Senses working overtime #515

1 Essential item of the week:

 

Yes, I had a head cold all week and two days off work. Bleugh.

2 Autumn

Is there any better signal for Autumn's approach than a head cold? 

Here's a post from 2015 celebrating Autumn to get you in the mood.

Me and Bazie, 2015

The post doesn't have the clip of Dylan and Cash doing Girl From The North Country but you can listen to it here as you read the post.

3 Reading: Penelope Fitzgerald - Offshore

4 Listening: Michael Nesmith - The Prison

Pretty much a perfect record. It's beautiful and certainly suited my mood this week.

5 Watching: 1883 and 1923

Especially loved 1883, both are prequels to Yellowstone.

This article on the Dutton family tree is excellent, too.

Overtime: 

Learn what is to be taken seriously and laugh at the rest.

Hermann Hesse

Senses working overtime #506

1 Listening: WTWMC - Kiwi Pik n Mix

Get on board for our NZ music playlist. We are selecting our favourites, rather than the best, so a lot of deep cuts among the hits.

2 Watched: Black Doves

A pretty good British spy thriller on Netflix starring Keira Knightley.

3 Watched: Yellowstone

We finished the last season of this show - thoroughly enjoyed it, too. Bravo to Beth (Kelly Reilly)!

4 Reading: The McCartney Legacy Volume 1- Allan Kozinn, Adrian Sinclair 

 

I'm currently working through his solo albums for my Goo Goo G'Joob blog and this is a great companion. I don't have Volume 2 yet, but I will.

5 Listening: Flowers In The Dirt - Paul McCartney

For me, his best album of the eighties. Tug Of War and Pipes Of Peace round out his top three eighties albums.

Overtime: Buckminster Fuller

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

(courtesy Swiss Miss)

Senses working overtime #505

1 Farewell: Tango

Sadly, this week we had to say farewell to Tango - a gentle soul if ever there was one.

Rest in peace Tangie.

2 Listening: Larry Coryell - The Restful Mind

The jazz fusion firebrand gets into a meditative state for this one. It's been on repeat at Maple Grove this week, along with #3 below.

3 Listening: Oregon - Out Of The Woods

Three members of Oregon play on The Restful Mind with Larry.

4 Watching: Yellowstone

I bit the bullet and signed up to Neon to watch Seasons 4 and 5 of Yellowstone. No regrets!

Interesting that loose cannon Beth seems to be everyone's favourite character on this show.

5 Reading: Louis L'Amour - The Outlaws of Mesquite

These short stories go well with Yellowstone.

Overtime: 

Philosopher and writer Friedrich Nietzsche on enjoying the process:

"The end of a melody is not its goal."

(Courtesy James Clear)

Senses working overtime #504

1 2025 - Happy new year to the blogosphere

2 Watched: Yellowstone Season 3

3 Listening: Aimee Mann - Bachelor No.2

4 Reading: Testimony - Robbie Robertson

I'm nearly done and I'm not sure if I like him or not. He may be the only musician in the history of the world to go on the road and be faithful to his wife (and three children). Maybe - he certainly doesn't confess to any dalliances along the way in his book.

Most of it centres on a narrow period from when he started being a musician to when The Band were in their prime. I'm on page 420 (out of 494) and he's not even up to The Last Waltz yet!

He does write well, and I'm fully engaged - especially in the chronicling of his relationships with Dylan and Levon Helm.

5 Listening: WTWMC - Loved Ones

The playlist is complete - 135 to celebrate our loved ones. It's a pretty darn impressive playlist made with love.

Our attention shifts to our favourite Kiwi artists next week. Thirty songs for each amigo, spread over 6 weeks. 

Overtime:  

Writer Susan Sontag on finding the courage to change this year (courtesy James Clear):

"I must change my life so that I can live it, not wait for it."

Senses working overtime #458

1 My feeling this week

Photo by charlesdeluvio on Unsplash

2 Viewing: Yellowstone

3 Listening: Sonny Rollins' Work Time

Link to my blogpost is here.

4 Reading: Roderick Random and The Little Guide to Taylor Swift

Three quarters through the Tobias Smollett book now, and a colleague loaned a copy of the Taylor Swift guide - some great Tay Tay quotes that will appear on the Purdzilla Show in due course. 

I also read this article in Rolling Stone about how Trump and his allies are going after Taylor Swift. She'll win. No doubt.

And, The Guardian had an interesting article on why coffee shops all look the same.

5 Thinking: About time management on my Wednesdays

Overtime: Trading trust

Great post from Seth Godin. As he says:

Once you burn some trust, it’s almost impossible to earn it back. It took Harvard 400 years to become Harvard, Google about twenty to earn its position. This is the opportunity you’ve been waiting for–to become the one that earns the benefit of the doubt.

Being the low-trust option is hardly a spot worth fighting for.

Senses working overtime #457

1 Feeling this week (with a seven day virus)

2 Reading: Anne Tyler's Ladder Of Years

Thanks to some time off work dealing to that virus, I have moved on to this after finally finishing Killing Commendatore (681 pages!!). 

I'm about halfway through Roderick Random as well. Ladder of Years has been in the to-be-read pile for over a year - it's time is now!

3 Listening: Donovan's For Little Ones

I've been after this second half of his superb 1967 double album A Gift From A Flower To A Garden for ages. Finally found one in Real Groovy.

If you want just one song - try The Mandolin Man and His Secret.

4 Watching: Yellowstone

Having finished Netflix' three seasons of The Good Doctor, we've moved on to this one, also on Netflix.

5 Listening: Robert Scott - The Green House

The week saw the welcome return of the Wander To Wozza's Music Club (WTWMC) - wherein three intrepid amigos trade album recommendations. 

This is our fourth year of this enterprise. Our 2023 playlist is here. 

Overtime: On love

Teacher and author Bruce Coville:

"Nothing you love is lost. Not really. Things, people—they always go away, sooner or later. You can't hold them, any more than you can hold moonlight. But if they've touched you, if they're inside you, then they're still yours. The only things you ever really have are the ones you hold inside your heart."

(Courtesy of James Clear)