Today it’s blowing a mad gale outside. Winds are gusting up to 110km/h and the snow is that stick-to-the-greenhouse-and-scour-your-skin kind, which is more like ice pellets than any fairytale snow. Since I feel no need for an Arctic exfoliant, we’re tucked away indoors this morning. Time to work on projects, have a second (and third) cup of coffee, read a few blogs and wait for that miraculous moment when the snow turns to rain and we are released once again into the world to wreak havoc and create mayhem.
Or visit a book store, whichever comes first.
For non-Newfoundlanders, the quote, “Snow is softly fallin’,” is a reference to a folks song that is quite well-known in these parts, written by Dermot O’Reilly and performed by many folks over the years.
This is still my favourite version, by Ryan’s Fancy (of which Dermot O’Reilly was a member, along with Denis Ryan and Fergus O’Byrne):
And to liven up your morning a smidge, I also give you Ryan’s Fancy’s version of the Rocky Road to Dublin (Enjoy!):
This will sound completely strange to many people, but I’ve only had an mp3 player for three months. It was a Christmas present and one about which I dithered for some time. I wanted something small, not terribly expensive (very important), easy-to-use and of reasonable sound quality. I also wanted something with a replaceable battery that could hold sufficient music and playlists so that I could load it up and not have to fiddle with it for a few days. I settled on a Sansa 2GB player – the c250. (It was also really cheap at Costco, which was the deciding factor.)
I know myself well enough to know that expensive would have been a waste. I have a child and three dogs. Sooner or later, someone is going to tangle in the thing and kill it. I’m pretty careful, mind you, but still….
Anyway, my biggest peeve about this player is the lack of instructions. Yes, it came with an “instruction manual“(.pdf file). That piece of paper was of less value than a single square of toilet paper. Really. So here’s some stuff I’ve figured out about this player, some of which wasn’t covered in the manual.
This player recharges by being plugged into the USB port of your computer.
To recharge it, you need to disable the sleep and time-out functions under “settings”.
The easiest way to bypass all this is to turn the player off and then plug it into the USB cord while the player is off. Start playing a playlist and turn on the continuous play mode. Leave it for twelve hours. Unplug the headphones to avoid canine and spousal curiosity.
Doing step three will allow you to continue listening to the player while it charges. The constant playing will keep it from timing out from lack of use.
To transfer files (can’t be done while playing), turn the player on first and then plug in the USB cable.
It takes about twelve hours for the player to charge, roughly the same length of time as a slow trickle charge for a set of AAA batteries.
The USB cord is non-standard and hard to replace. Don’t lose it.
The battery case is tricky to open, especially with sweaty fingers. If the player freezes up, you’ll need to pop this case open, remove the battery, put the battery back in and restart the player. You shouldn’t lose any songs doing this.
You can find a review of it here. There are also plenty of others out there….
Laugh at me if you want, as some of it may be common knowledge to those growing up with these things, but I still think how to recharge a chargeable battery should be in there.
So it’s a decent little player for someone who doesn’t need huge storage capabilities, expensive toys or incredible sound quality. For taking to the gym or wearing around the house, it works just fine. Holds enough music (or audio books) to keep me happy, too.
Buddy Wasisname & the Other Fellas – Saltwater Joys
Stan Rogers – Mary Ellen Carter
Rush – The Pass
Rawlins Cross – The Wedding Gift
Stan Rogers – Witch of the Westmorland
That’s just the short list by which I’ll be working over the next hour or so; a motley assortment picked completely by intuition from my collection. In retrospect, the only one that doesn’t fit in my mind is the Rush song, but I’m too lazy to edit it out. I just skip it when I get to it. The ones most in tune with my mindset today are the Rawlins Cross, Stan Rogers and Buddy Wasisname songs. I guess I’m in a home-like, peaceful mood….. how odd.
A strange song to have on one’s mind on a Tuesday morning, but there it is.
They used to play this at the close of the CCNL craft fairs. An odd choice, apart from the title. Of course, if you’ve done a craft fair or two, you understand the exhaustion and elation that come with the whole thing being over, so I guess it’s more applicable than one might suspect at first glance. Frankly, it was one of the highlights of take-down for me.
Run-time 5:53. Lyrics below.
Closing Time (Leonard Cohen)
Ah we’re drinking and we’re dancing
and the band is really happening
and the Johnny Walker wisdom running high
And my very sweet companion
she’s the Angel of Compassion
she’s rubbing half the world against her thigh
And every drinker every dancer
lifts a happy face to thank her
the fiddler fiddles something so sublime
all the women tear their blouses off
and the men they dance on the polka-dots
and it’s partner found, it’s partner lost
and it’s hell to pay when the fiddler stops:
it’s CLOSING TIME
Yeah the women tear their blouses off
and the men they dance on the polka-dots
and it’s partner found, it’s partner lost
and it’s hell to pay when the fiddler stops:
it’s CLOSING TIME
Ah we’re lonely, we’re romantic
and the cider’s laced with acid
and the Holy Spirit’s crying, “Where’s the beef?”
And the moon is swimming naked
and the summer night is fragrant
with a mighty expectation of relief
So we struggle and we stagger
down the snakes and up the ladder
to the tower where the blessed hours chime
and I swear it happened just like this:
a sigh, a cry, a hungry kiss
the Gates of Love they budged an inch
I can’t say much has happened since
but CLOSING TIME
I swear it happened just like this:
a sigh, a cry, a hungry kiss
the Gates of Love they budged an inch
I can’t say much has happened since
CLOSING TIME
I loved you for your beauty
but that doesn’t make a fool of me:
you were in it for your beauty too
and I loved you for your body
there’s a voice that sounds like God to me
declaring, declaring, declaring that your body’s really you
And I loved you when our love was blessed
and I love you now there’s nothing left
but sorrow and a sense of overtime
and I missed you since the place got wrecked
And I just don’t care what happens next
looks like freedom but it feels like death
it’s something in between, I guess
it’s CLOSING TIME
Yeah I missed you since the place got wrecked
By the winds of change and the weeds of sex
looks like freedom but it feels like death
it’s something in between, I guess
it’s CLOSING TIME
Yeah we’re drinking and we’re dancing
but there’s nothing really happening
and the place is dead as Heaven on a Saturday night
And my very close companion
gets me fumbling gets me laughing
she’s a hundred but she’s wearing
something tight
and I lift my glass to the Awful Truth
which you can’t reveal to the Ears of Youth
except to say it isn’t worth a dime
And the whole damn place goes crazy twice
and it’s once for the devil and once for Christ
but the Boss don’t like these dizzy heights
we’re busted in the blinding lights,
busted in the blinding lights
of CLOSING TIME
The whole damn place goes crazy twice
and it’s once for the devil and once for Christ
but the Boss don’t like these dizzy heights
we’re busted in the blinding lights,
busted in the blinding lights
of CLOSING TIME
Oh the women tear their blouses off
and the men they dance on the polka-dots
It’s CLOSING TIME
And it’s partner found, it’s partner lost
and it’s hell to pay when the fiddler stops
It’s CLOSING TIME
I swear it happened just like this:
a sigh, a cry, a hungry kiss
It’s CLOSING TIME
The Gates of Love they budged an inch
I can’t say much has happened since
But CLOSING TIME
I loved you when our love was blessed
I love you now there’s nothing left
But CLOSING TIME
I miss you since the place got wrecked
By the winds of change and the weeds of sex.
I remember Mom playing a recording of Classical Gas when we were kids, probably either the Mason Williams and/or the Mannheim Steamroller versions. We had a lot of Mannheim Steamroller around at one point and I’ve never lost the taste for it (probably explains a few things, eh?). I’ve always loved this song for its pure energy, optimism, joy and intricacy. Watching this fellow play it seems to catch all of those elements exactly! That man loves his guitar!
(Length 4:20)
Update: I actually remember now where I first heard Classical Gas – Mason Williams appeared on an episode of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, which I saw as a rerun. Man, that was a great show….
@lehogan @bkidney I would *hope* that he would *give up* abstinence with you quite cheerfully. Taking it up would be a different thing....~~17 hours ago
