What Am I Listening to Now?

It’s been a hectic week and I am not as on top of things as I would like to be. Some of the music making its way through Silver has been:

  • Jefferson Airplane: 2400 Fulton Street (disc one)
    The early stuff. Ah, good stuff. Over the years I have found different facets of the Airplane to love. It began with White Rabbit, then the hits, the Dead influences, the Crosby influences, and am now a Jorma fan. As such, Embryonic Journey stands out. What a great tune.
  • Grateful Dead: Hundred Year Hall
    Europe ‘72. Deadheads recognize this tour as one of the monumental times of the band’s history. This release highlights the band at full speed, but only partially. One thing GDP has been irritatingly maddening with is releasing partial shows. This 26 April 1972 show is missing 14 songs from the night. Furthermore, the songs presented are not in chronological order. Argghh!

    Yet, there’s the 19-minute-plus Lovelight and a 39-minute Other One! Yes, the band was on fire.

  • Grateful Dead: Dick’s Picks Volume 11; 27 September 1972 Stanley Theater, Jersey City, NJ
    After the Europe run, the band continued rocking back in the States. The complete show is captured on this release.

    The thing that stands out for me is Brokedown Palace. It seems so fragile here. To think it was written in the same afternoon as Ripple and To Lay Me Down. That is some trio. Of course, the highlight of this show is the 30-minute Dark Star. Truly mesmerizing.

  • Bob Marley and The Wailers: Live!
    I have been a Marley fan from since I was a boy. I never got a chance to see him live, so this album has always gotten heavy play from me. Now that I do not have all my boots that I used to (I am convinced I once had every Marley show that circulated), this is all I have. The No Woman, No Cry is superb here!
  • Dude of Life: Crimes of the Mind
    I just read on Wikipedia that The Dude is now an elementary school teacher in NYC. That astounds me!

    I recall this album’s release. I was very excited as it was at the height of my liking of Phish. THe Dude of Life was a close friend to the band having written several of their early songs, including my favorite Fluffhead. Crimes is a Phish album with The Dude singing his songs. Awesome! I was blessed at having seen a show on the brief tour that followed.

    This album is not as weird as I sometimes think The Dude is. I really enjoyed listening to it this evening. Self is the highlight for me.

  • Rhythm Devils: The Apocalypse Now Sessions
    The epic movie with a legendary cast has a wonderful soundtrack. That music was played by none other than the Grateful Dead’s rhythm section: Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann. Great stuff here with the boys and their friends imitating the sounds of the jungle. The ambient sounds make for a pleasant listen. The river music is among the most harmonic of the releases I have of Mickey’s. I really like this.

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Bury the Survivor

An old riddle goes as follows:

A plane crashes on the border of North and South Carolina. Where do you bury the survivors?

I am not watching much network television these days. Gert and I did take to Survivor this season. The premise was fans v. favorites. That’s all done now. They were down to the final five tonight: four women and one man boy. The last several weeks have seen one blindside after another. It’s been very exciting. It has been clear the women have worked to get rid of the guys. They have been successful. The only way for Erik to survive into the final four was to win immunity tonight.

Apparently, I was very wrong.  Erik did win immunity.  Erik is not in the final four.

In the greatest act of stupidity ever, he gave up his immunity and was promptly voted off.  You do not deserve a penny let alone the $1 million, Erik.

How stupid!

Even when Cerie first pitched the idea, Natalie indicated this was a stupid idea.  Yet, Erik bought it hook, line, and sinker.  Unbelievable!

I’ll hand it to the girls; they have played this game very well.  Erik, son you need to look back upon how you were played and learn from it.  Wow!

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Trikke

While I was out today my mother sent me a series of e-mails. They went from asking about Trikkes to sending me video. As I poked around, I found some more. I had never heard of these previously. I think I would enjoy this, but am not certain I want one.

Nevertheless, they are kewl.



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We Paid $200,000 For This?

As I plan my lessons, I came across something that gave me pause.

The reading series we use is Harcourt Trophies.  In the teacher’s manual on page 527 I read the following modeling I am encouraged to offer my students:

To make sure I focus on important information, I ask myself: What families is the author writing about?

Huh?  What families is? Forgive me, but I am going to use my discretion and eschew this line of discussion with my students.  I strive to have them speak proper English.

My goodness, what an egregious error!

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Sometimes Daily

Amanda Congdon is set to return to the Internet . . . errr . . . well, I suppose she has never left, but she’s back beginning tomorrow with her daily Sometimes Daily vlog. I can’t wait.

Fr those of you who haven’t followed Amanda, she began as the hostess of Rocketboom, then drove cross-country in her hybrid, released some homespun videos, blogged for ABC for a year, and has been MIA (kind of) since.

Sometimes Daily is her much-anticipated return!

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