Saturday, May 31, 2014

Monkton Chronicles Late May 2014


End of May 2014
Struggling against the tide of paperwork to claim I am disabled when all I can do is the essential paperwork du jour dictating to me what do I need to do today? Working out the system in my head, as I sit and ponder this bureaucratic daytime nightmare, I am reminded of that blank stare as I would ask clients, did you fill out the form? I am reminded of the impressive stacks of befuddling papers, notices, warnings, messages that suck your energy. Do the dishes? Sorry, not today. Been stuck in an energy suck all day. It's likes a tornado only it sucks, it doesn't blow. Pipeline battle all radical now. Or so the pay media would have you think. Such uncivil tone! screams the editor of the Addy Indy, the local feel good rag for the college people to see the Idyllic county their kids live, study in and become the future senators, stock brokers, CEO's, Inheritors, Trustees, Skiers, Artists, Authors, Thinkers, Beautiful people.
I can write run on sentences. This is my blog and I can Whinge if I want to ;<{
It does a body good to spill one's guts. If you don't want to read this, please press the "X" at the top right corner of the screen.
I wasn't even sure if I could write an update for the end of May 2014. I felt like we got robbed of usable sunshine. Sunny days were too cold and windy out, then rainy and cloudy. Nights still 40's-chilly. Fred looking for wood pellets to burn.
Meanwhile nothing can rob me of the healing memories of being at Levon Helm's barn last Saturday night. Fred took care of me, pampering me all week so I could have the energy to attend the bar b que and concert...I made it. Even as I stood longer than I have in 6 months, I felt Levon's presence, I felt the Catskill stone under my feet, like it was under his feet, grounding him, like a magnet holding his feet to the ground, like it was holding me. I decided to resist posting any anti pipeline stuff until June 1st. I decided in honor of Levon and all those who played with him, and family, friends, fans, I would only focus on music this week. Music, that vibration, that mathematical vibration that gives us pleasure, takes us to times in our lives. Like the first time I was in the Catskills, Judy and I were in her plymouth Fury, visiting her friends. In the tape deck played Stage Fright, The Great Divide....Many of the songs played by The Weight last Saturday night....Google took us careening over a mountain trail to get from Tannersville where we were staying to levon's. I have some photos-working on sorting those into a movie. We had some adventures for sure. I decided not to spoil my week of music posting for those fracking bullies. But when I post an update...there will be a lot I have stored from taking a week off. We love Levon and his people...Have never had a more lovely night than a night at the Midnight Ramble...Levon's Healing barn of wood.
meg

From Richard Barone...


Great!

Friday, May 30, 2014

MASTERS OF THE TELECASTER at INFINITY MUSIC HALL 3/29/2014 /part 2



oh yes...

MASTERS OF THE TELECASTER at INFINITY MUSIC HALL 3/29/2014 / Part 1




These guys are playing in Woodstock soon,
get tickets
levonhelm.com
and the music never stops....

posting another next...

Friday Nacht Musik... Jim Weider on Fender "Just Like A Woman" Bob Dylan 71rst Birthday Tribut...



This video is perfect for the end of a magical musical week...
We sat in Levon's Barn, last Saturday night, in the center second row by some magical twist of fate,
Celebrating Levon's Birthday in his Healing magic barn of wood,
watching Jim Weider spin his magical tunes.
It was Bob Dylan's birthday and the audience wished him a happy birthday...
Then I found this video link.
Great work!
enjoy!

addendum...as i surfed YT,
found another link by Jim Weider, et al...





Thursday, May 29, 2014

Circle of Truth

More Music links....



More Music links...

my log. 5.28.14
I had appointments this morning and missed most of imus on the radio-over internet on wabc or imus.com
Had hoped CW et al would stick around NYC after Levon's celebration. She has been on Imus before and was fun to see Imus be really impressd by someone.
Sorry Imus got sick as mean as I can be to him, yelling at the radio thinking he can hear me,
Yet we are endeared to him, and his taste in music is crystal clear.
Was so happy when CW posted this link to some of her music she does with her talented helpers....
Enjoy and buy her music...


Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Musical link


This is a link to the amazing 
Carolyn Wonderland...
Heard she is on imus.com.  
wabc NY 
Today starting at 6 am NYC time...

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Time, What a Time We Had!

Time

What a Time we had
Last Saturday Night 5.24.14
Celebrating Levon Helm's Birthday,
With other fans, Multigenerational Devotees of Fine Music,
Levon's Legacy...The Magnificent Healing Barn of Music And Wood.

We were lucky to snag tickets,
Fred & I Have a common wish list and we converse about rambles to come,
Rate them on maybe or,Dream about,Or in this case,
A joint mutual Birthday Present, Must Give ourselves
Some quality
Time.

We had been to Rambles before,
Like many in the audience, It was a common subject to break the ice.
Always Stellar Staff greeted us, We recognized many of the regular visitors.
We were here to celebrate Levon's Birthday with some great music

The Weight,

A wonderful group with Mastery of Music by The Band

The Weight is 

Jim Wieder, Master of the Telecaster, Mandolin, Vocals
Randy Ciarlante, Drums/Vocals, 
Byron Isaacs Bass/Vocals,
Brian Mitchell/Piano/Organ/Accordian/Vocals, 
Marty Grebb on Piano, Organ, Sax and Vocals.

and we also wanted to see

Carolyn Wonderland with Cole El-Saleh & Rob Hooper, 

Who we had seen several times At Levon's.

She brought along Shelley King & Cindy Cashdollar


It was a perfect night,
Beautiful Woodstock, NY Catskill Region 
spring slow but persistent.
The rain burst through once but we missed it.
The cool air fine.
am going to post some photos of the area once I sort through them.

So the first hour or so Carolyn Wonderland et al played...She gets better all the time,
Whether Vocals, Guitar, lap steel, and Bird Calls...What a whistler!
Rob kept the beat going with Levon's magic Red drum set.
Cole getting entranced in keyboards and his left hand running keys controlling bass sounds.
Cindy Cashdollar showed her skill at playing, Shelly King, great voice, guitar.

Next to play was
The Weight,
Doing songs of The Band.
All around Great! 
One after another favorite band tune...
They invited Amy Helm in for a few and CW et al as well.


We are home now, tired,
and grateful for those tickets I jumped on...
Happy Birthday (yesterday) to Levon Helm
and Rest in Peace.
The kids got your music covered,
and they're Keepin' it Goin'









Friday, May 23, 2014

Friday Night Musik...Woodstock edition

Friday Nacht Musik

Woodstock edition


Virgil Caine
Golden Eagle



There was no question that
Levon Helm has been on our minds all week.
His second Birthday party since his departure from the material plane is on Saturday.


Am reminded of past posts I did about the ramble,
Mississippi River Festival....(Levon mentioned in the book),
Cahokia Mounds...The Great city in what is now Greater St. Louis area-Illinois/Missouri,
They all came together today for me.
Thinking again how when Cahokia was excavated in the 1960-70's,
Levon's music was ripening into what we still listen to today.
Is it a coincidence? 



Then thinking how we saw him right before Irene
in Woodstock, Vermont




I thought about how many times we saw Levon, how many posts I have done.
We revere the man.
He has been so special to so many.

I love this one...


Next is a song from a must have album:
buy merchandise at


Thursday, May 22, 2014

Can't Find My Way Home - Bonnie Raitt & Lowell George & John Hammond J...




Link to music found in time to fulfill my daily bread,
Fun to hear the tuning, banter.
Wonderful Bonnie Raitt et al...

Had wanted to do a fracking wrap up, maybe later...
So tiresome to watch our group headlines,
Warning of looming threats by frackers,
Their funders
& Devotees,
Some local, national, international.
Stay tuned, I can only give it a finite amount of energy
Or the frackers will suck the life out of you. ..meg 

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

The #Fracking Stampede, Vermont Edition

The #fracking Stampede

No
We
don't want it


 The Fracking Stampede
We don't want a Pipeline
To cut our hearts,
Make our Earth Bleed.
To spoil the whole Lake,
for one stinky paper mill.




 Who thought of this?



 We don't want it, I tell you...






We don't.

Monday, May 19, 2014

Country Music from Texas, USA



Saturday, May 17, 2014

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Richard Thompson - 1952 Vincent Black Lightning



This one always blows me away...ah the masterful Richard Thompson...

Thursday Gaz round up...

After awhile,

I can only ignore just so many stop the pipeline updates.
Being a citizen #Fracktivist
takes more than a high speed modem, a google account and 
a stupid rant.
After hearing the blowhard biased Journalismus,
Have been repressing
rage
irritation
hostile anger
mild hostility
mere annoyance,
demand for censorship/equal time.
oh, what difference does it make, anyway?
note to self: let go of petty haters, people who put others down.

Just wanted to get that out of the way early on. 
You know, if I ever affect how someone feels about an issue,
or clarify something, or share an emotion, music, art, a story,
then my work is done. I am not out to make a living at any of this.
That is not why I blog.
I blog because it connects people, it logs my thoughts,
it shares my views, literally and figuratively,
it is living history, the kind I wish I had when My grandparents were young.
It is a shelf of stories, short enough to enjoy and move on,
knowing a little more each time it is read or viewed.

So, for what it is worth in my amateur world of reporting, for free, unemcumbered by conflict of interest save
saving the planet and our water, lakes, streams.

First a link to seven days, the local paper:

Next, a piece from public radio:


From Burlington Free Press:


Rutland Herald:



Too tired to keep going...
Ending with a witty quote attributed to Canadian owned Vermont Gaz rep:


Best quote from VGS so far: “We’d be laying the proposed pipeline just right of this road…actually right where you see all of those ‘stop the fracked gas pipeline’ signs.”








Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Hold That Tiger




Hold That Tiger

by Jelly Roll Morton


 

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Veteran's Issues: Link to Wes Moore interview

Heard this interview yesterday on the Imus show.
Actually, streaming WABC in NYC over the internet. Came in clear as a bell. No static.
Wes wrote a book about returning veterans.
It really helps to understand the cognitive framework, the "matrix" if you will. Wes gets it.
I felt like I had personally been focusing on my Dad's service, WW 2, Marines. South Pacific.
He said they saw no combat. They "did nothing" therefore it was to be negated.
When I saw his papers, finally, after he is stuck in a CVA limbo at 91, He was at Guadalcanal.
I also saw how the Japanese would not mess with marines as much?
Well Wes got me thinking again.
How was Dad rewired?
How easy was it to get him to serve? His Prussian Grandfather immigrated to the US to avoid mandatory service. Then Dad and my brother served in wars: Dad in WW2, My Brother in Vietnam. Another brotherand his son in the guards.
I was fortunate to care for veterans of all current wars. They are indeed a special group. I just never could put my finger on it.
Wes is putting it all to words.

Link to the interview:

http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/3558880115001/wes-moore-on-his-new-series-on-us-veterans-returning-home/?playlist_id=933116616001#sp=show-clips


Sunday, May 11, 2014

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day...

Mom gone now it seems forever.
Part of me seems gone forever
Even if she told me,
don't worry, I am not going anywhere.

I found an image on twitter
That says a lot about
Moms and their Love that sustains us.






Then, for Mom, a tribute video I did.
I love you Mom,
More later...
p.s the audio drops out on this the last 2 minutes
The cloud is a cloud I saw right after Mom died. I thought it resembled the quilt I assembled from blocks made by Mom's Mom Fanny.







The butterfly-a giant swallowtail,
came to me as well.





Saturday, May 10, 2014

Music for Dad


What is it about
Moonlight Serenade?

Glenn Miller's masterpiece.
I posted this yt link w/o viewing,
No doubt it is perfect.

What a loss, Glenn Miller,
And What a Gift.
For Dad

Friday, May 9, 2014

Friday Nacht Musik


For this friday,
the official YT video of this great song...

Holly Williams
Wow...


*********************************************************************************

Then an aside, As I search for Cafe Society, Cafe Societe
in a world so big,
made smaller by the likes of twitter.
I know tweeting is lost on many,
perhaps not seeing the power of 140 characters,
in a moment of time.
My favorite scene in It's a Wonderful Life is when young George Bailey reads the sign up on the wall...
Ask Dad...He'll know what to do...So True, Frank Capra, a beautiful human moment,
reading an ad that changes everything.
Some days, like yesterday, when I got a retweet from another Tweeter,
It was an affirmation,
not some evil conspiracy, trap or devil's hand.
I felt like it was the beginning of Cafe Society, virtual communication,
sharing without intimidation or fear.
No secondary motives.
just words.

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Frack Action #Fracking

Interupting  the musical interlude
for Frack action needed....

even if you cannot attend the meeting , 

send positive energies to the fracking fighter/comrades

Shoreham, Vermont meeting tonight.
I guess the New Yorkers get to talk about how great it is that Vermont and Lake Champlain will be trashed for their NY paper mill to get Un-Natural gaz from Alberta, Canada, where they are injecting toxins deep down to squirt our some so called cheap dinosaur remnant fuel then shuttle it in a pipeline from Alberta to New York,
Oh but you cannot go through the Adirondacks, they are Beautiful,
Go through Vermont....




Oh yes, then under Lake Champlain...











The town of Shoreham, Vermont is having a meeting tonight.
Their website has a nice like to good pipeline info:

http://www.shorehamvt.org/town/gov/Pipeline.shtml

No one dares say that Vermont Gas Systems is owned by Canadian Gaz Metro...
and that they bought Green Mountain Power
and that they would love to cram a pipeline through my neighbor's organic farm and the aquifer that supplies me with drinking water.
No, it was weird when Fred picked up the Addison Independent that used to be 12 pages.
Now 80 ish pages....Strange.
First what a waste of Paper...
Wait a minute, Do they buy newsprint from the smelly paper mill accross the lake?

Oh and the advertisements...good job.

Was nice to see the editorial comments.
Still have to pay to have it recycled.
Well I want to post this in time for you to light a virtual candle, say a prayer, or meditate on a world without fracking. If you are not with me you are long gone anyway, bye, bye.

I have no photos of candles,
So how about Crown Point, NY Lighthouse?

Love this...
meg 5.7.14






Musical Interlude


From YT

Was watching Johnny Winter videos from his concert last week in NYC
This one came up...am in awe from their playing...

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Under the River

Under the River

And through the swamp
The pipeline they plan to build.

The Canadians know the way,
To get the builder today,
Before all the permits are got.

The landowners in the way,
Small people, they say,
Why question the almighty Corp(oration)?

We try to fight back,
The media's been hacked,
Lake Champlain is for sale,
They'll drill a hole through it all,
Up hill and down hill
With a mighty swift blow,
They would be changing it all.

Not natural, we voted down
In Monkton,Vermont,
Not a radical town,
Don't make us slaves to the Gaz,
Spoiling our precious land,
With their profit making plans,
Arrogant display
On the evening news,
Today.

Monday, May 5, 2014

Alexis P.Suter Band - Piece Of Clay 9-28-13 Iridium, NYC




Because for Monday you need a special inspiration...
Thanks, Alexis, I needed this.

Rules

Rules


Rules tell us right from wrong,

Even though they can and may be broken
Or violated,
Or ignored, scoffed @,
Sneered at,
Or even revered.

Rules in town governments
Are funny sometimes,
Not funny like "Ha, Ha.".
Sometimes seems like,
"Different strokes for different folks."

Fred spent the 75¢ on the Addison Independent
To read the many articles and ads...
Some pipeline related.
Was glad to see responses in the online version.

I had to set it down for the night
After reading Monkton,Vermont selectboard chairman
Casually said Canadian owned Vermont gaz
Is putting some station just a couple miles from here.

So another WTF moment in the peaceful valley,
Guess Gaz buys land first,
Makes plans,
And expects approval,
Wow,
If only it worked that way for citizens?

No, different rules :«{

Sunday, May 4, 2014

A Cat's Life

Tommy sits there,

Watching the computer
Where sound is emanating from.


Saturday, May 3, 2014

Spring so slow

The Fire still burning

Grumpy about the spring delayed,
Warm days are windy,
Sunny days are cold,
No happy medium this year like some.

Hope your May is pleasant



Forsythia

Tulip



Lilacs &
Apple blossoms


Friday, May 2, 2014

Alexis P Suter Band - Let It Be 4-29-14 BB Kings, NYC More Friday Nacht Musik




Sometimes so much music comes to me....
This is so Beautiful!

Peace Interupted

Peace

Interupted

I was enjoying the country island music for friday,
seeking sunshine in windows
until the sun ducks behind clouds,
And I promised myself no Gaz updates every day,
hold back that energy,
pool the crap like you build a cesspool,
then post all at once like I did yesterday,
sending it all over the world so somebody else 
might have a head start,
a running start,
when fighting the frackers, the people who would
blow toxins into the ground to suck what fossils they can.
So when the neighbor posted to our group,
I had a feeling I should open it.


Click the link if you dare....

Friday Nacht Musik




 Beautiful Island Musik

For Friday Nacht,

Not to be one to turn away a good musik video,
Brandi sent me this sweet little tune,
as we dream of Spring,
a cruel wet messy ending to Winter.

Let's go to the Islands with Brandi and her song...
TGIF