Friday, October 31, 2008

Return to Peyton Place

Every couple or three months or so I wander down to Gilmanton for some work-related shenanigans. It's located in a weird place, just below the Belknap Mountains. But it has a rich legacy or two.

This is perhaps the nicest house in the "4 Corners" part of town, which is a Historical District on the National Register of Historic Places. I'd love to see a virtual tour of this sucker.

For you literary types, Gilmanton is (drum roll) "Peyton Place". Hence this post title.

Trivia....PP was not only a book, but ABC TV also had a long-running prime-time soap opera with it in the early 1960s. It's available on DVD.

Fire In Koke'e

Haven't seen a followup to this yet

"Firefighters from five stations, including Pacific Missile Range Facility are battling a brushfire."

Volcanic Cirque!

Here in NH we have several remarkable bowl-shaped valleys called glacial cirques.

Here's the Far West version.

Scary Halloween Radio Alert

Firesign Theatre's Phil Proctor, the man of a million voices, will be a guest tonight at 9 PM PDT on the annual Halloween show hosted by Jim Svejda on the USC radio station in LA. Rocky will be featuring a cut from the new "Box of Danger" compilation, "Danger Meets E.T.". Click post title for the link.

Alaska Air Starts New Flights to Mau'i

Non-stop from Anchorage to OGG. Passengers get free macadamia nuts and their choice of a free Mai-Tai or a free POG.

Friday Music Digest

Lots of BLUES today.

A new album from the Vaughan Brothers

http://blogcritics.org/archives/2008/10/30/043336.php

Another musical group in legal limbo:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20081030.HEALEY30/TPStory/Entertainment

Preview of the Sarasota Blues Festival

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20081030/ARTICLE/810290268/-1/NEWSSITEMAP

Stupid Music from the Golden Hill Ramblers

http://www.thevillagenews.com/story.php?story_id=33722

The Sax and Drumming Core (great name)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/musicnightlife/2008331949_ochs31.html

And a preview of the new album by "Simpsons" star Harry Shearer!

http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://gothamist.com/2008/10/31/harry_shearer_songs_of_the_bushmen.php&ct=ga&cd=77mNo3l6K3I&usg=AFQjCNFmqGggc_ClwrBVuyEc9czkEiGG-g

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Just Say Los

Los Lobos has a couple of new projects in the works-a children's album of them doing Disney songs, and a concert/documentary DVD that will feature "Kiko" done in its entirety.

Tommy, Can You Hear Me?

One of the world's finest drummers, NRBQ's Tommy Ardolino, has a new 5-piece band, originally named "Tommy Ardolino and Friends", and they will be doing their first show, a benefit, in Massachusetts late next month. Opening up will be a band from here in NH, Fat Hands, and The Mayocks from CT.

Click on the post title for more info!

State of Flux!

Astronomers, including one from the University of New Hampshire, have confirmed a magnetic portal between the Sun and the Earth...

"Mmmmm, Sea Asparagus..."

Marine agriculture on O'ahu's North Shore! And to make it even better, its companion crop is ogo, the seaweed used to make Poke...

International Hawai'i Visitors Only Drop Slightly

Compared to the drop in US visitors, that is.

Music Video of the Day

The Blind Boys of Alabama meet some felines...

The Real Robinson Crusoe?

Archaeologists have unearthed fresh evidence about the real-life Crusoe - Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk - who was marooned in 1704 on a small tropical island in the Pacific Ocean for more than four years.

Ghost Story

Reviving New Orleans' graveyards...

Best Restaurants In US Named

Some surprises, some not. One that keeps returning is Boston's L'Espalier, whose owner/chef, Frank McClelland, used to live in my house!

Back to Court

Phil Spector's second trial starts.

Yo-Yo Ma Meets Jake Shimabukuro

Auwe!

Thursday Music Digest

A review of some recent reissues

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Style/242026/

A major cultural forum opens in New Orleans

http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008/10/world_cultural_economic_forum.html&ct=ga&cd=LJqYgtMXkZk&usg=AFQjCNFt9GlvrIlf0cwVTa45yxfoe12ozw

Jazz violin

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/30/arts/music/30sche.html?ref=arts

Jazz from...Newfoundland?

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=24910

And stupid music from upstate New York

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20081030/ENT0501/810300307/1053/ENT01

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Hula O Na Keiki

Searching for songs on the Valley Isle...

Kailua Fun Walk

Coming up in a couple of weeks, to help out Kailua High.

Phils Win.

A well-done to the Philadelphia Phillies, who just completed the rain-suspended Game 5 of the 2008 World Series with a win, to win the Big Dance 4 games to 1.

Nice to know that longtimes Phils announcer Harry Kalas got to call one more championship! He got his start of course calling Hawai'i Islanders games in 1961.

Click post title for box score.

Royal Hawaiian Hotel To Re-Open With $19.27 Room Rates

A blast from the past?

In Search Of The Lost Chord

A Canadian music professor has figured out the opening chord of the song "A Hard Day's Night" from the first Beatles film. His findings may surprise you!

It's Voggy Out

Volcanic smog/fog makes it all the way to O'ahu...

Football in London: A Review

As previously mentioned, a batch of New Orleans musicians played in London last weekend. They were there in conjunction with a football game between the New Orleans Saints (who were the "home" team) and the San Diego Chargers. The Saints won a wild shootout, 37-32. Here's a review...

Weds. Music Digest

Give me back my banjo!

http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://offbeat.com/artman/publish/article_3378.shtml&ct=ga&cd=Vq0IQ5SMyGI&usg=AFQjCNHFeUMOJX0aVI1AyPifG9Ye2sTYCw

Solidarity forever?

http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/horne281008.html

More South African jazz

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=30796

Hula for kids

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/10/prweb1533804.htm

And a Herbie Hancock sighting:

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=24871

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

SuperFerry #2 Put On Hold

Sorry, Big Island! Economics...

Return to "Penny Lane"

The identity of the “pretty nurse selling poppies from a tray” in the Beatles’ song Penny Lane is revealed in a new book about growing up in Liverpool.

Voodoo!

A wrapup of the recent New Orleans VoodooFest.

Got Milk?

Here's a story of a guy who lives on the Big Island, and flies to work on Oahu! He fills milk bottles at Meadow Gold Dairy...

New Road to Open on Kaua'i

A much needed bypass down on the South Shore! This is associated with the previously mentioned Kukuiula development.

Hawai'i Meets Alaska Meets New England

A new multimedia show from the Anchorage Symphony called "Echoes"...

Tuesday Music Digest

Tangerine Visions by The Little Ones

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article5008839.ece

Buffy Saint-Marie sighted-she's no fool, as she lives on Kaua'i!

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5g9_tvWY0gYCXqoO2UFYjgWwFMBCQ

Pedal (steel) to the metal!

http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2008/10/27/news/metro/10709070.txt

Mick Jagger headed to the Olympics?

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/article1859021.ece

And Phil Spector must face the music...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/10/28/bmspector128.xml

Monday, October 27, 2008

R.I.P. New Orleans Songstress "Cookie" Gabriel

Cookie sang with many of the legends of N'Orleans music, and started out with Sugar Boy Crawford. She was 73.

Big Mac Back

Fleetwood Mac will reunite next year. Currently, Mick Fleetwood has a band called the Mick Fleetwood Blues Band.

Apparently the MF Blues Band members all live on the same island in our 50th state, but which one?

Wet Weekend on O'ahu

Wild.

Monday Music Digest

Web radio royalties fall, but it won't help much:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/27/technology/internet/27radio.html%3Fem&ct=ga&cd=BsvYXH4vob8&usg=AFQjCNHA6t45kMC-zfIBAtM9RFCXg2ib5g

Boz Scaggs turns jazzy

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/26/DDL613GP4R.DTL

Into the night with Mac Rebennack

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/features/Into-the-night.4630872.jp

A tennis dad plays air guitar

http://newsbiscuit.com/article/tennis-dad-in-hilarious-air-guitar-mime-393

And Yngwie Malmsteen sighted on tour

http://www.villagevoice.com/events/view/691007

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Waikiki Beach Gets $1 Billion Makeover

"A decade ago Waikiki was tacky, tired and sorely in need of a makeover. These days, the neighborhood is pulsing with excitement and change. Investors have poured nearly $1 billion into several major redevelopment projects including new shopping centers and the restoration of historic hotels."

Growing Fruit on the Valley Isle

A visit to Ono Organic Farms.

State Takes Over Kawai Nui Marsh in Kailua

On Friday, the state officially became the sole owner of the 800-acre Kailua wetland. The transfer clears the way for restoration work, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to begin restoring an 80-acre pond that is home to four endangered and endemic water birds.

Sunday Music Digest

What do you get when you combine a kazoo, a ukulele, a toy piano and Europe’s “The Final Countdown”?

http://www.kansascity.com/238/story/856493.html

New freeware for jazz radio broadcasts:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://www.download.com/8301-2007_4-10074994-12.html&ct=ga&cd=ZhtfzXB_otc&usg=AFQjCNEWfQefnpVmpn3tjTVPYOcd3I10dA

The Oklahoma Heritage Orchestra plays Stupid Music...

http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/local/local_story_300002955.html

A DVD review of 4 old rockers-

http://www.cinemablend.com/music/Music-DVD-Review-CSNY-D-j-Vu-Live-13031.html

And jazz music goes to Malaysia

http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2008/10/26/lifefocus/2346892&sec=lifefocus

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Scary Hiking Story

I've hiked a few very scary trails in my time-the knife-edge on Franconia Ridge during a thunderstorm comes to mind, as well as some nasty drop-offs on the Bright Angel Trail in Arizona. But only a fool would do this one! Click the post title and turn it up loud.

Secrets in a Kaua'i Cave

"And what we found was a cave — once a Pleistocene dune field, and later a sinkhole with pickling-jar powers — that may be the richest fossil site in the Hawaiian Islands, perhaps in the entire Pacific Island region."

Saturday Music Digest

A major Stupid Music festival in Texas

http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/wfaa/stories/DN-fw_redsteagallmusic_1024gui.State.Edition1.4abda64.html

Teaching jazz to 3, 4 and 5 year old kids-start 'em young!

http://www.masslive.com/entertainment/republican/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-0/1224919332107390.xml&coll=1

Speaking of jazz, ever heard of New Zealand's Anika Moa?

http://www.3news.co.nz/News/EntertainmentNews/In-swings-the-jazz-for-Anika-Moa/tabid/418/articleID/77191/cat/55/Default.aspx

Dumpstahfunk!

http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/wwl102508cbphunk.148247340.html&ct=ga&cd=0FxmzE2wczY&usg=AFQjCNEB7mNbU39ysTG0AJ76Z7AUxLXpjw

And a review of assorted new music releases.

http://www.kansascity.com/414/story/856594.html

Friday, October 24, 2008

Voodoo Fest

It's Voodoo Fest time in the Large Easy. Scroll down to page bottom for the RSS feeds from WWOZ...

Pu'a' in Taxachusetts!

Get the imu ready!

"Massachusetts State Police say a 200-pound Russian wild boar was euthanized after being struck by a vehicle on a road in Lancaster earlier this week.

That was a big surprise to state wildlife experts. They say although some wild boars are known to live in northern New England, there never has been a native population of feral swine in Massachusetts."

R.I.P. Merle Saunders

Keyboardist Merl Saunders, best-known for his outer-space voyages with Jerry Garcia, has left the building.

Eddie, Are You Kidding?

Turner Classic Movies will be showing a wild one, "200 Motels", during the overnight tonight, at 3:45 AM Eastern Time. This was the first-ever feature film shot on video, and stars Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention (including Flo and Eddie, of course), Ringo Starr and Keith Moon.

Click on the post title for an 11 minute clip of the film.

"Aloha Fridays" Signs Off

San Francisco's KFRC has fired all of its DJs and is going all-news. Which means their Friday morning Aloha-fest has ended.

Scary Non-Flying Story

Blue Hawaiian lays off some of its tour helicopter pilots...

Touring the Big Isle's "Caffeine Coast"

Java buzz!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Friday Music Digest

A new recording studio in Louisiana opens

http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://www.thesttammanynews.com/articles/2008/10/24/news/doc4901c96b91468722539758.txt&ct=ga&cd=Y4Re4Fj4PrY&usg=AFQjCNFxwAzUlHRch4aCvr3E6NXSOZJB8w

Jazz music in Flagstaff

http://www.flaglive.com/flagstafflive_story.cfm?storyID=183825

Dent May and His Magic Ukulele

http://idolator.com/5067916/dent-mays-ukulele-and-stage-persona-are-both-magical

A tribute to Bessie Smith

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/122645.html

And yet another new band, this one called The Stepsons:

http://www.recorderonline.com/news/crowd_38652___article.html/band_stepsons.html

Orca Followup

Update

New Vittles

We have a new supermarket hatching here in Meredith.

Soon come?

Antelope Valley Freeway...

That's Saddle Hill, as seen from the non-screamer lane of I-93 headed up past Hermit Lake in Sanbornton NH...

New Protest Songs

Maria Muldaur is joined by a cast of thousands on her latest release.

A Touch of Gray

I captured a light dusting of snow this morning on the summit of Mt. Shaw, part of the Ossipee Range just east of Lake Winnipesaukee. This is officially called the Ossipee Caldera, a much older and much smaller relative of Haleakala Crater on Mau'i. Volcanic rock (including pumice) has in fact been found on the other (east) side near Ossipee Lake. And you can see the remains of the crater at the top from this angle.

Just above the nearby treeline on the far side of the swamp closest to the camera, you can see the Castle in the Clouds, a mansion built about a hundred years ago that has been a tourist attraction for many years. It's currently undergoing a major rehab. Click on post title for CITC info.

Thursday Music Digest

Grateful Dead member (and Hawai'i resident) Bill Kreutzmann is going on tour-including the Islands. In fact, his tour kicks off on Kaua'i.

http://www.relix.com/Features/Daily_News/Bill_Kreutzmann_Confirms_Fall_Tour__200810223275.html

A wireless guitar is recalled-it can leak acid!

http://gizmodo.com/5067386/rage-wireless-guitar-leaks-acid-can-burn-your-rock-jewels

Waylon Jennings forever!

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jv6cZMkMBXutBKiLxIqZcy-_Sx3gD93VN2CG2

A review of the new Smothers Brothers DVD box set:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/21/DDRV13J3GH.DTL

And what's this-The Quarrymen, minus John Lennon?

http://www.signonsandiego.com/entertainment/street/2008/10/welcome_the_prefab_four_the_qu.html

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Tree Tunnel

Looking up my road...

Music Video of the Day

Captain Lou!

Frightful

Now snowing in northern New Hampshire!

Young Orca Euthanized on Kaua'i

A young killer whale stranded itself near Poipu.

Ringo Does Damage Control

"The drummer said his message wasn't aimed at "real fans who have acknowledged that I have always signed items and am in fact the only Beatle to have been doing so". "

Mokulele Air Grounded

Auwe! The cabin crews aren't even trained in how to use the life preservers and fire extinguishers?

Canadian Airline Adding Hawai'i Routes

Westjet now flies from BC to HNL, KONA and OGG. They are now looking at adding LIH.

Beach Glass At Kailua

When we lived in Kailua in the 1960s, "beach glass" was a common sight on Kailua Beach; this was pieces of broken glass that had been worn smooth by years of grinding from the sand particles. Looks like a new outbreak?

Wednesday Music Digest

Lotsa long urls today!

The "Junco Partner" school of blues

http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://www.mountainx.com/ae/2008/1022208soundtrack&ct=ga&cd=vNqL_Ursnvg&usg=AFQjCNG5knbmF0y1ufi-FcauLmKoqvhVAg

An interview with the great Louisiana guitarist Brian Stoltz, who did a stint with the Nevilles before joining Zach Richard. He's now a funky meter.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://www.connectsavannah.com/gyrobase/Content%3Foid%3Doid%253A10543&ct=ga&cd=0HwIBqaHc2E&usg=AFQjCNHfQ_srimgtJgqntg0epQOT4ZFb4Q

Oriental jazz treats

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Wednesday/Features/20081021170748/Article/indexF_html

The Mau'i "orchestra leader" talks about Halloween

http://www.mauiweekly.com/localnews/story7968.aspx

And a look at Wii music lessons

http://kotaku.com/5066687/wii-music-review-jam-with-the-bland

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Shhhh

SCARY Grand Canyon Story

Serious stuff, this-The Plague, and how it killed an innocent Grand Canyon biologist.

Giant Cleaning Bags Filled With Marsh Gas

Plumes of methane discovered on Mars...

Hawai'i Public Radio Reaches Goal

An offer of free miles on HAL didn't hurt.

Junior High

A new interview with guitar maniac Junior Brown, who even talks about his hapa haole music!

NYC Waterfalls Brought in the Bucks

The 4 waterfalls in New York Harbor were forecast to bring an additional $55 million into the City's economy. They actually brought in $69 million.

Hawai'i Green Traveler Guide

Non-paradise?

R.I.P. Pianist Dave McKenna

A true New England treasure, jazz piano pounder (and certified member of Red Sox Nation) Dave McKenna has left the building.

Cleared For Final Approach

Here's a great website featuring live radio transmissions from ATC (air traffic control) at a host of busy airports.

Tuesday Music Digest

The World Series makes its first appearance in St. Pete this year. But the city also has a jazz scene...

http://www.theweeklychallenger.com/News/article/article.asp?NewsID=91971&sID=37

Talking musika in Botswana

http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=7&aid=71&dir=2008/October/Monday20

The Zydepunks

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/63561/the-zydepunks-finisterre/

A big uke-out in New Zealand

http://www.voxy.co.nz/entertainment/getting-ready-quotbig-uke-outquot/5/4356

And Tool meets Guitar Hero

http://www.411mania.com/music/news/88198/Tool-Explains-Guitar-Hero-Involvement.htm

Monday, October 20, 2008

Scary Flying Story

A pilot has been arrested on board his plane on suspicion of being drunk, reportedly minutes before he was due to fly a passenger jet across the Atlantic

Belated Daily Music Vid

Missed yesterday...

"Looks Like A Big Fried Egg!"

Thousands of documents about reported UFO sightings -- ranging from calm accounts by professional pilots to unhinged rants about the extraterrestrial menace -- have been released by the British Ministry of Defence.

Moloka'i Film Fest Review

A good time was had by all.

We Lose.

The Boston Red Sox bid to repeat as World Champions of baseball fell short as they lost Game 7 of the ALCS to the amazing Rays.

The Rays went from worst in the league last year to their first-ever World Series appearance, where they will face the Philadelphia Phillies.

Monday Music Digest

The Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame induction this year will feature a tribute to stupid music

http://www.tulsaworld.com/entertainment/spot/article.aspx?articleID=20081019_272_D3_EddieP681138

Ted Nugent will ride a live buffalo onstage

http://www.nationalledger.com/artman/publish/article_272623287.shtml

Ovation introduces a new classical guitar...

http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/news6902.html

Kenny Wayne Shepard pays tribute to Jimi:

http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2008/10/19/Shepherd_Guitar_show_honors_Hendrix/UPI-47421224444135/

And tracing various Beatles back to Ireland

http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/books/dublin-in-the-fab-oul-times-1502776.html

Sunday, October 19, 2008

We Jammin'

Kailua reggae soul singer Irie Love reflects on her recent world tour, where she wowed 'em in Africa.

Ko'olau Invasive Species Alert

"In August, Army staff discovered Cane Tibouchina on the Koolau summit in the Poamoho region.

This aggressive weed is not known to be naturalized on Oahu, although it is widespread on both the Big Island and Maui"

John Lennon In His Own Rite

Review of a new John Lennon book. Hint: the reviewer doesn't like it.

We Travel The Spaceways

In the Center of the Lagoon Nebula

Credit: A. Caulet (ST-ECF, ESA), NASA

Explanation: The center of the Lagoon Nebula is a whirlwind of spectacular star formation. Visible on the upper left, at least two long funnel-shaped clouds, each roughly half a light-year long, have been formed by extreme stellar winds and intense energetic starlight. The tremendously bright nearby star, Hershel 36, lights the area.


Vast walls of dust hide and redden other hot young stars. As energy from these stars pours into the cool dust and gas, large temperature differences in adjoining regions can be created generating shearing winds which may cause the funnels.


This picture, spanning about 5 light years, was taken in 1995 by the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. The Lagoon Nebula, also known as M8, lies about 5000 light years distant toward the constellation of Sagittarius.

High Surf, High Risk

A sober look at last weekend's deadly surf on Kaua'i. Click the post title for part 1, and below for the sequel.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=53&entry_id=31660

Hawai'i SuperFerry Adds Whale-Watch Tech

"Hawai'i Superferry is installing a high-tech thermal imaging system that could detect whale spouts more than a mile away..."

Sunday Music DIgest

Another new stupid music band from Texas!

http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2008/oct/18/texas-gypsies-serve-vintage-jazz-hepcat-crooning/

Jazz music goes to church

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/communities/south/story/731211.html

Why a folk-rocker switched musical genres:

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/518740

Todd Rundgren checks in from Hanalei:

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/sos-review/Todd-Rundgren-interview-in-Todd.4604816.jp

And a cancer fund has been established for original NRBQ guitarist Steve Ferguson...

http://www.stevefergusonfund.com/

Saturday, October 18, 2008

We Win.

Game #6 of the American League Championship Series goes to the Boston Red Sox as they win 4-2 at Tropicana Field...

Under manager Terry "Tito" Franconia (intentional typo LOL), the Sox are now 9-0 in winning games in which they would have been eliminated had they lost. Game #7 is Sunday night.

Box score will follow in the post-title click link ASAP.

Update-box score added.

Today's Video

"Let's ROCK!"

Looks Tasty! The Sequel

Sad news from Iran-the folks there tried yesterday to build the world's largest sandwich, but...

"Event organizers had planned to stuff the 1,500-meter-long sandwich with 700 kg of ostrich meat and 700 kg of chicken, and display it in a park in the capital Tehran.

But as the sandwich was being measured, chaos ensued. The giant snack was gone in minutes."

Today in History

1842-Samuel Morse lays the first telegraph cable between The Battery and Governors Island. But the cable is snapped by a ship's anchor.

50 years to the day later, the first telephone line connects the Big Apple and Chicago.

Looks Tasty!

At last it can be revealed, the recipe for the infamous Dagwood Bumstead Sandwich!

"New" Randall Hall Update

The outside is almost done...

New Jan Berry Tribute Album

Many friends and admirers of the late Jan Berry, who of course was the guiding force behind Jan and Dean, have released a nice tribute to him.

Some of the performers include PF Sloan, who wrote "Eve of Destruction", Jan's former girlfriend Jill Gibson, who actually sang in a late version of the Mamas and the Papas, original Beach Boy David Marks, and Probyn Gregory of The Wondermints, better known as Brian Wilson's longtime backing band.

Return of Hokule’a

Hawai'i's flagship voyaging canoe has returned from its world tour.

Best Islands In the World Named

In the Pacific, Mau'i is #1, Kaua'i #2, Big Isle #6, O'ahu #7, Lana'i #8.

Lava Eats a Home on The Big Isle

Royal Gardens hit again!

Saturday Music Digest

A popular Hawai'i musician is busted for ICE:

http://www.starbulletin.com/news/hawaiinews/20081017_Recording_artist_sentenced_in_ice_case.html

Dave Mason-Always a welcome guest

http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/oct/16/g22vmasonside16ev/

Another singer from Hawai'i-former Rainbow quarterback Colt Brennan, now a Washington Redskin

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog/2008/10/colt_brennan_has_the_voice_of.html

"A Ride With Bob" just keeps riding:

http://www.mysanantonio.com/entertainment/music/31124664.html

And a happy birthday to Wynton Marsalis!

http://www.findingdulcinea.com/features/happy-birthday/2008/Oct/Wynton-Marsalis.html

Friday, October 17, 2008

Bluegrass on the Brain

"It’s not all that complicated. But, sometimes, playing the banjo really is like brain surgery. At least, it was for bluegrass virtuoso Eddie Adcock. The 70-year-old musician recently underwent brain surgery at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville.

The hope was to treat hand tremors that were threatening his ability to play his five-string. But instead of just hoping for the best, the surgeons actually had him play the banjo DURING THE SURGERY."

Levi Stubbs R.I.P.

"Baby I Need Your Loving"

"Reach Out (I'll Be There)"

"I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)"

Levi at work:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt89ZLRkgdE

Django Lives!

Radio Australia will repeat a show they did about Dorado Schmitt and the Django Fest band, whom some of us saw in 2006 at the Lowell "Folk" Festival.

"Island World" Review

A new book puts forth the notion that Hawai'i wasn't "Americanized", but that in fact it "Hawai'ianized" the Mainland!

We Win.

Early this morning, the Boston Red Sox completed the second-greatest comeback in baseball playoff history, coming back from a 7-0 deficit in the 7th inning to beat the Rays in Fenway, 8-7.

From the New York Times:

"The Red Sox fashioned the second greatest comeback in postseason history; only the 1929 Philadelphia A’s, who rallied from an 8-0 deficit to beat the Chicago Cubs, climbed a higher October mountain."

Disney Unveils Plans for Hawai'i

The family-focused resort will be located on 21 acres at Ko Olina Resort & Marina in West Oahu.

Listen to Music, Lower Blood Pressure

Works for me!

Friday Music Digest

The Smithsonian visits Ferriday, Louisiana, home of Jerry Lee Lewis:

http://www.thetowntalk.com/article/20081008/LIFESTYLE/81008009

Creative fusion from the Blue Flames...

http://www.dailyvanguard.com/news/2008/10/16/ArtsAndCulture/Creative.Fusion-3490149.shtml

A new rising jazz pianist from New Orleans-Aaron Parks

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2008/10/16/derk.DTL&type=music

An open letter to Ringo from a pissed-off fan!

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-ft-ringo-letter-1016oct16,0,5780066.story

And a sighting of blues guitarist Tab Benoit-

http://www.chronline.com/storylife.php?subaction=showfull&id=1224177397&archive=&start_from=&ucat=2

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Mau'i Slack Key Fest #5

That time of year!

Belated Video

I missed a couple of days, so here's a bonus.

R.I.P. Edie Adams

Actress and singer Edie Adams, the blonde beauty who won a Tony Award for bringing Daisy Mae to life on Broadway and who played the television foil to her husband, comedian Ernie Kovacs, has died. She was 81.

Edie was also legend for her commercials for Muriel Cigars...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVYySKyBbUs

And here's part 1 of 10 of a lengthy interview with her:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dmksRLrKdI

Video of the Day

Kaua'i in hi-def!

Mmmmm, Guava...

"Guava has a higher concentration of lycopene—an antioxidant that fights prostate cancer—than any other plant food, including tomatoes and watermelon. In addition, 1 cup of the stuff provides 688 milligrams of potassium, which is 63 percent more than you'll find in a medium banana. And guava may be the ultimate high-fiber food: There's almost 9 grams of fiber in every cup."

Welcome to the Gathering Place?

Microsoft is working on a new consumer version of its multitouch computing device, which will be named Oahu (no glottal stop, apparently).

Sympathy For the Stones From a String Quartet

Bizarre mental picture alert:

"The string quartet Ethel, during a concert on Tuesday at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Harvey Theater, performed with a Hawaiian slack-key guitarist, an American Indian flutist, a Tejano accordion player and a Kentucky banjo player in a work that blended instrumental fragments of hits by Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Jimi Hendrix and the Beatles with famous lines from movies."

O'ahu to Legalize B & B's?

Following four hours of emotional testimony, the Honolulu City Council last night voted 6-1 to give preliminary approval to a bill that eventually would legalize bed-and-breakfast operations on O'ahu.

Termites and Hurricane Katrina

A new study finds that floodwalls that were breached in the 2005 hurricane may have been weakened by...termites.

Thursday Music Digest

San Francisco's "Jazz Church"

http://www.kswt.com/Global/story.asp?S=9178081&nav=menu613_2_5

Sonny Landreth sighted

http://www.examiner.com/x-1103-Blues-Examiner~y2008m10d14-From-the-Reach-of-the-slide-guitarist-Sonny-Landreth

ZZ Top announces a live CD

http://www.antimusic.com/news/08/oct/15ZZ_Top_Live_CD_Announced.shtml

Lindsey Buckingham interview

http://www.weeklydig.com/arts-entertainment/defend-yourself/200810/lindsey-buckingham

And jazzy gospel from South Africa!

http://www.sowetan.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=863699

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

R.I.P. Composer Neal Hefti

Bat-man!

Flying a Big Bag of Gas

Working on an airship...

For The Birds

Hawaiian Airlines airlifted some rare birds from the Big Island to Kaua'i the other day.

"Early Monday morning, 12 puaiohi were placed into two onboard carrying cases and buckled into passenger seats on Hawaiian from Hilo to Lihue, accompanied by two biologists.

On Kaua'i, following a one-hour drive into Kokee State Park and a 2km hike to the Alakai Wilderness Preserve, the birds were placed into a protected acclimation aviary where they will live for a week before being released into the surrounding forest."

Wednesday Music Digest

Women of jazz entertain South Africa

http://www.mcst.gov.bw/dailynews/artsculture.php?id=10757

Inside Dave Stewart's prop shop

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedishrag/2006/12/dave-stewarts-p.html

Moog guitar

http://www.popsci.com/taxonomy/term/44392

Stupid music post 1

http://www.jaspernewsboy.com/news/2008/1015/viewpoint/030.html

And stupid music post 2

http://www.keepmecurrent.com/AandE/story.cfm?storyID=59439

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

TV Or Not TV

The coming changeover in TV tech as seen from in the middle of the sea.

Jus Press!

Mau'i Ukulele Festival time

Wind Power?

Not sure who the photog was on this one...

Pop trained on this sucker from 1946 til 1950...long before it was painted with a slanted orange racing stripe!



Daily Music Vid

Just ignore Mike!

Omar!

This one slipped under the radar, to say the least!

New Folk City

The National Folk Festival has a long history, but only a handful of cities have kept the music going after the National ended its 3 year run in each location. The biggest success story, of course, is the one in Lowell MA. Bangor, Maine has also kept the music alive. The new kid on the block is Richmond Virginia.

50th State Quarter Struck at Denver Mint

Hawai'i's coin features monarch King Kamehameha I stretching a hand toward the eight major Hawaiian Islands. Inscribed is the state motto, "The Life of the Land is Perpetuated in Righteousness," in the Hawaiian language. It will go into circulation Nov. 3.

Lunar Robot To Be Tested On Mauna Kea

Prospecting for lava!

Music History For Sale

Tin Pan Alley, the home of George Gershwin, Irving Berlin and other great American songwriters, is up for sale.

USGS Releases New Volcano Video

The US Geological Survey's Hawaii Volcano Observatory has released video of the recent explosive eruption at Halema`uma`u vent...

Another Deadly Surf Day on Kaua'i

The fourth visitor in two days has drowned-this one from Poland...

Tuesday Music Digest

C, S, N & Y at Hotel California

http://www.thecuttingedgenews.com/index.php?article=785&pageid=23&pagename=Arts

"Stay Awake", the Disney music tribute, turns 20

http://www.kansascity.com/414/story/838879.html

Review of a new jazz DVD by Sonny Rollins

http://blogcritics.org/archives/2008/10/13/101131.php

Opera season opening in the Big Easy

http://blog.nola.com/chriswaddington/2008/10/new_orleans_opera_association.html

And Ringo has decided he's "too busy" for autographs and fan mail...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7666826.stm

Monday, October 13, 2008

Good Dog!

A 16 year old Border Collie survives a 200 foot fall off a cliff...

Today's Stupid Music Post

Bob Sanders (not the football player) looks back at his childhood listening to Bob Wills...

Wild Weekend At the Vent

Our friends at Hawai'i Magazine update us (with video) of the past couple of days' explosions at the volcano on the Big Island.

NYC Waterfalls Post-Mortem

"Ben Corman, 21, a valet at the River Café, said that if he did not work so close to one, and go home smelling like the East River, he would probably like them."

Deadly Sunday on Kaua'i

3 tourists drowned on Kaua'i Sunday-two sisters-in-law on the North Shore, and a Japanese tourist in Wailua.

Monday Music Digest

An Aloha Festival in Colorado

http://www.timescall.com/news_story.asp?ID=12118

A new gospel music project from New Orleans:

http://eurweb.com/story/eur47775.cfm

R.I.P. music photographer William Claxton

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jxCoWvR5rxXiG2JRlMU5ipd6NBjgD93PA3385

Another review of a new stupid music album

http://www.albanyherald.com/stories/20081012f2.htm

And a music writer says we all need more Piazza!

http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=52158866-fb00-49c8-be07-409d5964bf43

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Back to Earth Part 2

To answer yesterday's trivia question, this is a picture taken by journalist Don Blair in 1969. Don was on the aircraft carrier that recovered Apollo 11 after its return from the first moon landing. He spotted Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on another world, strumming a ukulele in the crew's isolation chamber.

Click on the post title to read Don's account of how he took the picture.

Cane Break

A most welcome reissue-here's a review of a great long out of print live album done in 1972 by the late great jazz violinist Don "Sugar Cane" Harris.

Cane, who left the building in 1999, was perhaps best known for his early work with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers as well as Frank Zappa and the Mothers. His first band was started in the 1950s and was called "Don and Dewey"; in the early 1970s another electric violin player named David LaFlamme wrote a smoking tribute instrumental song by the same name which graced the second album by It's a Beautiful Day, "Marrying Maiden".

Click on the post title for the review, and click below to see Don at work:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7pv-rPJWVs

New Roy Orbison Box Set

This is long overdue-Barbara Orbison has finally released a 4 CD set covering all phases of Roy's career called "The Soul of Rock and Roll".

Includes a live version of "It's Over" recorded only 2 days before Roy's untimely death in 1988...

Sunday Music Video

Maria!

Belated Saturday Classic Music Video

A day late...

We Travel The Spaceways

Spiral Galaxy NGC 3370 from Hubble
Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA);
Acknowledgement: A. Reiss et al. (JHU)

Explanation: Is this what our own Milky Way Galaxy looks like from far away? Similar in size and grand design to our home Galaxy (although without the central bar), spiral galaxy NGC 3370 lies about 100 million light-years away toward the constellation of the Lion (Leo).

Recorded above in exquisite detail by the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys, the big, beautiful face-on spiral is not only photogenic, but has proven sharp enough to study individual stars known as Cepheids. These pulsating stars have been used to accurately determine NGC 3370's distance.

NGC 3370 was chosen for this study because in 1994 the spiral galaxy was also home to a well studied stellar explosion -- a Type Ia supernova. Combining the known distance to this standard candle supernova, based on the Cepheid measurements, with observations of supernovas at even greater distances, has helped to reveal the size and expansion rate of the entire Universe itself.

Big Isle Triathalon Results

The Ironman took place Saturday at Kailua-Kona, and the winners were Craig Alexander from Australia and Great Britain's Chrissie Wellington.

Sunday Music Digest

Ukuleles made in...France?

http://www.babygadget.net/2008/10/olivelse_ukulele.php

The internet didn't kill the record-store clerk...

http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/Content?oid=867562

A new Satchmo movie

http://www.gigwise.com/news/46692/Forest-Whitaker-To-Play-Louis-Armstrong-In-New-Biopic

Sliders-Sonny Landreth meets David Lindley!

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/features/20081009-9999-1w09slide.html

And a chat with jazz trombonist Roswell Rudd (yes, he talks about playing with NRBQ)

http://www.jazz.com/features-and-interviews/2008/10/11/in-conversation-with-roswell-rudd

"See You At The Fay-ah!"

It's Sandwich Fair time.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Back to Earth

Name that uke player!

Mule Train

A ride into the Grand Canyon from a different angle-the North Rim via the North Kaibab trail, which is much less-traveled than the Bright Angel Trail on the other side (which I hiked down in 1976).

Includes a scary bit of video shot by the article's author from the back of a mule named Fred!

Top 10 US Hiking Trails

Some good ones, but NH missed the cut? Blasphemy!

We Travel The Spaceways

Bright Bolide
Credit & Copyright: Howard Edin (Oklahoma City Astronomy Club)

Explanation: On September 30, a spectacular bolide or fireball meteor surprised a group of amateur astronomers enjoying dark night skies over the Oklahoma panhandle's Black Mesa State Park in the Midwestern US.

Flashing past familiar constellations Taurus (top) and Orion, the extremely bright meteor was captured by a hillside camera overlooking the 2008 Okie-Tex Star Party. Astronomy enthusiast Howard Edin reports that he was looking in the opposite direction at the time, but saw the whole observing field light up and at first thought someone had turned on their car headlights.

So far the sighting of a such a bright bolide meteor, produced as a space rock is vaporized hurtling through Earth's atmosphere, really is a matter of luck. But that could change. Earlier this week the discovery and follow-up tracking of tiny asteroid 2008 TC3 allowed astronomers to predict the time and location of its impact with the atmosphere. While no ground-based sightings of the fireball seem to have been reported, this first ever impact prediction was confirmed by at least some detections of an air burst and bright flash on October 7th over northern Sudan.

Just Cruisin'

A look at music theme cruises. Also some other ones.

Carmen on Kaua'i

In 1951, 4 years before she left the building, samba singer and movie star Carmen Miranda visited Kaua'i to give a couple of shows.

"Later, when asked if the Portuguese spoken on Kaua‘i was the same as in Brazil, she replied, “No, no, it’s a great deal different. The accent is very different. It’s like in America. Those in the north talk with a different accent from those in the south.”

But as to men, she replied humorously, “Oh, those big bad wolves are alike anywhere you go in the world!”

Kaua'i Made Ready For X-mas

The collective gets to work.

Upgrade to a Firesign Site

Thomas has added a blog to his Chromium Switch Firesign Theatre fansite, as well as never-before-published stories from "Everything You Know Is Wrong!", as well as some other goodies.

Kaua'i Receives Conservation Award

The Garden Isle was cited for its efforts to acquire conservation land.

Vanished Islands of the Pacific

A new book from University of Hawai'i Press...

Saturday Music Digest

Working out to stupid music?

http://www.sacbee.com/107/story/1299540.html

Speaking of which...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20081010.WYNTON10/TPStory/Entertainment

A little uke with your wine

http://www.examiner.com/x-1050-SF-Weekend-Getaways-Examiner~y2008m10d11-A-Little-Uke-with-your-Wine

Why the Fab 4 never did Vegas

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20081010.TOGETHER10/TPStory/Entertainment

And music opens some doors in New Orleans

http://www.uticaod.com/news/x1272969511/-The-music-is-opening-up-doors-for-other-stuff

Friday, October 10, 2008

Daily Scary Video

Auwe!

Straight Flush

I happened to be on NH Rt. 25 in Meredith yesterday when the Meredith Fire Department decided to open up this hydrant in order to get rid of the 5 to 30 pounds of waste that some experts say are spackled and pasted to its inside.

Music Video Of The Day

Naima by John Coltrane, with tonight's interpretation by Pharoah Sanders.

Jake Shimabukuro Sighting

(press release)

10/10/2008 - BOLLING AIR FORCE BASE, D.C. (AFNS) -- Air Force Band members from here will be in the national spotlight in a Veterans Day extravaganza when the symphony orchestra and Singing Sergeants join celebrities and recording artists Nov. 10 on public television.

Band members collaborate with two-time Grammy winner Patti LaBelle, country western singer Clint Black, Academy Award-winning actor Cliff Robertson, and ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro.

He Walks By Night

Got an update earlier today from Phil "Rocky Rococo" Proctor-the new Firesign Theatre "Box of Danger" CD box set is doing very well at Amazon.com-#1 in Spoken Word, #17 in CD Box Set...

Haleakala For the Birds

The high point on Mau'i has a TV transmitter antenna farm that will soon be dismantled. But the birds get first priority.

All Fall Down

The city of New York has invited the public to Governors Isle today, to watch them demolish "Liberty Village" on the southern part of the rockpile. This was built long after we lived there (1988) and by next summer will be a picnic area!

This weekend will be the last of the season on G.I. before it shuts down 'til next May. It's also the final weekend for the NYC Waterfalls.

Hawai'i International Film Fest Opens

A new twist this year-a music video showcase.

Lost Crosswalks of Kailua

"You can't get there from here."

Friday Music DIgest

A new jazz voice from New Orleans

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=24099

"Just Creep"

http://www.stereophile.com/digitalprocessors/1008wad

Yet another original band name-Rupa and the April Fishes!

http://www.mercurynews.com/music/ci_10680288

Mama Africa sighted...

http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/653893

And ono New Orleans band Galactic brings its music to Vermont

http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081010/FEATURES02/810100304/1011/FEATURES02

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Old Timer

After living here in NH fulltime for almost 40 years, today I finally stopped, took a closer look at, and photographed the ancient White Oak tree in Laconia. It's about a mile north of Laconia's downtown on North Main Street, next to Perley Pond. In Saddle Hill terms, it's about 9 driving miles distant, much less as the crow flies.

This tree is over 400 years old, and the trunk has a circumference of 20 feet. It's the oldest such tree in the state.

Hard Rock Alert

Yet another visit to Lower Sandwich, NH...this is the infamous "Great Wall of Sandwich", located right around the corner from the house where Claude Rains lived.

Not shown is the equal-length portion directly behind me.

Early Colours

A look at one of the local Tree Tunnels from earlier today...we're at about 65% color here. This is at about 1,000 feet above sea level...

Thursday Music Digest (Bonus Edition)

Wow, a lot of stories today-all good stuff too!

Japanese blues-

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/arts/20081010TDY14004.htm

Stamp out the Beatles!

http://www.retrotogo.com/2008/10/george-harrison.html

A look at legendary New Orleans modern jazz band Astral Project:

http://www.louisianaweekly.com/news.php?viewStory=428

All-star guitar tribute to Les Paul in Cleveland!

http://www.cleveland.com/music/index.ssf/2008/10/slash_richie_sambora_billy_gib.html

And last but not least, Klaus (Not Santa)

http://undercover.com.au/News-Story.aspx?id=6516

Grab A Bib!

Maine and Massachusetts lobster prices have fallen 20% in the past 7 days!

R.I.P. Lloyd Thaxton

(Photo from Lloyd's blog)

Lloyd Thaxton, the LA version of Dick Clark, has left the building. We watched his syndicated show in Hawai'i starting in 1964.

Lloyd had his own blog here on Blogger, and was active to the end!

http://lloydthaxton.blogspot.com/

New Stupid Music Release

"Boots, Buckles and Spurs" celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the National Finals Rodeo, and includes tunes by Bob Wills, Gene Autry, Johnny Cash, and (of course) The Sons of the Pioneers...

Thursday Music Digest

Roots music from Old Crow

http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/news.php?viewStory=63331

Bossa Nova in Massachusetts

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081009/ENTERTAIN/810090306/-1/ENTERTAIN

Indian jazz

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08283/918386-42.stm

Diana Krall sings in Taiwan:

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/art/music/2008/10/09/177915/Jazz-diva.htm

And another great name for a new band-Noah and the Whale!

http://www.redandblack.com/news/2008/10/08/Variety/British.Band.Makes.Melodic.U.s.Debut-3475359.shtml

D'OH!

Forgot to do a Wednesday music video...

Cratering In

Spending the night on the top of Mau'i...

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Cruise Co. Backs Out of Hawai'i Market

For now, at least.

Blues Brothers

Johnny and Edgar Winter will do a rare live show together this weekend.

Two Flying Stories

"I embarked on two very different aerial journeys: in a whisper-quiet glider over O'ahu's North Shore, and in a swooping helicopter over remote portions of Kaua'i."

Maunawili Valley Hiker Rescue

Out behind Mt. Olomana...

Talk About a Guitar Fest

Click on the post title to see the video...

Weezer have set no less than five world records with their brand new video, ‘Troublemaker’, taken from their recently released ‘Red Album’.The band broke the records while shooting the clip, and had Guinness World Records official, Stuart Claxton come along to monitor and certify the record attempts.

The band and their friends set new records for Largest Game of Dodgeball, Most People in a Custard Pie Fight, Most People Riding on a Skateboard, Largest Air Guitar Ensemble, and Longest Guitar Hero World Tour Marathon.

In addition, Pat Wilson played the World's Smallest Drum Kit in the video, a record the band is trying to get in the book as an official record.

New Orleans Music Seminar

This weekend at Dillard University.

Rad Gumbo

I first saw the Radiators live about 15 years ago. The New Orleans band is still going strong.

Wednesday Music Digest

Jazz from Yemen!

http://www.cjnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15491&Itemid=86

A new release from Kaua'i resident Todd Rundgren

http://www.mountainx.com/ae/2008/100808the_personal_and_the_universal

A new music education center opens in the Big Easy

http://www.loyno.edu/news/story/2008/10/6/1597

Producer Russ Titelman has worked with many of the best...

http://www.ny1.com/content/features/86800/one-on-1--titelman-produces-the-songs-that-make-the-world-sing/Default.aspx

And an eyewitness to rock and roll history

http://newcastle-news.com/2008/10/07/an-eyewitness-to-rock-%E2%80%99n%E2%80%99-roll-history

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Daily Classic Music Vid

Welcome back!

The "Green Wave" Returns

Nice story about the revival of the sports program at New Orleans' Tulane University, post-Katrina.

As is usually the case, Tulane sports has a historic connection with us folks here in central NH, as former Tulane Athletic Director Chet Gladchuk held the same job at New Hampton School before he headed down south to Boston, and then eventually to the Crescent City. Chet's dad was also a Tulane athlete.

Dylan Leftovers

A review of the "new" Bobby Dylan CD, "Tell Tale Signs".

"Looks Tasty!"

A look at the 2009 Zagat restaurant survey.

Rare Kaua'i Bird Makes a Comeback

The Puaiohi is back!

Tuesday Music Digest

Ray Benson, the "country Jewish Giant"?

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1222017470628&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Jimmy Thackery sighting

http://www.tbnweekly.com/editorial/local_entertainment/concerts/content_articles/100608_leconcert-04.txt

An orchestra specializing in "cartoon jazz"

http://www.voanews.com/english/AmericanLife/2008-09-08-voa28.cfm

Opening night at SF Jazz

http://www.contracostatimes.com/teens/ci_10651174

Leroy Jones in N.O.

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=30640

And a report on the UPCOMING benefit for original NRBQ guitarist Steve Ferguson, who is battling cancer:

http://www.louisvillemojo.com/blogs/Blog.cfm?EntryID=71794&BlogID=5829

Monday, October 6, 2008

Grand Canyon Skywalk Hits It Big

First-season numbers...

Less-Than-Stupid Music Image of the Week


We Win.

The Boston Red Sox advance in the tournament. No click-on-title link yet, but that will be soon come.

UPDATE: Click on post title for box score.

Asteroid Up-date

No news, but click and refresh the post title for updates.

Scary Real Estate Story

!

Live Vid From 2007-Odetta on Governors Island

Wow.

Riding the Waves

youtube takes a boat ride...

Mysterious Traveler

Big light in sky slated to appear in east.

(AP) Astronomers say a small asteroid is about to make a fiery but harmless dive into Earth's atmosphere early Tuesday morning over Africa.

Harvard scientists announced late Monday afternoon that the unnamed asteroid will burn up in the sky, making a fireball that people in northern Africa should be able to see.

The rock is between 3 feet and 15 feet in diameter.

It's expected to enter Earth's atmosphere above Sudan at 10:46 p.m. EDT Monday, which is just before dawn in Africa.

Music Video of the Day

Flo and Eddie pop up on Gary Shandling's show!

Projected Hawai'i Air Capacity Down

"US Mainland flights are expected to decrease 18.2 percent to 1.4 million, led by a 19.3 percent decline in visitors from the US West region. ... "

New Pearl Harbor Book

From Bess Press-preorders now being accepted.

"MacKinnon Simpson's newest book, USS Arizona - Warship • Tomb • Monument, pays tribute to the ship, her crews, and her symbolism through the years."

"The Great Stearman Men of the West"

The title is a line from a great book I have mentioned here before called "Flight of Passage", which is about two teenaged brothers from New Jersey who flew a Piper Cub across the US in 1966. The Boeing Stearman figured prominently in their life stories.

Here's a story about a pilot for Hawaiian Airlines who gives Stearman rides from Dillingham Field on Kaena Point.

Seeing the Universe From Hawai'i

I'm hoping to do this myself next year...I have had a standing invite from an astronomy prof at UH Hilo to take a tour for almost 10 years now!

End of a New York Era

The original Carvel ice cream store just north of New York City served its last cone Saturday night.

Hawai'i Hotels See Big Revenue Drop

-$136 Million.

Monday Music Digest

Critics' picks from the Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2008/10/04/critics_picks___pop_music

Two-fisted blueswomen:

http://www.bloomingtonalternative.com/articles/2008/10/05/9742

What this generation lacks-The Beatles!

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2008/oct/05/young-people-lack-empowering-force-like-the/

A new interactive web site teaches lead guitar online

http://www.wireservice.ca/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=471

And Harry Connick Jr. gets ready for X-mas...

http://www.ibtimes.com/prnews/20081006/ny-columbia-connickjr.htm

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Office Cat

Update from Japon

Well, DUH!

ScienceDaily (Oct. 3, 2008) — Supporting what many of us who are not musically talented have often felt, new research reveals that trained musicians really do think differently than the rest of us. Vanderbilt University psychologists have found that professionally trained musicians more effectively use a creative technique called divergent thinking, and also use both the left and the right sides of their frontal cortex more heavily than the average person.

The research by Crystal Gibson, Bradley Folley and Sohee Park is currently in press at the journal Brain and Cognition.

Daily Music Video

Maryann Price shows her piano side. She's good people, she is!

Can't Get Enough

The Shaft ukulele song story gains wings

Community Radio on West Kaua'i

The main station, KKCR, is up on the north side in Hanalei-KAQA helps them out down Waimea way.

Flying the Mails

Many pilots have Walter Mitty dreams of flying the mail to Australian sheep stations. Here's a chronicle of how it's done.

Sunday Music Digest

A New York guitarist writes a song about the soon-to-be-gone Shea Stadium:

http://www.spinner.com/2008/10/04/guitar-virtuoso-devotes-song-to-shea-stadium/

A look at the 2008 JazzMandu Festival in Nepal...

http://www.wavemag.com.np/issue/article2903.html

Carrie Underwood sighted in London

http://www.wavemag.com.np/issue/article2903.html

Ukuleles for Peace in Toronto

http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1232895

And a new release from Wine Country-

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/hawaii/detail?&entry_id=31020

Paging Steve Goodman

Chi Cubs 1
LA Dodgers 3

Final-LA wins series 3-0

"The Cubs’ latest flameout has to be among the most galling, considering they fell flat against the Dodgers after their best regular season since 1945."

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Saturday Classic Music Video

As I have mentioned a few times in the past 2 weeks, the Makaha Sons returned to New Hampshire for yet another benefit show.

But here's where they got their start, with IZ.

Sweden Meets New Orleans

The New Orleans music scene has a recent Swedish transplant, name of Theresa Andersson.

And in related news, TVLand the other day showed a classic "Beverly Hillbillies" re-run where Swedish actress Julie Newmar moved in with Jed and Granny to study their accents for her upcoming movie role...

Mapping the Spaceways

"It makes for one heck of a project mission statement. Explore the nature of dark matter, chart the Solar System in exhaustive detail, discover and analyze rare objects such as neutron stars and black hole binaries, and map out the structure of the Galaxy.

The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) is, in the words of Jeff Kantor, LSST data management project manager, "a proposed ground-based 6.7 meter effective diameter (8.4 meter primary mirror), 10 square-degree-field telescope that will provide digital imaging of faint astronomical objects across the entire sky, night after night." Phew.

Why Helen Likes The Frank Sinatra Stamps

Here's a great chronicle of one of my assorted zany relatives, Helen Dexter, who studied to be an actress in New York City in the early 1940s. She liked to listen to the Big Bands.

Half a century later, she would be the founder of a school and orphanage in a remote part of India!

She's still with us...

John Lennon's "Lost Weekend"

An interview with onetime Lennon girlfriend May Pang, who has a new photo book out. She in fact took the final picture of L & M together...

Stormy Thursday

The Sandwich Mountain Range, October 2, 2008. Taken in Sandwich, of course!

We Travel the Spaceways X 2

One of the bloggers I link to on the sidebar is Ernie (Not Bert), who shares out a lot of his nice photos (as well as some 65 or so Christmas albums each November and December). Click on the post title for his latest adventure, photographing the Space Shuttles in Florida.

Plate Lunch Goes Uptown

A new twist on a Hawai'ian staple...

A New Blues Museum Opens

In Indianola, Mississippi. That would be BB King's hometown!

Solar Power at Hawai'i Airports

Hoku Scientific will install photovoltaic power systems at airports across Hawai'i, the company announced Friday.

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

A new guitar album by various artists has been released. Mixed reviews.

And Your Bird Can Sing

A record store owner picks his 5 fave Beatles tunes.

Saturday Music Digest

More stupid music-Miss Leslie and Her Juke Jointers!

http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/column.asp?xid=296

Classical music meets the iPhone

http://www.macworld.com/article/135902/2008/10/itunes_classical.html

Jazz in Hartford

http://blogs.courant.com/richard_kamins/2008/10/the-world-of-jazz-comes-to-har.html

Reissue of a Miles Davis classic

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/stories/DN-kindofblue_0928gl.ART.State.Edition1.26dbed6.html

And The Edge and U2 offer aid to New Orleans

http://www.u2france.com/article13208.html

Friday, October 3, 2008

Classic Music Video of the Day

Los!

This is perhaps the best video Los Lobos ever did. It combines their music with Alfred Hitchcock and then throws in the epic collapse of Galloping Gertie.

A Taste Of The Grape

The latest in the never-ending saga of late 60's group Moby Grape...

We Travelled the Spaceways

After an 11 year search, amateur astronomer Mike Brown is giving up his search for new planets.

excerpts (click post title for the whole thing)

"After 11 years of (robotically) scanning the skies almost every single night... I am done, as of last night...

The sky-scanning has evolved greatly over the past 11 years.The very first version, started in July 1998, consisted of real people at the telescope taking real photographic plates (!) of the sky...

When the photographic plates were finished we sent them to David Monet at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Flagstaff who digitized the photographic plates using an outrageously precise mega-scanner he had painstakingly develop just for these purposes.

Soon after the initial survey ended, the telescope got a giant digital camera and a robotic brain... Chad Trujillo... came on board to lead this new effort. Within a year we had a first major discovery: Quaoar...The robotic telescope soon got a second generation camera... and David Rabinowitz... began working with us. From 2003 until 2005... we found Sedna, about 2/3 the size of Pluto... Orcus, half the size of Pluto... Then, in one four month period, we found the big three: Haumea (3/4 the size of Pluto), Makemake (2/3 the size of Pluto), and Eris (5% bigger than Pluto!)...

That's it. No more coming up. We have nothing up our sleeves (well, OK, we haven't completed the analysis of last night's data, so there is a miniscule chance that we happened to make a huge discover on the last night of our 11 year program, but that doesn't seem so likely)...

Starting next January my new student Michele Bannister is going to start a new project; she will be looking for new planets every night... from Australia. The southern sky is the last pristine territory to search for dwarf planets."

USS Grunion Found

Navy officials at Pearl Harbor have confirmed that they have found the sunken wreckage of the World War II submarie USS Grunion, which sank near the Aleutian Islands...

O'ahu's Most Haunted Places

Watch out for the Night Marchers!

R.I.P. Nick Reynolds

Kingston Trio co-founder Nick Reynolds has left the building. Nick helped start the band after meeting Bob Shane, who in turn introduced Nick to Dave Guard. Shane and Guard had previously played together in Guard's native state of Hawai'i. The rest as they say is history!

End of an Island Landmark?

Hilo Hattie's has filed for bankruptcy...the company was started in 1963 on Kaua'i.

Bridge to Nowhere

I stumbled across this fascinating little covered bridge Thursday way out in the middle of nowhere in the burg of North Sandwich. It's called the Durgin Bridge, was built in 1869, and has a fascinating history, including its role as a waypoint on the Underground Railroad. Click the post title for more...

Friday Music Digest

There are several blues cruises out there. Here's a blues train!

http://thesewardphoenixlog.com/news/show/3411

What's your musical taste?

http://www.southwestiowanews.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20148320&BRD=2703&PAG=461&dept_id=558054&rfi=6

Singer Eric Carmen popped for DUI

http://www.ohio.com/entertainment/enjoy/30074239.html

Blog coverage of DC's upcoming Duke Ellington Jazz Festival

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2008/10/02/duke-ellington-jazz-fest-coverage-at-black-plastic-bag/

And Chuck Mangione pays tribute to Dizzy Gillespie:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08276/916663-42.stm

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Pie Material

Sighted today at Moulton's Farm here in Meredith NH. Believe it or not, they are also still picking and selling sweet corn.

I had 3 ears for suppah (65 cents an ear, but it had just been picked).

On Golden Pond

Yes, that is the real Golden Pond.

Yes, this picture was taken by yours truly late this afternoon (October 2) at the northeast end of the pond.

And yes, that is someone water skiing.

Music Video of the Day

Steevearino!

HAL To Add New Flights

Auwe! HAL is getting 4 new Boeing 717-200s, and will add an additional 40 flights a week from Honolulu to Kaua'i, 27 new flights a week to Mau'i, 25 more to Kona, and 18 more to Hilo.

SCOTUS To Rule on Hawaiian Lands Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to hear a case that will determine if the state of Hawai'i can sell or exchange land once owned by the former Hawaiian monarchy or have to wait until the claims of Native Hawaiians are resolved.

The Day The Music Died + 50 Years

Several Buddy Holly packages are coming out, including the "Apartment Tapes"...

Congo Square Rhythms Festival

Here's the final rundown from WWOZ on the details for this weekend's mayhem, which will be held at Bayou St. John, at the corner of Orleans Avenue and North Jefferson Davis Parkway in N'Awlins.

As noted previously the event will not be held at Armstrong Park due to ongoing electrical work there.

Island Fair

Yet more doings on Governors Island...

Another Visitor Drowns on Kaua'i

Right near the Beach House Restaurant...

Thursday Music Digest

Bonnie Raitt sighted

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/ticket/story/486391.html

New Orleans legend Allen Toussaint hits the road

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081002/ENT04/810020331/1039/ENT04

Dave Brubeck at Monterey

http://www.courant.com/hc-riffscol.artoct02,0,1427827.column

More new music reviewed:

http://www.bradenton.com/134/story/921787.html

And another gabbin' session with Uncle Tom Moffatt

http://www.midweek.com/content/columns/utg_article/uncle_toms_gabbin135/

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Electrical Banana Sighted

An interview with Donovan Leitch.

Roy Sakuma's Song of Hope

A nice story!

Doing Things Cheap in the Big Apple

The NY Times names Governors Island the 6th borough of the city!

Classic Music Video of the Day

An oldie but a goodie!

Garden Isle Cheap Eats

"My rule of thumb: If it's sitting on the counter and looks homemade, it's probably delicious. I've bought kalua pig, coconut and butter mochi, ahi poke, fried chicken and countless other items this way for much less than any menu item, and have obviously lived to tell the tale."

Some New Releases

Reviews of some new music of all types.

Helping Displaced Airline Workers

Honolulu is using a $1.4 million grant to help those locals hurt by the closure of Aloha Airlines and ATA...

NY Harbor Sailing Festival

Includes a sailboat race around Governors Island.

Don't Try This at Home

A New Hampshire man recently completed a thru-hike on the 2,174 mile long Appalachian Trail in just 54 days, 21 hours and 12 minutes. That works out to about 40 miles a day!

10/01 Music Digest

Preview of the Te Vaka 2008 tour

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20081001/GETPUBLISHED/80930067/-1/SPORTSFRONT

Uncle Chickie staging a charity auction

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/jazz-legends-return-forever-paid/story.aspx?guid=%7BD8366561-492B-47A6-9CCE-D08C5BC6ED89%7D&dist=hppr

Big Al Anderson heads to Durango

http://www.gazette.com/articles/songwriters_41188___article.html/expo_durango.html

A new stupid music group from (where else?) Texas...

http://www.mysanantonio.com/entertainment/columnists/jim_beal/29943039.html

And a nice appreciation, with video samples, of New Orleans drummer Earl Palmer

http://blogs.courant.com/richard_kamins/2008/09/his-name-was-earl.html