TICKET TO RIDE - THE CARPENTERS

I recently watched one of those PBS/Colorado Public TV fundraisers that featured the Carpenters.   It was quite nostalgic, remembering their popular songs, and it also reminded me of how great Karen was.  Richard tends toward self-aggrandizement, and he did make some interesting arrangements, but it was Karen's voice that made them stars.  As the Wiki entry notes:  The Carpenters was an American vocal and instrumental duo of Karen (1950–1983) and Richard Carpenter (b. 1946). They produced a distinct soft musical style, combining Karen's contralto vocals with Richard's arranging and composition skills."  I was particularly struck with their rendition of the Beatles Ticket to Ride.  Turn it up and enjoy!

The version below is better audio quality and has very interesting still photos:

SHOULDER REPLACEMENT SURGERY

 

Posting has a been a bit light lately since I have been Rhonda's personal servant for a few weeks.  Some of you know that she recently received a new right shoulder, and the rehabilitation takes quite a while - e.g. she cannot drive until mid-December, and physical therapy is still limited motion.

So for those of you who might be interested, I found a video of shoulder replacement surgery - and - if you are at all squeamish about blood and gore, I highly recommend that you refrain from viewing!! 😊  It is quite amazing what orthopedic surgeons can accomplish, and that is probably why they are rewarded quite handsomely, eh Cousin Mark??

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED COVER JINX

If I was a gambling man, I could have made some serious scratch betting on my analysis of the outcome of the World Series.  Some of you may know about the legendary jinx associated with being on the cover of Sports Illustrated - read about it here.  After the Astros won the series, there has been much hullabaloo about how Houston has forever ended the SI Cover Jinx, like here and here.

But these folks are completely missing the mark.  They are basing their claims on this cover from 2014:

  

However, this is a faulty analysis.  Yes, the Astros certainly overcame the 2014 Cover Jinx, but there was a much more damning cover for the Dodgers this year - this one:

It seems pretty clear to me that being proclaimed the Best Team Ever is much more of a jinx that simply predicting who might win the World Series [although it was quite prescient].  The two fellows on the cover would probably agree that they under-performed in the Series. 

NICK OF TIME

From Bonnie Raitt - one of the GOATs IMHO.  Previous Raitt post here. 

Guitarist Bonnie on Keyboard

A friend of mine she cries at night
And she calls me on the phone
Sees babies everywhere she goes
And she wants one of her own
She's waited long enough she says
And still she can't decide
Pretty soon she'll have to choose and it tears her up inside
She's scared, scared she'll run out of time

 

I see my folks, they're getting old
And I watch their bodies change
I know they see the same in me
And it makes us both feel strange
No matter how you tell yourself
It's what we all go through
Those lies are pretty hard to take
When they're staring' back at you

Scared to run out of time

 

When did the choices get so hard?
With so much more at stake
Life gets mighty precious
When there's less of it to waste

 Scared to run out of time

 

Just when I thought I'd had enough
And all my tears were shed
No promise left unbroken
There were no painful words unsaid
You came along and showed me
How to leave it all behind
You opened up my heart again
And then much to my surprise

I found love, baby
Love in the nick of time

 

I found love, darling
Love in the nick of time

 

I found love, baby
Love in the nick of time

 

Songwriters: Bonnie Raitt

Nick of Time lyrics © Bonnie Raitt

DRAFT DODGER DONALD

Time to stir the pot a bit, and hopefully start a national movement [a tad overly optimistic??]  One of Trump's favorite tactics for engaging his adversaries is to give them a disparaging nickname.  Regardless of the level of truth, it has been highly effective.  Lyin' Ted and Crooked Hilary are two of his pejoratives that helped him vanquish both Cruz and Clinton.  So, I think that it is time to pull the turnabout-is-fair-play gambit.

DRAFT DODGER DONALD

 

Read a detailed account of Trump's dodging here.

Some quotes from the article linked above:

"But in 1968, when he was a 22-year-old University of Pennsylvania graduate, Trump was a tall, fit athlete who played football, tennis, and golf. His age and clean medical history qualified Trump as a perfect candidate for the draft to serve in the United States Army and fight in the Vietnam War, but he avoided combat after receiving a 1-Y medical deferment, which he has said was due to "bone spurs in his heels." "

Trump in Middle

As a draft dodger, Trump never knew the horrors of war, but in 1997, he laughed when telling radio host Howard Stern that avoiding sexually transmitted diseases was like his "personal Vietnam." "It is a dangerous world out there. It’s scary, like Vietnam. Sort of like the Vietnam era,” Trump said to Stern, discussing his sex life. "I feel like a great and very brave soldier.”

"Unlike the 2,709,918 soldiers who fought in Vietnam, Trump never served. He wasn't injured like the 304,000 Americans who fought in the war, or among the more than 58,000 killed in combat. Despite this inexperience, he is now in charge of the U.S. armed forces, the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Coast Guard, and the Marine Corps as commander-in-chief. As president, he is tasked with dictating to all military generals and admirals which battles should be fought, where they should be fought, and who gets to fight in them on behalf of the United States."

 

Trump is just another in a very long list of "chicken hawks" - folks who talk the tough talk but did not walk the walk when it came to giving two years of their lives to the USA.   To see a list of such pussies [not in the Trump sense of the word] visit here.  

 

COYOTES - DON EDWARDS

Was a cowboy I knew in south Texas,
His face was burnt deep by the sun,
Part history, part sage, part mesquit,
He was there when Poncho Villa was young.
And he'd tell you a tale of the old days,
When the country was wild all around,
Sit out under the stars of the Milky Way,
And listen while the coyotes howl.
And they go... hoo yip hoo yip hoo
hoodi hoo di yip hoo di yip hoo
hoo yip hoo yip hoo
hoo di hoo di yip hoo di yip hoo

Now the long horns are gone,
And the drovers are gone,
The Comanches are gone,
And the outlaws are gone,
Geronimo is gone,
And Sam Bass is gone,
And the lion is gone,
And the red wolf is gone.

Well he cursed all the roads and the oil men,
And he cursed the automobile,
Said this is no place for an hombre like I am,
In this new world of asphalt and steel.
Then he'd look off some place in the distance,
At something only he could see,
He'd say all that's left now of the old days,
Those damned old coyotes and me.
And they go hoo yip hoo yip hoo
hoodi hoo di yip hoo di yip hoo
hoo yip hoo yip hoo
hoo di hoo di yip hoo di yip hoo

Now the long horns are gone,
And the drovers are gone
The Comanches are gone
And the outlaws are gone,
Now Quantro is gone,
Stan Watie is gone
And lion is gone,
And the red wolf is gone.

One morning they searched his adobe,
He disappeared without even a word,
But that night as the moon crossed the mountain,
One more coyote was heard.
And he'd go, hoo yip hoo yip hoo
hoodi hoo di yip hoo di yip hoo
hoo yip hoo yip hoo
hoo di hoo di yip hoo di yip hoo
hoo yip hoo yip hoo
hoodi hoo di yip hoo di yip hoo
hoo yip hoo yip hoo
hoo di hoo di yip hoo di yip hoo