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 . . .
ME: Subject: Paul almost drowned.
Yeah, it's amazing
how little discussion the "Paul almost drowned" incident gets. Here's
the description in The True Story of the Beatles by Beatle Book Monthly
writer Billy Shepherd. The book was mostly written in 1963. It
forms the basis for later Beatle bios by Davies, Norman, etc.
p189. "While From Me To You was still at the top, the Beatles managed to
take a few days' holiday in the Canary Islands... John had been the only
absent Beatle - he'd beetled off to Spain with Brian Epstein.
"Though the headlines did not echo around the world, the Beatles came
near to tragedy in Teneriffe, Canary Islands. The biggest sensation
yet in British pop music was nearly cut off before the greatest triumphs
had come along.
"They'd met up, in Teneriffe, with Klaus, the German who'd befriended them
in the early days in Hamburg. A happy party on the beach, with everybody
sharing the odd bottle of Coke or, occasionally, wine.
"Then Paul decided to go for a swim. He ploughed happily past the barrier
line of reefs and then suddenly got caught up in some swirling,
dangerous waves.
"Says Paul: 'I got washed out further and further away. I yelled for help
but those blighters on the beach just didn't seem to hear anything at all.
Sure, it seems quite funny now, especially when I tell you that I nearly
came to blows with George and Ringo when I did finally get myself back
on shore. Truth is, though, I really did feel I'd had my lot out there.
It looks pretty scarey when you think you're in serious danger of
drowning.'
"Later, George also went for a swim and got his foot caught in a rock...
but he eventually broke free. 'Add to this the fact that we had a spell
of lousy weather and you'll understand that we were quite
glad to get back to a few noisy audiences in Britain.'"
In the January 1985 Australian Playboy, Paul describes a near-drowning
incident. I believe it's the same one, and after 20 years his memory got
the place wrong. Note the coincidence of "lousy weather".
Playboy: What's the closest you've been to death?
McCartney: In Hawaii. I used to swim off a rock about 10 feet above
water level. The huge Hawaiian waves would roll in without breaking.
You'd wait for one and get in the water on the crest of a wave, then
you'd wait for another wave to lift you up the 10 feet on to this little
rock platform. It was a thing all the local kids do, I like to go
native a bit. So I do it and I get it off to perfection. But I forget
that if there's been a storm the waves are going to behave differently.
And one day I went in after a storm. It looked all right. But when
I tried to catch a wave to lift me out, it dumped me, the wave broke.
Then the next wave dumped me. I was about 30 feet out struggling to
get back. I felt myself getting weak and beginning to accept perhaps
that this was it. But eventually I pulled myself together and asked
God to please put me out. And he did. I've got the scars to this day.
Not very big ones, though.
ME: Subject: Lautenbuch, Bern 1556
I suspect your first suspicion is correct: the Lautenbuch, Bern 1556,
was probably a manuscript. Sometimes it's not so obvious from the
facsimile (to my eyes, at least) and I wasn't looking at it with that
in mind. Hope I didn't set you up for a big disappointment there.
In case you're curious, here's an extract from the piece I was working
with. Try as I might, I can't read the name of it, which, as you point out,
might provide a clue.
When I was poking around the web the night I found your page,
I think I saw that there is a convention for notating rhythms in ascii
tab. Unfortunately, I didn't learn it, so I will just use 7 for an 8th note
here. The Bern Lautenbuch used dashes over symbols for the 6th string.
I will use Waissel's notation here.
| 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 | 7 7 7 | 7 7 7 | 7 7 7 7 |=|=|=|=|=| |
5 5 l 5 5 5 o d 4 4 D 4 4 4 4 4 d d 1 d d 4 d o d 4 n 5
d d d d d 3 n r r r r r r r n n n n h
l l l f 1 D D D D D 1 1 1 A
My best guess:
___ ___ ___ ___
|.- 7 7 7 7 7 7 |.= 7 7 |.- 7 7 |.- 7 7 7 |=|=|=|=|=| |
5 5 l 5|5 5 o d|4 4 D 4|4 4 4 4|d d 1 d|d 4 d o d 4 n|5
d d d|d d 3 n|r r r|r r r r|n n n|n |h
l l|l f 1|D D|D D D|1 1|1 |A
Sorry that's all so cramped looking.
ME: A Beatle friend had emailed the Sean story. I zapped it after reading
one sentence. I faced it in your email. I just hope he's intelligent
enough to realize how far-fetched the idea is.
I heard the Who (or is Daltrey) on beautiful music WWMD. They played
Where Would I Be Without Your Love. (You can supply the correct title.)
I mean the original version - not an instrumental cover.
THEE: The British press has devoted many stories to Linda as a sign of how
well liked she really was over there. That's good!
Howard Stern seemed to restrict his bad taste this morning to
questions of when Paul would start dating again.
Roger Daltrey's "Without Your Love" appears on the soundtrack to
his little-known film, "McVicar." It's probably his best solo album.
The original "Without Your Love," however, was sung by its writer,
Billy Nichol and it's about Meher Baba!
ME: Give a call sometime when I'm not home to hear
yourself on my answering machine. [Excerpt with mandolin from
A Trip To Rocky Point.]
ME: Subject: Lautenbuch, Bern, 1556
The publisher for the Lautenbuch, Bern, 1556 is
Cornetto-Verlag, Stuttgart, 1997
ME: My advice - as much as possible, go with facsimile editions,
like the complete works of Sor and Giuliani. I have nice
volumes of Carcassi and Giuliani in facsimile put together
by Frederick Noad.
The situation today is fantastic for guitar players. When I started
guitar, all the music was filtered through a modern editor. Phooey.
THEE: Subject: family feud
I am trying to reconstruct a family feud game and haven't seen the show
in about 15 years. Refresh my memory on the types/format of questions
asked.
ME: Here are some real-life Family Feud questions:
Name something associated with Zsa Zsa Gabor.
Name something that is applied with a brush.
Name something highwire performers use in their act.
Name a musical instrument.
Name a good food that warms you up on a cold night.
Name something teenagers borrow to go out on a date.
Name something people drink in almost every country.
The big problem is not making up these sorts of questions, but supplying
the list of responses. The tv and home version answers were the results
of a survey. It wouldn't make much sense if one person supplied the
list of answers. I take it that they don't sell the game anymore?
(More or less rhetorical. One of my sets is the 7th edition and I'd
hate to think how old that is now. They'd be up to 97 by now.) Try
and find a set at a yard sale. Good luck and have fun!
THEE: Subject: Famous again
Look, more fame! This is in today's "Post."
At our next stop, the driveway of a postwar brick house, the
chocolate chip cookies for 25 cents [baked by Rachel] are moving
faster than an old Zenith 286 with DOS and Word Perfect for $25
[we later sold it for $15]. But before David [author's
annoying kid] can decide which Silver Age comic book he wants, some
guy buys the entire collection, three boxes full, for $220. [Actually,
the guy gave me a $60 deposit, took some comic books, and vanished. I
don't think I was ripped off.] The books are $1 for hardbacks, half
as much for paperbacks, "but if you take the law books, I'll take the
price down," says discarder [yours truly - a good gag!]. Thanks, but no
thanks. However, planning a midwestern vacation, I snatch up the
Smithsonian guide to the Great Lake states. "You're selling this?"
says his wife, chagrined. "We don't live there anymore," he replies.
For Sandy, my spouse, I find Amy Tan's "The Hundred Secret Senses,"
read by the author on audiotape [from my wife's collection], balm for
Beltway bottlenecks, and for myself seven vintage LIFE magazines, 1937
to 1946, and including a wartime issue published six days before my
birth. By dealer standards, they are priced quite low. By my
standards, they are priceless.
I asked my workmate, from the Philippines, if she
remembered the Beatles' Manilla concert. She said yes. "That was the
time," she thought, "they scorned the first lady. But that was a long
time ago. It was in the '60s, wasn't it? I was very little." She
then told me that the pianist Van Cliburn never had such problems in
the Philippines, that he was a favorite of the Marcoses and a frequent
visitor. Live and learn, eh?
ME: Subject: el dios es caliente
Thanks for the stupendous visit and all the goodies. I asked
my friend from Honduras about El Caliente. Caliente means hot,
as in the weather, but, as in our language it does double duty
for sexy individuals - as in the above song title. La Calienta
would mean "the hot woman". She didn't know any song called El
Caliente.
THEE: Subject: let's start the family feud!
Gracias! This is a big help...we're working on a survey for our new
freshmen at college to play next year.
ME: That Post coverage is amazing. What set Steve's yard sale apart
from the other 6 million?
After being somewhat heartened by increased traffic to my website,
the last statistics report said there had only been about 20 visits
in the last 2 weeks. I was disappointed slightly but not overly
concerned. This morning when I checked the mail, there was another
report waiting. Hmmm, what's that for, I wondered. It started
with an apology - their program had miscalculated visits. The
corrected total was 210.
I saw a fun show at LC [Library of Congress] last night - a 2-man show
about Jelly Roll Morton. He claims to have invented jazz. Today is
Ma Rainey's 112th birthday.
ME: to rec.music.beatles
There's an interesting article in the Federal Communications Law
Journal, April 1995, called "Strange Fixation: Bootleg Sound
Recordings Enjoy the Benefits of Improving Technology" by
David Schwartz. You might at least have fun searching out the
many Beatles references. Go to
http://www.law.indiana.edu/fclj/pubs/v47/no3/schwartz.html
Response:
Subject: Beatles in law journal
From: Keith Richardson
Date: 1998/02/08
Definitely a useful site, thanks.
There are unaddressed issues with bootlegs. There are
international laws now that allow artists to withhold or retract
their art, even sometimes when under contract. (This applies to
painters, for example, I don't know if musicians are included.)
But it seems there should be exceptions, for example, if an
artist goes crazy. Would we really want Van Gogh to burn all his
unsold paintings if he had the chance? Do we really want the
Beatles to withhold recordings just because John decided his
voice wasn't right (again and again as he so frequently did)? If
it was good enough to put on tape, and good enough keep - at
substantial cost - shouldn't a recording be considered to have
"crossed the boundary" from being personal property to being
world heritage? That's not to say that the artist couldn't still
have some control, just that they wouldn't be allowed to withhold
things capriciously. Or indefinitely. 20 years is long enough,
maybe?
THEE: Thanks for the ease (that's my just-invented plural of e-mail
messages). I liked the yard sale coverage. Did I mention that
you should believe in the power of the press? That article was
COMPLETELY accurate.
After watching the Orioles get shellacked
on Friday (10-1 to Oakland), we blew into Princeton, N.J., for a
wedding on Saturday. The band playing at the wedding reception was
quite good although they struck out with a quiet solo performance of
"I Will" and a group reading of "Till There Was You." Later, they really
lit up the place with a medley of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and
"Back in the USSR."
Yesterday, we visited Princeton Record Exchange. It was paradise!
I bought an LP by Thee Headcoatees and a solo CD by Headcoatee Holly
Golightly. I felt great, and that doesn't usually happen to me at
record stores these days.
THEE: Peter Danner is doing a write up on the original board of directors
for the uitar Foundation of America (GFA). He e-mailed me in quest for info
on Sophocles Papas. I am sending him one of the books about Papas that was
donated to us. It is being considered a donation to the GFA Library.
THEE: Subject: Lautenbuch, Bern 1556
We just received the facsimile of Bern 1556 in the library here at Duke--I
don't envy anyone trying to figure it out!
One point about mistakes in various types of tablatures: one of the most
common errors in French or Italian tablatures (probably THE most common) is
placing a number, letter, or symbol on the wrong line or space (vertical
placement). This is especially common in printed works (where the engraver
or typesetter did not read tablature). This problem is obviously avoided
with the staffless German tab.
The main problems I have with German tab. are the lack of standardization
(esp. for the sixth string) and the variants of the Gothic script used for
the letters (esp. since you have to recognize the whole alphabet, not just
the first 10 or 12 letters). But it is possible to learn it in a
relatively short period of time, although it's not a very versatile skill
if you want to move beyond the sixteenth century rep. and 7+ course
lutes . . .
THEE: I am a student in Orillia Ontario Canada and I need your help!
I am doing a project on the 1960's and I am writing an artical on the
Beatles.
But I am a writer for the Right wing newspaper and my head line is:
Let Them Stay In Britian!
I have to say bad thing (God forbid) about the Beatles....do you have
any articals writen about the negitive side of the Bealtes?
Can you give me some ideas about what to say?
ME: For some real-life insults written about the beatles, visit my page
http://www.oocities.org/CapitolHill/Lobby/7049/b20.htm
ME: In my searches tonight for "brownies" "salman and pasta" and web pages
connecting to mine, I used 4 search engines. The differences in
results are astounding.
The brownies recipes are for a Thai girl who wanted a *real* recipe,
not my wackiness. Go to
http://recipes.wenzel.net/index_full.phtml
and type in brownies for a demonstration of WWW power! (Still, which
do you think most people would opt for: $2000 worth of computer
equipment (not to mention monthly charges), or a 98 cent box of
brownie mix (including instructions)?
THEE: I just visited liveletdie. It looks potentially awesome. Thanks.
You know I'm a sucker for screensavers and wallpaper. If there's a
scholarly investigation of "The Fool on the Hill," I won't take it
seriously unless they mention Shirly Bassey's killer version.
I watched a 1995 episode of "Family Matters" last night because
TV Guide on Line said there was a Paul McCartney imitator. There
was. It was slightly amusing, and over 30 seconds into the show.
My album of the week is Los Straitjackets' eponymous 1995 debut.
It's pretty good surf instrumentals produced by none other than your
man Ben Vaughn.
THEE: Re: The Beatles in Playboy
Bloody fab!!!!
That was a very good read! You have the honour of being the first
person/article I've seen on the Net that I have managed to read the
WHOLE damn thing with interest. Well done!
Thank you for having too much damn time on your hands :-)
There are two rules for success in life:
Rule 1: Don't tell people everything you know.
THEE: Scanners have really dropped in price lately and I'm thinking of going out to
buy one today. That would mean no more worries about half tones. It also
means that we could even put your music examples directly into the newsletter
with no cutting and pasting required. All the trimming could actually be done
on the computer (in theory).
ME: A scanner, eh? That'd be great. I just wish I didn't object
to pictures so much.
ME: Subject: don't say bl**dy 'ell, or 'eck
Frankie, ol' bean, you've got me stumped. For about the 5th time now
you have seemingly missed the import of the TFOTH [The Fool On The Hill]
dissertation in liveletdie. The other 2 possibilities are that
you're doing a number on my poor head (extremely unlikely)
or that it does, in fact, have no import for you (seemingly
unlikely). It has nothing to do with Shirley Bassey.
THEE: I enjoyed the video frames from two scenes in the film "Help!" at
liveletdie. Did you see those?
We watched "The French Connection" Friday night. This gritty
1971 film takes place mainly in the streets of Brooklyn. In one scene,
plainly visible, is the Lady Madonna Maternity Boutique! Where does
John tell that great story about that boutique? I wonder if it was a
chain.
In my backlog, on Saturday, I finally reached Tubby the Tuba. I was
making all sorts of wisecracks regarding Tubby, most of which involved
obscene language. "Hey, where the h-ll is my G-d d-mn Tubby the Tuba
album?" I demanded before finding it. "Hey, I also have the
sequel, 'Unsafe Sexual Practices of Inner-City Adolescents, With Your
Host Tubby the Tuba'!" And, "For crimes against humanity, I sentence
Tubby the Tuba to death!"
Bottom line: I condemn my Tubby the Tuba LP to the fiery pit, unless
you would like to purchase it for the low low price of $0.0.
Yesterday's LP was "Let's Visit Congress." That one was much more
satisfying.
ME: Here's the list. It includes all the guitar societies who
expressed an interest in the listserv discussion, nearby societies,
societies who have been appreciative in the past, societies which,
for maybe no great reason, I think are "important", and important
guitar magazines.
BOSTON CLASSICAL GTR SOC
c/o GLORIA VACHINO
196 BROADWAY
WAKEFIELD MA 01880
...
SAN FRANCISCO GUITAR SOCIETY
560 NINETEENTH ST
SAN FRANCISCO CA 94107
DANIEL ROEST
SOUTH BAY GUITAR SOCIETY
611 S 5TH ST
SAN JOSE CA 95112
MATTHEW HINSLEY
AUSTIN CLASSICAL GUITAR SOCIETY
PO BOX 49704
AUSTIN TX 78765
RON PURCELL
AMERICAN GUITAR SOCIETY
15035 GREENLEAF ST
SHERMAN OAKS CA 91403
ED TRUJILLO
SACRAMENTO GUITAR SOCIETY
1804 CASTRO WAY
SACRAMENTO CA 95818
CONNECTICUT CLASSIC GTR SOC
PENNY PHILLIPS
PO BOX 1528
HARTFORD CT 06144-1528
ST LOUIS GUITAR SOCIETY
PO BOX 11425
ST LOUIS MO 63105
CAPITAL DISTRICT GUITAR SOCIETY
C/O CATHY GIFFORD
229 BERKSHIRE BLVD
ALBANY NY 12203
PHILADELPHIA CLASSIC GTR SOC
JOE MAYS
2038 SANSOM ST
PHILADELPHIA PA 19103
TIDEWATER CLASSIC GTR SOC
PO BOX 1171
NORFOLK VA 23501
TRIANGLE GUITAR SOC
3500 WINDING WAY
DURHAM NC 27705
*** PLEASE DISPLAY *** <-- I think this is a better idea
PEABODY INST/RAY CHESTER than sending a batch.
1 EAST MT VERNON PL
BALTIMORE MD 21202
PETER DANNER, EDITOR
SOUNDBOARD
604 TENNYSON AVE
PALO ALTO CA 94301
GUITAR PLAYER
411 BOREL AVE STE 100
SAN MATEO CA 94402-3516
GUITAR REVIEW
40 W 25TH ST
NEW YORK NY 10010
FINGERSTYLE GUITAR
7620 DELMONICO DR
COLORADO SPRINGS CO 80919
envelope "PRINTED MATTER" .50 <-- Let this line print out
CLASSICAL GUITAR
43 SACKVILLE ROAD
NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE
ENGLAND NE6 5TA
Keep all of these separate from member addresses, of course.
ME: Sounds to me like you might possibly not have been in the proper
frame of mind for Tubby. Sure, I'll give him a good home.
The Help! "video frames" on liveletdie - does that mean they move?
Dave McKenna wrote a fine, fine baseball article in the current
City Paper. Reminds me of the days when I used to read a baseball
book every summer.
There was also a maddening article about a top gun lawyer in town.
Except that it's all old hat and known to everybody - our justice system
has nothing to do with reality. No need to get worked up.
ME:
To: wondrwaii@aol.com
To: digibanana@aol.com
To: hjones@utk.edu
To: beatleforu@aol.com
To: beatleforu@aol.com
To: abbeyrd@best.com
Did you ever get your free Beatle book? My records
show I never got the reimbursement for the postage
(approx. $2).
Subject: Half my life
I'm glad to pull Tubby back from the precipice for you.
I gave my Who bootleg "Jaguar Anyone?" a spin lsat night. Alan
gave it to me on my 18th birthday. As of this coming Thursday,
bootlegs will have been a part of half my life!
A documentary about Robyn Hitchcock got a good write-up on Reuters
this morning.
The "Help!" video clips on liveletdie are stills.
The first clip deals with what exactly Macca might have been
wearing during the shrinking scene. The blow-up frame makes the
Zapruder film look like Cinerama--I saw nothing--but the author
concludes that he was wearing a bathing suit.
The second clip deals with whether Paul's hand strayed too close to
the naughty bits when he was strumming a bathing beauty during one of
the film's closing numbers. Yes, the video evidence supports that he
brushed the side of one of her, uh, and then made a face.
How was your weekend? Did you by any chance take a long walk on a
big bridge?
ME: Sorry for the delay about the Beatle book. I got discouraged
after the first round because only about a quarter of the people
sent reimbursement for my postage costs.
ME: About Paul's errant strumming, I always thought that was common knowledge
to everybody, although somehow I've never managed to see it in the film
myself.
Didn't walk the Chesapeake Bay Bridge this year. I don't remember the
weekend too well.
THEE: I just did a search on my last name "Sauter" and saw your name.
I know there are not a lot of Sauter's in existence that I know of. My
relatives came over on the boat from Germany about 1896. I am from
Medicine Hat, Alberta Canada.
Just thought I would drop you a line and say hello.
Troy Sauter
THEE: I couldn't wait on this interesting significa question, which I
read in a recent "New Yorker": What's the single best-selling Dylan
album of all time? (Answer below my sign-off.)
Ans: Jakob Dylan's "The Wallflowers" has outsold every single Bob Dylan
record.
THEE: I was looking for photos of n-k-d g-rls on "The Daily Mirror" web
site. No luck. All I found was this:
BEATLES A BUNCH OF DRUNKS SAYS GEORGE
A TAPE of the Beatles just as they were finding fame
was "one drunk recording another bunch of drunks",
George Harrison said yesterday.
It was made at Hamburg's Star Club in 1962 when they
were wild teenagers who drank a lot, grabbed their
instruments, played for an hour, grabbed the money and
went on drinking, he said.
Musician Ted "King Size" Taylor's claim that he
recorded them with John Lennon's permission was
"ludicrous", he told the High Court. Harrison, Paul
McCartney and Ringo Starr and Lennon's widow Yoko
Ono want CDs of the tape banned, the tape destroyed
and damages. Case continues.
ME: I believe my ancestors came over from Germany to the Baltimore
area in the 1820s. I also believe Sauter is a very common
name in Germany. My brother ran into some when he was stationed
there in the army. But what I've never quite put together is,
why is it a common German name if it's a common French word (to
jump)?
THEE: I bought the first Kinks album for my birthday. A new CD reissue
features 12 bonus tracks!
I read this in yesterday's "Post" and it didn't register until
hours later. I didn't know he was a fan...
Before the gala, at a VIP reception in the glorious gardens of Ruth
Buchanan in upper Northwest, guests reflexively drifted into a
receiving line. The ex-president (George Bush) told his health and
human services secretary, Louis Sullivan, to "KEEP ON KEEPING ON." The
former first lady, in her trademark triple-strand of pearls and a
black-and-white polka-dot suit, admired pictures of guests' children.
ME: Funny thing though, I haven't the vaguest clue as to what the number
two best-selling Dylan album is.
Dagnabbit, I had the "keep on keepin' on" business squared away, and now
I forget everything when it comes back up again. I seem to remember
finding an occurrence that predated Dylan's by years, or decades.
I must have mentioned it to you. Any recollection?
Got a new WGS newsletter printed up today. You have to wonder no longer
about Francesco da Milano, and German tablature.
I got some dumb ballots in the mail today for voting on postage stamps.
How about 6 cents?
Monday is A-ok. Remind us to do a Betty Rollins' legs study.
THEE: Subject: Legs Larry Smith
Our album of the night is the "On Her Majesty's Secret Service"
soundtrack. That should provide amusement.
Ringo Starr is hosting some sort of documentary on the making of
Hendrix's "Electric Ladyland" tomorrow night. I'll tape it, albeit
without too much enthusiasm.
ME: You brought up "conversation in the Sauter family". I had never
really thought about it before, but I think the explanation is that they
mostly all have non- white collar jobs. That allows for very interesting
stories. I bet my sister could have a sure-fire best-seller with a book
about her experiences as a "career" checker at Giant.
Researching George Bush's pop music tastes, I tracked down an item I
e-mailed Mar 20 1998:
Big discovery today. The Marvin Gaye song Baby Don't You Do It
(10/10/64, No. 27) has the line "keep on keeping on". I'd say
that pips You Ain't Goin' Nowhere with weeks to spare.
THEE: I appreciated having Betty Rollins' article in front of me when you
played the interview segment. If I'm not careful, I'll be wondering
what "Betty Rollins' legs" means for the rest of my days.
Today's album, which will carry me through the week, is Charles Ives'
"Old Songs Deranged." It is deranged!
THEE: Subject: operatic arrangements for guitar
I have been searching for solo arrangements of operatic music. I have
come up with Giuliani's "Rossiniane", Carcassi's "William Tell", the Sor
"Mozart and Paisiello variations" and those included in the Noad
Antholgies. Are you familiar with any others? Thank you.
ME: Thanks for the note about operatic arrangements for solo guitar.
Believe me, there are *tons* of them. Also, there are quite a few
arrangements of opera material by 19th C. American guitarists.
I've wondered if anyone has tried to catalog them
all. It would be *way* too big a job for someone to do just for
his own pleasure. Perhaps you could ask in the USENET group
rec.music.classical.guitar if anyone knows if anyone has attempted
this. [Fat chance.]
I wish I could devote a few years worth of my guitar interest to just
these operatic arrangements and comparing them to the original, for
example. (I'm still not clear if anybody has ever really found Sor's
theme in the Magic Flute.) [My current threory is that whoever made
O Dolce Concento out of the little Mozart bit should get the credit.]
ME: I've finally started to get a little web traffic - a few hundred people
per week. There are fairly well-known pages in the guitar, Beatles and
Scrabble world that link to me. Still, I'd rather make a little mark in the
areas of justice, democracy and science.
ME: Don't know if you found this or not already, or if you would derive any
pleasure from it if you did, but here's a late-model Sherlock holmes story
I found while looking for Fermi Paradox references. It's good and slightly
unsatisfying at the same time - although I can't imagine how anybody could
tie it up in a more satisfying way. Go to:
http://www.sfwriter.com/styousee.htm
Here's the obvious response to the guy with the Geocities gripe.
[Geocities deleted his site for violation of moral standards.] I didn't
bother at the time because of its obviousness, but maybe it needs to be
repeated every now and then: Only government can censor.
ME: The National Scademy of Science's concert was called
"India in the Air". Guest artists were L Subramaniam, Shashank and
Terry Riley. Program included traditional Indian music, "Ragas" and
"Mythic Birds Waltz for String Quartet" by Terry Riley, plus
"A Fusion Piece" (world premiere) by Jarrett (Al?). Sure looked
interesting on paper, at least. I didn't make it, either.
I'm interested in hearing the Dylan, although I will admit the words
"Prince's Trust" make me cringe. I equate it with "unlistenable happy
superstar mishmash".
THEE: The Orioles wound up losing Monday's game 6-3. Last night, I ran
into the bedroom and told Dot, "Unbelievably, it's the seventh inning
and the Orioles are killing the Yankees! The score's 5-1!" In just
two innings, the Yankees managed to a) score 8 runs and win the game
and b) start a knock-down, drag-out brawl. Weird! I'm glad I watched
"The Avengers" instead.
THEE: I was just curious if there was a reason you didn't bring the box of
newsletters to the meeting. I wanted to grab a bunch. I took about ten with
me, but I didn't want to deplete the entire stack.
ME: The vid was fine. I found the Hendrix/Dylan connection very interesting,
got 3 good laughs out of Seinfeld (desk-clearing, "You're going down"
and George's collapse on the bars - the last being very juvenile, of
course), fascinating Standing Stone footage, not to mention the live
baseball. Never quite leaves your blood, does it?
What's wrong with a brawl with the Yanks? When I was a kid watching
baseball, that's what I *lived* for. I guess tv had messed up my mind.
ME: Your question about suitable guitar & piano material
for beginners is perfectly reasonable, but I have a deepset phobia
with respect to making recommendations of any kind in life. There's
no making people happy, it seems.
My catalog gives a sample line from every guitar part just
for that reason, though.
THEE: The Orioles uneventfully lost to the Yanks 9-2 last night. No
brawls, just the seventh loss in a row. That's the first losing
streak that long in three years.
ME: I was going to give you a call about the
remaining batch of Washington Guitar Society newletters, but
then figured a "conference call" might be beneficial here. I've always
been slightly frustrated that almost all guitar society brainstorming has
been in various 2-person conversations without any mechanism for
implementation.
Yeah, if you suspected I was bugged or something when I didn't bring a
batch of newsletters to the meeting, you were right. I was a
little upset that they didn't get distributed prior to the meeting.
I wasn't bugged at any one person, and certainly not you, who already
do too much (still).
Maybe it wasn't a big deal, because at least the WGS members got their
copies, but they already knew about the meeting (theoretically.) It seems
that out of 38 newsletter editions, this was the first one where the
attitude became, "it doesn't matter whether or not it's distributed before
the meeting - it's just an ad for the society". Three people made statements
along those lines. This has never been the view in the past. We always
broke our back to get them out beforehand - generally just in the nick of
time. Remember, for example, how difficult it was for us to throw in the
towel on the "Snitzler's Folly" issue and let it slide until after the
impending meeting?
I also have a notion that because we have a "plan" (we'll see) for mailing
and distributing the newsletters next time, that people felt they were off
the hook this time.
This issue, maybe more than ever before, was geared to the upcoming meeting.
It's another excellent issue, whether anybody noticed not, that would
leave any other guitar society's newsletters in the dust. It involved an
amount of effort on my part that would probably be viewed as
insane by most outside observers. Even after the production session it
probably took about 2 more days of work. (Lots of paste-ups, numerous
corrections, 4 trips to the copy store, mailing session with Bev, etc.)
So I was bugged that nobody could call somebody who could call somebody who
could call somebody... until somebody was reached who was willing to give
up a Golden Girls rerun to get some WGS newsletters out. In the week
before the meeting, I was thinking, if the newsletters are
still around by Friday, they were going in the dumpster and I would tell
people that I "distributed" them myself. This didn't come to pass,
however. Anybody who wants them can stop by anytime.
Now, having said that, I will confess that I don't think getting a bunch
of newcomers to that recital would have resulted in many new memberships,
or even increased WGS enthusiasm, but that couldn't have been known in
advance.
For therapeutic reasons I also have to say that I am bugged with the
performer for not even reading the newsletter dedicated to her. What does
it take, fer cryin' out loud?
THEE: May is always the busiest month of the year for me! After the open
stage I went home to get to bed early, as we had to play for a
breakfast from 6:30 - 9:30 AM! After the gig we came home and took naps and
got up in time to play for a wedding at 3 pm. Then we had to play another
wedding on Sunday at 12. After that wedding I had to get started making
flute/guitar arrangements for a wedding with special requests that we are
playing this Saturday. I'll tell you, making a living really gets in the way
of life!
THEE: That's really wild. How did one message come through utterly
garbled and the other perfectly fine? They were both in the same
format. I dunno.
THEE: Subject: Monopoly Rule Question
We take the liberty of posing a Monopoly rule question to you. May
houses/hotels be purchased only at the beginning of a turn or at the end of
the turn? In other words, may houses be purchased at the completion of the
other person's turn or may they still be purchased after the purchaser has
rolled the dice?
Also, when is the official end and begining of a turn. By the way,
we are playing with two sets of dice one for each person.
THEE: You know, I
always thought that if you had all the best treatment money could buy, and
good health habits--that your chances were almost absolute for beating cancer
today (if caught early enough). Linda Mac certainly proved that not to be the
case. Just breaks my heart. Still feel so fortunate to have had her accept
my flowers and offer her cheek for a kiss before the performance at Royal
Albert in October of last year. I had such great hopes that she would
completely recover and go on to do so many of the things she was so good at
and loved. I remember being so buoyed after having seen her looking so good
and so real, and out in public for her first real public appearance in some
time.
I'm now so devastated for Paul and family. I've been sent photos by a
friend showing Paul and James arm in arm, walking in Paris recently and
sitting against a wall together. Does life get any sadder than this....my
heart aches.
So sad to hear that Joe Pope is broke and suffering a terrible bout with
cancer as well. Understand that there will be a benefit for him held at the
end of the month in Mass. Do you know anything more?? I'm just wondering if
he has a chance of recovering. He's such a nice fella--met him on a few
occasions. His fanzine Strawberry Fields was a good one for years.
THEE: "Really wild, general" comes from "The Intro and the Outro" by the
Bonzo Dog Band.
I started listening to Lesley Gore's "Golden Hits Vol. 2" this
morning. It's good so far. Do you know anything about a song called
"Off and Running"?
I have an LP called, ulp, "Meet the Searchers" floating to the top of
me pile.
THEE: I thought that you might have heard
which day the Rolling Thunder parade was and be on the sidelines. I
watched for you everywhere. There were over 250,000 motorcycles in the
parade. My ears are still ringing. I should have worn earplugs. After
we got to the end of the parade, I walked around and I got to see the
Lincoln, Washington, Vietnam, Korean, and Navy memorials all up close
and personal. I hung around by the pool thinking you might be there
(like in Forrest Gump) But then, you probably didn't see Forrest Gump -
a movie starring Tom Hanks. I also went into the Air & Space Museum and
to the Arlington National Cemetary. I was wanting to get to the
National Portrait Museum as on the map it looked like it was right next
to the Navy memorial, but I was with others who were not interested.
Maybe next time. I was impressed by the two statues at the bridge
entrance to Arlington. Do you know what mythical figures they portray?
Interesting the the man was riding and the woman walking.
In regard to Seinfeld, I share your view. I saw it once for about ten
minutes and they were doing sexist jokes about breasts. I shut it off
and never watched again, except for the night of the last show. I was
doing a calligraphy project and had the TV on for background noise when
the last show came on. It was totally assinine and my reaction was I
hadn't missed much in the nine years it was on if they were all that
stupid.
ME: Cranking up my mailer tonight there was a
testy system message saying I was over 80% of my
mail space quota, why don't I ditch some of it? Then it took so long
to fire up I thought something was hung up. It turned out there was
a message 1947773 bytes long from a guy in Sweden who wanted a contact
address for the USPS. (He had read my page.) That was all in the
first paragraph, a few hundred bytes worth. Then there was 2 million
characters of gobbledygook. Don't know whether he was sending me
photos or the Swedish postal system code.
ME: You ask is there anything else you should look out for.
I need "Toast To You" by Al Hudson One Way real bad. Will pay.
Did I ever show you Cathy Fleming's picture on and in the Library Journal?
THEE: Talking of Lesley Gore, the shrill sound quality of her greatest-hits
album raises an issue that we've sparred about in the past: I think
Gore's another vote for George Martin as best producer of the '60s. I
know that Gore was produced to be heard on 45s on bad record players
but that doesn't excuse her sound entirely.
I watched a Spice Girls concert video last night, which I taped off
cable in April. In fact I was mildly entertained and that's all I
ask for in rock music anymore.
THEE: BBC web site, May 28, 1998
SIR PAUL LIGHTS CANDLE IN LINDA'S MEMORY
Sir Paul McCartney has made his first public outing with his family
since the death of his wife Linda - and lit a candle to her memory.
The music legend and his son James stopped at Notre Dame Cathedral in
Paris, and, alongside other visitors, lit a candle. The pair also
spent time in quiet thought as they remembered Linda, 56, who died
last month at the couple's ranch in the United States after losing a
long battle against cancer.
THEE: Subject: initial bankroll
Greetings!
Truth is (would we have it any other way?) my wife and granddaughter
dusted off our game of Monopoly that had not been played for several
years. Dear wife could not find the basic rules and none of us could
recall the amount of the initial bankroll allotted to each player.
I know you know. And I know you will let us know without unduly shaming
us for our ignorance!
Thanks!
ME: Start with:
2 x $500
2 x $100
2 x $ 50
6 x $ 20
5 x $ 10
5 x $ 5
5 x $ 1
This totals $1500.
By the way, you can find the complete Monopoly rules on the web.
Have fun.
ME: You know how I'm always mocking computers
in their attempt to catch up with old technology (tv, photography,
hi-fi sound, etc.) It just occurred to me today that phone systems
have had "voice recognition" for over a hundred years. You just
*talk* into it. Amazing!
The "jug band" album "Toast To You" by Al Hudson
One Way I put on your search list has violin work throughout by Phyllis,
which is why I would even pay for it. I think it dates from the late '60s.
I'm almost through the 10-record classical set. It's been mostly
painful, but I feel like I should know more about classical music.
I don't think it helped much. Anyhow, when it's finished, I can
continue subjecting myself to pop music displeasure. Why do we
do this to ourselves?
ME: My friend may have seen you ride by on Sunday. She works at the
Smithsonian Castle and went out to see the motorcycles drive down
Independence Ave. She enjoyed the spectacle greatly. She noted
a number of biracial couples, but only one black woman/white man pair.
Still have the frig and still hate it. About non-frost-free refrigerators,
everybody says how miserable defrosting is, but it wouldn't *have* to be.
If they just put in a heating element that you turn on with a flick of a
switch, the ice could fall out in seconds. Says me, who has never designed
a refrigerator, mind you.
THEE: I checked on my first volume of Lesley Gore's greatest hits--I have the
truncated 10-track version. Ooh, that gets me steamed!
The episode of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" that aired on TV last
night, originally broadcast around November 1969, featured a sketch in
which a police officer plants drugs at an actor's flat. I'm sure it
must have been inspired by the Lennono bust. The sketch ends memorably
with the cop dropping a suspicious package. The actor opens it:
"Sandwiches?" he asks, confused.
"Core," says the cop, "wonder what I gave the wife."
ME: Yes, my Baroque Beatle Songbook is stereo (according to the cover. I
didn't pull the disk out and have no memory of aural verification of
this claim.) I don't have the lyric sheet, though.
I am now wired for stereo again. I put the other speaker
under the dining table in otherwise unused, unseen space, so it was
justifiable. The different sound quality you get from a speaker under a
table makes for a very good fake stereo - much better than the stuff they
call real stereo nowadays.
THEE: It feels like May 1970 all over again. Ginger Spice has left the
Spice Girls. The remaining four vow to continue but can they? Stay
tuned.
The Macca thing I taped Sunday morning was a bigger deal than I
expected, and we should have a viewing party. It's "Paul McCartney's
Musical Ways," a documentary on the revamped "Family Way" arrangement.
Again, we are treated to Mac discussing his work, at great length.
(I'm guessing by his long hair that it was taped some time before the
"Standing Stone" premier.) There are also numerous clips from the
film. The guy that did the new variations gets a significant amount
of air time, too, as does George Martin (whose hair is now longer than
Paul's).
ME: Subject: Papo en Mejico
Not much to report on in my realm of pop music
interest lately. Well, I'll tell you... My current favorite 2
records are over 25 years old and Hispanic. One is by Lolita, the
other is by Papo Roman. (His given name was Ramon Roman. Cool parents,
eh?) As great as these records are, they would make virtually all
normal people barf.
If you have any more rounds of email with the evolutionist, feel free
to direct him to my evolution FAQ page. As far as I can tell,
evolutionists don't hesitate to call doubters dummies, but *never*
actually say what evolution is. Crazy...
ME: Subject: I'll bite...
...what happened in May, 1970? [Joky way of saying I have never, and
still do not, place any significance in May 10 1970 as being the "day the
Beatles broke up".]
"The revamped Family Way arrangement"? Did I know about this? That such
a thing is being done is hard enough to imagine, but a tv special for it???
Potomac Blackout is a simple card game involving tricks and bidding.
It's simple enough for anybody to play right away - without a practice
round, even. It's got some fun quirks, like decreasing hand sizes from
round to round. It hardly takes any brains, but, then again, it's not
stupid. Almost everyone enjoys it right off the bat. Welsh Harry
brought it back from the UK, which is where he believed it originated.
For years I passed this information on to my family and friends. But when
Harry asked about it on a trip a couple of years ago, his friends said, no,
they brought it over from the states. And then I finally found the name
in a book of rules. [It's a slight variant of Oh Hell, also called Oh Pshaw
or Blackout.] To think that this "old world" game came (maybe) from
a quarter spin around our own beloved beltway, haha...
Went to the zoo today. The main event was the Amazonia exhibit.
THEE: Ishmael. The book has an ape teach a man...through telepathy.
Don't think a movie is in the works. On their last fan club letter,
PJ encouraged their fans to read this book. Supposedly, during
the making of their latest album, YIELD, the band members were
reading the book. Some of the song lyrics seem to tie in
with the book. Ishmael may be the thread that holds the album
together...but, it's art, so I will believe what I want.
Did you ever see the animated short: Bambi meets Godzilla?
A two scene black and white line drawing. The first scene
has Bambi eating grass...shows credits,and has lovely music
playing. The second scene has Godzilla's foot come down
from the top of the screen, smashing Bambi, the ending
credits roll, and ominous music plays.
Anyway, Ishmael mentions the Tree of Knowledge. How Adam
ate the apple and THOUGHT he had power over life and death...
a reference to how mankind believes he has this right.
So, I call my poster, Pearl Jam meets Godzilla. I have it
divided into 3 scenes. It had to be only 8 X 10...small poster.
The first scene has Godzilla eating an apple from the
tree of knowledge. The second scene has Pearl Jam performing
'Alive'...with the lyrics, "'You're still alive,' she said.'Do I deserve
to be...and if so...if so...who answers?'" And then the third
scene has Godzilla's foot smashing Pearl Jam..and the line
'who answers' wafting up from under the foot.
I hope at least they get a chuckle. All of the PJ fans I told
about the poster did.
I could win an autographed bowling ball. Hmm...think I'd settle
for the chuckle. Thanks for the good wishes.
Subject: The Family Way
I remember reading something about a new "Family Way" in
"Beatlefan." Yeah, apparently some chap recently scored variations
for the themes that Macca wrote and is presenting it in a classical
setting. I can say no more. The documentary is an hour long. I do
get the sense that Macca really just dreamed up two tunes off the top
of his head, which were then arranged by George Martin. Now they've
been rearranged. So, even though Paul talks a lot in the documentary,
it's not certain that he really did that much.
What's interesting about the departure of Ginger Spice from the
Spice Girls is the fact that she spent several years struggling in the
way that some allegedly attractive women do, through sleazy modeling
and dancing. Then after only two years or so in the pre-packaged
Spice Girls, she's worth $21 million. Oh life.
ME: Subject: / X X / X / / / / X (spares and strikes)
You mention the Waterboys as if we have discussed them. Have we?
If not, maybe you're just psychic (or more psychic than you thought.)
I have a Waterboys album, This Is The Sea, which I bought (used) because
I was knocked out by the song The Whole Of The Moon. (The song may
be junk, but I was knocked out anyhow.)
Thanks for the Ishmael explanation. I, too, got a chuckle out of your
PJ poster. My advice: you'd better brush up on your bowling.
The tablature mention was half tongue-in-cheek, half for Billy's benefit.
In all honesty, I've always been curious about what modern rockers
might think about the earliest music written for guitar. The first
guitar music was for 4-string guitar. I could imagine some of it
really kicking on electric guitar and with drums and bass.
ME: 'Twas a good evening on beautiful WWMD. I bagged Sloop John B,
God Only Knows, Without Your Love - all beautiful music versions.
(I think the last time Without Your Love came up, it was the
Daltrey version.) Also, 2 different versions of Your Song (E. John)
within a span of 3 or 4 songs. Remember, they once played 2
different Let It Bes within 3 songs. That's so cool!
Did you hear about
the plane flying to D.C. that lost its nose in a hail storm? My
brother-in-law Ron was on it. He was in the lavatory and all of a sudden
smashed against the ceiling. He rode it out in there, keeping himself in
place by jamming his arms and legs against opposite walls.
A lesser news item was a bunch of kids on a bus going to Adventure World.
A boy stuck a sign in the window which read "Bomb on Board" which
created a bit of a stir. My niece was on that bus.
THEE: Hm...you see a book on Brad Pitt...and thought of me? Must be because
he's so gorgeous? ;-) Bradford Tatum is the man I follow, but, I don't think
I'd throw Brad Pitt out of bed for eating crackers. (OLD saying...have you
ever heard this? I know my father said it at times)
If a store ever has a book on Bradford Tatum...notify me immediately!!!!
I can never find ANYTHING on him.
THEE: I'm putting the finishing touches on the Phil Spector "Beatlefan."
It's easily the worst issue I can remember reading. Usually I'm a
sucker for the retrospectives that Bill King wrote about life in
general during a particular time in the swingin' '60s. The one in
this issue was weaker, filled as it was with phony understatement--every
group is led by "a young singer named" insert-future-star's-name-here.
ME: Strange about the plane that lost its nose; at the gathering on Sunday
everybody fell into 2 camps - those who had not heard about the
incident, and those who couldn't believe anybody hadn't heard about it.
(And keep in mind, that was up in Baltimore - the plane was flying to
D.C.)
ME: Subject: YOWCH!!! (jump jump swat, rub run...)
The spares and strikes subject line was *bowling* talk, as in
bowling bowl, as in PJ-autographed, as in poster contest... I've
been working on making my subject lines as obscure as possible,
or at least little puzzles. This is perhaps some mild form of
protest - after all, would you not open a letter if the envelope
didn't tell you the subject?
I was stung by a hornet today mowing the grass. Whew, it hurt. Been
stung by bees and wasps and yellow jackets... but this is the first
hornet. Actually it was last Thursday, but the impact is reduced too
much by saying "I was stung last week..." Anyhow, his whole happy
family paid zee heavy price...
THEE: You will be pleased to know that I had NO IDEA what your subject referred
to. Thought you were doing a triathalon =)
I finally figured out the 'bowling' talk, but it took me FOREVER!!! I love trying
to think up clever subject lines, but as I receive more and more junk/X-rated
mail, I'm wondering if unclever subject lines might be best to use for people
I don't really know...and am writing for the first time. HATE to be deleted
by mistake. One guy I wrote, I used 'please allow me to introduce myself'
which I meant as a quote from the Rolling Stones 'Sympathy for the Devil'...
but, those nudie webs sure seem to have some of the same stuff. Luckily,
he read my letter. He's a guy in Australia who has met Eddie Vedder,
and read Ishmael, and doesn't mind disagreeing.
THEE: We flew home on a plane that seated about 40 people. Jenny was a
little scared. I thought of telling her about your brother-in-law's
flight but thought better of it.
Thanks for the offer of the 45th anniversary of "TV Guide." I'm
looking for the issue with "The Avengers" on the cover from the '60s
but that's about it. If you ever want to see a classic "Seinfeld,"
ask me to find the one about the "TV Guide" collector.
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