Clash along bucolic Maine coast erupts over rockweed - The Boston Globe

Harvesting rockweed in Friendship, Maine

Clash along bucolic Maine coast erupts over rockweed - The Boston Globe

Van Morrison: Three Chords and the Truth Album Review | Pitchfork

If there's a Sir George Ivan Morrison album I don't own it's unintentional.  My fellow early boomer born in 1945 has put out his best album in twenty years.  As Jason Woodbury notes Van is in "incredible" voice, and his songs - all but one new - have the mix of mysticism, delight, and crabbiness we his fans have come to love.  Who else in the rock pantheon would string together Dark Night of the Soul, Early Days (of rock n' roll), and the grouchy Fame Will Eat the Soul. 

Buy the CD.  Don't turn to Spotify or download it.  You'll appreciate having the lyrics, and knowing twho plays each instrument on every song.  Van's Sax on Early Days, Jay Berliner on acoutic guitar, and Stuart McIlroy particularly caught my attention.  - gwc



Van Morrison: Three Chords and the Truth Album Review | Pitchfork

reviewed by Jason P. Woodbury


Forty-one albums into his storied career, Van Morrison remains one of rock’s most enduring studies in contrast, never changing and forever restless. Three Chords and The Truth is his sixth record in the last four years, the latest dispatch of a particularly productive period, and the first to feature all-new original songs since 2012’s Born to Sing: No Plan B (minus one co-write with lyricist Don Black). Though he sticks closely to the conservative R&B, blues, and jazz modes that have defined his ’00s discography, the LP’s 14 songs showcase his determination to wring profundity out of even the most common language. Songwriter Harlan Howard coined the phrase “Three chords and the truth” to describe the necessary ingredients for country and western music, but this isn’t a country record. Van’s talking about his desire to take simple rhymes and traditional song structures and imbue them with Caledonia soul heaviness.

As it has since his raging beginnings with Them, it’s Morrison’s voice that affords him such latitude. At 74, he sounds incredible, his voice deepened and richer with age, growling, cooing, and occasionally barking about familiar but resonant concerns. As always, he’s grouchy— sick of the powerful getting away with it all (the Brexit commentary “Nobody in Charge”), annoyed by notoriety and the complications of stardom (“Fame Will Eat the Soul,” which features a rousing call and response assist by Righteous Brother Bill Medley), and uncertain if goodness makes any difference in a compromised world (“Does Love Conquer All”).

But he’s equally nostalgic, riffing on the joy of sound on the title track and earnestly recalling the freedom and purity of youth (“Early Days,” “In Search of Grace”). There’s a warmth here that recalls his ’90s highwater marks, Hymns to the Silence and The Healing Game, and connects even farther back in time to 1971’s Tupelo Honey, which balanced the charms of domesticity with R&B raves. Credit the superb backing band for the record’s subtle but palpable drive. With Astral Weeks guitarist Jay Berliner in the mix, they support Morrison sympathetically. “It’s called ‘the flow,’” Morrison said in a recent interview, detailing his optimal conditions for making music. “I don’t know the mechanics of how that works. I just know when I’m in it.”

Paul Cayard - Cayard Sailing

Cayard Sailing - Cayard Sailing

Van on Three chords and the truth

https://youtu.be/DIiUJFPp2qs

Belfast’s French & Webb embarks on major restoration of nation’s presidential yacht ‘Sequoia’ | PenBay Pilot

Sequoia - Presidential yacht

FDR aboard

1932

Todd French of French & Webb

Belfast’s French & Webb embarks on major restoration of nation’s presidential yacht ‘Sequoia’ | PenBay Pilot

The historic Presidential yacht Sequoia - which served every one from Hoover to Ford - has arrived in Belfast, Maine for a thorough restoration.  The project is expected to take four years according to a report in the Portland Press Herald.

Belfast is a favorite destination of ours -  for lunch, walks along its harbor, gazing at boats in the Front Street Shipyard, and visits to the Old Professors Bookshop, and photographer Neil Parent.

One of the gems in the Penobscot Bay town is French & Webb.  These master boatbuilders and joiners have done magnificent work as this video of the Herreshoff New York 40 Marilee shows.



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Winners: the Snipe World Championship October 10 -12, Ilhabela, Brasil

I've owned three Snipes.  The 15 foot centerboard sloop designed by William F Crosby is the world's most successful one design racing class.  Prompted by a daily Instagram feed from the Portuguese Snipe class I bit again. My newly purchased 30 year old San Diego built McLaughlin Snipe is #28,199.  I sailed one as a boy on Long Island's South Oyster Bay - from 7th grade until I headed off to India in the Peace Corps in 1967.  I bought another woodie built by Gerber Boatworks on City Island with a $1,000 from my first jury trial win in 1979.  I sailed that one out of the silted in Lighthouse Boat Club in North Bergen, NJ opposite the 79th Street boat basin.

The class is active and vigorous as these winners in the Snipe World Championships just held in Ilhabela, Brazil are demonstrating.
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#28,199 waiting for spring.

The Dublin Bay 24 takes shape at The Apprenticeshop - Rockland, Maine

The Apprenticeshop - Rockland, Maine

 Panoramic shot - click image to expand

John Rawls: Baseball is the Best of All Games | Boston Review

The Best of All Games | Boston Review

John Rawls to Owen Fiss, recalling a conversation with Harry Kalven

Robert Johnson - Blues man remembered belatedly by the New York Times

Overlooked No More: Robert Johnson, Bluesman Whose Life Was a Riddle

Johnson gained little notice in his life, but his songs — quoted by the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton and Led Zeppelin — helped ignite rock ‘n’ roll.
https://nyti.ms/2lCsWDh

Heritage Cup - Win, Show

First mate

Winners - Cat Boat division

3rd place - Spirit of tradition division

North River 2 on a painted sea