Tuesday’s Tunes – Jackson Browne Cover of Bob Marley’s Redemption Song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZevW-Hsfp7U
I heard this cover of Redemption Song (Bob Marley) by Jackson Browne on the radio today and want to share it. It played on 92.5 The River, a Boston, Mass. radio station.
I think Browne’s version does great homage to the original. This recording is from The Concert for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, fall of 1995.
Fun, right?!
The Parkington Sisters (photo copyright to The Parkington Sisters) Click on image to visit their site!
I’ve been thinking of morphing my featured posts, Saturday’s Songs, into Tuesday’s Tunes, the reason being that sublime days doesn’t seem to get much traffic on the weekend. Maybe that’s the nature of blogging, maybe it’s the nature of sites of this nature. Anyway, here’s my first foray into Tuesday’s Tunes.
Today I received an e-newsletter from The Parkington Sisters, a band of four female siblings who are abundantly talented. I saw them when they opened for Chris Smither a couple of years ago when I was in Arlington, Massachusetts to enjoy an evening of music with my son who had given the ticket to see Smither to me for Christmas the prior year. It was a great night. I’d seen Smither before and I thoroughly enjoy his shows. I’d never seen anyone open for him. He had chosen this quartet of talent, I’m sure, in an effort to help advance their popularity because he recognized they are gifted.
In any event, today’s Parkington Sisters e-newsletter, to which I subscribe, announced that The Parkington Sisters are en route to Brooklyn, New York, for a Wednesday night performance where they will be opening at Rough Trade for Marco Benevento. Please, People of Brooklyn, go to this show. It will be a mid-week pick-you-up. Wonder no more what’s happening in Brooklyn this week! This is where to be!
So that you have a taste of what The Parkington Sisters will be doing, here’s a perfect song by this band for this September shift into fall.
Here’s a sampling of Marco Benevento’s sound…
https://youtube.com/watch?v=QAES4LX973o%26hd%3D1
Okay, call your friends and make your plans!
How to Make Memoir Meaningful: Patricia Hampl’s I Could Tell You Stories
Lightning Droplets is one of the very first blogs I started to follow. The posts never fail to inform and inspire. I encourage all writers to latch on to this good thing and click “Follow” at the Lightning Droplet site, after you read this post. What you’ll find with Lightning Droplets is good writing about writing. Enjoy.
Bob Milne – a Ragtime Pianist and a Library of Congress “National Treasure” Who Has An Extraordinary Musical Brain
Bob Milne in Boothbay Harbor, Maine Photo by Mary McAvoy (HTC one phone camera)
Last week I was visiting a friend in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, where, one night, we enjoyed a concert given by Bob Milne, a ragtime pianist I’d not heard of before that evening. As we settle into our folding chairs at the concert, I had the sense that I would be seeing a local musician. As Milne took to the stage, everything in his demeanor indicated that could be the case. He was an ordinary looking older gentleman, dressed casually and he seemed to be completely at ease in this small setting where about 150 people had come to see him.
His opening remarks were amiable and humorous, dryly humorous. Immediately, he captivated the audience with his warmth and down-home style.
When his fingers first struck the keys my senses responded with “WOW!” Shame on me for not expecting this white-haired, mild-mannered man to dazzle with his incredible talent. In fact, more than being talented, Bob Milne, I was to learn after the performance, is gifted in a way that is astounding. But I’ll leave that till later.
As Milne played his first few tunes, I wondered how such talent was not on my radar. Mind you, I’ve never followed ragtime music, but this pianist, who is from Michigan (not Boothbay Harbor!), is so astounding, I couldn’t imagine as I watched and listened that his name is not a household word.
It may be that Milne had never before crossed my radar but his extraordinary ability at the piano and his knowledge of ragtime, boogie-woogie and the history of music has been noticed by the Library of Congress, which has distinguished him as a National Treasure.
Milne completely won me over when he played “Steeplechase Rag.” To hear a 45 second clip of Milne performing his own steeplechase at the keyboard, scroll to the bottom of this page and hit play where you see “Steeplechase Rag.” Fasten your seatbelt…
Between songs, Milne talked to the audience about his journey at the piano through the years, about the history of ragtime and boogie-woogie, and about piano chords. He talked about cross-genre piano as he discussed how one style influenced another, and he showed that he’s adept at playing classical piano, too.
Milne devoted a segment of his evening to Scott Joplin’s music and history. It was a real treat.
At some point in the evening, Milne revealed that he is self taught and that he plays by ear. It’s nearly impossible to believe this as you listen to and watch him. This fact is offset by a great story that reveals his abilities. At some point in the ’60s he was playing in a bar night after night to earn his living. As he’d arrive and set up, a player piano would be banging away, entertaining till the live performers began. Milne would listen to it till it was time to unplug it and get on with his evening’s work. He began to try to learn tunes from the player piano. Some time after he’d been at this a while, and frustrated by his inability to play quite as fast and as well, he learned that the piano was programmed to included notes as if three players were playing at once! His friends teased him, “Keep going, Bob, you’ve almost caught up!”
This story about Milne hints at what has been learned about his mind through a neurological study that’s been conducted on him by Kerstin Betterman, a Penn State neuroscientist. Please take the time to listen to this NPR Radiolab story of the study of Bob Milne’s brain. It will amaze you! In fact, it will blow your mind!
Please have a look at Bob Milne’s tour schedule and commit to seeing him if he’s in your area.
Juvenile Coopers Hawk perched on branch
Sitting at my desk yesterday, I was dumbfounded to see a hawk flying straight at me, at eye level, just over the top of my computer. I had a momentary sense that I was in the world of Harry Potter and owls were filling the air. But as the bird got closer, I could see that it was a juvenile hawk and it was alone. By chance my camera sat next to me.
Well, let me correct. Not “by chance” did my camera sit next to me. I have actually been trying to remember to set the camera up, lens cap removed and all-purpose settings set on the outside chance something this way cometh. Yesterday my preparation paid off.
Juvenile Coopers Hawk perched on branch with head profile
When the hawk was just ten feet from the window, it glided smoothly to a branch about ten feet off the ground. To my eye, the hawk was now blocked by the eves of the house. So, s-l-o-w-l-y I brought the camera to my eye and put my cheek nearly on top of the desk. I think now I must have gingerly closed my laptop computer. With much awkwardness I contorted as low as I could and began to shoot photos of the bird. I knew the hawk would not perch there long and that any move I made was likely to scare it off. We weren’t more than ten feet from one another.
Juvenile Coopers Hawk perched on branch with bit of tail feathers showing
Throughout this post are four shots I got. I finally did scare it off as I tried to turn my camera to get a portrait shot that would include both the head and the tail in one frame. I was disappointed to not get that shot. But whether I turned the camera or adjusted the focus length, I was sure to send the bird on its way.
Juvenile Coopers Hawk perched on branch
Truthfully, I’m happy as can be with these photos. The talons are menacing but the delicate droplet-shaped markings on the chest are beautiful.
I think this is a juvenile Cooper’s Hawk. Please feel free to correct me.
Saturday’s Songs – A Jimmy Cliff Collection
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dm6SN8cKSUU
There’s not much overlap in the music taste of my man and me. He prefers jazz (Bill Evans, John Coltrane, Charlie Mingus, Miles Davis, etc.), classical and folk. I’m all about rock and roll, r&b.
But twice he’s surprised and pleased me: once last summer when he pulled a Marvin Gaye cd from his car console and this past week when he made a vintage album appear – a collection of Jimmy Cliff songs.
So for days now, I’ve been ambling down memory lane, kicking stones and stopping to look at overhanging blossoms of the 60’s and ’70s, with Jimmy Cliff.
I’ve shared a few tunes here for you to enjoy.
2014 Snippet #1 – Toast, butter, jam
I’ve decided that I’ll sometimes share snippets of illuminating or insubstantial thought here at sublime days.
Sometimes I really don’t have the time or energy to create a whole post, so snippets will suffice when I have a burning thought to share but I don’t really want to build a whole post around the thought.
2014 Snippet #1, which came to me yesterday as I buttered my toast and slathered it with jam.
Eating toast is an excuse for me to enjoy butter and jam.
(This snippet would categorically be insubstantial.)
Sunday’s Snapshots – Torrential Summer Rain
Rain splashing on the driveway.
After the unbearable cold and snow of last winter, we are being rewarded with the most beautiful summer. Most days are in the 80s (F) and most nights in the 60s-70s (F) and it’s been a pretty dry month in terms of humidity. For July in New England, this is remarkable. Generally, it’s blisteringly hot and uncomfortably humid.
Rain splattering on the skylight.
The only drawback is that for a few weeks, there wasn’t much rain. It seemed as if all around my town it was raining, but for some reason the clouds kept bypassing my area. Then one day about two weeks ago, clouds rolled in and dumped buckets of rain for a couple of hours. It was fantastic! My house doesn’t have an attic so the sound was tremendous, it was very loud.
The view from my desk.
I hope the photos throughout this post capture the drama.
Torrential rain fell at an angle, blown by strong winds.
Every window view showed that the air was milky with heavy rain.
Then for a time, there was a lull and an eerie light replaced the rain.
Gray clouds rolled in and thunder and lightning passed through with them.
All in all, it was really exciting! And for sure, all the things growing from the earth were glad for the relief of receiving much needed water.
Pretty much each day for two weeks now, anywhere from momentarily to hours at a time, I hear in my mind the song Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do) by Christopher Cross.
The impetus for putting this song in my head was a comment made on Facebook about my supermoon photo (the one with the jetliner passing by).
The comment, by a friend of my brother (who’d shared the photo on his Facebook page), said of me (the photographer) when she saw the photo, “Was she stuck in between the moon and New York City?”
It was a catchy comment and I immediately remembered that line from Arthur’s Theme. So, now, spontaneously or when I look at my photo, the song starts playing in my head!
It’s a great song that some of you will remember from the 1981 movie Arthur, which starred Dudley Moore, Liza Minnelli and Sir John Gielgud.
There’s a melancholy quality to the song, well at least to my sensibilities there is. I’m not sure if it’s rooted in the story of the movie, the tragic death of Dudley Moore, or the passage of time I feel as I hear the song.
In any event, I’m happy to share the song with you, perhaps with some hope that I have expelled it from its constant return to my mind!
Here’s the photo that inspired the comment.
Update On My Writing
I began writing in earnest in 2006. I remember reading, at the time, a quote by someone writerly who said something along the lines of, “Write four books. Then decide if you want to be a writer.”
I remember thinking, “Four books? Seriously? I’ll be lucky if I get four books written in my lifetime!”
It’s eight years later and I’ve written three and a half books. I should have that last half finished by the end of 2014. That will be my four books. And, yes, I want to continue to write. I have other ideas/projects cluttering the back burners.
My first two books are novellas, Love’s Compass and The Setting of the Sun. They each took about six months to write and six months to edit. I publish independently so it took close to another six months to design, publish and market them. These phases for the two books overlapped with one another and I’d started my first full-length novel in the meantime. That book, Love, Topaz, is now in the final edit phase. Since my initial editing is finished, as it’s in the hands of others for suggested edits, I’ll work on the jacket design. By early November it should be published.
The fourth book, Kaleidoscope Chips, is a tough topic. It takes a lot out of me to write it so it’s been slow going. I think I first sat to write it in 2010. It’s about the devastating impact male rage can have on a family. As my first three books take on various and positive natures of love (the human drive to seek out love, loves power over death, the infectious nature of love), this fourth book portrays the far and deep reaching destruction of one moment absent of love.
Fortunately, I have come to know that my characters in Kaleidoscope Chips are true to human form – they are people of inspiring resilience. Their instinct to survive astounds me. Their courage when facing fear astounds me. The cat and mouse behaviors, the subtle but constant hum of terror that permeates one family is nearly too painful for me to write because of its tragedy.
But a central character in this book, Mike, a kid of ages 14 – 18 when he talks in first person, monologue style, is the hero in my eyes. He’s so damaged, he’s hanging on by a thread. But every word he spits out is another blow against the tyranny that’s destroyed those he most loves and that threatens to destroy him. He has no idea that the work he’s doing, just by expressing himself, may very well save him and at the same time elevate the others and usher them to safe ground. He’s making a valiant effort. I’m watching Mike closely, hoping he prevails.
Since the first three books are hopeful stories and thematically about love, the departure from this comfort place as I write Kaleidoscope Chips is a challenge. I can only write for short bursts. Then I have to get away from it. I recently read through and edited what I have written to date. This is my habit always as I prepare to advance the writing of a story. Prior to this read-through, I hadn’t touched the book in nearly nine months.
I think writing this post is another step toward getting mentally prepared to revisit Mike and see how he’s holding up.
Photo credit: By Photos Public Domain [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
sublime days 