Month: May 2006

Got plans for May 19, the day that the movie The DaVinci Code is slated to open? If not, go to the movies. If so, then go to the movies sometime that weekend before May 21. Just don’t go to The DaVinci Code.

Spread the word. And go to the movies on May 19.

So, if Over the Hedge becomes an unexpected box office smash, you’ll know why.

Some of my relatives have suggested that it was built in anticipation of legalized gambling that was proposed but never came to the area. The rumors at the time was that there was illegal gambling going on, run by the underworld.

The lobby is dark and eclectically designed. The lights on the ceiling seemed to have a Moroccan design. The room has a large-screen TV, often set on PBS classroom learning, though I did see the Red Sox beat the Yankees there one evening.

One of the many peculiar features is that the main building and some of the attached buildings, named Camelot I and Camelot II, were on different levels. One could go from the 3rd floor of one building and be on the 2nd floor of another.

The hallways were bizarre mazes where people were STILL getting lost three days into the conference. One was never sure that one was traveling the most efficient path. I always found what I was looking for, but I often felt as though I were traveling from LA to San Francisco…via Denver.

I was told by two people, independently, that the hallways in the Camelot sections reminded them of the hallways in the Nicholson version of “The Shining”. One of these people said, “See the little girl? Redrum!” I said, “Shut up!”, because I could envision what he said.

There were a couple sections with Buckingham in the name. One of them, across the way, had little turrets.

The food was serviceable – a piece of dried-out cake here, a funky tuna salad there notwithstanding. More than one person noted that the breakfast bacon was cooked perfectly, not over- or undercooked. I assumed there would be a buffet, but instead we were served from limited breakfast, lunch and dinner menus by a largely energetic staff.

But the most peculiar thing about this place as the fact that there were no clocks. Anywhere, as far as I could see. None in the meeting rooms, dining room, lobby, hallways, or even our rooms. Maybe the people STILL want to make it into a casino.

When I was in my room, the only way to tell time was to turn on the TV to CNN. In fact, on the first day there, I discovered the TV wasn’t working because someone (a previous guest, one assumes) yanked the cable out. Someone replaced the cable – very quickly, actually.

So what did I just add to my Amazon list?

Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris – All the Roadrunning
Released April 25, 2006.
My first albums by these artists:
Communique, Dire Straits, 1979
Elite Hotel, Emmylou Harris, 1976
(Picture from Knopfler’s website.)

Paul Simon- Surprise
Released May 9, 2006.
My first album by this artist:
Wednesday Morning, Three A.M., Simon & Garfunkel, 1966.

Bruce Springsteen- We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions
Released April 25, 2006.
My first album by this artist:
Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., 1973
My first album by the subject of this album:
We Shall Overcome, Pete Seeger (live at Carnegie Hall), 1963

Neil Young, Living with War
Released May 8, 2006.
My first album by this artist:
Retrospective: Best of Buffalo Springfield, 1969 or
Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, Neil Young, 1969

The Beatles- The Capitol Albums Vol. 2
Released April 11, 2006.
The very first LP I ever bought, Beatles VI from 1965, is in this collection.

And I hear the late Johnny Cash will have a new album out this summer, and I’ll want that too.

So, I find myself still leaning on the reliable “brands”, in spite of myself. Well, there it is.

I wondered abou the origins of that phrase, but I didn’t have to look too far. Sol Wachtler, who was New York State’s top judge, once said district attorneys now have so much influence on grand juries that “by and large” they could get them to “indict a ham sandwich.” Specifically, he noted, “Even a modestly competent district attorney can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich.”

Interestingly, seven years after the former Court of Appeals Judge made this pronouncement in 1985, a grand jury indicted him for sexual harassment.

How do you arrange your recorded music?

For a while, I used to separate it into classical (defined as the composer is most important) and pop (which was all the rest).

Then, I found that, in the pop section, I had too many compilation discs to keep track of, so I culled them (and soundtracks) into a separate category.

And now, I find myself re-sorting again. I’ve split the “compilations” into soundtracks (movie, Broadway, TV), tributes (to particular artists – got a LOT of Beatles), the compilers (this includes CDs on Motown, as well as discs put together by Eddie, e.g.). Then there are those few albums that I’ve ended up filing by category (folk, R&B), something I disdain in my artist section because I don’t know what it means. If I put THEM in categories, I’d have to split my k.d. lang into country and pop, and that just would not do. An album called Discovery R&B, or Warner Jazz, though, pretty much says it all.

The re-sorting became a function of not remembering. What IS the name of that Richard Thompson tribute album? (Beat the Retreat). How about the Elton John one? (Two Rooms). Or Curtis Mayfield? (A Tribute to Curtis Mayfield). The reshuffling puts all the Motown compilations together under M, rather than some under H (for Hitsville USA).

Of course, some albums fall under more than one category. The Tom Petty soundtrack for She’s the One; file under artist or soundtrack? The I Am Sam album- soundtrack or Beatles tribute?