Nine albums

11 songs or 14?


I decided to do the Nine Albums thing that I saw on Facebook. You can do this for yourself by going to my9albums.com.

In fact, I could have picked 99 albums, but that wasn’t the assignment. I considered Blue by Miles Davis, Led Zeppelin’s first album, Who’s Next, Carole King’s Tapestry, Sweet Baby James by JT, The Supremes Sing Holland-Dozier-Holland, and Aja by Steely Dan.

I know most people just show the covers without comment. Maybe I’m just contrarian, but if I’m going to put thought into the selections, I need to explain myself.

Revolver: It had to be a chronologically middle Beatles album. Revolver won because the American album was good with 11 songs, but the UK version with those three Lennon songs is great. (They had been excised to prop up the US-only Yesterday and Today.) I was particularly fond of the last two songs back to back, played as loudly as possible when my parents weren’t home: Got To Get You Into My Life and Tomorrow Never Knows; For No One.

The Band: I heard the second album first. In my high school yearbook, alongside our high school band, was a pic of the four Canadians and the American because one of my best friends was the editor of said document. Up On Cripple Creek; Look Out Cleveland; King Harvest (Has Surely Come)

Saw Live!

Speaking In Tongues. I bought the Talking Heads’ album shortly before I saw the band at SPAC during the transformative Stop Making Sense tour. (I’ve since seen Lynn Mabry, who was backup singer for TH, sing backup for Sheila E,. along side of my niece Rebecca Jade.)  I may have had one other TH album, but I filled in the gaps after that. I also have a few David Byrne solo albums. Burning Down The House; Making Flippy Floppy; This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody), which recalls a specific trip to Cooperstown in the 1990s.

Talking Book: It’s not my favorite Stevie album, but it is the beginning of an incredible run that culminated in Songs In The Key of Life. This is when Berry Gordy, out of necessity, started loosening the reins on some of Motown’s top artists. You Are the Sunshine of My Life; Superstition;  I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)

Still Crazy After All These Years: This Paul Simon collection became my college relationship breakup album, not just when it came out in 1975, but afterward. The title song represents 1981, when the ex and I saw Joni Mitchell in Philadelphia, a much better experience than seeing Joni in 1974 at SPAC, which was the beginning of our breakup. My Little Town is me retreating to Binghamton after that. I Do It for Our Love, specifically “the orange bled the blue,” is our first dreadful apartment. And it goes on from there.

Formerly of Genesis

(Melt): Peter Gabriel’s third album might be my island album. I got it in German for Christmas in 1980, in a cleverly packaged group of six albums that felt like an empty box.  I Don’t Remember – oh, I remember a lot. Biko, which was the first time I really knew who the murdered South African activist was.  Games Without Frontiers does NOT have the lyrics, “She’s so funky, yeah.”

Court and Spark. This Joni Mitchell album came out in 1974, which I’ve already alluded to. After that, I bought a lot of earlier Joni, including my favorite, Blue. Help Me reminds me of a 1975 rebound relationship that did not last. The Same Situation; Raised on Robbery.

We Shall Overcome: this live Pete Seeger album, recorded at Carnegie Hall in 1963, was actually my father’s album, but I played it a lot. It helped inform my social activism.  I’ve seen Pete perform over two dozen times and met him once. Much later, I bought the CD, and I discovered the LP was about half the length. Keep Your Eyes on the Prize; Who Killed Norma Jean?; Tshotsholosa

Pet Sounds: I got this Beach Boys album from the Capitol Record Club because I didn’t opt out. I knew the band, of course, from the radio, songs full of references to surfing and cars; I didn’t relate. But I GOT this album. Interestingly, in the 1970s, I bought a retrospective Beach Boys album and decided I liked it. Now I have a 5-CD set of the band that I gave to a friend of mine, Donna, but got back after she died. Wouldn’t It Be Nice; Don’t Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder); God Only Knows.

Creature of habit

bandwidth

I’m a creature of habit – most of us are – but there are situations that remind me how much that is the case.

Since I’m unemployed – I mean retired – it is clear that I need a few days per week when I have no obligations. Though when I say that I have “nothing to do,” it is a bit of a fiction. There are always dishes to wash, bills to pay, and blog posts to write. (Do NOT look at the floor next to my side of the bed.)

In order to get reimbursed for some medical payments, I have to submit forms electronically; I haven’t done that in weeks, so it’s fortunate that I’m independently wealthy (he joked). I need to get grocery staples when we run out. Once a week, I have a friend I need to visit.

Also, I have to work on finding speakers for the FFAPL and host the ones I’ve secured. Oh, and I’m supposed to give a book review in less than two weeks; I should start reading the book, I reckon.

Of course, I have church and choir, which brings joy. Do not underestimate joy.

My wife, daughter and I play the NYT Connections together every evening because it’s a collective family thing; also, our brains work very differently. Even when my wife and daughter were in NYC for a couple nights, we played via telephone. I’m still playing Wordle, but having broken my streak for a SECOND time this calendar year, I keep playing because of the Wordle World community and a couple other folks. 

I used to deliver a newspaper

When my newspapers, probably a week’s  worth, traveled in my suitcase, a friend of mine said, “Well, you don’t really need to worry about those.” The thing is: I LIKE to read the newspaper, even the ones that are a couple of weeks old, though I get annoyed when that happens.

People note that I can read the stories online, which is true except I LIKE reading the paper. It relaxes me – well, maybe not the CONTENT but the physical experience of sitting in a comfortable chair and perusing the pages. Looking at stories online I find mentally tiring.

I check out the obituaries. More than once, I have found a piece about someone I knew but was unaware that they had died.

I do visit a handful of websites, the usual suspects: AmeriNZ, Forgotten Stars, News From ME, Coverville, whatever the heck Greg Burgas is posting, and some of the folks that Chuck Miller highlights on his Saturday blogroll. It is, in a very real sense, part of my community. 

To add or not to add

What I’ve increasingly realized is that I must be judicious in adding things to the calendar. Going to lunch with a friend? That’s almost always a yes.

I’d like to work more on political campaigns – the local Indivisible group has plenty of suggestions, but I’ve done little in this arena since I attended a No Kings rally several months ago.

Some miniscule – okay, not so small – part of me wants me to do more in a variety of areas. A larger part gets into a term my sister was using a lot the last time I spoke with her: bandwidth. She doesn’t have the bandwidth to do A, B, C, AND D.  I’m in a similar boat. 

I’ve pretty much sworn off anything that involves meetings. Well, except for one. My tolerance for them is through the floor.

All of this to say that I am continuing to muddle through, sort of like the 4-1 Buffalo Bills; QB Josh Allen won only first overtime game in the NFL? Sort of like that.  

Sept rambling – Bust Unions

Whispers from the Great Beyond, featuring Rebecca Jade

Amazon Is Deploying AI to Spy on Its Workers and Bust Unions Before They Form

The Secret Service: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

The Nobel Peace Prize announcement is that this year’s award went to Navi Pillay, a person of “exceptional courage” who has led accountability efforts against apartheid, prosecuted war crimes, and upheld international law for decades.  The Norwegian Nobel Committee honored Pillay, who early in her career served as a judge on South Africa’s High Court, her native country.

Being Heard Is Not Enough. As the Cornell 7 case reminds us, institutional accountability is a must

A Photo of Mussolini’s Corpse Led Page 1. How It Got There Is a Tale.

When Your Charity Dollars Go Overseas, Can You Follow the Money?

Where to Take Your Unwanted Prescription Meds – The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) has an online tool that lets you find the closest kiosk by entering your ZIP code.

Eva Marie Saint, from the movie North by Northwest, and an Oscar winner for On the Waterfront, is dead at 102

Mike Ditka has died. He and the Bears won the Super Bowl in 1986, and after coaching, he became one of the sport’s most visible and enduring talking heads. He was 86.

70 Up and saying goodbye to the greatest documentary series of all time

Toadstools and Toxins, what’s in those “magic mushroom” gummies?

UGH

The U.S. Supreme Court granted the regime’s request to resume third-country deportations, issuing an unsigned stay of a lower-court injunction. The Court added the case to its docket and scheduled oral arguments for December.

FOTUS wrote that the White House sees anyone who says “artificial intelligence” instead of “super intelligence” as “THE ENEMY”.

FOTUS’s decision to hold an international summit at his private golf club, an idea he rejected in his first term, shows how much he has shattered norms.

He personally told an aide to use taxpayer money for TV ads praising him

The regime’s allies have sought to prove a “grand conspiracy” through a sprawling Justice Department inquiry. It has buckled under staffing shake-ups, internal disputes, and trouble finding evidence.

A scorecard from MAHA activists suggests the regime has broken most of its promises to the movement on food, agriculture, and environmental health.

GOP senator’s gotcha question blows up in his face

MUSIC

This Land Is Your Land/Power to the People – Tom Morello leads an all-star finale featuring Bruce Springsteen, Joan Baez, Dave Grohl, Dave Matthews, Stephen Stills, and more, performing live at the Power to the People Festival 2026! The whole 10-hour concert✊

My Minnesota Home – Gail Sparlin. I heard her sing this at the Reader’s Theater event in Albany, NY, on October 5, benefiting the Wizard’s Wardrobe tutorial program.

Peter Sprague Plays Whispers from the Great Beyond, featuring Rebecca Jade

Autumnal Sketch by Sergei Prokofiev

The main theme from the score to Dangerous Beauty by George Fenton

Kansas City – The New Basement Tapes

Dolly Suite by Gabriel Fauré

Teardrops – Womack & Womack

On the radio, I heard Leyenda by Albeniz. IDK who was playing, but here’s Andres Segovia. It reminded me of Spanish Caravan – The Doors

Coverville 1596: Album Anniversaries for XTC, ELO and Simon & Garfunkel

The Fall of the Leaf by Gerald Finzi

Surreptitious – Romy

Operator (That’s Not the Way It Feels) – Jim Croce 

Peter Sprague Plays The Kiss featuring Allison Adams Tucker

Favorite Songs By Favorite Artists (Series Four) #11: Elton John

NYT: My Favorite Phone Songs

Remembering when there were ‘Stax’ of soul musicians in Memphis

What Makes This 50’s Fender Precision Bass So Rare! The insane story of how Joe Bonamassa helped solve Rick Beato’s 50-year-old family mystery.

#10 CDTA bus into Stuyvesant Plaza

four times a day

I wrote here in August 2025 that the CDTA #10 bus would not be going into Stuyvesant Plaza, but would instead stop on Western Avenue. The news irritated me greatly. That was the word in the newspaper and on the CDTA website at the time.

On a recent walk through the plaza, I saw the sign above. Ah, they must not have removed it. So I called CDTA, and the person on the line informed me that the bus DOES go into Stuyvesant four times a day. What?

Later in the day, I needed to go to a medical appointment in Executive Park, which is behind Stuyvesant Plaza. When I was done, I noticed a couple of  bus kiosks with this information:

Wow. Am I misremembering this? This Reddit thread and the story from WTEN-TV confirms what I had written about. So at some point since then, CDTA or Stuyvesant Plaza – I was unclear who was the villain in the piece – apparently changed their mind and the schedule.

So, four times a day, a change has come. Coming from Albany to Crossgates Mall, the bus will turn right from Western Avenue onto Fuller Road to the stops at 2 and 6 Executive Park to the Stuyvesant Plaza post office back to Western Avenue.   Coming from Crossgates, the bus will turn left onto Fuller, to Executive Park, the post office, to that sign I photographed, right on Fuller, and left onto Western.

This makes me happy. There are a number of medical offices in the various Executive Park buildings. Buses into Stuyvesant Plaza will encourage shopping in the various stores and restaurants. 

Check the schedule.

Opposing the death penalty

“a barbaric promotion of a culture of death”

Hank Green mused about the botched execution in Tennessee: Why Are We So Bad at Executing People? He has a statistical analysis that might well explain it. Christa Pike’s attorneys had made it known that she had essential thrombocytosis, which complicates IV access. A doctor explains: “What happened in Tennessee’s execution chamber is one of the most common failures in medicine.”

Kelly mentioned his conversion to opposing the death penalty. I’ve opposed it for longer, but I like his point: “Time and time again I have seen that, as a response to the actions of the worst of us, executions do not bring out the best of us.”

Over 200 people have been exonerated after being on death row, some of them incarcerated for decades.

From the ACLU:

  • Almost all people on death row could not afford to hire an attorney. The quality of legal representation better predicts whether someone will be sentenced to death than the facts of the crime.
  • Race often plays a role in determining a capital sentence, in multiple ways. Over 80% of capital cases involve white victims, even though nationally, only 50% of murder victims are white…. 
Death is a carnival

But what frankly enraged me recently was Pete Hegseth announcing that the Pentagon plans a public livestream execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan, its first in decades. The president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, has rightly condemned the plan as “a barbaric promotion of a culture of death” that would “only further undermine the moral fabric of our nation.”

Public execution as entertainment? AP: “For about nine decades, executions in the U.S. have been private affairs.” After years of public executions, “states started to change the policy as an increasing number of people witnessed botched hangings and as broader concerns grew over the events… Instead of promoting the sanctity of life and how solemn the circumstance was, with people applauding and having a carnival-like atmosphere, that really turned people off.” 

I will admit that the “festivities” image created a visceral reaction in me. It reminded me of lynchings, “the public killing of an individual who has not received any due process. These executions were often carried out by lawless mobs, though police officers did participate, under the pretext of justice.

“A typical lynching involved a criminal accusation, an arrest, and the assembly of a mob, followed by seizure, physical torment, and murder of the victim. Lynchings were often public spectacles attended by the white community in celebration of white supremacy. Photos of lynchings were often sold as souvenir postcards.”

Don’t be like Iran

I’m not arguing that Hasan was not fairly convicted, as far as I know, or that the government doesn’t have the AUTHORITY to execute him. But the OHCHR’s Shabia Mantoo, responding to a question from journalists at a press briefing in Geneva, noted that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, in response to public executions in Afghanistan and Iran, had previously stressed that such executions “constitute a form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

We are presumably better than Yemen and North Korea, other countries that have performed public executions in recent years. Or maybe not. Watch Jonathan Pie on American Morality.