A Boy's Life in Baseball Cards

First, Last and Always, there was Topps.

If you grew up like I did, deep in the childish heart of US, worshiping at the temple of baseball, take it from me: never go to Sunday school!

The Navel Gazers Greatest Hits

When they were younger, I told my children that when they went to college, if they learned to greet each new situation, condition, circumstance, happenstance, occurrence, individual, group, institution, faith and belief system with studied skepticism, analysis and reason preceding acceptance or rejection, I would be mighty pleased.

William Shakespeare; King of the One Liners

All he did was string together a lot of old, well known quotations. - H.L. Mencken on Shakespeare

How High the Moon?

The Question: How High the Moon?

The Answer: Very high indeed.

America, a Prophecy by William Blake

In 1793, William Blake (1757-1827) composed and illustrated an epic poem titled,  "America, a Prophecy"  foretelling the fall of the Anglo/American empire for the sin of slavery.

Illustration by William Blake

An excerpt of that poem, "Let the Slave", incorporating Blake's Song of Experience, has been set to music and recorded by Van Morrison  and, in this notable instance, British jazz musician,   Mike Westbrook. It is a chilling warning as well as a paean to freedom and human dignity. 

This Land is My Land Part One, 1492-1945

We, The People in Order to Form a More Perfect Union

This 4th of July last, I found myself ruminating on all that I know about your country and mine. I decided to place what I recalled inside my own place in cyberspace as a visual scrapbook of where we have been as a nation. Sooner than later, my mind began to ramble and sprawl as minds - and epic tales - are wont to do. One thought led to another and well, as it turns out, the country is a tad older than I remembered.  So, as the world keeps turning, this is Part One.

The American experiment is marvelous and fully worthy of celebration. However, the pervasive strain of cruelty and oppression and the irredeemable stains of slavery and genocide force anyone not subsumed in the culture of jingoism to question the fundamental nature of our national character. Our collective lust for violence is not easily explained and cannot be ignored. If there is a deity on “our side” then I, for one, prefer said deity remain sidelined and indifferent to our plight because, we the people, are quite capable of muddling through and mucking it up all by ourselves.

They all laughed at Christopher Columbus when Amerigo Vespucci discovered his own continent and named it after US!

Some people say a man is made out of mud

Sixteen Tons was written by Merle Travis, the son of a Kentucky coal miner, in 1947.  It stands as a compelling tribute to those who dig this bitter earth.  

Merle Travis

Original Recording - 1947

They say it's spring, so it's time to Blossom, Dearie

Blossom Dearie (1924-2009) was an American jazz singer and interpreter most distinguished by her light, girlish voice of which the critic, Whitney Balliet wrote, "would scarcely reach the second story of a doll house." Her music was light, gentle and caressing, but also intimate, sophisticated and elegant and filled with delightful idiosyncratic humor. 

Her sound is perfect company for any occasion, including this fine spring day.

Cleo Laine Can Soar Forever

On a Clear Day You Can See Forever

In this performance from the mid-1980's Dame Cleo Laine shows Mariah Carey and every other high flying song bird what it is to sing a very, very high note (I believe it is a G above high C), while maintaining complete artistic integrity. In other words, this is more than simple show off talent run amok. 

More than Mad, completely Cracked and definitely Sick: it's Naturally Zapped, Mister!

The literature depicted below may have broken certain societal taboos (pot is good, sex is fun, authority is a real drag, man), or it may have been utterly without socially redeeming value but, for a certain portion of the young and (I'm guessing), mostly male population, this was the first comical view into the truly illicit goings on of the hippie culture and oh, man, was it ever groovy. Keep on Truckin' indeed; just don't admit it to your children!

A dash of Voltaire

"A feast not only of wit and eloquence but of warm friendship, humane feeling, and incisive thought." - Will and Ariel Durant on Voltaire's Letters

The Charge of the Light Brigade Ignites the Romance of War

The Charge of the Light Brigade took place on October 25, 1854 at the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War. Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892) was the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom when he wrote this poem.

The Jefferson - Adams Correspondence

"You and I ought to not die, before we have explained ourselves to each other." - John Adams to Thomas Jefferson

Sister Rosetta Tharpe rocked the Gospel Truth

Rhythm and Blues, Rock and  Roll and Soul music have many fathers but relatively few mothers. One of the greatest "mothers" of them all, and "The Original Soul Sister" was Sister Rosetta Tharpe.  

Oscar Wilde; King of the Epigram

Oscar Wilde; King of the Epigram

Several weeks ago, I set out to read, collect, collate, and share a few of my favorite epigrams by Oscar Wilde. Those several weeks later, I am left with dozens and dozens of indispensable pithy observations that I am thoroughly unable to parse or whittle down any farther. Many are sobering, some silly, most witty and all revealing of the artist's true vision. Thus, I present these and crown the author with the sobriquet, King of the Epigram.

Oscar Through the Years Part One 1934 - 1973

I rarely watch the Academy Awards anymore but I'm glad they exist so that I know who's who, who's in and out, whose star is shining and whose has dimmed.  And which artists are compiling enduring bodies of work worthy of public notice. 

 

For every Hollywood motion picture actor who boards the bus bound for stardom, another must get off. That explains the dimming stars of Macauley Caulkin, Ali McGraw, Linda Blair, Mira Sorvino, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Yasmin Bleeth, Rocky Stallone and so many other former luminaries whose lights inexplicably faded despite their overarching talent. 

Then there are the performers in the clips below who took the front row seats and through one performance after another, announced to the world, "I'm the brightest star in the firmament and I'm not going anywhere." 

TO BE CONTINUED ...

Spy vs. Spy

How would we have ever won the Cold War without the contributions of our television and film spies to rally us around the flag?

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

"GOOD EVENING".

Each week from 1955 through 1962, famed film director, Alfred Hitchcock, stepped into his familiar silhouette and intoned his seemingly innocuous greeting, "Good Evening", before ushering us into his eponymous weekly TV production, "Alfred Hitchcock Presents".  An anthology of tales filled with mystery, suspense, intrigue, imagination and, of course, macabre, the series delivered consistently high quality scripts and was an early proving ground for many young writers, directors and actors. 

A song for a winter's day

Remember Tommy Roe? Sure you do.
"Sweet little Sheila, my little Sheila, blue eyes and a pony tail."
"Oh, Sweet Pea, won't you dance with me? Won't ya, won't ya dance with me?"
"Hooray for Hazel, she put me down." etc, etc.

Well, it seems that when he took the bubble gum out of his mouth, ol' Tom was capable of digging just a little bit deeper. This is a lovely and needlessly obscure song of his called, "It's Now Winter's Day".  Let's give it a spin.