I had hoped to post my Music Baton by now, but other things keep
interfering. I’ve also been trying to articulate why I listen to so much
less music now than I did in the first 50 years of my life. It may indeed
be the influence of haiku — the desire to focus on one thing at a time,
to be receptive to enjoying and appreciating the small moments of life,
John Stevenson and Peggy Lyles would understand (and
say it better):
his power out,
my son calls to talk about
nothing special
morning sun enters
the sleeper’s
ear
border of sleep
the sound of nearby breathing
. . . mine
a deep gorge . . .
some of the silence
is me
applauding
the mime
in our mittens
dawn
before there is any
tune in my head
“his power out,” & “dawn” – Upstate Dim Sum (2005/I)
“applauding the mime” – Quiet Enough (Red Moon Press, 2004)
“morning sun enters” & “some of the silence” & “border of sleep” – Some of the Silence (1999)
New Year’s Eve —
the harpist’s hands
still the strings
distant jazz
a calla lily
catches the rain
“distant jazz” – To Hear the Rain (Brooks Books, 2002)
“New Year’s Eve –” – Upstate Dim Sum (Special Guest, 2005/I)
by dagosan
looking
for a wedding ring —
seeing she has one
sticky, hot and hungry:
five politicians
at my front door
[June 28, 2005]
potluck
HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY to James Arthur Giacalone (DOB June 28, 2000)!!
Eugene Volokh sparked an interesting conversation yesterday by
asking about “Terms That Have Become Unmoored from Their Etymology in
Our Memory.” (e.g., “dialing a phone number”without a rotary dial, or using
“cc” when not sending a carbon copy).
A couple of the Commentors — and I really do appreciate the
civility and focus shown by his readers in their comments — suggested that
the term “album” no longer makes sense, now that we have music coming
out on CDs. I disagree. We need a word to designate a collection of songs
released together as a unit under a particular title. The collective noun used
should not depend on the medium used for recording the songs — which is
and will be ever-changing. Thus, you are buying a particular Beatles “album” on
vinyl, or cassette, or CD, or DVD, or in some MP3 format. And my Emmylou
Harris album “Luxury Liner” did not stop being an album when I recorded it
on a tape cassette from vinyl in 1976, nor when I recorded it onto a cassette
from the newly-released CD format in 2004.
The relevant Quick Definition of “album” at the OneLook Dictionary is:
“one or more recordings issued together; originally released on 12-inch
phonograph records (usually with attractive record covers) and later
on cassette audio tape and compact disc.”
Online Etymology Dictionary states that albums used to be used to hold
autographs of celebrated people; that the term “photographic album” was
first seen in 1859, and meaning “long-playing gramophone record” is from
1957, because the sleeves they came in resembled large albums.
While thinking about the Music Baton, I recalled the very first song from
the radio that I really, really, really liked. I was 8 years old, in 1958, when Sheb Wooley’s
“Purple People Eater” was the #1 song for six weeks. You can read the lyrics, hear Sheb
perform and see the PPE by clicking the link.
