Thursday, September 15, 2011

We've Moved!


Just a quick note to say I've moved over to the WordPress platform.  I don't have time to keep both sites in synch with each other, updating this whenever I write a post there, so if you want to follow Random Thoughts, please click on the link below and choose to follow from there.

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Sunday, August 7, 2011

Stormy Weather Whimsy

Singing in the Rain

 

The past few days on the East Coast have been nothing short of a steam bath, with temperature in the 90's and humidity at the saturation point. Waves of rainstorms have done little to relieve the heat, but instead have managed to pump up the humidity even more, just when you thought it could not get any more humid. It's the kind of weather that makes most adults rush into the home for shelter, yet I couldn't help but notice a couple of neighborhood children just having a ball in the middle of a torrential downpour, soaked to the bone, and laughing as they belly flopped in makeshift puddles the size of small ponds.

There is nothing like experiencing the world through children's eyes to lift the mood. We could all use a bit more whimsy in our lives. So inspired, and with no real plan in mind, I thought I'd rustle up a few Youtube links in honor of this stormy weather just for fun and to lighten my own mood.

First up is Billie Holiday cooing her way through Stormy Weather. I just love the way she phrases the lyrics musically. (I know, I know, this was a Lena Horne standard... sue me!)



 

Ah, now that you're all relaxed, I thought I'd liven it up a bit with a song and dance number from the 1943 Classic of a movie titled (what else?) Stormy Weather. This clip starts off with Cab Calloway and Orchestra singing Jumpin' Jive, and early into the number introduces the Nicholas Brothers in what might arguably be one of the single best dance performances ever captured on film - all in a single take to boot! The Stairway Jump Splits in the finale are breathtaking. I know I would have lost my breath, as well as my manhood and consciousness, if I ever tried a stunt like that - OUCH!!!



 

I need to relax after watching that! Let's keep with the theme and pick another from the Billie Holiday songbook as a way to wrap up this blog entry. Here she is, Lady Day singing Stormy Blues.


 

Storming or not, I hope you enjoyed your day.

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Thursday, July 21, 2011

Some Things Never Change



A few weeks back, my son returned home from college after his finals to visit us for a couple of days. It was a short visit. He was taking extra classes this summer semester and found a summer job nearby campus, so he needed to get back. Well, I'm pretty sure he came to visit anyway. There were miscellaneous sightings from my wife and me, along with a few neighbors. Further proof? There were baskets of clothes sitting by the washer in need of serious laundering, a whole bunch of food was missing from the refrigerator, and all my beer was gone. Circumstantial evidence perhaps, but still a dead giveaway my son was home. I know, I know, I'm kidding and exaggerating. I really did see and interact with him in the flesh. He needed money - again.

One night, my son wanders into the house with about a dozen of his friends and they were all gushing about how cool something or another was as they were passing around the ear buds to his iPod. I asked him what was so interesting. His response was, "We're listening to a live Podcast of a band we all like. This technology is so cool. Can you believe it? It's streaming live right now from a club downtown."

I started to think about this, and for some reason began blinking. I'm not sure if it was just my mind processing what he just said, or if I was developing a nervous tick thinking about the 3 BMW's I could have owned, all tossed away in the form of a college tuition.

"So... what's so cool about that?" I asked.

"Dad, it's LIVE! It's happening right now, and we're listening to it via a stream! Just imagine all the technology to do that!"

Oh, imagine I did. I had this gnawing feeling inside me, a sense of Deja Vu about all this technology and its application to everyday life. And then it hit me.



I tell ya, the iPod ain't got nothin' over this baby! It's completely portable and powered by a replaceable battery - no charger needed. And of course it comes complete with an earbud - one. But hey, you don't need an ear bud because it can play through a built in speaker, so folks didn't have to pass around or share that ear bud. Ha! And here's the best thing - it picks up LIVE streams of AM signal. Can you imagine that? I'm talking about live people, music, and events you can listen to in real time. In fact, listening to a live Podcast ... sorry, I meant Broadcast of the 1965 World Series on that technological wonder landed me a detention in Mrs. McF's class. She just didn't appreciate sports or technology it seems. Luckily, I only had to write, "I will not take my transistor radio to class" one hundred times on the blackboard before being sent home.

As I reflect on all this marvelous technology it occurs to me, in many ways, little has changed. In fact, as I look at the box above, with that "hip" guy and young woman in Go-Go boots holding onto that radio grooving to the music, it bears a strange resemblance to what arguably must be their kids 30 years later:



Devil With The Blue Dress On - probably not on your iPod but always playing on that transistor radio.


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Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Winding Down With The Blues



 

Late night again, and looking for a nice way to unwind musically. I'm in the mood for some slooooow blues. If you are too, grab a nightcap of your choice, don a set of headphones while I cue up a set of blues songs, and drift off into some relaxation, blues style.

Last Night - The Mannish Boys

Every Day I Have The Blues (Nobody Loves Me) - Ray Charles featuring G.D. McKee

If Trouble Was Money - Albert Collins

Ah... that hit the spot.

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Saturday, July 2, 2011

Independence Day Thoughts



As I reflect on the upcoming holiday, my thoughts fall back to a courageous group of young men with an idea. An idea of a place where people could be free to pursue a life of their choosing; an idea that liberty and freedom were inalienable rights of mankind. So fervent were they in their beliefs, they put it in writing, putting their own lives at risk in the hope a new era would be born.

The following words are not mine. They were written long ago by men far more insightful and courageous.

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

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I cannot help but look at some of the grievances listed above and wonder about the apparent irony that many are similar to problems our own government seems to impose upon us in these modern times. As I reflect on all this, I will cue up a sentimental folk song of my youth, my favorite version of America the Beautiful by Ray Charles. To all my fellow American friends, I wish you a happy and spirited holiday weekend. Enjoy!

America the Beautiful - Ray Charles

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Saturday, May 28, 2011

La Bohème - Giacomo Puccini

This is something I had been meaning to do for a while. I started a separate blog for a more full exploration of this grandest form of theater so it wouldn't take up too much space on my Random Thoughts Blog. I realize that Opera is not for everyone, but if you feel inclined or just might be a bit curious to take a peek at a full Opera, read on and visit my Random Musings About Opera blog. It's not a stuffy pretentious look, but a more mainstream introduction to one of my favorite art forms.

La Bohème - Giacomo Puccini La Bohème, French for The Bohemian Woman, is an adaptation of a French Novel Scènes de la Vie de Bohème (Scenes of Behemian Life) written by Henri Murger. The Opera was composed by Giacomo Puccini with the libretto written by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. La Bohème premiered on February 1, 1896. It is a Opera in four acts, each a different scene and setting in the lives of six bohemians living in Paris around 1830. The cast is as follows … Read More

via Random Musings About Opera

Friday, May 6, 2011

Morning Trails - Springtime at Lakefront



I am fortunate to live in an area that has hundreds of miles of dedicated walking trails and a marvelous lake and wildlife preserve a few miles from my home. I enjoy an early morning walk or run on these trails, and when I have extra time and the weather is nice, I make my way to the lake, camera in hand. I've been snapping photos of the lake for almost a decade now, and the fascination and beauty of the place never fades. If you have a few moments, join me and see why I consider this waking part of my day to be so special. I'll try not to bore you too much with commentary - the images tend to speak well for themselves.



A Blue Heron searching about for breakfast.



Sunrise making its presence known.



A young buck and his companion enjoying a morning drink. Personally, I prefer a nice strong cup of coffee.



Sometimes, all you really need to do is look upward for inspiration...



A favorite spot for me to reflect, and to journal those random thoughts that occasionally make their way to this blog.



Last year's grasses yielding to this year's new growth.



Full sunlight bathing the lake's easternmost end.



Here we have a family of Expatriate Canadian Geese who have declared their preference for permanent residency in Maryland.



This pesky Egret was dodging me for quite some time before finally staring me down, probably wondering what the heck I was doing poking around his environs.



It is said that some men spend their time sitting in Church and dream about fishing, while other men spend their time fishing and dream about God. I believe this shot helps me understand the spirit of that saying.

As I made my way home, walking through the trails and eventually emerging to the streets leading to my home, I couldn't help but notice the frenzied pace of cars whirring past me as people scurry about in their daily lives, completely oblivious to all that beauty lying just beneath the veneer of a world they are unconsciously rushing through.

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