https://youtube.com/watch?v=sS9xhiudphU
This morning from Rick Gordon
People keep saying “Beautiful day,” and I grit my teeth. Yes, the sun is out and sky is blue, but the weather is creepy. C’mon low pressure, move back in and let those storms blow in from the ocean. This photo is the end of a weak front that brought only 1/10th inch of rain…article in NYTimes titled “Older Mind May Just Be a Fuller Mind,” saying that the older you are, the bigger a library of memory you have to deal with, the longer it takes to access it. I’ve been saying to people for years that memory is not infinite and that some stuff has to get pushed out for new stuff to get stored — how’s that for rationalization of all the things I can’t remember now?…Also in NYT an article on sloths; they discovered that sloths have moth living aboard (in their fur) that create algae and a large part of sloths’ diet consists of eating this algae. Efficient or what?…Right now listening to Bach Sonatas and Partitas by Chris Thiele, mandolinist from The Punch Brothers. There’s something about the ringing tones of the mandolin that are perfect here, different from the sound of a violin or piano or harpsichord, and the musicianship is stunning; dazzling runs, lovely interpretation…Come to think of it, the whole point of the Llewyn Davis movie was not the film, but the concert film, “Another Day, Another Time,” made in New York in September; way better film…Last night we ran across a documentary on the Smithville Fiddlers’ Jamboree and Crafts Festival in Smithville, Tennessee, and was it good! It’s hard for us (east or west) coastal people to remember that there’s a huge part ofAmerica out there that’s not really on our radar. These fiddlers were so good, tons of them, quiet and unassuming and excellent and the clog dancers were a delight; I’ve got it marked on my calendar (July 4-5, 2014), and I might just go; maybe a road trip across America, maybe about time…Went eeling a few days ago and nada, maybe the big surf of late sent them into hiding…going to take my kayak to Tomales Bay this afternoon in search of horseneck clams and cockles…I’m on a campaign to get more seafood…had pasta with mussels last night…last, and the big news around here, is that we’re almost finished with Tiny Homes on the Move and I’m pretty thrilled with it.
Was driving through a nearby valley last night. Dark, moon not yet up. The ’50s station on Sirius radio had good stuff playing. Everley Brothers, “Wake Up Little Suzy,” and a coyote crossed the road and stood along the side. A few of the local coyotes are a bit scraggly, but this one was healthy, handsome, a fine specimen of Canis species…I stopped, rolled window down. He (looked like a male) just stood there, maybe 20 feet away, looking at me, music playing, he had to be listening:
“Whatta we gonna tell your mama,
Whatta we gonna tell your pa,
Whatta we gonna tell our friends,
when they say “ooh-la-la…”
We looked at each other for maybe 10 seconds, then he loped off…
Later, driving home along the coast: “Fannie Mae” by Buster Brown, “Save the Last Dance For Me” by The Drifters, then “Maybeline” by Chuck Berry, it sounded so exuberant, fine for this moonlit night.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=s8yMlMgp_-A
From Rick Gordon (just now)
Dry dry dry. Day after day of no rain. I think the driest in history.
Saw Inside LLewyn Davis last night. Disappointing. I wanted to like it, because the concert put on in NYC in September by the musicians recruited by musical director TBone Burnett was terrific, and I have a lot of respect for the Coen brothers and their witty and fresh approach to film making. But this was just a bore. John Goodman’s character was overblown and weird, say like Jack Nicholson in one of his rare misfires as the Joker in the 1st Batman film, or Johnny Depp’s characters in the Tim Burton movies—sorry, I’m not buyin it…I don’t understand all the adulation for Llewyn. Music not even that good. Very little humor. Best picture of year, puhleeeze.
I cut down a 35-year old Weeping Santa Rosa Plum, the other day, was rotting from the inside. Interesting to see what was a pretty big (and productive) garden presence reduced to a couple of piles of kindling and to-be-split firewood
Yesterday we went to Flora Grubb, a large nursery specializing in palm trees and succulents in San Francisco. Great place, down near the produce market, with a Ritual Coffee stand inside. I shot a lot of pictures, we’ll post more when I get time. https://floragrubb.com
All Hail by The Devil Makes Three on Grooveshark
The other night we watched a performance by Tom Waits from 1978, filmed at the Austin City Limits series. It was stunning. OK, I’m overboard in the enthusiasm department. I’m constantly “stunned and amazed,” as my friend Jack puts it. Stunned and amazed — may it continue ever thus — I ain’t backin off.
This concert knocked me out. The persona — holy shit! The songs, the tight, elegant band…Reminded me of Bob Dylan’s breakthrough songs, where you just couldn’t figure out where those wildly poetic words and great music were coming from. Another planet?
I’m watching/listening to/ it right now. The 3rd or 4th song, starting about 19:20, “A Sweet Little Bullet From A Pretty Blue Gun,” is on as I write — killer. This is just a radiant performance.
https://video.pbs.org/video/2179574410/
“A few months ago I saw the mighty, ever-reigning dinosaur kings of rock, the Rolling Stones. I had a general admission ticket and a small pocket camera, and arrived many hours early so I could worm my way to the front.…I’ve seen the Stones several times over the years, but this was the first time I brought a camera. The smartphone tsunami has forced concert promoters to give up their long-running battle against fan photos. Fancy SLRs are still prohibited at lots of shows. But apart from a few hardline reactionaries like Prince, most performers let their audiences go hog wild with pocket cameras and cellphones.
But what I really want to draw your attention to are the awesome capabilities you can now find in a pocket camera. With extreme lighting, fast-moving subjects, and chaotic settings, live concerts present photographers with many challenges. I hope the shots I’m sharing in this post show you that you can now achieve impressive results in the trickiest environments with the lightest of hardware. .…”
-Rob Reid
On BoingBoing here.
(This is the camera I have.)
