A Cure for Wingnuts, Conspiracy Theorists, and Other Chronic Grouches

Nature is the perfect cure for a sour, contentious, negative outlook on life. You guys really need to get outdoors and away from the TV more often!

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul. ~John Muir

Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life.
~Rachel Carson

I believe that there is a subtle magnetism in Nature, which, if we unconsciously yield to it, will direct us aright.
~Henry David Thoreau

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more.

~George Gordon, Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

Photos and slideshow © 2009 & 2010 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Theme Thursday - Brush

"Brush", eh? Well, let's see...

And now, the videos. I know it's not a brush, but the first tune I thought of was Elmore James's "Dust My Broom". Well, c'mon, you use a broom to "brush" things off, don't you? Anyhow, I'm pretty sure that both the Allman Brothers Band and Stevie Ray Vaughan did versions of this, but I couldn't find anything on YouTube. But I found something just as awesome - Irish bluesman Gary Moore doing as high energy a version of this tune as I've ever heard. Boogie time!

Of course, you use brushes to paint things, and back in 1966 the Rolling Stones used a brush to "Paint It Black". I found some good live concert footage from 2006, with Keef trying to pretend he was Brian Jones and looking like he rose from his coffin especially for this gig.

And how can I do a post on the brush theme without at least mentioning Bob Ross, with his misty mountains, staggered evergreen trees, and "happy little clouds"? I couldn't find a full episode of "Joy of Painting" on YouTube, but I found this quirky, endearing tribute to the Mop-Headed One by one Ron Barba entitled "Why I Don't Paint People". Enjoy!

Photos & text © 2010 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Across the Universe, and Across the Years

I watched Across the Universe last night; actually this is the second time I've watched it (the local public library has the special edition 2 DVD set). It set off a series of thoughts and memories, which in turn led to this blog post.

I'm a definite child of the Beatles. I know yesterday was the anniversary of Elvis's death, but frankly I never cared much for him. When and where I grew up, Elvis was who the hicks with the greasy hair and white socks listened to. When I got older and went back to listen to the '50s musicians with greater understanding, I was more attracted to Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens and Roy Orbison than to Elvis. Elvis was a little too tame and mannered for me, while the others played a rawer, edgier music that I liked a lot better.

But most of all I was just the right age for the Beatles when they hit the airwaves. I was 11 years old when they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, and they nailed me right to the floor. "Love Me Do", "Please, Please Me", "I Want to Hold Your Hand"; this was stuff I'd never heard before, never even imagined. Then the Rolling Stones and The Who hit, and I drifted over to them because, once again, here was grittier, edgier, bluesier music that was more to my liking (and this in a kid who had yet to discover BB King, Muddy Waters, and Howlin' Wolf!).

But then the Beatles did the Rubber Soul and Revolver albums, and once again I was hearing music I'd never imagined, and I was hooked for good. The post-Help! Beatles were my Beatles, forever and ever and always. It was more adult music than the teen love paeans of their previous music (Al Kooper calls it "I Love You Pimple" music), more complex, and starting to get more metaphysical and poetic. By the time they broke up in 1970 I was a firm fan, and still am, of the band and the solo careers they pursued afterward.

Except for a couple of numbers, the post-Help! Beatles are the Beatles of Across the Universe, too. Released in 2007, creator and director Julie Taymor created a musical using the music of the Beatles as the vehicle for the story of teens growing up in the '60s and engaging with a world in a profound state of transformation. There's certainly a lot of "hippieness" in the story, as well as drug references necessary to explain certain things that happened back then, but there's also an engagement with the social issues of the day - the Vietnam War, Civil Rights, the emergence of feminism and the Gay/Lesbian movement; it's all there. and it takes me right back to the ferment in my own life at the time.

One of the things Taymor tried to do in the film was to introduce younger generations to a time when people were passionate about the things they believed in. She says that she felt that the younger generations took so many of the cultural advancements of the '60s and early '70s for granted, so much so that the freedoms gained then were starting to be eroded without anybody caring or even noticing, and she wanted to relight that fire. For me, it pointed out just how much the things we fought for then have slowly slipped away.

Part of that was our own fault. We were so set, so focused, and we could only see things in black and white, good and evil. The irony is that many of us from back then got religion and became involved in the religious right and neo-conservatism, still seeing the world in the stark, black-and-white terms of the rigidly dogmatic. It still pains me to see so much of the passion involved in changing the world being channeled into a fearful reaction to those very changes. In many ways we were a very schizophrenic generation.

[An aside... Several scenes in the movie involved characters hitchhiking. Now I used to hitchhike everywhere, but last night I tried to remember the last time I did that, and discovered that it was probably around 1980 or so. It was around then that it started being very dangerous to hitch a ride; I had been getting lifts from some seriously creepy people around then and decided I could afford the bus after all. Now I wouldn't dare; the nation's highways seem to be the hunting grounds of serial killers and some seriously deranged individuals!]

Julie Traymor used 30 Beatles songs to move the movie along. Between arrangers, set designers, and choreographers, all these scenes are really well done. But two stand out for me. One is the setting for "Come Together"; it brings Jo-Jo, a black guitarist of the Jimi Hendrix variety, to New York from his home in Detroit, where he'd just buried his little brother, killed in the riots of 1968. It starts on the bus and follows as Jo-Jo makes his way through the streets of New York, sped on its way by the voice and the presence of the inimitable Joe Cocker. The choreography is seamless, and the musical arrangement of the song is absolutely fantastic. Take a look:

But for me the show-stopper is "Let It Be". The scene is two deaths and funerals, Jo-Jo's little brother in Detroit and a young soldier killed in Vietnam (the young soldier was the high school boyfriend of principal character Lucy, played by Evan Rachel Wood). And what's brilliant about the setting is that the song is set as a gospel song, with full choir and a soloist who gets the Spirit while singing (the song starts out with the voice of Timothy T. Mitchum, playing Jo-Jo's little brother). This is just a brilliant piece of work and really stands out in the movie:

One last video clip. This is from the special features disc, and it's from the "making of" documentary - the recording session with Timothy T. Mitchum and Carol Woods, the gospel singer in the "Let It Be" segment. In this, Julie Traynor explains why she made this movie, and shows the effect it had on the people involved.

Yup, real people did these things back then, and were involved and passionate about what they were doing. I think we need to relight that fire!

A Mellow Sunday

I went wandering again today, and this is what I saw.

The first early White Wood Asters blooming in Ballard Park along the Southwest Trail. Fall is coming.

The moderate breeze made music, rustling the Quaking Aspen leaves in the quarry.

An immature Little Blue Heron feeding in Gooseneck Cove (yes, the young'uns are white!).

An immature Snowy Egret (left) and the immature Little Blue Heron (right) hanging out together in Gooseneck Cove.

© 2010 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Friday Walkabout

A few scenes from today's hike.

Gooseneck Cove at high tide.

Along the Twin Ledges Trail in Ballard Park.

The decorative wall around Harbour Court, the home of the Newport annex of the New York Yacht Club.

The Newport municipal pier at high tide.

The Sail Newport sailing class came ashore at King Park for a picnic.

And I'll close with a little humor:

"Whinin' Boy, I don't deny my name". One of this year's Herring Gull hatchlings (the brown one to the right) literally whining at the adult to be fed. Which reminded me of this song:

Photos & text © 2010 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Theme Thursday - Palm

Seeing as how I only post my own photos, I had visions of being really stuck on this week's theme. After all, despite the recent heat and humidity we're still not really the tropics, so there aren't any Palm trees here. And there's only one palm reader, and even with two pics - one of the sign and one of the storefront - that's a pretty sparse Theme Thursday post, at least for me.

And then the lightbulb went off in my head. We have plenty of palm fronds here in Newport: in the graveyard! Yes, you read that right; there are plenty of palm fronds in Island Cemetery. Remember my post on all that marble in Island Cemetery? Well much of that carving was influenced by the Arts and Crafts Movement when it migrated over the Big Pond from England to North America, and one of the themes emphasized in that movement was Neoclassicism. Much of the stylistic elements in A&C came from the Greco-Roman civilization, and some of the elements within that came from Classical Egypt. And that's where the palm fronds in Island Cemetery come from. There are a bunch of Egyptian-styled marble monuments there, and some of them have palms on them. Below are three of the best examples. Below left is a detail on Philander Shaw's stone - not only do we have a palm frond, but also a classical Greek laurel wreath. Talk about mixed metaphors! Below right is the sort-of obelisk marking John B. Newton's grave, complete with palm frond and the Egyptian-style column capital. But the bottom photo is the best of all - that exquisitely over-the-top Classical Egyptian monument over the remains of August Belmont, the perfect illustration for Shelley's Ozymandias.

And then of course there's the above-mentioned palm reader. I have no reports of her abilities; since I do my own Tarot and I Ching readings I really have no reason to visit her,and nobody I know has ever visited her, either. Nice sign, though. And she looks like she's made the best of a pretty old and beat-up building.

And now it's time for the theme-appropriate music videos! Since we ended up the photography section with a palm reader, let's get the videos started with a trip to 1962 in the Wayback Machine. This is the original version of "Fortune Teller", known to most as a song played by the Rolling Stones on their first live album, Got Live If You Want It. But the song is older than that; it was written by Allen Toussaint (under the pseudonym Naomi Neville) and first performed by New Orleans legend Benny Spellman.

The next song I found by entering "palms" in YouTube's search box; Robert Plant's "29 Palms" was near the top of the list. From 1993, it's about the town of 29 Palms, California, deep in the Mojave Desert, based on Canadian singer Alannah Myles, with whom he was touring at the time. I like the song, and the video fits the mood of the tune perfectly.

When I think of palm trees I think of tropical islands and steel drums and drinks with umbrellas in them. And Calypso music. The undisputed King of Kings of Calypso is The Mighty Sparrow, so I thought I'd finish up this week's Theme Thursday post with The King of Calypso singing "Congo Man" in concert. Enjoy!

Photos & text © 2010 by A. Roy Hilbinger

A Walk In the Point

The Point is one of the oldest sections of Newport, going right back to the 1640s, with houses still there from the 1700s. I did a photo essay on the Point last year as a Theme Thursday post, and three years ago I did a fairly exhaustive photo essay on the same place on Gather.com. Today's little excursion doesn't focus on the old houses, but rather on images that caught my eye as I wandered the streets.

A fountain in a secret garden at Bridge and Second Streets.

A stump garden on Second St.

The former Carmelite cloister on Second St. The brick building to the right was the chapel.

Boats moored just off Battery Park.

The Van Zandt Pier. My first apartment in Newport was one block away, so I spent a lot of time here cooling off.

Looking down Narragansett Bay to where it meets the ocean; taken from Washington St.

© 2010 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Groovin' On a Sunday Afternoon

Okay, so most of these shots were taken in the morning! But you get the idea. Today was our biweekly bird walk, and this week we were all over the place - the Third Beach salt marsh, Gooseneck Cove, and Brenton Point. Most of the birds were spotted through binoculars and were out of camera range, even with my telephoto. But some good shots were to be had once we got to Brenton Point.

This is the bonus shot of the day - a tagged and banded Ruddy Turnstone, a bird in the Sandpiper family. When I report this to our RI birding network, this tag info will be passed on and the taggers will be able to follow the path of this particular bird. Science in action!

There were a good three dozen Ruddies scattered along the rocks and seaweed piles out at Brenton Point, and they were sharing their space with a bunch of Semipalmated Plovers, of which this little guy is a prime example. Cute little critters, aren't they?

Brenton Point is kite central this time of year. Being at the confluence of Narragansett Bay into the Atlantic Ocean, this is a prime spot for great breezes. We were there a tad early for the usual kiter crowd, but they were starting to gear up as we were wrapping up our visit. This cobra kite was the most impressive up at the time.

On the way back into town I stopped by Tern Rock in Gooseneck Cove to watch the Double-crested Cormorants. As I've showed you before, earlier in the season this rock serves as a nesting colony for Common Terns, but once the young'uns have fledged the Terns move off and the Cormorants move in. They'll be there well into October, when they'll head south for the Winter. They'll be replaced by Great Cormorants, who winter here. But not on this rock; Great Cormorants prefer ocean rocks. I guess they like the surf!

Of course, having given you the song title in the subject line of this post, I can't leave without posting a music video. So here you go - Felix Cavaliere and the Young Rascals with their 1967 hit "Groovin'" (yeah, we're in the WayBack machine again!):

As a bonus, how about the Young Rascals' other big hit, which is a bit more appropriate to the time of day these shots were taken - "It's a Beautiful Morning"? And wouldn't you know it, I found a video of Felix performing it live at the rotunda on Easton's Beach in Newport back in 1997. Gotta love the Universe's odd little tricks!

Photos & text © 2010 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Cove Critters

Seen while visiting Gooseneck Cove. I saw other critters, but they were out of camera range: two cruising Osprey, several groups of Peeps (the birder name for a mixed crowd of small members of the Sandpiper family) wandering the flats (it was low tide), two Common Terns industriously flinging themselves into the water after fish, one Great Egret flying over and then perching in a tree across the way, one Great Blue Heron flying by, several Snowy Egrets kicking up the fish in the Snowy Dance, and an immature Little Blue Heron, which while still immature is pure white. And surprisingly few Blue Crabs, much to my friend Tom's disappointment; he'd made a lunch-break stop there on Hazard Rd. to see how the pickings were. But I caught this feeding Snowy Egret in the small backwater toward the bottom end of Hazard Rd.; it didn't see me because I was ensconced in a small natural blind in the shoreline reeds.

And a little later on these two young White-tailed Deer got brave and crossed the road a little above where I was talking with another local about being pleased with how the Cove restoration project had worked out.

And that's all for today.

© 2010 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Theme Thursday - Brown

A few brown things from my world.

Burdock in autumn

False Turkey-tail Fungus

Quarry face in Ballard Park

Summer feet!

Music time! And me being me, it's time to jump into the WayBack Machine with Mr. Peabody and go visit 1965 - Peter Noone and Herman's Hermits singing "Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter".

Another song that popped right into my head was the classic "Sweet Georgia Brown", written in 1925 by Ben Bernie and Maceo Pinkard (music), and Kenneth Casey (lyrics). And my personal favorite version of the song is this one by Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grapelli from the '30s.

And then there's my all-time favorite "brown" song, Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl". And here's Van the Man himself singing it live in concert. Enjoy!

Photos & text © 2008 & 2010 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Dragonfly Song

Do you want to improve the world?
I don't think it can be done.

The world is sacred.
It can't be improved.
If you tamper with it, you'll ruin it.
If you treat it like an object, you'll lose it.

There is a time for being ahead,
a time for being behind;
a time for being in motion,
a time for being at rest;
a time for being vigorous,
a time for being exhausted;
a time for being safe,
a time for being in danger.

The Master sees things as they are,
without trying to control them.
She lets them go their own way,
and resides at the center of the circle.

– Tao Te Ching, #29 (Stephen Mitchell translation)

Photo © 2010 by A. Roy Hilbinger

We Will Rock You!

I listened to Terry Gross interview Brian May on Fresh Air this afternoon (you can read and listen, too!) and got inspired.

Along the Twin Ledges Trail in Ballard Park

The north face of the quarry in Ballard Park after the Solstice Blizzard of '09

Castle Hill Light

Along the Cliff Walk on a foggy Winter day

And the song that inspired this:

God, I miss Freddie! Thanks heavens Brian's still around and making music.

Photos © 2008, 2009, & 2010 by A. Roy Hilbinger

This Just In!

Stop the presses! Hold the phones! Extry, extry, read all about it!

Just a quick (and exaggerated) note to let all my friends know that I'll be here at my post for the foreseeable future. As of September 3 I'll be employed. Yep, back in the saddle again. And I'll be back to a world I love, too; I'll be back to being an art dealer. A friend of mine from my previous incarnation as an art gallery director also owns a gallery, and his long-time assistant finally decided to retire, and I get to replace her. 19th and early 20th Century art, mostly marine paintings but with a lot of landscapes as well, many from the Hudson River School of painters.

So you'll still be getting my pics of and historical meanderings about Newport and surroundings, the birds and the gravestones, the mansions and the salt marshes. A little less frequently, perhaps, but I'll be working overlooking the harbor, and there are plenty of interesting things to look at and ponder between work and home. And as you know, my camera goes everywhere with me, even to work.

And Alan, it looks like I'll still be here when you drop by on the cruise next year. So it's a good deal for everybody!

As you were.

Ballard Park Organics

Two interesting macros from Ballard Park today.

Remains of a Red-tailed Hawk back in a shaded spot in the Quarry.

Mushrooms along the Valley Trail.

© 2010 by A. Roy Hilbinger