Sunday 2/3, Bacchus

I tune in about 6 NY time. The DSU cam is on Annunciation and
Napolean. Traffic was too messed up to get to other spot, anchor
says. OK.

We hear anchor live, before they are on cam.

Paradecam is on the roof still.

She throws to Camille. Behind the scenes of live tv...

Parade doesn't look ready but who knows when it will start.

(6:15 NY time) Two motorcycle cops just went by and I see some
blinking lights and hear more sirens, but now that's stopped... Oh
well.

More sirens. Here we go. Lots or people in wheelchairs here. We may
be near a hospital. Sirens stopped. Now started again. Now stopped.

(6:19 NY time) Paradecam switches to the street level. No host yet.
(Paradecam has audio hum...)

DSU cam will be AHEAD of the Paradecam...

Crowd on DSU cam cheers.

Anchor says some bands are still unloading, so will be more delays.
(6:25 NY time)

Meredith of nola.com comes on. "We're excited about Hulk Hogan." Un hunh. lol.

DSU cam goes blue screen but is ok shortly after.

Marching band. Marines probably, playing the Marine Hymn. 1st float
is going by. DSU cam is not changing position.

See some flambeaux. Now DSU cam moves. Nice shot of masked riders
moving closer.

Paradecam is going to the roof but little do they know the parade is
on it's way.

There's Hulk. Dad by ladder does Hulk poses!! Hulk throwing casually.
People might be booing! He definitely wasn't into it.

Paradecam is blue screen, now ok.

Lots of flambeaux!! These flambeaux carriers have propane containers
on their backs!!

Nothing has reached the Paradecam yet. (6:43 NY time)

Nice marching band on DSU cam. St Aug? Purple Knights so yes.

"Beads crushing under your feet are like fall leaves..." Meredith.
Sort of. If your leaves are real crunchy.

Meredith wonders if they sleep in the big cop van when they're on
stakeouts. Another guy points out that having Police written in big
letters on the van probably eliminates that idea.

People waving to the cops. Angola Prison rodeo...

Some nice close-ups on the DSU cam. Some guy on the Bacchus float
signing throws.

DSU audio cuts out. (6:53 pm NY time) but comes back soon. The parade
has stopped. Guy is signing a shirt now.

Meredith is a roller girl. (Her audio is a little low now, compared
to everyone on this cam being really loud normally. She was loud
earlier so I guess someone turned her down.)

Hulk hasn't rounded the corner by the Paradecam yet.

Here we go.

Nice dancers going by, in black. Band behind them. Good audio from
DSU cam. 7 pm NY time

Confetti! Two tigers. Louie Louie! Unmasked riders on this float. LSU
float. National champs in something.

How many toes have been run over by police cars trying to clear
people from the street. 1st float, riderless, is for Harry Lee. They
really worshipped him down there. I don't know why. Black bunting on
the float.

DSU stream looks nice. A little jerky but nice. 7:06 pm NY time

Paradecam guy catches a miniature Harry Lee magnets. Very weird!

We see some marchers turn onto Napolean on DSU cam. Floats come up Napolean.

Nice band! Red outfits.

Wow, a big white French Quarter float, the 4-parter?! Hey Pocky Way
plays! Then Going To The Mardi Gras.

This is like watching two different parades. Where's Hulk on the
Parardecam?! 7:12 pm NY time

Here he is. Meredith goes nuts. Paradecam miss him by not pointing
high enough up.

Meredith discovers making flirty eye contact gets her throws.

Statue of Liberty float. Some cowboy types in the middle and a ladies
leg on the back. Not sure what the theme was there.

St Aug parade leaders walk backwards!

Nice effect to see the confetti and the searchlights.

Peace sign on this float!

Beautiful red float coming up. Big heart and hearts all over. Cupid
ready to shoot his arrow. That is a well designed float. Hearts like
strawberries.

Great band beat! O Perry Walker. Bravo! (Maybe this is on the DSU
cam though so I don't know who the band is there.)

Cool dancing on the Paradecam. O Perry Walker there.

Budget truck. Somebody moving in the middle of the parade?

Guy just got 4 bags of beads! His old boss.

Star Wars float.

Nice band, 7:56 NY time. Thundering drums. Then Led Zeppelin
dirigible on float. Bee Gees on the end. WTF?

Band with straw hats! St Paul's High school.

Star Wars float reaches the Paradecam 8:15 pm NY time. Spectacular
dinosaur on the DSU cam!

I rejoin things after dinner 8:30 NY time

Bands conveniently stop in front of either cam. Great sound from the DSU feed.

Beautiful alligator float on the DSU cam.

We have smart hosts on the Paradecam for a change. Not that I think
Jeff isn't smart but compared to the other usual hosts, Meredith and
friends are a pleasant change.

DSU cam goes blue screen suddenly, losing audio too. (8:38 NY time) I
miss it...

What a scream! As the Bachussuarus passes by. (Took 1/2 an hour to
get to the Paradecam.)

DSU cam is back but now is a high overhead shot with static for audio
(and some on the video). They are probably almost done with their
feed though there is still plenty of parade by them. Getting some
cool effects from the searchlights maxing out the camera... Kind of
like the aurora around the sun.

DSU cam is black cuz the lighting is so low. We see only a light or two.

Nice overhead shot from the Paradecam too. Still getting audio from
them. Now we're back to street level. There goes the gator. Saw that
about 20 minutes ago on the DSU cam.

No audio from the Paradecam now. 9:01 pm NY time. (Seeing street
level view.) The DSU cam has a truck on it. Done for them?

Audio is coming back, but breaking up, on the Paradecam. Here we go.
Yeah, those are the street cleaners on the DSU cam. Audio is ok on
Paradecam now.

Misimpression is only a word while Bush is president. Hopefully after
that we go back to reality as we used to know it.

Ick. The Spice Girls. The hum comes back.

I stop the DSU cam

Guy they are interviewing, 'I know where the adult fun can be found.
He feels good about the country that families can have fun like
this.' We know how you feel bro.

Float 25 out of 31 here. A beautiful woman.

Cool, throwing beads into the exhaust pipes of the Mardi Gras tow
truck! Nice diesel horn. Other woman host needs a doorbell like that.

CSI float. Ick. "Lust" written after it.

It's done. See you tomorrow.

Sun, 2/3: Mid-City, Toth

1:31 NY time, the 2nd half starts. (Already started on DSU cam?... hmm.)

40 floats. Quite the scene with all the crowd. BBQs going? Something smoking.

St Aug passes by yet again.

Now no parade on the DSU cam.

Looks like St Aug passing on the DSU cam. So, DSU is after Paradecam....

This is Mid City, not Toth. OK.

Uses aluminum foil rather than paper mache'. Their "den" got flooded during Katrina , dens being where the floats are stored.

Xavier Prep band.

A bright red float looks great.

Nice medallion.

Mid City had the first animated float, being propelled by Boy Scouts on stationary bikes! Hilarious. Slave labor.

Float 6 - beautiful.

This guy knows how much hotter the foil floats are: 35 degrees. Un hunh. Is that a fact?

Drill team dressed in black does routine in front of Paradecam. One guy drops his fake rifle.

2:02 PM NY time. A break in the action on both cams.

"Port-O-Lets have regained their shape after Friday." People were sitting on top of them then.

Jeff interviews group in front of Paradecam. Guy sings The Time of My Life, ick. 'Blood level is vodka and tonic right now.' Their breath would catch fire...

More break. 2:11 NY time

Paradeacam comes back at 2:20 NY time.

DSU cam has parade at 2:24 NY time so it is definitely AFTER the Paradecam, ok?

Last float of Mid City. 2:27 NY time. (False alarm)

DSU stream is very jerky. My computer is running at 100% CPU use.

Smokey Mary? No, just a steam tractor! Cool.

And a calliope! Calliope being pulled by a steam tractor. We don't hear much of it, alas.

End of Mid City? (Audio is dropping out/breaking up on Paradecam) 2:31 NY time.

No pies from Hubigs. No love...

Jeff: Jaeger - Epicac with alcohol! (I've never had it.)

Yes, they are making absinthe again! Great. We can narcotisize ourselves with it.

Jeff asks group to sing. American Pie. That's kinda what I would expect from them. 'They are adjusting so well for their first time in NO.'

Toth begins. 2:39 NY time. ("Toth. Is that a word?")

Beautiful horses for the mounted police. Apaloosas? I have no idea. Lots of white markings. (Some of the cops have cowboy hats. Gretna police?)

Cheese fries. Sausage sandwiches. Yum.

Coast Guard helicopter flies over.

When The Saints - somewhere in GA Marine Corp band.

Drill team does their thing.

3:00 pm NYtime (Have blue screen when he thinks Paradecam is done with tape exchange.)

3:01 pm NY time. I write to nola.com to tell them the Paradecam is still blue screen. Let's see how long it takes for them to fix it. Cool. It is fixed as I am writing this! Thanks!! 3:03 ny time

Tulane band is in front of the Paradecam now. Jeff will be graduating soon. (after 7 years...)

Float with (Egyptian?) one eye. Master Builders. Masons?

Gary is a target so Jeff moves away. Aiming for Gary but their aim sucks. Get tons of stuff.

Fish beads

Nice stepping from the Arlington High School dancers.

Float #1 now?

Lots of Carmelettes.

Another song... You've Lost That Loving Feeling. Artfully sung. Or more accurately, drunkenly. They go on.

One guy throwing heaps, armfuls, of beads on the Renaissance Festival float.

Jeff says to a guy on  the float, "you look familiar." He responds with a shrug.

Maine lobster float! Lobster, bland compared to crawfish and hard to peel. (But so much more meat and damn good!)

Low-weesiana...

Parisolcam?

'A band displaying their pride in motion?' Something only a bandmember would say or think.

Nice Egyptian masks!

Maybe the horses enjoy Guns N Roses. Maybe...

Almost 4pm NY time and the RealOne Player hasn't stopped in a long time. Stream is abit jerky and video quality is not great but is as good as can be expected. Audio is better, not breaking up much. DSU cam is still jerky but I haven't been watching it much.

India float followed by NO Irish Pipe Band. Well, alright.

AZ Balloon Festival! Wouldn't have expected them to be there.

Day of the Dead. Yes, Mexico. Float isn't decorated very well. A skull here, a skull there. Could have been MUCH better.

LA Fantasy Girls?

LA Swampfest. Alright!!! Miles of alligators! Alligators love marshmallows! lol

I remember the Chinese New Year dragon float. One of my favorites.

(CPU is staying at 100% now... but all seems well.)

Abdul and the Tentmakers on their burger break.

(I stop watching the DSU cam as the Paradecam has a better angle on it all, though it is blurry.) 4:05 pm NY time Get CPU use to 75% now. Better.

Another dunk tractor driver.

"Tiger bait" idiot yelling.

Big Chief by Gulf Coast something band. Drummers in truck!

NO Jazz Fest, float #21.

Loyola dance team, not very energetic... Jeff says.

Nice gold medallion!

Jeff: "This is getting dangerous. These assholes are going way too far." The riders on the floats?

I like the striped outfits on these dancers.

Horse drawn cart! The Mardi Gras Indians on horses. The Indian competition on Mardi Gras day is to see who's the prettiest.

Basketballs being thrown from floats.

Rider hands out one of his flowers to someone and he didn't have many. Another rider talking on his cell phone. Black cowboys.

"Once again, the horses are being followed by a sound truck. they apparently enjoy it!"

Hear a steam/train whistle coming up. Christmas in NY float - what's that about? Maybe a Santa Claus and maybe either a Rockette or a Nutcracker figure. Two touristy things to do I guess. An interesting idea for New Orleanians going up to NY for Christmas.

We hear a little bit of Zoot Suit by the WIld Tchopitoulas.

A very quick battery change!! 4:23 pm NY time

It's getting dark there. Still light here! Maybe, it'd be good to adjust the camera... It's ok for looking towards the parade though. The sky is a little dark when focusing on that.

Nice Egyptian insignias on the last float. Meredith will host Bacchus. Starting at 5:15 NO time.

OK.

Sun, 2/3: Okeanos, Babylon

I tune in about 5 of 12 NY time. The WDSU cam is on, low level audio
but nothing happening. People standing around with no parade in
sight. As usual they are abit back from the action but they do zoom
and pan so we will see good scenes. The Paradecam link for the live
Real video isn't working. (The Quartercam looks nice...)

Paradecam (works now and) is still on the roof. And people are marching!

12:07 NY time, Paradecam switches to handheld. Jeff again. great!
(Nothing happening on DSU cam)

This is Okeanos. New Orleans Past and Future, Back To The Future. 17
floats for this parade.

Dominican cheerleaders and talk of gods/sacrifices...

DSU cam has parade now. A nice white Roman-stylle villa float stopped.

Queen of Okeanos passes by the Paradecam. (12:16 NY time)

Chappelle High Steppers have lots of "protection".

Okeanos frisbee.

(I think the DSU cam is ahead of the Paradecam. Am seeing the
streetcar. (Paradecam stops but starts again...) float, St Charles
Streetcar band, singing Prof Longhair's Going To The Mardi Gras. I
saw another streetcar float on the DSU cam abit before.)

It's raining stuff. (We hear them get bombarded.) Aquarium
float.(Audio drops out)

Parade is stopped on DSU cam. Now moving. See cowboy on float. (12:30 NY time)

Paradecam has stopped but it starts again eventually. Then stops. May
have to drop it. It comes back.

Indians on horses.

Change in LA license plates!

Fire engine on DSU cam. (12:35 NY time)

Talk of Roy Scheider... boring. Christopher Walken - renaissance
man... can't get enough....

Here comes the fire engine so DSU cam is ahead of the Paradecam. I
suspect by the corner of Perrier and Napolean. (12:39 NY time)

King and other floats are behind fire engine?!

This parade does not use electricity on their floats when usually
parading at night. Only flambeaux. Got to see that in person.

(DSU cam is blue screen now.)

Officers/official knights. M'Lasses, ah. Translucent cups.

Float #3, so this is a new parade? Ah, this is Babylon.

12:55 NY time, paradecam stops then starts.

12:59 NY time we see a blue satyr w/ a bow (and arrow I suppose)
float on the DSU cam.

Here it is on the Paradecam, 1:03 NY time. Sagitarius. Fire engine
behind it. Wait. The satyr is still sitting stopped at the DSU cam
and that cam is live! Hmm... Now I'm confused. There's the fire
engine. So the DSU cam is after the Paradecam? Like, a few feet past
it?

Now a break on both cams. Paradecam is holding up well despite some
starts and stops. DSU cam is good. No audio on it but good steady
stream. Better picture quality than the Paradecam. But the Paradecam
has hosts and people like Jeff are worth listening to. His
accomplices, while smarter than the usual, are not worth listening
to. At least they aren't screaming like some of the other accomplices.

(Might as well post this since there is a break in the action.)

Sat 2/2 Iris, Tucks, Endymion?

Endymion from a different place than where their camera was for the webcast... (edited post facto)



I tune in about 10 after 12 NY time. RealPlayer stops within 30 seconds. I restart it and it is ok for awhile.

Jeff is hosting.

DSU cam is black. I wonder why.

RealPlayer stops again. This isn't good. I may not be able to watch. I switch to RealOne Player. See how that does.

I give up on DSU cam. (12:22 NY time)

Nice ladybig plushie.

Damn Yankee story? Do tell!

Baby seal.

Blue then black screen w/ sparkles... weird (12:28 NY time) Audio is fine. Then it is fine. Then it happens again. Then RealOne Player stops.

I restart it. Getting blue flashes then is ok.

It stops again. I give up for now.

***

I return home at 6:15 pm NY time. The DSU cam has, I guess, Endymion on it. The Paradecam is up to the roof again. We see Arthur Hardy* and a DSU reproter on the DSU cam. Funny to watch them wait for the feed to go live, their being distracted by the parade behind them. Audio level is low.

*Make all those previous references Arthur Hardy, not Blaine Kern.

Arthur Hardy: "There's a lotta love here."

We see the parade off in the distance. DSU has again picked a spot where they can't see the parade well, can barely see it at all.

The paradecam is done yet the DSU cam still has the parade so where is the DSU cam? We see Mardi Gras Indians on trucks. This looks like Uptown somewhere. Where?

I watch, committed that I am.

One float has a searchlight that is bright even in the afternoon sun.

Two floats coming, both large heads that move with lights for eyes and mouth. They look great. Parade's moving slow when it moves at all.

7pm (NY time) the parade moves again. This float is a two-parter. Has building facades and the Superdome on it. Nice.

Maybe the DSU cam is on the corner of Orleans and Carrolton? Orleans and City Park? Floats are turning right from Orleans so I think it is Orleans and Carrolton. At least the sign looks like it says Orleans Ave but it's pretty hard to tell.

7:27 (NY time) Not alot going on.... The parade has stopped again. The other big-head float has yet to go around the corner and looks great, one big smile, all lit up. It changes from green to blue as it's eyes open and close. Gorgeous at night. "A Salute to Rudyard Kipling?" Broadway comedy and tragedy masks at each end, or just two comedy masks, I really didn't get to see the one at the back, I don't see how this is a salute to Rudyard Kipling.

The parade is now moving. Floats look great at night. People on them are showering the crowd with beads and other throws. It's raining beads. Like a snowplow flinging snow out of the way, beads are flying in a constant stream. Or a waterskier. Or like kids splashing in a pool, the water flying up are the beads.

A gorgeous Asian/Indian goddess on the next float. Blue face, red blouse. Thai? I'd say Siamese but that would be Thai these days.

The next float has a circular sun radiating on a pole in the front. That sun turns out to be a trumpet when I see it in profile. A god playing a trumpet.

A huge = long float now passing by. A three-parter.

DSU cam goes blue screen now. (7:50 PM NY time), Stream still working but blue screen. Not much point in waiting for this to get better...

More tomorrow.

Hermes, Krewe D'Etat, Morpheus, Muses

I missed the parades for Wed and Thurs. True to
New Orleans form, the website for WDSU still has
info for last Saturday's parades (Sparta,
Pegasus) at the top of the page for the Live
Streams with no info on anything since then. And
the page for this weekend's parades has info for
only last weekend's parades.

I will watch whatever parades will be on...

I am checking out WWOZ. I am not sure if I missed
the New Birth Brass Band. I think I did.

From WDSU's website:
>Watch the following parades live on WDSU.com:
>
>Friday, Feb. 1, 6 p.m.: Hermes, Krewe D'Etat, Morpheus, Muses
>
>Saturday, Feb. 2, 11 a.m.: Isis, Tucks
>
>Saturday, Feb. 2, 4 p.m.: Endymion
>
>Sunday, Feb. 3, 11 a.m.: Okeanos, Thoth, Mid-City, Babylon
>
>Sunday, Feb. 3, 5:15 p.m.: Bacchus
>
>Monday, Feb. 4, 5:15 p.m.: Proteus, Orpheus, Zeus
>
>Fat Tuesday: WDSU.com will stream WDSU's
>coverage of Mardi Gras live from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Good. I look forward to them

(HI to BourboJeff for mentioning my blog!! I'll
have to be on my best behavior, which is
challenging since the Paradecam is pooping out so
often...)

WDSU cam and Paradecam are working fine. No audio from the paradecam yet.
Hermes getting ready to go. Woman hosting on DSU.
I've the 2-cam switched feed going here, Nice!

(DSU has a Bourbon St cam but it is very high
above the street. I miss the Bourbocam.)

Woman w/ trooper. Audio is very low level. (Paradecam is back on the roof.)

Almost as if on cue, the marching band starts in.
The DSU cam has no view yet. Paradecam is still
on the roof but we can see the parade.

Paradecam has audio and host. BourboJeff? Good
level. Arthur Hardy is on cam on DSU cam but not
speaking and we're not getting their audio.
Sounds like BourboJeff. I'll probably keep both
audios on unless it gets too confusing.

DSU is missing the parade.

BourboJeff: "Back before electricity, New Orleans only got it recently..."

New float: the garden of earthly delights.

"Hermes, God of Commerce. Something NO really likes."

DSU cam is airing white noise. DSU cam is BEHIND
the crowd. Behind the tall ladders so they won't
be able to see anything. Will this change? They
can only see what is above the crowd. Bad...

I catch Blaine getting hit with some beads. He is oblivious!

Cupid and who? are the theme this year.

Girls being escorted by nuns... not costumers in nun's outfits.

Nice dancing from girls in blue.

The birth of Dionysus. (He butchers it.)

DSU audio is real low. Paradecam audio is a bit hot.

Shaw next.

95 floats tonight! Float #7 passes by.

Beautiful white dove float! The goddess plots revenge. (40:00)

Paradecam is not handheld and is mostly staying in one position. That's ok.

DSU cam is blue screen now but the stream is still working.

Oracle of Apollo.

We see Hermes doubloon.

Great dragon float.

DSU cam is back. See kids waving for beads behind
the crowd. Nice shot now from higher up. Whoa,
now they get really loud audio.... Mostly noise.

Nice Hermes throw. LA women vs TX women...

DSU cam is good now. Way up above the crowd.

Got you some titty beads?

Good dancing from band in white (55:34)

I'm guessing the DSU cam is abit downriver of the
Paradecam. It used to be slightly above the
paradecam. (Or else it it is WAY upriver. I'm
seeing on the Paradecam what might have been a
float I already saw on the DSU cam.)

Things seem to be done at the DSU cam. I'm seeing
vendors on the street whereas on the Paradecam
the parade is still going on. So the DSU cam must
be Uptown of the Paradecam.

Float 23. Rams with Golden Fleeces. (See LA State Police van on DSU cam.)

Talking Greek/Roman/Egyptian influences.

See Clydesdales on DSU cam.

Nice marching (1:15:35)

People walk faster than 15 minutes a mile...

Float 26. Psyche?

Paradecam has blue screen. Now is ok.

Float 27: Pleasure. Daughter of the lovers. "She
looks a little stoned on this float."

See fire engine on Paradecam. One drunk woman on mic.

Jeff got married recently. Spent the honeymoon in Gatlinberg, TN.

Krewe d'Etat coming up next. (Seeing LA State
Poice van on Paradecam so DSU cam is WAY uptown
of the Paradecam.)

NASCAR, no thanks.

See Clydesdales on Paradecam... (DSU cam's parade
is not moving so it will be along time before it
gets to the Paradecam.)

Nice skeletons!

D'Etats Dirty Dishes flyer held up to cam. Jeff
gets on cam. Great skeleton heads!

Parade is moving on the DSU cam. Big green float.

Tulane marching band.

Title float, E'Tat's Dirty Dishes.

DSU cam is rewinding! Now stuck on still.

Both cams are f'd up now. Now fixed.

Hilton float on DSU cam (8:41 NY time)

Paradecam shows Jen talking to husband on the phone.

Looks like Hilary on the float on the DSU cam now.

Guy with float sign but no float!

NC girl.

Hilton float passes Paradecam 10 minutes after it
passes the WDSU cam. OK. Now I have my bearings.

Nice drumming from marching band passing by P-cam.

Hillary float passes p-cam.

Lauren's husband is from South Dakota. His first
Mardi Gras. Lauren runs the ? watch on nola.com?

US Sin-Ate float.

Bush Whack float. "Regardless of your political
lean, if you don't have a sense of humor, not a
good place to be right now."

Half baked Alaska float. Energy/environmental.

Giant martini glass float on DSU cam.

(9:08 NY time) We lose the audio for the
Paradecam . Stream stops. I restart it. It looks
like it won't start. It thinks I have network
problems.

City Hall float on DSU cam.

Paradecam is out and I can't change players
because they don't offer that choice on the
windows I am getting. STUPID! I usually have that
choice but not now. I'd switch over to the
MediaPlayer feed but IT ISN'T BEING OFFERED.

DSU cam scene is stopped. Now it moves.

Paradecam is back. Martini glass is passing by. (9:28 NY time)

Paradecam is moving some, handheld?, so it covers what is happening better.

Seeing vendors on the DSU cam so that is the end of Krewe d'Etat.

Nice fluorescent lights on the Navy float.

Fire roasted pig = Don Imus!

Float 18...

Paradecam stream stops again... Can't start it. Goddamit!

I quit the RealPlayer again and it works. Jeff is
talking about pagans loosing Saturnalia to the
Christians! Heathens, thus came carnival. The
abridged Carnival as told by Jeff.

Mobile AL vs NO's Mardi Gras.

See fire engine on Paradecam.

Stream stops again. I have to quit it to get it
back. Morpheus next. (9:39 NY time)

No parade on the DSU cam yet so it's gonna be
awhile.... Just seeing the cop car now.

Plushy pervs. Like Jon Donley.

DSU cam audio is very low.

Paradecam vs Bourbocam. I miss Reese.

DSU cam has parade flowing.

GD Paradecam has stopped again.

Nice dancing, Helen Cock High School. Harvey, LA.

Nice marching band antics.

GD Paradecam keeps stopping. I have to quit it
and restart it to get it to work. What a pain.
(And a constant problem with watching and
listening to Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest.)BourboJeff
remarks on my blog!! Thinks I see blog on how the
media treats it. Well, sort of. It is more just a
log of what I see that I have tried to make a
little more readable, lately. Thanks, Jeff!
(Calls me lipwok.)

Shot of Fat Harry's!

Parade is stopped. King of Morpeus is still sitting there.

Paradecam stopped again.

Finally King's float moves. King Jerry.

RealPlayer stops again. Godamn it.

(RealPlayer started again) Nice cat float.

I'd be cool to see the truck floats lined up on
River Road. Anyone got any pics of that?

(RealPlayer stops again. I have to quit it and
restart it to get it going again.)

Funny Pope story!

GD RealPlayer stops again. ****! This is
happening every couple of minutes or so. VERY
frustrating. The DSU cam has been pretty stable.

10:45 NY time. Talking about Barkus parade. I
missed it too and don't seem much of anything
good on the net of it. The video was very
disappointing. Some good pics, especially one by
Jon Donley of that little dog with the jester's
cap on! (Which I think is from last year?)

"Do you know the Mr Bingle jingle?" and then the
GD RealPlayer stops again. Very tiresome to a)
quit it and restart it and b) write about it.
(10:49 NY time)

"That nun has a beard!... All the nuns have extra
parts." Jeff yelling out hey, pretty lady.

Now DSU cam has blue screen but is still streaming.

I see lots of blue flashing lights in the crowd. Cool.

Float 19, Hollywood South. 10:53 NY time. Now
RealPlayer stops again. I really am a masochist...

DSU cam still blue screen. Muses up next. 10:56 NY time

10:57 DSU cam is back up. Paradecam has stopped.
I can't take it anymore. I'm gonna watch only the
DSU cam. Sorry Jeff.

We see butterflies on poles. A giant purple slipper!

(I will listen to the Paradecam but won't watch and won't care if it stops.)

Penis police and Beadwhores partying together!

Rollergirls go by.

PC stops again. 11:05 NY time.

Woman got kissed by the Roller Girls.

Very cool flashing Muses shoes on poles!!

St Augustine band. (Sound is uneven but you get the idea.)

Guest Muse is Marva Wright! Well, alright.
(RealPlayer stops again. 11:10 NY time.)

There she goes sitting in the pink shoe!

Nice marching steps, Warren Easton Sr High. Nice band too.

26 floats in the Muses parade tonight. 768 riders.

(RealPlayer stops again. 11:15 NY time.)

Cool Bathtub float! With bubbles!!

Title float: All That Glitters? Jeff despairs,
not knowing the title. So close...

RP stops, 11:19 NY time.

Stilt walkers! Very cool! Dressed in black.

Some nice floats on the DSU cam. A house or tower
on one float. (When will we see you again, it
says.)

Nice throw with the mirrors on it.

Literally hitting on him!

Nice dancing girls in white. 11:25 NY time.

Czar Wash? float! (on the DSU cam) PC has stopped again, 11:26 NY time

The "When will I see you again" float arrives at
the Paradecam 11:32 NY time. Dedicated to the
contractors helping rebuild..." (Paradecam stops
so it is cut off!)

Good art on them? They look pretty crude on the webcam.

Czar Wash arrives, 11:36 NY time.

11:39 RP stops. DSU cam has blue screen. Hmm.

Wow, cool throw! (Psychedelic)

We see Elvis's on bikes go by! The Krewe of Elvis.

11:43 RP stops. DSU cam still has blue screen.
(Turning my firewall off. Maybe that will help.)
DSU still has blue screen.

The pink slips.

11:49 RP stops. DSU cam still has blue screen.

Chicks with wigs dancing! Nice! Or are those
helmets? Awful music but cool to see them all
dancing.

So, it seems to be that RealPlayer is stopping
every 5 minutes. Why? (Still blue screen with the
DSU cam. I guess I'll give up on them.)

Come on down to Fat Harry's to see this chicks bare ass...

Cameltoe steppers!!

"Daddy, who was the captain of Bacchus, Hi Daddy..."

All female brass band? (We don't hear them...)

I could do without this chick helping out.

Krewe d'Etat sounds like crudite! I always
thought it was a play on coup d'état...

Great. The Bearded Oysters! Love em!

RP dies again.

The Molassies!

Bad Girls, float 20.

We lose audio on the Paradecam, 12:13 NY time.
Pic is still working, for now. Audio comes back.

The chick says: "Mardi Gras tests the hand to eye
co-ordination of the natives." Good one.

Family Gras?

Float 25.

"I'm all about feminism. I love Muses. But these
girls can't throw!" Another good one from the
chick.

The parade ends. "Vendredi Gras." Another good one.

Bye all. Paradecam starts up at 11 tomorrow, 12 NY time. (2 hrs for this one)

Mardi Gras in Nyack

Today's Journal News had a story on Mardi Gras celebrations in Nyack (NY) this year. Kinda cutting it close, eh guys? Anyway, I look forward to it and will spend some time there for it.

Sparta and Pegasus, 1/26

(See video below)

We have a male announcer. Not a good camera position again, on the wrong side of the street. Cameraman isn't zooming in for much so we're far away. Stream is jerky too. (The old Copeland's? You mean the sign is still up and it isn't open anymore? How long has that been? Will it ever open up again? I guess they're keeping the site?)

Video goes black 25 minutes into it. Oh well. We hear audio but have no video. (Might as well be radio.) Larry from Minnesota says it (the temperature) is like an August day (in MN). Hear Jon Donley. (Keith and Lauren and Greg were the hosts earlier.) WDSU is tied in with the TP and nola.com. Hmmm.

'The return of gaps in parades is a sign that the city is coming back to it's same old usual self....'

32:00 They realize they have a problem with the stream. (And I am watching/listening still!) (It doesn't get fixed.)

Killing time, Jon; "How about those Saints?"

Pegasus probably won't run tonight. I'm assuming it didn't. (It does.)

One of the floats has a flat tire. We get this from a cop. Officer Deal. Good deal, Bad Deal?

The parade starts again. More radio. Good enough. I like radio. These hosts this yaer are MUCH better than the nola.com ones although I liked some of them alot. No more Charlie, thank you .I do miss Reese, Cory, BourboJeff, others.

Pegasus begins. (More radio, no video)

Hosts talk about the band Rush. Please...

Wayne and Gary are hosting. Jon Donley will post blog shortly after. Where? The Mardi Gras blogs on nola.com haven't been added to since January 6th! I have seen stories by Jon on the WDSU site. Haven't seen them on the TP site.

Why do they still have links to the Bourbocam? It's been dead for a long time.... As usual, New Orleans is lackadasical about keeping things up to date.

The DSU crew signs off one hour and 41 minutes after it started.

Host says he is from nola.com. Hmm.

I have a fan!

I have a fan for my blog. Me. That's it.

My Technorati ranking is 8,911,336. lol

Sat 1/26 , Pontchartrain, Shangra La

Pontchartrain, Shangra La, Sparta, Pegasus



I tune in at about 5 of 2 my time. No sound, beautiful picture though
and good stream. A cloudy day at (Copeland's, who's web site doesn't
have a NO location!) and St Charles. At least it isn't raining (much,
it is raining some but not like last night). No signs that the parade
is near starting, cops milling around, few people lined up.

Police mobile command center sets off at about 2:15, See a military
Humvee go by. DSU cam is on the wrong side of the street! See
motorcycles go by. Dune buggies throwing throws. I provide my own
soundtrack as the marching band goes by. Float! Throwing tons of
crap. Fish on front. (Carpi Sun?) Lots of overarm throwing. I thought
that was illegal? Stream getting a little jerky. Dancing girls are
mimicked by watchers.

I switch to the (nol.com) Paradecam. it is on the correct side of the
street and has sound. Fun, not obnoxious hosts, a guy and a girl. Not
sure how old the girl is, sounds young. There's a better quality
picture on the DSU cam but better POV on the paradecam and it has
sound. (They are both on the same corner, but the DSU cam is on the
NW corner.) And the DSU cam is several seconds behind the paradecam.
Gold Dusters dancing away. Woman announcer is an adorable blond....,
I switch DSU cam to tv and leave paradecam on. Now can tab between
the two, keeping the audio going! 2:57 my time

Shangra La
Using RealOne player but it is using up more of my CPU than
RealPlayer was. DSU feed is stuttering more. (I don't think it is me.)

Starts 3:17 my time. I have a two cam switched feed! lol Can't get
the Real feed to go full screen though. Now I have a two-cam split.
Not bad.

A kid comes up to the paradecam, "I'm Aiden. I'm from the great city
of New Orleans!" Well, alright!

Cool, both are full screen! (Use on screen control on RealPlayer) but
then I don't get to watch the QT player at all. Guy is talking
off-mic but we can hear him. Audio for the marching bulldogs is very
distorted. DSU feed is very jerky now.

Lots of marching band's dancers using a hop step. (Higgins High
School) Haven't seen that before. Male flag wavers? Skipping too.

AE Breedy says hi to wife in Seattle.

Imperial Children, from China?

I switch to the DSU cam for the floats, to the paradecam for the bands/flags.

Mt Carmel Carmelettes.

Woman host gets hit by beads, it hurts, she laughs.

Ice cream truck music while watching marching band.

Must be woman host's first Mardi Gras. She asks why the parades stop
in the middle.

Good looking high school dancers, mostly blond, with terrible music.
(Before Land of the Matador float)

"Lotta dance companies from Kennah (Kenner)".

(35% CPU!)

Different dance steps. Leaping, one foot hops.

DSU cam has stopped. 4:25 pm my time I restart it.

Big Easy Rollergirls.

Vietnamese Young Leaders of New Orleans dragons!, Riverside Ramblers.

Sparta at 6, paradecam signs off. 4:30 my time. DSU cam still going.
Still more floats! Maybe I'm seeing reruns... I am.

Oshun

I start up the WDSU cam at about 10 of 7 my time. It's raining badly.
I can hear a band coming in the distance! Great stream quality! A
beautiful picture. Here they come, they're smiling! The parade must
go on! I'm nice and warm inside and it's only a little colder
outside: 27 vs 37 in NO. Floats are throwing stuff, alright. The DSU
on air talent goes to to talk to some parade watchers: "we're crazy!"
we hear them say off camera. The cameraman yells to the king as his
float passes by, "King!". "He didn't do nuthin", after... People
inside their cars, to stay out of the rain, honk their horns in
appreciation. The on air talent goes to get some more sound bites,
brings back a black family, "We're going to be on tv! one of the
children says excitedly. Then the signal goes dead. I restart it and
see what turns out to be the beginning of the whole thing repeated.

On restart, I see Pygmalion has been rescheduled. I give up as player
won't play. They have probably stopped the feed.

We'll see if the video ends up on the internet. It isn't up yet.

the first parade, Krewe Du Vieux

Here is the video from the TP/nola.com ex-Bourbocam host, Jester/Jon Donley.
(Audio from him)(He catches a Golden Bagel.)

The notes below are from my watching the WDSU cam.

My first glimpse of the WDSU cam was of a lady in a red dress with
cone tits that had cans of whipped cream inside them which she could
dispense! I forget what she called herself. What a great concept!

The WDSU feed looked good! (Quicktime) A little mottled but not bad
and a good strong stream, good internet speed.

(What I saw in the order it came in )
The cameraman yelled at people to get out of the way. A menora. Lots
of pirates. The cult of landscaping. Lots of Egyptian outfits. People
covered w/ cash. A good brass band by the record player float. Single
sperm cells on sticks. A smoking gun float. A devil float w/ ex-Mayor
Morial's (and other's) pics on the side. A float as Senator Vitter's
family values meal (Wendy's parody). A woman who was going as a
shit-head said "When life gives you poo, make mushrooms!" Lots of
mushrooms. Skeletons. We all live in a Jello-shot machine float (a
parody of the Beatles Yellow Submarine). A paper-mache' guy getting
an enema on one float. A girl gave the camera some beads and kissed
it. (Love is in the air!) A kaos sign. A woman is interviewed. Her
group are the LRA (Louisiana Recovery Authority). The theme - "You
never give us the money" (spoof of the Beatles song) the theme of the
parade this year being the Magical Misery Tour. She said "People are
miserable but it is still a great place to be." (God bless her and
those trying to make NO come back.). The parade had passed by at this
point. They then interviewed a kid. His favorite part of the parade?
The penis tank! They interview a couple. They interview a guy named
Greg, "The parade was fast cuz it was cold." His favorite part:
Spermes, a spoof of Hermes. The WDSU techies talked for awhile.

So, not quite like the Bourbocam but not bad. No constant yakking
like the Boubo/Paradecam hosts but they did do some properly
journalistic interviews. I am looking forward to the rest!

Eh la bas!

More info on the Krewe du Vieux here:
http://www.kreweduvieux.org/

Here is last year's. My new favorite parade...

The Millennial Territory Orchestra plays Prince's 'Darling Nikki' at Tonic, 4/9/07.

MTO Darling Nikki 4-9-07
Uploaded by sharpiepen

"Get In My Belly!!!"

"Get In My Belly!!!", originally uploaded by The Voice of Eye.

(Click on the pic to read what it's about.)

From a comment he made on another Flickr pic, the photographer, The Voice of Eye says:

"Can't think of any other place I'd rather be... Though I'm sure the playful and provokative adolescence of Krewe du Vieux might put some people off... that's part of what I love about this place. Pushing the boundaries of free speech and having a great time without trying to be something we're not..."

Amen.

How to prepare for being in a parade...

Getting ready for the first parade tonight at 7:30 NY time, The Krewe
du Vieux (Doo?), (which apparently will be streamed live on WDSU probably here: http://www.wdsu.com/mardigras/index.html ), I ran
across the Krewe Dy Vieux's guide on how to prepare for the parade.
A good guide to the behind the scenes of how a Mardi Gras parade is done.
How would you corral 900 drunks?

Check out the Brass Bands in this parade!

* Kirk Joseph
* Trombone Shorty
* Treme Brass Band
* Paulin Brothers Brass Band
* Stooges Brass Band
* Free Agents Brass Band
* Hot 8 Brass Band
* James "12" Andrews
* Da Truth Brass Band
* Rebirth Brass Band
* Panorama Brass Band
* The Jazzmen
* Charles Joseph
* Down N Dirty Jazz Band
* The Soul Rebels
* New Birth Brass Band
* Bone Tone Brass Band

Most of the best brass bands in NO!

The ball afterwards features:
Late Night Trip by Quintron and Miss Pussycat!!

More info on the Krewe du Vieux here:
http://www.kreweduvieux.org/

A Day In The Life Of My Cat, 1/8/08

I thought I would document a day in the life of my cat. See the slideshow on YouTube above.

She usually sleeps with me so when I wake up in the morning, she'll be there on the bed. When I wake she'll come over and lie down so that she is connected to me somehow, her back, her butt, whatever. I pet her and she'll purr. She purrs alot.

I get up eventually. Today, like many, she stayed on the bed sleeping. After my shower, she likes to drink some bathtub water. I guess it is fresher than what I have in her water bowl.

I get dressed and shave, then have breakfast. After breakfast I give her her shot of insulin. Lately, the routine is for me to round her up from wherever she is and herd her to the kitchen. Hopefully she will jump up on the table which is amazing and today she did that. I assume she knows it is time for the shot but I don't know if she wants it by jumping up on the table. I am just glad she does it.

She certainly doesn't enjoy the shots. Today, despite "assuming the position" which is the first time I've seen that, she hissed and was mad at me for injecting her. Sometimes she'll lash out and scratch me. I don't enjoy giving her her shot.

After, I give her her pill, Marin, for her liver. That gets put in a Pill Pocket, a WONDERFUL thing that I can't recommend enough. Getting a cat to take a pill is a miracle so something like Pill Pockets which the cat usually likes, is a godsend.

I also fed her some dry food.

After that I go read the paper and check e-mail. She sat on the table, either looking out or asleep.

Later she sacked out on the floor in the main room. I think she is sleeping more than before. Either old age or a possible reaction to the insulin/blood sugar problem. We see the vet this Friday.

(about noon)

I try to interest the cat in trying out the leash since it is a nice day out and maybe she might like to go out. I wouldn't let her our on her own at this point. She complained, hovered by the ground so eventually I took it off. This is the second time I have tried using the leash. Maybe some day she won't mind and we can go outside. No pics of this.

I go outside. It's 70 or so in the sun. I see the cat in the upstairs window.

She returns to the stereo cabinet to look at the birds.

Then she goes to eat again. Then to the kitchen table to smell the fresh air.

3:53 pm

She eats some more then wanders by me in my chair. Then to the bathroom to sniff around. Eventually she ends up on my lap.

I go out. When I come back she is sleeping, curled up on my chair. When I sit down, she leaves and goes to sit in the bathtub, one of favorite places to sit these days. It used to be that that was where she went when she wasn't feeling good. I don't think that is the case now but it could be. (I haven't seen her go into the closet much lately but she has disappeared in this tiny house sometimes and either one of the two closets are where she is likely hiding in. As often as she's been hiding she has been finding a place nearby just to be near me too so that is nice.)

6 pm

Cat has disappeared. I guess she is in one of the closets. Last time I saw her, she was in the bathtub.

She appears around 7. I feed her. Then she moves into the bathroom, jumps up onto the toilet seat, which usually means she wants to look out the window there. I opened the window for her, leaving the storm window down, but she didn't want to jump up onto the windowsill. She has had trouble in the past few months jumping up onto things she used to do easily but this may have been just a case of not wanting to rather than not being able to.

7:40 pm

She's sleeping, Sphinx-like, on the chair now. This has been a favorite spot for awhile.

8:50 pm

Cat eat some more. Now she's sleeping by the corduroy chair.

8:57 pm

Cat leads me around the house. We go to the kitchen. She pokes her head into the cupboard and a closet. To the bathroom. To the front door. She ends up back in the kitchen, eating.

9:30 pm

Has been sleeping on my lap for awhile, snoring slightly. Very cute.

9:50 pm

She's wandering around, looking for something interesting in the same old house she's lived in for 5 years. Now she's resting by the bathroom door.

10:30 pm

She comes over to be petted, ends up sitting in my lap, facing me, purring. She loves to bury her head into my wrist as I pet her so I indulge her often. Her other most favorite thing is to have her tummy scratched. Loves it. She'll direct my hand to her belly and then stare at me as I scratch her. I have never seen a cat do either of these. She does it all the time.

10:56 pm

She gets up to eat again.

11:17 pm

Eating again.

11:23 pm

She poops then runs to the bathroom and elsewhere. She sometimes howls after going to the bathroom (her litterbox) and does so tonight. I don't know why she does this. Often she'll run around the house before she poops. I guess it helps things.

11:30 pm

She sniffs around the front door then sits there. Later, she moves up to the top of the stereo cabinet and goes to sleep.

I get sleepy around then too and end the picture taking.

New Orleans, Mon Amour

This might be interesting. A movie called New Orleans, Mon Amour
http://www.neworleansmonamour.com/NOMA%2011-27-Trailer.mov
Done by the director of the movie Hamlet that was set in NYC, Michael
Almereyda.

New Orleans, Mon Amour indeed.

Mardi Gras is coming up, Feb 5th!

From WWOZ's "Mardi Gras Central"
http://wwoz.org/community/mardigras/

Parades start on 1/19. I doubt any of them will be webcast by OZ but
maybe they'll do a webcam like they have in the past. See the parade
schedule at WWOZ or http://www.nola.com/mardigras/

Tom Morgan's Annual Mardi Gras Indian Extravaganza
Jan. 29th 11 am - 2 pm New Orleans Time
Three hours of Mardi Gras Indian music and history with John Sinclair
joining in !

David Kunian's Indian Show
Jan. 29th sometime between ten and midnight, New Orleans Time
David Kunian will be doing 2 hours of Mardi Gras Indian music with
special guests.

I guess OZ will have some live in studio shows/guests too so that
should be fun.

And on NOLA.com...
http://www.nola.com/mardigras/

Paradecam starts Friday, January 25, 2008 at 6 p.m (NO time)

Catch the Bourbocam, although it isn't being called that anymore, here:
http://www.earthcam.com/usa/louisiana/neworleans/bourbonstreet/

I'll do my usual Mardi Gras Day celebration eat and drink-a-thon and
be watching and listening as much as possible then as well as
catching the parades beforehand on the Paradecam and checking out
Bourbon St if it is worthwhile.

WKCR may be doing some Mardi Gras music too so check them out. 89.9
FM in the NYC area, http://www.columbia.edu/cu/wkcr/

some good Prince music

Listened to some great live Prince bootleg tunes on Morning Dew on WBAI tonight. Go
to the archives at WBAI here: http://archive.wbai.org/ (Only for 2
weeks though) and look up Saturday, 9-11pm,1/5/08.

The sound isn't great, no high end but lots of bass and since it was
recorded in the crowd, you hear people all around whoever was
recording it. Some great grooves. I taped 90 minutes of the Prince
stuff but there was more before and after that.

New Year's at my house this year

On the menu:
a large shrimp cocktail, some leftover Boston cream pie, a Hormel
"Compleats" roast beef and mashed potatos dinner (with "beef like
flavor" as an ingredient, I swear to god!), the remains of some not
Bailey's but McCormick's Irish Cream. ice tea and eggnog at other
times. (Sometimes together. My version of Thai ice tea...) I also
have some double-chocolate Milanos but I don't think I'm going to get
to them.

Listening to:
FMU in the afternoon and evening.

WNYC
Listened to Paul Winter's solstice celebration at the Cathedral of St
John the Divine. Nice to hear Wolf Eyes again after so long. I
remember playing that in the early 80s when I first got that record.
Hearing the cicadas sawing and the wolf's cries. Still moves me. And the
crowd howls along en masse! Bravo! And then to hear Minuit. Heaven.

Prairie Home Companion is re-running last year's show at the Ryman in
Nashville but are playing some good cuts from various shows before
that. In particular, Joe Ely's I'm Gonna Live Forever.

WBAI
Will listen to Peter Bochan's Short Cut through 2007 at 11.
Best line so far: "Hi. I'm Art Buchwald and I just died." (His real
obit!) Otherwise, I don't think I'll save any of it. I must be out of
touch with things audio. I didn't recognize many of the soundbites.

Watching:
Various channels. Later, CNN looking at various New Year's Eves around the world with
the sound off, listening to Short Cuts.

And poking around the web.

The ball drops 8 seconds after my computer's clock says it is New
Years. Who's right? timeanddate.com says I am...

12 minutes after midnight. What else is on tv...

Happy New Year, world.

Tonight, on WBAI

This is where I'll be tonight. (From the WBAI website) Mon, Dec 31 11PM - Midnight Shortcut Through 2007

Note: This show will be rebroadcast January 1st from 6PM - 7PM

An hour-long retrospective of the year--an explosive, emotional mix of the sounds, music and events of the past twelve months, "A Shortcut Through 2007" opens with an introduction by the late sonic pioneer, Karlheinz Stockhausen and ends with a coda from Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto. Blending the concerns over our fragile social and ecological state -- the clash between celebrity and fame at any cost, the perilous drive to succeed in politics, business and sports by any means necessary, with answers to the question-"What will you remember about 2007"

---

Featuring commentary from Art Buchwald, Norman Mailer, Kurt Vonnegut, Marcel Marceau, Jerry Falwell, Gerald Ford, Woody Allen, Ricky Gervais, Alec Baldwin, Don Imus, Oprah Winfrey, Rev. Al Sharpton, Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Brad Pitt, Tony Soprano and family, George W. Bush, Michael C. Hall, Baraka Obama, Joe Torre, George Mitchell, Barry Bonds, Larry King, Roger Clemens, Anna Nicole Smith and many others.

Music from Amy Winehouse, Radiohead, Arcade Fire, Dre Dog, Bruce Springsteen, The Real Tuesday Weld, Peter Bjorn and John, Forro In The Dark (featuring David Byrne), Iron and Wine, The Sandpipers (with Phil Rizzuto, Tommy Henrich, Roy Campanella & Tommy Henrich), Boots Randolph, Boris "Bobby Pickett, Freddie Scott, Oscar Peterson, Ike & Tina Turner, Max Roach, Joe Zawinul(Mercy, Mercy, Mercy), Robert Goulet, Luther Ingram, Dakota Staton

Tributes to Luciano Pavarotti, Lady Bird Johnson, Porter Wagoner, Lee Hazelwood, Hilly
Kristal (CBGB), Evel Knievel, Grace Paley, Don Herbert (Mr. Wizard), Ingmar Bergman,
Michelangelo Antonioni, Merv Griffin, Tom Snyder, Joey Bishop, Tom Poston, Calvert
DeForest (Larry Bud), Charles Nelson Reily, Al Viola, Denny Doherty, Eric Von Schmidt,
Teresa Brewer and many more.

Produced by Peter Bochan

The Mysteries was a series of three plays put on by the National Theater of London which were based on mystery plays like mummers plays.

There is an excerpt of the first one, or perhaps the whole first one, The Nativity, here.

It's that time again

Hi all,

First of all, Happy Christmas

A nice English version of Abbots Bromley (if you don't get too distracted by the jets flying over every few seconds)

And now, for something completely different...

He sings it. (Joseph Spence)

And they sing it too:

And better thoughts

And for your holiday viewing pleasure:

The Beverly Hillbillies
Howdy Doody
The Addams Family
All in the Family
The Honeymooners
The Brady Bunch
Three's Company
Davey and Goliath
Dick Van Dyke and Rose Marie shill cigarettes for the holidays
The Munsters in the Macy's Christmas Parade

More FMU irreverence here and here

Cheers,

John L

Nader doc on Independent Lens

Good point. Nader wasn't enough of a factor to be allowed in the
debates but he gets blamed for being THE factor in Gore losing to
Bush.

FL was lost by 537 votes. EVERY INDEPENDENT PARTY CANDIDATE HAD MORE
VOTES THAN THAT in FL but Nader gets blamed.

Disgusting or delicious?

I love ice tea. Drink it all year long. I love egg nog. I wish it was
available longer than it is (roughly Thanksgiving to New Year's). I
love Thai Ice Tea. I have only had it in restaurants; haven't seen
any mix in the stores.

I have discovered that if you pour ice tea into some eggnog, it sort
of tastes and looks like Thai Ice Tea. Some eggnogs are spicy which
ends up making it a spice tea which I don't like but so far it's been
bearable.

What do you think?

HD on PBS

My local PBS stations now have HD for the News Hour. I'm getting some
bowing with standard definition pictures within the HD picture but a
more noticeable effect is that a HD picture will make EVERYTHING look
smaller when viewed on a standard definition set.

This will take some getting used to. I'll have to wear my glasses
more until I get HD (at least a 16:9 screen set).

(I watch via DirecTV)

1/8/07
The bowing, it turns out, is only my set. My video capture device, an EyeTV 250 Plus,
does not show that. That is good to know.

Battle of the Nutcrackers on Ovation

Ovation Network is having a Battle of the Nutcrackers on tv. Their
promos are funny, done in the style of professional wrestling,
Smackdown!

I've now seen all 4: Matthew Bourne's, George Balanchine's, Mark
Morris's Hard Nut and finally the Bloshoi's. I enjoyed each one never
having seen any version all the way through before. I thought it was
time.

Matthew Bourne's is all kitsch and surreal gay design gone mad. I
don't remember much of Balanchine's except that it was more
traditional than Bourne's and starred a young (isn't he always
young?) Macaulay Culkin. Mark Morris's had both beauty and humor and
I think it gets my vote for the contest. The Bolshoi's was entirely
traditional, had the music at slower tempos than what I've heard
otherwise and had some wonderful dancing. I was impressed also at the
crowd interrupting the performance with Bravos and applause whenever
they liked what they saw.

Why impeachment isn't happening

Bush should be impeached for so many things. I have asked myself, can
we impeach him yet?, so many times.Why isn't it happening?

The Democrats want to leave him in power so voters will have built up
so much antipathy towards the Republican party that Democrats will
get the votes that would go to Republicans by those who wouldn't vote
Democrat unless Hell freezes over. By letting George continue to make
the Republicans look so bad, Republicans will turn against the party;
Democrats will look good.

Impeachment would cause a backlash against Democrats no matter how
well deserved. This way, as long as the country can suffer through
this president, voters will be eager to vote for a change, albeit not
too big a change, by voting Democratic in '08. The fringe candidates
who offer significant change like Ron Paul or Ralph Nader are still
too scary for incurious, lazy middle America.

Of course, many will sour on the Democrats for not impeaching but I
guess those numbers are lower than the voters the Democrats hope to
gain with this strategy. Let's hope the country can survive this guy.
It will be a challenge.

16 wild turkey and 3 deer seen today

As I drove in the driveway today, I saw 16 wild turkey and the 3 deer
I'd seen at breakfast! They walked towards my house so I stopped and
waited for them. Then, I drove very slowly towards them and they
barely moved out of the way. Eventually I parked, getting out right
next to them. I'd never been so close before. They have beautiful
golden feathers in parts.

I didn't get any pictures.

CA fires vs Katrina

I don't see people complaining that people shouldn't be living in
Southern California with the fires they're having like they were
about people living in New Orleans when Katrina hit.

They are the same thing. People living in an area that has natural
threats aggravated by man's shortcomings.

CA - overbuilding in a natural firezone, that has fires EVERY YEAR.
NO - flooding brought about by poorly designed and built levees (that
has hurricanes every year)

I always wanted to ask when people brought up this argument, should
people live in Holland? They live below sea level too. (Of course
they should. Like it or not, there they are.)

Eggnog is in the stores!

Eggnog is on the shelves at my local Shop RIte! The season has begun!
I hate to see it go but I am so glad it has started now.

Bought some Axelrod egg nog. It is good, has a clean taste with no
distractions. I like to try all the brands.

Just in case you are wondering, World War III started on 10/17/07

Or maybe I would blame the Democrats with their Armenian Genocide resolution although I think that needs to be recognized sooner rather than later. Turkey needs to deal with it's past. The Democrats have the unwelcome task of bringing it up. It's too bad Turkey can't deal with it now.

Etta James on ACL

At last.... I am catching Etta James on Austin City Limits. I missed
it last time around and I had REALLY wanted to see it. I just plain
screwed up then.

I made sure I didn't screw up this time. Got the DVR ready. Got the
VCR ready. Kinda hurried to get the DVD recorder ready at the last
minute but made it. Started the VCR and the DVD recorder just before
the show began. All looks like it is recording well.

I busied myself copying the set list and creating a cover for the DVD
as it played and wrote this as she is singing You Can Leave Your Hat
On.

She sounds thin! She is. I miss her fat voice. She's great no matter
what though.

She sings I'd Rather Be Blind. My favorite Etta James song. Not quite
as good as the Late Show LP version but good enough. At least one
person, who looks like Pam, if only, gives her a standing ovation.
She sings At Last. More give her a standing ovation.

During You Can Leave Your Hat on she acts up like her old self. Go
mama. 'We know what love is', as an old voice, almost Katherine
Hepburn.

She has two from the same band I saw her with in 1980 when I saw her
on the New Orleans Jazz Fest Riverboat, and the few times I've seen
here since then. Josh Sklar on lead guitar. Bobby Murray on rhythm
guitar.

Now she sings Damn Your Eyes. Oh my heart.

Into Besame Mucho. Not crazy about this song. Back into Damn Those
Eyes? Be mine.

Nice vocalizations on the Jimmy Reed medley. (Baby What You Want Me
To Do, Down That Road?, Bright Lights, Big City, more?)

Sugar On The Floor by Kikki Dee? Ick for Kikki Dee but she does it well.

It's almost over. It flew! I am sure I will watching it again. She's
climaxing on this one. The catharsis that the blues doe so well.

We love you too, Etta. (ex-Gov Richards In the crowd!)

Donato James on drums
Sametto James on bass
Josh Sklar on lead guitar
Bobby Murray on rhythm and lead
David K Matthews on keyboards (yes!)
Ronnie Buttacavoli on trumpet and flugelhorn
Tom Poole on trumpet and flugelhorn
Kraig Kilby on trombone and cabasa

Thank you band. Thank you Etta.

An animation from the TP on how the flood happened.

I don't think there is any doubt these days that is wasn't the hurricane that did the damage, it was the levees that didn't hold up to the water. The levees were inadequate.

An interesting presentation on how the environment has changed in Southern Louisiana over time. It is shocking to see what has happened in the past 70 years.

Fascinating videos on various neighborhoods.

Small businesses hopeful, in the TP.

Bush's arrival in New Orleans seen by the Times Picayune.

Some pics of memorials and marches in New Orleans yesterday.

The Best of New Orleans

Still plenty to make you want to call it home.

Gambit editorial

A good editorial in this week's Gambit.

A Day of Presence in New Orleans

http://www.imdiversity.com/special/release_day_of_presence_0829.asp

Note the organizations that are sponsoring these events.

Put on by Adayofpresence.com

Pigs On The Wing video about Katrina

Katrina two years later

I am still searching for good ways to mark the anniversary of Katrina. I haven't found much yet. I did find this good article in the Times Picayune/nola.com site.

http://blog.nola.com/updates/2007/08/neighborhood_touchstones_lost.html

And this slideshow on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/79662628@N00/sets/72057594058637760/show/

And this
http://www.flickr.com/groups/nolapostkatrina/pool/show/

American Folk Festival, listening to the recordings from both days

Listening to Raz de Maree. I could do without the
banjo. Good accordion, am I hearing footwork?
Nice fiddling. Can barely hear the bass, it is
rumble at this point. I think I have the whole
set. Am hearing footwork! Fidelity not that great
though. Would be great to dance to this. Yeah.

She is off-mic for her first words. Valse
Bernadette next followed by medley with the
"world renowned" Reel Beatrice at end. Yeah! Good
ole Reel Beatrice. Accordion is dominating. Piano
is low level. Fiddle too. Bass is only apparent
once in awhile.

Next tune: Intro'd by Eric. A square dance tune.
Turns into some footwork. Tidal Wave? Love this
music.

Jig/set of reels/waltz. Hot!

Pretty waltz! Some sort of bad noise in the background, alas.

Another hot tune. Not hearing the piano or the fiddle, but great accordion.

***

Bruce Daigrepont

Handover to stage is well done. Perfect timing. If only WWOZ could do that.

1) intro
2) unknown fast, familiar
3) ? (old, Lomax)
4) Balfa Waltz
5) fi fi ? They play every week at Tipitina's,
have for 17 years? Don asks for the same 3 songs
every week!
6) Coeur des Cajuns (Heart of the Cajuns) nice
7) Paradis

His singing isn't what I thought it would be.
(The first few songs, he's yelling at the top of
his range, borderline awful.) Hearing him do
Paradis, I wonder what I heard back in '98. I
thought that was Paradis. That was a sweet waltz.
This isn't that.

8) You Keep A Knockin' But You Can't Come In.
Rockin'. Fiddler does a Michael Doucet touch at
one point. Into another tune after that. Fast
words.

9) Valse de la Prison. Canray Fontenot was fond of it. Blues.

10) Bienvenue dans la Sud de la Louisianne (w/
lots of French names of towns, supposedly but I
didn't hear them...)

11) When I Go Down The Road. Nice.

12) Tu le Ton Son Ton (Clifton Chenier) First
time he saw him was on Austin City Limits!
Another rockin' tune.

"How much time we got?" The crowd yells b ack, "all night"!

13) Bosco Stomp. Yeah, although I like the Beausoleil version better.

14) Le Diable Est Lâché (Devil's On The Loose)
Good hip-grinding dance tune. Nicely done. Nice
fiddle solo w/ audience clapping.

***

Elizabeth LaPrelle with Sandy LaPrelle & Jim Lloyd (MPBN feed)
1) ? (Rebecca King Jones)
2) Darling Corey
3) Come All You Virginia Girls aka Cousin Emmy's
Blues (Sandy and Caroline Paton) (hear train
whistles!)
4) Little Darlin' Pal of Mine (Carter Family)
5) Matty Grove (a cappella)
6) God Gave Noah The Rainbow Sun
7) Whole Heap of Little Horses
8) Muleskinner Blues (Jimmy Rogers, Blue Yodel #9)
9) Blind Bartimus (w/ Sandy LaPrelle)
10) Jim Lloyd - Open Up Them Pearly Gates For Me
(in the style of Uncle Dave Macon)
11) Been All Around This World (low end feedback
at intro and high end later) She is out of the
mix some
12) West Virginia Mine Disaster (Jean Ritchie) a cappella

(tape 2)
13) Mole In The Ground (missed a little of the intro) w/ banjo
14) Have You Seen That Turtle Dove, a cappella w/ Sandy
15) end

***

Big Chief Monk Boudreaux & The Golden Eagles

03:08:12 PM Perfect handover to the stage! The DJ
stops, the MC starts. Bravo! Tells of history.
Good enough mix. (Miss above 16k, there is some
but it would be nice to have more. And the
phasing is too bad. Not bad but it would be
better if it wasn't there. MPBN has a better
feed...) Wanna dance! Nice and hot and humid here
too. Mardi Gras (Prof Longhair) w/ new words,
another tune (Who that boy got Golden Crown)-
they're singing on key! I didn't know it could be
done... Now Monk is off key. Band sounds great!
Got To Face The Rising Sun (reggae), Hey Mama
starts off with a hot gtr lick then descends into
the Mardi Gras Indian chant which is off key.

I restart RadioRecorder in the middle of Hey
Mama. (RadioRecorder doesn't want to startup.
Says data is too small. Finally it starts.)
Hendrix's They Don't Know! Mardi Gras Indian funk
band... hot!

ERU DJs are complaining that Monk isn't there for
his interview. Yes, New Orleanians do things on
their own time... Interview guitarist. His level
is low. John Lisi? Big Chief joins in. His level
is low. DJ is fine.

***

tape of saturday 8/25 eru feed, 3pm/railroad stage (marked tape #1)
intro - not dubbed but perhaps interesting
1) Mardi Gras (Prof Longhair song with new words), use this
2) Who That Boy Got Golden Crown, use this, off
key but grooves (then we hear two programs
during...)
3) Got To Face The Rising Sun (reggae), off key but worth saving?
4) Hey Mama
5) They Don't Know (Hendrix), cooks towards end
6) end

i switch to mbn, back to eru
interview w/ John Lisi and Monk.

side b
more interview, i sample mpbn during, interviewee
gets corrected - it's a suit not a costume...,

bobby quinn - mainer reads

accordion summitt
accordion tune, another accordion tune,

i switch to eru
dixie hummingbirds (which happened BEFORE the Monk Boudreaux!

***

marked tape #2 (#1 in series)
saturday 8/25
accordion, mnpb sample, gary ... polish
accordion, switch to brass band, jazz CD?,
another jazz CD,

side b
elizabeth laprelle

***

marked tape #4
sunday 8/26
elizabeth end, interview w/ gary polish, men in black,
sound check (mpbn airs this)
1) missed beginning, I love you
2) end of something, silence from stage but hear
background noise, hear behind the scenes office
talk
3) intro
4) blue skies
i skip

b side
end of men in black
stage MC
fergus and jim
CD, go to stage, fergus and jim... dance tunes

***

marked tape #5 (black)
side a
sunday 8/2 mpbn feed
frank london

side b
frank london, stream starts again - picks up with
frank london, ... I won't keep the dancers
waiting then silence.
then bruce daigrepont (sunday 8/26) end of
devil's on the loose. eru dj mangles name,
credits, woman dj at studio, fmu stuff
--
Please note that I now have a new e-mail address (lipwak@gmail.com)
Please use that address from now on. Thanks!

American Folk Festival, Sunday, 8/26/07

Sunday

I listen to MBPN and record that onto tape. I will record WERU on
RadioRecorder when I leave so that it will record about 4 hours and
45 minutes worth of that. I'll be able to record 3 hours of ERU,
hopefully getting back in time to put in fresh tapes and to restart
RadioRecorder, although I like what's on the Railroad Stage (WERU)
more than the Heritage Stage (MPBN) today.

12:07:04 PM ERU is still playing some CD. They say they will be live
all day but the festival has already started and they aren't
broadcasting it, as far as I can tell. Some brass/jazz band is
playing now. Kinda funky but not Larry Johnson and now another CD
plays. Still, I will record ERU's stream when I leave so we'll see
what is on there when I get back.

***

I return home at 5:18. RadioRecorder stopped at 240 minutes (15 min
into Eddie and Alonzo Pennington, theoretically). Who knows when the
Quicktime player stopped. I'll have to listen to the tape. (Hopefully
I caught Raz de Maree on ERU)

I pick up with Frank London on the Heritage Stage. Sounds good.
Quality stream, good mix, good music. I should be able to catch all
of Bruce Daigrepont. Frank London is flashy but too showy for me.
Trying to impress too much. Frenetic though they had a moment of just
plain nice music a little while ago.

05:34:38 PM MPBN stream restarts itself. WTF is up with that?

05:54:12 PM MPBN stream restarts itself again, conveninently inbetween tunes.

I listen to Frank London looking for it to end so I can listen to
Bruce Daigrepont (and am using RadioRecorder to record Bruce now
anyway.) Frank was supposed to be over 15 minutes ago...

05:58:51 PM A nice slower one. Grand even.

06:14:07 PM stream restarts itself or we get ID again.

Frank is still going at it a 6:20. They were supposed to be over at 5:45...

OK, it's 6:30. More? Oy.

06:33:55 PM It's fucking repeating, goddam it. Now it restarts again.
Geez.It'll never end. And since I don't n ow this music well enough I
don't know where it is picking up. I do know I have heard this
before...

I move the slider to near the end and see what happens. It stops
after repeating a section I just heard. Fuck it. Now to Bruce.

06:36:38 PM I go to ERU. Bruce is still playing, crescendo-ing.
(RadioRecorder is still recording so that is good. 82 minutes into it
so far.) Bruce ends tune. And the end of the set. DJ mangles the
name. Great. I caught the very end of it, live. I should have it all
on RadioRecorder.

6:40 pm i stop RadioRecorder and iTunes. Now to go back and listen to
today's stuff. I'll blog it when I've listened to it.

American Folk Festival in Bangor Maine, Saturday, 8/25/07

My brother told me that WERU will air american folk festival sat & sun.

From weru.org: WERU Live Broadcast, August 25 - 26 from the Railroad Stage:

Frank London's Klezmer Brass All Stars
Jeff Little & Friends - blue ridge piano
The Dixe Hummingbirds
Big Chief Monk Boudreaux & The Golden Eagles
Bobby Quinn
Greenfields of America
The Quebe Sisters Band - TX swing
Nukariik - eskimo throat singing
Raz de Maree - Quebecois contra dance!
Eddie & Alonzo Pennington - finger pickin bg
The Bruce Daigrepont Cajun Band!

I tune in at 11:45, hear a blues tune from a CD then they are live
from the stage! No problems or confusion like at NO Jazz Fest. They
read the schedule. (The NO Jazz Fest WWOZ broadcast is always hard to
figure out who is on when.) DJs are coherent. Good.

So, today's schedule:
Frank London's Klezmer Brass All Stars
Jeff Little & Friends - blue ridge piano
The Dixe Hummingbirds
Big Chief Monk Boudreaux & The Golden Eagles
Bobby Quinn
Greenfields of America
The Quebe Sisters Band - TX swing
(Slightly different from what was advertised but not anywhere near as
confused as WWOZ.)

Levels are going down while on air but not too bad.

Typical Maine reserve in the DJs. Eloquent but maybe a tad reserved.

11:56:24 AM Yeah, got the timestamp to work.

12:02:48 PM Both stages, I am recording the Heritage Stage too on
MPBN, start on time!

Heritage Stage
Fergus O'Byrne & Jim Payne
Accordion Summit
Country Rock and Roots
Raz de Maree
Morgan Heritage
Merengue dance lesson
Francisco Ulloa y su Grupo Tipico
Morgan Heritage

Fergus O'Byrne & Jim Payne - once they start singing, the level goes
way down. I adjust. I'm not recording this. This shanty, Double
Splitter Lad (lumberjack shanty?), is a familiar tune.

I turn the volume down for iTunes, RadioRecorder is recording it so I
don't need to listen to it, and listen to MPBN, which I am listening
to via my browser. (I may change that to WMP).

12:19:15 PM ERU stream on iTunes (Klezmer group right now) is distorting.

12:50:08 PM Maine accent of MC on stage. Stage mic doesn't allow
crowd to be heard very often but I just heard them a little so it's
ok. So far the mixes have been good, as far as I can tell. Distorted
but all the instruments seem to be there. (WWOZ is always challenged
this way.)

12:55:20 PM The food is good? Good.

12:57:23 PM Distortion is heard as DJs are on mic so it isn't the stage mix.

01:05:46 PM I record the Accordion Summit.Gary popping P's. CT River
Valley! Bruce Daigrepont! Grand Mamou.

(Gary Sredzienski* - The Accordion Warrior (lol), Francisco Ulloa,
Billy McComiskey (Green Fields), Bruce Daigrepont.)

Billy McComisky from Green Fields of America. Level goes up when he plays.

01:20:45 PM ERU stream dies on RadioRecorder. I restart app and it
works again. We'll see how long it works.It should be recording Jeff
Little and Friends.

Franscisco Ulloa (Dominican Republic?) talks of meringue accordion,
in Spanish with translator.

*American Folk Festival website says he is "Maine's own accordion
master", living in Kittery, but his website has a New Hampshire
address. So which is it?

Gary plays. Polish music from the CT River Valley. Bellow shake.
Tunes go from sad to happy. Do I have that in my blood? Takes
accordion apart onstage.

Mic on Bruce's accordion is on the bass side; we can't hear the
melody side very well. This sounds like a Quebecois tune, fast words.
Bruce speaking off-mic/low level.

Billy's mic is low level. Gary's is fine but it's hard to hear the guests talk.
01:49:23 PM Level better now.

Whistle joke. (Two whistles in two keys. What can we do?) I don't get it.

Sleepless nights.

Francisco talks and plays.

Gary talks and plays.

End the session by asking where they get the accordions repaired.

02:16:23 PM Session ends. I wait to MPBN to say something. I switch
to WERU as soon as they finnish blabbing so I can confirm the
upcoming schedule.

02:19:11 PM I switch to ERU/Dixie Hummingbirds. Is distorted and
phasing. (Could use a higher stream rate.)
~919 on b side of tape 1

?, Been Born Again, (Maybe there is no crowd noise once the band
stops playing/singing is because the crowd is quiet... you know those
taciturn New Englanders...), DH do a quiet piece,

MC, a real New Englander. Goin' to New Orleans next! WERU DJ comes
on. It is so nice that they keep out of it during the shows. WWOZ
butts in every break.

02:52:17 PM I stop RadioRecorder. Am taping this so don't need both.
Have Frank London and Jeff Little and all of the Dixie Hummingbirds
on the first (actually second) recording.

MPBN is talking rather than having a show. What happened to the
Country music roots show?

Good, they are going to stay on schedule and go to Monk on time. Ira
Tucker is low level. Can hear the chain saws in the background! Need
to put the mic closer to him or bring his level up.

DJ sounds like an OZ DJ, a little Southern.

03:08:12 PM Perfect handover to the stage! The DJ stops, the MC
starts. Bravo! Tells of history. Good enough mix. (Miss above 16k,
there is some but it would be nice to have more. And the phasing is
too bad. Not bad but it would be better if it wasn't there. MPBN has
a better feed...) Wanna dance! Nice and hot and humid here too. Mardi
Gras (Prof Longhair) w/ new words, another tune (Who that boy got
Golden Crown)- they're singing on key! I didn't know it could be
done... Now Monk is off key. Band sounds great! Got To Face The
Rising Sun (reggae), Hey Mama starts off with a hot gtr lick then
descends into the Mardi Gras Indian chant which is off key. I restart
RadioRecorder in the middle of Hey Mama. (RadioRecorder doesn't want
to startup. Says data is too small. Finally it starts.) Hendrix's
They Don't Know! Mardi Gras Indian funk band... hot!

03:45:04 PM I stop RadioRecorder. Soon will switch to the Quebecois
contra dance band. MPBN is asking for donations. I stop the tape.
MPBN will air what's on the Heritage stage until 7, though it looks
like the music will go on a little longer on that stage. Oh no,
there's a delay. "Quebecois band on at 4!" (They think it is 2:30
now. It is almost 4. So that means 5:30 real time? I'll keep
checking.)

ERU DJs are complaining that Monk isn't there for his interview. Yes,
New Orleanians do things on their own time... Interview guitarist.
His level is low. John Lasi? Big Chief joins in. His level is low. DJ
is fine.

04:11:09 PM MPBN is still playing a CD of jazz piano.

I record Bobby Quinn, which has already started. A Mainer telling a
story in rhyme. One more short one. Reading someone else's work?
Needling Nurses. (He is referenced in this one.) A Maine treasure...

04:18
Green Fields Of America reunion on now. I start RadioRecorder but may
switch listening to MPBN when/if the contra dance band comes on. Kick
in to the bucket... Low quality stream but bearable.
04:35:23 PM we hear dancers...

Robbie singing. Still singing those sad songs.

Joanie next. Great tune!

Geez, Mick has a lot to say. Funny but a lot of talking.

I go to check mail.
I come back and George Fowler is on.

Interview w/ Mick, Mick is low level.

MPBN stream has stopped. I restart Quicktime player. I guess this is
the Country Roots and Routes show. (5:18 pm) No, Fergus O'Byrne & Jim
Payne. Newfies.

Quebe Sisters on ERU. Radio Recorder is recording it. Western Swing.
I listen a little and can't take their voices/harmonies so switch
back to MPBN.

I miss recording the intro to the tongue twister. Accordion summit on
next. It's quarter of 6! At this rate we're 5 hours away!!! Geez.
Whadyabet they go to PHC at 6...

06:03:11 PM WTF is this? Accordion Summit? Several tunes playing at
once. Yeah, still doing sound check. The show begins.

06:07:09 PM I listen to ERU to see what they're doing. They are
talking about fundraising. Still at the festival? Nope. They are done.

06:15:20 PM I listen to PHC on WNYC and hope that when that is done,
perhaps MPBN will be closer to airing the Quebecois band. I bet they
will skip it...

06:33:31 PM MPBN This doesn't sound like the Accordion Summit. A full
Irish band. This sounds like the Green Fields of America reunion.
Hunh?

07:03:18 PM Still Green Fields on MPBN.

07:39:06 PM Still Green Fields.

07:58:28 PM Still Green Fields.

08:08:43 PM Live? We did hear Raz de Maree? I didn't. Damn.

08:11:43 PM Stream restarts itself with Green Fields. WTF? The
website has tomorrow's info where the link for today's webcast was so
I can't test that. But I can reply the ending. Weird. (DJ says Green
Fields of Africa!)

rudeness

Overheard while we were waiting in line for snacks at the Hopper
House during the break at tonights Jazz in the Garden (featuring Erik
Lawrence and Hipmotism and friends and poetry), mother to young son:
"Hurry up and get in there and get that cookie before anyone else
gets it."

I was kinda hoping to get a cookie. I was ahead of the mother but the
son was ahead of me or at least was after she said that. I feigned
disappointment to her. Then afterwards, I thought, that was pretty
rude. That's what mothers are teaching their kids? Get it before
anyone else, even if there are people in line?

I am too soft a heart.

Light off the top of the record player (speeded up)

Yesterday morning I saw the light reflecting onto the ceiling, bouncing off the top of the record player. It was making these great shapes. I wondered what it was. I should have taped it yesterday. It was brighter.

This morning I taped it. It was overcast so nowhere near as entrancing. But it's still cool. Enjoy.

A not well woodchuck

Saw this woodchuck on the lawn a little while ago. I'd walked past it and been near it for awhile and then realized it was there. It wasn't moving although he poked his head up as I recognized it. It had flies all over it and it looked like it had bled on it's back. I talked to it, took this pic and then went away.

I did see it amble off into the garden towards one of the known woodchuck holes a little while later.

I don't know what was wrong with it. Had it been crushed by the propane delivery truck that had been there a little while earlier? Unlikely. It smelled bad. I don't know if woodchucks smell bad normally and have flies on them since most are so skittish, they take off when they see you.

I'd like to think I made him better by talking lovingly to it but that's probably not true.

Say no more

A bat visits

I had a bat in the room at 3 am. I heard a fluttering of wings by my
head repeatedly. Thought it was a moth. Eventually I see it, flying
just like in the Abbot and Costello movie with Dracula. I put the cat
in the closet and closed the windows. (All have screens on them.) I
then waited by the open front door as that was the only fresh air
coming in, which is what the bat was going for. In a little while,
the bat came to the front door. It was hard to see but I saw it crawl
around the screen. I opened the door. I wasn't sure but I thought it
flew out. I closed the door and opened the windows again. What an
adventure. How did it get in? From the screen by the kitchen vent?

Furnace causes this?

P8080009, originally uploaded by Lipwak.

Yesterday I filled the birdbath with clean water. Last night it rained. Today, as often happens, the birdbath is full of this dirt.

I used to think it was from whatever animals were using it (raccoons, woodchucks, who knows what). Now I think it is soot from my furnace. The furnace would have run during the rain, causing the soot to not get far. (The furnace really smells when it runs. It ought to be replaced.)

Nyack Jazz Week, Tuesday, 7/24

Saw Steve Bernstein and the Millennial Territory Orchestra again last
night. They played at Memorial Park in Nyack. I'd seen them back in
2005 at the Hopper House and once before then at the Nyack Center
either in 2003 or 2004.

I was disappointed. They played the almost all of the same repertoire
that I heard back at the Hopper House. Why don't they change it? They
opened with the same two tunes, St Louis Blues and The Boy In The
Boat. St Louis Blues was done reggae style which at least was a new
twist. Darling Nikki, which is one of my favorite SB/MTO tunes, a
Prince cover tune actually, was not as well played as was at the
Hopper House. (I think they also played that at the Nyack Center too
but I can't be sure.)

Some of the players were different from the last time I'd seen them.
Matt Munisteri, who's played with them for awhile but wasn't at the
Hopper House gig, played nicely but I don't see what makes him so
special. His other gigs and CDs are probably more interesting. Peter
Apfelbaum played sax tonight but I was more impressed with Michael
Blake at the Hopper House gig. Ben Perowksy was truly inspired at the
Hopper House gig. Not last night.

Charley Burnham wasn't that amazing as he has been. He was incredible
at the Hopper House gig and when I saw them at the Nyack Center.
Absolutely amazing. Here he didn't quite get all his notes in when
featured. I'll let him slide. He still is a hero of mine so one night
won't lower him in my eyes.

I was hoping the score Steven created for the Laurel and Hardy movies
would be truly amazing. It wasn't. (Only "Sugar Daddies" was played.)
I didn't really get it but will hear it again as I had taped it.
Maybe it will make more sense then. I hope the rest of it works
better at the other gigs.

DirecTV is now airing the Ovation network. Great music, dancing and
other performance. Awful ads. Why is that? Great art and they can
only attract awful sponsors?

Still, I am going to LOVE Ovation. Gabriel Yared! The TIger Lillies!
Harry Smith!

Sigh. There IS something worth watching on TV at last.

I've seen the house wren sitting on a fencepost near the bee balm today. I am wondering if it is defending its territory from the hummingbird(s) that I've been seeing lately. While I love having the house wrens nesting in the birdhouse in the garden, I am hoping that it won't scare off the hummingbirds!

Twice now, hummingbirds have checked me out as I have stood by the bee balm. I've been wearing bright colored shirts that probably make them think I am a tall flower! They hover around briefly but very close. I haven't been able to take pictures or movies of them yet but I hope to asap. I think I have seen two, one yellow and one green but I'm not sure they were really different at all.

I happened to notice when CNBC had their telePrompter feed go out
over the air last night. I don't see anything else on the web about it.

Saw this fawn today, racing back and forth just past the garden. Thought it was a mountain lion perhaps. It stopped racing back and forth and then appeared on side of the garden and walked into the woods. Here is part 1


The fawn in the back yard now, looks at me (perhaps) and heads into the woods.