Ramblin' with Roger

Joan Baez

This fall, I finished watching some program on the DVR, and the TV defaulted back to the PBS station. I wasn’t really paying attention, but, even with my back turned, I knew INSTANTLY that the speaking voice I was hearing was that of Joan Baez. It turned out to be a rebroadcast of Joan Baez: How Sweet the Sound, “American Masters explores fifty years of folk legend and human rights activist Joan Baez,” which originally aired in October of 2009.

There was an album in our household that was played quite often when I was growing up, the oddly-named The Best of Joan Baez from 1963, an edited version of Folksingers ‘Round Harvard Square from 1959. The original came out before her “official” first release, “Joan Baez” on Vanguard Records in 1960. The Best of album, in fact, was the template the Green Family Singers (my father, my sister and I) used when we sang So Soon In the Morning.

Watching the PBS show, I was reminded how some people now may not have known that when she hit the national spotlight, it was her fame and connections that helped popularize her boyfriend for a time, Bob Dylan. She performed several of his tunes over the years, including a whole album, originally released as 2 LPs, called Any Day Now, which I own.

But it wasn’t just her beautiful and distinctive soprano that made her iconic. She believed that music could be used as a tool for change in the areas of civil rights, nonviolence, and worker’s rights. She (and Dylan) performed at the March on Washington in August of 1963, just one of a string of events where she put her voice, and occasionally her body, on the line for issues of justice.

I remember in the mid-1970s when I was at the home of one of my professors. He was playing Joan’s then-new album Diamonds and Rust. I was half listening to A Simple Twist of Fate, a Dylan song, when, at about 2:19, she breaks into this wicked Dylan impression. I howled with laughter.

She performed at the Troy Music Hall in the fall of 2010. I didn’t get to go, as the show sold out quickly. But I hear it was a great performance. The only time I KNOW I saw her perform live was August 9, 1998 in Saratoga Springs, NY as part of the Newport Folk Festival along with Lyle Lovett, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Nanci Griffith, Marc Cohn, Lucinda Williams and others; THAT was for sure a great show.

Anyway, Joan is 70 today, and I thought I needed to acknowledge that. Here’s one of the relatively few songs she wrote, the title tune to the aforementioned Diamonds and Rust album.

“Action is the antidote to despair.” – Joan Baez

Halls of Fame QUESTIONS

The Baseball Hall of Fame votes were announced this week. I totally agree with the choices of Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven; I wanted Blyleven years ago. If I had had a ballot, I would have probably voted for the people who came in 1-7, plus 11: Roberto Alomar, Bert Blyleven, Barry Larkin, Jack Morris, Lee Smith, Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines, Mark McGwire.

Yes, I’d be voting for Mark McGwire, who, assuming he was taking steroids during his career – OK, he was – took them when they were not effectively banned by Major League Baseball. Rafael Palmiero, he of the finger-wagging to Congress that he was clean, then later suffers a suspension over the use of a banned substance, did much worse in the voting than a 500-HR/3000-hit batter would have in a pre-steroid era. I have publicly theorized that his performance in DC definitely cost him; he was not going to make it in his first chance.

Why can’t reliever Lee Smith get more love?

Eventually, I’d vote for Edgar Martinez; it’s difficult for me to pick a pure Designated Hitter, mostly because STILL hate the DH rule. And now that Alan Trammell has only five more years, I would likely start selecting him too. Rafy too, in a couple of years. My working theory is that once a bunch of steroid-era players are on the ballot, McGwire and Palmiero will get inducted, maybe in years 12 to 15 of their 15-year window of eligibility.

Meanwhile, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction list was released a last month, with the ceremony to be held in March. I was really happy to see Neil Diamond on the list, and also Leon Russell as a sideman, or as they are now calling it, the “musical excellence award”; I should get that album Russell did with Elton John. But, of the nominees for this year, the most disappointing omission was the late Laura Nyro. If not as a singer, then she ought to get as a songwriter. Through the pictured album, which is a bunch of cover songs, she’s deserving as a performer as well. -inductees
Alice Cooper, Beastie Boys, Bon Jovi, Chic, *Neil Diamond, Donovan, *Dr. John, J. Geils Band, LL Cool J, * Darlene Love, Laura Nyro, Donna Summer, Joe Tex, *Tom Waits, Chuck Willis

For either or both Halls of Fame, who would you have picked for this year?

Beatles Island Songs, 133-124

The verse and chorus don’t really fit together very well, and somehow, that’s endearing.

JEOPARDY! answers-
BILLBOARD NO.1 HITMAKERS: In May 1964 this New Orleans native was 62 years old when he bumped the Beatles’ “Can’t Buy Me Love” from the No. 1 spot
BEATLES SONGS: The title of this Beatles song is a Yoruba phrase that means “life goes on”
THE BEATLES: Fittingly, the cover of this Beatles album shows the Fab Four engaging in a semaphore message
Questions below.

The rules of engagement

133 Slow Down, EP release (UK), Something New (US). Larry Williams’s cover adeptly done by Lennon.
132 In My Life from Rubber Soul. Another song that should rank higher except that I just burned out on it. Jaquandor, who is a relatively new Beatles convert, wrote a nice piece on the song, which is all true.
131 Martha My Dear from the white album. My first girlfriend in high school was named Martha, probably when the album came out. Yes, I know it’s about McCartney’s sheepdog.
130 Mother Nature’s Son from the white album. Pretty McCartney song.
129 The Fool on the Hill from Magical Mystery Tour. Especially like the instrumental bridge of this McCartney song.
128 Wait from Rubber Soul. Pretty ordinary song, considering it’s on a great album, but the Lennon and McCartney vocal byplay elevates it.
127 Sun King from Abbey Road. Lennon’s nonsense lyrics at the end are a hoot.
126 Hold Me Tight from With the Beatles (UK), Meet the Beatles (US). A driving McCartney tune.
125 I’ll Follow the Sun from Beatles for Sale (UK), Beatles ’65 (US). I always thought this was a pretty McCartney song, with occasional tight harmonies.
124 Baby, You’re a Rich Man from Magical Mystery Tour. Probably the least well-known song on the album, originally the B-side to All You Need Is Love. The verse and chorus don’t really fit together very well, and somehow, that’s endearing.

BeatlesNews.com– 24 Hours A Day, Eight Days A Week…

JEOPARDY! questions:
Who was Louis Armstrong?
What is Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da?
What is Help?

The Baker’s Meme

Lobster for breakfast, banana split for lunch…

From Sunday Stealing. I thought there would be something about food prep, or at least 13 questions (a baker’s dozen.) Nah, it’s named after someone named Baker.

1. If you could interview anyone on your blog (alive or dead) who would you chose and why?

Thomas Edison. I’d be interested to find out what he thought about how his innovations in illumination, music, and film have evolved.

2. What do you feel is your strength as a blogger?

Dogged consistency. 5 years and 9 months, every day. Of course, some of the posts are ones like this one, but as Elwood Blues once said, “What do want for nothin’, rrrrrrrubber bisCUITS?”

3. Can you share a little bit about yourself that you have not already mentioned on your blog?

It becomes more and more difficult. Either I already did, or I don’t want to. Or I forgot about it. Or it’s not worth mentioning – my great crush on my 12th grade English teacher, who was out of college only a year or two – yawn. Or, it’s not time yet. I’m already thinking about my blog for 2012, and there will be four posts (in February, May, August, and October) about things that happened in 1972, 40 years earlier. I COULD tell you now, but what fun would THAT be?

4. If you were forced to change the name of your blog, what would you change it to? Why?

I Am Not Ashton Kutcher. Because I’m not.

5. What do you think is the most fulfilling part of being a blogger?

Meeting all sorts of wonderful people, and a couple of weirdos to boot. Sharing with my actual friends that I’ve met my thinking process.

6. What would you do with your last day if you found you had only one more day to live?

Actually, thought about this a lot. Lobster for breakfast, banana split for lunch, write a bunch of codicils for friends to read later, spinach lasagna for dinner, and skydiving for dessert.

7. You’ve been doing medical research for decades and have finally found a cure. What was it that you found a cure for and why did you choose this particular ailment?

My father died of prostate cancer. My brother-in-law died of colon cancer. One of those.

8. What is your most guilty pleasure?

Guilt is highly overrated, and I don’t buy into the premise. But even assuming that, according to some arbiters of taste, there is some music I shouldn’t listen to, a TV show I shouldn’t be watching, book or magazine I shouldn’t be reading, because it’s not cool, I don’t have time to read about what I shouldn’t be doing.

9. Answer only one. What is your favorite book, movie, or TV show?

The Billboard Albums – endless entertainment with obscure pop music info.
Annie Hall, over West Side Story, which is a lesser movie but has great music. The Dick Van Dyke Show, over The Twilight Zone – gotta go with series over anthology.

10. What do you think is the very best smell in the world? The one smell that can take you back to a time and place of a very vivid memory in your past?

Baking bread, which my grandmother used to do.

And I get to experience that same smell two or three times a month in front of the building where I currently work. I assume it’s from the Freihoffer bakery a couple of miles away, so the wind must be blowing just right. And I never know WHEN I’ll smell it, coming to work or at the end of the day; it’s always a glorious surprise.

HA! I made it about baking after all!

MOVIES-The King’s Speech; The Fighter; The Social Network

I wonder if Mark Zuckerberg’s less than stellar image in this movie had anything to do with the real Mark donating a ton of money to the schools in Newark, NJ?

I had seen a paltry number of 2010 films. Once the nomination period – SAG/Golden Globes/Academy Awards – starts, I tend to at least try to see a lot more of the movies that a) are still available in theaters and b) reviewed well. I’ve discovered in recent years, though, that a third criterion has crept into the movies, ones that c) won’t totally creep me out. For instance, despite the PG-13 rating, the True Grit remake reportedly contains surprisingly bloody bits of action and violence.

Whereas, The King’s Speech, which I saw with my wife on December 30 at the Spectrum Theatre for our monthly date, is rated R, but it is almost certainly based entirely on language, specifically the repeated use of the F-word, and other salty talk. But it is done in the context of the future King George VI of Britain dealing with his speaking issues, and not gratuitous. Considering that the storyline is both quite straightforward, and the context historically familiar – Mrs. Wallis Simpson is a pivotal character – it was amazingly affecting, in no small part due to great use of music. And funny; I’m talking LOL, in an intelligent manner. Colin Firth might receive another Oscar nomination, after last year’s A Simple Man. But I’d wager that Geoffrey Rush, who I first could identify in 1995’s Shine, will get a Best Supporting Actor nod.

Maybe the beginning of The Fighter, which I saw New Year’s Eve at the local Madison Theater (rated R for language throughout, drug content, sexuality, and some boxing violence) was really good; maybe. I found this dysfunctional family surrounding/suffocating boxer Micky Ward really irritating, especially the Greek chorus of sisters who must have been rejects from The Real Housewives of Lowell, Massachusetts. He also has a manipulative, guilt-tripping mother, Alice (Melissa Leo), and a “Glory Days” older brother/ex-boxer with a drug problem Dicky (Christian Bale), balanced only slightly by people such as girlfriend Charlene (Amy Adams). But there was a particular point – Led Zeppelin’s “Good Times, Bad Times” was playing, when the movie finally took off for me. I see why Leo, nominated a couple of years ago for Frozen River, and Bale is getting Oscar buzz.

Finally, finishing my trifecta, back to the Spectrum on New Years Day for The Social Network (rated PG-13). I thought I was the last person in the country to see this in the theater, but the packed, albeit small screening room belied that. Of the three, this one is the most…cinematic, makes the most use of the fact that’s it a movie, with various locales. Still, I really enjoyed the framing story of a deposition, from which the narrative flowed. Did Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) rip off the twins (played primarily by Armie Hammer) and his former partner Eduardo (Andrew Garfield)? I think possibly not, and absolutely, respectively. But it’s great storytelling by Aaron Sorkin that was most impressive. And a great last song! I wonder if Zuckerberg’s less-than-stellar image in this movie had anything to do with the real Mark donating a ton of money to the schools in Newark, NJ? That fact, the movie, and Facebook’s 500,000,000 member got Zuckerberg TIME Person of the Year honors for 2010.

So, I go to three movies in three days, all starting with the article The, and I hit on three stories all based, more or less, on actual events, in 1930s England, 1980s Massachusetts, and 2000s Massachusetts, watched, totally coincidentally, in chronological order. I suppose The King’s Speech was my favorite – STILL have that Beethoven piece stuck in my head – but they all were worthwhile.