Daily Doings at the Line of Death Bar & Grill

I first saw the news when I was coming home on Monday. A neighbor was watching CNN, and on the bottom of the screen were the words "Robin Williams dead". Of course, as soon as I got home, I got online to confirm this. At first, I didn't want to believe it. But over the next few days, more details came out: it was a suicide, and he was recently diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

This one hit me hard. I've been a fan of Robin since his first appearance on "Happy Days" as Mork from Ork. The character was spun off into his own series, "Mork & Mindy". I bought his first comedy album, "Reality: What A Concept" when it came out in 1979. (I loved "Shakespeare: A Meltdowner's Nightmare", where he received a couple of topic suggestions from the audience and delivered a short play scene, complete with iambic pentameter. A line that still sticks out in my mind is "I shall go forth and touch myself anon.") He soon starred in movies, with roles ranging from the comic to dramatic. He also did voice acting. And he did improvisational comedy, where he shone most brightly. (IMDB has the complete list here.)

I nerver met him in person, but I was touched by his performances. He often crossed the line between comedic genius and insanity. He was a modern-day Pagliacci, the legendary Italian clown who was constantly laughing and entertaining, depite his own personal sadness. Years ago, I had heard about his struggles with depression and addiction. But I had tucked that away in my mind. I too have bouts of depression and mania that I somehow manage to get through. I plan to cover that in a separate post.

Robin, thank you for all the laughs and good times. Your spark of madness will be missed, and the world is a little less lighter due to its absence.

It was either 1983, 1984, or 1985. _Contemporary Keyboard_ magazine had recently done a feature article on a German electronic music trio called Tangerine Dream. I found one of their albums in stock at a record store: "Tangram", which was released in 1980. I bought the album, took it home with me, and performed the "first listening" ritual as I had always done: with headphones.

I was wowed.

Most electronic music I had been exposed to before this was mostly collections of sounds that weren't exactly connected melodically. TD changed that. It showed me what was possible with synthesizers and sequencers. The music was divided into two album-side-long suites: "Tangram Set 1" and "Tangram Set 2". Each of the sets/suites were comprosed of several short pieces connected together. (Or to use a musical term, one segues into another.) A few of the sections had repeating bass lines and chord progressions, with either a guitar or keyboard playing a solo line over it. TD is renowned for their ostinato patterns, which were performed via sequencers or tape loops.

I still remember the night I recorded a cassette tape of this album, with the help of college friend Jim Ramberg.

One of its members, Chris Franke, went solo in the late 80s, and recorded music for movies and TV, including the music for all of the episodes of "Babylon 5".

And this is the type of music I'd love to write and perform. I have a partially completed piece, called "International Orange", which is written in the style of Tangerine Dream. I'm planning either 7 or 8 parts. So far, only part 2 has been realized, way back in 2002.

Give the entire album a listen here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2XEH_8PLts

Over the past few years, while I've been dreaming about the synth and DAW (digital audio workstation) gear I'd love to get, I've also been thinking about some projects to put this gear to good use.

One of these projects is a collaboration with folks I know in the filk community. Many filkers are solo performers; the only time we get to play together is at the jam sessions at the end of filk cons. (There are some filk bands out there -- Urban Tapestry, Ookla the Mok, Toyboat, 19 Action News. But their members are geographically close together, and get to practice often.) And I remember the enjoyment and camaraderie I got from being in a band or ensemble; this dates back to high school. And the idea was developed: what if there was a loose amalgamation of filkers that got together on a semi-regular basis and performed as a group? And what if I led or organized the group?

( And so, 'Project X' was born. )

This weekend is Millennicon, a science-fiction convention in Cincinnati. And once again, I'm not going. I haven't attended it since 1999, and that's not likely to change. A few years ago, I discussed why I no longer attend this convention.

Some further pieces of information: This convention charges disabled fans for their personal care assistants. Yes, I know the fan(s) involved, and that the PCA was a fan and volunteered to pay his own way. But a precedent was set. As far as I know, they are the only convention to do this.

But the final nail in the coffin was that after 12 years, I was still on their mailing list. At the Tom Smith house concert in December 2012, I saw Christy (the con chair) there and gave my mailed flyer back to her. I had marked on the flyer "Remove from list". But instead of asking me "Why?", she smiled and cheerfully said, "Thank you!" To her, I'm a nobody, despite me being the president of a local SF club for four years (from 2000-2003). Apparently she wants to keep it that way; not once has she reached out to me.

And that reinforces the idea I've had for some time that Fans Are Not Friends.

In the past year, three new fitness centers opened up near me.

The first, Planet Fitness, is about 3 miles away from me, in a shopping plaza. I like that they have a $10/month plan -- it's relatively inexpensive, and I don't think I'll be locked in to a long-term contract.

The second, Anytime Fitness, is about a half mile away from me, in another shopping plaza. They're open 24/7, which means I can drop in any time, but I'm not clear on their pricing plan.

The third, LA Fitness, is about two miles away from me. It's a standalone building, and it's huge. But what is the fixation with southern California? LA Nails, LA Dog Grooming, and so on. I don't care to have a tanned and thin beach body. Plus LA means something else to me: Lard Ass.

( I've long been skeptical, if not outright cynical, on gyms and fitness centers. )

So, does anyone have experience with either of the outfits I mentioned earlier? If so, please relate your experience.

Another Christmas Day has come and gone. How did I spend it?

In the morning, I went to my ex-wife's house and recorded my daughter opening up her presents. Once again, she made out like a bandit. Her haul this year: A Nintendo 3DS game system, games for it, a Polaroid tablet, and three My Little Pony stuffed animals (Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, and Pinkie Pie). She also got some DVDs -- Brother Bear 2, The Croods, and Equestria Girls.

In the afternoon, I attended a Christmas potluck dinner at the Miami Valley UU Fellowship. We had great food and conversation, which is something I crave around the holiday season. I don't have family or relatives nearby (other than my ex), so this time of the year I often feel the pain of loneliness. My contributions to the potluck: green bean casserole, a pannetone (Italian sweet bread), and polpo marinaro (marinated octopus). I used my uncle Yano's recipe to prepare the octopus. I boiled it in red wine and seasonings, then cut it into bite-size pieces with kitchen shears, and had a nice big bowl for the marinade. It came out "right"; it had the flavor I remember.

Since I'm pretty much isolated, I buy my own gifts. The nice thing about this is that I rarely have to go back to the store and spend time in the returns queue. So what did I get for myself this year?
- A Nexus 7 tablet. (I've been wanting one for just over a year.)
- A Garmin Nüvi 50 GPS.
- An Insignia 32" LCD TV. (This will replace the 24-year old 20" RCA tube TV I have in the living room. Plus, Best Buy gave me the proverbial offer I couldn't refuse: A $1000 line of credit, and no interest if I pay it off within 18 months.)
- A Yamaha WX11 wind synth controller.
- Hands Across The Centuries, a book on the history of the Delta Chi Fraternity.
- The 2014 World Almanac and Book of Facts.
- A Macally external hard drive enclosure and a Western Digital 2 Tb drive.
- A 1.5 liter tea pot. (Capacity was estimated.) [Actually, it's closer to 40 oz.]
- A portable room humidifier, which will go in my travel bag.

The year was 1979, give or take a year. I was familiar with Gary Wright and his all-synthesizer song song "Dream Weaver". I remember laying in bed one winter's night in 1976, with the lights off, and hearing it on the radio. I was staring at the ceiling and I could see the stars.

And one day in the summer of '79, I was at the local Twin Fair discount department store, perusing through the record department, as I often did when I was there. I came across this album in the cutout bin. That day, it went home with me. And I listened to it. And loved it.

( Read more... )

In this installment, I cover the history of Leonardo Poltrone -- my grandfather's brother, whcih makes him my great uncle, or grand uncle.

Leonardo went by either "Leonard" or "Leo". He was born around 1888 in Brucoli, Sicily. He came to the US three times: in 1905, 1913, and 1925. He worked as a general laborer during his time here. He married a woman named Carmela and they had seven children together: Sebastiano ("Yano"), Salvador ("Sam"), Joseph, John, Domenic, Anna, and Josephine ("Josie"). These are my first cousins, once removed (as they are all part of my parents' generation). Their children are my 2nd cousins.

The story I heard from my father was that Leo wanted to move to Florida, but only got as far as Lorain, Ohio -- about 30 miles west of Cleveland. This was somewhere between 1925 and 1930. The family settled into a house on 17th St.

( Read more... )

At the recommendation of a few friends, I signed up for ancestry.com and purchased a 6-month membership. It gives me a nice user interface to visually keep track of the people in my family tree, and easily add people -- mother, father, spouse, children (but not brothers or sisters). I wonder which JavaScript framework or library they're using -- Dojo, jQuery, or something else.

The hard part is trying to determine what to pursue first. After my father's family (parents and siblings), and my mother's family (also family and siblings), there are several areas of focus I can choose from -- my paternal grandfather's family, my paternal grandmother's family, my maternal grandfather's family, and my maternal grandmother's family. All four of my grandparents had passed away before my sister and I were born. So for us, "visiting the grandparents" was to go to the cemetery and tend to their gravestones.

Both of my mother's parents emigrated from Poland, so I probably wouldn't get very far if I restricted my searches to US records only. My ancestry.com account only covers US records, so this search will likely be deferred to a later date.

( So, let's start with my father's mother's family, since I know them best. )

Last month was the 30th anniversary of my initiation into the Delta Chi Fraternity. I know, I don't strike people as the typical fraternity man -- good-looking, rich, charismatic. But our group didn't fit the traditional mold, either.

( So, how did I fall in with this band of brothers? It started with my sister. )