Well, isn’t this another long overdue, worthy masterpiece. Rough and Rowdy Ways, a title suggesting his continuing nonconformity and legendary social criticism streak, consists of 9 reflective, self-expressive tunes on 1 CD and his 17 minute previously-released-online classic, “Murder Most Foul”, on a second CD.

This is a smart, intelligent, sensitive, and revealing album with Dylan referencing many of his favorite artists and people including Beethoven, Walt Whitman, Liberace, and General Patton! The first CD is very reflective with Dylan ‘voicing’/reciting rather than singing his personal, intimate numbers. His minimalist back-up band plays behind the all-important lyrics and never distracts from the messages of each track.

There are, of course, some standouts on the first CD including the blues numbers in which the band gets to open up more; “False Prophet” and “Goodbye Jimmy Reed” stood out of this genre, which is a predictable staple of any Dylan album.

Myself, I preferred the quieter, meditative ‘ballads’ beginning with the Whitmanesque “I Contain Multitudes” which contains a typical Dylanesque shower of juxtaposed names and images. I also liked, from the get-go, the Frankenstein-influenced “My Own Version”, which is about what feeds into and has fed into his creative process.

Overall, there is an air of flow and acceptance as in “I’ve Made up My Mind to Give Myself to You”. “Mother of Muses” is a tribute to sources and his own muse Calliope. This CD finishes strongly with Dylan “Crossing the Rubicon” and choosing “Key West” as a finale soundscape for him and his listeners to lavish in; it is a perfect and peaceful ending to this memorable set.

Volumes can be written about the culturally and literary-laced allusions of the main event of this album: “Murder Most Foul”–his look back at JFK’s assassination put into context and POV’d from several different moments and contexts. You pretty much have to listen to this worthy companion-piece to Phil Ochs’s legendary “The Crucifixion” about the horror of this sea-change event in American history, separately, on its merits and deserved separate disc.

One last word: listen to the album alone thru headphones to get the full savour and power of this powerful release. Dylan’s voice and lyrics are the main thing, but also enjoy the ingenuity of the backup musicians riffing on limited chords, and the author’s clever assimilation of American cultural history.

the novel, much of the dialogue from which the movie retained.
Obit: Charles Webb, 81.

The influence of that movie was huge when it came out in 1967, such a pivotal year in many ways–my first year at university. I remember seeing it a few times. There was so much in it that was timely, relevant, funny, and realistic.

Not to forget the Simon and Garfunkle songs (at the height of their popularity), the acting performances, and a great look, script, and super direction job by Mike Nichols of 1966’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? fame.

1 million cheques sent out to dead people.

1.4 billion buckaroos flushed down the zombie toilet.

Trumpian/GOP death culture at its best.

Dore (1833-1883)left us with an impressive body of work, best known to literature fans today. Above: he did 42 powerful illustrations of Coleridge’s classic poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and 26 imaginative illustrations for, arguably, the most famous American poem, “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe.

He also did a fantastic set of scenes for Dante’s The Divine Comedy and the best illustrations of Dickensian London as well as memorable complementary impressions for the writings of Cervantes, Balzac,Rabelais, and The Bible.  His inspired representations enhanced all these literary works and made them come more alive, complete with appropriate edges and atmospheres.

“I adore simple pleasures. They are the last refuge of the complex.”
–Oscar Wilde

“I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.”
–Henry David Thoreau

“Nature always wears the colors of the spirit.”
–Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The truly rich are those who enjoy what they have.”
–Yiddish Proverb

“Look at everything as though you were seeing it for the first or last time. Then your time on Earth will be filled with glory.”
–Betty Smith

“it is never too late to be what you might have been.”
–George Eliot

“Beware the barrenness of a busy life.”
–Socrates

“Simplicity is the essence of happiness.”
–Cedric Bledso

“The more we simplify our material needs, the more we are free to think of other things.”
–Eleanor Roosevelt

“We do not know one-thousandth of one percent of what Nature has revealed to us.”
–Albert Einstein

“A well-spent day brings happy sleep.”
–Leonardo da Vinci

“Less is more.”
–Mies van der Rohe

“The art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on.”
–Havelock Ellis

“The world is but a canvas to the imagination.”
–Henry David Thoreau

“While we are postponing, life speeds by.”
–Seneca

“It’s the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary.”
–Paulo Coelho

“I go to Nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.”
–John Burroughs

“A contented mind is the greatest blessing a man can enjoy in this world.”
–Joseph Addison

“It matters not how long we live, but how.”
–Philip James Bailey

“The universe is transformation; our life is what our thoughts make it.”
–Marcus Aurelius

“There is enchantment right in front of you, waiting for you to notice.”–Janet Luhrs

“Only from the heart can you touch the sky.”
–Rumi

since leaving my 30-year teaching career in 2002. I have never regretted having, using, and enjoying that massive chunk of my life away from the classroom. Too many teachers are distracted by unnecessary money obsession priorities. There is so much more to life than materialism, defining your life by work, and chasing money at the expense of health, personal freedom, and family.

“In the time of your life, live—so that in that wondrous time you shall not add to the misery and sorrow of the world, but shall smile to the infinite delight and mystery of it.”

-William Saroyan, The Time of Your Life

staying human, focused, organized, and connected to Nature are top priorities. Too many people succumbing to ultra-frivolous distraction, crime, and mental illness because of a lack of these four.

I used to watch this 23 minute b & w weekly series which ran from 1959 to 1960.  (Great opening sequence and music BTW.) Based on Edgar Wallace’s novel, these four men fought together in one memorable 1943 WWII episode. In the first show, the viewer are introduced to all four and sees what brought them together at a chateau in 1959 by their dead commander, who challenges them to fight for justice against tyranny. He has provided a significant fund base for them to use, and in subsequent rotating episodes, each man takes a turn to fulfilling this inherited mission.

British actor Jack Hawkins (Bridge on the River Kwai) plays a dogged British MP and amateur sleuth Ben Manfred. Richard Conte (The Godfather) plays a serious New York lawyer Jeff Ryder. Dan Dailey (once a Hollywood star) plays Tim Collier, an ironic American journalist in Paris. Veteran Italian star Vittorio de Sica plays Ricco Poccari, a jocular hotelier in Rome. Each show, one of these actors becomes the protagonist with occasional phone calls to the other friends.

This was quite an ambitious U.K. series shot on location, which, no doubt, inspired on-location American series that followed like The Naked City and Route 66. The many guest stars include: Honor Blackman, Alan Bates, and Jane Asher. A very entertaining, fast-moving 975 minutes in total.

Exquisite, beautiful music by Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767). 29 CDs every bit as satisfying as a Strauss collection. Features Canada’s Tafelmusik on CDs 1-4 which is a high recommendation to begin with. Nice music to have playing in the house as you go about your day; likewise, driving.

continuing in public and mediaspeak.

Fewer/less increasingly blurred.

Fewer refers to a number that can actually be counted as in fewer cases.
You wouldn’t say less cases, but you’d say less sunlight.