Music of the Spheres
Santa Claus brought me a beautiful set of windchimes this Christmas.
They are made by an outfit called "Music of the Spheres" in Austin, Texas.
They are amazing and beautiful chimes, more like a musical instrument than
something to hang on your porch. The company crafts them to A=440 pitch
and they are available in over a dozen modes and tunings, and five
different tone ranges, from soprano to "basso profundo" (which boasts 14'
pipes and a weight of over 200 lbs!) I guess you have to have a pretty
tall porch for that one. You can go to the website musicofspheres.com and check all
this out and even hear samples. I love the sound of my chimes (which are
pentatonic) -- it is beautiful, subtle, never intrusive.
“What the average citizen doesn’t explicitly understand is that a
significant part of the government’s plan to repair the financial system
and the economy is to pay savers nothing and allow damaged financial
institutions to earn a nice, guaranteed spread,” said William H. Gross,
co-chief investment officer of the Pacific Investment Management Company,
or Pimco. “It’s capitalism, I guess, but it’s not to be applauded.”
NYTIMES 12/16
An Appreciation of My Friend Mr.
Watson
Went to Jim Watson's Christmas show last night
at the Cave. He is amazing. He's pretty good at this stuff. The place was
hot and crowded but the people were really into the music. The first set
he did mostly mid tempo and thoughtful Christmas songs. Somebody (Joe?)
said Watson should make a Christmas album. If anyone should, he should.
(Even more than Bob Dylan -- sorry Bob!)
For the second set Watson handed around song books and everyone
sang along to the carols, as is the Watson Christmas Cave Show Custom.
Chapel Hill folks love this stuff. Me too. Jim has been doing his
Christmas show now for 24 years. He works hard at them and practices the
songs a lot, according to his wife Anne.
I remember one day long ago we were doing an in-store promo for
Merchants Lunch at a record store on Franklin Street. We had
brought in our instruments and were doing a short set right there in the
midst of the aisles filled with bins of vinyl. A friend of mine had come
to listen.
"You sounded pretty good," my friend said to me, "but my eyes kept
going to Watson. He has star quality."
("Damn!" I remember jealously thinking to myself.)
But my friend was right. Watson does have that esteemed quality. I've
known him and played music with him for years, through thick and thin. And
he always just stands up there and commits to it 100 pecent. I have never
known him not to, no matter what. Never moody, never tempermental. And he
has surely learned from the years of tirelessly working and doing it
well -- his voice is always clear as a bell, his diction
perfect. And it comes across, because people like to listen to him and he
makes them smile and makes them happy -- old folks, young folks, family,
strangers, hipsters, squares.
I left after the second set, because I had a long drive back. But
Watson always does a third set at his Cave show.
"Not just two sets, like these wimps today," he quipped.
Somebody else (Joe?) was saying it's also because Watson is 100 percent
comfortable with himself and who he is. One can't say that about a lot of
people, particularly in this Age of Anxiety and Uncertainty. (But then,
what Age isn't?) Which makes one appreciate people like Watson all the
more. Deck the Halls!
photo: Tom and Gail Watts, 2005
Yesterday's Papers:
Summer Fall 2009
Spring 2009
Fall/Winter 2008/09
Summer 2008
Spring
2008
Fall/Winter 2007
Summer 2007
Spring
2007
Winter 2006/07
Fall 2006
Summer
2006
Spring 2006
Fall Winter 2005
Spring Summer 2005
Fall/Winter 2004/05
Summer 2004
Winter/Spring 2004
"I don't believe the good Lord would let me
live three score and ten and then kill me and throw me in a lake of fire,
gnashing and gashing of teeth, and he a-looking at me. Why, ain't no need
of praising him if he gonna do that. Don't never feel sorry for you. Laugh
at your calamities. That's the biggest lie that's ever been told! I ain't
scared of being french fried that way! No!"
production of Radio Gals she is directing:
"Rehearsals are going really well. I love my cast. The Swindle
Sisters are a hoot. OB and Gladys are married in real life and madly in
love so the chemistry is sizzling. I think my Hazel is the best Hazel of
all time. You have to fasten your seat belt when she sings A Gal's Got
To Do. We are having an ice storm here so I had to cancel practice
today. But, the Vikings are playing so all is not lost!"
I didn't need much to convince me that birds are god-like and
superior creatures, but if I needed more then I certainly I heard it last
night on the BBC. Researchers, using tiny geolocating tracking devices,
have determined that Arctic Terns migrate each September from Greenland to
the Weddell Sea, on the shores of Antarctica. They stay there for five or
so months and then migrate back up to Greenland. The terns don't fly in a
direct line going down but hang along the coastlines of Western Europe and
Africa, and then take a refueling stopover near the Azores. Their round
trip equals about 43,000 miles. The tiny 3.5 ounce birds may live up to 34
years. Making this migratorial journey over their long life span equals
roughly three round trips to the moon!