CD Collection Again

Quotation Of The Day ~ Laurie Lee: At best, love is simply the slipping of a hand in another's, of knowing you are where you belong at last, and of exchanging through the eyes that all-consuming regard which ignores everybody else on earth.

I have a lot i want to write about, but i have no time. Time is such a precious commodity when you get to my age, when you're young you think you have all the time in the world but it flies past and all of a sudden you think "what the hell?" and are afraid to look in a mirror and every moment is important.

So all i have today is my CD collection, part whateveritis:

Ivie Anderson was my favourite jazz singer of all time, ever. Billie Holiday was great, her voice was fiery whisky, but Ivie's  was a very smooth brandy. Jon Anderson, of course, was the singer with Yes.

And here's the most recent playlist:

T. Rex - The Slider
Richard Thompson - Something Here Worth More Than Gold: Real Rarities
The Mahavishnu Orchestra - The Inner Mounting Flame
Ofra Haza - Petuyim
Jethro Tull - Catfish Rising
Jethro Tull - The Broadsword And The Beast
The Kinks - Think Visual
Jon Anderson - Change We Must
Mike Rutherford - Smallcreep's Day
Jann Arden - Jann Arden
Marillion - Sounds That Can't Be Made
Peter Hammill - Fireships
Paul Rodgers - Electric
Briam Plummer - No Questions
Dire Straits - Alchemy
Rush - Roll The Bones

No More Pippi Longstocking / CD Collection

Quotation Of The Day ~ Spike Milligan: Are you going to come quietly, or do I have to use earplugs?

Loved the books, hated the movie. As you may recall, i started off on this Pippi Longstocking kick because i was seeking the roots of Lisbeth Salander, one of the most compelling characters in all contemporary fiction (IMFFHO). Astrid Lindgren's three books about Pippi were great, i loved them, she's so much fun. (But did i find Lisbeth's Salander's origins? Not really.)

Encouraged, nonetheless, by Pippi's charm in the books, i watched the movie, "The New Adventures Of Pippi Longstocking." 

Errrr, it's awful. Okay, admittedly as a man hobbling towards the decrepit end of middle age i'm a very, very long way from the target demographic, but really, it was ...

Actually, the girl who played Pippi was okay -- Tami Erin was her name:  http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0259433/bio

The rest of the cast was dreadful, though. God, truly nauseating performances and ham sandwiches all around. I shall treasure the books but otherwise my Pippi research is over.





Here's the next batch from my CD collection:

(This is a new one, so it's out of sequence)

And nothing else but the playlist tonight, folks:

Various Artists - Action!
Joan Osborne - Bring It On Home
Various Artists - What's Shakin'
Maggie Reilly - Midnight Sun
10 c.c. - How Dare You
Joe Satriani - Unstoppable Momentum
Howland, Laug, Morrison & Pinnick - Live at the Baked Potato
King Crimson - Larks' Tongues In Aspic
The Move - Shazam!
King Crimson - Live In Japan 2003
Richard Thompson - Electric
The Kinks - Sleepwalker
Rival Sons - Head Down
Jethro Tull - A Passion Play
Thin Lizzy - Black Rose: A Rock Legend
Mike Oldfield - QE2
Donovan - A Gift From A Flower To A Garden

Pippi Longstocking / CD Collection

Quotation Of The Day ~ Astrid Lindgren: "But nightshirts aren't dangerous," Pippi assured her. "They don't bite anybody except in self defense.”

Ah, yes, Pippi Longstocking. What a character! I just finished reading the third book in the series and i wish there were more.

Otherwise i have nothing much to write about so i'll just add the latest in my CD collection:

And, of course, the playlist:

Blodwyn Pig - Ahead Rings Out
Thin Lizzy - Black Rose - A Rock Legend
Richard Thompson - Electric
The Kinks - Everybody's In Showbiz
Buffalo Springfield - Buffalo Springfield Again
Saga - Full Circle
Iron & Wine - Woman King
Happy The Man - Happy The Man
King Crimson - Thrak
Van der Graaf Generator - Maida Vale
Jethro Tull - Pasadena 1977 (bootleg)
Dick Gaughan - Live In Edinburgh
Ofra Haza - The Governess
Rockpile - Live
Pink Floyd - A Saucerful Of Secrets
Jan Akkerman - Live
Wishbone Ash - Here To Hear
King Crimson - The Night Watch
Maggie Reilly - Rowan

The Wait

Have you ever pondered the amount of time you spend waiting? Waiting for something to happen -- for the bus / train / plane to arrive, waiting in the supermarket check-out line (especially annoying when you're in the 10 Items Or Less line and everyone in front of you has twelve items and all you have is a bag of kitty litter), waiting at the dentist's office when your appointment is for 2:30 and you're now watching three o'clock approach. One of my particular favourites is going to the beer store at Christmas time and being in a line of people who've (a) never been in a beer store before and have no idea what they want and / or (b) don't really grasp the concept of the debit card.

It's a substantial waste of valuable time. Speaking of waiting, though (and here's a leap) what about waitressing? Oh, ah, right, they're not called waitresses any more, are they, they're called "servers." I can't get behind that, though, because to me a server is a computer or program that supplies data or resources to other machines on a network. So, to all of my friends in the hospitality industry who work as waitresses, i will take all of your slings and arrows.

But have you ever watched really good waitresses doing their thing? I was at my favourite pub the other day. It was the middle of the afternoon, usually a very quiet time, when they became busy unexpectedly: a party of thirty showed up (without a reservation). I won't say anything about how arrogant that is:  30 people? No problem! At McDonald's. But not everywhere is Micky Dee's.

Now, i won't mention the name of the pub (although you can find them on Twitter at @STFDKelseys) but i watched those girls go to work and it was like watching a well-executed football play. It was a delight to see such professionalism. (I think about the waitresses at the restaurant where i work -- they'd be wandering around, slack-jawed, wondering what to do next and crying for help; what a contrast.)

Anyway, thumbs up Jen, Catherine, April & Brittany: your tips that day were undoubtedly insufficient to compensate you for your work, and your art.

Oh, and here's the next bunch of CD covers -- we're in to the Tori Amos section:

And the playlist:

Yes - Going For The One
The Electric Prunes - Mass In F Minor
Kensington Market - Avenue Road
Thin Lizzy - Live At The Hammersmith Odeon
Colin James - Twentyfive Live
Al di Meola - Casino
10 c.c. -- Live In Santa Monica

CD Collection 9

Quotation Of The Day ~ Samuel Johnson: The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.

Nothing but my CD collection today, dear reader:

Oh, and a playlist:

Ofra Haza - KolHaneshamah
Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & The Trinity - Open
Talk Talk - Laughing Stock
June Tabor - Quercus
Bill Nelson - Electricity Made Us Angels
U.K - Live At The Riviera Theater
The Beatles - Beatles For Sale
Bill Nelson - Deep Dream Decoder
Dire Straits - Live At Leeds Polytechnic
Ravi Shankar & Ali Akbar Khan - Ragas
Santana - Milagro
Various Artists - Celtic Aura
Big Sugar - Revolution Per Minute
Runrig - Heartland 

Boston Marathon, 2013

Sorry, eveyone, but all i have for you today is a quotation, from Patton Oswalt -- and i don't have any idea who he is.

"Boston. Fucking horrible.

"I remember, when 9/11 went down, my reaction was, 'Well, I've had it with humanity.'

"But I was wrong. I don't know what's going to be revealed to be behind all of this mayhem -- one human insect or a poisonous mass of broken sociopaths.

"But here's what I DO know. If it's one person or a HUNDRED people, that number is not even a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a percent of the population on this planet. You watch the videos of the carnage and there are people running TOWARDS the destruction to help out. This is a giant planet and we're lucky to live on it but there are prices and penalties incurred for the daily miracle of existence. One of them is, every once in a while, the wiring of a tiny sliver of the species gets snarled and they're pointed towards darkness.

"But the vast majority stands against that darkness and, like white blood cells attacking a virus, they dilute and weaken and eventually wash away the evildoers and, more importantly, the damage they wreak. This is beyond religion or creed or nation. We would not be here if humanity were inherently evil. We'd have eaten ourselves alive long ago.

"So when you spot violence, or bigotry, or intolerance or fear or just garden-variety misogyny, hatred or ignorance, just look it in the eye and think, 'The good outnumber you, and we always will.'"

CD Collection 8 + Welcome to Canada

Quotation of the day ~ Robert Byrne: Winter is nature's way of saying, "Up yours.” 

Okay, here it is, April 15th, and i think, maybe, Spring has sprung, it's lovely & mild today, but we had an ice storm on Thursday and here's what my town looked like on Friday morning:

Yes, what a delight it was, walking to work across a sheet of ice, with big chunks of the stuff falling from the trees onto my head along the way.

But that wasn't the worst of it by any means. A large part of the town lost power.

(I didn't -- my only outage was for a few seconds on Friday morning, it was just out for long enough that i had to reset all of my digital clocks.)

Even now, as i write four days later, power is still out in some quarters.

Now i, as i've written, make my living (such as it is) as a cook. This is my penance for the sins of a previous life. I accept it, my punishment. But this weekend was above and beyond....

Half of the population without power, they still have to eat. I imagine that every hospitality industry worker here is now suffering from hypertension. So many people to feed, so many of them cold and grumpy.... I am knackered.

So here are some more CD covers:

And of course, the playlist:

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Cosmo's Factory
Van der Graaf Generator - Godbluff
Terje Rypdal - Waves
The Tragically Hip - Up To Here
Jethro Tull - Nightcap
Various Artists - On The Road Again: An Anthology Of Chicago Blues 1947-1954
The Beatles - Revolver
Argent - All Together Now
John Lennon - Power To The People
Wolfmother - Cosmic Egg
Paul Simon - Live In New York City
Jethro Tull - Benefit
Colin James - Twentyfive Live
Ian Anderson - Ian Anderson Plays The Orchestral Jethro Tull
Thunder - Back Street Symphony
Buckwheat Zydeco - The Buckwheat Zydeco Story: A Twenty Year Party