Huzzah for the culturally erudite. Steve Lyons plays all nine positions in stint for the Lynn-based Massachusetts Mad Dogs, and -- with some modicum of modesty -- notes to Boston Herald reporter that it's been done before. But he refers not to Bert Campaneris: "Bugs Bunny did it against the Gashouse Gorillas."
Aug. 5
Controversy rages over Boston Globe columnist Mike Barnicle's unattributed use of George Carlin's previously published material. Barnicle, in interview, raises provocative point: What is the length of time of joke ownership before it passes into public domain?
Aug. 1
Impressions from approximately four weeks experience in attempted bodhran-playing:
*I find it harder to accompany jigs than reels
*Hornpipes are a pleasure, however
*Mick Moloney's "Strings Attached" is perfect for practice
*Enjoyable as it is, I'm not about to discard the guitar and mandolin anytime soon; I'm too fond of DADGAD and hammer-on triplets.
July 31
David Bowie plans to join the ranks of the ISP industry this fall. One would expect the "hold" music on the customer service line to be something other than Mantovoni or 1001 Strings.
July 28
Book completed: "Summer of the Danes," by Ellis Peters -- well-crafted, concise snapshot of political and personal mores in medieval Wales, overshadowing the murder-mystery angle.
July 27
Recent musical acquisition: "Bravehearts (assorted artists)" -- no, nothing to do with the movie, except Scottishness. I'd say Blair Douglas and Old Blind Dogs will now be on my list of potential future purchases. Don't know if we really needed Dougie MacLean's "Auld Lang Syne," though, as nicely rendered as it is.
July 24-26
*End of the Heat Wave of Horror, bedroom and family room ACs are thankfully deactivated, and girls are consigned once more back to their burrow. Saturday evening is a loving family fest with step-mom, Chinese food and a few bottles of Avia, followed by a filling Sunday brunch and leisurely afternoon.
*Viewing: "Trainspotting" -- characters have that repulsively fascinating quality, especially Spud, who seems like a child who physically, as well as mentally, grew in an oddly proportioned way (never more so than his informal "dirge" during the post-funeral scene). Begbie, meanwhile, could be the Hibernian Johnny ("Mean Streets") Boy.
July 23
*News of proposed biopic of Kemal Ataturk begs obvious Monty Python-inspired question: Will we see his entire menagerie of "Abdul"?
*According to latest AdweekGreater Boston area brewery has announced it will shortly begin distributing "Three Stooges Beer." Just in time for the football season. Time for a revival of "Hey, Moe"?
July 21
Modern Library compiles the 100 Best English-Speaking Novels of All Time, with Ulysses at the top of the list. Gratified to see that Bill Kennedy weighs in at 92 with Ironweed. But there is sure to be much consternation and raging debate in faculty lounges, literary magazine offices and salons all over, no doubt.
July 19
Family outing to the Stonehill College Irish Festival yields some enjoyable session time, albeit in a somewhat stifling tent. Kids have fun, too, and YD exhibits promising step-dance form. But for some reason, no programs or maps are available upon entrance...and the "free phone calls to Ireland" booth site was a stone's throw from the stage -- where, at the time, Black 47 was playing at full blast.
July 16
A lot of catching up to do on some other fronts:
Books completed:
*"The Photographer's Sweethearts," by Diana Hartog -- moving, albeit in an incomfortable sort of way, with a protagonist resembling a more elemental and holistic, yet equally haunted Humbert Humbert.
*"Ghosts of Mississippi: The Murder of Medgar Evers, the Trials of Byron De La Beckwith, and the Haunting of the New South," by Maryanne Vollers -- her strength is more the reportage of the last Beckwith trial rather than the recounting of what went on before. What's poignant is the glimpses of those public and private (and ultimately near-fatal) divisions within the 1960s civil rights movement.
*"Beach Boy," by Ardashir Vakil -- seems like most every Indian delicacy is described here, in lip-smacking detail. A bittersweet tale, at the end of the day, but with some useful glances at 1970s Indian pop culture, especially that huge film industry.
Viewings:
*"Good Will Hunting" -- sure, I'll stick up for the locals. Just terrific. Robin Williams' deconstruction of Matt Damon's personal and cultural milieu during that park scene was brilliant. Any film using footage from World Series 75 Game 6 automatically has points in its favor.
*"Flirting With Disaster" -- a lesson in how to effectively utilize screen legends (i.e. Alda, Tomlin) whose limelight time is up. Ben Stiller's character recalls the joke about the optimist in the room of dung.
Recent musical acquisitions:
*"Riptide," by Anam -- an impulse buy (based on their showing at Old Songs and their bodhran player's instructive and inspiring workshop) but one I won't regret; the mix of Cornish tunes with the more familiar Celtic material an asset; but the trend toward jazzing up the familiar chestnuts ("Westlyn Winds") as opposed to finding "new" old songs is disappointing.
*"A New Day," by Cherish the Ladies -- they've come a long way since the days they seemed more in the cute-kids-who-play-darn-good category; lovely treatments of "Green Grow the Rushes" and "Broken Wings." And speaking of which...
Song learned:
"Broken Wings," by Dougie MacLean -- funny, but I don't even particularly like the song as a whole. The verses are too impressionistic and vague to suit my taste, especially compared to other MacLean compositions. But that chorus redeems it.
July 14: Back from the shadows again
So there I sat, watching my assorted files and programs being restored on my new hard drive. Sort of like watching a small Welsh community trying to recover from a mining disaster, as one by one the survivors are brought back up from the pit; all wonder who has been saved, and whether those who made it will be the same again.
To put it mildly, a bit's happened: unfathomable tragedy in Ulster again, depressingly redolent of pre-civil rights era Deep South (see above); France rules the world for the first time in a century or so; and fond remembrances for the inventor of kitty litter, and for Walter O'Brien, who helped bring "Charlie on the MTA" to the repertoire of Boston Irish pubs everywhere. In summary:
July 4
A bit off this year, for a few reasons -- kids devastated over losing their "treat" money; forthcoming development crowds our beloved fireworks-viewing area; and LW suffers ghastly toenail injury on way home. But good times and fellowship at friend's annual barbecue.
June 27-30
Climax of vacation with visit to old homestead, delightful visit with Mum and the aforementioned dear family friends. Includes outing to Old Songs Festival, which LW and I help to close down, and where I make a leap and join the Bodhran Brigade. Pleasantly exhausted parents, equally exhausted kids all around.
June 21-26
The week at home includes:
*A visit to Old Sturbridge Village with dear family friends, during which it becomes patently obvious that daughters's favorite attraction is the "school-marm," whom they can tweak so as to receive a 19th-century reprimand.
*Fond farewell luncheon for departing boss in very swank setting, which thankfully does not include attendants in its men's room. Wonder if this unease with personal washroom employees renders me unfit for the halls of power?
*A trip to see the traveling Lego exhibition at Faneuil Hall, allowing dearest spouse and younger daughter their indulgence.
*Father's Day viewing: "The Truman Show" -- YD's confusion over the premise dovetails with Weir's intent: does Jim Carrey, she asks, not know he's really in a movie?
June 20
Settling in for a week's vacation, most of which likely to be spent in grip of pleasant domesticity. D&Q updates may be few and far between during this period.
June 19
World Cup controversy, no. 32 in a series: Furor erupts from Land's End to John-O-Groats as English officials decide to ban baked beans from team menu, citing high sugar content. The "scAWnes-vs.-scOHnes" pronunciation contretemps tame by comparison.
June 18
*We continue to slog through the end-of-year, end-of-elementary-school, end-of-childhood various rites of passage -- actually, most of them have been quite enjoyable, such as the 5th-grade parents picnic and "field day" (silly relay races, in fact). OD and her classmates seem to be quite blase about the whole thing, which perhaps is good; save the tears for high school graduation.
*Viewing: "Big Night" -- Ian Holm? A sneaky Italian restauranteur? Not sure how it worked, but did: Perhaps it's his ability to project courtly menace. A non-resolution resolution, but that's as it should be.
June 12-14
Endurance Weekend. Start with the school Color Day, lending assistance and occasional direction to the fifth-grade volunteers, later braying like a carnival barker while manning the sack-race and sneaker-relay stations. Sigh. At the most, only two of these left...unless I come back as a parent alumnus. Oh, a quick but satisfying appearance by Banbury Cross.
Then it's off to finish mad house-cleaning while shoving YD off to her Brownie trip in preparation for OD's five-hands-round sleepover -- which proves to be ultimately successful despite little actual sleep.
A Saturday afternoon and evening of rest amidst the deluge of the decade, and then time for Sunday's Girl Scout Troop Farewell Dinner. Photos old and recent are dug out, and we marvel at how far our little girls (who at one point offer us a brief Spice Girls retrospective) have come in such a short time.
Back at home, I dig out the guitar, and am delighted and astonished to observe OD singing along on chorus of "Durham Gaol." Teen consumer culture, for the nonce, is kept at bay.
Oh, yes, the weekend included viewings:
*"Good As It Gets" -- the title (which evokes some mediocre '80s teen/YA comedy) is the only shortcoming. Absolutely loved it: Jack Nicholson's familiar misanthropic tendecies, coursing through new and imaginative filters; Helen Hunt's considerable yet fragile spunk; Kinnear and Gooding; and the damn dog! Sure to launch several one-liners.
*"Forever Young" -- plot holes big enough to drive a Foster's delivery truck through (especially Mel Gibson's resurrection, without any medical assistance), but a pleasant enough diversion for a rainy, brain-dead afternoon. The temptation to "MYST," especially near the end, proved unrelenting.
June 10
*Latest stint of parental devotion to school involves serving as "judge" for Grade 5 science expo, with projects including comparison of paper towel brands' absorbency, monitoring the impact of various kinds of music on plant growth, and OD's observance of the effect of vinegar, bleach, water and soda on individual eggs. Resplendent with small blue rosette, name tag and clipboard, I look for scientific method among the, er, madness.
*Also, am now officially co-president of Banbury Cross for 1998-99. Gulp.
June 9
Following recent, ongoing debate about appropriateness of "R" horror movies for pre-teens, OD succumbs to fear and leaves room during this night's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" episode. A reassuring event, actually.
June 8
Viewing: "Austin Powers" -- alas, a familiar quandry: too long to be a "Saturday Night Live" sketch, too short on material to be a truly good movie. But the double-entendre visual gags had a sort of ribald Jacque Tati quality about them (in terms of timing, rather than sophistication).
June 7
Second Annual Ginger Ale with Banbury Cross, Hopbrook and Green Mountain Morris and Velocirapper convenes amid occasional downpours at Long Wharf and Faneuil Hall. Again, future of morris dancing looks very optimistic.
June 6
Viewing: "Bleak Moments" -- a veritable tribute to personal discomfort and nervous tics, well-done on that score but exhausting to sit through (part of the reason being that it was almost inaudible). Still, the musical-interlude scenes with the retarded sister were out-of-left-field uplifting.
June 4
Viewing: "The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill But Came Down A Mountain" -- it's one thing for the lead in a movie to be upstaged, but Hugh Grant is almost rendered an afterthought by the last reel. Parallels with "Local Hero," "Tight Little Island," "I Know Where I'm Going" are obvious, but not diminishing. And Colm Meany makes a pretty good Welshman.
June 2
Books completed:
*"Fatherhood in America: A History," by Robert Griswold -- on the whole, an effective mix of anecdote and research, tackling what he admits is an ambitious task. Interesting parallels between current and 1920s middle-class family life and consumer-culture ethos. One rather glaring omission: Impact of post-war mobility on families.
*"Heat Lightning," by Leah Hager Cohen -- touching, poignant, even terrifying, and captures perfectly the child point-of-view and attitude. The depiction of the steadily widening rift between the two sisters -- one we know will never be completely repaired -- is especially moving. And the character of Bill Roulen is a masterful creation, so sinister yet ultimately so impotent.
