Oh Joy!

I stumbled upon a corker of a music video. I found it at Unruly Media's Top 100 music videos where it is currently #73. I witnessed the contagion of sheer joy that is seen in the two performers. What a breath of fresh air for a slightly dull November morning!

Early November brings clear skies, damp cool soil covered in golden and ruby leaves and nights closing in.

All the more reason to be overjoyed at our intrepid carpenters' skill and speed as they frame up our addition.

Tomorrow we choose roofing shingles and the crew expect that they'll be stripping our old roof and laying down the new roof next week.

Meanwhile I spent the day at our community garden plots where I pull carrots which are small but delicious either raw or cooked, and turn the soil getting ready to put the garden to sleep for the winter.

Found musical gems and related musings...

Although I am a deeply cynical person - certainly when it comes to the fickle fads of our media driven world - I am sufficiently curious and engaged to not only experiment with my little blog but to sample the frequently real and inspired talent out there on the world-wide-web.

This morning I was reading/watching Mercedes Bunz's excellent Viral Video Chart post in the Guardian on-line edition and somewhere in my meanderings came across a link to the Playing for Change web site.

Playing for Change is a slick but heartwarming entity that was founded to support music education especially in politically and economically challenged areas of the world. The production values are so high that is often hard to know whether a given segment (see the video below) is of a stunning street artist or is of a celebrity musician who has volunteered their time for the project.

I just hope that the street musicians are benefitting from this as much as the PFC organization.

Some of my correspondents will know already that, some time ago,

I was blown away by the wonderful performance, posted on

You Tube of the Chooky Dancers from Elcho Island of the coast

of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia.

I see from the associated videos that they have been discovered and

have even appeared on Australia's Got Talent. This may well be

good news for these talented young men but for me it is

diabolically awful to see such amazing talent reduced to

a carnival side show.

Yikes, I've just realized, I'm one of the imbeciles in the

sideshow audience!!!!!

I have been walking past this plaque for ages and have not noticed it. The other day I did notice it and have since become a little bit obsessed by it.

It seems to me that while we are in a period of rebuilding our economy right now, the Great Depression of the 1930's will remain the mother of all depressions (I hope).

So many wonderful projects came out of the Works Progress Administration and in a small way the little bridge across the Megunticook River on Knowlton Street at its junction with Mechanic Street in Camden, Maine is worthy of consideration and appreciation just as we appreciate the many more dramatic projects of the era - I'm thinking of the development of accessibility for all to our great National Parks.

I just love what seems to me to be the enduring beauty of this little plaque. The typeface is just wonderful. I have sought help in learning more about this typeface design. Luckily for me my brother Rory's good friend Brett Jordan over in England is a typography boffin and he is in the process of enlightening me.

I am very grateful to Brett for this help, and would be grateful indeed to anyone reading this who could help me in further research regarding design in the period of the WPA!

Summer Sonic Tonic

A perfect convergence of weather, people and music took place on Sunday, August 16, 2009 at the Waterfall Arts campus on Kingdom Road in Montville, Maine.

Ian, my superb spouse's younger son is visiting from Brooklyn. He brought about half his band, 12,000 Trees, to a gig at Waterfall Arts. The 12,000 Trees line-up: Ian on percussion and electronic thingies, Brett on trombone and vocal, Sky on guitar and vocal, Yuko on guitar, Alison on percussion and recorder, Mekiko on keyboard and percussion, Zak on guitar and percussion and Pam on percussion and birdcalls.

Other bands included the Belfast Fiddlers and two more fiddle ensembles.

All in all, a superb way to spend a summer Sunday afternoon!

Moose freed after being caught in Camden building - Bangor Daily News

Moose freed after being caught in Camden building
- Bangor Daily News
We were blissfully unaware of the drama unfolding just around the corner from us yesterday morning! I am glad the moose was let loose in a (hopefully) safe place later in the day.

This post illustrates the gritty semi wilderness side of Camden that not many people are aware of. Thank goodness that handling this sort of incident is just all in a days work for Camden's finest!

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