Ramblin' with Roger

Why you should attend FFAPL book reviews

Tuesday, July 28th, the Stories and Spoken Word Poetry Open Mic Night

I’m going to tell you why you should attend FFAPL book reviews and author talks. For one thing, you might learn some obscure facts.

On July 21, Dan Wilcox, peace activist & noted local poet, reviewed Shadow Ticket, a detective novel by Thomas Pynchon. He mentioned that, in the fictional tale, there may have been some factual events. Sure enough, the Bridge Table Murder case actually happened. “Myrtle Adkins Bennett…, a Kansas City housewife,” was charged with “the murder of her husband John G. Bennett over a game of contract bridge in September 1929.” She was acquitted in March 1931.

Dan also mentioned several other Pynchon novels. When the novelist won the National Book Award for Gravity’s Rainbow, it was Professor Irwin Corey, the eccentric comedian, who accepted the award.

Upcoming

The events take place Tuesdays at 2 pm at the Albany Public Library, 161 Washington Avenue, in the large auditorium. Limited parking is available in the rear of the building.

July 28 | Book Review | The Left Hand of Darkness, a sci-fi classic by Ursula K. Le Guin. Reviewer: David Brickman, photographer & FFAPL treasurer.

August 4 | Book Review | Tiny Gardens Everywhere: The Past, Present, and Future of the Self-Provisioning City by Kate Brown, science historian at MIT. Reviewer: Richard King, retired attorney.

August 11 | Book Review | The Hours of Henry VIII: A Renaissance Masterpiece by Jean Poyet by R. S. Wieck, W. M. Voelkle & K. Michelle Hearne. Reviewer: K. Michelle Hearne Arthur, Ph.D., former museum curator and director & current high school history teacher.

August 18 | Book Review | Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman. Reviewer: Mary A. Rosch, former APL Trustee, current FFAPL board member, proud Albany native who is active in several local organizations and loves connection, learning, and building community.

August 25 | Book Review | The Last Extinction: The Real Science behind the Death of the Dinosaurs by Gerta Keller. Reviewer: Jonathan Skinner, PhD, retired statistician & amateur classicist.

1000 Madison Avenue, the former Pine Hills library

Moth-style stories

On Tuesday, July 28th, the Stories and Spoken Word Poetry Open Mic Night will take place. This month, it will be at a temporary location: the Madison Pour House at 1110 Madison Ave – just one block west of the Madison Theatre. The Madison Theatre is currently closed for renovations.

Please note: the meeting will be on the second floor at the Madison Pour House, accessible only via the staircase.

As usual, they welcome both Spoken Word Poetry and Stories (Moth-style personal stories are encouraged – and folk tales are welcome too). No notes if humanly possible!

$5 at the 2nd floor door; cash, Venmo, and Zelle accepted – All proceeds go to the local business for allowing us to use their space!
Doors open at 6:30 (sign up to take the mic)
Show begins at 7:00 pm, ends at 8:15 pm

Ultimately, the event will return to the Madison Theatre once renovations are complete!

Lydster: Prospect Park, Brooklyn, TWICE in a week

Cousins/nieces.

**By Garry R. Osgood – Author’s own work; a composite of digital images composing a panorama, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=977796**

My daughter and I went to Prospect Park in Brooklyn TWICE in a week in early June. More accurately, it was two times in four days to see two of her cousins, one each from her mother’s and father’s side, who are, of course, also two of my nieces.

In both cases, it involved my daughter driving us from our house in Albany to the Poughkeepsie railroad station, us taking the Metro-North to Grand Central Station in NYC, then a couple of subway rides to a 526-acre location that spans parts of five ZIP Codes.

It’s a lovely setting, with lots of bicyclists riding around. My daughter and I swear some scenes of the various Law & Order TV shows that were shot in specific locations.

Monday, June 1: One niece, Alexa, was getting engaged at c. 11 a.m. But the surprise for her partner was that their friends and family would be gathering for a large picnic lunch. This meant leaving our house at 6 a.m.

The couple has some very nice friends, who, with the relatives, collectively brought WAY more food and beverages than could be consumed.

The one major hitch was on the return trip. Both of our phones died; the drag of Metro North is that, unlike on Amtrak, there are no charging stations. So we found a place to eat while my daughter’s phone slowly charged. We got home about 8 pm.

BRIC

Thursday, June 4: We learned that BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn’s Opening Night, featuring Sheila E., Leon Knight, and DJ Spinna, was taking place at the Lena Horne Bandshell. Rebecca Jade would be performing with Sheila, as she has since 2017, off and on.

This time, we had our portable phone chargers, which we had purchased the night before. When we got to Poughkeepsie in the early afternoon, getting across the Mid-Hudson Bridge was particularly difficult, with stop-and-go traffic. There were no parking spaces nearby, so the daughter parked in a place she THOUGHT would be okay (4-hour parking between 9 and 5, and it was after 1 pm). We bought tickets from the kiosk (the human ticket sellers were closed until 3), and made it on the train with about 30 seconds to spare.

We eventually had Mexican food with Alexa at a local eatery. Then the Daughter and I walked for at least half an hour to the bandshell. The concert was free, but it allegedly required tickets, which weren’t checked.

We went to the musicians’ tent, saw RJ, and spoke to her briefly, but she had to get dressed for the performance. The opening act, the rocker Leon Knight, was okay. DJ Spinna started his set without an introduction, keeping the crowd engaged.

Sheila, Lynn, and Rebecca

When Sheila was about to begin, the Daughter and I moved from sitting on the lawn a distance away to standing as close as we could. She, the legendary vocalist Lynn Mabry, and Rebecca, along with the fine instrumentalists, were in great form.

Here’s just a snippet of the vocalists in Europe in 2019, which was the last time my wife, daughter, and I saw them perform. Sheila gave a couple of vocals to Lynn and RJ. Watch some short pieces of this show here and here.

Sheila is a very positive performer. When she said it was her birthday (that didn’t seem right, and it is actually December 12), she was suggesting that we should be celebrating each day.

As is often the case, she leaned into the Prince catalog. Her group would be performing in Minneapolis two days later, near his birthday, and a decade after he died.

Afterwards

We went to the tent. By then, we COULD hang with Rebecca and also another relative, the eldest child of my second cousin Anne, whom I had last seen on Thanksgiving 2013.

We briefly spoke with Sheila and Lynn about their trip to Albany on the 4th of July 2023, which was canceled when a last-minute lightning storm hit the Empire State Plaza.

My daughter and I got to Grand Central at midnight. The next train was not until 12:48 a.m. It was a local, making all of the stops. Miraculously, my daughter slept through most of the trip.

We got to the car. The GPS directed her to state routes 9G and 23 before we finally reached the Thruway near Catskill. We got home at 4:45 a.m.

These were two great trips, though I wished they had been spaced a bit further apart…

Sunday Stealing: The $80K Meme

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

Back in 2007, Sparky Duck at Philly Transplant played the $50,000 Meme. That was nearly 20 years ago. To make it more relevant to our day and age, it’s been updated and is now the …

The $80K Meme

Premise: A philanthropist awards you $80,000 with the stipulation that you must spend half on yourself and half for the benefit of others.

For our overseas players, here’s a currency calculator.

1. Of the $40,000 you must spend on yourself:

a. First you throw yourself a lavish birthday party. Tell us about it.

Other than providing transportation for my far-flung friends to attend, I have no real feel for this. The truth is that I’d probably send out a survey and ask them what THEY would like to do. A concert? A trip down the Hudson River? And knowing my friends, there would be no consensus at all.

b. Then you take off on a cruise. Where are you headed?

Three come to mind. A trip down the Mississippi River, getting out at the states I’ve never been to: Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, and Arkansas. Or a trip down the Danube River, since I’ve been to NONE of those countries. Possibly a trip around Ireland and the UK, visiting Liverpool, England (Beatles’ hometown, of course) and County Cork, Ireland, where I clearly have ancestors.

Give it away

2. Of the $40,000 you must spend for the benefit of others:

a. Who would be on your gift list? What would you buy them?

I’d pay off the parental home where my baby sister lives. If there was anything left, I’d probably give it out to random strangers.

b. Which charities would you support?

There are SO many. Internet Archive, a non-profit library of millions of free texts, movies, software, music, websites, and more. The Smithsonian Institution, the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex. Electronic Frontier Foundation, the leading nonprofit defending digital privacy, free speech, and innovation. Red Cross volunteers and staff work to deliver vital services – from providing relief and support to those in crisis, to helping you be prepared to respond in emergencies.

And some local organizations, most notably the Underground Railroad Education Center, which researches and preserves the local and national history of the Underground Railroad movement, its international connections, and its legacy to today’s social justice issues, thereby empowering people of all ages to be agents of change toward an equitable and just society.

Money – Barrett Strong

Money, Money, Money -ABBA

The first one I thought of was Money Makes The World Go Round – Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey, from Cabaret

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

The #1 easy listening hits of 1966

Westminster Abigail

The #1 easy listening hits of 1966 are listed here. Interestingly, the category name went from easy listening (7/17/1961) to middle-road singles (11/3/1962) to pop-standard singles (5/2/1964) to middle-road singles (10/24/1964), back to pop-standard singles (5/1/1965), finally back to easy listening (6/5/1965). It stayed there until 4/7/1979, when it became adult contemporary. I usually list the category as AC.

*Strangers in the Night – Frank Sinatra (Reprise), 7 weeks at #1; also, #1 pop

Born Free – Roger Williams (Kapp), 6 weeks at #1; also #7 pop. From the movie. He’s NOT the Roger Williams who founded Rhode Island.

*The Ballad of the Green Berets – SSgtBarry Sadler (RCA Victor), 5 weeks at #1

Spanish Eyes – Al Martino (Capitol), 4 weeks at #1; also #15 pop.

From J-archive:

#823, aired 1988-03-16

DOUBLE TALK $800 (Daily Double): It’s what Al Martino wanted the girl to say in the following song: “Blue Spanish eyes / Teardrops are falling from your Spanish eyes…”

Somewhere My Love – Ray Coniff & the Singers, 4 weeks at #1; also #9 pop. a/k/a Larta’s Theme from the movie Dr. Zhivago.

The Wheel Of Hurt – Margaret Whiting (London), 4 weeks at #1; also #26 pop

*Winchester Cathedral – The New Vaudeville Band (Fontana), 4 weeks at #1; also #1 pop for three weeks

Crying Time – Ray Charles (ABC-Paramount), 3 weeks at #1; also #5 RB, #6 pop

*I Want to Go With You – Eddy Arnold, (RCA Victor), 3 weeks at #1; also #1 CW for six weeks

Together Again – Ray Charles (ABC-Paramount), 3 weeks at #1; also #10 RB, #19 pop

That’s Life – Frank Sinatra (Reprise)- 3 weeks at #1; also #4 pop, #25 RB. It was also #1 on Record World, but I’m focusing here on Billboard.

Band Of Gold – Mel Carter (Imperial), 2 weeks at #1; #32 pop

In The Arms Of Love – Andy Williams (Columbia), 2 weeks at #1; also #49 pop. Co-written by Henry Mancini.

The remaining songs were #1 AC for one week

England Swings – Roger Miller (Smash); also #3 CW, #8 pop. For reasons, when this came out, I changed a line to “Westminster Abigail, the tower Big Benjamin. The rosy-red cheeks of the little children-alin.”

It Was A Very Good Year – Frank Sinatra (Reprise); also #28 pop

The Impossible Dream (the Quest) – Jack Jones (Kapp); also #35 pop. The only song from Man of La Mancha I know. The changed lyric is not an improvement, but it is probably more radio-friendly than the “march into hell ” line.

I Couldn’t Live Without Your Love – Petula Clark (Warner); also #9 pop

Summer Wind – Frank Sinatra (Reprise); also #25 pop

The JEOPARDY response, What is “Si, si”?

Talking with sister Leslie

singer

Recently, I spent about an hour talking with sister Leslie about resolving an issue between a couple other parties. While I have had the chance to be the interlocutor occasionally, she is more likely to take on the role.

She’s always been more of a “people person” than I was/am. There is a certain narrative she’s shared that’s largely true. Folks would come over to visit our parents. I was usually hanging out in my bedroom, reading a book or playing with my baseball cards. Out of a sense of obligation, I’d come out to the living room and say hello, then returned to my sanctuary. These people didn’t come to see me, after all.

By contrast, Leslie would come out and stay for a while. I was aware enough of this – it was a small enough house – to know this. Frankly, I found it a bit baffling. But it seemed to serve her, from her job as a hostess at Perkins Pancake to her brief career as a model to her time as a professional singer, which I suspect I’ve mentioned in the past.

In the past year or so, she has talked with cousins of ours, whom I do not know, one each on our mother’s and father’s sides . She took copious notes, which I should eventually add to the Ancestry tree.

Tunes

Sister Leslie has always needed to sing. As I was looking through my hometown newspapers, there was a hit for “Leslie Green will sing and play the guitar.” She received her guitar for her 12th birthday, and was remarkably proficient a month later.

Presently, she sings in one or more churches most Sundays, is a member of a couple of chorales, and sits in on a few gigs, occasionally with her daughter, Rebecca Jade. Twice recently, she performed as the headliner; I hope she has the opportunity to do this more often.

Happy birthday to Les and Trudy’s second-born.