Bach Anniversary

 J. S. Bach died 275 years ago today!  

A Happy Playlist

A few weeks ago, the three of us were out for supper. A song came on the radio, and I said to Emily that it was one of those songs that was on the radio during her childhood. Then I thought: there are a lot of those kinds of favorite songs!  So I listened to stations on satellite radio for a few weeks and made a list--Paul's Childhood-of-Emily Playlist !  It was great to identify these; happy memories!  Plus, I didn't even realize I was such a Gin Blossoms fan, LOL. In no particular order:  

Shine—Collective Soul

December—Collective Soul

The World I Know—Collective Soul 

Ants Marching—Dave Matthews Band 

Tubthumping—Chumbawamba

Hook—Blues Travelers

Runaround—Blues Travelers 

Name—Goo Goo Dolls 

Slide—Goo Goo Dolls 

Wonderwall—Oasis 

Waterfall--TLC

No Scrub--TLC

Black Hole Sun--Soundgarden

Sunny Came Home--Shawn Colvin 

Interstate Love Song—Stone Temple Pilots  

Absolutely (Story of a Girl)—Nine Days 

Steal My Sunshine—Len 

Stacy’s Mom—Fountains of Wayne

Breakfast at Tiffany’s—Deep Blue Something

You Oughta Know—Alanis Morissette

Give It Away--Red Hot Chili Peppers 

Bittersweet Symphony--The Verve 

I Don't Want to Wait--Paula Cole 

Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?--Paula Cole 

Missing—Everything But The Girl

Wicked Game—Chris Isaak 

Counting Blue Cars (Tell Me Your Thoughts of God)—Dishwalla 

As I Lay Me Down—Sophie B. Hawkins

Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover—Sophie B Hawkins

Hey Jealousy—Gin Blossoms 

Found Out About You—Gin Blossoms 

Allison Road--Gin Blossoms 

Follow You Down—Gin Blossoms 

Till I Hear It from You—Gin Blossoms 

She’s So High—Tal Bachman

Smells Like Teen Spirit—Nirvana 

One of Us—Joan Osborne

Unwell—Matchbox 20

Walk on the Ocean—Toad the Wet Sprocket 

All I Want—Toad the Wet Sprocket 

Dreams—Cranberries

Zombie—Cranberries 

Mr. Jones—Counting Crows

All I Wanna Do—Sheryl Crow

One Week—Barenaked Ladies 

Two Princes—Spin Doctors 

All Star—Smash Mouth 

Walkin’ on the Sun—Smash Mouth 

Semi-Charmed Life—Third Eye Blind 

Never Let You Go—Third Eye Blind 

Closing Time—Semisonic  

Good Riddance—Green Day

Basket Case—Green Day 

No Rain—Blind Melon 

Only Happy When It Rains—Garbage 

Only Wanna Be with You—Hootie and the Blowfish

You Get What You Give – The New Radicals 

Tom’s Diner—Suzanne Vega, DNA remix

Blue—Eiffel 65

I Try—Macy Gray

I Want It That Way--Backstreet Boys

Larger Than Life--Backstreet Boys 

Bye Bye Bye--NSYNC

It's Gonna Be Me--NSYNC

One Headlight—The Wallflowers

Regulate—Nate Dogg

Loser—Beck

Lovefool—The Cardigans

Kiss from a Rose—Seal

My New Poetry Book!

My new poetry book will be advertised for discounted, pre-publication orders for the next several weeks. The press has made this easy way for you to read about it and to place an order. The book is the story of my 3rd-great-grandmother and her life and times in Virginia, Ohio, and Illinois. But I've also interwoven our family's travels and events with hers, for shared family places. The title comes from the fact that my ancestor died on Holy Tuesday of 1847, and her daughter wrote a letter on Good Friday about her death. Also, during Holy Week there was a lot going on in the Mexican War (that still reverberates in our current immigration issues). But some of my poems are funny!  So it's not all pioneer hardship.

Happy Birthday, Thomas W. Streeter!

Those of us who have lots of books can appreciate Thomas W. Streeter, who was born July 20, 1883. A devotee of history, he began collecting historical books and ephemera when he was young. A successful career in law, business, and finance gave him the resources. He loved Texas and accumulated the largest collection of books and papers for the Texas period of 1795-1845. He sold the entire collection to Yale’s Beinecke Library. Streeter also collected widely in travel literature, exploration, cartography, and American history. He compiled important bibliographical and historical information as he went, which was later gathered into eight volumes. I was interested to read that he had the only known copy of Illinois’ earliest newspaper, the Illinois Herald, published at Kaskaskia in 1814. Streeter’s collection was sold at auction in 1966-1969. He died in 1965, but he had spent several years preparing the sale. He offered credit and grants to several institutions so that they could bid on items of interest. Their historical collections were thus enriched with his rare books. Streeter wrote annotations with a sharp lead pencil within the copies themselves. He assumed correctly that books would increase in value with his provenance.  His auctions resulted in sales of over $3 million, an unheard-of figure at that time. Streeter’s children resented his collection because it overwhelmed not only his library but their playroom. But son Frank Streeter became an important book collector, too, and whose own auction was an important event. 

Copied under fair use principles. 

July 3 Anniversaries

Jim Morrison died in Paris on July 3, 1971. He was 27. I remember walking through the kitchen as Dad washed the dishes and watched TV, and the news came on about Morrison's death. The singer's companion Pamela Courson said she found him dead in the bathtub of their Paris apartment. The official cause of death was heart failure, but no autopsy was done, and so the possibility of a heroin overdose was not investigated at the time. His death continues to be a source of speculation, and his Paris grave is a place of pilgrimage for fans. Courson herself ODed from heroin a few years later. Here's one of the last photos of Morrison--photobombed by a little guy in the window.

Copied under fair use principles. 

I'd forgotten that July 3rd is also the anniversary of the death of Brian Jones, two years before Jim Morrison's death. Both men were 27 when they died. (See the end of this post.) Jones formed the group The Rolling Stones, gave it that name (from a Muddy Waters song), and recruited Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. (Then they found Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts.) Jones had a great sense of style and was a talented musician on multiple instruments. Although Jagger and Richards began to write most of the group's songs, Jones remained the initial driving force of the band for several years. His chilly expression stands out on the early album cover photos. Tragically, Jones began to slide into drug abuse and became more undependable. He was fired from the group in June 1969. On July 3, he was found dead at the bottom of a swimming pool. An autopsy confirmed that drowning was the cause of death, and that his heart and liver were enlarged from drug abuse. Rumors that he was murdered persist.

A related tragedy is the deaths at age 27 of several musicians:  Robert Johnson, Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison,  Pete Ham of Badfinger, Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse, and others. Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, and World War I poets Rupert Brooke and Isaac Rosenberg, also died at 27.

Copied under fair use principles.