Saturday, June 12, 2004
LOGISTICS LESSON
From a logistical standpoint, the events of the day of June 11, 2004 in memory of Ronald Wilson Reagan, our 40th President, were an example of absolute perfection in planning and in the execution of a complex series of precise, intended, poignant and meaningful actions involving events in four time zones.
I must admit that I was not is sitting around looking for mistakes, errors, misjudgment, or anything faulty in the proceedings, so I may well have missed something but I - at the end of the day, felt that all had gone well and that the overall purposes of the special day will be regarded as a remarkable tribute to a truly worthy man. Some qualities of excellence were, even, at times, exceeded, I felt.
It is of special importance to our nation at this time that we examine carefully the means by which this observance was so well prepared and accomplished. There are among us today people who decry the inability, they claim, of America to contend with its enemies. They deride the abilities of our leaders to meet the common demands of good government. We are subject, as a result, to potentially hazardous disunities.
The ceremonies marking the passing of former President Reagan were impressive in size and the nature of the subject matter undertaken. I think we can look at it now, in retrospect, and be proud. I was impressed by the orderliness of the people. They gathered along the highways in large numbers and there were crowds beyond capacity at both the California site and at the rotunda of the capital. Some thought it odd that the bystanders cheered and waved when the hearse passed through the streets and that was the only hint sot criticism I heard concerning the conduct and demeanor of the people. It seemed to be a last-minute expression of goodbye to a friend.
The much castigated media deserves praise in regard to their part in the occasions, too. They did their part with skill and presented a straight-forward.account of the events. There will be some who will insist there was some Â?overkillÂ?, but, if so, it came about because of viewer narrowness of vision. The networks wisely pooled a lot of the TV coverage which is commendable to avoid clutter. Comment and criticism are in the offing, I dare say, but the media did not impinge on the meaning of the tribute to our fallen leader.
In fact, when one considers the number of sites covered on a strict schedule and the trying circumstances under which they had to work in bringing viewers a wide variety of music alone, they did especially well. One the whole the programing was especially well balanced, which is most unusual.
To us all this day's event could prove to me a much needed watershed of feelings. It was a good thing to see former presidents and their wives seated in the same area it was a good thing to see competing politicians speaking with each other; it was good to see crowds of people along the streets and not know which was a Democrat, Republican or whatever. It was good thing some speakers chose to center on the Reagan sense of humor as they reviewed his life and accomplishments. People will be watching videotapes of these events someday in the future and they will marvel at the at the variety of of viewpoints and of music heard during the ceremonies touching so intimately upon much of America' s religious thought and basic character.
It all went along so smoothly, in spite of its highly complex make-up. It demonstrates again that we Americans can and do work with purpose and amazing unity when properly led by ideals that are basis to the intent of our forefathers and of the founders of our truly unique nation.
A.L.M. June 12, 2004 [c650wds]
Friday, June 11, 2004
SKY HIGH
Even after a rather stern lesson concerning the fate of some of our finest, are
we are still a nation enamored of tall buildings.
For some time the desire to build the Â?biggest in the worldÂ? has been placed behind the back burner and we have, for many years we have not been at the head of the lists of the world's builders of the tallest structures. That situation is being viewed as a improper place for us to be among the nations. A shameful place,it seems to some, which reflects poorly on our ability to advance steadily as constructors of large projects, and we keep hearing mumblings about tentative plans to outdo everyone with a super-tall structure.
It has been a relatively quiet campaign because the vast majority of citizens do not,
as yet, realize that we have not led the world with the tallest buildings, for some years. Right now, honors for having built the world's tallest office building go Taipe,Taiwan.
Let's refrain from getting into listing confusing sets of statistics, because so much depends on what your, and others, think a proper building ought to be. The number of floors or stories is one way to count. The height of the ceilings between those floors is to be considered, and there is a matter of Â?usable: office floor space which
is ultimately available. Artists decorations can be used to push the up-end ever higher without adding any usable areas.
Many factors enter into the intricate matter of statistical descriptions - counting the number of floors, too but just what can be added in the way of communications towers can become a high tech way of adding needed footage. The two building in Kuala Lam pour which l held the world record until Tiawan outdid them, were twins Â? but one is now taller than the other because radio and TV towers have been added to the pinnicile. So, one of them is now Number 2 and the other Number 3 among tallest buildings.
u The new Taiwan champion dwarfs the Koala Lampur title-holders and all of them are higher than anything we have to show in tall buildings. I assume that they National Tower. Toronto,Canada, remains the tallest man made structure.
Some people were tempted to create a new 'world's tallest office buildingÂ? on the e Ground Zero site in New York city. But, if present plans are realized, common sense has warned us that such a building may well invite terrorist attack. There are other objection to building such monster. Not only do they offer tempting targets for those who would be jealous of our attainments, but they , by and large, they have, only rarely, been financially profitable.. I believe; the Empire State Building has showed its first profits just recently.
.If you want to see how poor such buildings can be, notice how hugh center portions of them a are lighted at night by floodlights inside the open, steel framework. Floors and rooms will be added when enters state their preferences.
To see such emptiness of tall buildings discourages business investment.. Figures concerning management, mainternce and marketing such large ,towering buildings more than one person has been discouraged.
New super -buildings, will, no doubt, incorporate a number of floors designed to generate their own electric power with entire floors give over to wind rotor installations.
A.L.M June 19, 2004 [c566wds]
Thursday, June 10, 2004
June 11, 2004
REMINDER
One fact was beaten to the very edge of finality during the recent extended Memorial Day week-end and D-Day observances.
All of the media - radio, TV , print and Internet - seemed especially obligated and intent on reporting again-and-again that the total number of World War II veterans Â? those still more or less upright - is around four million and that we are, furthermore, dying off at a rate of a thousand a day - give or take a score or so.
This cheerful bit of news was set forth with suitable fanfare and commercial supposed to brighten our holiday and to allow us to expand our memories of D-Day and other times best set aside rather than relived.
I thought of this rather odd treatment of a minor news item this week when I[paid my quarterly visit to the Veteran's Hospital at Salem,Virginia. I'm a relative newcomer to the facility having avoided VA help as long as I could do with such aid. The World War II veterans are still evident there, in the corridors , clinics and resident areas, for a wide variety of obvious reasons, many of them harsh realities which cannot be explained away by statistics or body counts. We' re very obvious. After all, the majority of us are in our eighties or more, we are more or less -mobile in a loose sense of the term. I have found the VAserving g this area to be very helpful in the past year since I discovered what I should have looked into years ago.
I did some GI Bill bits while I was in the college years ago. I was about five years - more or less - behind time in everything and while the non dollars a month help in college, it never quite made up for the lost years. So many Worldwarr I veterans share that time-loss...evenn those who lived in states where a token Bonus veteran's bonus payment was made . Some turned to the helping hand offered by the Veteran's Administration. Others seemed be content simply to do the best they could Â?on their ownÂ?,so to speak. In time, many of those holdouts, too, found the veteran of our wars have not been forgotten and these most of all, seem to appreciateate what the VA has done for them.
It may be prop or for us to remember, when Memorial Day rolls around again and again, the true purpose of the special day of remembrance.
A.L.M. JUNE 9, 2004 [c429wds]
Wednesday, June 09, 2004
NAME CALLING
Among your treasured musical memories, I would think you might find an awareness of a time when musical groups had sensible names.
We called them “orchestras,” or “dance bands” or so-and-so’ “Trio,” “Quintet”, or “Combo” if they were smaller units. They were, most often, named for the instrumentalist, vocalist or composer who led them. Oh, yes – we had a few genial “stick wavers”, as we called them, who were not musicians all in a true sense. They fronted a group of musicians. They were usually movie stars at various levels of stardom on their way up or down, with an occasional Hollywood “had-been” seeking a new career in a promising field.
Today’s musical groups suffer needlessly under an unmerited burden of strange, often derogatory names, which, purposely, I’m sure, have little or nothing to do with music in any way. They are chosen for shock value which is thought to create a following among others who like to be different just the be different. I have often wondered for a long time how much longer they can keep digging up such degrading designations.
Do you remember when we used to speak of “Guy Lombardo and the Orchestra.” and most people around you knew who you meant and thought, immediately, of the ultra-sweet, soft, melodic tunes that group featured. You may or may not remember they were also known as “The Royal Canadians” but that was not their salient banner.
What about a band called “Barney Rapp and His Orchestra? They were a popular band for college proms and featured a bright girl by the name of Ruby Wright. I remember so well her singing of a song called “Rain” and did well in the movie “shorts: name bands made for theater use in those days. That band was also known by another name but it was kept in the background and used to give the group a regional identification. You may remember seeing posters advertising “Barney Rapp and His New Englanders.”
The “Big Band Era” brought scores of such bands and here was amazing variety among them. Some offered sweet music, but it was easily to identify the difference. Dancers knew how the Lombardo Brothers, Jan Garber, Jan Pearce, and Wayne King – also sweet music, differed and was subtitled “The Waltz King”
There were other bands which featured loud, faster music but they could all do what the other did on occasions if demanded. For the most part they refrained from using nasty names to designate what they did musically.
One of my troubles in not being ready to give total acceptance to today’s pop music may be that all of it seems to be so much alike. It offers echoes primarily. One pressing of noise is pretty much the same as the next. The only distinction is to be found in the strange name on the record label, so they,I suppose,to be considered as a necessary evil.
A.L.M. June 8, 2004 [c501wds]
Tuesday, June 08, 2004
POUUFF!
Yes, I do remember when photographers used explosive light sticks when they shot poorly lit subjects... indoors and out of doors.
That would be about seventy some years ago. I have distinct memory of posing for a Sixth Grade group picture at Radford,Virginia's Central School in which the professional picture taker of that day fired off a yard long wooden stick containing what we all thought was simply gun powder on a electric wire.
There was an older photographic firm in the area then, and for some reason he had the contract for doing the Class Pictures. He may well have possessed some of Matthew Brady's civil war cameras potted at a yard sale, because his equipment made quite a boxy showing at our Â?Yearly Pitcher Takin'sÂ? .The equipment was, I'm sure, even then, getting into the antique or collector items stage. It was beautiful. Made of contrasting dark and light woods with fine grain and all keep clean and bright. The units had special care, on could see. The photographer was a spry littlegreyey-bearded man who could have played a role easily in any Irish fable with ease. He radiated good cheer by his very presence and we kids were eager to do as he instructed when it came time to take our pictures.
We always looked forward to that time of the school year when pictures were to be taken. Parent were told because the who plan hinged on parents, grandparents and other relatives agreeing to buy so many prints of the class pictures. That could become a major expense if a family had children in several class levels. They were, in effect, the Â?:Year Books:Â? of yesterday and deemed to b e a natural part of educational expense. Parent, grandparents, Aunts, great-Aunts and other relatives running right down to removed cousins - anyone who could scrape up a spare dollar - was sought out diligently
The picture were all made in one location . The school auditorium which consisted of two classroom with the center wall removed forming one, larger area. Lines of miss-matched wooden chairs formed the seating area. The Â?stageÂ? was a platform
raised eighteen inches above the level of the floor across the inside wall area of the double room made one.
Each class took its turn upon the stage.
The aged photographer had set up his equipment in advance, probably ten feet from the edge of the stage and it was uncovered so we could watch him getting ready to Â?shootÂ?.:. In one sense he doing just that, because we knew he would make use of the device which was still being used at that time Â? a yard long g stick which he would hold in the on a broom-pole extended. The old man powdered the top of the yard long bar which was, to us, literally gun powder and handed it to a young girl Â? his granddaughter who held it gingerly aloft until he had need of it.. She held it while he busied himself with the black hood he was to place over his head and camera.
We were instructed to stand perfectly still and to look at a specific place marked on the far wall. A breathless moment, then he reached out and took possession of the pre-powdered light stick He held it aloft in one hand and after a special, longest-second-ever time, until we heard the command Â?SmileÂ? from under the hood. At that instant, as we stared in amazement the bar of the stick exploded in to a sudden mass of light and gave a mighty Â? Pooouff!Â? .A cloud of white smoke filled the room above the stick an d the cameraman emerged from his hood to say the picture was a success. He thanked
us for being there to pose for him and he expressed hope that the next group might be as polite and attentive. He know how to work a crowd of youngsters
The main attraction for us was the light device, of course. We found later it was coated with potassium nitrate mixed with other components. Oddly enough much of the lore is now associated with the making of home-made bombs and is avoided when children are listening or reading. In our Civil war era other chemical substances were used to provide a blue light which was helpful in some photography.
I remember the Â?swoosh!Â? by the gadget and the anticipation which excited us in awaiting the Â?es-ploshun!Â? Small wonder that so many of the subjects had expressions of amazement on their pictured faces.
A.L.M. June 8, 2004 [c772wds]
Monday, June 07, 2004
THE SOUNDS OF MUSIC
Am I asking too much of today's singers that I might be made aware of what their song means?
Today's pop song fans seem to have given up any idea of knowing what the song they are going to hear or, are listening to, has as a subject.
True art forms have dimensions, bounds, limits, and it for the artist to stay within those bounds, or conversely, to demonstrate his ability to work beyond conventional bounds with precise exactness and purpose. An example of that might be the poet who writes a strict sonnet and the one who does his best work by avoiding the very limitations the first poet thinks are essential.
In that case, it makes sense, doesn't? Both of them are artists in their own right. So why can't I listen to a pop song in that double-faced way? Do I have to have words. Are lyrics essential to Â?meaning?Â?
Have I missed something along the way, perhaps? I find myself enjoying music less than I did years ago and I have a feeling it has so, something to do with the manner of presentation rather than with the music itself. The manner in which we allow an artist to present a musical work to us and also our tendencies to be rather permissive in regard to set of such presentation of musical art forms.
We are required to respond to music physically more than we have in the past. We used to view singers or instrumentalists at a distance, but now with videos much more intimate revelations are part of the presentation and new are Â?at oneÂ? with his or her actions. We are the ones who have changed rather than the performers, to a great extent. The listener today sees and hears the artist in a much more intimate association than ever before. We think close up camera presence as we watch a person perform very closely. No longer are we a stage-width away. We can be, visually, in our minds, within the area occupied by the artist we are watching and to whom we are listening.
I like to hear words and respectable patterns of form must be apparent for me to appreciate a song, and only by forcing myself set such guides aside can I find pleasure in so much or the much being generated today.
It may be that I have chanced upon another reason why so many of today's music seems less satisfying to me. .I used the term Â?generateÂ?instead of create and it strikes me that so much of today's music is generated, turned out almost mechanically, far removed from the traditional spontaneity of creative evp;vements of musical ideas of past times. Today's music is, so often, Â?turned outÂ? as if some one is extruding perfect bubbles from pin-pricked, soap-stuffed spool. Much of today's music is Â?put togetherÂ? rather than created in ways demanding talent and skills blended with a touch of esoteric character to help parts to meld. Many of today's creations join by accident and if they can be categorized they will sell. There is always someone there seeking whatever concoction may be formulated by accident or on purpose, it seems. The fact that today's music comes to us in so many ways is not at all helpful in making it readily understandable and acceptable.
We have as treasure in our creative ability whatever it might produce. Time will tell which was worth the trouble. I fear the present era is a time of such testing in which the absolute dregs are being screened, reviewed and judged. Not much of it will endure, I fear except for some fundamental pieces which will endure out of sheer audacity and because they illustrate transition which is, even now, taking place. Good music earns it place in our society through serving a genuine need. The best endures.
We shall see, or, hear, what is, left for tomorrow to judge.
A.L.M. June 6, 2004 [c671wds]
Sunday, June 06, 2004
ENTHUSIASM
There are quite a few case histories which plainly show we can overdo our enthusiasm concerning projects we undertake. Failure can be ?built in? if the will to get it done is exaggerated.
So, when you describe the term enthusiasm, think of it in several degrees. It can be, as it most often is made to be, something not commonly thought of or considered. Your project arouses your feelings and infects others with the intend desire to help you get a thing done. It seems to offer a special opportunity for you to escape the mediocre or the unpleasant as did Tom Sawyer when he described the joys of fence painting to his friends. Such enthusiasm enables many people to step confidently into a new world of freshly altered facts, figures and potentials.. You can escape the mediocre or commonplace and advance to new levels of innovative attainment you might not have even attempted to attain before.
Having that sort of positive drive and a profound sense of ?do?ism? is pretty much what most people think of when the term enthusiasm is used. The mood can be exaggerated especially if it entails work to be done by others. Be aware of such tendencies is you are on the listening end of such a bubbling bundle of promises and pleasant prospects for others.
You will be taking a wise step, however, when you consider that type of such enthusiasm as being very much the same as the energy expended which causes the contents of a boiling pot to overflow and well flow down the sides of the pot in to the burner or other structure and needlessly complicate cleanup work required. Proper enthusiasm is scaled to fit the size of the task rather than a dreamers estimate of what it might entail.
Embellishing one's dream is a dangerous thing because ,being dreams to start with, any extra weight may cause them to collapse. Right now, as we are thinking of democracy taking root and becoming a part of Mid-East governmental thinking... Take it easy. Back off a bit; put it all in proper perspective and examine more closely that which you are anticipating. Dreams, remember, are fragile and not intended for everyone. They are almost the sole property of the dreamer whereby you are driven to do that which you might well have done anyway had you garnered up the gumption required to do so.
A.L.M. June 4, 2004 [c412wds].
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