Sunday’s Snapshots – Springtime In New England
Yesterday, I went on a late afternoon errand downtown. About 1/4 mile from my house, I have the option to take the more travelled route to my town’s tiny downtown, or to take the scenic route, which takes me on the winding, beautiful country road that has been my all-time favorite street for my whole life. I opted for the quiet winding route today, coming and going.
I didn’t have my camera with me, but I couldn’t help stopping to take some photos with my phone. I use Instagram, but I’ve never posted five consecutive photos within 45 minutes before, as I did yesterday. I just couldn’t stop sharing the natural New England beauty that I came upon.
So, for Sunday’s Snapshot, I’m sharing the photos here, and adding a few more as well. My htc one phone is great for Instagram. I hope the shots translate as well in this post.
Saturday’s Songs – a Burt Bacharach Collection
I don’t watch television, except for Downton Abbey and reruns of How I Met Your Mother, viewed only when my children are around and want to while away an evening chilling to reruns of “BaBa” – their name for HIMYM. (“BaBa” is derived from the theme song, which has a lot of “ba-bas” in it.)
So, very atypically, I turned on the television early one evening last weekend before the sun went down and as it cast a melancholy golden light low across the backyard. I was home alone and wanted to see what was playing on PBS. On the screen was a very young Herb Alpert singing the Burt Bacharach (and Hal David*) song This Guy’s In Love With You, video above.
As it turned out, I’d tuned in to a PBS fundraising evening in which Robert Wagner (who hosts a music show for PBS) was leading the charge for this evening’s drumming for donations. (It’s possible this was a recording from a prior year.) For over an hour, I heard song after song written by Burt Bacharach and performed by one star after another from the ’60s and 70s. The songs were laden with memories of the good old days, that euphoric summer-song feel or classic heartbreak and longing.
Dion Warwick’s version of the Bacharach-David tune mentioned above, This Girl’s In Love With You was featured, too.
And here’s Burt with Dusty Springfield singing A House Is Not A Home. If the tune doesn’t bring back the memories for you, I’m sure Dusty’s eyeshadow, gown and hairdo will!
Remember the Carpenters? Here they are with Close To You.
And here is a visual and auditory flashback — Jackie DeShannon singing What The World Needs Now Is Love. (Has the message of this song changed one bit since this song was recorded? I’m afraid not.)
I’ve never seen the movie Alfie but in this PBS program, it was revealed that Burt Bacharach thought that Dion Warwick’s version of the song Alfie was his personal favorite of all his songs – though this was one of the songs written with Hal David*.
So, I’ll add Alfie as the last song of this Saturday’s Songs post.
If you are a Burt Bachrach (and Hal David) fan, you can make a reasonable contribution to PBS and receive one of these packages in thanks!
* From Wikipedia:
Bacharach and David hits included “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head”, “This Guy’s in Love with You”, “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again”, “Do You Know the Way to San Jose”, “Walk On By”, “What the World Needs Now Is Love”, “I Say a Little Prayer”, “(There’s) Always Something There to Remind Me”, “One Less Bell to Answer”, and “Anyone Who Had a Heart”.
Sunday’s Snapshot – Airborne Nashville to Boston
I was away this past week, visiting relatives in the Nashville area. Last night, on my flight home, I sat by a window.
Using my htc one phone I took photos out the window. I bought this phone because of the camera. I’m amazed at the quality of the daytime photos I am able to take – like the picture above which of course was taken through the airplane window, which was not spotlessly clean and also had some distortion near the bottom.
Again, in the photo above, I hope you can imagine that the plane was banking to the left, at quite an angle – like a sharp and tilted bend in a roller coaster in an amusement park – both thrilling and unnerving at the same time!
In a short while we were above the clouds and I was able to enjoy the setting of the sun on my 59th birthday.
I think it was because of turbulence that while still an hour from Logan airport, our destination, the plane descended rather quickly from 30,000 feet to 2000! We flew up the east coast at this low altitude.
Along the way, city lights provided a spectacular view of sparkling grid-work. This photo isn’t in good focus but I think it’s amazing focus for a cell phone struggling to work with dismal lighting! I love the left-hand side of this city where the outline of the streets is like a spider’s web. I’m thinking this might be D. C. but I’m not sure. It also might be a section of New York. Several of this type of illuminated city passed below us but I couldn’t see what was out the other side of the plane – ocean or more city, which would have been a bit of a clue about where we were.
Our descent continued so that for the last 15 minutes of the flight I think we were only 500 feet over ocean water. I’ve approached Boston this way before – a long, low ride over the water. It unnerves me but at the same time, it’s so beautiful.
Safely back on the ground. Thank you Southwest Airlines pilot!
Sunday’s Snapshot – Views of Boston, Mass.
It has been so cold this winter, I’ve hardly gone in to Boston at all. Lately, I’ve been really missing it. So, to tide me over, and to show off the city to you, here are a few images of my favorite city.
(If ever you want to purchase a print or a framed print of my work, visit my site Mary McAvoy Photography. You’ll find all of the images above in my Boston gallery.)
Saturday’s Song – The Summer Wind by Madeleine Peyroux
I’ve been listening to Madeleine Peyroux this week. It’s really the first time I’ve heard her.
I love this version of The Summer Wind. And the paintings that accompany this video are beautiful.
I wish they were identified. Some I recognize, but not all.
Movie Review – The Wind Rises by Hayao Miyazaki
Sunday afternoon I saw The Wind Rises (Taze Kachino – Japanese title) – the film written and directed by Japan’s master of animation Hayao Miyazaki.
I first read about this film last fall and have eagerly awaited its release. It was well worth the wait.
Artistically, it was more than I expected. The animation is astounding. The detail in every frame is perfection. I smiled to myself when I saw that the animators put bokeh in shots of the bright, sun-filled sky. That’s inspired work. And one “overhead shot” of a mass of people took my breath away for its level of detail.
I was surprised, too, by the perfect sound effects, something I wouldn’t have expected to be so conscious of in a film that is primarily a visual masterpiece.
The story is very moving from an ethical standpoint. It is also quite emotional in terms of the characters’ personal lives.
After seeing the movie, I googled around and read that it is “highly fictionalized” which sent me on a search of the real-life story of the movie’s primary character, Jiro Horikoshi, who was an aeronautical engineer during WWII.
While the details of Horikoshi’s professional career seem accurate in the film, the personal story is probably not true at all. In fact, the details of Horikoshi’s private life, as presented in the movie, have been loosely fabricated from the book The Wind Has Risen by Hori Tatsuo (written in 1937-38).
While I think the film is well worth seeing, I would hope that viewers understand that it is woven from two distinct sources (the professional life of Jiro Horikoshi and the book The Wind Has Risen) that did not intersect in the real life of Jiro Horikoshi. I find it distracting to feel the need to make this clarification – distracting from the amazing artistic achievement of this film. But I do think people need to understand that the storyline presented of Jiro Horikoshi’s personal life is not to be considered true, though it’s a wonderful love story. (I’m refraining from saying more about this as I don’t want to spoil the movie for you.)
As stunning as this film is, I found great sorrow in it. While Miyazaki is presenting a pacifist’s point of view, the tragedy of war, in this case WWII, permeates the story. The juxtaposition of the sparkling and bright peacetime animation frames and the dark war images is an astounding visual achievement in the context of one film. It’s very effective. So, too, is the movie’s presentation of the young Horikoshi’s dream of creating a beautiful flying machine and then he, as an adult, realizing that the product of all his dreams and work, of his creative genius, is a war plane that is reproduced more than 10,000 times and that is used for kamikaze missions.
The Wind Rises is not likely to be in theaters long. So, hurry to see it now, especially as its creator, 73 year-old Hayao Miyazaki claims this will be his last film.
Though The Wind Rises is an animated film and it’s rated PG-13, it’s not really a children’s movie. Also, rather than subtitles, Disney was commissioned to add English voice-over to the film. They’ve done such a good job with this, you wouldn’t know that the film was originally in Japanese.
If this is Miyazaki’s swan song, he’s leaving a strong and simple message to us:
Create beauty and live in peace.
Sunday’s Snapshot – Forcing Spring
Forsythia shrub, photo by me last spring.
Like forcing forsythia, I’m kind of hoping to force all of spring this year. It has been so cold this winter, I can’t wait any longer.
So, here are a few photos of springtime flowers to meditate upon in the hope that we can coax Mother Nature to bring on spring, asap!
I took these next two photos in May 2012.
Here is a cluster of bluets:
And here is blue-eyed grass:
I’m hoping it won’t be long now!
Saturday’s Song – A Smorgasbord From Boston Radio
Within a few short hours of having posted yesterday’s article about Boston radio stations, I had a 40 minute car ride. I tuned in to Boston radio stations for the ride and, as usual, with focus on FM 92.5 The River and FM 88.9 WERS, the Emerson College radio station.
I was really happy to find the River in historic form, with this as part of the line-up while I drove:
Janis Joplin – Piece Of My Heart
Lucinda Williams – Can’t Let Go (above)
The The – This Is The Day
Santana with Rob Thomas – Smooth
Fitz & The Tantrums – The Walker
Twice I left the River and stayed at WERS for:
Where Is The Love – Robert Brookins ft. Stephanie Mills
Fever – Little Willie John (recorded in 1956)
WERS has a nightly show from 10pm – 2am that features R&B and soul. At the time I was driving, it was in full swing.
So, today, for Saturday’s Song, I’m sharing a few tunes from my radio time last night, thanks to the River and WERS. Lucinda Williams performing I Can’t Let Go is above.
Here is This Is The Day by The The.
This song has a great sound, like a combination of David Bowie and Lou Reed.
This cover of Where Is The Love by Robert Brookins and Stephanie Mills is so true to the version I remember by Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway (1972).
This is the original version of Fever, the 1956 recording by Little Willie John.
Great song.
Here’s a relatively new band, Fitz & The Tantrums, with The Walker. There’s a ton of energy coming off this song and the video!
Boston’s Radio Scene – WERS Reigns
“WERS is my new river, River!”
I’ve spent nearly all of my life in the greater Boston, Massachusetts area.
I’ve been listening to Boston radio stations since the late ’60s. As a teen, my friends and I listened to WRKO and WBCN, which had a reputation for the “underground” sound – whatever that meant. I think it was hard rock and cutting edge attitude. I remember that Charles Laquidara, who was a dj at BCN, was one of a kind. Perhaps Howard Stern got his inspiration from Laquidara.
In the ’60s and ’70s, there was also a radio station in Lawrence that we all listened to – WEEI. I think it was talk radio most of the time. But maybe on certain nights they played rock and roll and, as I recall, there was a call-in line for song dedications, you know, dedicated to the one you loved.
103.3 on our dial captured “the oldies” – tunes from the ’50s and ’60s and later, the ’70s. It was a constant in my life for 35 years. It had a great show Saturday nights, especially.
And during my 3rd and 4th decade in this life, I could count on the River, at 92.5 on the dial, to play the best music of any time. It was a mix of classic rock and new stuff that would become classic. They were the first to play a bunch of great new artists, including John Mayer. They had the best sound in the city for probably twenty-five years. And, their shining jewel was the Sunday morning show, Brunch By The River with Lisa Garvey, who adeptly controlling the turn-table. I don’t believe there was a more knowledgeable person in the whole of the Boston area than Lisa, when it came to modern jazz, rock and soul.
The Boston radio scene has changed dramatically in the last two years. And it’s killing me! It’s not that I don’t have other sources of music – I do. I have a six-cd player in my car that I use most of the time. And I listen to Pandora through my phone when I workout.
But when I want radio, I want good radio. And I’ve had to make major changes in my listening to achieve that – because Boston has totally changed its radio music.
First, the River (WHAT were they thinking?) got rid of Lisa Garvey. This stunned me and the station lost me as a fan.
Then, with no warning, 103.3, the oldies station, changed its whole tune and, overnight, began playing my least favorite kind of music – the nightclub vibe of pulsing synthesized music(?), with the whiney-on-the-verge-of-orgasm singing voices that are the now-a-day hip and hot club sound. When this happened, I thought I died and landed on Mars – where the terrain is barren. It was, emotionally, a very sad day for me…!
At the same time, the River changed its tune and now plays way too much vanilla. There is little of interest at that station. The quality of their music is unreliable, for the first time in decades. It’s a mixed bag and really hit or miss, with a lot of miss. It used to be pretty constant with its hits, especially in introducing new artists. (Many artists visited The River and would do live recordings of their hit songs, which The River would then add to their playlist. Great, great recordings.)
Now, believe it or not, all my hope for Boston radio hangs on the Emerson College radio station, WERS, at 88.9 on the Boston area dial, where college students resurrect the best of the oldies (Dylan, Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Bob Marley, etc.). And they play the best talent of today, especially independent artists. It is what the River used to be, at least in part. And it’s become my favorite station in Boston.
Now and then I flip to North Shore Music at 104.9 (out of Gloucester, Mass.) where oldies from the ‘6os, ’70s and ’80s are played. It’s not the same at all as 103.3, but it’s a small consolation.
I don’t know if WERS has modeled itself on the former River on purpose or even if they are conscious of filling a huge void in Boston radio music. But they are doing a great job of it and I couldn’t be happier.
What I have to say to the River is, ” WERS is my new river, River!”
The Sun Magazine and Author Barbara Kingsolver
March 2014 issue of The Sun Magazine
I’ve written before about my love of The Sun Magazine. However, even in love, we sometimes become neglectful…as I did when I let my subscription lapse last fall. I missed out on three issues. Finally, I woke from my past-time-to-renew stupor and resubscribed.
As always, it was with an audible expression of glee that I reacted to finding the magazine again in my mailbox this week.
And my joy increased when I saw that the March issue interview, titled The Moral Universe, is with Barbara Kingsolver, author of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and many other thoughtful books, both fiction and non-fiction, about humans’ relationship with nature, sustainability and climate change, among many other themes.
What I like about her is that through her writing she inspires us to think more deeply and care more profoundly and improve with purpose – to preserve the planet and, thereby, ourselves.
I think that anyone who reads The Sun would say that it informs them in a way that is sorely missing from mainstream media. But it can also be discouraging in its honesty. Some readers, myself included, need to take a break from it sometimes, or at least, be selective in the features that we read in each issue. I find some of the fiction and memoirs to be heartbreaking in their realism. Nonetheless, the magazine adds tremendous value to any thinking person’s cache of insight.
And I love that The Sun is advertisement free – such a unique treat in a time when every visual media experience is a bombardment of ads. Ad-free doesn’t guarantee there’s not a beholden vibe to the articles. But it cuts the likelihood of undue influence dramatically.
If ever you’ve considered trying out The Sun, this year’s March issue would be a good one to test run.
sublime days 