She was writing about all the things people are doing during this stay-at-home period.
She commented on coronactivities.
I love that word and I am going to embrace it.
Ms. Hadley was referring to learning to bake bread or reading (or attempting to read) Finnegan’s Wake.
Which calls to mind an anecdote that I cannot place right now but someone (maybe William Shirer?) who said he could never get through Finnegan’s Wake but by chance he was somewhere where James Joyce was doing a reading of the book.
The man wrote that the text came alive when read in a Irish accent and phrasing.
But I digress.
I also have never opened a copy of Finnegan’s Wake.
STILL!
In defence or defense (depending on which side of the Atlantic Ocean you are on – I love how my spell check throws out defence) of thinking extremely stupid deep thoughts, let me say this.
JUST DO IT.
I am allowed to do so.
Browse pages of cowboy boots I will never order and wouldn’t wear if I did.
But I can imagine it.
Reread old books for the fun of it.
I looked up Double Trouble for Rupert and Triple Trouble for Rupert on archive.org.
Books I haven’t thought about in 50 years.
They are still worth the time.
I log on to the website for the Desoto Beach Hotel on Tybee just to watch the live beach cam.
I plan to be there on my 60th birthday this summer.
I plan to get up and watch the sunrise out of the Atlantic Ocean.
What has that to do with social distancing?
Will that help locate toilet paper?
Will it help pay or provide for all the out of work barbers?
Will it hurry along my stimulous check?
Not much, nope, nope and nope.
But I get to spend my time planning.
I am reminded of the scene in the movie Amadeus where it is suggest to Mozart that his choice of source material is not what it should be.
“Surely you can choose more elevated themes,” says the Baron Von Swieten.
“Elevated? What does that mean? Elevated! Come on now, be honest. Wouldn’t you all rather listen to your hairdressers than Hercules? Or Horatius? Or Orpheus? All those old bores.” replies a flustered Mozart.
I am spending my stay at home thinking extremely stupid deep thoughts.
Nothing against the corornactivies.
I think it is great folks are cooking and eating and reading.
Going back to Ms. Hadley, “This isn’t just about giving yourself a break from thinking about the coronavirus, although God knows we could all do with one. You cannot read dystopian headlines all day without collapsing in on yourself like a dying star. Instead, it’s about giving yourself permission to still be a human being.”
Permission to still be a human being.
Why?
As Mr. Joyce writes in Finnegans Wake, to “Make me feel good in the moontime.“
If nothing else about the coronavirus news coverage, I do enjoy some of the $5 words that are being used in the stories.
This morning in USA Today, I read, “To anthropomorphize, the virus will come back here looking for new victims.
Epidemiologists will be watching carefully.
There’s a cautionary tale from the 2003 outbreak of SARS in Toronto, which infected 375 people there and killed 44. The city took expanded precautions beginning in March, but they were lifted in May when it appeared the outbreak was over. It wasn’t”
that freedom highway Nobody can make us turn back land made for you, me
The other night before she had to go to bed, my grand daughter asked me to sing the ‘Goodnight Song.”
There isn’t a lot of common overall agreement on anything these days.
You might get 73% of the people to agree that the sun rises in the east.
I beleive however that you could get 100% on my inability to sing.
It is odd as I come from a family of noted singers and musicians.
But not me.
Just not musically inclined.
At least from a performance point of view.
I took piano lessons for 3 months when I was in third grade.
Then the teacher had a nervous stroke and had to give up teaching.
Draw your own conclusions from that true episode in my life.
Later on I discovered I have no natural sense of rythym.
I have to count in the gaps of ‘Hail to the Victors Valiant’ or I will stand up in Michigan Stadium and yell ‘HAIL’ all by myself.
I sing good enough for the grand children and that’s good enough for me.
The Good Night Song is usually Good Night Ladies using an arrangement by a folk song trio named the Limeliters.
You might think it hard for 1 person to sing in three part harmony but when you can’t sing, normal rules don’t apply.
Last night I thought of singing Good Night Irene.
Which led down a trip across Mr. Lincoln’s mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone.
I was thinking what exactly were the lyrics to Good Night Irene?
Which, when you think about it, is a dumb question for a song that goes
“Irene, good night, Irene, good night Good night, Irene, good night, Irene I’ll see you in my dreams”
In my mind I could hear a version of the song sung by the Irish Rovers.
My Dad loved the Irish Rovers.
My Dad loved the Limeliters too.
Which is why we had their albums in the stacks of records next to the family stereo.
But that wasn’t the version I was thinking of.
I was thinking of a version that I heard on TV when I was a kid.
I can’t remember who was watching with me, but it was a LIVE FROM WOLFTRAP program on PBS featuring Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger.
The more I thought about the more I wanted to see if I could find and I was off to the Information Super Highway.
I was really hoping to find a video of the concert.
It wasn’t the song I really wanted to hear again.
What was on my mind was a story that Arlo Guthrie told before he sang the song.
Mr. Guthrie related how one time during the depression, his father, Woody Guthrie, was out traveling with his band and found himself both in Chicago and out of money.
Mr. Guthrie told how his father and friends walked into a record company and Woody Guthrie and his band made a recording of ‘Good Night Irene.’
It was so good, the record company offered Woody and the band a contract.
Woody looked them there record company fellers in the eye and said, “No Sir! $50.”
Them there record company fellers were quick to hand over $50 for a contract giving them the rights to recording.
“My Dad and his band walked out with the $50”, said Mr. Guthrie.
And then went to 27 other record companies in Chicago.
As a side note, during my daily ZOOM meeting for work, someone asked what concerts everyone one was watching online, mentioning Elton John and the One World: Together At Home Global Special.
I announced I watched Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger from 1978 on YouTube.
The conversation paused for a second and went back to Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani.
As I said, I watched the video but something wasn’t right.
Good Night Irene wasn’t in there.
Nor was another song I remembered.
A song about the folk hero, Reuben Clamso, who defended the New England coast from rogue giant clams.
To this day, at any random moment, I am apt to break out in full voice and the chorus;
Poor old Reuben Clamsoooooooooo Clamso, boys, Clamso Poor old Reuben Clamsoooooooooo Clamso, me boys, Clamsoooooooooooo
Try this if you ever want to get some stares in a mall.
But it wasn’t in the video.
What goes on here I wonder.
Were there other shows?
I looked to the YouTube page.
The user who posted the video wrote;
“I am unsure if this is the complete show or not – I have heard that the original airing was about 90minutes, and rebroadcasts were cut down. This is the only known version that I am aware of.“
The YouTube version is 70 minutes.
There is 20 minutes of the show I remember watching that is missing.
Further down in the comments was this statement,
“This is the cut-down one. The original airing was live, and they cut a couple of tunes. I remember, as a teenager who lived in the DC area, calling up WETA, the station that aired it, and bitching, and I ended up speaking to the actual guy who edited it. He was really nice, and explained that they had to to cut it down to meet something-or-another that the other stations they distributed to needed. Near as I know, the original never existed outside of the original broadcast.”
This is right up there with Hadley’s Suitcase but another time.
Interesting to the point almost beyond belief.
On a random Saturday night in August when I was 18, I watched this show.
A show that, “Near as I know, the original never existed outside of the original broadcast.”
Somehow it stuck in my brain and apparently though I heard it once, I still sing RUEBEN CLAMSOOOOO.
I have a relative who works at that PBS station in Washington and he is going to hear from me about any possible archives.
From working in TV, I know how often this type of request comes in.
“I was on the BOZO show in 1965. Is it possible that your archives …”
Archives?
At a TV station?
Let me say here that keeping reels of film and boxes of video tape is nothing like keeping a copy of the daily newspaper but I digress.
And I will reach out to my cousin in DC.
So I watched Arlo and Pete from 1978.
There were lots of other YouTube clips to watch and sing along with.
And I did.
Two in particular.
They were both from another concert at Wolf Trap and again in August but this time in 1993.
I got chills just listening to the opening chords.
There is so much history behind the song.
There is so much history in the song.
Robert Kennedy was asked once what he would do if elected President.
“Change the National Anthem to This Land is Your Land,” he replied.
For me, that would have put Robert Kennedy up with Thomas Jefferson’s serving ice cream in the White House on my list of worthwhile Presidential acomplishments.
Can you just imagine in it?
Opening a baseball game or a football game with EVERYONE SINGING This Land is Your Land.
Picture an Olympic Medal ceremony where those crazy American’s actually SINGING their National Anthem.
As Big Bill would say, “a consummation devoutly to be wished” but most likely not to be.
I went back to World Wide Web and looked up the complete lyrics to This Land is Your Land.
I came across this verse.
Verse 5.
In the squares of the city – In the shadow of the steeple Near the relief office – I see my people And some are grumblin’ and some are wonderin’ If this land’s still made for you and me
WHOA.
WAIT ONE MINUTE HERE.
Where did that verse come from.
How had I never seen it before?
Made me think that the ghost of Woody Guthrie came back and added that verse just for today.
My Church just posted a video of how the Cross Pointe Food Bank opened its gates and the cars lined up IN THE SHADOW OF THE STEEPLE for miles.
My wife asked, where do the people without cars go?
The other song I clicked on was Arlo singing Amazing Grace.
I like Amazing Grace.
I like it a lot.
It has kind of become the American Lament De Jure (or is it defacto) for funerals.
Sad to me as I am not sure that a lot the people who sing it understand the Grace they are singing about.
Maybe they do at that.
So Arlo talks about the song and what it means to him.
If you are familiar with Arlo Guthrie half the fun is listening to him just talk.
In this talk about Amazing Grace, Arlo pointed out, back in 1993, how messed up the world was and what a gift that was.
Arlo pointed out that if everything was going well and everyone drove gold plated BMW’s, think how difficult it would be to help someone.
Think how it hard it would be to stand up and make a difference.
Arlo said that with the world so messed up, it was EASY to make a difference.
Again, I had to wonder, did somehow this conversation get recorded and saved to be heard today?
Never in the field of human endeavor can so little be done by so few to help so many.
I tell you one thing, with a 2.2 TRILLON DOLLAR relief package out of the way I NEVER AGAIN WANT TO HEAR SOMEONE ARGUE that the GOVERNMENT can save $4.8 Billion by cutting food stamps.
We ARE the GREATEST COUNTY on EARTH.
Maybe in HISTORY.
LETS PROVE IT!
Near the relief office – I see my people …
Near the relief office – I see MY people!
I don’t want anyone to wonder If this land’s still made for you and me.
And as far as I can do anything about, I will.
Nobody living can ever stop me As I go walking that freedom highway; Nobody living can ever make me turn back This land was made for you and me
On Easter Sunday In the Year 2020 Tomb is still empty
I was about to write that Easter Sunday arrives this year at a time when uncertainty about the future, at levels previously unknown, impacts much of the world.
Then I thought, how is this different.
How is this different from any other day?
For crying out loud, I live in a city where a big chunk of freeway burned up.
BURNED UP!
A concrete and steel freeway!
Who predicted that?
What certainties are they in there in everyday life?
Truly, there are reasons for uncertainty today.
The global coronavirus fears have everybody guessing and worrying.
Yet studies have shown that there is less anxiety when I know what to worry about.
I know there will be change.
I know that I will impacted and or affected by these changes.
Very uncertain.
On Easter Morning for me there is at least one over riding certainty.
That tomb over near Jerusalem is still empty.
For me, that empty tomb is beyond a hope and more than a promise.
It is fact.
Uncertainty raise your ugly head and do your worse.
I have certainty in a future in will bring the best.
community we had community we have, get to community we need
Could there be a silver lining to the coronavirus?
Can a positive spin be spun on covid-19?
Maybe.
Maybe there will be a chance to start over again.
A national reset.
A global reboot.
A chance once more for the ‘City on a hill.”
In American History, the phrase comes on the stage in 1630.
John Winthrop, Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1630 to 1634, used the phrase in a public address titled, “A Model of Christian Charity.”
Winthrop looked to the Bible verse, “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.” Matthew 5:14 (NIV)
According to the Wikipedia Article on the speech, Winthrop felt that God made people have different positions from one another, “To foster an inter-dependence among mankind, that “every man might have need of others, and from hence they might be all knit more nearly together in the bonds of brotherly affection.”
Every one might have need of others certainly describes community today.
Winthrop then moves on to explain that there are two overriding “rules” which should govern all interactions within a community, “two rules whereby we are to walk one towards another: Justice and Mercy.”
The overriding principle is: “if thou lovest God thou must help [thy brother].
Justice.
Mercy.
Help thy Brother.
Mr. Winthrop saw the need back in 1630.
400 years later, still trying to get to that City on the Hill.
Maybe.
Maybe there will be a chance to try again.
I am reminded on an episode of that old, bizarre show, Family Affair.
Jody, Buffy, Mrs. Beazley and Mr. French.
We watched the show because it was on TV after school.
We didn’t watch the show because we wanted to watch the show.
We watched the show because we watched TV after school.
There were three channels.
We could watch a soap opera, Mike Douglas or something else.
For a long time, reruns of Family Affair was something else.
ANYWAY, there was an episode where Buffy and Jody noticed that no one in their New York apartment building interacted.
They arranged a get-to-know-you party in the lobby with treats baked by their Uncle’s butler, Mr. French.
It was kind of weird show at that.
No one came to the party.
The kids were down cast and returned to their apartment.
Later there was a loud commotion out in the hallway.
The elevators had jammed and people were trapped.
All the people who lived on that floor were out in a panic.
The kids Uncle Bill (Played by Brian Keith – you have to see him as Theodore Roosevelt in The Wind and the Lion) took charge and told Dads to go to other floors.
The plan was that they would all press the elevator buttons to see if that would clear the system.
The idea worked and the elevator service is restored.
Lots of hugs and handshakes all around.
Crisis averted!
Buffy and Jody notice the crowd and run back to their apartment and return with the punch and snacks and cups.
By the time they return, everyone has gone back to their apartments and the hallway is empty again.
Uncle Bill explains that people want privacy but they are there when you need them.
I started typing this about Family Affair with grave misgivings about a transition from A City on a Hill to Buffy and Jody.
But that last sentence works.
People want privacy but they are there when you need them
No Haiku For You 