Twisty, Curvy Roads

 Back in April I foresaw the beginning of the designer facemask industry. It has turned out that I was right on the money with my prophecy!

  Frederick M. Lehman wrote this tune in 1919 before the telephone was common in rural America. The song became popular at church camp meetings. It also makes a great jazz tune that can swing its rear end off! I have tried this tune several different ways, including having a male chorus sing the melody.  But I finally decided that this version was the better and also a bit more straight forward.

At times I wonder why I dream what I do. Are my dreams expressions of deep-rooted psychological issues, or did I simply eat the wrong food for my evening meal? Non-the-less, now and then I wake from a dream that is strange enough that I want to journal it here. This morning's dream was one of those I deem worth jotting down. In my dream, I was a much younger man. I cannot remember all of the particulars, and perhaps my dream, as dreams often are, was not a consistent timeline. But in the part that I do remember, I was managing a large hotel/boarding house for a criminal organization, a.k.a. the mafia! In real life, although I was once offered a job by a "connected" fellow, I have never worked for the mafia or any other overtly criminal organization. I was a public school teacher for some years but I do not think that back in those days, the government was considered an official criminal organization. Anyway, to resume the story, I was sitting ...

  Knowing how to do something and actually doing it are two completely different skill sets! That life lesson was driven home in a convincing manner today. The rock guards on my FJ Cruiser have been bothering me for quite a while now. They are badly rusted with quite a few holes where the rust has eaten through completely. They look horrible on my not so shiny silver FJ and if I were driving across a scree field I am certain they would do nothing to protect my rocker panels! I have been wanting to replace them for quite a while, but each time I have checked prices, I have decided to hold off until some rich uncle leaves me a considerable estate. Of course, I do not have any rich uncles, and if I did I am certain that their estate would pass to some of my numerous cousins scattered around the country. So when I saw an online advertisement for a set of rock guards that were within my price range I ordered them right away. They arrived yesterday and I decided to instal...

"Lives there a man, bereft of imagination and of stunted soul, who has never dreamt of writing a country song?" - Shakespeare (That's Marvin Shakespeare. He lives down on 34th Street)   Of course not! So here is my country song:     Well, now I want to write a country song 'bout life the way it is, 'Bout all them women what done me wrong, and what it's like to be in show biz. I've been looking for the words to use and a melody that'll fit the blues But so far, friends, I'm telling you true, I ain't figured out just what to do. ...Maybe something like Refrain: Do-whack-a-doo whack-a-do whack-a-doo whack-a-doo, whack-a-do whack-a-doo whack-a-doo Do-whack-a-doo whack-a-doo-doo-doo, whack-a-doo whack-a-doo, whack-a-doo. Do-whack-a-do whack-a-doo doo doo, whack-a-doo whack-a-doo, whack-a-doo. Do-Whack-a-doo whack-a-doo-doo-doo whack-a-doo whack-a-doo, whack-a-doo.   Well, as you can see that I had a case of lyrical constipation, combined with a ...

  Sitting around reminiscing and thinking about the important things in life. Like a good dog!

Here is Louis Armstrong's classic, "Someday You'll Be Sorry" arranged for a piano trio consisting of violin, viola, and piano.    This arrangement is available from Sheet Music Plus .