PIZZICATO

One of the two songs from when I was a kid that stick with me is” Theme from “A Summer Place””. It was written by Max Steiner and performed by Percy Faith and his Orchestra. I can remember as a child being fascinated by the long smooth notes of the Strings coupled with the syncopated rhythm of a Piano playing what sounded almost like ‘Chopsticks” in the background.
If you think you do not know this tune click here for a really cheesy rendition that may jog your memory.
As soon as I was able to work the turntable on the Hi-Fi I would play this song over and over again. I was about 5 years old.
I did not really know what a Violin was, or who Max Steiner might be.
To this day I have never seen “A Summer Place” and can't name another Max Steiner tune.
But at the age of 5 I thought this was the most wonderful piece of music ever written.
It still falls into the top 20, and it is a pretty good song for makin' out.

The other song, from a little later in my childhood was “Can’t Get Over Losing You” by Andy Williams. I thought the vocals were good, and te melody real nice but what really got me was when the violin players would “Pluck” their strings. They call this “pizzicato” and when I was 8 years old and this song would come on the Hi-Fi I could hardly wait for that part of the song to come on and wished it would go on forever.

The 60’s were a wonderful time for Music, and I don’t think there is a period of time anywhere that music made such a transition.

Within a few years, that same Hi-Fi would be playing music very far removed from Messer’s Mancini and Williams.

My buddy Dave over at the Mower Shed asked if we have ever bought an Album based on the Cover.

Indeed we have!

When we were kids, my sister and I used to dance about the Living Room on weekends, with an 1000 piece Jigsaw Puzzle set up, while the Hi-Fi played Andy Williams, Andre Kostelanetz, Dean Martin and Herb Alpert.

But neither of us bought the above pictured album; my Dad did along with several million other guys.

WASN'T BORN NO YESTERDAY

Well, I had me a look and if I got it figgered rightly my 250th post came right at the New Year.
I don't know that my writing has improved on this Blog that much, but I write one of the clearest prettiest little EMails you ever did see.
Ever saw.
Clapped an eye on.
I present myself as a well spoken boy from a good family, mostly.

So, you and I... we... have come a long ways and I have to thank you for that.


Georgia on a Fast Train
billy joe shaver
On a rainy Wednesday morning that's the way that I was born in
That old sharecropper's one room country shack
They said my mommie left me the day before she had me
Said she hit the road and never once looked back
And I just like to mention my grandma's old age pension
Is the reason why I'm standing here today
I got all my country learning a milking and a churning
Picking cotton raisin' hell and baling hay

I been to Georgia on a fast train honey
I wouldn't born no yesterday
I got a good Christian raisin' and an eight grade education
Ain't no need in y'all a treatin' me this way

Now sweet Carolina I don't think I'll ever find
Another woman put together like you are
I like your wiggle in your walking and your big city talking
And your brand new shiny Plymouth ragtop car
Well it's hurry up and wait in this land of give and take
It seems like haste it makes for waste everytime
I declare to my soul when you hear those ages roll
You better know I'm gonna get my share of mine

I been to Georgia on a fast train...
I wouldn't born no yesterday
I got a good Christian raisin' and an eight grade education
Ain't no need in y'all a treatin' me this way

HALLMARK DREAM #1

From a few weeks ago...I don't usually have dreams like these, and have to wonder where this came from...

Had the strangest dream last night...could be a book....it was in the
third person.
A man kept telling the woman he loved that he would wait
for her forever, and showed her the spot by a pond where he would be
waiting...

Though he loved her, they were not lovers.

The dream covered the period of years quite quickly as dreams can do...
He planted a garden in the springtime and reminded the woman of where he would meet her...
Harvested that fall, reminded her again...
Fishing in a boat the next year he tells her again...
Then a war, like WWII starts, he is a pilot.
Flies many missions and on leave he sees the woman, tells her he will wait.
He is very insistent about telling this woman he will wait, forever, and showing her the spot by the pond.

It seems like there is even a bench there he will be waiting, sitting upon.

As the War is drawing to a close, he is not shot down , but runs out of
gas. Bails out of the plane and his parachute does not open.
not fully anyway, and in the dream I am wondering if he will survive the fall.
He hits the ground and in the dream I am wondering if it kills him.

Then a German runs by him and laughs, saying "I was shot down but your 'chute did not open and now we are dead just the same, no?" and the German keeps going as though he has someplace he needs to be.

So my man, the pilot, gathers up his chute, (still third person, I'm
like 100 yards away) and I watch him start walking away.
He is smiling and happy and I wonder why he is so pleased.
He walks with a purpose, like the German, and seems to have a place in mind he needs to be.

Thats when I realize where he is walking to, to wait forever and in the dream I see the bench by the pond.
I wake up.

PEEL AND EAT

Had a dream that featured my old friend Danny last night.
We were Chefs together.
In my dream we had two boats and an elaborate system of nets and we would troll for shrimp at the nearby freshwater lake.
Then we would take them back to my Apartment.
We would clean them and cook them and eat all we could and sell the rest.
It was like a cross between Forrest Gump and Blue Bell Ice cream.
We were quite successful and decided to take the show on the road and steam on down to Australia in search of Jumbo Tiger Shrimp.
But on the way we stopped at the Cook Islands and were not able to leave because of all the young Virgins we were required to service.
We ate a lot of Breadfruit.
Didn’t this happen to another famous crew?
Was it the Bounty or Horatio Hornblower?
No matter, because we lived a life of ease in a tropical Paradise.
It could happen, I suppose.
They say somehing similar happened to Tony Romo.

WOMAN, GO AND SIN NO MORE

When I was in the 8th Grade we had a Lay Witness Mission at the Church. On Saturday night at the Youth meeting I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. I was not alone in doing this, as Kandi , Steve, and Nancy were among the many that night having similar experiences. They would come to be among the best friends I ever had and for the next two years some of my fondest memories were made.

I was awkward, I was not cool, I was shy, and like a lot of kids, still looking for a group that would make me feel at home
I was still a few weeks away from being elected President of the Rocket Club and the honor of being “Rocket Renfro”.
I was’nt too sure if I liked Rock and Roll or not.
I was the skinniest knock-kneedest kid to ever drag a Trombone with him everywhere he went. I was on the Football team, but tied for last place with another skinny knock-kneed kid for ability and whatever else it takes to play the game.
I had a crush on the girl that lived across the street, Jeri, and had not a clue as to what to do about it. Sometimes clueless is best.

At the Lay Witness Mission I learned that God loved even awkward me and even more stunning, he loved the Rock and Rollers and the Band people and the 'Ropers and the Jocks and the people who hung out in the restroom smoking cigarettes.
On a folder I carried I put a sticker on it that said
“GOD LOVES ME AND HE LOVES YOU TOO”
and waited , hoping someone would ask me about this so that I could help to spread the good news, and strengthened my Faith through daily fellowship with Kandi and Nancy and Steve.

In Mr. Georges Math Class I got my wish.
My fervent prayer for the opprtunity to Witness was answered.

There was a girl who sat next to me, a bad girl with too much mascara and too much lipstick. She smelled faintly of tobacco. I think her name was Debbie and she wore miniskirts and fishnet hose and high heels. She had long dark hair and hung out with thugs.
One day she saw my sticker and asked if I believed what it said.
This was my big break because not only was I going to spread the GOOD NEWS but I was going to spread the word to someone who so desperately needed it.

I told her that yes I did believe it and that I knew it too be true beyond any doubt.
She said she didn’t think it could possibly be true.
Being young and awkward and shy and somehow very attracted to those fishnet hose I was unable to just come right out and witness.
I needed a little nudge to get me started so I asked why she could not believe that
"God loves me and he loves you too"
I just knew I had the answer as to how God Could love a mascara wearin, tobacco smoking miniskirtin, Rockand Rollin girl like her, because God Loved everyone.
I expected she was about to "open up" to me and confess her sins, all her deepest most Carnal desires, and that i would be able to lead her into self-acceptance.

Instead she looks at me like I am an insect and says
“I can’t believe that God could love a numb-nut knucklehead like YOU!”

I never saw it coming!

I look back and I think this story is hilarious, but when I tell it to a group of Church people, they always look at me with sad and sympathetic eyes and say something like "Oh how horrible for you!"

Maybe I have just gotten to be too cool to know the difference.

FOR GRIZZBABE

THEY DANCE LIKE YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE

After placing 4 posts in draft in the last 24 hours, I have finally found inspiration enough through the likes of Barbara and UF Mike to go (now theres a pairing) to go ahead and let Greg Brown speak for me. From "The Poet Game"



LORD, I HAVE MADE YOU A PLACE IN MY HEART
Oh Lord, I have made you a place in my heart
among the rags and the bones and the dirt.
There's piles of lies, the love gone from her eyes,
and old moving boxes full of hurt.
Pull up a chair by the trouble and care.
I got whiskey, you're welcome to some.
Oh Lord, I have made you a place in my heart,
but I don't reckon you're gonna come.

I've tried to fix up the place, I know it's a disgrace,
you get used to it after a while -
with the flood and the drought and old pals hanging out
with their IOU's and their smiles.
bare naked women keep coming in
and they dance like you wouldn't believe.
Oh Lord, I have made you a place in my heart,
so take a good look - and then leave.

Oh Lord, why does the Fall get colder each year?
Lord, why can't I learn to love?
Lord, if you made me, it's easy to see
that you all make mistakes up above.
But if I open the door, you will know I'm poor
and my secrets are all that I own.
Oh Lord, I have made you a place in my heart
and I hope that you leave it alone.

MOVIE OF THE WEEK

"Cowboy Bodi and the Flyin' Machines"
Is Created, Written, Produced, and admittedly flagrantly self-promoted by my good friend Greg, who also happens to star in the show.
Greg was one of these fellows continually plagued by being voted "Mr. Personality", "Most Likely to Succeed", "Most Handsome" 'Most Popular" and "Homecoming King" from the time he was old enough to walk down an aisle or face a flashbulb.
I think in the11th Grade he may have swept every category.
From the looks of this last endeavor, he is still at it.

What his classmates remember quite vividly about Greg were the Bell bottoms that he came to School wearing in the 10th Grade. I think they called them 'Elephant Bells" and measured upwards of 40" in circumference. I am quite sure they had a Gravitational field of their own as there were always several Cheerleaders in tow. Those plaid pants are still fresh in the memory of anyone who saw them.
Greg says they were really hard to walk in.

None of this went to Gregs head the way it would have gone to mine. He remains a terrific guy with an outstanding sense of humor who happens to be very good looking...and we can't fault him his looks can we?

So pick up a copy of his debut film. With a record like Greg's, who knows?
It could be worth a lot of money someday!

A LITTLE TOO CHIRPY

CONVERSATIONS WITH X MRS. BULLETHOLES
"Goooood moorrrnning!!!"
"Hello"
'How are you this morning?"
"I'm tired...I don't think I want to work anymore"
'Don't be ridiculous....its going to be a great day!"
I glance at her edgewise....
'Are you taking those diet pills again?"
"Noooo (laughing).... I've been reading "The Secret""
"Oh god help us"
A long minute of silence. Then she says
'You used to know the Secret...way before the book was ever written...you ran around telling everyone how you were the luckiest guy in the world. Everything you did just seemed to be great and everyone wanted to be part of it-"
She looks at me with that confident smile.
It demands a reply...
"I'm still lucky...I'm lucky just to be here"

DICK NIXON

BEFORE HE DICKS YOU

You can find some pretty strange stuff clicking on the links at the "Astronomy Picture of the Day".

Elvis in the DEA, indeed.