August 11
Humor has to surprise us; otherwise, it isn’t funny. It’s a death knell for a writer to be labeled a humorist because then it’s not a surprise anymore. ~ Garrison Keillor
Another week delayed by a trip to camp. That puts me a further week behind in cub reporting. This post will cover various music events , The Post, and the end of my surgical rehab – all essentially in the third week of May. ~ Me
They say such nice things about people at their funerals that it makes me sad that I’m going to miss mine by just a few days. ~ Garrison Keillor
May 20
With a doughnut in each hand, anything is possible. ~ Jameela Jamil
[A double caramel roll gift from a visiting friend yesterday almost superseded the Saturday morning doughnut run. Nevertheless, the doughnuts persisted. So, we doubled our pleasure, doubled our fun . . .
When Sinatra said, ‘For my money, Tony Bennett is the best singer I’ve ever heard,’ it changed my career completely. He was my best friend, and I was his best friend… but I was never part of the Rat Pack. ~ Tony Bennett
[The rumors were true. Yesterday was our first outdoor music event of the year. We enjoyed the musical stylings of Aksel Krafnick of Galaxy Road fame. That evening, in a continuing mood for similar activity, we matriculated to the Performing Arts Center for a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 by the Central Lakes Symphony Orchestra. We capped the evening at Lure Lakebar for a rootbeer float . . . ]
I have a simple life. In my job I have a contract that says I’m a singer. So I sing. ~ Tony Bennett
I’ll call it a day when I die. It’s a wonderful occupation for me. I’ve never worked a day in my life. ~ Tony Bennett
[The usual music suspects . . . ]
I respected Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra. Those were my heroes, and they were 10 years older than I was. ~ Tony Bennett
Lady Gaga is the Picasso of the entertainment world. She’s very intelligent. ~ Tony Bennett
[Brad Lambrecht delivers his maestro’s notes, an hour before each concert . . . ]
I think one of the reasons I’m popular again is because I’m wearing a tie. You have to be different. ~ Tony Bennett
The United States created the best popular songs that were ever written, and from the 1920s to the 1940s, it was a renaissance period. It stopped in 1950. ~ Tony Bennett
The high point for me in my career was when Sinatra called me his favourite performer in the Fifties. And I’ve been sold out ever since. ~ Tony Bennett
If music sounds dated, it means it wasn’t very good in the first place. ~ Tony Bennett
[Looking down on where the Super and I usually sit, but seats occupied by the performers during maestro’s notes . . . ]
I want to try to prove that at 100, I could sing as well as I was singing when I was 45 or 43. ~ Tony Bennett
[And the musicians begin to file in . . . ]
For many years, I’ve always been attached to what they call the Great American Songbook, and Kern was a great leader of that because he had the classical training of Europe. He impressed all the greatest composers, like Cole Porter and Gershwin. They couldn’t believe he was writing the songs he was writing. ~ Tony Bennett
I still get a little nervous before performing. You don’t want to forget a lyric; you don’t want to make a mistake. I still get butterflies. You can try to judge an audience, but you can only really judge things by the applause. ~ Tony Bennett
Cock your hat – angles are attitudes. ~ Frank Sinatra
Alcohol may be man’s worst enemy, but the bible says love your enemy. ~ Frank Sinatra
May you live to be 100 and may the last voice you hear be mine. ~ Frank Sinatra
Rock ‘n Roll: The most brutal, ugly, desperate, vicious form of expression it has been my misfortune to hear. ~ Frank Sinatra
I am a thing of beauty. ~ Frank Sinatra
Nothing anybody’s said or written about me ever bothers me, except when it does. ~ Frank Sinatra
[After the concert, we went out for a drink . . . ]
May 21
Country roads, take me home, to the place I belong. ~ John Denver
[The Super and I took the back roads to the soon to be seen destination . . . ]
Migrant workers have helped build our roads, homes and offices. We cannot stand and watch them be homeless. ~ Sonu Sood
[It’s 31 miles from Alexandria to Long Prairie. Here we’re passing the north side of Lake Osakis, something I’d never done before . . . ]
I just want Texas to be number one in something other than executions, toll roads and property taxes. ~ Kinky Friedman
I consider myself a poet first and a musician second. I live like a poet and I’ll die like a poet. ~ Bob Dylan
[I now require sunglasses on bright sunshiny days or I get snow blindness . . . ]
Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words. ~ Robert Frost
[This was the day the Super and I crossed an item off our Bucket Lists. We paid a visit to “The Pole” . . .
More on “The Pole” from it’s “owner” David Bengtson in Long Prairie: “March 10 – Today was humongous in the brief history of THE POLE! With absolutely no advance notice, an unidentified representative of Best in the World Awards (Long Prairie, MN) stopped by to present THE POLE with an understated trophy signifying its prestigious designation as “Best Pole in the World”!
Here’s a brief quote from what turned out to be a rather lengthy speech: “As someone famous will some day say, ‘Just remember, the greatest awards are often accompanied by the smallest trophies’” (Quote from “Greatest Speeches of the Future”).
The trophy will remain on display during daylight hours. To discourage thievery, we have installed a wireless security camera with 1080p HD video, 140° extra-wide field of view, and a built-in siren.
A small but appreciative audience gathered for the festivities. (They said they heard there was food.)”]
What is a poet? An unhappy person who conceals profound anguish in his heart but whose lips are so formed that as sighs and cries pass over them they sound like beautiful music. ~ Soren Kierkegaard
When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the area of man’s concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses. ~ John F. Kennedy
I was reading the dictionary. I thought it was a poem about everything. ~ Steven Wright
Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance. ~ Carl Sandburg
You don’t have to suffer to be a poet; adolescence is enough suffering for anyone. ~ John Ciardi
Poetry is the art of creating imaginary gardens with real toads. ~ Marianne Moore
Poetry is the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits. ~ Carl Sandburg
The poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese. ~ Gilbert K. Chesterton
[A live model to provide perspective . . . ]
A poet can survive everything but a misprint. ~ Oscar Wilde
[A semi-live model to provide perspective . . . ]
I intended an Ode, And it turned to a Sonnet. ~ Henry Austin Dobson
Roads do not upgrade or maintain themselves. Bridges do not repair themselves or rebuild themselves. ~ Martin O’Malley
[After The Pole we noted we were only 15 miles from here . . . ]
I believe that all roads lead to the same place – and that is wherever all roads lead to. ~ Willie Nelson
The everyday kindness of the back roads more than makes up for the acts of greed in the headlines. ~ Charles Kuralt
[Where we had heard about this restaurant on Big Birch Lake . . . ]
Great artists make the roads; good teachers and good companions can point them out. But there ain’t no free rides, baby. ~ Ursula K. Le Guin
All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was. ~ Toni Morrison
[It’s a good size lake of 2,100 acres – for the locals that places it in size between Lakes Le Homme Dieu and Carlos . . . ]
Every woman adores a Fascist. ~ Sylvia Plath
[Our server was the only employee working that day – handling both inside and on the deck . . . ]
I was born in 1940 in Minnesota and grew up in the country… dirt roads, swamps, lakes, woods. ~ Terry Gilliam
Western classical music is participative. Look at the number of people who are involved in a symphony. ~ Ilaiyaraaja
[This was the symphony orchestra’s donor party at the Legacy of the Lakes Museum. The high school’s Rainbow Strings performed for us . . . ]
I listen to old jazz and classical music, and that’s it. ~ Kenny G
[Maestro Lambrecht . . . ]
I had spent many years pursuing excellence, because that is what classical music is all about… Now it was dedicated to freedom, and that was far more important. ~ Nina Simone
The tradition of classical music and the opera is such that it used to be the place where social intercourse could take place between all parts of society: politicians, industrialists, artists, citizens, etc. That tradition, I think, still exists, but it’s much, much more diluted. ~ Yo-Yo Ma
I don’t know if it’s a sign of all the chaos that is happening out there or not, but I’ve lately craved the structure and order of classical music, the balance and symmetry. ~ Helen Reddy
I know this will blow your mind, but most people would probably never ever get it, but I listen to classical music when nobody else is around. It calms me down and I can get into this, like, deep thinking mode, you know, because there’s really no lyrics to it, so you’re not following something that – that you’re listening to a story. ~ Vanilla Ice
[Is that an ice cream parting gift?]
May 26
The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease. ~ Voltaire
[35th cardiac rehab session today – only one more to go. Peddled the elliptical all the way to Winnipeg and back . . . ]
Walking is man’s best medicine. ~ Hippocrates
[The rehab staff found me incorrigible, but nevertheless were happy to join me in partaking of the bags of doughnuts I brought on graduation day . . . ]
When I was born I was so ugly the doctor slapped my mother. ~ Rodney Dangerfield
I am dying from the treatment of too many physicians. ~ Alexander the Great
Up Next: The options are many . . .
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