To thine own self be true

our particularizing consciousness.”
–Asvaghosa

–Okakura Kakuzo

Do not depend on others.” –Buddha

when you think it will never again be green and colors other than white.

And then the renewing miracles of spring, summer, and fall.

“Seasons sew us like a thread.”

–Richard Davies (from one of his songs)

Personally speaking, I’ve already mentioned, elsewhere in the blog, two very influential English male teachers in grades 11-12 who were funny and very much into literature; they were models and first revealed a potential career in teaching high school English, something I eventually did for 30 years.

But I was, simultaneously, influenced by a popular mid-’60s American tv show which revealed how interesting an English teacher’s life and job might be: Mr. Novak, starring the handsome James Franciscus (who died much too young at 57). He was another role model and was a hero of sorts in a Los Angeles high school.

Many famous stars like Eddie Albert (as a Frost character), Dean Jagger and Burgess Meredith (the principals), Martin Landau, Edward Asner, and many others were regulars and guests in this landmark two season series (1963-65). Highly recommended viewing for any teachers or people interested in glimpses into middle-class North American life of the 1960s.

emerged amidst Beatlemania as the top instrumental group of the day. They had 69 charted singles (35 by themselves and another 34 with singer Cliff Richards whom they backed for a decade). Hank Marvin, the lead guitarist, played a terrific twangy tremolo guitar and his stylings and guitars influenced Eric Clapton, Andy Summers, and in Winnipeg–where I grew up–Randy Bachman and Neil Young.

The rest of The Shadows featured Bruce Welch on amazing rhythm guitar (his ‘back-up’ work was as interesting as Marvin’s melodies and lead work) and Brian Bennett on accompanying and solo drums, and the three were the core of the four-man guitar-based group from the 1950s to the 2000s.

In North America, The Ventures (of “Walk, Don’t Run” and the “Hawaii Five-o” theme were their counterpart, but in terms of longevity, continuous performing, and catchy original material, The Shadows were superior IMHO.

I remember first hearing them at my friend Hugh’s house around 1964-5. In particular, “Little B” which featured a long intriguing solo by Bennett stood out. Later, Hugh and another musical friend Glen told me that the local group The (Burton Cummings) Deverons, featuring Ron Savoie, had listened to it on the same LP during a break at a community dance, then came out and played a pretty reasonable facsimile of it.

In grade 10, I bought the Canadian version of their Dance with The Shadows 14-cut (always loved those of the time) album and was blown away by a variety of covers and originals like “Shindig” and another cool Bennett-driven piece with the unlikely title of “The Rise and Fall of Flingel Bunt”. I can remember asking the early Guess Who (Chad Allan and The Reflections featuring drummer wunderkind Gary Peterson) at dances to play it, and they confidently did, spot-on. The album also contained two nice Beatles/Buddy Holly styled vocals: “That’s the Way It Goes” and “Don’t It Make You Feel Good”, showing they could harmonize every bit as good as The Beatles.

Flash forward to 1990, when I finally caught up to the band via The Shadows Original Chart Hits 1960-1980 double CD album pictured here. Later I snapped up The Final Tour 2004 live concert on DVD with 21 classic hits. The trio was nicely backed by yet another bass player and a keyboardist. They were in excellent form for this very special gig.

A lot of 1960s British Invasion fans missed The Shadows the first time around because they were never on the charts in North America like the vocal groups. They also never toured here across the pond to the best of my recollection, sticking with their long-standing U.K. home base success that made them the unique-sounding special band they were. If you’ve never heard this band, check out any of the three works I’ve illustrated here and expand your musical horizons.

*The super bass player with The Shadows, John Rostill, deserves a special mention given how many of his intriguing basslines were outstanding and anchored the band, as in Dance with the Shadows and “The Rise and Fall of Flingel Bunt”. Tragically, he committed suicide in 1973 at 31, depressed and on barbituates at the time.

The End.

“This is the way the world ends, not with a bang, but a whimper.”
-T.S. Eliot, “The Hollow Men”, 1925

“Everybody knows The Plague is coming. Everybody knows that it’s moving fast.”
-Leonard Cohen, “Everybody Knows”, 1988

the realistic 1959 film adaptation of Neville Shute’s On the Beach. Well acted and serious-minded. How might individuals face their inevitable, forthcoming demise?

up while many others are panicking and losing their heads needlessly. With the incoming coronavirus, a person has to stay focused on the here-and-now and make some plans.

For me, I’ll follow the Health Minister’s suggestion to stock up on food and meds before there’s a run on these in the days to come. She suggests one week; I’m thinking more like a month or so backup. Things could get wild here as the panic spreads and the supply chain normalcy doesn’t live here anymore.

I suspect we’ll all be spending more days at home and, when we go out, stick to our cars. Malls will become quiet, schools will potentially be closed. A lot of things will change for a long time. People will be ‘holed up’ and working incomes decline with people being laid off or working more from home. Drastically different.

But, as I said upfront, you have to go on with your life, taking care of business, and trying to do the usual things. It might be time to reread Neville Shute’s On the Beach, though. Timing.

beginning with the stock market on its way down, perhaps on its way to a 1929 equivalent crash by the time coronavirus has had its way with North America and Europe. The U.S. is continuing to self-destruct with no one clear conservative candidate emerging in the Dems race, to take down Trump. Strategically, Putin has signalled his support of Bernie which lines up with his past connections to Communist countries which will, in turn lead to a major division in the Democrats. There is already a major political schism throughout the country thanks to Trump and Putin.

At home here, the Canadian economy is spiralling downward thanks to our feckless, cowardly Un-PM, who refuses to get tough with law-breakers closing down the country’s transportation system, and, by extension, the Canadian economy. In both Canada and the U.S., we have the totally wrong worst-case scenario leaders at this critical time of crises.

As if this is not bad enough, there are forthcoming labor problems and the ever-spiralling problem of poverty in Canada. So things do not look good any which way, realistically, with the pandemic and stock market crash looming.

There are some things that one person cannot realistically do. S/he cannot change the leaders of the two countries, stop a pandemic, cure poverty, satisfy indigenous unrest and disruptive agendas, prevent an economy from collapsing because of inaction toward native peoples, and provide law and order when political will and needed decisive action utterly fail.

So today I’m heading out to get some personal matters taken care of, to get some things done, and to continue working on my next book project. In short, to move things forward and accomplish things in my own life which is all that an individual can realistically expect to get done as the economy collapses and the pandemic advances.

One has to live one’s own life without fear and with an acceptance that there is much one cannot control or have any influence on. The world has long been in other hands. And the quality and self-actualization of one’s own life is and remains about as good as it gets for any individual.