June 2, 2012
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One Man Bands

It’s been a while since I’ve made an all one-man-band post here on 27th St. so let’s try it for today’s Daily Dose.

Here’s Scott Dunbar performing a Michael Jackson tune…

Alexander Zoltan’s One Man Band playing Five Foot Two

I’m not sure if this next guy counts because he also has a singing dog. That might just be cheatin’.

Bob London uses an elaborate drum set-up on his back to cover a Bob Dylan tune…

No exploration of one man bands is complete without featuring Jesse “Lone Cat” Fuller and his “fotdella”.

June 2, 2012
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Close Call

I drove out to the grocery store down the street this afternoon. On the way back the car in front of me was cut off by another driver who decided to make a left turn from a side-street onto the main street right in front of him. When I say right in front of him I mean the driver in front of me slammed on his brakes to avoid t-boning the left turner. He honked his horn. The left turner, a young woman, flipped him the bird and screamed obscenities at him as she sped west, accelerating.

The end.

June 2, 2012
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Good thing the rain stopped….

Yesterday it rained and rained and rained and I slept and slept and slept. It was starting to look as if we’d need to build an ark in the back yard so we could load up the menagerie and safely float away. This was a problem, since I had about 0 energy. Ark building takes a lot of energy. This morning the sidewalks are dry, although we may not yet be done with the rain. I’m feeling quite a bit better, still sniffly and blah but better.

June 1, 2012
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Goodnight Irene

For tonight’s Daily Dose, let’s go back to an old Leadbelly tune, Goodnight Irene. Lots of people know the melody and the chorus but have never really listened to the lyrics. It’s one sad tune.

I love Tom Waits’ take on it…

Here’s a curious combo…The Killer and Van Morrison…

Now here’s Ry Cooder with Flaco Jimenez on squeezbox.

Finally let’s go back to 1932 and listen to Leadbelly perform his own song…

 

June 1, 2012
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Down

I guess I knew it was coming – low energy much of the week, a tingling in my throat yesterday afternoon, getting worse all evening. This morning I woke up in a haze, headachey, sore throat, and a bit of an ear infection as a bonus. Back to bed.

Emerged again a short while ago, convincing myself I feel a little bit better. Meanwhile the rain is coming down steadily, and from the torrents I see flowing down our street, it looks like it has been raining all morning.

May 29, 2012
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Guitar great Doc Watson has died

Doc Watson has died at 89. RIP

I’ve been listening to Doc Watson’s music since I was a teenager. It seems as if styles come and go but Doc has always been there bringing his brand of Americana to life. He was not a purist in the sense that some bluegrass musicians are. His music was a synthesis of musical forms from the American South and it seems to me it was always just right. I know there will be some readers of this blog who are not familiar with Mr. Watson’s music, so enough words. Lets listen.

Deep River Blues

Black Mountain Rag

Tennessee Stud

Finally, here he is with Merle, playing Summertime

May 28, 2012
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Rossi and Toni’s Garden

Since Rossi’s stroke, two significant things have changed. The first is he has to be underfoot at all times. Now we have to be so careful we don’t step on the little guy because he gets tangled up in our feet. The second change is an obsessive need to go through any door that opens. Now if we open a door we have to check for Rossi before closing. This morning I took the shot above just before hopping into my car on my way to work. Rossi saw me heading to my car and was trying to get himself tangled up in my feet one more time before I left. Beside Rossi is the garden that our friend Toni created when she stayed with us recently.

I also took a shot of our front garden this morning. We now have three colours of irises blooming and many other flowers including plenty of allium. Peonies will bloom any day. I added a star shaped item to the clematis trellis, to the side. It’s a bit hard to see in the photo because of the barberry hedge behind, but you can see the clematis, which had run out of trellis, leaning on it.

May 27, 2012
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Seek and ye shall find

Somebody entered the phrase “chanterelle mushrooms in July near Toronto” into a search engine and landed on 27th Street. Let me ease your troubled mind, my friend. The answer is, well maybe, if we get some rain this year (and you can find them).