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Saturday, Jul 4, 2009
Amerikanerin
Published Letters: 12 Editor's Choice: 2
I am 45 and I have often felt like I am one of the few people who dislike the later Beatles (post-Revolver) music and really like the early (pre-Revolver) music. I find St. Pepper to be plodding and overdone. I think that early Beatles music is joyous, fun, has great singability and is great to dance to. But it seemed as the 60's progressed and the more drugs they did, the duller the music became. So, I agree basically with Gina and David. I can see how the production was revolutionary at the time, but if the songs are no fun then production cannot save them. So it was good to read that someone else is on my wavelength. Thanks!
Thanks gooddognigel!
It's nice to hear from someone who agrees. I didn't know that about George Martin and the time limit on recordings, but it makes sense. I think a lot of time musically, especially in rock and roll and pop music, the best music is done on the fly. A lot of great songs, from "What'd I Say" to "Stand by your Man" were written in 5 minutes.
Although I never really liked Journey's music, I have always admired Steve Perry's vocals. That guy can sing. He is never flat or sharp, his pitch is always spot on. He manages to hit really high notes without ever straining to reach them. His vocals really do soar. I saw the current Journey on television a while back and was amused to see that they have managed to find another singer who sounds just like him, only he's younger.
I live in the Midwest with it's brutally cold winters and summers. I hate the cold because everything is an ordeal. Going outside to get the newspaper or take out the trash is an ordeal. You have to put on snow boots and coat and hat and gloves for a 30 second trek. My fingers turn white from the lack of circulation. I sit on the couch in my cave of an old house not wanting to get up because I'll be cold if I do. I open up the cupboard and my coffee cups are cold to the touch because of the radiating cold coming through the walls. In the summer, I am able to just be. I don't mind the sweating, the stickiness, the flies, and mosquitoes. I am relieved to not be miserable for the first time in months.
Oh Jeez Oh Pete! I lived overseas for many years. When people tell me about their experiences on their 2 week vacation in the country where I spent my twenties and part of my thirties, I listen politely and move on. I don't tell them about my time there except to say that I lived there. And they are never really interested in hearing what I have to say about it anyway. They just want to tell me about their experience. That's just the way people are.
This is a subject that I think about often. I have a 14 year old in the 8th grade at a public high school in a city in Ohio. (Yes, in this city, High School is grade 7th-12th) The population is demographically 55% white and 45% black. But the public school population is 75% black and 20% white and 5% "other". White people are not sending their kids to public school. They have the majority vote in the city, yet do not use the school system. So most every time a bond levy comes up, they vote it down. Then the school system has no money and 100 year old school buildings that they have no money to fix and they start to fall apart. Then the white people say, "Oh look at that school system! It is falling apart! They have terrible test scores! And it's full of 'Minorities'! It's a good thing I send Madison to Country Day!"
I know that in smaller towns and in the countryside people have no clue what I'm talking about. I grew up in the country and went to whatever school I was zoned to. You didn't think about it for a minute. There were no private schools. But in the cities it is really like this. Los Angeles' public schools are about 90% Black and Latino demographically. New York's are about the same. Every major city has the exact same issue. And it's because the majority (a.k.a. white people) pulled their kids out of the schools about 30-40 years ago. What that essentially means is that schools are for the most part still segegrated. The majority of my city's public schools are almost 100% Black demographically and almost 100% Free/Reduced Lunch. There are a few magnet schools that have a good reputation. There is one good neighborhood elementary school where my kid went. It's located in a fairly well-off area, but somehow the neighborhood didn't abandon it when bussing started and as a result it thrives today. Now, she goes to a magnet high school, where you have to score a certain score on the Terra Nova Test to get in. If it weren't for that High School, I'm not sure where I would send her. Her neighborhood high school is rated Academic Emergency.
The Wasilla soap opera just gets weirder as Palin complains critics are "picking apart a good point guard"
The media outlet's use of Bush euphemisms sparks a much-needed debate on journalistic standards.
And so are his Fox News pals, who lambasted Sen. Al Franken's "stolen election"
An inflexible right wing is allowing the Golden State to drown in debt. But it's not alone
Thanks for sharing, Governor. Now please take a cue from Norm Coleman, and go away
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