I wrote half a column about my father before I realized it was way too personal to put out in the Net, so I’ve decided to glean what I consider the best Notes I have posted over the past few years. Notes, for those new to my process, are the small items I usually place at the end of each column, usually the more newsy or just musical items. Lots of videos, a bit of news and a lot of fun to put together.
Why am I the last to know about Margaret Wise Brown? Chances are, if you don’t remember the name, you have heard her works, especially Goodnight Moon, a book written specifically for children and sandmen. While I had not heard of it, everyone to whom I have mentioned it has, some making snide references to that rock I must live under. Evidently my childhood was deprived— at least deprived of Ms. Brown and her wonderful works. I am not taking it personally, though, thanks to Virginia musicians Emily Gary and Tom Proutt. They contacted me awhile ago about a book they had recently been involved with, written by Ms. Brown, titled Goodnight Songs.
That’s right, sports fans, I have once again rammed the ol’ cranium up against the proverbial brick wall. Four good starts on this week’s column and nothing to really show except four three-paragraph dead ends, at least for now. And deadline looms. What to do, what to do… After much thought (not really), I have decided to pack together a whole string of odds and ends for you to pick through, if you so desire— flotsam and jetsam, as it were. Ideas not long enough for a column, musical bits and pieces, brain farts and the like. Indeed, I looked up the term “flotsam and jetsam” on thefreedictionary.com just to make sure that I had the term right and, for once, I did. “Useless or discarded objects,” it said. “Odds and ends.” Well, I hope I stay away from the former, but the latter seems to fit. Just remember— no overlying theme. Whatever comes to (my) mind.
An Open Letter to Clive Stainton:
Your little girl’s growing up, Clive. It wasn’t that long ago that I heard Lisbee’s Firefly album (2006), her voice just beyond a child’s, her music much beyond her years, her insight astonishing. Revisiting that album, I can hear the beginnings of something amazing, but she was so young and we both know that some artists have only one album in them before the world takes them away to become teachers or scientists or whatever else their futures hold.
Bullseye Records of Canada
Segarini: Don't Believe a Word I Say 