tri-Cities in Washington State, you can see the country doesn't change much in appearance, though the temperature had to be somewhere close to 100 degrees out here. Please, car, don't break down now! If you've ever envisioned yourself going absolutely nowhere, this is what it looks like when you get there...<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RR9kdygFcaY/UCtZzoLIAEI/AAAAAAAADZc/epyuBFJYzXk/s1600/CDA+033.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RR9kdygFcaY/UCtZzoLIAEI/AAAAAAAADZc/epyuBFJYzXk/s200/CDA+033.JPG" width="200" /></a>It was getting hot and late and I put the camera aside and concentrated on driving hard the last three hours of the trip, which grew volcanic-hot because I had no Freon in the air-conditioning. I just wanted to Get There. I met up with Interstate 90, blasted through Spokane and arrived in Coeur d'Alene after over 11 hours on the road. So how morbid was this road trip? Look at where I stayed! But the room had a great air conditioner! Not bad for a cheap motel. Best of all, I Survived The Bates Motel. I heard no loud screams as the shower water was running, and needed no bandages. All in all, things turned out much better than I thot they would.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wZ3SiwhYQcw/UCtEataSuVI/AAAAAAAADYA/Ql-KF3uVG-A/s1600/CDA+038.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wZ3SiwhYQcw/UCtEataSuVI/AAAAAAAADYA/Ql-KF3uVG-A/s200/CDA+038.JPG" width="200" /></a>I arrived in Coeur d'Alene on Wednesday night, which gave me all day Thursday to putt around town, seeing things, driving around town, looking at all of the changes (see "A Tale Of Two Coeur d'Alenes", a couple posts below this one), but this lake photo was taken Wednesday night after I checked into the Bates...I headed for the one place in town I wanted to go...Coeur d'Alene City Park...and I knew the view that I wanted to see, and this was it...<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lnqhUAiSTGg/UCtEv9iR5EI/AAAAAAAADYQ/Kk7q3tppMBs/s1600/CDA+039.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lnqhUAiSTGg/UCtEv9iR5EI/AAAAAAAADYQ/Kk7q3tppMBs/s200/CDA+039.JPG" width="200" /></a>Sitting on a park bench, behind the sea wall, once again I was looking out over Lake Coeur d'Alene on a warm Summer evening...Mica Peak in the distance, looming in the west as the temps Finally Cooled Down. I spent a lot of time here in younger years. I always wondered how I'd feel, coming back after being away for so long. And you know, it felt good. I'm reminded of a quote which singer Loreena McKennitt included in her latest CD, "The Wheat That Shakes The Barley"...<br />
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<em>"Every Once In A While, there is a pull to return to one's roots or beginnings, with the perspective of time and experience, to feel the familiar things you once loved, and love still." And although the area has grown tremendously over the years, everything I sought was right where it was supposed to be.</em>Lil ol' me...http://www.blogger.com/profile/05375131775477058146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16751830.post-29050832832791565752012-08-09T17:24:00.000-07:002012-08-23T00:42:12.154-07:00<strong><span style="font-size: large;">A TALE OF TWO COEUR D'ALENES...</span></strong><br />
<strong><em>...it was the best of times, it was the worst of times...</em></strong><br />
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If by "the worst of times", one is referring to the economy, he/she's probably correct. But within that climate of economic paranoia, towns keep growing, inventors keep inventing, businesses keep popping up everywhere, and life goes on, which indeed it has in my old home town of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Now before I get started here, I'm no supply-side economic theorist; I approach it from the impressions it makes upon me and what I come away from it all thinking. My old home town's been growing, growing, growing. I may not know which businesses are in what building, but there's been a lot of building going on. So, that said, let's take the plunge...<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ibTfYhxQ_t8/UCRG_ZkntWI/AAAAAAAADUQ/DSYMDoGsgqo/s1600/CDA+059.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ibTfYhxQ_t8/UCRG_ZkntWI/AAAAAAAADUQ/DSYMDoGsgqo/s200/CDA+059.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EG0LbrTxuDY/UCRIrvZ4vaI/AAAAAAAADU0/nx7AW_fy0JY/s1600/CDA+052.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EG0LbrTxuDY/UCRIrvZ4vaI/AAAAAAAADU0/nx7AW_fy0JY/s200/CDA+052.JPG" width="200" /></a>I don't know if downtown CDA's premier coffee shop is still called "Java On Sherman", but for old times' sake, I got my day started here this morning. Until I moved away 6 years ago, I was in here at least 4 days a week, breathing in coffee fumes as my life depended on it, which it probably did. This is what I miss most about the Coos Bay, Oregon area I live in now. There are no coffee shops!<br />
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However, everything changes. Here inside "The Java Place", the chair I used to sit in is gone, replaced by counters and other implements of the coffee trade. Good coffee shops are great places for one to immerse himself in public. In my case, I overheard two guys talking business, and felt glad that I didn't have to do that anymore.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EfgpIr3HRSs/UCRMXqQOKKI/AAAAAAAADVE/DD9QcXAmyTo/s1600/CDA+053.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EfgpIr3HRSs/UCRMXqQOKKI/AAAAAAAADVE/DD9QcXAmyTo/s200/CDA+053.JPG" width="200" /></a>MMM..along with coffee, a big raspberry muffin...who cares what kind of muffin it is as long as there's plenty of overhang and a double-dose of sugar on top. It's nice to know some things don't change; years ago when I was last here the muffins were just as huge as this one. Consuming that muffin helped me to carbo-load for the day ahead...I gained five pounds just Looking at that muffin!<br />
<br />
-<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Gabuyx7k4CM/UCRHLIuZ2iI/AAAAAAAADUY/bdOdMU0yNhs/s1600/CDA+035.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Gabuyx7k4CM/UCRHLIuZ2iI/AAAAAAAADUY/bdOdMU0yNhs/s200/CDA+035.JPG" width="200" /></a> Fortified at last on my muffin diet, I hit the streets. At photo left, here's a big landmark that wasn't there several years ago before I left. Taken from in front of the "Zip Stop" gas mart that's managed to survive over the years. The only bummer-factor here is, that Tall Building is but one of those blocking the view of Lake Coeur d'Alene, which is back there somewhere...<br />
<br />
-<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ViWmUOl35lI/UCRH1HsKSUI/AAAAAAAADUg/GIi8_BX9BtI/s1600/CDA+061.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ViWmUOl35lI/UCRH1HsKSUI/AAAAAAAADUg/GIi8_BX9BtI/s200/CDA+061.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hIBzVxGKkII/UCRIGUYcxLI/AAAAAAAADUs/kZ2TWE_a__g/s1600/CDA+054.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hIBzVxGKkII/UCRIGUYcxLI/AAAAAAAADUs/kZ2TWE_a__g/s200/CDA+054.JPG" width="200" /></a>Strange creatures have been frozen forever in suspended animation on various street corners downtown; I believe this is a "bum" steer? It's nice, I suppose, to run across something unusual like this. Although, there's a paradox here; Coeur d'Alene has some of the most stringent business sign laws in the world, but artists can put artificial animals of most any size most anywhere. <br />
-<br />
This is Sherman Avenue between 3rd and 4th; what you see here is the historic Clark's Jewelry Street clock; that's where it was when I used to win radio contests long ago, with the winning price being a Caravelle watch, which I won and gave to my Mom. A couple times a week I'd go pick up 5 records which the Radio Station sent to Clark's. Fun times from waay back...<br />
-<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4L9pKCfx29I/UCRUcv7MbaI/AAAAAAAADVk/mHJCLS-OrQc/s1600/CDA+060.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4L9pKCfx29I/UCRUcv7MbaI/AAAAAAAADVk/mHJCLS-OrQc/s200/CDA+060.JPG" width="200" /></a>There are several businesses inside this building, which is the Old Coeur d'Alene Fire Department structure. On the east side of the building, you can see the big arched structures that fire trucks used to come out of and park themselves back in. It's nice when these grand old buildings are resuscitated by Positive Economics. Also, the old IOOF building nearby has been converted into a "Great Floors" franchise.<br />
-<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PNYayuZ5vng/UCRUCU5ej_I/AAAAAAAADVc/JS5Fd0_JYrM/s1600/CDA+057.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PNYayuZ5vng/UCRUCU5ej_I/AAAAAAAADVc/JS5Fd0_JYrM/s200/CDA+057.JPG" width="200" /></a>Coeur d'Alene seems to have been inundated by strange metal animals appearing all over the place. This one's in front of a bank. There's another moose similar to this one, who's parked himself near where the Seaplanes take off. Every city must have it's own thing; in the Coos Bay/North Bend area, fire hydrants have been painted every imaginable color and one day I'll do a post on those.<br />
-<br />
Coeur d'Alene's downtown is changing very rapidly, and the growth <br />
of the trees you see here make shopping at downtown businesses seem like a nature walk. Way back in the summer of '85, the city street department ripped up all the pavement you see here, and walking on Sherman back then became very much like hiking through the wilderness...<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M4mp9FcBJhY/UCRUvGbv_vI/AAAAAAAADVw/zS2gEX2t298/s1600/CDA+036.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M4mp9FcBJhY/UCRUvGbv_vI/AAAAAAAADVw/zS2gEX2t298/s200/CDA+036.JPG" width="200" /></a>-<br />
In the northwest portion of town, a big development has opened up, featuring shops, services, escrow houses, cinemas and apartment houses all over the place. In fact, it's frightening in a way, how people are stacked into boxes that are made of ticky-tacky (quote from an old Pete Seeger song there), but undeniably the times they are a-changin' in the Coeur d'Alene area.<br />
-<br />
But it's a tale of two Coeur d'Alenes. When I got to my motel a couple of days ago, the owner and I were talking about this area. He graduated in 1968 from Coeur d'Alene High, and he said that (the proverbial 'they') have taken "all the real jobs out of Coeur d'Alene". Meaning, of course, mining, logging, and other core industries. And it's true; those businesses are long gone. One of the "Coeur d'Alenes" is ritzy, appealing, designed to fill every rich tourist's dream, while the "other" Coeur d'Alene, which begins at 8th and Sherman and proceeds east, looks just like it did in the 1950's. <br />
-<br />
The people in the neighborhoods which surround the East End of Sherman are all working-class people, struggling every day to make ends meet; some with dingy homes that have fallen into disrepair, trying to grind out the American Dream, at service jobs, gas stations, grocery stores, manufacturing plants, driving local taxi-cabs, or reporting to work at 6am to slap them Sausage-Egg McMuffins together, trying to stay on the good side of ruthless bosses. Chances are those blue-collar workers won't be shopping at expensive downtown stores; they'll be buying used clothing at Goodwill or St. Vinnies, and trying to make their money go as far as possible by clipping coupons and hoping they have enough gas in the tank to get to Wal-Mart once in a while.<br />
-<br />
<em>This post was written in my motel room at The Bates Motel, and remarkably, no one has stabbed me in the shower yet. I'm getting this room for $32 a night. It's a Cheap motel room. On the East End of Sherman Avenue, of course.</em>Lil ol' me...http://www.blogger.com/profile/05375131775477058146noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16751830.post-85526802530679349342012-08-06T22:20:00.003-07:002012-08-13T20:03:23.245-07:00<strong><span style="font-size: large;">I DECIDED TO ANSWER THE PHONE...</span></strong><br />
<strong><em>...guess I won't be making that mistake again for a while...</em></strong><br />
-<br />
RRRRRRING!!! I could tell from the silence when I first picked up the receiver that it was some phone-solicitation thing. Usually I hang up instantly, but in this case I actually said "hello" a couple of times before the lady on the other end began to speak. She told me that as a customer of (the bank I bank with), that some really great new insurance coverage was available to me, at a fantastic rate. Not really absorbing what she was saying, I could tell she had up-shifted to "hard-sell" gear. Vrooom! She was telling me how it was risk-free, that it was reasonably priced, and would be oh, so convenient. Then she said her boss would come on the line and tell me again what I'd already heard, and sure enough, another lady (her boss) came on and began repeating everything; she was hurling facts, figures and advice into my ear at twice the clip of the previous lady. I must admit I was getting heavily "snowed" here; indeed, a piece of my mind was thinking, "why haven't I hung up by now?" And she almost had me, until I asked her, "is this health insurance or what?" and she said, "oh no, these are DEATH benefits payable to your beneficiary". And she's trying to keep me in a Good mood?<br />
-<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zvF5pjzNrCY/UCClOi6f42I/AAAAAAAADTU/zqQHuL8g0LY/s1600/phone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zvF5pjzNrCY/UCClOi6f42I/AAAAAAAADTU/zqQHuL8g0LY/s200/phone.jpg" width="159" /></a>I thought about that for a moment...'I don't HAVE any beneficiaries'. But I had to snap back to attention, because after all, the lady wasn't thru with her speel...as she kept yakking away, trying to get me to sign up, she was telling me how Convenient it all was, that she could send me a form, allowing me time to decide if I wanted in when all of a sudden, The Caveat appeared: She said I would have two weeks to decide if I wanted this insurance or not, and was telling me how risk-free the whole thing was. So I asked her, "say I don't send in the form after a couple of weeks, would I start getting billed?" And she answered "yes". I then asked her, "how can you tell me this thing is risk-free if you charge me if I forget to send in the form?" I know myself. I'm the baddest procrastinator EVER. And all of a sudden, she melted, just like the Wicked Witch in "The Wizard Of Oz". I could feel it over the phone lines. She ran out of gab, she ran out of answers, the train jumped the tracks and sailed over the cliff. She gave me another '800' number I could call if I wanted to buy the insurance she'd initially tried to sell me, after which she bailed. She was probably glad to get rid of me, the solicitee. <br />
-<br />
Life is supposedly a circle. Everything comes back. My Karma ran over your Dogma. Et Cetera. A while back I got a letter from my auto insurance company, advising me to call them regarding payment. That immediately brought up a red flag of sorts..."wait a minute, how can I owe these guys money when I'm on Automatic Bill-Pay?" And with that, I tacked the letter up on the fridge and forgot about it for a while. Told you I'm a Procrastinator! Time went by, and the more I thought about it, the more sense it made; something along the lines of, "wait a minute...maybe they Owe ME money? Could it be?" Yes, it could. I locked my keys in my car a few months ago, and it turned out "The Gecko" was trying to send me a reimbursement check! Let's just say Lock and Key personnel come cheap. So I was due funds. Call made; money being sent. I like that. Now, I figure if I can receive more reimbursement mail than I do monetary sinkholes via the telephone, then I should survive this life quite well. <br />
-<br />
<strong>AN OLYMPIC MOMENT OF GREATNESS: </strong>"Our Jess", the English call her. That's Jessica Ennis, a young lady who's been under the greatest of pressures ever. Simply put, she was England's Big Hope for a Gold Medal in the women's heptathalon event. If you look at a map of the British Isles, you'll see they're not really very big. If you're famous, where do you go to hide? After Paul McCartney dropped out of sight after the Beatles broke up, he was tracked down by the press, hiding out at a farm in Scotland with his wife and kids. I don't think anyone can hide anywhere in Britain. Anyway, the heptathalon is one of those multiple events where contestants have to do multiple things, ending with a fairly long running event. Jessica started out with the rest of the field, and she took the lead early. She didn't need to win the race, because her point total was so far above everyone else's. All she had to do was coast to the finish line. Sure enough, two of her competitors passed her with about half a lap to go, and Jess was in 3rd place, still a sure bet to win the heptathalon. What a surprise it was, then, to see her go around the two ladies in front of her and kick it in to the finish line. True Greatness All The Way. That was purely amazing and I'll never forget it.<br />
-<br />
<strong>FORTY YEARS AND NINETY DEGREES: </strong>I've lived on the Oregon Coast for going on six years now. I can count on one hand how many days the temperature has been above 90 degrees since I've been here. It usually never gets above 75 degrees. In my case, that's about to change over the next several days. You see, I'm heading off to my 40th High School Class Reunion. I'll be heading to the Altered State Of Idaho, which is very landlocked and oftentimes can get very hot in the summer. And, if I don't totally vaporize, I'll be taking tons of photos along the way in addition to providing running commentary in my own pseudo-tactful way.<strong> <span style="color: red;">IMPORTANT UPDATE: The Reunion was a GAS! It's amazing, that as the years pass, that we all seem to relate better with each other, and although I wasn't sure how things would turn out, it's worth it, going back, for you find that in many ways, those you are reuniting with are part of You. I'm really glad I went, so if you're wondering whether to go to your reunion or not, I'd say "GO". You won't be sorry. (This updated portion written August 13th, 2012.)</span></strong><br />
<br />
<em>One thing in my favor is that Gas Prices are lower these days, even here on the coast. A gallon is "only" $3.60 a gallon. That's how the business works; the prices get jacked up, then come down to a level above where the prices were before the Drastic Increase. So we're still getting shafted. (Well, I can't very well use the term, "screwed"; this is a family blog after all...)</em>Lil ol' me...http://www.blogger.com/profile/05375131775477058146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16751830.post-46706736740210128882012-08-01T00:45:00.000-07:002012-08-01T02:36:07.511-07:00<strong><span style="font-size: large;">TRYING TO PACE MYSELF...</span></strong><br />
<strong><em>...the saga of Baseball, Olympiads and Adipose Tissue...</em></strong><br />
-<br />
This is that really strange time when there's just Too Much To Watch if you like Sports. I'm not one of those junkie-type-fans who call sports shows and cuss everyone out, but right now, we're in the midst of baseball season and The Seattle Mariners are actually beginning to look like a baseball team. Ever since Ichiro left the building a week ago, the M's are Pitching! Hitting! And Scoring! And they've been wining against lousy teams, but also against Better teams. In this age of Low Expectations, I want the Mariners to achieve the .500 mark by season's end. To win as many as they lose. That's all I ask...<br />
-<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KwKCgfDmm20/UBjfGiOvz6I/AAAAAAAADTE/duPbGpzxz6w/s1600/bad_baseball.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="188" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KwKCgfDmm20/UBjfGiOvz6I/AAAAAAAADTE/duPbGpzxz6w/s200/bad_baseball.jpg" width="200" /></a> Achieving that .500 record is going to take Lots Of Time, but there is hope, and for once, after game's end, The M's don't look like they're headed for the Death Chamber. Right now the M's are on pace for a win total in the upper '60s. So we'll see. They're 49-57 right now. There's 56 games left in this season. They would need to win 32 of those games to get to an 81-81 record, and the prospects are dim. But for the moment, the M's have been looking pretty good. Of course the logic is, "this is a rebuilding year", and in that light, the M's are succeeding, because they're better this year than last. They couldn't have gotten much worse.<br />
-<br />
But, once again, my baseball-watching-time (and other-program-watching-time) is being seriously encroached on by The Olympics, the 2012 version, based in Merrie Olde London, England. I absolutely love every facet of The Olympics. I'm there for Water Polo, Gymnastics, Swimming and even WhiteWater Rapids (which was the last thing I expected to see at an Olympiad in Great Britain!). But it's there, courtesy of some construction wizards who engineered the course which actually does a fairly good job of mimicking a mountain stream, and yes, those who fashioned the Olympic Man-Made Artificial Water Rapids remembered to use plenty of Blue Paint.<br />
-<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dDZ_ZG1_3s0/UBjbqjslYOI/AAAAAAAADS0/zdutDFwZYp4/s1600/Google.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="124" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dDZ_ZG1_3s0/UBjbqjslYOI/AAAAAAAADS0/zdutDFwZYp4/s320/Google.jpg" width="320" /></a>Looking back thru older posts, I've distorted the subject of the Olympics time and time again, and so, this post continues that tradition. I like what Google does, big corporation that it is, customizing their header for whatever's going on, and here they picture a field hockey player going for the gold. <br />
<br />
For me, the Olympics are like a sort-of visual Salad Bar...so many different things to sample. So far I've seen those cute little girls all in tears over meltdowns in Gymnastics (as befell the Russian women's team), I've seen Michael Phelps win his record 19th swimming medal; he's the most decorated Olympian Ever, and he still has 3 races left in this Olympiad. I've been watching the Mens' Breaststroke, and that's gotta be one of the most difficult ways to move through water with any speed at all, let alone finesse. And in women's gymnastics I've seen little Jorden Weiber's amazing comeback tonight, after she lost in competition earlier this week. Tonight she has a gold medal.<br />
-<br />
Watching the Olympics reminds me of things I used to do, for I used to swim The Mile, and I used to run The Marathon. At my own pace, of course. What, you think I had anywhere near Olympic Talent? No, but I have eleven Marathon Finisher Medals and I'm proud of them. And maybe I'll one day get back in the Pool, even if those swimming in the lane next to me would probably mistake me for a Whale. Thar She Blows!!! One thing in my favor (favour, if you're British): Fat (Adipose)Tissue Floats Very Well. In the meantime, I can live vicariously through these Olympians I'm watching, in that "I've done some of that". I can relate a little bit. I know what it's like to push and push until it hurts. Although these days, it takes less pushing to hurt than it used to.<br />
-<br />
Another instance of an Artificial World created in these London Olympics is in the Beach Volleyball event. I'm fairly sure that Great Britain has beaches. That country has quite a few miles of shoreline; surely, there's gotta be a friendly beach in the (relative) neighborhood that one can stake a Volleyball net into, but, nooo, tons of Beach Sand have been brought inside and that's where the games are played. But I'm wondering what the difference is, really, between Beach and Regular Volleyball...couldn't a Beach Volleyballer also play on a court? Maybe those skills don't transfer, one to another. There are only two people on a beach volleyball team, after all. From what I can see, the main difference is, the Beach Volleyballers' uniforms are a LOT skimpier. In short, they wear less clothes during the game than I do when I drag myself to bed.<br />
-<br />
<em>It's now just past two a.m., and I've just seen Alison Schmidt tally an Olympic Record in the Womens' 200m Freestyle...I saw this one "Live", there being eight hours' difference between me and London. Let's hope I get to bed sometime soon...</em>Lil ol' me...http://www.blogger.com/profile/05375131775477058146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16751830.post-20312406181681179902012-07-27T00:47:00.004-07:002012-07-27T01:02:41.243-07:00<strong><span style="font-size: large;">CAN'T BUY ME LOVE..</span></strong><strong><span style="font-size: large;">.</span></strong><br />
<strong><em>...for that matter, I can't buy The Beatles' newest album, either...</em></strong><br />
<strong><em>-</em></strong><br />
It's a move that has surprised a whole lot of Beatles' music collectors. A new collection of their songs sports the name, "Tomorrow Never Knows", and from what I've read, this album is being marketed to younger, mix-oriented, disassociated Sonic Youth of today, but get this: IT IS ONLY AVAILABLE ON "I-TUNES"...that's right, you can't get a solid, tangible item that you can actually hold in your hand, instead you're buying the right to download these songs on your computer or mobile device, or whatever it is that today's disassociated Sonic Youth subscribes to in terms of musical service. <br />
-<br />
Throughout the '70s, '80's, '90s and '00's, I have bought every copy of a Beatles re-release that I could get my hands on. I bought their re-done "songtrack" to the Yellow Submarine movie. I purchased a copy of "Let It Be" (the 'naked' version) back in 2003. Back several years ago, The Beatles scored a huge hit with their re-package of #1 hits, titled logically enough, "1". Got that too. I bought English Import copies of all their albums, and for their various songs that weren't on their English albums, I bought the two-LP (and CD) "Past Masters" set, which brings together all their single tracks that were never issued on an English LP. (The English record companies operate in strange mysterious ways.) I even bought a 2-LP set of their "Love" album, which re-mixes Beatle Songs; and as such, approximates the "Cirque de Soleil" show that's been running in Las Vegas in fairly recent times.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BrbvZdNuUUU/UBI5kEc43SI/AAAAAAAADSk/wG6NO2_4Rjc/s1600/Beatles_Tomorrow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="259" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BrbvZdNuUUU/UBI5kEc43SI/AAAAAAAADSk/wG6NO2_4Rjc/s320/Beatles_Tomorrow.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
The image at left was probably created by someone having fun with their photoshop program. It's a picture of The Beatles' New Item that Does Not Exist. I have bitched and whined over the years about how many times they have released the same songs, and have griped because so many versions of re-arranged Beatle Product have been put on the market. I even bought all the 2010 re-masters of all their English Albums in addition to the "regular" (not that much different) CD's that came out back in the 1990's. Yes, folks, I've bought it all. I devised ways to scheme and follow release schedules so that I could place my order for New Beatles' LPs, since they were being issued in super-limited quantities. (For example, the "Love" 2-LP set I referred to in the above paragraph received a North American Pressing Run of only 5,000 copies, and I've got one!)<br />
-<br />
This time around, though, I guess The Beatles don't want my business. I don't do all of this mobile-broadband-always-switched-on communicating stuff. I have no I-phone, no cell phone, the only "tablet" I have consists of sheets of paper, and the Blackberries I come across are in Pie A La Mode. So I'm not hip. I'm not with it. I treasure taking a long-desired slab of music home with me and actually putting it on the turntable...or CD player. I want something I can hold in my hands. I'm a collector, after all, and consider every addition to the collection a "little victory". Ahhh, the sweet smell of Acquisition. Some need to merge major corporations; me, I bring new vinyl home. So what good does typing all this do, you ask?<br />
-<br />
I wanted to get this post OUT THERE in the hope that some cyber junkie will come across what I've written, and start a worldwide campaign! Why can't I have a chance to buy this new "Tomorrow Never Knows" album on LP and/or CD? I'm being shut out here and the more I think about this blindsiding action taken by The Beatles/Apple Corps/I-Tunes, the more OFFENDED I am! Not that I need the same old songs on a different running order, but I would buy the record and CD if it was available, and I'm sure a lot of the Beatles' collectors around the world would support this! Why would I foolishly spend money for Beatles songs I already have? It's the sweet smell of Acquisition. Some people collect coins, I collect music. And failing all else, maybe I'll gratify myself by making my own "Tomorrow Never Knows" compact disc from other Beatles' CD's I already have. But I would buy the thing, were it to be made available...hint...hint...<br />
-<br />
<em>Finally, I should mention that Ringo's just completed his most recent tour with his band of musicians, and of course, Paul is gonna do the closing of the Olympic Opening Ceremony this weekend, but there is something that could happen for both of them...if they wanted it to happen...and it probably never will happen...I'd like Paul to surrender his pride and become a part of Ringo Starr's All-Star Band. They'd have a great time! How about it, guys? Neither of you are getting any younger!</em>Lil ol' me...http://www.blogger.com/profile/05375131775477058146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16751830.post-82054281726878119852012-07-24T00:03:00.000-07:002012-07-24T02:00:10.957-07:00<strong><span style="font-size: large;">THE END OF AN ERA...</span></strong><br />
<strong><em>...well, it's the end of something...feels like it anyway...</em></strong><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Qp4cGVjpROI/UA46lZSEu8I/AAAAAAAADSQ/XHrNeS9Z1Kg/s1600/Ichiro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Qp4cGVjpROI/UA46lZSEu8I/AAAAAAAADSQ/XHrNeS9Z1Kg/s200/Ichiro.jpg" width="145" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ichiro, now a Yankee</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
What can I do but come right out and say it...Ichiro Suzuki is no longer a part of the Seattle Mariners' Organization as of today, July 23, 2012. Just like that. This is where I get to stroke my ego, because I've long thought (and mentioned here in this blog) that Ichiro, sooner or later, would be wearing Yankee pinstripes, although I've thot that less likely over the last few years, simply because the passing of time makes all of us old, and Ichiro ain't gettin' any younger. I don't really have a 'favorite moment' regarding Ichiro, although, especially early on, I marveled at his speed and his cannon-of-a-throwing-arm. Oh, and all of those 200-plus-hits-seasons. So he's now a New York Yankee. During tonight's game, the camera pointed to Ichiro in the Yankees' dugout and I felt a chill coming from my TV. The Mariners got a couple of young pitchers in return for their trouble. So will the M's excel without Ichiro? Certainly not. Will the M's win their division anytime soon? No. There'll be another team in the M's division next year that the M's have to contend with. Will the M's ever achieve a .500 winning percentage? They'd better think about that if they expect to contend sometime during the next decade.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WnAtUNjPPZM/UA45EexRaCI/AAAAAAAADSI/e4toXTSh3Gk/s1600/Amy2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WnAtUNjPPZM/UA45EexRaCI/AAAAAAAADSI/e4toXTSh3Gk/s200/Amy2.jpg" width="176" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Amy Winehouse, 1983-2011</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<strong>ONE YEAR SINCE SHE PASSED: </strong>In a way, I think she died a long time ago. Her marriage broke apart, the papparazzi wouldn't leave her be, she'd acquired a monster drug habit, and basically her career was more or less over by 2009. She had been stockpiling songs for her third album, but during her last couple of years, she didn't record anything especially noteworthy. And she finally ended up going to "rehab" (yes, yes, yes). In her prime, the whole world was hers. She was excited, full of vim and vigor, and her voice carried an edge that was reminiscent of the best of the lady blues singers down through the ages. But she was booed off stage at a comeback performance early last year; she showed up drunk and couldn't hold a note or remember the lyrics to songs she had written. She'd already died; the only difference was that on July 23, 2011 was that her heart stopped beating. She'd rendered herself irrelevant a long time before. She'd been off drugs for three years, but she still had problems with the bottle...the authorities found three empty vodka bottles in her apartment on the day of her death. Suicide? Binge drinking? Mental obliteration? She was just 27. Such a sad tale.<br />
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<strong>BLESSED INSURANCE: </strong>If you're a licensed motorist, you know the drill. Show proof of insurance upon demand from your friendly man (or woman) in blue. You also have to supply proof of insurance to the monolithic state transportation department when ya get yer license. Well, A couple of weeks ago, I received a notice that I was among a random group of drivers targeted to Show Evidence Of Insurance being maintained on my part. It was a "RESPONSE REQUIRED" mailing. Of course I sent the reply in, so (hopefully the State Of Oregon) is resting easy now that I've supplied proof of insurance. Again. The only problem I have with this is being (vaguely) warned in said note with suspension of driving privileges if I failed to respond. Wait a minute...I'd already supplied proof of insurance several times during the last few years, and now you're THREATENING ME if I don't supply proof of insurance...again??? Gosh, you guys. Ease Up. Quit your heavy-handed ways.<br />
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<br />
<strong>SOMETHING TO GET PUMPED ABOUT: </strong>The Gas Station Attendant (you can't pump your own gas in Oregon) told me something which I'd been wondering about for a while: When your Gas Tank's full, you get better mileage! There's less air in the tank, which means less room for condensation, resulting in purer gas being fed to the engine. I've been filling up my tank for the last few months, and noticed that the better part of a month would go by before I needed to fill up again. Giving the long distances between things on the Southern Oregon Coast, I've been using my share of gas going to points "A" and "B" (plus all other points in-between). I knew I'd been putting more in the tank via the fill-ups, but for some reason, I was going further than I expected to. So re-mortgage your house or do whatever you have to do to afford a full gas tank; once you do that, you may find you're going further than you thought you would. Which really helps when a trip to the Post Office is a ten-mile round trip.<br />
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<em>So there ya go, I've fed the Blog Monster once again. I'm finding that I've basically got to reserve an entire evening to do this. Maybe I should load up on carbs and proteins so I get more blogging mileage?</em>Lil ol' me...http://www.blogger.com/profile/05375131775477058146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16751830.post-78909747912759199472012-07-13T02:02:00.001-07:002012-07-24T01:54:57.316-07:00<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">Warning: Long Post Ahead. Bring your lunch...</span></i><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>I'M NOT AS INVINCIBLE AS I THOUGHT!</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><span style="font-size: small;">...or another way I've found out that I am starting to get really old and decrepid...</span></i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></i><span style="font-size: small;"></span></b><span style="font-size: small;">-</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">I've run marathons. I've swam for a mile at a time. I've hiked up and down forested hills with an 8-gallon water bag on my back, shovel in one hand and a Pulaski in the other. I've always been rather active, and love to be outdoors whenever I can. I used to tell myself that because I did all that running way back in my 30s and 40s, that my heart was very very strong and would remain so, giving me an advantage in life. Well, guess what...my blood pressure has been spiking lately, and my last blood pressure reading was up over the 200 mark (top number-systalic), which really freaked me out. It turns out that I feel stressed in particular situations (such as going to the doctors' officer) and "pow", my blood pressure reading is off the charts! The same thing's been happening at open-mike nights, my heart starts racing and I forget half my chords and all of my lyrics, which isn't fun.The old "naked in front of everyone" nightmare, although I do have a guitar covering up strategic places on my body.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"> -</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">So I'm on BLOOD--PRESSURE MEDICATION! ME! A hidden benefit is that the drug 'Propanolol' is also supposed to make a person less anxious. And so I believe I'm joining the ranks of Official Senior Citizens...the last time I went to the pharmacy, they wanted $60 bucks! Will I have to one day choose betweeen medication and food? Oh well, there is some good news, though: I've been advised to monitor my blood pressure from time to time, so I went into Wal-Mart today to strap my arm into one of those "heart rate machines", and my blood pressure was 127/62, which is a LOT better than the reading at the doctor's office. Evidently I have a hard time handling high-pressure situations. I think we all have to 'mask' pressures in everyday life, and to a point, the body can absorb that, but I'm beginning to think that as I age, the body's capability to sublimate all that goes flyin' out the window.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">-</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">I've also been feeling really rundown lately...I get up, feed the birds, have breakfast, and before ya know it, I wanna go back to bed again. Tired, tired, tired. So they've got me on mega-doses of Vitamin D which are so powerful they can be taken only twice a week. And let's not forget Cholesterol, and I'm taking horse-pills of Niacin to deal with that. And that doesn't take into account the other medications I'm taking which these new medications have been added to. Right now I see ten bottles of pills and vitamins staring me in the face from on top of my nightstand. My kidneys are still good, which I see as a minor miracle since I've been bombarding them with anti-gout medication for the last six years. A person with Gout has too much uric acid, which is created 'somewhere' in the body and the kidneys are supposed to filter all that stuff out, which mine don't do. So the kidneys are doing their job, but my body makes too much uric acid. A normal Uric Acid level peaks out at about "6", and my level is just over "4". So I'm doing something right after all. But I think I need to get a tattoo of a modern-day Surgeon's warning placed somewhere on my body: "Caution: Being Me can be Hazardous To My Health".</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">-</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">I'm taking a couple of anti-depressants also. Last time, the doctor, added a new pill and had me cut back on the other pill, and this time around, he increased that 2nd pill to the amount I was taking before he reduced the number because of the New pill. That almost makes sense. But that's fine with me 'cos I sleep better. My new doctor comes from India, I believe, and although there are some language problems...he speaks a little 'fast' and sometimes accentuates the wrong syllable, I'm sure he means well, and so far, I'm happy with him. He really seems to be interested in navigating a patient's condition and trying to better it with various medical cocktails. During appointments, he types out instructions to the patient on a computer, then prints them out, so the patient has all of the doctor's instructions right there, to take home, and I think that's really great. I'm glad he does that; it's getting to the place where I'm taking so many pills on so many consumption schedules that I feel somewhat like a pill-juggler. And so there's reason to have hope. I still have my health, with the possibility that things'll get even better. So I'm grateful, at least for now.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"> -</span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j5jxKOrVHu8/T__jxA72hZI/AAAAAAAADR0/DCXrV5t1HUA/s1600/ClassReunion.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j5jxKOrVHu8/T__jxA72hZI/AAAAAAAADR0/DCXrV5t1HUA/s320/ClassReunion.png" width="243" /></a><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>RING, RING GOES THE BELL: </b>Next month, I'll be heading back to my old hometown for our 40th high school class reunion. I still stay in touch with goings-on up there, but there's been so much new development that I'll probably barely recognize the place. It'll be interesting; after 6 years away; I'll run head-on into some strange mental trips...how do I feel about a place I'm no longer part-of? Will I miss it? Will I be glad when I leave? I got tired of the cold winters, the sometimes ultra-hot summers, the influx of more and more people in the area with the resulting traffic problems and basic inconsideration by folks who 'brought their ways' with them. My dad used to call them "flatlanders", and I can see why he felt the way he did. I'll be busy up there...there are some graves I need to visit, including graves that weren't there when I left. So many memories. Good and bad. I gave a lot of my life to that place. I spent some of the worst years I've ever had up there. I remember it as a great place to grow up, but also a very harsh place as I grew older. It was the fact that I really didn't 'fit' into my hometown that made me think going elsewhere was something I needed and wanted to do. But it's a brain-strainer for sure, returning to the Same Ol' Place. Only it ain't the Same Ol' Place, if you know what I mean.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">-</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Finally...there were a certain group of high-school classmates that I detested. Every school has them; the bright, eager, glib and oh-so-smart scholastic-oriented kids who were always in pursuit of High Honors or excelling in everything they did, or running for Student Offices, all the while debating everything, half of it in Latin. You know what I mean. Those doggone "smart kids" who got Gold Cords, honors and scholarships. So why did I detest them? I've always considered myself at least halfway smart, but when I was in class with them, I knew that I just didn't measure up and knew I never would. They had a certain 'something' I lacked. Once, I got put into a 10th Grade "Honors English" class with most of them, and I almost quit that class several times, because I wasn't "one of them" and was intimidated to the "nth degree". Recently, I saw the website belonging to one of those high-honor kids who is now an attorney in a large city, and as I read his writings on ethical issues as well as his writings of other things that happen in life, I came to realize he and I were as different as I am from someone who got absolutely no "book learnin'" at all. And it's true; we are given different levels of talent and it's up to us to try and maximize them if at all possible. But everyone is going to end up at a different level, and that just has to be accepted. Maybe I was smart, but there was a lot in school that defied my comprehension. I hope I've made some progress as I've gone through life, but I'm not really sure.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">-</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>It's really refreshing to be able to post things which I've had running around in my head for a while. Typing this thing was almost like doing a 7-minute mile (which I used to be able to do). A 7-minute mile for me was the equivalent of Roger Bannister doing the 4-minute mile for the first time. And for those of you who are wondering what a "Pulaski" is (1st paragraph), it's a tool that's shaped like a hammer, except one side is a hoe, while the other side is an axe. So now you know.</i></span></span>Lil ol' me...http://www.blogger.com/profile/05375131775477058146noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16751830.post-31466375645145949422012-07-01T00:18:00.001-07:002012-07-01T22:47:29.830-07:00<span style="font-size: large;"><b>A LESSON IN DEVOTION...</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b><span style="font-size: small;">...or, if dogs could talk, we could learn a lot...</span></b></i><b> </b></span> <br />
<b>-</b><br />
One day a couple of years ago, while walking on the beach, I saw a dog, which isn't unusual out here, except that this particular dog didn't seem to be with anyone. It would lay on the beach for a while, pace back and forth, looking seaward; occasionally it would approach a beach-walker, such as me, looking for a pat or two on the head, and I must admit, I'm 'easy' when it comes to giving a dog a good hearty head-scratch. That's one of the cool things about beach-walking; meeting the dogs and their owners. It's an easy situation in which to strike up a conversation.<br />
-<br />
I spent quite a lot of time watching this particular dog; it wasn't fetching or chasing a tennis ball or any of the other dogs do; it just paced back and forth along one section of beach, looking for somebody or something out there in the water. Obviously the dog was in some kind of distress, although it looked perfectly well to me...and then I figured it out...I saw a surfer come in, with surfboard; he'd had enough of the waves pounding his brain, and the dog was so happy to see his person. And I thought, "what a cool relationship this is".<br />
-<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XV5wkpRUmjY/T-_rhToLB_I/AAAAAAAADQ8/cslDWfhVA5k/s1600/LateJune12+031.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XV5wkpRUmjY/T-_rhToLB_I/AAAAAAAADQ8/cslDWfhVA5k/s200/LateJune12+031.JPG" width="200" /></a>Fast-forward to a little over a week ago; I was sitting in the sand, surrounded by beach grass, ready for Mother Nature to lay another gorgeous sunset on me, and there was that dog again. You can see it standing near the waves, while The Surfer paddles out to face a few more waves. Actually, it doesn't seem to take a lot of 'wave' to get a pretty good ride. Me, I can barely keep my balance on dry land!<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h69tI0Jb1zs/T-_sK8SFSjI/AAAAAAAADRM/0AAtWNyhDGY/s1600/LateJune12+035.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h69tI0Jb1zs/T-_sK8SFSjI/AAAAAAAADRM/0AAtWNyhDGY/s200/LateJune12+035.JPG" width="200" /></a> I wanted to provide some contrast in this photo, and this picture might have achieved that...in the background, you can see some fairly big lumps of stone about half-a-mile away, and in the foreground, is Mr. Surfer, at the end of another wave. And even though those waves look small, they're fairly big when you're out in the middle of them. And I'm sure the water's cold too.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4UX_45qI-VU/T-_6NYpidGI/AAAAAAAADRg/Y2CI6lUp9pc/s1600/LateJune12+036.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4UX_45qI-VU/T-_6NYpidGI/AAAAAAAADRg/Y2CI6lUp9pc/s200/LateJune12+036.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
After pacing up and down the beach for a long, long time, finally Mr. Surfer had enough cold, hard-hitting salt water and came in, and there was His Dog, so glad to see him. Every so often, this scene is repeated; the dog gets exercise running up and down the beach, and Mr. Surfer gets his brains pounded out of his skull by Ocean Waves. In the end, they both go home, tired but happy.<br />
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<br />
That's something I often wonder about...I guess it's called "devotion", and why we, as human beings find it so difficult to be devoted to someone else. I've often wondered about married couples...when they first meet each other, How Do They Know that they want to be together for the rest of their lives? And what happens after that, when one or the other meets someone else who "fits" them better, and how does one not feel guilt toward their partner for even thinking that? If I knew, I'd be in a relationship by now. But I've always felt I'd just let my partner down if I saw someone I liked better. <br />
-<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-i72Phc6z5tc/T-_sl5yAfoI/AAAAAAAADRU/lXYAIj9k4LA/s1600/LateJune12+012.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-i72Phc6z5tc/T-_sl5yAfoI/AAAAAAAADRU/lXYAIj9k4LA/s200/LateJune12+012.JPG" width="200" /></a>But wondering about such things becomes a moot point after a while. The cool ocean breeze, together with a darkening sky, is always a relaxing time of day for me. It's as if Mother Nature is saying, "evening's come now, time to slow down and seek refuge in your place of comfort". So, here is the sunset that night, taken as the temperatures began to drop. A beautiful sight. Comforting too.<br />
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-<br />
<i>I suppose one can wonder about a whole lot of things that don't do a whole lot of good. I've certainly had my share of doing that. What do I do about it? I find an evening that looks a whole lot like this one did, and it's off to the beach. It Always Works. It always brings me back to the "now"...at least for a while anyway...</i>Lil ol' me...http://www.blogger.com/profile/05375131775477058146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16751830.post-35646258458045346582012-06-28T20:56:00.002-07:002012-06-28T22:53:34.022-07:00<span style="font-size: large;"><b>FEEBLE-MINDED? IMBECELIC?</b></span><br />
<b><i>...really? Could that be me? A crash-course in self-analysis...</i></b><br />
-<br />
I've been thinking about my life a lot lately as I am slowly winding down this decade of my existence. I think of dreams I had that are gone and desire that was wasted. From the beginning, I always wanted to work in a radio station; I had the dreams and desire, but I wasn't very good at it. I didn't have the personality or the voice for it. I had a first-class broadcasting license, I had a lot of interest in the media, I loved working in radio, but it didn't love me back. I'm a high-strung person with not a very thick skin, which didn't help out at all when irascible bosses treated me unfairly, or made me feel really bad at what I did, because my personality never allowed me to be relaxed when I was on the air. I tried and tried to get better; I did everything I could think of in order to advance my craft, but it just never happened. How something I loved could hurt so badly, and in the end, I was always made to feel inferior in the business. It just didn't work out for me. I have a few friends on the internet that work at radio stations, including one who works at the station I used to work at, and I'm insanely jealous of them. It was a business that I loved. Oh well, huh? I just didn't have what it takes. And you don't need a broadcast license for that. In a last stab at trying to make it at that radio station (which was in my hometown), I tried doing all of the work no one else wanted to do, foolishly thinking that I was at last Relied On. Hah. My hours got cut due to station politics. It wasn't to be. <br />
-<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wFUtM5xvMEc/T-0tRozcQOI/AAAAAAAADQc/yBC-TqLkcio/s1600/Moron.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wFUtM5xvMEc/T-0tRozcQOI/AAAAAAAADQc/yBC-TqLkcio/s1600/Moron.jpg" /></a>I remember 9th Grade Algebra Class. I fell behind the first day, and fell behind further and further each day. The teacher would throw all of those formulas up on the blackboard, and they just confused me.<i> </i>I just didn't get it, no matter how much I voluntarily stated after school while the Algebra teacher unsuccessfully tried to make me understand it. The same thing happened with 10th grade Geometry; I barely passed, and I just couldn't learn it. I couldn't, and not for lack of trying. I remember back in 3rd grade, in math class, and we had begun to learn "borrowing" in subtraction problems. And that left me thoroughly confused. I Just Couldn't "see" it. I'd stay after class, and though my teacher tried to hammer the concept of 'borrowing' in my head (where does that number come from in which I borrow from the sum...where is it?) I just didn't get it. Finally I did get it, when all of a sudden, it "popped" in my head, but not after undergoing a lot of anguish that none of my classmates went through.<br />
-<br />
Whenever I've participated in card games (such as "Hearts"), I could understand it to a point, after which I couldn't advance my game. I just never understood the strategy. I took violin for three years in grade school, and for the first couple of years I did okay, but the third year was just awful. I never could figure out what key I was in...the amount of "sharps" in the sheet music is supposed to tell you that, but I could never commit that to memory. Again, I could advance 'to a point', then advance no more. And, ironically, "Orchestra" class was held twice a week, in the mornings. So, in order for me to take a Violin Course I was fast losing the ability to cope with, I had to miss Math Class twice a week, which made me fall even further behind. I used to work in a grocery store, and I loved every minute of it. Until, that is, when I turned 18, and would have to operate a checkstand. All of a sudden, the job I'd had for the previous three years turned into something of a terror-filled existence I didn't want to work at anymore. The customers, I felt, were watching me to make sure I didn't screw them out of any money. Hell, I don't know what people are thinking...<br />
-<br />
I play guitar, and love doing that. But...I can't play a disciplined 'scale' to save my life. Anything lower than the "G" string, and it's total guesswork for me. Luckily, there's a non-technical way to play, through the use of chords, otherwise I'd smash my instrument into the wall and never pick it up again. I've found the ability to play another way, but will always feel like I am incomplete on the instrument until I can learn those scales. And when I do manage to play a scale, I get lost in all of the strings, putting my fingers on the wrong string, which means I end up picking on the wrong string and no sound comes out. This is frustrating! People are supposed to love what they're doing, at least in their hobbies, but my guitar-playing hobby always tells me that I will never be able to play exactly the way I want to. I've played for close to FORTY YEARS, f'cryin' out loud (!) and I STILL don't get it. It seems that in everything I do, I can progress "to a point" and then my progress stops no matter how much I beat my head against the wall.<br />
-<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-As92d5zp_gA/T-1A3NQj5XI/AAAAAAAADQw/LxtOm49tBk0/s1600/RosieKennedy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-As92d5zp_gA/T-1A3NQj5XI/AAAAAAAADQw/LxtOm49tBk0/s1600/RosieKennedy.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rosemary Kennedy</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I've been reading Doris Kearns Goodwins' "The Fitzgeralds and The Kennedys", an intriguing and well-written history of two important families in American Life who combined to form one of the most noteworthy chapters in our country's Political Life. Joe and Rose Kennedy's daughter, Rosemary (sister of John, Robert and Edward Kennedy) was "slow" as a child. The family decided, at least at first, to hide Rosemary's disability by including her in all family activities, and describing her to the press as being sweet, shy and quiet. Later on, Old Joe Kennedy tried to "fix" Rosemary's brain by making her undergo a frontal Lobotomy, which only made her worse. Up until that time, mother Rose Kennedy tried her best to make sure "Rosie" could get every advantage there was, which didn't work. She lived the remainder of her life in a Wisconsin Clinic, apart from any family contact. <br />
-<br />
Back in the day, writes Kearns, "defective" children were branded as "idiots", "imbeciles" and "feeble-minded". It turns out that the American Association for the Study of The Feeble-minded "elected to call them 'Morons' (from the Greek Word for 'fool')", and that's the class Rosemary fell into. The text continues, "To the untrained eye, (morons) could talk like anybody else as long as the conversation didn't get too complicated, and they even could jog along after a fashion for several grades in school, learning to read and write and to do simple sums." That's exactly how I feel these days, straining to be a part of society, trying to fit in. Sometimes holding a conversation with someone takes all of my energy, and I get mentally Worn Out. I am definitely hoping that I'm "feeble-minded" rather than being a Imbecelic Idiot, but sometimes I don't have any control over that. And maybe there's a fine line between the two states of mind. There's hope though. I can still eat an ice cream cone without getting any on my forehead...<br />
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<i>I've written about a lot of things in this blog, but I've rarely crawled inside my brain to try and analyze what's going on inside. Sometimes when I read things, I'll get hit hard by what I've read, and that's the case here. So am I a moron? Feeble-minded? Perhaps...all I know is, while I seem to find a way to exist...it gets lonely in here sometimes.</i>Lil ol' me...http://www.blogger.com/profile/05375131775477058146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16751830.post-86936873728593337712012-06-22T02:08:00.001-07:002012-06-22T02:43:10.718-07:00<strong><span style="font-size: large;">I DIDN'T KNOW I HAD A <span style="color: #93c47d;">GREEN </span><span style="color: black;">THUMB..</span></span></strong><strong><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;">.</span></span></strong><br />
<strong><em>...vegetation and I have never gotten along all that well...</em></strong><br />
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One of the chores I had to attend to, especially because Dad was on the road so much when I was a kid, was to help out with the lawn and gardens which surrounded our house. Mom planted gardens everywhere she could, and many a hot summer afternoon found her planting, weeding, sculpting small irrigation canals around the plants, trimming them and generally keeping everything looking really good. I've never found it all that rewarding doing lawn and garden stuff. But every week I was out there, mowing 2 and a half lots; our back and front yards held a total of 26 pine trees, and then afterwards, watering all of the plants around the house. In spite of the fact that I had some killer hayfever, there I was, toiling away. The sooner I got done, the sooner I could go swimming. So I had incentive. Fast-forward to today: I see people working in their gardens all the time. And I guess it's quite an industry; around this time of year, stores stock plants, fertilizer, bark, mulch, seedlings, seeds, herbicides, and gardening tools up the ying-yang. But, I don't give a Royal Rip about gardening. I find it dull, boring and monotonous. You couldn't pay me to pick up a shovel. But those who battle the onslaughts of weeds do undergo mighty struggles to make things look great. One such example is my next door neighbor is plugging up mole-holes in his lawn, using all types of incendiary devices. As long as he doesn't blow up my house, I'll be happy. Now, I always root for the Underdog: The Small Independent Businesses struggling against Corporate Giants. The legions of blue-collar folks who don't get all of the breaks that the Fat Cats get. Charlie Brown's little scraggly Christmas Tree. The everyday property owner fighting off nature. And even little plants that manage to gain a foothold in This Cruel World. The small against the mighty...you get the idea. <br />
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Well, earlier this year, I stepped outside to get in the car, and in the small space between the driveway and the side of my house, I saw the first wisps of a little bush trying to take hold and survive. And I don't think it's a weed. And I've been watching it with a sort of detached bemusement, because it's surviving; it's growing, and doggone it, I've even weeded it a couple of times. (Me Weed?) Luckily for me there's enough moisture down here on the Oregon Coast (and especially lucky for the bush) for it to survive, no matter what I do (or don't do) to it. I told the kid who mows the lawn to steer around it; I want to see how big this thing gets. Heck, I've even thought about watering it. With my luck, it'll grow up to be some sort of poisonous plant, but maybe not. And as long as it wants to grow here, it's got a home. Nature's life force. Growing in spite of me. If anyone knows what kind of bush (or weed) this is, please let me know.<br />
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So, I'm taking my meager "hands off" approach to gardening to the next level. I was at a friend's house when I noticed a big spiky weird-looking bush-tree sort of plant growing on his property and I commented about it, and he told me that all that needs to be done is rip off a few spikes and stick 'em in the ground, and they'll grow, just like that. Really! Really, I guess. It is some kind of Flax plant, to the best of my knowledge, and I have a plan: I'll plant a couple of Flax shoots smack in the middle of my back yard, theoretically resulting in big spiky bushes which should drive the neighbor kid who mows the lawn crazy. One of my neighbors who lives in a butt-ugly three-story house south of me, for some reason chopped down a bunch of trees, which means I get more sunlight, which is great for the lawn and any attendant plants (dandelions and all). Just the Flax, ma'am. Just the Flax.<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QibwOX0pVPE/T-QdxqRm1zI/AAAAAAAADQE/iNPqQM9oVg4/s1600/flax.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QibwOX0pVPE/T-QdxqRm1zI/AAAAAAAADQE/iNPqQM9oVg4/s200/flax.jpg" width="200" /></a> Best of all, I could put the same amount of effort into the Flax plant as I did the little bush (none), and I'd have a sort of centerpiece on my lawn and I could marvel at it, if I ever spent time on my lawn (which I don't). And I'm thinking, what a great way to 'prank' a neighbor who goes on vacation with his family. I could stealthily sneak onto their property, plant a few Flax shoots, and when they come back, "pop pop pop pop", they'd find flax bushes growing everywhere. I can just hear it now: "WHERE THE F$%&!!!! DID ALL THESE $#%&#ING BUSHES COME FROM?" Snicker snicker...maybe I'll prank the neighbor who has the Ugly Pink House. That's all he needs, weird-looking spiky plants adorning his Pink House. It really is ugly. Anyone who has a pink house SHOULD be pranked. Short of that, I could canvass the neighborhood and try to take up a collection, and when 'that' neighbor takes his family on vacation, I could perhaps hire a painting outfit to paint the house another color. "What color?", they'd ask, and I'd say, "I don't care. Just cover up the Pink."<br />
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<em>As you can tell, I'm never home; I don't even know my neighbors' names. And I've got good fences. Though, the neighbor in the Pink House knocked a section of it out with his tree-falling travesties. I'm gonna have to talk to him about that. If I don't prank him first.</em>Lil ol' me...http://www.blogger.com/profile/05375131775477058146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16751830.post-7843244757068342912012-06-12T21:50:00.004-07:002012-06-12T21:53:18.671-07:00<strong><span style="font-size: large;">YEAH, I KNOW IT'S BEEN A WHILE...</span></strong><br />
<em><strong>...in fact, this is the longest blogging hiatus I've ever taken...</strong></em><br />
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Maybe this happens to all bloggers everywhere. The Blog-drums. I just haven't felt all that resourceful or creative. But since it's been three weeks, after all, you'd think I could find something to write about. So here I go...<br />
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<strong>THE I.R.S. TOLD ME NOT TO FILE: </strong>Somehow, I lost my 2011 tax information. April 15th went past, and still I hadn't sent anything in. So I mailed in my Form 1099, along with a message that said, "I've received no refunds in the last few years and as far as I know, that continues to be the case. A couple weeks after that, I got a notice that I should contact the Friendly I.R.S. folks sometime soon. So I accessed their 800 number, and told the lady at the other end about my circumstances. We went through a few questions/answers. I told her I hadn't filed, and she looked up my taxable income, and said I hadn't made enough to require any submission from me. I asked her, "are you telling me not to send anything in?", to which she replied, "we actually prefer that you don't because it means more paperwork; look up your figures in next year's tax instructions and don't send in anything if the tax tables tell you not to." So how about that. The I.R.S. told me to NOT to file. I bet you don't hear that every day. I know I don't.<br />
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<strong>WHAT'S UP, DOC?: </strong>I got bounced to another doctor when my original physician packed up his old kick bags and left with a smile. The new doctor is a little hard to get used to...he's originally from Nepal, and although he speaks English fairly well, his words come out all crammed together in a very blusterous manner. I don't hold anything at all against foreigners who come to this great nation of ours to seek their dreams; it's just that he's from somewhere else other than America, and I'm having to get used to the way he communicates. Maybe he knows he's difficult to understand, because he gives his patients a written summary of everything they've been told, which probably helps in this case. But then again, I think he knows what he's doing after all. I had to give 5 vials of blood during my visit to the Vampire corner of the medical center. He's checking all kinds of things including my thyroid. I have been feeling very tired lately. And I'm hoping he'll have me on a course of treatment that'll give me the Zip and Zest of a teenager. As if that's going to happen anytime soon.<br />
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<strong>STRANGE BEDFELLOWS DEPARTMENT: </strong>How did 1940's crooner Jerry Vale and late '60s drug band Moby Grape end up on the same side of a record? Both artists are as different as Night and Day, after all. I think Jerry Vale might actually have sung "Night And Day", the old Cole Porter song, way back whenever...<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-d5JOoRJMDwo/T9gO8RnXtFI/AAAAAAAADPk/Nwh86dyKv4E/s1600/Assorted+(1).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-d5JOoRJMDwo/T9gO8RnXtFI/AAAAAAAADPk/Nwh86dyKv4E/s200/Assorted+(1).JPG" width="200" /></a>Columbia Records has been around forever. It grew into a very, very large record company with hundreds of artists. Not only did they release 'regular-issue' records, they issued lots of special-issue records; for example, I have an LP featuring many different artists, on the 'Columbia Special Products label with such artists as Tony Bennett, The New Christy Minstrels, Eydie and other middle-of-the-road performers. The record came out in the early '60s.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eTTRryCDxuM/T9gOsem5cbI/AAAAAAAADPc/lM37PH3IlsQ/s1600/April2012+049.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eTTRryCDxuM/T9gOsem5cbI/AAAAAAAADPc/lM37PH3IlsQ/s200/April2012+049.JPG" width="200" /></a>By the late l960's, however, things weren't as squeaky clean. After all, it was the Age of the Hippie, all wearing flowers in their hair. Oh to have been there. Anyway...Columbia put out this special pressing, a 7" album, with 2 songs per side. "Great Contemporary Music" they called it, and was issued for Crest Toothpaste. On side two of the record, Moby Grape was indeed contemporary at the time, but Jerry Vale hadn't been contemporary since the late 1940's, sustaining himself thru the years by singing Muzak versions of other artists' hits. Don't get me wrong; I like Jerry Vale, but anyone 'in the know' in the late 1960's knew Mr. Vale was about as contemporary as typewriter ribbons are nowadays. Maybe Moby Grape planned it that way: "Hey, let's get the record company to put a Jerry Vale song in front of ours, that way we'll sound Really Shocking!" In my opinion, going from Jerry Vale headlong into Moby Grape is an example of Musical Whiplash.<br />
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<em>So I'll end things here, and maybe I can work up the urge to blog again in another three weeks (?). Basically, I wanted to tell both of my faithful readers that yes, I'm still alive.</em>Lil ol' me...http://www.blogger.com/profile/05375131775477058146noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16751830.post-29059620618700738922012-05-20T23:30:00.003-07:002012-05-20T23:42:11.269-07:00<b><span style="font-size: large;">GUESS I'D BETTER GET USED TO IT...</span></b><br />
<b><i>...contemporary musicians are starting to drop like flies, and it's sad...</i></b><br />
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Yeah, I know there are all kinds of tragedies in life, but for me it's different when a musician who's meant something to me passes away. I hear one of their songs and for three or four minutes, I'm entertained and I reminisce about what I was doing when that song came out. I've always liked my music on Vinyl. Unlike mp3's or computer files, you can pick up a record, hold it in your hand and then put it on the record player and it's magic, how the music goes from turntable to speaker. I've just always felt that way about records. I also feel that way about the artists who made them and it's sad when they pass away. And they're not that much older than me. Shiverrr....<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-plxaeHxz2bg/T7nPY68AM6I/AAAAAAAADO8/PhHz4vFmdZg/s1600/DONNASUMMER.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-plxaeHxz2bg/T7nPY68AM6I/AAAAAAAADO8/PhHz4vFmdZg/s320/DONNASUMMER.jpg" width="304" /></a><b>DONNA SUMMER</b>, in my mind, was The Disco Queen. "Hot Stuff", one of her big hits, was a great song, the way the rhythm pumps out as she puts her vocal touches over it. Now, wait, a minute, I can feel your disdain. "Disco, you say???" And yes, I thot disco music choked off a lot of rock and rollers, who hid in the bunkers until the Disco Era had passed. But I remember liking Disco before that label got attached. It all began with an instrumental called "TSOP" ("The Sound of Philadelphia", by MFSB (Mother, Father, Sister and Brother). But the record was and is still great. And I felt that way about "Love's Theme" by the Love Unlimited Orchestra. They were fun songs to hear. "Pick Up The Pieces" by the Average White Band was another case of "Disco before Disco". Back to Donna Summer, she was infamous for her sighs and moans on "Love To Love You Baby", but she really hit her stride with "Bad Girls", "Hot Stuff" and even took a disco version of "MacArthur Park" all the way to #1. Then she duetted with Barbra Streisand on "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)", and that was a big hit too. I didn't hate disco. Why should I? It kept me entertained for a while. After the Disco Train left the station, Donna resurrected her career with "The Wanderer" and especially on "She Works Hard For The Money", a tune of hers I really like. She had staying power. But Cancer got her. So sad.<br />
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<b>ROBIN GIBB, </b>formerly one of the Bee Gees, passed away today due to Cancer. He'd been in and out of hospitals the last few years, and he grew weak and gaunt, and mercifully exited This Life. He was a great singer, though. He absolutely shone on older Bee Gees songs like "I've Just Gotta Get A Message To You", "I Started A Joke" and many others. The Bee Gees were another case of "Disco before Disco"; "Jive Talkin'" and "Nights On Broadway" were both burnin' up the charts before anyone had danced under big Mirror Balls in Leisure Suits. But it was due to Disco that the Brothers Gibb couldn't buy a hit from the end of disco until 20 years later when "Still Waters Run Deep" began getting airplay. They'd recorded quite a few albums during that time, but people would reject them outright just because they'd sung Disco Songs in their past. But the Bee Gees go way back; in the early '60s, they scored hits in Australia and even hosted a TV show. In the mid-'60s, they migrated from Australia to England, and scored Really Big with "Massachusetts", "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart", "Run To Me", "New York Mining Disaster 1941" as well as "Message" and "Joke" mentioned above. His is a voice that will be missed.<br />
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Of course, Whitney Houston passed away; I most definitely not was a fan or hers, although she had talent. People are still talking about Amy Winehouse, and these two ladies had a rather strange parallel; their controversial husbands led them both way, way astray. In every case here, they're all "Gone Too Soon". Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are still with us, though. Neil Young is still around, and I always look forward to his albums. But I guess one day, It All Stops and That's It. As I type this, Steven Tyler of Aerosmith is goofing around in a Burger King commercial. He looks as if he's had several facelifts. Aretha Franklin is coming back from medical problems she's had. I'm grateful for musicians of my era who are still around.<br />
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<i>You know, when I first began going online in 1998, I never thought I'd be writing about musicians dying off, but all of a sudden, those who entertained the Baby-Boom generation are increasingly falling by the wayside. Call it 'age', I guess. And maybe for my next post, I'll be able to think of a happier subject. One can only have so much pathos in a blog, after all. I'll just hope another one of "my" musicians doesn't die off between now and then.</i>Lil ol' me...http://www.blogger.com/profile/05375131775477058146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16751830.post-77872377075902570762012-05-12T01:35:00.001-07:002012-05-20T22:51:03.423-07:00<b><span style="font-size: large;">PAUL McCARTNEY WILL BE 70 THIS YEAR!</span></b><br />
<b><i>...and what a life he's had...</i></b><br />
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Now that's quite a milestone, and he'll reach it on June 18th. It's a milestone for all of us, really. Who would've thought he'd still be (sort-of) rockin' all these years later? It's certainly far removed from The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan show. Paul's done some dumb things, he's said some dumb things, but we've all done and said dumb things. I've built up a theory that Paul is such a musical genius that everything else (including his common sense) has taken a back seat sometimes. He's put out some truly awful music since The Beatles broke up, but he's written more than his share of good stuff, too. He's played concerts all around the world several times, he's appeared at The Super Bowl a few years ago (I made a video copy of that performance); heck, he's even played at the White House. He's been a big part of our lives. Live Long Paul! And please Rock a bit on your next record...I'd really appreciate it.<br />
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<b>TELL US LIKE IT WAS: </b>I'm reading a Book about the George W. Bush Presidency by Scott McClellan, who was his press secretary. In the book, McClellan goes into great detail about all of the spin, miscommunications and back-alley dealings members of the administration took to wage all-out war in Iraq, when in fact, there was no reason to be fighting over there. I've learned a lot more about the outing of Valerie Plame, who worked as, and was "outed" as a government agent who dealt with things in the Middle East. Her name was linked to a supposed deal between an African Country and Iraq to sell uranium to Iraq, which in fact Did Not Happen At All. It's a crime to reveal agents' identities, you know. Bush didn't think he was going to win a second term in office and was fairly surprised he'd won. McClellan admits that a lot of people thought Bush was Downright Stupid. Turns out that Bush operated with a general agenda, but he wasn't an "Ideas" type of guy. And, its fascinating to learn how the Bush White House did its level best to sell the idea of a "war on terror" to the American People. When Hitler came out and said all kinds of mean and nasty things about the Jews, he blamed them for all of Germany's faults and annihilated them like they were the Enemy. The German Citizenry were totally duped by Hitler. And he got what he deserved. I'm not comparing Bush (or Vice President Dick Cheney) to Hitler. But all used government machinery to put across their deliberate misconceptions about things to an uninformed electorate.<br />
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<b>SEATTLE MARINERS, SO FAR THIS YEAR: </b>I said last year that the Mariners would have to improve in order to achieve a .500 record (losing as many games as they won). That didn't happen last year, and it's going to be a long season. They'll probably finish third in their division, and so what we have is yet another "rebuilding year", trying to find players (trying to afford them, actually) who can go out and win us some games. Right now the M's in New York City, taking on the Yankees, and our ace (Felix Hernandez) wasn't very much of an ace in the first game. The Yankees bats pounded him, and if yer ace can't win, it doesn't make the prospects for all upcoming Yankees/M's games all that bright for the M's and their fans. After this series, the M's go to Boston. And they're gonna have a tough time there too. If you're an M's fan, it's definitely watching baseball with your fingers crossed. Gonna be a long year. Right now, the M's are under .500 by just a few games. Will things get worse or better? Break out the tarot cards, I guess...<br />
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<b>FINALLY, EXPECTING THE WORST: </b>I usually try to make sure to take the digital camera with me when I'm out and about, but the other day I forgot it, missing an immortal photo opportunity. As I approached Wal-Mart, standing at the intersection were a young couple, the girl sitting down with a bedroll nearby, and the guy she was with, holding up a sign for everyone in passing cars to see. The Sign read, "Will Take Verbal Abuse for $1.00". Truly a sign of the times.<br />
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<b>STREAMLINING MY BLOGGING APPROACH: </b>As you've probably noticed, this blog post is a lot more streamlined than the stuff I was doing before. I'm trying to simplify things. One photo, a few fairly short paragraphs, and I'm done. It took me under half an hour to write what you've just read here. I don't want this blog to die, but I don't want to spend two and a half hours wresting with numerous photos each time I post. This website, "Blogger.com" has fixed some things which Weren't Broken. You'd think the blogsite would be on your side as a blogger. Hah! I lost a couple of posts earlier this week, when I tried to post. A lot of it had to do with the so-called improvements that know-nothing nerds made. Well, I guess they have to keep earning their checks somehow.<br />
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<i>So, this post comes to an end here. I worry about quality, sure. But I've tried to be too much of a know-it-all which has just bogged me down and reduced my posting. I'm sure my posting activity will remain reduced, but I'd thought about just Letting This Blog Die. Not yet, though. There's a little bit o' life remaining in 'er. And so I press onward...and, not counting the two postings I lost, trying to figure things out...this has been and is the 1100th posting on this blog! Yaay! Celebrate!</i>Lil ol' me...http://www.blogger.com/profile/05375131775477058146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16751830.post-87442202325827356522012-03-27T20:29:00.004-07:002012-03-27T20:32:50.246-07:00<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>FOR THOSE WHO THINK MY POSTS ARE TOO LONG...</strong></span><br />
<em><strong>...this one'll be over before you know it...</strong></em><br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: x-large;">OUCH!!!</span></strong><br />
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<em>Taken in North Bend, Oregon from across the street yesterday.. The gas station I usually go to in neighboring Coos Bay wanted $4.09 for a gallon of the stuff. I'd protest if I thot it would do any good.</em>Lil ol' me...http://www.blogger.com/profile/05375131775477058146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16751830.post-19563122232679192042012-03-26T01:03:00.008-07:002012-03-26T01:37:17.534-07:00<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;">SINGIN' AMY'S BLUES...</span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">...did anyone detect cries for help in her music?</span></i></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">A while back, I wrote of Amy Winehouse, I posted that if I were growing up in today's world, I probably would have been a big Amy fan. I wrote about how she seemed so absorbed in her music, projecting something very deep from within. I wrote that just after her death, after getting curious as to what her music was about, and seeing and hearing her on YouTube. I began to research her music, and to the best of my knowledge, only two of her albums were released during her lifetime, with the most recent one ("Back To Black") being released in 2007. That's quite a while ago.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8ebuFflzDM0/T3ANxxA07oI/AAAAAAAADLU/_Mz9IKgmjQw/s1600/AmyBack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8ebuFflzDM0/T3ANxxA07oI/AAAAAAAADLU/_Mz9IKgmjQw/s1600/AmyBack.jpg" /></a><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is that album, "Back To Black". This is the one that won her so many Grammies. The song that initially hit me hard and caught my attention right away is "You Know I'm No Good". The line that hit me in the face was "I cheated myself...like I knew I would..." and that's so sad. "I told you I was troubled...you know that I'm no good". She was in the prime of her career then, and yet this is how she saw things. It's as if she's at the edge of the abyss, looking in, ready to fall at any moment, knowing sooner or later that she'd succumb. It's a sort of pervasive, unrelievable sadness that is discomforting in the short term, and downright fatal if it's not dealt with somehow. In "Wake Up Alone", she sings of keeping herself busy in the daylight, but feeling out of sorts and lonely when the sun sets; here she is, the big star, who gets lonely like the rest of us. What sets her apart is that she can encapsulate that feeling for the rest of us, and that's what an artist does...make you feel things. She sings of "dying a hundred times; you go back to her and I go back to Black". Shiverrr...</span></span></span></span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m-xFBSfml08/T3AN4EaxD1I/AAAAAAAADLc/brQ4GBqWp1k/s1600/AmyLioness.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m-xFBSfml08/T3AN4EaxD1I/AAAAAAAADLc/brQ4GBqWp1k/s320/AmyLioness.jpg" width="320" /></a> This is her third album, "Lioness", released posthumously. On it are songs which were tentatively supposed to be on her third album but we'll never know for sure. It's just about all there's left. It contains five cover versions of someone else's songs. I believe that an artist selects certain 'outside' songs because those songs say something, or perhaps give hope or portray the blues that an artist expresses. She sings the hopeful old song, "Our Day Will Come", but the way she sings it, it's as if there's a chance that day will never come. She absolutely nails "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" and wrings her emotions dry in doing so; it's done so beautifully and yet is So Very Sad. She sounds like a very old soul here. Her version of "Girl From Ipanema" is playful; perhaps she wanted to take a break from all the heavy stuff by addressing this jazzy little number. Another cover-track is her version of Leon Russell's "A Song For You" which is meant to be sort-of a nice little something which she's left behind for someone in her life, that she's left behind for the rest of us, turns out. Lastly she duets with Tony Bennett on "Body And Soul"; I've read this is the last song she recorded, and to my ears, she appears to over-slur the lyrics and she seems out of it, and that is very sad. A couple of her songs feature rapping, but to me, those raps only add a degree of "in-your-face" to her sentiments and threaten to throw the songs off course, but I suppose she was looking for some kind of synthesis, some kind of "sound"; I'll chalk that up to musical exploration, testing the limits if you will.<br />
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She also wrote many of the songs on the "Lioness" disc; coming across as playful in her composition "Valerie"; she sounds as if she's really enjoying herself in the studio, playing with the rhythms and vocalizing very crisply. Another of her own songs, "Best Friends, Right?" describes a dysfunctional relationship in which both partners mistreat each other, "but we're Best Friends, Right?" The relationship that rips her apart but yet she needs to hang onto that. Another one of her compositions, "Like Smoke", comes right out and says it: "I never wanted you to be my man; I just needed your company". She approaches it on her terms, no matter if it's good for her or not. I think that's what makes her such a compelling singer. The contradictions abound, but her sheer talent outweighs the angst of her material.<br />
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She had problems and demons. She was in a relationship that was no good for her. She was constantly hounded by the British press, which shows absolutely no mercy; they probably drove her nuts. And there were alcohol and drug problems that she couldn't overcome. I'm sure that younger people who were her fans could write about her with more accuracy than I, at 57, can muster. At the same time, I find her very, very absorbing and fascinating. Was she a train wreck that was about to happen? Perhaps so, but if she or anyone else could see it, well, no one saw it. And it happened. I feel sad for her, her family, her friends and fans.<br />
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I've seen some of her appearances on YouTube. She'll sing the hell out of a song with her voice weaving, dodging and mightily projecting...and when the song ends, she stands still at the mike, her eyes turned upward with a meek little smile that appears to be saying, "Did You Guys really like that? You do?" Hers is a sad story. My one-word description of Amy: "Melancholy". She had all the talent in the world. And it wasn't enough. There are those who say that Artists are more vulnerable; maybe so. Maybe they're more sensitive. But maybe they're constantly under more stress. And, though the world is one big oyster, maybe the Music Press turns that one big oyster into a fishbowl. <br />
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<i>I'm still waiting for my copy of her first album, "Frank" (as in Sinatra, who was an inspiration of hers) to arrive at my door. I can't wait to hear it. From all indications, it should be a good listen. Hers is music that seems to transcend the generations. How to end this...Sing like her, yes. Sound like her, of course. Write songs like she did? Go for it. But...nothing in life can be so bad that Suicide is justified. Maybe her suicide wasn't a suicide, but probably was in the long term. And don't let it happen to you.</i>Lil ol' me...http://www.blogger.com/profile/05375131775477058146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16751830.post-48391358123828411342012-03-20T02:07:00.005-07:002012-03-20T02:23:29.512-07:00<strong><span style="font-size: large;">"EVERYONE KNOWS IT'S <em>WINDY</em>"...</span></strong><br />
<strong><em>...that 1967 song by The Association kinda says it all...</em></strong><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><strong><em>My Latest Misadventure</em></strong> began earlier this week. I was in the TV room, and noticed that pine branches were hanging down, visible through the window. I think Pine Trees are absolutely gorgeous; I've lived around them most of my life. Tall and majestic with green needles sprouting forth; great providers of shade and overall, a comfort to see and experience. But the branches I saw out my window were not visible through that window a few days back. It was a matter that needed investigation; just the facts, ma'am, just the facts...</span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">.and, I think I dodged a big bullet this time around. A TREE FELL ON MY HOUSE! Only the branches cusioned the trunk and kept it from crashing into my house. And that's where the tree branch visible through my TV room window came from. That little branch was actually starting to drop a bit, getting ever lower in the window. Shiverrr....</span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-U_1S_jPcBpU/T2g1L_-zZFI/AAAAAAAADKI/19UTS81JyZg/s1600/Mar12pix+021.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-U_1S_jPcBpU/T2g1L_-zZFI/AAAAAAAADKI/19UTS81JyZg/s320/Mar12pix+021.JPG" width="320" /></a>Luckily, my next door neighbor is a logger who's been laid off and was eager to provide me some help, and who was I to deny him, knowing that he needed to make some money and I needed to get this tree off my roof before those cushy branches gave out; the idea of sharing my TV room with a pine tree isn't exactly my idea of having a good time.</div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u1BvVmWzPmg/T2g56TicTvI/AAAAAAAADKY/fL_NzMKuNkk/s1600/Mar12pix+025.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u1BvVmWzPmg/T2g56TicTvI/AAAAAAAADKY/fL_NzMKuNkk/s320/Mar12pix+025.JPG" width="320" /></a>So, Mr. Neighbor and I came to an agreement: For the low, low price of $200 and all the firewood he wanted, things got started. I was in the TV room, trying to assure my little birds that all hell wasn't breaking loose as big limbs struck my house with all sorts of Crashes, Booms and Bams. When the Trunk finally fell, it hit the ground and shook my entire house. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2d3nve7yBXA/T2hKzVs3OJI/AAAAAAAADLI/CWypDUbwXqo/s1600/Mar12pix+027.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2d3nve7yBXA/T2hKzVs3OJI/AAAAAAAADLI/CWypDUbwXqo/s320/Mar12pix+027.JPG" width="320" /></a>Here's the scene of the crime, shortly following the completion of "The Mad Pine Caper". You can see where my property rises uphill and the tree actually grew at a slight angle. And all of a sudden, that blemish on the side of my house looks a bit more ghastly without the tree being there. I imagine if I lived in a "zoned" area, I would've had to fill out an environmental impact statement before the tree could come down.</div>-<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5xUwYxlsZR4/T2hB6qtbATI/AAAAAAAADLA/WPoVt-DgZwc/s1600/March11Later+001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5xUwYxlsZR4/T2hB6qtbATI/AAAAAAAADLA/WPoVt-DgZwc/s320/March11Later+001.JPG" width="320" /></a>Finally, the residue from the "Tall Pine Fiasco", sans lumber, was piled up next to my car. You can see for yourself the branches that saved my life, my birds' lives, and kept my Beatle Collection from becoming battered into senseless little chips of vinyl. Maybe I'll build a bonfire once things dry up around here and bring the marshmallows and weenies. I like fire-roasted hotdogs only one way: Totally black with lots of mustard. MMMM. <br />
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Previously to all this, I'd gone down to see my Insurance people. I wanted to file a claim so I could save my house. Have someone remove the tree, and the insurance company would compensate me for the bill. But it doesn't work that way. I'd need to have at least $10,000 dollars worth of damage before the insurance company would even consider it. That must be what I'm paying my insurance company for...peace of mind knowing that more expensive claims than mine will get speedy service. That's made me come to realize that Insurance is designed to grease the hands of Big Money Lenders who'll gladly accept payments from you, once you have insurance. Who is in whose pocket here?<br />
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<em>It's always nice to have something tangible to blog about. It's an opportunity for me to inject some realism into an otherwise bland entity which usually falls painfully short of any kind of Logical Thought. Well, Frank Sinatra once sang, "That's life...can't deny it...many times I thot of cuttin' out but my heart just won't buy it." And so I press onward...</em>Lil ol' me...http://www.blogger.com/profile/05375131775477058146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16751830.post-35396281952502180562012-03-15T23:53:00.013-07:002012-03-26T01:40:38.489-07:00<b><span style="font-size: large;">THE 'HOLY GRAIL' OF BEATLES RECORDS...</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">...it's only a $30,000 record. Consider it an investment. </span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">- </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">To begin with, I find it ironic that the record label does not contain the word "Beatles". Promotional copies were made, and as a matter of fact, there are more Promo copies out there than Retail copies. Usuall it's the other way 'round; there's lots more retail copies of a record than promo copies. Radio Programmers tossed it. Consumers ignored it. Why? It's my contention that after listening a few seconds into the song, the reaction was "Yuck", and the record was heaved into the nearest receptacle. It didn't go anywhere at all upon its release. And I might just have come up with a reason why the record didn't ingratiate itself into the people's collective psyche...</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rnsiP0omwGg/T2LTA_fC14I/AAAAAAAADJg/juDS_7FAMBg/s1600/Beatlesrare.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="428" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rnsiP0omwGg/T2LTA_fC14I/AAAAAAAADJg/juDS_7FAMBg/s640/Beatlesrare.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</tbody></table><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">It's my theory that this 1962-issued record didn't sell because of its slow intro which is over half a minute long. At the start, Tony Sheridan strums his guitar slowly and croons the chorus carefully. But, Kids wanted to rock and roll back then; they didn't want to hear an old slow number that their parents and grandparents had sung at family gatherings. So as a result, this record got bypassed by radio stations and consumers alike. They couldn't get past the long, slow intro. So where am I coming up with all this Jive?</span></span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IDSmG2Q9nqI/T2LYUHkzeaI/AAAAAAAADJo/DYiwwQjKZSI/s1600/BeatlesMyBonnie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IDSmG2Q9nqI/T2LYUHkzeaI/AAAAAAAADJo/DYiwwQjKZSI/s320/BeatlesMyBonnie.jpg" width="318" /></a><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">A couple of years later, after The Beatles had become famous, MGM somehow got hold of "My Bonnie", chopped off the slow intro, and released the shortened version of the song in 1964. Plus, the Artist Name was changed to "The Beatles with Tony Sheridan", which probably helped. This issue takes off at 1000mph, and rocks out heartily. It's a surprisingly tough-sounding "My Bonnie" in that, just when you think it can't rock any harder, the instrumental break comes along and rocks WAY HARDER. "My Bonnie, a rock version?", you ask, and I say, "Oh Yeah". The record charted fairly high in Billboard, and got some radio airplay around the country. If the record charted, that means the record sold. It might be an old fuddy-duddy type song, but this version COOKS.</span></span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yYs0is0PzKk/T2Lb9MaIGLI/AAAAAAAADJ4/TPpjU8ZUBkI/s1600/Mar12pix+031.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yYs0is0PzKk/T2Lb9MaIGLI/AAAAAAAADJ4/TPpjU8ZUBkI/s200/Mar12pix+031.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-f2zey6GD7CM/T2LcFL7l13I/AAAAAAAADKA/CuvbZjEdv-s/s1600/Mar12pix+032.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-f2zey6GD7CM/T2LcFL7l13I/AAAAAAAADKA/CuvbZjEdv-s/s200/Mar12pix+032.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Of COURSE I'd love to have that "My Bonnie" single; I've heard that there are only 7 or 8 copies in existence. That ain't gonna happen, however. Four or five years ago, I found an online source that stocked this "My Bonnie"/"The Saints" single for a LOT less. I think I paid about $50 for it. And it'll do. The label is a very good reproduction, although the silver song/artist type is a bit different from what Decca Records used back in the early '60s. As far as counterfeits go, this one isn't bad. So how does the record sound? I can tell that it's not a first generation recording; the recording sounds just a bit muffled in terms of High Equalization. It's got that long slow intro that I referred to above, and really, I'm happy to have this; after all, I have the "My Bonnie" single on Decca, after all. Well, I do. In a way. The stamper that made this recording was probably recorded through a speaker, from a tape containing a recording of the song. It's real enough for me, and besides, I can't seem to find someone who'll front me $30,000 for an original copy. Something else you might not know: Remember the song "Wonderland By Night" by Bert Kaempfert and his orchestra? It is he who produced "My Bonnie"/"The Saints". Ol' Bert, he was really with it, wasn't he?</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>As for Tony Sheridan, he sounds like a harder-driving Elvis. He's a great vocalist and guitarist. He's from Britain but has lived in Europe for years and he's made quite a few good recordings in his time. I'm surprised he wasn't an international star. He's that good.</i></span></span>Lil ol' me...http://www.blogger.com/profile/05375131775477058146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16751830.post-84206422689091188802012-03-09T00:10:00.009-08:002012-03-09T00:47:58.546-08:00<b>UNTIL I FIND SOMETHING TO BLOG ABOUT...</b><br />
<b><i>...how about some photos?</i></b><br />
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I have literally "hit the wall" in terms of any kind of blogging inspiration, and last weekend, I was thinking about just Ending This Thing. The whole problem revolves around blogspot-dot-com's mechanism for loading photos. I've torn my hair out over this. (Actually I haven't, that's just my bald spot...) So I went to blogspot-dot-com's site and I learned that the Blog actually works better with the Mozilla Firefox browser, so I'm trying that. Usually, using Internet Explorer, a blog with photos will take easy triple the time it should take, due to photos bouncing around when you're trying to put a photo in a certain place. So...Wish me luck..<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yCvjIsPHbyE/T1m-dKCEZ6I/AAAAAAAADJQ/wc9LbcfU2eQ/s1600/Mar2012+007.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yCvjIsPHbyE/T1m-dKCEZ6I/AAAAAAAADJQ/wc9LbcfU2eQ/s200/Mar2012+007.JPG" width="200" /></a>Here's a Sunset reflecting upon itself, creating a sort of Double Sunset Effect. The sun is setting directly over the lighthouse out there. I'm walking fairly slowly these days and I was just about halfway back to the car; the damp post-sunset can chill ya pretty doggone fast. There was a record label, MOWEST, which was a division of Motown back in the '70s. Consult the image below...<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VGLsfmvX1xg/T1m_tj1hfwI/AAAAAAAADJY/VrxhyQ1F8o0/s1600/Mowest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VGLsfmvX1xg/T1m_tj1hfwI/AAAAAAAADJY/VrxhyQ1F8o0/s320/Mowest.jpg" width="320" /></a>Here is the "Mowest" label; it was rather short-lived for a couple of years in the early 1970's. This is the version of "What The World Needs Now", that's interspersed with running accounts of the deaths of John and Bobby Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr. I believe Tom Clay, the narrating voice on this record, was once a famous Dee-Jay in the Los Angeles Area. DJ's probably really loved this record; it was six and a half minutes long, and I speak from experience; 6-minute records really came in handy when faced with the call of Nature! Time to return to the coast now...<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L_hgnp87OA8/T1mvjeTupII/AAAAAAAADIw/4adzmC9EdLw/s1600/Mar2012+021.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L_hgnp87OA8/T1mvjeTupII/AAAAAAAADIw/4adzmC9EdLw/s200/Mar2012+021.JPG" width="200" /></a>This is a photo taken over the bay with the Ocean just behind that strip of land you see. This looks like a typical photo that you'd find in an Easter Card. So why am I taking photos on rainy, foggy days like these? I think it's the manifestation of Cabin Fever. I'VE GOTTA GET OUT, HELP!!! I think it's a great photo, but I temper that with the reasoning that I didn't take a great photo; it's Nature that provided the photo. All I did was click the camera button... </div><br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4SnXQP54jJI/T1mvsF-PNSI/AAAAAAAADI4/q1PeZffVVzQ/s1600/Mar2012+033.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4SnXQP54jJI/T1mvsF-PNSI/AAAAAAAADI4/q1PeZffVVzQ/s200/Mar2012+033.JPG" width="200" /></a>This is a weird special-effects type of photo. The sun was still too bright to look at, so I took it through the blue shading on the top of the windshield. The Sun is trying to set, sinking from an upper cloud layer to a lower cloud layer, and on many days, this is all of the sun one might see down here, especially in ye Rainy Season. The rest of the photo is too blurry. That's my new direction in taking photos: Totally out of focus and making not much sense at all. Ansel Adams is probably rolling over in his grave...<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_eJduCrgxyQ/T1mv58C4noI/AAAAAAAADJA/wQGzroqUXK8/s1600/Mar2012+056.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_eJduCrgxyQ/T1mv58C4noI/AAAAAAAADJA/wQGzroqUXK8/s200/Mar2012+056.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>But occasionally, the sun comes out as it did over the weekend, and lo and behold, a 1968 Trans-Am, probably the strongest of all the muscle cars provided me with a great photo-opp. This car looks brand new; every detail gleams and reflects; the body is totally smooth, and I'd love to drive this thing. The guy who owns it told me that, what with gas prices being high, he can only afford to take it out once a week. Gas has been over $4.00 a gallon here, but it's sunk back to Just Below $4.00 a gallon. I'd like to know how many more people buy gas at $3.99, vs. $4.00 a gallon; it's a weird sort of price psychology; the price may be $3.99, but it ain't $4.00, so let's fill up NOW!<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ymWk5drmjms/T1mwBLYD7MI/AAAAAAAADJI/2swmic6V0X4/s1600/Mar2012+014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ymWk5drmjms/T1mwBLYD7MI/AAAAAAAADJI/2swmic6V0X4/s200/Mar2012+014.JPG" width="200" /></a>Finally, this is my New Self-Portrait, via a Mirror that needs badly to be cleaned. That's my little Canon Powershot A470, and I think it's a great camera because in addition to a fairly powerful zoom mechanism, it's easy to operate. It has a few frills, but basically this is a good little camera. I may try to take videos with it, as soon as I get brave enough to try and learn how. That's me...stuck on stupid more times than I care to admit.<br />
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<i>I may be an uninspired blogger, but I'm still paying attention to stuff. I think Santorum, Gingrich, and Romney are Jokes. They don't have a chance against Obama, and because everyone knows that deep down inside, I expect the political races to be d-i-r-t-y this year. Elsewhere, I was sad to hear about the death of guitarist Ronnie Montrose last Saturday, which came only a couple days after The Monkees' Davy Jones departed this earth. And, I was able to finish this post without tossing my computer into the wall. I don't know if Mozilla Firefox made posting this any easier, but at least I got through it...</i>Lil ol' me...http://www.blogger.com/profile/05375131775477058146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16751830.post-52741940177789956602012-02-29T20:38:00.002-08:002012-02-29T21:49:55.340-08:00GOODBYE, DAVY JONES...He with that unmistakable British accent, he who fell in love with a new girl in each Monkees' episode, he who sang Monkees' songs, including "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You", "Daydream Believer" (a #1 Monkees hit), and "Valleri". He who is no longer with us, due to a fatal heart attack when he was caring for his horses in Florida. He is, and was, Davy Jones, a former Theatre trouper, who went on to become a member of The Monkees. It's been said that Davy's Monkee-ness was already in place, and Micky, Peter and Mike were among the zillions of actors who applied for The Remaining Three Monkees. And so, it's 'Bye Davy'. Another voice of the past, gone just like that. Time waits for no one, right? It's always sad to learn that another musician has met The Reaper. Here's proof that time changes things...here's a fairly recent picture of Davy Jones; most stars have some resemblance to their younger selves as time goes on. The Elder Davy doesn't look anything like his Monkees character.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4oeJof7T-5s/T07-B36WHgI/AAAAAAAADGw/uX008EMk-AM/s1600/DavyOld.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4oeJof7T-5s/T07-B36WHgI/AAAAAAAADGw/uX008EMk-AM/s320/DavyOld.png" width="213" /></a>Losing your favorite pop stars ain't easy. After all, it's we who buy the records/tapes/cd's of their music; we invite them into our homes where they entertain us; either that or oldies radio stations are casting about, sending signals to radios nationwide; on occasion, worldwide. So we get attached to them, and then they pass away and it's almost like losing a family member. So I was saddened to hear the news today, oh boy...it used to be that big rock stars overdosed, or their tour jet crashed, or that they were playing with guns which accidentally went off or whatever. Nowadays it's everyday mundane things like heart attacks, or back problems, or cancer. Heck, Glen Campbell has Alzheimer's Disease. I guess Even The Monkees have to face the Grim Reaper one day. We've lost two Beatles, after all. I don't know why, but lately I've been thinking we're going to be losing a bunch of rock stars sometime soon, and I'm alarmed I thought that, now that Davy's gone. Shudder.</div>
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Back in the old flower-power days, Controversy Rocked The Monkees! OhMyGosh,The Monkees didn't play their own instruments! It's well-known that session musicians were heavily used on records by Herman's Hermits, The Byrds, Paul Revere and The Raiders, Love, The Mamas and The Papas, The Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys, to name a few. Good songs are good songs no matter who plays them, as long as they play them well! This first Monkees' album was great fun; it was issued in 1966, a good mixture of ballads, pop, and (almost) hard rock. There was something for everybody here. For this album, Mike Nesmith (another Monkee) wrote a song titled "Papa Gene's Blues", but on the Record And Jacket, it was listed as "Papa Jean's Blues". It was changed later, but the "Papa Jean's" first-Monkee Albums are worth a bit more in terms of collectors' value.<br />
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Another Monkees album, "More Of The Monkees", was issued in 1967, featuring "I'm A Believer", the one song that everyone on the planet knows by heart. Man, that record was big; it was on the charts almost forever, and is a shrewdly-crafted record; every word and note were letter-perfect; a cold, calculated piece of Pop Songwriting. But the Monkees wanted to do more on their records than Just Sing, and the producers would have none of that. They fought tooth and nail, and the contentious climate led to the dismissal of Don Kirshner, who was a big power-broker-type-producer in charge of Everything and Then Some. Kirshner went on to use a Cartoon group, The Archies. Cartoons can't rebel or put their fists through walls (Monkee Mike actually did that).<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TaVtO-EOkZ4/T07rqcXZg_I/AAAAAAAADF4/1EJ6oaZ_zeo/s1600/monkees_headquarters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TaVtO-EOkZ4/T07rqcXZg_I/AAAAAAAADF4/1EJ6oaZ_zeo/s200/monkees_headquarters.jpg" width="200" /></a>The Monkees did play (almost) everything on their third album, "Headquarters" (1967), on which they sounded like an enthusiastically energetic Garage Band, and on "Pisces Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones LTD", their fourh album, they really sounded sharp; they brought in a few outside musicans but the proceedings were under the group's control. All of the Monkees wrote songs; Davy was a part of all this, and beginning with the group's fourth album, "The Birds, The Bees and The Monkees", Davy co-wrote quite a few of the group's songs, as did the rest of the group. So I'm sticking up for The Monkees here. They were a respectable band, being four strangers thrown together and expected to put out some kind of saleable musical product. I think they did quite well. Of course, The Monkees had access to many great songs by great songwriters, so that did set themselves a part from the competition, but still, it takes talent to pull that off, doing the songs well, sounding like a real rock group. So there's a concise history lesson for ya. But getting back to Davy Jones...<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zXvMGSW5TGs/T07yazS8e1I/AAAAAAAADGQ/AntpnJmBMuY/s1600/DavyFirst.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zXvMGSW5TGs/T07yazS8e1I/AAAAAAAADGQ/AntpnJmBMuY/s320/DavyFirst.jpg" width="320" /></a>Before the Monkees, it looks like Colpix Records was going to try and market Davy as some sort of Teen Idol in the mold of Bobby Rydell or Fabian. I haven't heard anything on this "David Jones" album; I'd place it as being released sometime in the early 1960's. I remember reading in one of my Rock Books the fact that David Bowie had to change his name from "Jones", because he wanted to avoid confusion with the "David Jones" pictured here. If you collected Monkees' records, you might remember the bright red-and-white labels which Monkees were on (Colgems--Columbia Pictures/Screen Gems). The old Colpix label was, of course, Columbia Pictures' label.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dPGi3r4t6co/T074KqKOzQI/AAAAAAAADGo/SJzu9GXhwWo/s1600/Monkees_-_Changes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dPGi3r4t6co/T074KqKOzQI/AAAAAAAADGo/SJzu9GXhwWo/s1600/Monkees_-_Changes.jpg" /></a>This is probably the hardest Monkees album to find; it's called "Changes" and features only Micky and Mike in a sort-of Last-Gasp manner. After Peter left, Mike, Micky and Davy recorded two albums. Mike left, the group still owed the record company one more album, so this is what happened. It came out in 1970, and featured lightweight pop tunes written mostly by outside writers (Micky wrote one song for this LP). People had seen 'four' Monkees, and after Peter left, there were 'three' Monkees. Then Mike left, and the Monkees are a two-man band here. Some people joked that if this kept up, pretty soon, this group would be called "The Monkee". And here is that Monkee...<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iM_NaY-HdZs/T07uJVQAjPI/AAAAAAAADGI/M3xZwU5FhwA/s1600/DavyJonesRainyJane.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iM_NaY-HdZs/T07uJVQAjPI/AAAAAAAADGI/M3xZwU5FhwA/s320/DavyJonesRainyJane.jpg" width="320" /></a>After The Monkees disbanded, Davy came out with this album in 1972, and "Rainy Jane" was the hit here. Some say this album consists of old Monkees session tapes, which is possible, but who knows for sure?. I've seen several Monkees' reunion concerts and as Davy aged, he was barely recognizable, but when you heard that voice, you knew it was him. Pre-Monkee, Davy was quite the all-around song and dance man; so much so that he once said, if someone opened the refrigerator door, he'd do "ten minutes" when the light came on. Of course, he played tambourine, maracas and other percussion instruments, and the back of one of their albums shows him playing acoustic guitar. <br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xE-zETHUjEM/T08GsLdjf8I/AAAAAAAADHA/VgqtgSx5Qzk/s1600/DavyJonesBoyceHart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xE-zETHUjEM/T08GsLdjf8I/AAAAAAAADHA/VgqtgSx5Qzk/s1600/DavyJonesBoyceHart.jpg" /></a>Here's another artifact of Davy's post-Monkees-days; a rather misguided attempt at grafting sci-fi onto pop music; it was released in the mid-'70s and disappeared without a trace; this is not The Record That Set The World On Fire. You might recognize Boyce and Hart; as a team, they wrote a whole bunch of Monkees' songs, such as "Last Train To Clarksville", "(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone", "Take A Giant Step", "Let's Dance On", "Valleri" and quite a few more. Davy wrote a charming tune for this LP, titled "You And I", a tune he later did for The Monkees' reunion LP, "JustUs", which came out in 1996 along with a one-hour TV special which was done in a style similar to the old Monkees episodes. Micky and Davy are the two persons on the left of this album cover.<br />
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<em>I think I have a good idea of what Generations before mine felt upon hearing of Rudolph Valentino's death, Glenn Miller's disappearance, of Frank Sinatra's death, and of course, Elvis left the building long ago. And now those of my generation (and younger than that) see some of their favorite performers disappearing into the haze. A Purple Haze, that is...</em>Lil ol' me...http://www.blogger.com/profile/05375131775477058146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16751830.post-89909182241192032322012-02-13T01:43:00.000-08:002012-02-13T02:07:44.662-08:00A SOCIETY WITHOUT MONEY? It Could Happen!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s5tRiRlJjX4/TzjRWH5IEmI/AAAAAAAADFk/1To31mqa7-U/s1600/Money.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s5tRiRlJjX4/TzjRWH5IEmI/AAAAAAAADFk/1To31mqa7-U/s1600/Money.jpg" /></a><strong>THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL: </strong>I've wondered about this topic once in a while. There's a whole lotta plastic cards out there these days, and I've often thought that one of these days, there might be no more Paper Money (and coins, for that matter), because it won't be needed. And the Debit card is mighty, mighty handy. I fell into a sort of rhythm the last couple of weeks, paying bills, buying stuff, going to restaurants and just living life. I've had no cash in my possession for the last two weeks now. Swipe the card here, swipe the card there, heck, swipe yer way through life, for that matter. Why I've not used the card for all my purchases before, I don't know. I'm not saying I'm going to keep doing this, but who knows?</div>
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It's been said before, in forums much more educational than this one, that Money is the source of Germs. Look at that $10-dollar-bill you've got there. YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE IT'S BEEN! And does that make you feel kinda queasy when dealing with Paper Money? There's a new one for the compulsive-obsessors. Dinerophobia (fear of currency). Or, it could turn into a new mental crisis. Just think: Something Else to get uptight over. One day, you'll need actual money for something! Noooooo! I don't want to handle Dirty Money! Soon, we'll have a world with no more tills! No more making change! No more coin slots in newspaper machines. No more dropped pennies to be found in Parking Lots or anywhere else. No more coins ending up in the washing machine! "Buddy, Can You Spare A Dime?" "Huh...? What's a dime?" (obviously that last one won't happen for decades, but ya never know...) Perhaps someone's grandkid will one day ask you, "gee, you actually remember when people used to use Real Money?"</div>
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<strong>? SHOULD WE HAVE SEEN THIS COMING? </strong>Whitney Houston, gone just like that? Whoa. There are a whole lot of female singers today, who over-emote, have no sense of dynamics (loud vs. soft), and who'll sing anything they're given, because after all, looks and image are most important these days, and all these female singers have to do is YELL, as long as it's in key. It's a HIT! Maybe that's not so important though, because modern technology has come up with a device that can raise or lower the singer's key without cutting into the amount of time the singer happens to hold that particular note. Instant Repair for being off-key! Okay, I'm not really that ignorant. It takes talent to hit the charts, and sometimes it takes more energy to keep it all together once Fame is Achieved.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ifSLmoGt9V8/TzjRbssuNtI/AAAAAAAADFs/zt8vShS6VK4/s1600/Whitney.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ifSLmoGt9V8/TzjRbssuNtI/AAAAAAAADFs/zt8vShS6VK4/s320/Whitney.jpg" width="309" /></a>I'll admit I didn't see this one coming. There were drugs. Parties. Relationship problems. And maybe she'd been out of the spotlight for so long that perhaps she was forgotten about, what with new chanteuses popping up weekly, perhaps daily. A whole lot of female singers in the plastic world of electro-pop should humble themselves and give thanks that Whitney Houston blazed the trail for them all. She had a great voice...sometimes too great (ouch, my ears), and pretty much sang dumb songs, one of which contained this over-the-top yearning: "I Wanna Dance With Someone Who Loves Me" Huh??? Are you KIDDING? How does one know in advance if the person "Loves" them enough to dance with them? Of course, I may be reading this all wrong, but it's not like every couple who dances falls in love with each other! But I suppose society works differently these days. I'm a social dud, what can I say...lookin' for love on the Dance Floor? And how sad is that?<br />
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Back to Whitney's dance song, I used to play that record on the radio, and it was a good tune, in that it was upbeat, and it was easy to tell she was having a good time singing it even if the idea behind the lyrics fell out of the starting gate. Not all songwriters are geniuses, obviously. Her voice had power; she could out-siren a fire truck! Trouble is, on that song, she sang Full-Speed-Ahead without any concern for dynamics. (To keep listeners from thinking, "Gee, this is dumb song?") I keep going back to her first big song, "Savin' All My Love For You", and there she was, singin' and croonin' that song with results on a level comparable with the best of any female singer over the last few generations. She sings softly...then she asserts herself and bites into a phrase here and there...alternating her phrasing, loudly, softly, loudly, softly...thaaat's how it's done. She had pure, raw talent. It's always sad to see someone flame out too soon. She coulda been one of the greats. Maybe she already was.<br />
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<em>Finally, I want to congratulate BLOGGER.COM for having come up with an ultra-complicated photo tool that enables a person put a photo/photos into their blog. It doesn't take long to type one of these dumb entries; it's wrestling with the photos that takes up time here! I can easily double my posting time if I'm using photos in my blog. Come on, you "blogger-dot-com" people. Get with it! Make this thing easier to use! Is that too much to ask? You might've noticed all the copy in the first part of this post turned out "centered". Another blogger-dot-com screwup. </em>Lil ol' me...http://www.blogger.com/profile/05375131775477058146noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16751830.post-45512015168892695712012-02-02T23:58:00.000-08:002012-02-13T00:17:55.298-08:00EX-BEATLES FLOODING THE MARKETPLACE!!!Well, not exactly. But I've bought two new albums by ex-Beatles in the last two days. And due to my connections, I got one of them Before It Will Be Officially Released. Sometimes life is indeed good.<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Lkli2OHExPk/TyttfdFFr_I/AAAAAAAADFM/pojOU-v_ies/s1600/Ringo-2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Lkli2OHExPk/TyttfdFFr_I/AAAAAAAADFM/pojOU-v_ies/s1600/Ringo-2012.jpg" /></a><br />
In my previous post (Yesterday! I'm flooding the market with my posts) (Well, not exactly), I generalized about Ringo Starr's new album, "2012". Not exactly the most imaginative title, but then again, this isn't exactly the most imaginative album ever released. As I stated Yesterday, Ringo's music isn't and has never been Atrocious. On "2012", some tracks rock fairly well, and he appears to be in good voice. The disc contains the old Buddy Holly tune, "Think It Over", Lonnie Donegan's old tune, "Rock Island Line", plus two songs he wrote and recorded previously, namely, "Wings" and "Step Lightly". So I knew four of these songs going in. Actually, I never paid much attention to "Wings" to begin with, and evidently not too many others did either. Here, it's fairly pleasant, but I'm going to have to go back to the original version on his 1976 album, "Ringo's Rotogravure" and compare the two, and I'll do just that when I have absolutely nothing else to do. It's safe to say it's a pleasant song that fits right in with the rest of the pleasant songs here. The entire CD is pleasant."Step Lightly" is also pleasant, although on his new version the time signature has been modified to a plodding 4/4. The original version was in a soft-shoe 2/4, and Ringo doesn't do any tap-dancing here, like on the originaversion. It was 1973; Ringo recorded an album called "Ringo". The "Ringo" album was fun; it had great songs, even a hard rock tune, plus contributions from John Lennon, George Harrison and Paul McCartney, among others. But that was then. This is now. Moving on...<br />
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I've listened to Ringo's "2012" exactly once, and it coasted right on by. It is a pleasant album with pleasant songs. Some rock fairly hard; others don't, but they are pleasant nonetheless. And I imagine the next time I play "2012", it will again be a pleasant listening. This album is so pleasant, that it'll be over long before you thought it would end, so you can play it again for another Pleasant listening experience. What's the point, you ask? Ringo's "2012" album doesn't provoke, it doesn't feed the imagination, doesn't give the listener much of anything to react to. It shows no artistic growth, and because there's nothing to really react to, either way, all I can say is, it's Pleasant. Ringo's supposed stock in trade is his semi-official campaign for "Peace and Love". Both pleasant things. And so an album about Pleasant Things will be Pleasant. Nothing less, nothing more. The disc comes with a little booklet in which he twice flashes the Peace Sign. Another photo shows him with his hands on his belt, highlighting the "Peace Sign" belt-buckle he's wearing. If "Peace" is so important to him, perhaps he should collaborate with Yoko Ono, since she's allegedly into that. Only, Yoko's music is more provoking than Ringo's will ever be. And I don't like her music. But it is provoking.<br />
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I don't trust Ringo's blissed-out "Peace and Love" image. It just hits me wrong and I'm not sure why. To someone with Millions of Dollars at his disposal, maybe it's a popular thing to flash the Peace Sign all around everywhere, because he thinks everyone can be just happy, happy, happy. Yeah, rrrright. I think my difficulty with Ringo began a couple of years back when he warned people in no uncertain terms to "quit sending me stuff to sign; I'm a busy star, I'm leading a Star's (Starr's?) life, SO DON'T SEND ME ANYTHING TO SIGN, YOU BLEEDIN' SOFT-HEADED FANS! Oh, and PEACE AND LOVE, Dammit!" Okay, he didn't say "Dammit" but you get the idea. He looks like an IDIOT waving the peace sign everywhere. Sometimes it's tragic to see your Stars (Starr's?) grow up and get old. Lastly, if you've heard One Ringo Album, you've heard 'em all. Why do I keep buyin' em? I don't know. I must be an idiot. I was once a fan. I'm not so sure now.<br />
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But 'all of the above' doesn't begin to address my biggest problem with Ringo's "2012" album. The Damn Thing has only 9 songs on it, and its Running Time ISN'T EVEN A HALF-HOUR LONG!!! As a music buyer, I feel Cheated because of this. Not that Ringo's previous albums have been overabundant in the Time department, but all of his earlier albums have contained at least 10 songs. In fact, his "Vertical Man" album (1998) had 13 songs clocking in at over 50 minutes! Out of the ten Short Songs on "2012", two are remakes of old songs, and the other two are remakes of songs he's already recorded. So out of the 9 songs here, only 5 of them are totally new material! I must ask, if you're not going to write a few more new numbers why not do a few more remakes of old songs to make the CD Longer? Y'know, to make the CD a Better Musical Value? "Y-NOT?" This is the equivalent of jumping into bed and finding your covers were short-sheeted. Not Even Thirty Minutes of music TOTAL. Heck, I've got LP's that contain 30 minutes on ONE SIDE! I paid 14 Bucks for Ringo's album. And I got short-sheeted.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mzj5tPkuJZo/TyttTKWhAmI/AAAAAAAADFE/UtwjIAbx6bQ/s1600/Paul-MccartneyKisses.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mzj5tPkuJZo/TyttTKWhAmI/AAAAAAAADFE/UtwjIAbx6bQ/s320/Paul-MccartneyKisses.jpg" width="320" /></a>Paul McCartney's new CD will be released next week. I've already got a copy. The record guy I deal with has to be away for a few days next week, so he sold it to me today. Isn't life grand? I've been listening to big band swing, crooners and songbirds off and on for the last few years, and I've really developed an appreciation for a lot of that material. Otherwise, I'd tee-off on Paul the way I did on poor ol' Ringo. Paul's new album is titled "Kisses On The Bottom". When I first learned that a few weeks ago, all sorts of ugly pictures began invading my brain. But it's also a lyric line in the old standard, "I'm Going To Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter", so that placated me, at least for a while. Paul really did "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive" on this album, and he doesn't play one single solitary note on it. It was recorded in the Capitol Records studio where Frank Sinatra and Nat "King" Cole did their thing. <br />
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You may have heard Paul's Beatles softie-songs such as "Honey Pie", "When I'm 64", "Martha My Dear" and "Your Mother Should Know". John Lennon hated those tunes, labeling them as "Paul's Granny Music". Paul's always had this granny-music element within him. In the mid-70's, on the Wings album "Venus and Mars" is another soft-shooer called "You Gave Me The Answer"; "Baby's Request" is another Wings smoothie, from the "Back To The Egg" album. Paul said that he grew up listening to his Dad playing Piano, and got exposed to all of the old songs. But Paul said recently that his Dad inspired Beatles Music. Paul, that's kinda hard to swallow. I mean, didn't your Dad want you to sing, "She Loves You, Yes, Yes, Yes" and you told him that "Yeah Yeah Yeah" worked a lot better? (That actually did happen.) <br />
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I've also listened to this album exactly once. And my impression is, he sings these old songs fairly well. He certainly doesn't embarrass himself, and he's treated every song with the respect they deserve. And he does a great "It's Only A Paper Moon". Paul wrote two songs for this album, and I must say his vocals on those are more direct than on the old chestnuts he sings here; it sounds as if he is being Very Careful on some of the old standards, and that's a good thing, I suppose, although I wish he'd dug a little bit deeper into his own personal style, because unless that happens, then the songs are just re-makes by an anonymous somebody, and some of Paul's vocals on these old standards almost come off as "anonymous treatments". But Paul isn't waving Peace Signs in everyone's faces, so that's something positive. But more than anything, Paul takes real chances here, recording in an environment he's not used to, with all those great old musicians in back of him. Maybe he only wrote two songs on this LP, but he's stepping into Mighty Big Shoes here. I'll take an album of old standards any day over too-short albums filled with Generic Paint-by-the-numbers semi-rock-pop-whatever-it-is music. Oh, one more thing: Paul's new album clocks in at almost 50 minutes...over 20 minutes longer than Ringo's new disc. <br />
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<em>Finally, Paul wasn't the first ex-Beatle to soft-shoe-shuffle in a recording studio; that honor goes to, you guessed it, Ringo! His first solo album from 1970 was titled, "Sentimental Journey" on which he warbles nothing but Old Standards. And that LP contains more music than his new CD! Finally, while writing this diatribe, I was listening to an Amy Winehouse CD. It's full of provoking music sung in a provoking way, totally unlike Ringo's new CD.</em>Lil ol' me...http://www.blogger.com/profile/05375131775477058146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16751830.post-32515828247120008432012-02-01T00:36:00.000-08:002012-02-01T00:50:17.359-08:00Ya Gotta Know Something To Be A Know-It-All...<strong><em>ALTERNATE TITLE: "...but I'm not gonna let that stop me from posting..."</em></strong><br />
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The more I know, it seems the Less I know. Although in looking at the big picture, it seems that everything just seems to repeat itself. That doesn't mean that I actually know what's going on, but when what "goes around" comes around", I can look back and think, "I should have seen this coming", after which I slap myself on the back of the head in best Mark Harmon "NCIS" style. "WHACK!!!" "OOF!" That said, here goes another posting...<br />
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<strong>REPUBLICAN PARTY: IS THIS THE BEST THEY'VE GOT? </strong>Mitt Romney, the Eternal Millionaire (if not Billionaire) and Newt Gingrich, that philandering so-and-so who couldn't wait until one of his sick ex-wives was dead before dating someone else, are the GOP Elephant's front-runners. And the Newt (not to be confused with the Gecko) is losing some of his party faithful cos he couldn't quit his low-down ways. But this information didn't really be dirty-laundried because most people don't really like him anyway. Meantime, Romney makes more in a week than lots of people make in a year. Well, good. If he eventually is elected to the Oval Office, he'll be able to keep his mind on his work, since he doesn't have to worry about running out of money anytime soon. <br />
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<strong>IT'S TIME TO DONATE TO THE CAMPAIGN ONCE AGAIN: </strong>No, not the Political Campaign. The campaign to insure that Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr don't become destitute anytime soon. Paul McCartney (who might just have more $$$ than Mitt Romney) and Ringo Starr (who really needs to stop flipping the Peace Sign every waking moment) are coming out with new albums. Paul's is full of old jazz-vocal standards. He's written a couple of new songs for that album, but the whole thing is chock-full of 1940's type music. Just the thing for the listener who's always wondered what an ex-Beatle would sound like if he stepped into Frank Sinatra's shoes. Ringo's new album is gonna be another collection of new mundane minor songs, plus some cover versions of '50s music. It will be unremarkable. Ringo really has not cut a great record since 1973 (The "Ringo" album with "Photograph", "You're Sixteen" and "Oh My My" (Whoa, 3 hit singles!) <br />
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Why am I so sure his new album will be a dud? Because I've purchased All of His Music over the years since the Beatles' breakup, and over the years, it's all been unremarkable. Not Atrocious by any means. But unremarkable. One of his records wasn't released at all in the USA...the record company didn't like it. That album, "Old Wave" (which came out in the early '80s, I think) was released Only in Canada. It too, is, well, unremarkable. Color-by-numbers music. Count the song in, insert words in the appropriate places, sing the chorus, allow for an instrumental, then one more verse and chorus and yer done. As Queen once sang, "all we hear is...Radio Ga-Ga...Radio Boo-Boo...Radio Blah-Blah..." (Radio Ca-Ca, perhaps?)...except this music will never get anywhere close to the radio.<br />
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<strong>FROM DECREPID TO HALF-WAY PASSABLE: </strong>Sometimes a person finds him/herself in the situation where anything he/she does is an improvement over what was done before. That's the situation I was in. I recently bought, for just over a hundred bucks, a stereo copy the Beatles' famous (infamous?) "Butcher Cover" that their record company covered up in haste so many years ago when the album was first released in 1966. When I bought it, here's what I got:<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cG83Q6N-YSQ/TyjbjKbUOHI/AAAAAAAADEk/EfddFIRWOR4/s1600/LateJan12+017.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cG83Q6N-YSQ/TyjbjKbUOHI/AAAAAAAADEk/EfddFIRWOR4/s320/LateJan12+017.JPG" width="320" /></a>Rough Indeed. And yes, I saw this before I bought it. But rather than seeing things as they are and asking 'why'; I decided to see the possibilities and ask 'why not'. (No, I'm not running for office.) The previous owner tried to peel the "Trunk" cover off, and in doing so, tore huge bits off the cover, totally eradicating John and obscuring Paul's pretty face. But the wickedly-smiling George and the out-of-it Ringo were left mostly intact. I stuck the cover in a plastic sleeve and marked out the areas in the worst disrepair. For a picture of what was used to cover up this cover, scroll down to the end of the blog...<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FlSUUl8ChOU/TyjbyPN-RjI/AAAAAAAADEs/kkLbrnLqczY/s1600/LateJan12+020.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FlSUUl8ChOU/TyjbyPN-RjI/AAAAAAAADEs/kkLbrnLqczY/s320/LateJan12+020.JPG" width="320" /></a>I've got a Mono "Butcher Cover" that's in good shape. The only difference between Mono and Stereo is, the Mono doesn't have the gray 'stereo bar' at the top. Stereo Butcher Covers are also worth up to twice as much as a Mono covers. Otherwise, all images are the same size. So...off to the print shop I went, having color copies made of my good cover, to overlay the bad portions of the shot-to-hell cover. The color copier somehow added a bluish tint to the background, so it wasn't an exact match, but as Stan Freberg once said, "it's close enough for jazz"...<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UnCYi-e_HH0/TyjapvCGgSI/AAAAAAAADEc/ZqS63ux0C0o/s1600/002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UnCYi-e_HH0/TyjapvCGgSI/AAAAAAAADEc/ZqS63ux0C0o/s320/002.JPG" width="320" /></a>Here's the result I ended up with. John has been brought back to life, Paul's face has been restored, and I drew in the piece of meat held in place under Ringo's left armpit. I also drew in his left knee with a marker. It became obvious that I wasn't going to have a perfect color match, so I colored in the background above the group with a gray "Sharpie" marker. But then I had a metallic finish to deal with. So I sprayed some Elmer's Glue onto the finish, which eliminated the reflection. I filled in the gray bar at top with a black Bic Pen. and overall I'm happy with the way things turned out. There's almost 50% of the original cover showing through, so I can prove to anyone that this is an Original Cover. I'm also hoping I enhanced its value a bit. As far as the end result goes, I've seen covers in worse condition going for more than the $110 I paid for this one. Unblemished Stereo Butcher Covers are Priced Out Of This World, but at least I have a "stereo butcher", ha ha ha ha Ha Ha Ha HA HA HA HAAAAAAAAAA!!!<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LN7rYN2saWw/TyjuIVXezjI/AAAAAAAADE8/Au0sJNkdeHg/s1600/003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LN7rYN2saWw/TyjuIVXezjI/AAAAAAAADE8/Au0sJNkdeHg/s320/003.JPG" width="320" /></a>Here's the Mono Butcher-Peel that I bought almost a decade ago. The "Trunk" cover was pasted over the Butcher Cover, This is the original "Trunk" cover that was laid over this "Butcher" cover. The "Trunk" cover continued to be issued long after the "Butcher" covers had all been covered up. Ringo's black shirt in the Butcher photo can be seen through the white area at the left of the "Trunk" cover when laid on top of the "Butcher". The cover I bought had some water damage at the bottom center; I paid $1,000 for it. Not the kind of purchase one makes every day. Notice at the top of this Mono butcher-peel that there is no gray bar, indicating "Stereo" at the top. Judging from the care and patience it takes to peel a Trunk Cover off the Butcher cover, the only advice I can give is "don't try this at home". The copy I have was too far-gone to save totally, so I overlaid new images on it instead and saved at least some of the original images.<br />
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<em>So what goes around comes around. You might recall I mentioned Ultra-Rich Mitt Romney earlier in this post. He can buy all the Butcher Covers he wants. As a voter, I can be bought. Mitt, send me a pristine Stereo Beatles-Butcher cover and I'll vote for ya...</em>Lil ol' me...http://www.blogger.com/profile/05375131775477058146noreply@blogger.com0