Cool Song

I really like this song from Steve Wynn, probably best known as a member of the Dream Syndicate, though his solo stuff is just as good and he's been making doing that for a lot longer.  Hope you like this:

More Huntington Library Gardens

As promised yesterday, here are a few more pictures I took on the grounds of the Huntington Library down in San Marino, California.  Today, I'm featuring shots taken in the Japanese Garden.

 

  

This Week's Top Five

Art Vandalay was back with us on the air this week on Dr. John's Record Shelf, so we have a new Top Five List to share.  This one's pretty self-explanatory:

A Tuesday Thought

As I get older, I more fully understand what the novelist Margaret Atwood meant by this statement-- and it is a little scary:

"The world is being run by people my age, men my age, with falling-out hair and health worries, and it frightens me. When the leaders were older than me I could believe in their wisdom, I could believe they had transcended rage and malice and the need to be loved. Now I know better. I look at the faces in newspapers, in magazines, and wonder: what greeds, what furies drive them on?"

Great Song

As a kind of followup to the link below to Bruce Springsteen's SXSW Keynote speech, here's one of the songs off his great new album Wrecking Ball (which I listened to half a dozen times in succession during my recent road trip). There's also a nice tribute to the late Clarence Clemons in the middle, performing his last solo for a Springsteen record:

Huntington Library Gardens

I visited the Huntington Library for the first time last year, but arrived at the grounds kind of late, so focused my attention on the museums.  I was there again a week or so ago, and got there early enough to tour the grounds, which are just as impressive as the art and manuscript collections.  Here are a few of the pictures I took.

 

These are all from the desert garden-- there were also Australian and Japanese Gardens as well as less formal areas all around the grounds.  The place is a huge complex-- evidently the estate of the founder, Huntington, who made a lot of money in railroads.

 

 I don't know what all these varieties of plant-life are, but a lot of them are in the cactus family. I've probably mentioned here in the past how much I like palm trees, and there were lots of those as well.

Tomorrow I'll post some shots from the Japanese Garden, which, if anything was even more impressive. 

Check It Out

Bruce Springsteen gave the keynote address at the South by Southwest Conference last Thursday, and it's really good (if you're a fan of rock and roll).  It's about an hour long, but if you have the time to spare, you really should check out the video, which can be found here. 

Monday's Quote

Here's one of those observations that you'd like not to be true, but it's easy to see that it likely is.  From the writer Rebecca West (1892-1983):

"After any disturbance ... we find our old concepts inadequate and look for new ones. But it unfortunately happens that the troubled times which produce an appetite for new ideas are the least propitious for clear thinking."

Music for a Sunday Afternoon

I've probably posted other versions of this song in the past, but this one features Karrin Allyson on vocals, and so bears reposting.  Check it out:

A Couple of Pictures of Arizona

A couple of photos taken while driving down to Phoenix.  The first is a sliver of the Colorado River winding through the mountains. The second some oddly piled rocks in the desert northwest of Phoenix, with a single saguaro campus jutting up behind the one peak (the first I've ever seen in its natural habitat).

Sunday Funnies

Here's a small sampling of the work of another great New Yorker cartoonist, William Steig.  I'm especially partial to his early stuff (the ones that evoke the Depression and World War II), but all his stuff was good, and for a really long time as his career lasted over seventy years.  He also did a number of well-received children's books later in his life. 

  

 

  

 

A Sunday Quote

I think it's safe to say that the great anthropologist Margaret Mead (1901-1978) was speaking from experience in making this observation:

"As the traveler who has once been from home is wiser than he who has never left his own doorstep, so a knowledge of one other culture should sharpen our ability to scrutinize more steadily, to appreciate more lovingly, our own."

Cool Song

The Dead Milkmen perform "Surfin' Cow."  I have some new pictures of surfers to post in the next couple of days, so this is here by way of getting my readers in the mood.  Surf's up, dude!

More Spring Training

Yesterday I posted some pictures from the Mariners training camp.  I also attended a game between the Padres and Giants (the Padres share a facility with the Mariners).  There were a lot of unfamiliar names in both lineups, but the pitching matchup was between a couple of guys who've been successful in the past, Edinson Volquez for the Padres (above) and Madison Bumgarner (below).

Bumgarner was a bit sharper, as the Giants jumped out to a two-run lead early, but the Padres caught up and made a game of it for awhile.

James Darnell (above) hit a home run for the Padres and looked pretty impressive at bat.  I would guess he's a prime prospect, though I wasn't familiar with him before this game.

As I wandered around the stadium during the game, I was careful to focus on second base whenever runners were on, as both teams seemed intent on running at every opportunity.  That anticipation served me well with shots like the ones immediately above and below.

 

I don't think I've ever seen such intent interest from the bench during a game as seen below.  I guess everyone wanted to convince the manager that they were "in" the game. 

Saturday Morning Cartoon

Everyone's Irish today, right?  So here's a classic cartoon that all should enjoy, called "Leprechaun's Gold" from the late forties:

St. Patrick's Day Quote

It seems appropriate today to draw our quote from the noted Irish poet William Butler Yeats (1865-1939):

"You that would judge me, do not judge alone this book or that, come to this hallowed place where my friends' portraits hang and look thereon; Ireland's history in their lineaments trace; think where man's glory most begins and ends and say my glory was I had such friends."

Great Song

I was sad to hear about the breakup of the White Stripes awhile back.  They were probably my favorite mainstream(relatively speaking) rock act of the last few years.  Here's one of my favorite songs by them:

Yet More Friday Family Blogging

Ben (or at least, his legs) and Andromeda, getting ready for a romp around Hunters Creek.

Spring Training

I spent a couple of days in the Phoenix area last week, and took the opportunity to visit the Seattle Mariners training camp. These are some of the pictures I took there.

The major league squad only took some batting practice, and (sorry Lizzie) did not look very impressive.  The one exception was Jesus Montero, the guy they go in the Michael Pineda trade (seen in the cage above). I guess their workouts were limited because they were headed somewhere else to play a game that afternoon.

The major leaguers only practiced for about ninety minutes, but there were four other diamonds filled with minor leaguers running through various drills too. Some were taking infield practice, pitchers were practicing handling bunts off the mound, catchers throwing to different bases.

I know it looks like this coach was instructing the guys on how to pick their noses, but they are actually pitchers getting ready to handle some bunts.

 

Although there was a lot going on, there was also quite a bit of standing around, as you can see above.  It was a very low-key morning, things moved very slow for us spectators (there were about twenty or thirty folks wandering around like me).  But it was a good kind of dull, with the sound of balls hitting leather, and bats hitting balls floating through the air... 

 

 

The morning workout ended with an intra-squad game,and I hate to say it, but it was a very sloppy affair.  Obviously it didn't count for anything, but the pitchers were getting lit up, the fielders were dropping balls and the whole thing kind of reminded me of little league.  Sorry Mariners fans. Of course, it was early in the Spring, so I probably shouldn't judge. Maybe they'll pull it all together by the time the season starts.

In Case You Were Wondering...

No one took me up on my offer to guess the name of the band featured in the logo these past few weeks. But on the off chance that at least someone might have been the least bit curious, it's Badfinger.  I wanted to get that out before I replaced it in the next couple of days.