Saturday, September 06, 2025

Will the eagle face the arrows again? Notes on the Department of War, how it went away, and what might happen if it comes back (besides a huge government expenditure)

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 In the summer of 1971 I was at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, going through U.S. Army Field Artillery Officer Training. A few of my several hundred c...
Thursday, August 28, 2025

Are the Mets back on track?

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Back in April I  posted  that the Mets then sported the best record in the Majors, but added the question, "Can we stop the season now?...
Saturday, August 09, 2025

Flaco Jiménez (1939-2025) "Is Anybody Goin' to San Antone"

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When I first heard  Leonardo "Flaco" Jimenez  doing his accordion magic, he was in distinguished company. It was on the album  Dou...
2 comments:
Sunday, August 03, 2025

"Sargent & Paris" at the Met

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To a New Yorker, "the Met" may signify the  Metropolitan Opera  or the  Metropolitan Museum of Art  (there are also  the Mets , bu...
Sunday, July 27, 2025

Tom Lehrer (1928-2025) - "Fight Fiercely Harvard"

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Tom Lehrer , who  died yesterday at 97 , began writing songs when he was a student at Harvard College, majoring in math, in the 1940s. One o...
Saturday, July 19, 2025

Connie Francis (1937-2025), "Lipstick On Your Collar."

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As her New York Times obituary notes, Connie Francis is mostly remembered for dreamy ballads like her first million seller, Who's Sorr...
1 comment:
Sunday, June 22, 2025

Music recently lost two greats: Sly Stone and Brian Wilson

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I've been crazy busy, but I feel I must join, if belatedly, in commemorating two brilliant artists we lost recently, both of whom profou...
Saturday, June 14, 2025

Remembering my father on what would be his 111th birthday

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  Today, June 14, is the 111th anniversary of the birth of my father, Claude Moreland Scales, Jr. It's also Flag Day, and the birthday o...
Monday, May 19, 2025

The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again (Shepperton Studios / 1978) - Happy 80th, Pete Townshend

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This performance of a perhaps timely song shows Pete's guitar and vocal heroics at their most manic, with Roger Daltrey singing and doin...

Another Finger Lakes Venture; This Time for Tea, not Wine

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On Thursday, April 24 our friends  Chris Bennem  and Lisa Moore took Martha and me in their car from Brooklyn to  Glen Hollow  (photo at lef...
Tuesday, April 29, 2025

Wall of Death, by Richard and Linda Thompson

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This song has been going through my head for several days. I suppose it's a metaphor of the time we're living now, when everything s...
Sunday, April 27, 2025

The Mets have the best record in the Majors. Can we stop the season now? A fan's notes and remembrances.

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 Last year the Mets had a  slow start , but  things improved . They went on to get a wild card slot, won the wild card playoff, then beat th...
Sunday, March 16, 2025

Patrick Street: The Humours Of The King Of Ballyhooley

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  It being the time of year, sure 'n' begorrah we've been listening to lots of Irish music the past few days. This delightful di...
Saturday, March 08, 2025

Two "Tech Sisters": Ada Lovelace (1815-1852) and Admiral Grace Hopper (1906-1992)

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There's a lot of talk about "tech bros" now, most of it not flattering. This being International Women's Day , and March b...