Tuesday, January 28, 2014

O, to be a musicologist...

http://cornellreading.typepad.com/grapes_of_wrath/2009/07/dust-bowl-songs-and-the-grapes-of-wrath-pt-2.html
 
My mother, she's a tailor 
sews those new blue jeans
My husband he's a gambling man
down in New Orleans 

(Seeger's version of  House of the Rising Sun with lyrics sung by a girl)

~~~

"Some sang like angels. Lomax had particular success with Georgia Turner, a slight, pretty teenage girl who lived with her family in a one-room log cabin outside Middlesboro. As Anthony painstakingly recounts, she performed two songs for Lomax in 1937; the second and more interesting of the pair was a 98-second lament in a sliding blues scale. It was her signature tune, he writes, and it was delivered in a 'sad' voice:

There is a house in New Orleans
they call the Risin' Sun.
It's been the ruin of many poor girl
and me, oh God, for one."

http://articles.latimes.com/2007/jun/17/books/bk-shaer17


~~~

"The two were over 100 miles apart, a considerable distance in the 1930s, yet both sang eerily similar versions of the song. In an age where few could afford record players or radios, how did so many people learn the same music such as the Rising Sun? And in an era before cars were common and highways were still 25 years away, how did songs like this one manage to spread across the country? Several have researched the topic of “floating songs”, which, much like the songs themselves, has murky and hard-to-trace origins."

http://www.americanbluesscene.com/2011/11/a-brief-history-of-house-of-the-rising-sun/


~~~~

Other very old versions:

House of The Rising Sun ~ Tom Clarence Ashley & Gwen Foster

The House of the Rising Sun ~ Texas Alexander

~~~~

Different song...


runway lights at night

this dream last night: while sitting in a chair on a plane at night there was a sudden change when a stewardess began loudly reciting the psalm about walking through the valley of the shadow of death and the shift in the atmosphere included a fear of dying and the word rape came to mind but passengers stayed calm and concentrated on the psalm and the cabin was dark when the plane hit a runway with lights as the stewardess began to cry and said "ladies and gentlemen please thank our pilots" and the passengers burst into applause...

Some news before bedtime


Mr. Seeger died.

Feel free to reincarnate...

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Momly

From thequeenofallthingsgood

Kids book recommendations

Haven't read them but these recommendations came my way...

From publishersweekly


From kirkusreviews

A little warble on sports & rec

Apparently, the Superbowl is not only going to feature the Seahawks (hooray in honor of family members that get excited about the Seahawks!) but also an opera singer...

From parade

Yoga is not as much of a national pastime as football. However, it's come to attention again that setting aside some time to do it would be good for my currently non-practicing self.  Not only for the inner peace...

Detail of "Pala Sforzesca" (?)

but because there's so much potential for cultivation-of-inner-stillness leading to improved external circumstances...

More of "Pala Sforzesca" (?)

Just to continue with this theme of self-improvement, I have great idea for a support group of the future: Yabberholics Anonymous. And furthermore YAB Anon.

Yabber the duck-billed platypus from carteblanchegreetings

Warblings come by way of a person who recently ruined three cans of soda because of this self-freezing coke video, thought "Persiana Americana" was about a Persian American until a short while ago, and is considering going out for sushi tonight TWICE.

From thecampuscompanion

From dailycaller

From queenofallthingsgood.blogspot.com

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Moodmusic

envelope bird from saraccino

Heard while HOUSECLEANING...

Wooden Shjips ~ These Shadows 

Bombino ~ Azamane Tiliade

~~~

Revisiting "Architectural Trees & Moorish Knots..." de novo...

Owen Pallett cover ~ Peach Plum Pear

~~~

Wanting to hear it in female voices...

Lovemongers cover ~ Battle of Evermore 

~~~

Furthermore...

Tori Amos ~ Beauty Queen / Horses


Aphrodisias ruins - wikipedia
So old.

Friday, January 17, 2014

Fire, food, mothers, homemaking

http://www.demilked.com/magazine/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/cat-playground-room-goldtatze-1.jpg
I toy with the idea of printing my last batch of posts along with older ones about various topics (Triangle Shirtwaist Company? oddly graffiti'd cactus leaves?) and wrapping them all up in my made-in-a-foreign-country harvest orange dress. Who needs a ouija board to probe the subconcious? I wanted to walk by the Upton Sinclair house today but it was too hot (January! in this part of the world) Now I am actually thinking of purchasing a book to get me into the mood to be more cheerful about housecleaning....and then...um.... http://raisinghomemakers.com/ (So scary!) http://breezytulip.com/blog/ (But domestic!) And back to http://www.rosegoddessbliss.com/about (Reminder of what I might have wanted to be!) I think I'll look through her recipes or maybe I'll make seed bread. (Another healthy food phase?) "Legit SoCal Vegan Mexican Food" (Try to search out local restaurants?) (Oh this person came to my attention: the people want Jeanne de Clisson in a movie! See the comments) (Then watched something about making the '80s Wild, Wild West music video). I am getting thirsty so I think I'll fizz some water and look at  http://momga.tumblr.com/ Or maybe just get off the computer... 

yesterday's sky

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/gallery?section=weather/wildfire_center&id=9395778&photo=4

http://photos.sgvtribune.com/2014/01/16/photos-colby-fire-in-angeles-national-forest-near-glendora-evacuations-ordered/#4

http://photos.sgvtribune.com/2014/01/16/photos-colby-fire-in-angeles-national-forest-near-glendora-evacuations-ordered/#17 

http://photos.sgvtribune.com/2014/01/16/photos-colby-fire-in-angeles-national-forest-near-glendora-evacuations-ordered/#78 

http://photos.sgvtribune.com/2014/01/16/photos-colby-fire-in-angeles-national-forest-near-glendora-evacuations-ordered/#101

~~~~

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-singer-mansion-colby-fire-20140116,0,551961.story#axzz2qghNhowF

 http://la.curbed.com/archives/2014/01/colby_fire_burns_glendoras_other_incredible_singer_mansion.php

O-kay

http://www.theonion.com/video/the-onion-looks-back-at-its-a-wonderful-life,34838/?playlist=recent-news


"DWYL may be the most elegant anti-worker ideology around." 

~http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2014/01/do_what_you_love_love_what_you_do_an_omnipresent_mantra_that_s_bad_for_work.html

Monday, January 13, 2014

Fruits in pieces

http://rarestkindofbest.com/2011/08/31/each-peach-pear-plum/each-peach-pear-plum-21/

(Peach Plum Pear song)
(Peach Plum Pear movie)

Que mas?

la vida era dificil para ellos

From arttherapyblog.com



Scroll

From electricfrankenstein

There is a picture in a post that I read today that just about seems to sum up anywhere between 25 and 50 people I have ever met or perhaps only thought about meeting...oh my goodness gracious.

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2013/05/depression-part-two.html

It's way down after a bunch of other cartoons, a lot of which are definitely humorous, but there's one in particular of the character of in a grey hoodie, at a table with a lidded cup of coffee...priceless.

So it seemed at this hour.

Swoon

From  kcci.com

"THEN THERE WILL BE LOTS OF BOOKS." This little boy created a movement to give -- It all started out with a gift of his chore money to the Ames Library. And now, he's inspired others! Our Vanessa Peng has the story -- new at 5. PKG) stand up 56:35 "THE AMES PUBLIC LIBRARY IS SUDDENLY GETTING LOTS OF DONATIONS AND IT ALL STARTED WITH ONE VERY SPECIAL KID." 41 Lalo Nunez-al-Faisal 23:50 "LOTS OF MONEY." 51 It's no secret --18 dollars and 59 cents means a lot of money to a 5-year-old. Lalo Nunez-al-Faisal 23:41 "QUARTERS, ONE DOLLAR." 43 But, Lalo Nunez-al-Faisal loves turning pages even more. Lalo Nunez-al-Faisal 17:01 "THEY'RE FUN TO READ." Lalo Nunez-al-Faisal 28:05 "LOOK, LOOK, YEOW I'M SWINGING." 09 So Lalo took his hard earned chore money and gave it to the Ames Public Library. Brianne Anderson, Youth Services Librarian 42:11 "HE SAID HE WANTED TO REPLACE BOOKS THAT CHILDREN HAVE LOST." 15 Jehan Faisal, Proud Ames Mom 47:55 "I THINK THAT MAYBE WE HAD A BOOK GET FALL IN THE SNOW OR SOMETHING AND HE WAS WORRIED ABOUT BOOKS." 48:01 Lalo Nunez-al-Faisal 29:31 "THAT IS MY FAVORITE ONE"

Read more: http://www.kcci.com/news/central-iowa/boy-donates-chore-money-to-help-replace-lost-books/-/9357080/23853826/-/nrfe4/-/index.html#ixzz2qJMJRErA

Funny

http://www.lifeunsweetened.com/2012/11/29/christmas-gifts-for-the-bff/

Veritably

http://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/1uuc9y/accurate_representation_of_me_dealing_with/

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/veritably



http://www.upworthy.com/theres-something-absolutely-wrong-with-what-we-do-to-boys-before-they-grow-into-men?g=2&c=mrp1


http://everydayfeminism.com/2014/01/on-male-privilege/?utm_content=buffer79cd4&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Buffer

Friday, January 10, 2014

If you buy a kid an album

From michaelhays.com
 
She might remember this a quarter of a century later:
 
eyelaaash on the bird and the bird in the egg and the egg on the branch and the branch on the limb and the limb on the tree and the tree in the hole and the hole in the ground and



Abiyoyo And Other Story Songs For Children

Parthenia's Blog ~ One Grain of Sand


One grain of sand,
One little star up in the blue.
One grain of sand,
One little me, one little you.
~ One Grain of Sand

Cheery song





Other lyrics:

Dainty as a Dresden statue,
Gentle as a Jersey cow;
Smooth as silk, gives creamy milk,
Learn to coo, learn to moo,
That’s what you do to be a lady now 

From http://www.peggyseeger.com/about/songmaker

And some stories....

"Toshi, who also raised the couple's children, had a very dry sense of humor, says the musician Ruth Ungar. The daughter of fiddler Jay Ungar, Ruth has known the Seegers since she was a little girl. She says she remembers seeing an old New Yorker cartoon on their kitchen wall.

'It's a woman answering the phone and she's got a baby under one arm, or maybe two. And she's doing the dishes with one hand and mopping the floor with [her] foot," Ungar explains. "And the quote on the bottom says something like, 'I'm sorry, my husband can't come to the phone right now. He's out fighting for the rights of the oppressed.' "

From http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2013/07/11/201159066/Toshi-Seeger-Wife-Of-Folk-Singer-Pete-Seeger-Dies-At-91

"In 1961 he was cited for contempt of Congress and sentenced to a year in jail. “I accepted every booking that came in, figuring that most of them would be canceled,” Mrs. Seeger said, “but the appeals court acquitted him and nothing was canceled. It was a horrendously busy year.” 

'Never again,' she said. 'Next time let him go to jail.' 
       
Her gentle chiding curbed any chance that Mr. Seeger’s ego would balloon. 'I hate it when people romanticize him,' she said. 'He’s like anybody good at his craft, like a good bulldozer operator.' 

Life loves water




I feel inspired? Time to type what might need copy editing later. When it was "the holidays" I got a bit exhausted from all the traveling, even though there were some good times. Directly after my travels, I got to catch up with an old friend. We met in the lobby of this hotel. I admired what they did with the plants. They had live music, comfy chairs, free lemonade, and a coffee table with moss underneath glass. A person could get some writing done there. Anyways, since I was with a literary friend (who has officially published stuff, I mean creative poemy stuff, I haven't done that) I  mentioned that I enjoy reading about some artists and what they're up to. Oooh, lets see what some of them are up to now. They Say God Looks After Authors... This entry is great. Water + God + South Carolina + Stupidity in Braving the Elements yet Surviving = !!!! And this guy gets to miss water because he's in the desert! Awesome. And some great advice for the financially challenged: "how to live like a king for very little by thor" My personal opinion is that this list works best if you read it Chinese fortune cookie style. But, instead of saying "In bed," I'd throw in: "Especially if you have a penis" at the end of each line... To my surprise my friend had never heard of the two artists I mentioned. For all I know, she had not heard of the one from Seattle either, but I assume she had because we met there. But maybe not, who knows? We couldn't spend too much time talking about artists when other topics had to be addressed, such a snack foods. Friend doesn't eat anything with wheat in it. Recently I was eating some pretzels. I had a flashback memory of eating crusty pretzels in her presence when we were like 12 or something. I think the back of the package had some little story about pretzel shapes having a religious significance. We are no longer both pretzel eaters. How life changes things...She'd also never heard of "On A Boat" even though she professed a love of big white yachts we walked past and the words "on a boat" seemed like they were hovering over just about everything. And while my boyfriend was also surprised she hadn't heard of those artists, it was a greater disappointment to him that she had no concept of the importance of the Rose Parade.  Oh well! At the end of our rendezvous she was expectantly holding out her hand for a piece of gum when I pulled a pack out of my purse, that's what's important. Ugh, trying to be comprehensible when you have to run off and get dressed to go do something. 3-2-1- post "On a Boat" video...

Thursday, January 09, 2014

dreamy song mode commute

http://favim.com/image/99128/
The ambient music on my morning commute almost seemed as if it could have been pulled from my state of mind after a very specific dream. It is probably not a coincidence that this happened after I read about animal cruelty in the Daisy Coleman / Paige Parkhurst story. I don't usually dream about rabbits.

Hare in Snow by Louis Ferdinand von Rayski

In the dream, I was trying to close a sliding glass door when a small bunny determinedly hopped into my home. I was surprised, then became like a child who wanted to take care of a precious pet. I articulated this wish to others, but a snowstorm came, and the bunny went missing. I thought I saw a larger rabbit outside in the blizzard and wondered if the bunny needed to go out in the storm to be with its actual mother. In the end it was a mystery because I didn't know if the bunny was to be in my house or outside in the storm. It was a delicate dream, and a healing one, overall. The music on my commute seemed gentler than usual, especially in the morning.

Two songs before I left the car:

Canned Fruit Except ~ Letters
Lux 1 ~ Brian Eno

First two songs in the afternoon:

Year Off ~ High Places 
Los Angeles ~ Emily Wells

I didn't think about the dream in the middle of the day. My brain was more involved with Capitalism: A Love Story. However, in dreamy song mode, my thoughts were like, "I feel as though I'm passing over, even though I'm walking around in a life on earth." But I ended the commute by going shopping and then did some very practical housecleaning.

http://un-conventionalmom.blogspot.com/2011/02/il-venerdi-del-libro-runaway-bunny.html

Wednesday, January 01, 2014

Good

I’M CRYING BECAUSE IN CHURCH ONE OF LINES OF HYMN WAS “VERY GOD” AND THIS GIRL BEHIND ME WHISPERED “SUCH CHRISTIANITY” I CAN'T STOP LAUGHING

https://twitter.com/TumblrTXT/status/418008400287780864

Wonderful Stone

Girl of the Mystical Purple Cabbage
by Sheryl Humphrey
 

"The eager vegetable, opening itself

as if to eat the air, or speak in cabbage"

 
~ The Cabbage by Ruth Stone

~~~~~
 
 
~~~~~
 
"In 1959, after her husband, professor Walter Stone, committed suicide, she was forced to raise three daughters alone...
 
Writer Elizabeth Gilbert tells a story about Stone's writing style and inspiration, which she had shared with Gilbert:

As [Stone] was growing up in rural Virginia, she would be out, working in the fields and she would feel and hear a poem coming at her from over the landscape. It was like a thunderous train of air and it would come barrelling down at her over the landscape. And when she felt it coming...cause it would shake the earth under her feet, she knew she had only one thing to do at that point. That was to, in her words, 'run like hell' to the house as she would be chased by this poem.

The whole deal was that she had to get to a piece of paper fast enough so that when it thundered through her, she could collect it and grab it on the page. Other times she wouldn't be fast enough, so she would be running and running, and she wouldn't get to the house, and the poem would barrel through her and she would miss it, and it would "continue on across the landscape looking for another poet."