Thursday, July 26, 2018

Something, Anything

Fenway Park in the gloaming, 21 July 2018
Another short post I fear, I linger yet in the after glow of the visit from the youngest child (you know her as The WSO, or LUSH) and her lovely daughters, my grand-kids. They flew off to rendezvous with Big Time out in Michigan for a visit with his parents this past Wednesday instant.

Big Time's Mom and Dad, or, as I will sometimes jokingly refer to them, "The Other Grandparents." Nana and Poppi as the children call them, an Italian thing I gather. Which, as I recall from my own childhood, makes things a mite simpler for the young'uns, no need to attach a last name or other distinguishing moniker to the terms Grandma and Grandpa.

The Missus Herself and I are Grandma and Grandpa (that would be Gamma and Gampa, sometimes Pop-Pop, to the littlest of the tribe, L'il Sweetie as I call her here in the friendly confines of The Chant), Big Time's Mom and Dad are Nana and Poppi, what could be more distinctive than that? (My attempts to get the kids to call me "His Imperial Majesty, Lord of All He Surveys" always results in gales of childish laughter and admonitions from my better half to "not be an idiot." Sigh.)

The house is bereft of the laughter of the wee bairns and the witty repartee of the adults of the tribe.

The feline staff on the other hand rejoices at the silence. How do they do that? Why they sleep, it's what cats do when they are not hungry.

I ran across a bit of wisdom from Our Lex on the morning of the end of the kids' visit here, which explains nicely my need, my obsession if you will, to post something each and every day here at The Chant  even if it is just some wee sma' thing (though 'tis much easier now with Juvat, Tuna, and Beans pitching in for a spell at the oars),-
It’s funny, because I’ve an almost pathological desire to write something, anything, even if it’s only a link to something thought provoking. Partly because I enjoy writing, and partly because I enjoy the interaction and discussion that blogging engenders with you, gentle reader – I guess the fear is that if I take too many days off, then it will be harder to pick back up again (or easier to abandon). Yeat’s once wrote that poems are never finished, but rather eventually abandoned. So many brave starts out there have gone dark, new voices raised only to be extinguished under the weight of continuing effort, or the perceived lack of anything left worthwhile to say. A sad thought. 
On the other hand, Stalin once famously opined that quantity had a quality all it’s own. Maybe that’s true for armored divisions, but it’s probably less so for the written word. - Lex
Miss him I do.

On another topic entirely (having to do with music, but not the Foo Fighters, not just yet, I need more time to do the concert we attended the justice it deserves), alert reader Rick passed along a tip as to some music I might enjoy. While not a big Chicago fan back in the day, I did enjoy their talent, which was immense. Anyhoo, Leonid and Friends is a Chicago cover band from, of all places, Russia.

I gave them a listen and was much impressed. So, let's collude with the Russians for a bit because, from what I understand, everyone else is...



Pretty dang good ain't they?

If that doesn't rock you enough, Rick also sent along a tip to watch the following video, a Russian lady (again with the Russians) who sings with Leonid and Friends, well when she ain't rockin' a Rolling Stones cover -



Хороший материал да?

The lady can sing neh?

More music to come.

Patience my children, patience.



24 comments:

  1. Well, I'm satisfied this AM. Spasibo Sarge.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Then my work here is done. ;)

      Добро пожаловать!

      Delete
  2. Maybe you could just shorten it to M'Lord.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Excellent suggestion!

      I'm sure it will be met with similar reactions to the longer version. But I like it.

      Delete
    2. Oh, GREAT! Delusions of Grandeur!

      Just kiddin', M'Lord, please don't cut my gruel ration again.

      Delete
    3. I hear they are looking for bloggers on the Eastern Front.

      I keed, I keed.

      ;)

      Delete
  3. Leonid and Friends nailed the Chicago tune, and Miss Ksenona make Satisfaction her own, with what I think is a bit of a country music tilt.
    I will be heading off the the Tube of Yew for more of their music.

    Russian Influences.
    We of a certain age were probably heavily influenced by the Russians. The two Russian agents were named Boris and Natasha, and drjim had a post about it a few days ago.
    https://every-blade-of-grass.blogspot.com/2018/07/russian-collusion-explained.html

    Good post, except that my brain voice will insist on a Russian accent for quite a while.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Moose and squirrel! (Spoken in a Russian accent, of course.)

      Delete
    2. They nailed Old Days also, and I wonder how foreign things like drive ins, and Howdy Doodie were to them.
      When they started they had no sheet music, and Leonid transcribed everything.
      I have been following them for over a year, and am impressed by everything they release.

      Delete
    3. They are awfully good, thanks for pointing us in their direction!

      Delete
  4. The Muse is loose, just not focused enough, and portables aren’t nearly as conducive as stationary and semi- stationary units.
    I am vexed.
    At least I can kibbitz on others’ blogs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've tried the mobile thing, not my cup o' tea!

      Delete
  5. Grandkids are a one size excuse for any lapse, IMO.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Good post, the only thing missing for the inner juvat was a plane pic.

    Can't imagine how quiet and empty the house is right now. Comparing it to how quite the Bean Bag is when the noisy neighbor who can only talk at a shout is gone, well, apples and claymore mines, that's about the same similarity.

    Looking forward to the Foo Report. It will come, in time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Damn! A plane pic! I knew something was missing from the recipe. (Cute Russian chicks who can sing, while nice, aren't the same as a hot aircraft. YMMV)

      Delete
  7. Chicago, Grand Funk Railroad, CCR and Led Zeppelin were my go to groups in HS. Pretty much covered the spectrum required to match my moods.

    Now, it's more likely to be Beethoven, Mozart, Tchaikovsky (for the Moose and Squirrel moods)and Bach.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I can do the occasional classic, a bit of Vivaldi now again, but at heart I'm a rocker. Always have been.

      Always will be. (In some ways I'll always be 16. Rock on!)

      Delete
  8. Well, on the plus side I was forced to upgrade to iOS 11, and now videos work properly. No more white spaces.

    On the other hand, commenting is snarled up and I have to copy my comment, click a few random things, swear when it deletes what I typed, click more things, paste in the comment i hopefully remembered to copy, click a few more things, and hey presto!

    (This is 100% the fault of my stuff, not yours.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dang! That's unfortunate.

      Do you need to chant something while doing all that? Perhaps bur some incense? (This is me with my "not an Apple fan" attitude. Liked them way back, now, not so much.)

      Delete
  9. The Russians are taking over our music.

    Thanks for the post.
    Paul L. Quandt

    ReplyDelete
  10. The Russians and Ukrainians are very good musicians. When I worked at Sea Launch, we'd have a "Sea Launch Idol" talent contest, open to everybody on the ship., on the way back from the launch site. Since us 'Muricans were outnumbered about 5 to 1, a lot of the talent was quite European/Russian/Ukrainian flavored. Some of the women who sang made every able-bodied male there melt, while the men singers had the same effect on *all* the women.

    Very moving, soulful, almost mournful, performances of excellent musicianship.

    Karoke Night was something else entirely.......

    ReplyDelete

Just be polite... that's all I ask. (For Buck)
Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

NOTE: Comments on posts over 5 days old go into moderation, automatically.