Roger O Green

Bowling with Trudy and Roger

Turkey Mountain

roger.mom_.1971 One of my sisters suggested I write about my mother and bowling. I was resistant because I don’t particularly remember the details. Where did she bowl? How good was she? Who, besides her good friend Pat, was on her team?

But I capitulated in large part because of one true thing. She and I were the only ones in our nuclear family to join a bowling league. My sisters bowled occasionally. Did my father bowl at all?

As a result, mom and I had a shared lingua decem paxillos. We could keep score by pencil; this was before those sometimes flawed automatic scoring machines. It’s not particularly difficult, but my mom and I liked the math exercise.

And when I was a tween, I was rather good at the game. I once scored a 186 when I was ten, which was pretty impressive, actually. The terrible thing, though, is that I gave it up after only a year or two, and I don’t recall why. But my mom, it seems, continued for quite a while when she still lived in Binghamton.

BTW, I don’t remember where I bowled either. The lanes on Laurel Avenue, where I sometimes went in high school? I have no idea.

Peaking in fifth grade

Oh, I never did get much better than my grade school pinnacle. At college, I would play occasionally with friends, but I broke 200 only three or four times. My all-time high score was 222 when I was 22. Seriously. It was the day after Candid Yam, her brother, her sister and I went up Turkey Mountain – how appropriate! – in 10F weather, consuming brandy.

Then I’d play irregularly until my left knee became so sore that I couldn’t release the ball correctly. My mother, I’ve only recently learned, had to give up bowling when her hip began to hurt her.

Today would have been mom’s 94th birthday. I picked this picture from c. 1971 because my sister says her favorite of my mother and me together.

Always: the collective folk wisdom

30% chance of rain

I was taking a bus home from my allergist, the second of two. Someone asked if I were waiting for a particular line, which I was. My CDTA Navigator app said the next bus was coming at 10:04; it was 9:58 at the time.

This person then launched into a tirade. “The buses are always late! They should do something about them!. The buses should come more often!”

The bus rolls up at 10:03, and I got on; there were about six people aboard. Ironically, the other party tried to wheedle their way onto the bus because they had no money for the fare. (N.b.: if they had asked me, I would have paid for them.)

This bugged me, just a little because it’s that unwarranted generalization that the System has failed. In fact, the four buses I took that day were all within four minutes of on-time.

Forecast

It’s like when people say in my presence, “The weather forecast is always wrong.” This is usually followed by “It must be great to get paid for being wrong all of the time.” Occasionally I’ve pushed back against the assertion, but I’ve found that to be not very fruitful. So I generally ignore it.

The accusation is addressed here by a meteorologist. ” Take, for instance, a day with a ’30 percent chance of rain.’ That’s tough to… show in a simple TV 7-day graphic. But it’s possible that a majority of the people stay dry and a small percentage see rain.”

I’ve experienced that quite often. I landed at the Albany airport, where it was sunny and dry. But when I got home, seven miles away, it had clearly rained. Or back in my FantaCo days, it was raining in Albany, but the owner came in from Averill Park, across the river, and he had snow on his roof.

Here’s a geeky article. It states, logically, that the shorter the outlook, say one to three days, the more likelihood, that it’ll be correct.

The COVID vaccine

Kelly noted that Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers defended his “alternative” regimen as “immunization” equivalent to being fully vaccinated. But what ticked off the western New Yorker, understandably, is this: “Liberals hated vaccines when 45 was President but as soon as Biden took over they loved them.”

I know lots of liberals who spent months praying – some of them literally – for a vaccine. If it had been available in October 2020 and I were eligible, damn straight I would have gotten inoculated.

Rodgers is in this prism that suggests that liberals like me are always going to dispute whatever good things happened during 45’s term. What I disputed were what 45 seemed to do to minimize his own vaccine accomplishments by touting hydroxychloroquine or other unproven formulations.

Nov. rambling: systemic oppression

Rebecca Jade touring with Dave Koz!

Scientific American: People Who Jump to Conclusions Show Other Kinds of Thinking Errors; Belief in conspiracy theories and overconfidence are two tendencies linked to hasty thinking

Homelessness: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Data Debunks Insidious Myths About Immigration

Freedom Isn’t What It Used To Be

In Re-Analysis, Ivermectin Benefits Disappeared as Trial Quality Increased; Andrew Hill, Ph.D., received death threats

Fox News host who told the audience to get COVID vaccine reads hate mail on the air

Ted Cruz Criticizes Big Bird for Getting Vaccinated and Satire from The Borowitz Report: Oscar the Grouch Cuts Ties with Ted Cruz

The high cost of living in a disabling world

A Brief Overview Of Systemic Oppression – Lynae Vanee

Ahmaud Arbery suspects’ trial defense taps a racist legal legacy

Ed Gainey, who will be Pittsburgh’s first Black mayor and Aftab Purevale, picked as Cincinnati’s first Asian mayor, and Michelle Wu, Boston’s first woman and first person of color elected mayor

Requirements for travel into the U.S.

The Greatest Unsolved Heist in Irish History

A spite fence in Virginia Beach

Walking America part 5: Breezewood

Balance

Self-compassion can help build a more balanced, healthy perspective

Mispronunciation: why you should stop correcting people’s mistakes

How To Get Rid of Lots of Old Books

Now I Know: The Luggage Loophole That Isn’t and How to Brew an Economy and The Swampy Loophole in the Georgia Constitution and The Costume That Was a Trick and The Odd Depths of Preserving Plutonium

Hiker lost for 24 hours ignored calls from rescuers because of an unknown number

Why Avocados Still Exist

Forbidden love. A new comic strip, about corn. Sort of.

We fed the hungry with ONLY 7-Eleven Rewards points.

R.I.P.

Aaron Feuerstein, known for paying Malden Mills workers even after the factory burned down, has died at 95

The Rise and Fall of Mort Sahl, the Comedian Who Revolutionized Stand-Up

Former VA administrator and US Senator (D-GA) Max Cleland died at home. A savage political attack suggesting that he was “soft on the war on terror” caused him to lose his Senate seat in 2002. A live grenade dropped by a fellow soldier in Vietnam had robbed him of three limbs.

I neglected to acknowledge the death of Diane Westwell, one of our loyal ABC Wednesday contributors, on 20 September 2021. She was a very sweet person.

Greg Hatcher, a founder of Atomic Junk Shop and Brianna’s Nerd-Dad has died

The Weirdest Way The Earth Can Kill You

MUSIC

Nightbirde Sings Psalm 88

Music from The Lord Of The Rings, arranged for solo piano by Leiki Ueda

Coverville 1377: The Beastie Boys and Beasties Episode and 1378: Led Zeppelin IV: 50th Anniversary Album Cover to Cover

The Mighty Rio Grande – This Will Destroy You from the movie Moneyball.

The Ghost Rejoins The Living – Freezepop

Rachmaninoff’s Isle of the Dead

Sara Lee – Liza Minelli

While You Wait For The Others – Grizzly Bear

I’m Looking Through You – MonaLisa Twins

When “Man of 10,000 Sound Effects” Blew The Audience Away With His Voice Guitar

Mozart Doesn’t Make You Smarter

Paul McCartney re: You Gave Me The Answer – ‘The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present’

Dave Koz and Friends Christmas Tour 2021 with Richard Elliot, Rick Braun, Jonathan Butler, and Rebecca Jade!

“I Can Be A Christian By Myself”

“Shut the door and I’m the people.”

In the liturgy for the first Sunday in October, the New Testament scripture was Ephesians 4:11-16. It begins, “The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, and teachers.” And immediately, I thought of the song I Can Be A Christian By Myself.

There are lots of scripture that suggests that the church is comprised of parts. 1 Corinthians 12 is possibly the most famous. “Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.”

I Can Be A Christian By Myself was a sarcastic take about this understanding. Someone told me about the song maybe 35 years ago. This led me to a search. I couldn’t find a recording on YouTube. But I did discover this article from 2010.

“[Richard] Avery and [Donald] Marsh have an ironic song called I Can Be a Christian By Myself. The first verse goes:”

I can be a Christian by myself.
Leave my dusty Bible on the shelf.
I’ll sing a hymn and pray a bit.
God can do the rest of it.
My heart’s the church, my head’s the steeple.
Shut the door and I’m the people.
I can be a Christian by myself.

Wait there’s more!

I’ll break some bread and drink some wine.
Have myself a holy time.

I’ll take the off’ring then I’ll know
Where that money’s gonna go.

So please remember, Lord, when I die,
Give me my own cloud in the sky.

After this life with its labors
Don’t bug me with needy neighbors.

I discovered the song appears in The Richard Avery and Donald Marsh Songbook, c. 1972. But instead of waiting to get an interlibrary loan page, I ordered a used copy of the collection.

This article quotes the exact same parts of the song. It then notes, “In John 17, Jesus prays about giving his love and glory to his disciples and to the community or church. It is not a prayer for the individual Christian but for the community.”

This has informed my understanding of the communal/communion/community sense of faith, as opposed to the individual sense of salvation.

Phony title songs #9: SL-U

Sloan, U2

These are more phony title songs. The album name appears as a lyric, but it’s not the title song. There is no actual title song, but these can be phony artificial title songs.

G Turns To D – Sloan. Album: One Chord to Another. Lyrics: “You can go from one chord to another.”
Sinking Ships – Sloan. Album: Navy Blues. Lyrics: “I want a special meeting too With Captain Everyday of Station Navy Blue.”
Flying High Again – Sloan. Album: Never Hear the End of It. Lyrics: “Keep in mind that you’ll never hear the end of it.”

Chocolate – Snow Patrol. Album: Final Straw. Lyrics: “This is the straw, final straw in the Roof of my mouth as I lie to you

Slave To This – Soft Cell. Album: This Last Night In Sodom. Lyrics: “Hey, is this the last night in Sodom?”

Trilogy– Sonic Youth. Album: Daydream Nation. Lyrics: “Day dreaming days in a daydream nation.”

Dusty – Soundgarden. Album: Down on the Upside. Lyrics: “I’m down on the upside”

Hasta Mañana, Monsieur – Sparks. Album: Kimono My House. Lyrics: “Kimono my house mon amour I am sure that this motion don’t need no accompanying words”

St

You and Me (Babe) – Ringo Starr. Album: Ringo. Spoken lyrics: “So it’s a big good night from your friend and mine, Ringo Starr.”

The Hounds of Winter AND Lithium Sunset – Sting. Album: Mercury Falling. Lyrics: “Mercury falling I rise from my bed, collect my thoughts together, I have to hold my head” and “And I’ll ride the turning world Into another night See mercury falling” respectively

Curfew – The Stranglers. Album: Black and White. Lyrics: “Gray becomes black and white Is it true what they say? They turn the day into night Black and white becomes”

Reptilia – The Strokes. Album: Room on Fire. Lyrics: “The room is on fire as she’s fixing her hair”

Roll Up – The Struts. Album: Everybody Wants. Lyrics: “Everybody wants, Everybody needs So get up.” (and more)

Introducing the Band – Suede. Album: Dog Man Star. Lyrics: “Dog man star took a suck on a pill”

This Fever – Suite 100. Album: The Only Cure for Gravity.

How Heavy This Axe – The Sword. Album: – Gods of the Earth. Lyrics: “Wrought in Stygian visions By the gods of the earth”

T

Mississippi Summer – June Tabor And The Oyster Band. Album: Freedom And Rain. Lyrics: “Lord send us freedom and rain.”

April 5th – Talk Talk. Album: The Colour of Spring. Lyrics: Waiting for the colour of spring. Let me breathe. Let me breathe the colour of spring”

Creatures of Love -Talking Heads. Album: Little Creatures. Lyrics: “Well, I’ve seen sex and I think it’s alright. It makes those little creatures come to life”
Totally Nude – Talking Heads. Album: Naked. Lyrics: “Totally naked, baby. Totally nude”

Copperline – James Taylor. Album: New Moon Shine. Lyrics: “Sour mash and new moon shine”

The Gap – Thompson Twins. Album: Into The Gap. Lyrics: “We say break the line, chew the fat Keep moving out into the gap”
Future Days – Thompson Twins. Album: Here’s To Future Days. Lyrics: Here’s to future days. Here’s to future ways”

Big Sur – The Thrills – So Much For the City. Lyrics: “So much for the city. Tell me that you’ll dance to the end.”

Coming Up Close – ‘Til Tuesday. Album: Welcome Home. Lyrics: “Coming up close Everything sounds like welcome home”

Wild and Loose – The Time. Album: What Time is It? Lyrics: “Fellas? Yeah? What time is it? Time to get wild and loose”

Misunderstood – Pete Townshend. Compilation album: coolwalkingsmoothtalkingstraightsmokingfirestoking. Lyrics: “Coolwalkingsmoothtalkingstraightsmokingfirestoking. Coolwalkingsmoothtalking, yeah”

Progenitors – Treat. Album: Tunguska. Lyrics: “REMEMBERING TUNGUSKA. NO MORE EGOS, CRAVING WAR”

U

Communion With The Sun – Utopia. Album: RA. Lyrics: “Ra, climbing the horizon” et al.
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell – Utopia. Album: Oops! Wrong Planet. Lyrics: “It’s the wrong world. I must be on the wrong planet”

Walk On – U2. Album: All That You Can’t Leave Behind. Lyrics: “The only baggage you can bring Is all that you can’t leave behind”
Bullet The Blue Sky – U2. Live album: Rattle and Hum. Lyrics: “In the locust wind comes a rattle and hum”
Several songs by U2. Album: Boy. Lyrics: “Boy tries hard to be a man” (I Will Follow); “In the shadow, boy meets man” (Twilight); “Boys and girls go to school” (Out Of Control); “Stories for boys” (Stories For Boys); “Boy, stupid boy” (The Electric Co. )
The Refugee – U2. Album: War. Lyrics: “She’s the refugee. Her mama say one day she’s gonna Live in America”
New Year’s Day – U2. Live EP: Under a Blood Red Sky. Lyrics: “Under a blood red sky, A crowd has gathered in black and white”

Final Jeopardy! Round for Show #8438 – Wednesday, July 7, 2021
ROCK BANDS. In 2017 this band whose singer goes by a nickname became the first to have No.1 albums in the U.S. in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s