Wednesday, July 30

Martha does Emily. And Leonard; and Shrek.



She has family cred:


Martha Wainwright (born May 8, 1976) is a Canadian-American folk-rock singer-songwriter. She is the sister of Rufus Wainwright and the daughter of Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle.


I have to admit I never heard of her till listening to her version of one of my favorite Pink Floyd songs, See Emily Play written by Syd Barrett: quite a haunting version of it in fact.


Background: The song was reportedly about a girl named Emily, whom Barrett claimed he saw while sleeping in the woods after taking a hallucinogenic drug. Barrett later stated that the story about sleeping in the woods and seeing a girl before him was made up "...all for publicity."


According to A Saucerful of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Odyssey, by Nicholas Schaffner, Emily is the Honourable Emily Young (b. March 13, 1951), daughter of Wayland Hilton Young, 2nd Baron Kennet, and nicknamed "the psychedelic schoolgirl" at the UFO Club.


An article in Mojo magazine called "See the Real Emily" supposedly shows a picture of Barrett's Emily.





Martha doing Far Away (pretty, up close video):



And being a Wainwright, you must do a Leonard Cohen song (or two). This is

I'm your man (2005)

followed by her brother Rufus singing Hallalujah from Shrek:





Rufus, Hallalujah:


Friday, July 25

Happy Birthday Mick.

Happy 65th Mick.


Sir Michael Phillip "Mick" Jagger, Kt (born July 26, 1943)

He is a Golden Globe-winning and two-time Grammy-winning

English rock musician, actor, songwriter,

record and film producer and businessman.

He is best known as the lead vocalist and frontman

of the rock and roll band The Rolling Stones.

An appropriately named song by Mick, Charmed Life:



Picture made from some of my stuff

I've kept over the years:

(1972 Life Magazine)


I had remembered it when it came out, never saved it.

I (re)-bought it on Ebay a couple years ago.

Ticket stubs from $ 6.50 to almost a $ 100.00.


I hope I have that much energy at 65 (and money).


Hundreds of songs and versions of songs are available from youtube.


Here is one that was made this year with Amy Winehouse.


No special reason other than he will never, ever, have to beg; for money or for sex.


Really. Ha.


Ain't too proud to beg:




Qantas has never crashed. Still.




I have only flown twice. One bit of trivia I've always remembered is that
Qantas Airlines has never had a plane crash.

A video taken by a passenger of their close call is on most news sites.

From Fox News
QF Flight 30 from London to Melbourne had left Hong Kong airport after a stopover at 9 a.m. local time when a loud explosion ripped through the plane's underside.

Some of the 346 terrified passengers onboard the flight last night told of how debris — including bits of wood — flew through the first-class cabin and oxygen masks dropped down.

Experts said the hole, measuring about 2mx4m, could have been caused by metal fatigue, an internal explosion or a combination of both.

Any breach of an aircraft's skin above 10,000 feet can lead to a loud explosion, de-pressurization and an immediate loss of cabin pressure.

The plane — under the command of Captain John Bartels — was travelling at 29,000 feet when it lost pressure and descended 20,000 feet before making an emergency landing at Manila airport.


Close call. Whew.

I thought I'd add the mention of this from the movie Rainman.


Tuesday, July 15

Garden stuff: 2008.

Summer is officially here. I'm starting to get some morning glories. I took these pictures just before work this morning.

Right now they are at a manageable size - but they are extending their vines, reaching out as we speak.

I tie up strings so they can grow up over the garden fence they are on.

They end up covering the corner of my garage and the same with my side porch.

More pictures as they progress. I like them at this size because you notice individual flowers more, but as they grow bigger, then you notice all the color at once. It's a trade off I guess.



Morning glorious.

Corner of my side porch where the morning glories are already reaching the porch roof.

This is a good place for revolving plants in and out of the sun. I switch them all every couple of days.


Glories and others.

I was standing on a lawn chair, tying up strings for the morning glories to climb on.

This was shooting over my head and over the edge of the porch roof - right into afternoon sun.

Worked out fine. I was even lucky with the focus.



Morning glory vine.

Also just off the porch, I have some red lily flowers growing. Aimers gave me bulbs a couple years ago.

Each year they get bigger and prettier. Wish I knew the name of them.

Nice thing about them is I don't have to dig them up in the winter.

Must be because they are close to the house and don't get as cold / frozen.


Red lilys.