Harvest Time!

For years I have been making beer and wine in the basement.

The first question that is asked when people found out that I made wine in the basement was "do you have a grapevine?"

The answer was no. Folks who make wine can always go down to the farmers' market or the beer/wine hobby shop and get a few crates of grapes or a bucket of interesting juice.

This explanation never held much water, so five years ago, I planted a grapevine.

It died.

I planted two more the next year. They died as well.

Two years ago I planted a couple of Marechal Foch vines. They grew six inches and a couple of leaves. Last year I posted photos of the entire output of the two vines. I think we would have had about a shot glass full of wine.

This year the vines went nuts.

They took over the freaking deck!



I was waiting to see if there was some sign that the grapes were ready for harvest. I was waiting for the last of the green buds to turn purple.

The actual sign was when the local birds started eating the grapes and my car was suddenly covered with psychedelic purple bird crap.

So this weekend was harvest time. Here's what I had about a third of the way through picking:



I've mixed them up with a big bucket of Cabernet Sauvignon - I'd guess it's 1-20 Foch from the deck to Cab Sav. Right now it is bubbling like crazy.

It is going to be quite a good batch.

I Know! I Know! Hot Shmsedky!

Dave Gorman is off on a lovely rant about the late night televised lottery quiz game things (the latest in a series) and all I can do is giggle at his screencaps.

Hot Zpetelts?

Oh no, wait, wait, I got it! Hot Ufdrknrl!

Album cover location hunt

Another in an intermittent series:

The cover photo from Paul's Boutique (US, UK) - shot here.


You can also see it in street view at Google Maps

Sounds like fun.

Physicians, nurses and other health care providers should be aware that patients receiving intravenous treatment with the antifungal drug voriconazole may develop a range of neurological side effects, including auditory and visual hallucinations, according to a report presented at the 47th annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

The visual hallucinations frequently consisted of seeing people or scenes. One patient reported seeing flying objects, another saw scenes of Montana and New York City, and a third patient saw a giant "Wookie" from the movie Star Wars bending over his bed.

This Week in Pod

For a while now, I've been thinking of attempting to post regularly on what it is that I am listening to.

I recently (well, a number of months ago now) gave in and got myself an iPod. What I have been doing in the time since is loading every CD I own into the iPod.

I have a lot of CDs. I have now loaded the first two of the nine crates (That's right. Crates.) of CDs that I have accumulated since the mid-eighties into the thing.

Most played Song

"River Runs Dry" by The Cosmic Rough Riders

This makes sense as the reason it was played so often was my wanting to make sense of the lyrics.

The first stanza goes:

I don't care if the river runs dry
I don't care if the river runs dry
I don't care if the river runs dry
I'm gonna love you till the day I die

Which is fine. Then the rest goes like this:

I don't care if the river it flows
With the blood of dead fishes
To the ocean it goes
To the fisherman's graveyard
The fishermen's friends
Chew the eyes from their sockets
In a vicious revenge

It is a lovely song nevertheless.

I pick ten tracks at random:

Tears for Fears - "Cold"
Robbie Williams - "Let Me Entertain You"
Dexy's Midnight Runners - "Old"
Alison Moyet - "And I Know"
Geoffrey Burgon - "Robin Hood Suite"
Michael Nesmith - "Keep On"
Broken Social Scene - "Ibi Dreams of Pavement"
Arcade Fire - "The Well and the Lighthouse"
Fiona Apple - "Pale September"
The Byrds - "So You Want to be a Rock and Roll Star?"

For hard drive space (and my own sanity) I do have to delete the occasional album. This week I deleted:

Yoko Ono - Onobox

I had completely forgotten that I owned this CD:

The Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique

The last thing that I ripped:

Original Soundtrack - The Harder They Come

Among other things I am planning...

I am off to the library to do research on the Alphabet Song.

Stay tuned!

I was trying to tie these two things together, but it just got too strange.

Charles Schulz is writing soduku puzzles from beyond the grave!

+++++++

"When my time comes, I hope I fall dead in the middle of the stage and I hope it's to a song I wrote."

--Dolly Parton

Book Autopsies

"Brian Dettmer carves into books revealing the artwork inside, creating complex layered three-dimensional sculptures."

Listening to the World - Anguilla

I think that there are more than one radio stations on Anguilla, but I find this one to be so delightful that I felt no need to find any more.

Two signs that this is the sort of radio station that I find delightful.

1. If you click on their webcam, you get to see a static picture of the cam because it isn't set up yet.
2. Their photo gallery has three pictures. One of the pictures is of their parking lot. The caption reads "Loads of parking space for visiting guests and clients."

The first time I found this station, I logged in, and after a few adverts, I hear what can only be described as the "reading the obituaries out loud show." Two very long and comprehensive death notices were read, listing the names of all the brothers, sisters, cousins, second cousins, aunts, uncles and I think (my brain was starting to glaze over at this point) a few really good friends. This was done over some light jazz. It took about fifteen minutes and then they cut to some syndicated American religious program.

Another bit I caught was a two part public affairs program. The first part had representatives from the "Anguilla Beautification Club." The second half was about hurricane preparedness. The common denominator for both segments is car parts in the front yard -- Clean that stuff up, folks! It makes your yard look nice and it won't hit you in the head when a hurricane comes.

Now, people are going to read this and think that I'm just making fun. In some ways, I am. But I have a lot of respect for these scrappy little stations. These are people whacking a radio station together out of nothing. There aren't any radio executives with advanced degrees in Broadcasting Science working with squads of six-figure earning marketing wonks. If this station was in my town, I'd be pulling into their "loads of parking" and asking if I could volunteer some time helping out. And I bet they wouldn't laugh at me for doing so.

That's why I find this station so delightful.

Go on. I dare you.

Iggy and Dinah

Iggy Pop and David Bowie on the Dinah Shore Show, 1976ish.

This is one of those things I'd always heard about but never actually seen. A persistent rumor is that Iggy and Dinah hooked up after the show, which is something that I'd always found to be improbable.

Until I saw this clip and saw how much chemistry was going on there. I love Bowie in the background laughing his ass off too.



For a comparable lack of chemistry here is Iggy with Tom Snyder

Great moments in Literary history

2007 marks the centennial of "The Great 1907 Limerick Craze."

It is, says the Barnsley poet Ian McMillan, a democratic form. "Anyone can write one, unlike a villanelle or sonnet. It has primal rhythm to it, some kind of inbuilt heartbeat that reaches beyond the brain. It's a low art form, one that makes you smile. The very rhythm makes you laugh. It's a bit music hall, it's Rabelesian, it's a seaside postcard. It subverts poetic seriousness."

I just checked the Nantucket Chamber of Commerce. There seems to be nothing planned to mark the occasion there.

Brian Wilson is busted by the Surf Police, 1976

This was made about a year after the start of his first wave of treatment for his crippling depression. All in all, it looks like he was being a pretty good sport.

Just in time for the first day of film studies class!

His Girl Friday with all the words removed: