by  Peter Cates

Connie Francis

The Exciting Connie Francis; MGM E3761, 12-inch mono LP of an album with a stereo edition, recorded 1959.

Now 77 but still active, Connie Francis is a living legend in pop music. Her 1957 megahit, the lovely Bert Kalmar/Harry Ruby Who’s Sorry Now, was one truly fine song, made extra special by CF’s totally sincere rendition, even if a tad smothered by sentimentality. That year, American Bandstand featured her lip-singing it and, as a six year old, I remember wishing, just momentarily, that she would adopt me as her little boy on a single mom basis – LOL!!!

BTW, with respect to Kalmar and Ruby, the 1950 Fred Astaire and Red Skelton musical biopic, Three Little Words, also from MGM (Hmm, interesting coincidence), and about the two songwriters, had a very stirring and expressively different performance of WSN by Gloria De Haven, very much in the Peggy Lee/Julie London tradition.

Exciting is a set of 12 very classic pop standards – Time After Time; Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen’s Come Rain/Come Shine; a very personal favorite, There Will Never Be Another You; Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, of which my copy of the late Karen Chandler’s early ‘50s Coral 45 is the gold standard; That’s All; All By Myself, etc. She performs with heartfelt expression but her timing and phrasing is sometimes leaving me wanting something more, an elusive nuance and magic that such balladeers as Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Torme and Doris Day had aplenty. But I really liked her singing of Time After Time. And the arrangements of the gifted Ray Ellis, like those beautiful ones for many of the Johnny Mathis late ‘50s hits, enhanced the album.

For me personally, the worst record she may have released – and one of the top ten worst in recording history, was the 1963 Brylcream Sing Along with Connie. First, it was an insult to the finest Sing Along group then popular, namely Mitch Miller’s. Secondly, the arrangements were hokey, cornballish and, most obviously, a rush job of rush jobs, much like most Christmas albums and TV specials. Thirdly, the Brylcream commercials flooded the American Bandstand. And finally, those little dabs made men’s hair greasier and grosser – forget pursue, the gals would all avoid ya!

The album would also impact the 1963 Christmas of the greater Cates family groups in the vicinity – the price for the record, when first released, was $1 when one purchased a tube of the ointment. Within a week, the price was down to ten cents without the required extortion.

A most “thrifty,’ well-to-do relative whose anonymity shall be honored in this instance, like the other sleeping dogs, bought a pile of the 10 centers and flooded every household with a copy as his way of good will to all men and women. Even after 30 years, no other copies of a record flooding the rubbish sales and Goodwills would be in such mint plus condition.

However, the story doesn’t end there. Rare record shops had their copies priced at 20 bucks and more by the mid ‘80s.

The singer’s life would be shattered by two horrific events. In 1974, a rapist would bust into her room at a New Jersey motel and brutally assault her, never to be found to this day. In 1981, her brother was murdered by two Mafia hitmen.

But her ability to move on and bless so many both here and abroad is only one of the reasons she is so worthy of honor for her life’s work.

Several selections, maybe the whole album, can be heard on YouTube, while prices on the Amazon page start at $4.39 for LP and $6.80 for CD.

 

by  Emily Cates

Many folks are surprised to learn that autumn is a good time for planting trees. Once a good frost has arrived and trees drop their leaves, it’s a sign that “Tree Time” has begun! To make this event a success, let’s keep a few things in mind. The following suggestions apply not only to trees, but also to shrubs, vines, and other hardy plants.

Good planting candidates should be dormant, young, and small enough to move without too much bother. (A larger-sized plant will easier to move if it was root-pruned last season by a sharp spade plunged into the radius of soil around it.) Try to get as many roots as reasonably possible. If the roots must be pruned, cut away areas that are damaged in the process, and remember to proportionately trim branches from the top of the tree.

All right, now it’s time to plant, preferably into an already-prepared, rock-free, planting hole which was dug with more than enough room for the roots. Special emphasis should be placed on the width of the planting hole, with enough vertical depth to accommodate an equal depth to which the plant resided previously. Be sure to work loose any compacted areas in the hole. Grafted specimens can be planted with the graft at or under soil level if it is desirable for the scion to form its own roots.

Careful placement of the tree and backfilling of the soil is done best when the roots are evenly spread out. If a root does not fit, do not bend it back towards the tree. Either proportionately prune the root and top, or widen the planting hole. A huge success factor is the amount of water added at this time. Don’t be afraid to make a soupy mess, the tree will love you for it! As the soil is backfilled, water adequately to the point of saturation.

Gently wiggle the tree back and forth to get rid of air bubbles. Pack the soil down gently when finished backfilling, and add a nice, thick layer of mulch to keep weeds at bay and to conserve moisture. Old rotted hay or aged sawdust are good choices. Whatever is used, it should be pulled away from the base of the tree. Hold off on fertilizers at this time, but be sure to keep the soil around the tree well-watered, to the point of saturation.

Check every day or two by poking around the soil, adding enough moisture, doing so until the ground freezes.

This is perhaps the most important aspect of fall planting. After all, this is the moisture that will carry the plant through from freeze to thaw.

To help prevent sunscald from the winter sun, apply a coat of interior latex paint applied from the base to several inches above the snow-line. Wrapping smaller trees, shrubs, and vines with a collar of tin foil (removed in Springtime) will accomplish this and also deter uninvited four-footed, furry guests from munching away all our hard work. While we’re at it, let’s make sure to mark our plants so that the snow plow driver or Aunt Maybelle sees them.

Now it’s tea time! What better way to plant a tree than with a spot of tea?

GARDEN WORKS
by  Emily Cates

Attention garlic lovers, now until the freeze is the time when you should be planting. If you have as much affection for this beloved stinking rose as I do, then you’ll want to read on for some helpful advice including cultivar selection, obtaining planting stock, site preparation, planting, and post-planting care.

First, though, let’s find out which cultivars we like. Garlic is usually divided into groups having stiff stalks (hardnecks) or soft, pliable stalks (softnecks). Within these groups are several subgroups of many named cultivars.

Generally, hardnecks- especially those in the Rocambole group (Spanish Roja, Phillips, Stewart’s)- are valued for their exquisite flavors. Softnecks, on the other hand, (Kettle River Giant, Red Toch) tend to excel in storage and make beautiful braids. In a search to obtain suitable cultivars for our gardens and tastes, look for those with desirable qualities such as cold hardiness, storage abilities, and culinary attributes. In my opinion, the most tried-and-true, beginner-friendly hardnecks that are easiest to grow and obtain planting stock for are the ones called German Extra Hardy, and Music. I would also recommend a softneck, known as Inchelium Red.

Where can we find planting stock? FEDCO and Johnny’s are local companies that carry the aforementioned cultivars. Once you get a garlic patch established, save your own bulbs and keep your own strain going year after year. It’s always a good idea to make sure our planting stock is from the best of the best if possible, and free of disease and mechanical injury. Garlic that was harvested too late will have split bulb wrappers, but should be just fine for planting stock (and possibly more affordable).

Where should we plant our garlic? It’s optimal to give garlic the highest place of honor in the garden: a plot with the very best soil and full sun. Give them the royal treatment! At the end of every September, dig and grub out the weeds in the beds, paying extra attention to extracting as many roots and rhizomes as possible. (I’ve found this to be most effective when done by hand – just think of it as a free gym membership…and good business for your chiropractor…) Then go through with a spading fork and turn the soil, adding compost and/or manure, and amendments such as azomite and clean wood ashes. Now it’s ready to plant!

Next, separate the individual cloves from the bulb and plant each clove about 9 inches apart, pointy-side up with the point an inch or two under soil level. They can be in single rows or staggered in beds. Labels and a map are crucial if more than one named garlic is planted. After planting, cover the planting with a nice, thick mulch of straw. Farm animal bedding works really well, too, especially if it’s from goats. Speaking of animals – if there’s no fence around the garden, it might be a good idea to lay down some welded-wire fencing on top of the mulch. The garlic will grow through this while being protected from scratching, digging, and chomping critters who like garlic as much as we do.

In the meantime, we’re done for now until Springtime. Whew, it was invigorating work – and worth it, too!

by  Peter Cates

 

Dottie West
A Legend in My Time; RCA Camden CAS-2454; 12-inch stereo vinyl LP; released 1971 and consisting of nine selections from 2 previous LPs from 1965 and 1967.

Dottie West (1932-1991) recorded upwards of 28 albums for RCA alone between 1965 and 1975, many with the Jordannaires and the arrangements of Chet Atkins. She had a particular gift for cutting to the agony and ecstasy of a given song, especially when it was the high caliber writing of Don Gibson, Dallas Frazier, Willie Nelson, Mickey Newbury, etc., examples of which are featured here. As stated above, a sampler album but a very enjoyable one.

Copies available from the Amazon site starting at five dollars for the lp and eight for a cd reissue containing both this and her 1965 Sound of Country Music.

Walton
Belshazzar’s Feast; Coronation Te Deum; Sir Georg Solti conducting the London Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra; Benjamin Luxon, baritone; Ralph Downes, organ; London OS26525, 12-inch vinyl stereo LP, recorded March, 1977.

Sir William Walton (1902-1983) was one of England’s foremost 20th century composers and first achieved fame with Belshaz zar’s Feast at the very young age of 29 in 1931. This oratorio, a term describing a work for choir and orchestra with a Bib­lical subject as its theme, is probably the most scorching, high-spirited and, in its quieter moments, atmospheric, if not creepy example of the genre, light years different from Handel’s Messiah.

The subject draws on the years in Babylonian captivity of the Jews, the evil of Belshazzar the king and the depraved feast that he holds for his court, climaxing in God’s destruction of everyone – there is a passage depicting the hand from out of nowhere scrawling the miraculous writing on the wall – “Mene mene tekel upharsin, thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting !” – just before God’s wrath against these folks is totally vented.

A later, shorter work included on the record is the 1953 Coronation Te Deum, specially composed for the crowning of Queen Elizabeth II. Walton paid numerous visits to Westminster Abbey to check out every possible corner for the best projection of the music. Although not a masterwork, it has a listenable festive majesty .

Solti conducted performances of both works with power, zest and beauty, clarifying and negotiating Belshazzar’s tricky rhythms with suave effect.

CD editions of this recording start at $7.50 on the Amazon site while the LPs begin at $4.89.

Charles Dickens
Barnaby Rudge

Barnaby Rudge, along with Tale of Two Cities, are the only Dickens novels I have read from cover to cover. Having made this statement, I intend no sort of contempt for his formidable storytelling gifts but merely to convey that too many other activities obstruct my intentions to enjoy the several unread volumes on my shelves.

Written in 1841 when Dickens was only 29, its several hundred pages are a depiction of an assembly of good and bad characters in London during the Gordon anti-Catholic riots of 1780. It has engaging sub-plots of compelling interest and a sinister Dennis the Hangman who loves to editorialize on both the meaningful and humorous implications of his work, praising the gallows as a very practical and most civilized tool of true justice.

by Roland D. Hallee

While preparing breakfast last Saturday, I glanced out the kitchen window towards my recently cleaned up garden plot. While looking around I noticed some movement, and commented to my wife: “I think I have a title for a new country song, ‘There’s a squirrel in the compost pile.’”

I’m not sure how that translates to pickup trucks, bass boats and lost loves, but I’m sure it has a place in there somewhere.

Anyway, that prompted me to ask myself what could be in the compost that would interest a squirrel. After all, it has nothing more than plant stems, vines from squashes and various roots and stalks.

There were a few tiny, fledgling fruits from these items that didn’t have a chance to mature, but that would be it.

Then my mind rewound to the recently closed down camp, and the food sources out there. Nearby there is a large oak tree and a mature, but fairly young beech tree. Most of you have probably heard acorns when they fall from the trees, and land on something substantive. They sound like gunfire, exploding bombs or branches falling. They make quite a loud noise. The presence of Beech nuts, on the other hand, are hardly even noticeable.

Wildlife that consume acorns as an important part of their diets includes birds, such as jays, pigeons, some ducks and several species of woodpeckers. Small mammals include mice, squirrels and several other rodents – ahh, squirrels. Large mammals include pigs, bears, and deer. Acorns are in high demand.

Acorns are attractive to animals because they are large and efficiently consumed or cached. They are rich in nutrients and contain large amounts of protein, carbohydrates and fats, as well as calcium, phosphorus and potassium, and the vitamin niacin.

Acorns are too heavy for wind dispersal, so the spreading of the seed is dependent on animals like the squirrels who cache the nuts for future use. Squirrels scatter-hoard the acorns in a variety of locations in which it is possible for them to germinate and thrive. On occasion, the odd acorn may be lost, or the squirrel may die before consuming all the acorns it has stored. A small number of acorns may germinate and survive, producing the next generation of oak trees.

As far as us humans go, acorns have frequently been used as a coffee substitute. The Confederates in the American Civil War and the Germans during World War II, which were cut off from coffee supplies by Union and Allied blockades respectively, are particularly notable past instances of this use of acorns.

As far as the beech nuts go, again going back to camp and the beech tree near our site, there doesn’t seem to be much activity by squirrels in the area of the tree. Of course, the beech nut seems to defy gravity. It is a small nut with soft-spined husks. Although it is high in tannin content, they are bitter. The nut can be extracted by peeling back the husk, but your fingers may hurt dealing with the spines.

Maybe that is why they are not that attractive to squirrels.

Nowhere in all my research did I find any reference to wildlife that feast on the beech nut.

Beech trees are better known for other things than producing a source of food. The Beech bark is extremely thin and scars easily. Carvings, such as lovers’ initials, remain because the beech tree is unable to heal itself.

On a different note, slats of Beech wood are washed in a caustic soda to leach out any flavor and is used in the bottom of fermentation tanks for Budweiser beer. This allows a surface for the yeast to settle, so that it doesn’t pile up too deep. Beech is also used to smoke Westphalian ham, various sausages and some cheeses.

The American beech tree occurs only in the eastern United States and southeastern Canada. It is believed that it was found coast to coast prior to the Ice Age. Now they can only be found east of the Great Plains. You will rarely find the beech tree in developed areas unless it is a left over of a forest that was cut for land development.

The beech tree is also temperamental. Some trees never produce nuts while others only spawn edible nuts in certain years.

So what was that squirrel – I could not discern whether it was Martha or Stewart, my two resident rodents – looking for that day? Probably just window shopping.