The embedded video above is the complete album of music and poetry for Christmas from Jeff Johnson. Merry Christmas!
Category Archives: Philosophy
My Quiet Book Nook is the perfect place to read, write and study
by Richard K Munro
The perfect Book Nook or private library has at least one plush leather chair preferably with a rocker and nice padded as I have in the corner. It is an old friend I have owned it for over 30 years and my father enjoyed using it. I always let my father have my best chair and I would sit in my mother’s chair, my second-best chair. It is a carpeted room. My chair has its own special lamp. I have a ceiling fan for the summer plus some built-in lights. My room has a table for study plus two desks and many bookshelves, some decorated with fossils, busts, baseball memorabilia, and toy soldiers. I have an electric pencil sharpener I use almost daily. I have over 60 composition notebooks filled with language notes and about 20 blank ones for future use. I have windows that look out towards the garden and in the summer, I see many birds and squirrels dancing about. We live in a very quiet neighborhood next to a nice park with trees, a pond, and paths to walk. To the left of my desk, I have a French door that opens to the covered patio which has chairs and a table on which I study on find days in the spring, fall, and early winter. It has a screen door from which I can hear music in my rooms. I have no TV in my book nook but I have a radio on my BOSE CD player and many CD’s chiefly classical. And of course, I sometimes watch YouTube videos on my laptop (but not often). My music is chiefly from SPOTIFY, but also via my phone and BOSE Microlink (Itunes) . In the Spring summer and Fall, I often listen to baseball games on the porch or in the library while reading or doing language studies. I used to listen to the radio a lot but now mostly listen to Audible books or podcasts.
There is plenty of storage for paper. I have a printer connected to the laptop. In my library I have about ten reems on the shelves and two in a drawer under the printer. I have a larger supply in reserve in the garage. I have three chairs besides the leather chair. Next to the leather chair, I have a side table that belonged to my father with a drawer. Another chair belonged to my mother and is about 65 years old. I have boxes for index cards and coffee mugs filled with #2 pencils, colored pencils Bausch and Lomb magnifying glasses. In a wooden box, I have a chrome Cross Pen that belonged to my father. The box has a spare cartridge I use the pen to sign personal letters or important documents. I have a phone next to my laptop and a brass hand winding, Tiffany clock, hydrometer, barometer, and thermometer. It is my backup case of a blackout, and it serves as a paperweight. I have two staplers on my desk It was a retirement gift to my father in 1976. Next to the phone is a reproduction of Myron’s Discobolus or “discus thrower”, Greek: Δισκοβόλος, Diskobólos). I picked this up at the Vatican circa 1972; they have a wonderful full-sized marble Roman copy found, I believe, at Hadrian’s Villa. The Greek original in bronze is lost but we know the work from numerous Roman copies. Munich there is a fine Roman bronze reproduction of Myron’s Discobolus, 2nd century AD. I have several busts of famous historical figures some American but mostly Greek, Roman, classical composers or literary figures.
I have a tall glass display case filled with a model of the SANTA MARIA, that my mother, my son and I put together one Christmas before her death (1992 I believe). My mother did the rigging. There are also “ruins” and dioramas of charging Elastolin Roman soldiers on food and horses, Huns, Goths, and Normans (the “Barbarians”. They date back to 1963-1971. There are a few I/R figures and French Starluxe mixed in. There are two chariots and some Roman siege weapons. On the mantle of my fireplace, I have cards, models, and toy soldiers. I have a Lewis and Clark Diorama I bought at a museum in Iowa in 2004 (it includes Sacagawea and York). I have followed almost the entire trail of Lewis and Clark starting in 1982 and finishing in 2004. On the walls I have art reproductions and historical photographs I have collected over the past 60 years such as Churchill holding a tommy gun I have for example a full-size museum replica of ATHENA MOURNING. At my main desk, I have books of quotations, reference books, and dictionaries. I use the Internet and electronic dictionaries but find book versions easier to study and for annotations. I have a variety of English dictionaries. The one I use the most is the 4edtion American Heritage. One of my favorites is the Oxford Companion to English Literature – a nice leather-bound edition. It is the 5th edition edited by Margaret Drabble which is the last edition to have complete commentaries on Walter Scott and other classic authors. I have an extensive library of English language books chiefly classics, biographies, and histories but also baseball books and large-sized art reproduction books. I also have a modest library of Latin books (many bilingual), Greek books including the Bible (I am studying Greek presently, Gaelic books (chiefly song books and poetry but some history and nonfiction), many (hundreds) of Spanish books, some Portuguese books, some French books, some German books. I have a German-Spanish dictionary for example and a Latin-Spanish dictionary. One of my favorite reference books is MAMMALS of the WORLD (1964) which is very useful for ascertaining the indigenous names of mammals in many languages and of course which has curious animal facts and thousands of black-and-white photographs.
I can’t say I have been EXTREMELY productive as a writer in my life but I have read and studied much and been able to teach many. Review reading via rote rehearsal is effective but it is always better to note take and create study cards from notes and use colors and pictures whenever possible. ’
I know Spanish very well, for example, and often speak it but I read and review Spanish at least 20-30 minutes a day (I don’t usually take any notes). For new languages such as Italian or Greek, I take notes sentences dialogues, and translations and write new vocabulary, I draw colored pictures and copy words that give me difficulty three times over and highlight them with yellow. I probably practice 5-7 languages a day. I read Portuguese very well but found I speak it less well since I have not used it daily for more than 40 years. But I practice listening and speaking via Duolingo and so have regained most of my former fluency. I never lost my ability to read but found my writing had declined due to lack of practice and when speaking I tended to fall into Spanish. My book nook is my quiet refuge from the world.
1955: A Year to Remember
by Richard K. Munro
- Richard K. Munro (That’s me!) was born in New Jersey, Dec 12, 1955 just after midnight. I was named after Richard Strauss, the famous composer and one of my mother’s uncles whose name was Rickard. As a boy I was often called Rickard, Ricardo or Ricky Ricardo. My sisters had both been born in Brooklyn. We moved to Livingston, NJ in 1958.
- 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers won their first and only World Championship against the Yankees. My mother was pregnant with me and my grandfather (Auld Pop) said, “Ruthie, it’ll be a boy for sure!” (all my cousins and siblings were girls). I went to Ebbets Field in 1955 in utero.
- 1955 was Hank Aaron’s 2nd year and first big homer year (27HR, 106 RBI and .314 average). He later became my favorite player. I first saw him play at the Polo Grounds vs the Mets in 1962.
- 1955-D quarter was fairly rare. Mintage at Denver was only : 3,182,400 I know this because in the 1960s in order to complete a Boy Scout project I had to have all the coins of 1955. I tried all summer to find a 1955 D but in the end I bought an uncirculated one. I have all the years of silver quarters from 1932-1964 but lack some of the 1932 S and D coins. I lost interest in coin collecting when they switched to cupronickel coins. After 1966 it became harder and harder to find old coins in circulation. I still like silver coins but do not actively collect coins in a serious way anymore but I give half dollars as gifts or tips for fun.
- Rosa Parks was arrested after refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger…this I know from history books.
- I know Eisenhower was the US president in 1955. In 1955, President Eisenhower planned the interstate highway system. It would begin in 1956. Initially planned as a way of moving troops and military hardware from one end of the nation to the other. Gas was very cheap less than 30 cents a gallon.
- In April 1955 Churchill retired as Prime Minister. The leaders my parents and grandparents praised and talked about the most were FDR, Churchill, Eisenhower, MacArthur, and John F. Kennedy. My father met MacArthur in the war and my uncle served under Eisenhower in ww2 and met Ike while Ike was president of Columbia University.
- The St. Lawrence Seaway opened I always loved maps and geography and this was always mentioned by my elementary school teachers just like the Panama Canal or Suez Canal.
- The USS Nautilus became the first operational nuclear-powered submarine I know this because I made a plastic model of it as a boy. I also know the name because it was the name of Captain Nemo’s submarine in the 1954 film 20,000 Leagues under the Sea based on Verne’s work. One of my favorite films as a boy.
- Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine is declared safe and effective I was inoculated with the polio vaccine in elementary school.
- The Soviet Union and its Eastern Bloc allies signed the Warsaw Pact I know this because NATO was founded in 1949 and I taught World History for many years. Every year we made maps of the Warsaw Pact/ Nation and East and West Berlin. I know it ended in 1991. I know Germany became fully independent in 1955 and joined NATO in that year.
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. became a leader in the first major event of the U.S. civil rights movement, a bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama. I heard a lot about him as a boy and remember his assassination in 1968 and Robert Kennedy’s famous speech.
- World War II Allies signed a treaty restoring Austria’s independence.
- Murder of Emmett Till This I did not know until many years later, It was never mentioned in school or in AP US history as far as I know. I was aware of JIm Crow and lynchings in the Old South, however. A horrific tale really.
- BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK with Spencer Tracy was a notable 1955 film.
- The Desperate Hours by William Wyler Humphrey Bogart and Frederic March
- THE LADY and THE TRAMP was one of the great Disney musical cartoons
- 12 Angry Men and Inherit the Wind were famous plays that opened in 1955. I later saw the film versions.
- Lord of the Rings by Tolkien was published.
- Surprised by Joy by CS Lewis was published.
- The Wasteland was published by T S Eliot
- Mister Roberts (John Ford) starring Henry Fonda was a notable film one of Jack Lemmon’s early films
- “Seven Year Itch” was a notable Marylyn Monroe comedy by Billy Wilder one of my favorite directors. Marilyn Monroe famously appears in a scene where her white dress is accidentally blown up around her legs when she walks over a subway grate in New York City.
- I know I LOVE LUCY was one of the top TV shows in 1955 because my parents mentioned that was their favorite TV show of the 50s. Later I saw it in re-runs.
Cyan and Galahad: Double Fun and Greatness
There are two new releases that have created a buzz here at Spirit of Cecilia: Cyan’s Pictures From the Other Side, and Galahad’s The Long Goodbye. The usual Proglings take some time to share their impressions.
Tad: Gentlemen, I suggested we pair these two albums together, because in some unexplainable way they seem to complement each other. To my ears, both are extremely enjoyable listening experiences, and I’m eager to see what you think of them.
I’ll start things off with Cyan’s Pictures From the Other Side. This is a resurrection of an old Rob Reed (Magenta) project, but it is a totally new sound. What immediately leapt out to me was Peter Jones’ (Camel) terrific vocals. He has a bit of that Peter Gabriel/David Longdon vibe, and he is incredibly powerful. Angharad Brinn joins him on several songs, and her soprano melds beautifully with Jones’ baritone.
The first song, “Broken Man” is an awesome starter to the set – it begins so softly I can barely hear it, then what sounds like Celtic bagpipes show up, and then the entire band explodes! The melody is first-rate, as well as the lyrics:
A broken man always knows what he’s lost
A broken man always counting the cost
A broken man on his knees always prays out loud,
“Give me one more, give me one more chance.”
Brad: What a great suggestion, Tad. When it comes to Cyan, it’s hard to do better than either Rob Reed or Peter Jones. Both are men with incredible vision and incredible integrity, exuding class. I, too, am really taken with “Broken Man” as the opening track. I’m so glad that the band didn’t turn it into a three-minute pop song, but instead gave it some real life. I say this as a compliment–the song lingers when it should linger. It comes to a head when it should come to a head.
As to influences, I hear a lot of Big Country, a lot of U2, and a lot of The Call. Not sure if Reed or Jones would see it that way, but all three bands sound like forerunners to me.
It’s probably unfair of me–of all people to say this–but the second track, the title track, “Pictures from the Other Side,” sounds very much like a Bardic Depths song.
“Solitary Angel,” track three, just feels like solid rock, a Journey-esque ballad, but with a bit of Marillion (vocals, especially) thrown in.
Track four, “Follow the Flow,” continues in a ballad-esque way, soft but captivating. Again, I’m hearing a lot of Marillion in this track. Delicate without being prissy.
Again, track five, “Tomorrow’s Here Today,” continues the intense but soft sound. And, again, I can only state this is precious in the best sense. I feel like I’m holding the most fragile flower imaginable while listening to it. Then, about ½ through the song, it really, really picks up, becoming a rather blistering prog and rock song. Excellent guitar work here, but also keyboards, bass, and drums. The last third of the song feels a bit like a Yes/Jon Anderson track.
Not surprisingly, given its name, the sixth and final track, “Nosferatu,” rocks, possessing a Glass Hammer or post-Neal Morse Spock’s Beard sound. At nearly 18 minutes long, this track gives everything a prog fan would want. An amazing journey through music. The keyboards and guitar are especially well-finessed! Towards the end of the song, there’s even a glorious Star Wars moment! Or, maybe it’s inspired by Queen. Regardless, it’s epic.
Tad: Brad, that is very perceptive of you to make the connection to 80s groups like U2, The Call, and Big Country. I did a little research, and these songs were actually first done on Cyan’s second album in the early 90s, and then rerecorded for this album.
I agree with you that the overall sound of Pictures From The Other Side is good, solid rock. It is definitely prog, but prog grounded in the tuneful hard rock of the 70s and 80s. I think we both give it a strong recommendation for our readers.
Okay – on to Galahad’s latest! Brad, I am so impressed with the music Galahad is producing these days. I thought their previous album, The Last Great Adventurer, was terrific, and the song, “Blood, Skin, and Bone” off of it was just fantastic.
Their latest offering, The Long Goodbye, is just as strong. The title track, in particular, really moved me. I think it is about saying goodbye to a loved one who is dealing with senile dementia, and it is an outstanding track.
I also think the first three songs are a 1-2-3 tour de force. The opening track, “Behind the Veil of a Smile” is a synth-laden beauty that sets the energy level at high. It has an addictive hook for a melody, and I hit “Repeat” a couple of times before I even listened to the rest of the album! The second song, “Everything’s Changed” is just as good – a perfect mix of retro synths and crunchy guitars. The third track, “Shadow In The Corner” is my favorite. Once again, it starts with some retro-sounding synths and sequencers before a killer guitar riff jumps in. This is the kind of music U2 should be making now! As a matter of fact, I think that’s what links the Cyan album to this one – they both take what’s best from 80’s rock and combine it with 21st century production sensibilities. In both cases, there is no question of sounding nostalgic or cheesy – both groups have an appreciation for the music that was made nearly 40 years ago (Oh my gosh, can you believe that?!) and have brought it into the contemporary prog scene.
Brad: Dear Tad, I very much appreciate your enthusiasm regarding the new Galahad. I must admit, it’s taken me a bit longer than usual to appreciate. I’m on several listens now, and I like it very much, but I’m still–even after numerous listens–surprised by just how electronic the album is. Galahad has had this side to them as far back as I can remember, but it was always on the sides and in parts of the albums rather than at the core.
“Behind the Veil of a Smile” reminds me very much of Steven Wilson and Porcupine Tree but without Wilson’s trademark scratchingly-hard guitars. And, I very much appreciate the lyrics, which Galahad always excels at writing.
Track two is really pop excellence, reminding me a bit of New Order, especially from the mid-1980s. The refrain, “everything is changed and nothing will ever be the same again. . . the same again” is pop perfection.
I like very much how track three, “Shadow in the Corner,” steps back from the hyperactivity of the first two songs and gives us something intense and low. Again, I’m very much reminded of New Order and, even possibly, all the way back to Joy Division, especially at the beginning of the track. After about a minute, it resumes hyperactivity, becoming a more “mainstream” Galahad song.
Track Four, an acapella-esque folk song, “The Righteous and the Damned,” lovingly takes us back to Galahad’s masterpiece, “Empires Never Last.” The middle of the track sounds very central European, right before becoming a brilliant flaring guitar track that sounds very much like Fish-era Marillion.
The longest song on the album, track five, the title track, “The Long Goodbye” incorporates a number of different musical styles. As you note, Tad, the song deals with the very difficult topic of dementia and Alzheimers. It is a beautiful wrought exploration of the subject, and Galahad should be praised for handling it with such class and delicacy.
Track six, “Darker Days“ takes us back to pretty straight-forward Galahad electronica, sounding here like a harder version of 1980’s Asia.
The album ends with “Open Water,” a gorgeous and gentle tune and ballad–absent all electronica and ending the album on a positive note.
Tad, I’m in full agreement with you, Galahad has very successfully bridged the past and the present with The Long Goodbye. What seemed jarring to me on the first listen now seems incredibly complex and clever on the 10th listen. This album took a bit to grow on me, but now that it has, I’m deeply thankful for it.
Tad: Brad, I don’t have as much experience hearing Galahad’s music as you do, so your perspective is very interesting. The Last Great Adventurer was my first exposure to them, so, as far as I’m concerned, the electronics are all good! I hear the New Order vibe you mention, and I think that is a feature. Hopefully, we’ve put enough distance between us and the 80s to appreciate the innovation and variety in music that blossomed during that decade. Yes, some music from then can sound “dated”, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t great music.
Okay! So it looks like we have two thumbs up for both Cyan’s and Galahad’s new offerings. Dear Spirit of Cecilia readers, take some time to check these two albums out. And, like Brad, give yourself time to really absorb them. They will repay the effort – we promise!
ELI GORELICK, Spanish Teacher
There are numerous individuals who have positively influenced my life but the one who led to a dramatic change in my future prospects personally and professionally was Mr. Eli Gorelick of Livingston High School. He was my AP Spanish teacher 1970-73. He was born in Cuba of Sephardic Jews who had lived in Salonika and Constantinople. So his people were Ladino-speaking, originally. He was a Korean War veteran and passionate for music, literature, plays and sports. He transformed me from a mediocre Spanish student more focused on Latin and history than Spanish. He did it by incorporating authentic Spanish culture via music, sports, movies, and cuisine. I was fascinated by the history of Spain including the Arab conquest and Jewish Spain during the Convivencia. It was he who recommended the (then) wonderful and challenging University of Northern Iowa program in Spanish. I was a strong AP Spanish student but Mr. Gorelick felt there was no substitute for living and studying in Spain to gain authentic Spanish fluency. So I did and it changed my life. Spanish (along with typing and authentic bilingualism) ) was my one real expertise and it always helped me get job opportunities. Spanish was and is a very practical language second only to English. Along the way, I married a Spanish woman. We have three children and so far four grandchildren. All of them are bilingual and native Spanish speakers. From my early years, I realized what it took to cultivate children who were authentically bilingual (indeed potentially multilingual). We made many sacrifices but I believe it has paid off and will pay off. Two of our children are teachers (one is a k-6 Dual Immersion teacher and another is a high school AP Spanish teacher as well as a tutor/mentor for a professional Sports team. When he interviewed for his job the people were astonished at his total fluency in Spanish and his complete command of sports and particularly baseball terminology. The roots of that fluency were with Mr. Gorelick who had us read EL DIARIO sports page in Spanish and listen to Buck Canel broadcast Yankee games and the World Series. Mr. Gorelick is no longer with us but I will never forget him and he is a great example of how a teacher can change lives for the better.
GOLDEN HOURS ON ANGEL WINGS
LA CONVIVIENCIA: Peaceful coexisting
BY RICHARD K MUNRO
- “It’s not enough to not teach hatred, and it’s not enough to simply teach tolerance. A more promising solution is direct and routine contact with those who look different or worship differently or speak different languages. ” JOHN MORROW
- Yes and as the Spanish say CONVIVIENCIA a word translated as “peaceful coexistence or living and interacting every day together and getting to know and have a basic respect and affection for.”
One of the reasons, I suspect, you looked at “Negroes” (the 1950s and early 1960s term) as others is that you lacked conviviencia. I came from a cosmopolitan immigrant family but even for us our CONVIVIENCIA was limited via some groups in the NYC area.
My parents knew many Jewish friends, many Cuban friends (interestingly multiethnic), and many British friends but my father had only one close relationship with an African American (he and his wife were the only African Americans at my father’s retirement party in 1976). I remember they talked about meeting Jackie Robinson in the 1960s and having seen the Dodgers play in the 1940s and 1950s. I mentioned to my wife the other day the only racially diverse group I knew as a boy were the Cubans and Brazilians we knew in New Jersey and New York chiefly from sports (baseball and AYSO soccer). My father and I went to see (in color) the 1970 World Cup on closed-circuit TV in Harrison, NJ (in Portuguese). Almost everyone there except for us was Brazilian or Latin American. I also mentioned that I did not have a single African-American teacher k-12 or in the university (NYU). I had many Hispanic teachers by contrast (chiefly Cuban and Puerto Rican). The first time I had daily interaction and CONVIENCIA with African Americans was 1975-1977 when I served in the United States Marine Corps. I knew African American officers and NCOs and we worked closely together, trained together, and listened to sports on the Armed Forces Radio together. Today we have African-American friends and neighbors and coreligionists (we are Roman Catholic). As a Catholic, I have never attended a segregated Mass in my life if you exclude visits to rural Ireland in the 1970s.
And the world has changed dramatically since 1959. We recently attended the wedding of our godson (an African American of Irish and French Canadian origin) to Mexican American woman of French and Spanish origin. Very diverse population at the wedding. Soon my daughter will be attending a Hindu wedding for Indian-Americans. Soon we will be attending a local wedding of one of my daughter’s high school classmates. The bride is African-American (a graduate of Yale) and the groom is Australian.
Our son is married to a Mexican immigrant; our daughter is married to a naturalized Mexican immigrant. All of our grandchildren are racially mixed (and growing up as native Spanish speakers). I have met dozens of African immigrants (millions have immigrated from Africa to the USA in recent decades). I asked a number of them if they had been reluctant to emigrate to the USA because of her systemic racism. Most had experiences in other countries (Japan, France, Britain) and said the USA was the least racist and classist country in the world. Most appreciated the almost complete religious and political tolerance.
Most say they rarely experienced overt racial discrimination in daily life and in their jobs. Many have intermarried (or their children have intermarried) with Whites, Hispanics and Asians.
So from where I stand the Melting Pot (perhaps somewhat segregated 100 years ago) bubbles on.
I think only through CONVIVIENCIA and intermarriage can we overcome or diminish racial animus and prejudice over time. I am generally optimistic.
However. class prejudice and national prejudice will endure in some form.
People will always be prejudiced in favor of the rich, the young, and the slender and scorn the less rich, the less young, and the less slim. People will prefer their religion and their native language over the languages and religions of others.
President Obama’s daughters are beautiful, well-connected, and wealthy. Those factors, not their racial ancestry, give them many advantages. I doubt very much if their lives and careers (today and tomorrow) will be hampered by systemic racism.
I could be wrong of course.
I have lived a long time.
Some people have treated me with fairness and justice and others have not.
No one ever asked me for my resume or offered me a job.
I think it is not easy to be a first-generation American with a slight foreign accent without any money or family connections.
My father was the first and only one in his family to graduate from high school and go to college (Brooklyn College). During WW2 he rose in the ranks from E1 to O2 serving from 1942-1946 (remaining in the reserves until 1953). In my father’s time it was definitely an advantage to have been a military veteran (he went to NYU business school on the GI Bill).
By contrast, my experience as a veteran was very mixed. Many people have shown prejudice and negative attitudes towards my service. I was told, for example, not to list my military experience on my resume something I was reluctant to do. But when I did not include my military experience I got interviews and when I did have my military experience on my resume I did not get interviews.
Naturally, I gravitated towards places and jobs where my military experience was valued because I was proud of my service. I am prouder of having graduated from Marine Corps OCS than NYU.
I worked in construction for five years and the man who hired me was former Marine DI. Then later I worked at a bank and the man who hired me was a Korean War Air Force vet.
After years of struggle to get a full-time job a former Army Major (Korean War veteran) hired me as a full-time high school teacher in Arvin, California. I got the job because I had the qualifications because I spoke Spanish (most of our players were Spanish-speaking) I was willing to coach Soccer and baseball because I was willing to teach night school because I was willing and able to support the high school JROTC program and because I was willing to move to rural Kern County. For over 32 years I taught mostly poor and immigrant students. I taught History, English and Spanish for Native Speakers. I founded the AP program at my high school and taught AP Spanish, AP Spanish Literature and AP US History.
My first job after the military and college was unloading railcars (something I did gladly and successfully I was young and strong then).
I worked very hard at many jobs so as not to fall out of the middle class ( I felt at age 21-26 my middle-class existence was very precarious). I did not have a phone, just a PO box and a 1972 Chrysler with over 100,000 miles. I never was quite homeless (slept in the back of the car or camped out showering at truck stops) and had very little money.
But I was careful with my money, stayed sober (usually), and worked nights for years eventually getting my 5th Year Certification in Spanish, Social Studies, and English which led to a solid career in k-12 education with some stints in JC and as an adjunct professor for ETS grading AP exams. I have taught in Spain, Virginia, Washington State and California. All of our three children are college graduates. All three worked during college (IHOP etc.), and all three are fluent in Spanish and English. We made many personal sacrifices to raise our children as educated Spanish and English native speakers. Two are teachers and one is an engineer. I can honestly say sending three children to college was a group effort. We helped, their siblings helped and our children helped themselves by hard work and modest lifestyles.
Duolingo
Since I retired I have reviewed LATIN by completing two books of Latin readings and then by studying MODERN GREEK and ITALIAN. I also review Scottish Gaelic, GERMAN, SPANISH and PORTUGUESE about 10-15 minutes each. Those languages I have studied formally and know reasonably well. It takes me about 25-30 minutes to do a Greek lesson and only about 10-15 minutes to do Italian so I figure Greek is twice as hard as Italian. I find language study engrossing. I lose myself in “Grammar Land”
THE WISDOM OF MBUTI TENIENTE
BY RICHARD K, MUNRO
“Some people bring out the best in people. Try to be that person. It especially happens when you believe in greater values than merely your own self-interest. When you believe in something bigger than yourself -in your school, your nation, in the human brotherhood, in God, in your school, your Regiment, your unit- you rise to the occasion because you are part of a team with a definite goal and you don’t want to let down your comrades in arms.
Remember you can’t do it by yourself and you owe a lot to your family, your country, your Regiment, your school, your team, your friends, your teachers. Above all, cultivate the virtue of gratitude. One can never promote one’s own highest good without at the same time furthering the good of others. A life based on narrow self-interest cannot be considered honorable by any measurement.
God made us strong only for a while so that we can help others. Our human social contract is not only with the few people with whom we have daily dealings and with whom our personal lives are immediately entwined, nor to the rich or the prominent or the famous or the well-educated but is with all our human brethren. View yourself as a citizen of the world as well as an American -Kosmopolites- and act accordingly. This is the only life you have this side of paradise. Don’t be an S.O.B. ”
“Mbuti Teniente” (the Good Lieutenant) THOMAS MUNRO, Jr. 1915-2003 1st Lt. USAR 1942-1953 US military police 1942-1943; US Transportation Corps 1944-1946, Pacific Theater. Hawaii, Guam, Tinian, Saipan, and the Commonwealth of the Philippines.
He was a kind and generous soul. He was a wise man who valued wisdom over wealth. He was a faithful husband and a good father. I remember the afternoon he died. I recalled an old Western we both loved. GARDEN OF EVIL. Richard Widmark, the gambler is mortally wounded. The sun is setting. He says to Gary Cooper “THERE IT GOES HOOKER. Every day it takes someone. Now it’s me.” I stopped the car and watched the sunset. remembering my father and realizing I would never again wake to a morning with my father but grateful he was in my life for 47 years.
Fresh from the Vaults: Black Friday 2023 Jazz
Black Friday has come and gone, leaving a trail of vinyl & silicon breadcrumbs at indie record stores. And, as typical of previous years, there’s been more than a smattering of fine jazz released, as the archives of artists, legendary venues and European broadcasters give up their secrets to the delight of listeners worldwide. Four quite special sets caught my ear this time around . . .
Resonance Recordings continues its deep dive into the music of guitarist Wes Montgomery; Maximum Swing: The Unissued 1965 Half Note Recordings catches him live in New York City, backed by the Wynton Kelly Trio. Pianist Kelly and drummer Jimmy Cobb were key players on Miles Davis’ game-changing Kind of Blue; teaming with a round robin of bassists that includes once-and-future Miles sidemen Paul Chambers and Ron Carter, they launch plenty of lean, thrusting grooves and hypnotic vamps that give Montgomery room to take off. And does he ever: whether on untitled 12-bar jams, highlights of Miles’ book like “Impressions” and “No Blues”, standards from Broadway (“All the Things You Are”) and bebop (“Birks’ Works” and “Cherokee”), or his great original “Four on Six”, Wes is endlessly inventive, spinning out fleet, angular licks, spiky chordal excursions and his trademark octave lines in fluent, inspired fashion. The shape-shifting finale “Star Eyes” is a real highlight, but every track has its thrills, showing that this group’s classic album from the same year, Smokin’ at the Half Note, was only the tip of the iceberg.
Montgomery isn’t the only jazz legend whose riches producer Zev Feldman has been excavating; released on Elemental Music, Tales: Live in Copenhagen 1964 marks his 11th cache of buried treasure from Bill Evans (the main pianist on Kind of Blue). Plowing his own furrow after leaving Miles, Evans steered the piano trio format away from solos with backup toward a conversation of equals, an ideal he pursued the rest of his life. This album presents that ideal in perhaps its purest form; caught on tape by Danish radio and TV, bassist Chuck Israels and drummer Larry Bunker drive the music onward as much as their nominal leader, while Evans complements his partners’ vibrant ideas with shimmering backing and radiant flights of fancy. Multiple takes give up the secrets of pensive weeper “My Foolish Heart”, bittersweet waltz “How My Heart Sings” and speedy flagwaver “Sweet and Lovely”, grounded in a supple rhythmic bedrock, unlocking the melodic and harmonic possibilities only master players in tune with each other can find. Immediately, immensely appealing, but with subtle delights galore beneath the surface.
From the 1950s on, vibraphonist Cal Tjader won plaudits for his forward-looking emphasis on Latin rhythms – though recognition of his innovations faded as the sound became more mainstream. Feldman’s Jazz Detective label aims to right the balance with Catch The Groove: Live at the Penthouse 1963-67 — and succeeds brilliantly! In all six sets (originally broadcast from the Seattle club), Tjader lays down his jazz credentials through standbys like Ellington’s “Take The A Train”, Miles’ “On Green Dolphin Street” and Milt Jackson’s “Bags’ Groove”, then cooling down to a warm hush on ballads “It Never Entered My Mind” and “The Shadow of Your Smile”. But when percussionist Armando Peraza (later the beating heart of Carlos Santana’s most popular bands) brings the rhythms to a boil on “Morning of the Carnival”, “Cuban Fantasy” and Tjader originals “Davito” and “Leyte”, the results are spectacular! Throughout, the playing of Tjader and his sidemen is solid, strong and tasty — even heating up the Association’s “Along Comes Mary” for an unexpectedly spicey closer.
Before his passing earlier this year, one of piano giant Ahmad Jamal’s last public acts was to authorize Jazz Detective’s releasing three double-disc sets from the Penthouse archives; the last in the series, Emerald City Nights: Live at the Penthouse 1966-68, is another towering monument to his unique blend of conceptual chops and melodic mass appeal. Teaming with Jamil Nasser on bass and Frank Gant on drums, Jamal swiftly grasps the essence of every tune, then unfurls spontaneous variations that polish their inherent possibilities to a persistent dazzle. Catchy rhythmic vamps, daring harmonic reinventions, ample space for Nasser and Gant to strut their stuff — it’s all here, along with heaping helpings of precision filigree and gutbucket swing. You’ll never quite hear chestnuts like “Misty” and “Autumn Leaves” the same way again — and when Jamal turns the samba “Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars” into an uptempo barnburner and backspins a ballad like “Where Is Love” into hipster territory, you’re gonna want more! (Good thing there’s three volumes, eh?)
Beyond Feldman’s extensive explorations, we’ve also been gifted with the third in a series of Brubeck Editions, “new, officially authorized releases of great music featuring Dave Brubeck and his many musical collaborators”. The Dave Brubeck Quartet Live from the Northwest, 1959 gathers hotel and college dates from Multmonah, Oregon recorded by legendary engineer Wally Heider — although, with the game changing Time Out album in the can but as yet unreleased, there was nary a 5/4 tune on the horizon. Instead, Brubeck leans into standards and originals where he can sound like a one-man big band with his two-fisted block chords, launch into spontaneous counterpoint with saxophonist Paul Desmond, or ride the dynamics of “Basin Street Blues”, “These Foolish Things” and “The Lonesome Road” from a whisper to a roar — all hurtled along by the nimble propulsion of bassist Eugene Wright and drummer Joe Morello. The whole set is a marvelous example of four talents locked onto each other’s wavelengths, working as one; liner notes from Brubeck’s sons Darius, Dan, Matt and Chris offer up rich insights to underline the virtuoso interplay and effortless momentum on display.
— Rick Krueger
Spirit of Cecilia 
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