Now I understand!

U.K. Town / Pub names #4

Woke up with a tune on my mind this morning. This used to go on for hours.
Every few minutes I would find my self whistling or singing
(well attempting to sing) this intruder.
Then one day I read that if you can name it you can usually relate it to your mood. For the past week I have been fighting off this cold that is an energy zapper. Not bad symptoms but general tiredness. Well the morning of the songattack I was feeling better hence the tune "No more Blues" was in my head. Pretty slick!

Things my wife wants me to throw away # 3

It's becoming a habit; This Saturday afternoon CD review. This week it was the Hi-lo's ,
a tight harmony vocal quartet.They were formed by Gene Puerling in 1953 and
produced almost 30 albums . This CD (actually a 2 album compilation of albums made in the 50s) was produced in 1999. Suddenly it's the Hi-lo's is presented first but the second( Harmony in Jazz) is what interests me. This is because It has a more serious jazz nature . Unlike the first half of the album ,which has a complete orchestra including strings, the second half (Harmony in Jazz) has the group accompanied by the Marty Paich Dek-tet so the material selected is less commercially oriented . This smaller group also showcases the voices better ! This is another of my comfort albums( recordings loved as a child)
but remains vital still. Another case of quality material passing the test of time!

Contact imminent contribution

Speaking of the Prisoner, I am a member of the Six of One Prisoner appreciation , a group for those of us that cant get enough Information about the classic cult TV series. One of the membership benefits is a quarterly magazine and from time to time I try to contribute by sending them material. Here is my latest contribution.

The Prisoner series

I can't recall how many series of things I have started but here is a new one anyway. This time it is a trading card set of The Prisoner ,my favorite tv series. I promise to see how many I have running and try to make progress on all of them. You are probably thinking who cares but I have fun with it anyway.

U.K. Town and pub names #3

The third in a series of British town and pub names from The Camra Good Beer Guide. There are over 50 counties so this might take a while. The real challenge will be to just make it through the entire guide . At least I am not listing all 4,500 pubs in the book.

Lucky we live Hawaii

I was walking Red yesterday and had one of those moments where it really hits me how fortunate I am to
live here. So here are a couple more photos. Top one is looking towards the back of one of our 1 acre lots.
The trees in the far background are the lot line.The plants halfway back on the left are bananas which we eat periodically. To the right is a lemon tree. I then turned around and took the bottom photo looking towards the front.The palm frond on the ground is from the coconut tree in front of it. I am actually standing on our other lot which is also one acre. More on that later. The lots are about 120 feet wide and 400 ft long. For the most part it is blissfully quiet here with almost no traffic or background noise other than bird song and a faint surf sound. The fact that I have not seen one jet contrail overhead in the 9 years we have been here illustrates how remote we are!. As they say here Lucky we live Hawaii!

Dave Frishberg

Listened to this Dave Frishberg CD again the other day . He is a Pianist/ songwriter /singer ala Mose Allison,
Bob Dorough, and The late Blossom Dearie (stylistically speaking) He co-creates a lot of the material he does but also presents great versions of others work. He does not have a strong voice but does have a hip sense
of phrasing and presentation and his piano "chops" are excellent. I have had this Live CD for a long time (it was produced in 1986) and in reading the liner notes realized for the first time the Sharon and I were there when it was recorded at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco.

Things my wife wants me to throw away # 2

I did a similar post last year with Guinness but this time the Guinness is a little different.
Guinness brews more than one style of Stout. This Bottle is Foreign extra Stout. Unlike most of the bottled Guinness we get in the states, most brewed in Canada , Foreign Extra is brewed in Dublin. It is also quite a bit stronger( 7.5% ) than most of "our" Guinness. A few years ago I bought bottle of it in England but until Lately it has not been available here. Perfect selection for today!

Better Repair

I recently fixed a set of headphones I have. The material covering the foam rings had
deteriorated (blame the sub tropic environment) and was flaking off all over me. Now that they are in good working order again I have been trying to catch up listening to some boxed sets acquired over the past few years. I tend to buy them, listen once and go on to something else. It might take some time but I eventually return to each and get to know it better. The latest is The Nat King Cole/ Billy May sessions.
The material on this 2 CD set was recorded in the late 50s/early 60s. All of the arrangements are done by Billy May and performed by his orchestra although there are exceptions where Nat King Cole is accompanied by a small group. The orchestra (there are strings on some cuts) is very full and with the addition of a Tuba
a really interesting full sound range is produced. the arrangements are excellent and of Course Nat King Cole
is too. The execution is perfect making everything fit .
This would not be nearly as easy to hear without the head set . I shall make an effort to keep them in better repair!

absolutly melts me!

things my wife wants me to throw away #1

Sax Baixo Rio Branco-143

Dreamy twilight

I had a colonoscopy last week that turned out great. It was really a piece of cake even though my imagination made me miserable before hand . The cleansing was not pleasant (the solution was a bit much after 16 - 8 oz glasses over 2 hours ) but was not bad The anesthetics I worried about were no problem. After the nurse gave me the drugs, I babbled away for 15 seconds and the next thing I remember I was the recovery room. I don't even remember going to sleep! The doctor popped in and said everything looked great . When I told him how easy it had been he said "Good , tell your friends to have one"!

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