We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
Somebody at NRO said they couldn't stop listening to this. A Chopin earwig. Listen to it two or three times, and see if it does the same to your ears. He zooms around his simple theme like a whirling dervish.
In 1802 Beethoven retreated to the then-countryside outside Vienna in an effort to deal with his despair over his increasing deafness and other family issues. There he wrote this letter (found after his death), to his brothers.
It begins:
Oh you men who think or say that I am malevolent, stubborn, or misanthropic, how greatly do you wrong me? You do not know the secret cause which makes me seem that way to you. From childhood on, me heart and soul have been full of the tender feeling of goodwill, and I was ever inclined to accomplish great things. But, think that for six years now I have been hopelessly afflicted, made worse by senseless physicians, from year to year deceived with hopes of improvement, finally compelled to face the prospect of a lasting malady (whose cure will take years or, perhaps, be impossible). Though born with a fiery, active temperament, even susceptible to the diversions of society, I was soon compelled to withdraw myself, to live life alone. If at times I tried to forget all this, oh how harshly I was I flung back by the doubly sad experience of my bad hearing. Yet it was impossible for me to say to people, "Speak louder, shout, for I am deaf." Ah, how could I possibly admit an infirmity in the one sense which ought to be more perfect in me than others, a sense which I once possessed in the highest perfection, a perfection such as few in my profession enjoy or ever have enjoyed.--Oh I cannot do it; therefore forgive me when you see me draw back when I would have gladly mingled with you.
Readers may recall that Beethoven moved from Bonn to Vienna to study with Mozart. He never did that, and probably never met Mozart, but he did study with Papa Haydn - and with Salieri too.
I have always wondered why pop music, blues, and folk music so often refer to a female beloved or a female object of desire in those terms. Terms of endearment. I don't want to go all Pomo on our readers, but it's sort of interesting, isn't it?
I like this, even though I enjoy any silly terms of endearment or desire:
If Elvis Presley were still alive, he’d be 75. If you weren’t there, it may be hard to believe what a shocking and refreshing tonic Elvis was to the 1950’s, not only his melodic voice that reached into our hearts but his sexuality. The nation tuned in to the Ed Sullivan Show every Sunday night for the best variety of entertainers in the world. It was a compromise of the times, that didn’t last long, that Elvis’ wiggles were not seen on Ed’s show. Here’s a medley of Elvis classics from 1957 on Ed Sullivan.
Here’s Elvis in one of his hit movies, 1957's Jailhouse Rock. (Notice the early pole dancing.)
A decade later, the Beatles ruled. But, Elvis Presley is always the King. In 1968 Elvis was on the comeback trail, performing his Love Me Tender, one of his best to express our longings. The Beetles came close but never matched the King.
Elvis became, was Las Vegas, as in this medley from his show in 1970.
By 1977 his excesses and addictions can be seen catching up to Elvis, as the King performed before the King of Greece. He loses the words to Are You Lonesome Tonight, which he prefaces with “I am and I was”, probably reflecting on his divorce from Pricilla after 5-years of marriage – whom he never stopped loving, and just hear Elvis’ voice singing “shall I come back again.” Elvis has never left us.
Elvis died on August 16, 1977. His fans haven’t forgotten him. He recorded 711 songs. Others have “covered” his songs, but none have ever captured the soul of the King and how he connected with each person individually in his audiences.
Bill Monroe & the Bluegrass Boys - Blue Moon of Kentucky. I tried to find Tom T. Hall's amazing Kentucky in the Morning on video, but it doesn't seem to be anywhere.
I once booed Jewel at a performance. It was the year she toured with Bob Dylan, and I saw them in New Haven. (She once said that she thought Bob was gay because he didn't hit on her during the tour. Disappointed by that, it seems.)
I booed because she had to bring some political snark into her chatter, assuming as such folks do that their audiences are all on the same page politically. Rude of me, but that sort of presumption bugs me. As usual, my friends were embarassed by my behavior. She was not really known, then.
Here's the whole song that was chopped up on Dr Merc's fun post:
I always thought Johnny had a bit of the redeemed sociopath in him, but it's just my intuition and it might just be his stage persona. Anyway, there is a darkness in all of us. God bless good ol' Johnny Cash.
The problem with CPR is remembering what to do when your adrenaline begins surging because it looks like somebody is trying to die. (Some of the other problems are those of cracking some ribs of some guy who doesn't need it, or of keeping "alive" somebody whose brain is already dying or dead. Knowing when to use CPR is as important as knowing how.)
Capt. Tom thought we needed to post some Django Reinhardt. He emailed me a good one, but I think we'll start with the famous duo of Reindardt and Stephane Grappelli.
Any 
In 1802 Beethoven retreated to the then-countryside outside Vienna in an effort to deal with his despair over his increasing deafness and other family issues. There he wrote