winter

UNDER THE COVERS #7

/ mobius faith / 1 Comment
SHED BY THE POND
Paul Simon is a songwriter on par (in my mind) with Dylan and McCartney.     Paul's fourth solo album, Still Crazy After All These Years is still a personal favorite.  Great songwriting.   Wonderful performance.    So how does Paul's music get translated into jazz?     Quite easily if your keyboard player, Dr Lonnie Smith.    The good doctor has been has been around for decades and only recently passed away (2021).    All In My Mind is his second to last studio recording and is as good as anything he has done.   Just amazing keyboard work.  

Simon's 50 WAYS TO LEAVE YOUR LEAVE YOUR LOVER (from Still Crazy...) is ably covered here with a jazz funk vibe that Smith makes his own.     Enjoy.

under the covers #3

/ mobius faith
Winter Tree-o
Marching Bands.  You either love 'em or hate 'em.   When I was a youngster I was in a marching band.  Most of the time I played trumpet but one year I agreed to play Tuba.   I have some fond memories of that time period and I remember the challenges of playing and marching in precision formation at the same time - being aware to alway keep the horn pointed to the home crowd unless there was a need for quieter sound then we could face the direction we were marching in.   No easy task. 
We occasionally played band arrangements of pop songs by groups like Chicago etc.   

It was about this time in my life when the band RUSH burst on the scene being championed on local FM radio.   Today I wanted to pay tribute to RUSH and marching band.  
Here is a fun clip of the Ohio State University Marching Buckeye Band playing a medley of RUSH classics.   Enjoy.  I will not post any videos by RUSH because there would be too many to feature.   When watching this video remember that in addition to playing the band members are counting steps and direction at the same time.    Just great fun. 

As a side note: the band always end their halftime shows marching to write out the word Ohio in script.

What’s all this crop?

/ mobius faith 
In my photography I've started thinking about "how I can make things look longer or taller."   I think the right crop might be the answer.   The two photos today are examples of my pursuit of this idea.    I've always loved vertical landscapes which comes from my interest in vertical Japanese woodblock prints like the ones by Utagawa Hiroshige.    I think the particular crop in these two photos,  which is a vertical 16X9, creates this effect nicely.   It makes the main subject of tall trees look even taller in my mind.  It "heightens" their already magnanimous stature.    I also used various textures and effects.   

What I find really funny is that the main tree in the photo on the left is significantly smaller that the tall tree in the photo on the right.  It's more of an overgrown shrub, actually, that is about 12 ft tall compared to the large tree on the right which must be about 50 ft tall.    But again, I think the crop really goes a long way to lengthen this tree.   Hope you enjoy.  

What do you think?  Is the crop pleasing to your eye?   Or is it just too much?

Winter Fire & Snow

/ mobius faith

Well by now you’ve noticed a trend in recent post. My best intention is to post a different “holiday” themed song every day through Christmas.

Today’s selection is WINTER FIRE & SNOW sung by Irish vocal group Anuna. They first came to prominence is a stage production called Riverdance. This song is one of many songs on an album, that I believe is long out-of-print, also titled WINTER FIRE & SNOW.

sunday verses #14

/ mobius faith 
3 MORE HAIKU 


Framing seasons three
Winter starts and ends the year
Annual bookends

***

A breath of warm air
She comes around the mountain
Chase Winter away

***

She pushes forth life
Her pungent verdant bower
Earth's labour's give birth

SUNDAY VERSES #13

/ mobius faith 
3 WINTER HAIKU

Winter ice on trees
glitters like festive tinsel
under morning sun

***

When days are shorter
fiercely blows the winter wind
piling snow in drifts

***

Frigid air on skin
Persistent chill burrows deep
Winter wet and cold