Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Van Morrison in lockdown: ‘I am trying to get back into writing songs’ | The Independent



Van at the Armstrong House in Queens, N

Van Morrison in lockdown: ‘I am trying to get back into writing songs’ | The Independent

by Martin Chilton



strange times. We were due to meet in London, during his Palladium residency, but instead he phones from Belfast, on the dot of the appointed time, joking about how he is “twiddling his thumbs”. He says that “like everyone else, I’m following the guidelines”.
Over the next hour, he talks with passion about books, jazz, blues, his youthful football-playing days and penning his memoir. Morrison, who turns 75 in August, has a sharp memory. Although he has been known to have fractious interviews, I find him friendly and happy to share anecdotes, his voice a mixture of a low drawl interspersed with sudden moments of lightness.Morrison has a new book of lyrics out with Faber called Keep ’Er Lit (the title tips a nod to his first book of lyrics, 2014’s Lit Up Inside). He is disappointed that his appearance at the Hay-on-Wye literary festival was cancelled. I wonder whether the enforced break has at least given him time to pen new songs? “I want to write, but I am kind of getting a bit lazy at the moment,” he says. “I was supposed to be doing six gigs in London, so I went from touring to basically just being at home. I am trying to get back into writing.”
***
His friend Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016. Does Morrison consider lyric writing the equivalent of poetry? “Some of my works are just straight poetry, some could be a song or a poem and some are poetry with a music back-up, like ‘On Hyndford Street’, which was based on my early days, listening to my father’s record collection and Radio Luxembourg,” he replies. Morrison grew up in a street of small, terraced houses barely a mile from the Lagan river that runs through the centre of Belfast. “I have a book of Cole Porter’s songs and his lyrics are just poetry. I don’t think there is a lot of difference.”
Morrison’s work has always been full of literary references, from William Blake to Seamus Heaney, and he sometimes uses book titles for the names of songs, such as “Haunts of Ancient Peace”. He is intrigued when I tell him the phrase was first used by Alfred Tennyson in the 1840s. “Oh, was that a Tennyson thing?” asks Morrison. “I took that from a book title by Alfred Austin, but he must have got it from Tennyson.”

Sunday, March 29, 2020

John Prine - critical CV19



Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Biden on pulling together in this crisis


Monday, March 23, 2020

Alarm sounded by Johns Hopkins Director of Health Security

Image result for johns hopkins school of public health center for health security
We are stranded with a fool for a President, prancing in front of the cameras daily, unable to golf, suggesting we are going to be "opening up our country" soon.  Walking right off a cliff if we follow him.  This thread by Tom Inglesby the Director of Health Security at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health is a must read. - gwc

“Chinese Virus,” World Market | Online Only | n+1



“Chinese Virus,” World Market | Online Only | n+1

1. “Wuhan Virus”?

THE CITY OF WUHAN, CHINA is rich with historical significance, but for much of the world before this year it was hardly a household name. A portmanteau of three historical cities at the mouth of the Yangzi and Han Rivers—Wuchang, Hankou, and Hanyang—Wuhan served as the site of the 1911 Xinhai Revolution, which ended the last Chinese Dynasty, and in 1937, Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist government temporarily made the city its national capital, as the military fled from Japanese forces along the eastern coast. In recent years, passengers boarding one of the hundreds of ferries that glide through the city center every day would have seen soaring glass and concrete skyscrapers adorned with the names of hotel chains and national banks—an intimidating skyline, but one increasingly common across Asia. Beyond this photogenic core is the familiar combination of new architectural projects, historical landmarks, residential university neighborhoods, and designated free-trade zones for industrial export processing. It is a massive and sprawling metropolis of over eleven million people, more populous than New York City, but by the high standards of contemporary China, and in the unsentimental parlance of the Chinese media, it is a solid “second-tier city.”
But these days, of course, Wuhan is at once more internationally infamous than ever and associated only with one thing: the global spread of the disease now known as Covid-19. During the first weeks of December, several individuals began to report to hospitals in the Wuhan area with severe flu-like symptoms, including fever, dry coughing, fatigue, body aches, and pneumonia-like symptoms. Only later did doctors recognize that many patients either worked at, or were connected to, the Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market in the city center. The symptoms soon worsened, paralyzing older patients and killing many. On December 30, lab results finally confirmed that the source was a novel coronavirus strain that shared traits with the 2003 SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak that claimed over eight hundred people worldwide and the MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) virus that emerged in 2012 and has killed nearly a thousand since. The virus has now ballooned into a pandemic with cases in 183 countries. As of this writing, 11,147 people have died from 265,495 cases. In China alone, 3,248 of 80,967 cases have died, almost all based in Wuhan.
For weeks, American news services referred to the disease as the “Wuhan virus.” Last month, the World Health Organization renamed the virus “Covid-19” (Coronavirus disease of 2019) with the explicit goal of minimizing the social stigma of a name that referred to a specific place—and, by extension, a specific people. Not ones to pay heed to international norms, conservative politicians in the US have continued to insist on the phrase “Wuhan virus,” or “Chinese coronavirus,” in a transparent effort to scapegoat and distract from their own catastrophic mismanagement of the worst public health crisis in recent American history. On Monday, a White House official reportedly described the virus as the “Kung Flu.” The following day Donald Trump defended using the term “Chinese virus,” explaining, “’cause it comes from China. It’s not racist at all, no, not at all. It comes from China, that’s why. I want to be accurate.” Less equivocal, Arkansas senator Tom Cotton paired a tweet last week about the “Wuhan coronavirus” with a suggestion that China would have to “pay” for what it had done to America.
There is no question that such terminology is racist and xenophobic. Yet the fact that this global pandemic started in Wuhan, and not elsewhere in China, should not be simply overlooked, either. In recent decades, Wuhan has been caught up in the latest stage of globalization, in which international capital continues to extend further inland in pursuit of cheaper land and labor markets, spawning international links for goods such as steel and automobile parts, which remain hidden to the average consumer. It is a major Chinese city, yet outside the core of glittering metropolises along the nation’s coast. It is precisely the unexceptional status of Wuhan as a second-tier Chinese city that is notable. What the global spread of the novel coronavirus from Wuhan suggests is that the culprit here is not the unique circumstances of a particular place, but rather the now-extensive commercial connections that bring ever more of these kinds of places closer and closer together, into a larger and larger whole. In recounting the story of the novel coronavirus, it becomes increasingly clear that its movements have thus far mimicked the pathways of the 21st-century global market.
THE SPECIFIC ORIGINS of the coronavirus within Wuhan remain unclear.

Sunday, March 22, 2020

Stay Home say Respiratory therapists, nurses, doctors - from Belfast Trust


Saturday, March 21, 2020

1973-1974 Whitbread Round the World Race

Today The Ocean Race released a film of its first rendition.  Formerly the Volvo Ocean Race, it began as the Whitbread Round the World Race.  Its sponsor was a brewery.  The first race saw seventeen conventional racer/cruisers - like one might race from Newport to Bermuda head out from Portsmouth, England.  They returned (winner in 152 days) via Cape Town, Sydney, and Rio de Janeiro.  The winner Sayula II, a Mexican yacht, was a Swan 65 designed by the City Island, NY based Sparkman & Stephens.
 Things have evolved now to pure racing machines.  In 1974 position was determined by compass and sextant, communication by short wave radio.  Today it's by GPS, with cameras recording everything, and drones flying over the one design sixty five foot stripped down racers.
 Image result for volvo 70 boatsImage result for volvo ocean 65

Friday, March 20, 2020

Surgical Handwashing technique


Tuesday, March 17, 2020

The 4 Stage Strategy - Yes Prime Minister


Monday, March 16, 2020

130 foot J Boats collide at start line in Antigua



From 1924 to 1937 the America's Cup was raced in the massive 130 foot J Class sailboats.  Eight of them still exist.  Some make it south to race in the Antigua Superyacht Challenge. This year four raced.  But as it approached the start Svea, on port tack (wind from its left)  - in a clear violation of the rules failed to keep clear and overran Topaz near the stern. The collision was filmed (of course) by someone on another boat.  The video is below, as is the decision of the Protest Committee.  I trust there's sufficient liability insurance - or assets to pay the costs of repair. One crew member suffered four broken ribs.  Two were thrown from the boats.- gwc

VIDEO - collision
VIDEO - surveying the damage


Ruling of the Protest Committee
Involved parties:
TOPAZ – Peter Holmberg
SVEA – Charles Ogletree
Procedural matters:
This is a hearing conducted under J Class Addendum Q. Q5.3 allows the protest committee great flexibility on how the hearing is conducted. After a very significant collision we decided to speak with both parties separately to see if they agreed the facts. They were happy for us to write up the decision without a formal hearing.
Facts found:
1. Topaz was approaching the start line on Starboard approximately 1 minute 40 seconds before the start.
2. Svea on port was on a collision course with Topaz.
3. Despite a last minute turn to bear away, Svea collided with the port side of Topaz at the runner winch causing serious damage.
4. Topaz luffed to avoid when it was clear Svea was not keeping clear.
5. On Topaz two crew members were injured with one crew member suffering 4 broken ribs as he was pushed overboard by the bow of Svea. On Topaz, the port runner winch was torn off. The boom was broken. Both running back stays, mainsheet, and backstay broke under the load. The port gunwale was damaged from the runner winch to the stern. The mast was put under extreme load from the impact and will need further inspection.
6. On Svea, one crew member was pulled out of the boat by the runner tail of Topaz. His injuries were minor. The forward underbody of Svea was badly damaged.
7. Both boats immediately retired from the race.


Sunday, March 15, 2020

Stay safe - the Governator speaks


Mayor DeBlasio announces school closings, etc.


What he said! Anthony Fauci Director, Infectious Diseases CDC


Friday, March 13, 2020

How China beat Covid19 - Donald McNeil - NY Times

If I hear one more reporter or commentator say that China did what they did because it's a communist dictatorship I'm going to try to send that person to a reeducation camp.
Donald McNeil, NY times Science reporter explains to Rachel Maddow how the Chinese beat the novel Coronavirus.  Brilliant, systematic public health work.  Built on their experience in the SARS epidemic. - gwc

WHO - how to wash your hands


Saturday, March 7, 2020

McCoy Tyner - 1938 - 2020

McCoy Tyner - Jazz piano powerhouse is dead at 81by Ben Ratliffe
McCoy Tyner, a cornerstone of John Coltrane’s groundbreaking 1960s quartet and one of the most influential pianists in jazz history, died on Friday at his home in northern New Jersey. He was 81.

Along with Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea and only a few others, Mr. Tyner was one of the main expressways of modern jazz piano. Nearly every jazz pianist since Mr. Tyner’s years with Coltrane has had to learn his lessons, whether they ultimately discarded them or not.
Mr. Tyner’s manner was modest, but his sound was rich, percussive and serious, his lyrical improvisations centered by powerful left-hand chords marking the first beat of the bar and the tonal center of the music.
That sound helped create the atmosphere of Coltrane’s music and, to some extent, all jazz in the 1960s. (When you are thinking of Coltrane playing “My Favorite Things” or “A Love Supreme,” you may be thinking of the sound of Mr. Tyner almost as much as that of Coltrane’s saxophone.)
Below - Tyner in 1991 and performing in Belgium 1965
John Coltrane (1926-1967), McCoy Tyner (1938-2020),  Jimmy Garrison (1934-1976 bass); and Elvin Jones (1927-2004 drums)
McCoy Tyner in 2009 at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. Nearly every jazz pianist has had to learn his lessons, whether they ultimately discarded them or not.



"the sea is in an interesting state" - Uruguay to Capetown


Thursday, March 5, 2020

Tuesday, March 3, 2020