April 30, 2011
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Odds and ends

Played Go last night with Vox and suffered nothing but losses. He was right on his game. I made a few mistakes and was unable to destabilize his groups last night. Next time, hopefully I’ll extract some revenge.

Here at Anchovy World Headquarters, our garden is greening up quickly. Looking out my window, I can see little leaf buds on my Japanese Maple. I noticed earlier the peonies are up, as are many of the perenniels. Down the street at the yacht club, they’ve put the boats in the water. I guess that makes spring official.

Beautiful day today. I was out early to do some shopping. Later, I’ll be going with my student E to look at button accordions. You can’t just run down to the mall for this. There aren’t many places around that deal in button accordions. I’m taking E to Musical Instruments of Canada, on Eglinton near Oakwood. They have the selection we’re looking for and I enjoy dealing with the people there.

April 29, 2011
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Coal Smoke, Valve Oil and Steam

The train song of the day today features Johnny Horton: Coal Smoke, Valve Oil and Steam.

You may know some other tunes by Johnny Horton, such as North to Alaska and Battle of New Orleans. Mr. Horton had a short life – he was sadly killed by a drunk driver at age 35.

April 29, 2011
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Ellie Mae slept through the night (yay!)

After two days with a spectacularly explosive digestive system Ellie Mae slept soundly through the night last night (and so did we!). The vet gave us some medication for her that went to work quickly. Hopefully she’ll be back to full strength soon.

April 28, 2011
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Moose Turd Pie + Locomotion

Today we have a train story instead of a train song. I hope you’ll forgive me for varying from my usual format. I referenced this in the recent post about the Gandy Dancer’s Ball. It’s an excellent story I know you will enjoy, by the late U. Utah Phillips, the golden voice of the great south-west.

OK, OK, you want a song, not a story, so here’s the train song of the day. You asked for it, you got it. Here she is, Little Eva, on Shindig in 1965, performing her hit, The Locomotion. This is a train song and a dance craze all in one. You just can’t beat that.

Update

I’m adding to this post at the request of my pal East Texas Red. East likes the trains songs OK but he’s pining in his heart for a mining song. I feel your pain East. So here’s The Miner’s Lullaby…

April 28, 2011
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Who’s selling, who’s buying?

Going into our current federal election campaign, every time I opened a newspaper or turned on the radio, I heard that Canadians didn’t want an election, that nobody wanted to vote and that voter turnout would be lower than ever. You can’t always believe everything you’re sold, though. Voter turnout for the advance polls was 34% higher than last time around. That’s significant. Are we seeing a resurgence of interest in federal politics in Canada? For sure we’re seeing some fascinating and surprising polling trends, with the NDP seemingly surging in popularity.

I’d be very happy to see high voter turnout Monday. I’ll be voting. Will you?

One thing though…in the words of the late Sunnyland Slim, be careful how you vote….

April 27, 2011
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Pig Iron or Livestock?

Today’s train song of the day is Rock Island Line. It tells the story of an engineer who smuggles pig iron past a toll gate by saying all he’s carrying is livestock. There are many versions of this tune, the most famous of which is by the British “skittle” singer Lonnie Donegan. At risk of ticking off some of his fans, I’m going to say that I’m not a great fan of Lonnie Donegan’s music, so let’s hear some other versions instead.

Leadbelly…

Little Richard

and of course, Johnny Cash on Sun Records

April 27, 2011
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Was it something she ate?

Ellie Mae’s digestive system is akimbo. For new readers, Ellie Mae is one of our two Newfoundland dogs. She came upstairs to wake us to let her out into the yard several times last night. I think she wasn’t feeling well the night before because she wanted to eat grass and other plants, a sure sign. Hopefully, she’ll be better today.