words from the belowgosphere

Roger Ebert attends film festival - Yahoo! News

2007-04-25T22:56:00.000-05:00

Roger Ebert attends film festival - Yahoo! News

How wonderful to see Roger Ebert appearing in public with verve & confidence, after recent surgeries to his salivary glands & right jaw left him unable to speak. I consider him one of our smartest, greatest film critics, & a person who lives life with optimism & joi de vivre. Few writers have taken movies more seriously, or held them to higher standards, than Mr. Ebert.

His Overlooked Film Festival was held at the Virginia Theater in Champagne, Illinois, near his hometown of Urbana. The AP story (written by David Mercer) posted on Yahoo! News reports:

Ebert walked slowly through the 86-year-old movie house, where he said through his wife that he had watched "Gone with the Wind" and his father saw Marx Brothers films.
In an e-mailed note to reporters and a column in the Chicago Sun-Times earlier this week, Ebert spoke frankly about his appearance, saying he had been warned by friends that showing up would invite both unflattering photos and unkind coverage.
"So what?" Ebert wrote. "I have been very sick, am getting better and this is how it looks."
He wrote that he now awaits another operation that he hopes will restore his speech....

Festival organizers set up a recliner at the back of the theater for Ebert. He wrote in his column that he needed it for back pain but said through his wife Wednesday it served another purpose.
She read from a statement, to laughter and applause: "I will fulfill a lifelong dream to have my own La-Z-Boy chair in a movie theater."

i wonder if these are good...Ultra Premium Coil Natural Ottoman Futon Mattress - Futon Mattresses

2007-04-05T01:14:00.000-05:00

i want to sleep like a goblin

Ultra Premium Coil Natural Ottoman Futon Mattress - Futon Mattresses

rumblin' 'n' bumblin'

IKEA :: Product Display

2007-04-05T00:18:00.000-05:00

IKEA :: Product Display
Hey i want one or two of these for my new home i've gotta get ';>+
--g.

YouTube - Praise You - Fatboy Slim

2007-03-20T23:23:00.000-05:00

YouTube - Praise You - Fatboy Slim

This 1999 video for Fatboy Slim's "Praise You" by director Spike Jonze is still hilarious & fun. Jonze appears as dance leader & "choreographer" "Richard Koufey", while a bald Fatboy Slim (aka Norman Cook) can be seen briefly, walking up behind the troupe & laughing. Enjoy. Feel the love.

"Pink Elephants on Parade" video played by Sun Ra Arkestra

2007-03-09T18:09:00.000-06:00

I have always loved this psychedelic segment of Disney's great film, Dumbo. Here is the clip, from YouTube, sync'ed with a wonderful performance of the song by the jazz visionary Sun Ra & his Arkestra, from 1989. The track originally appeared on Stay Awake (A&M Records, 1989), a compilation album created by Hal Wilner, for which he invited various artists to perform tunes from Disney shows. Shortly afterwards, Sun Ra recorded an entire album of Disney numbers, titled Second Star to the Right.

(This sync was created by one "Enjin" at either www.livejournal.com or http://yeahoksure.com/elbert, but the links to those URL's seem to be gone. )

The original Dumbo segment can be seen on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdwVqGGbXno.

New Order - "True Faith" (Morning Sun)

2007-02-13T00:52:00.000-06:00

I really love this track; the lyrics pull me in, the music sweeps me off my feet. This entire album of theirs is wonderful--Substance, from 1987, collecting to CD a number of 12" singles, along with this new song, titled "True Faith":

True Faith

I feel so extraordinary
Something's got a hold on me
I get this feeling I'm in motion
A sudden sense of liberty
I don't care 'cos I'm not there
And I don't care if I'm here tomorrow
Again and again I've taken too much
Of the thing that costs you too much

I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see the light in the shade of the morning sun
My morning sun is the drug that brings me near
To the childhood I lost replaced by fear
I used to think that the day would never come
That my life would depend on the morning sun

When I was a very small boy
Very small boys talked to me
Now that we've grown up together
They're afraid of what they see
That's the price that we all pay
Value destiny comes to nothing
I can't tell you where we're going
I guess there's just no way of knowing

I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see the light in the shade of the morning sun
My morning sun is the drug that brings me near
To the childhood I lost replaced by fear
I used to think that the day would never come
That my life would depend on the morning sun

I feel so extraordinary
Something's got a hold on me
I get this feeling I'm in motion
A sudden sense of liberty
The chances are we've gone too far
You took my time and you took my money
Now I feel you've left me standing
In a world that's so demanding

I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see the light in the shade of the morning sun
My morning sun is the drug that brings me near
To the childhood I lost replaced by fear
I used to think that the day would never come
That my life would depend on the morning sun

Kt Tunstall's "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree"

2007-02-02T01:26:00.000-06:00

KT Tunstall is a terrific singer-songwriter from Scotland, of Scots-Irish-Chinese parentage. I first heard Tunstall's name last year on American Idol, when Katherine McPhee sang her song, "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree", very well, barefoot & accompanied by two men playing box drums (cajones). It was one of McPhee's--or anyone's--best performances of that Idol season, & it gave KT's career a well-deserved boost in the USA.
You can find Tunstall on the Web at www.kttunstall.com, www.myspace.com/kttunstall, & www.virginrecords.com/kttunstall/.

This is a live acoustic version of that song:

This is the radio single version:

These are the lyrics, pleasingly mysterious & contradictory, with a wonderful opening sentence:

Black Horse & The Cherry Tree (KT Tunstall)

(woo-hoo,woo-hoo)
(woo-hoo,woo-hoo)
Well my heart knows me better than I know myself
So I'm gonna let it do all the talking.
(woo-hoo,woo-hoo)
I came across a place in the middle of nowhere
With a big black horse and a cherry tree.
(woo-hoo,woo-hoo)
I felt a little fear upon my back
I said don't look back, just keep on walking.
(woo-hoo,woo-hoo)
When the big black horse that looked this way,
Said hey lady, will you marry me?
(woo-hoo,woo-hoo)
But I said no, no, no,no-no-no
I said no, no, you're not the one for me
No, no, no,no-no-no
I said no, no, you're not the one for me
(ooooo,woo-hoo)
And my heart had a problem, in the early hours,
So I stopped it dead for a beat or two.
(woo-hoo,woo-hoo)
But I cut some cord, and I shouldn't have done that,
And it won't forgive me after all these years
(woo-hoo,woo-hoo)
So I sent her to a place in the middle of nowhere
With a big black horse and a cherry tree.
(woo-hoo,woo-hoo)
Now it won't come back , cause it's oh so happy
And now I've got a hole for the world to see
(woo-hoo,woo-hoo)
And it said no, no, no,no-no-no
It said no, no, you're not the one for me
No, no, no,no-no-no
Said no, no, you're not the one for me
(ooooo,woo-hoo) (not the one for me, yeah)
(ooooo,woo-hoo)
Said no,no, no,no, no, no, no
You're not the one for me
Said no,no, no,no, no, no, no
You're not the one for me
Big black horse and a cherry tree
I can't quite get there 'cause my heart's forsaken me
Big black horse and a cherry tree
I can't quite get there 'cause my heart's forsaken me

My Beginnings of Brian Eno

2007-02-01T00:49:00.000-06:00

In 1977, while I was a junior at Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi, three of my new friends introduced me to the music of Brian Eno, on the LP's Here Come the Warm Jets & Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy, from 1973 & 1974. What I heard changed my musical life that day, & I have never ceased to consider Eno one of the very special wizard-geniuses of song & music. Listen to these two ridiculously amazing pieces: "Baby's on Fire" from his first solo album, Warm Jets, recorded shortly after he parted company with Brian Ferry & Roxy Music; "Golden Hours" from his third solo effort, 1975's Another Green World. (The guitar solos on both are played by Robert Fripp.)

Pink Floyd "Wish You Were Here"

2007-01-31T01:11:00.000-06:00

Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" for my son Miles.

Reggae masterpiece POLICE AND THIEVES

2007-01-25T00:34:00.000-06:00

This is one amazing piece of creation by Lee "Scratch" Perry, with Junior Murvin singing from Scratch's Black Ark circa 1976. I nearly lost my ever-lovin' mind the first time I heard it, about a year ago!
I hope you can dig it half so much.

POLICE & THIEVES
(Junior Murvin-Lee Perry)

Police and thieves in the street (oh yeah)
Fighting the nation with their guns and ammunition
Police and thieves in the street (oh yeah)
Scaring the nation with their guns and ammunition
From Genesis to Revelation yeah
And next generation will be hear me
All the crimes committed day by day
No one try to stop it in any way
All the peacemakers turn war officers
Hear what I say
Hehehehehehehey
Police and thieves in the street (oh yeah)
Fighting the nation with their guns and ammunition
Police and thieves in the street (oh yeah)
Scaring the nation with their guns and ammunition
Oh yeah
All the crimes committed day by day
No one try to stop it in any way
All the peacemakers turn war officers
Hear what I say
He-he-he-he-he-he-hey
Police and thieves in the street (oh yeah)
Fighting the nation with their guns and ammunition
Police and thieves in the street (oh yeah)
Scaring the nation with their guns and ammunition
Police and thieves
Police...

Bright Eyes' "At the Bottom of Everything"

2007-01-18T04:40:00.000-06:00

This standalone flash player is called radio.blog. It comes from a music file sharing site I discovered this week, www.radioblogclub.com. I don't know much about it, but I like it.

"Lose This Skin" by Tymon Dogg with The Clash

2007-01-18T03:44:00.000-06:00

This wild Irish rose of a song has been one of my favorite pieces of popular music since I first heard it in 1980 or so, on The Clash's Sandinista! LP. Tymon Dogg was a musician & busker from Liverpool who gave his young friend Joe Strummer some of his early lessons on guitar & ukelele. Mr. Dogg wrote this mysteriously wonderful song & sings it with a commitment & abandon that have never ceased to charm & touch me.

LOSE THIS SKIN
(Tymon Dogg)

Come with me, I won't hide
We're going on a ride
We meet each day, use time to see
While we're young and almost free
I've got to lose this skin I'm imprisoned in
Got to lose this skin I'm imprisoned in
Do not turn or hate to see
All the things you think we've got
Do not turn or hate to see
What happened to the wife of Lot
We're alone or so they say
We're not on our own in that way
When we're alone it's real tough going
We tend to take a part in someone else's play
Come with me, I thought he said
But that's not him anymore, he's dead
What's it like to be so free
So free it looks like lost to me
I've got to lose this skin I'm imprisoned in
Got to lose this skin I'm imprisoned in

Tymon Dogg is alive & well & still making music. Visit him on the web at www.tymondogg.net, www.tymondogg.com, & www.myspace.com/thequikening.

George Michael's Guilty Feet

2007-01-17T01:11:00.000-06:00

Like it or not, here's a great chorus of songwriting by George Michael (plus a couple of lines of verse, also well-expressed):

I'm never gonna dance again

Guilty feet have got no rhythm

Though it's easy to pretend

I know you're not a fool

I should have known better than to cheat a friend

And waste a chance that I'd been given

So I'm never gonna dance again

The way I danced with you

Time can never mend

The careless whisper of a good friend

"Guilty feet have got no rhythm" Wow. I have read on the 'Net that Mr. Michael was 17 when he wrote "Careless Whisper".

"Rounders" Is a Great Movie

2006-10-23T02:27:00.000-05:00

Matt Damon is one my favorite actors in a generation or two. (He was born in 1970.) Two of my favorite roles for Damon have been in two of my favorite films of recent years. First is Matt's turn as the title character in Good Will Hunting (1997), directed by the remarkable Gus Van Zandt, from a touching script written by Damon & his childhood Boston pal, co-star Ben Affleck, which richly deserved its Oscar for original screenplay. Second is John Dahl's fascinating card-shark tale Rounders from 1998. The brilliant script by David Levien and Brian Koppelman is set at a quizzical tone by Damon's high-stakes, all-gravy turn as card pro/law student Mike McDermott, well-matched by Edward Norton, & also by John Turturro, Famke Janssen, Michael Rispoli (as Grama), & the wild John Malkovich (as Teddy KGB). Please add to these two movies, then, if you're still with me, two more Damonisms: Francis Coppolla's 1997 Rainmaker (as John Grisham's idealistic young lawyer Rudy Baylor), & Anthony Minghella's 1999 The Talented Mr. Ripley (as an astonishing chameleon named Tom Ripley). That's at least four amazing film performances by Matt Damon in three years or so. But I mustn't forget Spielberg's heart-boggling Saving Private Ryan (also 1998). Before any of these, Matt played beautifully in Courage Under Fire for Edward Zwick (1996). There were also a couple of strange Ocean movies (2001 & 2004) that looked like they were a lot of fun to make, & three portraits of Bourne (between 2002 & 2007). What's more, I haven't even yet seen the recent Syriana or The Departed.

Hurricane Katrina Survival Celebration Verse in Honor of the Biloxi Vietnamese Boat People

2006-10-01T01:38:00.000-05:00

(As my father often said, "...like unto that.")

Boat People: Haiku & Song
Dignified & Surviving Hurricane Katrina

--written at Biloxi, Mississippi, Vietnamese Boat People's
Community Celebration on September 30, 2006--

Dragon Men dancing
like fans on fire
waving to the people

Balloons float away
Will float down later
Balloons all over--
O Say Can You See

Ask the Dragon Drumming Boys
To tell you the
Name of their Drum
They say "It is a Drum."
(They said it was a Drum)
Said a Big Drum
Yeah!

gtm10/01/06

Susan Enan song on "Bones" tv show

2006-09-14T02:12:00.000-05:00

It seems I am one of many web-ones/we-Bones who discovered singer-songwriter Susan Enan by way of the excellent Fox tv show BONES Wednesday night. The ending of the episode quite fittingly featured Enan's sad-lovely song, "Bring on the Wonder". Like many others, I Googled the lyrics of the chorus & got only one return--the interesting blog of Susan Enan's friend, one Bananie, titled associated in random thought (www.bananie.com). There I found a quickly growing set of comments from the many people who had also Googled as I did & found only the one result. Obliging Bananie promptly posted a second comment about the song, directing the curious to Enan's myspace page, www.myspace.com/susanenan where an embedded player offers both that song & another. I ardently recommend a visit thereto.

Entirely without permission, I quote the entire song:

Bring on the Wonder (written by Susan Enan) (I presume)
I can't see the stars anymore living here
Let's go to the hills where the outlines are clear
Bring on the wonder, bring on the song
I pushed you down deep in my soul for too long

I fell through cracks at the end of our street
Let's go to the beach, get the sand through our feet
Bring on the wonder, bring on the song
I pushed you down deep in my soul for too long

Bring on the wonder, we got it all wrong
We pushed you down deep in our souls for too long

I dont have the time for a drink from the cup
Let's rest for awhile till our souls catch us up
Bring on the wonder, bring on the song
I pushed you down deep in my soul for too long

Bring on the wonder, we got it all wrong
We pushed you down deep in our souls, so hang on
Bring on the wonder, bring on the song
I pushed you down deep in my soul for too long

Don Vappie, "American Creole" New Orleans Musician

2006-09-08T01:06:00.000-05:00

This link will take you to the Louisiana Public Broadcasting web page about a wonderful documentary I watched on PBS last night, American Creole: New Orleans Reunion, about the efforts of Don Vappie, N'Awlins banjo specialist & all-around musician (from a family boasting professional musicians for the past century!) to regroup his Creole Dixieland jazz band, The Creole Jazz Serenaders, as well as his life, after Hurricane Katrina. (I know the feeling.)

The film contains feel-good music, sobering & uplifting emotions, & fascinating glimpses into the cultural & racial fabric of America's unique city. The comments of Vappie's family & friends regarding their mixed ethnicities should inspire all us Americans to think long & hard before we spout off any supposed certainties on race & color. To quote the above-mentioned web page:

While Don was displaced by Katrina for only a month, more than half of his eight sidemen saw their houses destroyed. All were forced to evacuate to distant cities. Don scrambles to keep his band alive by taking what gigs he can. On the road, Don wonders if he would be better off living somewhere else, like New York. But can he really leave New Orleans, his home? Don’s questions lead him to friends, mentors, and fellow musicians, each affected by Katrina in his or her own way. They offer views on what it means to be from New Orleans and what it means to be a Creole of Color, a racial and cultural mix of African-American, French, Spanish, and Native American ancestry, with a rich history in Louisiana. With even his family members unable to agree, the answers he finds are as varied as the cultures that make up his heritage.

As a musician, my own favorite moment from the documentary has to be the joke-riddle that Don tells about his instrument:

Q.--What's the difference between an Uzi & a banjo?
A.--An Uzi only repeats 40 times.

Triage has busy weekend

2006-08-08T13:30:00.000-05:00

TRIAGE had a busy Saturday, August 5th, in Ocean Springs--we played for the pre-opening-opening of the Ocean Springs Fresh Market in the morning under dark clouds (but no rain), & then to a packed house at Coffee Fusion Bubbletea that evening. Both gigs were lots of fun, & we felt very appreciated all day.

At Coffee Fusion, we were blessed to have in attendance the mother of rhythm guitarist/vocalist Robert Weathersby; she turned 89 years young last week, & her daughter & son-in-law graciously brought her out to hear us. (My own mother made her 82nd B-day last week, but she lives in California with my brother & his wife, so that's a looong drive.) [These photos were taken at Coffee Fusion that night.]

The next scheduled dates for Triage are: a return to Darwell's in Long Beach on Saturday, August 29th, 6:30-9:30pm; & by special invitation, a benefit performance at Pelican Landing in Moss Point for a Hurricane Katrina one-year observance dinner on Tuesday, August 29th (more details on this soon).

Charles Mingus quote on musicians playing

2006-07-15T13:06:00.000-05:00

In the documentary film, Charles Mingus: Triumph of the Underdog, about the life & career of the great jazz composer & bassist, an interviewer asks Mingus & his longtime drummer, Danny Richmond, what they are saying to each other in the "musical conversations" they appear to be having when they play together, "talking to each other on your instruments." Mingus' answer is one for the ages, a truth for musicians & everyone else: "Uh, Fuck you, you dirty motherfucker. You son of a bitch. Sometimes I love you truly. Sometimes Mary had a little lamb." (I must say that this fits well my relationships with most of my former & current bandmates.)

Here's a link to the official Mingus website: http://www.mingusmingusmingus.com/

###NEWSFLASH!!!###TRIAGE GIGS for June+July+Beyond***###

2006-06-18T00:50:00.000-05:00

The above link takes you to the Triage website, designed by our Margie, & it's worth a click or two; but I think I am scooping her with this breaking info about our latest confirmed dates to triage folks via our soulful brand (if I do say so) of folk-n-rock.

We played a very fun & well-received (if I may say so) gig in Long Beach last Saturday at DARWELL'S, a terrific restaurant in old downtown, a couple of blocks up from the beach. (Lovely Long Beach, Mississippi, was the birthplace & hometown of my late father, Tommy Meek, just a short 50 miles or so from my present home in Jackson County, at the eastern edge of Mississippi's re-arising Gulf Coast.)

Darwell's friendly Front-of-the-House man, Papa D., not only expertly aided us in fine-tuning our soundcheck when we arrived; at night's end he invited us to come back for a standing gig every other Saturday night, to play from 7:00 to 9:45 or so (vis LBCity regs for noise!). We said YES, natch; so we'll see you there if you drive on down for some good good food food (NOTE: Alcohol not served--BRING YOUR OWN BOTTLES if you like) at Darwell's palace--or, er, place--I'm sorry, I lost my concentration remembering the award-winning & mouth-watering shrimp creole prepared by the chef of the house, Papa D.'s own son, Dale. The smoke-barbecued pork tenderloin chopped up in guitar-god Kelly's sandwich was equally delicious. [I'll supply last names & Darwell's exact location & phone number next draft; I believe they are on East 1st Street.]

However, this next week only, we are not playing there Saturday, but Friday night the 23rd, & we can't wait. We might even start before 7:00--by the time we're all set up & tuned, Robert & Kelly are ready to "do it to it". The very next night, Saturday the 24th, we will be at Coffee Fusion Bubble Tea in Ocean Springs, on Bienville Blvd. (aka Hwy 90), a lively, 'Net-wired spot we always enjoy visiting. After that, we return biweekly to Darwell's, beginning Saturday, July 8th, & we'd love to see YOU at both venues. Thanks for reading.

on MSNBC.com - Entertainment Weekly's List of 25 Most Controversial films - #1: Gibson's "Passion of the Christ"

2006-06-10T04:22:00.000-05:00

The link above should go to the MSNBC.com story on EW's new list of 25 most controversial films (MSNBC's is the only online story I've found yet, & lists only about half the flicks.-?- It was not on EW's current display yet-?!- I did find mention of the top 10 from this list on a Detroit News weblog page.) Anyway, I don't know anything about the selection processes used to make this list, yet, but it seems to me a pretty good set of choices. (The full list appears in the June 16, 2006 issue of Entertainment Weekly.)

1. Passion of the Christ (2004) dir. Mel Gibson
2. A Clockwork Orange (1971) dir. Stanley Kubrick
3. Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) dir. Michael Moore
4. Deep Throat (1972) dir. Gerard Damiano
5. JFK (1991) dir. Oliver Stone
6. The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) dir. Martin Scorsese
7. Birth of a Nation (1915) dir. D. W. Griffith
8. Natural Born Killers (1994) dir. Oliver Stone
9. Last Tango in Paris (1973) dir. Bernardo Bertolucci
10. Baby Doll (1956) dir. Elia Kazan
13. DaVinci Code (2006) dir. Ron Howard
16. United 93 (2006) dir. Paul Greengrass

Also in top 25 , in unknown order(giving us 16 of 25 for now):

The Deer Hunter (1978) dir. Michael Cimino
Basic Instinct (1992) dir. Paul Verhoeven
Do the Right Thing (1989) dir. Spike Lee
Kids (1995) dir. Larry Clark

As I said, a pretty good list. In fact, the first two would have been my first choices, as well. I believe Bertolucci's (& Brando's) Last Tango in Paris, which was still quite a hot topic when I first saw it, in a commercial theater in 1977 in Jackson, Mississippi, must go up there near them; evidently, the same is true for Pier Paolo Pasolini's Salo' (1975)--of which I have read & been told by friends, but have seen only scenes. I would immediately also think of Natural Born Killers, Apocalypse Now (1979, Francis Ford Coppolla), & The Deer Hunter. Also tough to watch were Sam Peckinpah's extreme Straw Dogs (1971) & David Cronenberg's crazy Crash (1996). I suppose Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979, Terry Jones), Birth of a Nation, Da Vinci Code, & Basic Instinct are controversial to somebody. But in 1932 Tod Browning's Freaks was fairly freaky, as it remains today. & any number of offerings by John Waters (especially early on, with Divine &co.) have been definitely freaky over many years.

Two final notes to Never Forget on this subject of controversial movies:

The truly original--& hugely originary--power of the great King Kong of 1932, by Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack, more mysterious & amazing than ever, after 74 years!, superior to what any outright remake, by the definition of remake, could ever intend to be, or actually be. I mean, how would it be possible to conjure in today's film audiences the same frisson, the same stunned delight, that Kong's first fans must have experienced in their local movie houses, staring up at the screens in amazement at the noisy spectacle unreeling overhead, still unaccustomed as they were to talking pictures, & all blissfully unaware of the astonishing cinematographic developments that lay in store for audiences 70 years thence?
The unprecedented effect of terror on a segment of the population caused in 1938 by a radio broadcast: Orson Welles' Mercury Theater production of H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds. The unforeseen panic was provoked by the broadcast's detailed verisimilitude, its seeming credibility as an urgent, realistic news program, clearly creating, as an entertainment event, a superior structure of suspense, & drawing greater controversy & audience response, than either filmed version.

a coolfriendly blog on blogger

2006-05-28T22:30:00.000-05:00

With thanks to NeoN D. SuRFeR for these swipes from his blog, blog'n at san onofre:
I love the marquee sign:
The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.

& check out the reference to the recent surprising medical study results suggesting that long-term marijuana smoking does not lead to lung cancer! He links to a report at http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org.

To top it all off, he even posts for all our edification Mr Ben Franklin's 12 Rules, beginning with this marvelous trio of gems:

Finish better than your beginnings.
All education is self-education.
Seek first to manage yourself, then to manage others.

David Bowie's HUNKY DORY

2006-05-26T03:00:00.000-05:00

Hunky Dory
If this works, this link will play the entire fascinating early album by David.

couple of cool trax thanx to napster.com

2006-05-17T15:29:00.000-05:00

(I should probably point out that in order to hear these, one must "register for free Napster.com service" by giving Napster one's email address & a little more, but it is free, & it's not requiring an intrusive level of info, to me. The offer for which I signed up gives me 5 free online, full-length plays--that is, streaming audio, not to be saved--of every track Napster.com has to offer, advertised at many millions of songs. The actual pay versions of Napster, which do include permanent files to download & save to any media, seem like good deals to me, too, but I have not taken them up on any; & no, I am not being compensated for anything I say here by any sponsors of the advertising sort. Of course these tracks may be found at many other fine music services available online, & one should check out a variety to see what suits.)

Without further ado, here are one old favorite that still shines strangely, & one slightly strange new discovery that shone for an American Idol finalist as well as for its originator:

Buddy Holly by Weezer, from the album Weezer: Still crazymazingly weird after all these years.
What's with these homies dissin' my girl? / Why do they gotta front? / What did we ever do to these guys / That made them so violent?

Black Horse And The Cherry Tree (Radio Version) by K.T. Tunstall, from the album Eye to the Telescope: This singer & her song were new to me when I enjoyed seeing Katharine McPhee belting out something about a black horse & a cherry tree, if I heard her right, on American Idol 2 or 3 weeks ago. I listened to a few other Tunstall tracks on Napster, & read her All Music Guide bio there--very interesting: as a young girl in the 1980's, KT listened to Ella Fitzgerald for singing lessons; & an early favorite album was David Bowie's Hunky Dory! I say, she had better make some music worth a listen! My favorite line is the singer's self-empowering reply to the horse's proposal, "You're not the one for me."

Downed live oaks will live on at Mystic Seaport

2006-05-16T02:46:00.000-05:00

I realize this news story from 2 months ago is fairly ancient by web time, but I love the idea that truly ancient Mississippi coast oak trees felled by Katrina (many probably closer to 200 years old than the 100 quoted in the story) are being used to help restore this whaling ship for educational purposes, & wanted to share it with whomsoever may be reading my blog. This entire story is very interesting, but my favorite aspect is how much satisfaction, or, indeed, healing, was experienced by the property owners in having the opportunity to give their trees to this worthwhile cause. (I have edited, rearranged, & omitted parts of this CNN story, without altering any material facts, to suit my focus.)

Downed live oaks will live on at Mystic Seaport, By Marsha Walton, CNN

Tuesday, March 14, 2006 Posted: 2156 GMT (0556 HKT)

MYSTIC, Connecticut (CNN) -- Live oak trees, many more than 100 years old, are connecting residents of storm-ravaged Mississippi and experts at Mystic Seaport, a Connecticut maritime museum.
Hurricane Katrina uprooted hundreds of live oaks, but the trees will not go to waste. They'll be used in the restoration of the Charles W. Morgan, one of the last wooden whaling ships in the world. The Morgan was built in 1841 and made 37 voyages before retiring in 1921 ...

"Live oak in the age of wooden ships was the best available ship timber; it is strong and dense and more importantly it grows in gentle curves that are almost analogous to the frames in a ship's structure. So it's really excellent material for shipbuilding," said Quentin Snediker, shipyard director at Mystic Seaport. "The fact that we are able to salvage the material from the storm brings a little bit of good in light of the terrible human tragedy," he said. "It's a small compensation, but many of the landowners feel some reward in the fact that the trees that are so beloved and so much a part of the cultural heritage of the region will find new life in our ships," he said.

Snediker had collected live oaks damaged by earlier hurricanes. Wood from Hurricane Hugo in 1989 was used to build a re-creation of the schooner Amistad. Damaged trees from Hurricane Ivan in 2004 were collected for the Morgan project.

But with the vast loss of life and human suffering from Katrina, Snediker was reluctant to ask about the trees, because so many people in the region had suffered so much. Fortunately, the people came to him. Several weeks after the storm, on the same day, two individuals, one from Long Beach, Mississippi, and one from Mobile, Alabama, contacted Mystic Seaport to offer trees uprooted on their property. Snediker said he knew then that the tree owners, who felt so helpless about so many aspects of the hurricane rebuilding effort, felt a "new life" for their beloved live oaks brought something positive out of the tragedy.

On his first trip to the Gulf coast after the storm, four women stopped to talk as he was spraying the word "SAVE" in orange paint on some downed live oaks. The women all agreed to give the trees from their own demolished properties. "Despite the fact that they had lost all of their worldly possessions, their automobiles, they were just really almost giddy at the fact that we were preserving the trees that had ... defined their experience living down there for so long," Snediker said...

Some of the salvaged trees spent nearly 200 years shading Beauvoir, the Biloxi home and now the museum of Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy during the Civil War. While many of Davis' historical papers were moved to safety before the hurricane, several buildings on the Beauvoir property, built in 1852, sustained serious damage. In spite of their own reconstruction needs, the museum was quick to offer its downed trees when they learned of the Mystic Seaport project. "Non-profit entities are always looking for ways to assist one another with their special projects," said Patrick Hotard, director of Beauvoir. "This is just a wonderful use of wood from the Jeff Davis property to help preserve the old sailing vessels that are part of our national heritage," he said...

The restoration of the Morgan will begin in the fall of 2007, and is expected to take about three years. This wood will be used to rebuild parts of the frame, and the stern and stem posts... Visitors to the 75-year-old seaport museum will be able to watch the restoration process as it unfolds. And Snediker says that scraps of the trees too small to be used in the restoration will likely be turned into small mementos honoring the donations from Gulf Coast residents.

A few closing notes: The article says that 30 truckloads of coast trees have been taken to Mystic, & that over 200 of the trees have been milled there. Beauvoir is of course only a couple of miles west of where I used to live, before Katrina, along the beach in Biloxi, & yes, those trees were wonderful. A Meek ancestor of mine is buried in the Confederate cemetery there, the widow of a Civil War veteran named Meek; I have not been back there since the storm to check on it. Another note: the city of Long Beach, mentioned above, was my father's hometown; Thomas Edgar Meek was born there in the early '20's (at the very same time the whaling ship Morgan in this story was ending its seagoing career) & graduated from Long Beach High before enlisting in the Army Air Corps in 1941. (He died in 2001, in the next-door-city of Gulfport.)