The Triumphant Return of the Monday Meme: Top Ten Junk Foods

Gee, I haven't been inspired to do a meme for a while but Greg did a Top Ten Favorite Junk Foods and Tosy noted his top ten candy bars. Since I never ate that many of the latter, I'll stick with the former.

10. Plain M&Ms - back in my less disciplined days, I'd eat a whole bunch in rainbow color order: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, brown. OK, brown's not in the rainbow. Now, if I succumb to the candy, it'll be one piece. And it'll be green, of course.

9. Wheat Thins- I've started actually started looking at the packaging, deciding whether the "reduced fat" product or the "whole grain" product is better. Well, the former has fewer calories. Both are nearly as satisfying as the original, which is not always the case with these products.

8. Ritz Crackers - there was a time when I could devour a whole roll of these; a box holds three or four rolls. Usually consumed with diet cola. Hardly buy them now, even though, as Andy Griffith used to say, it is a "good cracker!"

7. York Peppermint Patty - The ersatz brands were almost never as good.

6. Oreos - probably the least healthy thing on the list. A transfat haven. I understand they have, or are in the midst of changing the formula, which could wreck them. Always consumed with milk.

5. Mounds - I almost never felt "like a nut", but went with this coconut-laden treat.

4. Graham crackers - they don't have to be Nabisco, but some of the store brands are not good at all. Many years ago, I used to soak them in milk, just shy of them disintegrating them into the beverage. Don't do that any more.

3. Carrot cake - STILL the item I want for my birthday. With milk or vanilla ice cream.

2. Fig Newtons - or any of those Newton products. Here's where vending machines are good for portion control. Two bars are OK; a half stack is bad. Usually with milk.

1. Ice cream - all kinds - vanilla, preferably French vanilla, with a bit of "bite" to it; strawberry; all variations of vanilla and chocolate together; and sundry fruity others. Some of the low fat/reduced fat things are OK, but there isn't a "no fat" item I've tasted that has been worth opening the freezer door for.

I did have banana bread, preferably homemade, on the list, but I suppose it may not be junky enough.
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A convenient truth: In a remote controlled world, physical fitness gets the zap.
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Mets, Cards tied at two games apiece. Let's go, METS! (Will Tigers be flat after a week off? I hope so.)

Head Over Handlebars

I took a spill off my bike (coming down Everett Road in front of Krug's Market, for you locals) Thursday. It was downhill, so I was going at a good pace when I clipped the suddenly high curb and landed on the sidewalk. The palms of my hands hurt so much that I was nearly paralyzed in pain for about 10 minutes. My left knee is scraped, my right elbow hurts to the touch, and my right knee looks...awful. I'm glad I had my bike helmet on. My right wrist is very sore, but the good news is that it's sprained or strained, not broken; it's in some removable support brace, which I'll be wearing for a while. My glasses were slightly twisted, but were repairable.

On Thursday, I'll be starting with one-pound weights to try to strengthen the wrist.(I've been told that canned produce can be substituted for weights.)

So, if I get a little terse in the next few days - because I'll be typing, actually hunting-and-pecking, with my left (non-dominant) hand a lot - you'll know why. Fortunately, I tend to work a little ahead, so you won't have to go entirely without my pithy wisdom.
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Follow closely: Boing Boing on October 13 had a link to Mike at Progressive Ruin's great post about the comic strip Nancy, which cited my piece of January 22 about a parody of the strip. Got that?

Thanks to Dan for noting that. He also sent me the other day:
"Watch and learn from this video from the TV. Amazing that Keith Olbermann is allowed in the corporate media. I read this morning that his Nielsen ratings are up 69 per cent in the last five weeks. LINK. If that doesn't work, try one of these other video styles, currently second from the top: Why Does Habeas Corpus Hate America. Every patriotic American should watch this."
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"So Roger, half your mid-season prediction has come true." Now, I have to worry about the other half. Fred was already worried after Game 2. And what IS that thing on Scott Spiezio's chin?

America at 300 Million

As you probably heard, The United States will welcome its 300 millionth living person, probably Tuesday around 7:30 a.m. EDT. (When I was doing math last month, I guessed it would be tomorrow at noon.)

So what I'd like to know is what advice would you like for that new resident? It might be a baby or immigrant.

I'd like to see if we can find ways to use up fewer of our natural resources, if we could find ways to listen more and talk less, to be courageous in the midst of doubters, and to be tolerant in the midst of fear. I also suggest voting as often as possible; it gives you the right to complain. There's a blood drive in my building, and the accompanying poster reads something like: "My dad says giving blood is as important as voting." I thought it was funny, since half the people don't vote, which, of course, gives those of us who do with more relative power.

What would YOU advise new Americans?
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And speaking of voting, Buffalo Pundit describes the third-rail campaign of Congressman Tom Reynolds. (Thanks to Jaquandor for the lead.)
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Welcome home from Mexico, Eddie! I tried to make the master CD yesterday and it was defective AGAIN, so next time for sure. But what constitutes being Rogerian? I do so love being the inspiration for an adjective.

Is It Bogus?

I got an e-mail yesterday, with the headline: Racist Girl Group Makes Billboard Charts:
September 22, 2006...What does it mean for Black America that a hate preaching music duo could debut on the Billboard albums chart? This week, the Billboard albums chart's top five is packed with nothing but new releases, with Bakersfield, CA Pop duo Prussian Blue shocking the nation by taking the [the number 4 slot] after selling 91,000 copies of "End of A Black World" its first week out. The album is also serving as the soundtrack to a remake of one of the most controversial movies in U.S. history "Birth Of A Nation". "End of A Black World" is the third and most successful album for 12 and 13 year old Lamb and Lynx, who have recently relocated to a private compound in Salt Lake City, Utah after their last album gained them national attention and death threats.

It goes on with a complaint by "Ted Shaw, civil rights advocate and president of the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund," who called "for black artists to boycott Billboard." It has a Jessie Jackson quote. Lynx was apparently distressed about Dave Chapelle's sketch "depicting a blind, African American, Ku Klux Klan leader who was unaware that he was not white."

The problem is: I couldn't find this album ANYWHERE, including on the sisters' website; they are 14-year-old twins, BTW. What made it initially plausible were the links to the real ABC News stories here (a YouTube video) and here. In fact, the first part of the Ted Shaw quote comes from the linked article. This doesn't appear on my favorite mythbuster Snopes.com, but this is bogus. I always wonder who has the time or the inclination to make up such garbage.
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Those of you not from the area may have missed the story about 2 guilty in sting case: Muslim immigrants face up to 25 years in prison:

Two Muslim immigrants who were targeted in an FBI sting were convicted on Tuesday of charges they supported terrorism by taking part in a fictitious plot to launder money from the sale of a shoulder-fired missile.
Yassin M. Aref, 36, a Kurdish refugee from northern Iraq whom the FBI identified as their "ultimate target," was found not guilty on 20 of 30 counts filed against him. But Aref was convicted of several key charges, including money laundering and conspiracy to support terrorism, arguably diminishing the effect of the jury's acquittals on two-thirds of the indictment against him.
Mohammed M. Hossain, 51, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Bangladesh who arrived in the United States more than 20 years ago aboard a cargo ship, was found guilty on all 27 counts he faced, including conspiracy to support terrorism. Hossain, who co-founded the Central Avenue mosque where Aref was the spiritual leader, owns a pizzeria and was targeted only because of his close relationship with Aref, authorities said.
The case was launched in 2003, after Aref's name and Albany address were recovered from debris or notebooks in three suspected terrorist encampments during the early stages of the Iraq war. By that time, Aref already had been interviewed by FBI agents who had been assigned to visit mosques and ask Muslims to report any suspicious behavior.
The sting case began in July 2003 when an undercover informant went to Hossain's small pizza shop and befriended him while posing as a wealthy importer. At the time, Hossain was struggling to keep his business afloat while managing a couple of rental properties he purchased through a county property auction.
The informant offered to loan money to Hossain. The pizzamaker suggested Aref, his mosque's imam, be brought in to witness their loan transaction, which was what the FBI had hoped would happen.
Authorities contend the pair went along with the deal, even after the informant showed Hossain a shoulder-fired missile while disclosing that he earned money selling weapons to terrorists.
Defense attorneys countered the informant never made it clear the loan was connected to a terrorism plot or a specific terrorism organization, which the indictment alleged. They also said language barriers -- the three men all spoke different native languages -- prevented the defendants from understanding what was unfolding.
The case drew criticism from the American Civil Liberties Union and other critics of the Bush administration's post-9/11 counterterrorism tactics. The ACLU had joined the case at one point, unsuccessfully challenging the judge's decision to allow the government to make numerous classified filings in the case that remain sealed.

Earlier stories noted that "Aref also faces three separate charges for allegedly lying on a green card application and while being interviewed by FBI agents about his ties to a Kurdish political party." Much of the information was provided by an informant, who was under indictment in another matter.

This case troubled me in so many ways. Not surprisingly, the verdicts are being appealed, and I wouldn't be a bit surprised if the appeals are successful because:
* The informant is squirrely, and helped in entrapping the others.
* The language barrier was great. The two men convicted and the informant all had different native languages. Indeed, some of the original documents that placed them under suspicion were mistranslated by the government, with one of the men thought to have been addressed as "commander" when the actual word was something more benign, such as "fellow member".
* Most important is the judge's instruction to the jury, which stated that the FBI had reason for taking the action they did. It's not only prejudicial, it seems actionable by the entity that administers judges.
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The local paper has a blog with a weekly feature, This week's 2-faced heads. "Every Friday, we pass along a little collection of potentially double-meaning headlines culled throughout the week from newspapers, wire services and online sites." Well, I found one in that paper Tour boat owner remains in cases. If you think of "remains" as a noun, this is a very funny headline about a very sad case, described in the subhead, "Mohican vessel operator kept as a defendant in Ethan Allen deaths", and the first paragraph: "ALBANY -- Two Lake George tour boat companies faced off in U.S. District Court Tuesday over the sinking of the Ethan Allen in which 20 senior citizens drowned."
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One of my fellow bloggers, knowing I used to work in a comic book store, sent me a link about The Secret Origins of Batman, how Bob Kane (or his assistants) swiped a lot of work. This appeared a few months ago in a column I generally read, but somehow I missed it.

He also sent me a piece on pop artist Roy Lichtenstein, who did pretty much the same thing; there's even more info here and here. I never "got" Lichtenstein, whose fame I never understood, yet outstripped those he copped, except in the narrow world of comic books.
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You'll find a picture of Mark Foley here. Apparently it's a real picture, but so what? A Republican President with a Republican member of Congress. Eh.

"Subconscious misperception"

I'm reading the business librarians' listserv - yes, we have a [not-so-]secret cabal where we exchange information. I come across this piece:

I find it a strange and interesting "dichotomy" that people have concerning the Internet (Blogs, emails). We've been at our company looking a User Generated Content (blogs, RSS, etc). And trying to understand this "yet another variation" of cyberspace and how it impacts our company and our clientele. A recent survey by Pew on Bloggers, indicated that Bloggers "see" their blogs as a private thing, in spite of the fact they are using a public medium where everyone and anyone can see it. I cannot help but wonder if cell phones have influenced the blurring of private and public conversations. How many people have you "heard" in a public place that speaking loud enough for everyone in hearing distance on their cell phone, some conversations that really should not be made public.

Consider that there are many folks who are "concerned about privacy" and yet will freely give out information about themselves to telemarkers.

Things that make you go hmmmmm.

I thought it interesting enough to steal, er, borrow for my blog, but I thought I would ask her. In the TO: line was her name and the listserv name. I swore I had deleted the latter. That is, until I got back my own message, at which point I quickly apologized to the list. One respondent, Dan the Data Wrangler, wrote back: "Hey, no problem....at least it wasn't one that contained highly personal or salacious content. :-)" I replied, "I try not to do salacious."

In any case, in searching for the Pew study which the initial writer mentioned, I came across this Business Week article from July 19, 2006 entitled "Pew Blog Study Shows the Lure of Storytelling is High" by Heather Green:

The Pew Internet and American Life Project has a new study out on blogging that finds that most people who blog do it to tell stories about their lives--not to write about politics, tech, or media.
One tidbit I found particularly interesting is that 55% of bloggers write using a pseudonym...
Pew found that about 8%, or 12 million American adults, blog, while 39% of the population, or 57 million people, read blogs.

This, as these things do, led me to another study, Bloggers' FAQ on Student Blogging:
According to a November 2005 study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 19% of online teens keep a blog and 38% read them. This represents approximately four million students who blog and is a significantly higher percentage than the adult population (7%).

Then, this one: In court, blogs can come back to dog the writers; Use as evidence increases by Sacha Pfeiffer of the Boston Globe, September 28, 2006.

Yes, I'm blogging about blogging again, how I'm a part of a growing number of people putting out whatever random thoughts come to me on a regular basis, and part a slight minority of bloggers who actually doesn't write pseudonymously. But it's more about how I've seen people in blogs making curious choices about what they put out there. I know one buddy who put out info about his trip to Florida, but it was AFTER he got back - pretty clever, that one. Another chum noted problems at work; hey, I've noted my disdain for my new office - the white noise that otherwise would tend to put me to sleep, and as a result, how my caffeine consumption is way up - but that is something I would say, heck, HAVE said, to the powers that be. I don't say anything that I wouldn't want quoted out of context. Or at least, I try not to.

The initial quote above was in response to an ongoing dialogue; the previous post was from Dan, who wrote:

Personally, I think the last thing we need is more legislation about privacy, or anything else. As the author you quote notes, and as I hope we all know, anything you ever do, or anything you ever say, put into electronic form, or on paper can probably be retrieved. If you don't want someone to know what you think, keep it to yourself.

This is nothing new. Ever since the beginning of writing, if not earlier, the recipient of a message could do anything he wanted with it, and that's still true. The same is true of email or chat, as I'd hoped we all knew already.

In many chat programs when a session ends you're prompted as to whether or not you want to save a transcript. The person you're chatting with can save that file and do whatever he wishes with it. Tell the police? Blackmail? Send it to your spouse? Send it to the New York Times?

No matter what anyone thinks, privacy doesn't exist. It may have at one point, but it certainly doesn't now. Legislation will not change that one bit.

I think there is a subconscious misperception that what we put in blogs and e-mail are private. And I think that's a dangerous thing.
(Thanks to Al for the title.)

Old Fogey Music, Volume 2

This is a follow-up to this post last spring, where I note what I covet musically, all put out by people who are over 50, some of them dead. I should note that everything on that list, save for the Beatles box, I now have, and enjoy, including the Johnny Cash album.

But before that, I've been thinking about musical storage, as a result of a question from GayProf. Back when I had a few dozen LPs, they were on a shelf in my room on the floor. In college, I used milk cartons, orange crates, and the traditional cinder blocks and planks.

Then I got hold of used metal racks from somewhere. They had a slight lean to them, so they could only be used in certain parts of the room. I remember once (or more) when a girlfriend thought it would look better somewhere not in a corner, and over my objections, I moved off all my LPs, moved the racks, then loaded the LPs. They stood for about 10 minutes, then collapsed, LPs and all. ("See, I TOLD you it wouldn't work!")

Finally, I bought a nice bookcase where my LPs would reside until I got married, when my wife "appropriated" it for the kitchen. My LPs are now in the entertainment center in the first floor, and in an old bookcase of hers on the third. Since the stereo is on the first, this is not what one would call...convenient.

Meanwhile, my CDs were in bookcases as well. When we first moved into this house, I put my CDs in one large bookcase, put some CDs in, then watched helplessly as it fell on top of me, because of the slope of the house. The bookcase was then braced to the wall, and that worked fine until some small person started removing the CDs.

So now my CDs are in four pieces of furniture especially designed for CDs, VCR tapes and the like. They were so hard to put together - they had arms that swing open - that I spent something like six hours putting together the first one, with help from my father-in-law, no less. So for my birthday last year, Carol hired someone to put the other three together. Item 1 contains the CDs A-Harris, item 2 Harrison-Sh, item 3 Si-Z, plus the TV, movie, and Broadway discs, then the compilation disc A-H, and item 4, compilation I-Z, plus the tribute albums, and the Christmas music.

And now, let the coveting/Christmas wish list begin. These are in order by release date:

The River in Reverse- Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint
Released: June 6, 2006
My first album by this artist: Get Happy!, 1980 (Costello). Oh, yeah, he's only 49.
While I have songs on compilations, and certainly songs that he wrote for other artists, I have no Allen Toussaint albums.

Highway Companion-Tom Petty
Released: July 25, 2006
My first album by this artist: Damn the Torpedoes, 1979


Modern Times-Bob Dylan
Released: August 29, 2006
My first album by this artist: Blonde on Blonde, 1966
Covet. Covet.

Overnight Sensational-Sam Moore
Released: August 29, 2006
My first album by this artist: Best of Sam and Dave, 1969, though my sister had some earlier albums.

Duets: An-American-Classic-Tony-Bennett and a whole bunch of folks
Released: September 26, 2006
My first album by this artist: Basie Swings, Bennett Sings, originally released 1958


Ray Sings, Basie Swings- Ray Charles and Count Basie
Released: October 3, 2006
My first album by this artist: Early Ray Charles, don't know the date, but it was an LP of his 1940s music, when he was still trying to sound like Nat "King" Cole. (Basie previously cited.)

Songs from the Labyrinth-Sting
Released: October 10, 2006
My first album by this artist: Outlandos d'Amour-the Police, 1979

Also, a good friend of mine recommended that I should get some Howard Tate, and I'm going to add Rediscovered to my list.

Finally, there is the Cirque du Soleil mashup of Beatles tunes for 'LOVE', which is supposed to be out next month, and which I will HAVE to get.

The priority list is probably, excluding 'LOVE': Dylan, Petty, Costello/Toussaint, Sting, Moore, Bennett, Tate, and Charles/Basie.

And if I don't get them for Christmas, there's always my birthday 2 1/2 months later, though it's unlikely I'd wait any longer for the Dylan and Beatles.

I Read The News This Week: Oh, Boy

Carol and Lydia went away last weekend, to go to Carol's brother's daughter's fifth birthday party. I stayed home, did some banking, got my bike fixed TWICE (some very small piece of metal, maybe twice the thickness of a hair and a quarter inch long, kept flattening my rear tire), I cleaned the second floor, did some laundry, took out the compost, etc., etc.

But what I did mostly was read newspapers and watch TV. And not just any TV. I watched about a week's worth of the evening news. I think I was depressed.

Of course, there's the shootings at the Amish school in Lancaster County, PA, the county adjacent to where Carol and Lydia were going, actually, so I've seen those horse and buggies coexisting on the roadway with the cars of "the English", which is what the Amish call the non-Amish. I was interested to note that the strongest reaction to this event by my wife, more than sadness, more than the initial shock, was anger. This is a woman who just doesn't get all that angry, but I would define her reaction as really ticked off. I'm sure it was the victimization of girls, and that following the victimization of girls in the Colorado school shooting. For me, the Amish shootings were such shock, I had little reaction until I saw the deputy coroner describe how her job was to count the number of bullets in each of the dead girls' bodies, at which point, I actually cried about the incident for the first time.

Then there is the war in Iraq. It's easy to get inured to the death toll of American soldiers, not to mention the Iraqi body count. One friend of mine suggested that the "mainstream media" were underplaying the American deaths; I don't think so. I think it's that TWO SOLDIERS DEAD IN A ROADSIDE BOMB happens so often that it's, I'm afraid, NOT NEWS anymore. It's only when the number of American deaths spike, as they did during the first week in October, that it becomes particularly noteworthy. (Chris Black, from across the pond, gives excerpts from a Time magazine article about the war.

Of course, there's former congressman Mark Foley, who bugged lots of people not just because of his inappropriate e-mails, but because he was such a hypocrite, pushing legislation to protect children from Internet predators. Ben Stein complained on CBS Sunday Morning that there are more important issues, such as civil war in the Congo, genocide in Darfur, and the war we're losing in Afghanistan. True, but I think policy wonk Stein is being disingenuous; the issue has largely ceased to be about Foley and children, and more about power, and who'll control Congress come January. Should Hastert resign his post? Don't think it matters terribly much; he'll be gone as Speaker by January one way or another.

And there are lots of stories people care about, such as the state of Matt Lauer's marriage, and other celebrity gossip that I don't care a whit about.

A real Page 3 story is about these unexploded explosives, about a million of them the size of soda cans, that Israel dumped on Lebanon during the 34-day war with Hezbollah. The munitions, mostly American-made, have been injuring three people per day, and killing a few, since the Lebanese have returned to the towns they had evacuated during the fighting.

Which leads me to the story I thought was most inspiring this past week. It's about a number of white South African mothers who are providing breast milk for black South African babies whose mothers have died from AIDS and are in orphanages. It was such an inspiring story that a woman in the Midwest with a 10-month old heard about it, and she and her friends are sending frozen breast milk to the orphanage, shipped for free by DHL. I'm so glad for some of these upbeat stories to leaven the melancholy that 22 minutes of the news would otherwise cause me.

BTW, I tried to find the story on the ABC News website, searching for "breast milk" and I got: "You've entered a Search search term that is likely to contain adult content." This SO cracked me up that it didn't bother me that I couldn't find the story until I Googled it. There's a link here that does link to the ABC News story.

Also, it makes me believe that rooting for sports teams, an activity some people I know think is silly (I'm still holding to the Mets over the Tigers, both of whom advanced) is, if not done excessively, a useful exercise in mindless fun. Sure, it isn't war and peace. It's (mostly) nice stories, such as a Tigers team that lost 119 games three years ago (one fewer than the infamous 1962 Mets) winning a playoff series with a pitcher, Jeremy Bonderman, who lost 19 games that year, the day after Yankee castoff Kenny (the Gambler) Rogers shut out the Bronx Bombers. It's about players such as Jose Reyes and David Wright coming up through the Mets' minor league ranks ranks, succeeding and not being jerks, at least not yet, and the satisfaction that former Dodgers such as Shawn Green and Paul LoDuca felt eating their old team. Useful mindlessness, that's what it is.

The John Lennon Holiday

When I worked at a certain comic book store, the boss, an iconoclastic sort, decided that some holidays were not all that important (Washington's Birthday, Columbus Day) but that he wanted to pick others, such as Martin Luther King's birthday (this was before the holiday), and John Lennon's birthday.

So, I always chuckle inside when Columbus Day and John Lennon's birthday coincide. Columbus Day as the second Monday in October took effect in 1971. The two events coincided in 1972, 1978, 1989 - thus missing my entire tenure (1980-1988) at the store - 1995, and 2000, and will happen again in 2017, 2023, 2028, 2034, 2045, 2051, 2056, 2062, 2073, and 2079.

So, if you think that celebrating Columbus Day is somehow inappropriate, yet you're not comfortable with Indigenous Peoples Day, celebrate John Lennon Day today. He would have been 66.
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Gordon uses his psychic power on me.
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Happy Thanksgiving, Canada! Happy birthdays this week for niece Markia and friend Norman. Also, happy anniversary to Norm and Jay.
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The U.S. vs. John Lennon is a movie I should go see.

ALBUM REVIEW: We Shall Overcome

I grew up hearing the LP version of Pete Seeger's "We Shall Overcome" album "recorded live at his historic Carnegie Hall Concert, June 8, 1963". In the mid 1960s, I listened to it as much as I listened to the Beatles' Second Album or Beatles '65, which is to say, a LOT. It was an album my father enjoyed as well.

Ironically, I suppose, I was inspired to get a CD version of this album by the release of We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions by Bruce Springsteen - now available in the American Land Edition that people either love or feel gouged by. (I'll probably just download the extra tunes.)

Anyway, when I got We Shall Overcome: Complete Carnegie Hall Concert, it totally confounded me. A piece of music I knew note-for-note, I didn't know at all. All the things on the LP are there, but in radically different order, in a different context. Many of the LP cuts were truncated.

Here's the playlist of the 2 CD set. The numbers in parentheses are the cut numbers of the original album (8 songs on one side, 5 on the other)

Disc: 1
1. Audience
2. Banjo Medley: Cripple Creek/Old Joe Clark/Leather Britches
3. Lady Margaret
4. Mrs. McGrath
5. Mail Myself to You (10)
6. My Rambling Boy
7. A Little Brand New Baby
8. What Did You Learn in School Today? (5)
9. Little Boxes (6)
10. Mrs. Clara Sullivan's Letter
11. Who Killed Norma Jean? (7)
12. Who Killed Davey Moore? (8)
13. Farewell
14. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall (9)
15. Didn't He Ramble (Fragment)
16. Keep Your Eyes On The Prize (2)
17. If You Miss Me At The Back Of The Bus (1)
18. I Ain't Scared Of Your Jail (3)
19. Oh Freedom (4)
Disc: 2
1. Audience
2. Skip To My Lou
3. Sweet Potatoes
4. Deep Blue Sea
5. Sea Of Mercy (Fragment)
6. Oh Louisiana
7. (The Ring on My Finger Is) Johnny Give Me
8. Oh What A Beautiful City
9. Lua Do Sertao (Moon Of The Backland)
10. The Miserlou
11. Polyushke Polye (Meadowlands)
12. Genbaku O Yurusumagi (Never Again The A-Bomb)
13. Schtille Di Nacht (Quiet Is The Night)
14. Viva La Quince Brigada (Long Live The Fifteenth Brigade)
15. Tshotsholosa (Road Song) (12)
16. This Land Is Your Land
17. From Way Up Here
18. We Shall Overcome (13)
19. Mister Tom Hughes's Town
20. Bring Me Li'l' Water Silvy
21. Guantanamera (11)

The concert as performed had a series of themes. After a couple introductory tunes, disc one has a group of new tunes by songwriters such as Tom Paxton and Bob Dylan, mentioned by name on the CD, but not the LP. On "Who Killed Davey Moore?" Pete says, "This is a different kind of elegy," then misfingers his guitar before starting, which gives it a greater power; this is all missing on the LP. In fact, a couple other little gaffes are edited out, unnecessarily, I think.

The four songs from the Southern section are there, albeit in a different order. I suppose I understand removing references to upcoming concerts, but it was only on the CD that I realized that members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee were present on stage.

The next segment, the first half of the second CD, is comprised of familiar songs, missing entirely from the LP; perhaps they had appeared on then-recent Seeger albums. Then there was the "world" segment, represented only by "Tshotsholosa". Out of context -i.e., on the album, you miss the fact that Pete had gotten people to actually rehearse the stirring response, which is still a highlight of the album.

About two minutes of dialogue is removed from the final song before the encore, "We Shall Overcome". Again, some announcement of a coming concert is gone, but other conversation had been unnecessarily cut out.

Then the CD concludes with three encore songs, the last of which, "Guantanamera", was stuck in the middle of the second side of the LP.

I'm enjoying the CD, but it was as though the Beatles had intended to put out an album called Yesterday and Today, and you knew that album cold, but what you later discover is that the original was really comprised of the second side of the British album Help, the songs We Can Work It Out and Day Tripper, the entire British Rubber Soul album, the songs Paperback Writer and Rain, and the entire British Revolver album. All the songs are there, but there's SO much more, and with an entirely different feel.

Famous QUESTION

There was an anti-war rally in NYC in May of 1972, which a bunch of us from New Paltz, about 90 miles away, attended. We left after a few hours of none-too-pleasant weather. We were VERY disappointed to learn that, shortly after our departure, John & Yoko showed up unexpectedly at the rally. In fact, we considered turning around, for their words were being carried live on the radio.

Which is only peripherally related to my weekly queries:

1. What famous people have you met for long enough to actually have a decent conversation?
Earl Warren, Rod Serling, Anita Baker. (Is Alex Trebek famous?)

2. What famous people have you had an unexpected brief encounter?
Randy Newman, Stanley Tucci, Pete Seeger, Mark Lane (Dick Gregory's VP candidate in 1968, who was in some legal trouble mentioned on the front page of the NY Times on the very day I saw him).

3. What famous people have you had an expected brief encounter with?
Nelson Rockefeller.

4. What famous people have you seen unexpectedly, but didn't talk with? I'm not talking about seeing someone at a concert, unless they were in the audience and seemingly unrelated to the artist.
Mike Tyson with Jack Nicholson, Daniel Patrick Moynihan
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Fred is happy that the Mets are up two games to none.. I'm happy because I actually picked the Mets and the Tigers (up two games to one against the YANKEES) to go to the World Series. Of course, I don't think I've picked both participants in a World Series since the Subway Series of 2000; I usually get one right. Didn't pick the Red Sox or the White Sox, that's for certain. And Oakland dispatched the Twins mighty easily, which makes me nervous.
***
Kelly is being weird again. She is taking words and, through the magic of Google, is turning those words into images. Sadly, I find myself wanting to enable this weirdness. Her husband has strange thoughts, too. And curse GayProf for making me remember that I actually used to watch Chico and the Man.

Introducing...the Beatles

As I mentioned last month, I wrote to the local paper over this wire story about Beatles stamps on a Wednesday. A copy editor from the paper called me Friday, and the paper printed a correction on Saturday. The guy I spoke to for 20 minutes; he must be near my age, because the first album he ever bought was Meet the Beatles. He wondered how I knew all about the Beatles discography. (At some point, I noted that 'Yesterday'...and Today was comprised of 2 tracks from the British Help album, 4 from the British Rubber Soul album, 3 from the not yet released British Revolver album, plus the two-sided single.) I probably said, "I don't know; it's a sickness."

That could have been the end of the story. Guess not. Friday evening, I got THIS e-mail from the copy editor:
I just wanted to get back to you about the people item you e-mailed us about. Thanks for letting us know about it. The string of briefs was written by The Associated Press, so, on Thursday, I called them in New York to try to track down any complaints on this item. So far, they say, yours is the first comment. They wanted to research the story further and contacted the London bureau -- who actually - because of the time difference, AP says they haven't gotten any clear answers on a possible clarification. When they do come up with something, I'd like to run a correction on both points of your e-mail.

In the meantime, can you recommend a good source to check this information? An authoritative history? An accurate discography? The official Beatles site starts with the Capital catalog, so that's not much help. I want to research this in case The AP falls through.

Thanks again for letting us know about this.

Well, even though he did find what he needed, this e-mail sent me on a quest. When, exactly, DID Introducing the Beatles come out?

The source the copy editor found was the Beatles discography, a generally useful tool. But it says that Introducing the Beatles came out on January 10, 1964. This simply can't be right, can it? The Wikipedia listing says January 6, 1964. But I looked here and here and here and here, and they all say July 1963, which makes much more sense.

So, I looked at what I consider the authoritative source, Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Albums 1955-1996, put out by Record Research, a VERY definitive source and authorized by Billboard, which says:
"Vee-Jay released above title in July 1963 and included 'Love Me Do' and 'P.S. I Love You' which were replaced in 1964 with 'Please Please Me' and 'Ask Me Why'; original release is valued at $6,000-$8,000."
Those incorrect sources undoubtedly picked up on a re-release date.

The successor Whitburn book, covering 1955-2001, also says July 1963. What I noted, however, is that the NEWEST book, covering up to 2005, and now called The Billboard Albums, doesn't give a release date at all, only that Introducing...the Beatles first charted on February 8, 1964, a week after Meet the Beatles. This means I need to hold on to at least one of the older books. As I've described before about the Brooks and Marsh television book, I HATE having to hold on to an old reference book because the new one has gotten rid of important information, but that's what happened here. AGAIN.

aplfriends.blogspot.com

I was elected as Vice-President of the Friends of the Albany Public Library last May. Being vice-president of most organizations is a peculiar thing; there's nothing one is really mandated to do in that capacity, except to run the meeting if the president is absent.

FDR's first Vice-President, John Nance Garner, a/k/a "Cactus Jack", is famously noted for saying the vice presidency wasn't worth "a warm bucket of spit," although reporters allegedly changed the spelling of the last word for print. I note this because when I was on JEOPARDY! some years back, my opponents and I could not remember his name.

For the Friends, I am supposed to work on the quarterly mailing, but that's more difficult since they take place during the day AND I'm working further from downtown.

So, what to do? Well, if you're me, you start a blog. So I did. Back in July, I showed a couple people how easy is it would be to do one. Then I promptly forgot about it until shortly before the September monthly meeting. Now, I've found a rhythm to the thing and plan to update it regularly.
***
Scooter answers my questions.
Lefty discusses the mixed CD he sent me. And disses me AGAIN (see Fiona Apple).
Gordon discusses the mixed CD he sent me. And DOESN'T diss me. But he does offer tarot readings.

Alone Again, Naturally

The newsletter SUNY Watch solicited short articles, no more than 75 words, I think, about "What I Did on My Summer Vacation" or "My Favorite Hobby".

Dutifully, I wrote:

Three trips to hometown Binghamton in July. #1 took place right after the flooding in the area, yet a scheduled party near the convergence of two rivers took place, with one sister coming from San Diego, mom, another sister, her daughter niece from Charlotte, and cousins from NYC. #2 was an annual reunion of my wife’s family (http://olinfamilysociety.org/); my daughter is 11th generation from John Olin. #3 was my high school reunion, described here.

The editor wrote back last week and said: "Unfortunately, yours was the only summer vacation response we received so we ultimately decided against putting together the feature we had been planning. It does sound like you had a good summer, though!"

Yes, it was.

But she got a "good response" on the hobbies question. Which makes me wonder: is it that people are traumatized about writing those summer vacation essays, or am I an iconoclast?
***
Carol & I went to friend Mary's wedding to Rick on Saturday morning. It was a lovely affair, even though we only knew the bride, her son, and one other person. My favorite moment during the service was during the lighting of the candles. The musical citation in the program was Hunter/Garcia. Indeed, the organist had suggested, and the couple agreed, to have a church organ version of the the Grateful Dead song "Ripple" playing at that moment.
***
Alan David Doane wants you to know about:
*Comic Book Galaxy and Houghton Mifflin's giveaway of a copy of THE BEST AMERICAN COMICS 2006, "an excellent new collection edited by Harvey Pekar."
*Paperback swap. "Free books! Post books you don't want by their ISBN code...and get credit to order your own stuff. All is costs is media mail for shipping, usually less than two bucks for a single book."
***
After two books about the GWB administration that Karl Rove probably has on his bookshelf, Bob Woodward has put out State of Denial, reportedly a scathing indictment of our Iraq War policy. I haven't gotten it yet, but it seems from the reviews that it's not that it's saying anything I hadn't read or, at least believed, before. Its importance is that it's from a writer with great access to the administration, and thus may have more credibility with the fence-sitters. I wonder if this book will sway the elections next month? Lefty has something to say about this here. In fact, he has a number of good pieces in his new Page 3 section, about George Allen of Virginia and global warming.
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SOMEBODY has to answer Greg's quiz, so it might as well be me.
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Just two degrees of separation between me and Ben Pershing, who commented on disgraced ex-Congressman Mark Foley for PBS's NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.
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Got this e-mail yesterday:
Have you heard anything about Social Security Numbers and African-Americans and the 5th digit in your SS#? Supposedly, if you are an African American or a Minority the 5th digit in your SS# is EVEN, and ODD if you are White???
It has been said if you take a poll most African Americans will have an EVEN 5th digit. Rumor has it some companies are looking at potential employee's SS#s to discriminate.
Why not send this email to every African American and Minority that you know!! Mine was even, what's yours?
TAVIS SMILEY
THIS RUMOR IS FALSE, and I doubt Tavis Smiley has anything to do with it. And yes, my middle SSN digit is even.
***
Don't expect any TV reviews here. I'm constantly behind on my viewing. Last night didn't help; while we taped Gilmore Girls (for both of us) and Dancing with the Stars (for my wife), I actually WATCHED baseball. The DVR operates anywhere from 70% to 80% full. So, go read Tosy about Gilmore Girls, Jaquandor about Studio 60 (still seen one day early) and Tom the Dog about everything else.

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

I love this time of the year: baseball playoffs, football in full swing. I think the Mets can get to the World Series without Pedro Martinez; friend Fred certainly hopes so - (Sept.28 & 29).

The Wall Street Journal is an interesting place to read about baseball. There was an article on September 27, Playoff Seats Get Harder to Score; Rank-and-File Fans Shut Out As Season Ticket Holders Gobble Up a Bigger Share. It reads that there is a "push by baseball teams to sell more season tickets by offering them in smaller packages and with extra perks, including early dibs on playoff seats. Some teams now offer a half-dozen different season-ticket packages -- including ones for as few as six games."

The WSJ of September 29 suggests that Batting Average Against is a far better reflection of post-season success than any other regular season factor. "Last year, in all six division and league championship series, the winner sported the better BAA. In 2004, it was five out of six. And since the beginning of divisional play in 1995, teams with the better BAA have won 43 of 66 series. That's a remarkable .652 winning percentage."
This means the San Diego Padres, the NL West champions on the last day, with a .250 BAA, should win the World Series. Other teams who were still in contention at the time of the article:
Detroit Tigers (.254 BAA). AL Wild Card. Swept by the KC Royals, who, to be fair, were thorns in the sides of a number of teams down the stretch. But now they have to go to Yankee Stadium, rather than host Oakland. Yikes! But the odds ARE in the Tigers' favor, BAA-wise.
New York Mets (.255 BAA). First in the NL East, won a couple games at the end of the season. I'm STILL gonna pick them to win it all, even without Pedro (.220 BAA).
Houston Astros (.257 BAA). Eliminated on the last day; could have won the division if they could have only beaten the tomahawk-choppin' Braves. I choose not to believe the allegations about Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte re: performance-enhancing drugs until provided further evidence.
New York Yankees (.262 BAA). 1st in the AL East. Looking formidable.
Minnesota Twins (.267 BAA). 1st in the AL Central. I heard that they're the first team to never have been in first place solo until the last day of the season.
St. Louis Cardinals (.269 BAA). 1st in NL Central, though they backed in. My favorite Cards fan, Lou at the Y, has been saying for weeks, "Stick a fork in them. They're done."
Los Angeles Dodgers (.269). NL Wild Card. I'd swear that every team in this division was in first place at some point.
Oakland A's (.270). 1st in AL West. Because a lot of their games are late in the east, I don't see/hear as much about them as I should.
Philadelphia Phillies (.275). Eliminated on the last weekend. Yes, I want Ryan Howard for MVP, though I feel badly for St. Louis' Albert Pujols, who came in second to Barry Bonds a couple times, and now will come in second, I'm guessing, to the sophomore Howard.

Speaking of Barry Bonds, he's the National League all-time home run leader with 734, surpassing Hank Aaron, who had 733 for the Braves, and 22 for the (then-American League) Brewers. I'm waiting for the movement to attribute all of the Brewers' games to the NL.

If you're a serious sabermetric-type baseball fan, you'll just HAVE to look at another September 29 WSJ article, "Baseball's Greatest Hits; We Rank the Most Decisive Postseason Clutch Hits; Apologies to Mr. Dent", which concludes a 7th inning double that only tied the game is THE most significant hit in baseball post-season history, while Yankee Bucky Dent's homer against the Red Sox in 1978 doesn't even make the Top 10.

The Immortals

We ranked some of the biggest clutch hits in postseason history in four categories to see which one was the most significant. Categories include how much the hit improved the team's chances of winning the game, how much winning the game improved the team's odds of winning the World Series, the inning in which it happened (later innings count for more) and the odds of the opposing pitcher giving up that type of hit (or greater). The score is the average of all four categories on a percentile basis (the best possible score would be 100).

PLAYER/TEAM: 1. Tony Womack, Arizona Diamondbacks SERIES/GAME/INNING: 2001 WS Game 7, 9th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER THE HIT: 39%/83% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: M. Rivera (2.9%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +50% SCORE: 86.2 COMMENTS: Surprise! This overlooked one-out, game-tying double in Game 7 is baseball's greatest clutch hit.

PLAYER/TEAM: 2. Bill Mazeroski, Pittsburgh Pirates SERIES/GAME/INNING: 1960 WS Game 7, 9th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER THE HIT: 65%/100%* ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: R. Terry (2.2%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +50% SCORE: 84 COMMENTS: The only Game 7 walkoff World Series HR in history, but the Pirates, playing at home with a tie score, already had a 65% chance of winning.

PLAYER/TEAM: 3. Kirk Gibson, Los Angeles Dodgers SERIES/GAME/INNING: 1988 WS Game 1, 9th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER THE HIT: 13%/100% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: D. Eckersley (1.8%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +16% SCORE: 81 COMMENTS: This oft-televised Game 1 pinch-hit, two-out, two-run, come-from-behind walkoff HR off Dennis Eckersley (5 HRs allowed all season) actually lives up to the hype.

PLAYER/TEAM: 4. Bobby Thomson, New York Giants SERIES/GAME/INNING: 1951 NL Playoff Game 3, 9th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER THE HIT: 31%/100% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: R. Branca (2.2%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +25% SCORE: 80.78 COMMENTS: HR erased a two-run deficit to beat rival Brooklyn Dodgers in final game of a division playoff. But new book "The Echoing Green" shows the Giants were stealing signs.

PLAYER/TEAM: 5. Tris Speaker, Boston Red Sox SERIES/GAME/INNING: 1912 WS Game 8, 10th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER THE HIT: 39%/ 83% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: C. Mathewson (2.5%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +50% SCORE: 80.77 COMMENTS: One-out, game-tying single with two runners on set up game-winning sacrifice by a teammate. Christy Mathewson was pitching his 29th inning of the series.

PLAYER/TEAM: 6. Joe Carter, Toronto Blue Jays SERIES/GAME/INNING: 1993 WS Game 6, 9th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER THE HIT: 39%/100% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: M. Williams (1%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +25% SCORE: 78.8 COMMENTS: Just the second walkoff HR to end a World Series. Only knock is that it happened in Game 6, not Game 7.

PLAYER/TEAM: 7. Edgar Renteria, Florida Marlins SERIES/GAME/INNING: 1997 WS Game 7, 11th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER THE HIT: 66%/100% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: C. Nagy (25.5%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +50% SCORE: 78.2 COMMENTS: Bases-loaded World-Series-winning single would rank higher if the pitcher had been tougher.

PLAYER/TEAM: 8. Francisco Cabrera, Atlanta Braves SERIES/GAME/INNING: 1992 NLCS Game 7, 9th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER THE HIT: 24%/100% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: S. Belinda (19.4%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +25% SCORE: 78.19 COMMENTS: Francisco who? This forgotten pinch-hit, two-run, bases-loaded come-from-behind walkoff single against Pittsburgh ranks among the greats.

PLAYER/TEAM: 9. Joe Morgan, Cincinnati Reds SERIES/GAME/INNING: 1975 WS Game 7, 9th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER THE HIT: 51%/84% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: J. Burton (25%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +50% SCORE: 77.7 COMMENTS: HR by Boston's Carlton Fisk in Game 6 is better known, but Mr. Morgan's top-of-the-ninth single won it all.

PLAYER/TEAM: 10. Scott Brosius, NY Yankees SERIES/GAME/INNING: 2001 WS Game 5, 9th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER THE HIT: 4%/54% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: B. Kim (2.6%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +50% SCORE: 75.6 COMMENTS: Some Yankee fans had already left when Mr. Brosius uncorked this two-out, game-tying HR. The Yankees won the game three innings later.

*100% denotes a game-ending hit ---

The Recent Best

While Tony Womack's double and Scott Brosius's home run were the only postseason hits in the last five years that made our list of the best in baseball history (see above), there have been many other great clutch swings since 2001. Here's our top 10, minus Messrs. Womack and Brosius.

PLAYER/TEAM: 1. Luis Gonzalez, Arizona D'backs SERIES/GAME/INNING: 2001 WS Game 7, 9th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER HIT: 84%/100% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: M. Rivera (19.7%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +50% SCORE: 74.1 COMMENTS: His single iced the game, but Arizona had an 84% chance of winning before it happened.

PLAYER/TEAM: 2. Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals SERIES/GAME/INNING: 2005 NLCS Game 5, 9th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER HIT: 5%/83% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: B. Lidge (1.7%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +6% SCORE: 73.8 COMMENTS: This titanic two-out, three-run, come-from-behind HR off Houston's Brad Lidge forced a Game 6.

PLAYER/TEAM: 3. Mark Grace, Arizona D'backs SERIES/GAME/INNING: 2001 WS Game 7, 9th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER HIT: 19%/32% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: M. Rivera (19.7%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +50% SCORE: 73.6 COMMENTS: Leadoff single didn't drive in a run, but sparked Arizona's epic come-from-behind win.

PLAYER/TEAM: 4. Tino Martinez, NY Yankees SERIES/GAME/INNING: 2001 WS Game 4, 9th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER HIT: 4%/54% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: B. Kim (2.6%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +19% SCORE: 72.4 COMMENTS: Yankee Stadium rocked when this two-out, two-run HR off Byung-Hyun Kim sent the game to extra innings.

PLAYER/TEAM: 5. Aaron Boone, NY Yankees SERIES/GAME/INNING: 2003 ALCS Game 7, 11th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER HIT: 65% / 100% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: T. Wakefield (2.6%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +25% SCORE: 71.4 COMMENTS: Red Sox fans won't soon forget this leadoff solo HR, which capped a Yankee comeback.

PLAYER/TEAM: 6. Derek Jeter, NY Yankees SERIES/GAME/INNING: 2001 WS Game 4, 10th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER HIT: 54%/100% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: B. Kim (2.6%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +19% SCORE: 71.1 COMMENTS: One inning after Mr. Martinez's HR (see No. 4), Mr. Jeter evened the series with a two-out walkoff job.

PLAYER/TEAM: 7. Paul Konerko, Chicago White Sox SERIES/GAME/INNING: 2005 WS Game 2, 7th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER HIT: 24%/90% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: C. Qualls (2.1%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +16% SCORE: 69.5 COMMENTS: Rare WS grand slam against Houston would have ranked higher, but it came in the 7th inning.

PLAYER/TEAM: 8. Scott Podsednik, Chicago White Sox SERIES/GAME/INNING: 2005 WS Game 2, 9th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER HIT: 60%/100% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: B. Lidge (1.7%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +16% SCORE: 68.39 COMMENTS: This one-out HR, which came two innings after Mr. Konerko's (No. 7), was only Mr. Podsednik's second that year.

PLAYER/TEAM: 9. Alex Gonzalez, Florida Marlins SERIES/GAME/INNING: 2003 WS Game 4, 12th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER HIT: 65%/100% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: J. Weaver (2.2%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +19% SCORE: 68.37 COMMENTS: While hitting only .256, Mr. Gonzalez evened this series against the Yankees with this walk-off HR.

PLAYER/TEAM: 10. Ivan Rodriguez, Florida Marlins SERIES/GAME/INNING: 2003 NLDS Game 3, 11th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER HIT: 24%/100% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: T. Worrell (22.1%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +6% SCORE: 68.2 COMMENTS: Though it came in a division series game, this bases-loaded, two-out single overcame huge odds.

Meanwhile, while I was looking for the scores of the Twins and Tigers games on Sunday - they were tied for the AL Central lead, just as the Dodgers and Padres were tied in the NL West, I watched the last five minutes of the Jets-Colts game, where the Colts scored a touchdown, the Jets had a 103-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, then the Colts scored another touchdown (why did the Jets burn a timeout on defense when the Colts were at their 16?). The Jets tried to come back, lateraling the ball at least a half dozen times before fumbling it - it was very exciting - but they didn't have enough time.

President Bush is sending a delegation to Hungary to recognize the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution later this month. Among the travelers will be George Pataki, New York's departing governor (does anyone outside of New York and Iowa know that he's actually considering a run for the Presidency?), whose grandfather is Hungarian; and Pete Gogolak, a placekicker for the Buffalo Bills and NY Giants, whose "family arrived in the United States in 1957, following the Hungarian revolution".

I Love the Sound of Vinyl in the Morning

In addition to the 1500 or so CDs I own, and try to play regularly, I still have about 1200 LPs. And I haven't played them much, because last time I moved them into the house, they were in such a state of disarray that I couldn't find anything. Whereas my CDs are anally organized by artist and chronologically within artist, e.g.

Well, after answering Eddie's question recently about how much music was too much, and having the unique opportunity to actually work on my own project - Carol took Lydia to see Grandma and Grandpa last weekend - I pulled out all of my vinyl, and put it in broad alphabetical order. by that, I mean all the A's are together, all the B's are together. O.K., that's not technically true either: there are A's on the first floor and on the third floor, likewise B's and C's. But on each floor, they are in rough alpha order.

What I had discovered that there are certain artists where most of my music of theirs is on vinyl: the solo Beatles, especially John (IS there a CD version of The Wedding Album? And, if so, do I WANT it?); Joan Armatrading; Joe Jackson; the Supremes; the Temptations; XTC; pre-1971 Stevie Wonder. Then there are the artists who I have ONLY on vinyl: Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass; the MC5; Don McLean; Moby Grape; Peter, Paul, and Mary; solo Todd Rundgren; Gil Scott-Heron; X. I must admit that I didn't know I had any Bobby Vinton at all, but there it was Melodies of Love, featuring that big hit, "My Melody of Love".

It finally hit me, because I had frankly forgotten: there were people who just GAVE me their LPs when they moved or were just going digital. I can tell, because some of their names are still on many of the album covers.

While working on the project, I listened to CDs on the boombox while I was on the third floor, but while this task was going on on the first floor, why not listen to some vinyl? Well, because the turntable is a bit funky. I turned it on, the arm automatically went to the beginning of a 12" album, then stopped; I had to manually get the turntable going before it would run on its own. Then when it got to the end of a side, the arm just sat in the inner groove until I hit the stop button two or three times.

What to listen to? No, it wasn't Bobby Vinton, though being from Binghamton, with its large Slavic population, I have an admitted affection for the first track. No, I started with Smile, a bootleg of the Beach Boys' album that Brian Wilson finally put out 37 years after he started. It was not unfamiliar to me; between the legit Beach Boys albums, the outtakes from the Beach Boys box set and Brian's SMiLE album, it all sounded a bit familiar. Except for some cacophonous saxophone piece, which, fortunately, I don't think survived.

I should talk about bootlegs. I don't have many, maybe 10, mostly Beatles, and with few exceptions, they are disappointing sonically. In retrospect, they are dubious to own morally, I suppose.

The next thing I played was Side One of Daryl Hall's first solo album, Sacred Songs, produced by Robert Fripp. My favorite song is the second, "Something in 4/4 Time". Lefty once asked if I liked vocal choruses, and I do, this song being the epitome of this. In the middle, it gets kind of Fripp-like, with a bunch of triplets, but never loses the beat. One of my favorite songs ever.

Anyway, at some point, I will have to cull this collection. One group that will definitely stay are the Warner/Reprise Loss Leaders, all of which I own except Zapped, the two Peaches collections and the more recent Loss Leaders Revisited. I suspect they'll be the albums I'll play next.
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Speaking of vinyl, Mark Evanier has posted that YouTube of WKRP's Johnny Fever and his compatriots listening to Les Nessman describe the station's turkey drop (5:40).

MOVIE REVIEW: A Prairie Home Companion

Before that, though, I need to tell you about the venue: Proctor's Theater in Schenectady. It was an old vaudeville house, the "site of the first public demonstration of a new technology - television" on May 22, 1930.

By the 1970s, though, it has fallen into disuse and disrepair. I walked in the arcade in 1977 and was nearly overwhelmed by the smell of bodily wastes. Yet, it was at that time when the revival of Proctor's took place. Among the many supporters of Proctor's was the Schenectady Arts Council, which obtained a grant to provide arts in the schools of Schenectady in 1978. The offices of the artists and the administrative staff, which included me doing the bookkeeping, were located on the second floor of Proctor's. My very first task was to sell ad space for a program that would be a benefit for Proctor's in April 1978. There were a number of performers on stage for that show, and even more including our secretary, Susan, two of her friends, and me, singing in the arcade. I was also in charge of an Artisans' Arcade, a biweekly event, not surprisingly, in the Proctor's Arcade.

So, I have a great deal of affection for the elegant Proctor's, and am thrilled by its comeback. Its director, Philip Morris (really) is leading an expansion of the facility that will include two new theaters. Meanwhile, it's a great place to see a film, with a BIG screen, rather than one the proportions of an oversized home entertainment theater. The ticket prices skyrocketed from $2 to $3 last year, though.

After the previews for Ant Bully, Superman Returns, and An Inconvenient Truth, all showing in the near future, the featured film came on. I liked it well enough. The performers are uniformly excellent, including Lindsay Lohan, who holds her own. Meryl Streep's singing was a revelation. The music throughout was great. But...

Both my wife and I remember quite distinctly Ebert and Roeper's review of the film. Roger gave it a thumbs up, while Richard gave it a thumbs down. The difference? Ebert listens to, and likes the radio program upon which the film is based, and Roeper does not, or more to the point, has heard it and hasn't especially enjoyed it.

It is true that nothing much happens in the film. Yes, it's "the last show" but Garrison Keillor's character, GK, treats it like any other show; must be that Norwegian bachelor farmer reserve. Oh, Virginia Madsen wanders around, but that mystery is resolved soon enough. And there's no "It's been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon," probably because it was decided that such a monologue wouldn't be very interesting in a cinematic product.

The Robert Altman-directed film will be available on DVD on October 10. I think it's worth a look-see.

Those Damn Lipton QUESTIONS

Gotta get rady for Mary and Rick's weding at 10 this morning. Lydia was uncharacteristically awake in the middle of the night for a while. And, what the heck; after all, he turned 80 this month. Share, if you will.

James Lipton’s Ten Questions
Since I'm unlikely to appear on the show, here are the ten questions (compiled by Bernard Pivot) that James Lipton asks every guest on Inside the Actors Studio, along with my own responses.

1. What is your favorite word?
"Rendezvous." I'm fond of words of French or Italian origin.

2. What is your least favorite word?
"Blitzkrieg"

3. What turns you on?
Curiosity.

4. What turns you off?
Hard-headed stupidity.

5. What is your favorite curse word?
It starts with an a, it has seven letters, we all have one, and my friend Karen says
it with such passion that it's almost music.

6. What sound or noise do you love?
Actually, I like white noise- fans, certain vacuum cleaners, even. I'm thinking noise vs. music.

7. What sound or noise do you hate?
A jackhammer.

8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
It took me so long to figure THIS one out. I suppose law.

9. What profession would you not like to attempt?
Oh, so many. Medicine - don't want to kill anyone.

10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
"So you finally figured it out, eh?"

Hamlet, the Musical

I've been puzzling mightily over two musical choices. The first involves the tracks for Gordon's mixed CD thing. When he announced it, I knew immediately the theme would be murder - it was near 9/11 at the time - but in what form?

My first thought was to show the range of murder from comedy to tragedy, but there simply wasn't enough comedy: Maxwell's Silver Hammer (Beatles), The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun (Julie Brown), Lizzie Borden (some folk duo). Then I thought to do that murder ballad thing I had thought of years ago, with Delia's Gone (Johnny Cash), Pretty Polly (Judy Collins), any number of songs from Nick Cave's Murder Ballads CD, and others. But then I got my disc from Lefty, which contained two of my choices: Down By the River (Neil Young), and Hey Joe (Jimi Hendrix). OK, scratch that.

I'm now working on a new concept, but Gordon himself stole Somebody Got Murdered from me. What to do, what to do? Anyway, I THINK my burning issue is solved, but the discs probably won't go out until the end of next week. Those not involved in the exchange can still get whatever homicidal package I put together.

The other musical topic is the fact that someone (to whom I owe a picture of myself, but I haven't had a chance for my wife to take it; I haven't forgotten) gave me a $25 iTunes card. While I know I could use it on a number of things, I've decided that I want to get songs of artists that are one- or two-hit wonders, for whom I don't need their whole album. So far, I've selected:
But It's All Right (J.J. Jackson), not, as I understand, the late original MTV VJ, but one of the few black artists on Warner/Reprise in the 1960s, along with Bill Cosby.
I Fought the Law (Bobby Fuller Four) in Gordon's honor.
Expressway to Your Heart (Soul Survivors), with that insistent bass line. Maybe my sister owned the single.
And because I suppose every music-loving boomer is supposed to have it:
Incense and Peppermints (Strawberry Alarm Clock)

But what else? Here are some examples:
I Can Help (Billy Swan) - possibly the least well-known #1 of the era (1972), at least until ServiceStar used it in a commercial.
Why Can't We Live Together (Timmy Thomas) - so of its period, and yet still relevant.
The Ballad of the Green Berets (S/Sgt. Barry Sadler) - not that I'd actually buy it.

As I pondered this aloud at work, my boss said, "Why don't you ask the people reading your blog?" What a swell idea! What singles, or for that matter, tracks of albums where the album's not all that hot, but has one killer cut ("killer cut"? - back to the murder theme?), do you think I should own? I have the Nuggets CD, so I have Wild Thing by the Troggs, e.g.

And while I'm thinking about it: iTunes does NOT have the 12" (about six-minute)version of Paul Simon's Boy in the Bubble. Nor does it appear on Simon's box set, much to my annoyance. Anybody out there know where I can find it in a digital form? (I borrowed my friend Rocco's vinyl, and put it on a cassette tape about 20 years ago.)
***
I mentioned Mario Puzo yesterday, and while looking for something completely different, came across this piece about Superman.

Roger Answers Your Question, Scott & Gordon

First up, Nigel's proud father, Scott:

1. I asked you earlier in the baseball season who would be playing in and win the World Series. You answered the Mets would be the Tigers in 6. Do you still stand by this prediction? If not, then who?

I'll stand by the Mets to win it all. The American League winner could be anyone. My father-in-law is a Twins fan. There are lots of people around here who are rooting for the Yankees to win the AL, and then lose to the Mets. But in a short series, anything can happen, including the Tigers winning.

2. If you could dine with one athlete, one politician, and one writer (all either dead or alive) who would they be and why?

I'll pick all dead people on the theory that I could somehow still meet the live ones:
Athlete - Arthur Ashe. He was a pioneer who lived his life with dignity.
Politician- Thomas Jefferson. Maybe he'd give me the real scoop on Sally Hemings.
Writer- Mario Puzo. Just because I happened to see this name on my bookshelf. Also, because I'd be interested in how he researched "The Godfather".

3. (Playing off Lefty's first question) How far do you think we are away from having an African-American President?

It'd have to be someone not perceived either as an old-line liberal (Jesse Jackson) or a sellout (Condi Rice). Someone like Barack Obama. 2016. Maybe.

4. Do you think it's right for the President (whether Dubya or any other after) to put their religious beliefs so in the forefront, considering that we have freedom of religion in this country?

Yes. I'm old enough to remember JFK having to say that he wouldn't take orders from the Pope. That said, as a Christian myself, his brand of Christianity makes me very uncomfortable.

5. Do you know that I was going to do this same segment again on my web site because it was really fun the first time (after stealing your idea) but you beat me to it by a week or so?
No, but if you hum a few bars...
"I was gonna do
The same post as you."
Is that how it goes?
And I see you did yesterday. I hope I found questions to make your life a living heck, at least.

And now, a fellow Piscean, Gordon:

1. Have you seen the remastered STAR TREK? And if so, what do you think?

No. And I think I've grown weary of re-release, remastered, release the original (Star Wars). Now, I'll ask you, should I see the remastered STAR TREK? I know you wrote about the Trekkers' complaints. It doesn't BOTHER me, philosophically, as opposed to my feelings about colorization, e.g., I just think it's a way to squeeze more dimes out of my pocket, and I'll pass, thank you.

2. Does William Shatner really deserve to be a cult figure?

As opposed to whom? Sure, why not? I'm always reminded of the folks on Hollywood Squares, where I no longer knew WHY Charley Weaver was famous in the first place. Shatner's avoided that with his three series plus the Star Trek movies. (Gee, a visual of him doing Rock-et Man suddenly flashed through my brain. Whoa!)

3. Mike Sterling: pro or con?

Well, when he's behaving himself, he's OK. But when he's being a great big cheater pants, to the pits with him!

Roger Answers Your Questions, Eddie and Lefty

Our first contestant is Eddie, who not only asked a couple questions but promoted this Q&A.

1. How many CD's does a person have to own before you, Roger, consider the amount to be excessive?

Well, it depends on the amount you play. Let's say I have 1500 CDs. (OK, let's.) If I play six albums five times a week, that's 30 albums. Multiply that by 50 weeks, and 1500 is just the perfect number to be able to play your whole collection at least once a year. All of the discs get played, and none of them feel lonely and rejected. If one plays more music, one can own more music; if less, then less.

This is the reason, in large part, why I have a system of music playing that I know I've described in this blog, but cannot find. In brief, I play music around artists' birthdays (Springsteen now, Emmylou in April), compilers' birthdays (Motown compilations in November, in honor of Berry Gordy), events (movie soundtracks in February and March, in honor of the Academy Awards), etc. Which reminds me: when's your birthday? I like to play your compilations around then.

This is not to say I'm limited to these times; when I get the new Dylan album for Christmas (someone pleeeeease tell my wife she's getting this for me), I'll get the sense that I'll be playing it a lot in January and February, even if his birthday's not until May.

Of course, you don't HAVE to play them all annually. There are those albums you keep around for a few songs to put on compilation discs. (So why don't I just put them all on mp3s? Because I'd miss the information on the package.)

So my answer, for me, is 3000, and I'm only (a little more than) halfway there.

2. What does a guy have to do to get your summer mix, considering he was theoretically part of the exchange?

Well, theoretically, I wrote you an e-mail on this very topic that said I would send you a copy when I finished the crime CD in Gordon's exchange. But then, I got, curiously, a number of e-mails unsendable from two bloggers: my friend Lori in Florida, one of the few bloggers I actually know, and you. (Did you know I can see stuff such as on your page?)

So, for your trouble, my next package to you will contain the summer mix, the crime mix, and a mix that's totally randomly selected from a pile I put together when I was only exchanging with Hemby. And not so incidentally, I received your package on Friday. Boy, I hope Lydia doesn't turn out like the Lydia in that song.

Great groveling to Lefty, BTW.

And speaking of the southpaw:

1. Would you vote for a African-American Presidential candidate if they were conservative?

I suppose conservative in what way? Prior to 2003, I would have considered Colin Powell. He seemed to be a man of integrity. And truth is, maybe he bought that bill of goods about Iraq he spoke about at the UN in February 2003. Certainly, I appreciate his position on opposing torture.

Whereas his successor as Secretary of State, Condi Rice, I would NEVER vote for. At least Alan Keyes seems to have a consistent moral position, even if I oppose most of it.

2. Will we ever see a non-Christian presidential candidate?

Sure, he'll be Jewish (and it'll be a he) in 2016. Or 2020.

3. Can you remember that last time you heard a piece of music that made you nearly weep (for joy or sorrow)?

Sure, happens all the time.
Joy: the vocalization at the end of Surf's Up by the Beach Boys
Sorrow: there's a suspension at the end of a dramatic crescendo about 6 minutes into an 8 minute version of Barber's Adagio that almost never fails to get to me. (Anyone want to explain this better than I just did, please feel free.)

BTW, re: your question about going blind or deaf, sometimes I can recreate in my own mind a piece of music. If I would still have that, that'd be great.

4. What was the worst vacation you ever went on?

Undoubtedly it was some damn camping trip my father foisted on us. One place, north of Binghamton on the way to Syracuse actually had laundry facilities, but it was so fly-infested that I ended up killing dozens, including - and this is true - seven with one blow.

5. What website could you not live without?

At work, I use the Census Bureau page a LOT at work.
Personally, right now, it's my own page, or links thereon. What great insight has Gay Prof provided for us? What pop culture wisdom will Tom the Dog share? How's Nigel?

6. What did you think of my Circle of Friends mix?

I liked it, especially that middle section with Duran Duran and the Hall & Oates cover and that song that swipes, among other things, the Miracles' "Tears of a Clown".

7. So is Bush dumb, ill-informed, greedy, crafty, or evil?

I DON'T KNOW. Maybe all of them. Surely, he's crafty enough to have surrounded himself with people who could make him President. Early on in his administration, he was clearly ill-informed; you'll recall during the 2000 campaign how little he knew of world affairs. I don't care how many books he reads, but some of his comments in this area - I'm too lazy to look 'em up - sounded just dumb.

Evil. A serious word, that. But some of his non-response to the issue of torture as disingenuous at best. Did you see him interviewed by Matt Lauer this month? Something very disturbing about that, at least.

The Lydster, Part 30: Two and a Half

I had all of these grandiose ideas about a panoply of pictures of Lydia over the past 2.5 years, but I was having trouble with Blogger, which put the kibosh on that. The picture above, with my mother and Carol's, was supposed to be used for Grandparents' Day, but I forgot. And I did manage to get a couple old pics to post.

You know the physicians' creed to do no harm. I'm pleased to note that Lydia has made it to 2 1/2 in one piece, because of the parenting skills of her mother, and in spite of the parenting skills of me, or so she'll tell her therapist in 20 years.

O.K., that was unnecessarily self-effacing. I do have some skills. I can get her to squueze her medicine thingy into her nose, usually. I can get her to stop crying by doing something extraordinarily silly. (Don't ask.)

I've been taking my bike on the bus when I take her to day care. What pleases (and frankly surprises) me, and the people in the bus, is that I'll say to her, "Stay on the sidewalk until I put the bike on the bus" and she does, saying "Bike on bus and then get me". Then I carry her onto the bus. Then I take her off the bus, ask her to stay on the sidewalk until the bike comes off, and she complies again.

Good news: Lydia has ONLY a peanut allergy. That's good, because I pretty much knew that anyway, and that she DOESN'T have an allergy to anything else, according to the blood test, such as tree nuts, grasses, milk, cats, dogs, or any number of other things that might have affected her.

Lydia only a month ago used to say she was two, but now says she's two and a half, something neither her mother or I taught her. I blame her day care.

I love her a lot. When I get home from work, she'll quit what she's doing (eating, playing) to greet me. She is a good hugger.

Well, enough of this saccharine stuff. More cynicism soon.

***
Lydia, Carol, and I are mentioned in this story in the Capitaland Quartly section of this past Sunday's Times Union. The paper was going to get a picture, but the photographer's schedule changed and we were unable to wait around.

Dad would have been 80 Tomorrow

This is what I know. Les Green graduated from high school, barely, it seems, in 1944. He spent time in the military (in Texas and in Europe), came back to Binghamton, his hometown, and married Trudy in 1950.

He worked at a florist - arranging flowers for events, drove a truck, worked nights at IBM for six years, worked for a social service agency called Opportunities for Broome, then Associated Building Contractors, and finally J.A. Jones Construction.

He taught himself to play guitar around 1959, and billed himself as the "Lonesome & Lonely Traveller", which was his theme song, even when joined by his son (me) and daughter (Leslie).

Now this is what else I know. You may not be able to read the document above, so I'll share. It's my father's birth certificate.
[Name] Leslie H. Green
Male. Single birth [as opposed to twin, etc.] Sept 26 [19]26 1:30 a.m.
[County] Broome [City] Binghamton
[Mother's maiden name] Agatha Walker [Age] 24 [State of birth] PA
[Residence: state] N.Y. [City] Binghamton [Street and number] 18 East St.
[Father] McKinley M. Green [Age] 47 [State of birth] Pa.
[Local filing date] 9 30 26 [Date] 9 13 44

One thing I've long known, and my sisters have long known, from my mother was the fact that McKinley was not my father's biological father. I also know that McKinley wasn't 47 when my father was born, that he was probably 47 in 1944, when this certificate was re-issued.

I went to the 1930 Census. I needed help from Alan and others at the New York State Library.

Listed
Samuel E. Walker-Head-56-Age at first marriage:25-Born in VA, father born in VA, mother born in VA. Janitor in public building.
Eugeni [sic] M.-Wife-52-Born in PA, father born in PA, mother born in PA.
Agatha H.-Daughter-27-Born in PA, father born in PA, mother born in PA. Housekeeper for a private family.
Earl S.-Son-25-Born in PA, father born in PA, mother born in PA. Caterer for hotels.
Stanley E.-Son-20-Born in PA, father born in PA, mother born in PA.
Vera C.-Daughter-17-Born in PA, father born in US, mother born in PA.
Melissa C.-Daughter-15-Born in NY, father born in VA, mother born in PA.
Jessie G.-Daughter-13-Born in NY, father born in VA, mother born in PA.
Morris S.-Son-11-Born in NY, father born in VA, mother born in PA.
Wesley H.-Son-3 6/12-Born in NY, father born in VA, mother born in PA.

Samuel was the patriarch I knew as a little kid. He was a stern old man, and Agatha (my grandmother), Earl, Stanley, Vera, and Jessie all seemed to fear him, especially the older ones, who would have been in their fifties at the time. (Melissa was not around.) And Wesley? He would have been born in September 1926. So, Samuel and Eugenia feigned that Wesley was their son. But my father's name was Wesley when he was born? Or was this a clerical error on the part of the Census taker?

Another curiosity: Agatha, Earl, Stanley and Vera all had a father born in PA, so since Samuel was born in VA, he's not their biological father. So who was? Or is this another error?

When did McKinley Green marry Agatha Walker and adopt Wesley H. Walker? When did Wesley's name change to Leslie H. Green? From research my sisters did, the Walkers were all in the same house on Court Street in 1936, while McKinley was elsewhere. So, it would seem that McKinley adopted Wesley/Leslie sometime between 1936 and 1944. But then I hear from one of my father's younger cousins - all of my father's cousins were younger than he - that McKinley and Agatha had a rough go early on, so it's possible that McKinley adopted my father after 1930, was married to Agatha and cared for my father for a time, but not in 1936.

And, of course, the prime question I want to know: who was Leslie Green/Wesley Walker's biological father? The apocryphal story is that it was some minister from the AME or AME Zion Church, and that it was a great scandal in the Scrantonian, a newspaper, now defunct, that served the Scranton, PA area, about a hour south of Binghamton. Or maybe it was a Baptist church in Binghamton.

My next task was going to be to get microfilm of the Scrantonian, which is located at the University of Scranton, Penn State University, and at the State Library in Harrisburg to see if I can find any mention of this tale of a rogue pastor, but my father's cousin has already done this, with no success.

I mention all of this now, with the permission of my sisters Leslie and Marcia, and my mother, in an attempt to find the truth of the matter. It was a topic my sisters and I never broached with my father, because we knew it was painful for him.

The only time it was even noted in passing is when McKinley died in 1980. My father stepped up to take care of things. McKinley's brother sneered, "Oh, yeah, he (Mac) DID adopt that bastard, didn't he?" Never before or after that moment did we see my father so wounded.

If you have any information - if you knew my father or his family, if you have some ideas how to proceed further - please let me know. At some point in his youth, my father also lived on Tudor Street in Binghamton.

Thank you.


***
My father liked to watch football. He loved New Orleans. He would be watching the 2-0 Saints play the 2-0 Atlanta Falcons tonight in the first game of the Superdome since Hurricane Katrina. He'd probably even be watching the collaboration between U2 and Green Day during the pregame.