The Daughter will be a fine childsitter herself, if she is so inclined.
The evening I got home from that brief hospital stay in April, my daughter wanted to go to game night at her school. My wife did not; truth to tell, I didn’t much, either. But I hadn’t spent much time with her the last couple of days, so I took her.
We go to the gymnasium, and instantly all these four-to-six-year-olds scurry to her, calling to her by name. She knows them from the afterschool program they all go to. Still, I didn’t know that she was so popular with the younger set there.
I WAS aware that she had a similar relationship with the younger children at church. She plays with them, watches out for their welfare, and generally plays big sister. There was a mother at church who noted that my daughter could control her child in a way she could not.
I think this is a function of some of the girls, now young women, who have looked out for her, and are among the pool of child sitters for her.
Someone at church said that she’ll I reckon when she gets older, she’ll make a lot of money as a fine child sitter; I reckon, if she is so inclined, that would be correct.
The Wikipedia describes “the hypnotic riff Brian Jones is playing during the verses pays a tribute to Bo Diddley’s song ‘Diddley Daddy'”
Mick Jagger at the White House
I started reading this Philip Norman book about Mick Jagger last month, and I’ve never understood the physical appeal of the man, but it is palpable from the very first chapter. He continues to be such an icon that there was a (relatively) recent song about him, Moves Like Jagger by Maroon 5. A lock of his hair fetched $6,000 at auction recently; it was for charity to be sure, but still.
Anyway in honor of Sir Michael’s 70th birthday, here are my 20 favorite Stones songs. The album references are to the UK releases; worse than with the Beatles, the US record company could be swipe one song and stick it on another album, or two.
20. Start Me Up -Tattoo You (1981) Not sure I liked this song as much as appreciating another’s enthusiasm for it. I went to my 10th high school reunion, and it was deadly boring. Afterward, a bunch of us went to our friend Cecily’s house and partied until about 6 a.m.
My good friend Karen was playing this brand new song by the Stones; she must have listened to it a half dozen times or more that night, quite loudly, if memory serves. This was well before I heard it too often in a certain commercial.
19. You Gotta Move – Sticky Fingers (1971) A gospel standard that still sounds like the band.
18. Play With Fire – B-side to “The Last Time” single (1965) Love the contrast between the pretty guitar and intense feelings in the lyric.
17. Dead Flowers – Sticky Fingers I rather liked the faux country feel of the song. And for some reason, always liked the line about the US mail.
16. Ruby Tuesday – single (1966) It wasn’t as strong as Nirvana would do later, but they had a few songs where the verse is lovely and quiet, and the chorus more robust.
15. Lady Jane – Aftermath (1966) Brian Jones’ dulcimer helps to make this a beautiful piece. Sounds vaguely Elizabethan, or something.
14. Love in Vain – Let It Bleed (1969) A Robert Johnson song, played with a bit more country feel than the original.
13. Please Go Home – Between the Buttons (1966) It’s the echoey effect of the chorus, the distorted guitar, plus a theremin, played by Brian Jones, which gives it an almost early psychedelic feel.
12. Happy – Exile on Main Street (1972) This is Keith Richards’ signature song with the band. And with the brass, it sounds so, well, happy.
11. Jumpin’ Jack Flash – single (1968) Great guitar line. “But it’s all right.”
10. Backstreet Girl – Between the Buttons Brian Jones on glockenspiel and Jack Nitzsche on the harpsichord, plus an accordion. Lovely waltz that was a social commentary on some UK sex scandal of the day.
9. Street Fightin’ Man – Beggars Banquet Its muscular guitar playing and off-the-beat drumming give the song urgency. What is its politics is a bit unclear.
8. I Got The Blues – Sticky Fingers Bluesy organ of Billy Preston, not to mention the horns made this for me.
7. 19th Nervous Breakdown – single (1966) Wikipedia describes “the hypnotic riff Brian Jones is playing during the verses pays a tribute to Bo Diddley’s song ‘Diddley Daddy’… The song is also well known for Bill Wyman’s so-called ‘dive-bombing’ bass line at the end of the song.” The tune was ripped off by other artists, it was so infectious.
6. Mother’s Little Helper – Aftermath In some ways, an anti-prescription drug song: “And if you take more of those you will get an overdose No more running for the shelter of a mother’s little helper They just helped you on your way through your busy dying day”
5. I Am Waiting – Aftermath Another soft/loud song. Always loved the intentional echo effect in the vocal in the last chorus. There’s a great cover of this by a group called Ollabelle.
4. Paint It, Black – Aftermath Brian Jones’ sitar. “I want to see the sun blotted out from the sky.” When the press made it the “good” Beatles v. the “evil” Stones in the day, this full-bodied tune was a good example of the latter.
3. You Can’t Always Get What You Want – Let It Bleed I went to see the movie The Big Chill when it first came out in 1983. The first scene is a funeral, and the organist is noodling about when I recognize this song and started laughing; I’m the only one in the theater to do so for a long 30 seconds until other people start getting the joke. From the French horn opening to the great choir response, a tremendous song.
2. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction – Out of Our Heads (1965) What’s to say? One of the most recognizable riffs in all of pop music, often stolen. This song is always on the list of greatest singles, and rightly so.
1. Gimme Shelter – Let It Bleed My favorite song is this apocalyptic tune, with the great Merry Clayton vocal.
Weird thing about getting a cat in the 21st century: the “book” said that you should keep the cat in a small location so that he doesn’t get too disoriented.
Being the terrible blogger that I am, I have totally neglected to mention the fact that we got a cat this year.
The Daughter has been wary of animals, especially dogs and cats. So we had never had pets of any kind since she was born. But as she spent more time with her friends’ cats, she decided that she wanted a feline of her own. In fact, when she didn’t get one for Christmas 2012, she gave us a deadline for her birthday in March to get one. Finally, around that date, she and her mother went to the animal shelter. There were two kittens she really loved who liked playing with each other. But before they could decide on which one to get, or possibly get them both, one was selected by another family.
They came back the next day and picked the remaining kitten of the pair. He was born around January 26, so he was two months old when he arrived. The Daughter named him Midnight. The weird thing about getting a cat in the 21st century: the “book” said that you should keep the cat in a small location so that he doesn’t get too disoriented. I had cats 30 to 55 years ago, and I had not heard such a thing. So he was in the guest room for a time unless he was with one of us, for too long for my taste. Part of the issue is that, to this day, it’s almost impossible to catproof the house. While sometimes he cuddles and is mellow, other times he’ll run the length of the house and jump on the dining room table, or some other verboten locale, knocking over any vulnerable items.
The general routine is that someone, whoever gets up first, will go downstairs and feed him; that’s usually me. After that, he’ll be purring and mellow for about five minutes. Then he’ll look out the window and watch what The Wife has dubbed KITV, Kitten Television before he starts marauding. This tires him out and he’ll sleep for a while.
The Daughter really loves him. I guess The Wife and I do too.
I had to work REALLY hard NOT to change the lyrics to ‘with whomever’.
Roger and Leslie, Corning Glass Works
For her 12th birthday, my sister Leslie received her own guitar. With some assistance from my father, a largely self-taught player, she became quite competent with it in about a month. And that really became the birth of the Green Family Singers, when the three of us used to sing around Binghamton, NY together from 1966 to 1971. The program initially was a variation of what my father had been singing by himself. We would sing harmony on some choruses or responses, for instance, though there were a number of pieces that were three-part harmony throughout.
Leslie and I pretty much stole Hole in the Bucket from my father’s repertoire, though. It was much more dramatic with the two of us than him doing both voices. Leslie always sang the Beatles ‘ song Yesterday. And Leslie and I, in our only other nod to then-contemporary music, sang Go Where You Wanna Go. We first heard it on a Mamas and Papas album and listened to it a lot. Here’s their version, which was a 1996 album cut. This is the version by The 5th Dimension, their first hit single, getting up to #16 on the Billboard charts in 1967.
I had to work REALLY hard NOT to change the lyrics to ‘with whomever’.
Leslie was in Albany for my 50th birthday party, and at some point near the end of the evening, we sang “Go Where You Wanna Go.” In re: some conversation we had earlier this year, my advice to my dear sister is for her to go where she wants to go.
The photo portrait of Rosa Parks that hangs in the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery was taken by IdaBerman BEFORE Rosa refused to yield her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama in December 1955.
Charlotte (Berman) Yates, Gertrude (Yates) Williams, Trudy (Williams) Green, Roger Green- 13 Maple St, Binghamton, NY
When Charlotte Berman married Ernest Yates in 1937, it was a pretty radical event at the time. Charlotte was from a family of Jews from eastern Europe, and Ernie was black.
But let’s back up a bit. “Pinches Barosin, a teacher in the small town of Warklian, Latvia, and his wife, Slatte” had five children, the youngest of which, Isaac, was born in 1886. In the US, Barosin became Berman; Isaac married Sara Schmuelowitsch in 1910. They had eight children: Ida, Benjamin, Charlotte, Frances, Jacob, Mary, Samuel, and Arnold, most of whom I got to know to various degrees. Isaac, a trucking company executive, died before I was born, but Sara lived until 1971 and died in my hometown of Binghamton, so I did meet her.
Of the children, I’ll take Charlotte (1914-2003), the third child, out of order, because she’s the link to me. Ernie Yates, who she married, was the brother of my maternal grandmother, Gert. Ernie and Charlotte’s kids were my mother’s first cousins. And until Ernie died, shortly after I was born, they lived in Binghamton. Even after they moved to St. Albans, Queens in New York City, we saw Charlotte, her kids, and eventually her grandkids all the time. The photo is of Charlotte (I think Ernie is just out of the frame), my grandmother, my mother and me, at my grandmother’s house.
Ida (1911-2009) was the Berman, other than Charlotte, I was closest to. She was an accomplished photographer. The photo portrait of Rosa Parks that hangs in the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery was taken by Ida BEFORE Rosa refused to yield her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama in December 1955. Never married, she seemed to have adopted me and would take me to art galleries whenever I saw her in NYC.
Ben (1912-1989) I knew not well, but like his siblings, I would see at him at the weddings of Charlotte’s children and other events.
Fran (1916-2011) married Professor Irwin Corey, the comedian, c 1940, and it was exciting to see him on Ed Sullivan or some other TV variety show. For some reason, Charlotte once took us to Fran and Irwin’s house when they weren’t there. I saw Fran and Irwin at a couple of birthday parties for Charlotte in 1994 (her 80th) and 2002 (her 88th, and last).
The kids of Jack (1918-2001) and Berta, known as Chicha, grew up in Binghamton; they were born between 1948 and 1957, around my time. Didn’t know them well, and was unclear to me at the time of their relationship to me.
Mary (1922-2006), who married Sam Rosen, I don’t really recall; she wasn’t living in New York State, though she probably showed up at some family events too. But her youngest son, Jonny Rosen, is one of the leaders of the Albany area band Annie & the Hedonists, “an eclectic mix of acoustic blues, vintage jazz and swing, and folk roots Americana.” They are, BTW, really good. (n.b., Sharp Little Pencil – I think you’d like them). I just saw them play this past Mother’s Day.
Charlotte always referred to her two younger brothers collectively as “the boys,” even when they were adults. Sam (b. 1923), who is still alive, and married to Vivian, was a folk singer. I wonder if he influenced my father somehow?
Arnold (b. 1924), a widower (Miriam), is not only alive; he put together this extensive website on the Barosin/Berman family. He also recalls a trip Charlotte and my sister Leslie took to Mexico in the summer of 1972: “[His wife] Miriam and I visited while [Charlotte] was there. I know that Ida was there at the time. My most striking memory in that visit was Leslie, that beautiful, tall Black girl who attracted so much attention from the local short Mexicans as we traveled by bus through the small villages.” Leslie got a kick out of THAT.
There are some gaps on the website – Charlotte’s youngest, Robert isn’t represented, e,g. – but it is filled with fascinating stuff. There are photos, many taken by Ida, and videos. I highly recommend that you check it out. ABC Wednesday – Round 13
The evening I got home from that brief hospital stay in April, my daughter wanted to go to game night at her school. My wife did not; truth to tell, I didn’t much, either. But I hadn’t spent much time with her the last couple of days, so I took her. 
