Flooded Basement Again

There was a heavy rain storm this evening and our basement flooded again for the second time in about a month. It has been many years since there has been any significant water in the basement during a storm. It's going to rain again later tonight but hopefully it will not be a heavy downpour like earlier.

It's been raining a lot this spring and early summer and we have not been getting water in the basement aside from a little moisture around the edges of the walls except for that one time last month when we got a fair amount of water during a very heavy rain storm. Today there was even more water in the basement but it receded as soon as the rain slowed down. Now it is just very wet down there with a few small puddles. 

Exposed I & II - Vinyl Spins

Vinyl Spins. Exposed I & Exposed II: A Cheap Peak at Today's Provocative New Rock, 1981. During my bar DJ years in the 80's I loved collecting various artists 2 LPs sets with lots of good songs to spin in the sound booth.

More Crazy Daisies

More crazy daisies are coming up in the front garden. A few came up last week but now they are popping up throughout the garden along with a lot of regular daisies.

Five Spot Blues - Jazz Night FV

Some more jazz across the decades. Another in my jazz night Final Version series. Thelonious Monk to Sun Ra. A very cool hour and a half.

Monk in the pic. 

Five Spot Blues - Jazz Night FV

1. Five Spot Blues – Thelonious Monk, 1962
2. Dias S For Sonny – Sonny Clark, 1957
3. Hip Funk – Grant Green, 1962
4. Afro Blue – John Coltrane, 1963
5. Solea – Miles Davis, 1960
6. Gal From Joe’s – Johnny Hodges, 1961
7. Fly Little Bird Fly – Duke Pearson, 1964
8. Now He Sings, Now He Sobs – Chick Corea, 1968
9. I Say A Little Prayer – Rahsaan Roland Kirk, 1969
10. Better Git Hit In Your Soul – Charles Mingus, 1977
11. Round Trip – Ornette Coleman, 1968
12. Change Up The Groove – Roy Ayer, 1974
13. Night Passage – Weather Report, 1980
14. Blue Intensity – Sun Ra, 1982

Dinner @ Shango

We had dinner at Shango which is officially called Shango New Orleans Bistro & Wine Bar. It's been one of our favorite restaurants for decades now. Tomorrow is our 45th wedding anniversary but we went out tonight since it is much easier to get last minute reservations on a Friday night rather than Saturday. I looked at a few options for tonight but we agreed it was time to visit Shango again.

We both had our usual Shango dinners. Becky had the Shrimp Po' Boy sandwich and I had the Blackened Catfish Po' Boy. Both included a nice pile of honeyed sweet potato fries and coleslaw. I also had a cup of their famous gumbo. 

I started off with a draft of Duvel Belgian Blonde Ale and then a pint of Urquell Pilsner. Becky had a NA.

The service was wonderful as usual and the restaurant was crowded but too much. After we got home we went for a walk and dropped some books off at one of the neighborhood little libraries.

Abundance

Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, 2025

Everyone should read this brilliant book as we pass through this trumpian dystopia. I couldn't put it down once I started and it was a perspective on our world. I read this book in a week.

It was like rethinking everything... climate change, healthcare, education, housing, etc. and we need to do a better job.

Body Meta - Vinyl Spins

Vinyl Spins. Body Meta - Ornette Coleman, 1978. I give this a spin every now and then. Very intense body wake up. Stirred things up when I would put this record on the turntable for a group of people back in the late 70's. Kind of jazz punk.

Dinner Downtown

Tonight we had dinner with Dick and Iris. We got an invitation to attend a party with them and a few other folks at one of the private dining rooms in the hotel where they have their apartment.

It was a great space with lots of windows overlooking Lafayette Square. It reminded me of the many concerts we saw over the years on the Square and also my time working at the downtown public library across the street.

It turns out that the party was for Dick's birthday and there were ten people overall gathered together including Dan and Barbara with Dietrich too. The others were friends of Dick from work. We had a great time with lots of interesting conversations. The food was wonderful too and some very good deserts.

The photo here I took after the party while walking down the street to our car. We all got some leftovers too.

Dub Housing - Vinyl Spins

Vinyl Spins. Dub Housing - Pere Ubu, 1979. RIP David Thomas. I had to spin one of my favorite Pere Ubu albums this morning after hearing that he passed away yesterday. I'll listen to a few more later.

Pere Ubu albums in my collection.

• Dub Housing, 1978
• New Picnic Time, 1979
• The Art of Walking, 1980
• Terminal Tower: Archival Collection, 1985
• Lady From Shanghai, 2013

Idle Moments - Jazz Night FV

Idle Moments. Another set of classic jazz from my collection. Part of the Jazz Night Final Version series. An hour and a half as usual and available on Spotify.

Grant Green in the pic.

Idle Moments - Jazz Night FV

1. Idle Moments – Grant Green, 1964
2. September Song – Tal Farlow, 1951
3. As Long As I Live – Benny Goodman, 1940
4. My Little Brown Book – John Coltrane, 1962
5. God Bless The Child – Sonny Rollins, 1962
6. A Day In The Life – Wes Montgomery, 1967
7. Yardbird Suite – Sonny Stitt, 1963
8. Have You Met Miss Jones? – Art Tatum, 1953
9. Blue and Sentimental – Count Basie, 1952
10. Lullaby of the Leaves – Gerry Mulligan, 1952
11. Three To Get Ready – Dave Brubeck Quartet, 1959
12. Peace Piece – Bill Evans, 1959
13. My Funny Valentine – Miles Davis, 1956
14. There Will Never Be Another You – Lester Young & Oscar Peterson, 1952
15. Stairway to the Stars – John Coltrane & Milt Jackson, 1961
16. Body and Soul – Lee Konitz, 1954

Another Fine Dinner

Becky really knows how to make a fine dinner that she seemingly throws together but it is always great. She has had lots of practice. This is one of our favorites... chicken cutlets, home fried potatoes and a nice salad.

Later this week we will celebrate our 45th wedding anniversary which also means we have been living together for 49 years. That's a lot of dinners.

R.E.M. - Kitchen Listening

Put a few R.E.M. albums on the stereo this morning for some kitchen listening to one of my favorite bands. This isn't the first time I had R.E.M. on my kitchen listening and it won't be the last. I have about 30 of their albums in my collection including box sets and live albums.

I spent a lot of time these past few weeks listening to music as a form of recovery from the recent hernia surgery. It really does help me feel better and I've been spending a lot of time putting together sets of music from artists. This is an example of one set of R.E.M. albums. There are 14 sets of R.E.M. albums that each run about 2 to 3 hours.

Today I listened to a few of their early albums.

• Murmur, 1983
• Reckoning, 1984
• Fables of the Reconstruction, 1985
• Lifes Rich Pageant, 1986

Crazy Daisy

Becky has some Crazy Daisies in her front yard garden and the first one flowered this week. It looks like there will be some more in a few days.

Man-Child - Vinyl Spins

Vinyl Spins. Man-Child - Herbie Hancock, 1975. The last of his jazz funk fusion albums with The Headhunters. You had to hang up your hang ups when this record hit the turntable at our house parties back in the 70's.

Another Summer Dinner

A warm day calls for a nice summer dinner. Becky put together a fine supper of burgers, corn on the cob and salad. It's one of our regular dinners and always good and satisfying.

Post Surgery - Week 3

It's now been three weeks since I had my hernia surgery and I'm feeling much better. The only issue I have now is a little discomfort around the incision site where the stitches have not completely dissolved yet. It just feels a little weird but not painful anymore.

I'm still being careful about lifting things and moving heavy objects. I started going on walks again this past week and looking forward to going on vacation in the Adirondacks in a couple of weeks.

Once Upon a Time

From Occupy Democrats:

“Once upon a time, there was a boy who cried wolf, just for the attention. And when the real wolf came, nobody believed him, and he perished.
It is just one too many times.
When Kamala Harris roared on the scene, and Trump's campaign flagged, he had a "miraculous" incident, thanks to God himself. But it was only miraculous for HIM. A fan of his died. A family was destroyed.
Still, later in the campaign there was a second such incident. Inside his own golf course. The only real result of this was that the head of Trump's Secret Service detail, who had total control of BOTH venues, and who should have been fired for gross incompetence, was instead promoted to head the entire Secret Service for Trump after his inauguration.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Trump hung his mug shot outside the Oval Office, and commissioned a new White House portrait based on it, menacingly lit from beneath. This was to be his image for his new term. Trump the Invincible, Avenging Dark Lord of Retribution and Might.
Sort of a Darth Vader, reimagined. But Darth would be nothing without his legions of Stormtroopers. Trump put a flunky in charge of the military, and ordered a miltiary display of his own, that would rival Putin's and make the Whole World shake in its boots.
But last weekend, only one week ago, that wonderful new image of Trump's fell totally apart. His birthday parade was shunned and shamed and he ended up looking ridiculous.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
If that wasn't bad enough, two days later he got shut down at the G7, and his exit, rather than looking like a show of strength, looked like a childish tantrum.
He immediately went on the defensive, huffing that he had left the G7 because he was NEEDED back in Washington. He had something even BIGGER than the mideast crisis to deal with. This is not about IRAN, he said. Much much BIGGER. Wait until you hear about it!
And so, his HUGE flagpole erection two days later made him even more of a laughingstock.
He was totally flailing at this point. Trump decided to have his Press Barbie make a STRONG announcement. He was going to stop waffling on Iran, and give himself TWO WEEKS to make up his mind - let Iran be WARNED!
The result was HOWLS of derision. Two weeks???? Again????
That was it.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Not even a day later, betraying his own word, and America's too, he bombed Iran.
Without obeying the Constitution and going through Congress. The President can act in a crisis, and respond if we come under attack. He CANNOT act alone presumptively, because he THINKS a country might be developing weapons of mass destruction.
We have been here before.
And THIS time, not even his own Intelligence community backed him up. Our head of Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, the person HE appointed, told him that Iran was NOT close to having a nuclear bomb.
Her absence at Trump's presser was VERY telling.
There were no generals standing behind him. Just Marco Rubio, looking awkward, with Pete Hegseth, standing back and looking over his shoulder. The head of the Department of Defense, positioned the farthest from Trump, and not looking cocky, for perhaps the first time in his life.
On Trump's other side stood JD Vance. The look on his face was the look you see on a school kid who is watching his rival make a complete and utter fool of himself. Not just smug. Satsified.
He knows what could very well be happening for him, very soon.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Also very telling was the speech itself. Obviously written by Trump himself. Belligerent, childish and self-obsessed. A rally speech. But this was NOT a rally, it was a declaration of WAR. People DIED.
But Trump cannot tell the difference.
The speech was not written by Stephen Miller. This was no polished presentation for the world stage. Everything about it showed that this was Trump's event, and his alone.
Immediately after the speech, House Speaker Mike Johnson rushed out a social media post fawning and gushing all over Trump. But if he knew about Trump's attack, he was the only person in Congress who did. Other Republican lawmakers immediately reacted with anger.
They weren't the only ones.
Maga influencers had been reminding Trump that he RAN on keeping America OUT of conflicts and endless mideast wars. Bannon had tried to talk him down - even Tucker Carlson had warned him.
But Trump is only about Trump. And after his sorry showing during this past week, AMERICA might not have been in any danger, but his BRAND sure was. He needed SOMETHING to restore his image. And he wanted it NOW.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
If anything was symbolic about last night, it was the picture that was on every channel, while the networks waited for Trump's speech. A large dark ominous shadow moved back and forth across the face of the White House.
It was the used-car dealership sized flag hanging from his new flagpole. In the darkness. Regulations say a flag flying at night should have a light on it. I am sure the company that sold him the flagpoles had mentioned that.
But that is Trump in a nutshell. He does things on the cheap, and he never thinks them through. He never completes the task. Ever.
Ever.
Last night, the American flag hung in front of the White House in total darkness. A fitting symbol, indeed.”
- Glee Violette

Trump's War

Last night just before I was getting ready to go upstairs I saw the New York Times website headline... "U.S. Enters War Against Iran". I then went in the front room where Becky was also getting ready to go up. I put on the news and of course everything was about America going to war and Trump was about to have a news conference.

Well, the 5 time orange draft dodger then stood before the American people and basically said he "obliterated"  three Iranian nuclear research sites with US forces he previously called "suckers and losers".

It also came out on the various news outlets that it was way too soon to determine the success or not of these strikes. There still needed to be some serious assessments. Cheeto and his minions were still proudly claiming a great victory this morning without verification of success. Our military did perform well getting into Iran and making the strikes without any obvious loss of life or aircraft but time will tell.

It is also worth noting that the secrecy of the mission must mean that the Secretary of Defense was not allowed access to his personal phone leading up to this attack otherwise as past activities have shown he would probably be broadcasting the plans on fox. He sounds like a mediocre talk show host.

Take Five - Jazz Night FV

And here is a 70's focused jazz mix. Starts out with George Benson's take on a classic jazz number. Lots of great sounds on this set from some of my favorite jazz artists in my collection.

George Benson in the pic.

Take Five - Jazz Night FV

1. Take Five – George Benson, 1976
2. Funk In Deep Freeze – Chet Baker, 1974
3. Walk In The Night – Grant Green, 1972
4. Adjustment – Horace Silver, 1975
5. Bop-Be – Keith Jarrett, 1978
6. Fawlty Tenors – Steps Ahead, 1979
7. Milestones – Herbie Hancock, 1977
8. Close Your Eyes – Francy Boland, 1976
9. The Preacher’s Tune – Jimmy McGriff & Richard ‘Groove’ Holmes, 1973
10. Groovin’ High – Zoot Sims, 1975
11. Flowers For A Lady – Charles Mingus, 1974
12. Turn It On – Sonny Stitt, 1971

Cole's Tonight

Becky and I went out for dinner at Cole's tonight. I had their delicious fish fry with sweet potato fries and Becky had the Buffalo Wrap. We both had a Guinness. My was the regular draft and she had their NA. Then a little later I had a nice German Dortmund lager from Von Trapp Brewery.

This was the first time we've gone out for dinner in a month. The last time we went out was also to Cole's on May 20th after a long day at the Buffalo General Hospital undergoing my pre-surgery testing.

This evening was much different. We were much more relaxed and we really deserved and needed to get out and relax somewhere for dinner. We got over there around 5:30 and sat at one of the booths in the bar area. Over the next hour the restaurant got very crowded but in the dining room area and not in the bar. The bar itself was crowded but we were the only ones having dinner in the bar booths area. That was really a first for us. Usually on a Friday evening it's always very crowded there too. Not tonight.

The music was a little weird too. The sound system was playing mostly 80's hair metal. It really sounded bad. It reminded me of all the music I refused to play during my DJ years at the Pastime.

Regardless of the music we had a wonderful time as usual and the service was great.

Asian Style Dinner

This evening Becky made an Asian style dinner with stir fried rice along with veggies, peanuts and that wonderful black sesame rice seasoning. Had some great chicken pot stickers from Trader Joe's too. A very nice dinner.

No Kings Day

5 million people gathered in thousands of protest marches across the nation for No Kings Day in response to the maga trump birthday parade in DC. There were over 2,000 protest demonstrations taking place in every state of America.

A Walk Near the Zoo

Becky and I went for a walk this evening in the neighborhood. I have been going on some short walks this week as part of my recovery and this was to be another one over the the Darwin Martin House and the around the block. When we turned on to Jewett Parkway from Crescent we immediately noticed a very large number of cars parked on the block. We then assumed that there was some event at the Darwin Martin House which does happen a lot. There were lots of people walking down Jewett but they were moving down the street towards the park and the zoo. We kept seeing more and more cars parked everywhere so we decided to walk down to Parkside Avenue to see what was going on.

I don't think we ever saw the neighborhood parked up as much as tonight. There were also large crowds of people moving towards the park and zoo. Obviously there was some kind of major event going on that we did not know about. I finally asked someone waiting to cross the street what was going on. She said it was Wines in the Wild fundraiser at the Zoo. We're members of the zoo but I guess we missed the info about the event that we must have received. We continued walking down Parkside to Russell and then back home. Every street was packed with parked cars.

I looked up the Wines in the Wild event and saw that it was sold out and the tickets had gone for $50 each. There was a large list of vendors participating including wineries, breweries, and restaurants.

FIFA Club World Cup

Yesterday I watched some of the new revamped FIFA club soccer competition. Supposedly 2025 is the first of this new expanded 32 team competition for soccer clubs from around the world. They first started having a world club tournament in 2000 but this year is the first in the new configuration that reflects more of what happens in the national world cup tournaments.

I watched some of the Chelsea vs Los Angeles FC game. Chelsea won 2-0. There are several games on today featuring clubs from around the world in the first group stages. The final game of the tournament is scheduled for July 13.

The World Cup is happening next summer and I've been watching some of the soccer matches with the USA team getting ready for the competition. 

Watching soccer games has been a relaxing television pastime for me over the past few years. I'm looking forward to more of the FIFA Club World Cup, The FIFA CONCACAF North, Central American and Caribbean qualifiers for next year's World Cup. Lots of friendlies too.

Everybody's Jumpin - Jazz Night FV

Another mix of classic jazz.

Dave Brubeck Quartet pic from 1959.

Everybody’s Jumpin’ - Jazz Night FV

1. Everybody's Jumpin' - Dave Brubeck Quartet, 1959
2. Sweatin' - Richard "Groove" Holmes & Joe Pass, 1962
3. Minor Chant - Jimmy Smith, 1960
4. Good Lookin' Out - Stanley Turrentine & Shirley Scott, 1967
5. The Late Late Blues - John Coltrane & Milt Jackson, 1961
6. I'm An Old Cowhand - Sonny Rollins, 1958
7. Stompin' at the Savoy - Oscar Peterson, 1966
8. Countless Blues - Lester Young, 1938
9. Blues in Thirds - Earl Hines, 1965
10. New Rhumba - Ahmad Jamal, 1955
11. Bongo Bop - Miles Davis. 1960
12. Joy (Blues #2) - Ray Bryant, 1958
13. Seein' Red - Pepper Adams, 1957
14. West Coast Blues - Wes Montgomery, 1960
15. Save Your Love For Me - Johnny Griffin, 1960
16. Bye-Ya - Thelonious Monk, 1954

Talking Heads - Kitchen Listening

I put some Talking Heads albums on the stereo for an incredible Kitchen Listening experience today. I did their first five albums in chronological order starting with Talking Heads 77 then More Songs About Buildings and Food followed by Fear of Music. Then Remain in Light and Speaking in Tongues. That would be 1977 through 1983.

So today we first listened to the Talking Heads 77 album. Wow, what a quirky record. I remember first hearing some Talking Heads on WMMR in Philly and wondering about that crazy sound. Psycho Killer got some airplay. I really took notice of their second album in 1978 and in particular their cover version of Take Me To The River. However it was their 3rd album Fear of Music that convinced me this was a great band. I bought the album right away from Play It Again Sam's on Elmwood Ave. We had moved to Buffalo in the spring of 1979. I went and saw Talking Heads in 1980 and a small club in the burbs... Stage One. Then Becky and I saw them in 1983 at the UB Arena on their Speaking in Tongues tour. David Byrne was wearing his big shoulders suit and the tour was recorded for the Stop Making Sense live album. Now that was a great show.

I have a lot of Talking Heads albums in my collection but I started off with these first five records.

• Talking Heads 77, 1977
• More Songs About Buildings and Food, 1978
• Fear of Music, 1979
• Remain in Light, 1980
• Speaking in Tongues, 1983

Bloodhounds - A Mystery Novel

Bloodhounds by Peter Lovesey, 1996. This is the fourth book in the Peter Diamond detective series. I finished this book today and it took me a little less than two weeks to read it. I enjoyed it very much and I seem to like these Peter Lovesey mystery novels more and more as I read each new one.

There are 22 novels in this series and I could really see myself working my way through them. He also has an interesting series of 8 books in a series he wrote in the 1970's about a Victorian-era English detective that is probably worth checking out. 

I actually started reading this the day of my surgery and it was a good book to read during my recovery time period. Something to take my attention away from the pain and discomfort of the past couple of weeks.

The Losers & Suckers Parade

Trump made a fool of himself again today with his birthday party military parade full of the people he called losers and suckers. The soldiers in the parade were very good at adding to the perception of trump's dumbass parade where he sat there dozing off and shitting his diaper. There was a pathetic small crowd of people watching the parade.

It also looked like the soldiers marching in the parade were purposefully walking out of step and sort of sauntering down the street. Not military like at all as a form of protest. At another point there was an Army band passing by trump's revies stand playing the song Fortunate Son by Creedence Clearwater Revival which of course we all know, but trump probably doesn't, that the song is an anti-war protest anthem about a draft dodger. LOL. 

I Don't Know - Jazz Night FV

I Don’t Know. I like it all. This classic jazz mix jumps through the decades. Starts out in the 70's then the 60's, some 50's, 00's. Hmmm... where's the 80's and 90's. On another mix for sure. But this is another Jazz Night Final Version series mix.

Hank Crawford in the pic.

I Don't Know - Jazz Night FV

1. I Don’t Know – Hank Crawford, 1972
2. Misterioso – Sonny Rollins, 1978
3. Sayonara Blues – Horace Silver, 1962
4. Back Out – Grant Green, 1969
5. Milestones – Miles Davis, 1958
6. Green Dolphin Street – Bill Evans, 1977
7. I Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out To Dry – Dexter Gordon, 1962
8. Mrs. Parker of K.C. (Bird’s Mother) – Eric Dolphy, 1961
9. Angelica – John Coltrane, 1962
10. I Had A King – Herbie Hancock, 2007
11. A Night In Tunisia – Bud Powell, 1951
12. Goin’ To D.C. – Sonny Stitt, 1971
13. I Love Music – Ahmad Jamal, 1970
14. Straight Ahead – Jimmy Smith, 1972

Pasta & Sausage

So this evening Becky took some of the leftover sausage she cooked up last night and made a delicious pasta and sausage dinner. We had some of that wonderful bread from the co-op too. So good.

Some Garden Delights

Becky's garden is spectacular this year. It's probably because of all the rain we got earlier in the spring.

Sausage Dinner

Becky made a nice satisfying sausage dinner tonight with rice, peppers and onions and a wonderful salad too. This dinner hit the spot.

Brian Wilson RIP

Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys passed away today. Another rock star genius gone and another sad day in the world of music. Brian Wilson was quite the genius and his influence on popular music was incredible.

I saw the Beach Boys perform seven times but all in the 60's and 70's. It probably would have been nice to see Brian Wilson during his later tours.

I read his autobiography in 2018 and wrote about it here... I Am Brian Wilson.

I also made several Brian Wilson themed mixes over the years. One of them I posted on Spotify here... Good Vibrations: A Brian Wilsonesque Playlist

Beach Boys albums in my collection.

• All Summer Long, 1964
• Beach Boys in Concert, 1964
• Today!, 1965
• Summer Days (And Summer Nights), 1965
• Beach Boys Party, 1965
• Pet Sounds, 1966
• Smiley Smile, 1967
• Wild Honey, 1967
• Friends, 1968
• 20/20, 1969
• Sunflower, 1970
• Surf's Up, 1971
• Carl and the Passions, 1972
• Holland, 1973
• Best of the Beach Boys, 1975
• 15 Big Ones, 1976
• The Beach Boys Live in London 1969, 1976
• Love You, 1977
• Good Vibrations: Greatest Hits Vol. 1, 1995
• The Pet Sound Sessions: 4 CD Box Set, 1997
• More Good Vibrations: Greatest Hits Vol. 2, 1999
• The Smile Sessions: 5 CD Box Set, 2011
• That's Why God Made The Radio, 2012
• Made in California: 6 CD Box Set, 2013

Brian Wilson Solo Albums

• Brian Wilson, 1988
• I Just Wasn't Made For These Times, 1995
• Imagination, 1998
• Live at the Roxy Theater, 2000
• Pet Sounds Live, 2002
• Brian Wilson Presents Smile, 2004
• That Lucky Old Sun, 2008
• Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin, 2010
• No Pier Pressure, 2015
• Brian Wilson and Friends Live, 2016

So What - Jazz Night FV

Some of my favorite jazz classics are part of this mix... especially the first six. 

Photo of John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Miles Davis and Bill Evans at the Kind of Blue sessions in 1959. 

So What - Jazz Night FV

1. So What - Miles Davis, 1959
2. Blue Train - John Coltrane, 1957
3. Song For My Father - Horace Silver, 1964
4. Watermelon Man - Herbie Hancock, 1962
5. Moanin' - Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, 1958
6. The Sidewinder - Lee Morgan, 1965
7. St. Thomas - Sonny Rollins, 1964
8. A Gal In Calico - Ahmad Jamal, 1958
9. Django - Grant Green, 1964
10. Four On Six - Wes Montgomery, 1960
11. Gee Baby Ain't I Good To You - Kenny Burrell, 1963
12. Chasin' The Bird - Charlie Parker, 1947
13. Body And Soul - Coleman Hawkins, 1939
14. Round Midnight - Thelonious Monk, 1954

Dune... One More Time

Today I finished reading Dune again... for the fourth time. Of course this is one of my favorite science fiction novels and I've read quite a few of Frank Herbert's books including everything he wrote in the Dune series. But the others I read only once.

I previously wrote about Dune again here.

The copy of the book in the photo is from about 1984. I think I got this copy in early 1985 and read it around the time I saw the David Lynch version of the movie.

The novel Dune was written in 1965 and is often considered the best selling science fiction novel in history. I first read it in 1976. Then again in 1985. Then again in 2001 and now again in 2025.

The Frank Herbert Dune novels I've read.

• Dune, 1965 - 1976
• Dune Messiah, 1969 - 1976
• Children of Dune, 1976 - 1976
• God Emperor of Dune, 1981 - 1983
• Heretics of Dune, 1984 - 1984
• Chapterhouse Dune, 1985 - 1985

Later I read a Dune novel by Herbert's son Brian Herbert. He wrote a series of them but I only read the first one. House Atreides: Prelude to Dune, 1999 which I read in 2000. 

So what triggered me with Dune again... I recently watched the new remake of Dune which is now a two part movie. Dune, 2021 and Dune Part 2, 2024. I enjoyed them both very much. 

A few days ago I watched David Lynch's film version of Dune released in 1984.

Then I watched the first season of the Dune prequel Dune Prophecy. I also looked into maybe streaming the 2000 miniseries of Dune but can't find it available anywhere without paying extra for it.

Back in the 1970's when I read Dune the first time I was excited about the first attempt to make a movie of the book by the director Alexandro Jodorowsky. I had been fascinated with his film El Topo. Well, it never happened. Salvador Dali was set to be the Emperor and Orson Welles would have been Baron Harkonnen, David Carradine as the Duke, Geraldine Chaplin as Lady Jessica and Jodorowsky's son as Paul. Music was to be by Pink Floyd. Then when that fell through the film rights went to Dino De Laurentiis with Ridley Scott as director. Then eventually to David Lynch.

Follow Up Surgery Appt

Today I had the follow up post operation appointment with my surgeon Doctor Schwaitzberg. It was a very positive meeting after a somewhat hour long wait in his examination room. He said I was healing slowly but surely and he was very pleased with my progress. During his examination of the surgery site he could find no signs of any problems. He had a resident student with him for my examination.

I had my list of questions and comments I brought with me and at some point I brought it out and said I had some questions. He smiled and said "Fire Away". He was very thorough with his answers and comments. I brought up the issues with the hernia mesh that Eric was having with his repeat of his hernia surgery and the doctor went into great detail about the quality and different types of meshes. He assured me mine was good. It also turns out he wrote a book about hernia surgeries and wrote a chapter on the use of the mesh. He really went into the medical school teaching mode.

I left the office feeling everything was going to be OK and I was on the way to mending. The rest of the bandage/sutures will come off on their own.

We had a little trouble finding a parking space in the ramp this time. It was a good thing we left a little early for the 2 pm appointment. We found a spot on the 4th level. When we left to go home around 3:40 the ramp had cleared out significantly. Passed lots of empty spots while driving down the ramps to the exit gate.

Some questions and comments I prepared ahead of time

• How long will the pain around the incision last.
• I've been taking a lot of tylenol... about 8 pills a day. 350 mg pills. 
• Take up to 4,000 mg a day... 12 pills.
• Hydrocodone - 1 pill every 6 hours. Stopped Thursday, 2 left of the 12 pills.
• How long taking Polyethylene Glycol Mira-Lax, I stopped on Friday.
• Took the bandage off on Wednesday.
• I've had some bruising in my groin area including my penis and scrotum.
• Inguinal Hernia - protruding from the abdominal wall to the scrotum.
• Lot of online research into scrotum hernia.
• Succinylcholine Allergy - Malignant Hyperthermia
• Trouble sleeping after stopping the hydrocodone. Wake up at night with pain.
• Can only sleep on my back, no sleeping on sides especially the right side.
• How long should I wear the jock support. How much of the time, I've been taking it off at night
• Got a new support strap online to replace the one given to me at the hospital which had metal clips that caused discomfort.
• I was wearing the hernia pressure belt before the surgery. Should I wear it again later.
• I can walk around with little pain or discomfort, sitting down feels better. Laying down is usually painful.
• I could be sitting and feeling comfortable but when I stand up there is some serious pain for a few moments.
• There is still pain around the incision and the area to the right.
• Have there been ongoing issues with the quality of the hernia mesh
• Pain when coughing... smoke in the air, pollen.
• How long to stop lifting anything... 10 lb, 2 weeks
• How often should I keep using an icepack on the incision area
• Going on vacation in the Adirondacks in early July with family including grandchildren
• Should I use a heating pad
• When can I exercise, go for walks
• Get back to PT for hip, spine and leg issues

Sly Stone RIP

Today we saw on our newsfeeds that Sly Stone has passed away at the age of 82. I have very many wonderful memories of the music of Sly & The Family Stone from over the years.

I was very fortunate to see Sly & The Family Stone in concert on my 17th birthday in 1968 along with a few other bands. A great show. I also saw him a second time on the 1968 tour.

I'll be playing some Sly albums for my kitchen listening this week.

A previous post... music store memories of the first time I heard the music of Sly & The Family Stone.

Sly & The Family Stone albums in my collection:

• A Whole New Thing, 1967
• Dance To The Music, 1968
• Life, 1968
• Stand!, 1969
• Greatest Hits, 1970
• There's A Riot Going On, 1971
• Fresh, 1973
• Anthology, 1981
• Who In The Funk Do You Think You Are: The Warner Bros. Recordings, 2001
• The Woodstock Experience 1969, 2009
• Higher, 2013 (4 CD Set)
• I'm Just Like You: Sly Stone's Flower 1969-1970, 2014
• Live at the Fillmore East 1968, 2015 (4 CD set)

Fire and Rain: 1970

Fire and Rain: The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, James Taylor, CSNY and the Lost Story of 1970 by David Brown, 2011. 

I started reading this book in mid May and finished it last night. I was very fascinated with this story of 1970 and some of the time's music icons. 

1970 was a very important year for me in my life. I had turned 18 in December 1969 and had enlisted into the Navy. I shipped off to boot camp in San Diego in early February. 

My father also died of a ruptured brain aneurysm in July 1970 at the age of 47. That incident led me to spending several more months stationed at the Great Lakes Naval Center near Chicago where I had weekend access to lots of great music. I saw many great artists during that spring, summer and fall of 1970. It was nice being so close to Chicago and the many music venues.

I wrote about my time in Chicago in 1970 five years ago here.