Sonny’s Sunshine Corner

 

(Sorry about being so late with this. I just discovered I hadn’t posted it at the beginning of the month)

Finally…February is over and done with. The temperature here in northern Georgia today will hit 60 degrees. Spring is just around the corner in these parts. I expect to see buds on the trees soon. Up in Maine you have the mud season to look forward to and here we must once again sneeze our way through pollen season when the streets run yellow in the rain.

This month besides the usual monthly columns, I’ll continue my study of the Beatles, with “Beatlemania…Part II.” I look to you for inspiration for March stories. You did such a bang up job last month that I know you can do it again.

E-mail me with ideas to www.southendstories.blogspot.com.

Readership continues to climb; now reaching 42,000 plus thanks to all my loyal fans. The Courier has run two of my blogs in the paper so far this year. In January they ran “Cleaning 2013’s House” and just this past week they ran “How’s Your Year Going so Far?” Thanks to the folks at the Courier for this further exposure of my work. You cannot reach my blog at “Village Soup” online unless you subscribe, so I appreciate seeing my work in print in the Courier. I also post the weekly blog to Facebook and also to Google. So you can find it in those places as well as at the URL above. Also go to the blog itself for many more features such as Ted’s Fish and Chips column and Kendall Merriam’s monthly poetry blog.

I notice by reading my own Courier, which I also subscribe to in the mail, that the annual Penobscot Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce Awards Gala was held in February. My congratulations go out to the “Person of the Year,” Dave Jackson, who is active in Rockport affairs. Congratulations also to the other awardees: Dream Local Digital, Small Business of the Year; Camden Harbor Inn, Beacon Award for attracting positive attention to the Chamber area; Rockport Properties, Award for Economic Enhancement; Jean Freedman-White, Community Volunteer of the Year; Swing and Sway Dancing, Special Recognition Award; The Strand Theater, Innovation in Business Award.

I noted also that the Strand will now be a non-profit organization. I wish them luck in their new endeavors.

Everyone wish me a Happy Birthday on the 5^th of this month. If you haven’t already figured out how old or “young at heart” I am, I’m not telling. As Nanci says, “You’re an old coot.”

With warmer weather these days our Butchie looks forward to more porch time. The old chair in the picture above makes a soft place to sit while watching the world go by outside his window to the world which is the porch. Not long ago a bird flew into his area but escaped before Butchie could get his wits together enough to swat at it. After all, he’s getting to be an “old coot” too.

Butchie says hesh up. I’m busy sleeping in my hidey-hole here under the couch. See you next time.

 

 

Old Enough to Know Better,

Young Enough Not to Care

 

 

 

Just a Note: I got a note from my Doc in a Box so I could continue my condition of March Madness mostly uninterrupted. Let me explain. It was the weekend and my bronchitis which I’d had for a couple days was getting worse. Nanci and I were watching the boys play and I said, “Well, if we go to the Emergency Room at the hospital, we’ll sit there for four or five hours before we even see anyone and we’ll miss too much of the games. Let’s look up a Doc in the Box (a clinic) and see if there is one nearby and if they accept Medicare.”

Darned if there wasn’t one nearby that did accept Medicare. So off we go. A breathing treatment and two shots and scrips called into my pharmacy and we were good to go. I found the service from Anthony, the PA; and his nurse to be efficient and excellent. He kept me out of the hospital and asked me to come in the next day so he could check on me again. We did, same routine and needless to say, I am feeling much better and was able to catch most of the games. Can’t say I did too well with my brackets but oh, well, at least I got to watch them.

The Aging Process

The real subject for the day is the aging process. I am sometimes called an old lady even though I don’t feel that way most of the time. That is if you don’t count my ailments.

To counteract my old ageness I surround myself with people who are at least 10 years or so younger than I am. I find them invigorating and fun to be around and they do more than anything to keep up my stamina as “an old lady.”

Not to say I don’t love the friends of my own age. It’s just that when we get together we tend to talk about our ailments a lot. Don’t know why that is but there you go.

AARP

When you turn 50 the next day you will get all kinds of missives from AARP. Join now! Take advantage of all the benefits available for “senior citizens.” I didn’t really feel like a “senior citizen” at 50 but I joined anyway to get a jump on things. It was a good move. I get the magazine every month and find it informative and inspiring. However, the articles are geared toward the younger end of the “senior” spectrum rather than we older ones. I have used the card to get discounts at motels and hotels, some restaurants, and 10% discount at the grocery store on Wednesdays. So the old lady card does work for you once in a while.

I also use that same card when I need some help like taking groceries to my car as I grab my cane and head out the door with the boy behind me. It can be useful.

Old Enough to Know Better, Young Enough Not to Care

The older I get the more I hold to this philosophy. You have to take chances in life, no matter how old you are. No I cannot still run like I did playing basketball in high school or when I ran home for lunch from the school up on Lincoln St. all the way down to the South End on Fulton Street; then ran back to school again. That’s not happening. I can’t even run to catch planes in airports anymore. Mostly they take me in a wheel chair so I don’t have to stand in line on my bad legs.

I bought a tee shirt lately that says “Growing old is Mandatory, Growing up is Optional.” I plan on wearing it a lot. Maybe I won’t get treated like an old lady so much.

As for chances. I took a chance on writing a book. It took me 12 years to finish writing “The South End” which I started writing on my breaks while I was still working. I’ve had some success with it. This blog was started after the book was written and I enjoy doing it every month. I now have quite a following. I plan to continue it as well as finish the latest book I’m working on. It keeps me young and it keeps my mind active. Two things that are very important as you age.

Some Things Have Improved with Age

As for my physical health, I now take less medicine than I used to. So my pharmacy bill each month is usually under $50 rather than $150 or more. I don’t fall into Medicare’s “black hole” every year like I used to.

Having your cataracts removed like I did a couple years ago was the best thing I ever did for myself. I no longer have to wear glasses for distance and can drive the car without them. I get to wear cool sunglasses instead when necessary instead of the ugly prescription ones. A pair of glasses with double vision used to cost me $400 or more. I can buy the only glasses I need, reading glasses, at the pharmacy for about $15. I have three pairs. One folds up so I can carry it in my purse when I need to read something while away from the house. I use one pair to work on the computer.

Looking Towards the Future

Every March 5 when I turn a year older, I insist that I’m not a year older till 5:30 that afternoon when I was born in 1941 in the old Knox Hospital, now a nursing home. I tend to look forward to the next day, March 6, and what the future after that will hold for me. At some point I know I want to move back to Maine and Nanci and I probably will. I feel the opportunities I’ve had here in the South were great; but now not necessary and I long to be closer to home and friends and family, albeit the tough winters. There’s always Florida after all, if push comes to shove and I’m sick of getting plowed out.

Longevity runs in my family. My dad was 85 and my mother was 87 when they died. With modern medicine I could live much longer than that. Our Aunt Virginia is 103 and still going. Who knows?

Filling out the Brackets

 

UCONN Women's NCAA Championship team

 at the White House with the President in 2010

 

Have you filled out your brackets yet? I’m talking about the brackets for the 64 teams in the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships. If you haven’t, you’re a little late.

This is the first year in a long time that I have filled them out. My apartment complex will take $200 off next month’s rent if I get it right. I don’t know if that means the final champion or not, rules are still being decided. In any event, they have my picks. That would take a big chunk out of that monthly bill for us.

I won’t tell you what my picks are in case I’m terribly wrong and consequently have to hear about how bad I am at these things from all of you for the rest of the year. I will tell you that I picked three of the four teams that the President recently picked when he filled out his brackets that could possibly play in the Final Four Championship.

As for the women I will definitely tell you with no uncertainty that the UCONN Huskies will win the championship. Most of the teams they have played this year have lost to them by about 20 points. They might as well just hand them the trophy right now.

Let me tell you a little story about the UCONN women. Nanci and I were fortunate to attend the 2003 Women’s NCAA Basketball Championship Final Four Tournament when it was here in Atlanta. We got to spend some time downtown mingling with some of the players and coaches.

As you may know, the University of Tennessee Women Vols is a long-time rival of UCONN. Our beloved Pat Summitt of Tennessee and Coach Geno Auriemma met in the tournament seven times.

During the 2003 final game between these two rivals, Pat ended up throwing a chair onto the floor in frustration. Later on she swore she would attend UCONN’s graduation that year to make sure the four seniors on the team really did graduate so she would finally get them off her back. She also arranged it going forward that the two teams wouldn’t meet again during the regular season and into the tournament.

Well we lost our Pat when she had to retire because of early onset Dementia. We miss her, but guess what? This year the two teams are on opposite sides of the bracket sheet once again. And guess what again? I predict they will once again meet in the final game for the Championship. Funny how things go full circle, right?

 

Want to Win a Billion Dollars?

 

When the President was filling out his brackets I’m sure he had the contest Warren Buffett is sponsoring in mind. If you fill out the brackets correctly all the way through, you could win a billion dollars from Buffett. However, there are some pesky fine print items that you have to go through. I don’t know all the details, but if I even get half of the men’s brackets right, I think I’d send a resume to ESPN to be their next guru of brackets. The odds of winning Buffett’s offer is 1 in 7.4 billion by the way.

 

The 1959 RHS Women’s Basketball Team

I played basketball all four years of high school at RHS. I played guard. In those days we only played half court. The forwards stayed on one side and the guards on the other. We threw the ball over the line to our forwards when we could get possession of the ball. Eventually there was a “roving” guard who played full court. I played that position for a while.

There was also no Title 9 in 1959. Basketball and Softball was about it for us girls. No track. No football, soccer. We did have a field hockey team at one point but it didn’t last long. There may have been women on the golf and bowling teams, but I’m not sure.

I’m surprised they even had a women’s basketball team in 1922. I notice they only had six members, however. What happened if one of them got injured?

The team members in this picture are: First row: T. Ferrara, B. Richards, S. Peterson, J.Grispi, S. Hooper, C. Cross, E. Ilvonen. Second row: Coach Morris, Mgr. S. Sleeper, B. Staples, S. Sylvester (me), E. Saywood, K. Harvey, J. Knowlton, Mgr. J. Carver, Coach Plummer. Missing from the picture is Priscilla (Andy) Smith.

My 1959 Varsity team had five wins and five losses that year. Camden/Rockport was our worst rival and they beat us twice, once by 16 points and once by 20 points. I remember one pretty bad scuffle we had with them which almost resulted in not being allowed to play them anymore. Just let it be said that our frustration resulted in some bad sportsmanship on our part.

High scorer for that year was Elsa Ilvonen. Our captain was Joanne Grispi. There were seven seniors on that team. I don’t know how they did the following year after we graduated.

 

 

 

 

The 1959 RHS Men’s Basketball Team

I don’t think I ever missed seeing a home men’s basketball game for the four years of my high school career. The games were played at the Community Building, which is now called the Recreation Center I believe. My girlfriends and I would push our way into the first seats near the rail up over the floor and scream our heads off. They even had programs. I still have a few in which I jotted down the stats for the game: baskets made, by who, fouls made, by who. If the ref didn’t call an opposing player out of the game after five fouls, we’d holler down at him and make sure he knew it.

After the game, we’d pile into the old DeSoto and head for Humptey’s on the corner of Park and Main to get a coke and maybe some French fries loaded with salt and vinegar. We’d be a boisterous gang whether we won or lost.

The guys didn’t do as well as the women that year. They went 5 and 13. The members of that team are seated: R. Brewer, J. Shaffer, R. Huntley, W. Montgomery, R. Keizer, F. Montgomery. Standing: Coach McGuire, L. Terrio, R. Hill, W. Barbour, B. Rubenstein, P. Stratton, J. Terrio, G. Stover, A. Walker.

 The WNBA

As basketball is king in my mind as far as sports go, I was the happiest woman on earth when the college women’s basketball players had a place to go after college. I watch their games gleefully every summer. I love seeing the women who did so well in college transfer all they have learned to the professional game. My favorite player is a UCONN player, DianaTaurasi, who now plays for Arizona. She was one of the players we got to watch back in 2003 in Hartford.

By the time this blog is posted it will be too late to fill out your brackets, so I hope you have completed that chore already. Good luck with your picks and thanks for listening.

NOTE: My sincere thanks go out to my friend and classmate, Jean Rowling Monroe, who uploaded the entire 1959 yearbook to Facebook for me so that now I have the missing sports pages that were missing from the Cauldron I bought online. I lost my original book in the flood. Without her help, I wouldn’t have been able to bring you the 1959 pictures and info above. Thanks, Jean.

I’m Looking over a Four-Leaf Clover

As today is St. Patrick’s Day, I was trying to think of an appropriate story to bring to you. I began to think about shamrocks and four-leaf clovers. I didn’t realize there is a difference between the two, but there is. It has been so obvious that I didn’t even realize that fact before, so I looked it up on google and found this information at www.forrent.com/blog/holidays:

“The shamrock is a three-leaved clover; the plant was used by Saint Patrick to illustrate the doctrine of the Trinity. It has subsequently become a national symbol of Ireland. The word comes from seamróg, the Irish name for the plant. (Here’s a picture of a shamrock.)

“A four leaf clover refers to an aberration of a three leaf clover plant, “white clover.” The white clover is a deep green flowering vine with white blossoms. It is the original shamrock plant of Ireland and the unofficial state symbol. The shamrock already has powerful associations, and its occasional production of an extra leaf makes the rare four leaf clover especially.” (Here’s a picture of a four-leaf clover)

While the Irish four-leaf clover may be white, we in America see them as green and a four-leaf one can often be found among a field of “clover.” We all, well at least I, consider them lucky, be they Irish or not.

I had my own special “four-leaf clover” detective when I was growing up, my father. He would walk with me through a field of clover and in the space of a few minutes would reach down and pick one out of a bunch of what looked like a gazillion ordinary clovers to me. He’d hand it to me for good luck.

“I’m Looking over a Four-Leaf Clover”

I could not think about four-leaf clovers without thinking about this song. Remember it? I looked it up on YouTube and found the whole history of the song in the process.

I soon discovered that this song, the perfect Karaoke song, is probably the most “prolific” song in terms of renditions that I have ever come across. I found that just about every genre of music you can think of, with the possible exception of opera, has their own version of the song. Starting in the 20s and up to the present day, we see it appear again and again. I would venture to guess that everyone of every age knows the words to this song. Can you sing it off the top of your head?

“I’m Looking over a Four-Leaf Clover” was written in 1927 with lyrics by Mort Dixon, and music by Harry M. Woods. It was a number 1 hit on the Billboard chart and in 1949 it was a hit for Art Mooney and His Orchestra. Can you sing along here?

While the Irish four-leaf clover may be white, we in America see them as green and a four-leaf one can often be found among a field of “clover.” We all, well at least I, consider them lucky, be they Irish or not.

I had my own special “four-leaf clover” detective when I was growing up, my father. He would walk with me through a field of clover and in the space of a few minutes would reach down and pick one out of a bunch of what looked like a gazillion ordinary clovers to me. He’d hand it to me for good luck.

“I’m Looking over a Four-Leaf Clover”

I could not think about four-leaf clovers without thinking about this song. Remember it? I looked it up on YouTube and found the whole history of the song in the process.

I soon discovered that this song, the perfect Karaoke song, is probably the most “prolific” song in terms of renditions that I have ever come across. I found that just about every genre of music you can think of, with the possible exception of opera, has their own version of the song. Starting in the 20s and up to the present day, we see it appear again and again. I would venture to guess that everyone of every age knows the words to this song. Can you sing it off the top of your head?

“I’m Looking over a Four-Leaf Clover” was written in 1927 with lyrics by Mort Dixon, and music by Harry M. Woods. It was a number 1 hit on the Billboard chart and in 1949 it was a hit for Art Mooney and His Orchestra. Can you sing along here?

YouTube Art Mooney: I’m Looking…

Nine singers, including Arthur Godfrey, were among the top 20 on the charts with this song.

Here are just some of the genres I noted for this song on YouTube:

Big Band sound

Art Mooney and his Orchesta

Ben Bernie and his Orchestra

Paul Whiteman Orchestra

Singers

Arthur Godfrey

Frankie Laine in his crooner style

The Ames Brothers

Barbershop Quartet “Acoustix” in the 90s from a Mitch Miller Barbershop TV special

String Bands

As Dixieland

Many Mummers style renditions including Alvino Rey in 1947

The Uptown String Band on the Krantz label

Dance Styles

I found a version that was probably close to a 20s style that was probably a quick step.

I heard a Samba-Jazz instrumental by Coleman Hawking

I challenge you to find a more sung more versatile song on YouTube or even in your own memory.

The four-leaf clover my Dad gave me was always cherished throughout that day, but alas, by the time we got home it wasn’t much more than green lint in my pocket. As I think about those excursions today I now believe that the really good luck I had was the opportunity to spend some time with my father, Ted. I miss him and if he were here today I’d say “Graim Thu” which is Gaelic for “I Love You.”

Happy St. Patrick’s Day Everyone!

Mud Puddles,

 Mud Pies,

and Mud Rooms

In Georgia we have five seasons: Summer, Winter, Spring, Fall, and Pollen seasons. In Maine you have Summer, Winter, Spring, Fall, and Mud seasons. The pollen season here in Georgia will begin in a couple weeks or so. There was an abundance of snow up in Maine this winter, therefore the Mud season may be delayed a little. I don’t know which I prefer, pollen or mud.

Mud Puddles

I do remember the mud season well though. Once we’d broken up all the leftover ice patches with our boots we ended up with huge puddles and lots of mud to go along with it. One puddle in particular, on Water Street (aptly named), was deeper than I thought. I went to wade through it one time and sank to my hips. Seems there was an open manhole under it. Probably the last fall’s leaves had stopped up the drain and the city had removed the cover temporarily. However, they failed to tell us that or to put up any kind of barriers to warn us. I did manage to get out without any help but it was a bit scary at the time.

Mud Pies

We were pre-school age when we made wonderful mud pies during the Mud season. The best places to find the ingredients for mud pies were on the sides of our streets where all the dirt had built up. Street sweepers weren’t common in the South End when I was growing up; therefore there was always an abundance of dirt if you needed it for something. I’m sure at least a few of us decided to take a bite out of our creations only to discover that it was not so tasty after all.

Mud Rooms and Boardwalks

I don’t know if folks up home still have mud rooms attached to their houses, but if you’re my age you certainly will remember them. Our mothers would have had a worse time during mud season if they didn’t have their “mud rooms.” I can hear my mother now, “Take those muddy boots off before you come into this house. I just washed this floor.”

In some cases a house would also have a wooden walkway laid down over the muddy driveway in case you didn’t have a crushed rock drive. My grandmother’s house up in Rockville had one.

I tried to find old pictures of mud rooms and boardwalks but this is the best I could do. It seems that mud rooms are becoming popular again when building a new home in New England. Some are even heated. I can’t imagine a Yankee now or then wasting money to heat a mud room.

This first picture is a modern version of a mud room from katyelliott. Basically, the old rooms might have a bench to sit down on so you could take off your boots; maybe a cubby to store them in; and perhaps a few hooks to hang outer wear on which would usually be a muddy mess too.

Here’s a picture of me sitting on the back steps of the Mcloud Street house, circa 1943. The room behind me was a small room that served as a storage room, a mud room, and a play room all rolled into one. Our dog Humphrey was allowed into this room only, never into the house itself.

As for boardwalks, they had them on Main Street before there were cobblestones and brick sidewalks. This picture I found on the Rockland History Facebook page. The scene is Main Street looking south in 1877. The picture comes from the James L. Burns Collection-Shore Village Historical Society.

Have fun up in Maine when all that snow melts into slush and then into mud. I’ll be thinking of you as I sneeze through the pollen season here in the south.

Thanks for listening.

50 Years of

 

Part II – The Music

 

This blog will study the music of the Beatles as a continuation of the first Beatlemania blog which can be found in the February archive.

The music of the Beatles defined the Beatles. In fact, the music eventually took on a mind of its own. It gave us mystery; sparked controversy in more than one case; led to tragedy in at least two murders we’d rather forget. What happened to the Beatles from the first time they left their home country of Great Britain and their home town of Liverpool? It’s a story of great success and at the same time of great sorrow.

Would we like to hear the Fab Four on stage one more time? You betcha. The question is…what version of the Beatles would we like to hear? For myself, I prefer the “early Beatles” as most people of my age do rather than the music influenced by the Marharishi Mahesh Yogi and others who came later on. Some may say that some of their music may have been influenced by whatever drug they were on at the time such as the most popular drugs of the day, LSD and marijuana.

I will focus on a small part of their music, those albums that mostly influenced Rock ‘n Roll at the time as well as the music that impacted our society the most. By society, I mean the world society because they surely did have a world-wide influence.

What’s in the Catalogue

The Beatles catalogue includes 27 studio albums; 4 live albums; 57 compilation albums; 21 EPs (Extended Play); 55 singles; 10 video albums; 37 music videos. Remember that they also made three movies: “A Hard Day’s Night”; “Help”: and “Yellow Submarine.” Most of their work was done in Mono. Remember that stereo music was just beginning to come into use. In those days we didn’t have stereos, we had “record players.” The stereo mixes of their albums were done later without their supervision. “Abbey Road” and “Let it Be” were the only two albums that were mixed and released in stereo only.

The albums were made by both Capitol Records in America and later mostly at their own studios, Apple Records in Great Britain. They were mostly written and co-written by the dynamic duo of Paul McCartney and John Lennon.

When the Beatles broke up John and his wife Yoko made their own music and of course Paul had Wings for his own music.

The White Album and Abbey Road

I will only discuss these two albums because of space reasons and because I believe they made the most impact on the Rock ‘n Roll scene at the time and also sparked the most controversy.

Probably the Beatles most notorious album, the White Album, was not liked when it first came out. People were expecting Sgt. Pepper Number Two, that magical, whimsical album that preceded it. But like the world at that time and especially the world of the Beatles, everything was constantly changing and they were always trying to shake things up in the music world of the day. Eventually, though, it climbed to number 10 on the Rolling Stone list of “The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time.”

The White Album was a double album and contained 22 songs. You may remember some of the most popular ones: “Rocky Racoon,” “Sexy Sadie,” “Revolution 1,” “Revolution 9,” and “Helter Skelter.”

Disaster in a Song

The song “Helter Skelter” probably became the most hated song to come from the Beatles because of the notorious Charles Manson. He and that song could make a whole new blog and probably a book. In fact, the prosecutor in his trial, Vincent Bugliosi, did write a book about the murders with the same title. Look to Vincent if you want further information.

I will try to hit on the highlights of those tragic murders, including Sharon Tate, which was carried out by that psycho and his band of followers which included Squeaky Fromme. I do not wish to give him any more ink than I would give any other murderer and despot such as Hitler.

The Beatles were prone to “Peace” music; often war protest music. I’m sure that these four Brits who came to the U.S. and protested our participation in the Vietnam War were not liked by either the returning Vietnam Vets or Veterans groups as a whole. Manson thought there were coded messages and hidden meanings in their music and believed that the Beatles were evil and part of the apocalypse. As for “Helter Skelter,” Manson believed it signified an apocalyptic race war he believed would arise between blacks and whites.

To quote the monster: “Look at the songs: songs sung all over the world by the young love. It ain’t nothin’ new…It’s written in…Revelation, all about the four angels programming the holocaust…the four angels looking for the fifth angel to lead the people into the pit of fire…right out to Death Valley. It’s all in black and white, in the White Album – white, so there ain’t no mistakin’ the color.”

Here are some of the words to Helter Skelter. Read them and then I’ll tell you where the words may have come from in actuality.

“When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of the slide

Where I stop and I turn and I go for a ride

Till I get to the bottom and I see you again

Yeah yeah yeah hey

Do you, don’t you want me to love you

I’m coming down fast but I’m miles above you

Tell me tell me tell me come on tell me the answer

Well you may be a lover but you ain’t no dancer

Now helter skelter helter skelter

Helter skelter yeah

Aooh!

Helter Skelter means confused or disorderly. The words may also have come from other artists on other albums; or an amusement park ride. It sure sounds like a kids’ playground slide to me. There was also a 1949 British romantic comedy directed by Ralph Thomas of the same name.

Paul wanted to go off in another direction and be more of a heavier rock band. Helter Skelter is considered to be a key influence in the early development of heavy metal.

Manson said of the song: “Like, Helter Skelter is a nightclub. Helter Skelter means confusion. Literally. It doesn’t mean any war with anyone. It doesn’t mean that those people are going to kill other people. It only means what it means. Helter Skelter is confusion. Confusion is coming down fast. If you don’t see the confusion coming down fast, you can call it what you wish. It’s not my conspiracy. It is not my music. I hear what it relates. It says ‘Rise!’ It says ‘Kill!’ Why blame it on me? I didn’t write the music. I am not the person who projected it into your social consciousness.”

A complete manic to be sure. I can’t see how he still alive.

Or maybe Manson saw other meanings such as in “Revolution.” Listen to these words from YouTube.

 

 

Besides Helter Skelter, other Beatles songs were used during their murdering spree. “Maxwell’s Hammer” was referred to by a follower after the murder of two people and the injury of another in an attack on a beach in Santa Barbara. The fictional story of the song talks about Maxwell Edison who murdered his girlfriend, Joan, with a hammer, then his teacher, and finally the Judge during his murder trial.

I never remember hearing Helter Skelter sung by anyone after the murders. I was surprised therefore when I found Paul singing it in what looks like present day with another band on YouTube. He had a tee shirt on which read “No More Land Mines” which probably referred to recent times when children were maimed by land mines in an ongoing conflict in a third world country I believe. Still protesting after all these years.

There were so many other songs with supposedly hidden meanings in them. John got fed up with all the insinuations so that he finally tried to squelch some of the talk by writing this song “Glass Onion.”

 

You can hear for and decide for yourself what the implications may or may not have been with the White Album by bringing up the songs on YouTube and listening to them. I’ll leave the White Album now.

Abbey Road

To be continued next month…

Thanks for listening.

Cowshit Corner

This video was just posted by my Facebook friend, Robin Robinson and I had to share it with you.

 

 

 

You can find this series at Lincoln County TV if you live in that area of Maine; on their Facebook page which gives you a direct link to the YouTube site; or go directly to YouTube and type in Cowshit Corner. I plan to check it out when I get homesick for Maine and need a good laugh.

 



 

 

By TED SYLVESTER

(Some excerpts from Ted’s column for March 10, 1972)

In Annual Report

Five members of the Rockland Fire Department are pictured in the 1971 Maytag annual report with their 1929 Maytag washing machine. A copy of the report was sent to the Rockland station this week.

The color picture shows the firemen surrounding the machine in front of the fire station. In the picture are assistant Chief Fred Beal, Leroy Morey, Dick Ellingwood, Monty Davis and Albert Hutchins.

Firemen use the machine to wash rags. According to the caption in the annual report it was given to the Rockland Department by Mr. and Mrs. Carl Bell, who had used it themselves for 31 years.

A photographer came to Rockland from Chicago to take the picture, and was here last summer when the weather was a little nicer.

Yankee Ingenuity

Never let it be said that a Downeast Yankee will not take advantage of a bargain if he can save a buck or two.

Our friend Lewis Johnson recently went into the seafood trucking and vending business. He takes a pick up load of fresh seafood to a stand he maintains in Vermont every week.

It seems that Lewis had just purchased himself a new truck for his business and was in need of a sign.

Now as we hear it there was a sea foods dealer who went out of business and who had just had some signs painted denoting “Eddie’s Fresh Seafood.”

Well, Lewis knew a bargain when he saw it and he bought the signs for his new business and they are displayed on his truck when he sets up business down country. Of course he is now affectionately referred to as “Eddie” by his regular customers.

Go Tigers

We would like to offer our congratulations to the 1972 Rockland Tiger basketball team on their opening round victory over Stearns Saturday night and for continued success the rest of the tourney.

Wonder if maybe George Wentworth, former long-time Stearns coach might be having some second thoughts over the remark he made on a pre-game television show Saturday. He stated that he was glad that Stearns had drawn Rockland as an opponent in the tourney because in his opinion “Rockland was one of the weakest teams in the tournament.”

Rockland fans are optimistic that that “weakness” will result in another trip to Bangor Saturday night.

By the way, the Rockland Booster Club drive to install lights in South Field for night football next season is in the home stretch. Letters have been sent out to Rockland alumni for donations. If you didn’t receive a letter and wish to contribute to the drive, you may send them to David Ramsdell at 62 Warren Street.

The cost of the booster lighting project is estimated at $8,000.

Resolution

Included on the agenda of the Rockland city council meeting Monday night will be two resolutions.

One commends Central Maine Power Co., and its related crews in the manner in which they handled the power failure crisis caused by the severe ice storm last weekend. Virtually all of its 8,000 customers in the mid-coastal area were affected by the storm.

The second resolution commends the Telephone Company on its efforts in handling the situation during and after the storm.