94 in August. ‘Nuff said.
WHEN in the course of human Events, it becomes necessary….
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“From a student radical/hippie/leftist of the Free Speech Movement/Vietnam Day Commitee era and a full-on Democratic Liberal in the decades after, I think I’ve evolved a politics that is neither right nor left but is, in its elemental nature, draconian. In the last 20 years, I’ve taken apart my beliefs with a sledgehammer. Now I’ve got to put the surviving parts back together with tweezers and other ‘shabby equipment, always deteriorating’.”
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The Snow Man
One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;
And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter
Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,
Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place
For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.
BY WALLACE STEVENS
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Black Burgers Matter
Just found out about this amazing new restaurant called “Amplifying Black Voices” where you can buy non-racist hamburgers and anti-fascist milkshakes. pic.twitter.com/0JA1mELnYg
— Titania McGrath (@TitaniaMcGrath) July 1, 2020
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Diana Panton covers this beautifully. If you close your eyes, you can see her gently rock a sleeping wee bairnie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBSuxSQQkFE
I loved the boat people and the gorgeous boats. Lots of lovelies and some adult beverages on a warm summer day in a beautiful place and not a single negro or purple haired tattooed soul amongst ’em. If they’re watching that oughta tell them something, eh.
I do remember those days and being involved with girls like those when I was a healthy young buck; they were fine and so much fun and although chasing those fine creatures was literally an endless endeavor I had to hang it up at around 55. I just got bored but then I met a beautiful little red-headed keeper who put a bow on me and made me incredibly happy.
But still, I do remember….
Gerard very often posts the “Boomer Ballads”, rock hits from when I and many others here were young, and stoned. I love most of those tunes, even though I’m tired of them.
But there are the pop songs like “Fly Me to the Moon”, and others as well that were hits before the Beatles, and then the psychedelic thing took over. I don’t do it often, but sometimes when I get a buzz going and I’m feeling nostalgic I find myself clicking on this song, “More”, “Volare”, “Guantanamera”, Moon River”, “That’s Life”, “The Shelter of Your Arms”, and a lot of others that my twenty something year old self would have been embarrassed to leave on the AM radio when we were cruising the boulevard. These numbers tap a deeper well of memory, and call me back to a much better time.
This recording actually brought me to tears.
Thanks.
JWM
Tony does a nice version of the old standard “Time After Time”
@jwm,
I’m in the same boat. I love the music from the 40s and 50s – Jazz and Blues and the crooners. I have recently discovered an amazing young jazz singer who covers a lot of them. She has published 130+ videos so far. Here is her version of Fly Me to the Moon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf2OjlOBGVY
This is her cover channel which lists all of her work to date. I say to date because she’s only 14, going on some indeterminate age that fits in with the best jazz club you ever imagined.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2v8kgVeo4EbQD6l_WAVjOfItquzW7oEc