David Lynch RIP

I was very saddened to hear of the passing of David Lynch today. He had a large impact on the popular culture of much of my adult life. I have seen all of his films and of course his amazing television series Twin Peaks. I also have a couple of his albums in my music collection.

I wrote a student paper on David Lynch in 1977 while in the film studies program at Temple University after viewing Eraserhead at the TLA Cinema on South Street in Philadelphia. The class instructor was very excited about the feature film from this filmmaker and talked about seeing some of his earlier short films.

A few years later I would see it again in Buffalo at the Allendale Theater and then The Elephant Man too. I was very excited when he came out with his version of Dune in 1984 although I was a little disappointed in the film's deviation from the book which was one of my favorite science fiction novels. But I did enjoy the film and watched it a couple more times over the years. 

I really liked his next film Blue Velvet and I would go on and see all of his films following it including Wild at Heart, Lost Highway and The Straight Story. I especially liked the Twin Peaks prequel Fire Walk With Me. The 2001 film Mulholland Drive was really good as was Inland Empire in 2006 which would turn out to be his last feature film. The last thing of his I saw was the revival series Twin Peaks: The Return from 2017. He would also make more short films but I never saw any of them. 

He was also involved in several music projects over the years. He released a couple of albums which I have in my collection... Crazy Clown Time from 2011 and The Big Dream from 2013. 

View from the Perch

I was sitting upstairs at the perch reading a book on my tablet when I glanced up from the chair and looked out the window at the moon. It was spectacular. I had my phone with me so I snapped this picture. It was around 7 pm or so.

A Glass of Sponge Candy Stout

I felt like having a beer this evening and dug around in the refrigerator coming up with a can of Sponge Candy Stout from Resurgence Brewery that was left over from the Christmas Eve dinner party. I didn't have one at the time and actually this is the first glass of stout in at least a couple of years.

So I really enjoyed this one. I remember the first time trying this particular stout sitting at the bar at their old brewery on Niagara Street. Loved it then and it still does taste really good. It also felt good to drink after our busy couple of days with Autumn.

Becky had picked up a 12 pack of assorted brews from Resurgence and some NAs to have on hand for Christmas.

A Day With Autumn

Yesterday afternoon Sean and Ashley arrived at our house with little Autumn in tow. She gave us a smile right away but was a little shy at first. As the afternoon went on she got comfortable and wanted to sit on Grammie's lap.

They came to town for the Bills playoff game and they left Andrew back home with his grandfather. Ashley went to dinner with her friend Mel down in Hamburg. Becky, Sean and I ordered food from Romeo & Juliet's Cafe. We got a couple of pizzas and Sean got a Baked Eggplant Parmigiana which also included some nice warm bread. Autumn sat in the high chair eating pizza and cheese. Also some strawberries. They brought a lot of toys with them for her to keep her busy.

Later we were amazed how quickly she went to bed and to sleep. We had the pack n play for her and she went right down. Becky and I were exhausted too from all the prep getting the house ready for our guests and went to bed a little after 10 pm. Sean and Ashely went to bed shortly afterwards

We did here Autumn wake up and cry a little around midnight but it turned out that she fussed off and on all night and the kids took turns sleeping with her in the other room. She did sleep until about 7 this morning which is a little later than usual for her.

So today we had her by ourselves most of the day. Sean and Ashley left the house a little after 9 am to go to Wegman's for some food supplies. They were meeting some friends in the parking lot for their usual tailgating party before the game. They would get back to our house around 4:30 pm after having left the game with about ten minutes left. By a little after 5 pm they were on the road for their four and a half hour trip back home.

But during the time they were at the game we had a wonderful morning and afternoon with Autumn. She was just so much fun and really kept us busy and on our toes. She loved exploring our house and we had to be aware of her wanting to go near the steps both upstairs and the ones down to the side door and bathroom. Overall she was not a problem. She didn't seem to miss her parents at all. She hung out with us and she didn't have any fusses.

She loved sitting on our laps and cuddle and she constantly wanted to be picked up and walked around but just for short periods before wanting to get back down on the floor again. She became obsessed with Gumby but kept wanting to put him in her mouth. Speaking of her mouth... she wanted to munch on snacks all day. Constantly. For lunch she had more pizza and cheese which she ate very well. She also had some toast with butter. Pieces of bananas too. 

And one point in the afternoon she got tired. She was on Becky's lap and quietly fell to sleep while we were watching the Bills game. She laid there sleeping for an hour and a half.

Later she was back on the floor exploring the house. She also liked to stand at the window in the front room and watch people and cars go by. She seemed fascinated with the activity of our street.

Of course she fussed and cried a little bit when her parents walked in the door but she seemed happy to be with them and watched them packing up to go home.

After they left we were exhausted and just wanted to sit down. Watched some of the Eagles game and then had some leftover pizza for dinner. I think we're going to bed early tonight. I had Sean take a picture of us with Autumn before they left.

History Book Challenge

I participated on a book challenge on the Bluesky platform but I did it somewhat differently than the standard book challenge which states something like "Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers."

So I did the one book per day and did 20 of them but I made all of my books about history and called it the History Book Challenge. I also wrote down the book title, author and published date. Then I wrote a brief description of the book and why I posted it. Then some tags... #bookchallenge #books #booksk #history #bookshelf

I started out posting these right away when I joined the app but then took about a month off for the holidays. I started up again a few days into the new year.

Here is the list of books that I posted as part of my History Book Challenge

• In Search of History: A Personal Adventure by Theodore H. White, 1983 - 1/10
• The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan, 2015 - 1/9
• 1493: Uncovering The New World Columbus Created by Charles Mann, 2011 - 1/8
• Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson, 2010 - 1/7
• The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America by George Packer, 2013 - 1/6
• Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History by Kurt Andersen, 2017 - 1/5
• The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America by Greg Grandin, 2019 - 1/4/25
• The Secret History of the World by Mark Booth, 2007 - 12/5/24
• A History of the World in 100 Objects by Neil MacGregor, 2010 - 12/2
• A People’s History of the United States: 1492 – Present by Howard Zinn, 1980 - 12/1
• The Map Book ed. By Peter Barber, 2006 - 11/30
• Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, 2011 - 11/27
• These Truths: A History of the United States by Jill Lepore, 2018 - 11/26
• Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond, 1997 - 11/25
• Indigenous Continent: The Epic Conquest of North America by Pekka Hamalainen, 2022 - 11/24
• Eyewitness to History by John Carey, ed, 1987 - 11/20
• Forget The Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth by Bryan Burrough, Chris Tomlinson & Jason Stanford, 2021 - 11/19
• A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara Tuchman, 1978 - 11/18
• The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History by Ned Blackhawk, - 11/17
• 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles Mann, 2005 - 11/16

The Convicted Felon

Today it became official and part of the history books. Trump is a convicted felon who was sentenced by a criminal judge. Nothing he can do will ever change that fact. He will become the first president of the US that is a convicted felon and by law is not allowed to vote in elections but his followers voted for him.

It's hard to believe sometimes that we live in a country full of so many stupid ignorant people but then you look at our history and we see this weird behavior over and over again. It's nothing new but it has certainly become worse because of the internet and social media.

If I ever need to have a photo of trump for anything I will use his official mug shot.

Old 97's - Kitchen Listening

Spent some time today listening to some albums from Old 97's while sitting in the kitchen working at my laptop. Always enjoyed their music which was some of the early alt-country movement of the mid-1990's. I played through a few of their albums in alphabetical order from my iTunes. Blame It On Gravity, Drag It Up and Fight Songs. There's a lot more great albums especially the early ones that I should listen to soon too although I seem to like their later little more refined sound better than some of their early raw country influenced songs with a punk feel.

I did see them perform downtown at a Thursday in the Square concert sometime in the mid 1990.

Old 97's in my collection:

• Hitchhike to Rhome, 1994
• Wreck Your Life, 1995
• Too Far To Care, 1997
• Fight Songs, 1999
• Satellites Rides, 2001
• Drag It Up, 2004
• Hit By A Train: The Best of Old 97's, 2006
• Blame It On Gravity, 2008
• The Grand Theater Vol. 1, 2010
• The Grand Theater Vol. 2, 2011
• They Made a Monster: Too Far To Care Demos, 2012
• Most Messed Up, 2014
• Graveyard Whistling, 2017

Peter Yarrow RIP

Peter, Paul & Mary were an important group during my youth and were always part of my music experience. I was 10 when I first heard them singing If I Had A Hammer on the radio and 11 when there song Puff The Magic Dragon was everywhere. I remember us kids singing that song at school and playing around with it at choir practice. 

I always loved the way they covered Bob Dylan songs especially Blowing in the Wind and their version was probably the first time I heard of that song. I think my favorite song they did was their cover of Dylan's Don't Think Twice, It's Alright. It's an amazing performance and I especially love the way the three vocalist come to the song one at a time.

I saw them in concert several years later when I was a teenager.

Sadly we heard today that Peter Yarrow from the group Peter, Paul & Mary died today at the age of 86. Mary Travers had died from leukemia nearly 20 years ago.

Now I need to have some kitchen listening time with Peter, Paul & Mary. I have a few of their albums in my collection.

Peter, Paul & Mary albums in my collection:

• Peter, Paul & Mary, 1962
• (Moving), 1963
• In The Wind, 1963
• A Song Will Rise, 1965
• See What Tomorrow Brings, 1965
• The Peter, Paul & Mary Album, 1966
• Album 1700, 1967
• Late Again, 1968
• Peter, Paul and Mommy, 1969
• The Best of Peter, Paul & Mary: Ten Years Together, 1970
• The Very Best of Peter, Paul & Mary, 2005
• Live in Japan 1967, 2012
• Discovered Live in Concert, 2014

I Believe In Love - Evening Mist FV

This mix is another in my Evening Mist Final Version series. This one focuses a little more on the New Age and film soundtrack pieces in my album collection along with some traditional classical music.

I Believe In Love - Evening Mist FV

1. I Believe In Love – Suzanne Ciani
2. Keep Walking – Kelly Lee Owens
3. Libertango – Maggie O’Connor
4. To Love – Eighth Blackbird
5. Sea of Tranquillity – Colleen
6. The Esctasy of Gold – Ennio Morricone
7. Amarcord – Nino Rota
8. Helter Skelter – Matt Haimovitz
9. Palestrina: Super Flumina Babylonis – ORA
10. Haydn: Piano Sonata #33 in C Minor 1. Moderato – Emmaual x
11. Bach: Partitas for Harpsichord, 2 Andante – James Weaver
12. Reminiscence – Olafur Arnalds
13. Bach: Aria (Soprano) – St. John Passion – J. S. Bach Society Orch. & Choir
14. We Keep This Flame – Christopher Tignor
15. The Academy in Peril – John Cale
16. Crystal Silence – Chick Corea & Gary Burton
17. Quiet City – Wynton Marsalis and Eastman Wind Ensemble
18. Healah Dancing – Keaton Henson

Sinfonia - Evening Mist FV

Here is another mix in the Evening Mist Final Version series. This one is a set of classical music running an hour and a half as usual and makes for a very satisfying listen.

Sinfonia - Evening Mist FV

1. Rossi: Sinfonia settimadecima & Galliarda detta la Zambalina – Apollo’s Fire
2. Chopin: Waltz #3 in A Minor – Vladimir Horowitz
3. Rachmaninov: Vespers Op. 37 – Irina Arkhipova & USSR Ministry of Culture Chamber Choir
4. Mozart: Clarinet Concerto in A Major, II. Adagio – Joyce DiDonato
5. Handel: Partenope, Act II: Qual Farfalletta – Amanda Forsythe
6. Bach: Suite III in C Major, BWV 1009 – Matt Haimovitz
7. Scarlatti: Non so qual piu m’ingombra: Aria – Elizabeth Watts and The English Concert
8. Dvorak: Symphony No. 8 in G. Op. 88 2. Adagio – Wiener Philharmonika
9. Chopin: 19 Nocturnes: No. 17 in B Major Op. 62 No. 1 – Artur Rubinstein
10. Haydn: Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra in E-flat Major – Raymond Leppard
11. Handel: Fireworks Music Suite in D Major: IV La Rejouissance – Bohdan Warchal
12. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in C Sharp Minor – Walter Gieseking
13. Monteverdi: Vespers of the Blessed Virgin – Canadian Brass
14. Mozart: Clarinet and String Quartet in A Major, 1. Allegro – Emerson String Quartet
15. Bach: St. John Passion, Chorus – J.S. Bach Society Orchestra & Choir