Month: October 2005

Joan Armatrading-Walk Under Ladders (1981)- I love her deep voice, and she really rocks on this album. One of my two favorite albums of that year.

The Band-the Band (1969). This is the second album (the “brown album”) with “Rag Mama Rag” and other pieces of Americana, pretty cool for a group with four of its five members from Canada. In our high school yearbook, there was a section for the HS band, but one of the pictures was of this group. Played this album OFTEN in college as well.

The Beach Boys-Pet Sounds (1966). I know this is the quintessential BB album, but I came thisclose to picking Surf’s Up (“Feel Flow”, “Until I Die”, “Long Promised Road”, and the title track.)

The Beatles-Revolver(1966). For me, it’s always between this album and Rubber Soul. Think of the songs individually. The same group did “Yellow Sub”, “Eleanor Rigby”, and “Taxman”? Astonishing. When my parents weren’t home, I used to crank up the volume during “Got to Get You Into My Life” during the later horn section (“I was alone, I took a ride”). Then “Tomorrow Never Knows” came on and that was SO incredible.

David Bowie-Ziggy Stardust (1972). I played a mean air bass guitar to “Star”. Heard in the dorms incessantly.

Johnny Cash-Unchained (1996). This is a tough choice, because there are songs I like from all four of those American recordings from the last decade of his life. This is the second one. With Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers as the backing band, I thought it would become a bigger pop hit; it got all the way up to #170.

Judy Collins-Who Knows Where The Time Goes (1968). I received this album for my 16th birthday from my friend Lois, who said, “I hope you like it. It’s kinda country.” Well, yes, there’s some pedal steel, but also lovely tunes, including the murder ballad “Pretty Polly”, with Steve Stills on guitar. I JUST bought it on CD this summer.

Elvis Costello-Spike (1989). An island album, for me, can show lots of sides of an artist. He plays with Macca and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. He has rockers and lilting ballads. It may not be his best album, but its diversity will wear better on the beach.

Cream-Disraeli Gears (1967). It has “Sunshine of Your Love”, but a whole lot more. Probably wore the grooves off.

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young-Deja Vu (1970). Played a LOT in my college dorm. Always liked the democratic nature of the album: 2 Crosby tunes, 2 Stills, 2 Nash, 2 Young, 1 Stills/Young, and 1 Joni Mitchell.

Donovan-Open Road (1970). Another dorm album, now hard to find cheaply. Vastly unrated disc.

The Doors-Waiting for the Sun (1968). The third album, it DOESN’T have the song “Waiting for the Sun” on it (that’s on Morrison Hotel), but does have a lot of great songs, the least of which is the hit “Hello, I Love You”.

Bob Dylan-Blood on the Tracks (1975). I came to Dylan late as a performer. I appreciated his songs, of course, when sung by others. I bought my girlfriend at the time Self Portrait, and even she had a hard time with it. But by 1975, I learned to appreciate the guy, and subsequently started collecting Dylan in both directions, forward and back.

Eurhythmics-Be Yourself Tonight (1985). I loved the “Would I Lie To You” video on MTV. A lot. But this album has other great songs, including “Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves,” featuring QoS. (QoS means Queen of Soul.)

Roberta Flack-Chapter Two (1970). It has a song about a preacher and sex (“Rev. Lee”), THE breakup song (“Gone Away”), and a scathing indictment of war (“Business Goes On as Usual”). The rest are good jazz covers of popular songs.

Peter Gabriel -Peter Gabriel (1980). (This is the third album, sometimes referred to as “Melt”.) I think Q-104, the late, great radio station in the Albany area played almost every track. One cut appears on a Halloween CD I just mixed. This album contains “Games without Frontiers” and the important anti-apartheid song “Biko”. I have this album on vinyl, in German; anyone know where I can get it on CD for a reasonable price?

Joe Jackson-Night and Day (1982) This is another Q-104 album, featuring “Steppin’ Out.”

Michael Jackson-Off the Wall (1979). I will contend that this album is better than Thriller. This is Michael, just turning 21, before the strangeness really begins. Includes “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough”.

Elton John-Tumbleweed Connection (1971). Truth is, I could have picked the eponymous album, Madman Across the Water or Honky Chateau. I could even have picked an album I picked up at McDonald’s in 1994 which contains: “Take Me To The Pilot”, “Burn Down the Mission”, “friends”, “Saturday Night’s Alright”, “Madman”, “Tiny Dancer”, “Honky Cat”, “Croc Rock”, “Mona Lisas”, and “Levon”. But no, I couldn’t pick an album I bought for $3 with the purchase of a fish fillet, could I? In any case, Tumbleweed won out because the 1995 CD features an early version of “Madman”.

Janis Joplin-Pearl (1971). The first posthumously-released album I ever bought. “Buried Alive in the Blues” is an instrumental because Janis didn’t live to record the vocals. In 1972, I was working in a factory singing “Mercedes Benz”, and someone asked me if that was a Temptations song. For some reason, I bit my lip rather than laughing aloud.

Carole King-Tapestry (1971). I bought this and Sticky Fingers by the Rolling Stones (my second choice among Stones’ albums) at the same time; why I remember that, I have NO idea. Her version of “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” I always hear in my mind’s ear as an a cappella doo wop.

King Crimson-Discipline (1981). Another Q-104 album. “I repeat myself when under stress. I repeat myself when under stress. I repeat…”

Led Zeppelin-III (1970). The worst selling of the first six albums. “Immigrant Song” notwithstanding, I liked the softer side of Zep, including Leadbelly’s “Gallows Pole”; I have a Leadbelly version.

John Lennon-Imagine (1971). Plastic Ono Band is too angst ridden. This one’s bitter enough, with “How Do You Sleep”, the wicked evisceration of his former writing partner.

Curtis Mayfield-Superfly (1972). The 25th anniversary recording has alternative takes of several songs, a discussion of the music by Curtis, and ads by Curtis, telling us to stay away from the “Pusherman”. “Remember, ‘Freddy’s Dead’.” But it’s the solid tunes, and maybe it was just the right time, that captivated me. I’ve never seen the movie, BTW.

Paul McCartney-Band on the Run (1973). Sometimes, in addition to the music, I just love the backstory: Paul calls the band together to record, he’s abandoned by everyone except Denny Laine and the lovely Linda, they get mugged in Lagos, and they put out a great album, commercially and critically.

This was an aggrevating weekend, in part because I spent four phone calls and well over an hour trying to get an AOL charge off my credit card that doesn’t even show up on the AOL customer service reps’ computers. Finally, I had to cancel a credit card and get a new one.

Also, it rained in Albany every day for about a week and a half. Sales of “Ark Builders’ Digest” have really spiked this week in this part of the country. Yesterday, 50 mph winds came howling through.

On the other hand, we sang really well in choir yesterday, and then most of us went out to lunch at a nice restaurant (in the Gideon Putnam, for you locals).

Lydia has been a bit under the weather, and she stayed home today from day care. Her maternal grandparents are visiting, so they’ll watch her, as they did yesterday when Carol and I went out to eat. Otherwise, I would have had to stay home from work on a day that a number folks will be out at a meeting.

Our building is going to have a fire drill this week. I am the floor marshal for the 7th floor.

I’ve been hoping for a Chicago White Sox win, and I’m glad they’ve gotten into the World Series for the first time since 1959, but I’ve been picking against them because of their history. So, I’ll still pick the NL team (the Astros, barring a real collapse, a team that has never won the WS), which should assure the men with the pale hose the team’s first World Series win since 1917. But with that pitching on both sides, will anyone actually SCORE?

I love getting free stuff. I got comics and tunes today from football prognosticator Logan, and a CD and DVD from…well, I’ll explain that in due course.

CANCER News From John Hopkins Medical Center

Instead, he recommends using glass, Corning Ware or ceramic containers for heating food. You get the same results, without the dioxins.

And it goes on from there.

Great, I thought. Carol had heard something about this, and wondered how this would affect Lydia. But something about this piece didn’t sit right. Notably, the article didn’t cite where Castle Hospital was located, so I found this piece, which indicated that the article was “Unproven! & Fiction!” for reasons you can read yourselves.

HOWEVER, deep in the rebuttal piece, there is this paragraph:

The Food and Safety Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture has published guidelines for safe cooking in microwave ovens and warns against using materials that are not regarded as microwave safe.
CLICK HERE for those guidelines.
You’ll note that one of the guidelines is to avoid letting plastic wraps touch food!
That is another issue, however, and not related to dioxins or high heat in microwaves.

So, as a librarian, I appreciated this more nuanced response to the issue than the one that yet another colleague found at the mythbreaker Snopes.

Yet another response:

I don’t believe there is full agreement on whether plastics are safe connected with food prep. There are other chemicals besides dioxins released that offer a good enough reason to avoid plastic in the microwave. See note below from Columbia University.
Even the snopes.com site confirms that plastics release other harmful chemicals when heated and cooled, that appears further along in the article ‘dispelling’ the rumor.

Many products are given the safe go-ahead until they are recalled when people become ill.
I think it’s really a personal choice.

Totally coincidentally, I get THIS link in an e-mail.

All of this contradictory advice should leave you TOTALLY confused.

I watched the TV show “The Office” this week (as usual, in the recorded mode, not in real time). I enjoy it quite a bit. They played Island this and that, so I figured, What the heck?

1. What are your five island movies? And why?

Mine are:
a) Annie Hall. Fair amount of this movie has happened in my life, so if you don’t like the choice, la dee dah, la dee dah.
b) Groundhog Day. Not only is it an intelligent comedy with a JEOPARDY segment, its premise that every day is like the next is eventually broken will give me hope on the island.
c) West Side Story. Another island story: “I like the isle of Manhattan.”
Those three were in my profile. Hmm.
d) Being There: If Peter Sellers’ Chance the gardener can become an advisor to the President and please Shirley McLaine’s character just by watching television, there’s hope for us on this wretched island.
e) Toy Story 2: That conflict between past and present is wonderful.

2. What are your three island books? And why?

Mine are:
a) The Bible, probably the Revised Standard Version, and not only because it’s long.
b) The World Almanac, because I can read about the facts and figures of the rest of the world, trying to keep my mind sharp on this desolate isle.
c) Joel Whitburn’s Top Pop Albums 1955-2001, because I find it endlessly fascinating. If I don’t have music on the island, perhaps I can recreate it in my head.

3. What is your favorite waste of time at work?

Taking those “urgent” e-mails that people send me and try to find out if they are true. In fact, I think I’ll write about one tomorrow.

So go read why Evanier pities W. (It explains a LOT about this White House.)

After this:

This is one of those bizarre stories I’d have given to Burgas if he weren’t away this weekend. Go sign his blog, and make the future dictator happy.

My strange friend Dan initially sent out this article, with this commentary:

In these days of corporate propaganda disguised as information, it’s nice to see some good old fashioned yellow journalism made up from thin air. I don’t think that there’s a single sentence in this article that’s true, except, perhaps, the last one. From some rag called The South London Press (England).

Which engendered this rebuttal:

Dan, I’m surprised that you, of all people, aren’t aware of the growing squirrel crack addiction problem right here in Albany’s First Ward. It’s so common that people are now referring to the poor little beasts as scrackers.

and this:

I believe it. How do you know it’s not true?

Forcing Dan to recant:

OK, you’ve got me there. I didn’t bother to check the story because it is so obviously absurd. So I put the keywords “squirrels” and “cocaine” into Google and found that the story appears to have originated with several English tabloids that ran almost identical stories on the same day. However, the story has subsequently taken on a life of its own. The story has caused enough uproar to induce The Guardian to look into it.