Barely keeping my eyes open. I think I can see through my eyelids well enough to finish the blog, however, so it shouldn't be a problem. We had good singing in church this morning, always a nice feeling, though I've gotta remember to just stick with water and lemon beforehand. We have a new blender here at Pearl's and I made a fruit smoothie with banana, blueberries orange juice and a couple spoonfuls of vanilla yogurt, and it was delicious but it gummed up my vocal cords. The likely culprits are the banana and the yogurt. I won't make that mistake again. Had to make an emergency run to the drinking fountain outside our choir room to gulp down some throat clearing swallows of H2O.
I bought some Tahini at Trader Joes. I think I had it confused with Hummus, because I expected it to have the consistency of potato chip dip, and to taste somewhat similar. As it turned out, it tastes almost exactly like peanut butter. The consistency is runny, which is no problem, but I was expecting something tangy. I should have read the ingredients, which is ground sesame seeds, and that's it. Tahini is sesame seed peanut butter, and it's not bad. Just don't confuse it with hummus, which I always used to pronounce as Hyoo-muss, but which I have come to understand - since about 2005 - is correctly enunciated as Humm-uss.
One thing that drives me up a wall is when I hear Robert Mueller pronounced as Myoo-ler. That's right up there with Nuke-yoo-lar, which you don't hear much anymore, thank goodness.
Don't eat any Tahini before choir practice, whatever you do, but be sure to give some to your dog, to see if it works the same as peanut butter to get him or her to do The Dog Peanut Butter Thing. See if it works with Tahini. It probably does, but not for as long a period.
Someone should post a video of a dog who does not do The Dog Peanut Butter Thing. Except - such a dog may not exist, nor ever has existed. Otherwise, somebody would surely have posted a video by now, on Youtube, of a dog not doing it. A dog just eating the doggone peanut butter but not doing The Thing.
I ordered three Frank Zappa albums from Amazon this afternoon : "Ruben and The Jets", "Weasels Ripped My Flesh" and "Burnt Weeny Sandwich". Earlier this week I had been listening to my box set of the first three records by FZ and The Mothers Of Invention, those being "Freak Out" (1966), "Absolutely Free" (1967) and "We're Only In It For The Money" (1968). My favorite Zappa album is "One Size Fits All" from 1975, which features an extremely high level of musicianship and composition, and I would include it on my list of the 25 Greatest Progressive Rock Albums Ever Made. But I love early Zappa almost as much because of the comedic elements in the music (which, if you know FZ, you know what I am talking about), but also - I really love early Zappa and Mothers because of their love for doo-wop, and the style in which they performed it.
It took me a long time to get into 50s music. I did not care for it as a kid who was born into The Beatles, and in my 20s I'd have laughed it off. I mean, I knew it was significant, but it was not for me.
But oh how The Musical Appreciation Society of Father Time can change one's feelings. Now I love the early rock n' roll of the 1950s. To me, Buddy Holly is as good as it gets, and I could extrapolate to include a hundred other great musicians and stars of the era, but we are talking specifically about Doo-Wop, and over the years when I have sought out Oldies I have come to love groups like The Platters and other such geniuses of the genre.
Frank Zappa also loved Doo-Wop, but he loved the Mexican East L.A. Version, and his early albums have examples of his own tributes to that style, except that they aren't really tributes. His Doo-Wop songs are dead serious musically but also lovingly sarcastic and very funny, and they poke fun at East L.A. Lowrider Culture. The lyrics, and they way they are sung, is an absolute riot. All Zappa fans know of his blend of music and humor. In the Doo-Wop stuff the humor comes through mostly in the vocals, and in the way FZ and Ray Collins accentuate their voices. It almost sounds like a band that is making fun of that type of music, but you know they aren't, because too much genuine feeling comes through, so you know they are serious.
It's a fine balance, and I needed a Zappa fix after listening to the First Three Albums. I will go on another binge when my new cds arrive in the mail.
That's basically all for tonight. I did not watch a movie, but I did watch a "George Gently", which is a BBC Production and a damn good cop show.
Hoping for a Big Time Sleep tonight, let's see if I can secure it.
Knock me out cold, and then wake me up in the morning, not too early......
And I will see you then. (don't forget to wake me up) xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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