jwg

The other night we watched a documentary about Freedom Summer or Mississippi Burning - the horrible events in 1964 in Mississippi dealing with rights and voter registration of black people. As part of that Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, and James Chaney - activists - were murdered.

Horrendous story and a slight personal connection for me. In 1958 I was a counsellor at Camp Tacoma Pines in Maine (no longer exists) and one of the campers in my cabin was Andy Goodman.

I am 3rd from the left in the bottom row and Andy was 4th from the left

Today is Martin Luther King day.

A very incredible person who was a constructive activist in the civil rights movement in the
50s and '60s until he was assassinated in 1968.

Wikipedia article

He was in prison a number of times as a result of his work.

This picture was taken shortly after King, Ira Blalock (on the left), Gordon Gibson (on the right), and some others were released from the Salem jail in 1965. As it turns out I knew Ira Blalock because he was the minister in a UU church in Wellesley that I went to for a while with a bunch of friends. And Gordon Gibson was a minister in another Boston area church who performed my first marriage in 1966 (in the MIT chapel). -- and yes, I have posted this before.

When I was a kid I was a Yankees fan - I lived in NYC. My father was a NY Giants fan. We occasionally listened to games on the radio and I went with my father to several games at the Polo Grounds, Ebbets Field and the original Yankee Stadium. And to several more at Yankees games with a school friend. Then I lost interest.

One summer at camp I became a Milwaukee Braves fan (was Boston Braves, now Atlanta Braves) and listened to a few games. Then I lost interest and ignored the sport.

In 1986 I remarked to Robert (rsc) "Oh the RedSox are in the World Series - let's watch some games" and we did. Little did we know what this was going to do to us. We started paying a bit of attention to games. In 1989 we went to some games in Fenway Park and continued doing this for a few years. And in 1994 we got Season's tickets (weekday games) and shared with several other people and started going to 10-15 games each year.

We watch most games on TV - and part-time on the radio during dinner or in the car.

While travelling we have gone to games in both the completely redone old Yankee Stadium and then the new Yankee Stadiums, Giant's games in Candlestick and then Oracle park, Twins in Metropolitan Park in Minneapolis, old Tiger stadium in Detroit, Mariners at Safeco field in Seattle, Phillies at Veteran's and Citizen's Park in Philadelphia, Cubs at Wrigley field in Chicago, Mets at Shea statium (me only), Athletics at Oakland Coliseum. And the RedSox triple A team in Pawtucket. I've been in Rogers Centre in Toronto (Blue Jays) not for a game but a computer conference.

So I've seen games in 17 stadiums and been in one other.

The UserPic is for the Canterbury RedSox (New Zealand - softball) - they weren't playing when we were there.

My mother was a serious knitter. A significant portion of her clothes were things she knitted - sweaters, blouses, skirts. This picture is of three sweaters she made for me that I still have and wear. The yellow one on the left was made in ~1960 and is still in good shape. The two others are a bit later.

She often knitted while doing something else: watching TV, reading a book,... Once I saw her watching TV and reading a book and knitting all at the same time. When she died I donated all her clothes that were in good shape to a charity shop. I hope some people got to enjoy wearing some of them. She had a large supply of wool, knitting needles, and knitting books. I sent them to one of her friends because I remembered they had been knitting companions and she was pleased to get them.

I tried knitting myself, but was never good at it. I did have my own collection of wool and made an inkle loom and made some sashes and mini scarves on it. I also tried crocheting some granny squares with the intent of making a blanket but never did. I gave away all my wool. Considering all the stuff from ancient days that I still have it is amazing that I actually got rid of that stuff.

I had moved into what is now our house - but then just the 2nd and 3rd floor apartment and wanted a piano, but there wasn't really room so I decided to build my own harpsichord from a Zuckermann kit. It was pretty easy to build - it had a plain case unlike some of the pictures on the web site. So now I had a keyboard.

A few times a friend came over to play recorder with me playing the harpsichord. Which reminds me of a trip to Phoenix with my boss on a plane that had a piano in the back - we had brought music so we we played a few duets while flying. Some time ago after not playing it for a while I gave it away.

I got interested in playing the recorder so I bought one and went to a Boston Adult Education class. The instructor suggested that we go to the American Recorder Society - Boston chapter meeting in Cambridge. So I did. At those we all met in a big room and there was usually a mini-concert and then we divided up into little groups, consorts, to play the recorder. For several time the leader of the group I was in was Buffy Berg. Once the once the mini-concert was by a group called the Quadrivium, an early music group - Buffy was a member of it. Buffy then suggested to me that the leader of the Quadrivium, Marleen Montgovery, had classes in her house and I should go there - we did singing, recorder playing, and bowing stringed instruments and once in a while had an infornal concert. It was lots of fun.

And then Marleen suggested to me that I should join the Quadrivium. So I did and thus began a period of fascinating times. We had rehearsals every Wednesday night and gave concerts in December and May at local churches and the Gardner Museum - and occasionally trips to other places. And twice we were in the Revels. I remember one December when between our rehearsals, Revels rehearsals (both the Cambridge and Hanover shows), and the performances there was a 3-4 week period where I had something just about every night.

In 1973 I missed a couple of rehearsals early in the season because I took a trip to the Greek islands. I took my music with me and I remember once finding a spot on the Acropolis where there weren't other people and practiced.

Quadrivium did a range of early music: medieval, rennaissance, and early American plus Morris and sword dancing and other such things such as little humorous playlets. Marleen was an incredible person - very creative, somewhat disorganized, but a great leader. We were often surprised with annoucements about new music we were doing for a concert shortly before it or that there was to be another concert date. My role was mostly singing but played the recorder a bit and once a krumhorn. I remember doing Bean Setting, a Morris dance and a sword dance too. I bought a better recorder and some rennaissance recorders as well.

We made a record. Marleen suggested we meet at midnight in the Lexington church where we rehearsed so there would be minimal traffic noise. On the chosen night it turned out there was broken pipe and the DPW was there making much noise and said they would be there a while so we had to reschedule. Note the cover is a photo taken in the Gardner Museum courtyard (where you aren't allowed to go).



One of the members had constructed a harp at a workshop but wanted to sell it. I bought it and got to play it occasionally - O'Carolan pieces - for solos in concerts. I still have it, but don't play it - should try again.



At some point Marleen moved away - we tried to continue with several other directors who had been in the group but it wasn't the same so it ended. Sadly she died a few years later - we did have a very nice memorial event.

I went to a great private school - Dalton School in NYC - 1st through 8th grades. There were lots of music activities there - singing and dancing mostly but some playing too. I got to try out a violin a few times. I remember there were Rhythms classes where we moved to music. In about 6th grade they hired a very dynamic choral director, Harold Aks, and that was lots of fun - I still remember singing It's a me o Lord - very loudly. And we did square dancing. I remember in 3rd and 4th grade going on week long trips to a farm/camp in Otis, Massachusetts and we did square dancing there. Among other things I got to milk a cow there. By a strange coincidence that camp is where Robert rsc went during summers - it is no longer operational. At Dalton we had what was called Assembly every week in the auditorium and someone got to play the piano while people were entering the hall. I got to do it a few times.

My parents weren't very interested in classical music but wanted to support me. We had a record changer that played albums of '78s - strange having breaks in the middle of a symphony movement. They took me to occasional concerts. And I remember once when I was quite young going on my own to Carnegie Hall to hear Walter Gieseking, a well-known pianist of the times. And he played about 10 encores at the end! When LPs started becoing popular I had a record player/changer in my room. I remember going to Sam Goody's, a discount record store with huge collections, many times to buy records.

I got interested in playing the piano and started in about 3rd grade at Dalton. And soon after I took some piano lessons - I remember the teacher's name: Mrs. Stretch. And my parents bought a piano - a Sohmer spinet. Sixty Progressive Piano Pieces You Like to Play was the book I used in early days - and I still have my copy! The picture above is a couple of pages with my artwork.

Later I had a new teacher, Richard Willens. He was really good - he had aspired to be a concert pianist but found it too much pressure to perform in front of audiences. I still have some of the music books - Schumann, Haydn (paper in the Haydn too dried out to actually use), and others. I don't remember when I started but stayed with him through high school. Once when he thought I was losing interest in music we worked on Carmen - playing some of the parts and then he took me to the Met (the Old Met) to see it). And he took me back stage to meet Zinka Milanov, who was Carmen. Carmen remains my favorite Opera - paetly because I worked on learning so much of it. We've seen it 4 times in the past year in the MetOpera nightly shows. I still have my ancient recording of Carmen with Rise Stevens at the Met - she sung the role there many times for many years.

And coincidentally we usually have classical music radio on and the thing being played while typing part of this was Schumann's Arabeske - one of the pieces I used to play.

---not my car, but an inspiration: 1932 Chevy wagon ---

In 1967 it was time to get a more practical vehicle with room to carry things in it (like lumber from the lumberyard since we were doing lots of home renovations) so I bought a 1967 Volvo 122S wagon - silver/grey, not red. At some time we replaced it with a yellow Toyota Corona wagon. Robert also had a car - first something from his parents, then a Chevy Nova, and then a Saturn.

Since then we have had a series of Subaru wagons: a Loyale, a Legacy, an Outback (dont remember the years), and now a 2017 Outback - our current car. (All have been silver.)

It is very convenient having a wagon with lots of room to carry stuff back and forth between our two houses, sound equipment to dance camp, and brush to the brush dump (8 loads this year). And with the back seat down you can lie down on the floor - foam cushion of course - good for non-driver on long trips.

We normally have WQXR or WCRB on listening to classical music in the background but since we were tired of Christmas music and too much talking so I decided to listen to some of our records. We have many of them. Last year we listened to one and for a number of years it was none. Of course we also have lots of CDs that we rarely listen to.

Yesterday it was 15 of them in a pretty broad range of genres. Not in the exact order but close:

Christmas in the New World by The Western World - North and Latin American Christmas music

Palestrina: Missa Hodie Christus Natus Est & Six Motets - King's College Choir

A Ceremony of Carols and other Britten - Robert Shaw Chorale

Long Time Ago - The Quadrivium, an early music group that I was a member of and one of the performers in this record.

Don Alfonso the Wise, Music of Medieval Spain -Trio Live Oak, a "spin-off" from the Quadrivium

A Coat of Many Colors , Songs of the Sephardim, Vol II by Voice of the Turtle, another Quadrivium "spin-off"

Musica Antiqua Slovac - Prague Madrigalists

Jacob Obrecht, Pierre de la Rue Motetten - ProCantione Antiqua

Harp of Joy - The Chancel Choir of Plymoth Church, Shaker Heights

A boy was born - The Boston Cecilia Chorus; Robert was a member and on this record

Turkey, songs and dances of Turkey - singers and ensembles of Radio Ankara

Goofing-Off Suite - Pete Seeger

Demolition Derby - Sandy Bull (only listened to a couple of cuts of this)

Greenhouse - Leo Kottke (side one only)

Abbey Road - Beatles

I was looking thorugh my passport collection and cataloged all the trips. I found 81 - some of the entries were hard to read so I might be off by 1 or 2. And I think there might a few Canadian ones with no passport entries.

My first trip was a solo trip to London and Paris in 1964. About 8 days in each with various side trips. In London I stayed in hotel near Trafalger Square that no longer exists and had a pub on the first floor where I often hung out. In Paris I stayed at Hotel Des Deux Continents on Rue Jacob which still exists. There were lots of young people there and we'd usually meet at breakfast and plan an outing and dinner location.

My second trip was in 1966 to Colombia and Ecuador with my new wife (marriage lasted about 4 years - we are still friends).

Some of these trips were work trips - quite a few to Paris since I was working for Bull, the French Computer Company ( I say the since it was the nationalized company that was affiliated with Honeywell where I was employed and eventually bought the Honeywell computer business. Also trips to Germany, Italy, Sweden (these three to present technical papers I wrote), and Tokyo. I remember one that was Paris and then Calgary. We had an affiliate spin-off group from Calgary University. I always took a few days after the trip to enjoy myself; on several of them Robert rsc came and joined me after the work trip.

I think I've been to Paris 12 times - not all work trips. I love Paris and all the nearby places you can go to. A few years I read a book: Paris to the Past by Ina Caro which talked about renting an apartment in Paris and taking train trips to nearby places. So we did that.

There is a small village in central France: Conques that I have been to 4 times. I want to go again. A picture I took is is my desktop picture.


Some of the trips were dance trips (Contra or English Country dance): Costa Rica, Greek Islands, Western Ireland, Florence, Loire Valley.

We heard about a person, Ken McFarland, who was a trip organizer - dance and non-dance trips. We went on one of his and were hooked so went on 13 more of his trips - (some were sequences so only counted as 1 trip). Machu Picchu twice, the upper Amazon and Colca Canyon in Peru plus Easter Island and the Galapagos. Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar, Egypt and Tanzania. Florence, Loire Valley, Western Ireland, and Greek Islands were dance trips. Most of the other travelers were dancers and on several non-dance trips we did a bit of dancing: in Myanmar, on Easter Island, on a boat in the Amazon, Tanzania,.... Sadly Ken died last year.

We have taken a lot of winter trips to the Caribbean. We tried St Vincent and the Grenadines (Young Island and Palm Island), Tobago, and Bermuda (not in the Caribbean) but found this wonderful resort: Guana Island in the British Virgin Islands; we have been there 24 times. It is a small private island with at most 30 guests, beaches, hills, iguanas, easy hiking, excellent food, nice other guests...]. Expensive but wonderful.

Other side of the world: Japan twice, Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, Austrailia, New Zealand.
Africa: Egypt, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Botswana.
South and Central America: Chili, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Belize, Guatamala, Costa Rica, Mexico.
Europe: Ireland, England, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg, Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Greece, Yugoslavia (Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina now), Georgia, Armenia. I have stood with a foot on each side of the equator and arctic circle. Sadly an August dance trip to Finland organized by a pair of people who went on many Ken trips has been cancelled.

Another instigator of trips is soc.motss - originally a Usenet news group for LGBTQ people and allies - has had a yearly gathering - called a con and several were international: Toronto, Vancouver, Utrecht, Stockholm, and Montreal. This year's is supposed to be in Ireland in September, but probably won't happen.

THE KELSEY PENTOUSE SCHOOL
117 East 93rd Street
NEW YOK CITY

Name: John Gintell
Group: Four Year Old
Report for School Year ending: May 28, 1943

1) Social Adjustment: A leader, but needs to accept others suggestions. Hard to reason with. Not always generous about sharing play materials. Makes friends easily.

2) Emotional Adjustment: Rather high strung, No apparent fears. A boaster.

3) Habits of Work: Concentration good, Improved in ability to use hands. Intellectually inclined.

4) Ability in Physical activities: Good. Very active. Coordination good, No fears.

5) Ability and Interest in Art, Woodwork, Rhythms: Interest in all activities,. Musical. Gained control in Rhythms,. Dramatic, & has good imagination.

6) Achievement in Reading, Writing , Arithmetic Spelling, French: Johnny is very advanced for his age, although physically small. Since he doesn’t tire easily, and has an excellent mind, it might be wise for him to be in First Grade next season, He is very much interested in the approaches to First Grade work, and shows considerable ability. It might calm him a bit to have more mental stimulation and since he is so capable, & such a boss, it would be good for him to be with children slightly older than himself.

Elizabeth Kelsey
June 19 1943