AliasUndercover's Xanga

Awesompeggios

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:36:32 GMT

Today we will turn to what I will call (for want of a better description) Classical Music. I’m posting (through the miracle that is zanger audio®) 2 little bits of heaven that you should ponder with me.

This first one has unfortunately been over-used. It is sooooo exciting a piece of music that it lends itself to cheesy soundtracks, but it is, nevertheless, brilliant. I’m referring to Rossini’s William Tell Overture. For people my age and older, probably their introduction to the piece was as the theme song to the Lone Ranger TV show. Truthfully, it kinda fit that show, what with the horses racing around the desert and such, but the music deserves a better rep than that. Personally, I have trouble thinking of anything besides the Lone Ranger’s voice over dude when I first hear that trumpet, but if I listen to it over for a few times, I can eventually just think of the music.

It also helps if you listen to the whole 12 or minutes of the Overture, there are many familiar and beautiful themes in Rossini’s last opera and the Overture gives us a good taste of them, which is what an overture is supposed to do, I guess. About 8 or 9 minutes into the piece, the hunting begins with that famous call of the trumpet. The piece kind of settles down a little but never much lower than a gallop for sure. I just love it. It’s got a gloriously drawn out ending (that lasts a minute at least) and of course it would be difficult to craft a more exciting beginning, but my favorite part of the whole thing happens at 1:33 & 1:39. The intensity of the piece never lets up but, after a minute it gets quieter and then at 1:33 we have what I think would be called a glissando where the violins slide up the scale and get louder at the same time, at 1:39 there’s a briefer yet more fluid portamento. Those two seconds are my favorite moments in 3:24 of gloriousness.

By the way, I’m not flaunting my musical knowledge by using them eye talian words – I had to look them up just to write this. The Babel Fish Translator gives the definition of both of these words as “to go from B-flat to Awesome as quickly as possible” so I thought they fit just fine.

Thinking about your glissandi and your portamenti got me to thinking ‘bout anotha piece that I love. We got to put on our special time-traveling loafers and go from 1792 to 1924 and Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue. This starts out, famously, with a clarinet’s 10 second glissando that = so cool. I love that! I can understand how a violin can play one, but how in the world can you do that on a clarinet? I mean, you got all those keys to press and stuff. How?? That part is great, but it’s not even my favorite part. In this one it chugs along just fine for 10 minutes going through various themes and the piano does some crazy banging around, gets real quiet and then right there at 10:38 the orchestra begins a new lush, lush, rich lush theme that gives me chills and tears. Hea. Ven.

You got your Edgar Allen Poes and Mark Twains, your Frank Lloyd Wrights, WWII, landing on the moon, but really, is there a greater American accomplishment than Rhapsody In Blue? How about the syncopation of the main theme starting at 15:30? Can the A-Bomb compare? Microsoft Windows? The telephone? Know Weigh!

What’s your favorite Americana?

AU~out

Two Album Purchases - A story of the purchase of two albums

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:25:56 GMT

A challenge was issued by one of the xangabim, to post about your top 15 favorite songs. Alas, I shall not meet this challenge. It is too daunting. You have a bunch of songs that you love and all, but me? I been around so long, my list of favorite songs is in the thousands. I couldn’t possibly come up with 15. And I sure couldn’t post them. A post of my 15 favorite songs would be a million words long because I have to talk and talk and talk and talk about each one.

So. You’ve been spared from such monstrous postage. But you’ll not escape the talk and talk and talk and talk. I’ll just break it up and post about a favorite song or two until I get bored with it. Possible weeks and weeks after you get bored with it, but maybe not.

Back in 1984, my uncle (prolly same age then as I am now) was driving in his car and heard a song on the radio. Immediately, he stopped at the nearest record store and told the clerk, “I just heard a song on the radio, I can’t describe it…kind of ethereal and driving and rhythmic…a girl sings it…something about her voice…” The clerk responds, “I’ll bet you mean this” and proceeds to play Cyndi Lauper’s All Through The Night.

I don’t know why I remember that story so well. I guess because I already had the album when my uncle was telling me his story and I felt a connection with him because he liked the same artist I did. Music is like that, I guess.

Cyndi’s not a one hit wonder or anything, but she never did anything better or even comparable (I love Girls Just Wanna Have Fun of course but it doesn’t compare). My favorite part is where she sustains the word “end” for 12 seconds towards the end of the song.

Thinking about that song gets me to thinking about another favorite of mine because the same thing happened to me as happened to my uncle. In 1990, I was driving around listening to the radio and I heard a “rock instrumental” that I had never heard before. The DJ came on next but didn’t say what had just played, I happened to be near the greatness that was Peaches Records & Tapes over there on Preston and Belt Line and I ran in and asked the clerk, “Is there some new instrumental out they’re playing on the radio now?”. “Absolutely,” he says, “Cliffs Of Dover”. Twelve 1990 dollars later, I was going back home with this bit of Austin’s own Eric Johnson.

Lo, these 18 years agone, I still get in moods where I’ll listen to Dover 15 times a day. Couldn’t really pick my favorite part of this one, the beginning part and the middle part and the end part and the bridge and the verse and the chorus and the coda and the tag are all equally glorious.

For your make glorious listening benefit and through the greatness of my mad skilz of the internetz, I have ripped from that $12 CD I bought 18 years ago the first two tracks and combined them into one to bring you the Full On version of Cliffs Of Dover. I hope you enjoying it so much like me.

Have you bought an album like that?

AU~out

Anniversary of aught eight

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:23:28 GMT

I really liked Joe T. Garcia's and the Sid Richardson Gallery (Charles Russell & Fredrick Remmington paintings - a great museum in downtown Ft Worth).

In other news, we've decided that the words "Family Friendly" can be translated "We absolutely despise adults".

All in all it was fun. I'm glad I got married

AU~out

Bookends => Who's Next

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:46:15 GMT

A time it was and what a time it was. It was a time of innocence... I was only 7 years old, so I was not aware of politics or cared much about anything other than my bike and my GI Joes, but I remember very well coming inside (I stayed outside all the time back in those days...sweet oblivion...) and being shocked to see my stoic mother weeping in front of the TV set. She was watching the funeral of Robert F. Kennedy and mourning, I believe, the death of many things including Bobby.

We watched Emilio Estevez' excellent movie, Bobby, last night and it was very, very moving for me. For one, it was a very well made and well acted movie. Sharon Stone, of all people, was amazing. It also starred just about ever'body else in Hollywood. Very good sort of moment in time type story about 20 different people at the Ambassador Hotel for one reason or another on that fateful day. The movie did a very good job of showing the, I don't know, hope that RFK's platform represented. Very sad and touching the way the movie subtly showed just how much was murdered that sad night.

There's not as much hope or excitement for the future that I can discern these days, but Bobby's message and demeanor reminds me of what I feel every time I hear Obama talk. I guess that's why Obama has always appealed to me. I am disappointed by his campaign finance decisions of late. I think he will win the presidency and I have thought that for a long time. Alas, his campaign finance decisions tell me that the new boss will be the same as the old boss. But, maybe, if we get on our knees and pray, we won't get fooled again...??

AU~out

Yards and yards of that long green

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:07:57 GMT

Read tother day bout how the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the crime of child rape did not warrant the death penalty. Today, I’m not interested in talking about the legitimacy of the death penalty. I just want to talk a little about the concept of sentencing in general and listen to what you think if you’re willing.

Even though I’m currently ambivalent about what them liberals feel is the harshest penalty, my first thought when I read about the state supreme court’s decision was, “If Child Rape doesn’t warrant that penalty, what in the world does?” Talking about that with the sniper led me to a new way of sentencing that I would like to see implemented.

Since everything always all the time forever comes down to dollars, why don’t we quantify the whole sentencing process? Every so often we run a study to see how much it costs to incarcerate the incarcerated and put that information in our sentencing. For instance, I read recently that it costs about $23,000 to imprison someone for a year. Put that info in our sentencing? I’ll bet things would change a lot.

One man is found guilty of marijuana possession. You want to pay $23K to lock him up for a year? Are you kidding? I wouldn’t pay $1K to do that!

Another man is found guilty of stealing $60,000 from a bank. I would easily decide to pay $240,000 to lock him up for 10 years. Them thievin ne’erdowells always wind up costing us way more than they steal in inconvenience, insurance rates, etc. No sweat on sentencing that.

Child rape? That’s easy. When the sniper was contemplating the correct sentence for such a crime, she latched on to the phrase, “You die in prison”. I agree. You do that and you die in prison and I don’t care what it costs. I actually feel this way about all rape, but I suppose that’s why we have judges and juries and all. Let them decide each case, I guess. But let’s put some dollars on the sentence so we can judge more clearly.

This also makes the whole parole thing a piece of cake. You got sentenced to a year in prison? You don’t have to spend a day in jail if you pay $56,000. You rape someone? OK. Give the victim $20 million and the state $5 million.

This is actually the way things are right now, we just don’t admit it. The rich ones don’t do jail time. *shrugs* OK. Pay the state AND your lawyer. We all got boat payments…

Whaddaya think?

AU~out

I am the hawk and there's blood on my feathers

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:29:08 GMT

There's this totally awesome hawk that hangs around the church. I saw him early one morning last week. He was sitting atop a chain link fence in the back and I carefully walked to within 10 ft of him. He wouldn't look directly at me, kinda looked at me out of the corner of his eye. All of the sudden, he calmly soared off the fence away from me but he looked back with a face that said, "I just happen to be flying away right now, I'm certainly not leaving because I'm scared of you, Squanto."

His expression really did speak that too. I don't know why he thought I was Native American, but he sure wasn't scared of me. It was pretty glorious to be that close to him.

A day or so later, the hunter and I were out in the Wedding Field and we saw the hawk perched way atop one of the streetlights in the parking lot. Soon we were able to discern the reason he was hanging around the church. He must of escaped from the Ft. Worth zoo and he wanted to avenge himself on L17 for feeding him osprey food by mistake.

Of course, I quickly confronted the birdman about this and he assured me that this was impossible. He hasn't worked at the zoo in months and he would never feed osprey food to a hawk.

You know? Even though L17 is much younger than me, he certainly knows more about birds than I do. He knows more about birds than you do for that matter. He is infamous for his wise in his wisdom knowledge of bird facts knowledge. I believe him.

But I don't know how to convince the hawk...

For the time being, I'll continue to adore the hawk from afar and try to protect gary from unwarranted attack.

And all of those who see me, all who believe in me
Share in the freedom I feel when I fly

AU~out

Obamail

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:04:19 GMT

Slate had a fun article today (from which I am stealing) about the hypermaniacal emails that fill our boxes, warning us about Barack Obama. They suggested some email counterstrikes that are kinda fun. Which one's your favorite?

AU~out

Pink Cafe

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 13:43:22 GMT

You don't want to hear no scuses, I know. I don't want to hear them or speak them. I've just been so hammered here at work, I haven't been able to live up to my True badge.

*mourns*

*shakes fist at The Man*

Let's just pick up the pieces and keep up the good work, shall we?

Moving on...

I was driving home from work on the George Bush yesterday, and I saw a cafe racer in my rear-view mirror. You know? Those sweet looking sports bikes? I'm more of a cruiser or tourer myself, but I've always liked the way the cafe racer looks. I noticed this one in my rear-view mirror because he was driving the way most young cafe racers drive. Like a complete tool! Darting from one lane to the other at 90 mph. Squeezing past others by mere inches. So confident. So inconsiderate. What a mo'! We motorcyclists lovingly refer to these types as Organ Donors.

In milliseconds he quickly zoomed passed me (because I was only going 65) and I saw that his bike was pink and that he had this really sweet matching pink leather racing jacket and that his pony tail was securely braided in this cool leather wrap dangling from his matching pink full-face helmet and that he, in fact, was a she.

Oh how my headbrain monologue changed! I went from "What an arrogant, inconsiderate, self-important, egotistical Organ Donor Tool" to "What a sexy, hawt, triple-hawt, sexy little minky!" in less than a second. Why am I that way? That can't be right...and yet I'm not ashamed. I'm happily married to the best good highest quality sexy little minky there is and I want and will accept no other, but, little things scurrying dangerously around on pink cafe racers? That's just plain hawt. *sigh* What a troubled lot we mens are...

AU~out

I love this story...

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 11:02:00 GMT

From the WSJ:

June 4, 2008, 5:29 pm

In Texas-Arkansas Spat, Judge Orders Parties to Midfield

Posted by Dan Slater

We’ve always known that folks from both Texas and Arkansas take their college football pretty seriously. Apparently, so do their judges.

In the case of Waggoner v. Wal-Mart, the estate of William Waggoner is suing Wal-Mart after Waggoner suffered fatal injuries allegedly sustained while exiting a Wal-Mart in Marble Falls, Texas, through a faulty door. In the case, which is being litigated in the Western District of Texas, a discovery dispute arose over the location of a deposition for a Wal-Mart representative. The choices were San Antonio, Texas, and Bentonville, Arkansas.

Acknowledging the delicate nature of the problem, Judge James Nowlin, in an order, wrote:

The Court is sympathetic with the Defendant’s argument. Surely Defendant’s corporate representative, a resident of Arkansas, would feel great humiliation by being forced to enter the home state of the University of Texas, where the legendary Texas Longhorns have wrought havoc on the Arkansas Razorbacks with an impressive 55-21 all-time record.

On the other hand, the Court is sympathetic with Plaintiff’s position. Plaintiffs might enter Arkansas with a bit of trepidation as many residents of Arkansas are still seeking retribution for the “Game of the Century” in which James Street and Darrell Royal stunned the Razorbacks by winning the 1969 National Championship.

Judge Nowlin’s solution? He ordered that the deponent appear on the steps of the Texarkana Federal Building, 500 State Line Avenue, TX/AR 71854.

While he chose to split the baby, Judge Nowlin, in a footnote, revealed where his football loyalties lie: “It is worth noting,” he wrote, “that the Razorbacks, who disgracefully retreated from the Southwest Conference to the gentler pastures of the Southeastern Conference, could have likely learned a lesson about stamina and perseverance in the face of battle by visiting the Alamo in San Antonio.”

AU~out

You're a racist, sexist pig, but I don't mean that in a bad way...

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:03:01 GMT

You're so cool and smart and good-looking! That's why we like you so much. I wish it was for reasons more altruistic, but there it is. You're too cool, smart and good-looking not to like. Come on! We're all powerless to your many charms!

Well...

Except for your racism and sexism. Is everything you do and think tainted by your horribly racists and sexists views? Yes, of course it is. We all know this about you and you sure need to shape up!! The media has our number, you know.

If we support Hillary, we're racist. If we support Barack, we're sexist or worse. McCain? We're white males in our 40's - so we're both racist and sexist. But they won't tell us who to support if we want to be none of those things.

I wish that I was cool and smart and good-looking like you instead of just being one of them -ists. How do you pull it off? You're awesome!

AU~out