January 03, 2009

In downtown Tucson, free haircuts today for kids K-12 on the street outside a barbershop. There was a line. A little ways away, a scene near the old Hotel Congress, built on Congress Street in 1919 and still a hotspot for dining and nightlife in downtown Tucson.

January 02, 2009

The grounds of the University of Arizona double as an arboretum. The trees and plants are well-labeled, except for the plant above, for which I couldn't find a sign. The rest of the plant was in the shade, but a shaft of light filtered through an olive tree to catch the bloom and create a glowing effect. Update: Weblog reader Al reports that this is a cape honeysuckle.



In addition to the campus, the neighborhoods between the university and downtown are the oldest in town. They are well-forested with exotic varieties by the dozen. Here is a cactus which feels that to survive it needs not only straight thorns, but hooked ones as well. Very nasty.



This gorilla isn't going anywhere. I'll bet I couldn't even pull him out of there given the thorns stuck in his back.



A palm leaf at sunset looks quite abstract.



From the back side of the leaf the sun shows through showing the leaf's patterns.



Some cacti have thickets of thorns, others survive on just a few. I suspect those few still pack punch.

January 01, 2009

It is fun to see this sort of color on the last day of the year! The grass, below, was particularly fun to see. There was a cricket chirping in the palm tree. A calm scene? Hardly. There were cars roaring by about ten feet behind me.

Aunt Olla was in great spirits when I called her today. She's got so much to do, she just doesn't know when it all is going to get done. "And my brains are pretty much mush," she complained.

She gets some satisfaction out of watching the news. "All those years of teaching history, and I never got to teach about somebody throwing a shoe at the president!" she said. "Why did he have to miss?"

Olla is already one-third of the way to 98 years old. "I sure don't want to live to be 100," she said today. "I suppose I could stop taking my vitamins."

I told her that wasn't an option.

Things at the Hilton are cozy. Today they served up a good meal of barbeque ribs. Really, it isn't bad there in the winter, Olla says. You have plenty of space and lots of good company.

About one month ago, Olla and I took a voyage uptown to the drugstore for two special cards, one for her friend's birthday, and another for the Hilton staff. Well, she sent the cards, but got the two mixed up. So, her friend in Las Vegas got a card that said, "Happy Holidays to a wonderful bunch of people!" and the nursing home staff was about to get a "Happy Birthday to a dear friend!" card until Olla ran down to the office and intercepted it.

So, she's faltering.

I wouldn't want to get hung up on these.



This prickly pear could cause a little pain, too.



But from a little distance, the saguaro cuts a noble profile.



And an old ocotillo screens the view of the Tucson mountains.

December 31, 2008

Thanks to my webmaster Anne for figuring out the problem with the links. They should work now.

There’s no denying what the iPod says about my musical tastes. For the past year, I have been getting all of my music off the iPod. Now it tells me, in order, the top twenty-five selections I have played. The list below is nowhere near what I would have guessed. There is no Willie Nelson, and he is supposedly my favorite. There are no Rachmaninoff pieces, and he is supposed to be my favorite. And there are no pieces played by Vladamir Horowitz, and he is supposed to be my favorite.

The links to the top twenty-five are not necessarily the same recordings I listened to. Not everything is on Youtube. But the clips contain enough to give you an idea.

1. About one year ago, I discovered Alexander Scriabin’s Piano Concerto in F# minor. Since then, I have listened to it regularly. The first movement has been my favorite, according to the iPod.

2. And, the Scriabin Piano Concerto’s third movement is a close second. Scriabin was absolutely crazy. This piece was written early in his twenties, before he fell apart and started writing music which some people find psychotic. I find some of the early psychotic stuff amazing, but later when he was coordinating colors with specific notes and then prescribing particular kinds of incense for different parts of the piece--that's when Scriabin lost me.

3. No surprise to me that the Prelude and Fugue in E minor by Bach is on this list. It is a monumental work of art. I have posted recordings here before, first of the Prelude and then of the Fugue played by a very formal German player. The recording I listened to dozens of times in the past year, according to my iPod, is an audio-only version of what you see at the beginning of this clip by the great Virgil Fox. Watch the entire clip to find out why I am a fan of this somewhat wacky but wonderful musician.

4. This really is an entertaining Prelude and Fugue which should be played more often. Here is Virgil playing the Prelude and Fugue in A minor by J. S. Bach.

5. After years of listening to Bach, I came across this piece for the first time last February. The Prelude and Fugue in B minor by Bach isn’t played that often, but I found it entrancing. Fox recorded it only once, and that is what I listened to on my iPod dozens of times. However, that recording is not on Youtube, so here is some German dude playing the Prelude and the legendary Marie Claude Alain playing the Fugue.

6. If there was one rock and roll voice I would have if I could, it would be Nazareth’s lead singer in this classic from the 1970s, Love Hurts. Haunting.

7. As a third grader, I discovered rock music. It was all down hill from there. One of my first favorite songs was David Essex’s one hit wonder Rock On.

8. This Prelude and Fugue by Bach wouldn’t be one of my favorites if you asked me on the street, but the iPod doesn’t lie. I listened to the Prelude and Fugue in D major played by Virgil Fox dozens of times in the past year.

9. When I heard the George Jones version of Hello Darlin, I forgot all about Conway Twitty. The version on George's album is more solid than this performance on television. Seems George must have tied one the night before he went on this show.

10. The second movement of Scriabin’s piano concerto isn’t as fiery as the two which surround it, so that is why it fell to tenth place while the other two came in first and second. Taken together, the three movements form one of the greatest piano concertos ever written.

11. Now here is some good rock harmony. A superb high tenor voice leads the group The Outfield in their big hit Say It Isn’t So. The tone of the guitars reminds me of the group Boston, another favorite which I didn't listen to even once this past year. Maybe next year.

12. This is a repeat. Prelude and Fugue in A minor is on the list twice. Not sure whether it was the Prelude or the Fugue which was higher on the list.

13. We all have our guilty pleasures. Frankie Goes to Hollywood is a forgotten group, but their hit from the 1980s Relax has always been a favorite of mine.

14. Marie Claude Alain subs for Virgil Fox on the Fantasy and Fugue in G minor by Bach. Fox really makes it bounce, so I am sorry that you have to make do with Alain.

15. Last fall, I linked to the piece Dieu Parme Nous by Olivier Messaien. It is a barn-burner, but as I said then, I can’t expect many of you to enjoy it, much less make it past the first minute. Messaien is an acquired taste. Buy a decent recording and listen many times. Once you catch on to Messaien, you will be hooked.

16. Kitty Wells recorded the classic It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels in response to a song by Hank Thompson which talked up the sort of women who hang out in bars. Kitty Wells said, hey, those women aren’t that nice and furthermore, the men are just as at fault for divorces and affairs as the women. For those sentiments, this song, which seems harmless enough today, was banned by two networks. You don’t want to mess with male prerogatives.

17. Just discovered Ernest Tubb’s Waltz Across Texas last winter, and I must have gotten hooked.

18. This is on here twice. The Fantasy and Fugue G minor is split in two, so this is a repeat of #14.

19. I couldn’t find the final chorus of the St. Matthew’s Passion by Bach on Youtube. The recording I listened to so many times this year was the organ version arranged and performed by Virgil Fox, surprise surprise. The piece includes one of the strangest notes in Bach, a note so out of place that it sounds almost like Messaien.

20. America’s Lonely People is another haunting classic from the 1970s. This one surprises me as I don’t remember listening to it at all. Could the iPod be wrong? No way. Technology is always right.

21. A real favorite. Jackie Blue by the Ozark Mountain Daredevils is a one-of-a-kind classic. It brings back memories of fifth grade. In fact, it brings back a very specific memory of sitting in the car with the radio on outside of Calvary Baptist Church in Fargo, ND when my father used to fill in as their preacher. After services let out, I went to the car and listened to Q-98 while Dad and Mom fellowshipped away in the narthex.

22. I am a Willie Nelson fan, and he wrote this song, but for some reason, the version of Funny How Time Slips Away done by George Jones really was fun. I feel guilty that Willie didn't make this list. Willie, I will change my ways in the new year.

23. Round and Round by 1980s hair band Ratt reminds me of the south end of the fairgrounds where the loud music played on the real tough carnival rides. Oh, this music was evil.

24. Joe Walsh, eventually of the Eagles, recorded Rocky Mountain Way solo. “We don’t want the ladies cryin cause the song is sad,” is a classic line.

25. I do like Dixieland, so I guess it is no surprise that Up a Lazy River done by a Dixieland combo would make it onto my top twenty-five.

December 30, 2008

The cholla cactus, above, looks like some sort of outlandish animal in the savannah-like grass near Silver City, NM today.

I took some back roads. Ended up backtracking about 30 miles, but since I didn't have so far to go, using the old usual route seemed boring. The first part of the back road journey seemed a little bleak. Later, this was more typical. At one point, the grass made it look like the larger plants, the junipers, Joshua trees and cholla cacti, were rising from a thick fog.



By sunset, I had reached Tucson. This is why I go south. It was 70 degrees. This is the view from the balcony of the hotel I will stay in until the apartment opens up on the first of the year.

Tucson never disappoints.

December 29, 2008

How did this town in New Mexico get its name? Well, it won a contest in 1950 sponsored by the radio show of that name and changed the town's name to the show's name in return for lots of national recognition and subsequent annual visits from the show's host. The town was formerly called Hot Springs.

Truth or Consequences is a great place to stop over on the way to Arizona. The Comfort Inn there has the nicest beds of any hotel I have been in recently. Three years ago when I stopped here, I noticed the beds. Turns out that was when a few hotel chains were getting expensive beds in order to boost business. In this case, it worked. Even though I hadn't been on the road much more than three hours, I couldn't resist stopping. I immediately took a two hour nap.

About one block away from the hotel is a New Mexican restaurant called La Cocina which is about the best of its kind I have ever encountered. The chili rellenos were utterly perfect.

Tomorrow, Tucson.

Weblog reader Irene forwards this great article about a Minnesota man.

Just before I left town, I received a call asking if I would instruct a photography class. What they needed to know was how to upload the pictures from their camera to their computer, and so on.

I am so technically ignorant about cameras that I would be of no help whatsoever. I always shoot on "automatic," which means I know nothing about the intricacies of photography. Such knowledge would be nice, but whenever I learn even the slightest tidbit of it, it goes in one ear and out the other.

These pictures were shot with a Canon point and shoot that cost $300. I am not convinced that anybody besides a professional needs anything more.

The bottom line: The camera no longer makes the picture. The photographer makes the picture, both while shooting and then by cropping on the computer screen.

Just to demonstrate (while I am sitting here unable to sleep in a hotel room in Santa Fe), I am going to show you some pictures I took on the roadside this afternoon. I wanted to record the grandeur of the mountains I had been seeing for 100 miles, and I finally felt I had a spot where I could pull over and take some time.



I started with the above picture. That was a warm up. It didn't make the cut, however. Too boring. Nothing of interest in the foreground.



I tried cropping out the boring foreground, but even though I like horizontal shots because they are grand, this one lacked anything to make it more than just a snapshot.



So, I zoomed in on the mountain a little, thinking that might do it. Nah, still boring. The mountain looks uncomfortable sitting where I put it, and things are tilting too the right.



Turning a few degrees to the left to include two peaks adds interest, but the middle ground is still leaning to the right.

At this point, I had taken about fifteen photos and wasn't convinced I had anything that I wanted to show off on the weblog. So, I got in the pickup and started driving. I made it about 100 yards before I saw an improved scene.



The cluster of cottonwood on the lower left balances the otherwise rightward tilt to the picture. However, the cottonwood are too tall by at least a third. And they're the wrong color. If the cluster of cottonwood had been replaced with a gnarled Scotch pine (something not found here), the picture would be perfect. I think it would be unethical to put a Scotch pine there using Photoshop, so the picture is a no-go.



Here I attempted to make the foreground more interesting by putting in all of the peaks, the cottonwood, and adding some juniper off to the right. It doesn't work. The cottonwood and juniper act as parentheses for a bunch of non-descript sage while the mountains hover above unsupported. It is like an ugly split in bowling.



Then I tried just the juniper. This picture fails because it is to heavy in the middle. The juniper and the mountains are of the same shape, and the picture falls off to either side.



Here I found a scene I liked. The right mountain is mid-range and adds a third dimension. It also is an adequate counter balance to the juniper and the mountains of the previous picture. However, the foreground is boring and the picture is square.

So, I cropped the picture down, enriched the colors a little by moving the saturation bar to the right, and got a photo that I thought was worth putting up on the weblog. My favorite part of this scene is the bajada, the slope that comes from the mid-range mountain on the right and crosses the picture all the way to the left. If the juniper in the foreground had violated that elegant line, the picture would have been ruined.

December 28, 2008

Left the freeway at Walsenburg, CO and took the back roads to Santa Fe. It was obvious that southern Colorado had gotten smacked with a blizzard in the past few days. There were drifts bigger than you see even in Minnesota. However, the roads were, for the most part, melted off.

For most of 200 miles, this was typical of the spectacular scenery. After crossing the New Mexico border, the towns became a little more rustic. The mountains faded to pink at sunset, but the light is so dim then that it is impossible to capture it without setting up the tripod.