5 On Friday is the wonderful meme dreamed up by Travis of Trav's Thoughts. The rules are simple. Select five songs and either put them on a juke box or link to You Tube etc. Then sign the Linky on his site so that others can hear what you have chosen and you can visit them. Full directions are available at Trav's Thoughts.
Billy Joel and Ray Charles - Baby Grand
I've used this one before, but I just love, love, love this song simply because it is the way I feel whenever I hear a piano played..
This was particular affecting since this piece plays constantly in the monument to honor the Russian war dead from WW II. Several people in the audience tear up with memories and even Horowitz seems shaken at the end.
Harpo and Chico Marx - Mama Yo Quiero
Now go expose a youngster to the genius of the Marx Brothers
Grant Johanneson - Claire de Lune by Debussy
This was my mother's favorite piece of music and I can't hear it without seeing her.
And lest you think only men know their way around this wonderful instrument:
Jung Lin - Hungarian Rhapsody #2 by Franz Liszt
There are so many ways to play a piano that this list could have gone on forever as I haven't included several different genres and pianists. What are your favorite performers and pieces? I couldn't leave without something by the great Duke Ellingon, so this becomes 6 on Friday.
There are very few people who bleed Dodger Blue the way I bleed Dodger Blue. I don't care where you live or which team you root for, my love for the Dodgers borders on an obsession in Baseball season. It started a long time ago in the 1950s when I rooted for the Brooklyn team. When I heard "My Dodgies" were moving to my hometown it was heaven sent news as I was too young then to be aware of the controversy. It is the type of controversy that now plagues every area of the country when the choices about the benefit of building a sports stadium arise. Voters and their representatives might want to consider if the price in people and places as well as money are worth the sacrifice for the construction.
Los Angeles paid a very big price in order to have the Dodgers. All it required was the destruction of three communities and ripping out the heart of a whole way of life. Before being cleared for public housing, Chavez Ravine was made up of the three mostly Latino communities of La Loma, Palo Verde, and Bishop. The Hispanic residents in this area of Los Angeles were uprooted in order to build Dodger Stadium at Chavez Ravine. As written, sung and played by Ry Cooder the above album tells the story of this history and I've linked to the Los Angeles Dodgers and the building of the stadium at Chavez Ravine. Even after a half century, the pain of some of the decisions made still linger in the memories of what used to be and is no longer there.
The next to the last song on the album packs an emotional wallop of the longing for home by the man from 3rd Base Dodger Stadium.
Mister, you're a baseball man, as anyone can plainly see.
The straightest game in this great land. Take a little tip from me.
I work here nights, parking cars, underneath the moon and stars.
The same ones that we all knew back in 1952.
And if you want to know where a local boy like me is coming from:
3rd base, Dodger Stadium.
2nd base, right over there. I see grandma in her rocking chair.
Watching linens flapping in the breeze, and all the fellows choosing up their teams.
Hand over hand on that Louisville. Crowning the top, king of the hill.
Mound to home, sixty feet. Baseball been very good to me.
And if you want to know where a local boy like me is coming from:
3rd base, Dodger Stadium.
3rd base, Dodger Stadium.
Back around the 76 ball, Johnny Greeneyes had his shoeshine stall.
In the middle of the 1st base line, got my first kiss, Florencia was kind.
Now, if the dozer hadn't taken my yard, you'd see the tree with our initials carved.
So many moments in my memory. Sure was fun, cause the game was free.
It was free.
Hey mister, you seem anxious to go. You could find that seat, in the 7th row
Behind home plate, where we used to meet. When we were young, we had dreams.
Just a place you don't know, up a road you can't go.
Just a thought, laid to rest in my mind, just a time.
If you care to know where I'm gonna go when I hit my last homerun:
3rd base, Dodger Stadium.
3rd base, Dodger Stadium.
3rd base, Dodger Stadium.
Hey, Mister, you are a baseball man.
Yes, I'm a baseball man myself.
Yes, I'm a baseball man, too.
Baseball been very good to me.
Yes, baseball been very good to me.
"Dodger Stadium in Chavez Ravine is shaping up. Construction is now about 85 per cent complete, despite a mishap yesterday, when a crane fell into some seats. Access roads are going in. And the spot (X) is already chosen for that loveable (?) left field screen from the Coliseum. It'll be covered to provide dark background for batters." Photo by Harold Morby, September 27, 1961 - Herald-Examiner Collection; Los Angeles Public Library
To participate in "The Queen's Meme" simply click on the link and follow directions. This week's meme is to come up with a song title/lyrics to fit randomly generated words. The Queen knows I can't resist a musical meme and it will be interesting to see if any songs are duplicated out there.
1. I Want To Know What Love Is - Foreigner
2. Hell of It from Phantom of the Paradise
3. Smack Water Jack, Carole King
4. Coyote Ugly Bar dance
5. Tale as Old as Time (Theme from Beauty and the Beast)
6. Romeo & Juliet - Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris
A friend sent me an email that is going around of the Top Ten of Everything which has all sorts of interesting statistics should you care to view them. In doing a little prowling of my own, I came across a Top Ten in art sales. With the full realization that these are always changing and don't take private sales into account, here is this snapshot of expensive paintings. Things are moving fast. There was a time with Van Gogh's Irises held the record at $53.9 million. Now that price wouldn't get you near the top ten, so save some more pennies before going shopping and take a good look to see if you would have bought any of them if you had the cash to enter a bid.
Artist/ painting/ sale year Price ($)
1 Pablo Picasso, Garçon à la pipe, 2004 104,168,000
2 Pablo Picasso, Dora Maar Au Chat
3 Gustav Klimt, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II, 2006 87,936,000
4 Francis Bacon, Triptych, 2008 86,281,000
5 Vincent van Gogh, Portrait du Dr Gachet, 1990 82,500,000
6 Claude Monet, Le Bassin aux Nymphéas, 2008 80,379,591
7 Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Bal au Moulin de la Galette, Montmartre, 1990 78,100,000
8 Sir Peter Paul Rubens, The Massacre of the Innocents, 2002 75,930,440
9 Mark Rothko, White Center (Yellow, pink and lavender on rose), 2007 72,840,000
10 Andy Warhol, Green Car Crash – Green Burning Car I, 2007 71,720,000
Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich was revealed as the buyer of Francis Bacon’s Triptych. The price he paid is a record for a post-war painting. The previous day he had purchased Lucian Freud’s Benefits Supervisor Sleeping for $33.6 million, a record price for a work by a living artist.
Even higher prices are reputed to have been paid for works of art sold privately. Such sales are rarely publicized, but it is believed that in 2006 US music mogul David Geffen sold Jackson Pollock’s No.5, 1948 for $140 million.
A private sale that never happened was that of Pablo Picasso’s painting Le rêve. Its owner, Las Vegas casino owner Steve Wynn, agreed to sell it privately for $139 million, but while showing it to a group of friends, Mr Wynn made a sweeping gesture and accidentally poked his elbow through the canvas, resulting in a 15-cm (6-inch) tear – and the cancellation of the sale.
Travis of Trav's Thoughts has invented this delightful meme called 5 on Friday. Stop by his site to check out the simple rules and then sign the Linky to share some of your favorite music with others.
If you are not familiar with Tommy Emmanuel, here is your chance. There must be something in the water of Australia because they sure have some wonderful guitarists and Emmanuel is a true artist playing classical, folk music, or medleys of the songs of Peter Allen or the Beatles. His Wiki article is the link on his name. He happens to be touring the U.S. now and if you would like to see him in person, check out the tour dates on his Official Website.
Guitar Boogie
Classical Gas
On the following links is an excellent interview featuring Mr. Guitar, Chet Atkins, and Tommy Emmanuel.
Today is the anniversary of the birth of Emma Lazarus. In case you have never read the whole of her famous Poem, but only the lines on the Statue of Liberty, here it is.
The New Colossus
Emma Lazarus, 1883
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Today will be a race track day watching horses make left turns. How I will do is anybody's guess so I'm in a mood for mystery so you get the Plain White T's, Cirque du Solleil and Alice in Wonderland with "Welcome To Mystery".
Travis of Trav's Thoughts has invented this delightful meme called 5 on Friday. The rules are simple..
1. Grab the banner, make your post title Five on Friday, and be sure to link back here.
2. Go to Playlist.com to make your play list of five songs. You may choose a particular theme to share with us, or post random tunes if that's your vibe for the day. You can simply post the play list, or you can add a little summary about what you are sharing.
2a. Don't feel restricted by the tracks listed on Playlist.com. You're welcome to use any type of media to share your Sets.
3. Be sure to sign Mr Linky so everyone can visit your Set.
4. No tags, but feel free to invite your friends to play along if they need a post topic on a Friday
Rolling Stone ranks Ry Cooder as number eight of the 100 top guitarists in the world. I would have given him the number four place after Duane Allman, BB King, and Eric Clapton, but then I would have quibbled with several of the placements on that list since I prefer the fast but melodious pickers to the feedback and wail rockers. It's not that Cooder can't make a guitar scream for mercy, it is that he can make it do anything. I've tried to give you a taste of all the genres where his instrument is showing the world how it should be played, but then left one clip for the end so you can listen to all ten and make up your own mind.
First the solo from the movie "Crossroads" with Cooder playing for the actor portraying Robert Johnson. If you have never seen this movie, you have missed Steve Vai and Ry Cooder tearing up the room warring for the Devil (Vai) and fighting for the soul (Cooder)
Since my mother's name was Mary Ellen, I've always been fond of the song Maria Elena. Here Cooder plays it in the film "Ry Cooder and The Moula Banda Rhythm Aces: Let's Have A Ball"
Now for a little bit of soul with "At The Dark End of the Street"
Folk Guitar with the Chieftains playing Dunmore Lassies as each musician takes turns playing the lead on the theme.
And to finish off: The top ten guitarists according to Rolling Stone in ten little minutes: Counting down backwards: Keith Richards, Jimmy Page,
Ry Cooder, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Chuck Berry, Robert Johnson, Eric Clapton, BB King, Duane Allman, and in the number one spot: Jimi Hendrix
Don't know if they are on a Rocky Mountain High but it certainly is beautiful.
12 July 2010
Brown and Agile Child
Brown and agile child, the sun which forms the fruit
And ripens the grain and twists the seaweed
Has made your happy body and your luminous eyes
And given your mouth the smile of water.
A black and anguished sun is entangled in the twigs
Of your black mane when you hold out your arms.
You play in the sun as in a tidal river
And it leaves two dark pools in your eyes.
Brown and agile child, nothing draws me to you,
Everything pulls away from me here in the noon.
You are the delirious youth of bee,
The drunkenness of the wave, the power of the heat.
My somber heart seeks you always
I love your happy body, your rich, soft voice.
Dusky butterfly, sweet and sure
Like the wheat field, the sun, the poppy, and the water.
For the past year, my daughter has been sending money to her Sister In Law to put in a vacation fund for a major trip from Sacramento to Mount Rushmore and back again with many stops along the way. That adventure started this past weekend. Thanks to Face Book, i'm getting pictures galore as they wend their way first to Utah and then to points east. First Stop: Donut Falls, Utah
While making the rounds of 5 on Friday participants, I started with the submission by Travis which happened to include one of my favorite songs: Ne me quitte pas (English lyrics "If You Go Away" by Rod McKuen). Either version in the original French or in the English rendition is a powerful song, but most people don't know the history of the lyrics. As with most translations, the message changes just by virtue of trying to create a lyric. In this song, it is more pronounced that others.
Jacques Brel first recorded this song in 1959. In 1972, Brel recorded another version as the title track of his album Ne Me Quitte Pas. The lyrics "Moi, je t'offrirai des perles de pluie venues de pays où il ne pleut pas" ("I'll give you pearls of rain that come from lands where it does not rain") are sung to a theme borrowed from the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6 by the composer Franz Liszt.
Ne me quitte pas was written after Brel was thrown out of Zizou's life (Suzanne Gabriello - his mistress at the time). Zizou was pregnant with Brel's child and had an abortion after Brel refused fatherhood. He would later say in an interview that the song is not a love song, but rather a song about the cowardice of men when confronted by responsibility. In the original French it is a man begging to be forgiven by forgetting the past, while in English it is a man asking for one more chance to prove his love .... a subtle but powerful difference.
The original French translates as:
Don’t go away
If you can’t forgive
Believe, just to live
You must forget
Forget the times
You misunderstand
Let them slip through your hand
With the sand of time
Forget those hours
When ‘perhaps’ has died
At the hands of ‘why’
And our lack of faith
Don’t go away
Don’t go away
Don’t leave
I’ll offer you pearls
Made out of the rain
That falls in a world
Where rain never falls
I’ll ransack the earth
By day and by night
To cover your body
With gold and with light
I’ll make a domain
Where love will be king
Love will be everything
You’ll be the queen
Don’t go away
Dont’ go away
Don’t leave
Don’t go away
I’ll invent for you
Words just meant for you
And you’ll know what’s meant
And I’ll tell you the truth
About how other lovers
Looked into each other
And how they were moved
Then I’ll read to you
The story of kings
Who lived without meeting you
Died without knowing you
Don’t go away
Dont’ go away
Don’t leave
And just when you think
The volcano’s expired
The craters turn pink
And the ash turns to fire
In a charred barren land
You can still be surprised
Wheat suddenly stands
Like a dream of Julys
When the sun sets
In a brilliant sky
The black and the red
Never touch as they die
Don’t go away
Dont’ go away
Don’t leave
Don’t go away
I won’t cry anymore
I won’t talk anymore
I’ll crawl under the bed
And I’ll watch you from there
As you smile and you dance
And I’ll listen to hear
How you talk, when you laugh it’s enough
In the shadow of your shadow
In the shadow of your hand
The shadow of your man
Don’t go away
Dont’ go away
Don’t leave.
And this is what Rod McKuen did with his version in "If You Go Away"
Jacques Brel is an amazing composer. You might want to add the soundtrack version of "Jacquest Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in New York" or just pick up Amanda McBroom's wonderful album "Chasson" which features the Brel songs.
Travis of Trav's Thoughts has invented this delightful meme called 5 on Friday. The rules are simple..
1. Grab the banner, make your post title Five on Friday, and be sure to link back here.
2. Go to Playlist.com to make your play list of five songs. You may choose a particular theme to share with us, or post random tunes if that's your vibe for the day. You can simply post the play list, or you can add a little summary about what you are sharing.
2a. Don't feel restricted by the tracks listed on Playlist.com. You're welcome to use any type of media to share your Sets.
3. Be sure to sign Mr Linky so everyone can visit your Set.
4. No tags, but feel free to invite your friends to play along if they need a post topic on a Friday
This is my latest purchase from ITunes. You Tube only has a sample of the songs on this large album. The Eagles have always had a unique harmony, but this group of songs have some vocals that just blow you away with the purity of the chords. There is a great mix of up tempo and quiet poetic songs. Enjoy.
The Queen's Meme: Sometimes silly. Sometimes serious. Always fun! Step out of the box. Be creative. Use your imagination. No one's answers are quite like yours
1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought? - Damn I'm starting to get those little verticle lines by my lower lip that make older folks look as if they are frowning ... Where's the Regenerist?
2. Where did you go on the very first vacation of your life? - This one is actually hard to answer. Was that event a vacation or just another change in cities? Probably Hume Lake is as close as I can get
3. Open the door of your refrigerator. What is the first thing you see? - Remains of the Quiche I made two days ago
4. Tell us about your first kiss OR your last first date. - Well I paid Hugh O'Brien $5.00 to charity if he would kiss me. First boy girl kiss - Jerry Northrup who sort of looked like Hugh O'Brien. It's still my favorite way for a man to look.
5. If you had wings to fly about the universe, where is the first place you'd land? - Wouldn't go far for a first trip. Probably the moon so I could look down on the earth being beautiful instead of messy from this viewpoint.
6. What is the first thing you do when you get in your car? - Adjust where I'm putting the IPOD.
7. What is the first thing you ever said to your firstborn? - "Hello Chris"
8. What is the last thing you heard about your first love? - That he had gotten married. This was not welcome news.
9. If you had created the world in seven days yourself, what would you have created on the First Day? - That whole, "Let There Be Light" idea strikes me as a good one, probably followed by chocolate.
10. What is the first song in your IPOD or song list? - Baby Grand - Billy Joel & Ray Charles
11. What is the first tangible thing you lost that you could never find again? - Tempted to say my sanity. Other than that shoes. I HATE< HATE shoes and no one to keep them on me until I started school. I still lose shoes and the quest for a pair to wear to work was a daily event until I retired. 12. Who is your favorite First Lady of all time? - In my lifetime Eleanor Roosevelt with Jaquie Kennedy a close second. All time ever: Abigail Adams
13. Post a link to your first blog post. It was a very short one: Rest and Be Thankful
14. When was the last time you needed FirstAid? - Cut myself chopping vegetables a few days ago.
Travis of Trav's Thoughts has invented this delightful meme called 5 on Friday. The rules are simple..
1. Grab the banner, make your post title Five on Friday, and be sure to link back here.
2. Go to Playlist.com to make your play list of five songs. You may choose a particular theme to share with us, or post random tunes if that's your vibe for the day. You can simply post the play list, or you can add a little summary about what you are sharing.
2a. Don't feel restricted by the tracks listed on Playlist.com. You're welcome to use any type of media to share your Sets.
3. Be sure to sign Mr Linky so everyone can visit your Set.
4. No tags, but feel free to invite your friends to play along if they need a post topic on a Friday.
--------------------------------------------------------------
This week, I took the easy way out by just putting the IPOD on "Shuffle Songs" and then using the first five songs that came up that were available on Playlist. The following box is the result. Just to give you an idea how eclectic things can get, I've also listed the next twenty songs that arrived. The Highlighted ones have a link to You Tube.
