Aggravations...

Thank Odin It's Friday!

"Take it easy on the mead, and drive safely."

The Death of Neighborliness

When I was growing up in Council Bluffs, I rode a municipal bus to school in the mornings (to make sure I got there on time) and walked home in the afternoons. My older brother and I went by ourselves to the bus stop, and no one thought it odd. We went to a Catholic elementary school, so there were no school buses for us. My brother usually stopped at the public library (by himself) after school, while I would feed the squirrels and birds in Bayliss Park, or check my favorite neighborhood grocery stores for new sets of baseball cards, etc.

No one though it odd or frightening to see kids walking around in neighborhoods in those days. Nowadays, however, that sort of thing gets parents in all sorts of trouble. The very concept of "neighborliness" seems to have gone by the wayside in much of the country. Now, the first instinct for too many people is to sic the authorities on someone who is "neglecting" their kid just by letting them be, you know, a kid.

I spent much of yesterday with my blood boiling after reading this account of a world gone mad. It is an unconscionable abuse of power by petty bureaucrats and law enforcement officers. I find it difficult to believe they don't have anything better to do. Some of it, I'm sure, is attributable to the Stranger Danger Myth, but a lot of it is just power-mad people throwing their weight around because they can.

Every last one of the idiots who perpetrated this outrage deserves to be fired immediately. Period, full stop. And if they turn out to be appointed, the idiot politicians who appointed them deserve to be fired at the next election. Period, full stop.

"Calm down, Shu! Remember what the doc said about your heart?"

I'll be fine. I'm Irish, so being pissed off is the only thing that keeps my heart pumping, sometimes...

More about these kinds of outrages can be found at Free Range Kids, a wonderful project that is trying to restore some rationality (and parental autonomy) to how we raise our kids. Highly recommended.

The Stupid, It Burns!

Every once in awhile I read something so mind-numbingly dumb that I have to wonder if it is some sort of parody. Sadly, that doesn't usually turn out to be the case. The technology of the 21st century makes it all too easy for nitwits to get their "thoughts" trumpeted to the world at large...

"Wow. Ironic."

 Zip it, quadruped...

Anyway, the most recent instance of this sort of thing I've encountered was an article arguing that people should stop saying "you guys" when referring to mixed groups or women. I'm not making that up. Click the link, and behold the "logic" employed by the author (evidence of any kind, of course, is completely absent) to make her "case." Honestly, with everything that's screwed up about the world right now, it is an embarrassment to spend so much time and energy on such a trivial advocacy. And if they had a lick of sense (they don't) Vox wouldn't have published it...

Things That Make Me Happy: Rivalry Edition

My beloved Kansas City Royals are on the other side of the state tonight to begin a three-game weekend series with the St. Louis Crybabys Cardinals. The games will be played in Busch Stadium (sometimes referred to as "New Busch Stadium" or "Busch Stadium III," to distinguish it from the old sterile ashtray of a ballpark the Cardinals used to be stuck with).

The Royals will send their young No. 1 starter Yordano Ventura to the mound, hoping for a return to his early-season form. Yordano has lost three of his last four decisions (including the only game St. Louis won on their recent visit to KC), and the team has lost 7 of the 11 games he has started so far this season. He'll face the Cardinals' Jaime Garcia, who has pitched well. His problem has been that the Cardinals don't score for him; all three of his losses came in games where the Cardinals got shut out. It wouldn't bother me a bit to see that trend continue tonight...

"No me gustan los pájaros rojos."

Say "Hello" to Rhonda

Me with Rhonda in my classroom...

By the spring of 2011 I owned three guitars (Karla, Paula, and Lila), and all of them were "blondes" (i.e., white or light-colored finishes). That wasn't by design, particularly, it was just the way things worked out. Then I found Rhonda, who became the first red-head in my guitar "harem."



She is a Hanson Cigno, purchased from Russo's Guitar and Drum Center in Omaha (sadly, no longer in business) during a Spring Sale event.








Here's a very cool video of Hanson co-founder John Pirruccello playing an ST version of the Cigno. The ST lacks the Bigsby B5 vibrato that Rhonda has, but the tones he gets are dead-on to what Rhonda can produce...

Housekeeping

Still fiddling around with Blogger, with mixed results. I was finally able to get the "Subscribe" gadget working correctly (for quite a while the title would render in oversize type, crowding into the area where the posts appear), so if you're interested in that option it is available now. My frustration level about the archive pages continues to build, but I am still hopeful I'll get it sorted out soon.

Comments, as always, are welcome. Just click the link right next to the time stamp at the bottom of the post.

"There's a comment I'D like to add..."

Gee, I wonder what that might be...

Until Next Time...

I came by my love of music through my parents. My dad fiddled around with both the clarinet and the saxophone, and he and my mom both played music in the house a lot when I was growing up. They both had pretty eclectic tastes, but my dad's favorites were the clarinet guys (Pete Fountain, Artie Shaw, Acker Bilk, etc.) followed closely by the saxophone guys (Cannonball Adderley, Boots Randolph, Ace Cannon, etc.). He was also a big fan of trumpeter Al Hirt and The Dukes of Dixieland. I attribute my fondness for big-band music in part to his influence.

Not long before he died, I made him a special CD set featuring a couple of hours of his favorite players. It was the last gift I ever got to give him in person. Right to the end, my dad loved his music...

One of the tracks on that collection was this song, which I also used in a theatrical production I directed while teaching in St. Joseph, Missouri. Dad was too ill by that time to come to the show, but I know he would have gotten a kick out of my including an old favorite of his. Enjoy...