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Fly me to the blue moon of Kentucky

Piano Sonata No. 14

christmas 2015 full moon In honor of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, some songs about earth’s natural satellite. There are a LOT of songs about the moon. Here’s a list from Ranker.

I decided to just pick the songs I knew and which came to mind, by the artists I most associate with performing them. Many folks covered Moon River and Blue Moon, e.g.

Dancing in the Moonlight – King Harvest, #13 in 1973; couldn’t remember the group’s name
Moondance – Van Morrison, #92 in 1977; this was overplayed in my listening circle, to Stairway to Heaven proportions, but it’s a great song
Moonshadow – Cat Stevens, #30 in 1971. Now going by Yusuf/Cat Stevens
Walking on the Moon – Police
Moon River – Andy Williams. I used to watch his variety show in the 1960s. This track from Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer was his signature song

Fly Me to the Moon – Frank Sinatra; he also recorded Full Moon and Empty Arms (1946); and The Moon Was Yellow (1962)
Bad Moon Rising – Creedence Clearwater revival, #2 in 1969. CCR also had #2 hits with Proud Mary, Green River, Travelin’ Band, and Lookin’ Out My Back Door. But the band never had a Billboard #1 hit single.
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress – Judy Collins
Blue Moon of Kentucky – Bill Monroe
C Moon – Paul McCartney and Wings

Old Devil Moon – Frank Sinatra; he also did songs featuring the sun and the stars; what celestial guy
Moonlight in Vermont – Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong
Man on the Moon – REM, #30 in 1993 from the movie about the late comedian Andy Kaufman
Blue Moon – the Marcels, #1 for three weeks pop, and #1 for two weeks soul in 1961
It’s Only a Paper Moon – Nat King Cole

Moonlight Sonata – Piano Sonata No. 14 -Beethoven
Moonlight Mile – Rolling Stones, from Sticky Fingers, my RS album of my college years
Moonlight Seranade – Glenn Miller. I can hear the announcer’s voice, even now.
Moonlight Bay – Doris Day
Kiko And The Lavender Moon – Los Lobos. I had this on a future Saturday list, but opted for it here.

A song you’d sing a duet in Karaoke

Joan Baez. Bill Wood The prompt was: A song you’d sing a duet with in Karaoke. Hmm, I do sing, but I’ve NEVER sung Karaoke; never been that drunk, I suppose.

The answer would be anything for which I can sing harmony. I love singing harmony far more than the melody. I tend to hear it instinctively, the bass line for sure, but also some alto parts.

As noted, I want to sing the Jermaine parts for the Jackson Five.

Midnight Train to Georgia – Gladys Knight and the Pips. I always wanted to be a Pip. I mentioned this five years ago:
“In 1977, the Pips (minus Gladys) appeared on comedian Richard Pryor’s TV special that aired on NBC. They sang their normal backup verses for [the song]; during the parts where Gladys would sing, the camera panned on a lone-standing microphone.”
This routine slayed me. I haven’t seen it in decades, yet it still makes me laugh, and I cannot explain why.

You Can Make It If You Try – Sly and the Family Stone. The Larry Graham part is low in my range, but I’d sing it anyway. There’s a whole family of shared vocals, including by the Temptations and Prince that would make the list.

Shredding the Documents – John Hiatt. That Beach Boyesque part
Long May You Run – Neil Young. Especially that Beach Boys reference
In My Room – the Beach Boys

Help – the Beatles. This is something I have actually sung with my daughter. She in turn taught it to a friend of hers. I was VERY proud; inculcation completed!

Shower the People – James Taylor – the standard harmony, but also the lower vocal near the end
Church – Lyle Lovett
The Boxer – Simon and Garfunkel, excluding that verse added for the live album (“after changes upon changes, we are more or less the same”

I should throw in a couple songs I actually HAVE dueted on, primarily with my sister Leslie, lo those many years ago:

So Soon in the Morning – Joan Baez and Bill Wood
Go Where You Want To Go – the Mamas and the Papas

June rambling: fragments of finality

new Rebecca Jade and the Cold Fact!

Close but no cigar Their billionaire descendants, who control Krispy Kreme, Stumptown and other brands, are grappling with the exposure of an unspeakable secret.

The Iranian People Are Not Our Enemy.

John Oliver: Mount Everest’s tourist industry.

Nearly 1 in 4 American adults are worse off now than before the Great Recession.

Forgiveness Is a White Privilege.

The “Moral Budget” is a plan for the future, because everybody has the right to live. Rev. William Barber: “Jeremiah 22 tells us that when political leaders abuse their office & hurt the poor, we must show up in person to deliver a prophetic indictment. Now is the time.”

Weekly Sift – Socialism: What’s in a word?

Best game show host. “Who is Alex Trebek?”

Mark Evanier’s Mayberry Monday.

Arthur’s Internet Wading for June 2019.

Now I Know: Why Frogs Ribbit and The Art of No Noises and Rudolph the Red Knows Undersea Warfare, Dear and The Everyday Hockey Superhero For Hire.

Fastest lawnmower.

HELP

Explosion science: an animated guide to building demolition

A Guide to Low Cost or Free Drug Rehab Options.

How to Make Your Bedroom Accessible for Disabilities.

The EARTH

U.S. Air Quality Is Headed the Wrong Way

‘Plasticrust’: A new form of pollution is forming on a Portuguese island.

LGBTQ+

Karen Oliveto — United Methodist Church’s first lesbian bishop. My wife knows Karen; Karen’s sister and my wife were college roommates.

Not everything we “know” about the Stonewall Rebellion is true; heck, just read Arthur’s blog all month.

New GLAAD Study Shows Decline in LGBTQ Acceptance In 18-34-Year-Olds.

Barbara Walters interview with playwright-actor Harvey Fierstein (1983)

djt

The Lawless Administration.

John Oliver: Impeachment.

Sulzberger wanted to reach the business leaders and conservatives who read the Journal.

Twitter Will Put Warning Labels On His Rule-Breaking Tweets

Kimmel Shows How His Campaign ‘Monetizes Stupid’.

The Most Serious Accusation Yet?

FATHER’S DAY

Bobmill: The final story and Fragments of finality.

Could Donor #2065 Be My Father?

Census Bureau Releases First-Ever Report on Men’s Fertility.

MUSIC

I Only Smoke When I Drink – Rebecca Jade and the Cold Fact

Tiny Desk Concert – Sesame Street

Once Upon A Time – MonaLisa Twins, featuring John Sebastian

Coverville – 1266: Cover Stories for Alanis Morissette, and Ian Hunter of Mott the Hoople and 1267: Cover Stories for Stereophonics and The Kinks.

The New Gospel of Rock.

Disney Medley on plastic bottles.

Don’t Send Me Away – Garfield Fleming.

How Beethoven went from Napoleon’s biggest fan to his worst critic.

The Day the Music Burned.

A song that’s a classical favorite

I stand by my love for the Chopin lift

The prompt: A song that’s a classic favorite; I don’t know specifically what that means. Therefore, I’ve decided that it means songs that are classical favorites.

Oh, but not the classical VERSIONS, but rather the pop iterations. As it turns out, way back in 2011, I did a post on the topic. S is for Songs from the classics. I had to replace about a half dozen YouTube videos, understandably.

In the post, I touted A Lover’s Concerto by the Toys; American Tune by Paul Simon; Stranger in Paradise by the Supremes; Nut Rocker by B. Bumble and the Stingers; A Fifth of Beethoven by Walter Murphy; Night on Disco Mountain by David Shire; and Ebony Rhapsody by Nat King Cole.

There were also three articles links, but only the first one works. It points to a lengthy list of popular songs from the past century that incorporate classical compositions.

What else should I mention?

Spanish Caravan – the Doors. The intro riff was taken from “Asturias,” a classical piece by Spanish composer Isaac Albeniz (1860 – 1909). The song was written by Robbie Krieger and it appears on the Waiting for the Sun album.

Hallelujah Chorus – the Roches. I got to hear them sing this live many years ago; it was amazing. Also love the album from which it’s taken, Keep On Doing.

Beethoven Symphony 7, Movement II (Allegretto) – Waldo de los Rios. Appears on one of those Warner Brothers Loss Leader albums.

I’ve already written about the Rheingold Beer Jingle from Estudiantina Valse, written by Paul Lacome and rearranged by Emil Waldteufel

And I stand by my love for the Chopin lift at the beginning and the end of
Could It Be Magic by Barry Manilow.

Finally, a piece of music that merely SOUNDS as though it were rooted in the classics: Conquistador – Procol Harum. The version from Live: In Concert with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (1972) is far superior to the 1967 studio take on their eponymous first album.

Hey, that’s no way to say goodbye

They damn well BETTER replace MY position

Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye Even two years ago, I was pretty sure that I was going to retire in 2019. I started conversation with the HR people back in December 2018. But I didn’t want to tell my immediate office yet.

Part of the issue was that I didn’t want to discuss it until after our statewide conference at the end of April. I was working as hard as I could, writing blog posts, doing reference questions, giving a talk about reference sources at the Chamber of Conference, devising a webinar on sales tax.

Plus there was this new competition of teams from across the network selected on their interests. Go, Team Retail! I’m sure I got picked for that team based on my experience at FantaCo. One group was getting a grant from an entrepreneur to implemented the idea.

I had to dissuade the group from making ME the chair, because I knew there would be follow-up work to be done if we had gotten the award. We did not, but it wasn’t because I was suffering from short-timer’s syndrome.

The other complicating factor, for me, was that one of the other three librarians, who I’ll call Amelia, announced in mid-February that she would be leaving on May 24. She took a librarian job in New England.

Then, in mid-April, it came out that, because of funding cuts, they may not replace Amelia’s position right away. This irritated me greatly.

For a very brief period we had six librarians, and we had five for a good chunk of time. When one librarian left in January 2015, we had no reason to think she wouldn’t be replaced. Well, until months passed and she WASN’T replaced.

The reason for not replacing her was never enunciated to us until 1 August 2016, during an evaluation of the program. The explanation: some BS newspeak that said nothing.

Now, we’re going from four to three? Well, not “we” because I’m still gone at the end of June, and they damn well BETTER replace MY position. (The slot’s approved but the interviews haven’t happened yet.)

Anyway, everybody knows I’m leaving by now. Some are likely ticked off because I didn’t tell them sooner or I didn’t tell them in person. My current state director said that if he’d known before staff training had ended, he would have announced it then, which is precisely why I hadn’t told him.

This is the first time I’ve retired, so I’m figuring out the “rules” as I go along. Apropos of not much:

Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye
Leonard Cohen
Judy Collins
Roberta Flack