album challenge day 1: ducks deluxe

Someone nominated me for one of those Facebook challenges that I can't resist. The text is as follows:

Day X of 10. In no particular order - 10 all-time favourite albums that really made an impact and are still on your rotation list, even if only now and then. Post the cover, no need to explain and nominate a person each day to do the same.Album: <album>Nominated by: <person who nominated you>I now nominate <person you want to nominate>

For the first day I picked Don't Mind Rockin' Tonite by Ducks Deluxe.

Why?

The Ducks are a bit obscure. But they were hugely influential in my musical taste.

First, some of the history. The Ducks were a British pub rock band in the early 1970's. During their life, they put out two albums and an EP before breaking up in 1975. The members went on to various projects, with varying levels of success, but none became a household name. DMRT is a compilation of tracks from the group's brief life. Before I go on, here's a video of them, during their heyday, at their sweaty best, performing live:

Anyhoo...Back when I was in high school I would spend some time every Sunday afternoon browsing at a small record store me. Specifically, the used bins. At the time, I was just getting into music. I liked the Monkees and some early Beatles. But my biggest interest at that point was the folk rock of the 1960s. Simon and Garfunkel, Donovan, The Incredible String Band...

So, this one Sunday, I was browsing the bins and over the PA came something new that I hadn't heard before. It was loud and gritty. And rough. And exciting. It was Ducks Deluxe. They had a used copy of Don't Mind Rockin' Tonite. Something about it just struck a chord. I had to buy it. There are some things like music where, if they hit you at just the right point of your life, they burn themselves into your brain. And that was the case with this album. For the remainder of my high school years, and into college, this was my favorite band.

But that's not the entirety of why I chose this album, and purposely made it my first pick. The back of the record had pictures of the band members (and of Dave Edmunds who had produced one of their albums, and whom I mistook for a member of the group). I started buying albums by other groups that the guys were in, as well as Dave Edmunds' solo albums. And then albums by members of those groups, or by other groups those guys were in. And so on and so on. Ducks Deluxe essentially became my rock and roll ground zero.

This isn't my favorite record anymore. And the Ducks aren't my favorite band. And there are plenty of bands that I have since gotten into through paths that didn't involve the Ducks Deluxe extended family tree. But many of my favorites came to my attention through them -- either directly or indirectly. No less a luminary than Johnny Cash came to my attention through Ducks Deluxe. So, for the enormous effect it had on my taste, I had to pick this record first.

cinema history class: the oblong box

Session: Price and Poe -- a Match Made on Heaven, Week 3
Movie: The Oblong Box (1969)
Directed by Gordon Hessler
As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL

Plot:
Sir Edward Markham gets disfigured (because of his brother's crime), kept as a virtual prisoner (by his brother) and then buried alive (by his brother). He wants revenge. Hilarity ensues.

Reaction:
Unlike some of the guys in the class, I can't really say that this was a great movie. But it was a good, solid story and entertaining to the end. In fact, I was kind of all set to give this thing a 7. But the end -- a twist worthy of The Twilight Zone --was strong enough to make me bump this up to an 8.5. Similarly, the ending got Joe to move his needle from 9.8 to 10.

The other part that I particularly liked was the barroom scene. I realize that it was mostly filler. But I kept expecting to see Georgia Brown belt out a round of "Oom-Pah Pah."

Ratings:
Me: 8.5
Dave: 9.4-9.5
Ethan: 10
Joe: 10
Sean: 2 out of 4

lids luncheon 2018

Yesterday was the annual LIDS luncheon. After a couple months of hibernation, it was nice to see the usual friendly faces of other Daylily enthusiasts.

The speakers were legendary hybridizers David Kirchhoff and Mort Moss from Daylily WOrld. David is known for reds and doubles. Mort is known for patterns. Their talk, illustrated by beautiful pictures, focused on their move from Florida to Kentucky.

One thing that's really interesting about these guys is the number of cultivars that they named after celebrities. I didn't catch the exact story, but it involves a garden, near the Country Music Hall of Fame, that has daylilies for a lot of the inductees. These celebrities ask Kirchhoff to name cultivars after them, and he shows them what's available and they pick the ones they like.

If only there were a simple way to get him to name one after me... I mean simpler than becoming a country music star.

I had planned not to buy anything during the auction. Since I'm generally more interested in getting daylilies that are pretty than getting the recent cultivars (for the sake of their recentness), I'm trying to focus on getting the cheaper things that are available. And for a while I was good. Several plants went up for bid and I resisted the urge.

Bessie Smith (Kirchhoff-D., 2016)

But then he put up "Bessie Smith." My great grandmother's maiden name was Bessie Smith. How could I not bid on it? I'm gonna digress here with a story about Great grandma Bessie. She lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Near my grandparents in Greensburg. When I was a kid we would, as a family, visit and stay with the grandparents in Greensburg. During those visits we would go to Pittsburgh to see Bessie. One year we had our puppy, Max, with us. I don't remember why. Anyway, we left him in the car. because Grandma Bess was really old and Max was a golden retriever puppy. It was a cold overcast day so there was no danger of the car overheating. Anyway, when Grandma Bess realized that we had the dog in the car she made us go down and get him and bring him up. By the time we got up, she was busy making him a meal. Hot dogs, some cold cuts...anything she could find in her fridge. Back to the point. I won the bidding for Bessie Smith.

And once the seal was broken...

Grape Pearls (Morss, 2015)

I bid on a dozen or so plants, and ended up coming away with four (including the aforementioned Bessie Smith.

Red Revival (Kirchhoff-D., 2015

The others I bought were Red Revival, Violet Muse and Grape Pearls. I loved the color on these three. More and more I'm finding recently that I am liking simple-looking blooms like these. There have been a lot of introductions recently that have pink and yellow, with ruffles and teeth. And they look like frosting flowers on birthday cakes. At this point I prefer less complexity. I also note that, with Grape Pearls, I was really sold on the fact that it has a high bud count and lots of branching, and that it clumps up a lot.

Violet Muse (Morss, 2016)

three minor commerce-related events from my day

I have three commerce-related observations from today.

• I was at the annual LIDS luncheon. I have a job within LIDS to handle sales of marker stakes -- metal poles you stick in the ground to mark what plants are planted where. I bring boxes of stakes to the meetings and put them out on a table with a cash box. People who want the stakes are supposed to take what they want and leave the money in the box. It's an honor system. Today, after the meeting, I went to pack up and found that people had paid a total of $21.82. The stakes cost $1.50 each. Someone please explain.

• While Blair and I were at the LIDS luncheon, the kids walked to Qdoba for burritos. When they got there, they noticed that the cashier was a guy who was rude to them the last time they went. And that wasn't the first time he was rude to them. Today, when they saw him they turned around and left. They went to Five Guys for lunch instead. Good for them.

• On the way home we went to Costco. I had with me the certificate for our annual rebate. When I went to pay, I gave the cashier our Costco-branded credit card and the rebate certificate. He asked if I wanted to take the amount on the certificate out of the bill and pay with the rest with the credit card. I started to say yes, but then the light went on.
  
  "Can I get the rebate in cash and put the entire bill on the card?"
  "Sure"
  "Then let me do that."
  
  So I paid for everything with the credit card. Then he rescanned the card and rebate certificate. And then he gave me the rebate in cash. It doesn't really make much of a difference, but it does mean an extra $7 and change on my next rebate. Ka-ching!

cinema history class: tales of terror

Session: Price and Poe -- a Match Made on Heaven, Week 2
Movie: Tales of Terror (1962)
Directed by Roger Corman
As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL

Plot:
1) A dying woman comes to visit her father. And her mother's corpse. Hilarity ensues.
2) A drunkard is more interested in wine than in his wife. Hilarity ensues.
3) A dying man seeks the comfort of an end to his pain, but his doctor has other plans. Hilarity ensues.

Reaction:
As implied by the plot synopsis, ToT is an anthology move -- three short films unconnected to each other. And it was a wonderful showcase for Vincent Price. I note with a bit of bemusement that, last week when we saw The Pit and the Pendulum which failed to engage me, I concluded that maybe I just didn't care foe Vincent Price. Now, I see this and do a complete reversal. Ethan has mentioned that, at first, he didn't care for Vincent Price, but that he grew on him. So...

The three parts, "Morella," "The Black Cat" and "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" are each based on a Poe story. Sort of. Kind of. Each is named for a Poe classic and shares some elements with that classic, but otherwise bears little resemblance to its namesake.

The best of the pieces by far, and this opinion was shared by the rest of the class, was "The Black Cat," which paired Price with Peter Lorre. Before things took a turn for the dark, Lorre seemed to be channeling Jackie Gleason as Ralph Kramden. Then, when Price entered, he took on Art Carney's Ed Norton. The whole wine-tasting sequence was arguably the highlight of the movie. Then, when things did get dark, Peter Lorre was great with the one liners delivered to Vincent Price as straight man. It was enough to make me wish that the two of them had done more performing together.

In one way I was a bit of a contrarian. Most of the class commented that the Morella was too short. That it would have benefited from a little more fleshing out. And that, since the movie only runs 82 minutes, there was room. I understand where they're coming from. It was very short. But I don't think it needed anything else.It was a good quick gut punch of a story. It got right to the point and it thrilled.

Ratings:
Me: 9
Dave: 9.8
Ethan: 8.5
Joe: 10
Sean: 3 out of 4
Sharon: 7