AllanThinks

O, Death

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This is Dr. Ralph Stanley, one of the very few legends of Bluegrass music. Really, there are only four of them. Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, and Ralph Stanley.

Alison and I were fortunate to see Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys perform this evening at a free concert.

I don't know how much longer Dr, Stanley will be performing. He is 84 years old, and has been performing for 64 years.

I just know I am glad that I got to see him while I still could. Damn. This was an amazing experience.

When I took this photo, he was singing O, Death, from the soundtrack of O Brother, Where Art Thou. A capella. His band had left the stage. I can't express how amazing this moment was.

New Toy

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I've been accused by a friend of buying this solely to take photographs of it.

I really am going to learn to play.

Untitled

This is a photo of Emily Hagihara, a member of the Lexington band Chico Fellini, who played the Beaux Arts Ball Saturday night.

I am slowly, but surely, working my way through the close to 500 photos I took Saturday. There are a few already up on my Flickr stream.

As always, you can click on the image, and see a larger version on Flickr.

I almost forgot.

	Arlo Guthrie - Alice's Restaurant Massacree
	Found at skreemr.com

Happy Thankgiving from our family to yours.

"I like Rickrolling!"

Millions of viewers were Rickrolled today by Macys.

Bonnie "Prince" Billy

FreeKY

This is a photo of a troupe of fire dancers called Foxfire Hypnotica, who performed during the FreeKY Festival, a free festival of music, art and exhibitions of eclectic culture, held on April 26 in downtown Lexington. It was the culmination of Alternative Music Week, sponsored by WRFL, the independent, commercial free, student run radio station at the University of Kentucky.

The entire week of concerts, art shows, and other events also served as 20th anniversary celebration, and a fund raiser for the station, which plans to increase their power, and reach a wider audience.

Alison and I attended several of the events during the week, including a concert feathering Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, at The Dame the Saturday before FreeKY, a bluegrass music show at Al's Bar, and a concert and art show held at our friend Lori's shop Isle of You.

The FreeKY Festival began at 11 a.m. and continued until almost midnight, featuring a number of bands, an art exhibit, vendor booths, and community group exhibitions. The musical headliners were Jolie Holland, and The Apples In Stereo. We hope that they decide to throw another party like this next year.

Ali and I got there around 3, and stayed until it ended. We took our cameras, and we both took tons of photos. You can see her set here, and mine, here.

As always, the photo is clickable.

 

Happy Thanksgiving

Ali and I are staying home for Thanksgiving this year. It's our first time to do that. Last year we drove to Pittsburgh on Thanksgiving Day, and returned to Lexington the next day. In 2005, Ali came over from France for a week, and we celebrated the day at Jo Ann's house.

We decided it would be nice to start a new tradition this year.

We will be joined by Mike, his daughter Justine, and a couple of good friends. We will be dining on roast duck, dressing, green beans, country ham on yeast rolls, and more.

I want to thank everyone who reads and comments on my blog, and I wish you a very happy Thanksgiving.

Here is my gift to you this day.

	Arlo Guthrie - Alice's Restaurant Massacree
	Found at skreemr.com

Peace.

Imagine

We Believe!

Into The Mystic

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We were born before the wind
Also younger than the sun
Ere the bonnie boat was won as we sailed into the mystic
Hark, now hear the sailors cry
Smell the sea and feel the sky
Let your soul and spirit fly into the mystic
And when that fog horn blows I will be coming home
And when that fog horn blows I want to hear it
I don't have to fear it
I want to rock your gypsy soul
Just like way back in the days of old
Then magnificently we will float into the mystic
And when that fog horn blows you know I will be coming home
And when thst fog horn whistle blows I got to hear it
I don't have to fear it
I want to rock your gypsy soul
Just like way back in the days of old
And together we will float into the mystic
Come on girl...

Van Morrison

For Alison

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Love Is A Burning Thing
And It Makes A Fiery Ring
Bound By Wild Desire
I Fell Into A Ring Of Fire

I Fell Into A Burning Ring Of Fire
I Went Down, Down, Down
And The Flames Went Higher

And It Burns, Burns, Burns
The Ring Of Fire
The Ring Of Fire

I Fell Into A Burning Ring Of Fire
I Went Down, Down, Down
And The Flames Went Higher

And It Burns, Burns, Burns
The Ring Of Fire
The Ring Of Fire

The Taste Of Love Is Sweet
When Hearts Like Ours Meet
I Fell For You Like A Child
Oh, But The Fire Went Wild

I Fell Into A Burning Ring Of Fire
I Went Down, Down, Down
And The Flames Went Higher

And It Burns, Burns, Burns
The Ring Of Fire
The Ring Of Fire

I Fell Into A Burning Ring Of Fire
I Went Down, Down, Down
And The Flames Went Higher

And It Burns, Burns, Burns
The Ring Of Fire
The Ring Of Fire

And It Burns, Burns, Burns

The Ring Of Fire

The Ring Of Fire

-Johnny Cash

I Think This Might Qualify Me For UberGeek Status

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This is our new ION USB Turntable. Yes, you read that right. It has a USB port on it, so that it can be connected to a computer.

With the included audio editing software, one can rip music from vinyl records to MP3 files.

I have a collection of several hundred LPs that I have not listened to in a few years. My last decent turntable died after over 20 years of service and I never replaced it. I intended to buy a new one, but never did.

I had CDs and the radio to listen to, and I think in the back of my mind I expected that some day a turntable that could be connected to a computer might exist. And now the technology exists.

And it works great. I've only ripped three tracks from a single LP so far, but Ali and I will be going through my collection to see what else might be worthy of digitizing.

Rays of Hope

Click image for a much better view. Really. Click it. You won't be disappointed.

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
and I say it's all right

Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
and I say it's all right

Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
and I say it's all right

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...

Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
and I say it's all right
It's all right

- George Harrison

Do You ROKU?

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We do. Now. This is one of the toys we bought at Best Buy today. The other was a zippy Netgear Rangemax Wireless Router to get us up to 802.11G speed.

We had been streaming Internet radio to WinAmp on my laptop since the old computer died. It had served as our music and print server, but the hard drive crapped out about a month ago.

Since then, I have left my newer laptop on the computer desk so we could listen to music. I missed the mobility that the laptop had afforded me. Before, I could sit on the sofa, or take the computer into the bedroom, or even sit outside on the porch. But after the old computer died, if we wanted to listen to tunes, I had to stay at the desk with the powered speakers plugged in.

But the ROKU Soundbridge frees me from those shackles. The speakers are now plugged into it, and it streams music off the Internet via our wireless network.

It was very easy to set up, and has a huge database of Internet radio stations built in. You can also play MP3s through it from any computer on the network.

I wish I had bought one sooner. Now all we need is a wireless print server.

Imagined Conversation

Bill: Look at all those people talking about you.

Scarlett: Yeah. I didn't believe my agent when he said issuing a press release about me recording an album of Tom Waits covers would generate a lot of buzz.

Bill: Always trust your agent. He knows of what he speaks.

Scarlett: Yeah. I'll never doubt him again.

Bill: Yeah.

Scarlett: But I guess now I will have to record the album.

Bill: Yeah. I think that would be wise.

Scarlett: Bill?

Bill: Yeah?

Scarlett: Who's Tom Waits?

Early Evening Conversation

While driving home, seeing a bicyclist dressed in dress shoes, dress pants, white, short-sleeved dress shirt, navy blue sweater-vest, and helmet:

Me: "Look at him!"
Her: "Um. Yeah."
Me: "He's quite nerdy looking."
Her: "I was about to say that he was a suburban nerd boy."
Me: "That would be a great name for a punk rock band."
Her: "Yeah."

That got me thinking about other possible names for a punk band.

Leave your suggestions for names in the comments. Help get my Google hits up.

Time Travel Music

My brother Mike created this meme a few days ago.

List five songs that, when you hear them now, transport you back to a specific place and time.  You can explain why, or not.

I've thought long and hard about this, and have had a lot of trouble coming up with five songs to list. Music is important to me. I listen to music from the moment I wake up in the morning until I go to bed late at night. Either Radio Paradise or Sirius, usually.

But prior to about three years ago (when I started listening to Radio Paradise), it wasn't as meaningful to me. I was too busy with other things to really sit back, relax, and pay attention. In addition, my taste in music didn't exactly dovetail with the musical tastes of my partner during those years. We were 180 degrees apart in our musical tastes.

So there were scant few instances where particular pieces of music made a deep emotional impression on me.

But there is one song I can name that affected me in a very significant way.  It was You Do Something To Me by Paul Weller. I heard it for the first time on Radio Paradise, and when I did, I realized I was in love with Alison.

Here are the lyrics of that song:

You do something to me, something deep inside
I'm hanging on the wire for a love I'll never find
You do something wonderful then chase it all away
Mixing my emotions that throws me back again
Hanging on the wire, I'm waiting for the change
I'm dancing through the fire, just to catch a flame
an' feel real again

You do something to me somewhere deep inside
I'm hoping to get close to a peace I cannot find

Dancing through the fire just to catch a flame
Just to get close to, just close enough
To tell you that.....

You do something to me something deep inside.

I love you Alison. You do something to me. Something deep inside.

Sirius. I'm serious!

Click the image. You might win a valuable prize.

After hemming and hawing for almost a year, I finally purchased a satellite radio receiver for the car. Alison, the kids, and I are heading to Pennsylvania tonight.

I decided that the only way I would survive the drive across the radio wasteland that is Ohio, would be to  buy the radio and subscribe to Sirius.

We were first introduced to Sirius last summer when I borrowed my sister's Jeep for one of my trips to Pittsburgh. It didn't take me long to fall in love with it, but not in love enough to convince me that I would get my money's worth having it in my own car. With the exception of the occasional road trip, I'm not in the car that much.

But lately we have found ourselves spending way too much time tuning around trying to find anything worth listening to on the Lexington airwaves.  That gets tiring and frustrating very quickly.

So with this trip pending, I decided to take the plunge. On Saturday, while Ali and the kids were at a nearby park splashing around in the pool, I headed to Best Buy, where I purchased the nifty radio you see in the photo above. I also made an appointment to have it installed.

While I was out and about, I ran to the mall and purchased a pair of Crocs for Ali and a pair for myself. They are great summer shoes, and will come in handy when we wade through the creek on the property in Pennsylvania where we will be visiting next week.

The appointment for the radio installation was yesterday morning. It only took about 90 minutes to complete, and another 5 minutes for me to call Sirius and start my subscription. It was really nice to have the tunage as I made my way back to the mall to exchange our Crocs for the sizes we needed. Insert eye rolling emoticon here. Yep. The ones I bought on Saturday were a size too small.

Oh well, at least I didn't have to drive all the way across town to exchange them.

I need to wrap this up and start packing. We will be leaving in less than 5 hours. We will take our computers with us, so you will likely hear from us both in the coming days.