"Are You Going To..."

Scarborough Fair...?"

(Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme...)

When I arrived home from work this evening, a neighbor that seldom talks to me asked if I could help her... her daughter had broken a string on her mandolin... she needed it to be re-strung and tuned.   I've never tinkered with a mandolin, although I would love to own one... and told her I would be glad to do that for her...

I love music and many things musical...

Tonight, Turner Classic Movies ran 'The Graduate'... what a great movie... what an even greater cast... and what an even GREATER sound track!!!!  I had forgotten much of the music and even more of the movie...

Anne Bancroft...  Dustin Hoffman... Katherine Ross... Murry Hamilton.  After the presentation, they ran the list of actors that were originally desired or who had turned down different roles.  I simply don't think the movie could have worked.

Originally, for Mrs. Robinson, they wanted Doris Day... 

WTF?!

For Ben Braddock, they wanted Robert Redford...

WTF?!?!

They wanted Gene Hackman to play the role of Elaine Robinson's Dad...

WTF?!?!?!?!

Mrs. Robinson, you are trying to seduce me...

... aren't you?

Think about all of the taboos in this movie... having sex with the mother of your girl friend, granted, that he later met Elaine... but still, strange... but I guess stuff like this does happen.

Could you be involved with someone... marry someone... who had sex with one of your parents??

What if you had sex with one of your parents' friends??

At the end of the movie, Ben is able to break up Elaine's wedding... of course, at the time, the bride and groom ARE kissing... so that would have to indicate that the vows had been made... no??

Ben and Elaine escape the church and end up in the back of a bus... leaving the scene of the crime (so to speak)...  and their smiling faces start to fade to more forlorn looks... at least for Elaine's part. Maybe she was second guessing her decisions...

This scene reminds me of the last scene in 'Midnight Cowboy' with Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight...

  

... where Joe Buck and Ratso Rizzo ride off into the sunset...

'... echos the sound of silence...'

I can't think of a movie that has a more profound sound track...

The lyrics, phrasing and timing in 'Scarborough Fair' are as close as I can come to being haunted by a song...  it's as if two songs are being sung at the same time...

I think this post is more about the music, than it is the movie...

I have felt fragile as of late...

The issues with the loss of my Dad... 

That I should probably have resolved by now...

and then these wonderful songs that allow an escape.

I've been neglectful of your blogs.

I will feel better soon...

~shoes~

"February 22nd..."

I want to share with you... 

some photos that are dear to me.

This little fellow is wearing his Christening Gown...

How old would you guess he is?

Three months??

I'm not sure...

This is the same little fellow

at the age of six.  He is next to his sister

who was twelve.

Look at her shoes...

Look at his trousers.

This is the same young fellow at the age of fourteen.

The eyes...

They don't change.

These are photographs of my Dad... 

He loved his Mother so...

Dad died seventeen years ago tonight...

I would love to say that it's gotten easier.

It has...

to an extent.

I sure miss him.

~Jim~

"Post Valentine's Day..."

I'm better today, thank you...

The whole thing about yesterday's post had to do with the fact that my Dad had a stroke on Valentine's Day seventeen years ago... which resulted in his death eight days later.

That event set SO many things into action that still affect me to day...  I guess yesterday's post was just  my acknowledgement of that...

... and so it goes.

Now...

Here's what you would normally expect from me...

Enjoy...

Post Happy Valentine's Day...

~shoes~

"Valentine's Day..."

I miss you, Dad...

Each and every single day...

The events that were set in motion

on February 14, 1996, still

reverberate today.

That was the most difficult time of my Life.

I hope that I have done something in my life...

with my life...

that has made you proud...

You are always in my thoughts...

~Jim~

"When I Get Older..."

Losing my hair…

Many years from now…

Will you still be sending me Valentines...
Birthday Greetings, Bottle of Wine...

A little old man shuffled slowly into an ice cream parlor and pulled himself slowly, painfully, up onto a stool.. After catching his breath, he ordered a banana split. 
The waitress asked kindly, 'Crushed nuts?' 
'No,' he replied, 'Arthritis.'

A man was telling his neighbor, 'I just bought a new hearing aid. It cost me four thousand dollars, but it's state of the art.. It's perfect.' 
'Really,' answered the neighbor . 'What kind is it?' 
' Twelve thirty..' 

Three old guys are out walking. 
First one says, 'Windy, isn't it?' 
Second one says, 'No, it's Thursday!' 
Third one says, 'So am I. Let's go get a beer..'

BAH...

Humbug!!!!!

~shoes~

"Ol Shakey..."

Neil Young...

Augh!!!!!

Probably one of my mostest favoritest guitar players EVER!!!!!

 The first time I guess I ever became aware of him was when he was with Buffalo Springfield... a band that he co-founded with friend and future antagonist, Stephen Still...  To me, the quintessential Buffalo Springfield song was "For What It's Worth."

Lil Neil

After the Keith Richards' pictoral Time Line that I did last week... I thought it would be interesting to do one for Neil...

Prolly Mid-20's Neil

This photo isn't so much about Neil

as it is that guitar... he was always fond of

Gretsch White Falcons back in the day...

The song of his that I just adore is "Harvest Moon"...

One of the things that I find so endearing about it is that woman he is dancing with in the video is indeed his wife...

Neil and Pegi...

The difference between his 'electric' music and 'acoustic' music was just unbelievable to me, especially when he toured and recorded with his band, Crazy Horse...

Rumor even has it that Neil Young has died... but it seems that some idiot at Yahoo.Com is.. well... an idiot...

Now... I'm not going to say that Neil hasn't walked on the Moon in some form or fashion, but Neil Young was never an astronaut (the goofball meant Neil Armstrong).

Now... the Neil Young song that is probably my favorite NY song... is...

Cinnamon Girl!!!!!!!!!!!

I love this particular video... the live sound of the band is good, and I love that they included members of the audience...  I like the girl's reaction to the end of the song at the end of the video...  if, during the credits, you notice a director by the name of Bernard Shakey, that is an alias that Neil Young sometimes uses...

45-plus years of rockin' in the free world and time takes its toll on all of us...

Little is known about his personal life... and I guess that's the  way it should be.  I would encourage you to read THIS article...   He is the father of two children who have cerebral palsy, and one child who has epilepsy...

The last time I actually saw Neil Young in  concert, he was with a reunion tour of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young...

A great deal of my desire to own a Gretsch White Falcon is because of him...

Keep On Rockin' In The Free World, Neil...

~shoes~

"...and One Asshole."

"I've Got Blistahs On My Fingahs!!!!"

Contrary to what John Hiatt thinks, it's really Keith Richards, of The Rolling Stones, that is the master of the Telecaster.

Keith Richards... on the benefit of using Open-G tuning without the low E-string...

"The advantage (of the open-G) tuning is that you can  get certain drone notes going.  It's an open-G tuning, with the low E-strinng removed and there's really only three notes you use.  My favorite phrase about this style of playing is that all you need to play it is five strings, two notes, two fingers, and one asshole."

- Keith Richards -

Open-G is a means of tuning a guitar so that when the strings are strummed without any of them being fretted against the fretboard, the resulting sound is a G chord.  When tuned, the resulting notes are D-G-D-G-B-D... which are the three notes in the triad of the G chord.

Richards suffers from arthritis in his fingers, and undoubtedly, the type of fingering (get your minds out of the gutter) required for the work he has done with this tuning is to his benefit.

Come with me now... if you will... for a trip down memory lane, and a look at the photographic life of Keith Richards...

That looks like an episode of  'The Twilight Zone'...

~shoes~