The inimitable Marvin Gaye, ideal foil to Berry Gordon
Good ‘ol Tamla.
YT suggested this “Soul Purrfection Version” and it is good…
Oh Yeah
Yello’s version, running in my head this evening.
May skies
Leave it to the skyscapes to get me motivated to post again. We’ve had some great early storm clouds this year, bringing agua (es la vida!) del cielo, crepuscular rays, and my favorite kind of light, stormlight.
We’ve had an unusually cool and moist Spring here; it feels almost like Autumn some days — yesterday 20/5 and today with highs in the 60s, a good 15-20 dF below normal. It’s great! If the Earth wants to make New Mexico more like Morelos, I shan’t complain, haha…
…with the possible exception of the active volcanoes.
This one brought stormlit clouds and rain
Friday Night Freeform
Because something has to hold up the third leg of Brian’s rotating tripod, lol
Music is intrinsic, beginning with the call of stars, susurrations of the waking world, lullabies, songs of my sisters, heard compositions, collected works, playing on FM… fun times volunteering on NPR… old djs never die, they just segue…
Tonight’s randomicity — random CD shelves, random shelves, positions and (semi- random) cuts on same, from my collection; five ’cause that’s what the old school player driving the soundstage upstairs does:
Pure 80’s : Stray Cats: “Rock This Town”
Eric Clapton : Unplugged : “Running on Faith”
The Smithereens : 11 : “A Girl Like You”
B.B. King : Why I Sing The Blues : Chains and Things (Carole King on Piano)
Last but not least, SRV with Kings B.B. and Albert as well as Mr. Paul Butterfield : The Sky is Crying from the album of the same name
n.b. some liberties taken in translating my collection via YouTube… I’ll generally find a live version if I can, even if it isn’t the exact CD version (which, as often as not and perhaps more so) is not available. Almost enough to get me to publish exported FLACs, but then, they’d have no more than #phototunes at best so I haven’t.
Echoes
Pink Floyd’s, that is. I remember eagerly going out to buy the Meddle LP long ago, and cherishing it in its various incarnations over the years. Its most enduring track for me is likelyEchoes, here performed in Pompeii:
The reason I didn’t post this on 21 Feb., its post origin date? Unknown.
I am not generally a big fan of covers, but Rodrigo y Gabriela have made it their own, as any proper cover might hope to. Another case of (perhaps not so) improbable accomplishment. 🙂
Bonnie
Early Saturday afternoon, my wife called me, excitedly saying “You’ve got to come over, I have a surprise!” So I dropped what I was doing and headed across town to see what it might be.
When I got there, my wife was nowhere to be seen. What?! I went and asked her mom, “Where is she?” to which she replied, “Oh, she just went out for a few minutes, she should be back shortly.” Well, okay. I went to pet Leelu, and to busy myself in the kitchen while I waited.
Soon she arrived, and said “Let’s go!” “Surprise?” “You’ll see.” So off we went, driving away in Scotty the Highlander. And we drove and drove, headed East on I-40, past Edgewood’s Pizza Barn, and on to Moriarty. What could we be doing here? Geocaching? Some cool new cemetery cache from Nodderbug?
No, it wasn’t those things. NMFireHorse kept giving me clues, like calling the lady we went to meet, so I began to suspect what it might be. “We’re looking for the park by the water tower.” What? “We’re meeting someone here, look for a white Escape.” Oh, okay…there it is.
I had pretty much given up on another ACD, at least for a long time yet to come. After Bronco’s death, we had tried with other Heelers. Gypsy the blind girl was wonderful, but soon developed cancer. We barely had six weeks with her. Then I heard of a owner surrender in Colorado, and drove up there to pick up Danny. He was a great dog but turned out to be a biter, and after a few months did an unexpected number on my elderly mom’s arm. So, I had to take him back. Eventually he had to be euthanized. :(( None of them lived past seven.
What could it be, but two baby ACD/Red Heeler (RH) girls with their mom and human! “You can pick which one you want.” WooHoo! The mom was a super sweet RH/hound mix; one girl was almost solid auburn, with a white star on her chest and neck, and the other girl was Bonnie, a red speckled girl with a big rump patch that reminded me of Bronco. It was a tough decision, but the cold wind accelerated the process.
Since we were already in Moriarty, we had to stop and stock up on Too Cool ginger ale for NMFireHorse and Imperial Stout at the local alien outlet… .
When we got back out, libations in hand, what should we see but a clever pup who climbed up on the dash to keep an eye out for us…
I have to admit to having had a bit of trepidation on the way home with her, considering how tenuously Jimi and Danny had gotten along. I needn’t have been concerned, though. While Jimi is not very enthusiastic over having to share my attention with Bonnie, they are getting along remarkably well after having a good mutual sniff upon Bonnie’s arrival.
It is really funny watching them gambol about, chasing each other. I have yet to get any decent photos or videos of them at it; they speed through my frame at such a rate… .
I did however take Bonnie out to a local park for her first geocaching experience, and got some portraits of her. Here are a few of the more popular and awarded ones that I posted to Flickr:
Sunset
Sunsets of Google Plus as we wind down to the end
googleplussunsetting and #gplussunsetting hashtags courtesy of Ellie Kennard
#ThePlusIsDeadLongLiveThePlus
You can find me here of course, and on Flickr and Tipua as well, after the demise of Google+
Gabriel: Secret World
I loved Peter Gabriel’s work with Genesis, but think and feel that he really came into his own as a solo artist. Here is his Secret World concert (1:42:09) performed/recorded 16-17 November 1993 at Palasport Nuovo in Modena, Italy. He was and is none to shabby in finding people to collaborate and play with, either. The musicians featured in this concert:
- Peter Gabriel — lead vocals, keyboards, harmonica (“Kiss That Frog”)
- Tony Levin – bass, Chapman stick, backing vocals
- David Rhodes – guitar, backing vocals
- Manu Katche – drums, backing vocals
- Jean-Claude Naimro – keyboards, backing vocals
- Shankar – violin, backing vocals
- Levon Minassian – doudouk (“Blood of Eden”)
- Paula Cole – backing vocals, co-lead vocals (“Shaking the Tree” and “Don’t Give Up”)
- special guests were Papa Wemba and Molokai
Tracks:
- Come Talk To Me
- Steam
- Across The River
- Slow Marimbas
- Shaking The Tree
- Blood Of Eden
- San Jacinto
- Kiss That Frog
- Washing Of The Water
- Solsbury Hill
- Digging In The Dirt
- Sledgehammer
- Secret World
- Don’t Give Up
- In Your Eyes
Dratted YouTube/Alphabet wants to monetise everything, so there are ads between the songs. They’ll never apologise, so I will on their behalf.
Maestro y Maestro
Pablo (Pau) Casals, interpreting J.S. Bach in Abbaye Saint-Michel de Cuxa, France, 1954
Bach Cello Solo Nr.1, BWV 1007
I remember playing the original LP (or an EMI copy thereof) long ago on the radio. As the YouTube publisher states, those versions are superior to this recording. But hey, this is apparently the first video of Casals’ performance. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve passed it on here on the Internet; it is a long-time favorite.
Casa San Ysidro
This past Saturday, I went out to see if I might find and capture some interesting street shots for one of the photographic groups I participate in online, so I headed down to Corrales. It was a bit wintry, but when I passed by the Old Church and Casa San Ysidro, I noticed that the parking lot was packed. “What’s this?” I asked myself, “Is there some sort of event going on?” So, I parked and investigated. Indeed, there was a history lecture going on at Casa San Ysidro. Unfortunately, I was on my way across town and didn’t have the time to attend the lecture, but I was excited to have the opportunity to go inside and shoot. Architecture and history trump street every single time in my book… .
One of the first people I encountered there was Aaron Gardner, the site manager. Now, I am definitely not like my father, who was an anthropological portrait photographer first and foremost. I and am very reticent about photographing people, but was struck by his beautiful eyes — inherited from his mother, he says — and asked if I might take his portrait. (Gasp!) He was happy to oblige.
On with the photos I captured, then…
Here is one of the compound bell. I liked it in B&W:
The horno (oven) is in the corner of the compound. Another one I liked in B&W and processed in Silver Efex:
Here is another shot of it, in color and a bit wider:
Staying with the fiery theme for a moment, here is the smithy, or at least part of it:
Barn Door
More of this album is visible on Flickr.
Brian Christian 