Back to index of "this and that in my life" pages by Donald Sauter.
Dedicated to the proposition that every thought that's ever been thunk may be of interest to some tomfool . . .
THEE: Kiss Me, Eliza
Hmmm, I think "The Taming of the Shrew" is "Kiss Me Kate." "My
Fair Lady" is George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion." I'll check the
spelling on "Pygmalion." The film version of "Pygmalion," from
the '30s (script by Shaw and no singing), is much better than "My
Fair Lady" from the '60s, IMHO.
And I'll concede that if Birgit Nilsson sang "I Could Have
Danced All Night," it should be in your opera index. The lines
blur yet again!
I completely missed the news that the editor who made up the
George Martin quotes resigned. I'm glad to hear it.
It's a lazy Saturday. We're going to a Frederick Keys game
tonight with two of Hself's brothers and their families. That
will be a little different.
ME:
>I have taken on a huge endeavor. You have been very well
credited in the upcoming liner notes!
Thanks! I have no idea what for - since you added to my Holland
collection, but I don't remember it going the other way.
David Nadal recently put out a collection called "Easy Classics
for Guitar", published by Dover. He had bought copies of all the
19th C. American guitar music I had been getting out of the
Library of Congress, and he included about 16 of those pieces in
this collection, which I think is really neat - Hayden and Janon
alongside Sor, Giuliani, Sanz, etc. He included 2 Holland pieces
- Variations on Dixie's Land and Variationss on Nearer My God To
Thee.
ME: guitar & mandolin & banjo & piano &c...
>I thought it was going to be the copy of "Golden Gems of Music",
1895, that I had won on eBay for $4, which claimed to have
"special sections" for guitar and piano, banjo and piano, and
guitar and banjo solo, among other things. Before you start
salivating too much, the editor was either overambitious or
unscrupulous. The only thing that's really there is one tune for
mandolin and piano and a truncated theme and variations on I
don't remember what by Arling Shaefer (sp?).
I'm never sure what the performance combination is going to be
based on what those 19th C. publishers slapped on the covers. It
might say mandolin and guitar, for example, but then you find
little cue notes for a 2nd mandolin, and wonder, well, where's
*that* part??? I got excited finding a Sep. Winner "Star
Spangled Banner" for guitar & piano, but it was really just a
dinky little guitar solo. I guess the "Guitar & Piano" headline
was for *other* pieces in the series. There's millions of other
examples. I guess it all made sense back then.
>however, one piece, "The Origin of Thought" for piano solo by C.
H. Northrup (the editor) may be worth the price by itself.
Hmmm... you've really piqued my curiosity about "The Origin of
Thought". The title alone should have been worth the price of
the book!
>I need to put you in touch with a guy I met on the web who just
went through Matanya Ophee's basement to get some old mandolin
and guitar music out.
I have a question or two for him. In particular, I need guitar
parts for the 20 opera arrangements Winner made for mandolin and
guitar. These intrigue me because it's obvious Winner used
Holland's 20 opera arrangements for 2 guitars - but he didn't
copy them so closely that you can use one of Holland's parts to
accompany the mandolin. Very strange.
>My musical life is moving farther to the East these days, and
I'm playing more shakuhachi than guitar, but when I get some
leisure to really dig in to your book, I'll let you know how it
goes.
Don't feel like you have to *dig* in - it's more for dipping in
when the mood strikes. Remember - the pieces weren't selected;
they were more or less saved from getting tossed into the trash
can.
I'm thinking the shakuhachi is a Japanese flute, sort of? Sounds
familiar, but it's not in my regular or music dictionaries.
I'm currently reading "Ragtime - a musical and cultural history"
by Edward A. Berlin (1980). It's fascinating. Even though
ragtime proper only started in the mid 1890s, that still gives a
few years' overlap with the guitar's heyday. And even though
there were hardly any rags written for guitar (only one that I
know of), the book gives me the best picture, so far, of what the
American music scene was like then.
ME: Re: guitar music
>Thanks again for reminding me of the Holland duos. I've had tons
of fun with them in the past. Your idea for publishing them
sounds interesting. I think that it would be fun to record the
guitar versions!
I just mentioned to a guitar friend on the phone this morning
about how I pester you to publish the Holland duos. :) She
didn't buy into my "brilliant" idea of including a cd of the
opera excerpts - but suggested a "music-minus-one" sort of guitar
duo cd, where you can tune either part out completely and play
along with the other part. Anyhow, I feel strongly that the
Holland duos need to be presented in *both* facsimile *and*
playable, edited performance editions.
Thinking back, I may have sent you edited versions of the duos,
so just ask for the unedited facsimiles whenever you're ready to
get going on this project! (Hot tip: have it ready by next
year's Grammys, when a guitar cd of Holland solos may make a
showing!)
THEE: Re: guitar music
>(Hot tip: have it ready by next year's Grammys, when a guitar cd
of Holland solos may make a showing!)
What recording might this be?
THEE: Fermi Paradox
I have read your thoughts on the Fermi Paradox posted on the
internet with great interest.
I was wondering if a reason aliens have not visited/contacted us
(or at least unintentionally revealed their presence) could be
due to the fact that any type of expansion beyond an
interplanetary level is intrinsically economically nonviable?
All recent international empires have tended to collapse due to
economic failure (the British Empire, the USSR). Even free-
trading capitalist nations suffer periodic recession.
An interstellar community would need to be supported by faster-
than-light travel, instant communication, 'free' energy etc. just
to provide the framework for the exchange of goods and services
(and hence trade).
The alternative is a science-fiction sort of a community where
incredibly advanced technology delivers goods and services at
(ostensibly) no cost.
Does trade become irrelevant when technology advances, or does
the advance of technology create ever more benign conditions for
the development of trade? And if trade is essential, can it ever
be carried out in interstellar volumes without FTL travel?
Just a few thoughts.
THEE:
>I'm thinking the shakuhachi is a Japanese flute, sort of? Sounds
familiar, but it's not in my regular or music dictionaries.
That's right. End blown Japanese flute, used by monks for
meditation and in chamber ensemble with koto ("harp") and
shamisen "banjo".
THEE: I came across your web page because I was searching for
information on Dionisio Aguado. So I was glad to find that --
I'm just starting to learn classical guitar, and I've really been
enjoying playing some of his short pieces that I found in a book
(a set of "Thirty-Two Pieces".)
The two reasons I am writing:
(1) I wanted to tell you: GREAT web page! A browser's paradise --
wish I had time to browse more of it. I've only clicked on a
handful of your many links, but they've all been interesting. (I
liked the wine and water problem.) You are obviously a man who
likes to keep your brain busy. I hope you enjoy maintaining your
page for many years.
(2) I'm looking at a schedule of some classical guitar concerts
in my area soon, and I'm trying to decide whom to go see. I can
probably only see one. Two good sounding choices, though:
Christopher Parkening, and Franco Platino. From my web research
it sounds like I can't go wrong w/ Parkening, but Platino sounds
promising too, and he's on a better day. I thought you might
have an opinion...
PS one other thing on Aguado: I was disturbed to find a piece
that my book says is by Aguado in another book, credited to
Carulli! Who do you think is more likely to be the true author
of this gem of a piece? Is there any way to know?
ME: newsletter
The trio with Bev, Bob and me is back in action, which is good,
and I've come back out of hibernation - been to the last 2 WGS
meetings, even. I don't foresee sinking as much effort into the
newsletter as in the old days, but I suppose I could help a
little. What comes to mind now is a piece of music for the next
newsletter. I think in the old days I gave you a small batch of
pieces that I had earmarked for the newsletter. One goodie,
which would be appropriate for this issue, was "The Galop of the
Goblins" by Walter Fay Lewis. Do you still have that? Or I
could send another copy if you want to use it. It doesn't need
much commentary, but I could probably whip up a paragraph to go
with it.
THEE: a quick question
Just to be on the safe side, I thought I'd better ask whether
your upcoming Justin Holland cd is classified information, or
whether I can talk about it. I mentioned my guitar publisher
friend. I've been mildly pestering him to publish the Holland
guitar duos (in a set with facsimile and performance editions.)
I made an obscure, half-joking, half-serious suggestion to have
it ready by next year's Grammys, "when a guitar cd of Holland
solos may make a showing." He wrote back, asking what cd is
that? I figured I'd better contact you before saying anything I
shouldn't. Don't hesitate to tell me to keep my trap shut!
ME: march
I'm reading "Ragtime, a musical and cultural history" by Edward
A. Berlin. You came to mind because he addresses the issue of
nontonic endings to marches, which you had wondered about. On
page 100 Berlin writes:
In other respects, even in most details, each characteristic of
ragtime composition has its counterpart in the march. The
conception of form and tonal design is identical, and an
explanation by Sousa of the nontonic ending to a march casts
further light on the acceptance of this convention in ragtime:
In reply to your question, "Is it proper that a two-step ending
in a trio should end in a key foreign to the one it begins in,"
permit me to say this:
In the accepted form of compositions of march order it was
always customary to make the third part go to the subdominant,
the most usual, and the dominant, the most unusual form. In my
childhood in Washington I noticed that the bands parading with
the regiments in nearly every instance, although the composition
called for a da capo, would finish playing on the last strain of
the march; therefore, if it was done practically in the use of
the march I could not understand why it should not be done
theoretically in the writing of the march. Accordingly, in
composing my marches I ignored the old established rule and wrote
with the idea of making the last strain of the march the musical
climax, regardless of tonality. (Etude, August 1898.)
By the time rags were being published, subdominant endings were
an accepted part of the musical language both in performance
practice and in composition.
Berlin's footnote goes on to say:
Twenty years later Sousa was still referring to this topic, but
had developed a more whimsical presentation: "The old method
ended the march in the tonality of the original key... Speaking
gastronomically, when they got to the ice cream, they went back
to the roast beef. And the beef had no new sauce on it, no new
flavor." (Boston Post, Mar 10 1918.)
ME: mean mary
I struck out on O Salutaris, Tantum Ergo and Te Deum, which have
separate M2079.L classes. Wayne said there was some sort of
change in those classes - my class numbers were *too* up-to-
date, or something - but I should submit a slip for M2072.OHare.
That didn't snag any of the above, but pulled up "Saviour, source
of every blessing" and "Teach Me O Lord".
All of this copying was done on your cards, which is now down to
one card with 30 cents, i.e., 1.5 copies. :-(
I struck out on the special class for "Battle Hymn of the
Republic".
To be honest, I feel like I'm about out of ideas of where else to
look at LC. At the same time, I have a feeling that if all the
O'Hare pieces stored there got themselves up walked up to the
reading room, you would need a U-haul trailer.
>>One day I will buy 5 radio stations which will be devoted to
formats of good music that aren't played anymore. (With my left-
over money I will have excellent English translations made of the
complete operettas of Offenbach and get them all produced. And
with the remaining money I will buy an ice cream truck and go to
a different neighborhood every day and give away free ice cream
cones to the kids.)
>You forgot one thing: what kind of music will the ice cream
truck play?
I forgot another thing: and with the leftover stash I will have
top-notch marching band arrangements made of my favorite 50 or
60 Beatle songs.
>>And you have a perpetual search for "dawg" going on ebay???
>Gulp . . . guilty.
No need to be defensive. I was actually trying to make a little
joke, thinking that ebay didn't even offer such a feature. I
thought I had heard or read that they did, but when I went to
look for it, I couldn't find such a thing and so figured I was
mistaken. Now I've taken another look and have found it - I
think. (If it's supposed to email me when there's a hit, it
hasn't worked for me yet.) In any case, I am stupefied, as
always, with the vague terminology used by web page writers. I
forget how ebay put it ("favorites", or some-such) but I sure
don't see anything like, "Automatic, On-going Auction Search
Feature!"
This always makes me think of my car (and, I presume, everyone
else's). The dashboard is sick with little pictures and
abbreviations which I still haven't figured out. But the
passenger-side rear-view mirror has probably the most clearly
written sentence in the history of English prose: "Objects in
mirror are closer than they appear." Why can't web page
designers hire the guy who wrote that?
>Only one I couldn't turn up was "The Baby Buffalo Rag" by Dave
Reed, Jr. Don't know if you've got time or inclination to be a
hero, but there's a challenge for you. Might actually be easy to
turn up at the LC. The sheet music was published by Witmark,
probably 1914 (At least that's the date on the orch; sheet music
is sometimes a year earlier, depending on the time of year.)
I also struck out on "Baby Buffalo Rag" by Dave Reed Jr. in the 3
most likely piano classes. :-(
>(When I'm done I'll let you know if Ed addressed my most burning
ragtime question.)
In fact, he did get around to a short, fascinating section on
dotted rhythms. See, the whole while I'm reading about the
stuff, and looking at the examples, I'm screaming internally,
"but did they play it as written, or *swing* it???" Ed certainly
shot down my, not so much theory, but notion or suspicion that
they *always* swang it back then (and that unaware modern
performers are just plain wrong in their square adherence to the
printed 8th notes.) Still, I say the question remains, to what
extent, if not always, were rags swung before they started going
to the trouble of printing dotted-8ths (or 16ths)? Ed admitted
that more research needs to be done with old piano rolls.
Note also that I'm pretty sure that even when they printed dotted
rhythms, the intention was a "swing", triplet feel, not dotted.
There are many examples, some in Ed's book, even, where pieces
include both dotted rhythms *and* triplets. To my mind, and ear,
it would be ludicrous to play that as written. But, I have
waited years for some expert to say or write something confirming
my belief. Is it because it's so obvious to everybody that
nobody ever needs to say it??? I am baffled.
>As for the book, some of it was much too deep for me; Ed advised
me to skim certain portions and skip others, though I don't think
I skipped anything. Just read and failed to understand. Other
chapters were easy, and, yes, even great fun. "The Ragtime
Debate" will provide some belly laughs!
About the only trouble I had was "augmented 6 chords." Is that
augmented chords based on the 6th step of the scale, or a chord
with an added 6th? But I will return and figure that out.
>On the whole, I suppose I got more wrapped up in the Joplin
biography. It reads almost like a mystery, full of problems to
solve, unexpected discoveries, research anecdotes. It's unusual
in the sense that it employs first person, not obtrusively, but
it's rare to see at all. I pointed that out, adding that it
seemed the right approach even though most scholars would
probably frown on it.
Isn't that a screwy rule? If you need to say "I" why can't you
say "I"? This writer thinks so, anyhow. I finished a wacky
book, "Little Known Facts About Well Known People" by Dale
Carnegie, 1934, a few months ago. The author bent over backwards
to get himself into each of the stories. For instance, in the
chapter, "Mrs. Lincoln Flung Hot Coffee in Abraham's Face", he
wrote, "While I was out in Illinois, writing that book about
Lincoln, I went to see Uncle Jimmy Miles, a farmer who lives near
Springfield... Uncle Jimmy Miles told me that he had often heard
his aunt tell this story..." Isn't that great? What a hoot!
It's like the author used this book to dump his brain - just like
some people (no names!) use the web nowadays. I intend to add
this one to my book reports page eventually.
ME: Re: Fermi Paradox
Thanks for your thoughts on the Fermi Paradox. I suspect that
our notions of economics and wealth would not apply, in general,
to alien civilizations. I can easily imagine civilizations that
are self-sufficient, removing trade from the discussion. Also, a
major point I tried to make is that, even if coming here in
person is a near-impossibility for whatever reason(s), contacting
us by broadcast shouldn't be hard at all.
>I was wondering if a reason aliens have not visited/contacted us
(or at least unintentionally revealed their presence) could be
due to the fact that any type of expansion beyond an
interplanetary level is intrinsically economically nonviable?
ME: Thanks for stopping by, and the kind words. Actually, I've
never heard Franco Platino live, so I'd hate to make a
recommendation. It might be fun to check
rec.music.classical.guitar (on deja.com or google.com now) or the
web, for any comments on him.
I'm curious about that Aguado/Carulli piece. Can you tell by the
opening notes if it's in the Complete Aguado? If you can't make
sense of my index of opening notes, see if you can try to tell me
what they are.
THEE: Re: newsletter
>"The Galop of the Goblins" by Walter Fay Lewis. Do you still
have that? Or I could send another copy if you want to use it.
It doesn't need much commentary, but I could probably whip up a
paragraph to go with it.
Great to hear from you... welcome back! As you may know, I moved
last September and I still have to find things from boxes, so it
would probably be easiest if you sent it again with your
commentary. Actually, if you e-mailed the commentary, it would
help to avoid typos.
I'm glad to hear that your trio is back together. You should
consider playing for the Mid-Altlantic Guitar Ensemble Festival
in April. John Graham is hosting it at Lake Braddock this time
around. He's thinking of getting the Pearl/Gray duo to
adjudicate and do a concert. I don't know the date yet, but if
you're interested, just pester me until I do have the info.
[The "Galop of the Goblins" article and music can be found here:
http://www.donaldsauter.com/goblins.htm ]
THEE: Re: march
Thanks for the quote from Berlin. As it happens, I once used the
first sentence of that Sousa quote from Etude. It's very familiar
to me. I don't have time right now to track down just where I
used it, but I think it was in connection with one of the ragtime
things I ran in Soundboard, which also ends the same way in the
subdominant.
THEE: OOOPSSSSS
Of course you know we moved in September. You were of invaluable
assistance! Sorry!
THEE: I double checked and the piece is actually either Aguado or
Giuliani (not Carulli). And I guess it's Giuliani, since I
believe it's not in your Complete Aguado index. The piece is in
C, and it's 2/4, and using your notation (I think I have this
right -- first time and all) the opening chord is c1c2e1. This
narrows it down to two in the index, and I don't think it's
either one of those. The first bar of the piece has that chord
twice. The second bar is just one chord, which I think is
b0d2g3, if I've got your notation right. So neither of the two
possibilities in the index look like it. So perhaps it's by
Giuliani, although it fits so nicely with all the other
(purported!) Aguado pieces with which it is juxtaposed in my
book. I'm vaguely disappointed. My other book has just entitled
it "Allegretto," and credits it to Giuliani. If you figure this
mystery out somehow, I'll be glad to hear about it. That index
must have been a lot of work!
I went ahead and bought the Platino tickets. I haven't heard his
disc, but he sounds great from what I've been able to read on the
internet.
I'll enjoy browsing some more on your page in my spare time!
THEE:
>I forgot another thing: and with the leftover stash I will have
top-notch marching band arrangements made of my favorite 50 or 60
Beatle songs.
That would be fun, but I still want to know what the ice cream
trucks will play, Offenbach or the Beatles? The one that cruises
our neighborhood plays Joplin's "The Entertainer."
>>>And you have a perpetual search for "dawg" going on ebay???
>>Gulp . . . guilty.
>No need to be defensive. I was actually trying to make a little
joke, thinking that ebay didn't even offer such a feature. I
thought I had heard or read that they did, but when I went to
look for it, I couldn't find such a thing and so figured I was
mistaken. Now I've taken another look and have found it - I
think. (If it's supposed to email me when there's a hit, it
hasn't worked for me yet.) In any case, I am stupefied, as
always, with the vague terminology used by web page writers. I
forget how ebay put it ("favorites", or some-such) but I sure
don't see anything like, "Automatic, On-going Auction Search
Feature!"
I didn't think any automatic search feature exists. If you find
one, let me know! I simply check every 3-4 days, entering all my
favorite search terms, such as "gotta quit kickin'," "Champ
Clark," and "Ozark dog song."
>I also struck out on "Baby Buffalo Rag" by Dave Reed Jr. in the
3 most likely piano classes. :-(
Too bad, but thanks for trying. Gotta tell you this, though.
Last night I noticed Dave Reed's "Ridin' on De Golden Bike: A
Satirical Coon Song" on ebay. Jeez . . . the bidding had reached
$102.50, the highest I've seen on any piano sheet so far.
Imagine the seller's ecstasy. It's not as if Reed were Joplin,
James Scott, Joseph Lamb, Ben Harney, Kerry Mills, or anyone that
most people have heard of. I once asked Ed Berlin if he knew
anything of Reed. Nope, nothing. Reed seems to have written a
fair amount for Witmark, sometimes the music, sometimes the
lyric, but he wasn't a household name. About the only thing I've
been able to find about him, other than some titles, was that his
father, obviously also Dave Reed, was a prominent minstrel.
>Note also that I feel sure that even when they printed dotted
rhythms, the intention was a "swing", triplet feel, not dotted.
There are many examples, some in Ed's book, even, where pieces
include both dotted rhythms *and* triplets. To my mind, and ear,
it would be ludicrous to play that as written. But, I have
waited years for some expert to say or write something confirming
my belief. Is it because it's so obvious to everybody that
nobody ever needs to say it??? I am so baffled.
This could be an interesting question to pose if you want to give
it a shot. The book was written years ago; perhaps he'd have
something new to add. Just tell that you're a guitarist, give him
some background, and mention that a friend gave you his address.
I'd suggest tossing in your story about setting out to play every
piece of guitar music in the LC. He enjoys people with high
goals and perhaps unrealistic dreams.
>Isn't that a wacky rule? If you need to say "I" why can't you
say "I"? This writer thinks so, anyhow. I finished a wacky
book, "Little Known Facts About Well Known People" by Dale
Carnegie, 1934, a few months ago. The author bent over backwards
to get himself into the stories. For instance, in the chapter,
"Mrs. Lincoln Flung Hot Coffee in Abraham's Face", he wrote,
"While I was out in Illinois, writing that book about Lincoln, I
went to see Uncle Jimmy Miles, a farmer who lives near
Springfield... Uncle Jimmy Miles told me that he had often heard
his aunt tell this story..." Isn't that great? What a hoot!
It's like the author used this book to dump his brain - just like
some people (no names!)
Hmmmm . . . I'm thinking hard on that one . . . ;-)
ME: sousa quote
>As it happens, I once used the first sentence of that Sousa
quote from Etude. It's very familiar to me. I don't have time
right now to track down just where I used it, but I think it was
in connection with one of the ragtime things I ran in Soundboard,
which also ends the same way in the subdominant.
In fact, I stumbled on your use of the quote the day or so after
I sent the message. It was in the introduction to E.R. Day's
"Cruise of the 'Rambler'" (Spring 1997, page 53.) Embarrassed
myself again, drat!
Along those same lines, I remember once relating to you my
discovery that "Di tanti palpiti" was from Tancredi. This
represented "great" research on my part, since I was thrown off
track by an arrangement claiming it was "from The Barber of
Seville", through which I searched high and low. Later I noticed
that you had run Boccamini's arrangement of "Di tanti palpiti" in
the Fall 1998 Soundboard - oof! My 2 excuses for fumbling that
one are that a) it just predated my catching the opera bug, and
b) "Di tanti palpiti" doesn't appear on the cover.
ME: giuliani vs. aguado
Thanks for going to the trouble of figuring out my notation! I
doubt many people have done that.
First of all, you can never bank on "complete" being really
complete. In the case of the "Complete Aguado", Chanterelle did
not include Aguado's "Escuela de Guitarra." So, for instance,
the 4 Aguado studies in Noad's "Classical Guitar" book can't be
found in the Chanterelle set. At first I was disappointed, but
there's reasons for everything. I think somebody published the
Escuela separately.
Anyhow, the Noad book was the first place I looked for the piece
you described, but it wasn't there. I also checked the 2 pieces
in the complete Aguado that started with the c1c2e2 chord, just
to be safe, and, no, neither one could possibly be the piece in
question.
My next guess was the set of 32 progressive studies by Giuliani
that I have in an anthology by Leonid Bolotine. Lo and behold,
the one you describe is No. 3 of that set! (Measures 3-4 are
identical to measures 1-2, right?) And it is also given an
"Allegretto" tempo marking here.
Don't be disappointed - this sort of thing is fun! Isn't the web
great? I'll admit the index probably took a bit of time and
effort - but I consider it play, not "work". In any case, it was
something I *had* to do to get a handle on the 4 volumes.
>I double checked and the piece is actually either Aguado or
Giuliani (not Carulli). And I guess it's Giuliani, since I
believe it's not in your Complete Aguado index. The piece is in
C, and it's 2/4, and using your notation (I think I have this
right -- first time and all) the opening chord is c1c2e1. This
narrows it down to two in the index, and I don't think it's
either one of those. The first bar of the piece has that chord
twice. The second bar is just one chord, which I think is
b0d2g3, if I've got your notation right. So neither of the two
possibilities in the index look like it. So perhaps it's by
Giuliani, although it fits so nicely with all the other
(purported!) Aguado pieces with which it is juxtaposed in my
book. I'm vaguely disappointed. My other book has just entitled
it "Allegretto," and credits it to Giuliani. If you figure this
mystery out somehow, I'll be glad to hear about it. That index
must have been a lot of work!
ME: Subject: (no blabbing)
>>>>And you have a perpetual search for "dawg" going on ebay???
>>>Gulp . . . guilty.
>>No need to be defensive. I was actually trying to make a
little joke,
>I didn't think any automatic search feature exists. If you find
one, let me know! I simply check every 3-4 days, entering all my
favorite search terms,
While I was online tonight, thought I would at least pass on the
steps to set up ebay's "personalized, on-going, automatic auction
search" feature. (My words, not theirs.) It's thanks to you
that I found this feature, but you make it sound like you really
don't know it. Here is a series of steps that will do it. Abort
the moment you feel like your intelligence is being insulted.
I start with "smart search", as I *always* do, so that I am
searching titles and descriptions.
Enter "dawg".
Check "search titles and descriptions"
Set up anything else you want, like a particular category, if
that's what you want.
Click the "search" button.
On the page that comes up, with the list of hits (if any), go
down past the bottom of the list and click "save this search".
On the page that comes up, enter your user ID and password, and
click "save search".
That takes you to the page that lists these "favorite" searches,
and any others you have already saved. The bummer is you can
only ask ebay to automatically mail you new hits for 3 of your
favorites, but "dawg" definitely qualifies here. So check the
email option for "dawg", and I guess there is another "save"
operation.
From then on, when you go to ebay, you click on "my ebay", and
then "favorites" to take you to this page. Then you can activate
any of your saved searches with a single click, which is handier
than it may sound.
Again, thanks for putting me on to this. I've already had an
email alert on one of my favorites - snagged a nice, autographed
photo of Mattiwilda Dobbs.
>but I still want to know what the ice cream trucks will play,
Offenbach or the Beatles? The one that cruises our neighborhood
plays Joplin's "The Entertainer."
Straight, or swing 8ths? I need to know!
>Gotta tell you this, though. Last night I noticed Dave Reed's
"Ridin' on De Golden Bike: A Satirical Coon Song" on ebay. Jeez
. . . the bidding had reached $102.50, the highest I've seen on
any piano sheet so far.
Wow! Time to get into sheet music counterfeiting!
THEE: Re: giuliani vs. aguado
You hit the nail on the head! That's the piece alright. Now I
have to get my mind around *all 32* of those pieces I like being
by Giuliani, not Aguado. That set of 32 is a gem! Certainly the
pieces I've most enjoyed since I've been tinkering w/ the
classical guitar. Since you are obviously *way* ahead of me, and
know yer classical guitarists, and now have an idea of my tastes
and level: any suggestions for me? Would Aguado be at a
reasonable level for me? Any others spring to mind?
I enjoyed your scrabble rule suggestions. My mom and I play a
lot when I am back (in Bethesda -- you know it well I bet), and
we always make up our own rules. Here's my favorite one: you
can play words going backwards and upwards as well. Imagine...
talk about opening up the board. Scores will obviously bear
little relation to conventional scrabble, but you'll find the
core of the game is the same, just w/ more action. We play about
a third of our games this way and I always find it spices things
up. Also, we have always played that once a blank is down on the
board, if you have that letter in your rack then on your turn you
can trade it in for the blank. Again, inflated scores, but who
doesn't enjoy having a blank? Or two?
THEE: Re: (no blabbing)
>While I was online tonight, thought I would at least pass on the
steps to set up ebay's "personalized, on-going, automatic auction
search" feature. (My words, not theirs.) It's thanks to you
that I found this feature, but you make it sound like you really
don't know it. Here is a series of steps that will do it. Abort
the moment you feel like your intelligence is being insulted.
>I start with "smart search", as I *always* do, so that I am
searching titles and descriptions.
Right . . .
>Enter "dawg".
But sometimes it's plain ol' "dog."
>Check "search titles and descriptions"
Right . . .
>Set up anything else you want, like a particular category, if
that's what you want.
Yup, sometimes, but not for dog/dawg, which can turn up on
postcards, campaign buttons, sheet music, cartoons, you name it.
>Click the "search" button.
THAT helps. ;-)
>On the page that comes up, with the list of hits (if any), go
down past the bottom of the list and click "save this search".
Ah ha!!! Noticed this, but never took the time to figure out
that it did any more than save the one-time results. COOL.
>Never been much affected by show biz personalities... (If you
promise not to tell, search on Mattiwilda. There aren't many
Mattiwildas out there!)
Gosh, how many fingers would I need to count all the Mattiwildas
I've known in my life . . . none of which have been my sweet
peas, though.
>>Gotta tell you this, though. Last night I noticed Dave Reed's
"Ridin' on De Golden Bike: A Satirical Coon Song" on ebay. Jeez
. . . the bidding had reached $102.50, the highest I've seen on
any piano sheet so far.
>Wow! Time to get into sheet music counterfeiting!
That one had me stumped, but I've wanted to learn something about
Reed. W. C. orchestrated quite a bit of his music, and he's
another one no one seems to know anything about. So why pay so
much for music by an unknown? It crossed my mind that people
mistook him for his more famous dad. But maybe they simply liked
that terrific artwork . . .
. . . heading out early Saturday morning for Carthage, MO, one-
time home of James Scott, one of the "big three" ragtime
composers. This'll be a "small potatoes" rag fest, but it won't
grow unless some of us support it. AND why not? Carthage is
only a couple hours away, and a night out--even in the Econo-
Lodge at festival rates--can be a treat. Besides, one of the
main attractions is "Ragtime" Bob Darch. What a hoot! Bob must
be around 81-82 by now because I recall hearing he'd turned 80 a
while back. Even before the Joplin Fest of 2000, he was
undergoing chemo. People wondered if he'd attend . . . and there
he was in all his glory . . . playing, singing (if you can call
it that with his gravelly voice, and making people laugh. He's
quite a showman, performing silly ragtime songs of the bawdy bar-
room ballad variety. Of all the performers around, ol' Bob is
the one who has truly led a ragtime life--years on riverboats, in
Alaska saloons, etc. I recall eating dinner with him one night
in Sedalia and hearing story after story. He says all his
belongings are stored in a friend's attic, and when he's gonna be
somewhere long enough, he has the friend forward mail. I've
already suggested to the festival organizer that she try to get
his performances video-taped because there's no one else like
him, and I doubt there ever will be--the last of the true ragtime
itinerants . . .
Another attraction in Carthage come September, too, but I don't
know the date. It's the annual reunion of the MO WWII vets, the
houn' dawg regiment. Imagine all those octogenarians an' singing
the houn' dawg song. What a sight to behold . . . and to video
tape . . . someday, maybe . . . while a few of 'em are still
howling . . .
Bob, btw, sings the dawg song. What an event it would be if he
could get together with the Missouri vets . . .
Will let you know how my saved searches work out. Thanks again!
But . . . one thing more before I hit the hay . . . Mattiwilda.
:-)
THEE: Re: (no blabbing)
Not bad . . . a Van Vechten . . . Claims to be vintage, not a
reproduction . . .
I have a colleague who taught at Howard. Wonder if she might
know Mattiwilda.
Last semester she was griping that she had NO black students in
her classes (teaches government). We suggested she post signs on
my former campus and the downtown campus, both of which have
large minority populations: "Black government teacher wants
black students at West Campus." This semester she has two black
students, as do I. Not the same ones either, so we have at least
4 on campus. Amazing. Other than that, my cultural diversity
consists of one Thai, one Indian (not to be confused with Native
American), one identifiable Native American by name of Hself
Squirrel, a couple of Latinos . . .
Read the long Mattiwilda bio. Know Marian Anderson & Robert
McFerrin. Now I suppose I can claim to know Mattiwilda--sorta--
but not really without hearing her sing. Save your pennies . . .
no spending on ice cream from the ice cream truck, whether the
8ths are swung or not.
Now . . . zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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