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Sister Leslie loves music

Happy birthday, Leslie!

No doubt: sister Leslie loves music.

I’ve known Leslie longer than almost anyone. Perhaps I met a cousin of my father in the couple of years I was alive before Leslie was born, but I have no specific recollection of that.

I grew up with Leslie. We went to the same elementary school with an ancient music book from which we sang. When I found a facsimile several years ago, I had to send her a copy.

I remember which LPs were hers and which were mine. She had, among others, Lady Soul – Aretha, Look at Us – Sonny and Cher, and Supremes A Go-Go. We, along with our little sister and a neighbor girl, would lipsynch to the songs of my Beatles VI album. Leslie was Paul because he was left-handed, like her, and cute.

Of course, we attended the same church and sang in two different iterations of the junior choir. One was the MAZET singers, which our father directed. MAZET is an anagram of the initials of Trinity African Methodist Episcopal Zion. Eventually, we both sang in the senior choir, though she was there longer than I did because I went away to college.

Trio

I’ve mentioned the Green Family Singers, which are comprised of Dad, Leslie, and me, in the past. She learned to play guitar functionally in about a month! Not incidentally, she now owns Dad’s steel-stringed Gibson guitar, but playing it is tough on her fingers.

Leslie and I sang in the Binghamton Central High School choir together for a year and a half. If we could find a soprano and tenor who knew the other parts, we could probably still sing some of that music from memory.

She was in a series of pop bands around Binghamton, the only one I remember being called Crystal Ship. Also, she attended what is now Binghamton University, where she participated in choirs. She was also in a few musicals in the community theater, including A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum and Hair; she kept her clothes on.

Her primary source of income was when she moved to Puerto Rico in the early 80s. I wish I had come down and seen her.

SoCal

When she moved to southern California, she sang in church and community choirs. I have a couple of her church choir’s Christmas concerts, and she almost always has a solo. Occasionally, she’s even directed a couple of church choirs.

When she was on a tour ship with her daughter, the singer Rebecca Jade, in 2018, she got to duet with Larry Graham of Sly and the Family Stone. She participated in singing the Mozart Requiem at Carnegie Hall in 2022, which my daughter and I enjoyed seeing.

Leslie recently visited a music store going out of business and learned about a slim guitar from Canada with nylon strings called Godin. On her next visit, it was marked down, though still pricey. With the help of her favorite daughter, she bought it! Moreover, she’s enjoying relearning the tunes she used to play.

Leslie and I can have very arcane conversations about music on a Zoom call with our baby sister. “Do you remember how that chord structure worked?” Marcia’s eyes glaze over. When I wrote recently that I love to sing the bass harmony, even when I’m in the congregation, Leslie sent me a message saying, “Oh yeah, I totally sing alto in the congregation.” We have the same sort of sensibility.

This picture from the San Diego Master Chorale epitomizes her joy of music. So, happy birthday, Leslie. May music always be in your heart; I know that it will.

Movie review: Janet Planet

the Berkshires

After seeing a rather endearing trailer, my wife and I went to the Spectrum 8 Theatre in Albany to see the movie Janet Planet on a Tuesday evening.

It’s weird. After we shared our impressions afterward, we pointed out some interesting things about what the movie set out to do in depicting a single mom (the title character played by Juliana Nicholson) and her tween daughter Lacy (Zoey Ziegler) in 1991.

Yet, seeing the film in real-time, the revelations unfolded too slowly and possibly obliquely for our taste.

Early during the movie, an older gentleman in the audience pulled out his phone. I thought it strange until I realized that he was turning up his hearing aid. The first section, the one featuring Janet’s brusque boyfriend Wayne (Will Patton), was almost all long shots and difficult to hear.

The next section involved the troupe of performers, which was interesting enough, as Janet reconnects with old friend Regina (Sophie Okonedo). This section is at least slightly more interesting. The third act involves that group – is it a cult? – Guru, Avi (Elias Koteas).

Lacy, meanwhile, is largely observing her mother’s life, making sometimes pointed comments. But mostly, she is alone in her thoughts except for her increasingly interesting doll house characters. She has no friends except, briefly, one. Her piano lessons seem a chore for both the student and her instructor.

Reviews

The Rotten Tomatoes critics’ reviews were 84% positive. One compared it favorably with the mother/daughter piece Lady Bird. I LIKED Lady Bird.

One negative review by Rich Cline reflected our thoughts: “The mannered approach means that story only comes to life in brief spurts of insight, especially as the excellent cast adds details to characters who are somewhat undefined. But much of the film involves watching nothing happen at all.”

I generally agreed with the audience reviews, which were only 40% positive. While I don’t think it was “pointless” or “the worst film in decades,” which I read more than once, “this is a very, very slow film in which little happens. If the characters were the least bit engaging, this might have worked.”

I was bored and impatient, and my wife wished she had not gone.

It does have some nice western Massachusetts scenery, which we were familiar with. The story is by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Annie Baker. It supposedly “captures a child’s experience of time passing, and the ineffability of a daughter falling out of love with her mother, in this singularly sublime film debut.”

It just didn’t work for us.

Also, the title kept reminding me of Van Morrison’s first wife.

Sunday Stealing: time capsule

Ketchup vs. mustard?

The Sunday Stealing for this week starts with a tough question.

1. What would you put in a time capsule?

How big is this time capsule? Off the top, I thought of something called The Methodist Hymnal. It’s black, and we used it in the church I grew up in, Trinity AME Zion in Binghamton, NY. A former girlfriend who grew up elsewhere called it the REAL Methodist hymnal, though there have been at least two iterations since. Hymn #1 is Holy, Holy, Holy.

The 1970 Panorama yearbook from Binghamton Central High School. One of my best friends was the editor. It had an Age of Aquarius vibe, with teacher group photos arranged by their sun signs. BCHS (the Bulldogs, colors blue and white) has been defunct since 1982. The school in the former BCHS building merged with Binghamton North (the Indians, colors red and blue) to become Binghamton High School (the Patriots, red, white, and blue).

The LP Big Hits From England & U.S.A. is an odd compilation of music of Capitol artists The Beatles, the Beach Boys, Peter and Gordon, Nat King Cole, Cilla Black, and Al Martino.

A FantaCo T-shirt and/or a FantaCon 1980 program. I worked at the comic book store/mail order house/publisher at 21 Central Avenue in Albany. I have written about it several times, including here.

A green and white Choose Peace button from 2003, while many of us were protesting the imminent invasion of Iraq. I wrote about those times here.

A photo of my wife and daughter together.

2. What’s something you’re really good at?

IDK. Maybe it’s writing a blog post every day for 19 years.

Change?

3. What part of society would you like to change?

That’s WAY too expansive. Eliminating racism, sexism, economic inequity. In the US, it’d be nice if civilians didn’t have access to AK-47-style weapons.

4. What have you eaten in the past 24 hours?

Oatmeal, a Hello Fresh pork sausage meal, and eggs and toast.

5. What is an unusual fact about you?

I’m odd. All of the numbers in my birthday are odd.

6. Do you collect anything?

I haven’t tended to the quarters in a couple of years. The books I haven’t read are usually signed by the author.

7. Have you played sports?

Most recently, I played racquetball regularly until 2010, when the local YMCA closed. I played a few times after that at Siena College, but that was far less convenient, and I fell away. I’ve played volleyball and softball.

Other people’s blogs

8. What is your favorite blog?

IDK. AmeriNZ is a slice of an expat’s life. Forgotten Stars presents classical music videos, which I usually link to, and writes about film, photography, and Buffalo (the city, not the animal). News From ME by Mark Evanier is a popular culture mecca. Coverville—I am listening to this as I write this.

9. Ketchup vs. mustard?

It depends. French fries—ketchup. Hot dogs—spicy brown mustard. Hamburgers—ketchup and mustard. I’m ecumenical.

10. Do you believe in ghosts or aliens?

Maybe. I don’t dismiss them out of hand.

11. The last movie you saw in a theater.

Janet Planet, which I will review this week.

12. The silliest thing you have done this week.

I was probably using some terrible accent while talking to my wife.

13. Have you ever done anything illegal?

Sure. I got arrested at an antiwar demonstration in the town of Poughkeepsie, NY, in May 1972.

14. What would you wish for right now?

For democracy to survive in the United States. I want it for other places, too, but I’m living here.

15. What shoes do you wear the most of?

Soft-soled shoes such as Rockport.

Moon songs

from 1906 to 1971

Why moon songs? On June 25, the book review at the Albany Public Library was about Our Moon: How Earth’s Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are by Rebecca Boyle. The reviewer was Sherrie Lyons, PhD, science historian & author of From Cells to Organisms: Re-envisioning Cell Theory (2020).

The book discussed how failing to fully understand the effects of the moon’s tidal puls led to military disasters. Early civilizations used the phases of the Moon to measure time, which allowed people to become more than hunter/gatherers. Of course, the Apollo missions changed humans’ relationship with the satellite.

On the 55th anniversary of the landing of Armstrong and Aldrin onto the lunar surface, it seems appropriate to post some songs starting with the word Moon. And not Moonlight or Moonglow. Maybe for the 60th anniversary. I’ve ignored the ones that hit #1 because they have or will show up in those annual music reviews. The sources, as usual, are Joel Whitburn’s Pop Memories, 1890-1954, and his Top Pop Singles, 2008 edition.

The songs

Moon At Sea – Cab Calloway, #19 in 1937

Moon-Faced, Starry-Eyed – Freddy Martin, #14 in 1947. The version by Benny Goodman and Johnny Mercer went to #21 the same year. Written by Langston Hughes and Kurt Weill?

Moon Fell In The River – Guy Lombardo with Carmen Lombardo on vocals- #22 in 1941

Moon Glow – Duke Ellington, #2 in 1934. I already linked to the #1 version by Benny Goodman from that year. Cab Calloway (#7) and Glen Gray (#8) also charted that year. Goodman also went to #8 in 1936.

Moon Got In My Eyes – Shep Fields, vocals by Bob Goday #11 in 1937. A very nosy version, unfortunately. I skipped over the #1 version by Bing Crosby the same year.

Moon Has His Eyes On You -Frank Stanley and Corinne Morgan,#4 in 1906 it was also covered by Ada Jones the same year.

Moon Is A Silver Dollar – Lawrence Welk, #7 in 1939

Moon Is Blue – the Sauter Finnegan Orchestra with Sally Sweetland, #20 in 1953

Moon Is Low – George Olson, Fran Frey on vocals, #7 in 1930

Moon Is Still Over Her Shoulder – Michael Johnson, a non-single from 1987

Moon Love – Al Donahue, with vocal by Paula Kelly #7 in 1939. Adapted from the second movement of Tchaikovsky’s 5th Symphony. I skipped over the #1 version by Glenn Miller the same year. Also that year Paul Whiteman went to #8 and Mildred Bailey went to #14

Moon Of Manakoora – Bing Crosby and the John Scott Trotter Orchestra, #10 in 1938. Ray Noble also went to #15 the same year.

Moon On My Pillow – Jimmy Dorsey with Teddy Waiters (?) on vocals, #29 in 1944

Moon over everywhere!

Moon Over Burma – Shep Fields with Dorothy Allen, #26 in 1940. It also went to #23 in 1949 by Gene Krupa

Moon Over Dixie -Duke Ellington, #14 in 1932

Moon Over Miami – Connie Boswell, #19 in 1935. It also went to #1 by Eddie Duchin, #5 by Jan Garber, and #14 by Art Karle, all in 1936.

Moon Over Naples – Bert Kaempfert, #58 in 1965. Wait a minute – this is Spanish Eyes!

Moon River – Jerry Butler, #11 in 1961. Henry Mancini also went to #11 that year. The classic by Andy Williams recorded in 1962 was not a single

Moon Shadow – Cat Stevens, #30 in 1971

Moon Song – Wayne King, #3 in 1933. Also in ’33, it went to #5 by Jack Denny and #6 by Art Kassel

Moon Talk – Perry Como, #28 in 1958

Moon Walk – Joe Simon, #54 in 1970

Moon Was Yellow (And The Night Was Young) – Bing Crosby, #13 in 1934 It was also covered by Frank Sinatra, #99 in 1962

Assassination attempt

conflicting conspiracy theories

After the assassination attempt on the now-Republican candidate, there was a fairly low bar established that suggested that one should make statements abhorring that type of violence. Joe Biden did that, even apologizing for using “bullseye” to describe how we should focus on his opponent’s record. He also called for tamping down such rhetoric in the campaign.

As the Boston Globe [likely paywall] noted, “The shooting created the ‘perfect storm of misinformation,’ said Katherine Ognyanova, an associate professor of communication at Rutgers University in New Jersey, because of the event’s significance, the lack of immediate information about the motive, and the level of polarization in America.”

It was inevitable that some people would conclude that Biden put a hit on djt. For instance, Representative Mike Collins (R-GA) wrote on X: “Joe Biden sent the orders.” Politico notes, “The court’s decision in Trump v. United States really does appear to immunize a hypothetical president who directed the military to commit murder, though a president might be hard-pressed to find someone to carry out such an order.

“In her dissent…, Justice Sonia Sotomayor painted a grim portrait of a commander-in-chief now ‘immune, immune, immune’ from criminal liability and free to exploit official presidential power against political opponents. ‘Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival?’ she wrote. ‘Immune.’

The next Veep?

In 2016, J.D. Vance went “back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical a–hole like Nixon who wouldn’t be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he’s America’s Hitler.” But in 2024, the once-never-Trumper who has gone full MAGA is blaming 46 for the shooting. Katherine Ognyanova in the Globe said, “If political leaders are actually fanning the fire and kind of spreading conspiratorial, violent rhetoric, that’s going to be very detrimental.” I told my wife that I thought Vance’s recent statement was disqualifying. Naturally, he was named DJT’s running mate.

Conversely, others believe the victim’s “blood was fake. The Secret Service clearly anticipated the shooting. [His]triumphant, clenched-fist pose was just a little too photogenic to be real.” Indeed, the first email I received after the shooting described that scenario.

Perhaps I lack sufficient imagination of how to pull that off, though the Secret Service’s apparent lapses feed into the conspiratorial blather.

Incidentally, the guy from Weekly Sift believes “that just about everybody, at one time or another, fantasizes about doing violence to someone who symbolizes absolute evil to them. I know I do, and I try not to feel guilty about such fantasies. As long as they stay in our heads, they’re relatively harmless indulgences.”

History

On April 11, 2016, three Presidential candidates were in downtown Albany. As I wrote here, my daughter wanted to see djt. I vetoed it, fearing the violence that had taken place towards people of color and reporters at rallies, often encouraged by the candidate from the stage. We ended up seeing Bernie Sanders, her preferred choice.

His rhetoric of violence has been constant. Most infamously, he boasted in January 2016, “‘I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK? It’s, like, incredible.” This was at a campaign stop at Dordt College, a Christian college, in Sioux Center, Iowa. Axios has a tidy, though incomplete, list of his comments in office.

The Weekly Sift guy quotes Jemele Hill: “The Republican Party in general is graded on a curve, but Trump especially. They’ve normalized his buffoonish bigotry. If you watched American news coverage, you would have no idea that Trump often threatens violence, promises to weaponize the DOJ against his ‘enemies,’ is a felon, has been found liable for rape, tried to overturn an election, and incited an insurrection, among other things.”

So, shortly before the shooting, when the NY Times calls on Republicans to reject djt ahead of the Republican National Convention, describing him as ‘dangerous’ and ‘unfit,’ 1) I totally agree with the assessment, but 2) no way it’ll happen.

As Howard W. French wrote in Foreign Policy, Biden’s Age Is a Problem. Trump’s Agenda Is a Bigger One. “I have been puzzled by the dearth of vigor shown in post-debate coverage toward a question of far greater import: Can America survive another Trump presidency? In other words, if Trump is reelected, what will remain of U.S. democracy, of civil and human rights in the country, of its economic health and its alliances, and of Washington’s prestige and influence around the world?”

Call it

Regardless, several folks have opined that djt is nearly a lock on November 5, whether Biden stays in the race or not, and I tend to concur. (America: prove me wrong. PLEASE.)

I cannot recall such adulation towards a political candidate since RFK ran for President in 1968 before he was assassinated that June. George Wallace had some of that pull, but it tended to be more regional; he was shot and seriously wounded in May 1972. Reagan had a taste of that; after he was shot in March 1981, his legislative agenda was propelled.

I’ll be voting for the Democratic nominee, whoever it is. And folks should also start concentrating on the down-ballot races. djt with a GOP House, Senate, AND SCOTUS is a terrifying thought.