Harry Partch

 

At some point in my college career I discovered Harry Partch. In the early 70s possibly in New York or perhaps at the junk store Browse on Route 4 in Fairlawn, New Jersey, I bought the World of Harry Partch. Harry Partch was an avant garde composer and an inventor of instruments (some of his instruments are in the Smithsonian). I remember playing his music on one of my college radio shows at Rutgers. 

I remember showing off my collection of Harry Partch, Pharoh Sanders records and the ESP Sampler in my parents' basement. My girlfriend at the time, a music major, said, "Oh ----- you like anything that's weird!". I was getting a reputation at school for liking weird music and even playing it on the radio. 

Recently I rediscovered Mr. Partch. There is a nice live performance of Castor and Pollux on You Tube. The performers are having so much fun, at times skipping across the stage. Since Mr. Partch produced the instruments with his own keys built in, it is not as difficult to play as it may seem. 

After missing my long-lost album of fifty years I have bought a new copy of the World of Harry Partch on Ebey. This time with no scratches. 

The old men discuss AOC

• Jack: So Henry ya heard the latest?
• Henry: Nope.
• Jack: AOC is freezing her eggs.
• Bill: Well Wilma does that occasionally to that pasta she makes, but I've never heard of freezing eggs.
• Jack: Not that kind of eggs, AOC that Spanish politician lady who talks so much. The biological eggs. 
• Henry; Well I don't know. I think there are things in this world that a man doesn't need to know. 
• Bill: She wants Medicare for all.
• Henry: I hope that doesn't pass through Congress. The doctor's office is already too busy. If anything, they should raise the age of Medicare.  

 

Wine Moms

 

I just read an article about wine moms.  Apparently they are the new force in the Democratic party. Wealthier than soccer moms, they have the money to donate to candidates who support things like Medicare for all. 

The question the pundits are asking is whether wine moms will support socialist leaning candidates or in the end will they be frightened off and instead vote Republican in November. Wine moms don't want their daughters to lose out on scholarships because they have to compete with trans boys. 

I'm confused

Recently I've noticed that the left leaning media is sending up videos of Trump, Vance, Hegseth and other Republican office holders. Conversely, I've noticed that Fox is constantly giving us pictures of Mandani, AOC, and El Sayed. if you kept the volume down you might even think that the New York Post is endorsing AOC and Mandani since their images are all they seem to feature. You Tube is full of videos telling us that when you vote for socialism, communism is around the corner. 

Fox and other right leaning channels have given up on Trump and have moved to terrifying viewers by focusing on Democratic socialists.  Instead of talking about the current state of affairs, they are terrifying us by showing us socialists who are masquerading as Khruschev in disguise. 

Murder in the Mountains

 

Since the government cut off funding for PBS, I've noticed more documentaries and fund raising on the tv stations. I've been watching fewer foreign police procedurals there too, except for Friday and Sunday nights. However, I've discovered there are lots of foreign police procedurals on Passport, the streaming service open to paying subscribers only. Many of these shows are offered by British Channel 4's Walter Presents. 

My personal favorites are the old standby, Murdoch and the Austrian series, Murder in the Mountains. M in the M beautifully captures the Alps and features a decent story line. Granted the characters in the cast are rather prosaic. There is the on again off again romance of the leads, the doofus assistant, the tetchy coroner. 

For some reason, Countess and the Chef turn up on every show. Since they have no official position in the police force their constant presence is a mystery to me. 

Editor's note: Maybe PBS is trying to get money out of the freeloader's love of the genre. They now have to pay for their police procedurals. 

Social Media vs. Transistor Radios

 Internationally, there have been attempts to limit younger teens from exposure to the evils of social media. Europe is also now considering legislation to limit access for the pre and early teens. The usual suspects are Tik Tok, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and others. Australia is implementing a program to limit users by age but the kids are getting around it. 

The only equivalent media product that I can think of was the teenager of the late fifties and mid sixties was the addiction of the young to AM radio. I can remember adults complaining, "No wonder the kids can't learn anything when they have those transistor radios glued to their ears eyeryday. 

I didn't bag my plums

 

Yesterday, being a Saturday, I knew my usual supermarket, S, would be ridiculously overcrowded. Being a sharp shopper, I opted to go to the other major supermarket chain, which we will call A. It was not crowded, and, being a judicious shopper, the prices were not too bad. I dumped some plums into the cart. I did not use the little plasticine bag, as is my wont. I always make a mess tearing the bag off the receptacle and I suspect there is a charge for them. 

I chose to use a real checker, since there was only a tiny line and deposited my groceries onto the belt. The clerk looked up at me, ruefully. "So you are going to let those plums roll around?" she queried. I then tried to be helpful and put the three plums together on the queue. 

At the end of the checkout, she refused to bag the plums. She put them in a separate place and helpfully informed me, "You should always put fruits in the baggies, or they will get bruised on the way home."

I then proceeded to dump the plums into the supermarket bag I brought from home and remarked, "Oh don't worry I'm sure they'll be fine." 

I guess being a man she assumed that shopping was not a task I had mastered. Probably my wife was laid up and I that forced me to do this unfamiliar chore. At the S store, they could care less about what I did with my plums. I guess that is why A is more expensive. Because of their exceptional customer service. The plums did not look bruised. At least to my masculine eyes.