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music
7
Sep 18
To the immediate days ahead of you
I had two ideas today. That’s a lot for me. One of them, I suggested to someone, and you could see the notion percolating in the imagination of another person. That was neat. How often do you get to see the whole range of expression from blank expectation to unsold kernel growing into a ‘tell me more’ moment? And then you have to tell the person more and you know someone might be able to run with it. And finally, there’s the note-taking, and the ‘Let’s talk more about this?’
My other idea is perfectly formed, it arose in one clear moment with a precise degree of technical certainty, so much so that I sought out some information that might put the lie to the entire concept. But, no, the idea sound. So I’ll need to figure out some way to polish it up a little bit, so I can suggest it to some people so nothing will come of it.
A man told me once I was an idea guy. I wasn’t, but I liked the notion and have tried to incorporate a bit of that into everything I do ever since. Very, very occasionally someone will run with my idea of the moment. Usually it is dismissed, until someone else thinks it up. Then it’s brilliant. Ideas are about timing, their framing and who pitches them.
How was your day?
For a moment late this moment all my Apple products were each charged to 100 percent. I may never again achieve Inbox Zero, but I’ve made my peace with that. Apple 100 is a bigger challenge anyway.
This afternoon’s official music video, because this afternoon needs an official video. The chorus makes it worth it:
I’m writing this at the best part of the week, the idealism of the weekend is upon us. It hasn’t really sunk in yet — for me, that’s usually when I turn in and realize I can turn off my alarm clock for tomorrow.
Of course, right after that I begin to think of how finite the weekend can be. Maybe they should all be three-day weekends, after all. There’s a feeling that never goes away, so there must be something to it.
Regardless of how long this weekend is going to be for you, I hope it is a blast.
3
May 18
Now here’s something of a different time
I had lunch with this guy today. It was, as you might imagine, very cool.
Dean Martin died when I was a freshman in college. And I wasn’t yet hip to who or what could bring about a lasting cool. I suppose he was always the guy that played drunk, or did the occasional telethon. He was one of the old guys that ran around with Sinatra and was old. I’m sure I knew he had done movies, but I didn’t know much about the Rat Pack and I certainly didn’t know much of his music. It was too far removed for me to be anything but too far removed myself, I suppose. (“Little Ole Wine Drinker Me” was a Charlie Walker song that Martin covered. It stayed on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for six weeks. It peaked at fifth on Billboard’s Easy Listening chart and was also a hit in Australia that year.)
I really discovered him after college. His music. His cool. His sound. Dean Martin had the best sound of the Rat Pack.
And, man, he was funny. Just look who is on the stage with him here:
There’s a great Christmas-themed Pillsbury Flour spot and a too-artsy for 1975 America Revlon promo in the middle of the video, too.
And even when he was playing a song for laughs he could sing and sing:
I love that song.
One of our hallways at work has a lot of historic photos from the program. This lady is a part of one of the pictures:
She’s a copy editor in the 1940s at the IDS. But she’s given up her seat in the slot for Ernie Pyle, who has returned to Indiana to visit family and friends. And when he was home he was never far from campus, so here he’s back and reading the paper. The front page story that he’s reading is about the Romanian armistice, so she is looking over his shoulder as he reads a late-August, early-September paper from 1944.
I wonder what she was thinking about, sitting there, posing with the great Ernie Pyle in her seat. He’s a legend now, and he was well-venerated then. I wonder where those lamps got off too.
I looked her up. She might have become a school teacher. The woman I found online passed away just a few years ago. But I’m not 100 percent convinced I have the right person.
Tonight I’m hanging out with Allie, The Black Cat:
No better way to wind down an evening.
12
Apr 18
Random Thursday things
I spent time in the television studio today. Here is a photo of a decorative lightbulb which descends from the conduits above to prove it!
But I obviously picked the wrong profession:
An installation at the Gardiner Museum in Toronto is more hands-on than your typical exhibition.
“YOKO ONO: THE RIVERBED” by the 85-year old artist, musician and activist, asks visitors to do several physical tasks, including pick up river stones —some of which include handwritten inscriptions by Ono herself—and place them in a pile.
But one woman appears to have taken the “hands-on” suggestion a little too literally. Rather than place her rock in the pile, she allegedly stole it, Laura Snapes reports for The Guardian. The rock, valued at a cool $17,500, was inscribed by Ono with the words “Love Yourself.”
Things are worth what people are willing to pay. And what a person is theoretically willing to pay and willing to insure are different things. And we’re a nonsensical people when it comes to former almost-celebrities. But still … and this part is worth repeating …
Seventeen thousand dollars?
And this evening I discovered Durand Jones & The Indications. Now you will too. They’re IU guys and they have a lot of soul:
Tonight:
Etta James – I Don't Want It
Sam Cooke – I'll Come Running Back To You
Aaron Neville – Tell It Like It Is pic.twitter.com/PwbnqbSFqI
— Kenny Smith (@kennysmith) April 13, 2018
Yesterday:
I forgot to take a picture – hurting too much – but it was finally a lovely spring day to run. It was 63° degrees. pic.twitter.com/ICG3UvlCrl
— Kenny Smith (@kennysmith) April 11, 2018
22
Mar 18
Soapy songs
This is how it works at dinner time. The Yankee cooks it and I clean up after it. Sometimes the division of labor is fair, sometimes it works to my benefit. Well, it always works to my benefit, because when I wash the dishes and clean the stovetop and the counters I get to turn on a Pandora station. The evening station of choice is anchored on Sam Cooke, which is always the right way to go. And that particular Pandora station is well-managed.
So while the simple meals are best because it involves fewer dishes, a good run of songs means you don’t mind a bit of extra scrubbing.
At any rate, I decided, for some reason to make note of the songs. And that seemed like a good reason to make gifs. So here we are: The Dishwashing Sessions.
Marvin Gaye – What's Going On
Rev. Al Green – How Can You Mend A Broken Heart
Sam Cooke – A Change Is Gonna Come#TheDishwashingSessions pic.twitter.com/EVwcO2SShw
— Kenny Smith (@kennysmith) March 23, 2018
That’s a great set, right?
