Thanks for coming to the cave in Pelham last night, it was a pleasure singing those old hymns I surprised my spouse by knowing the words to. I’m glad I pushed record just before you recited Sonnet 73. “Dabbling in depression” is indeed a waste of precious time. You’re doing good work. Keep on “golfing” (which you told us is what you’re actually doing, on tour)...
When you mentioned "The Marriage of Figaro" my mind jumped to Mr Beaumarchais who used the profits from his comedy to fund the American Revolution. A story rarely told in school, it adds just a bit of spice to the play. Mozart's music is just pepper.
When Ruth Bader Ginsburg was asked what her favorite opera was, she replied that it was either "Le Nozze di Figaro" or "Don Giovanni", whichever she had seen most recently. I tend to agree with her, but I am a Verdi fan as well.
In the event you didn’t actually know what TDS (“Trump Derangement Syndrome”) is, it means “An Unintentional Exercise in High Irony”.
For example:
As when the followers of a criminal charlatan (having spent years mindlessly overlooking, excusing, and justifying the behavior and lies of the con man, no matter how blatantly outrageous, despicable, and immoral those actions may be) attempt to label any criticism of their leader, no matter how mild or accurate, as “Deranged”.
Trump Derangement? It befalleth both the believers and the haters, the crooked and the straight, the fools and the wise, the Good and Evil.... It is become ineluctable, inescapable, and seemingly incurable. We are ALL stuck in this horrible national (World?) psychosis for as long as that gargantuan media monster continues to angrify our synapses and plug up our politics.
Dear GK: Your mention of distaste of the pipes led me to ponder, "what would it sound like to hear a duet of banjo and bagpipes?' So I am on a quest to find any such recording. I played 5-string banjo as a semi-professional folk singer in my younger days ( semi-professional = you don't make enough to live on ), so I was told from time to time what an awful sounding instrument the banjo is. I'll let everyone know what I find. When I was told of folks' banjo antipathy, I tried not to consider they meant the way I played it, not the sound in general.
of all the grrreat posts tonight two prompted me to comment. Number one is the picture of the Fairy Pools, undeniably one of the most beautiful places on earth! Number two is the post about Taylor Swift. Never a fan because much of her music makes me think she is a mindless twit. I found out, though I was wrong. To wit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bkDDJNOlJQ her commencement speech to the 2022 class of NYU!
I had a strange dream last night at around 8PM. (I am close to my goal of shifting my sleep/wake cycle by 5-6 hours before I leave for my trip to Italy on Wednesday - best way to prevent jet lag.) In the dream went out to my driveway to get the mail and on the way back, I noticed that all of the grass was covered with hailstones the size of tennis balls, arranged neatly in a beautiful hexagonal close-packed array. I went back into the house to tell my husband what I had seen, but woke up before I could find him.
I wrote two sonnets when I was 15 - the English teacher and her grader loved them. I wrote two limericks in Italian when I was on a Mozart/Verdi tour in 2004, but I won't post them because they were about people on the tour and wouldn't make sense to anyone who wasn't with us. I did write a poem about Batman (when I was 17) that one of my nieces (an English literature major) who is a Batman fan really liked:
Thanks for coming to the cave in Pelham last night, it was a pleasure singing those old hymns I surprised my spouse by knowing the words to. I’m glad I pushed record just before you recited Sonnet 73. “Dabbling in depression” is indeed a waste of precious time. You’re doing good work. Keep on “golfing” (which you told us is what you’re actually doing, on tour)...
https://substack.com/@philoliver/note/c-40255474?r=35ogp&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
Depends on the fart...
When you mentioned "The Marriage of Figaro" my mind jumped to Mr Beaumarchais who used the profits from his comedy to fund the American Revolution. A story rarely told in school, it adds just a bit of spice to the play. Mozart's music is just pepper.
When Ruth Bader Ginsburg was asked what her favorite opera was, she replied that it was either "Le Nozze di Figaro" or "Don Giovanni", whichever she had seen most recently. I tend to agree with her, but I am a Verdi fan as well.
Good morning Garrison
In the event you didn’t actually know what TDS (“Trump Derangement Syndrome”) is, it means “An Unintentional Exercise in High Irony”.
For example:
As when the followers of a criminal charlatan (having spent years mindlessly overlooking, excusing, and justifying the behavior and lies of the con man, no matter how blatantly outrageous, despicable, and immoral those actions may be) attempt to label any criticism of their leader, no matter how mild or accurate, as “Deranged”.
Trump Derangement? It befalleth both the believers and the haters, the crooked and the straight, the fools and the wise, the Good and Evil.... It is become ineluctable, inescapable, and seemingly incurable. We are ALL stuck in this horrible national (World?) psychosis for as long as that gargantuan media monster continues to angrify our synapses and plug up our politics.
Dear GK: Your mention of distaste of the pipes led me to ponder, "what would it sound like to hear a duet of banjo and bagpipes?' So I am on a quest to find any such recording. I played 5-string banjo as a semi-professional folk singer in my younger days ( semi-professional = you don't make enough to live on ), so I was told from time to time what an awful sounding instrument the banjo is. I'll let everyone know what I find. When I was told of folks' banjo antipathy, I tried not to consider they meant the way I played it, not the sound in general.
Roger Krenkler - L.A..
There was a loquacious “GK”
Who shared all his words by the bucket.
Till—renouncing all verbs—He retired offshore & hoarded his nouns on Nantucket!
GK: I will try to paste the link to the only Banjo - Bagpipe duet I find marginally acceptable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MbBMjqw_Dc
Roger Krenkler - LA
oh.my.gawd!
of all the grrreat posts tonight two prompted me to comment. Number one is the picture of the Fairy Pools, undeniably one of the most beautiful places on earth! Number two is the post about Taylor Swift. Never a fan because much of her music makes me think she is a mindless twit. I found out, though I was wrong. To wit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bkDDJNOlJQ her commencement speech to the 2022 class of NYU!
I had a strange dream last night at around 8PM. (I am close to my goal of shifting my sleep/wake cycle by 5-6 hours before I leave for my trip to Italy on Wednesday - best way to prevent jet lag.) In the dream went out to my driveway to get the mail and on the way back, I noticed that all of the grass was covered with hailstones the size of tennis balls, arranged neatly in a beautiful hexagonal close-packed array. I went back into the house to tell my husband what I had seen, but woke up before I could find him.
I wrote two sonnets when I was 15 - the English teacher and her grader loved them. I wrote two limericks in Italian when I was on a Mozart/Verdi tour in 2004, but I won't post them because they were about people on the tour and wouldn't make sense to anyone who wasn't with us. I did write a poem about Batman (when I was 17) that one of my nieces (an English literature major) who is a Batman fan really liked:
*The Death of Batman’s Parents*
One day Bruce Wayne went walking
With his parents in the street.
A man came up and shot them;
They fell dead at his feet.
After they were buried,
The young man made a vow
To fight the city’s criminals:
He is the Batman now.
But such a strange thing happened;
On his parents’s grave they found
That instead of green the grass grew
A golden yellow-brown.
So, in that famous graveyard
Where buried are the twain,
The tourists come to look at
The Amber Graves of Wayne.
> “The Amber Graves of Wayne.”
I don’t know whether to applaud or groan...
(Maybe I’ll just do both. ;-) )