Roger O Green

Rebecca Jade: Cold Fact, Jade Element, et al.

Rebecca Jade will be celebrating a birthday that’s divisible by five tomorrow.

My eldest niece (my sister Leslie’s daughter) Rebecca Jade has been quite successful in the San Diego area the past few years with various duos, trios and groups, so many I can’t keep track. I know she has an album with Peter Sprague, doing Cole Porter songs.

She was on a pair of seven-day cruises with Dave Koz and his musicians, going from Copenhagen, Denmark to Stockholm, Sweden; then to Tallin, Estonia; St. Petersburg, Russia; and finally to Helsinki, Finland before heading back to Copenhagen. And on the second leg of the trip, her mom joined her. At one point, mother and daughter jammed while Larry Graham thumped his bass!

In the past several months, she’s been singing backup with Sheila E. at various gigs all over the country including in August 2017, when my family saw her in NYC. Sheila E. and Morris Day & the Time performed in 7 degree F weather in Minnesota as a tribute to Minnesota native, and their mentor, Prince as part of Super Bowl Opening Night.

Rebecca Jade.Lynn Mabry.Sheila E

When she’s in town, she participates at Seaside Center for Spiritual Living in Encinitas. Rebecca Jade and the Cold Fact will be having a CD Release this fall; I saw them in July in San Diego. She’ll be involved in a two-day New Year’s Eve event through the SD Smooth Jazz Festival.

She and husband moved this spring after living in their place for over four years, and about 12 years in the same city. But perhaps her greatest challenge was coordinating the helpers after Leslie’s June 4 bicycle accident. She missed one or two gigs, but much of that early period she ended up sleeping in the hospital after a performance. She’s a great daughter and a fine niece.

Rebecca will be celebrating a birthday that’s divisible by five tomorrow. Visit her Facebook page or her website.

Love you, niece!

Rebecca Jade, Leslie Green, 2018

L Bernstein; Oakroom Artists – 1st Pres, 2 Nov

The Chichester Psalms (Leonard Bernstein, 1965) is “tuneful, tonal and contemporary, featuring modal melodies and unusual meters.”

My sister Leslie noted on Facebook recently that the movie West Side Story opened this month, specifically October 18, back in 1961. We saw it together with our mother and our baby sister Marcia.

It assuredly wasn’t in 1961, but it was in a movie theater, and we were still kids under 11. I remember that the ticket seller thought the film was too intense for the children, especially the youngest.

West Side Story remains my favorite musical, one I know quite well, and I saw a splendid rendering in western Massachusetts in the summer of 2018. Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story Will Go Back to Basics. “Screenwriter Tony Kushner explains that the new movie will take its cues from the original Broadway show, not the Oscar-winning 1961 film—and that ‘no one will leave the movie without hearing all the classic songs.'”

On November 2, First Friday at First Presbyterian Church will feature 100 years of Leonard Bernstein. The choir, including guest singers, and instrumentalists, will be performing the Chichester Psalms (1965), which is “tuneful, tonal and contemporary, featuring modal melodies and unusual meters.” The text is from Psalms 108, 100, 23, 2, 131, and 133.

There will also be selections from other Leonard Bernstein works, including Mass, Candide, On the Town and the aforementioned West Side Story.

In the gallery, the Oakwood Artists will be doing a pop-up show.

The gallery opens at 5:30 p.m. The concert starts at 6:00 p.m.

This is a free and family-friendly event.

First Presbyterian Church of Albany
362 State St at the corner of Willett St
across from Washington Park
Albany, New York 12210
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Some Bernstein conducting

Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Gary Graffman, piano, recorded with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic in 1964.

Academic Festival Overture by Brahms, with a great Lenny anecdote

P is for praying for rain (ABC Wednesday)

$5,000 in 1885 is worth over $122,000 today

With the climate operating as it has of late, people have been praying for rain. Or praying for the stoppage of rain. As the cliche goes, “be careful what you wish for.” We’ve seen in the United States in recent years devastating floods after that same region had experienced fires caused in part by severe drought.

Here’s a story originally from the Old Farmer’s Almanac, then in The Book of Lists by David Wallechinsky, his father Irving Wallace and sister Amy Wallace. It should surprise almost no one who knows me that I own – present tense – the first two volumes of that quirky series. Here’s the interesting case of the farmer who sued the local minister because he had prayed for rain.

It was the 1880s, and upstate New York was in a drought. In the tiny town of Phelps, Ontario County, in the Finger Lakes region, Presbyterian minister Duncan McLeod requested that the resident to cease whatever they were doing at noon one Saturday in August to start praying for rain.

“That afternoon, it did rain, a lot. About two inches fell, washing out a bridge. Unfortunately, the rain was accompanied by lightning, and a barn belonging to farmer Phineas Dodd was struck and burned to the ground. As it happens, Dodd was the only local who refused to take part in the collective prayer, leading others to whisper that his barn loss was divine retribution.

“When Dodd heard that the minister was taking credit for the rain, he sued him for $5,000 to cover his property damage.” $5,000 in 1885 is worth over $122,000 today.

“That put the minister in a bind: Were the prayers responsible for the storm or not? Fortunately for him, it never came to that: His lawyer convinced the judge that the minister and his followers had prayed only for rain, not for the lightning, and the lightning was supplied by — who else? — God.”

Even we Presbyterians need a good attorney from time to time.

For ABC Wednesday

Banning teens from trick-or-treating is ridiculous

Margaret Hamilton in her first reprisal of her role as The Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz.

[Source: U.S. Census Bureau]

Why banning 13-year-olds from trick-or-treating on Halloween is ridiculous:

“The city of Chesapeake [, Virginia] has an ordinance that bans anyone 13 years and older from trick-or-treating. If teens are caught in costume with a sack full of free candy, they could be found ‘guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine of not less than $25 nor more than $100 or by confinement in jail for not more than six months or both.'”

Such laws are not anything new in the state. Rules with undoubtedly selective enforcement – officials say they won’t be actively looking to catch teenage trick-or-treaters in the act – make me nervous about its application.
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Here’s a plug for my old boss: If you missed the Monster Art of Basil Gogos campaign on Kickstarter or just want to order an extra book, please go to FantaCo.net to place your pre-order. This second chance offer ends on Halloween night!!! Do not miss your chance.
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The Paul Lynde Halloween Special is a Halloween-themed television special starring Paul Lynde broadcast October 29, 1976 on ABC. It featured guest stars Margaret Hamilton in her first reprisal of her role as The Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz.

Also guest starring are Billie Hayes as Witchiepoo from H.R. Pufnstuf, Tim Conway, Roz Kelly, Florence Henderson, rock band KISS, Billy Barty, Betty White and, in an unbilled surprise appearance, Donny and Marie Osmond.
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The Best Horror Movies in One Boo-tiful List

From the Census Bureau’s Facts for Features. Dating back 2,000 years to the Celtic festival of Samhain, Halloween is an ancient tradition associated with images of witches, ghosts and vampires.

Haunted and Historic Pub Crawl of Ten Broeck Mansion

The Isle of the Dead by Sergei Rachmaninov

Halloween Safety poster

The Official “Trumpkin” Pre-carved Halloween Pumpkin

It takes a village to raise a giant pumpkin

Newly Discovered Goblin Spider Resembles ‘Predator’ Alien

Would you try this candy corn pizza? (NOPE)

5 Halloween Safety Tips for Pets

70 Best Homemade Halloween Costumes for Kids of All Ages

Macabre flower

Home Depot’s New Hauntingly Cool Halloween Decorations

Moving, moving around, Picasso

“You are a very intelligent person!”

Picasso.portuguese I have my own office at work for the first time in over 12 years. There’s a lot to this story, and I would share some of it. The problem is that in moving into the said office, I have managed to pull something in my back, which makes moving around quite uncomfortable at times.

And I otherwise feel a bit, well, off, including a near-constant headache. I’m waiting to see a doctor after I hear from the HR folks about whatever the worker’s compensation process is.

Meanwhile, I sit in my office putting things on the wall. A picture of me when I was on JEOPARDY! Close up, it’s horrendously pixelated like something from Picasso’s cubist period. From a distance, it’s not bad. Also, a picture of my father, my sister Leslie and I singing when I was 16.

Oh, speaking of Leslie, I mentioned she was going to have surgery on her left arm on October 1. well that didn’t happen because of an infection at what would have been the surgical site. But she went back to the doctor on October 15 and the infection has been stemmed. Now she’s scheduled for surgery on October 23.

So emotionally, I think I would feel really good if I didn’t feel so bad. Y’know what makes me happy? Positive spam messages, such as:

“I’ve been exploring for a little bit for any high-quality articles or blog posts on this sort of area. Exploring in Yahoo I, at last, stumbled upon this website. Reading this info, I am happy to convey that I have an incredibly good uncanny feeling I discovered exactly what I needed. I most certainly will make certain to don’t forget this site and give it a look on a constant basis.”

Thank you very much. You’re too kind.

“You are a very intelligent person!”

[Blushing!]

“You can definitely see your expertise in the work you write. The world hopes for more passionate writers like you who aren’t afraid to say how they believe. Always go after your heart.”

Thanks for the good advice.

“The ability to think like that shows you’re an expert.”

Aw, shucks.