Well, hi y’all! I’ve been rather remiss as of late in doing my blogging duties. But life does happen and I’ve been very busy taking care of the necessary duties of life in general. Fortunately for me, my boss, who also happens to be my loving Wifey, has been gracious enough to allow me to be lazy seeing that all the business I’ve been taking care of benefits both of our lives.
So, here goes; hopefully I’ll remember how to do this!
Listening…
To “Burning Up the Carnival”, by Joe Sample.
I’ve been on a total nostalgia trip as to my music. As I’ve shared here before, I’m totally old school in my love of music. However, in the early 80s, I was fortunate to have been introduced to a new genre, what I consider smooth jazz. That being so, I discovered so many new-to-me talents, including Flim and the BB’s, David Sandborn, Dan Siegel, Bob James, Marc Antoine and Craig Chaquico. But one of my all-time faves came to be the pianist Joe Sample. Pardon me for using 60s lingo (yes, even my language is oldie moldie!) but his playing was totally groovy.
Watching…
And just as my music, when it comes to television, I still have a fondness for the past. With all these oldie channels on the cable now, such as MeTV and Antenna TV, I’ve been able to reconnect with friends from the past, actually getting to watch series from beginning to end in chronological order. Thus, I’ve been able to see Barney Miller, Murphy Brown, Wings, Becker, Alice, The Ray Bradbury Theater and even that 60s classic The Outer Limits in their entirety. I had already seen the entire Twilight Zone series, including the episodes that were originally left out of syndication. But now, I’ve discovered another old friend from my childhood, The Rifleman. This show featured Chuck Connors and Johnny Crawford, who just recently passed away.
Connors is one of 13 athletes to have played in both the National Basketball League and Major League Baseball. His forte, however, was acting and The Rifleman is his most well known role. I’m just now into the second of five seasons and, to be honest, seeing that I was so young when I first watched this show, I haven’t recognized any of the episodes. However, one of the fantastic things about watching these old shows is seeing so many familiar stars early in their career, before they made it big.
In many ways, just like Twilight Zone, many of these scripts dealt with moral issues way ahead of that current time, truly an interesting concept considering that time and the time we now live in.
Reading…
Having cleaned out my personal library, I recently had to repurchase a couple of books. What prompted me to do so was having watched several episodes of the Ray Bradbury Theater. One particular episode, “The Lake”, totally fired me up. In the introduction, Bradbury told that upon finishing the writing of the story, he actually cried for he felt for the first time that he had actually became a true writer on his own as opposed to mimicking the authors he loved. Ironically, this episode almost brought me to tears. And this story became one of the first actual sales he’d ever made, and has since been republished in many anthologies.
Well, in all my years of reading Bradbury, I’d never came across this story, so I was compelled to find it, which I did in the Bradbury book The October Country. I also repurchased Dandelion Wine and Something Wicked This Way Comes, along with the final book in that trilogy, Farewell Summer, a trilogy I was initially unaware of. That’s because Farewell Summer, his final novel, was published in 2006, half a century after Dandelion Wine, as a sequel, and put together with and book-ending Something Wicked This Way Comes, it chronicles Bradbury’s early childhood in Waukegan, Illinois and what it was like to be a little boy. And as for Something Wicked This Way Comes, it’s probably Bradbury’s greatest and scariest, verging more on the horror genre than the fantasy and science fiction he became so well known for.
Nonetheless, the early love I had of Bradbury when I discovered him at the age of 9, has been rekindled. I so remember those early books of his I read, the first being The Golden Apples of the Sun (which has quite a story behind it), S is for Space, and R is for Rocket, all short story collections, as well as his monumental novels The Illustrated Man, Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles. He was truly a man of words, and his words fired a young boy’s imagination, turning him into a total bookaholic. Thanks for that gift, Ray!
I love reading. The books you mentioned sound interesting. I will look them up.
My husband would do the same with books. He cleans out some so he can by more books.
I love what you’re reading! Also, this is a wonderful song by, Joe Sample.
Was happy to share it with you. Glad you enjoyed it.
I don’t own a lot of books. I always just borrow them. I think I have only read 1 Bradbury book in high school and I’m sure I didn’t appreciate it.
The high school read was most likely “Farenheit 451”, That’s the temperature that paper burns at and the story was about a future with a dystopian society which banned books and had what was ironically called “firemen” whose job was to burn any and all books. I had already read that one when we studied it in high school. Another one could have possibly been “The Martian Chronicles” for we were in the height of the space race at that time having already made it to the moon.
I’ll check them out on YouTube, seems so relaxing to listen to.
Thanks for sharing, the books sounds great, I’ll try to read them.
I haven’t heard of Ray Bradbury before but then I don’t have much time to read. I’m sure my dad would like Something Wicked This Way Comes. That one sounds good.
Nostalgic memories associated with the past evoke a strange sense of magic, be it music, books, or films.
Smooth Jazz sounds interesting. I will definitely check out your suggestions.
Sounds like some great books and shows. I love to read, and I’m always looking for a great book. I’m going to check out some that you have shown here.
I just to be a avid reader in the time past. I should try and get back on track
What a wonderful snapshot into your libraries, whether that be music, book, or otherwise. I’ve been enjoying more podcasts than music on my drives into work. Have any favorites?
Thanks for sharing your July life updates. I’ve been telling myself to start reading books again. I need to do that more.
I feel you life has been hectic this past few months and it’s just hard to find time to update a blog. But it’s always fulfilling when you have a productive day and you still enjoy life.
Haven’t read Bradbury books just yet and I am so glad I was able to drop by here. Now I have something to check out and I would love to read again.
when I hear Jazz always remember my trip in Lousiana. I would love check it out that farewell summer book for reading.