Consortium of Seven: Year 2

by whiteray It’s Memorial Day. Here’s “John Brown” by Bob Dylan. It’s from Broadside Ballads, Vol. 1, first released in 1963 on Folkways Records and re-released in 2004 on Smithsonian Folkways. John Brown went off to war to fight on a foreign shore His mother sure was proud of him! He stood so straight and tall in his uniform and all His mother’s face broke out all in a grin “Oh son, you look so fine, I’m glad you’re a son of mine You make me proud to know you hold a gun Do what the captain says, lots of medals you will get And we’ll put them on the wall when you come home” When that old train pulled out, John’s ma began to shout Tellin’ ev’ryone in the neighborhood: “That’s my son that’s about to go, he’s a soldier now, you know” She made well sure her neighbors understood She got a letter once in a while and her face broke into a smile As she showed them to the people from next door And she bragged about her son with his uniform and gun And these things she called a ...

My commute includes a weekday benediction from this graceful Kokopelli. The school year is wrapping up and I am thankful I will remain in a 2nd grade classroom. Reflecting on the year, I am keeping a list of things I want to do differently next year. More reflection time for my students is one of them.  I arrived in St.Louis Friday evening. Thankful for the cool spring-like weather. Visited The St. Louis Art Museum. The Nubia: Art of ancient Africa exhibit was beautiful; the faience work, the engraving, carving, and history, amazing.  I learned there is a color, Egyptian Blue. I’ve long loved the turquoise hippopotamuses, they have some replicas for sale in the gift shop. Alongside the hippo is a mirror. There were several intricately carved mirrors in the exhibition.  Most of the items pictured below were found in the tombs of Nubian royalty.  Items from a Nubian queen’s funerary. The tall ‘arms’ were holders for incense. The hand shapes were so well done, the slend...

 It had been One of Those Weeks, we mused. & it was only Wednesday. We both agreed though. The pressures of work & life were finally catching up with us & we were done. Lockdown presented no solutions in the way of distractions & all anyone had to look forward to was their second jab. As my co-worker & friend of some thirty years & I pondered this grim state of affairs at the bus stop on the way home, we wondered when it would ever end. The scene was all a bit Beckett but with a bus shelter.  We laughed without mirth to think we’d both had a Meltdown Monday.  “That’s so unlike you!”  “It’s not like you either!” She, an art teacher, began talking about Munch’s The Scream . How we laughed, albeit somewhat hysterically… …however it did get me thinking about how frequently strong emotions make their way into art. Specifically screaming. The more I delved into what the World of Art had to offer, the more reasons I found to scream. As usual, the Wor...

      I n last week's post I piled on with shows that were appearing this weekend , wanting to help readers chart out some possibilities ahead of what for many of us will be a three-day, holiday weekend. If even one or two of those caught your attention, you may already have your screen time for the weekend filled, as the back half of Lucifer 's fifth season arrives, along with the second season of Ragnarok and the third (& final) one for The Kominsky Method -- all three of those on Netflix, and all details (again) in the back half of last week's post, available through that link above. (I've already been leaning into adding follow-up comments on the things I've watched, in those pieces where I'd first mentioned them, realizing that they'll work best there in the longer view. All such additions are in red text, like this.)        None of this is to say that I'm encouraging people to stay indoors all weekend, especially if the weather...

 Happy Thursday, everyone!  Time for another week where I go through five things I've run across this week of thrift stores and Little Free Libraries.  So, let's go from the classy to the trashy! ______________________________ Lasse Hallström has a very odd career, making movies in his native Sweden as well as over here in the USA.  (Also, a bunch of videos for ABBA.)  I've seen What's Eating Gilbert Grape  and The Cider House Rules , but My Life Is A Dog  (for which he received an Oscar nomination for directing) is one I've never seen  I know it's one that Ebert was a big fan of, so this was a welcome pickup ______________________________ I so love '90s Robert Altman.  Short Cuts  is a perfect example of it, with a huge cast that is the epitome of that time in Hollywood.  But what really makes this so great is being such a great adaptation of Raymond Carver.  And this is a lovely adaptation and edition, including a b...

Very early in Little Richard's career:  Rindy Ross on vocals and saxophone: A jukebox favorite back in the day:  Lesley Gore had some feelings about this situation: You might think she's lyin' but she's tellin' it like it is: A sad tale, doo-wop style: Sigh. Patsy Cline knows it's an old story: Couldn't leave this one off the list. Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 pay tribute to the Beatles.    A rich baritone lament: Nostalgic pop: Some cover art:

There's nothuing H. G. Wells has written that I wouldn't recjommend, but today I compare two of his books, one of which was made into a good movie, and then again into a pretty good movie. The other book was made into a terrible movie. But none of that has anything to do with the books in themselves. So here we go! First, the book to skip.  The War of the Worlds   Why to skip it The War of the Worlds was astonishingly innovative in its day. It offers analysis of both human and Martian values. But the novel also has its drawbacks. For instance, once you know how the story ends, you don't read the book with the same feeling of suspense the second time through.  The Food of the Gods, and How It Came to Earth  Why to read it I love books and movies about mad science, and while The Food of the Gods is not quite that, it's close. The plot is closer to cascading events all caused by ill-considered science. The issue in the book is that short-sighted people launch tech adva...