Rattling good session at BC: small gathering, good mix of instruments and temperaments and -- perhaps best of all -- tempos that stayed well below warp speed. Here's hoping it not only lasts, but becomes twice a month, at least.
Nov. 18
Don't know why I like this headline, but I do (NY Times): "Scientist Says He Found Piece of Asteroid That Killed Dinosaurs."
Nov. 15
Our wonderful, overly intense, smart-as-a-whip, incorrigible first-born takes a closer step to the teenage years. Happy birthday, OD.
Nov. 14
Viewing: "Journey to the Center of the Earth" -- Pat Boone, a singing, squeezebox-playing Scots scientist? Far more ludicrous than the scientific principles advanced here (all due respect to Mr. Verne). By the way, it's usually not a good idea to perform a march-tune in subterranean caverns.
Nov. 13
*No injuries reported at the alt.religion.kibology Party-Like Event at the headquarters of Software, Tool & Die. After tour of facilities, Kibo leads us through 15-minute bubble wrap decimation derby, then a game of "Twirling Boy or Shatner." All this to the accompaniment of various and sundry snack foods, some edible, some unspeakable, and recordings of themes from "SeaQuest" and "Space: 1999," and famous sci-fi author's rants. Somewhat more elucidation, if really desired, will likely be available at Kibology's Internet storefront.
*Viewing: "Krippendorf's Tribe" -- premise stretched precariously thin at times, but then again how often do you see a comedy based on research administration fraud? Wonder if NIH, NSF and the like were taking notes. Richard Dreyfus and Lily Tomlin certaintly seem to have fun, anyway.
Viewing: "A Message to Love: The 1970 Isle of Wight Festival" -- like the event itself, the film functions like a disappointing sequel to "Woodstock." Seems so determined to make its point about raging commercialism in rock 'n roll, you wonder what ended up on the cutting room floor. Biggest problem: out-of-sequence and overshortened concert clips, especially Emerson, Lake and Palmer.
Nov. 7-8
Well done, Banbury Cross: Good-spirited, well-received performance at NOMAD festival in far-flung Connecticut. Bodhran doyen Steve, meanwhile, gives enthusiastic appraisal of my drum, and sells me a better beater as well. Ride home allows opportunity to hear tape of one Ariane Lydon -- who sounds like the best qualities of June Tabor and Cindy Kallet combined -- as well as participate in a Beatles' sing-along with all present. Good fun.
Sunday finds us celebrating YD's 9th at her roller-skating party, the last (for a while) of the big-time birthday bashes we will contemplate arranging. But if anyone deserved a happy birthday this year, it's her. And she got one.
Nov. 6
*Book completed: "The Shipping News," by Anne Proulx. A must for any current or former journalist who ever had to cover library committee meetings. The personal-growth story is quite moving, too. One problem, though. Fragmented sentences. Become a bit hard to take after a while.
*Viewing: "Raining Stones" -- A more mainstream Mike Leigh film, one could say, which is not to dismiss Kenneth Loach. The comic pathos, buddy-buddy aspects are well done. But the change in tone in the last half-hour, and transition to morality play, is jarring.
Nov. 5
Favorite post-election story: Newport, Maine residents reject proposal to have selectmen draft ordinance banning women from displaying breasts in public, in wake of neighborhood controversy over young lady who prefers to mow lawn topless. Town official explains that current laws against public displays of nudity and sex do not apply because "breasts are not genitalia, and lawn mowing is not a sex act."
Nov. 3
Release of new Michael Flatley video, "Feet of Fire," invites observation that he may be rethinking his pugilistic career because he has a "Jaw of Glass."
Nov. 2
Ingenuous -- hell, downright laughable -- public statements issuing from the NBA negotiations recall similarly ill-informed comments from the upper-crust during worst days of The Depression: e.g, J.P. Morgan's plea for the survival of the leisure class, which he identified as the 25 to 30 million American families he believed to employ servants (there less than 2 million servants in the US at the time); or the Du Pont family member who reportedly declined to sponsor a social assistance program because "at 3 p.m. on Sundays everybody is playing polo."
