The Breaking Winds - Toccata and Fugue

A very special treat - The Breaking Winds, young ladies from the University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music, play Bach's Toccata and Fugue on bassoons with organ accompaniment. Appropriately recorded in October, 2010 right before Halloween

Will this Wind......?

Long ago, I believe in 1982 or 1983 I watched a special on HBO - "The Secret Policeman's Ball". It was a recording of a benefit for Amnesty International by the Monty Python group along with some special guest performers. They did several of their greatest skits, each of which hysterically funny.

I hadn't taped the show but thought that I would be able to in a few days because HBO always does repeats. However,I was very disappointed when I found that there were no more repeats. I must have watched the final showing.

I especially loved this particular skit - "Will this Wind ...?" done with guest Rowan Atkinson. For years I would often think of that show and regret not having recorded it. Then, just this past year I saw a Monty Python video on YouTube and got the brilliant idea to try a Search for that particular skit. Amazing - I found it! It took over a quarter century but now I have it on my hard drive.

JFK Speech on Civil Rights - June, 1963

Less than six months before his assassination John F. Kennedy spoke to the nation on national TV on Civil Rights in the United States. It was one of the finest, most inspirational, speeches ever made in the history of the nation. I was privileged to watch this speech live on TV. He did not live to see it happen, but the Civil Rights legislation he urged was passed by his successor.

Giggles

Halftime at the Rose Bowl - 2011

In my opinion the most exciting, the most fun to watch and the hardest working college band in America is the University of Wisconsin Marching Band.

They are unlike any other band, with their unique marching style in which they high step, hitting the ground toe down at a 45 degree angle. This not only requires great strength and excellent condition to maintain but also is physically jarring. For the drummers it is even harder because they have to perform the step with legs spread outwards to avoid contact with their drums.

How they are able to produce a steady sound on their instruments with the jarring and the physical demands of their marching step amazes me. Oh, and in my opinion they also have the neatest uniforms.

This YouTube video was made of the halftime show at the 2011 Rose Bowl game in Pasadena, California. It was taken at ground level, so the formations they create can not be seen, but it provides a close up view of how very hard they work.

Georges Cziffra

Hungarian Georges Cziffra (1921-1994) was one of the finest pianists of the 20th Century. In this video Cziffra in preparation for a television appearance went to the TV studio to test the piano while technicians tested the lighting and camera angles for the telecast. He walks onto the set, removes his jacket, sits at the piano and puts on a fantastic improvisation. The aspect ratio of the video is off, but it does not affect the quality of Cziffra's performance.

Thus Sprach Zarathustra

This silly YouTube video of supposed terrible high school musicians playing the opening theme from the movie 2001 A Space Odyssey reminded me of my own high school's band.

No, they were not nearly so bad as this group, but that is not saying much. Having to sit in our seats at school assemblies while the band "entertained" us was quite an ordeal. I believe most of us would have preferred to take a test or write an essay.




Thinking of my school's band for the first time in over a half century, I checked them out in the yearbook from my senior year. I was surprised to discover that it was 100% male. They may not have been quality musicians but they did wear nice gold jackets and have shiny instruments!! 

"I'm My Own Grandpa"

This is one of the all-time classic humorous songs which explains how a person can become his own grandfather. It has been recorded many times since the 1940's. I remember hearing it when I was just 10 or 11 years old. This version is sung by Ray Stevens.



I believe these are the proper lyrics. The lyrics on the video are different, but only slightly:

Many, many years ago when I was just twenty-three,
I was married to a widow, she was pretty as could be.
This widow had a grown-up daughter who had hair of red
And my father fell in Love with her. Soon they too were wed.

This made my dad my son-in-law--changed my very life!
My daughter was my mother because she was my father's wife!
To complicate the matter even though it brought me joy,
I soon became the father of a bouncing baby boy.

My little baby he then became a brother-in-law to Dad.
Well, that made him my uncle--made me very sad!
Because if he was my uncle then he also was a brother
To the widow's grown-up daughter, who, of course, was my stepmother.

My father's wife then had a son who kept them on the run.
And, of course, he became my grandchild because he was my daughter's son.
My wife is now my mother's mother and this makes me blue
Because although she is my wife, she's my grandmother too!

Now if my wife is my grandmother, well, then I am her grandchild,
And every time that I think about this, it nearly drives me wild!
Because now I have become the strangest case that you ever saw
As husband of my grandmother, I'm my own grandpa!

I'm my own grandpa! I'm my own grandpa!
It sounds funny, I know, but it really is so!
Oh, I'm my own grandpa!

Barney Frank Confronts Questioner

This is one of my most favorite videos from YouTube. Congressman Barney Frank, Democrat from Massachusetts, is asked at a town meeting in August, 2009 why he supported President Obama's "Nazi" health care bill.

Giggles

Some giggles found on the Net:

Ice Storm

An epic ice storm hit my home town Rochester, New York in the winter of 1991. The storm felled trees, damaged property and downed utility lines, leaving hundreds of thousands without heat, electricity or phone service. It took weeks to restore order in the city.

The maker of this YouTube video I discovered recently drove around town the morning after the storm hit, holding a video camera in one hand, recording the oddly beautiful devastation.

I was particularly fascinated by this video because all the streets he drove on were very familiar to me. In 1991 I was fortunately living in Florida and the only ice I encountered was in the freezer department of my refrigerator.

Being Five

Being Five  http://beingfive.blogspot.com, one of my favorite web sites, is a cartoon blog about 5 year old Georgie who is quite computer literate and has his very own VLOG.  He has a very interesting outlook on life.

Market Street, San Francisco 2005

Here is a video made in 2005, duplicating the route of the 1906 film I put in yesterday's post.

The buildings are certainly much taller; the addition of trees is a nice touch; and traffic is definitely much less frantic.  But those street cars (or trolleys) make it look a bit like 1955 to me.

Market Street, San Francisco 1906

This fantastic film was made just four days before the great San Francisco Earthquake in 1906. Many of the buildings seen in the video were severely damaged.

The cameraman stood at the front window of a street car on Market Street and filmed the street car's progress to the end point where it turned around.  It appears there were no traffic rules or controls, making riding or walking on that street a scary proposition.

National Anthem

I don't much like our National Anthem. First, because it requires a range far outside the reach of the average person and is thus unsingable for most. Second, because it glorifies an incident in war - when those naughty Brits, not satisfied with having set our White House on fire, attempted unsuccessfully to capture Ft. McHenry and occupy Baltimore.

A bit of trivia - - Baltimore, Maryland is the only large city in the United States that has never flown a flag but the American Flag since the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

I really don't think playing the National Anthem prior to sporting events makes much sense. I can't see how baseball or football, or any other sport, has anything to do with patriotism. But, nobody ever consulted me on the subject.

Sometimes, though, this ritual can be quite moving - boosting one's pulse and setting the toes a-tingle. Yesterday, at the NFL divisional playoff game in Chicago between the Chicago Bears and the Seattle Seahawks was such an occasion.

First Post - The Why

I have lived alone for quite some time. I love it.  I like the freedom to do whatever, whenever - without having to be concerned about another person's wants or needs. Rather selfish, I know.  I also like  the absence of the stresses that naturally arise when one shares living space with another.

One thing I do miss, though, is the pleasure that one derives from shared experiences -- seeing a terrific movie, enjoying a great meal, watching a fantastic sunset, taking a walk on the beach, etc.  A solitary experience exists only in your mind, and thus, may as well never have happened at all as far as the rest of the Universe is concerned.

When I enjoy something I get the urge to share it with others.  But I don't often have others around.  Thus, the purpose of this Blog. I intend to use it as a vehicle to invite others to enjoy it too.  Whether anyone else actually does read my Blog and act on my offer is immaterial, although it would be grand if there were many.  Making the offer is what is important to me.

Here is my first invite:

Rowan Atkinson, known mainly for his Mr. Bean and Blackadder characters, is also great at stand-ups and comedy skits.  He is one of my favorite comedians. Here, from YouTube, is a video in which he portrays a school master at a British Boys School taking attendance and addressing his class.  Each time I watch it I end up with very sore abdominal muscles - I laugh so hard it hurts.