wild rovers

It all depends on how we look at things, and not how they are in themselves.

Carl Jung (26 july 1875 -1961) psychiatrist,
founder of analytical psychology

welcome to tattoo tuesday on the mouse - a new quasi regular series!

this weekend was the cleveland irish cultural festival, with the exception of a tattoo convention, there are few gatherings where one encounters so much inked flesh in one location. it was great!

thanks to jason (above), matt (in the middle - matt & his partner jen are were visiting from johnstown, pa and are part of a celtic musical group called tree the band), and the woman below, whose name i either forgot or didn't get, for letting me snap their artful skin and giving the thumbs up so i could share their creative expressions on the mouse!

tree the band performing the wild rover - a staple for celtic musicians everywhere. geez, we probably heard the song a half dozen times this weekend!

the wild rover is often considered a drinking song and can be heard in irish pubs and at every irish festival one attends; ironically the song is a temperance song and first gained popularity during the 1840s and spread from scotland to america with the temperance movement.

too darn hot

A point of view can be a dangerous luxury when substituted for insight and understanding.

Marshall McLuhan (21 july 1911 - 1980) philosopher, scholar, educator

like most of the rest of the u s of a, it is just too darn hot! it's not just the heat but the humidity - when you start sweating at 7 am you know it's too damn hot!

my computer is located in a room with no a/c, so until the heat wave breaks there's not going to be much blogging by this mouse!

speaking of computer, today's the writer's almanac included this insightful quote from mcluhan:

The printing press, the computer, and television are not therefore simply machines which convey information. They are metaphors through which we conceptualize reality in one way or another. They will classify the world for us, sequence it, frame it, enlarge it, reduce it, argue a case for what it is like. Through these media metaphors, we do not see the world as it is. We see it as our coding systems are. Such is the power of the form of information.

stay cool. drink plenty of fluids and take comfort by knowing that given how fast time flies before we know it we'll be complaining about winter and wondering what happened to summer!



ella singing cole porter's too darn hot - the theme song for the week!



photo: new ringgold, pa july 2011

we are family

You know, sometimes, when they say you're ahead of your time, it's just a polite way of saying you have a real bad sense of timing.

George McGovern (b. 19 july 1922) historian, author, statesman

this weekend we traveled to northeastern pennsylvania for the annual yanoshik family picnic.

the weather was absolutely incredible and it was so great to see everyone - a good time was had by one and all. a few years ago the reunion moved from a public park to a cousins' home. she and her husband are farmers and live in a house smack dab in the middle of their farm. the top photo is a picture taken from the front porch.

the family reunion is scheduled around the time that f and i celebrate our respective birthdays. this year the reunion fell on f's birthday - and today is my birthday.

it is sweet how many family members remember our birthdays. cousin donna never forgets and i'm always amazed as to what thoughtful treasure she finds. this year she gave me a july 1955 national geographic that is in mint condition.

what really knocked my socks off about this gift is that the issue's lead article deals with tibet and focuses much on the dalai lama. the article is by heinrich harrer, the author of the 1952 book seven years in tibet (which in 1997 was made into a movie starring brad pitt as harrer). turns out that while harrer was in tibet (1944-1951) he became a friend and tutor for tenzin gyatso (the 14th and current dalai lama). checking out the portal's entry on harrer i saw a bit of birthday synchronicity - harrer and his holiness share a birthday - both were born on july 6th! but not a birth year - harrer was born in 1912 and hh was born in 1935.

inside the birthday card my mother gave me was this photo - i just love it! the photo was most likely taken when i was around 6 months old - which coincidentally is the age that baby bingo is now!

boy do times change - check out what bingo was doing on his 6 month birthday!

it is actually a bit hard to tell what bingo is doing - he's using his ma's ipad's drawing program - what amazed me is you could tell he knew what he was doing!

i mentioned that hh and hh share a july 6th birthday - another person whose birthday is july 6th is frida kahlo (b. 1907) - who i swear ms t, bingo's big sister, was channeling the other day!




sister sledge and their 1979 hit song we are family. coincidentally one of the sledge sisters is named kim and another one has a birthday in july!

stjt: happy 99th woody!

The note of hope is the only note that can help us or save us from falling to the bottom of the heap of evolution, because, largely, about all a human being is, anyway, is just a hoping machine, a working machine, and any song that says, the pleasures I have seen in all of my trouble, are the things I never can get — don't worry — the human race will sing this way as long as there is a human to race.

The human race is a pretty old place.

Woody Guthrie (14 july 1912 - 1967)

from notes about music (1940s)

today is the 99th birthday of american bard, philosopher, and the mouse's personal hero woody guthrie.

happy birthday woody!

in anticipation of the celebration of woody's 100th birthday, the guthrie family in collaboration with a whole bunch of other folks have launched a special centennial website today, fittingly the site is can be found by going to: www.woody100.com

according to an email i received from the woody guthrie foundation, it was created to be:the

official hub for all concerts, exhibits, public programs, new releases, educational conferences, and grassroots events taking place throughout the centennial year. "From California to the New York Island," and around the world, activities are being planned now to celebrate Woody Guthrie's 100th birthday. Check it out.

i don't see anything planned in cleveland, but i expect this will change as news and awareness spreads! in fact, i plan on doing my part and encourage some local venues and organizations to jump on board the woody train!

the foundation encourages everyone to help celebrate woody's birthday by singing! today's email also included the words to perhaps woody's most famous song:

This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.

As I was walking that ribbon of highway
I saw above me that endless skyway
I saw below me that golden valley
This land was made for you and me.

I've roamed and rambled, and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
And all around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me.

When the sun came shining, and I was strolling
And the wheat fields waving, and the dust clouds rolling
As the fog was lifting, a voice was chanting
This land was made for you and me.

As I went walking, I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing"
But on the other side it didn't say nothing
That side was made for you and me.

In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people
By the relief office I saw my people
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?

Nobody living can ever stop me
As I go walking that freedom highway
Nobody living can make me turn back
This land was made for you and me.

Listen to Woody sing "This Land Is Your Land"
Words & music by Woody Guthrie | Asch Recordings: Volume 1 : This Land Is Your Land

© Copyright 1956 (renewed), 1958 (renewed), 1970 and 1972 by Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc. & TRO-Ludlow Music, Inc. (BMI)

and might i add, as woody did, the following:

This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright #154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singin it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ours, cause we don't give a darn. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that's all we wanted to do.

please bear with me as i try to plug back into the bloggyhood. thursday is share the joy day - today's tribute to woody is my joyful contribution to stjt!! i don't know about you, but for me even when woody was writing or singing about hard times, there was always a sense of hope, promise and purpose to his words and in hope and promise one can always find joy!

to see who else is sharing joy, mosey on over to meri's corner of cyberspace!

i'd like to conclude my woody tribute with one of my favorite woody songs - gonna get through this world, performed by the klezmatics.

reading between the lines from the info found on the foundation website, it appears that woody never recorded the song nor did he score it. in fact, the klezmatics' lisa gutkin set woody's words to music. woody wrote thousands of songs; unfortunately he didn't have time to set all of his songs to music - dying way, way, too young as he did. fortunately, there is continuing interest in woody's work and legacy; recently more and more artists and musicians are setting woody's words to music --the mouse would like to give a BIG shout out to billy bragg and wilco for bringing some of woody's unsung songs to light!




photo: michigan, 9 july 2011

wrecking ball

One must credit an hypothesis with all that has had to be discovered in order to demolish it.

Jean Rostand (1894-1977)historian and biologist

a different kind of wall wednesday, rather than focus on street art (albeit there is a bit), here are a few snaps i took last week while checking out the demolition scene at cleveland's old cold storage building.


the cold-storage building, officially known as the distribution terminal warehouse, is located in cleveland's tremont neighborhood and it's coming down to make way for a major road project - the construction of a interstate 90 bridge. as with most projects of this sort, the new bridge has had its share of controversies - everything from where the bridge should be located to what the bridge should look like.

however, although the cold storage building is historic by the fact that it was erected in the late 1920s, demolishing the building has not been very controversial. its original purpose has been made redundant (e.g., cleveland food terminus is located elsewhere and modern and individual household refrigeration has helped eliminate its need); the building hasn't been used for decades and today the building is little more than a huge concrete and steel cube that just blocks a good view of the city and act as a gigantic billboard.



from a recent newspaper article i learned that the steel and concrete rubble of the old building will be recycled and reused. all right!

with the exception of the insert photo, which i borrowed from here, the rest of the pictures were taken last thursday, july 7. i had the good fortune to speak with some of the men working on the demolition project - they report that its coming down much smoother and quicker than expected and anticipate that it will be completely down by the end of the month. because of the fragile ecosystem, which is the reason we need a new bridge to begin with, the building can't be blasted down - but taken down with wrecking balls and a battalion of humans and machines.



today's vid is wrecking ball, sung by emmylou harris, written by neil young - the video accompanying the song was shot by cinque lee of the ninth ward capturing the damage done by the natural disaster wrecking ball we know as hurricane katrina

bits and pieces

Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant?

Henry David Thoreau (12 july 1817 - 1862) essayist, poet and philosopher

i believe i've said it before, and i'll say it again - summertime and the living is busy and there's not much time for blogging. in order to not totally neglect the mouse, i think for the summer i'm going long on snaps and short on sentences!

living in a highly inked corner of the universe, i've been toying with the idea of initiating a new weekly feature - since i adore alliteration, it seems only fitting to tag tuesdays as tat tuesday.

we start off the series with the beautiful tat below on an even more beautiful young woman who most graciously gave me permission to take her photo and share her tat with the world (or at least my corner of the cyberworld). the woman is on staff of the market garden brewery, one of cleveland's newest additions to our wonderful food (and drink) scene.

the market garden is located on w. 25th street in the ohio city neighborhood of cleveland - this area of town was recently named by usa today as one of the ten greatest places to bar-hop around the world! the other cities on the list include: rio de janerio (brazil), dublin (ireland), the williamsburgh neighborhood of brooklyn, seville (spain) , portland (oregon), aspen, austin, and new orleans - to read blurbs about each place click on the usa today link above.

by the way, with respect to the tattoo above, i will have to go back to get the back story - the market garden was so busy there wasn't time to really talk ......






photos: top- deer in cuyahoga valley national park, 7 july 2011; middle-beach at sunset, lake michigan, michigan, 8 july 2011; bottom - sampler of beer, cleveland, 7 july 2011

dog day afternoon

Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.

Franz Kafka (3 july 1883 - 1924) writer

according to this morning's writer's almanac today is the beginning of the dog days of summer.

The name came from the ancient Greeks. They believed that Sirius, the "dog star," which rose with the sun at that time, was adding to the sun's heat. They also believed that the weather made dogs go mad. The Romans tried to appease Sirius by sacrificing a brown dog at the start of the dog days. For the Egyptians, the arrival of dog days marked the beginning of the Nile's flooding season, as well as their New Year celebrations.

"Dog days" has been adopted by the stock market because the markets tend to be slow and sluggish; it's also come to mean any period of stagnation or inactivity.

i generally associate the real dog days of summer with august, probably because the first time i recall encountering the expression was in the mid-1970s in the context of the title of sidney lumet's edgy film dog day afternoon - the film dramatizes a real life bank robbery that occurred in brooklyn during august of 1972.

unfortunately the clip i want to embed is disabled; the good news is that you can watch it by clicking here. i love this opening sequence as it presents a slice of life in nyc and really captures what nyc looked and felt like in the early 1970s making it an excellent time travel experience! the opening sequence progresses with elton john's song amoreena supplying the mood and setting the tone for the movie - a story and song of yearning and not really getting what one wants. the song is one of only two songs which are used in the film.

here on the north coast yesterday felt like a day i associate with the dog days of summer - it was hot, humid, and steamy. fortunately late last night a lovely storm front came through and along with bringing a bit of rain (which we don't really need here; weather gods - please send the rain to texas and the southwest instead of here!). today's high is to get only into the low 80s - and if accuweather is correct today is the beginning of a relatively mild, sweet week of weather. perfect for summer time cook-outs, fireworks and easy living. no mad dogs here - thank you very much!

also in today's writer's almanac is an interesting write up about franz kafka - i knew kafka died young, but before reading the wa piece i didn't realized what terrible death he had - the end of his life was characterized with excruciating pain and lesions on his throat prevented him from eating and drinking, thus he he starved to death when he was just 41 years old. it is such a shame that kafka didn't have the fortune to grow old - and really put his theory to the test.



photo: bogart the dog, lakewood june 2011

groovin'

Happiness is a how; not a what. A talent, not an object.

Hermann Hesse (2 july 1877 -1962) writer,
1946 nobel laureate in literature

just a groovin' kind of day. have a happy weekend!

the young rascals 1967 instant hit groovin'



photo: ringo in his garden, july 2011