A great Saturday morning to you. Winter keeps on trying to exert itself. This week there was a dusting of snow, thundersnow no less, and six tornados. These hit just to the south and east of us (probably scouring around looking for a trailer park).

With all of that, the early flowering trees and bushes are in bloom. Marcia even clipped some daffodils and these are bringing a bit of color to our place.

Now some coffee. We’re on our last canister fill-up so it’s time to head for Costco (it’s the only place we can get our favorite ‘diner’ coffee – White Castle in 3-pound bags). Yes, that is the White Castle of ‘slider’ fame.

But now, in a matter of minutes all has become white outside. Probably an inch-plus has fallen since I started this. This makes for what I believe is the fourth dusting we’ve had this winter.

”A successful lawsuit is the one worn by a policeman” ~ Robert Frost

The above will become clearer at some future date – hopefully much sooner rather than somewhat later.

The Boxer – I’ve been pushing musical themes these last couple of weeks. Last week it dealt with the now defunct and abandoned old King Records studio. This week it’ll be the final piece on that theme (unless, by popular demand, you my faithful readers beg me to push on).

A while back I was listening to someone much better informed than me, who stressed that without 3-D dimensionality any music would just be a bland compilation of musical notes.

And, I was given an amazing example of what was meant. Years ago, at their height, Paul Simon wrote a piece called The Boxer – later recorded by Simon and Garfunkel on their Bridge Over Troubled Water album.

The music was ready except for the snare drum which was to replicate the sound of body blows. Simon had it in his mind exactly how it should be, but couldn’t replicate it in the studio. Then, while recording at the old CBS studious (housed in a 22-story building), and after 22-hours trying to capture exactly Simon’s vision someone had an idea,

They waited till after the building closed for the night; then placed the snare drum at the bottom of an elevator shaft. Finally they hung the microphones 22-stories up in the shaft. That sound, the drum-beat echoing upwards 22-stories became the iconic ‘body-blow’ sound which makes that song come to life.

Advertising – typically are tiresome, a method for a company trying to promote itself. Usually, I can’t wait for the ad to be done as they are mostly quite irksome.

However, every so often, a company hits a home run. This time it’s a company – Cincinnati Bell (which I do not like doing business with) and thus am showing my impartiality. It was shown regionally during January’s Super Bowl broadcast.

What they managed to do in a minute is showcase our Home Town. In that short a time they managed to put together a small ‘painting’ of the home town.

Seen is our iconic bright blue John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge (1867). Special background music by a popular local group – Over the Rhine and their song; Welcome Home was used as background. An aerial shot of our favorite the Findlay Market (where we can be found on many a Saturday morning) with the new streetcar rumbling past. Then it’s a quick look on the University of Cincinnati campus and a pan of the marquis of the old Esquire Theater in Clifton (Marcia’s favorite place to see a movie). Finally, they could not skip a quick stopping by at one of the many Skyline Cincinnati Chili parlors. It’s a wonderfully done homage to their home town

When kids thrive – then life is good. From a grandparents perspective watching them perform to their best, along with all the accompanying angst, trepidations, and resultant pride cannot be beat by anything else. In Austin, fifth grader Kellen scored a first place ribbon at his school science fair. He demonstrated that a heated object bounced higher than a chilled one – and why it did so.

Third grader Vai got a 100 at her oratory presentation with a talk on the challenges and accessibility requirements offered blind people.

Kindergartner Vili broke his first Board with a well-placed kick in his Taekwondo session earlier this week. That little guy has found his ‘mojo’, his ‘groove’. And, at eleven this morning he’ll be back at it again.

Finis – Happy birthday Dinah (yesterday) – double digits no less.

This evening Marcia and I are off to the “Live at the Ludlow Garage”. Back in the 1970s the place was THE music scene for any number of live acts and was one of a very few counter-culture music venues in the nation. Remember this was immediately after the Woodstock event and it was truly one of a handful of; “Hippie Rock palaces in the country that started springing up, mimicking Bill Graham’s Fillmore East and West”.

Finally the Ludlow Garage closed and now for the past few years has re-opened. We’re catching Royal Wood a multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter. He’s been in the running for Canada’s prestigious Juno Awards a couple of times over. Should be fun.

Make it a great week everyone.

Cheers.

Dirk