There was a mention in the Anchorage Daily News that there would be a klezmer concert in Anchorage. That doesn't happen often. The last real klezmer concert we went to was in San Francisco in 2012. To learn more about klezmer music, go to that link.
The bookstore is pretty small. I estimate there were about 30 folks in the small room where the concert was centered and a few more in the main room. So this was cozy.
What we got in Anchorage was two of the members of the San Francisco Yiddish Combo - husband and wife, Jason Eckle and Rebecca Roudman. [I'm sure about Rebecca. Jason's name comes from The Dirty Cello website.]
The combination of klezmer music (and klezmer adjacent music) and the cheeky but informative banter between songs made this a fast moving and rousing hour or so of music.
I made the video on my phone and I'm experimenting just uploading it directly to Youtube. Usually I've used Movies on my Mac. What I saw of the video quality was pretty awful and I may redo it. [The video on the blog actually looks ok, so I'll leave it.] The music is the key, but also the infectious smile and enthusiasm of cellist Rebecca Roudman were also important. It's a short clip, just to give you a sense of the energy.
The guitarist, Jason, did most of the explanations between pieces. But Rebecca was clearly the master musician. Her fingers flew effortless from note to note. She's truly a gifted and passionate cellist.
Equally at home as a renowned classical cello player or on the cutting edge of pop music, Rebecca Roudman is one of the San Francisco Bay Area’s most exciting crossover cellists.
As a member of both the Oakland East-Bay Symphony and the Santa Rosa Symphony, Rebecca is an experienced orchestral musician who has toured with orchestras to Brazil and throughout Europe. While developing her classical skills, Rebecca studied with both Larry Granger of the San Francisco Symphony and Gretchen Elliot, one of Janos Starker’s students. Rebecca has premiered numerous classical and contemporary works, many of
which were written for her."
Because she played so effortlessly, the cello seemed to be an extension of her fingers. I asked her afterward whether she took to the cello from the beginning. She shook her head with an emphatic no. I think she said she started at six and struggled. It was ten years before she felt completely comfortable with the instrument.
I was in sunny Anchorage yesterday, not in the path of the eclipse. But in 2019 my daughter invited us to meet her and her family to see an eclipse in San Juan, Argentina. It was a memorable experience out in the desert. But at the time I was a bit disappointed that it didn't get really dark, just dusk-like. My image of an eclipse was that day turned to night for a minute or so.
My daughter went to Texas to see yesterday's eclipse. It was cloudy, but the sun poked out through the clouds so they could see the moon covering over the sun, part of the time. But because it was cloudy, it also got much darker than it was in Argentina.
So, two things about eclipses:
1. Watching the sun covered by the moon. You can only do that if you have special glasses or other way to darken the image. Otherwise the brightness of the sun makes it impossible to see the eclipsing moon.
2. Experience the change from full daylight to night. As you can see in the picture (sort of, since the camera's auto lighting affects things a bit) it got twilight in Argentina but not so dark you needed lights if you were driving - as my daughter reported happened yesterday. So clouds don't completely ruin an eclipse. You experience more darkness than without clouds.
SPRING
Anchorage had near record snow for the year - about three inches less than the snowiest winter - so there's still a lot of snow. But we're seeing larger areas of snowless ground - under the bigger trees in the back yard and along the edges of the snow piles. Here's Campbell Creek on March 28
And here it is on April 7, ten days later. Somewhat disappointing that there is now a large piece of trash in the creek. The trails along the main streets are clear of snow, but the trails along the creeks through the woods still covered.
The two days of sunshine reminded me that April has often been a wonderful month, but today we have a heavy cloud cover again. [I just looked up. It's snowing out. I really don't need enough snow to set the record.]
PRINTER CARTRIDGES
Lots of people have complained about the printer cartridge scam. You buy an inexpensive printer, only to be stuck for buying ink cartridges for outrageous prices.
At Office Depot, to get all four colors for my printer costs $166!!!
To buy a whole new printer costs $4 more - $170. They're considerably cheaper online. And then there are kits to refill the old cartridges yourself. But HP and the others know consumers are too lazy to fill their own cartridges or in too much of a rush to shop around. Presumably, the market would work if people balked at these prices and didn't buy the new cartridges. Or is this just a ploy to get people to buy a new printer. Either way this contributes to waste for the earth and profit for HP.
What is the cost of a whole printer and packaging compared to four cartridges?
In 2023, HP Inc.'s revenue was $53.72 billion, a decrease of -14.61% compared to the previous year's $62.91 billion. Earnings were $3.26 billion, an increase of 4.18%."
So they took in almost 15% less total revenue in 2023 than 2022, but increased their profit by 4%. How much of that profit was from printer cartridges?
PRIVATE CONCERTS
Before the pandemic, someone invited us to a home nearby to hear a concert. Since then we've been to four or five such concerts. Usually it's a $20 donation plus a dish for the buffet to attend. Sunday we went to a jazz performance there - the first one for us that wasn't classical.
Here's John Damberg on the vibes and Mark Manners on the guitar. Bob Andrews hand can be seen on the bass, and drummer Eiden Pospisil is hidden in the background. The second half connected much better for me - I'm not a big vibes fan and Damberg spent more time on the piano and the guitar had a bigger role.
But it was a wonderful evening with lots of very friendly people - maybe about 40 or so. [While I called it a 'private' concert, it was noted in the Anchorage Daily News, so anyone could have come, though there obviously has to be a limit on how many could attend.]
A friend sent me a link to an audio program about the music of the Holocaust - music written and performed by concentration camp musicians. The program is very sad and very inspiring at the same time. Worth listening to.
I don't see a way to embed the audio here, so here's a link to the website that has it:
Well worth a listen when you are doing something you can do while listening.
The transcript begins:
"Mat Edelson (HOST): To be a Jewish composer or musician under the Third Reich’s reign of terror meant your next note could be your last. At first their works were banned as being degenerate, their contributions to the musical canon erased from public display. Later, as the murderous frenzy exploded in the ghettos and concentration camps, composers and musicians imprisoned there refused to be stilled. On scraps of paper they penciled their inspirations, praying that even if they died, their music would survive. Miraculously, it has. In this documentary, we’ll meet conductors, musicians and others rediscovering this lost generation of music and performing it for new audiences worldwide. They’re using this music to educate, to remember, and to correct an historical injustice. Join us now for Their Music Survives.?
I'm a casual jazz fan. Sort of like I'm a casual birder. I go out of my way to observe birds, but I don't obsess. I don't keep a life list. And I'm more an unquestioning appreciator of jazz, but not someone who could tell you why I like it or the technical things the musicians are doing that captures my attention. Nancy Wilson probably is the person to blame.
Of course, I've heard the name Bill Evans. Usually a when a KJAZZ announcer says something like, "and Bill Evans on the piano." That usually happens after the piece was played.
Anyhoo, this essay kept me in bed reading this morning. (Yes, I know. It's not a good idea to look at my phone in bed, but so what?)
So just listen to the Bill Evans Trio as you read the article. This is the first recording in 1961 with Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian.
Or if you don't think you have time for a long article, here are some excerpts while you listen:
"But things started going wrong even before Mitchell arrived at Reeves Sound Studios on East Forty-Fourth Street. First, his luggage went astray en route from Florida. Then there was a surprise waiting for him in the control room: Miles Davis, one of his musical heroes, who had taken the extraordinary step of composing a new melody as a gift to Cannonball. Mitchell was supposed to play Miles’s part.
That wasn’t going to be easy, because the tune, called “Nardis,” was anything but a standard workout on blues-based changes. The melody had a haunting, angular, exotic quality, like the “Gypsy jazz” that guitarist Django Reinhardt played with the Hot Club de France in the 1930s. And it didn’t exactly swing, but unfurled at its own pace, like liturgical music for some arcane ritual. For three takes, the band diligently tried to make it work, but Mitchell couldn’t wrap his head around it, particularly under Miles’s intimidating gaze. The producer of the session, legendary Riverside Records founder Orrin Keepnews, ended up scrapping the night’s performances entirely.
The next night was more productive. After capturing tight renditions of “Blue Funk” and “Minority,” the quintet took two more passes through “Nardis,” yielding a master take for release, plus a credible alternate. But the arrangement still sounded stiff, and the horns had a pinched, sour tone.
Only one man on the session, Miles would say later, played the tune “the way it was meant to be played.” It was the shy, unassuming piano player, who was just shy of twenty-eight years old. His name was Bill Evans."
. . .
"By now I’ve heard so many different interpretations, in such a far-flung variety of settings, that a Platonic ideal of the melody resides in my mind untethered to any actual performance. It’s as if “Nardis” were always going on somewhere, with players dropping in and out of a musical conversation beyond space and time."
, , ,
"When Russell first mentioned Evans’s name, Miles asked, “Is he white?”
“Yeah,” Russell replied.
“Does he wear glasses?”
“Yeah.”
“I know that motherfucker,” Miles said. “I heard him at Birdland—he can play his ass off.” Indeed, the first time Evans played a beginner’s intermission set at the Village Vanguard—Max Gordon’s basement club, the Parnassus of jazz—the pianist was astonished to look up and see the legendary trumpeter standing there, listening intently."
. . .
"By the time he recorded the tracks on Kind of Blue, however, Evans had already decided to leave Miles’s band. After his baptism of fire on the road, he was physically, mentally, and spiritually exhausted, but he also felt more confident about pursuing his own vision. He had a specific goal in mind: achieving a level of communication in a piano trio that would enable all three players to make creative statements and respond to one another conversationally, without any of them being obliged to explicitly state the beat. This approach came to be known as “broken time,” because no player was locked into a traditional time-keeping role; instead the one was left to float, in an implied pulse shared by all the players. Evans compared broken time to the kind of typography in which the raised letters are visible only in the shadows they cast.
That kind of collective sympathy, akin to three-way telepathy, demanded major commitment from the trio, and required high levels of personal chemistry. Evans met the perfect fellow travelers in two young musicians named Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian."
. . .
"Evans was a polite junkie. For decades, he kept tabs on how much money he owed various friends, and he always endeavored to pay them back, even if his benefactor had long forgotten the debt. But among the people disturbed by his accelerating decline was the fearlessly outspoken LaFaro, who had no problem confronting the pianist in the bluntest terms. “You’re fucking up the music,” he would say. “Look in the mirror!”
It was in this combative atmosphere that Evans made his second attempt to commit “Nardis” to vinyl, at Bell Sound Studios, on February 2, 1961, under Keepnews’s watchful eye. Though Keepnews gamely tried to keep everyone’s spirits up, the whole session seemed jinxed, with Evans and LaFaro openly arguing about the pianist’s drug use and Evans suffering a splitting headache. By the time the ordeal was over, both the players and the producer assumed that the tapes would be quietly filed away and never released. “We had a very, very bad feeling,” Evans recalled. “We felt there was nothing happening.”
Listening back, however, everyone was shocked to discover how well the trio had played. Upon the album’s release, Explorations was hailed by critics for its bold, unsentimental reinvention of well-worn standards like “Sweet and Lovely” and “How Deep Is the Ocean,” the dynamism of the group’s interactions, and the sublime sensitivity of Evans’s phrasing and voicings. Humbled by the inadequacy of his own ability to judge how well the session had gone, Evans began to think of “the mind that thinks jazz” as something larger than the consciousness of any individual musician, as if the music organized itself at a higher order of awareness that wasn’t always discernible to the players. The rendition of “Nardis” that appears on the album, a refinement of the arrangement that the trio had been playing on the road, became the default canonical version in the absence of a Miles original—the basis for twenty years of Evans’s performances, and for hundreds of interpretations by others."
And here's Bill Evans live in Paris in 1979 playing a very different Nardis with his second trio members.
"In 1979, the pianist formed a new trio with bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Joe LaBarbera. The presence of Johnson in particular—who was, in the words of former trio drummer Eliot Zigmund, “very young and open, and very, very respectful of Bill”—seemed to revitalize the pianist, and for the first time in years, he sounded like he was searching again. After buying a cassette recorder, he began taping and listening to his own performances, going all the way back to unreleased music he’d made with LaFaro and Motian. He was also paying close attention to the work of the young pianists he had generously mentored over the years. After listening to a solo recording by Warren Bernhardt called Floating, he told his girlfriend, Laurie Verchomin, that he had entered a state of bliss, hearing 'the music between the notes.'”
Note: Someone in the household heard me listing to whole the 1979 album, responded, "It sounds like 'hold' music." While parts are soft, slow, and soothing, this is definitely not hold music, but it would be nice if it were used that way.
I've been taking notes and trying to figure out how to post about this in a way that gets the point across, without putting everyone to sleep. But that, of course, assumes I know the point. Sunday, I came up with this overview of my dilemma.
This chart is more or less in the order I tackled the problem. But at this point it seems to make more sense to start with 5 and go backwards. [I've since decided to add #1 at the end of this post.]
NUMBER 5: Probably the easiest for me and for the reader is to start with number 5.
This is what's been playing in my head for a while and I think it's apt:
"How do you solve a problem like Maria, How do you catch a cloud and pin it down"
So you can listen to this song as you read this:
Valdez has about 4000 people. There are no other similar population centers anywhere near Valdez. The closest population centers are Anchorage, Mat-Su, and Fairbanks - but they aren't very close. Southeast Alaska has four districts worth of population. It basically has to go up from the south because the southern and eastern borders are Canada. The western border is the Pacific Ocean. I've thought they could use Prince Rupert, but, of course, they can't.
Valdez has been paired with Mat-Su and it's been paired with the Richardson Highway up almost to Fairbanks. Essentially, Valdez is the thorn in redistricting boards' side. It's essentially a white oil community connected by water to fishing communities and by land to some areas with more Alaska Natives.
So lets go to #4 and look at maps.
NUMBER 4: Where is Valdez now and where did the different proposed maps put Valdez?
First, let's look at the current district that includes Valdez - from the 2013 Proclamation plan. [Not interactive.] I've circled Valdez in red - bottom, middle right. The district goes to Whittier in Prince William Sound, includes the Richardson Highway communities along the pipeline (Valdez is the terminus of the Alaska pipeline) almost up to Fairbanks and also goes into Mat-Su.
Click on image to enlarge
Second, let's look at the 2021 Proclamation map for Valdez - in D 29. The link will let you look at the map in greater detail. This is the map that Valdez is protesting.
District 29-O does NOT include the Richardson Highway, nor does it go anywhere near Fairbanks or the other communities along the pipeline. Instead it goes deep into Mat-Su, smack up against Palmer and Wasilla. But in this district, since the Richardson Highway is mostly in the neighboring district, people in Wasilla driving to the Matsu part of their district have to travel out of D-29 on the Richardson Highway. Below you can see how Route 4 - the Richardson Highway - is in the tan colored district (36-R), the district the Valdez folks want to be in. Not only is Valdez in a different House district, but also a different Senate district. If you look at the map on the Board's website, you can see that for the most part the Highway is in District 36-R. (If it weren't, then the people in 36-R would have to leave their district to travel to other communities in their district. But this raises questions of contiguity, a Constitutional requirement for districts.
Third, AFFER and Senate Minority Plans put Valdez with Kodiak and goes into the Lake and Peninsula Borough, bordering Anchorage from the west and Mat-Su from the west and south. These two maps are very similar - I can only see some differences around the Homer area. This is probably not surprising because the architects of these maps - Randy Ruedrich and Tom Begich - have been doing this for years and this reflects a similar current district that connects Cordova to Kodiak. (But does not include Valdez.)
Fourth, we have the Doyon Coalition map. They've put Prince William Sound all together in one district - with Cordova and Whittier. But it cuts Valdez from the Richardson Highway communities the lawsuit says they belong with, and also takes the district to the edge of Palmer in Mat-Su. But this looks like the most compact district. The Coalition wants to keep various Native Corporation villages in the same districts.
Fifth, we have the AFFR map. This puts Valdez in a sprawling district that does keep them connected with the Richardson Highway communities, almost into Fairbanks, around Fairbanks, and also gets them into Mat-Su near Palmer. But the few people who mentioned specific maps at the Valdez hearing said they preferred this map.
Finally, we have a map - Valdez Option 1 - that is attached to the lawsuit - which Valdez is proposing.
It connects Valdez with Prince William Sound communities of Cordova and Whittier and goes up along the Richardson Highway. But it would also require the Board to make a LOT of changes to other districts and there will be complaints from the Doyon Coalition among others I'm sure.
So this should give you something to chew on. I've put links to the Board's interactive maps for each of these maps so you can see the details if you wish.
I'm also going to skip to #1 - an outline of the Valdez legal challenge, with my additions in blue. Part 2 will be #3 and #2.
I've condensed the filings and added (in blue) some of the things they've cited or notes you I thought would help
IN THE SUPERIOR COURT FOR THE STATE OF ALASKA THIRD JUDICIAL DISTRICT AT VALDEZ
On November 10, 2021, the Alaska Redistricting Board (“Board”), pursuant to its constitutional authority under Article VI of the Alaska Constitution, promulgated a new redistricting plan to govern legislative elections in Alaska for the next decade. This plan places Valdez into House and Senate Districts in violation of
The Open Meetings Act,
Article VI, Sections 6 and 10 of the Alaska Constitution, and
the equal protection and
due process clauses of the Alaska Constitution.
This Complaint seeks
judicial review of the Board’s redistricting plan and
an order invalidating that plan and
requiring the Board to redraw the districts in accordance with the Alaska Constitution
PARTIES
2-11 - City of Valdez, and Mark Detter, a resident of Valdez,
The Board and each member.
JURISDICTION AND VENUE
12-13
ALLEGATIONS
14- 42 There are almost 30 allegations here. It would have been more helpful if these were better tied to the Five Claims at the end. One has to go through these 28 allegations and match them to the claims. I’ll try.
43. Paragraphs 1 through 42 are incorporated as if fully set forth herein.
44. The Board, as a governmental body of a public entity of the state, is subject to the requirements of AS 44.62.310-320 (“Opening Meetings Act”). The deliberations and decisions of the Board are activities covered by the Open Meetings Act.
45. Upon information and belief, the Board has violated the Open Meetings Act in the following ways:
(a) It conducted deliberations in secret.
(b) It failed to properly conduct votes.
(c) It conducted a serial meeting.
(d) It withheld documents from the public that were used in formulating the final redistricting plan.
(e) It failed to clearly and with specificity state the subject(s) of each executive session or its reasons for addressing the subject(s) in executive session.
46. Plaintiffs and others have been harmed by these violations.
47. As a result of these violations, the actions of the Board resulting in adoption of the final redistricting plan including senate pairings, should be voided.
48. The Board’s proclamation of redistricting should similarly be voided, as it was based solely upon the redistricting plan.
Second Claim - Violation of Article VI, Section 6
49 - 55
§ 6. District Boundaries
The Redistricting Board shall establish the size and area of house districts, subject to the limitations of this article. Each house district shall be formed of contiguous and compact territory containing as nearly as practicable a relatively integrated socio-economic area. Each shall contain a population as near as practicable to the quotient obtained by dividing the population of the state by forty. Each senate district shall be composed as near as practicable of two contiguous house districts. Consideration may be given to local government boundaries. Drainage and other geographic features shall be used in describing boundaries wherever possible.
Third Claim - Violation of Article VI, Section 10
56 - 59
(a) Within thirty days after the official reporting of the decennial census of the United States or thirty days after being duly appointed, whichever occurs last, the board shall adopt one or more proposed redistricting plans. The board shall hold public hearings on the proposed plan, or, if no single proposed plan is agreed on, on all plans proposed by the board. No later than ninety days after the board has been appointed and the official reporting of the decennial census of the United States, the board shall adopt a final redistricting plan and issue a proclamation of redistricting. The final plan shall set out boundaries of house and senate districts and shall be effective for the election of members of the legislature until after the official reporting of the next decennial census of the United States.
(b) Adoption of a final redistricting plan shall require the affirmative votes of three members of the Redistricting Board. [Amended 1998]
Fourth Claim - Violation of Article I, Section 1 (Equal Protection)
60-62
§ 1. Inherent Rights
This constitution is dedicated to the principles that all persons have a natural right to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and the enjoyment of the rewards of their own industry; that all persons are equal and entitled to equal rights, opportunities, and protection under the law; and that all persons have corresponding obligations to the people and to the State.
Fifth Claim - Violation of Article I, Section 7 (Due Process)
64 - 68
§ 7. Due Process
No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law. The right of all persons to fair and just treatment in the course of legislative and executive investigations shall not be infringed.
RELIEF
WHEREFORE, Plaintiffs pray that this Court:
1. Enter a judgment declaring the Board’s redistricting plan promulgated pursuant to the proclamation dated November 10, 2021, to be in violation of the Open Meetings Act, Article VI, Sections 6 and 10 of the Alaska Constitution, and the equal protection clause and the due process clause of the Alaska Constitution;
2. Enter a judgment declaring the Board’s redistricting plan promulgated pursuant to the proclamation dated November 10, 2021, to be null and void;
3. Enter an order enjoining the State Division of Elections and the State of Alaska from conducting any primary or general election for state legislative office under the Board’s redistricting plan, or otherwise taking any step to implement the plan;
4. Enter an order requiring the Board to promulgate a new redistricting plan consistent with the requirements of the Alaska Constitution or, in the alternative, enter an order correcting errors in the Board’s redistricting plan;
5. Enter an order declaring Plaintiffs to be public interest litigants as constitutional claimants and awarding costs and attorney’s fees;
6. Enter an order for such other and further relief as may be just and reasonable. DATED this 10th day of December, 2021.
BRENA, BELL & WALKER, P.C. Attorneys for Plaintiffs
By
Robin O. Brena, ABA No. 8511130 Jake W. Staser, ABA No 1111089 Laura S. Gould, ABA No. 0310042
Lots of firsts lately. First plane ride in almost two years and tonight we were at the Bear Tooth for the first time in two years at the Anchorage International Film Festival Opening. The Festival is both live and online.
Masks are required except while eating and drinking and two spaces are left open between your party and the next. We decided to try it because when I went online to buy your ticket I could see there were mostly empty seats.
And a pass to the online festival doesn't get you into the theater free, so I'm guessing lots of people are staying home. But if you're fully vaccinated I'd encourage you to come. The big screen was a great change. And while everything seems new and different, it quickly seems like normal again. The biggest shock was that the Bear Tooth orange cones are a thing of the past. With reserved seats, the wait staff doesn't have to go looking for your cone. They have your seat number.
And there are lots of films that are scheduled live. And they have printed programs at the Bear Tooth. Here's a couple of pages so you can see there are live films all week. Some at the Bear Tooth, the museum, and the E Street Theater.
The Festival directors and some board members were on stage to greet folks.
Run Raven Run took place mostly in Romania as film maker Michael Rainin takes us into the lives of different Gypsy musical traditions. We skip around from one family to another with bits of history and geography thrown in. That probably sounds a bit tedious, but the people in the movie pulled us into their lives and their world view. Credit has to go to the film maker, but even more so, I'm guessing, to the people who took him into their homes and shared their lives with him. We went from traditional oriental Gypsy music to violins to rap. We saw beautiful rural villages and horrible Bucharest slums. We traveled to Europe from Rajasthan, India. We encountered Nazi concentration camps, and see Ceaușescu's trip to North Korea and his overthrow. We even see some American jazz musicians and a great Louis Armstrong imitation.
Ida Theresa Myklebost, Festival Co-Director interviews Run Raven Run Director Michael Rainin
The director of the film, Michael Rainin, talked about the film and making it at the end. Part of the discussion was about the acceptability of using the word Gypsy. As you might assume by its use here that he felt the people in the film used it and didn't seem to have any objection to its use.
Go online and check out the long list of films. Tomorrow Lune plays at 1pm at the Bear Tooth, A family Shorts Program plays at 4pm at the Museum, and A Sexplantion plays at the Museum at 8pm.
Or just watch it all whenever you can online with a festival pass. Or pay to watch individual films.
You can listen to this song as you read. It should make sense by the end.
The sun kept a steady beam shining through the clouds as I biked over to Taku Lake today. I reached my 745 km goal (a vicarious bike ride from Chiangmai to Bangkok) on September 13. There's a tension between the benefits of riding the bike outdoors regularly and how my knees feel. It's obvious that three or four days without being on a bike makes my knees feel much better. I can live with a little pain if I know that the damage done is temporary. (It doesn't hurt while I ride, just later on.)
But there was still good biking weather and so I made a new goal. 800 kilometers. I reached that goal October 4. So what next? A quick and dirty calculation of .6 * 800km got me to 480 miles, so I needed 20 more miles to get to 500 miles. That would be about 32 more kilometers. It's not all that important and I didn't set out to go that far today. But the weather was good, everything was beautiful and a changing seasons way, and I got to Taku Lake feeling good.
At the south end of the lake were four swans (and a number of smaller and darker water birds) taking a rest on their way south.
Then back home with a stop on one of the many bridges that cross over the meandering creek to get a picture of the sun's reflection (maybe glare is a more apt term) on the creek. Although the sky was mostly grey, the sun made its presence known most of the way.
It ended up being 13+ kms. All but about three kilometers were on dedicated bike trail in the greenbelt that buffers the creek from residential and commercial streets. There's only one non-residential street that I have to cross. So I now had 816.5 kms for the summer. Time to check precisely how much more before I hit 500. So I googled 500 miles = x kms. Turns out the simple .6 rounds off more than I thought. 804km = 500 miles.
I was already there when I started. So know I'll just ride until it's icy on the trails. Winter biking, will be on the bike with studded tires and only for short distances if there's what used to be a normal snow covering - without ice.
Meanwhile, I'm working on a post on how the different redistricting plans move me from one district to another. Enjoy your Sunday. Find something wonderful - whether it's the bark on a tree or an old picture of people you love.
David Pogue (@Pogue) tweeted a link too Radio.garden. You get to a page. Click open and
you then get the world, literally. Each green dot is a radio station. And when you zoom in you get
told the location and many more local green dots. Put the circle on the dot you want and start
listening. I'm listening to music from Kerala on the southern tip of India right now.
Have fun. And if there's something happening in some distant (from you - remember you are also in a distant part of the world from others) part of the world, you can quickly tune in to local or nearby stations to get the new direct. Many capitals, at least, have an English language station.
"Singer Zikode said she is thrilled to see so many people around the world dancing to the song.
“When I saw the president [Cyril Ramaphosa] announcing that everyone should celebrate today’s Heritage Day by dancing to ‘Jerusalema,’ I quickly jumped up, raised my hands and shouted!” Zikode said in Zulu.
“I was so happy,” she said. 'God has lifted me up because of the success of this song, and everyone is dancing to my voice.'”
Just take a break and enjoy the music and enthusiasm. Better yet, get up and join.
Below is a video with the composer talking about how amazed he is that this song has taken off like this.
Sorry about the ads on these, but when you get something going this viral, YouTube encourages you too monetize.
There seem to be fewer notable people born in 1919. World War I had ended in November1918. There had been a big influenza epidemic in 1918 as well. Births dropped significantly in 1919.
Someone born in 1919 would be ten when the stock market crashed, spend their adolescence during the depression, and start their twenties as WW II broke out. Maybe that explains why there are fewer notables compared to other years.
I've only picked out a few folks born in 1919. What has struck me since I first started doing "famous people born" posts, is thinking about a group of people who would have been in the same school year had they all lived in the same neighborhood. So try to imagine these people being classmates together at some school. Did any of these people know each other? Ever meet?
I've put them in order of when they were born in 1919 from the oldest (at least at birth) to the youngest. It's also sobering to see how some lived much shorter lives than others.
"American writer known for his widely read novel, The Catcher in the Rye. Following his early success publishing short stories and The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger led a very private life for more than a half-century. He published his final original work in 1965 and gave his last interview in 1980."
"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them. They’re quitee touchy about anything like that, especially my father. They’re nice and all - I’m not saying that - but they’re also touchy as hell. Besides, I’m not going to tell you my whole goodam autobiography or anything. I’ll just tell you about this madman stuff that happened to me last Christmas just before I got pretty run-down and had to come out and take it easy. I mean that’s all I told D.B. about, and he’s my brother and all. He’s in Hollywood. That isn’t too far from this crumby place, and he comes over and visits me practically every week end. He’s going to drive me home when I go home next month maybe. He just got a Jaguar. One of those little English jobs that can do around two hundred miles an hour. It cost him damn near four thousand bucks. He’s got a lot of dough, now. He didn’t use to. He used to be just a regular writer, when he was home. He wrote this terrific book of short stories, The Secret Goldfish, in case you never heard of him. The best one in it was «‘The Secret Goldfish.’ It was about this little kid that wouldn’t let anybody look at his goldfish because he’d bought it with his own money. It killed me. Now he’s out in Hollywood, D.B., being a prostitute. If there’s one thing I hate, it’s the movies. Don’t even mention them to me."
"The first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era.[2] Robinson broke the baseball color line when the Brooklyn Dodgers started him at first base on April 15, 1947. When the Dodgers signed Robinson, they heralded the end of racial segregation in professional baseball that had relegated black players to the Negro leagues since the 1880s.[3] Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.[4]"
"Born in Budapest, Eva aspired to acting from the age of 4. She began studying at 15, but her parents thought acting was too vulgar a profession and forced her to withdraw. Two years later, the 5-foot-2-inch beauty met a Swedish-born Hollywood physician at a party. They married in 1939 and moved to California. , ,
Described as the most down-to-earth of the Gabor sisters, Eva nevertheless had a lot in common with her many-times-married siblings, Zsa Zsa and Magda. Eva, who married and divorced at least four times, was said to have coined the phrase, "Marriage is too interesting an experiment to be tried only once or twice."
They were all entertainers. And they all possessed the unmistakably breezy Gabor style. When introduced to President Lyndon B. Johnson, Eva Gabor greeted him in her trademark Hungarian accent: 'Hello, Mr. President, darling.'"
" For a mild-mannered man whose music was always easy on the ear, Nat King Cole managed to be a figure of considerable controversy during his 30 years as a professional musician. From the late '40s to the mid-'60s, he was a massively successful pop singer who ranked with such contemporaries as Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, and Dean Martin. He shared with those peers a career that encompassed hit records, international touring, radio and television shows, and appearances in films. But unlike them, he had not emerged from a background as a band singer in the swing era. Instead, he had spent a decade as a celebrated jazz pianist, leading his own small group."
"Madalyn Murray O'Hair (née Mays; )[1] was an American activist supporting atheism and separation of church and state. In 1963 she founded American Atheists and served as its president to 1986, after which her son Jon Garth Murray succeeded her. She created the first issues of American Atheist Magazine.
O'Hair is best known for the Murray v. Curlett lawsuit, which challenged the policy of mandatory prayers and Bible reading in Baltimore public schools, in which she named her first son William J. Murray as plaintiff. Consolidated with Abington School District v. Schempp (1963), it was heard by the United States Supreme Court, which ruled that official Bible-reading in American public schools was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court had prohibited officially sponsored prayer in schools in Engel v. Vitale (1962) on similar grounds. Through American Atheists, O'Hair filed numerous other suits on issues of separation of church and state."
Pete Seeger May 3, 1919 - January 27, 2014 (94)
In 1938, he settled in New York City and eventually met Alan Lomax, Woody Guthrie, Aunt Molly Jackson, Lead Belly, and others. The quality of music coming from this group immediately captured his attention. He assisted Alan Lomax at the Library of Congress’ Archive of Folk Song and was exposed to a wonderful array of traditional American music. Many in this group of musicians eventually formed the Almanac Singers in 1940. In addition to Pete, the group included Lee Hays, Woody Guthrie, Bess Lomax, Sis Cunningham, Mill Lampell, Arthur Stern, and others. They lived in a communal home, “The Almanac House,” in New York. The group performed for gatherings, picket lines, and any place where they could lend their voices in support of the social causes they believed in. Later, after World War II, many of the same people became involved in the musical organizations People’s Songs and People’s Artists.
His best-known songs include "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" (with Joe Hickerson), "If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)" (with Lee Hays of the Weavers), and "Turn! Turn! Turn!"
Liberace May 16, 1919 - February 4, 1987 ( 67)
American pianist, singer and actor.[2] A child prodigy and the son of Polish and Italian immigrants, Liberace enjoyed a career spanning four decades of concerts, recordings, television, motion pictures, and endorsements. At the height of his fame, from the 1950s to the 1970s, Liberace was the highest-paid entertainer in the world,[3] with established concert residencies in Las Vegas, and an international touring schedule. Liberace embraced a lifestyle of flamboyant excess both on and off stage, acquiring the nickname "Mr. Showmanship".
Dame Margot Fonteyn, DBE (18 May 1919 – 21 February 1991), stage name of Margaret Evelyn de Arias, was an English ballerina. She spent her entire career as a dancer with the Royal Ballet (formerly the Sadler's Wells Theater Company), eventually being appointed prima ballerina assoluta of the company by Queen Elizabeth II. Beginning ballet lessons at the age of four, she studied in England and China, where her father was transferred for his work. Her training in Shanghai was with George Goncharov, contributing to her continuing interest in Russian ballet. Returning to London at the age of 14, she was invited to join the Vic-Wells Ballet School by Ninette de Valois. She succeeded Alicia Markova as prima ballerina of the company in 1935. The Vic-Wells choreographer, Sir Frederick Ashton, wrote numerous parts for Fonteyn and her partner, Robert Helpmann, with whom she danced from the 1930s to the 1940s.
Best-known internationally as the first man to climb Mt. Everest in May 1953 with Tenzing Norgay, for the last 50 years he has devoted himself to environmental and humanitarian efforts that have made a profound difference to communities in Nepal where his famous summiting was achieved.
American politician and the 45th Governor of Alabama, a position he occupied for four terms, during which he promoted "low-grade industrial development, low taxes, and trade schools".[1] He sought the United States presidency as a Democrat three times, and once as an American Independent Party candidate, unsuccessfully each time. He is best remembered for his staunch segregationist and populist views.[2][3][4] Wallace famously opposed desegregation and supported the policies of "Jim Crow" during the Civil Rights Movement, declaring in his 1963 Inaugural Address that he stood for "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever".[5]
I'm offering this video, because I was at this talk. (The actual date is January 10,1964) I came early to be sure to get a seat. The first several rows were already filled with black students. Wallace was known as the racist governor of Alabama who opposed integration. UCLA was a relatively liberal California college. It was going to be tense. But Wallace used charm and humor to win over the audience quickly - even the front few rows. We didn't agree with him, but laughter created a human connection. It was an important lesson for me about preconceptions, my notions about evil people, and how people who violently disagree on fundamental issues, nevertheless can communicate. It also helped me understand why Alabamans voted for him. I absolutely do not endorse most of the comments under this video on Youtube.
He slid down banisters, dated movie stars and wore a red rose in his lapel. Pierre Elliott Trudeau is arguably the most charismatic prime minister in Canada's history. But he was more than just charisma - Trudeau helped shape Canada with his vision of a unified, bilingual, multicultural "just society." Throughout his 16 years as prime minister, he faced some heavy criticism. But when Trudeau died on Sept. 28, 2000, the nation mourned the man who, in the words of one biographer, "haunts us still."
He was also the father of Canada's current prime minister.
Doris Lessing's body of work comprises around 50 books and spans several genres. Her writing is characterized by penetrating studies of living conditions in the 20th century, behavioral patterns, and historical developments. Her most experimental novel, 'The Golden Notebook', from 1962, is a study of a woman's psyche and life situation, the lot of writers, sexuality, political ideas, and everyday life. Some of Doris Lessing's books reach into the future. Among other things, she portrays our civilization's final hour from the perspective of an extraterrestrial observer.
"Anna meets her friend Molly in the summer of 1957 after a separation
THE two women were alone in the London flat. 'The point is,' said Anna, as her friend came back from the telephone on the landing, 'the point is, that as far as I can see, everything's cracking up.'
Molly was a woman much on the telephone. When it rang she had just enquired: 'Well, what's the gossip?' Now she said, 'That's Richard, and he's coming over. It seems today's his only free moment for the next month. Or so he insists.'
'Well I'm not leaving,' said Anna.
'No, you stay just where you are.'
Molly considered her own appearance-she was wearing trousers and a sweater, both the worse for wear. 'He'll have to take me as I come,' she concluded, and sat down by the window. 'He wouldn't say what it's about-another crisis with Marion, I suppose.'
'Didn't he write to you?' asked Anna, cautious.
'Both he and Marion wrote-ever such bonhomous letters. Odd, isn't it?'
This odd, isn't it? was the characteristic note of the intimate conversations they designated gossip. But having struck the note, Molly swerved off with: 'It's no use talking now, because he's coming right over, he says.'
'He'll probably go when he sees me here,' said Anna, cheerfully, but slightly aggressive. Molly glanced at her, keenly, and said: 'Oh, but why?'
It had always been understood that Anna and Richard disliked each other; and before Anna had always left when Richard was expected. Now Molly said: 'Actually I think he rather likes you, in his heart of hearts. The point is, he's committed to liking me, on principle-he's such a fool he's always got to either like or dislike someone, so all the dislike he won't admit he has for me gets pushed off on to you.'"
Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (1919-80), king of Iran (1941-1979), was born in Tehran on October 26, 1919, the eldest son of Reza Shah. He completed his primary school in Switzerland. He returned to Iran in 1935, and enrolled in a Tehran military school, from which he graduated in 1938.. . .
He replaced his father, Reza Shah, on the throne on September 16, 1941, shortly before his 22nd birthday. He continued the reform policies of his father, but a contest for control of the government soon erupted between the shah and an older professional politician, the nationalistic Mohammad Mosaddeq. . .
By the mid-1970s the Shah reigned amidst widespread discontent caused by the continuing repressiveness of his regime, socioeconomic changes that benefited some classes at the expense of others, and the increasing gap between the ruling elite and the disaffected populace. Islamic leaders, particularly the exiled cleric Ayatollah Khomeini, were able to focus this discontent with a populist ideology tied to Islamic principles and calls for the overthrow of the shah. The Shah's government collapsed following widespread uprisings in 1978 -1979 and consequently an Islamic Republic succeeded his regime.
Russian soldier, best known as AK-47 inventor. a Russian general, inventor, military engineer and small arms designer. He is most famous for developing the AK-47 assault rifle and its improvements, the AKM and AK-74, as well as the PK machine gun and RPK light machine gun.
Going through my mother's garage, I came across this case that contains old 78 records. I've seen it before, and put away for another time. Well, it's another time. I've taken it out again.
I knew that these were basically German records that my step father must have brought with him when his family fled Nazi Germany. So they would have been late 1920s and early 1930s. But I didn't know what they sounded like. I have a turntable, but it doesn't play 78s. I did ask a few people about what I should do with them, but got vague responses.
So I did what everyone does these days. Google.
And I found some of the records that I have on Youtube.
Here are a few:
Telefunken Musikus M 6359 Truxa-Fox.
Telefunken R 1910 Links sitzt das Herz (Left sits the heart)
There's even Frank Sinatra and Doris Day - Let's Take An Old-Fashioned Walk. It says "Berlin" on the label - but I think that's for Irving Berlin who wore the song. Did this get added to the collection later?
Here's one more - Richard Tauber and Dajos Bela - Ich Küsse Ihre Hand, Madame (I kiss your hand, Ma'am)
And there were others I couldn't find online.
Thank you to the YouTube folks who have put this music online.
I was in sunny Anchorage yesterday, not in the path of the eclipse. But in 2019 my daughter invited us to meet her and her family to see 
