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 use or interest to someone . . .
THEE: unarchy
Hey, you *would* make a great president! You've already mastered most of
the presidential press conference techniques: a)In response to a
question, present an interesting yet unrelated fact that is intended to
demonstrate that the questioner is inferior, thus rendering the original
question impotent, b) In response to a question, make a rhetorical
statement that everyone can agree with thus creating an aura that the
original question was answered satisfactorily, and c)state facts in such
a way that the mere statement is what makes the fact a fact.
However, I'm guessing that you've come up with these techniques on your
own because (I'm guessing again) that you have never seen a presidential
press conference because - and I'll go out on a limb here - you don't
watch TV or maybe don't even own one. If that is the case, then there is
something truly fascinating amidst - you disagree with the way 98.9% of
the population spends the majority of their free time, yet you
unequivocally trust the judgment of 51% of any group of that population
to administer justice! That's very interesting -- but more on that
later.
I hope my new comments below don't warm up your feet *too* much;-)
>>unarchy and your presidential ideas seem to be based largely on the
vote of the "bare" majority. how do minorities fare in this philosophy?
>They fare according to the compassion of the majority.
Yes, and the way you perform heart surgery is to cut open the chest, fix
the heart and then sew the chest back up. Medical school complete. I'll
have you know that the "compassion" of the majority has decided that
torture is now acceptable when interrogating "suspected" terrorists -
which is the same as saying torture is acceptable for interrogating
anyone. I'm sure I'm not telling you anything new as this phenomenon has
been widely reported on TV. Errrr, well I'm sure you read the papers or
CNN.com. Personally, I would be dismayed if even 0.1% condoned this
2nd most egregious violation of the golden rule. So much for the
compassionate majority.
>We're all minorities, by the way. Me, first of all, by being male, on
on top of that, white. What's that, maybe 35% of the population?
Kudos on you adept use of technique "A". But just to indulge -- I thus
can assume that Unarchy would dictate that a jury in Poughkeepsie would
include a proper sampling of folks from Mongolia, Iraq, Zaire, etc.,
etc. To state what you already know, "minority" is a word that, when
used in proper context, describes a group of people who have been
historically subject to discrimination. Hey, you're not one of those
people who say, "sorry, I only have a tissue" when someone asks for a
Kleenex, are you?
>>i'm sure that in certain parts of the country it would be easy to find
a majority that would vote that Christianity be taught to all students
at a public school.
>In tiny pockets - *maybe*
I agree - if you consider the mid-west and the south "tiny".
>If you live there and object, you homeschool, turn to private schools,
or move.
So we should complicate and cause massive upheaval in what we do 99.99%
of the time (i.e., live) to accommodate a new and improved methodology
for doing what we do 00.01% of our time (i.e., litigate). I thought the
goal was to simplify. Btw, not everybody can afford to homeschool - some
folks require a tad more income than can be generated from, say,
tutoring a dozen kids a week.
>>slightly less plausible would be that a majority of a particular jury
would sentence a black man to prison for dating a white woman.
>Inconceivable.
Factiousness in lieu of acknowledgment - a tried and true technique!!
>>why, I dare to say that I could even find a jury where the bare
majority would vote to prohibit the playing of classical guitar music in
public places. ;-)
>I'd probably vote for that myself.
I'll send you the ballot.
>>regarding your explanation of sentencing: i think all (or at least the
bare majority) would agree that if true justice is anything, it is
consistent. if we administered perfect justice, punishment (or
restitution) would always be the same for a given injustice.
>No two crimes in the history of the world have been identical in all
the partitculars and circumstances.
Well, at least weight would always be identical to mass - except for the
rare case when one wants to consider an object somewhere in the universe
that doesn't happen to be resting on earth at sea level. (Hey, what's
good for the goose is good for the gander!) The point, of course, is
that perfect justice is perfectly consistent. So, if I understand
correctly, Unarchy will reduce the thousands of existing laws to one,
but it will increase the branches of the "punishment/restitution
decision tree" to infinity.
>>In today's system, we've failed miserably.
>The understatement of the millenium.
Technique "B"! Excellent!
>>unarchy, with its thousands of juries determing their own "level" of
justice, would exacerbate the problem to the point where we would have
achieved the antithesis of justice.
>What evidence do you have showing anyone, much less everyone, wants
injustice to prevail?
Hey, that's the famous "Well, don't you support our troops?" tactic used
to quiet the anti-war people! (or is that a "strategy"?) Separating the
email into sections doesn't obfuscate the main point of the original
paragraph - Perfect justice is perfectly consistent. And Unarchy would
increase imperfections by 22,393%.
It's an interesting exercise to discuss the trees in the Unarchy forest
- however, I prefer to consider the forest. I'm reminded of the Miss
America candidates in the 60's who, when asked how they would use their
reign, they would say (insert sexy breathy voice), "I would create peace
and harmony for all mankind". The bathing beauties' laudable goal is to
their 30 second explanation of how they would achieve that goal as
Unarchy's laudable goal is to its proposed implementation. Unarchy, as
presented, does not put the cart before the horse - it speaks of the
cart as if it were the horse.
Before I move on to a more bird's eye view of the forest, I'm going to
indulge myself in analyzing one of the trees. Unarchy says that the
violated and the violator should represent themselves in court. Well how
about those who can't state their case? Like, for example, someone who
is dead or a three year old or someone disabled? Perhaps Unarchy would
supply those guys with a representative of sorts? That could work I
guess, but the representative would have to gather evidence since the
representative wasn't there at the time of the violation. But the
representative probably wouldn't have the time or expertise to collect
evidence, so maybe some state institution should do that. I guess then,
the violated might have to hire somebody to look at the evidence if it's
too complicated - like trying to understand the massive set of Enron's
books. And I guess the evidence probably should be shared with the
alleged violator so that he/she can verify that the evidence is not made
up. Gee - this horse looks familiar.
As an armchair student of human behavior what I find most fascinating is
the view of the forest from space.
Reading in between the lines of your musings, opinions and suggestions,
I would assert that you have no faith in the common sense of anybody
(excluding yourself). The world's scientists don't have the common sense
to realize that their basic tool for communicating with one another,
units, should be normalized. Educators don't have the common sense to
realize that any attempt at educating should utilize one-on-one tutoring
as the staple of any educational endeavor. I'm sure that the vast
majority of all classical guitarists are wrong about something or other.
The people who use calendars don't know that they are living in misery.
Why, even vegetable eaters don't have the common sense to eat mixed
vegetables the right way. And let's not forget about 98.9% TV watchers
that are using their spare time incorrectly. "They" are always wrong.
There must be a conspiracy among all dairies because it would be
inconceiveable that your taste buds that have been assigned to tasting
butter are declining in sensitivity.
So what I find quite interesting is the paradox that, for your "flagship
idea", you would choose as a foundation the common sense of the common
man. I can only surmise that the only thing that would keep you from
disagreeing with 98.9% of all of the "common sense" decisions made by
the thousands of Unarchy juries would be the simple fact that Unarchy;
i.e., your idea, is being used.
Don't take any of this personally; it's just that I love these puzzles.
And I know the answer to the paradox!! Here it is: The obsession with
keeping *all* aspects of life simple is so strong that it has conquered
reason. That is, the at-all-costs need to devise a simple solution to
man's greatest challenge has trumped common sense - and yet the system
itself depends solely on common sense!! Fascinating!!
I suppose an obsession with making any aspect of life simple/optimal is
manageable as long as arms can be wrapped that particular aspect of life
(e.g., the simplest and best brownie recipe). But when absolute
obsession with fixing even the most gargantuan of man's problems comes
face-to-face with complexity of the problems, something has got to give.
Two choices here: either acceptance or reality must bend. My guess is
that reality is losing.
Now, I've already overstepped, so I might as well go all the way.
Consider this: Bent reality is delusion. Delusion mixed with grandiose
aspirations is Megalomania. Megalomaniacs operate on absolute certainty.
Absolute certainty has always been and always will be the primary cause
of all human-on-human violence. That is to say, absolute certainty is in
direct conflict with the golden rule.
Btw, making the footbath too cold hurts the circulation.
THEE: Winter buffet
Whatever you hear about the Oklahoma weather today . . . it's true.
At any given moment today, I counted at least a dozen cardinals,
chickadees, and some sort of fat little grey and black birds with white
bellies . . .all vying for the goodies. Somebody sure did a great job
building the feeder conveniently hung from a plant hook on the patio
where the birdies can enjoyed from the kitchen window and diningroom
door.
THEE: Any idea how the land of Nod got from its spot east of Eden in
Genesis to dreamland?
ME:
>Any idea how the land of Nod got from its spot east of Eden in Genesis
to dreamland?
Trade hazard, I 'spect, when you go around naming your burgs with three-
letter common nouns. Now how did Baltimore float over from the tip of
Eire . . .
>River risin', OK, but what the heck is a river raisin?
Dunno. Raisins are good for you.
>The author changed every bit as much as, perhaps more than, the Kiowa
although she had her impact.
That sounds like a blurb on the back of Jenny's book. "It is the story
about the challenges, heartbreaks, lessons, and joys of a woman
participating in the transformation of the city while being transformed
herself." I know what the writer means, although I'm guessing Jenny is
basically the same person I met 26 years ago, but who has seen and gone
through a *lot*. I'm enjoying the book, but I think the main audience
would be people who know Baltimore, and people who are considering urban
ministries anywhere.
>The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg is excellent. It was used for an
episode in the American Short Story series years ago on PBS. Herman
Munster played The Man. (Well, make that Fred Gwynne.) I haven't seen
it for years, but I remember some catchy music as the townspeople
started receiving letters.
Funny you should mention music in relation to the story. First thing I
did when I went online before checking that batch of emails was search
for the Gilbert & Sullivan lyric from the Mikado, "When a man's afraid,
a beautiful maid - ". That's the tune the crowd fitted their impromptu
song to - "Hooray! hooray! a symbolical day!/And don't you this
forget/Corruptibles far from Hadleburg are/ But the symbols are here,
you bet!"
Twain is great, no two ways about it, and this story is another tour de
force, but, to be honest, he's already worn me down with the
satisfaction and glee he derives from human shortcomings. Come on, Sam,
I think we all know how imperfect we are and have been. In the last
book of short stories of his I read, I had to give up half way through a
relentlessly painful one, after suffering through one or two others.
And I never give up on something, figuring that I've invested so much in
it, and it may all pull together in the end. There have been a few
instances in my life where I'm screaming to myself the whole time, "What
am I reading this miserable/boring/crummy thing for?", but the last
paragraph or sentence justifies it all, and I lean back and think, "Wow,
. . . wow." Still, I wish a had a doppelga"nger to lay out my reading,
listening and watching agendas.
Hey, do you know what makes people tick? Been having a round of emails
with a Tamara L- who bristles at every last word she finds on my web
site. Heaven help us if she finds my paean to the cool whip bowl.
ME: seedy talk
All's right with the world. Those 2 skips in Lester Lanin ate away at
me bad enough that I went and redid those 2 tracks, recording fresh from
the vinyl. It was about an hour's worth of work restoring those 4
seconds of music.
Another hurdle was overcome today when I downloaded a program called
SnagIt to capture text from Windows windows. This was my hold up in
burning cds of ucsb opera mp3s. Now I have a searchable text file to
tell me where to find the songs on the mp3 disc. The first disc has 200
tracks, and I need just a few more to make up a second 200-track disk.
Here's what the accompanying info for the first 10 tracks looks like.
UCSB Opera 1
1 ucsb0046 La Gioconda. Cielo e mar Florencio Constantino 1911
2 ucsb0047 Forza del destino. O tu che in seno agli angeli Carlo
Albani 1911
3 ucsb0069 Good-bye everybody Helen Clark and Joseph A. Phillips
1915
4 ucsb0088 Favorite airs from The Prince of Pilsen Edison Light
Opera Company 1914 5 ucsb0089 Ballet music from William Tell
[Guillaume Tell. Selections] (take 1) Edison Concert Band 1914
6 ucsb0114 Where's the girl for me: The lady in red James F.
Harrison 1915
7 ucsb0137 Favorite airs [Ernani. Selections] Edison Light Opera
Company 1914
8 ucsb0152 Hear me, Norma [Norma. Mira, o Norma] Julius Spindler and
Anthony Giammatteo 1915
9 ucsb0227 Dost thou know that sweet land [Mignon. Connais-tu le
pays?] (take 1) Marie Morrisey 1914
10 ucsb0228 Dost thou know that sweet land [Mignon. Connais-tu le
pays?] (take 2) Marie Morrisey 1914
Again, that's all captured details - Title, Artist, Year - from a
Windows folder display of the mp3 files. My own opera database includes
the composer for every item, but I suppose I can live without it for the
cylinders. [No, I broke down and put composers in.]
ME: to: James McConnahy
program hung up; now ALL text on computer is raggedy
I downloaded CaptureText yesterday December 2, 2006. I experimented
with it and determined "Select window with scrolling" was the selection
mode I needed. I eventually brought it under my control and managed to
capture file details shown in a Windows folder. I continued my work
today, but the program hung up on one of my attempts. I forget now
exactly which point it hung up on; clicking somewhere within the window,
or at "copy plain text". A nasty-looking error message window came up,
filling up the middle third of my screen. I didn't have the foresight
to copy anything down. I could move the cursor around - it stayed an
hourglass - but it wouldn't activate anything. I figured I would use my
one-and-only technique on a completely frozen computer - power off and
power back up. After I did that, things seem to work ok, except that
ALL text, in ALL windows, on ANY sort of screen (desktop, word
processor, browser...) has the ragged, dot-matrix-y look that
CaptureText uses to indicate it's ready to capture text.
How do I get all the normal fonts back, or deactivate whatever
CaptureText is doing to all the text? I haven't uninstalled the
program, thinking it may be needed in the fix.
Thanks for your help.
THEE: Re: nothin' world-changing again, dang
>>River risin', OK, but what the heck is a river raisin?
>Dunno. Raisins are good for you.
As long as one doesn't put them in brownies.
River raisins sound a little to much like something left behind by the
catfish, but it IS a dynamite CD. Too bad that Sedalia would never pay
to bring in an orchestra of this size.
>>The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg is excellent. It was used for an
episode in the American Short Story series years ago on PBS. Herman
Munster played The Man. (Well, make that Fred Gwynne.) I haven't seen
it for years, but I remember some catchy music as the townspeople
started receiving letters.
>Funny you should mention music in relation to the story. First thing I
did when I went online before checking that batch of emails was search
for the Gilbert & Sullivan lyric from the Mikado, "When a man's afraid,
a beautiful maid - ". That's the tune the crowd fitted their impromptu
song to - "Hooray! hooray! a symbolical day!/And don't you this
forget/Corruptibles far from Hadleburg are/ But the symbols are here,
you bet!"
Cool! Guess I never would have picked up on that.
>Twain is great, no two ways about it, and this story is another tour de
force, but, to be honest, he's already worn me down with the
satisfaction and glee he derives from human shortcomings. Come on, Sam,
I think we all know how imperfect we are and have been.
If we only had happy, uplifting stories, I suspect we'd get tired of
them, too. We'd be saying, "What's wrong with these folks? Don't they
know anything about real life?" I tried a little experiment with Twain
last week by assigning his "War Prayer," which appears as a supplemental
reading in the back of my Reading II textbook. I asked my students to
do a little writing: "What are the townspeople's feelings about war?
What are the minister's? What are the aged stranger's? Which side do
you think Twain agrees with? How does Twain's 'War Prayer' relate to
current world situations?" Those weren't the exact words, but that's
the general idea. About 90% of my students said that Twain sided with
the patriotic, celebrating townspeople and the minister. Why else would
he have the people call the aged stranger a lunatic? And in the world
today, towns are still cheering on their soldiers and praying for them
in church."
Now, I ask you, how can anyone fault that preacher's invocation:
"God the all-terrible! Thou who ordainest,
Thunder thy clarion and lightning thy sword!"
Or his kindly prayer entreating God to make the soldiers "invincible in
the bloody onset" and to "help them crush the foe."
With all their cynicism about the government and the media, why can't
these kids see Twain's point? When the aged white-haired, robed
stranger, who says he has come with a message from God, recites the
"unspoken" side of their prayer, the Twain's townspeople and my students
don't get it:
"O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with
our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of
their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of their guns with the
shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their
humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to turn them out roofless
with their little children to wander unfriended that wastes of their
desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames
of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with
travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it--for
our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives,
protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their
way with our tears, stain the white show with the blood of their wounded
feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, or Him Who is the Source of
Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are
sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen."
And we had just finished studying irony. Perhaps I should shut up and
be happy with the 10% who understood.
ME: squawkers
>>Funny you should mention music in relation to the story. First thing
I did when I went online before checking that batch of emails was search
for the Gilbert & Sullivan lyric from the Mikado, "When a man's afraid,
a beautiful maid - ". That's the tune the crowd fitted their impromptu
song to - "Hooray! hooray! a symbolical day!/And don't you this
forget/Corruptibles far from Hadleburg are/ But the symbols are here,
you bet!"
>Cool! Guess I never would have picked up on that.
Whoa! Hold on! I take *zero* credit. Twain spelled it out, just like
the parody songs "To the tune of..." in the old Mad magazines. He
wrote:
[The Chair:] "'Nicholas Whitworth'"
"Hooray! hooray! it's a symbolical day!"
Somebody wailed in, and began to sing this rhyme (leaving out "it's")
to the lovely "Mikado" tune of "When a man's afraid, a beautiful
maid--"; the audience joined in, with joy; then, just in time,
somebody contributed another line--
I didn't even recognize the lyric, which doesn't appear in the index of
songs because it's internal to No. 18, "The criminal cried as he dropped
him down" (the snickersnee song).
>If we only had happy, uplifting stories, I suspect we'd get tired of
them, too. We'd be saying, "What's wrong with these folks? Don't they
know anything about real life?"
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure not saying "Ban all unhappy stories, and
particularly those mean Mark Twain ones!" I was mostly confessing
something about myself. (But note I didn't actually name the story I
gave up on - you might look it up!) Also, I claim there's limitless
territory for non-"happy, uplifting" stories besides this particular
type of Twain's, where he mocks any- and everyone who envision a better
world and try to do something to move it in that direction. I guess
it's because he's so good at it and he's such a master story-teller that
I come away battered and bruised. To be honest, any story where the bad
guy with no redeeming values "gets away with it" leaves me feeling kind
of rotten. Guess it's my thing about justice. You would know better
than I, but I think such stories represent a miniscule fraction of all
that are written. After all, what can a writer say in such a story,
except, "Hey, chumps, it's hopeless! Might as well go kill yourselfs!"
Who needs to pay $2 (or whatever) for a box of books to be told that?
>About 90% of my students said that Twain sided with the patriotic,
celebrating townspeople and the minister.
Wow! I would think that the fact that he went to the trouble to create
that unique character, the stranger, would tip even a casual reader off
that the author was using him to say something. (I just had a big jolt
of deja vu; have discussed this before?) What would be the point of
creating a lunatic to say something lunatic, just to get shot down?
>>Heaven help us if she finds my paean to the cool whip bowl.
>Why can't I find that one?
Guess cuz you nor nobody needs to. The cool whip bowl? Good grief...
>Btw, the Caesar Rodney link doesn't work.
Thanks for pointing that out. Theoretically, that's impossible, since I
just copied the same text and link down from the "What's new" section.
Somehow a space got in. I fixed it up.
>Forgot to ask until too late: What was Ms Landham bristling about?
My ideas on justice set her off. Then she pulled something out of every
web page she could get her hands on - education, guitar, units, the
calendar, butter, etc - as more ammo against me, although I could hardly
ever catch the point. To be honest, I'm borderline thrilled that anyone
is inclined to dig in and respond.
By the way, among the loose ends I can never wrap up, here's a link that
provides almost half of the chicken lady's album:
http://cdbaby.com/cd/orriel
Your challenge is to listen all the way through without laughing. Then
compare her Queen of the Night with another amazing one (if I haven't
already sent you here before):
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr%201=1016%20&query=galvany&num=1&start=1&sortBy=&sortOrder=id
THEE: Cylinders rule!
I believe we need to launch the Beatles-Cash-In Digitization Project.
At last, the Manchesters, et al, will get their due.
ME:
> I believe we need to launch the Beatles-Cash-In Digitization Project.
At last, the Manchesters, et al, will get their due.
*Way* too mainstream. I had "Dance and Sing Mother Goose with a Beatle
Beat", featuring Wynken, Blinken, and Nod and The Golden Rock-A-
Twisters, more in mind.
I went to the library today to snag enough opera mp3s to fill out my
second cd. Getting the mp3 files and their information all lined up was
no easier the second time around. Windows was telling me there were 200
mp3 files in the folder when there were really only 195. What a
confused mess. And *then* the text capturing program hung up and left
*all* the text on my computer raggedy looking! I sure hope their
support department knows what to do. For the time being do NOT download
and install CaptureText, as if you were inclined. (Yesterday I was
calling it SnagIt.)
THEE: follow up
Wow, I was re-reading some of the emails that i sent out last week ago
and, to the casual observer, I see that the last one I sent you could
have been labeled caustic, pretentious and dripping with sarcasm. I
guess Internet communication has some of the same issues as anonymous-
driver to anonymous-driver communication - tact and protocol are
victims. Also, my last email belies the fact that many of the things
you'd like to improve, I'd like to as well. At any rate, I apologize for
my uncouth behaviour.
ME: Hi Bev and Kevin,
It's still a gaping gap in my life that I don't have a copy of the
various WGS ensemble recordings. Any chance you can find time to dig
through old discs and dats and send me copies on cd (not mp3)? No need
to do any editing or programming; I can put it all together. Besides
being a memento of more than 10 years of my life, I know the final
product will sound great. It's important enough to me that I'd
willingly pay for your time and effort, but I'm guessing that wouldn't
make anybody particularly happy.
The ones that I already have, and DON'T need are:
Tango estampie
Summerset follies, Phyllis conducting.
Trip to Rocky Point
The ones that I NEED, that I can think of, are:
Summerset Follies (Kevin leading)
The Old Castle (Kevin's recording)
Brouwer quartet (recorded same day; first section may be salvageable.)
Floating Ancillary Ants (I can stitch together the sections)
4 Praetorius pieces (Bob leading)
Little Irish pieces (Bob leading)
Looking over that list, I see I was the one who prepared the music (cut
and paste, numbered measures, copied parts, etc.) in every case except
the Irish pieces. I feel like there may have been more, so don't stop
there if there are any I've forgotten.
ME: Dear Google,
A few weeks ago you received a few frantic messages from me based on
some idea that my Kumon page was plummeting in your ratings based on
nefarious activity by people who wanted to keep it down.
Since then, I've read up on "search engine optimization" and have found,
to my great shock and disappointment, that page visits have nothing to
do with your ratings. You know better than me that it's all based on
links and keyword positioning within the page, the urls, and the anchor
text.
I've been on the web 8 or 9 years and have pages of valuable content on
a variety of topics, so this revelation is more than somewhat
devastating to me. Besides not being inclined to humiliate myself going
around begging people to link to me, I am facing months of miserable
work making my pages and filenames "google friendly"; for instance,
rewriting titles and headers from what I want to what Google wants. And
with no assurance of any actual benefit for all that work. And at
immeasurable sacrifice to the blessedly simple way I have always done
things. For instance, I could have lived forever with good old, simple,
4- and 5-letter filenames, laughing up my sleeve at the ridiculously
complicated way modern computer people do things. But now you've yanked
me kicking and screaming into the massively-long-file-name world. Do
the Pulitzer Prize people tell authors how to write and format their
books? I read that Google has an underlying principal, "Do no evil",
and I know you're all good guys, and I discovered and touted you within
the first few months of your existence, but dictating how web pages
should be presented has to rank up there with the great non-violent
crimes against humanity.
I implore you to keep brainstorming about ways in which actual page
usefulness, as evidenced by popularity, as evidenced by traffic and/or
votes, could be worked into the mix, or perhaps yield an alternate
rating system. I want my pages to stand or fall in fair and square
shootouts. The argument against traffic is that people would cheat, but
they cheat using bogus links. I'll bet you could find a way to weed out
cheaters.
Perhaps there could be an "exact keyword" tag for each page, and on
Google's search results page could be a link to pages with the exact
keywords the user typed, and those pages ranked by popularity as
evidenced by traffic or vote. To make stuffing the ballot box harder,
perhaps only negative votes would be tallied so a page owner would be
faced with voting *against* a thousand other pages, and that with
negligible benefit to himself.
No doubt everybody and his brother thinks his own pages are the
greatest, but I know it's not my imagination how worthless those 100 or
so pages between my Kumon page and the top are (one of the top 10 had
nothing but an outdated Kumon logo - not even captioned!); or all the
Scrabble pages above mine (which I've never been able to dig down deep
enough to); etc., etc.
At least could you give us a "non-commercial" search mode so a person
looking for ideas or information have a fighting chance? This may come
as a shock, but not every web searcher is looking to buy a video or take
a trip.
Please, keep brainstorming. Thanks!
ME: My cousin wrote an interesting book called "A Thousand Resurrections -
an urban spiritual journey". I just put in an order for one for you.
There's some powerful stuff in there, although I predict you'll find
yourself saying, "I couda tol' you that!" after every sentence. I hope
that makes it a *more* enjoyable read.
One of the nice things that happened recently was getting a note from a
singer in California who needed a copy of a record in my collection
called Aria senza Voce - orchestral backings for 9 lyric soprano arias.
In appreciation, she sent me her recent recording, which had me laughing
all the way through. You can sample almost half of it here:
http://cdbaby.com/cd/orriel
Her main site is:
http://www.orrielsmith.com
Then compare her Queen of the Night with another amazing one on the UCSB
cylinder site I mentioned:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr%201=1016%20&query=galvany&num=1&start=1&sortBy=&sortOrder=id
Also plug "chicken little" into the search box.
Also "guido gialdini" to hear his whistling Musetta's Waltz from La
Boheme.
Also, Conrad's Orchestra playing Cho-cho-san - a rocking "Un bel di".
Well, you don't need me to tell you what to listen to. The problem is
finding the time to listen to a fraction of the neat things on the site.
(On the other hand, somebody might hate everything.)
Almost forgot to finish up the chicken lady's story. I had sent her a
cd of our guitar trio to even up the balance of trade. Not only was she
and a friend very impressed, but she mentioned she's been struggling
with the guitar for 40 years, for instance with Recuerdos. Her solution
- bag the struggle, sing it! So she also sent me a cd called "Ghosts of
the Alhambra", with her singing that and good old "Romanza" in a nicely
spooky way. That arrived the day before Halloween, so I got some good
use out of it Halloween night.
Going back a ways, I had a nice day at the Maryland Renaissance at the
end of August. I borrowed my little friend Mizan.
I've probably been to about 10 of the festivals since it started around
1976. It's always a blast, even if you have the feeling it was only
yesterday you saw the same act. It was Mizan's first, and she accounted
for the highlights this time around. We had seen tons of amazing magic
and sword swallowing and feats of derring-do, and when we came to a
stage with a group of madrigal singers I thought I would have to use a
little coaxing to stop for a few songs. But Mizan herself said, "Let's
go in." Fine with me! Now madrigal singers don't draw the same crowds
as the crazy guys, so there were *lots* of free spots on the benches.
And it's sort of like church, where nobody wants to sit way up front.
But Mizan walked right down to the front and plunked herself down a
little left of center. Well, a foot and a half from the stage was a
little close for me, so I took the second row, center. The singers were
in the middle of a song, and it was obvious they got a kick out of a
little kid making herself right at home like that. I know it had to
make their day, with Mizan swaying and clapping along to all their
songs. They ended up by getting some kids and grown-up kids (e.g. me)
from the audience for their last piece. We kept circling around and
through an arch made by two of the singers, and whoever was the last to
pass through got caught, and his head "chopped off" (imaginarily).
That's how Mizan got her head chopped off. And then they gave her a
Renaissance Reveler's cassette, figuring, I guess, that nobody buys
cassettes anymore. (I've already turned it into a cd.) And I had a pen
in my pocket so I suggested that Mizan get a few autographs on the
cassette card. Of course, they were quite delighted by that, too.
Anyhow, the point is, I know how much musicians like to feel they were
appreciated, and I'm sure Mizan made their day. Along those same,
lines, we stopped by a guitar/fiddle duo playing Irish music, and Mizan
tried some Irish jigging, at least it looked quite authentic to me. The
musicians got a kick out of that. And at another consort we stopped to
hear, the harper invited Mizan to have a few zings on his instrument.
So see, you should call me to say, "I will call in 24 hours. Please
have your stories ready."
THEE: Re: squawkers
>Whoa! Hold on! I take *zero* credit. Twain spelled it out, just like
the parody songs "To the tune of..." in the old Mad magazines. He
wrote:
> [The Chair:] "'Nicholas Whitworth'"
> "Hooray! hooray! it's a symbolical day!"
> Somebody wailed in, and began to sing this rhyme (leaving out "it's")
> to the lovely "Mikado" tune of "When a man's afraid, a beautiful
> maid--"; the audience joined in, with joy; then, just in time,
> somebody contributed another line--
Good. Then you have proof that I do forget. I must have read right
past several times without it registering. However, I haven't read that
story for quite a few years. Worse yet, I fell asleep last weekend
watching the Mikado. Gosh, darn, it seemed to go on for hours and I'd
started after 11:00 p.m.
>To be honest, any story where the bad guy with no redeeming values
"gets away with it" leaves me feeling kind of rotten. Guess it's my
thing about justice. You would know better than I, but I think such
stories represent a miniscule fraction of all that are written. After
all, what can a writer say in such a story, except, "Hey, chumps, it's
hopeless! Might as well go kill yourselfs!" Who needs to pay $2 (or
whatever) for a box of books to be told that?
Hard to say. There's a whole lot of depressing literature out there.
But I understand what you're saying about the Twain pieces that mock
those trying to do good. Were most of these late in life, do you
recall. For a man who started out with some fun stuff, he ended up
having more than his share of tragedies in life.
>>>Heaven help us if she finds my paean to the cool whip bowl.
>>Why can't I find that one?
>Guess cuz you nor nobody needs to. The cool whip bowl? Good grief...
It would fit right in there with cereal, mixed veggies, raisin brownies,
and ice water.
>>Forgot to ask until too late: What was Ms L- bristling about?
>My ideas on justice set her off. Then she pulled something out of
every web page she could get her hands on - education, guitar, units,
the calendar, butter, etc - as more ammo against me, although I could
hardly ever catch the point. To be honest, I'm borderline thrilled that
anyone is inclined to dig in and respond.
Sure this wasn't someone having some fun with you? Why would anyone go
out of her (or his) way to attack a complete stranger's ideas on a
website? Strange person.
>By the way, among the loose ends I can never wrap up, here's a link
that provides almost half of the chicken lady's album:
> http://cdbaby.com/cd/orriel
>Your challenge is to listen all the way through without laughing.
I made it! Admittedly, I had my hand clasped tightly over my mouth
after the first few seconds. You're almost certainly familar with the
Swingel Singers. They're the only performers who even come close, and
they don't cluck. When I was a teenager in Denmark, my host family and
I watched them perform on TV one night. Thereafter, my host mom went
about her business in the house giving a great imitation of what we'd
heard. She was a natural. To this day, I can't help laughing when I
listen to them.
>Then compare her Queen of the Night with another amazing one (if I
haven't already sent you here before):
If you did, I didn't get there. I enjoyed listening this time and
listened to Orriel a second time as a follow-up.
THEE: Re: seedy talk
I love computers! They always know how to disappoint.
THEE: Is this a valid word in Scrabble?
Is REFUSION a valid word? I couldn't find it in OSPD4.
ME: You would know better than I. I use a collegiate dictionary for
scrabble, and it's not in there. I see the web supplies a few
definitions for it.
ME: B>You're more than welcome. The book was power-packed. Of course,
I'm always awed by anyone who can write a book - I struggle over a
paragraph (and I'm never happy with the paragraph!)
The scrabble game was a classic. I was going to plunk my last S T R E A
onto the K at the top for a triple word score - but YOU took it, and not
only that, but for 45 points! I was rooting for C-, but it's not
in me to not scramble as hard as possible.
In a very low-level coincidence, the opera I was recommending to C-,
Amahl and the Night Visitors, came to mind more than a few times reading
your book. Amahl's a crippled boy who lives with his mother in a hut.
The Magi stop there on their journey.
The Mother:
"Oh, these beautiful things, and all that gold!"
Melchior:
These are the gifts to the child.
The Mother (with great excitement):
The child? Which child?
Melchior:
We don't know. But the Star will guide us to him.
The Mother:
But perhaps I know him. What does he look like? . . .
Kaspar, Melchior, and Balthazar:
The Child we seek holds the sees and the winds on His palm.
The Child we seek has the moon and the stars at his feet.
The Mother (absorbed in her own thoughts):
The child I know
on his palm holds my heart.
The child I know
at his feet has my life.
He's my child, my son,
My darling, my own,
and his name is Amahl!
THEE: Good news is that I gave away my laptop to serve as a house
computer at my folks house -- partly because they needed it more (we
have 2 desktops) & partly because I've been spending too much time
surfing the web & not enough playing music. I also lack a good method
for managing so much digital media on my computer.
THEE: signed-by google.com
Thank you for your reply. We really appreciate your thoughtful feedback,
and we'll keep it in mind as we work to improve Google.
Again, we encourage you to visit our online help resources at
http://www.google.com/webmasters. Our webmaster tools can provide you
with comprehensive info about your site, including queries for which
your site appears in our search results, potential indexing problems,
errors our crawlers encountered trying to access your pages, and much
more.
ME:
Hi Bev,
Thanks for prodding me to take stock of exactly what trios I do and
don't have. Counting both tapes and cds, it turns out I have most
everything. It took some hair-pulling, and I'd be surprised if I got
this 100% right, but this should be pretty close.
c = I have complete recording on cd.
t = I have the complete recording on tape, but not cd.
x = I do not have complete recording on tape or cd.
c 3 Renaissance Pieces (Ballo, When Daphne, Rondo/Tripla)
t Ambrosius - Fugato
c Ambrosius - Suite in G major
c Bach - Presto, Fugue, Trio
c Barker - Plunkety Plunk Schottische
c Blanchard - Prolog & rondo
c Boudounis - Tsitifelli
t Bowers - Earl of Salisbury Pavane variations
t Buchholz - Strelitzia
t Cardoso - Trios # 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9 (I have two of these on cd.)
t Chiereghan - Toccata del cucu. (I have all but first part, Calmo, on cd.)
c? Chobanian. Missing Yeraz and Alakiaz, but maybe we didn't record them?
t David - Drei Canzonen
c Farkas - Csango Sonatina
x Gagnon - Alice. (I have parts I, IV, and an extract from part III.)
c Gagnon - Kaleidoscope
t Goldstein - A little music
t Horn - Sporades suite
c Houghton - 6 mvmts.
c JC Smith - Pavan of the Midnight Stars
c Kleynjans - Suite Baroque
c Kruisbrink - For all I care
c Morricone - Canone breve
c Mozart - Fantasia K. 475
c Paulsen-Bahnsen - Preludio y fuga Antiguo
c Pilsl - Klangbilder
c Pujol - Fin de siglo
x Pujol - Tangondo. I *think* we recorded this. Did we?
c Purcell - King Arthur
t Rak - Four moods
t Rogaliov - Times of the Miraculous. (Have 4 of 6 mvmts on cd.)
c Santorsola - Concertino
c Stuckle - Friendship March
c Szordikowski - Irish Dreams
c Vivaldi - mando cto
t Volle - Trio
Does that list agree with your records of what we recorded? Here are
most of the other trios we played, but I'm pretty sure we didn't record.
But I might be wrong here or there.
Almeida - Discantus
Almeida - Brazilliance
Bellinati - Baiao de gude
Chiereghin - Canzone, Lunare e Danza Rituale
Koshkin - Let's play together
Stingl - Spielmusik in C (3 mvmt)
Ulrich - einersaits
Vivaldi - Sonate in A
Vivaldi - Sonate in E
??? - God rest ye merry
I hadn't seriously considered anyone going to the trouble to revisit the
recordings to pick out the very best takes, or doing any editing work.
That would involve *so* much time and effort. But I was talking to B-,
and he sounded quite willing - enthusiastic, even - to do just that. I
think it would be great to pursue that. It's easy for me to say, since
you two would be doing all the work, but it would wrap up our trio
efforts very nicely. No need to drop everything right now, but does it
sound like a possibility, copying all the complete takes to cd for Bob?
As far as the wgs ensemble pieces, it looks like between what I have and
what you put on the web, that's about it for what you have. I thought
there may have been 4 (or more?) Pil O'Pals, and I think there are only
3 on the web. Some time ago I did some comparative listenings between
wav and mp3 files, and I was absolutely amazed at how indistinguishable
they were to my ears. So I'm perfectly comfortable with mp3 whenever I
want more on a disc than cd audio format will allow. But I have a
*little* reluctance to go from wav to mp3 back to wav. It seems wrong,
even if I still couldn't tell a difference.
Thanks for trying to help with my Sony cd recorder problem. I never got
to the bottom of it. Now I just operate in a work-around mode - never
erasing a track and re-recording, and almost always going to computer to
create the final product. What I had wanted to do was get it right on
the cd-rw and do a quick and easy disc-to-disc copy with no diddling at
all on the computer. But since I use declicking on most of my records,
often convert to mp3 to get a whole opera or multi-record or multi-tape
set on one cd, and like to get track breaks just right, I'm resigned now
to processing on the computer, like everybody else.
By the way, did you know B- broke his leg pretty badly a few weeks ago?
C- called a few days ago. She mentioned that her car was stolen, and
then found 2 weeks later pretty beat up.
ME: Got slightly burned on my last mp3 project. It used about
675 of the 700 MB, so I was a little concerned about the tracks at the
end. The last 17 were missing. Hmmm, instead of completing the story,
I'll turn it into a quiz. What do you think happened to the last 17
tracks?
If you want some opera cylinder recommendations, you may try:
0921 - whistling Musetta's waltz (La Boheme)
2803 - buzzing intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana
2426 - whistling Anvil chorus from Il Trovatore
1243 - cranking Un bel di from Madama Butterfly
4553 - listen to end for technical difficulties
ME: RE: Doing Math the Easy Way
Regarding: "Kumon covers everything from basic algebra all the way up to
differential calculus," Kumon actually starts with the most fundamental
counting skills. It also puts calculus in the middle of its curriculum,
with subjects like probability and trigonometry coming later. I'm sure
only a small fraction of Kumon students actually progress beyond the
arithmetic levels into algebra, so unpleasant - and difficult - is the
drilling. As far as I know, there have been no independent studies
showing any measurable benefit of Kumon. I was a Kumon instructor for 2
years. For a complete dump of my thoughts, search for my Kumon page
using my name and "kumon".
THEE: Yes, it is hard not to Scrabble for all you've got! Here's a
dark family secret: I play my mom and sister once a year or so on
vacation, and I play as hard as I can, but I drop digits when I add my
score so that my mom will win sometimes. But I wouldn't dream of not
playing that triple-word-score word!
Thanks for the quote from Amahl and the Night Visitors. I've only seen
it once, years ago. What a beautiful passage. I may use that quote in a
talk I give at a banquet in a few weeks.
ME: If you're inclined to make use of that scene in Amahl, let me fill it
out for you. The libretto's not on the web, that I can find, and that's
fair enough since it's still protected.
The Mother:
"Oh, these beautiful things, and all that gold!"
Melchior:
These are the gifts to the child.
The Mother (with great excitement);
The child? Which child?
Melchior:
We don't know. But the Star will guide us to him.
The Mother:
But perhaps I know him. What does he look like?
Melchior:
Have you seen a Child
the color of wheat, the color of dawn?
His eyes are mild,
His hands are those of a King,
as King He was born.
Incense, myrrh and gold
we bring to His side,
and the Eastern Star is our guide.
The Mother (as though to herself):
Yes, I know a child
the color of wheat, the color of dawn.
His eyes are mild,
his hands are those of a King,
as King he was born.
But no one will bring him
incense or gold,
though sick and poor
and hungry and cold.
He's my child, my son,
my darling, my own.
Melchior and Balthazar:
Have you seen a Child
the color of earth, the color of thorn?
His eyes are sad,
His hands are those of the poor,
as poor He was born.
Incense, myrrh and gold
we bring to His side,
and the Eastern Star is our guide.
The Mother:
Yes, I know a child
the color of earth, the color of thorn.
His eyes are sad,
His hands are those of the poor,
as poor he was born.
But no one will bring him
incense or gold,
though sick and poor
and hungry and cold.
He's my child, my son,
my darling, my own.
Kaspar, Melchior, and Balthazar:
The Child we seek holds the seas
and the winds on His palm.
Kaspar:
The Child we seek has the moon
and the stars at his feet.
Balthazar:
Before him the eagle is gentle,
the lion is meek.
Kaspar, Melchior, and Balthazar: The Mother
Choirs of angels hover over His roof (absorbed in her own thoughts):
and sing him to sleep. The child I know
He's warmed by breath, on his palm holds my heart.
He's fed by Mother The child I know
who is both Virgin and Queen. at his feet has my life.
Incense, myrrh and gold He's my child, my son,
we bring to His side, My darling, my own,
and the Eastern Star is our guide. and his name is Amahl!
So, see, you wouldn't be able to make out the mother's last verse
without the libretto in front of you. That's opera!
There was a wonderful production in Smyrna, the town just north of
Dover, last year, and they indicated they were hoping to make it a
tradition. I hope so, too. I have recordings by two of the tv casts,
from the early 1950s and early 1960s. I found a nice, short article on
the web that references that scene by a woman who played the mother,
with her own son as Amahl.
http://www.stlukesbethesda.org/2005%20anniversary%20-%2080.pdf
It's about halfway down.
THEE: Turn left at Greenland
So close to that bookstore! Man! I was in that neighborhood last
Monday, running an errand at the store where M~ got our replacement
printer. It was a quickee. I had no fun.
I finished the raking today. It's party time.
I dunno what happened to those 17 tracks. Do tell!
I will take those recommended cylinders under advisement. I will get
to them eventually, oh yes!
ME:
> I dunno what happened to those 17 tracks. Do tell!
Hint: RCD-W500C Operating instructions, page 10, col. 2, note 4.
Went to Baltimore County on Sunday for dinner with the family. My
brother had a great ebay story. He got a Don Swann (I think) lithograph
from an aunt to put up on ebay. He checked out the activity on ebay to
get an idea for a starting price, and lo and behold, one of the
lithographs had the exact same number - 235/300! He even emailed the
seller to have her double check, and she's sure it's right. A scan of
the serial number is even shown on the ebay ad. Shades of those old
"limited edition" Beatle bootlegs, where the joke was thay could throw a
convention for owners of 37/200?
He also mentioned a set of children's books called "My Bookhouse" that
he's selling for the same aunt. I threw him for a loop when I said, I
just bought a set at Dover's auction a couple of months ago. He's
kicking himself for selling the first volume separately for $50, and
finding out there's little or no interest in the other five volumes
individually. He says complete sets have sold upwards of $100 on ebay.
Of course, I didn't buy my set to pass on. There was a woman there that
day who really wanted them and took me up to my max, $20. If she had
made another bid, they would have been hers. If she weren't there, I
probably would have got the set for $4 or $5.
THEE: Re: Turn left at Greenland
That's a great eBay story.
Did you know my friend Mark won fifth-row Who tickets for their
Columbus, Ohio, show yesterday on eBay, and one of those tickets was
mine!
Man, am I tired from the drive! No I'm not. The eBay seller
decided, after M~~ sent money, that she'd rather go herself and just
didn't bother sending M~~ the tickets. He got his money back but we're
still mad.
Fortunately, Roger Daltrey apparently has bronchitis. The show got a
terrible review.
Do you mean I have to dig out my operator's manual for the CD player?
That's asking a lot!
ME: ccc
> Do you mean I have to dig out my operator's manual for the CD player?
That's asking a lot!
Man, kids today! Need to be spoonfed everything! All right, I'll kick
all the stuffins out of the "Oh, wow!" experience. The sony cd recorder
has a maximum of 300 mp3 files and folders on a single disc. I can play
the last 17 tracks on my computer; I can play them in my car (I'm pretty
certain); but I can't get at them on the sony. Why 300? Sounds pretty
piddly to me, and is not even a computer-type number (2 4 8 16 32 64 128
256 512 1024 2048 . . .). I guess they sized it for the average '50's
pop song: 700 min. per disc / 300 songs = 2:20 per song. Is it possible
that anyone has not figured out by now, that even in the best pop song,
there's only 45-52 seconds that you really need? Never mind people out
there archiving 20 second answering machine messages? Sheesh.
My second D~~ Chronology disk, just 7 tapes this time, only ran over by
5 tracks. My joy at seeing the number of mp3s come in at 296 was short-
lived - you have to add the folders in, too.
Sorry about the Who disappointment, although it takes all the empathetic
power I can muster not to see it as an act of mercy on the part of the
ebay seller.
Had a nice time tonight at a Christmas party put on for the adult
literacy center, which I've gotten involved in again. I hosted a short
Family Feud game, which was fun.
ME: christmas is coming the geese are getting fat
I finally got you an answer on Akeela and the Bee. M~~'s father
said he doesn't think she has it. He was chuckling that M~~ likes
presents so much it wouldn't matter if she already did have it. But
then K~~ was very definite that she doesn't.
At today's auction I picked up another neat Mother Goose. This "only"
goes back to 1968 (speaking like a true geezer), but adds quite a few
new ones to my collection, plus different illustrations to look at, of
course. These are by Gyo Fujikawa. I implemented something I wish I
had done sooner. By lumping all the Mother Goose first lines into a
separate file, and then nudging them around to all start at the same
place on the line, I can sort the whole thing alphabetically. Then you
can see at a glance all the places a given Mother Goose appears in my
collection. My search program does a similar thing, but you have to
keep typing in keywords. Here, you can just step from one item to the
next in a given book, say, and see where else the rhyme appears, or if
it's a new one. I'll attach the sorted file so you can get an eyeful of
haute culture.
I also got "Papa", no, not a biography by Hemingway's daughter, but by
Mark Twain's daughter Susy when she was 13. It has lots of annotation
by Twain and looks like it will be fun.
>>>Forgot to ask until too late: What was Ms Landham bristling about?
>>My ideas on justice set her off. Then she pulled something out of
every web page she could get her hands on - education, guitar, units,
the calendar, butter, etc - as more ammo against me, although I could
hardly ever catch the point. To be honest, I'm borderline thrilled that
anyone is inclined to dig in and respond.
>Sure this wasn't someone having some fun with you? Why would anyone go
out of her (or his) way to attack a complete stranger's ideas on a
website? Strange person.
Definitely for real, and definitely female. And not strange at all. At
least, in my experience in life, I would say somewhere between most and
almost all people are inclined to to dig in and do battle with any new
proposal, especially from a peer. (We take new ideas from disembodied
experts, leaders and manufacturers much more in stride.) I don't know,
I guess that's more fun than actually thinking about something for a few
minutes first. Maybe it's a resentment or jealousy thing - I really
don't put much stock in psychological analyses. What made this case
strange was that T~~ wrote back a week later saying she had reread
some of her earlier emails and was shocked at how mean she came off. I
had planned to calmly respond anyway, although it still hasn't bubbled
up high enough on my list of priorities.
Did you notice the crazy vocal technique on Maria Galvany's Queen of the
Night cylinder? I've never heard that anywhere else, at least.
I mentioned my first Charlotte Church cd. I got another one with a few
opera cuts off half.com for $1.01 plus shipping. No regrets, but it
definitely doesn't hit the spot for me as well as the first one. Her
15-year-old voice doesn't even sound as mature as her 14-year-old voice
did to me.
I had written off the adult literacy center, but I got a call lately.
I'm hoping they can find a good fit for me. I went to the Christmas
party on Tuesday, and emceed a short and sweet game of Family Feud.
THEE: Re: ccc
Hmm, still confused. I really have to turn the music down when I do
e-mail!
THEE: re: Kumon
Unclear Assessments - maybe I was just dense, but the assessments
and the progress charts seemed a bit arbitrary and hard for me to grasp.
ME: Darn if Kumon's progress charts ever made any sense to me, either!
I just stonewalled 'em.
THEE: Recently read a book the Sutter Health
system is giving to employees for improving
communication called "Critical Conversations".
Basically, if one says something and gets a silent
response or a violent response, the person needs to
change what they said and make it safe for the other
person to speak.
THEE:
>>Sure this wasn't someone having some fun with you? Why would
>>anyone go out of her (or his) way to attack a
>>complete stranger's ideas on a website? Strange person.
>
> Definitely for real, and definitely female. And not strange
> at all.
Wouldn't cross my mind to attack a stranger's website--crackpot or not.
(Nothing personal!) I'd figure the person was entitled to his
or her own opinion. If it were way off from anything
I believe, I'd figure the person was a lost cause and
not worth the wasted time.
> Did you notice the crazy vocal technique on Maria Galvany's
> Queen of the Night cylinder? I've never heard that anywhere
> else, at least.
Yeah, it woke me up suddenly!
ME: Dear Trane, I am desperate to talk with someone who is completely
knowledgeable regarding package heat pumps. I have been pulled in
every direction imaginable by heating contractors I have talked to, and
now don't know which end is up.
THEE:
>>Not surprising that the Tar Baby was popular in France
>
> I did a bit of web searching on brer rabbit, uncle remus, joel
> chandler harris, france, french, and ortoli to see what was going
> on with that attribution in my reader. One of Harris's credits,
> a joint effort with his wife, is a translation of "Evening Tales"
> by the Frenchman Ortoli, and I'm guessing
> the editor of the reader was confused and had some idea that
> Brer Rabbit or all of Uncle Remus came from those tales.
And what kinda Frenchman has that good Italian name Ortoli?
> You can easily get by without knowing this, but it's fun for
> me to try to get a light bulb to go off. (Charlie says that
> should be "go on", but a google search shows that a clear
> majority says it my way.)
Maybe that light bulb is an old-fashioned flash bulb . . .
> Exercise for the reader: 50 to 40 represents what percent decrease?
20%. A 10c degrease from 50 = 1/5 or 20% of 50.
>>> If a hat and a feather together cost $1.10, and the hat cost
>>> $1 more than the feather, how much did they cost individually?
>>
>>Uh, isn't that $.05 and $1.05 with no equation needed?
>
> If that answer jumped straight to mind with no mental juggling,
> that definitely puts you in extremely rarefied company. I've never
> seen anyone rattle off the answer, and I've been in roomfuls of
> people, of decent education, where no one could get it, and
> many remaining unaccepting of the correct answer, so powerful
> is the tug of, "What's the big deal? A dollar for the hat,
> 10 cents for the feather, all's right with the world, Pippa
> passes."
Ok, so $1 and $0.10 was my first thought, but
that would be a $0.90 difference. From there, it was
a cinch. No equation needed.
> Hey, calm down! Ogden wrote a *2nd* language, *not* a replacement
> for English! Think about it, if you could go anywhere in the
> world armed with an 850 word language and say 99% of the things
> you normally say throughout the day to anybody on earth, wouldn't
> that be a good thing? Kind of?
Yup, it would be good to have some kind of common language, but that
guy's website claimed that businessmen (or businesspeople) could
conduct business with those 850 words. Maybe if they were dealing in
apples for potatoes or clocks for knifes, assuming the -s ending
still works.
ME:
Turned out that N~~'s school's Christmas concert was last
night, so I saw her there. She's in the 3rd- and 4th-grade chorus,
and is also a "flag girl" in the marching band and drum line.
I'm curious about drum lines. The first one I saw was Dover
High's Rolling Thunder drum line, which was very impressive.
Now other schools have formed drum lines. Is this a
widespread phenomenon? Also wondering if maybe it goes back
further than I think, and I've only been exposed since moving
to Dover.
>Cool. I wish I had your time for organization.
As far as keeping a database of all the literature in my library,
remember that that's simply scanning in tables of contents, and then a
little reformatting and tidying up. By the way, did you manage to open
up the attachment? I realized I sent it off without a billgate-friendly
extension.
>> I also got "Papa", no, not a biography by Hemingway's daughter,
>> but by Mark Twain's daughter Susy when she was 13. It has
>> lots of annotation by Twain and looks like it will be fun.
>
>Was this the daughter that died . . . died young, that is. I
>don't recall if he had more than one, but I know
>he was devastated by the loss of wife and daughter.
Yes, Susy died at 24 from spinal meningitis. I'm still in the
introductory material, which is fascinating, but painful. Susy spent
her last years in absolute torment, consumed with love for her former
Bryn Mawr classmate Louise, but separated by an ocean. The frustration
was compounded when Louise, who graduated tops, came over to Europe to
study, and Susy begged in letters for even a brief meeting, but in vain.
Why can't they just invent a pill that turns off our lunatic romance
systems, so we can all live happy?
>> Definitely for real, and definitely female. And not strange
>> at all. At least, in my experience in life, I would say
>> somewhere between most and almost all people are inclined to
>> to dig in and do battle with any new proposal, especially
>> from a peer. (We take new ideas from disembodied experts,
>> leaders and manufacturers much more in stride.)
>
>Wouldn't cross my mind to attack a stranger's website--crackpot or not.
>(Nothing personal!)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But what if it was that goofball Carl Sagan
who spent a few minutes extolling the virtues of Base 8;
or Julia Childs sneaking a few raisins in some scrumptious
recipe, or Robert Frost putting in a few good words for
Ogden's 850-word English, or . . . or . . . or . . . (smileys
galore!)
Really, I'm always thrilled with feedback, and I'm very used to it
delivered nastily. It just keeps me on my toes. And, to be absolutely
honest, I can see how the way I present things might rub people the
wrong way, if they don't dip down just deep enough to see I'm chuckling
all the while. Anyhow, who would it benefit to preface every sentence
with, "Well, I'm not infallible, and I've made plenty of mistakes, and
there have been any number of occasions in my life when I was absolutely
sure about something and then it turned out I was wrong, but here's my
little opinion on . . . " Who else is obligated to write like that?
>Whatever happened to with the Hispanic man?
That's the thing, nothing ever came of it. I just figured
I somehow scared off the the people who run the show - not
something I've wondered about for the first time in my life.
I don't *feel* like I'm all that threatening.
THEE:
> I'm curious about drum lines. The first one I saw was Dover
> High's Rolling Thunder drum line, which was very impressive.
> Now other schools have formed drum lines. Is this a
> widespread phenomenon? Also wondering if maybe it goes back
> further than I think, and I've only been exposed since moving
> to Dover.
A predominately black high school in Tulsa has a drum line. It has
gotten the school invited to all sorts of big parades. That's the only
one I know.
> Yes, Susy died at 24 from spinal meningitis. I'm still in the
> introductory material, which is fascinating, but painful. Susy
> spent her last years in absolute torment, consumed with love
> for her former Bryn Mawr classmate Louise, but separated by
> an ocean. The frustration was compounded when Louise, who
> graduated tops, came over to Europe to study, and Susy begged
> in letters for even a brief meeting, but in vain. Why can't
> they just invent a pill that turns off our lunatic romance systems,
> so we can all live happy?
That could simplify a lot of lives.
>>Whatever happened to the Hispanic man?
>
> That's the thing, nothing ever came of it. I just figured
> I somehow scared off the the people who run the show - not
> something I've wondered about for the first time in my life.
> I don't *feel* like I'm all that threatening.
>
I've never seen your threatening side. Maybe they don't like your
letters to the editor? Or perhaps they don't like your instructions for
eating mixed vegetables? Or maybe it's your brownie with raisin recipe?
THEE:
I need to ask you a question regarding - Chas. (Charles?) de Janon.
I need to know what nationality Chas. (Charles?) de Janon was.
ME:
I could only think of one place to go for a bit of bio on
de Janon - and luckily, it didn't let me down! According
to Peter Danner, whom I trust above all others in matters
of 19th C. American guitarists, in his anthology, "The
Guitar In America - a historical collection of classical
guitar music in facsimile", published with the cooperation
of the Guitar Foundation of America (1978):
"Charles de Janon was born in Cartagena, Columbia in 1834
and came to New York at the age of six. In his own day,
de Janon was probably best known for his widely used edition
of Carcassi's celebrated guitar method. He died in 1901."
Now that I think about it, I'll bet Peter provided more
extensive info on de Janon in the Soundboard somewhere
along the line. Let me know if you'd be interested in
more info, and I'll look it up.
THEE: Geddy babel
* Andre Gardner played "Rocker" on his show last week and
identified it as "Ready, Willing, and Able" by Fats Domino. I dug
around. I think he meant "I'm Ready." Did we know this?! Here's the
first line of the song: "Well, I'm ready, I'm willin', and I'm able to
rock and roll all night." Sounds familiar to me.
* The other day, on my favorite bit-torrent site, I discovered a
concert Robyn Hitchcock gave just five days ago in which he performs
nothing but Syd Barrett songs. That screams L~~, I think. So I've
made a CD and I'm going to send it to him at the radio station, with a
note. If that doesn't work, what will?
Happy holidays! Gary Crimble and so on!
ME: I was still wondering if things are back to normal enough for you on
Boxing Day for a visit. January in Dover sounds good, in any case.
None of that about Rocker sounds familiar to me. Also, blanking on
"geddy babel".
Thanks for the heads up on Alan. I got L~~'s whole show on tape, minus
the few seconds for side and tape switches. It was a brave, new world
for me, hearing a radio show on the internet. I didn't think my dial-up
would allow it. Or, I'd at least need a month of computer courses to
figure out how to get it. In fact, I'm so fuzzy on the matter that I
couldn't have told you whether it's even legal for a radio station to
broadcast on the web. Don't really know what to do with the recordings,
though. Good luck with the Hitchcock/Barrett bait.
ME: I was a Kumon instructor for two years. They were in this country
for a few decades without doing any noticeable corporate advertising -
that was left to the franchisees. My understanding is that the
intensive advertising campaign of the last few years has been a flop.
In a communication to the instructors they admitted, "Kumon's ALS
(average length of stay for the student) and retention declined last
year (2004) despite the big campaign."
When I came on board 3 years ago, Kumon had something like 140000
students. (One child taking both math and reading counts as 2
students.) Now they're up to 200000 students. But that can be
explained by the opening of hundreds of new centers; their big push into
the pre-K market; and students being forced to take the second subject,
reading, by presumably well-meaning parents.
I've heard there is another indication things may not be going so well
for Kumon: a spate of brochures in the waiting rooms with titles like
"My child is caught up, why continue?", "Why shouldn't I take a break
from Kumon?", and "Why do Kumon and the school curriculum not match?".
ME: Thanks, Gerhard, und auch eine sehr fro"hlische Weihnachten und
glu"cklisches Neue Jahr fu"r Ihnen!
THEE: I was surfing the net and came across your article which drew a
lot of interest. I have known Kumon coming from Asia for years but my
children have never been to one and while I have heard, I have never
embraced other teaching techniques of worksheets, drilling, rote
learning except that there are practices that are great for some
children and not for others.
As a Learning and Teaching Styles practitioner, I am even more intrigued
by some of your comments of the Kumon franchise management.
I was a Franchise Owner of an international drama organization based in
Singapore and Hong Kong for 5 years before I moved up to the role of
Master Franchisor for Eastern Asia and now based in Maryland to help
develop more Franchises here in America. Therefore other franchise
practices are of interest to me but certainly I never knew there are
issues like the ones you highlighted.
You certainly make a very dedicated instructor/business manager of the
franchise because if you do not know, you would never be wise enough to
give good explanations and some children do learn just solely on
listening to your advice. One of my children learns that way -
homework, practices and so forth are totally meaningless. He just sits
and pick up everything in class and scores his "A" that way even without
his homework done!
ME: Thanks for the merry Christmas presents! I've had a good time with
what I've heard so far, and will continue to do so. I've played 1776 a
couple of times. Good laughs right off with John Adam's song and
Richard Henry Lee's, with the stream of Lee/ly puns. Lucky thing
Virginia's grandest old family wasn't called Davis or something! Too
bad the producers didn't invest in $.49 worth of my consultation - I'm
sure Americans hadn't added Ls to the long O sound that early on. "He
bowls and bowls . . . for he Knowles, he Knowles . . ." A Baltimorean
probably couldn't even figure out "Volt yes" and "Ol' say can you see?"
What was that about a whole, not half?, zanna? (For a a crystalline
"O", listen to Baltimore Oriole fans blast it out at the line, "OH! say
does that star-spangled banner . . ." It's a pun, too, you see?)
Got a nice gift from I~~ - a little still life on a wooden plaque.
She supplied some words of inspiration with a great elision in the last
line:
Dear Dony,
Don't live still
explore your opptions
in the world is your playground!
(I see the dictionary doesn't support my notion of an elision being
where an ending of something takes up as the beginning of the next
thing, as in a musical elision. Too bad.)
My index of first lines of Mother Goose rhymes in my collection turned
out so handy I did the same thing for Grimm's titles. That was actually
a little trickier since there is the potential for completely different
titles given to the same story. I tracked 'em all down and standardized
'em, though.
At one of last week's auctions I got a kid's poster book from
1938 where you cut out figures and layer them on the poster and on top
of each other to get a 3-D effect. Besides being old, an attraction was
each poster being a Mother Goose rhyme. I've done 4 out of the 6, and I
think the final results are really neat. If the book was more valuable
un-cut up, then I guess the surviving copies are even more valuable now!
One of the rhymes was:
Tom, Tom, the piper's son
Stole a pig and away he run.
The pig was eat and Tom was beat
And Tom ran crying down the street.
which brings to mind my interest in
> ...that killed the Rat,
> that eat the Malt,
> that lay in the House that Jack built.
I don't know, but I'm guessing that most people don't know that "et" is
an acceptable past tense for "eat", although it's spelled "eat", not
"et". I think most people wouldn't read those lines correctly, but I
could be wrong.
I was surprised to find recently that I was named in a patent. That
explains this round of emails from a few years ago. I'll leave it in
it's back-to-front form. I guess people are more used to that now.
Once, I presented an email conversation to H~~ in chronological form,
and he couldn't figure it out.
Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2000 14:13:44 -0400
From: Bill.Pierce@USPTO.GOV
Subject: roofball
I work for Patent and Trademark Office. My group is concerned with new
type of games including those related to tennis and the like. Copies of
your web site are being added to our files and we needed a date to put
on them should they ever become of use. Thank for you prompt response.
>Hi Bill,
>It looks like I put my roofball webpage up in June 1999. That's the
date of a file that I downloaded to my disk of an image I found on the
web of 2 people playing their version of roofball. I make mention of
that picture in my webpage. I don't have any other documents, but I'm
sure you know of the roofball website, which I added a link to at the
bottom of my page. Nope, it never occurred to me to use paddles -
roofball always seemed like a volleyball variant to me. I am more than
a little intrigued by your mention of "office files" on roofball. (Are
roofballers under government surveillance?)
>>When (dated) was your webpage to roofball first published. Do you
have any other dated documents on the sport. Do you have any dated
documents with a version using a racket or paddle? This information is
requested to add to office files about the sport. Ex. Pierce
You can find the patent via Google, by the way. I don't know how many
people know about all those other search functions Google offers if you
click on "more>" and "even more>". I haven't thought of a use for it,
but they actually rip apart and scan mail order catalogs that otherwise
don't appear online! I just plugged "quit kickin" into the news archives
and got 117 hits.
Anyhow, can there be any lingering doubt about who *really* invented
roofball, the real version?
Courteously,
Donald
ME: Oh, right, you enjoy a relaxed week at work while the rest of the
world squanders vacation time. Good thinking!
Nope, we hadn't talked about Boxing Day, but if you read your mail . . .
(I think this is where they use a ;-)
How I taped L~~'s show off the computer is a story that would have
burned up half of Boxing Day. Where's Oliver Stone when you need him?
No, I didn't actually listen to it all. The last in line of all the
amazing things I had never done before was realize there's a U-turn
switch on my tape recorder, allowing me to record the last 110 minutes
(I had an extra-length, high bias tape!) while I was tucked away in bed,
although, admittedly, sleeping somewhat fitfully with all that
futuristic technology cranking. As far as my peace of mind was
concerned, there might as well have been a convention of Neptunians out
in the kitchen.
Sorry about the colds. I'm the last person to bend an ear to anybody
else's home cures, but have I ever mentioned my near certainty that
hitting ye olde Listerine hard when I feel a cold coming on has foiled
dozens of them for me?
THEE: subject "Oh, there's a NEW Mexico!"--Simpson, H.
Did you do a direct hookup from computer to tape deck? Will wonders
never cease?
If you can pick up KUNM, you're ready for WMGK, and "Breakfast With
the Beatles" with Andre Gardner, tomorrow, 9-11 a.m. He'll be playing a
"Love" isolation track! Go to http://www.wmgk.com/, and click on
"Listen Live Here."
THEE:
>Too bad the producers didn't invest in $.49 worth of my consultation -
I'm sure Americans hadn't added Ls to the long O sound that early on.
"He bowls and bowls . . . for he Knowles, he Knowles . . ."
I've often wondered about pronunciation back then. British
pronunciation often baffles me, such as the pronunciation of Lady
Chonmondeley as Lady Chumley.
THEE: How many student average at each Kumon center?
Reading your interesting article, while we have been thinking about to
open a center ourselves, I have a quiestion not answered by the office:
How many students in average are at Kumon center? We try to figure out
a business plan. Average, $50k~75k per year after costs after two years?
The first year can be a total loss due to marketing process?
ME: That's a very good question. I've wondered myself about average
enrollment and also the average tuition set by U.S. Kumon centers. A
year or so ago I *heard* that the average tuition in the Southeast is
$115/month. I *believe* the average enrollment is about 100 students
per center. I get this from 200,000 students and 2000 centers, BUT I'm
not sure how accurate or up-to-date those figures are, and I have never
been sure whether the figures I hear are both for the same geographic
area, that is, both for the U.S. or both for North America.
I'm sure many Kumon centers are able to make a profit in the first year,
especially given the low startup costs and the rent subsidy. Good luck!
THEE: subject fingering suggestion for guitar tablature
I feel strange writing you, we being perfect strangers and all. I read
through your thoughts on tablature, and thought I could relieve your
issue on how best to finger it. What I do is get four highlighters of
different color, one color corresponding to each finger. I use pink,
orange, yellow, blue, for 1, 2, 3, 4. Each fret number in the tab gets a
quick highlight with the appropriate color. It's pretty easy going once
the colors are securely learned. I hope this was of some assistance.
ME: That sounds like a great idea! Unless you object, I'd like to add
your fingering idea to my tablature page, with full credit to you.
ME: I just got around to a web search to see if we were the only people
on earth who know that toadfish growl. This came up right at the top:
http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1823976
ME: Also wondering if you could do me a favor before then. I'm curious
about a setting on my computer related to the appearance of characters.
A program crashed and left my characters looking horrible. I diddled
around and got them looking pretty good, but I'm not sure they're back
100%
Here are the steps:
start
Control Panel
Appearance and Themes
Display
Appearance (tab)
Effects...
__ Use the following method to smooth the edges of screen fonts:
I'm wondering if that last one is checked or not, and if so, whether
Standard or ClearType is selected in the drop-down box. I'm mostly
interested in how this is set on your laptop. Windows help indicates
that ClearType might help a laptop, but not be needed on a desktop. So
I'm wondering if your laptop has Cleartype set, and what are the effects
of temporarily disabling Cleartype.
While I'm typing away, maybe you have some thoughts on a problem that's
completely stumped everybody I've talked to so far. Are there hands-
free headsets for old-fashioned land-line phones? If so, can the the
mouthpiece/mic be separated from the headset? If there is nothing off-
the-shelf that will do this, can you think of any solution for playing
guitar duets over the phone with a guitar partner?
THEE: subject: toadfish
I'm telling you, this just proves the www can confirm most anything.
That was some pretty interesting stories.I'll tell you, those toadfish
did freak me out when stumbling across them. I still say they come from
the prehistoric days.
ME: C~~ said he bought something from you recently, and when he started
to talk about a print, I asked if it was the infamous 235b Don Swann
print - and it was! Tell him he ought to erase the 3 and the 5.
THEE: subject That Hard Day's Night Chord
I've been using this chord for years for the beginning chord to Hard
Days Night. It's a D7sus4 add B
----- 3 ----
----- 1 ----
----- 2 ----
----- 0 ----
----- 2 ----
----- X ----
Muffle the low E note.
Please let me know what you think.
ME: Thanks for visiting, and thanks for sharing. To my ears, the low B
sounds a bit suspect, but I'd ask somebody with sharper ears than me!
ME: mom on tv
When Mom and Pop were on that local "yard sale" tv show, were you the
ones that taped it, and if so, do you still have the tape, and if so,
would A~~ or anybody you know be able to convert it to a format to
put it up on Youtube? I thought Mom put on a good show with the old fan
and opera glass, and it would be neat to have the video on the web.
THEE: RE: That Hard Day's Night Chord
Yes I was a little indifferent about that low B too, but nothing else on
that string sounds as close and I don't believe the chord is a straight
d7sus4 with a added low G or even the open A either. But if it's played
with more emphasis on the higher strings and not so much on the B I
think it's pretty close.
I just saw the making of A Hard Days Night DVD and in it George Martin
said he was the one that suggested to John Lennon to come up with a
strong opening chord and John fooled around for awhile and then George
suddenly said "That's it". George even said to this day he has no idea
what chord that was.
ME: Yes, I noticed that too about not emphasizing the low B. And it
seems like other people have trouble with the 5th string, stopping with
4-note chords, for example. Notice that my friend Bob's solution uses
the 5th fret on the 5th string, which is the same as the open D string.
Interesting story from the Making of HDN dvd. I read an earlier
interview with George where he said something totally wrong about the
chord. He said it was a barred F chord with the G on the first string
added. I went straight to my guitar with high hopes, but that was *way*
off!
THEE: subject sears guitar
hey don,I have a older sears and roebuck acoustic guitar and wondering
if you can give me a rough idea if it is worth anything?
ME: Wish I could help. Best I can suggest is keep an eye on ebay for
similar items. Good luck!
ME: We went back to my office just before the New Year's Eve grand
finale.
The star stickers came off N~~'s princess crown, which she made.
The animal demonstration was fascinating. The turtle was HUGE; the
shell alone was about 2 feet, front to back. The baby monkey was some
sort of species I'd never seen before. N~~ means he was primping his
"mother", which is what those monkeys naturally do for friends and
family. He combed through her hair and checked down the back of her
sweater for looking for mites and fleas. He thinks any little speck -
freckle, scab, mole - is one and will try to bite it off. He'd be happy
to do that all day long. Besides a python, skunk, aligator and eagle
owl they also had a legless lizard - looking to us just like a snake -
and a binturong, a.k.a. bear cat.
The fussball table was an outdoors, enormous model constructed for First
Night.
I was really irked when I noticed I had lost the wicker basket N~~ made.
Besides hating to lose things, it was a cute little basket, plus we had
sunk so much effort into lugging our haul around up to that point. Last
I remember seeing it was with all our things under the fussball table,
although I might have dropped it later.
ME: The fact that you get something when you type in a composer says you
know what you're doing, so I probably don't have those exact album
titles. A tip about doing searches is to search on the fewest words or
terms that will probably give what you want. So if I type in the whole
title, and you type in the whole title, but one of us puts in an extra
space, it won't match. So search on the most oddball word, or pair of
words, in the title. Searching for these records is just for the fun of
it, but it's also good to have good search abilities. I guess you
noticed when you start your search you can just keep hitting enter to go
to the next occurrence. If you break that flow, but want to continue
searching later, then you hit the F3 key, and it will search on the last
thing you looked for. Sometimes it starts from where you left off;
sometimes it starts from the beginning again. The way Windows and
Microsoft do searches is the absolutely most clumsy, unreliable way I've
seen since being involved in computers, but it's what the world has to
live with.
Went to Dover's First Night last night. Saw some amazing magic acts, a
fascinating animal show, and a couple of fireworks displays, one of
which was "best ever". Lots of other fun things, too, like the giant
outdoor fussball table.
http://www.geocities.com/donaldsauter/opcat.htm
[now http://www.donaldsauter.com/opera-record-catalog.htm ]
ME: The opening fireworks was a display by Pyrotecnico. I've mentioned
before how much I enjoyed their fireworks. As far as I can tell,
there's no people involved; the whole thing is like a computerized
fountain of choreographed fireworks. Looks like they all come blasting
out of the same spot, even. Don't know how they do it. And what's
really great is how close they let you get; just across the street,
practically. There was a segment where you really got the impression
they were aimed at you.
Don't blame I~~ for "electroccuted". When I went to toss a piece of
scratch paper, I see that's how I jotted it down for her. Some help.
One of the funniest parts of the magic show was when the magician picked
a boy from the audience and stood him on a stool and dressed him up like
Harry Potter with a great, big coat on. Then the magician hid behind
and stuck his own hands through the sleeves and did all sorts of groovy
tricks, like fanning cards and hooking and unhooking rings. He must
have whispered instructions to the boy, so he would blow on the rings to
make them separate, for instance.
samed = seemed
The amazing and hilarious optical illusion was having us look at a
spinning wheel for 20 seconds, and then immediately to the magician's
head - and it looked like it was expanding! Spinning the wheel the other
way made his head shrink down to apple-size. (Shades of Caesar Rodney?)
bean bug = bean bag toss
This was Dover's 10th First Night and they made big boards painted with
all 10 First Night logos with holes cut in for bean bag tossing. Of
course, most kiddies stand a few steps away for their little tosses. Of
course, I gathered up a basket of bean bags and moved half way down the
block. I don't know how, but poor I~~ kept getting pelted. Then my
bean bags started falling out of the sky, over both ranks of targets.
Last I saw, there was a riot going on.
Ring toss was done with hula hoops. That was a little more dangerous,
so I only took my hoops a quarter of the way down the block.
Poppy papper dance is self-explanatory. There was a crazy guy bucket
percussionist out in front of the Schwartz Center and he beat away while
everybody jumped and danced and stomped on sheets of bubble wrap.
page with comments
I~~ didn't mention the Pyrates Royale musical comedy. They swore us
all to a life of pyracy before it was over - the main thing you need to
know is you can't be a pirate with all your parts. She did get a hug
from all five pyrates in the crew. Good idea - easier to administer
than an autograph collection.
You see the baby monkey primping his mama's hair. You also see his
true-to-life diaper.
What I thought were fireworks are apparently earrings, the foamy
originals of which I stuck on below. Luckily, the one that fell off in
my sleep didn't get lost.
There are no buttons on the shiny blue shirt because they're hidden by
the flap down the front (which actually goes up to the collar, which
actually closes up in front, sort of like a priest's. I also dispute
the proportions.)
Never confuse wodsim for wisdom.
I~~ didn't mention how she tried to starve me out. You know better
than me what a pain in the neck it is lugging kids around. (Oops,
sorry, E~~.) I mean, I could'a seen TWICE as many shows AND snuck in
a bite here and there, but we were always too far from the People's
Church basement to expect a little kid to dash on over so I could have
my annual chili dog. But we finally found time around 11:00 - and it
was the BEST CHILI DOG ON EARTH. When I went back for one to savor, it
turned out I had gotten their LAST hot dog, so I settled for a dogless,
bunless chili dog (in a bowl).
As Damon Runyon will say, "Some parents are very fond of children,
though personally I will not give you a dime for a dozen of them, male
AND female.
Then it was back to my office, via the bean bag toss and poppy papper
dance, for letter writing, and then back to Legislative Mall for the
ball drop, which we got right up to just as it hit bottom (try that in
Time's Square) and the fireworks went off.
I met I~~'s father at the auction today and he said I~~ slept for 12
hours.
THEE: I~~ already writes as well as an occasional student of mine. I
wouldn't have figured out the poppy papper dance, but now that you
explained it, her name for it is perfect.
ME: rarer than hens' teeth (almost)
The only actual guitar quartet from the 19th C. I've ever heard of,
American or European, is the Lhoyer quartet. Full name is Air Varie et
dialogue pour quatre Guitares, no opus (Paris). It's nice. It's in 3
movements, with the 2nd movement being a theme and 5 variations. I have
a nice copy from LC - better than original. Would you like that?
The only other thing that comes to mind as a possibility is the American
programmatic piece, A Trip To Rocky Point. It's actually for 2 banjos
and guitar, plus a mandolin in one section, and a vocal quartet in
another, and could be easily done on 4 guitars (although the mandolin is
nice.) It also has bells and whistles and sand blocks and castanets.
Could your audience handle that? :) The guitar society recorded it.
Would you like a copy of the recording to see what you think?
THEE: subject Help with Pictionary
I am in the middle of a dispute with the opposing Pictionary team.
The word was Northeast.
By drawing a compass, I was able to get my team to say "North", "South",
"East", "West". Since my team said North and then said East, was this a
win within the Pictionary rules?
Your help would be appreciated.
PS - Totally had a blast playing the game.
ME: Well, I'm not sure my opinion counts more than anyone else's, but I
would have to say I need to hear the word "northeast", all run together.
BUT... that's just my very strong opinion. Don't anybody start punching
or stabbing anybody!
THEE: We have finally recovered from colds and flu and want to wish you
all a wonderful New Year ahead!
May we finally have the PEACE John Lennon envisioned!
ME: By the way, I'd been thinking about that Gobble duet arr. by Foden
lately (don't know if it's on the cd) because the song pops up a few
times on the UCSB cylinder site, once in Spanish as "Duo de los Pavos".
It's a funny song.
ME: Here's the music - hope you can pull off Rocky Point.
Regarding Rocky Point: It might be a little confusing at first, but
you'll figure it out. I took the original parts and did a little
cutting and pasting to cover a few options, such as for guitar trio, or
guitar trio plus a mandolin, or even if a vocal quartet were handy.
(You can find the words on the cd notes. You won't want to use them.)
The 4th guitar can keep himself busy with the mandolin, sound effects,
and doubling banjo 2 or the guitar part.
THEE: Re: Help with Pictionary
I believe you are correct......thank you so much.
ME: big surprise
I got a call today from H~~, the 9th-grader's, mother. They had shown
up at my office *yesterday* (Wednesday)! When she had said on Monday,
"Next Wednesday", to me that means the Wednesday that's about a week
away, not the day after tomorrow. Plus I figured she was just getting
into a weekly groove.
The tutoring ad below mine in the Dover Post is already gone, which
disappoints me slightly.
ME: I got your music off to you. Forgot to mention in the note to play
the tape with Dolby on. I've never heard a tape in my life that needed
dolby as bad as this one.
THEE: Re: poppy papper dance band
>Fireworks pictures aren't any great shakes, but this is neat, with them
erupting about 150 feet from Legislative Hall.
Definitely a striking backdrop.
Yesterday afternoon we went to see Night at the Museum. From the first
few minutes, I had little hope for it. Turned out to be a pretty funny
movie. Imagine Teddy Roosevelt gazing through binoculars at Sacagawea
for 50 years without the nerve to talk to her and a pharoah's mummy
rising from the tomb speaking perfect British English because he had
been on display for years at Cambridge or bands of Huns, Romans, and
cowboys--most from miniature dioramas--teaming up to capture the trio of
newly retired night guards (Bill Cobbs, Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney)
who were trying to steal the Egyptian tablet of Ahkmenrah that made them
and everything else in the natural history museum come to life every
night. It even had a memorable monkey . . . but no mother. Night at
the Museum won't become a classic, but it was a funny afternoon's
entertainment. Kids will love it but would benefit from a history
lesson before hand.
THEE: subject [Fixing skips in phonograph records Question]
I have read your page "Fixing skips in phonograph records". Actually, i
just bought a ($70) record which unfortunately is scratched. (~5
millimeters scratch, almost parralel to the grooves) I have understood
your method but i really don't think i can handle it (even with a
magnifying glass).
Do you accept to repair other's records ? If not, thank you nevertheless
for putting your method online.
ME: I'm sorry, it's not feasible to try to repair records for other
people. If your scratch is almost parallel to the grooves, that's the
worst situation, but not hopeless. I would suggest practicing on a
worthless record to get a feel for the motion with the pin. If you're
still afraid, ask a friend you trust to give it a try. It's very
unlikely you will do anything to make the skip worse. Good luck.
ME: he staid, sate and eat
>I don't see a hole for the bags.
I'm almost positive it was the bell of that Seuss-like sousaphone
instrument in the middle. There's a tell-tale line that would be the
cut in the plywood.
I have a theory about my drumline question. I think it was S~~ who
mentioned there was a movie called Drumline. A quick search says it
came out in 2002. So if that started the drumline craze, it would be
consistent with me only being exposed about the time of my move to
Delaware. That's a bunch of ifs, of course.
Thanks for the Purple Cow In Court. It's made itself at home on my
table here, which explains why I forget to mention it, and why I keep
forgetting to do a little search on the Dailey/financier/libel business,
which I couldn't figure out from the article.
Went to a very interesting talk on Delaware governors at Legislative
Hall on Saturday. There are some really crazy episodes, like our first
governor (called president) being kidnapped by the British, and Delaware
not wanting him back. I wished that the presenter would put his talk
together in a booklet or on the web. It was just the right amount of
knowledge to have on such a subject, and I sure don't want to have to
read a fat book to bring some of it back.
Today I was less lucky. There was a book discussion at the library, the
first in a series called "For Grown-ups Only: Children's Literature
Revisited". This one was devoted to fairy tales, which is what snagged
me. I got the two books on Thursday and plugged away at them in my
usual way, dragging out all the versions I have in my own collection. I
guess I was hoping that they would do a story by run-through, and that I
would get up courage now and then to add 2 cents. It didn't turn out
like that. The leader had a batch of discussion questions like, "What
stereotypes of older women are found in these stories?" That isn't
exactly what I was thinking about plowing through the 48 stories, which,
by that time, you're starting to get Goldilocks and Cinderella and
Sleeping Beauty and Little Red Riding Hood all mixed up, anyhow. One
book was The Classic Fairy Tales by the Opies, which has the earliest
English versions of all the well-known tales. My biggest surprises were
the earthy language in The History of Tom Thumb, and the main character
in The Three Bears was an old woman. But mostly I'm bugged at myself,
because I did miss opportunities to pipe up in a few places that I think
would have been appreciated. I had a few comments for the leader at the
end, and she said, "You should have said something!" For instance, I
showed her the great, great ending of Tatterhood that I got off the web.
(Kumon gave the first half of the story in one of their worksheet sets.)
Tatterhood is *so* much cooler in the web version than in the 1970s book
"Tatterhood and Other Tales."
Hey, I know! I'll unload my 8 pages of notes on my writing perfessor
friend! Just kidding; don't keel over. But looking forward to the day
when I hoist all my email up on the web, let me digitize a few of them.
At one point Dr. D~~, the leader, brought things back to earth and
simply asked if we had any favorites. I kept mum, but the one person
who piped up named "Kupti and Imani". Judy said, "Ah, yes! And I also
like "The Lute Player." This was amazing - those were *my* one-two
favorites! Kupti was the 16th story in the book, and I wrote a little
note, "best yet". Then, for the very next story, "The Lute Player", I
wrote, "very good". They were both standouts, if you ever get hold of
the Tatterhood book, and assuming my recommendation is not the kiss of
death (definitely the world's most dubious assumption.) The story after
that, "Clever Manka" was very interesting to me because a little bit
into the story, it turns into the Grimms' "Die Kluge" (smart woman).
The editor's notes on the story mention all kinds of variants in all
kinds of countries, but not Grimm. It's not like it's an obscure one;
Carl Orff turned it into an opera. I also found at least three more
instances of eat as the past tense of eat, although I guess I'm the only
one who collects those. Another nice -n past participle for my
collection (my single favorite English language word is "mown") was
"gnawne" from "The History of Tom Thumbe" (1621).
Thanks again for the Christmas cds. After the dust settled,
1776 was still the big favorite, and my favorite on that was the opener,
Sit Down, John - very operatic, but even more fun.
THEE: jackalopes, buggy safety, and undocumented workers
A couple of websites for your edification:
http://www.sudftw.com/jackcon.htm
http://www.freewebs.com/amish1/index.htm
http://www.nosantaforhazleton.com
Takin' a short break during office hours . . .
THEE: Nice to read ...
We met at the St. Louis GFA convention. I just went to you site while
looking for some guitar music links and read the memorial to you mother.
It was quite touching and fascinating. My condolences. Many blessings
upon her.
ME: Nice to hear from you! And thanks for reading my mom's page; I
often wonder how many web searches might land on that page.
THEE: U~~ thought you'd like to see this on
Newyorker.com:
Donald, For someone who loves variant wording . .
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/content/articles/031222fr_archive01?031222fr_archive01
A Visit from Saint Nicholas (In the Ernest Hemingway Manner) by James
Thurber Issue of 1927-12-24 Posted 2003-12-15
This classic New Yorker holiday story, from 1927, appears in the
anthology "Christmas at The New Yorker," which was published by Random
House.
It was the night before Christmas. The house was very quiet. No
creatures were stirring in the house. There weren't even any mice
stirring. The stockings had been hung carefully by the chimney. The
children hoped that Saint Nicholas would come and fill them.
ME: I mentioned the For Grown-ups Only: Children's Literature Revisited
series at the Dover library. I was disappointed in the fairy tale
discussion, but I have to give myself a lot of the blame. The
discussion leader had a batch of questions like "What stereotypes of
older women are found in these stories?" What kind of girly-brained
stuff is that? Still, I missed a few opportunities to pipe up with some
of my little discoveries. In retrospect, I'm sure they would have been
appreciated. Had a nice little talk with the leader afterwards, at
least.
Here's my alphabetized list of Mother Goose first lines. Don't ask me
what good it does the rest of the world.
THEE: Re: he staid, sate and eat
>I have a theory about my drumline question. I think it was Krystal who
mentioned there was a movie called Drumline. A quick search says it
came out in 2002. So if that started the drumline craze, it would be
consistent with me only being exposed about the time of my move to
Delaware. That's a bunch of ifs, of course.
I'm not sure if what we have hear is called a "drumline" or not, but the
band has a rather famous drum group (most of the band) that has
performed at bowl game parades and such.
>Thanks for the Purple Cow In Court. It's made itself at home on my
table here, which explains why I forget to mention it, and why I keep
forgetting to do a little search on the Dailey/financier/ libel
business, which I couldn't figure out from the article.
I didn't look it up. If you figure it out, let me know.
>Went to a very interesting talk on Delaware governors at Legislative
Hall on Saturday. There are some really crazy episodes, like our first
governor (called president) being kidnapped by the British, and Delaware
not wanting him back. I wished that the presenter would put his talk
together in a booklet or on the web. It was just the right amount of
knowledge to have on such a subject, and I sure don't want to have to
read a fat book to bring some of it back.
Reminds me of a crank call I received after R~~ was born and a birth
announcement was printed in the paper. Some man on the other end of the
line said, "I've got your old man." When I said nothing, he repeated,
"I've got your old man. Do you know what that means." Knowing that
C~~ was at work and didn't leave for lunch, I was tempted to say, "You
can keep him." When I reported the call to the police, they said that
somebody was making that call to mothers with new babies.
I can think of a few politicians today that we might not want back, so I
can understand those early Delaware folk.
>The leader had a batch of discussion questions like, "What stereotypes
of older women are found in these stories?"
Sounds like a literary discussion aimed at women.
>My biggest surprises were the earthy language in The History of Tom
Thumb, and the main character in The Three Bears was an old woman.
Whiteylocks?
Of course, when I spotted those Ian Whitcomb cds in Sedalia, I thought
of our past conversations about Ian and couldn't resist. Lotus Land was
on a clearance table and was a real bargain. There's another Whitcomb
cd that I've had for quite some time, and it contains the dawg song.
'Tis a bit off-color, though. Not the dawg song, but some of the other
songs in the lot. Maybe not as off-color as Ian's biggest hit, come to
think of it.
THEE: ALFREDO DOMENECH - Ixitos del 66 (1966)
Domenech was born in Barcelona, January 1st, 1938. He studied music and
at eleven years old, he acted on Radio Barcelona in a children program
called "Siguiendo my camino". At fourteen, Domenech was already music
director on amateur zarzuela companies. At seventeen, he worked on
another radio, Radio Nacional de Espaqa, as a musical director and years
later on Television Espaqola, where he did mainly his most important
stuff. Domenech also played his piano in Mediterranean Song Contest
(Festival de la Cancisn Mediterranea) around '63. This album offers his
group works and he plays piano and organ with guitar, bass, drums and
percussion. Sorry, it doesn't appear credit names of the musicians. It's
a TWENTY-FOUR tracks album!!!! with Beatles covers (Michelle, Yellow
Submarine), The Mamas and The Papas' Monday monday hit, standard
classics as Strangers in the night, pophits like These boots are made
for walking and a Bacharach cover: What's new pussycat, among others.
And here's the tracklist:
A Side Strangers in the night Michelle Shame and scandal in the family
Les marionettes The gotta quit kickin' my dog around Thunderball Lara's
theme Yesterday man Nessuno mi puo giudicare Yo soy aquel Amor amargo
Vuelo 502
B Side Como ayer What's new pussycat? Yellow submarine Black is black
Une mhche de cheveux To make a big man cry These boots are made for
walking Spanish flea Love me please love me Un sorbito de champagne
Monday monday Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
ME: Thought maybe this page was worth a few seconds of your attention.
My internet friend N~~ sent it to me a few minutes ago. Her interest is
the rarity, They Gotta Quit Kickin' My Dawg Around, the monster hit of
1912. On this album, it met the Beatles. Ever pass over this one in
Bloomy?
http://philmusical.blogspot.com/2006/03/alfredo-domenech-xitos-del-66-1966.html
THEE: subject Saviour Elvis
Do you know how Elvis became the saviour of the human race with a little
help from his friends.?
Me: Not off hand, but I'm curious.
THEE: How do I download that album!?
Inauguration Day it shall be.
I'm home. A~~ interrupted a break-in this morning after I left for
work. She confronted a guy knocking in our door. He fled as soon as
she asked (rather loudly) his business. So, we have a broken door but
it could have been worse.
ME: Inauguration day is on a Saturday? How's everybody supposed to take
off from work? And who's the new president? (Life without tv is so
blissful.)
I'm really shocked by the break-in attempt. The front door??? I think
I'd have had heart failure. What do I know about criminal psychology,
or any psychology, but I doubt he'd try the same house again.
THEE: Dark Horse Dialogues: Donald Sauter
TL Hines is back with his weekly Dark Horse Dialogues. Now that the
Kerry train is in danger of derailment, maybe the Donald Sauter
candidacy is about to take off. Well, probably not. If it weren't for
the candidate web pages he gives, I would be convinced that he's making
this stuff up. But no one is going to make up page after page of
classical guitar tablature, just for the sake of a joke. Not even a
wierdo like TL. And I really doubt that anyone who wasn't entirely too
serious would ever think to add this to one of his tablature pages:
ETHICAL PLEA: I do ask one thing regarding the printing of this
tablature: please try to refrain from using government or your company
resources to do it. Or, if you feel you have no reasonable alternative,
please reimburse your employer for use of his material and equipment.
I'd hate to think that my - and other people's - taxes and expenses for
goods and services are paying for your recreation on the job. I'm funny
like that.
Posted by Buckethead on 02/13/04 at 01:32 AM in Darwin Award Contender
ME:
I think maybe our dandy little project is getting behind schedule. How's
this for a slightly cranked up plan of action. When we get together, we
polish off 5 pieces, no ifs, ands or buts, no matter how long it takes.
I think that can be done in an afternoon, but if not, we go on into the
evening. I know we have the stamina. Five pieces is only 12 to 15
minutes worth of music. On top of that, while we're together, we decide
what the next 5 pieces will be by running through some of the
remainders.
By the way, I made no headway trying to find a way to play duets over
the phone. In fact, I made some people mad just asking.
THEE: I just received my new GPS system for the car from ebay. It works
great and I am still testing and getting familiar with how it works.
ME: People can drive a car with their eyes closed nowadays, but
musicians can't play a duet over the telephone?
THEE: CAPITOL IN SCRANTON
The attached photo is the result of my first major piece of
independent Beatles research.
My attorney friend is embroiled in a trial now in Scranton, Pa.
Andre Gardner said, "You should pay homage to the Capitol factory
building there, if you can find it."
I somehow got enlisted to find it. Web searching told me it had
been closed 20 years, had formerly been the Scranton Button Company and
was on Cedar Avenue.
I posted an inquiry on the Beatlegs discussion group, and I got an
answer. I then confirmed it with a call to the Lackawanna Historical
Society. The address: 300 Brook St., at the corner of Brook and Cedar.
This photo was taken yesterday or today. N~~ is on the left.
Quality leaves something to be desired; N~~ took the picture with his
phone.
I believe you can make out the word "Capitol" on the side of the
building.
I also believe that since we live on the east coast, our U.S.
Capitol albums all began life in this building.
ME: Great work! The ghost "CAPITOL" makes it priceless.
THEE: Other Sauters
I noticed your name from a post made by Randy Merris, a colleague here
at work, about the cittern. My wife's mother's maiden name was
Sauter...though they Dutchified "von Sauter" to "Van Sauter"...and in
Germany there was little evidence of the "von" at all.
You might like to know that Nannie Louise Hart van Sauter, under the
stage name Alexandra Morrisini, was an opera singer in the late 1800s--
La Scala, the Crystal Palace, and Rutherford B. Hayes's White House:
Nannie Louise_New York Times obit_May 15, 1942 page
19_pdf_res=F50D1EF63E58167B93C7A8178ED85F468485F9.pdf
Her son, Mortimer van Sauter, graduated from the Geneva Conservatory in
cello. Her great-great-grandson, Ian McEuen, is a tenor majoring in
vocal performance at Carnegie Mellon University, where he holds the
Carnegie Mellon Scholarship: www.myspace.com/ianmceuen.
Thought you might find this familial reference of interest!
ME: Thanks a million for the information! It's all new to me, and very
interesting. I'm getting together with my family tomorrow, and they'll
enjoy it, too. Strangely, for all of Morrisine's accomplishments, I
don't see her in my "American Opera Singer" book, under any name.
THEE: We hope he won't be back. It's doubtful. R~~ thought she saw a
Virginia license plate on his car as he sped off.
The door's fixed now. It may even be a little stronger.
I'm not sure anyone's actually getting inaugurated this year on the 20th.
ME: When I got home, going on 1:00 I couldn't resist giving the sudoku a
go. After whiting everything out to start from scratch, I found
everything you did, and with a little more work, a 9 in the top left
block and a 4 in the middle left block. Then I ground to a halt and
went to bed frustrated. Today after wasting far too much time double-
checking everything and not finding anything wrong, I went online to see
if there's a way to determine if guessing is necessary in a particular
sudoku. I found this great page:
http://www.sudokusolver.co.uk/
I plugged in just the original numbers, told it *not* to allow guessing,
and it arrived at the exact same point I did without finding a solution.
Whew, that makes me feel better. Still, I can't believe your book would
give a sudoku that requires trial and error a 4 out of 5 rating! What
are the 5 star problems like???
Also, I just did an experiment typing "rebox" and "definition" in google
- and apparently none of the online dictionaries consider it a word.
For comparison, type in "repack" and "definition".
By the way did you know the google search box also works like a
calculator?
THEE: Beatles '65 cover - your website
Hi there. I searched my own name on Google and found your site and am
amazed this was archived!
http://www.geocities.com/donaldsauter/straight-dope-beatles.htm
[now http://www.donaldsauter.com/beatles-vi-cover.htm ]
I am the Michelle Boomer on the bottom of this page that wrote in to
that radio show so many years ago! Do you have an audio copy of that
show? That is so crazy! I must have been 12 or 13 years old when that
letter was written and answered. I remember being so excited when he
read my letter on the air!
Thanks for blowing my mind!
ME: I'll bet you've blown my mind even more! I just added that last
section to the page a few days ago, not to mention I had to play the
tape repeated times and still wasn't sure about your last name and how
to spell it. There are no Boomers in my phone book, for example, to
give me a confident feeling.
By the way, I still haven't found any uncropped photo on the web. Some
people claim there is a picture with the knife in a birthday cake. But
I found at least one person who said that the cake was edited in. So
the mystery continues.
I didn't save the complete shows, just the snippets that interested me.
You wouldn't believe how many tapes I had to skip through to find your
little bit! I'd be happy to send you a cd with your spot, plus anything
else I'm sure is from the same show, if you email me a mailing address
that will get it to you.
I swear, the internet is still more amazing than science fiction!
P.S. Your subject should be "Beatles VI" cover, goshdarnit!
THEE: I've wasted the whole weekend so far trying to set up a new DVD
recorder. I finally realize it's one technology leap to much, and I'm
returning it. i miss my seven-year-old antique player too much.
THEE: Every time I go to the beautiful tribute pages you prepared for
your mother, I learn something new and feel you were so lucky to have
such a treasure in your life.
Thanks so much for sharing this wonderful family of yours. Your Mom
raised a really good, caring son.
THEE: Re: Beatles '65 cover - your website
I know--I was going to send a correction email..! Oops! Haha!
I have looked that album cover mystery up but have never found anyone to
corroborate the answer received on the show. Wonder how he saw an
uncropped photo!??
THEE: subject Saviour Elvis again
Glad you're curious - the answer could be in the attachment. Any
auggestion that Michael the Arch angel and John the Baptist are
associated with Mick jagger and John Lennon is fictoid by the way.
ME: I got this and the other email. Looks like each one had a picture.
I can't see it, but that probably has to do with the way I have this
mail service set up. Some pictures come through and some don't - too
complicated for me.
I just looked at your recent completed sales and saw Black Orpheus. My
memory was right, it was a movie made in Brazil. I'm almost positive
the alternate title Orfeu Negro is the Spanish title (negro just means
the color black in Spanish). Not sure why they didn't give the title in
Portuguese since that's the language of the movie.
Had a pretty amazing email today. I just added a little info at the
bottom of a page that's been up for 9 years - and the person I mention
who called in to Scott Muni's Ticket To Ride radio show about the
Beatles VI album cover found her name on my page that fast and wrote to
say how flabbergasted she was. She said she was 12 or 13 at the time.
I cataloged my new opera records today. The final count, by the way,
was 5 new ones, and 5 already in my collection. One of them is a stereo
release of one I have in mono. But mostly, a second copy is nice
because it might be in better condition.
ME: he sate he staid he eat
Those are three of my favorite fairy tale past tenses.
Saturday is *on*. All-u-can-eat. The pile of "need to inflict this on
at least one other person" audio has grown to monstrous proportions, so
we must all-we-can-eat very fast.
ME: I finally saw the "Free Hugs" video you sent today at the library -
thanks. At first, the guy looked something like John Lennon in a peace
march. Somehow, I doubt that technique would work for me; I'd get
locked up by the second frame.
The Delaware Center for Education, on the floor below me, say they will
funnel students to me. They do a lot of expensive iq and diagnostic
testing, but don't have resources to do all the tutoring themselves. I
wish people would take that $600 for an iq test and invest it instead in
7 months of tutoring with me.
THEE: subject Beatles VI cover
Hi Donald They are actually cutting a cake with the knife.
http://www.nemsworld.com/beatles/64whit/cake02.jpg
http://www.nemsworld.com/beatles/64whit/cake03.jpg
ME: Thanks! Even very recently, a web search turned up no uncropped
pictures for me. I had read about the cake, but at least one person
said the cake was edited into the photo. The pictures you provide,
especially the second one, convince me the cake is "for real". I'll add
the links to my page.
THEE: RE: Other Sauters
I couldn't find her in the history books of 19th century American opera
singers either, but I've found press notices of her performances. I
figure that her "prime time" was in the 1870s...in the 1890s she had
retired to teach voice in Cleveland and New York...and she spent her
later life as an expatriate in Europe (Konstanz, Geneva, Neufchatel,
Montreux). We have a picture of her in costume for Manon Lescaut. Also,
a newsclip about the Milanese unhooking the horses from her carriage and
pulling it themselves from La Scala to her hotel. She had terrible stage
fright and apparently bit the wooden posts backstage at La Scala...which
has given me an unforgettable poetic metaphor, "the teeth marks of the
diva backstage."
Before she married Friedrich August [von] Sauter, her maiden name was
Hart, of the Old Saybrook, CT, Harts (China trade ship captains). Her
father, John Alexander Hart, was a lifelong friend of Morrison Waite,
and Nannie Louise was his cousin or niece by marriage. She lost two of
her brothers in the Civil War, one of them in Libby Prison, the
Confederate POW prison in Richmond. Morrison Waite won the Alabama
Claims case against the U.K. at an international tribunal in Geneva
(Britain had built the Alabama and other Confederate war ships)...and
took Nannie on one of his trips there during the proceedings. She began
her formal voice training then. Because he won large cash reparations,
Waite was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court by Ulysses S.
Grant, and some of Nannie's letters to Waite and his wife are in the
Waite papers at the Library of Congress. Nannie took her stage name from
her father and "uncle's" names: Alexandra [Alexander] Morrisini
[Morrison]. She supposedly sang at the Rutherford B. Hayes White House
(he was an Ohioan), and we're trying to locate mention of this in the
Hayes papers/invitations.
Anyway, I thought that you'd get a kick out of this, given your interest
in opera.
THEE: Re: Beatles VI cover
You're welcome. BTW, your Beatle pages are fantastic.
ME: Turn right on 454. This is in a small town (if that) called
Templeville. You are driving at a reduced speed at this point, either
25 or 30.
Follow your nose into Dover. The route number changes from 454 to 8 at
Marydel, but you don't make any course changes. At the
Maryland/Delaware line in Marydel, glance over at the Mason-Dixon
crownstone, or even pull over and get out.
In Dover, go through a "few" lights and turn left on Rt 15 (Saulsbury
Rd). I hope I'm not giving bum information by saying there's a Subway
on the far left corner (and a KFC on the near right.)
Travel time is about 2 hours exactly. Wanna shoot for 11:00? If you
pop out of bed early and full of life, you can show up any time earlier.
I have a whole table full of stuff to listen to. If I can keep it all
relatively unconfused, I deserve a PhD.
Please excuse the lateness of my reply.
THEE: It would be my privilege to have this opportunity to scan your
piano rolls. I own a large number of rolls. (about 1400 scanned so far)
None of the titles in your note look familiar. I've made the
proper adapters for my scanner to accommodate the pin-end roll you
described. As long as the paper is still mechanically strong enough to
be spooled, I should be able to rescue the music contained on your
rolls. I will do my best to handle the rolls with the utmost care. The
pin-end roll you described could be 100 years old or more. If the roll
boxes are weak and fragile, I would suggest you ship only the rolls to
me and keep the original boxes with you. If you can, please make me a
photocopy of the box labels since they usually contain some additional
information which was not printed on the roll leaders. Any other
information you may have about the roll dates would be helpful. You can
wrap a sheet of notebook paper around each roll and secure it with a
rubber band. Then, spool some bubble wrap around each roll to protect
the flanges from bumping together and cracking.
I would advise you not to unroll the paper off these rolls. The paper
has to be spooled over a curved path to avoid putting any stresses on
the paper. A sharp fold or crease, or bending the paper in the opposite
direction could cause it to break apart. I had one roll that seemed to
scan OK until I got to the last few feet. Then, the paper became
extremely delicate and began falling to pieces. My finger would go right
through it. There was something about the chemicals in the core or the
glue used to attach the end of the paper to the core. It caused the last
few feet of the roll to decompose. That roll was titled 'Star Spangled
Banner' and I still recovered all but the last half minute of the
performance. It's a very common title and several other copies exist in
my collection. I heard of one extreme case where someone stored a box of
rolls in an attic. A few years later, the box was retrieved and most of
the rolls had decayed so severely, they were ready to crumble to dust.
The clock is ticking and we need to save as many titles as possible in
the time remaining.
I can Email the MIDI files to you after the rolls are scanned.
ME: That's pretty exciting about the piano rolls, even vicariously for
me. I guess I've said it before, but the internet is pretty amazing
(understatement).
ME: we were enjoying that
Sorry about WalMart; you see how it might have crimped the rest of the
day's activities. Let me know if you need me to get you the audio/video
selector. On the other hand, you might argue that hearing Astroman
edited down to the perfect length in the car on the way to WalMart was
all you needed to complete your life, anyway. I myself sacrificed a
considered fieldtrip to my office, which you only saw through the mail
slot on your previous visit. Most of all, sorry you didn't have time
for the complete Rigoletto.
THEE: If it's ever again feasible to drive in the state of Oklahoma,
I'll head the piano rolls his way. I've always been one to slide my way
to work, but even after school finally reopened at 10:00 on Wednesday, I
gave up five miles and 40 minutes from home. I had a mere 20 miles to
go, and had just come within 2-3 inches of having a pickup smash into
the driver's door of my car, and had seen two other cars take a nose-
dive into a deep ditch a few feet further down the street. All this was
in front of TCC's Southeast Campus, the one nearest home. That was
enough for me. I managed to escape the deep ruts, pull into a
convenience store, phone work, and exit the parking lot headed south
rather than back east because I knew that part of the eastbound lane was
now blocked by one of those two cars. Another 40 minutes and I was
safely home. That has been my only attempt to venture out of the house
since Friday the 12th when this hit and when I beat it to the
supermarket to lay in supplies.
Thursday and Friday finally got above freezing and the main roads and
freeways have been pretty well cleared althoug our neighborhood is
horrid, and the mail carrier has had to walk rather than drive. And now
the sky is dropping ice pellets once more.
But enough about the wonders of Mother Nature.
Amazing that she found you, especially amazing that you had only
recently put up that part of the page without being sure how to spell
her name and that she found you. Of course, any Oklahoman would know
how to spell Boomer. ;-)
http://www.okhistory.org/enc/boomvmt.htm
http://www.ci.norman.ok.us/links/boomer_sooner.htm
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/WWinterritory.htm
http://www.ou.edu/boomerbytes/
ME: I hope you've been contemplating what a great twofer Abbey Road/Let
It Be would make. I could barely sleep for all the reasons charging
through my brain.
You might be interested in seeing those Beatle VI pics on a nice page of
Whitaker photos from the same shoot. Instead of giving you that address
directly, I'll send you to my page, which has the link near the bottom.
http://www.geocities.com/donaldsauter/beatles-vi-cover.htm
[now http://www.donaldsauter.com/beatles-vi-cover.htm ]
This might be my funniest web page, in case nobody's ever noticed.
THEE: subject russian guitar
I am interested in obtaining a copy of Andrei Sychra: JOURNAL DE
PETERSBOURG. Can you help me?
ME: I'd be glad to help. I can send you copies for $.24 a page, which
includes postage. I'm pretty sure the Sychra adds up to about 108
pages. So if you send me a mailing address and indicate you're willing
to pay about $25 when the music arrives in good shape, I'll send it off.
The music was a bit difficult to copy because of the binding, but even
on the few pages where the distortion due to the binding is most severe,
all the music is legible.
ME: Hi Michelle,
I thought your "appearance" on Ticket To Ride would make a nice added
touch on my web page, and hope you don't object. The audio is only
about as big as a large image, so I figured why not? Hope you can
handle the fame :)
There's also a follow-up to your addendum that you might be interested
in.
http://www.geocities.com/donaldsauter/beatles-vi-cover.htm
[now http://www.donaldsauter.com/beatles-vi-cover.htm ]
ME: In the vein of preserving historical recordings, I invite you back
to
http://www.geocities.com/donaldsauter/beatles-vi-cover.htm
[now http://www.donaldsauter.com/beatles-vi-cover.htm ]
to hear the letter from a Boomer. Also, there's another, and final, I
presume, twist to the album cover mystery. Hope it's at least a little
fun for an outsider.
Thanks for the interesting boomer links. How does it feel to be an
illegal alien?
THEE: Re: muni and michelle
Wow! That's great you got the photos! Haha--where is Mr. Muni now
anyway? All these years I relied on him as giving me expert info!
Yes I was 12 or so...! I used to have Beatles pen pals back
then...almost 100! All we did was talk Beatles. Pretty silly!
By the way--got my CD in this weekend's mail. Thank you so much for
sending that blast from from the past! I can't wait to play it for my
boyfriend when he comes home from tour! (I am used to his fame, not
mine! He's the drummer for Redd Kross and The Muffs. Don't know if you
have ever heard either.)
THEE: Today in my writing class, we were looking at a pre-writing
clustering diagram on the topic of the Roaring Twenties. The alleged
student who had created the diagram in our text had branched out every
which way, adding everything she (according to the notes) could think
of: gangsters, stock market crash, women's rights, prohibition, . . .
the invention of the car.
The invention of the car?!!!!!!!!!!! So what were folks driving from
Springfield to Sedalia in October 1912? What about Coalhouse Walker's
car in Ragtime? Oh, well, no one's infallible.
One of my students asked what flappers were. Another asked what
prohibition was. (Can't take anything for granted, can we?) I posed
the questions to the class as a whole. In both cases, a handful of
students knew the answer. This led to discussion about alcohol laws . .
. which, in turn, led to my spilling another family story. One of her
brothers owned what I regarded as a restaurant when I was a small kid.
After all, the only thing my family did there was eat supper now and
then. It was just outside the city limits of Des Moines, and not much
more than a mile from our house at the time. The restaurant had a bar
that served beer. My parents later told me that it was more of a tavern
than a restaurant.
The only alcohol I ever saw there was beer. But I've since heard
stories of my great uncle, the owner, sending his son to Omaha to bring
back a trunk full of whiskey and such because it couldn't be bought in
Iowa. As the story goes, he was once stopped by Iowa police or highway
patrol--just before New Year's Eve. He handed a bottle to each of the
two officers, and they let him deliver the goods.
Many years later, my parents told me that the coffee in the coffee cups
of my grandmother and her sister when they ate with us at that
"restaurant" didn't contain coffee at all.
Such is the family bootlegger story. (And in Washington, D.C., I'm told
the O'Hare's made their own.)
THEE: subject Cutting to the . . .
Oops, I omitted the infamous knife. I got a kick out of the cutting
board story and your handling of it. If that were the truth, I wouldn't
let the Beatles anywhere near my cutting boards.
Funny that it turned out to be an ordinary birthday cake. I trust
you've straightened out the Boomer.
ME: Have fun with the Sychra music. If you're playing it on a 6-string,
let me know if you'd like my suggestions for alternate tunings that
worked best for me for each piece.
THEE: Don, Don, Don, da, da, Don, Hey Don! (sung to the tune of "Hey
Jude," of course),
Please connect me with Billboard reference department. Thank you.
We're trying to identify a song that was number five in the U.S.
charts this week in 1964. It was a girl group. Ben heard it on the
radio but didn't catch the name. The Trashmen were at four and Bobby
Vinton was in at one.
Does your Billboard book list charts by week? I keep forgetting.
I am cc'ing ... because, well, there's a scene in the classic film
"Freaks," where a woman marries a circus freak and all his freak friends
look at her and announce that she's "one of us! One of us! One of us!"
ME: Thanks for the warm welcome. If forgetting half of everything you
ever knew is a "great thing", then step aside! The real kicker is, it
was that half which *might* have had a slight toehold on truth.
The Billboard Book of Number One Hits doesn't exactly go week by week;
it gives the top 5 for every week when a new No. 1 takes over. So the
closest I can come is Feb 1 1964:
1. I Want To Hold Your Hand Wynken, Blinken, and Nod and the Golden
Rock-A-Twisters
2. You Don't Own Me Lesley Gore
3. Out of Limits Marketts
4. Surfin' Bird Trashmen
5. Hey Little Cobra Rip Chords
Hope that's sort of interesting even if it doesn't contain your answer.
Keep in mind, the book is not infallible (as if chart positions mean
anything, anyway.) But it does have a lot of fascinating detail, such
as this immediately to the left of the chart above:
Carroll Baker, a disc jockey at radio station WWDC in Washington,
D.C., obtained a British 45 from a BOAC airline stewardess and
became the first American to broadcast IWTHYH.
I think A~~ can tell you more about Carroll.
P.S. If you're not sick of the Beatles VI page yet, I added a little
wrap-up paragraph this morning, the sort of thing a writer like A~~
would get right on his first shot.
ME: front page news
Look what my L~~ found down in Delaware's southernmost county. Even
Krystal didn't know the picture had run. L~~ says it was the last
one in the paper box, so it came that close to never coming to the
attention of us up here. I'm even pretty surprised L~~ would have
taken that close a look to notice it. And he's only met Mizan a few
times.
Sorry about the size; any effort to reduce it gave it a blotchy look.
Mizan Walker of the Academy of Dover Charter School lines up in the MLK
parade in Lewes, Saturday, Jan. 13.
THEE:
>C'mon, you could replace it at the dollar store.
You're too logical. What if I'm attached to the cutting board I have?
They coulda cut my birthday cake any day, though. It wouldn't have
needed to be my birthday.
>>Funny that it turned out to be an ordinary birthday cake. I trust
you've straightened out the Boomer.
>Well, since you ask, see below.
So talking about the Beatles at age 12 was silly, but now she's involved
with the drummer of two groups. The more things change . . .
ME: In all honesty, and in spite of my programmed urge to pick it up and
start thumbing through, the sight of a "real" newspaper actually turns
my stomach.
I think I alluded to all the effort I've been sinking into "optimizing"
up my web pages for google searches. I've been sticking my nose into
pages I haven't seen in years, and been worrying about what sorts of
embarrassments are lurking there. Surprisingly, it's not as horrible as
I thought. Take, Beatle Significa, for example - that's a darn fun
page, and game. If you haven't been there in a while (ha ha) I invite
you back for a quick visit, if for no other reason than the audio of
Ringo and Conan I put up (thanks to you). Sound quality is a little
poor; will bump it up to 32 hz.
http://www.geocities.com/donaldsauter/beatles-trivia.htm
[now http://www.donaldsauter.com/beatles-trivia.htm ]
THEE: The Lhoyer looks perfect for this concert we're doing-The "Rocky
point" looks very interesting but we will probably wait on that one
depending on how many rehearsals we have I was digging through my
quartet music and found an Albert arrangement of Carulli Op 21 for 2
terz gtrs and 2 reg gtrs. Do you happen to have this piece?
Unfortunately I am missing pgs 3 and 4 of Gtr 3-I'm pretty sure it's out
of print. Well it's a long shot but let me know
ME: Sorry, I don't have that Albert arrangement of Carulli. Haven't
ever seen it or heard of it, actually, although I'll bet it was
published up around volume 15 or 16 of that Das Gitarrespiel series by
Bruno Henze.
You say Rocky Point "looks" interesting - what did it *sound* like (ha
ha)? Really, I know it's the sort of thing "real" musicians wouldn't
even consider, but I'm curious how an audience would take it. I *think*
they'd get a big kick out of it; I know I would.
The boije site is amazing! Thanks!
THEE: Half.com items will not show up on the search. Your id should
show up. Did you do an advance search by bidder?
ME: Aha, so that's the secret. I guess I never look at the stuff that
goes down the sides of web pages, figuring it's junk. Figured all the
advance search options are on the advance search page. (You also made
it sound like the search indicated I had bought from half.com, but
wouldn't let you see the completed sales.)
THEE: subject Guitar Legends
Guest books are the novels of the future and this one is the 'A la
recherche du temps du perdu' of it's type. My regards to you and Marcel
Proust.
Is their any truth in the ( possibly apocryphal ) tale that Jmi Hendrix
could never find a left handed Fender Strat, and played a right hand
Strat with the strings reversed. Also on the day that Jimi died - and
that occasion is subject to a dozen myths and 100 rumours - is it true
that Eric Clapton was on his way round to Jimi's place with a left
handed Strat, one of only five in the world at that time, only to
discover that Jimi was dead.
THEE: subject War And The Triple Word Score.
PS. Scrabble Boards and Guest Books are the novels of the future. Polish
Scrabble Boards and the Russian novel, just think about it.
ME: Whew, what a story! Let me know if you verify it.
Thanks for visiting (even if you were havin me on)!
THEE: Your website
Hello Donald,
First, let me say that this is the very first guest book entry that I
have ever taken the time to fill out. I have been poking around on the
internet since 1998 and never felt compelled enough to sign one.
...until today that is. Secondly, thank you for taking time to make
your site, and for the continual efforts you invest in keeping it up and
running.
Like yourself, I too favour Google as a search engine. I poked in a
search this morning on how to fix record skips and found your site. I
had picked up a Goodwill gem earlier this week (1959 Harry Belafonte at
Carnegie Hall) and was curious if I could fix this one annoying skip
before burning it to CD. Your method works well!
Honestly, this Belafonte record has suprised me in every sense of the
word. At first, I picked it up solely on a whim. I like Belafonte
music but not enough to buy every one I find. It was dirty, scratched,
molded and the jacket was a little worn from 48 years of use but I
figured my Nitty Gritty could clean it up and hopefully I could score a
better version of Day-O.
I was pleasantly suprised to find the scratches were transparent and
barely audible on playback but the overall sound was amazing. True
stereo, HI-FI from 1959...amazing...so I decided that if I could fix
that one skipping loop, I'd burn it to CD and enjoy it over and over.
To make a long (happy) story short, THANKS! Your method WORKS and I
appreciate your teaching this dog a new trick.
ME: Thank you for visiting, and I'm glad you got the skip fixed. (Don't
worry about the 2 cents.) I've joined the analog-to-digital world over
the last 3/4 year or so (*very* painfully). If you're not familiar with
declicking software, it's *incredible*. I would have never believed it,
that you could get rid of clicks and pops without removing music, but I
have never detected a difference in the music in A/B comparison
listenings. Other ears may be better, but I listen really hard. The
point is, if you want to get rid of most of the remaining clicks, you
could try the free trial version of GoldWave. Use their "passive"
click/pop setting - it gets just about everything, maybe leaving a
little "(bump)" behind when there was a tremendous "CLICK!"
THEE: I have 2 sons ages 5 and 7 who have been enrolled in Kumon for 2
years. Though they are excelling in math and reading at school, I have
always had the sinking feeling that I was being duped by this
organization. I get the feeling they have things set up in such a way
that keeps dragging things on and on. I understand that repetition is
important, especially in math.
I wonder if you have come up with any alternatives in the Math
department for kids? The only alternative I can find on the Web for
Math is called Indian Math Online. They have a comparison model to
Kumon on their site. Currently spending $600 per month on Kumon.....
Any insight or opinion would be greatly appreciated.
ME: That's a very good question. Probably my best excuse for not being
prepared with an answer is that I spend my time gnashing my teeth at our
school system. With the resources schools have, there should be no
earthly reason a child should ever need a minute of supplemental
education. In my area, schools spend about $10,000 per year per
student. But the point isn't the exact dollars and cents, rather that
with the implementation of a hint of common sense in our school system,
a student would *never* be in over his head. And now what some schools
are doing is charging parents to give extra help to the students they
failed to teach during school hours!
I'm sure there's tons of fine learning materials out there. The problem
is, people generally don't stick with anything unless they're paying
real money and driving real miles for someone else to crack the whip (as
with music lessons). I mean, it generally doesn't work for a parent to
buy a workbook, no matter how good, and say, "Here, kid, do this."
I'm starting up a tutoring service now. Anything goes: schoolwork or
store-bought workbook or computer math games, etc. So the student can
have weekly customized, one-on-one sessions - and for much less than
what the typical Kumon center charges now. And I just charge session by
session, so I have to do a good job if I want the customer to come back.
You might want to see if any tutors in your area offer anything like
that.
THEE: Kumon Question
Thanks for the insight. I think its hopeless for any parent to trust
that their school "system" will properly prepare their child for
college, and the real world. So far, Kumon is all I could find to
supplement my children's "private education". It has really helped my
kids in terms of getting them ahead of their respective grade levels,
and building confidence.
I think Kumon's basic idea of supplementary education is excellent, I
just feel like Kumon is a business first, designed to extract a healthy
profit, and educate children second. After reading your piece about
Kumon I thought that you might be on to something better.
I'm sure with your background and experience, you could come up with
something more meaningful and rewarding than Kumon. I still think you
should visit indianmathonline.com
I feel a program like this is necessary in our country.
ME: I have visited Indian Math Online, and it certainly seems very, very
good. It looks a hundred times richer than Kumon. You've inspired me
to try the free 7 day trial. What I wonder is, if something is *so*
inexpensive and easy to use, will people stick with it? Maybe Indian
Math Online has successfully cracked that nut by involving the parent in
a sort of easy-going director-like role. That would be great.
indian math online Question: 1 Incorrect
Which of the following is not true for rhombus?
Select the correct answer from the following choices:
It has only 2 pair of equal sides.
Diagonals bisect each other at 90 deg.
It has all its sides equal.
It has 2 pair of parallel sides.
I do not know the answer
Correct Answer: It has only 2 pair of equal sides.
Is enough information given? Q could be anywhere on side KN.
In ?KMN, P and Q are the points on sides KM and KN respectively. If KP
: PM = 4 : 13 and KN = 20.4 inches, find KQ.
Select the correct answer from the following choices:
66.3 inches
4.8 inches
6.27 inches
8.16 inches
I do not know the answer
Correct Answer: 4.8 inches
Is the implication here that triangle ABC is equilateral?
In a triangle ABC, E is the midpoint of AB and F is the midpoint of AC.
If EF = 21 and AB = 2x - 4, find the value of 'x' .
Select the correct answer from the following choices:
12.25
8
23
50
I do not know the answer
Your Answer: I do not know the answer
Correct Answer: 23 Is this true????
THEE: subject Password Game Clues
I hope you can help end an argument over two acceptable clues for the
Password Game.
1. Word - Opera Clue Soprano (sung operatically) acceptable?
I say yes.
2. Opposites allowed? I say no. See, I watch my Gameshow network.
ME: In my page I say something like, "Allowing charades to slip in your
game is a surefire formula for disaster!" I would count singing as
"charades".
I also used an example of how giving an opposite can get people upset.
But I wouldn't disallow them, just tell my teammates beforehand, "No
opposites! Got it?" The problem is, how in the world is a guesser
supposed to know the clue is an opposite?
Anyhow, these are just one guy's observations - nothing dictatorial!
THEE: subject Urban myths (and identity crisis)
That was a genuine enquiry. I do not know if the full story has
reached the USA but it is not uncommon currency over here. Urban myth
or other wise the story has it that Jimi's 'girlfriend' Monika Danneman
had handcuffed Jimi to a bed frame in order to prevent him from
returning to the lady he had lived with for the previous five years.Jimi
apparently had a vomiting fit and choked on his own vomit whilst crying
out for a glass of water. So the story goes,tragic isnt it.Especially
when you consider that Jimi's best mate Brian Jones died (was murdered)
in a swimming pool . A story of two rock legends, one dying for a drink
of water and the other from a surplus of water. A tale not dissimilar
from the deaths of Shelley and Keats a couple of centuries before. I
was not pretending or having you on, that was a genuine enquiry. I am a
writer and artist by profession,and rock n roll, everything about it;
truth myth legend is a subject for art as far as I am concerned.
Although I do try; to not to take names in vain, by avoiding calumny or
dtraction.- lets face it, Elvis is a God of some sort. If I discover
anything about Jimi, Eric and the left handed Fender Strat I'll keep you
informed. One other point, sorry for making you think I was a two
named girl - thats just my family,s screen name mail box. Best wishes
THEE: Re: Kumon Question
That's exactly how I'm going to use it with the kids. One of the good
things about Kumon is that my kids expect a Math lesson and a reading
lesson on a daily basis. I don't mind the Math is coming from a
different source and is a fraction of the cost.
Thanks again for your insight.
[he's switching to Indian math online]
THEE: subject Fixing pops in Goldwave
Donald, I read your article about fixing skips with a pin, etc.
And the comment about using Goldwaves depopping. I noticed that the
less you use it, the least amount you can and get the job done, the
better. For example, Boots Randolph has these raspy, reedy attacks that
apparently the software reads as a series of pops/clicks, and severely
distorts the sound at those spots. I had to change the default setting
to over 2000 to get it right. BTW, this was for a record that had never
been released in CD, was not going to, either.
I talked to Boots, believe or not, I know a lot of pro saxophonists, and
he gave me verbal permission to do this... I took tracks off several
different loaned copies of Hip Boots, and was able to make one nice CD
copy... and Boots now has his own copy from that CD. Nothing like going
to the source, huh?
Anyway, another thing you said... getting rid of a pop and stitching the
sound back together. I have done this in Goldwave. Here's how.
After recording the LP (or even 78!) track to Goldwave save it as a wav.
Reopen it and it will be a lot larger. You can scan through and even
see individual pops as a vertical line, you know this.
Highlight that line, just that line, and move both sides of the
highlighted area just as close to the vertical pop line as possible, and
hit Delete. Done! It removed the highlighted area and the portion
before and after are spliced together.
You can also click just after the pop, highlighting from there to the
end. Press Ctrl + C (to copy). Now highlight from just in front of the
click to the end. Press Ctrl + V (to paste). This covers the click.
ME: Great story about Boots and the cd!
I think in my page I recommend Goldwave's "passive" declick setting,
which is 3000. After tons and tons of A/B comparisons, I'm more or less
convinced that it won't mess up the music to any extent I can hear - and
even if so, it will be so rare and so minor that I view it as a small
price to pay for all the improvements it makes. And if I don't do an
A/B comparison, I'll never know anyhow!
Your method of deleting a click in Goldwave is something I've done
occasionally in Wavepad - stretch the wave out, select the click and
delete. Funny thing is, it generally leaves a spike there, but the high
frequency "click" is gone. I suppose there's a physical explanation for
that. [Now I think the program just keeps using the same display, even
after the sound has been edited.]
I think, though, what you might have been responding to was my
suggestion for actually fixing a skip in the record, by helping to guide
the needle through the bad spot, and then editing out all the riffraff
to stitch the music back together at the skip point.
THEE: subject Creating individual parts from a music score
BTW, I am also a composer/arranger/publisher, mostly music for saxophone
quartet, quintet, sextet.
Since I and my fellow musicians also play the music I write, I am very
aware of this problem and go to great pains in editing... what I call
"editing for appearance" of the individual parts.
I DO take into account ease of reading (is the damn music too small for
real people to read?), if the notes are too high on the leger lines
crowding the low notes on the system above, etc.
And page turns! I try to edit so that I can have rests or "one handed
passages" where pages can be turned easily.
We do use 3 ring binders and nonglare sleeves. To make a fold-out for a
third page, when necessary, on the third sleeve we trim off the three
ring part, and tape from behind with a strip of 2" clear packing tape,
making a neat and durable hinge for the page.
OH! Never use any type of tape on the page if you do a real cut/paste.
In a few years the tape will turn gummy or yellow. Use double sided
tape (my wife showed me this) and tape up that way from behind. Then
shoot a photocopy.
Anyway, all of the things you gripe about, I do that as a publisher.
And other things... I really watch for any place I have to stop and
explain to a player how the passage is to be played. I feel that if
there is confusion it is MY fault as an arranger/copyist/"engraver". I
did not make it clear in putting the music on the page. And I correct
that. The pieces I publish are played many times by other musicians.
Then I send out to other people, see how it goes with them, and get back
reports. And I fix it.
My goal is to have my music easily sight read, if necessary, with no
confusion, no question in the player's mind about anything. If there
is, it is my fault.
So, I just wanted you to know at least I think about these things.
And you'll like this... EVERY page 2 or 3 will have the (a) title of the
piece, (b) instrument, and (c) page number.
I was once give two huge cardboard boxes of big band charts. All
scambled. My wife and laid out parts all over the living room, couches,
chairs, floor, in the den, dining room, bedroom, on the bed, on the
floor.
For weeks we tried to match parts... looking at the handwriting style,
color of paper, trying to figure out what pages when to what.
After several months I was not able to make even one complete
arrangment. Not one. It was an impossible task.
I vowed then, that will never happen with my music. Every page will
have the title, page number, instrument.
ME: That's fantastic about the care you put into your publications! (I
sure hope my web page didn't knock *all* music publishers!)
It sounds like we're on the same wavelength regarding pasteups. Where
you use double-sided tape, I use a swipe of that poste-it type stickum.
Holds things just fine until the ultimate photocopy.
The idea about identifying info on every page, or every other page, is
so simple and helpful, but it seems like a lot of people can't or won't
take a look down the line. And it's not just music. When I was active
in the local guitar society, I often tried to get the Issue No. and date
on every page. It seems ridiculous for a single issue, I guess, but is
so handy in a bound volume.
THEE: Time is flying and I thought I'd be taking too muh of a chance
mailing you the key tomorrow. So, we're going to hide it.
When you arrive, come in through the backyard gate on the right side
of the house (next to the driveway).
Please try not to laugh too openly at the "Beware of Dog" signs.
THEE: Sychra
Thank you for the music. I sent out the payment. Yes, I would be very
interested in any tuning and performance information that you can so
kindly provide. I would like to explain to you why I find this music
interesting.
First, I am not a classical guitarist. I am a country blues finger
picker. I mostly play Mississippi Delta style Bottleneck guitar. This
style is played mostly in open G and open D. To better understand the
range of these tunings I have been doing some research. Both of these
tunings take their names from popular turn of the century folk tunes.
Open G is known as Spanish tuning after Spanish Fandango. Open D is
known as Vestopol or Sebastopol tuning after The Siege of Sebastopol. A
famous battle around 1850. I believe this may be a Russian tune.
So this is how I came to Russian Guitar. I was very surprised to find a
school of guitar based on an open tuning. I understand these tunes were
written for a seven string guitar tuned DGBDgbd. It is my hope to be
able to play these songs in standard Open G (DGDgbd), so to better
extend my understanding of this tuning. I play mostly in open G.
Whatever advice you can lend concerning this would be helpful. I am by
no means a professional, but if you have some free time, please go to
youtube and watch some of my videos. Here is the link to my page
www.youtube/user/KeniLeeBurgess. Thank you and looking forward to
hearing from you, Keni
THEE: subject terz guitar and flute?
I was doing a web search for duets for terz guitar and flute, and I came
across your page with the listings of the RiBS collection. I was aware
of the Giuliani op. 126, but I hadn't noticed that the Boulley op. 24
was for violin and terz. I was curious if you have come across any
other pieces for flute/violin and terz guitar?
ME: A search of a listing of my own pieces from the Library of Congress
only brings up one piece:
Foreith//Hops walzer terz/fl(vn)/perc
It's a little two-pager, and I'm sure would be considered
"inconsequential" by "real" musicians. On the other hand, I've never
had a chance to play it with the percussion parts. And I mean "little"
literally; the pages are about 5 or 6 inches big. Still I'd be happy to
mail you copy for a $1 or two, even if you're just curious. If so, send
a mailing address.
THEE: I just discovered your website. Do you still accept orders? Im
very interested to purchase copies of guitar and piano music. By the way
I have one more question. Why cant I access the PDF scores at REX at
this time. When I click the link an error always appear. Thanks in
advance and I look forward to your reply. Thank you too for a very
helpful site. More power.
ME: Yes, you may order guitar and piano music that I got from the
Library of Congress. I hope the instructions on my page are easy to
understand.
Sorry about the links to REX - they are not supposed to work. I was
hoping others would help me finish the project of making the links work.
(I don't need them. I have all the music on my computer disk.)
If you dig and search a bit, I'm sure there are ways to get into the REX
collection directly.
ME: Thanks for the e-pistle! You have me very curious. No, I was not
aware of DI or Engelmann, but will surely read up. It's total insanity
that with as huge an industry as the public schools are that there
should be *any* private educators in business. How could something so
huge not have the resources to provide "just the right" service for each
and every student? And now school systems themselves are starting up
for-pay after school tutoring sessions! What is it they can do outside
of school that they couldn't do in school???
My own idea is that we discard the notion of failure and just celebrate
success when a student meets the requirements for moving ahead.
Wouldn't that eliminate a lot of hand-wringing?
Thanks again for the hot tip on Engelmann's book.
ME: Thanks for going to all that trouble for me. Did you remember to
explain how the opera records are organized? Specifically, is
Prokofiev's "The Love For Three Oranges" under L or in cyrillic?
ME: I've had about 2/3 of the bread pudding (two servings). The first
was at about room temperature and was ok. To be honest, I've never seen
such a huge proportion of raisins in anything (except in raisin pie.)
When I think of bread pudding, I think of apples as the main fruity
ingredient, with raisins as the accessories. For tonight's helping, I
put the serving on a plate and put it in the oven, which was cooling
down from baking a slice of pizza. That made the bread pudding much
more enjoyable. This particular recipe is calling out for a white
sauce, like for roly-polys, in my opinion.
Sorry about your brother and wife having the flu. I don't know if
Listerine has what it takes to kill flu bugs, but it sure has stopped a
lot of my colds dead in their tracks.
THEE: subject Record Skips
Your instructions for fixing skips on LPs was just posted on the Klipsch
website forum. Nicely done! I used to do about the same thing, except
I used an x-acto knife - it was easier for me to hold.
Playing records "wet" was popular in England in the 1960s. It never
really caught on over here. I've heard two potential problems. One is
any minerals in the water become at one with the vinyl when the water
evaporates. The other is that the water can be drawn up the stylus by
capillary action, get into the cartridge body and cause the damping
materials to decompose.
ME: ... Anyhow, that explains why I had a free Saturday, and luckily the
thought occurred to me, "I wonder if anything's going on at the
University of Maryland?" Lo and behold, Opera Lafayette was presenting
Lully's "Armide" there this afternoon. Of course, the tickets were long
since sold out, but I called anyhow to see if there was any hope. They
said there's a standby line in case anybody returns tickets. I said,
I'll give that a go.
I got there 15 minutes before they put up the "Standby line" sign. When
I finally noticed it was up, a man who had just arrived got in line
first. No big deal I figured. He got called when the first ticket
became available. Then a man walked up asking if we were waiting for
tickets (there was a woman behind me at this point). We said yes. He
said he had an extra - a freebie! I'd be inclined to go with the
"ladies first" rule, but it was obvious to all that I was was next up.
So I got a nice $45 ticket - which I would have missed out on if I had
taken my proper place in line! The only drawback, he said, is that I'd
have to sit with him, ha ha. (His wife couldn't make it.) His name is
Ed and he's into lots of interesting things. For instance, he joined
the second of two balalaika orchestras in Washington, which, Ed
explained, split off of and is at war with the other one. Very stupid,
since if they joined forces, it would solve all the problems of each.
Ed's a writer and does the program notes for his orchestra, and I got an
interesting history of the balalaika orchestra in Russia. They
developed about the same time as mandolin orchestras here - I wonder if
there's any connection? He said he's writing a book, and I asked what's
it about. He said, you won't believe this (of course I would), the
history of submarine warfare. I asked if it went back to the Turtle,
and got lots of fun facts on the Turtle and the first successful
submarines.
The opera was wonderful, even though it was a "concert opera".
Virtually all of the action was portrayed by the ballet/Baroque dance
troup. The dancers gave me the biggest surprise of the day. When
everyone came out for the curtain call, there were only 5 dancers. I
had no idea all of the dance scenes were handled by just 5 dancers - I
would have guessed about 10 or 12. They must have been changing
costumes like mad backstage.
All in all, it was an afternoon I couldn't have rationally expected when
the idea struck me at 10:30 to see if there was any opera going on at
the University of Maryland this afternoon. (Yeah, sure.)
I don't know if Torquato Tasso is within your radar, but Armide and
other opera subjects come from his "Gerusalemme liberata". Supposedly,
more than 100 operas and ballets were based on the Armide story. The
only complete one I have is by Rossini. The University of Maryland
opera department is doing Gluck's Armide in a couple of months, which is
cool.
Got a call from Mizan a week or so ago. She wants help studying up for
a *spelling bee* her school is having. What a coincidence, what with
your Akeela and the Bee present. Krystal said, in her inimitable,
excitable way, "You have to tell Sue!"
>You're too logical. What if I'm attached to the cutting board I have?
Actually, I know what it is to develop attachments to the dumbest little
things. Which reminds me - I finally busted my 8.5 by 11 glass for
cutting photocopies with perfect margins. Let my razor knife slip, and
put a hairline crack in the glass. Tried to nurse it along, but applied
some pressure on an uneven surface, and it came apart. The question is,
do I go to the trouble of having a replacement made up? I don't get
much use out of it anymore. I did buy a batch of Justin Holland music
from the Vahdah Olcott Bickford collection lately. The photocopies were
amateur hack work by my standards (what do you expect for $100?) and it
would take recopying and some restoration work to bring them up to
snuff. Don't know if it's worth it now that I've sort of given up hope
on the guitar world getting ignited by anything.
>Well, I wasn't Sooner born or Sooner bred, but when I die I suppose
I'll be Sooner dead. (If that doesn't make sense, your slow ISP didn't
let you listen to the sound file.
Hmmm. Thanks for the reminder to revisit with sound, which I just did.
Still, I'm not so sure how the band music helps me "make sense" of the
lyrics, which are plenty funny by themselves.
Thanks for the family bootlegging stories. And you said your memoirs
would put people to sleep. The thing is, anybody's memoirs pull in a
cast of hundreds of wacky characters even if the writer isn't wacky
himself. My brother did work in a house once in which an old woman
lived, and *everything* was red - walls, carpets, curtains, furniture,
clothes... *everything*. Remember to include the crank caller when
E~~ was born.
Were you saying that your textbook, by publishing a student's pre-
writing diagram showing the invention of the car in the 1920s, was
concurring with the student?
The Mexican hat master's voice cartoon was funny. I feel like I should
know more about Mexican history.
Been listening to a fairy tale opera lately - Prokofiev's "The Love For
Three Oranges". Had me chuckling all the way through the first time,
and lots of the time thereafter.
ME: Here are the tunings that worked best for me on the 6-string for
each of the Sychra pieces. I suspect there are some pieces that I
fingered in DGDGBE tuning, especially near the beginning, that I would
do now in "russian", after getting more used to how easy it is to play
with the high E dropped to D.
Hope you find some winners in there.
I really enjoyed your youtube performances. If you search on "potomac
guitar trio" you can find a few of things our trio recorded. Bev, who
was the main force behind our trio, will get a big kick out of your
4-legged band member - she has one of the same breed (which I'm
forgetting the name of right now.)
"russian" = DGDGBD
Other tunings are spelled out, low to high.
russian 1 Sychra//
russian 2 Sychra//Tempo di marcia
russian 3 Sychra//Masurque
DGDGBE 4 Sychra//Polonaise
russian 5 Sychra//Cottillon
russian 6 Sychra//Ecosaisse
GADGBE 7 Sychra//
russian 8 Sychra//March
DADGBE 9 Sychra//
russian 10 Sychra//
DGDGBE 11 Sychra//
DGDGBE 12 Sychra//
DADGBE 13 Sychra//
russian 14 Sychra//Andantino (with variations)
russian 15 Sychra//Polonaise
DGDGBE 16 Sychra//
DGDGBE 17 Sychra//
EADGBE 18 Sychra//Thema con variationi
russian 19 Sychra//
EADGBE 20 Sychra//Valce
russian 21 Sychra//
russian 22 Sychra//
russian 23 Sychra//
russian 24 Sychra//
DADGBE 25 Sychra//
russian 26 Sychra//Masurque
russian 27 Sychra//
russian 28 Sychra//
russian 29 Sychra//
F#BDGBD 30 Sychra//
russian 31 Sychra//Masurque
EGDGBD 32 Sychra//Valce
DGDGBE 33 Sychra//Les folier d'espagnes (Folies d'espagne)
DGDGBE 34 Sychra//
russian 35 Sychra//
russian 36 Sychra//
DGDGBE 37 Sychra//Ecossaise
russian 38 Sychra//Marche
russian 39 Sychra//
DADGBD 40 Sychra//
russian 41 Sychra//Allemande dansee par Mr. Dutac
russian 42 Sychra//
russian 43 Sychra//Ecossaise a la russe
russian 44 Sychra//Masurque
russian 45 Sychra//Ecossaise
DADGBE 46 Sychra//Valce
DADGBE 47 Sychra//
48 Sychra//
russian 49 Sychra//Aria
russian 50 Sychra//
GBDGBD 51 Sychra//
GBDGBD 52 Sychra//
GADGBE 53 Sychra//Ecossaise
russian 54 Sychra//Polonaise
russian 55 Sychra//
russian 56 Sychra//
russian 57 Sychra//Aria
DADGBE 58 Sychra//
DADGBE 59 Sychra//
russian 60 Sychra//
russian 61 Sychra//Valce
GBDGBD 62 Sychra// (or DGDGBD?)
63 Sychra//
GBDGBD 64 Sychra//
russian 65 Sychra//
Marche 66 Sychra//
russian 67 Sychra//
russian 68 Sychra//
GBDGBD 69 Sychra//
russian 70 Sychra//Aria (or GBDGBD?)
DADGBD 71 Sychra//Ekocecb
russian 72 Sychra//
DADGBD 73 Sychra//Polonaise and Trio pastorale
74 Sychra//
75 Sychra//Aria
russian 76 Sychra//Masurque
russian 77 Sychra//
russian 78 Sychra//
DADGBD 79 Sychra//Ekocecb
russian 80 Sychra//
81 Sychra//
GBDGBD 82 Sychra//
83 Sychra//
russian 84 Sychra//
85 Sychra//Ekocecb
DGDGBE 86 Sychra//
russian 87 Sychra//
DADGBD 88 Sychra//
russian 89 Sychra/Duscheck?/Sonata compose par Dusseck
90 Sychra//
russian 91 Sychra//Ekocecb
DADGBD 92 Sychra//
F#BDGBE 93 Sychra//
russian 94 Sychra//
EBDGBE 95 Sychra//March
russian 96 Sychra//
russian 89 Sychra/Duscheck?/Sonata compose par Dusseck
russian 97 Sychra/Rossini/Morceau choisi d'un duo Tancredi
russian 98 Sychra//
DADGBE? 99 Sychra//
russian 100 Sychra//Air de l'opera L'intrigue aux fenetre
russian 101 Sychra//
russian 102 Sychra//
russian 103 Sychra//Polonaise
russian 104 Sychra//March
EADGBE? 105 Sychra//
russian 106 Sychra//
russian 107 Sychra//
GBDGBD 108 Sychra//
russian 109 Sychra//
russian 110 Sychra//
111 ???
russian 112 Sychra//guitar duo
russian 113 Sychra//
114 Sychra//
russian 115 Sychra//Ekocecb
116 Sychra//Andante con variat
117 Sychra//
118 Sychra//Valze
119 Sychra//
120 Sychra//
russian 121 Sychra//
EGDGBD 122 Sychra//
DADGBD 123 Sychra//
124 Sychra//Vous me quittez
EbBbDGBD 125 Sychra//Valze
126 Sychra//Mazurka
127 Sychra//
russian 128 Sychra//
DGDGBE 129 Sychra//
GBDGBD 130 Sychra//
131 Sychra//
132 Sychra//
EBDGBD 133 Sychra//
DADGBD 134 Sychra//
DADGBD 135 Sychra//
DADGBD 136 Sychra//
russian 137 Sychra//Ecossaise
russian 138 Sychra//
russian 139 Sychra//
russian 140 Sychra//
DADGBD 141 Sychra//Air Italien La mia crudel tiranna
DADGBD 142 Sychra//Valze
russian 143 Sychra//Mazurka
THEE: You have the most amazing luck. Imagine getting into the opera
today for free and having an interesting benefactor to boot. Way cool!
Don't disappoint Mizan about that spelling bee tutoring. To match the
college professor tutor in the movie, you're gonna have to be one
tought dude and teach her all about Latin and Greek roots, etc. I wish
her luck!
THEE: Re: Fixing pops in Goldwave
I think Goldwave's default setting is 2000. Not sure.
I have done a number of 78's from 1916-1919 with Goldwave, making some
listenable recordings!
ME: strings and things
Does this interest you?
>And last year I did a previously unpublished piece by William Grant
Still ("the black Gershwin"), a march... Fanfare for the Fighting 99th,
who were the "Tuskegee Airmen" for brass choir, from photocopies of
Still's handwritten manuscript... by permission of his granddaughter who
handles his estate.
If so, I could put you in touch with the arranger.
THEE: I drink Orange juice which seems to prevent my colds.
THEE: subject There is, indeed, a fog upon L.A. (or, at least, Santa
Monica)
We're almost certainly not going to make it to 1400 N. Blue Jay Way.
Strangely, we had to wrestle with thick fog today. Fortunately,
it was clear on Zuma Beach and El Matador Beach, up in Malibu, which
were our destinations today.
Ice cream has arrived.
Cheers!
ME: Thanks for all the great goodies lately. The guitar music was a
great surprise. I had it up on my music stand within minutes and giving
it a runthrough, starting with the oldest. The obvious question is, how
did it "end up" with you? Flotsam and jetsam along with O'Hare ebay
purchases? It's something that I always keep thinking I'll find a fat
stack of at Spence's auction one day, but never do. I've never come
close. I doubt it would be worth a red cent to anybody else, but would
be happy to pay real money for if somebody else bids.
The piano roll scans -> midi are another feather in the web's cap. Just
think of how many links of the chain in acquiring them to hearing them
that would be well nigh unthinkable without the internet. I guess that
was a real surprise, hearing the dawg song in the one with the least
documentation? And now you've got me scrounging around for midis of
opera piano rolls - as if I need more music to drown myself in!
ME: I've heard the name Bill Nye, of course, but had to search the web
for a bit of orientation. Take a quick look at the bottom of his
Wikipedia page to see how up to the minute Wikipedia is.
THEE:
>It's something that I always keep thinking I'll find a fat stack of at
Spence's auction one day, but never do. I've never come close. I
I had no idea if you'd copied these at the Library of Congress, and I
didn't check anything against your database. However, I figured if you
had photocopies, it would be fun to own the originals, and if you
didn't, the dilapidated books would give you something to copy . . . and
to play.
THEE: Hi Don! Thanks for listening to my tunes and for responding.
Still playing Scrabble? It's great to hear from you. How are things
going? I'm doing well. I've got a regular gig! I'm singing every
Friday night at a lovely restaurant in Southwest DC called The Market
Inn, 200 E Street, SW. I was inherited by the pianist and bassist who
have been performing there for years. We are having a great time.
Come on by!
Jacqui Simmons
THEE: I was glad to find your site. I am fairly new to the guitar and I
live next door to a retired piano teacher and we would like to play
together. We have been looking for music written expressly for piano
and guitar. Pretty hard to find, huh?
If you know of a piece in your listing that is suitable for early
intermediate ( advanced beginner??) guitar, please add that in with the
following request. The piano part may be more advanced.
Looking forward to the music
ME: I pulled a few more pieces that I think you'll enjoy, and that will
get you up to the minimum $20 order (about 84 pages.) In fact, I goofed
and pulled about 107 pages. Enjoy the extras with my blessing.
ME: A bit of digging didn't turn up where you got the Mother Goose Rhyme
midis, or the story on them. Wish I knew which rhymes to fit to the
music. Evidence seems to be they're songs by Henry Cowell. If so,
here's some interesting background:
>The miniature Mother Goose Rhymes (1937) are among the handful of vocal
works which Cowell wrote during his incarceration at San Quentin. The
manuscript is crowded and scarcely legible, as if Cowell were trying to
minimize the amount of precious manuscript paper he used to notate the
songs. Michael Hicks has written in "The Imprisonment of Henry Cowell":
"San Quentin... had been rated the second worst [prison] in the
nation... Cells were badly overcrowded, the dungeon was still in use,
beatings continued, food and water bred disease, medical care was poor,
and visits and letter writing were stiffly regulated... Radios were
forbidden and neither musical scores nor journals could be brought or
sent in (except directly from publishers). [Cowell had] almost no access
to a piano and, with neither desk nor table in his cell, could compose
only on score paper laid on a book."
THEE: More about the Bill Nye evening later. Funny that TCC has made
the Wikipedia article. I wonder what local added that. I'd love to
revise the statement! But that's the story for later.
Btw, check out Mt. Olivet Cemetery on Wikipedia:
Mount Olivet Cemetery (Washington, D.C.)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mount Olivet Cemetery is a historic cemetery located at 1300 Bladensburg
Road, NE in Washington, D.C., United States. It is maintained by the
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington.
Notable interments
George W. Harvey (1840-1909), Washington restaurateur
Joseph McKenna (1843-1926), Supreme Court justice
Wm. Christopher O'Hare (1867-1946), composer, orchestrator, organist
Henry Wirz (1822-1865), Confederate officer
me: You do dat?
ME: hermia? helena?
>I had no idea if you'd copied these at the Library of Congress.
Nope, never seen 'em before. Keep in mind there's an *ocean* of old
guitar music out there. The Carcassi method is ubiquitous, but every
editor, in this case Antoine Barber, makes his own additions and
revisions. I've never heard of Barber before, which, I'll admit,
surprises even me. His compositions are nice.
Did you notice at the end of Winner's Eureka method "Oh where, oh where
ish mine leetle dog gone"? They titled it "Dutch Warbler".
Incidentally, the last verse uses my general purpose pronoun um.
Referring to une sassage: "Dey makes um mit dog and dey makes um mit
horse..."
When I was in Maryland I stopped by my old local library used book store
and bought a few used records. One was Henry Purcell's "The Fairy
Queen". That was 1692, so I'm charging forward from the live opera I
saw the previous Saturday, Lully's Armide, which was 1685. What's funny
about Purcell's is that the English didn't go for full-blown opera, so
the Fairy Queen is what we call "semi-opera". The story is given by the
actors, and separate musical scenes and numbers are interjected here and
there which are not part of the story proper, but just sort of comment
on something that happened or give an impression of it. In this case,
the story is Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream - none of which is
given in the 2 hours of music. Still, it's nice to know what parts of
the play Purcell's five acts relate to, so I pulled out my trusty
Charles and Mary Lamb Shakespeare for (really smart) kiddies to bone up.
Not for the first time, since I get the couples in that play all mixed
up, even if I could pretend to remember the basic story with the passage
of time. In my defense, they get themselves all mixed up, too. The
liner notes to both recordings of The Fairy Queen that I have make a
sort of big deal out of the cuts to Shakespeare that were necessary to
make room for all the music, mainly, the deletion of Hyppolita and her
marriage to Theseus (and, by extension, the Pyramus and Thisbe play).
And Theseus was made the Duke of Milan. I mention all this mostly
because I thought it was kind of funny that the Lambs committed the
exact same "crime" against Shakespeare, so what I was reading must have
corresponded pretty closely with what the Fairy Queen audiences saw.
It's also a blast, after having converted the lps to cd or mp3, having
all loaded up and being able to compare different performances of the
same passage easily. With early Baroque music, the differences can be
huge.
ME: It finally occurred to me - the cereal that hit the spot was a
"graham" cereal, called Quaker [something] Grahams. Not "Ohs".
THEE: Here's fresh work from N~~. He's trying to get a video of John and
Paul's appearance on "The Tonight Show." Apparently, NBC destroyed the
master and all that remains are bad-quality home recordings. I found an
e-mail address for guest host Joe Garagiola's son, a newsman in Detroit.
THEE: Shucks, Donald, I was hoping you could tell me which rhymes fit!
Interesting information about Cowell. I'll check to see where I found
those files. I think it was on Robert Perry's New Zealand piano roll
site, and, if so, it could take some hunting. They were definitely from
piano rolls. If that's where I found them, Robert should be able to
tell me more if he has the rolls in his collection. Or it could have
been Terry Smythe's . . . Come to think of it, I think that's the one.
I was hunting for Smythe's roll of W.C.'s "Comic Hurry." If Smythe's
site, the file names should provide clues where I'll find them on the
site. Unfortunately, it's not searchable.
I wonder if Cowell's microscopic scores made it onto piano rolls. I
doubt if he was punching neat, accurate holes into that limited paper
supply. You don't suppose some musical rats gnawed neat holes for him,
do you?
THEE:
>You do dat?
Why not?
THEE: subject Re: pixie
What's this pixie stuff??? Was that one you added to your collection?
Me: Why not?
THEE: As a retired high school math teacher toying with the idea of
becoming a Kumon instructor, I found your thought-filled critique most
interesting.l could imagine the "math jail" environment created there
and the anticipated passion and enthusiasm I felt for the program nearly
disappeared.Have you found something better for the student psyche ? How
about a talented math instructor? Thanks for the insights!
ME: I'd hate to think I threw a wet blanket on a perfect fit for you.
I'd like to think that there is some way you could look over the Kumon
math worksheets before making a decision. Is there a center close
enough that you might ask the instructor there if you could see them?
I've been separated from Kumon long enough to start up my own tutoring
business - and I love it. I can charge the customer less than what he
would pay for Kumon, offer rollicking one-on-one service, AND keep more
money for myself.
THEE: Happy valentine's day. Hey, do you know the origin of Valentine's
day? It's from the 200's. I heard it on public radio today.
Have you heard any of the Beatle remix stuff that goes with the Vegas
Show? Interesting.
When I googled your name to pull up your e-mail, donald sauter kumon is
what comes up these days. I sympathsize with you that things didn't
work out. You know in the medical business, no matter what happens,
everyone pretty much believes it's for the best.
ME: Thanks for the Valentine greetings - the one and only this year, and
probably in many years.
Have no idea of your googling techniques, but when I google "donald
sauter", my home page comes up at the top, as it has for the past 10
years. The word "kumon" doesn't appear until about the 47th hit, on the
"Dear Aunt Patty" site.
By the way, go to Google's patent search and type in "donald sauter"
(but don't get too excited - it's not my patent.)
Having a wonderful time with my tutoring business. It's what I was put
on earth to do. Need more students still, but I'm sure (pretty sure)
that'll come.
I really and truly hate to be negative about something that other people
like, because I know how it feels, always being on the receiving end.
But you asked for an honest opinion. I think that Beatle music collage,
called "Love", for the Cirque du Soleil(sp?) is about the most idiotic
thing I've ever heard. I am absolutely dumfounded that the Beatles and
Apple would allow it, much less gush over it themselves. Do you know
how many people over the decades would have loved to do the exact same
babified thing with snippets of Beatle songs? Do you know how many
projects a thousand times more worthy Apple has quashed? Again, I'm
dumfounded.
We got a tiny bit of snow lately. This morning was funny. When I got
my paper, the rain had washed all the ice off my car from the previous
night. But two hours later, when I had to go out, the temperature had
dropped so that the whole car was covered in a thick sheet of ice.
Current web page I'm working up is a Mother Goose page.
We had fun at E~~'s 4th annual Ground Hog's Day party on Sunday. Did
anybody ever describe to you our gambling game for all sorts of neat
prizes people bring, using "Skunk" dice?
THEE: I knew you would be happier doing independent tutoring. In some
Steven King novel he makes some statement like the very best and
brightest teachers do tutoring or teaching and make very very little
money. He was saying it's generally very hard in the US education
system for really gifted teachers to make much money. I thought of you.
Can't remember which novel, and considering I have spent way too much
time reading Steven King, I couldn't give you even a clue which book it
was. If you only read one book by him, though, I recommend Needful
Things.
Have you read the Mothman Prophecies. It's about UFO and men in black
being very active in west virginia in the late '60s. Also, very
interesting his conclusions, although incredibly boring book. No such
thing as flying saucers per him, and after reading him, I think he may
be right.
As far as the new Beatles, what I have heard, I would enjoy seeing with
the show, having seen an awesome Vegas Cirqe show previously.
THEE:
>Did you notice at the end of Winner's Eureka method "Oh where, oh where
ish mine leetle dog gone"? They titled it "Dutch Warbler".
Incidentally, the last verse uses my general purpose pronoun um.
Referring to une sassage: "Dey makes um mit dog and dey makes um mit
horse..."
Heck, I missed that. I'll have to check the lyric I have. It mentions
dog sausage as a possible reason for the dog having "gone," but I don't
think the wording is the same. I don't recall the inclusion of ol'
Dobbin. Gonna send me a guitar-vocal rendition????
>By the way, I never got that multiplication video to fire up on either
of the high-speed connections I tried.
Too bad. It was a no-sound demo of a way to caluculate multiplication
problems by drawing intersecting lines and counting points of
intersection. I'd never seen anything like it, but I'm not sure I could
begin to explain it. It started out easy with two-digit numbers and
made perfect sense--not so much why it worked as how to do it. When it
switched to larger numbers, and more lines it began losing me. I kept
meaning to watch it a couple more times and try it with my own larger
numbers to see if I could replicate the success, but I didn't get around
to it. I'll see if I can get it to work. If I didn't save the link, I
should still have it in the e-mail I sent to you. Don't remember where I
found it, but it may have been in Yahoo News.
>When I was in Maryland I stopped by my old local library used book
store and bought a few used records. One was Henry Purcell's "The Fairy
Queen".
Sounds like a fun purchase. No connection to Edmund Spenser's The
Faerie Queene?
THEE: Every time I pick up a snow shovel, I think of how recently I was
strolling along a beach. My darn car is still iced in place in front of
the house from the Valentine's Day storm.
I'm glad you made a dent in "The Simpsons." To address some
specifics:
* "John Henry" showed up on "The Lost Lennon Tapes" as a tune Johnny
busked around with during the house-husband years (I think).
* The Mr. Boogerstrom episode has always been a fan favorite, or is
that just me saying I've always liked it? For some strange reason, the
guest star who plays Bergstrom is credited as Sam Ettic. Semitic! Get
it? It is, in fact, Dustin Hoffman.
* I remember none of the other "Simpsons" references.
In more recent years, by the way, Flanders became a widower due to
an accident by Homer. It was a little sick. The program's still on,
and I don't even watch. I'm sure it's still at least pretty good.
I completely missed the 20th anniversary of the first Beatles CDs.
It looks a little more definite that they'll be reissuing the British
LPs this year, in mono and stereo. I'm secretly hoping they screw up,
so I can continue my allegience to the great Dr. Ebbetts.
ME: Picked up 5 or 6 albums (3 doubles) at the New Carrollton library on
the way home, and haven't quite processed them all yet. Greatest
potential was a Golden Record of Nursery Rhymes, but the voices are
revolting. [Turned out to be the Michael Sammes singers.] Also got a
record at my sister's Groundhog Day party - Bob and Ray Throw a Stereo
Spectacular (RCA, 1958). Has a Sauter-Finegan track and a Jack Davis
cover. I'll pull it out for all its Beatle connections on your next
visit.
The Mr. Nerdstrom episode should be required viewing for everyone in
education.
You missed the 20th anniversary day, maybe, but not the year. You
thought of the idea of a Maryland fan celebration, and I'm holding you
to it.
ME: Thought of you both listening to this Ritual Fire Dance midi. It's
cool. What it is is a *scan* of a piano roll which then makes a midi.
ME: she you i we did it
Mizan's school had the spelling bee today - and Mizan came in second out
of 84. Krystal said there was a real slugfest when it got down to the
last four. They had long exhausted the study list and were pulling
words from the dictionary. Mizan finally took a dive on PRACTICALLY.
She came up with PRACICTALLY, which sounds pretty darn good to me for a
third-grader, out of the blue. Then her opponent won it with PRECISE.
I'm glad I wasn't there - I would have been having heart attacks.
We had gone into intense training for a couple of hours a day for the
last week at the nursing home where Krystal looks after a woman for a
couple of hours. The intense training included a bunch of Monopoly
Junior games in which Mizan massacred me. (I was teaching her how to be
a gracious winner.) She says she watched Akeelah and the Bee 14 times,
which I believe. She knows things like that without making tick marks.
She got a great-looking trophy, and I stopped by the nursing home for a
victory banquet. (I picked up two eggrolls on the way.) When I asked
her how to spell PRECISE, she informed me the spelling bee was over.
While I'm writing, let me invite you to my new Mother Goose page, which
plugs a woeful gap on the web. Not now, I mean, but the next time the
snow is up to the roof or something. I know it looks like something
that would take 10 minutes to throw together, but I have a way of
dragging things out.
A lot of it will sound familiar to you, since I mined our old
emails for a lot of it.
ME: great poetry
Here's my Mother Goose page. Thanks again for the heads-up on "Red
Sky". Take a look at the pop song section, at least, and scroll around
the big index at the bottom.
ME: profiled
The message to H~~ bounced. Looks like it thinks I'm spam, although
I don't know what earthlink has to do with it.
Technical details of permanent failure: PERM_FAILURE: SMTP Error (state
8): 550 550 Dynamic/zombied/spam IPs blocked. Write
blockedbyearthlink@abuse.earthlink.net
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Parents, if you're considering tutoring or supplemental education for your child, you may be interested in my observations on Kumon.