5/27/2019
“Here We Go Again, She’s back in town again, ….One More Time”—originally written by Don Lanier and Red Steagall in 1967 and recorded first by Ray Charles. That’s the SIMH this beautiful Memorial Day on the mountain. The song was more Country than anything else, but its start was in Blues. Ray Charles, followed by Nancy Sinatra in 1969; Johnny Duncan in 1972, then Roy Clark in 1982. Later George Strait and even later and ironically, by the writer, Red Steagall. Ray Charles and Norah Jones recorded the most notable cover version just before he died. Beautiful. But many other people have recorded it, though not as singles. Norah and Willie Nelson also sang this and were accompanied by Wynton Marsalis in a tribute album honoring Ray Charles in 2011
The version I’m singing in my head is by a group who will be returning to the mountain in about a month—The Lazy Birds. They are a small group of musicians from Asheville, NC who will be again having a backyard concert at my son’s house. If you’ll be near here the weekend of June 21, contact me for details. I wrote about their last visit, a very enjoyable evening of music, several months back in this blog.
Beef Wellington…ever had that for dinner? One of our partners in the Blue Jug stores is an exceptionally talented chef (he would call himself an amateur cook.) But last night, Jason fixed 9 of us in our family Beef Wellington for dinner, Wow! What a dinner! It’s a pretty good roast of beef, seared and placed inside a very light pastry, with marinade I can’t possibly explain, baked slowly to medium rare perfection! He served it with green beans and sweet roasted carrots with one of his exceptional breads—mmmmm!
Beef Wellington has an interesting history. On the one side, it is believed to be in honor of the Duke of Wellington’s victory over Napoleon (1815). But, another historical claim is that it was first prepared for a fancy reception in Wellington, New Zealand. But, last night it was a terrific meal on the deck of a small home on a hill in Fort Payne, AL. …Thanks, Jason.
When I was going to good ol’ THS, back in the ‘50s, two things marked the beginning of Summertime. We generally got out of school in those days early in May, the 5th is the earliest I remember. After about the 7th grade, it was work for two-three weeks, usually planting tomatoes in fields (our town had a tomato packing house—a canning factory, whose brand still exists as Red Gold Tomatoes, from Kenneth N. Rider Co.) But then would come Memorial day—the Indianapolis 500, “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” Everyone had their radio tuned to WIBC and the marvelous manner of covering this race from “Gentlemen, Start Your Engines,” to the Victory Lane ceremony and the winner drinking a glass of milk with roses draped all around him and his car. Radio made us see this just as clearly as if we’d been there!
WIBC would engaged all the sports people from all 6 Indianapolis AM radio stations—quite a coup, in those days of “on air” competition. Practically everyone would listen to the start and the first 5-10 laps due to some years when there had been tragic accidents in the early jockeying for position. Then, the drone of engines would get a bit monotonous and we’d wander away from the radio, returning as the exciting finish was approaching! 200– 2 1/2 mile laps! Many of us thought TV would take over the coverage and years later, it did. But, the magic of hearing it and the speed of the announcers talking about their “corner” of the race, etc., just wasn’t duplicatable with video. ABC has recently done such a good job with the graphics and info “bubbles” on the cars and drivers and it is much more than an attempt to entertain like it had been. Still a great spectacle!
Today, school calendars foul up the Summer routine I had, but I think I’m in a vast minority to say the school year should be shorter. I liked out before Memorial day, back in after Labor Day, myself. But, then, I also like teaching the textbooks instead of teaching how to pass a test! I must be old fashioned. And just think, there are some who say the children should go to school year round with several shorter breaks—that would rip to shreds a whole bunch of Summer activities, not to mention 100s of 1000s of jobs and Summer only businesses across the nation. Terrible idea. Generally, those who want that sort of education process many times have the idea that the government are in charge of our children, not!—-TO THE PARENTS OF TODAY: These are YOUR children! Guard their education with your standards, and gain your standards by the Word of God.
Thanks for reading, the Elder
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