Back to Normal

Happy Saturday morning. Well, well, I’ve completed what will probably be my final ‘volunteer’ journey for the year. Like the previous ones, I loved it and learned a bit to boot.

One of my brothers said that after my “Kentucky Bourbon Experience tasting” stint I should now volunteer to serve communion at a nearby mega-church. Hmmmm.

But currently, I’ll sit back, grab a coffee, and put my feet up while listening to some tunes. I somehow got caught up listening to this little number and now can’t get it outa my mind. Here it is, for you to enjoy!

Millenia old ‘dad’ jokes – Since I started off on a good note, let’s continue. And yes, puns and ‘groaners’ have popped up here and there going way back throughout time. I thought it might be fun to post a ‘dad’ joke from the Roman times. Here goes:

A Roman walks into a bar. Lays down on an empty pillow and holds up two fingers and says, “Five beers, please!”

Get it?
Groaning?
No? Answer found at the bottom of the Ramblings.

Boats heading home – The majestic steamboats boats finished up Sunday evening. Boilers stoked up, Calliopes’ pumping out tune favorites, they made one final parade upriver and turned back. At our riverfront they were welcomed one final time, all aglow in lights as fireworks lit the sky.

Block Party – I nearly forgot, but yes, this year our neighborhood did hold our annual block party. And as usual one of the streets was blocked off, a massive grill was lit, lots of side dishes and desserts emerged, and for the first time we had live music.

Since Marcia and I moved from our home on Red Bud we noticed that the area has filled up with little tykes – the cycle of life. We were sought out by the new owners of our old home (they moved in last August). They just had to gush about their pure love of the place – they adore it! It absolutely made our afternoon.

These events, simple as they are, always strike a warm chord.

Halloween Decorations – have already sprung up. Some very subtle, some way over the top. Since I walk a fair bit through all our nearby neighborhoods I’ve started to both inventory and rate these homes as the decorations spring up from their home in basements/attics/or garages. To date, here is my winning home entry. It’s in adjacent St. Bernard, a village where they always go all out for each and every holiday.

HUGE – This coming, Tuesday can’t come soon enough. The reason being that Kirstin gave both Adrianne and me an early Christmas gift. “And the reason,” you ask? It turns out that an amazing performer will be in town, and we each have a ticket to see him (great seats to boot).

We’ll spend an evening seeing Jon Batiste at concert in our Taft Theater. In case you didn’t know, Batiste plays about six instruments, sings, and performs everything from classical piano, R&B, Jazz, hints of Country, Gospel, and can even do some Rap. Oh, and he composes much of what he plays and sings. He’s about as good as it gets.

Batiste holds a Masters in Music from the Juilliard School and has “seven Grammy Awards from 22 nominations, including an Album of the Year win for We Are (2021)”. You might remember his rendition of the National Anthem he sang at Super Bowl 59. Yes, he’s truly about as good as it gets.

Upon getting the news, Adrianne swooned. Me? I skipped a heartbeat. THANKS Kirstin!

St. Bernard – I mentioned the village because it’s also the place where our nearest Dairy Queen is located. As a walk-up, it only serves ice cream and this past week shut down for the season. Just think a mere 120 days till its re-opening (also about the time everything else breaks out in bloom)

The other – and maybe main reason I mention the DQ closing/opening cycle statistic is that yesterday it was World Statistics Day as designated by the United Nations Statistical Commission in 2010.

Life is AMAZING!

Dirk

Groaner answer: Customer wants 5 beers; remember it’s in Rome: 5 = ‘V’ (2-fingers make a ‘V’)

BONUS POINTS:

A new Stanford Medicine-led study shows that premature babies — born at least three weeks early – when exposed to recordings of the mothers speaking, a total of 2 hours and 40 minutes a day promoted development of …………… In other words, there was a recognizable boost in their……….

1) “language-center development”
2) “breathing & early lung functioning”
3) “body’s ability to deal with jaundice”
4) “sleeping patterns”
5) “initial eye contact with the parent”
6) “improved feeding suckling strength”

250th Kick-Off

Happy Saturday morning. No coffee! At least not till Marcia gets up, and this will be a while since I got an early start on the day. Having said that, no worry, you will get to read this morning’s Ramblings in a timely Saturday a.m. manner. (a.m. for Ante meridiem, Latin for ‘before midday’) So, sit back, watch, listen, read, and enjoy!

For more on this Latin bit read today’s ‘Bonus Points’.

Tuesday evening a single drumbeat started the evening, and the start of Aaron Copeland’s Fanfare for the Common Man. I was at our Music Hall where our Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, the Cincinnati Ballet, and the Cincinnati Opera began what was the nation’s very first ‘kick-off’ beginning of our nation’s 250th anniversary. The ‘Nati began it all with a massive The Spirit of America Gala at Music Hall.

The Ohio River was the theme and thus the opening drum gave homage to the early natives who traded along the River. Celebrated were the African sounds and Blues music from southern slaves seeking freedom the river brought up from New Orleans. The orchestral sounds and Opera the European immigrants brought down the river to what was then the extreme edge of the settled new continent. With a Cincinnati harbor filled with flat bottom steamboats, the sights, smells, and sounds such as this by Aaron Copeland would fill the place:

Those sounds brought our town a vibrancy of music like none other on the continent – remember this was before Memphis and Nashville. In fact, a young Cincinnati youngster, Mamie Smith, recorded the very first ever black-female blues song. One year after releasing her groundbreaking record (1920) she came home and on the very stage our Pops orchestra now occupied and sang her hit – “Crazy Blues”.

WLW700 radio – Time moved on, and soon radio became any household’s ‘must have’. Locally, WLW700 was the biggest with its 500.000 watts transmitter (max for any station today is 50,000 watts). This caused most every entertainer to stop in the ‘Nati to perform and record since the WLW radio signal, from coast to coast, gave instant coverage. This had several studios spring up. The most innovative being King Records which quickly became the nation’s largest independent label. Syd Nathan owner was also the first studio to be fully integrated. Syd was referred to as the “happiest little, short man” and was heard to say; “white or black, it doesn’t matter, I just like green”.

So, it was King where James Brown’s career was launched. Aso from Cincinnati came some kids who recorded as “The Isley Brothers” of “Shout” fame. The Isley Brothers are the only act in history to hit the Billboard Hot 100 in six consecutive decades: The 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.

So it was all of the above sitting in a hall with our full Pops Orchestra which led me to watching a baritone Opera singer singing and dancing The Twist while covered by a full Pops Orchestra. We watched the Ballet dancers, now in street clothes, lead us all in dancing to Shout – “a little softer now”.

What an evening!

Shenanigans rule – America’s River Roots festival is in full swing. The river is filled with churning paddle-wheelers. Sounds of the steam horns and Calliope music fill the air. And every so often a roaring canon kicks off another boat race – never a clear winner without shenanigans galore causing much delay and bickering before finally declaring the race’s winner. So much fun.

The scenery looking up and down the river is not to be forgotten. Thursday even with the big boats coming and going came a parade of probably close to 50 ‘Great Gatsby” era style wooden Chris Craft type boats.

I am a volunteer on the Kentucky side of the festival at The Bourbon Experience. Three ticketed events a day offer a roomful of people an hour and a half tasting and learning experience. Each is different and presented by a different local Bourbon distiller. People love it.

The music – is so critical to these events. A series of stages offer a variety of music throughout the day. Thursday evening outdoors on the River Adrianne and their house guest joined me to watch a favorite of ours, Over the Rhine who played along with The Newbees. I’ve always viewed them as a wonderful regional band. Hearing them again I am proclaiming the as a really good International Band: Karin Bergquist & husband Linford Detweiler form the duo. It even brought way back memories when they performed at nearby Sudsy Malone’s leaning on the clothes dryer – see, Malone’s located in nearby Corryville was not just a music venue but was also the neighborhood laundromat!

So, this ends the post for this week. It’s a little focused on a single subject but does reflect just how involved I am with the America’s River Roots festival. Plus, I do have to get ready to head out again – it’s a double shift today.

Happy entry into America’s 250th

Life is AMAZING! – what a time to be alive!

Dirk

BONUS POINTS:

You’ve probably accepted that Latin (used by the Romans) is really a dead language. The following are words the Romans used and we too use, but one is not. Which word is NOT Latin in origin?

1) “Alibi”
2) “Arena”
3) “Bonus”
4) “Video”
5) “Forum”
6) “Gift”
7) “Raptor”

It’s been eventful

Happy Saturday morning. This afternoon we’re off for a short walk around the corner. There, with the street blocked off, we’ll join our annual neighborhood block party. The weather will be sunny 83 and thus a perfect time to catch up with friends and acquaintances. Yesterday Marcia put out the ‘stuff’ that will become our mandatory side-dish offering.

But for now, I’ve started our morning coffee pot. Not really a fan of Starbucks (never have been), I couldn’t help but follow their somewhat urgent downsizing – by hundreds of stores. I suspect that this also means that a slew of ‘barista’s’ will be exploring other avenues. Bottom line, I am just happy that I buy the coffee bean, I grind the coffee bean, and I brew the result. And, as a bonus, the smell of fresh coffee wafting throughout our little condo beats anything Starbucks could offer.

Trickle Down Incompetence – These past weeks I’ve run across reference to both Federal and Local information which was either ‘classified’ or ‘held private’. Both, as in nearly all situations, should have been made completely transparent and available to a free people. But modern society has government which is so crazily overreaching that even the most mundane is held ‘classified.

Nearly 90 years ago the world opened newspapers and tuned in radios with bated breath to follow the adventures of Amelia Earhart, Aviation Pioneer, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, and many other firsts. Trying to reach her fuel stop on an island in the South Pacific she disappeared while trying to be the first woman to fly around the world.

Now, as with every President since that mystery, the request to release the records of her ‘final’ trip was once again brought up. Last week Friday President Trump ordered those classified records released. My question is “why were these records held for 90 years? What was so critical to the safety of the nation to keep details lock and key? Why is government so preoccupied to classify almost everything?

My thinking is that none of it was due to some grand worry, concern, or some imposing plan. I think that what happened is that government is so overgrown that no one wants to just decide. To do something it needs to be run up and down the ladder. Not just THE ladder, but several hundreds of ladders. The result being a much easier (think of ‘safer’ to make) non-decision. Was this just another case of trickle-down incompetence?

Volunteering again – Mid-week America’s River Roots festival will get into full swing. Of the nine Tall Stack steamboat paddlewheel boats arriving the furthest to ply the nation’s river system is the Natchez out of New Orleans (1,100 miles). It’ll assemble the largest gathering of Tall Stack Riverboats in the nation. Add to this all sorts of music and foods, all having the makings for a grand time.

Then mid-week Wednesday my stint as a volunteer at the festival’s “Kentucky Bourbon Experience” will begin. While most of the activities will be on the Ohio side, the ‘Experience’ will take place in a 300’ riverfront tent in Newport Kentucky. From that vantage point I should have a wonderful view of all the boats and activities.

1000 miles – apart is Kirstin from here. Yet all last evening we were so together. How so?

Last evening Jon Batiste on the stage of Austin City Limits was live streamed. And it was an unbelievable show showcasing his amazing musicality with Jazz, Country, Rap, Classical, Gospel, Rock, and Blues; this incredible show was as good as I’ve ever seen. Also, I found out that his guitarist is just 22 years old. This last thought Kirstin shared as we kept texting back and forth.

Both of us watching the same show and sharing with each other each of the many “oohs” and “aahs” we experienced. This is what made the evening even more special.

So, here is what we watched. It’s the full concert (2-hours 18-minutes – actual concert starts at the 14-minute mark); only watch it when you have the time. Play on the largest screen you have. And if you have a sound bar be sure it’s on. Then, afterwards, be sure to thank Kirstin since she was the first to alerted.

Oh, Oh – And now I need to peek out the front door and find out why, in the dark, a Fire Engine is backing into our driveway.

Just got back inside after talking with the arriving Police. It appears someone is on next-door’s roof, shirtless, and thinking about jumping. Welcome to a regular morning at the Corner of Chaos & Mayhem.

An hour later: it appears that the ‘jumper’, now brought down and taken away by ambulance.

And since it’s now after eight o’clock I’ll park it for this week and post. Have a great week everyone.

Life is AMAZING! – what a time to be alive!

Dirk

BONUS POINTS:

Who has not heard of Charles Dickens author (1812 – 1870)? But did you know that he invented words still in use? Which of these words came from Dicken’s imagination?

1) “whizz-bang”
2) “sassigassity”
3) “messiness”
4) “sawbones”
5) “comfoozled”
6) “mildewy”
7) “jog-trotty”