Music Track - Conducting

This was sent to me by a friend the other day.  It truly is a lot of fun to watch this little kid.  He's apparantly only three years old. http://www2.choralnet.org/268945.html
As a number of the comments underneath say he actually anticipates the music.  The itchy nose unfortunately kicks in at 2:10.

New Sponsor

Happily my lords and masters have agreed to allow their name on my blog.  You will see their logo on the right which links directly to their Web site.  Similarly they have a hot link posted on my columns on the Web site for those followers of the weekly column on-line.

The Sun is part of the Inland Newspapers Group and this group also publishes The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin; Redlands Daily Facts; the San Gabriel Valley Tribune; the Whittier Daily News, and the Pasadena Star-News; I think I come out in all of these, but I'm not sure.

At my age there is nothing more enjoyable than a little mutual "hot linkage" between consenting adults.

The King's Speech

Of course as a former Brit I was bound to see this movie as soon as I could.  Not just that but also because the time frame is just out of range of my memory.  I lived through the final scenes of the movie, but at only two weeks old I have no recollection of the actual event of the King's most important broadcast speech at the start of the war.  I have heard the recordings of course, but that's not the same.

I also remember the recording of Edward VIII abdicating the throne as he "...cannot carry the heavy burden without the support of the woman I love."  Words that drove my father crazy and many of his generation, who had a very high opinion of the previous Prince of Wales.  If you ever read the letters between Wallis and David (the Prince's given name) you would not be too impressed by him.  A very weak man and certainly not anyone to lead a country into war.  However he had his face on a number of the coins in our pockets, as he was in fact the king for almost a year; though never crowned.

I remember King George VI very well; he died when I was 13.  On that sad day I was very moved by the atmosphere of mourning that descended on the entire realm.  But we got Elizabeth II and she has been a remarkable monarch throughout her long reign of 59 years.  Oh yes, I know you Americans don't see why we continue with such an anachronistic institution, but if it was ended, what then?  At least with a monarchy every politician knows that the top job is taken.

As for the film, it was extremely good and even if you're an anti-monarchist it's well worth watching if only for the two leading roles.

The Pantry

I recently found myself in that famous Los Angeles landmark - The Pantry.  It's been in continuous operation since 1924.  "Never closed and never without a customer" is their slogan.  It's an interesting place, and as I was sitting there I realized it had been a long time since my last visit.  Eventually I remembered the occasion in detail as it was rather important.

Always a Wait at The Pantry

On that day in September 1992, we began early.  We rode the Harley FXRS down to the center of Los Angeles.  We had some time on our hands so we walked up Figeroa and had some breakfast at The Pantry.  Afterwards we went back to the Convention Center, and along with some 14,000 others that day we became American Citizens.  We rode into town subjects of Her Majesty and returned Americans with little stars and stripes flying from our sissy bar. 

This last occasion was nowhere near so momentous but the bacon and eggs were still as good.

Words of Wisdom

This was sent to me the other day.  It seems that we haven't learned a lot since this was said about 150 years ago.

You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.

You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.

You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.

You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.

You cannot build character and courage by taking away men's initiative and independence.

You cannot help men permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.

Abraham Lincoln

Evita

I've always been rather interested in Evita.  I know, I know she was a despot and stole as much money from the Argentinian people as she could; but she was a very glamorous woman for all that.  Recently I went on an assignment to a large motor car museum.  As I was wandering around I found this wonderful car.

It is a 1939 Packard Super Eight Phaeton, which  was used by the Perons.  It was in fact the last car that the joint dictatoress was to ride in.

The cost of the vehicle was a staggering $10,000 when it was built and that represents about twenty years salary for the average American of the time and probably about 50 years for an Argentinian.

While I was looking at the car I couldn't resist taking one more photo.  It could be entitled: The Last Place the Peronista Posterior was to be Placed in the Packard Phaeton.


Eva's Seat for all Posterity



The shipping magnate, Aristotle Onassis, used to tell the story that when he visited the Perons in Buena Aires, Evita tapped him up for a donation to one of her foundations.  Most of the money ended up in her bank account in Switzerland, of course.  But to sweeten the pot she suggested he stay overnight with her, and she would cook him breakfast in the morning.  Ari later recalled that the overnight didn't amount to much in his opinion, but as he got his checkboook out after the promised breakfast he realized: "They were the most expensive damned eggs I'd ever eaten!"

The Daily

Rupert Murdock has just launched his new idea of an electronic newspaper - The Daily.  I'm intrigued to see how it goes, although not being an iPad user I can't sample it myself.  It seems the entire venture rests on the premise that people are prepared to pay about $1 a week to receive this paper automatically downloaded overnight to their machine.

I've used an iPad and found it a terrific machine, but I haven't as yet been able to justify buying one.  It seems to fall between an iPhone and a laptop.  I've got both of those and also the big machine, the desktop on which I do most of my writing.  I can't see how an iPad is going to improve my situation any more as on my iPhone I can receive news updates, emails, Facebook and the other necessities for day-to-day living.  Perhaps Mr. Murdoch will let this new paper come to us in-betweeners and download The Daily to an iPhone.  Time is going to tell on this one.

Sunday's Column - Fire Museum

Sunday's column has been about a small but interesting musuem devoted to the work of the California Forestry Fire Service.  These types of museums often start out with one man's interest in the subject, and in this case the man is Jerry Glover.  He worked for the service until retirement and now oversees the many artifacts that come to him at the museum's premises in San Bernardino.

The service had a fitful start in 1887, and it was not until 1905 that things began in earnest.

I was a little confused as to the role of this particular department;  let's face it a fire truck is a fire truck.

But the CDF looks after the fires that begin outside the city and town boundaries.

They also assist in urban flare ups as well and are always on call for this.

This picture is the memorial wall at the musuem.  It is one of many things you can see if you visit them on their open day, which is every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Museum
3800 Sierra Way
San Bernardino, CA 92405
(909) 881-6984

Music Track - Mendelssohn

My father was particularly fond of Mendlessohn and used to play (and struggle with) a number of his Songs Withough Words.  This is one played by Daniel Barenboim, who I don't think has ever turned in a poor performance in his life.  It's opus 105, number 2.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFxHur2MAJE&feature=related

Cruise

On the 12th we are disappearing again for another week's cruise.  I say "again" as we tend to do this when we can.  Originally I was very resistant to the idea, having seen people wandering around off these big ships looking miserable and somewhat lost.

Big Ship Plus a Small Woman with a Mexican Suitcase

However, She Who Must Be Obeyed rather put her foot down some ten years ago and insisted I stop being silly.  Once on board one of these huge vessels, I was hooked, and now we go away most years.

This time the ship is the Sapphire Princess, a sister ship of the one on the left.  It's 116,000 tons and its 900 crew can comfortably cater to 2000 passengers.

Imagine a large hotel with all the facilities you could wish for, and then let it float around on the ocean, with occasional stops to buy junk, and that's a cruise, if you've never been on one. If you want peace and quiet then there are plenty of places to escape on board. If you want good food then there's lots of that and as much as you could possibly want.  However, some people come aboard with the intention of being offloaded as freight.  Frightening!  I'll keep you in touch as we progress into the province of the drug cartels!

Egypt

What is going on in Egypt is truly scary.  I had the experience of being in Tehran in 1979 about three weeks before the Shah was deposed.  No one believed he could be thrown out, as he was supposed to be the strong man of the Middle East.

As it happened he went and the black clothed cleric arrived from Paris to take over.  I had friends out there and they reported that the first thing that happened was the invasion of western hotels, where the bars were broken into and the booze taken out and poured into the wide ditches (jubes) that ran down both sides of the streets.  Up until then Tehran was a pretty wonderful place with an open society and attractive women everywhere.

If the riots in Tunisia, Jordan and Egypt allow the mullahs to take over this great swathe of land then we'll be looking at another Caliphate from Afghanistan to the edge of the Mediterranean across from Gibraltar.  Happy Days!

Sinatra/Ava

I found my recent visit to Frank Sinatra's house in Palm Springs quite a moving experience.  It was the place where he courted and finally married Ava Gardner.  What a titanic relationship that was.

Here they are in one of their happier moments;  I think they only had a few.  Most of the time they were fighting.  I was too young to remember the many episodes where they were in the news, but by the time I was paying attention they were already divorced and going their separate ways.

She went on to live by herself in London, suffering from emphysema, he to marry a couple more times - Mia Farrow and then finally Barbara Marx with whom he stuck.  It has been said that he never totally recovered from his time with Ava, and carried a torch for her until he died in 1998.

Six Degrees

Some years ago I saw the very successful play Six Degrees of Separation, by John Guare.  The concept of the title is that no matter how lowly or how important you are in the world you can be linked with anyone in six degrees (or moves) or less.

Recently I went to look around the Frank Sinatra house in Palm Springs.  It was a most interesting assignment and these six degrees came to mind.  I will be posting some other reflections on the visit which was for my weekly column, but while I was waiting outside the house to meet my contact I thought about my link to the original owner, long since dead in 1998.

He had a very stormy relationship, and an even more difficult marriage to Ava Gardner.  Some say he never totally recovered.  But when it ended in 1954, Ava went for some rest and relaxation to a mutual friend Ernest Hemingway. It was he who introduced her to Spain's most famous bullfighter, Luis Miguel Dominguin.
Gardner fell deeply in love with the man, although later she said: "It was a sort of madness, honey."

Now here's where the links begin.  In the mid-seventies we decided to spread our company to Spain and in order to do that we had to have an English-speaking agent, who could find us a partner.  And that's when we met and did business with one, Pedro Rodriguez Mombru.  He had for many years been the business manager of the aforementioned Dominguin.  So Mombru - Dominguin - Gardner - Sinatra.  Check mate in four moves!

Tuxedos

The other day I went past the shop where I bought my tuxedo.  We go on a number of cruises and it's nice to be able to wear the uniform on the formal nights that are regularly held.  I'd put the moment off long enough and frankly the investment wasn't that much. 

When it came time to pay, the lady in charge reminded me that there were other items that had to go along with the jacket and trousers.  She showed me several formal shirts, shoes, and of course bowties and cummerbunds.  I was reaching for a tie/cummerbund set when I heard my father's voice reminding me: "Trevor, only waiters wear made-up bow ties!"  He had a bit of a thing about it.

Now he was a fairly simple fellow but he'd spent a lot of his early life as a junior officer on board ships that ferried people out to various parts of the Empire, and dress codes were rigid.  Hence his obsession with bow ties.

As a sop to his morality I purchased, along with the aforementioned set, a real bow tie, and later on I tried to tie it.  I had been quite proficient at the art in my late teens when dinner dances were all the rage, but now it seems the skill had left me.  I struggled with the wretched thing for about twenty minutes as it twisted and turned on me, before finally flinging it into the recesses of the garment bag.

We are about to take off on another cruise and once again as I dress for the first formal night I will look at the beastly black double ended thing and reject it.  I shall stubbornly hook up the bane of my father's life and head out the door.  Once again I know the feeling of guilt will only last until the first sip of pre-dinner cocktail has passed my lips.  And I have to say that no-one has ever called me over to order food or complain about the olive in their Martini!