Only their music & my words .... only/only

Hey! I have seen these guys here before! You bet -- Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce. I decided to toss Cream to the wolves again this evening, on this occasion by presenting a portion of the band's farewell concert of 1968 at Royal Albert Hall. (God, I love YouTube.) It is a bit more than an hour long. If that is too much for you, I would recommend listening to the first twenty minutes or so. It includes "Sunshine of Your Love," an interview with Bruce and "White Room." Through Bruce, I think you will learn the difference between music and marketing, between artistry then and junk now. (Yeh, like you really care, hah ??) By the way, I believe Bruce really was underrated as a musician and as the "power" of Cream. But, you know how it goes: The girls "dug" Clapton more .... and, it is quite obvious, Clapton is a guitar virtuoso and deserves the adoration he receives. By the way, photographer unknown.

So much for the romance of travel

I recently encountered an ophthalmologist here in middle America who, it turned out, earned her medical degree and completed an ophthalmology residency at Ternopil State Medical University in the Ukraine. She also completed a residency in ophthalmology at Northwestern University in Chicago and practiced in North Dakota before arriving in Minnesota. She speaks English with a marvelous accent. Too bad that she is married. 

Only a few weeks ago, I was speaking with a small town, Minnesota newspaper reporter who had lived in Poland for a few years and, while there, had met and married a young lady born and raised in Poland. Like many newsmen, he is a bit of a vagabond, and had been working for a newspaper in North Dakota immediately before coming to Minnesota.

Why I mention these things, I am not altogether certain, but it seems to me that life has reached a point where Eastern Europe is no farther away from Minnesota than is North Dakota -- Poland or the Ukraine, a few hours by airplane; North Dakota, a very few hours by car.

For certain, travel has lost all its romance and adventure. Here is there and there is here, and the twain keep bumping into each other.

Turn out the lights, the party is over

A few days ago I learned I have "lost" not only one of my favorite musicians, Jack Bruce, but two of my favorite bartenders, as well. Both men died on Sunday, October 19. How often does a guy have two bartenders die on him on the same day? You will note that both died on days their bars were closed for business. Hmmmm .... you do not suppose they arranged things that way, do you?

It might sound like I am making light of events, but Bruce and both bartenders lived relatively long, full lives. We should all be so fortunate. And, death is the price we each and every one of us pays for life.

Actually, both men were bar owners as well as bartenders and from my sort of distant past. Windy was from my youth and Minnesota; and Kenny was from later and South Dakota. 

Windy was mostly a baseball man. Work was something to do between ball games. Playing ball, I mean, not watching .... although, I suppose he watched games, too. He was still playing baseball on "town teams" well into his thirties. He was sort of a role model for teenage athletes. He could throw a baseball harder and faster than I ever could, but I could take him two games out of three at pool.

Kenny was a connoisseur of the bar. It was rare to walk into his establishment when he did not approach me with his "latest concoction" in his hand -- free of charge, of course -- wanting my opinion regarding its "quality." As you might guess, I often volunteered to taste-test his creations until Dandy Don sang, "The Party's Over," and the lights went out.

Anyway, you see? I keep telling you to keep a low profile in October !!

As for me ....

October has only a few days remaining, but sometime during these few days my fate for the next few months probably will be revealed. I have a feeling the outcome will not be good for me or for anyone around me. At this moment, it appears October will continue to be the cruelest of months for me, but the suspense will linger during these last few days until the veil is lifted and certain questions are answered.

One more thing: I recently have been involved ("involved" might not be the best word to use, but ....) in commentary both here and at other blogs regarding climate change and global warming. I want to make clear a couple of points:

One: I do think climate change is real. It has been real since the beginning of time. Unfortunately, the concept of the "beginning of time" for most people seems to be the year they were born.

Two: I do not think mankind has much influence over climate change and, in any case, cannot do a thing about it given the governmental structure of the world. There are about two hundred nations in existence at the moment; getting any dozen of them to agree on anything is pretty much impossible.

Three: There are so many real, actionable problems which, if solved, could improve the lives of the people who inhabit this planet that it seems absurd to me to spend time, money, energy and emotions on abstract (largely political) situations such as climate change. We are talking about definitely unproven science and about governments whose leaders generally are incapable of walking and chewing gum at the same time; does anyone actually expect these self-serving, power-mongering, hypocrites to solve any substantial problems?

Personally, I tend to bend toward a conservative viewpoint, which does not equal a Republican. For political expediency, I have been both a registered Democrat and a registered Republican. Usually, this has had to do with primary election voting rules in states where I was a resident. And, during one of my brief departures from reality into the land of smoke and mirrors, I actually was a salaried staff member for a congressman who was elected to office as a Democrat. (Whoops, I must be a traitor to Democrat Party orthodoxy.)

Beyond that, I would match my environmental credentials against those of most whining tree-huggers, who often live a life of irrational fantasy in context of the natural world.

Once, during a job interview at a newspaper, the fact that I was a member of both the Sierra Club and the National Rifle Association became a point of discussion in terms of reconciliation: How could I be a member of two such apparently diametrically opposite organizations? Easy, I replied: I deal with facts and realities, not with emotions and pipe dreams.

To be brutally blunt: The pied pipers of cradle to grave fascism are attempting to turn climate change into literal religion, and those who are lemmings seem to be following ....