Crystal Anniversary and other milestones
Jul. 22nd, 2021 12:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cjlasky7Yesterday, my wife and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. (Today is the 16th anniversary of our first date!) Even though we promised we'd no longer give each other presents (because it's too much of a pain in the ass), we each bought a present--she gave me a hard cover edition of Neil Gaiman's Harlequin Valentine and I gave her a peridot necklace with a matching set of earrings. (Peridot is a Virgo gemstone. We're both Virgos.)
Honestly? She gave the better present. The jewelry is very pretty, but the Gaiman felt more thoughtful, more personal. She knows me so well...
(OK, everyone: "Awwwww!!")
On a less romantic note, it's the end of July, and my wife and the Boy are getting on each other's nerves, right on schedule. They have the type of relationship that's prone to extreme swings: when they're getting along, they're an invincible power team against the world; when they're not getting along, it's a death match. I would like for them to settle into an emotionally stable midrange... but that seems to be MY territory. (To quote Harry Shearer from Spinal Tap, if they're fire and ice, I'm luke warm water.)
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Our beloved poodle, Chloe, is approaching 17 years old. Her eyesight and her bladder are failing. It's getting harder and harder to keep her (and the basement) clean, but I will always take care of my little girl.
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New movie! In theaters!
With the power duo on tour in Pennsylvania I went down to the Brooklyn Academy of Music to catch "Summer of Soul"--the documentary about the music festival in Harlem in 1969.
To call this movie "ambitious" would be a vast understatement. The various thematic threads are almost impossible to summarize, but let me give it a shot: the flowering of Black Power, erasure and reclamation of Black history, afrocentric awareness and the birth of world music, an overview of Harlem 1969 (and the riots of 1968), the power of gospel in the black community, Afro-Latin jazz fusion, the moon landing (and what it does or doesn't mean to Harlem)--not to mention the very personal stories and reminiscences of the musicians and the spectators.
I was especially moved by the commentary of Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, lead singers of the Fifth Dimension, and what it meant to them to sing in front of that crowd in that place. The Fifth Dimension was sometimes criticized for having a "white" sound, so to perform in front of an all black audience in Harlem was very important to them; and fifty years later, you can still hear the emotion in their voices when talking about that day.
The music? Oh, just Stevie Wonder (killing a drum solo!), Sly and the Family Stone (at their peak), Nina Simone (debuting "Young, Gifted and Black"), the Staple Singers, Mahalia Jackson, Hugh Masekela, Gladys Knight and the Pips and so much more.
The documentary was assembled and directed by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson (from The Roots) and you can tell this movie was made by a drummer--it PULSES.
Highly recommended.
Honestly? She gave the better present. The jewelry is very pretty, but the Gaiman felt more thoughtful, more personal. She knows me so well...
(OK, everyone: "Awwwww!!")
On a less romantic note, it's the end of July, and my wife and the Boy are getting on each other's nerves, right on schedule. They have the type of relationship that's prone to extreme swings: when they're getting along, they're an invincible power team against the world; when they're not getting along, it's a death match. I would like for them to settle into an emotionally stable midrange... but that seems to be MY territory. (To quote Harry Shearer from Spinal Tap, if they're fire and ice, I'm luke warm water.)
********************
Our beloved poodle, Chloe, is approaching 17 years old. Her eyesight and her bladder are failing. It's getting harder and harder to keep her (and the basement) clean, but I will always take care of my little girl.
********************
New movie! In theaters!
With the power duo on tour in Pennsylvania I went down to the Brooklyn Academy of Music to catch "Summer of Soul"--the documentary about the music festival in Harlem in 1969.
To call this movie "ambitious" would be a vast understatement. The various thematic threads are almost impossible to summarize, but let me give it a shot: the flowering of Black Power, erasure and reclamation of Black history, afrocentric awareness and the birth of world music, an overview of Harlem 1969 (and the riots of 1968), the power of gospel in the black community, Afro-Latin jazz fusion, the moon landing (and what it does or doesn't mean to Harlem)--not to mention the very personal stories and reminiscences of the musicians and the spectators.
I was especially moved by the commentary of Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, lead singers of the Fifth Dimension, and what it meant to them to sing in front of that crowd in that place. The Fifth Dimension was sometimes criticized for having a "white" sound, so to perform in front of an all black audience in Harlem was very important to them; and fifty years later, you can still hear the emotion in their voices when talking about that day.
The music? Oh, just Stevie Wonder (killing a drum solo!), Sly and the Family Stone (at their peak), Nina Simone (debuting "Young, Gifted and Black"), the Staple Singers, Mahalia Jackson, Hugh Masekela, Gladys Knight and the Pips and so much more.
The documentary was assembled and directed by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson (from The Roots) and you can tell this movie was made by a drummer--it PULSES.
Highly recommended.
no subject
Date: 2021-07-23 12:12 pm (UTC)Touring PA, eh? Visiting family, friends, the Franklin Museum, any of the varied weirdly named towns we have in this state?
I thought sapphire was the Virgo gemstone, or at least September (also a Virgo here, Sept. 15th B-day).
And before I forget,
AWWWWWWWWW
:-) :-) :-)
no subject
Date: 2021-07-23 06:05 pm (UTC)Sapphire and peridot are both Virgo gemstones, and--even though I saw some nice sapphire pieces--the peridot necklace was too nice to resist.
Right now, the two of them are driving each other--and me--crazy.
(Could you bump up Philly a few weeks, guys?)