Dogs Recognize Each Other

There's so many variations in dogs that I can't figure out how dogs seem to recognize each other as dogs.

Maybe they're not recognizing each other, just reacting to any four legged creature that happens to go by and most of them that happen to go by happen to be dogs. My dog goes nuts -- virtually -- when there's another dog in the area.

We were down at the park and a lady came walking by with a little white dog. My dog noticed it right away and wanted to get to know it better. Or at least do some significant sniffing, then probably some significant growling.

As it was, I cinched up the leash because I've seen enough of these encounters to know they're without much benefit to any of the parties. There was a duck in the area and I let her have a close encounter with the duck. Of course when we got close the duck flew, so that's the kind of close encounter between dogs and other creatures I like to see.

The Pope's Approval Rating

Hmm, I didn't even know they did approval ratings polls for the pope. This is the first I've ever heard of it that I recall.

Pope Benedict continues his decline as only 36% of adults across the six countries have a favorable opinion of him. This is down from 39% in April and 49% in January;

Only 36% of adults across "the six countries" polled -- Great Britain, Italy, Spain, Germany, France, and the U.S. -- have a favorable opinion of him.

It's nice to know I'm not alone in having an unfavorable opinion of the guy. As far as I'm concerned, the Catholics went from a lovable teddy bear to a stern hall monitor. And I don't even keep track that much. But everything I ever hear about the current pope makes him sound like a thorn in everyone's side.

A Shoplifting Bird

I was in the gardening, flower section of Walmart today, just sitting there waiting for someone else to get done shopping. It's quite open air there, big sections anyway. And birds have come in and were swooping around.

I saw one interesting thing, a bird -- I think it was a sparrow -- went down and found a piece of a Boston fern. He flew it up in the rafters and it fell and the bird accompanied it all the way down at about the same speed. He picked it up against and went to the rafters. Then it fell again, but this time landed on top of a light fixture. He went there and picked it up and went to the rafters again, and this time managed to secure it.

The checkout lady either didn't notice or didn't mind that the bird clearly stole a piece of a fern.

Old Controversies

Where do old controversies go when their day is past? Just to the memory hole somewhere, forever replaced with new controversies.

In my spring cleaning and getting my documents in order, I came across some stuff about "The Last Temptation of Christ," from the late '80s sometime. It was the big thing of that day that was going to destroy everyone's faith. There's the information, still as big as life, but you don't hear much about it anymore.

I guess everyone's faith, to the extent that they had it, somehow survived.

Barn Storming Parasites - A Great Old Ad (1909)

(Click to enlarge)

Here's a great old ad that I recently discovered, an upcoming performance of the play "Uncle Tom's Cabin" in 1909. I don't suppose anyone around today was actually at this show. Possibly a babe in arms still out there? Because we're coming up on June 15 to this performance being exactly 100 years ago.

I love what they say about their competition being "barn storming parasites" who give a "distorted and ridiculous attempt" at putting on a show. They're "little, cheap, inferior," inflicting themselves on a patient public. You know who you are!

This ad is from The Kellogg Enterprise, June 11, 1909, Kellogg, IA, (Kellogg, Iowa):

AFTER THE MINNOW COMES THE WHALE

Terry's Big
Uncle Tom's Cabin
TENT SHOW.

KELLOGG, TUESDAY, JUNE 15th

A mammoth canvass amphitheater containing seats for 2,500 people

40 Actors, Musicians, Singers, Dancers, Etc., 40
20 Head of Shetland Ponies and Donkeys 20
A PACK OF FEROCIOUS CUBAN BLOODHOUNDS
FIFTEEN COLORED PEOPLE, GRAND CAKE WALK, TWO BANDS
See the Chimes Wagon of 100 Bells in Parade
Grand, Beautiful and Bewildering Transformation Scene

We guarantee to give ten times more show at no higher admission fee than any of the little, cheap, inferior, barn storming parasites which inflict a patient public with their distorted and ridiculous attempt.

Don't miss seeing our parade at noon. This mighty conclave of wealth and splendor will form on our special train and move through your principal streets.

Parade at 12 o'clock noon - Band Concert at 7 p.m.
Performance at Night Only
Doors Open at 7:30 p.m. - Performance at 8 p.m.

General Admission 35c - Children under 10 years, 25c

WANTED 15 boys at show cars at 11 a.m. on day of show. Also want 3 good working men, steady work all summer.

---------

Pretty good, huh? I can just imagine the 15 local boys, probably more, showing up at the show cars to make a little money, or, possibly, get free tickets for working. And it'd definitely be great to see 15 colored people!

Looking At Community College Jobs

I was looking at employment opportunities at community colleges in Kansas.

It's just a thought. I don't actually qualify to do much. Which suddenly hits you went you're looking at the qualifications necessary.

But I was thinking, Wouldn't there be like a thousand jobs in community colleges, wanting people with general degrees to come in and teach whatever? It doesn't appear to be that way, at least full time.

I could see myself preparing the materials, let's say, for a course on literature, Western civ, religion, psychology, something like that. Even though my field of expertise is narrow, I could do the general stuff.

It's depressing to look at the slim pickings, though, then to look at the vast applications, and the need to scour the countryside looking for references, all that. Ack!

Writing Books

I wonder how to write books. Like let's say you wanted to write about 500 books in the next year. How would you go about doing it?

It would depend what they were about. But just doing research and saying something authoritative, you couldn't write 500 books from scratch in a year. I heard of some guy on Amazon who has written 200,000 books, I think it was. But obviously he didn't sit down and write 200,000 books. He had some kind of aggregator program that took information and churned out that many whatevers.

I suppose I could write 365 books of free form/crap poetry in a year. If it doesn't make any difference what it is, you could just sit here like this, blah blah blah. Then sell it on the internet, if there's anybody dumb enough to buy it. And there probably is.

Every once in a while I hear of some romance author who has written 300 or 400 published books, those crap romance novels that you see. I see them at garage sales and they're the cockroaches of books. Matching covers, all that. They look like junk at 50 paces. But someone buys them ... and obviously the people putting them out make a living off it.

I don't know if I could write a romance novel. It would definitely pay to read a few first to get down the basic pattern. But what would it be? Girl goes to college, meets a guy. He's involved with someone else, but circumstance keep throwing them together. There's conflict between her and the other girl. Then the second girl's family, a band of vigilante hillbillies on a Jethro truck rides into town and shoots the first girl. So the guy and the second girl live happily ever after. Sounds about right.

Making Our Own Mochas

We were traveling over the weekend and stopped at McDonald's to get one of those new iced mochas. They're very good, but it's tough for me to spend that much for a coffee drink. Because I know you can buy coffee pretty cheap, enough to float a battleship for about six bucks.

So I took about 20 seconds to look up how to make your own iced mochas. I came up with a list of Google hits, took the very first one, followed the recipe and had an iced mocha that tasted identical to the ones at McDonald's.

Then doubled it and had a double for practically nothing.

I've never been much of a coffee buyer. I think it's a massive waste of money since you can make coffee just as good or better for a few cents.

The only thing about the recipe I don't get is this: "Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate syrup." When the coffee's in the measuring cup it's not over heat, so we're just ignoring that sentence.

The New York Times

I read something the other day about the New York Times will be charging by the word.

I seem to remember that's the way Charles Dickens was paid. Which makes it hard to read Dickens' books, because it takes him four or five pages to describe every little thing.

I remember some of my own writing habits in school and college. They would say it needs to be 500 words or 3000 words, and you sit there wasting more time counting the words than anything else. (Now we have computers that tell how many words you've got, so it's easier.) I could write on and on about any subject, like right here, just blather on, clack it out, throw in lots and lots of qualifiers, all that. I used to enjoy seeing an occasional parody of student writing, like in National Lampoon.

But let's say the Times does charge by the word. What's to prevent them from giving us a bunch of small words and cheating us out of a better value with bigger words? They might have an article that quotes a guy who stutters all the time. And he'll have a quote with a lot of repeated words and we'll be paying extra right there. If I'm paying by the word, I want them to use a lot of very big words and leave out the extraneous words in a sentence that I can guess at. So fragments would be best. Like this, "If paying by word, I want lot big words, no extraneous, can guess'm." See what I did with that last word, just combine the "m" from "them" and so it's only one word but everyone knows what it means.

Gitmo Detainees

Here's a weird thing. The Republicans say we could never lock up Gitmo detainees in the U.S. because they would escape. But they're at Gitmo and they never escape.

Are the Republicans saying American prisons aren't all they should be? My answer to them is This is America. If you have a problem with the way Americans do things, then go back to Cuba, which you obviously prefer. Personally I'll take our American form of justice over the Cubans any day.

I believe -- I said, I believe that our American prisons are all they should be and more. Maybe they're thinking of Mayberry, where the prisoner can just reach over and get the big ring with the key on it. But that's not true to life. They don't use that big a ring for one key.

Cheney Vs. Obama

There's no actual information in this posting. I didn't see Obama vs. Cheney, today's showdown. But it's really annoying that Cheney is still around yakking it up. When you're out of office, go away. Especially since you didn't do anything any good while you were in.

I did hear a snippet of it on the news -- like about two sentences. Cheney was saying something about the Clinton years, them treating terrorist attacks like a law enforcement issue and responding to it after the fact.

Boy, oh, boy, do we have to spell it out to you, you ignorant old man. 9/11? Huh? It happened on your watch. You did nothing about it "before the fact." But boy, oh, boy, did you exploit it "after the fact!"

It's my contention that the Bush administration was thrilled to death with 9/11, which is borne out simply by the way they did in fact exploit it to the very hilt. They ran with 9/11 and that's all they talked about for the next six or seven years. We couldn't do anything normal, thanks to 9/11 and the Bush administration exploiting it, throwing it in our face at every turn.

I do agree if life gives you lemons to make lemonade. And that's what they did.

It was their incompetence and neglect that allowed 9/11 to happen. But they were sure competent and attentive when it came to milking it for all it was worth. The whole thing is tainted now as far as I'm concerned. I'm not going to any more 9/11 memorial services, lest I see Bush and Cheney there crying crocodile tears and soaking in the applause.

These guys were scum. Criminals. Cheney should go away. He should be locked up, honestly.

The First Hour

I'm so blah about American Idol, at least there was one consolation, I missed the first hour.

At the time I was not happy about it. I had another one of these appointments I get, it seems, on a regular basis ... rolling around on Tuesday night at precisely 7:00 p.m. Or a little after if the people are late. And I don't believe they teach punctuality anymore.

So there I was while the first "great" hour of American Idol was on. I recorded it, but I don't think I'll watch it now. That's too far to go to get served up Kris Allen as the winner. My mood is kind of like the pandemonium (not) that erupted in the theater. Could have heard a pin drop, probably did.

DVDs

I see the new Three Stooges volume (number 6) comes out in the middle of June. Always looking forward to that. Which means I'll be in for a couple weeks of watching the Three Stooges a little each morning and evening till I make it through. Of course it's all Shemp at this point, which is OK. He did a great job as a hilarious Stooge.

I've been watching the "Iron King" DVDs I got a little over a week ago. It's kind of beloved by me, not terribly beloved though. In case you're not familiar with this, it's a Japanese TV show from 1972, which features one robot monster after another. And back then they made robot monsters really really big, like portable phones. The two heroes -- Gentaro and Goro -- are both human size, and that's the way Gentaro stays. But Goro can become a giant himself, making him "Iron King."

Iron King has 26 episodes. I'm up to 13. So I ought to have those well done by the time the Three Stooges volume comes out.

One other thing to note. I'm not going to get a screen shot to show this. But one or two of the Phantom Militia look very close in appearance to Barack Obama. There's no big point to make in that, except where was he around 1972? (I know, he was a kid ... but there's something suspicious going on.) The Phantom Militia in the series is the second underground, rebel group trying to take over Japan. But thanks to Gentaro and Iron King, they've been 100% thwarted so far.

Gentaro and Goro in this series have an extremely difficult time trying to convey the dangerousness of these terror groups to potential and likely victims. There's a Professor Flasher from the U.S. who's in Japan. The Phantom Militia wants to kill him or whatever, and he's oblivious to the danger. Goro is guarding him in his room in one scene, and the next thing you know Goro is tied up and the Professor is out on the golf course playing a round. Of course the terrorists come over the hill and capture him ... until thwarted by Gentaro. Also Goro shows up as Iron King to help save the day.

Viva Cheney, Palin, and Limbaugh!

A Republican strategist, John Weaver, says the GOP is headed for an electoral blowout in 2012 if they continue to be led by the demonic triumvirate of Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, and "Dick" Cheney.

So there is a certain joyous result promised in us putting up with these scumbags a little longer. On the one hand, they turn my stomach. On the other hand, I can put up with a sour tummy if it means another electoral blowout.

How low can they go? I hope they haven't hit bottom yet.

Poodle Paper

Of all the videos on You Tube -- and there are plenty of obscure things -- I know of one that no one has put up yet.

And it's weird that there's no trace of it, including no mentions on the internet that I can find, because we used to watch it on TV in either the late '70s or the very early '80s.

It's called "Poodle Paper," and featured a cute little song along with some very nice footage of poodles. The refrain of the song, which is all I remember, said, "Poodle paper, poodle paper, wipe it, scoop it, wrap it." Very cute, and my family loved it.

We got our first VCR in the fall of 1979 and used to record some stuff like this, videos. Then more so when we were seeing shows like "Pop Clips" and I don't know what all else. It seems like they used to show videos like this on the USA channel, with a show called Nite Flyte.

We definitely had this video for a time but I'm thinking that it was erased. Isn't it very strange that this one video has somehow not made it to the computer? I want to know if there's anyone else in the world out there for remembers it.

The Plate-Spinning Song - Part 2

I wrote about the plate-spinning song the other day -- Sabre Dance by Khachaturian.

This song is only good for two things. Apparently sabre dancing, whatever that is. And especially plate-spinning. That's what I've heard it used for over the years on TV. If you ever came out -- let's say you picked this for your theme song -- and they saw you didn't have a few plates to spin they'd boo you off the stage.

How precisely they're able to spin plates on the top of a big wavering stick, I never have been able to figure it out. Maybe there's an entry at Wikihow, how to spin plates. I think I won't look and maintain at least that shred of mystery in my life. I believe if I ever tried it, I wouldn't get far before they'd be smashed all over the place.

I'm writing about this because I got an album -- an LP record -- at Goodwill a couple days ago that also has this song, Sabre Dance. I didn't notice it there when I was buying it. I only bought it because it was cheap, looked to be in good condition, and looked interesting. The extra bonus is that now I have an additional version of this great plate-spinning song.

The album is by a group called Ekseption, who look to be fairly famous. I looked them up at All Music and they have an extensive list of albums. They're known for progressive rock. I've heard the name over the years, just by looking at records all the time probably. But I don't remember ever having anything by them. This is their first album, and I think it's from 1968. All Music doesn't have kind things to say about it, saying it's dated and basically nothing worth remembering.

The cover of the LP is different than the one shown at All Music. Maybe the explanation for that is that Ekseption was from Holland and this is a U.S. pressing of the album. So I would guess the artwork was switched for foreign copies. I think it's very boring artwork. The back is the same as the front except it's B&W and there's a group photo spliced in the stage area.

I wish I hadn't seen the bad review, 1½ stars, at All Music. That prejudiced me. But I listened to the first song, a version of Beethoven's 5th symphony called The 5th. It does sound hackneyed. Of course it starts with an orchestral version of the opening of the 5th, then melds into a jazzy/rock interpretation. And of course I listened to part of Sabre Dance. It doesn't get right into the plate-spinning stuff at the first, but comes to it in good time. Of the two tracks I've heard, this is the best one. Mostly for sentimental reasons. Beethoven, bah.

Why Take A Shower?

Why should I take a shower every day? It's a nasty habit and comes around too fast.

My dad told me they used to take a bath once a week and that was good enough. But I think it was the Depression and the whole town had to share a big horse tank or something. Or maybe there wasn't enough water to go around. I don't remember him saying why they did it that way. I know he always associated one day with "bath day."

But now everyday's "bath day," which is tedious. And washing your hair day. My scalp feels itchy and gnarly until I get it done. Plus it helps put everything in place that gets bejaggled around on your pillow at night.

I have a recording somewhere. The guy's name is something like Dennis Liendl-Rast. Let me Google that real fast. Hmm, it turned out to be David Steindl-Rast, but I obviously had some elements of his name right. Pretty good, huh? On this recording, one thing I remember is a discussion he had about "taking" a shower or bath. The language of "taking" is a very -- what would be the word? -- something like being apart from but agressive toward, like imperialism. It's definitely not an integral type of word. So I get to think about that every time I "take a shower." Ha ha.

We grow up using the words we use and it's tough to change because of every little nuance. But the point I think is a great one. "Taking" is the language of an ego detached. Which is exactly what I am, right or wrong.

Happy Birthday

I just tried to call an old childhood friend to wish him happy birthday. We haven't been in touch for around 20 years but somewhere I heard the state he lives in. Searching for his name on Google is not real fruitful, because for some odd reason there aren't many people with his name or the precise spelling of it.

I came up with one hit from that state. I called the number and got an answering machine, with a voice that said his name but didn't sound like his voice. So I hung up. But since that was the only choice, I rethought it and called back and wished him a happy birthday anyway, saying if he was so and so from the place we grew up.

I just happen to remember people's birthdays 40 or 50 years later. So I think of them at least once a year. I have another friend in a foreign country, and we're also out of touch for many years, but I remember his birthday every year.

Mound City

This thing is just outside Mound City, Missouri, off the interstate on the west side, northwest of Mound City.

I always wonder why it's there. It's setting next to a drainage ditch and so you have to assume it was there once upon a time to dig the ditch or clear it out.

But what? Someone left it? The owner died? Forgot about it? What?

It seems like it'd be a fairly expensive piece of equipment, especially back when it wasn't rusty, to just forget about and abandon.

A Mom And Pop Place

I have a definite bias for chain motels.

That's odd, maybe, because you expect the local guys to give you good old fashioned service, and not just because they're trying to please their corporate masters up the food chain.

But that's not the way I look at it. I look at it as maybe you can expect more uniform standards from a chain. That Mom and Pop can do things any old way. Maybe they'll be sitting at the table chewing a weed and not stocking your bathroom with towels.

Some Mom and Pop businesses are good. But I avoid them for the most part.

Dick Cheney

OK, we already know he's guilty -- he's admitted as much.

Now let's move on to the trial. We should not let these guys get away with their terrible criminal administration.

The love the latest, how he has explicitly said that George W. Bush signed off on torture.

My Dog Catching Hamburger

Hey, I meant to mention this the other day. My dog is a terrific catch.

I noticed this years ago, but for a couple years I wasn't feeding her any human food. Lately I've been a little more merciful (maybe foolish), in accidentally dropping a piece of hamburger now and then while cooking.

I remembered though that she is a terrific catch when it comes to this stuff. Just like tossing up M & Ms and catching them in your mouth, a dog can see the hamburger coming, catch it in midair like it's nothing. It's an amazing thing.

Just goes to show that a dog knows how to use its equipment like every other creature. It's definitely a good test to see if your dog still has it or if it's mental. If I toss the hamburger and it sticks to her forehead, then I'll know it's time to put her down.

As for right now, though, she's as quick as lightning, and about as accurate as pro. Once in a while she misses, which might be the thrower's fault just as much, but not too often. When she misses she doesn't care. She just eats the hamburger anyway.

Packing Books

I'm going out of town for a couple days, to visit family.

I usually have the habit of packing about 15 books in a briefcase, to give myself a wide variety of stuff to read from when I'm away. But this time I'm thinking to limit myself to two or three. One will be my volume of poetry by Sir Walter Scott. I'm still working on it, but very very slowly, since I have lots of other tasks to accomplish.

If I limit myself like that I'll be more focused and not just picking here and there.

Lately I've been of the mind to thin down my collection considerably. Maybe I'm not of that mind totally or as much now, but the thought is still there. Why do I need so many shelves of books? OK, I can think of several reasons, but the reasons are starting to give way to ... actual reason.

If I didn't have them I'd survive just fine!

All The Sounds

Now that it's spring I have the window opening. We're in that no man's land between winter and spring when it's too warm to have the furnace on and too cold to have the air conditioner on. So in that little strip of time, we open the window.

Opening the window and having it open, it's amazing all the noise out there. There's the obvious noise, trucks and cars going by. Then the other stuff, children screaming. They're not in trouble. They just like to scream, I guess. I can hear a dog right now, yapping off in the distance. Then there's just ambient noise, maybe bugs, maybe it's just noise in my head.

All the time -- often anyway -- I'm hearing mourning doves. It always puts me into a memory of my childhood when I used to lay in bed and listen to the mourning doves. I'm amazed that they haven't forgotten by now their familiar coo. It's always the same, right down to the precise timing between coos. Amazing.

Other birds are out there tweeting up a storm too. And an occasional crow. Speak of mourning doves, as I'm typing this I can hear one. Pretty soon it'll be time for a train.

The Plate Spinning Song

I stepped out last night, a nice, crisp, still evening. I had to take my dog out but it was pleasant enough in other respects as well.

It was still, like I said. So still you could hear things from the distance. If your ears were good enough, you could probably hear the pigeons cooing on top of the buildings. I couldn't hear them.

But I could hear other things. I could hear some whistling from somewhere. I heard the first several notes and it reminded me of the old plate spinning song they used to have on TV, whenever a guy had several big poles and plates spinning on top of them. I kept listening and indeed that was the song that was being whistled, because it went down after that excited tense bit.

I stepped closer to the road and could see a neighbor guy doing something in his garage. So it was him that was doing the whistling. But he only went through the song that one time.

That song is officially called "Sabre Dance" by Khachaturian, at least that's what it's called on a CD I have, "Caravan - The Ultimate Silk Road Album."

Good For Arlen

Finally, something appears to go our way in Congress.

Arlen Specter overstepped the bounds of independence while trying to be a part of the Democratic caucus. You'd think the guy hated the Democratic party, rather than just joining it, all the nasty things he was saying.

Then they voted for him not to keep his seniority. Good! I'd like to see the bum thrown out entirely, but we must keep him around. Behave yourself.

Van Goghgh's Ear

Wow, art historians, working with the team from "CSI: Paris," are thinking now that Gauguin may have cut off Van Goghgh's ear. By the way, I'm very high brow. I say "Van Goghgh's" name like I'm clearing my throat on the Goghgh, not like they had it in a '60s TV series, Vincent Van Go-Go. In the same way I say Johann Bahhhcugh's name like Scrooge saying "Bah," only stretching out the short H sound much more and giving it several shades of vocal color.

Anyway, I've always been under the impression that Van Goghgh did it himself. That he was sick of having an ear like everyone else. And really, think about it, why be a conformist? I can sympathize. You think, why have a nose, two ears, etc., just because that's the way you were born? Maybe you're a one ear person inside and it doesn't seem right to look in a mirror and see two ears. Self-mutilation is just another form of self expression. When I'm low I often cut myself, often disturbingly deep. In fact I'm hoping right now that I don't bleed to death before I can get this completely written...

Tattooing is self-mutilation as well. You're sick and tired of the skin you have, the same as everyone else, and you want to spruce it up a bit. So you give a tribute to your Mother, the battleship you served on, and your lover. I'd like to have a tattoo of a mouse on my chest and every time I puffed up my chest have it turn into an elephant. I think I saw that on a cartoon.

My own connection to Van Goghgh's life is this: In college I gave a highly reviewed speech on the life of Van Goghgh. That is, the life I thought he led. Imagine the waves I would have caused had I had this new research back then. I could have made a mystery out of it, then solved it and gotten an even higher A than the one I got.

UPDATE: I don't really cut myself, not at all, let alone "disturbingly deep." That was a sick attempt at humor and I regret to say there's no cure.

$100 Million In 100 Days

George W. Bush and associates have raised $100 million in 100 days to fund his crummy old presidential library.

I'm not saying there's anything crooked about it, but if there's not it'd be the first time in his public life that it wasn't.

Good grief, if you have millions of dollars to give, why not do something actually charitable with it? Why prop up this old criminal's legacy? I mean, doesn't Al Capone or Timothy McVeigh deserve something too?

It's ridiculous. Bush is a national disgrace and ought to be held up as the laughingstock he is. Maybe he ought to model for pinatas. That'd bring in some cash. But of course these fat cats benefited out of his corrupt ways, and they're all bedfellows, and no doubt know what they're doing.

The Raspberries

I always liked the group The Raspberries. I originally had the first, second, and fourth albums. For some reason -- must have been a lapse in there -- I never had the third album, which I think was called "Side Three". I remember seeing it at a record store I used to go to. But I guess by then I was into something else.

The fourth album, "Starting Over," I got free at a place I used to work at. I listened to it quite a few times at the time and really liked it. But I don't remember much about it except for the song "Hit Record (Number One)," which is a great song by the way.

The only thing I had by them recently was the Capitol greatest hits CD. But yesterday I downloaded the first album from Amazon, on sale this month for $5. Since then I've listened to it a bunch of times. (I prefer having the CD, but I'm trying to download things and live without more bulk. But it's nice to have the pictures, notes, and things.)

It's as good, better in fact, as I remember. I like it right straight through and don't quite get the other reviews of anyone who say it's "flawed." I don't hear any flaws. I think it rocks along in a nice McCartney vibe all the way through. I love Eric Carmen's voice.

When I first got the first two LPs, I was thinking they might be another Beatles story, going from an image of apparent innocence to what the later Beatles were like. But it didn't really happen. "Starting Over" was a jump. And I never heard the third album, so I don't know what it was all about.

Kentucky Derby 50-1

Wow, the winner was a 50-1 horse. Since I've never bet on horses that doesn't do me much good. But had I known 24 hours earlier how it would turn out, things might have been different.

Actually 24 hours earlier I didn't even know we were on the verge of the Kentucky Derby. It's not something I keep track of.

It's always good to have something unexpected happen, though, like a winner from nowhere.

Tongue-Tied Jill

I used to have a download of the song "Tongue-Tied Jill" by Charlie Feathers. But I must have lost it ... or gotten rid of it a few years ago when I was making my collection more legal.

I could look up the lyrics, I suppose. No doubt someone has those. (Sometimes I wonder why it's not a copyright violation that the artists and companies pursue when all these lyrics places have their lyrics. But it is a copyright violation to have the audio. Which I see a lot of people do anyway.)

It's a cool song, about Jill who's tongue-tied. The way I remember Charlie Feathers singing it was "Me dot what me want." I was listening to another version at Amazon and they said, "Me got what me want." There actually is a Charlie Feathers version there, but it's an extended, live version, and I'd rather have the original.