Christmas Snapshot

For several years, we drove two or three times a year from our home in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. to my grandparents' farm in the mountains of southwestern Virginia, near the Tennessee boarder. The trip took about eight hours. Thank heaven for 8-track tapes!

The Christmas trip I'm thinking of must have taken place in 1975, because my sister was a babe in arms. Don't remember anything about it except this one snapshot: Afternoon on an ascending mountain road bordered on both sides with tall, dense growths of evergreen, with no other traffic. It was either snowing lightly or the snow had recently stopped. Snow on the evergreens and a sense of peace, and quiet wonder as the car climbed through the simple yet somehow profound scene. And, this song playing on the car's stereo.

Happy Hump Day - THE SHADOW OF YOUR SMILE

Happy Hump Day

Andy Williams with the Osmond Brothers: "Good Morning Starshine"

As a kid I had a transistor radio. Good grief, but that statement dates me! Do any of you younguns even know what a transistor radio was? The reception and sound quality weren't great, but that wasn't the point. The point was, you could take your music with you wherever you went. And I did, the wrist strap wrapped firmly around my wrist.

...all of which is preface. One day, not long after my illness, I was listening to my beloved transistor when this record came on. I absolutely loved it. Don't recall what comment I made to Mom, but she bought me the cassette issue of the album, _Get Together with Andy Williams_. Eventually wore it out, I played it so much.

Spanky & Our Gang "Sunday Will Never Be The Same" on The Ed Sullivan Show

Early Autumn

The sweet and melow voice of Jo Stafford with "Early Autumn" from her 1955 album Soft and Sentimental.

Feelin' Kinda Sunday

"Saturday Night In Knightsbridge"

September Morn

A sad song and, yes, I know it's a Neil Diamond [click] song. But Engelbert does a beautiful job with it.

Happy Saturday!

RIP Sergio Mendes

Master of the bossa nova, Brazilian musician and bandleader Sergio Mendes has died at the age of eighty-three.

Thank you for all the wonderful music, Sergio. Rest in Peace.

Links
Sergio Mendes Music
Wikipedia

Come Spend the Hump Day Morning

Come Saturday Morning

It's been quite a week! Take a breether, relax, regroup and recharge body and mind for whatever next week may have in store.

It's a brand new morning

I've come to peace, more or less, with our new reality. After all, it was Pres. Biden's decision and sacrifice to make. He has graciously and fully endorsed V.P. Harris, who is moving with all deliberate speed to make the requisite arrangements and to unify the Party, together with all others of good will who wish to purge the body politic of the cancer that is Trump and his MAGA cult.

Is she my ideal candidate? No. Can she win with what one might call a coalilition of the democracy minded? Yes! She has charisma and style. She is intelligent and devoted to our country and our Constitution. She is a former D.A. and a former senator, after all. She has a heavy load to lift but, with the help of us all, she shall shift it and lift it and fling it far into the depths.

I am still reeling from the events of yesterday afternoon. Perhaps you are as well. That's okay. It's all right to grieve and to feel disappointment and anger. But rather than letting these emotions overcome us, tempting us to give up, we must carry on, must turn our disappointment and anger and sorrow into renewed determination to defeat Trump. The mission hasn't changed, only the one being sent. Together, Mrs. Harris and all of us will see that mission through to the end, and start a new, bright chapter for America.

That Sunday That Summer

Here's Natalie Cole with a lovely way to start off your Sunday.

A Summer Song

It's time to take a break. Sit back, sip some lemonade and let Engelbert calm your mind with his Summer Song.

Dreaming with Linda

Recently I read and enjoyed Simple Dreams: A Musical Memoir by Linda Ronstadt. Her descriptions, especially of the Arizona desert where she grew up, are vivid, her portrait of the California Folk and Rock scene in the late '60s and early '70s, equally clear and engaging. This is not one of those dreadful tell-all books. Her friends and romantic interests make brief appearances if at all, though she does tell a funny anecdote involving Jerry Brown and a dinner invitation to Rosemary Cluney's house. Instead, Linda concentrates on her music and the career path it led her on, though not without one or two insights into her inner self, such as her interest in Berlin between the Wars. Warm, gentle, serious yet with a lighthearted touch, Simple Dreams is an easy yet absorbing read.

Sweet Sunday

Here is a beautiful song written by the multitalented Kay Thompson and sung by the angelic voice of Andy Williams.

Have a peaceful Sunday.

Updating Music

I love my Crosley CR72 Mission Stack-O-Matic Entertainment Center, though mine is in cherry. It's easy to use and has great sound quality. Most of all, I love the stack-o-matic feature, what is sometimes called a record changer. There's nothing better than putting on a stack of LPs and kicking back to enjoy them. And yet...

And yet, you want to share the music you are enjoying. CDs can be imported into iTunes and from there made into videos and uploaded to YouTube (always assuming YouTube doesn't block them). But so many LPs haven't been reissued on CD. It particularly seems that a lot of Engelbert's LPs haven't been reissued. And an LP is analog, by its nature cut off from the digital world...until now.At Hammachar Schlemmer I found a record player you plug into the computer and, with the included software, convert your vinyl to digital. It's wonderful!

So, I've made a start and have already put up my first vinyl-to-digital transfer on YouTube:

Engelbert Eurovision 2012 Campaign

"Here We Are"