John D. Rateliff's Blog, page 80
January 12, 2019
Meeting the New Cats
So, there's no way we can replace Hastur. But we can see what we can do about that cat-shaped hole that's opened up in our lives. Originally we were thinking of waiting a few weeks, the first part of which was brightened by Persephone, our friend's cat who came to stay with us for about two weeks while her owner was away.
But no sooner was she gone than the place felt so empty without a cat in it that we started looking for a new cat (or, better yet, a bonded pair to keep each other company). We found a great little cat at a shelter over in Burien, but he was already spoken for. A visit to the local shelter here in Kent let us meet some v. nice cats, but none that seemed to be what we're looking for. So today we drove up to the main Purrfect Pals shelter up in Arlington, where they were having a kitten adoption event. Again we saw some cute cats but none that made us think this is the one. Before we left though the adoption counsellor mentioned that they had another bonded pair in a different building we cd see if we wanted, though they cdn't be adopted until one's injured toe had healed.
Within seconds of Janice's picking up the little girl cat, she had started purring loudly. Her brother took a little more persuasion, but expressed a perfect willingness to be held and petted. The upshot of which is that they'll be coming home with us as soon as the shelter's vet gives it the all clear that the toe is healing nicely, which cd come as soon as Thursday.
Their names, we're told, were Thumper and Stumper, but we'll be calling them TYBURN (or LADY TYBURN) and TARKUS.
--John R.
But no sooner was she gone than the place felt so empty without a cat in it that we started looking for a new cat (or, better yet, a bonded pair to keep each other company). We found a great little cat at a shelter over in Burien, but he was already spoken for. A visit to the local shelter here in Kent let us meet some v. nice cats, but none that seemed to be what we're looking for. So today we drove up to the main Purrfect Pals shelter up in Arlington, where they were having a kitten adoption event. Again we saw some cute cats but none that made us think this is the one. Before we left though the adoption counsellor mentioned that they had another bonded pair in a different building we cd see if we wanted, though they cdn't be adopted until one's injured toe had healed.
Within seconds of Janice's picking up the little girl cat, she had started purring loudly. Her brother took a little more persuasion, but expressed a perfect willingness to be held and petted. The upshot of which is that they'll be coming home with us as soon as the shelter's vet gives it the all clear that the toe is healing nicely, which cd come as soon as Thursday.
Their names, we're told, were Thumper and Stumper, but we'll be calling them TYBURN (or LADY TYBURN) and TARKUS.
--John R.
January 11, 2019
Today Could Have Gone Better
So, I got to work in my favorite Barnes & Noble/Starbucks today for the first time in a while. I was making some progress on my email and even blog posts when the manager asked if I had a silver Honda.
why yes, yes I do.
because someone just ran into it out in the parking lot and then took off.
So, the day cd have gone better.
--John R.
currently watching and enjoying the new WATERSHIP DOWN
current reading: still making my way through the (somewhat annoying) Edward Gorey biography.
P.S. Who knew the folks at that Starbucks knew enough of my comings and goings to know which car is mine?
January 10, 2019
The Captain
So, I was sorry to hear the news about the death of Daryl Dragon, better known as 'The Captain' in The Captain & Tennille. Dragon was one of my favorite musicians back in high school and college for whose work I retain a great fondness: I had all the Captain & Tennille albums and listened to them over and over.*
What I liked best about Dragon, who co-wrote many of the songs Tennille sang and played most of the instruments on all their albums, was the texture of the music. By chance I just finished re-listening to an ELECTRIC LIGHTS ORCHESTRA greatest-hits-and-then-some collection, and was struck by how tinny many of the songs sound now: an attempt at the Wall of Sound that now sounds as if you're hearing it from a little transistor radio. I don't get that feeling at all in the songs Dragon worked up: the sound ambiance on them still works.**
In private life Dragon was an extreme introvert, the quiet one, Teller to Tennille's Penn, who almost always wore dark glasses indoors and out since his eyes didn't dilate properly. Son of a famous conductor (whose arrangement of "America the Beautiful" we played in high school band), he was ten years into his training to become a classical pianist while still in his teens when he heard a Fats Domino record and decided then and there that was what he wanted to do with his life. He and his two brothers formed a Beach Boys-type group (called The Dragons) and released their first album, just in time to be swamped by the British Invasion.*** Dragon himself became a member of the Beach Boys' touring band, taking over the keyboard parts that had formerly been played by Brian Wilson. Though never an official Beach Boy he stayed with the band for seven years and left on good terms with them, his closest friends within the group having been Brian Johnston**** and Dennis Wilson.
If you've never heard anything of C&T's music aside from "Love Will Keep Us Together" and "Muskrat Love", or to help erase the memory of the latter, here's a playlist I put together on a cassette years ago that might be a good starting place:
"I'm On My Way" [from DREAM]
"Lonely Nights" [SONG OF JOY)
"Shop Around" [SONG OF JOY]
"Happy Together" [a good cover version of the old Turtles song from MAKE YOUR MOVE]
"Let Mama Know" [the Captain plays banjo!, from COME IN FROM THE RAIN]
"D Keyboard Blues" [a rare Dragon instrumental from DREAM which shows he shd have done more]
"Honey Come Love Me" and "Cuddle Up" [LOVE WILL KEEP US TOGETHER; examples of the extreme simplicity of the love songs that make up much of their debut album. If I were doing this list over I'd probably opt for Bruce Johnston's "Disney Girls" instead, also from that first album]
"Do That To Me One More Time" [MAKE YOUR MOVE]
"The Way That I Want to Touch You" [LOVE WILL KEEP US TOGETHER]
"Good Enough" [DREAM]
"Never Make Your Move Too Soon" [MAKE YOUR MOVE]
Looking over that list now, some twenty years later, I shd have included more from COME IN FROM THE RAIN, replacing "Let Mama Know" with "Can't Stop Dancing, "Easy Evil", and esp. the title track. Also worth adding are "You Never Done It Like That and "Back to the Island", both from DREAM and the latter an appropriate swan song to their career. The only song from KEEPING OUR LOVE WARM I might include wd be their cover of the old Motown standard "Until You Come Back to Me".
It's too bad that most people may wind up remembering him from the C&T tv variety show, which he hated for its emphasis on comedy over music, knowing full well how stupid the 'hat jokes' made him appear. His final years were rather sad: he developed a palsy, a tremor in his hands (not Parkinson's but a related tremor), that prevented him from playing his beloved keyboards for the last decade or so. More recently failed joint replacements of both knees left him bedfast. Tennille left him when she cdn't face the stress of being his caregiver (though she apparently returned to resume her role as his caregiver in his final terminal illness). A sad end for someone who made so much happy music.
--John R.
current listening: Captain & Tennille, esp. MORE THAN DANCING, the final C&T album (released after they'd lost their major-recording studio contract); picked this up years ago but only cursorily listened to at the time.
current reading: a biography of Edward Gorey
current viewing: BBC/Netflix WATERSHIP DOWN (just started)
*to be more accurate, I listened to the first five of them over and over, the sixth some, and the seventh (acquired long afterwards as a kind of afterthought) hardly at all.
**though the song selection was sometimes iffy. There's no explaining away the blunder of having the chance to play at the White House for President Ford and the Queen of England, and choosing the novelty song "Muskrat Love" as their contribution.
***one of his brothers, I forget which one, much later formed a half of the duo Surf Punks, whose most memorable song was "The Beach Is Nothing But the Bird's Bathroom -- Watch Out!"
****Captain & Tennille were the first to record another Bruce Johnson tune, "I Write the Songs", the cover version of which by Barry Manilow was a big hit.
What I liked best about Dragon, who co-wrote many of the songs Tennille sang and played most of the instruments on all their albums, was the texture of the music. By chance I just finished re-listening to an ELECTRIC LIGHTS ORCHESTRA greatest-hits-and-then-some collection, and was struck by how tinny many of the songs sound now: an attempt at the Wall of Sound that now sounds as if you're hearing it from a little transistor radio. I don't get that feeling at all in the songs Dragon worked up: the sound ambiance on them still works.**
In private life Dragon was an extreme introvert, the quiet one, Teller to Tennille's Penn, who almost always wore dark glasses indoors and out since his eyes didn't dilate properly. Son of a famous conductor (whose arrangement of "America the Beautiful" we played in high school band), he was ten years into his training to become a classical pianist while still in his teens when he heard a Fats Domino record and decided then and there that was what he wanted to do with his life. He and his two brothers formed a Beach Boys-type group (called The Dragons) and released their first album, just in time to be swamped by the British Invasion.*** Dragon himself became a member of the Beach Boys' touring band, taking over the keyboard parts that had formerly been played by Brian Wilson. Though never an official Beach Boy he stayed with the band for seven years and left on good terms with them, his closest friends within the group having been Brian Johnston**** and Dennis Wilson.
If you've never heard anything of C&T's music aside from "Love Will Keep Us Together" and "Muskrat Love", or to help erase the memory of the latter, here's a playlist I put together on a cassette years ago that might be a good starting place:
"I'm On My Way" [from DREAM]
"Lonely Nights" [SONG OF JOY)
"Shop Around" [SONG OF JOY]
"Happy Together" [a good cover version of the old Turtles song from MAKE YOUR MOVE]
"Let Mama Know" [the Captain plays banjo!, from COME IN FROM THE RAIN]
"D Keyboard Blues" [a rare Dragon instrumental from DREAM which shows he shd have done more]
"Honey Come Love Me" and "Cuddle Up" [LOVE WILL KEEP US TOGETHER; examples of the extreme simplicity of the love songs that make up much of their debut album. If I were doing this list over I'd probably opt for Bruce Johnston's "Disney Girls" instead, also from that first album]
"Do That To Me One More Time" [MAKE YOUR MOVE]
"The Way That I Want to Touch You" [LOVE WILL KEEP US TOGETHER]
"Good Enough" [DREAM]
"Never Make Your Move Too Soon" [MAKE YOUR MOVE]
Looking over that list now, some twenty years later, I shd have included more from COME IN FROM THE RAIN, replacing "Let Mama Know" with "Can't Stop Dancing, "Easy Evil", and esp. the title track. Also worth adding are "You Never Done It Like That and "Back to the Island", both from DREAM and the latter an appropriate swan song to their career. The only song from KEEPING OUR LOVE WARM I might include wd be their cover of the old Motown standard "Until You Come Back to Me".
It's too bad that most people may wind up remembering him from the C&T tv variety show, which he hated for its emphasis on comedy over music, knowing full well how stupid the 'hat jokes' made him appear. His final years were rather sad: he developed a palsy, a tremor in his hands (not Parkinson's but a related tremor), that prevented him from playing his beloved keyboards for the last decade or so. More recently failed joint replacements of both knees left him bedfast. Tennille left him when she cdn't face the stress of being his caregiver (though she apparently returned to resume her role as his caregiver in his final terminal illness). A sad end for someone who made so much happy music.
--John R.
current listening: Captain & Tennille, esp. MORE THAN DANCING, the final C&T album (released after they'd lost their major-recording studio contract); picked this up years ago but only cursorily listened to at the time.
current reading: a biography of Edward Gorey
current viewing: BBC/Netflix WATERSHIP DOWN (just started)
*to be more accurate, I listened to the first five of them over and over, the sixth some, and the seventh (acquired long afterwards as a kind of afterthought) hardly at all.
**though the song selection was sometimes iffy. There's no explaining away the blunder of having the chance to play at the White House for President Ford and the Queen of England, and choosing the novelty song "Muskrat Love" as their contribution.
***one of his brothers, I forget which one, much later formed a half of the duo Surf Punks, whose most memorable song was "The Beach Is Nothing But the Bird's Bathroom -- Watch Out!"
****Captain & Tennille were the first to record another Bruce Johnson tune, "I Write the Songs", the cover version of which by Barry Manilow was a big hit.
January 3, 2019
Happy Tolkien Day
So, today is Tolkien's birthday (his 117th, to be precise). A good time to dip back into his works and refresh my memory of just why I like his stuff so very much and still after so many years.
The piece that came to my mind this time is his poem "The Dragon's Visit", particularly the original ending:
. . . the moon shone through his green wings the night air beating[As] he flew back over the dappled sea to a green dragons' meeting.
We tend to forget just how evocative Tolkien's prose (and, rarely, his verse); it's good to remind ourselves every once in a while.
--John R.
current reading: THE OTHER WIND by Le Guin (a reread, just finished) and BORN TO BE POSTHUMOUS, a biography of Edward Gorey (disappointing).
Recent viewing: YELLOW SUBMARININE (just finished; as weird as ever), THE ROOSEVELTS by Ken Burns, MARY POPPINS RETURNS.
The piece that came to my mind this time is his poem "The Dragon's Visit", particularly the original ending:
. . . the moon shone through his green wings the night air beating[As] he flew back over the dappled sea to a green dragons' meeting.
We tend to forget just how evocative Tolkien's prose (and, rarely, his verse); it's good to remind ourselves every once in a while.
--John R.
current reading: THE OTHER WIND by Le Guin (a reread, just finished) and BORN TO BE POSTHUMOUS, a biography of Edward Gorey (disappointing).
Recent viewing: YELLOW SUBMARININE (just finished; as weird as ever), THE ROOSEVELTS by Ken Burns, MARY POPPINS RETURNS.
January 1, 2019
Hastur is Gone
It's a sad way to start a new year, but my little cat Hastur passed away the morning of the thirtieth. She'd been fading away for several weeks and the good folks at McMonigle's cd do nothing to help her, so we brought her home and spent as much time as we cd with her in her final days, keeping her warm, dry, hydrated, and much petted as she slowly slipped away from us.
I'll probably write more about her later, but for now thought I'd just share a few pictures of Hastur the Master of Disaster over the years (sixteen in all)
--JDR
Hastur put in long hours working at my desk.
The tragedy of the empty food dish.
"The View from Here"
Hastur in old age at her most Salvadore Dali -esque
I'll probably write more about her later, but for now thought I'd just share a few pictures of Hastur the Master of Disaster over the years (sixteen in all)
--JDR
Hastur put in long hours working at my desk.
The tragedy of the empty food dish.
"The View from Here"
Hastur in old age at her most Salvadore Dali -esqueDecember 24, 2018
Quintessence
So, thanks to friend Jeff (hi Jeff) I learned about the just-published new novel JEEVES AND THE KING OF CLUBS (nov 2018) by Ben Schott. This may best be described as Wooster and Jeeves without Wodehouse. That is, it has the characters, setting, idiom, plot-elements, and so forth in common with Wodehouse's stories, used by permission of the Wodehouse estate. But it's not by Wodehouse himself.
This makes it one among many such books: I've read a Nero Wolf novel not by Rex Stout, a Perry Mason story not by Earl Stanley Gardner, several Lord Peter Wimsey books not by Dorothy L. Sayer, and any number of of Sherlock Holmes stories not by Doyle. The assumption in all these seems to be that it's the characters (along with some touches of setting) and not the author that make the story. But the experience of reading one of these posthumous continuation series suggests otherwise. I think I read such books out of a hope that, even though the author is gone his or her series might continue. We'll get more, even when we know there's no more 'more'. To borrow one of Tolkien's metaphors, you can assemble the familiar ingredients, but in the hands of any other cook try as you may it's a different soup.
As for JEEVES AND THE KING OF CLUBS, it's enjoyable enough but distinct enough from the originals to be obviously so by design. That is, Schott knows he can't replicate Wodehouse so he doesn't try; he uses the same ingredients to cook up a dish of his own. The essence of the plot postulates that the Junior Ganymede club is secretly a branch of the British Foreign Service and that through it Bertie is being recruited to keep an eye on British fascist Sir Roderick Spode, whose foreign contacts make him a potential genuine menace. Wodehouse wd have turned this into a light frothy farce, the fictional equivalent of a perfect screwball comedy; Schoot plays it straight except for a few carefully staged scenes. More importantly, his Wooster is neither dim nor gullible: he emerges as an intelligent actor within the larger plot, able to interact with others as a rational fellow human beings, as when he winds up minding a lingerie shop with great aplomb for what cd have been a fraught half-hour or when he chats with a mermaid* backstage at a theatre.
In short, an enjoyable read, but it's not Wodehouse.
But then, nobody else is.
--John R.
*that is, an actress in a mermaid suit
This makes it one among many such books: I've read a Nero Wolf novel not by Rex Stout, a Perry Mason story not by Earl Stanley Gardner, several Lord Peter Wimsey books not by Dorothy L. Sayer, and any number of of Sherlock Holmes stories not by Doyle. The assumption in all these seems to be that it's the characters (along with some touches of setting) and not the author that make the story. But the experience of reading one of these posthumous continuation series suggests otherwise. I think I read such books out of a hope that, even though the author is gone his or her series might continue. We'll get more, even when we know there's no more 'more'. To borrow one of Tolkien's metaphors, you can assemble the familiar ingredients, but in the hands of any other cook try as you may it's a different soup.
As for JEEVES AND THE KING OF CLUBS, it's enjoyable enough but distinct enough from the originals to be obviously so by design. That is, Schott knows he can't replicate Wodehouse so he doesn't try; he uses the same ingredients to cook up a dish of his own. The essence of the plot postulates that the Junior Ganymede club is secretly a branch of the British Foreign Service and that through it Bertie is being recruited to keep an eye on British fascist Sir Roderick Spode, whose foreign contacts make him a potential genuine menace. Wodehouse wd have turned this into a light frothy farce, the fictional equivalent of a perfect screwball comedy; Schoot plays it straight except for a few carefully staged scenes. More importantly, his Wooster is neither dim nor gullible: he emerges as an intelligent actor within the larger plot, able to interact with others as a rational fellow human beings, as when he winds up minding a lingerie shop with great aplomb for what cd have been a fraught half-hour or when he chats with a mermaid* backstage at a theatre.
In short, an enjoyable read, but it's not Wodehouse.
But then, nobody else is.
--John R.
*that is, an actress in a mermaid suit
December 15, 2018
A Song I'd Love to Hear Covered by Andy Serkis
So, seeing his Brexit/Gollum piece makes me want to see Andy Serkis put together a music video of the Gollums singing to his Ring the old Miracles hit YOU REALLY GOT A HOLD ON ME.*
Even better if it picks up additional victims of the Ring (Bilbo, Boromir, Ringwraith, &c) with each of the later choruses.
It'd be like the best filksing ever without even having to alter any of the words from the original (though a little judicious pruning might help)
I don't like you
But I love you
Seems that I'm always
Thinking of you
Oh, oh, oh,
You treat me badly
I love you madly
You've really got a hold on me . . .
I don't want you,But I need you
Don't want to kiss you
But I need to
Oh, oh, oh
You do me wrong now
My love is strong now
You've really got a hold on me. . .
I love you and all I want you to doIs just hold me, hold me, hold me, hold me . . .
I want to leave you
Don't want to stay here
Don't want to spend
Another day here
Oh, oh, oh, I want to split now
Just can't quit now
You've really got a hold on me . . .
--John R.
current reading:
JEEVES AND THE KING OF CLUBS (2018), not by P. G. Wodehouse but one Ben Schott
better still if it was the Beatles' version (the late one is best)
Even better if it picks up additional victims of the Ring (Bilbo, Boromir, Ringwraith, &c) with each of the later choruses.
It'd be like the best filksing ever without even having to alter any of the words from the original (though a little judicious pruning might help)
I don't like you
But I love you
Seems that I'm always
Thinking of you
Oh, oh, oh,
You treat me badly
I love you madly
You've really got a hold on me . . .
I don't want you,But I need you
Don't want to kiss you
But I need to
Oh, oh, oh
You do me wrong now
My love is strong now
You've really got a hold on me. . .
I love you and all I want you to doIs just hold me, hold me, hold me, hold me . . .
I want to leave you
Don't want to stay here
Don't want to spend
Another day here
Oh, oh, oh, I want to split now
Just can't quit now
You've really got a hold on me . . .
--John R.
current reading:
JEEVES AND THE KING OF CLUBS (2018), not by P. G. Wodehouse but one Ben Schott
better still if it was the Beatles' version (the late one is best)
A Song I'd Love to Hear Covered by Andy Sirkis
So, seeing his Brexit/Gollum piece makes me want to see Andy Serkis put together a music video of the Gollums singing to his Ring the old Miracles hit YOU REALLY GOT A HOLD ON ME.*
Even better if it picks up additional victims of the Ring (Bilbo, Boromir, Ringwraith, &c) with each of the later choruses.
It'd be like the best filksing ever without even having to alter any of the words from the original (though a little judicious pruning might help)
I don't like you
But I love you
Seems that I'm always
Thinking of you
Oh, oh, oh,
You treat me badly
I love you madly
You've really got a hold on me . . .
I don't want you,But I need you
Don't want to kiss you
But I need to
Oh, oh, oh
You do me wrong now
My love is strong now
You've really got a hold on me. . .
I love you and all I want you to doIs just hold me, hold me, hold me, hold me . . .
I want to leave you
Don't want to stay here
Don't want to spend
Another day here
Oh, oh, oh, I want to split now
Just can't quit now
You've really got a hold on me . . .
--John R.
current reading:
JEEVES AND THE KING OF CLUBS (2018), not by P. G. Wodehouse but one Ben Schott
better still if it was the Beatles' version (the late one is best)
Even better if it picks up additional victims of the Ring (Bilbo, Boromir, Ringwraith, &c) with each of the later choruses.
It'd be like the best filksing ever without even having to alter any of the words from the original (though a little judicious pruning might help)
I don't like you
But I love you
Seems that I'm always
Thinking of you
Oh, oh, oh,
You treat me badly
I love you madly
You've really got a hold on me . . .
I don't want you,But I need you
Don't want to kiss you
But I need to
Oh, oh, oh
You do me wrong now
My love is strong now
You've really got a hold on me. . .
I love you and all I want you to doIs just hold me, hold me, hold me, hold me . . .
I want to leave you
Don't want to stay here
Don't want to spend
Another day here
Oh, oh, oh, I want to split now
Just can't quit now
You've really got a hold on me . . .
--John R.
current reading:
JEEVES AND THE KING OF CLUBS (2018), not by P. G. Wodehouse but one Ben Schott
better still if it was the Beatles' version (the late one is best)
December 14, 2018
December 10, 2018
Andy Serkis is Amazing
So, Andy Serkis has found a way to channel Theresa May's inner Gollum:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NpExkViy6M
--John R.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NpExkViy6M
--John R.
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