I'm a librarian. I hear music, even when it's not being played. I used to work at a comic book store, and it still informs my life. I won once on JEOPARDY! - ditto.
Yeah, I’m asking you to Ask Roger Anything because I do. But I’m seeking, especially this particular wrinkle. I would like you to list the names of bands or solo musicians, as many as you like. And I must name the ONE or maybe two or three favorite songs from the artist or group, and why.
I hope that your choices include folks from whom I know more than one song. Don’t ask me about Dexys Midnight Runners because I don’t know any other tunes, though I have heard some in the past.
It’s interesting to me that music, most of which I have heard before, is now more likely to make me emotional. Sometimes, it’s sadness but more often, it’s joy. One example is the end section of Surf’s Up by the Beach Boys, originally scheduled for the Smile album, but which appeared at the end of the Surf’s Up album.
Books
I linked to a meme on Facebook. “Umberto Eco, who owned 50,000 books, had this to say about home libraries: ‘It is foolish to think that you have to read all the books you buy, as it is foolish to criticize those who buy more books than they will ever be able to read. It would be like saying that you should use all the cutlery or glasses or screwdrivers or drill bits you bought before buying new ones…
“‘If, for example, we consider books as medicine, we understand that it is good to have many at home rather than a few: when you want to feel better, then you go to the ‘medicine closet’ and choose a book. Not a random one, but the right book for that moment. That’s why you should always have a nutrition choice!'”
So you could make me cut my 2,000 or 3,000 books – I didn’t count them – down to (ouch!) 100. What would I keep? You could ask that.
Or whatever
There was an item on Quora recently. “Can you answer this question: ‘Can you explain the process of blogging on a pizza?'” I was tempted to respond that I tend to blog on media slightly more permanent than a pizza, but I didn’t know how helpful that would be.
But you can ask anything else as well. I will answer, more or less truthfully, in the next month. Please make your requests in the comments section of this post, email me at rogerogreen (AT) Gmail (DOT) com, or contact me on Facebook. Heck, I’m still on Twitter as ersie, more out of inertia. (This is why I don’t call it whatever.) Always look for the duck.
I have a postcard with this on the back which I bought in Cooperstown at least 30 years ago.
On May 6, 2006, I wrote: “Back in 1994, I bought some beverage from McDonald’s and I ended up with a Willie Mays glass. It features a replica of his 1957 baseball card when he played with the New York Giants. That was the team’s last year at the Polo Grounds, before moving to San Francisco. (I still have the glass.)”
Not only did I have the glass, it was in the cabinet with other drinking glasses. I never used it. The rest of my family did. My wife used it on the morning of June 18 to drink water. When I learned that Willie Mays had died, I wrapped the glass in plastic and put it in a box to keep it. It could have broken any time during the previous quarter century, but only then did I know I needed to retire it.
I noted: “When I went to Cooperstown one year, I got to buy this plastic figurine of Willie. I loved it. The arms even moved! Then the dog bit off one of his feet, and one of the arms (the one with the glove) fell off, but I kept it for a good long time anyway.”
1962
I also wrote about him on May 6, 2011. Suffice it to say, Willie Mays was my favorite player. Not only that, I decided I loved San Francisco long before I had visited there, in large part because the Say Hey Kid played there.
The 1962 World Series was difficult for me because the New York Yankees, the parent team of the minor league Triplets of Binghamton, with Ford, Howard, Tresh, Richardson, Mantle, and ROGER Maris against the San Francisco Giants of Cepeda, McCovey, Davenport, Alou, Alou, Marichal, and of course, Mays. It was a great Series, with the NYY winning Game 7, 1-0.
The loss pained him. So the World Series victories by the Giants in 2010, 2012, and 2014 reportedly thrilled him, especially the first one.
The Globe
I could give you the stats. From the Boston Globe (paywall likely):
“Over 22 MLB seasons, virtually all with the New York/San Francisco Giants, Mays batted .301, hit 660 home runs, totaled 3,293 hits, scored more than 2,000 runs, and won 12 Gold Gloves. He was Rookie of the Year in 1951, twice was named the Most Valuable Player, and finished in the top 10 for the MVP 10 other times. His lightning sprint and over-the-shoulder grab of an apparent extra-base hit in the 1954 World Series remains the most celebrated defensive play in baseball history.
“He was voted into the Hall in 1979, his first year of eligibility, and in 1999 followed only Babe Ruth on The Sporting News’ list of the game’s top stars. (Statistician Bill James ranked him third, behind Ruth and Honus Wagner). The Giants retired his uniform number, 24, and set their AT&T Park in San Francisco on Willie Mays Plaza.” The center fielder had been baseball’s oldest living Hall of Famer.
But it wasn’t just his enormous five-tools talent, but his effervescent personality. “For millions in the 1950s and ‘60s and after, the smiling ball player with the friendly, high-pitched voice was a signature athlete and showman during an era when baseball was still the signature pastime. Awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2015, Mays left his fans with countless memories.”
The Times
From the New York Times: “Mays captured the ardor of baseball fans at a time when Black players were still emerging in the major leagues and segregation remained untrammeled in his native South. He was revered in Black neighborhoods, especially in Harlem, where he played stickball with youngsters outside his apartment on St. Nicholas Place — not far from the Polo Grounds, where the Giants played — and he was treated like visiting royalty at the original Red Rooster, one of Harlem’s most popular restaurants in his day.”
MLB
I was afraid he was unwell when he declined to attend a Major League League game played in his native Alabama. “Rickwood Field is the oldest still-existing professional ballpark in the nation, and it’s best known for being the home of the Negro Leagues’ Birmingham Black Barons in the early-mid 20th century, a franchise that produced eventual Hall of Famers Satchel Paige, Mule Suttles, and Willie Mays.”
Mays, just days before he died, revealed in “a statement to the San Francisco Chronicle that he would not be attending Thursday’s [i.e., today’s] contest.
“’I wish I could come out to Rickwood Field this week to be with you all and enjoy that field with my friends. Rickwood’s been part of my life for all of my life. Since I was a kid. It was just ‘around the corner there’ from Fairfield [the town where Mays went to high school], and it felt like it had been there forever. Like a church. The first big thing I ever put my mind to was to play at Rickwood Field. It wasn’t a dream. It was something I was going to do. I was going to work hard to be one of the Birmingham Black Barons and play ball at Rickwood Field. That’s what I did. It was my start. My first job. You never forget that. Rickwood Field is where I played my first home game, and playing there was IT — everything I wanted. “
I should end with this benediction, which I’ve used before. Say Hey (The Willie Mays Song) – The Treniers
I’m blaming the blue hydrangeas. We’ve had a sparse array of purple hydrangeas in the two dozen years I’ve lived at my current residence. This year’s crop of blue flowers is unlike anything we’ve ever experienced, though they’ve since wilted under the broiling sun.
This must explain why I’ve felt less than great for the last several days. Despite taking allergy medication, my head is stuffed up, my throat is scratchy, and periodically, I experience a coughing jag.
This makes me tired all of the time. Saturday night, I went to bed about 8:30 p.m. I woke up a half dozen times. Then Sunday night, I was sitting in my office chair when I fell asleep, waking up at 2 a.m.
This was very disorientating. What should I do? I should go to bed, right? Or should I play Wordle? Seriously? OK, I’m loopy enough to do that. I got an R in the second position, and an O not in the third position. For some reason, I thought of the late comedian Richard Pryor.
Wordle 1,094 2/6 AROSE 4 PRIOR
Then I HAD to go to bed. I felt pretty dragged out on Monday; I didn’t even get dressed. I was required to go out on Tuesday for a library thing, but I may not leave the house the rest of the week; it’ll be 9F/33C or above.
My wife and I had installed the air conditioner on Saturday. It’s funny how no matter how many times we put it in, it’s as though we’d never done it before.
Off, eventually
Speaking of my spouse, she’s finally going to take eight weeks off this summer. But this, of course, means she has to get many things done beforehand. Also, she and her colleague had to work on student recognition and volunteer appreciation events in the past two weeks.
Our daughter and I also attended the latter event after we helped set up. There was a trivia contest and I joined a group of people I didn’t know. we started slowly, but after the middle round, we were in second place.
Then we were to name the four Pac-Man ghosts. I knew Blinky and that two others ended with inky. We guessed Pinky, though we missed Inky and Clyde, and were ahead by two.
The final question category was board gamers. we bet 79 of our 82 points. How many states appear on a Monopoly board? We guessed eight but fell short: VT, CT, VA, TN, NY, KY, IL, IN, NC, and PA Avenues plus the PA Railroad, for 11. The team in last place, with 40 points, bet it all and won. Everyone else bet it all and lost. we came in second place with our 3 points. I should have started thinking geographically rather than alphabetically since none are west of the Mississippi River.
Outside the hall where the trivia event took place was a cute little bunny. A guy with a leaf blower, who almost certainly didn’t see the creature, terrified him.
I almost forgot: at some point in the last week, I got a second-degree burn on the side of my right hand. I had taken the lid off the boiling water, poured in the oatmeal, and attempted to set the timer when I grazed the hot lid.
Yikes! Primary Day Voting 2024 is coming up. In fact, early voting started on June 15 and runs through Sunday, June 23 at limited designated locations such as the county Board of Elections. Then, the polls will be open in New York State from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the usual locations.
I’m a registered Democrat, and unlike some states, in New York, only registered members of a political party may vote in that party’s selection process.
Albany Family Court Judge
One can vote for up to three candidates out of the five people running: attorneys Jaime Czajka, Jillian Faison, Jeffrey Jamison, and Jasper Mills as well as Judge Ricja Rice. It’s a bit humorous that a recent Times Union article about the candidates gave basic biographical information about the three women running but excoriated the two men.
In an endorsement article: “Mr. Mills, who in recent years — and as recently as last week — has found himself mired in significant controversy connected to his judgment and job performance.
“Last week, Mr. Mills found himself in the awkward position of being told by a judge in open court that he should probably stop talking as he tried to explain how the identity of a witness in a murder case in which he is a member of the defense team might have been revealed by his staggeringly bad decision to leave a discovery document in open view in a conference room.” The earlier blunder was equally stupid.
“As for Mr. Jamison, who serves as counsel to the office of Albany County Executive Dan McCoy, he recently made news for advising a co-worker arrested for DUI to turn down a sobriety test and then stayed silent as Mr. McCoy lied to the Times Union’s Brendan Lyons about the events of that evening. ” His “faulty” memory in a 2009 situation was arguably worse.
I’m voting for the women.
Albany County District Attorney
David Soares was a fresh and energetic face in 2004 when he first ran for DA and won. Lee Kindlon is a well-known defense attorney. I watched their debate on Spectrum News and enjoyed the interplay, in part because Kindlon genuinely seems to like Soares, noting that Lee shoveled David’sd sidewalks a few years ago when Soares was having some medical issues.
Soares disliked everything the state legislature passed regarding law enforcement, notably the Raise The Age provision passed in 2018. Kindlon was more likely to work with whatever the parameters of the legal system were. I received a mailing in which he noted that he was a Judge Advocate in the Marines.
The Times Union endorsed Kindlon, noting, “The David Soares running in 2024 is not the David Soares we endorsed in 2012 [against Kindlon], much less the bold reformer who in 2004 ran on his opposition to New York’s draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws. While some people grow in their jobs, others stagnate. In Mr. Soares’ case, we’ve seen his views harden into arrogance, and his management of the office has over the course of his fourth term descended into scandal with disturbing frequency.”
I’m inclined to vote for Kindlon, who has the Working Families Party endorsement, but I could be persuaded otherwise.
109th Assembly District, NY State Legislature
Pat Fahy, the incumbent in the 109th A.D., is running for the NY State Senate. Incidentally, I saw her at the Juneteenth celebration at the Underground Railroad Education Center on Saturday, June 15.
This means that SIX candidates are vying for the seat. In the order in which they appear on the ballot:
Gabriella A. Romero, member of the Albany Common Council for the 6th Ward, around Lark Street. I received more mailings from her campaign than any other. Hers are also the most creative, with one with a color-by-number wildflowers of New York. She’s endorsed by the Working Families Party and supports a “people-first policy,” including affordable housing, “great-paying union jobs, climate resistance & lower utility bills.” She was at the UREC event but I never had a chance to speak with her.
Owusu B. Anane, Common Council for the 10th Ward, leans into his personal bio. His family couldn’t afford housing in New York and had to move back to Ghana. They made it back, he was an all-state running back, then became a coach and special needs teacher. One mailing features one of his former students and his mom, with her quote, “He believed in him as much as I do, and that made all the difference.”
Ginny Farrell. Common Council for the 13th wArd, my ward, and the body’s majority leader. The Times Union endorsement notes her 12 years of work in the Assembly, and her service on the Albany Board of Education, as president, vice president, and secretary, advocating for “the contentious $180 million renovation and modernization of Albany High School. It was work that required making dozens of presentations across the city and talking to hundreds of people to sell them on a costly but essential project that required two citywide votes to win approval.”
Also
Dustin M. Reidy, Albany County Legislator for District 30 is also the campaign manager for U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko. Someone from the SEIU union came to my door touting Reidy’s labor bona fides. He favored choice, seniors, gun control, and diversity in the four mailings he sent.
Andrew C. Joyce is the 9th District representative in the Albany County Legislature, a body he chaired until the beginning of the year. He’s also an intelligence analyst for the state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services and a major in the New York Army National Guard. Public safety is a major priority.
Jack Flynn, the 8th Ward Albany Common Council member is a former Albany County Democratic chairman and a state Senate employee. He declined to meet with the Times Union editorial board, and I did not receive any literature from him. From someone’s Facebook page, I’ve seen a mailing noting that he’s the only person refusing public funding for his campaign.
I’m considering four of the candidates. What sayeth thou, 109th A.D.?
William Anders, Apollo 8 Astronaut Who Captured Iconic ‘Earthrise’ Photograph in December 1968, Dies at 90 in a plane he was flying
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: surging CO2 levels in a year that is very likely to have the largest and most extreme series of weather events ever
EU elections: Far-right makes gains in Germany, France, Austria
Indian elections: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Scottie Scheffler Arrest is a True Crime Documentary
Nine witnesses in the criminal cases against djt have received significant financial benefits, including large raises from his campaign, severance packages, new jobs, and a grant of shares and cash from his media company.
NOW I KNOW: Survey Says: Guilty and Flood For Your Right to Party? and The Problem With Flying With Marshmallows and The House Made Out of Smartphones and especially, The School With Solar Powered Salaries
Tonys Roundtable: Rachel McAdams, Kelli O’Hara, Leslie Odom Jr., Sarah Paulson, Daniel Radcliffe, and Eddie Redmayne on Broadway Paths, Parts and Pet Peeves
The Supreme Court lets CFPB funding stand. Yay! This allowed the entity to regulate Buy Now, Pay Later companies as credit card companies, create a registry of habitual corporate criminals, and fight “fine print deception”
Fix the Court published a tally of all the gifts accepted by the SCOTUS justices who served during the last 20 years. Of the $4.7 million total, more than $4 million went to Clarence Thomas.
Yeah, I’m asking you to Ask Roger Anything because I do. But I’m seeking, especially this particular wrinkle. I would like you to list the names of bands or solo musicians, as many as you like. And I must name the ONE or maybe two or three favorite songs from the artist or group, and why.
I’m blaming the blue hydrangeas. We’ve had a sparse array of purple hydrangeas in the two dozen years I’ve lived at my current residence. This year’s crop of blue flowers is unlike anything we’ve ever experienced, though they’ve since wilted under the broiling sun.
Yikes! Primary Day Voting 2024 is coming up. In fact, early voting started on June 15 and runs through Sunday, June 23 at limited designated locations such as the county Board of Elections. Then, the polls will be open in New York State from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the usual locations.