Harriet and I both finish, upon Chris Erdman's recommendation, Timothy Snyder's excellent / pithy On Tyranny (supposedly from 1917, so seemingly quite prescient, but including clear references to 2020 in the Epilogue, so there's more to tell here). Ominous, scary stuff --
though perhaps there is hope yet,
on the first day of summer --
yippee! --
temperature-wise,
at least,
the critical high
(high up 4 from yesterday)
of 70 having been reached,
and perhaps even an unoffical 71-72...
A
financial-
medical
mid-
day
run --
rather blustery,
gusting to 94 above Healdsburg!
Re-organize the new iPhone SE 2020,
which has still not been turned on (which seems to also affect ability to upload sound files from), but functions quite well in many regards (though Google Maps is now cluttered with irrelevant items on the main screeen, and there is no headphone jack, so Lord knows how music is to be played in a 2010 Yaris).
Compose page 2
Book of Dreams, 2022, Op. 376 (2022)
IV. January 4 - Waiting Execution by Lethal Injection / 6am A Great Sky Dive / 9am Audition for Girlfriend
and add more text to overall work with
January 21-22 (Wind Blows Door Open 3am)
12pm Trying Persistently to Balance a Wine Glass on an Outstretched Piece of Paper...
2am Bringing a Plate of Food My Way and Then Disappearing...
4am Explain to Cliff It's Difficult to Go to Sleep, and
It Helps for Me to Look at Something in Nature --
The Scenery Beyond May Be the Bottom of North Lehigh Circle,
About to Bed Down, Notice a White Spider Moving Along Toward a Sleeper,
Then See a Light Red Scorpion, Attempt to Kill with a Towel, It Will Not Die,
Grab A Pencil, Stab, Which Seems to Do the Trick, Yet It Is Still Struggling... Wake Up...
Dream of the Scorpion... With a Start... Realize Immediately It's a Dream and
Am Reasonably OK... a Bit Hard to Rally and Write Down...
I Can Write About Anyone in Any Way... Old Computer on Bed --
Screen Has Dropped Down, and Reach to Right It... Dors Feline...
A Channel Down a Mississippi / Zambezi, Sportscaster Pontificating,
It Should Be Looked Into... Canyon...
7am Begin the Begine Again - Piano Intro Change of Synopation with Consequences
9am Turn Computer On and It Almost Immediately Goes Off Again...
Also other tasks at hand, all swirled around by
Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) - La Gaza Ladra (1817): Overture
Stanislaw Moniuszko (1819-1872) - Flis (The Raftsman) (1858): Overture
Cesar Franck - (1822-1880) - Violin Sonata in A Minor (1886)
Carl Goldmark (1830-1915) - In Italien Overture, Op. 49 (1903)
Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921) - Africa, Op. 89 (1889 -- C.S.S. eventually died in Africa -- Algiers, Algeria... so be careful about what you write!)
Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904) - Piano Concerto in G Minor, Op. 33 (1876)
Richard Strauss (1864-1949) - Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, Op. 28 (1895)
Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40 (1898)
Metamorphosen (1945).
All the R. Straussing leads to a review of the composer,
particularly during those horrible Nazi years,
eerily suggesting parallels with our own times w/r/t continuing authoritarian tendencies in the Republican Party, particularly vis a vis the Criminal Lying Psychopath's continued influence --
at least Strauss was able to do some good in his day, keep his wit, and live
amongst
spectacular
-- though
mostly
chilly --
scenery
in
extreme
Southern Bavaria.
Where were we? Ah, yes, the background of the day, also including
Alexander Glazunov (1865-1936) - Symphony No. 3 in D Major, Op. 33 (1890)
Carl Nielsen (1865-1931) - Aladdin, Op. 34 (1919)
Aaron Copland (1900-1990) - Rodeo (1942)
amusing commentary / information re Gene Roddenberry Star Trek (1966): Season 3: 1 Spectre of the Gun (1968)
and its
players, and a stimulating CNN documentary (parts 1-2) on
Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962 -- ah those tragic palindromic 10-1's years!)