This morning I found a note taped to my computer. It read, “Hitting the road. Look after the blog.” It was simply signed “Fish”
I don’t even know which direction he went. If my old buddy Mister Anchovy shows up in your town, give him a good meal and a place to lay his head, OK? Meanwhile, I’ll do my best to keep 27th Street going.
I’ve been working on improving my Go game. For those who don’t know, Go is a game played on a 19X19 grid with black and white stones. The object is to surround territory, more territory than your opponent, by placing stones on intersections of the grid, governed by a simple set of rules. The game though, is anything but simple. Sometimes it seems I have to repeat the same bone-headed mistakes many times before I realize what I’ve been doing wrong. There are some excellent books about the game but I find the book format isn’t ideal. It finally occurred to me to look on YouTube to see if there was any good go material in video format. Everything, it seems, is on YouTube. I found a really good series of lectures about Go on there by Dr. Nick Sibicky from the Seattle. Dr. Sibicky does an excellent job providing commentary on actual games, commenting on what was actually played and exploring other ideas.
I’ve just started looking at these but it appears Dr. Sibicky uses two formats. One format has him in front of a large-scale magnetic Go set. Here’s an example…
The other format uses some sort of animated program and is also very effective.
I’m going to enjoy listening to these lectures and following along with the example games. Hopefully, I’ll even learn a thing or three along the way.
I’m all for rescuing animals in need of rescue, but I don’t think I’d do with this park ranger is doing to free the moose.
Thank you to my brother the trout, Salvelinas Fontinalis, for passing this gem along.
I’ve been enjoying listening to Chemnitzer concertina music lately and that led me to Wanda and Stephanie, who were a mother-daughter team known as America’s Polka Sweethearts. They were polka performers but in the polka world that is broken down into styles. The style Wanda and Stephanie performed is called Honky. Stephanie still performs today. Her mom Wanda passed back in the 90s.
Here’s Zosia, one of my fave polkas
The Cial Bym Ja Polka
Seven Days and Seven Nights Polka
And finally, here’s Stephanie on her own performing the Wanda Polka.
Wanda was my mom’s name, and also I have a cousin named Wanda. Cousin Wanda, this one’s for you if you’re out there…
A note to readers….
When I set up this post, nothing on YouTube (at least that I saw) told me that embedding was restricted. And so, when you try to watch two of the videos above, you get a “watch on YouTube” message. Just click on the YouTube symbol and you’ll be transported to the YouTube page where you can watch the videos at will. I’m happy with whatever restrictions the uploaders and YouTube put on any videos on the site. I just wish they would make the intention obvious. In other words, if you don’t want me to embed the video, don’t give me a share link to use.
What is a Hamburgler, you ask?
I have been asked by a member of the Hamburglers to encourage you, gentle readers, to Vote Hamburgler. It seems the boys are in the final round of a contest to play at Riot Fest in Chicago in a couple weeks and they are in need of some votes. Who knew there really are battles of the bands. Of course that’s in Chicago. Anything can happen in Chicago.
I have friends who claim to have not only met the Hamburglers, but are friends with them. Me? I like their outfits, so I’m doing my part.
http://www.robblerobble.com takes you to their voting page for the Battle Royale With Cheese sponsored by do312
Everything you ever wanted to know about the Chemnitzer Concertina but were afraid to ask can be found at ConcertinaMusic.com.
One of the places I like to visit is the for sale section of the site, which features ads for a number of these beautiful instruments. I can assure you that should I win a small lottery, I’ll be visiting this site with more serious intent.
Another feature I love about the site is the sheet music library. It contains an alpha-listing sheet music, many with special Chemnitzer concertina fingering notes. Now I don’t own a Chemnitzer concertina and so the fingering notation has no meaning to me, but none-the-less, here is a fantastic collection of polkas, obereks, waltzes and all kinds of other tunes as well. Some hand-written scores may be a little difficult to read, but I’ve stumbled across some excellent music browsing through this collection. Here’s an example of a piece from the listing.
There’s even a section of the site that lists some Chemnitzer concertina music with links to where you can purchase it.
And for those who are completely lost in the world of Chemnitzer concertina, there is even a section on concertina/polka humour, the link to which I will spare you because I like you.
Here’s an example of the instrument in action. Here is Stephanie & Mitch Kempinski performing the Ice Cream Polka
Ellie Mae rarely shows any interest in toys, unlike her pal Memphis, who nurtures them. The other day, though, she stole one of Memphis’ toys, and took it out to the back yard to rip it to shreds.
That was Redwing.
I like this melody a lot. I’ve been playing it on button accordion all weekend. I poked around on the inner-nets to see what I could find out about this tune. Depending on who you want to believe, it’s an Irish tune, a Quebecois tune or an Appalachian tune. Take your pick.
Here’s a banjo version by Dave Hum
And on the Tin Whistle (a guy named Will – nice job…if you see this, please identify yourself by leaving a comment)…
I know you’re waiting for the uke version…this is lovely – Ken Middleton. I’ve been playing it kind of gently too. I think the tune benefits from a bit of delicacy.
Regular readers will recall that sometime last year, a lean-to appeared out back.
Ok fine, there’s plenty of room back there. I can live with the lean-to. Then the goose moved in.
Now a second lean-to has appeared, at the north side of the property.
Is this some kind of alien encampment in my back yard?
OK, but if more geese show up, I’m drawing a line in the sand.
27th Street 