Today is the birthday of Shelby Foote. You know him from Ken Burns' Civil War series on PBS. However, if you've never read him, I highly recommend you do so. He is a novelist first and a historian second and that's what makes his enormous three-volume history of the Civil War so enjoyable.

Some years ago, I was just sitting down to lunch at Galatoire's when I saw Mr. Foote walk in with a woman I can only assume was his wife. I couldn't help myself and I went over before he got too settled and introduced myself saying something like, I had to come and shake his hand as I was in the middle of reading his narrative of the War. He said, "Take your time. It took me twenty years to write it." I'm sure that was something he had said many times in the past but I was glad to hear it anyway. Here's another quote from him I found on line:

"If you want to study writing, read Dickens. That's how to study writing, or Faulkner, or D.H. Lawrence, or John Keats. They can teach you everything you need to know about writing."


Your servant,

P

"I never even thought about whether or not they understand what I'm doing . . . the emotional reaction is all that matters -- as long as there's some feeling of communication, it isn't necessary that it be understood. After all, I used to love music myself long before I could identify a G minor seventh chord."


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_ywkpVJ624



Your servant,

P

He's 81 today and he's still the guy who will make your movie date forget all about you.







Your servant,

P

You may have seen the article or heard the NPR piece on what some scientists now believe about the origin of our lonely natural satellite. They now believe that the earth (while it was still mostly molten, sort of like the asphalt around her in this torrid August) actually had two moons, one of which struck our present one and created the different terrain of the "dark side." So, on Shelley's birthday (1792) here's his poem to that (now) solitary orb.


To the Moon
By Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792–1822

I
Art thou pale for weariness
Of climbing heaven and gazing on the earth,
Wandering companionless
Among the stars that have a different birth, —
And ever changing, like a joyless eye
That finds no object worth its constancy?


II
Thou chosen sister of the Spirit,
That gazes on thee till in thee it pities ...


Your servant,

P

"Call me Ishmael. Some years ago -- never mind how long precisely -- having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world."

So begins one of our birthday honorees for today, born August 1, 1819, in his most famous work. What a fantastic beginning. If you haven't read Melville lately or not at all, please let me prod you in his direction. You won't regret it.

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

"In the attics of my life, full of cloudy dreams unreal.
Full of tastes no tongue can know, and lights no eyes can see.
When there was no ear to hear, you sang to me.


I have spent my life seeking all that's still unsung.
Bent my ear to hear the tune, and closed my eyes to see.
When there was no strings to play, you played to me.


In the book of love's own dream, where all the print is blood.
Where all the pages are my days, and all the lights grow old.
When I had no wings to fly, you flew to me, you flew to me.


In the secret space of dreams, where I dreaming lay amazed.
When the secrets all are told, and the petals all unfold.
When there was no dream of mine, you dreamed of me."

Also born on August 1 but many years later in 1942, Jerry Garcia who, with Robert Hunter's lyric, wrote the music to this Grateful Dead classic. Listen to American Beauty today.

Your servant,

P

Dear readers: Forgive me for the lengthy absence. I meant to get the pictures together from Jazz Fest and the Spoleto Festival and have not. In any case, there will be more to come, especially regarding that trip to Charleston. However, this being Raymond Chandler's birthday, I could not resist.






"Then he picked the glass up and tasted it and sighed again and shook his head sideways with a half smile; the way a man does when you give him a drink and he needs it very badly and it is just right and the first swallow is like a peek into a cleaner, sunnier, brighter world." " ---The High Window (Chapter 15)

Enjoy some pulp fiction today. It's good for you.

Your servant,

P

My apologies for being away from this journal for so long. I have lots to talk about, including Jazz Fest and our recent trip to Charleston. In the meantime, enjoy this video from Oxford American.

Your servant,

P

I'll get to the amazing group of musicians I saw and heard these last two weekends but first, here is a video you need to watch lest we forget.





Your servant,

P

For those of you who are not familiar with modern jazz, this gentleman will be 74 this week and has appeared on approximately 2500 albums in his career. His set with Mulgrew Miller on piano and Russell Malone on guitar was a real class act. As far as I can remember, this was Ron Carter's first appearance at the Jazz Fest and it was definitely the first time I had seen him live.

I'll be posting more pictures as I get them organized, which I hope to do before the next weekend starts.

Your servant,

P

This is the week, dear readers. If you have the ability to make last minute plans, New Orleans is the place you want to be beginning this Friday and running through May 8. The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival does it better than any festival of its type. In fact, there may not be a festival of its type in existence. Most close readers of this journal know the picture of your humble narrator that accompanies all these posts was taken by a good friend one morning as we were just finished parking our bicycles for the Fest. I'll be there again for my singular "staycation" on all seven days, the Lord and the weather willing. (Probably limit that to the Lord since the weather usually doesn't stop me.)

As usual, I'll provide you reports on the artists and bore you with my food samplings, etc. Fair warning: if you don't want to know about my meanderings around the Fairgrounds, go watch a rerun of "Two and Half Men" or something else other than the musings of this never-say-die denizen of the sun, rain, dust, mud, wind, and beauty of the people.

One of the loveliest of those people will be back for something like his 25th year creating his own beauty out of metal. I'm glad to call Jim Jenkins a friend and I highly recommend you to his blacksmithing demonstration. He will be there the second weekend only, Thursday through Sunday.





More to come.

Your servant,

P