Ramblin' with Roger

Coming back to America

Before you leave Canada on foot, you need to put fifty cents, Canadian or American, in a turnstile.

All of our NYS Small Business Development Center offices across the state meet once a year. In late April, the locale was Niagara Falls, NY. I’d visited there a couple of years ago with the family, but I had never had a chance to see the Falls from the Canadian side since we had our SBDC conference in NF in 1998. Back then, when a half dozen of us crossed back into the United States, I waved my passport, said, “They’re with me,” and the guy let us all through.

No more. Now when one crosses the border back into the United States, one ought to have a passport, or an enhanced driver’s license, available only in four states thus far – MI, NY, WA, VT) or other specialized forms.

Just before the trip, one of our business advisors e-mailed me that his passport had expired. Could he get into Canada? From all the anecdotal data – as opposed to the official position – it’s possible that he could get into Canada with that passport, a birth certificate, and a driver’s license, e.g. The issue was getting BACK into the US. It’s generally understood that, EVENTUALLY, a US citizen can get back into the United States, but that it might take a while.

At a break in the conference, five of us decided to walk to the Canadian side of the Falls. We had no difficulty getting in. We did note, though, that when someone getting into a car crossing back into the US, the previously placid Canadian crossing guard bolted out of her seat, and noted that if he walked into the country, he had to walk back.

After our sojourn, we were ready to go back to the hotel. Here’s something you should know: before you leave Canada on foot, you need to put fifty cents, Canadian or American, in a turnstile. (By car, I think it’s $2.75.) One of our group had stayed behind to play at a casino; we hoped he still had half a buck left to return to us. Another one of my colleagues has a motorized vehicle. While three of us got through easily, the handicapped-accessible gate refused the coins. Finally, a colleague walked around to enter Canada side and got the guard to find someone to finally let our buddy through. While we waited, surprised travelers exclaimed re: the toll, almost to a person, “You’re kidding me!”

We cross the Rainbow Bridge and got in the queue for dealing with US Customs. There were two teenagers in front of us who apparently went on the US path to Canada, because “some guy told them they could,” then they realized they didn’t want to be going into Canada. So they were going to try to get back into the US. I asked them if they had passports; one said yes, but I MEANT WITH them. Why, no, they did not, just school IDs, and the like. Worse, the one who DID have a passport somewhere was a Norwegian national. One of our group asked if they wanted to let us go first; she later said she was kidding, but none of the rest of us thought so. My party passed through the system easily, but we figured those poor teenagers were going to be there for a while.

So if you’re near an international border, carry the appropriate ID, just in case.

My favorite albums from 1961-1970: 100-76

My best female friend in college loved ‘Lady Samantha,’ a song written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin.

George Jones’ death reminded me of an album I didn’t put on the list, because I suppose it’s a greatest hits, of a sort: 50 Stars! 50 Hits! of Country Songs, “on two great country albums,” it said on the TV ad. But I didn’t buy it. My grandfather, who worked as a janitor at a radio/TV station, brought it home one day. Being a fan of WWVA, Wheeling, WV, which I could hear at night, I loved it.

Re: Amy’s question about Dusty Springfield: I’ve had a greatest hits album for quite a while, but I’ve only gotten Dusty in Memphis fairly recently, certainly since she died, so it doesn’t have the multiple plays to make the list. Also, there are additional songs on the CD (some leaking into the next decade – 1971) which I like as well or better than the songs on the original LP.

More of my favorite albums; thanks to SamuraiFrog for the inspiration. This is difficult in that the difference between 73 and 72 is really insignificant. The difference between 70 and 7 would be another matter.

100. Beach Boys: Smiley Smile (1967)
This was the weak substitute for SMiLE, the legendary album that was nearly four decades. Still, it has its goofy charm.

99. MC5: Back In The USA (1970)
My high school friends made an antiwar film to ‘High School’

98. Blood Sweat & Tears: Child Is Father To The Man (1968)
That first album, before David Clayton Thomas.

97. Santana: Santana (1969)
First album; songs of this ended up at Woodstock.

96. Jefferson Airplane: After Bathing At Baxter’s (1967)
That strange experimental third album.

95. Rare Earth: Ecology (1970)
The CD was on a twofer, with another Rare Earth album, but the Ecology songs were obviously trimmed. They substituted the 10-minute album version of ‘I’m Losing You’ with the three-minute single version! Outrageous.

94. Jackson Five: ABC (1970)
This was my sister’s album. In the J5 in the day, my voice was very similar in range to Jermaine, who usually did the second leads.

93. Chicago: II (1970)
The album with the first wave of big hits.

92. Jimi Hendrix: Are You Experienced? (1967)
“Have you ever been experienced?”

91. Johnny Cash: At Folsom Prison (1968)

90. Temptations: Puzzle People (1969)
The second of the psychedelic soul albums, with “I Can’t Get Next To You.”

89. Vince Guaraldi: A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
This album, and a biography about him, made me more appreciative of his greater body of work.

88. Steppenwolf: Monster (1969)
The lyrics to the title song are still, unfortunately, most relevant.

87. Simon and Garfunkel: Sounds of Silence (1966)

86. Beach Boys: Friends (1968)

85. Supremes: Where Did Our Love Go? (1964)
The first batch of hits.

84. Arlo Guthrie: Alice’s Restaurant (1967)
Mostly for the title song.

83. Moody Blues: Days Of Future Passed (1967)
This is the album from which ‘Nights in White Satin’ emerged as a hit, four or five years later.

82. Band: Music From Big Pink (1968)
Some people prefer this first Band album to the second, but not I.

81. Led Zeppelin: II (1969)
This fell several notches because the song credit debacle really ticked me off for quite some time.

80. Three Dog Night: Suitable for Framing (1969)
My best female friend in college loved ‘Lady Samantha,’ a song written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin.

79. Bob Dylan: Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
I came to this album fairly late; this century for sure.

78. Grateful Dead: American Beauty (1970)
New Paltz was a Dead college, and while I got bored with their extensive noodling, I liked their shorter songs.

77. Beatles: Abbey Road (1969)
The medley is clever but got overplayed, and perhaps overpraised. Love the Harrison songs on here, though, and a couple of others.

76. Arlo Guthrie: Running Down the Road (1969)
I suppose I had an overfondness for the Woodstock artists.

Not to be replaced by Facebook

Facebook is really good for snark.

When I noted that I’ll be doing less blogging someday, I should have made it clear that I won’t be filling up that time using Facebook. I mention this specifically because many of my original blogging buddies from 2005 and 2006 have done just that.

I suppose if one is just posting cartoons and videos, then Facebook might be the right venue. I know columnists from my local newspaper and reporters from TV stations and indeed TV networks use it to pose questions to get a sense of the “pulse of the people.” Said content often shows up in their newscasts/broadcasts.

But if one wants to say something more, I still am a fan of the blog. Of course, I realize I’m an old-fashioned guy who STILL hates the designated hitter rule in baseball.

Facebook is really good for snark, some pithy comments in response to a cartoon someone has posted. I’ve been known to engage in it from time to time myself; once I did it on the wrong person’s timeline, and it turned out better than I would have expected. And I do make use of the reminders about people’s birthdays.

Moreover, Facebook can be a useful tool for research. “Does anybody know” where something can be purchased or when some event took place; something to be said for collective wisdom.

For some people, such as my nieces, it’s the only way I know what’s going on in their lives. For others, it’s the only way I can get ahold of them; if they have e-mail, they don’t check it, and I can only reach them if I instant message them when they are online.

However, I get more spam that gets posted onto my timeline. Actually, it’s the same one: “Hey, check this out!” I don’t know how to stop it, and I’m unaware it’s there until/unless someone points it out to me.

Facebook: useful tool which I will not use to replace blogging, in case you were wondering.

Eight years of blogging

Boy, that summer of 2005, when I probably had no one READING my blog, I sure seemed to have had a LOT to say.

I started blogging eight years ago today, apparently without much forethought. because, in the lyrics of that Rufus featuring Chaka Khan song, “Once you get started, it’s so hard to stop.” I’ve managed to blog every single day here.

To be sure, occasionally it was just a single YouTube video, but even then, it almost always had a soupçon of contextual verbiage. (Here’s a question for you all – how does one type a ç from a standard US typewriter? The one in the previous sentence I cut and pasted.)

One of the ways I have maintained whatever level of sanity I have is that I don’t blog here nearly as often as I used to. Some days early on, I would blog here more than once a day. I’ve tried very hard not to do that anymore.

The table below shows how many times each month I wrote posts numbering greater than the number of days in that month. I didn’t start until May 2 of 2005; thus those Xs for January-April.
2005 X, X, X, X, 3, 10, 18, 28, 22, 17, 14, 8 = 120
2006 10, 5, 9, 4, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1 = 31
2007 0, 0, 3, 1, 1, 2, 0, 1, 2, 3, 1, 1 = 15
2008 0, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 3, 3, 0, 1, 0, 0 = 9
2009 0, 0, 1, 3, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 = 5
2010 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 = 2
2011 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 2, 1 = 8
2012 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 = 0
Zeros for 2013 thus far.

Boy, that summer of 2005, when I probably had no one READING my blog except my friend Fred and his wife Lynn, I sure seemed to have had a LOT to say.

Of course, what I’ve done, when I ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY had to write something else, when I have something set in this blog, is to try to post it elsewhere, perhaps my Times Union blog, especially if it was something specific to the Albany area, e.g., or the New York State Data Center blog if it involved geeky stats.

Since not writing at all has taken place now and then – life DOES get in the way – having a reserve of posts is a good strategy. I had eight fewer completed blog posts in the queue on the last Monday in February of this year than I did on the last Monday in January, whittling down my reserve from 31 to 23, and it’s pretty much stayed there. Now you might think 23 is good, but it’s not the stuff that I can, or want, to post in the next 23 days. It’ll be a post I’d rather put up on a particular day (Flag Day, the anniversary of my father’s death, ABC Wednesday, or the like).

What I wrote last year seems more likely now than ever. After I hit 10 years as a daily blog, a goodly run, it will become…not a daily blog. (Probably. Maybe. Who knows?) Certainly, I’ll write three or four or five times a week at least. Heck, in October of 2015, I might make it seven days a week for a couple of weeks, because the info contained therein will be of interest for only a few college friends I knew 40 years earlier. Yes, I know what I’m going to blog about in October of 2015. I don’t always know what I’m going to blog about in May 2013, but two and a half years from now…

One other thing: I used to timestamp my blog posts between 4:30 and 5:30 a.m., Eastern standard time, for no other reason than it gave the impression that I got up every morning to craft these words of wisdom. Now that I’m in my 60s, I’ve decided to post between 6:00 and 6:59; the minute part is determined by the minute when I publish. Since this is fed to my Twitter feed and my Facebook page, I theorize, correctly or not, that more people will see it. Of course, if I REALLY wanted more people in North America to see it, I’d post at noon, but obviously, this is not based on REAL rational thought.

My favorite albums from 1961-1970: 125-101

This album was named for its Warner Brothers Records catalog number.

Continuing with this list of my favorite albums of the decade. I want to specifically reiterate that they are not necessarily the best, but that they gave, and not infrequently give me enjoyment.

Before that, though, gotta mention one album on SamuraiFrog’s excellent finale. Judy Garland: Judy at Carnegie Hall (1961) is not on my list. I never owned it, though I was certainly aware of it. The Capitol Records LP inner sleeves from the mid-1960s – the Beatles and Beach Boys were on the label – always featured it. Probably the first of several albums on his list I’ll have to check out.

125. The Who: Sell Out (1967)
Another album I discovered only in the past decade, via my old friend Fred Hembeck. The motif of faux ads was stolen on some SpongeBob SquarePants CD I own.

124. Joe Cocker: Mad Dogs and Englishmen (1970)
Love the Frenchman’s introduction – “Joe Co-CARE”

123. Rascals: Collections (1967)
The second album, not the greatest hits.

122. Beach Boys: Sunflower (1970)
Underrated at a point the Beach Boys were pretty much written off commercially.

121. Doors: Strange Days (1967)

120. Rolling Stones: Between The Buttons (1967)

119. Van Morrison: Moondance (1970)

118. Righteous Brothers: Back to Back (1965)
Features ‘Hung On You’, written by Goffin/King/Spector plus ‘Ebb Tide.’

117. Ramsey Lewis Trio: Hang On Ramsey! (1965)
A live jazz album that features ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ and ‘Hang On, Sloopy’.

116. Donovan: Open Road (1970)
‘Celtic Rock’ is a particularly engaging tune.

115. Cream: Fresh (1966)
My 7th-grade history group referred to the group as The Cream. My friend Karen disdainfully corrected him: “It’s Cream.”

114. Peter, Paul, and Mary: Album 1700 (1967)
This album, with ‘Leaving On A Jet Plane,” was named for its Warner Brothers Records catalog number.

113. Bill Cosby: Wonderfulness (1966)

112. Laura Nyro: Eli And The 13th Confession (1968)
This woman belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, if only as a songwriter.

111. Herbie Hancock: Maiden Voyage (1965)

110. Mamas & the Papas: The Mamas & The Papas (1966)
The second album.

109. The Night They Raided Minsky’s – movie soundtrack (1968)
This is a slight album – only four or five songs, repeated – in a film I saw at the time. I went with my friend Carol and her friend Judy, for whom I developed a bit of a crush; nothing ever came of it. I know the lyrics to the verse of ‘Take 10 Terrific Girls (But Only 9 Costumes)’ by heart.

108. Derek and the Dominoes: Layla (1970)
My neighbor’s cat in college was named Layla. (My cat, Layla’s sister, was named Doris.)

107. Bob Dylan: Blonde on Blonde (1966)
This is about the time I first really knew Dylan as the artist, rather than as the songwriter, but bought much later.

106. Doors: The Doors (1967)
I prefer the single version of ‘Light My Fire’, actually. The organ solo was boring to me.

105. Beatles: Beatles for Sale (1964)
Now we get into the murky Beatles territory since this did not exist in the US when I was growing up, only in most of the rest of the world. So it’s a new collection for me – OK, 25 years old, but not nearly 50.

104. Mamas & the Papas: The Papas & The Mamas (1968)
The group went on hiatus, had a greatest hits album, then got together again.

103. Simon & Garfunkel: Wednesday Morning 3 AM (1964)
Much more folky than their later output.

102. Grateful Dead: Workingman’s Dead (1970)

101. Joni Mitchell: Ladies Of The Canyon (1970)
When I was in the play Boys in the Band in the spring of 1975, the cast was at someone’s house and played side one. Enough folks had disdain for the album so that we never heard Side 2, which is more uptempo and might have gone over better with the group.
***
Re: my previous post on the topic, Dustbury discusses the song ‘Reflections.’