Roger O Green

Sunday Stealing: Staying Up Late

The color of my blow dryer

The Sunday Stealing prompt Staying Up Late has some interesting questions, plus some “really?” ones.

But before that, I want to note that I’m thankful that a relative is finally home after a week or so in the hospital and then far too long in a physical rehab center. The service was… uneven. Then some state evaluators showed up on the scene a couple of weeks ago. Suddenly, the patients were asked if certain protocols were being followed.

More importantly, home equipment that seemed to have been the victims of supply chain shortages for months suddenly became available and was delivered to the home. A case worker was assigned, as was a visiting nurse.

Frankly, it wasn’t anything WE did. But SOMEONE kvetched to the powers that be, and the situation for everyone at the facility improved rapidly.

***

Do you have any Pepto-Bismol in your house?

No. The liquid was awful. The tablets aren’t as bad.

Do you have a favorite flavor of vodka?

Does vodka have flavors? Yes, I know it does. I mean, no, I don’t get into flavored vodka. That’s what grapefruit juice or orange juice is for.

Is your backyard big enough to fit a trampoline? …and then some.

Depth-wise, probably. But one might jump into power lines and tree branches. Width-wise, the chance is great that one would bounce into the fence or over the fence into my neighbor’s pool or patio, which would hurt.

When was the last time you had eggs?

I have eggs all of the time, possibly this very day. In an omelet, fried, scrambled, poached, deviled. It was the first food I made when I was seven or eight.

How often do you blow dry your hair, and what color is your blow dryer?

Have you SEEN my hair or the lack thereof?

Stay Up Late

Have you ever gone to bed later than three AM?

Yes. When I was going to college, the bars closed at 4 a.m. I wasn’t up a lot for that, but a few times. The most recent time I stayed up that late was on June 13/14, when I stayed up all night when my daughter and I went to Carnegie Hall

Have you been to a surprise party before?

There was a stretch of about two decades that I regularly planned surprise parties. I had this college friend named Candid Yam who was freaking out about turning 20. We were working on a newsletter together. But that night, the other co-editor and I actually finished it early while CY’s friend was distracted with a (real) tale of woe. CY returns, sad that they’d have to go back to work. Nope, SURPRISE!

I’ve been surprised a few times myself, including just before my 19th birthday.

What is your least favorite month?

I suppose February, which, for a short month, seems to go on forever.

Have you ever gone to see a movie the day it came out?

I’ve gone to two movie premieres. 1983: Twilight Zone: The Movie at the Crest Theatre in Binghamton, NY. Why Binghamton? Because Rod Serling, the creator of the television show, grew up in a small upstate city. He had died in 1975, but his favorite teacher, Helen Foley, was there. WAY back in 2005, I wrote about my convergence with Rod and Helen.

1986: Howard The Duck. The premiere was sponsored by FantaCo, the Albany, NY, comic book store I worked at. We did not know how poorly it would be received.

I may have gone to one or two movies on opening night, but they’re not coming to me.

You can believe it because it’s the truth

Do you like movies/books about drugs, and why or why not?

I saw the very absurd Reefer Madness (1936) when I was in college. Talk about a contact high. It inspired me to write a truly terrible song called (Marijuana) The Assassin of Youth, which I have shared with VERY few people.

Do you have scrap paper by your computer desk?

Of course. That’s where I figure out Wordle options.

Have you ever kept a bag from a store because you liked it?

Probably.

Was the last thing you drank carbonated?

No, plain water. I do drink carbonated beverages occasionally.

Do you own any yellow clothing?

No, all my apparel is very courageous.

Last person you argued with?

Likely, my wife, though I have no idea about what.

After intermission at Carnegie Hall

Clarinet choir?

After intermission at Carnegie Hall on June 13, 2022, at a concert attended by my daughter and me, the Columbus [OH] International Children’s Choir performed. CICC is “an inclusive program that aims to empower children of all ages, races, and religions.” About a third of the participants appeared to be eastern Asian.

“CICC was formed by Tatiana Kats in 1998 as a small international ensemble consisting mostly of children of immigrants… The National Music Certificate Program recognized Tatiana as a ‘Founding Teacher… instrumental in establishing a national standard for developing musicians'” in the US. Before the intermission, this group was part of the mass choir singing the Mozart Requiem.

Tebe Poem by Aleksandr Dmitrievič Kastal’skij (1856-1926), spelled in the program Alexander Kastalsky. This version is by Calicantus Children’s Choir, 2020.

Ev’ry Time I Feel The Spirit, arranged by William L. Dawson. I have sung this version of this song since high school choir. Here’s the Colorado State University Choirs, 2019.

Northern Lights by Ola Gjeilo. This performance is by the National Youth Choir of Australia, 2017.

Why We Sing by Greg Gilpin. Sung here by a combined choir from Chandler High School, 2014.

Next up, the Trinity University Chamber Singers of San Antonio, TX, a well-regarded group under the direction of Gary Seighman. They also sang the Mozart Requiem beforehand.

Luminescence by Andrea Ramsey. Performed here by The University of Wisconsin Eau Claire Concert Choir in 2018.

If ye love me by Thomas Tallis. I’ve sung this perhaps a dozen times, maybe more often. This is the Cambridge singers, 2014.

Unclouded Day by Rev. Josiah K. Alwood, arranged by Shawn Kirchner. Listen to Cor Cantiamo, October 2017.

Dupré

Finally, the Tara Winds Clarinet Choir, Dickson Grimes, founder, and director. The group was created in 2011.

Claribel by Roland Cardon. Hear CasinoKoksijde Claribel Clarinet Choir Guido Six Vzw from 2018.

The Commute by Nicole Chamberlain. Here is The Tarawinds Clarinet Choir at the 2019 ClarinetFest at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.

Two Songs Without Words by Gustav Holst, arranged by John Gibson. The performance is by the Community Clarinet Choir, 2015.

Variations sur un Noël op. 20 Marcel Dupré: I couldn’t find a clarinet version, arranged by Matt Johnston, at all. There are tons of organ iterations, such as this one by Christian Barthen.

But as I’m listening to it, I think, “I KNOW this piece. But much faster!” So naturally, I asked Kelly. He said, “The Dupré piece is based on a French Christmas carol called ‘Noel Nouvelet.’ I know I’ve heard it before, but I don’t recall when! It has a definite ‘Gregorian polyphony’ feel to it.”

I found some versions of the carol, written in the late 15th century or early 16th century.

The King’s Singers

Choir of King’s College, Cambridge

This one has the musical notation

A more perfect union

The Second Amendment — probably one of the most sloppily written rights ever endowed to a people.

I came across an article modifying absolute adjectives. Think “more unique.”

“The general rule is that absolute adjectives can’t be modified. And yet … sometimes writers do it.”

“We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union…” — The Preamble to the United States Constitution.

“To form a ‘more perfect Union’ is different from forming ‘a perfect Union.’ The accurate version implies that the People are attempting to get closer to perfect, not that they have created something perfect. It’s a subtle but important distinction.”

I thought about this as we suffered under the myth of Originalism from the current Supreme Court. If a right wasn’t enshrined by our very perfect founders in 1787 or 1791, it isn’t a “real” right?

You say you’ll change the constitution.

In The Boston Globe, Abdallah Fayyad noted that FDR argued “for what he called a second Bill of Rights — guarantees from the federal government for a base level of economic comfort for every American. Among those rights were health care, employment, housing, social security, freedom from monopolies, and more. Roosevelt did not go so far as to say that these rights required constitutional amendments; they had already become economic truths that the nation ‘accepted as self-evident’ as a result of the New Deal and therefore had to be guaranteed by the government if it sought to truly fulfill the political rights enshrined in the Constitution.”

FDR’s ideal was that we would become freer people. Instead, SCOTUS, in the last decade or so, has gone backward. The “logic” of Alito in overturning Roe is tortured. As I feared, post-Roe may be, in some substantial ways, worse than pre-Roe. At what precise point might the woman’s life be endangered, and will the courts agree with the doctor’s assessment?

A2

Fayyad continued: “Take a look at the Second Amendment — probably one of the most sloppily written rights ever endowed to a people. There are many people, including conservatives, who believe that the Second Amendment is unclear, but too few who speak seriously and earnestly about updating and clarifying it. As a result, the United States has the distinction of having the most heavily armed population in the world.” Kelly, too, noted how weird A2 is.

The Fifth Amendment is very important, even as djt mocked people who would embrace the right not to self-incriminate in the fall of 2016. I think it’s unfortunate that people assume the guilt of a person doing so. Still, I took some pleasure in reading that the case against djt may have become “immeasurably stronger” because he pled the 5th.

Understandably, confidence in SCOTUS has sunk to a historic low. I don’t know how to right the ship in the near term. Packing the court, which gets bounced around, is not going to happen because even people who would agree with the outcome would wince at the process.

Other than wringing our hands…

Ultimately, to create justice, we need to fight for it. Jon Meacham says, “The battle begins with political engagement itself.” Humanities Washington offers a “media project that explores the complexities of our democracy in order to help strengthen it.”

Adam Russell Taylor, president of Sojourners, wrote in his book, A More Perfect Union: A New Vision for Building the Beloved Community: “It is time to choose a path that acknowledges and repents for the ways we have failed to live up to America’s promise. It is time that we boldly pursue a shared vision of a future rooted in our most deeply held religious and civic values.

And “it is time to embark with even greater urgency on the task of building the Beloved Community, which will enable us to achieve a more perfect union and a radically more just nation.”

It won’t be easy. Happy day before Constitution Day.

September rambling: perfect Yiddish word

Rebecca Jade interview, Middle Earth debate

An Ode to Oy — the Perfect Yiddish Word

And speaking of which: Rings of Power Cast Slams Racist Threats Against Performers: “Middle-Earth Is Not All White.” This hurts my head. Someone wrote, and I’ve misplaced the attribution, I’m afraid: “When did we stop being able to just sit down and enjoy something that’s been created? Just take all shows and movies as fan fiction of any book that they take it from and enjoy the creators’ stories.”

Sah Quah: More than twenty years after the American Civil War, an enslaved Alaskan walked into a Sitka courtroom and sued for his freedom

The Church Left on the Curb: A chance trash-day encounter reveals a 170-year institutional history

Bernard Shaw, CNN’s First Chief News Anchor, Dies at 82

Anne Garrels, the longtime foreign correspondent for NPR, dies at 71

Culcha

In Memorium Video from this year’s Emmys and going about a decade back

Jazz Pianist & NEA Jazz Master Ramsey Lewis Dies at His Chicago Home, September 12, at the age of 87

“Weird Al” Yankovic on the Long, Hard Road to Bring His Mock Biopic to the Big Screen

Ken Levine ends his blog, but his podcast will continue

At 100, Norman Lear Looks Back (And Ahead)

Whiz! Bang! Boom! Energetic Ads Hold Viewers’ Attention

Real Money, Fake Musicians: Inside a Million-Dollar Instagram Verification Scheme

Quentin Tarantino, Miramax Settle ‘Pulp Fiction’ NFT Legal Battle

Flin Flon: One Book’s Unlikely Survival

Has a computer ever passed the Turing test?

The Twisted Life of Clippy, Microsoft’s annoying paperclip. Its developers never imagined the virtual assistant would become a cultural icon.

Some good advice from John Green

Of Elbows and Tables

Best State Capitals to Live In – 2022 Edition. Albany, NY, is #9.

The Small Town In New York With More Historic Buildings Than Any Other

Can Something Be “Very Unique”? Modifying Absolute Adjectives

Now I Know: What About Bob (dot com)? and The Wisdom of Crowds of Sports Fans? and The Almost-War Over a Bear’s Missing Privates

Polly ticks

President and Mrs. Obama Become a Part of White House History with Reveal of Official Portraits, and Barack Obama just won the Emmy

How deranged anti-Obama conspiracy theories led America to Donald Trump

Fascist is a description, not an insult, and “Semi-Fascism”: The Shoe Fits

Judge Cannon’s Incredibly Flawed Trump Special Master Ruling

The faulty premise of the ‘2,000 mules’ trailer about voting by mail in the 2020 election

How Many Of ‘Her Emails’ Were Classified? Actually, Zero

Thomas, Barrett will further delegitimize SCOTUS when they fail to recuse on key cases

The Battle for Voters’ Imaginations over Abortion. Pete Buttigieg was correct.

When We Rose to Fight COVID, We Were Deliberately Turned Against Each Other

The Return of the Bitter Politics of Envy

UN Report Highlights Ongoing Racism in the US

Nebraska HS newspaper and journalism program shut down over student-written commentary on LGBTQ+ issues. The shutdown of the prize-winning student newspaper after 54 years occurred because an edition in June contained student-written commentary on LGBTQ+ issues, the origins of Pride Month, and the history of homophobia, material members of the local school board considered inappropriate.

Demographics

U.S. life expectancy drops sharply, the second consecutive decline

Most and Least Ethnically Diverse Cities in the U.S.

Demographic divide – the key differences in media and entertainment that continue to evolve between younger and older Americans.

New Data Reveal Inequality in Retirement Account Ownership

When and How Often People Marry Changes by Birth Cohort

MUSIC

Behind the Beats article about Rebecca Jade by the Smooth Jazz Network!

The In Crowd – the Ramsey Lewis Trio

The Comedians – Dmitry Kabalevsky. The second section, The Galop, is EXTREMELY familiar to me.

Wade In The Water – Ramsey Lewis

Jonchaies by Iannis Xenakis

Coverville 1412: The Clash Cover Story III and 1413: The Squeeze Cover Story III

Conductor Seiji Ozawa leads the Vienna Philharmonic in Strauss’s overture to Die Fledermaus

Hang On Sloopy – Ramsey Lewis Trio. I still have the Hang On Ramsey album on vinyl

If You Could Read My Mind – Gordon Lightfoot

Reshuffling the books in the house

Marvel Masterworks

I spent a few hours reshuffling the books in our house. As someone who has moved some 30 times in his life, you wouldn’t think I’d forget one fact, but I’ve been in my house for over two decades.

Books are heavy.

We have a bookcase in the living room. And there are some books there, especially some coffee table-sized tomes. Bit it also has my daughter’s homework, store catalogs (they are NOT mine), two clarinets, one tambourine (that IS mine), and miscellaneous otherwise homeless items.

Fortunately, the office where I write has almost wall-to-wall bookshelves. It is described in painful detail here. I had received a box of books on baseball which had belonged to Jack, who I saw at the Olin reunions almost every year. But there was no place to put them, unless…

The secret stash

I also have two bookcases in the attic. They are in use, and the contents are in a particular order. I have three Doonesbury collections, the four Elfquest volumes comprising the first series and a lot of books related to comic books and comic strips. It was clear. My Marvel Masterworks had to go upstairs. They JUST squeezed onto the available shelving.

I liked the look of them in the office. But, for the most part, I didn’t REFER to them. I might READ them. But the books I REALLY need in the office are the reference books. And I have a LOT of them. Music, television, movies, sports, the Bible. Some specific: Beatles, Dick Van Dyke Show, The Twilight Zone, even the index of The New Jim Crow.

But then I had to further rearrange the shelves, because, and I’ve known this for decades: books are of different heights. One does not want a paperback on a shelf designed for a tall tome. And the opposite doesn’t work at all.

Now, a few books from here, some shifted from there, and my new baseball books are shelved without leaving a massive gap in the panorama of tomes that I gaze at on a daily basis.

BTW, yes, I could trade in some of these for Kindle copies. But those don’t bring me joy. The panoply of colors and sizes and fonts bring me joy, and I’m really into joy right now.