by  Peter Cates

Chad and Jeremy
Donna, Donna; If I Loved You; World Artists WA 1041, seven-inch vinyl 45 rpm, recorded 1965.

This 45 features two very pleasant renditions by the talented duo from England, Chad Stuart and Jeremy Clyde – better known as Chad and Jeremy. For me, they have always been more interesting than Simon and Gar­funkel with their Co­lumbia albums, Distant Shores and Of Cabbages and Kings, being the most distinctive.

In 1966, Jeremy appeared as a contestant on the Dating Game and winning while Chad did a turn in Disney’s Jungle Book as the voice of Flaps the vulture. Amazon and its vendors have these two songs in streaming, CD, LP and mp3 formats while original copies of the 45 rpm start at a buck.

Rachmaninoff
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (with Fritz Reiner conducting the Chicago Symphony); Falla: Nights in the Gardens of Spain (with Enrique E. Jorda conducting the San Francisco Symphony); Artur Rubinstein, piano; RCA Victor LM-2430, mono lp edition of an album that was released in stereo as LSC-2430; 12-inch 33-1/3 rpm vinyl record; released 1962.

My mono LP that I refer to above stems from a time, 1958 to about 1968, when most new LPs of every musical category came out in mono and stereo editions, mono being a dollar cheaper than stereo be­cause of its lack of separation of instruments between two speakers and stereo’s additional enhanced and vivid clarity. In recent years, however, the mono editions of select rock and jazz classic LPs are generating big bucks because of a full richness and natural ambiance that stereo supposedly lacks much of the time, clean copies of these records being especially desirable! Unfortunately, classical monos are not that much in demand.

The Rachmaninoff and Falla works are very colorful, melodically and dramatically exciting pieces of music played in the closest to perfection manner of the great Artur; the Rachmaninoff was AR’s personally favorite record of all of his output. Finally this mono LP has wonderful sound.

And, of course, both performances are available on CD!

House of Cards

starring Kevin Spacey, is one of the more well-crafted suspense shows of the last three to four years and thus as high quality as my tiny handful of other classics – Dexter, Justified and the Black List. Recommended: MOST HIGHLY !

It deals with a most evil D.C. insider, Frank Underwood, who slithers his way from majority whip to President of the United States. A favored Underwood quote – “Nobody is a Boy Scout, even Boy Scouts! ”

Available on Netflix.

Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo

Sung by Leslie Caron and Mel Ferrer; side B, Lili and the Puppets, performed by Hans Sommer conducting the MGM Studio Orchestra; MGM K30759; seven-inch vinyl 45; recorded 1953.

This ‘45’ features the lovely Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo from the 1953 film, Lili, itself available on Youtube for viewing . Side B has the music for a ballet sequence during the story.

Caron was most famous for An American in Paris and Gigi and, in 2007, received an Emmy for her appearance on Law and Order: SVU. Now 85, she still does a guest role once or twice a year.

Piston: The Incredible Flutist

Copland: Appalachian Spring; Arthur Rother conducting the Symphony Orchestra of Berlin; Urania URLP 7092, 12-inch mono vinyl LP, released 1953.

A very fine conductor, Arthur Rother (1885-1972) was mainly steeped in 19th century German repertoire ranging from Beethoven to Richard Strauss, although he occasionally programmed works by Puccini, Britten, Tchaikovsky, etc. He was Director of the Berlin Deutsche Opera for at least a couple of decades and his name appears on many post-World War II radio broadcasts, transferred mainly to the Urania label and widely distributed here in the US. Finally and most importantly, despite working busily during the Hitler years, he also kept his hands clean.

This pair of important orchestral works by Walter Piston, who was born in Rockland, and Aaron Copland are given very exciting performances here and the LP frequently surfaces on Internet sites.

No cd transfer as of yet !!

Don’t Cry Now

Linda Ronstadt, Asylum SD 5064, 12-inch vinyl LP, recorded 1973.

Now 70, Linda Ronstadt has ended her singing career due to suffering from Parkinson’s disease. But for over 40 years, her singing career was one ravishing success after another.

After her short tenure with the Stone Poneys beginning in 1967 and the launching of a solo career two years later with two or three LPs of merit, she hit the motherlode with Don’t Cry Now. The album was, is and will remain a classic, as will Heart Like A Wheel which was released shortly after.
I reheard both of these recently after a number of years and found them still very listenable, although my tastes are quite different from the ‘70s, when I played them much too often and got sick of them.

Even now, I could happily shelve them for another 10 years .

I recently read that Ronstadt is a huge fan of Maria Callas recordings.

During the last two weeks, I have been working my way through the three seasons of Black List episodes on Roku. As far as I am concerned, Reddington is the most fascinating “hero” since Dexter and Justified’s Raylan Givens.

by Roland D. Hallee

I was encouraged to hear recently of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s renewed effort to create more habitat for the New England Cottontail.

New England cottontails, Sylvilagus transitionalis, were once a common sight along the coast, but as old fields turned to forest, and farmland became developed, habitat for this distinctively New England species diminished and their numbers declined. New England cottontails need shrub lands and young forests to thrive.

At one time, the New England cottontail was the only rabbit east of the Hudson River, until the Eastern cottontail was introduced in the late 1800s.

Until the 1950s, the New England cottontail was considered the more abundant species in New England. By the 1960s, biologists noticed that the Eastern cottontail was replacing the New England cottontail throughout New England.

Today, the Eastern cottontail is far more abundant, except in Maine, where the New England cottontail remains the only rabbit. But, it is confined to southern Maine. It is still found in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New York, however, the species range had been reduced by more than 80 percent by 1960. Today, the New England cottontail’s range is 86 percent less. The numbers are going in the wrong direction.

Because of this decline in numbers, the New England cottontail is a candidate for protection under the Endangered Species Act. Cottontail hunting has been restricted in some areas where the Eastern and New England cottontails coexist in order to protect the New England cottontail populations.

According to at least one study the cottontails’ historic range also included a small part of southern Québec, from which it is extirpated.

In order to merely survive, a single New England cottontail requires at least two-and-a-half acres of suitable habitat. For long-term security and persistence, 10 rabbits need at least 25 acres. Over the last 100 years, forests throughout New England have aged. As shade from the canopy of mature trees increases, understory vegetation thins and no longer provides sufficient New England cottontail habitat.

It’s not easy to distinguish the difference between Eastern and New England cottontails. The New England cottontail has shorter ears, slightly smaller body size, a black line on the anterior edge of the ears, a black spot between the ears and no white spot on the forehead. The skulls of the two species are also quite different and are a reliable means of distinguishing the two.

The major factor in the decline of the New England cottontails is habitat destruction from the reduced thicket habitat. Before Europeans settled, the New England cottontails were likely found along river valleys, where disturbances in the forest, such as beaver activity, ice storms, hurricanes and wildfires promoted thicket growth. Development has eliminated a large portion of that habitat.

However, there are other factors in the equation:

• The introduction of more than 200,000 Eastern cottontails, mostly by hunting clubs, greatly harmed the New England cottontail because the Eastern cottontails are more diverse in their diet.  They also have a slightly better ability to avoid predators. Known predators of the New England cottontail include birds of prey, coyotes, Canadian lynx and bobcats. To avoid predators, New England cottontails run for cover, “freeze” and rely on their cryptic coloration; or, when running, follow a zig-zag pattern to confuse the predator. Because New England cottontail habitat is small and has less vegetative cover, they must forage more often in the open, leaving them vulnerable.
• The introduction of invasive plant species such as multiflora rose, honeysuckle bush anbd autumn olive in the 20th century may have displaced many native species that provided food for the New England cottontails.
• An increase in population and density of white-tailed deer in the same range as the New England cottontails also damaged populations, because deer eat many of the same plants and damage the density of understory plants providing vital thicket habitat.

That’s why the plan to create more habitat for the New England cottontail in the Scarborough Marsh Wildlife Management Area is a step in the right direction to restore the species to its historic numbers.

by Katie Ouilette

WALLS and faithful readers, are you ready for what has been going on again with a historical society?  Wow, busy folks and this time, WALLS, you have Madison to brag about.  What’s more, for sure you are going to hear some very surprising information about Norridgewock.

Lew had gone to the races at the last day of Farmington Fair and, since word had been out that an author of the book In the Shadow of the Steel Cross would be at the Madison Historic Museum, at one time, had been Old Point Avenue School.  What a great historical display the members of the Madison Museum’ Historical Society have done to bring history of Madison and vicinity alive for anyone visiting the Museum.

First, WALLS, tell about what awaits folks at the museum.  No, no, no….those cookies and other goodies on the table are not available for every visitor’s enjoyment, but these wonderful refreshments were available for everyone who came to hear author Louise Ketchum Hunt tell of Father Sebastian Rasle, S.J., Mission in Norridgewock, after immigrating to our United States from France 250 years ago.  Folks from Madison know that our Catholic Church is named Sebastian Rasle Church and the, once, church school was named Father Rasle School.  But, do you Madisonites know how the village of Norridgewock, the British, the French all figured prominently in our history with the Wabanaki and Abenaki Indian tribes.

This is a fascinating book and Louise Ketchum Hunt, of Indian heritage, so graciously tells the story of Father Rasle and the frightening story of how her heritage was affected……….all the way to Father Rasle’s being murdered with Indian chies huddled next to him to protect him.  Yes, the famous Father Rasle, while WALLS is not trying to convert believers to Catholicism, WALLS do know that Father Rasle’s history in our area is something we of every age must be aware.

A few weeks ago, we drove to Eustis, when we heard that the historical society there would be featuring the Brittish’ going to Canada.  We certainly were impressed with the displays of history there, but when we saw the name of our one-and-only Andrew Redmond so prominently displayed, we thought of his son’s story about the house he and his wife own on the Norridgewock Road, in Skowhegan.  True, that location is not mentioned in the book by Ms. Hunt, but somehow, WALLS, do you think the famous spring of which he has spoken figured into the Norridgewock attacks?  Yes, there was an attack several times on Norridgewock Village.

In closing, WALLS, why don’t you tell about the name of the book by Mrs. Hunt?  The name:  In the Shadow of the Steel Cross. Father Rasle Road is off the Norridgewock-Madison Road and you faithful readers may wish to visit the Father Rasle Cemetery.