Aging Dictatorially

There were a few tell-tale signs that indicated

She must have been married at one time or another

As she most casually ignored his every misstep and error

Effortlessly

With an elegant indifference that only comes from

Suffering a buffoon endlessly

And the nonchalant way she rejected his assumptions

Like a brick to a cheap Tijuana switchblade

Gotta Think Of A Name For The Band...Gotta Get A Map

 The acid house/country blues band Alabama 3, known in the states as A3 for legal reasons, was founded in England, in the south London district of Brixton.

The Dakotas formed in Manchester, England in the early 1960's, and found fame when they became Liverpudlian Billy J Kramer's band.

The '60's British Invasion pop pock band the Nashville Teens hailed from Surrey, in southeast England, not too far from London.

The Sunset Strippers were a British tech house electronic band from Brighton that enjoyed a taste of success in the mid-2000s.

America, a soft pop/folk rock band that made it big in the 1970's, was formed by three musicians who attended London Central High School together (The three were all sons of USAF personnel stationed at RAF South Ruislip).

The downtempo post-rock pop duo The Dallas Guild formed in London in the mid 2000's

Oceans Ate Alaska are a metalcore outfit consisting of five musicians from Birmingham, England -  they covered Beyonce's Drunk In Love back in 2014, and are still recording & touring.

Country rock outfit the New York Fund consist of a group of Scottish and English performers who got together in London, coalescing over their shared love of the band Teenage Fanclub and performers such as Bob Dylan and Ryan Adams. 

Santa Barbara Machine Head were a short-lived electric blues group that was part of the mid-60's London music scene. The combo featured Jon Lord (who achieved fame & fortune with Deep Purple) and Ronnie Wood (later with the Faces & Rolling Stones). 

Saint Louis Union was a freakbeat rock group from Manchester, England that was a part of the English Mod scene.

The alternative electric/acoustic folk duo known as the Ellis Island Sound was established in the mid-'90's by two talented instrumentalists from London.

Pacific Ocean Fire was a folk-country-jazz-gospel-rock & roll-blues band from the East Midlands city of Leicester in the heart of England.

the influential proto-punk/glam-rock band the Hollywood Brats were formed in the early 1970's by a group of raw (think early Ramones or better yet, New York Dolls) musicians living in London.

Daytona Lights, an indie groove-pop group that released three albums between 2010 - 2013 (and spent a year as cast members of the British soap opera, Hollyoaks), originated in London in the early 2000's.

The electronic dance trance hip hop duo Utah Saints are from Harrogate, in North Yorkshire, England.

The contemporary Jazz & swing band Pasadena Roof Orchestra originated in Manchester but is based in London (and yes, they have played in Pasadena, Ca.)

Trust Issues

 With a baleful eye he stared intently at the proprietor of the small shop. Then he looked down at the ring in his own right hand and back to the bills being proffered him in the extended right hand of the assayer.

"It is not," the man said, 'that I do not trust you specifically. It is that I trust no one, not one single person."

The metallurgist looked back directly into the customer's wary eyes and replied, "Yes, I can see that. But you have witnessed yourself the results of the water level test. I'm satisfied it's real gold, somewhere between 16 to 18 carat. What I am offering you for it is based on the going rate for 18 carat."

The man winced a little and shrugged his shoulders. "Okay, If that's the best I can get for it, then that's that...no point in hanging on to it."

As he dropped the ring into the left hand of the goldsmith his eyes seemed to dim a little. 

He took the money and then pulled his wallet out and, after counting the bills and placing them in descending numerical order, dead president's faces toward the front, he put them in the billfold.

The goldsmith looked compassionately at the man and said, "Divorce is hell, I know, I've been there. Pretty hard to trust any woman afterward."

With a sigh the man replied, "Oh, I don't blame women for my trust issues - I blame myself. I made the decision to marry someone I really didn't know all that well. I take full responsibility for that. That's why I don't trust anyone anymore. How can I if I can't trust myself?'

Allemansrätten

Allemansrätten is a Swedish term that translates to "Everyman's Right" in English. It refers to a right that has been established in a number of northern European countries known commonly as the "Freedom to roam".

The practice of roaming, and the right to do so, was something people just did without hindrance for hundreds of years before it became a codified, legally protected right in Nordic & Baltic countries such as Sweden, Norway, Finland, Estonia & Latvia, and other European countries such as Austria and Switzerland.

Of course, the right to roam does have a few limitations established by the particular country that one may chose to roam through- basically, a person can hike across (and even camp out for a night or two) undeveloped public or private lands without hindrance, but cannot make themselves a nuisance, and cannot encroach upon cultivated lands or areas that are fenced off or utilized by the government or private owners for specified activities (It's a long list determined by the governments of the various areas where roaming is allowed - you'll have to look it up for the area you're roaming in). 

As a rule, people are limited to hiking specifically  - can't drive an SUV or RV anywhere you want, gotta use the ol' heel-toe express exclusively.

The right to roam also extends to fairly unrestricted temporary use of waterways, beaches, forests, etc. "Temporary" is the key word here - nowhere can one erect a long-term shelter of any kind. 

There is also a long-list of responsibilities that go along with the right to roam - the old adage "leave no trace" sums the responsibilities up succinctly.

The concept of the freedom to roam does exist in other regions of the world, but it can be more limited, depending on the particular government (In England and some of the other Commonwealth countries such as Canada & Australia there is a "Crown Land" restriction that can be tricky to navigate). 

In the United States the right of way on private property is severely limited by trespass laws that literally have criminalized hiking - though not due to mean-spirited motivations on the part of the property owners themselves - the trespass laws are generally enacted due to the propensity of people who injure themselves on private property to seek legal redress (re: monetary compensation) for whatever injuries they suffered by suing the property owners, despite the fact that the property owners did absolutely nothing to invite the trespassers onto the property or cause the trespassers to injure themselves.

Which is why one sees "Posted: No Trespassing" signs all over the U.S.

Of course, approximately 640 million acres of land in the United States is considered public land, on which everyone has a right to roam similar to the European model. That 640 million acres is larger than the Nordic & Baltic countries combined, so it's not like there's nowhere to roam in North America. - if roaming is your thing, that is.

A Lawyer Walks Into A Spiritual Wasteland

   A Lawyer walks into a spiritual wasteland, devoid of soul or any semblance whatsoever of morality, much less decency.

   "Home", He cries softly to himself. "Home at last".

Continuing Proof There Is No "Free"

 

A Concert For All Time Well Before My Time

Stumbled across a copy of The Dave Brubeck Quartet's 1959 album Time Out, probably my favorite Jazz album of all time (not that I have a whole lot of Jazz albums in my music collection, truth be told).

It's a great album, and to have an original release in great shape is a prize of sorts, even though I do not actually have a turntable to play it on.

It was a fairly risky album to release back in 1959, extremely experimental, full of unconventional (or rather, uncommon for the period) time signatures and subdivisions that Brubeck had been exposed to while on a world tour that included countries in the Balkans of southeast Europe.

 

The album surprised everyone associated with Columbia Records, Brubeck's label, as it was only recorded and released under the condition that the quartet record an album of more conventional Jazz interpretations of classic tunes that had originated in the American South (and by classic I mean there are covers of Stephen Foster songs on that album, including Camptown Races).

Time Out became the first Jazz album to sell a million copies, as did the song Take Five (the only song on the album not written by Brubeck - Paul Desmond, the great Alto Saxphone & Clarinet player for the band, composed that one).

Hmmm.., stating that Take Five sold a million copies seems like an understatement. It took a few years, but Take Five became the single best-selling Jazz single ever, and features some of the best drumming you will ever hear (but listen to the album cut, not the single - the single eliminates the drum solo, which is a shame because Joe Morrello's drumming is  fantastic).

But that's not the point of this little rave. The point of this little rave is what I found inside the album sleeve.

When I pulled the vinyl album out of the sleeve, a tri-folded piece of paper came along with it. 

I open the folded paper and lo & behold I was holding the program for a concert performed by The Dave Brubeck Quartet on Tuesday, February 9th, 1960, at the Whitefish Bay auditorium located a few miles north of Milwaukee.

It's rare for me to be envious of anyone who lived in times past, as I believe we are truly living in the best time to be alive ever, but man o' man did I feel a little envy reading that program.

To be able to catch that band at the height of their powers...geez Louise, what a night that must have been!

The Certainty

For quite some time now he had been aware of how many years he had left.

As of today, it was thirty-seven.

He had no idea if it would be the first day or the last day of the 37th year when it all ended, he just knew that, as of today, he had thirty-seven years left.

There was no possible way he could explain it to another person, it was just something he knew.

Had known, actually, for eleven years now, since the morning he had awoken with the knowledge that he had forty-eight years left to live.

Contrary to what one might expect of anyone who had suddenly been given the number of years remaining on his personal calendar, that knowledge had not made him foolhardy or reckless.

Quite the opposite. A few weeks after gaining this particular insight into his destiny it dawned on him that it could be just as much a curse as a blessing.

For example, he did not want to spend the time he had left sitting in a prison cell, or worse yet, in an asylum. 

There was a period when he started to believe a Twilight Zone twist would rear up and turn the revelation into a horrible torture, so he started to be careful...and he started to plan.

First, he decided that his health was of paramount importance.

He wanted to be able to enjoy the years ahead of him without having to rely on medication to dull aches and pains brought on by a poor diet and lack of exercise, so he thoroughly researched the various activities and foods considered to be the best for optimal health and fitness, and stuck with the plan he had implemented once he had gathered all the relevant information.

Second, he decided that being financially secure was also of significant importance.

He did not want to just scrap by, living hand to mouth or week to week paycheck-wise, so he invested a substantial amount of time figuring out exactly what he could do vis-a-vis employment that would not only allow him to earn enough money to pay for his keep, but also to invest in a retirement account.

It was just as important that he enjoy the work he performed, and that he enjoy the people he worked with, so he weighed those factors carefully.

There were a few missteps along the way, but within a couple of years of the epiphany regarding his lifespan he had figured it out and had put into practice everything that was necessary for him to live out the years he knew were allotted to him without worry or consternation.

However, as has often been said, the best laid plans often go awry.

The awry happened this morning.

For the first time in the 4,078 days since the morning of the revelation, the possibility that something might occur that could compromise his painstaking efforts to ensure the time he had to spend on the planet would not only be enjoyable, but also uncomplicated, had been thrown off track.

The awry came into the shop wearing a bright yellow sweater and yellow slacks, as well as the most engaging smile he had ever seen. 

Yep, Still Gotta Post Instructions...

 There is something insanely hilarious about those who either actually do not know how to properly wear a mask or who are deliberately not wearing a mask properly.

I mean, other than the part where they contract CoVid-19 or a variant and die.

That part is not insanely hilarious.

The Boulder County Fire In Louisville II

 

The Boulder County Fire In Louisville

Bumper Sticker On John Galt's Car

 

The Week After The Fire Part II

The Week After The Fire Part I