Here is some kind of digital collage image I cooked up a decade ago. I just came across it minding its own business in a file on my computer. There must have been some good reason I saved this one, so I might as well post it here. 
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Banjo Practice – June Apple
Wish I was a june apple Hanging on a tree Everytime my true love pass Take a bite of me Take a bite of me my love Take a bite of me Everytime my true love pass take a bite of me.
Trumbo – a brief review
I’m not generally a big fan of biopics, but I consider Trumbo, the story of Dalton Trumbo, the film writer blacklisted as a communist, to be an excellent film.
It stars Bryon Cranston, who is successful not just because his portrayal is entirely believable but also because his performance never once reminds the audience of his role in Breaking Bad (a series I abandoned after the second season). Diane Lane plays Cleo Trumbo, Helen Mirren is perfect as a most evil Hedda Hopper, John Goodman has one of the best moments in the film as Frank King and comic Louis C.K. plays Arlin Hird.
Trumbo demonstrates how Americans panicked in their fear of the red menace taking over America by infiltrating its culture. How many people were blacklisted, unable to work? How many people “testified”, giving up lists of names, betraying their friends, betraying good people, guilty only of living free in America. How many people were jailed? How many brilliant careers ruined?
The film is about one man who stood on principle and subverted the forces keeping him down. It’s quirky and funny and at times emotionally charged. Cranston’s performance as the eccentric Dalton Trumbo, writing away in a bathtub, chainsmoking, whiskey drinking, pill-popping, is Oscar bait for sure, and I’d say he’s in the running for a best actor nod.
As with all films based in history, the question which comes up is, what does it tell us about our world today? Trumbo shows us what happens when people over-react in fear, and just how terrifying that can get – and it does it featuring characters that are Hollywood heros. I wonder if the film was intended to be a wake-up call?
Tuffy P and the Partners
Took this shot last night with Tuffy P and the Newfs with the mosaic garden bench we created last year.
Banjo Practice: Texas Gals
This is a tune I’ve just learned, from a video by Hilarie Burhans. It’s in C so my banjo is tuned to double C tuning: gCGCD. For those who are interested in banjos, I’m playing a Nechville Atlas banjo.
Go Match with Vox
Last night was Go night – Vox and I play most Friday evenings. Go, for those who don’t know is that Asian game played on a 19 X 19 line grid with black and white stones. Vox and I have been playing since sometime in the 80s.
I’ve been studying some, watching some real-time games on a Go server, and watching some annotated games on You Tube, in an effort to up my level of play. Last week I won 4/6 games and was pleased with my play overall.
During the week, I decided I would try to record our games, so I could replay them after the fact and think about what I did well and what I might have done better. To accomplish this, I grabbed some go notation sheets online. These sheets are built of circles around the intersections on a game diagram, and the idea is that you record the number of each move, with back in one colour pen and red in another, so you build the game on a game diagram.
I abandoned my effort at recording about a third of the way through the first game. I found it very distracting to keep my mind on the flow of the game and at the same time, remember what move number we were on, and locate the spot to record each move. I think the idea of recording the game is good, but the only way I’ll ever accomplish it is to have a third person there to do that recording, and I’m sure a third person would be a distraction as well.
Vox did very well last night, taking 4/6 games. There were few kills and he did very well converting large moyos into real territory. Perhaps I was playing too mildly, as I was unable for the most part to destabilize his groups, with the exception of one decent kill. Of course, had I been successful in recording out games I could go back and do some analysis and consider how I might have made Vox’s groups heavy and attackable.
Longbranch meetup: Skippy and George
Tuffy P here. Christmas Baking today on 27th Street today. Blender went on the fritz before I even had a chance to finish my morning coffee. George will not leave me alone in the kitchen. He finally won his opportunity with Skippy. Truce. Off to the store for a blender… Gingerbread cookies done, Cocconut chocolate chip cookies – done, Hello Dolly Squares – done, Vanilla Twist biscotti’s – in the oven now!
Ground Hog (yes it’s banjo time again)
Check out Guy Wolff playing and singing Old Ground Hog…
I love Guy’s attack on this tune, perfect on the fretless.
The Changing Face of Twenty Seventh Street – Part 5
There was a crew out in front of 2 Twenty Seventh when I got home from work today. They were digging some sort of deep trench down the property and out onto the road. Maybe they were doing drains – I’m really not sure. I think the trench seems awfully close to that huge silver maple in the front of the property, but I guess that’s for the Urban Forestry people to decide. This property owner destroyed all the other trees on the property without a permit prior to building. I sure hope this one maple has a chance to survive.
Meanwhile there were cement trucks and dump trucks idling on the street this evening. One cement truck idled in front of our home (facing the wrong way) for over 2 hours. I didn’t check what time they finally shut down their operation tonight but I know it was well after 8:30.
I’m trying not to be annoyed by all this construction. There’s going to be a lot more of it before it is done. The foundation is in for the over-sized bungalow at 6 and I guess they’ll start banging up the structure soon.
Texas Gals
I’ve been learning a tune called Texas Gals on the banjo, so I’ve been listening to some different versions. Here are Al Hopkins and his Hillbillies….
Here’s a nice version by a group called The Monks, featuring a square dance caller….
I’ve been learning the tune from a teaching video by a wonderful banjo player named Hilarie Burhans, who has very generously put a boatload of videos up on her youtube channel to help the banjo-challenged like me to learn some tunes.
I’ve discovered that as I get more experience playing and have seen many if the common patterns show up in various tunes, I’m enjoying learning from videos more and more. With a video, I can listen to how it sounds and can also watch the fingering, which I find very helpful.
Once I practice this one for a while, I’ll try playing it on video as well. I find that recording myself is a great learning tool. When I listen to myself play, sometimes it sounds to me far better than I know it really sounds. When I record myself and then play it back, I can better hear what I really sound like and that helps me make adjustments to my play so I sound better.
27th Street 