Brad

What is the issue? People are discussing the proper balance between the responsibilities and obligations of government to protect its people and the right of people to object as to how those responsibilities and obligations are discharged.

Rights don’t exist in a vacuum Dan. Although the First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech you can’t go into a crowded movie theatre and yell “fire!” In such a case societal concerns outweigh freedom of speech. We are in such a predicament now where rights cannot be absolute and must be tempered to serve society. We have seen this before with the so called right to bear arms where societal interests are disregarded in favor of some so called rights. Oddly, other countries don’t seem to have these problems when public safety is paramount.

This package officially entered the Twilight Zone. After leaving Queens, NY it has now landed in Ybor City, Florida. Yup, the USPS really sucks.

A notion not embraced in this country but embraced in other countries. That's pretty rough on your colleague. Hope the other two pull through.

This is probably not the best place for this but I ordered five paperbacks from Amazon; four came damaged as their packaging is terrible: they just threw them into a mailer with no bubble wrap or anything. They replaced three; packaging just as bad although only one was damaged. Ordered the other one from B & N. Packaging was top notch. They get my book business from now on.

I don’t understand the fascination with R2R, unless it’s a nostalgia craze. I still have a Sony tape recorder from the 1960s but I haven’t used it in at least 20 years. When I was a teenager my friend and I used to tape songs from the radio or records we’d borrow from other people, maybe even Radio Caroline (although I’m not sure, as we lived in Barcelona) or the VOA/Armed Forces Radio. Anyway, that was then.

Ignore him, he’s probably one of those complaining about “mah rights.”

Never heard from him.

It will probably get to you but it may be awhile.

One of my two missing packages showed up today. One down, one to go.

MLB has proposed an 82 game season starting in July. DH in both leagues. Expanded playoff structure. M.L.B. Proposes an 82-Game Season Starting in July

Amy Madden is a bassist in NY. As many can testify, the life of a musician is never an easy one. Now, with the pandemic and no place to play to make money, it’s even harder. Ginia Bellafante, whose column Big City appears every Sunday in the Times’ Metro section, has written a beautiful profile of her, a person who followed her own way when she could have gone to Harvard Law and is thankful for what she has. She Just Wanted to Play Bass. That Life Is Gone.

The Szabo version is not bad although I would have liked to have seen some more improvisation than sticking so closely to the melody. I agree that we as listeners decide if we wish to listen to a song or not; that is the function of choice. However, where would music be if an artist delivered music according to an arbiter’s choice of gentility. For example, by following such a standard, there may have never been a Bird or a Little Richard. The essence of music is not some standard handed down by others — “you kids don’t know what good music. In my day, blah, blah.” The essence of music is the effect it has on the listener, however it is delivered, in whatever manner it is delivered. Creativity includes the breaking of new bounds.

“A veneer of elegance and sophistication.” As determined by who? You? Do you hear how you sound? People should say what they want to say however they want to say it.

No because as mentioned I like Grant’s I Want to Hold Your Hand and Organissimo’s Beatles album so it depends on the artist. If you like Shank’s or Joe Pass’ versions, hey, that’s fine. I don’t. Sounds like something out of a Eurovision concert from the late 60s.

For soccer fans: the Bundesliga (German League) is scheduled to return this coming Saturday.

44 years for me. Blunted it somewhat but I have a block about going to the cemetery, not to mention it’s about 2 hours from here. Time does help though SS.

Interesting journey, somewhat similar to mine. My parents had all kinds of music that I listened to: classical, popular, show tunes, you name it. I generally lost interest in popular music and rock after the mid 70s. I was also trying to establish a career and a family so little time for music. When I gravitated back, I wanted something different, which led to jazz. However, I’ve also returned to the music I grew up with; I went from 0 to 100% jazz (turning my nose up at anything else) to probably 50-50 Jazz and everything else. Life is cyclical.

I may have mentioned here that my second cousin (my mother’s first cousin), who was living in an assisted facility, caught the virus from a staff member and passed away in April. That is the only person I know personally who died of Covid.

I had to drive my son on Friday to the doctor and in driving through downtown Morristown, we saw a number of people not wearing masks, probably about a third. At our local Shoprite grocery stores, they had security guards at the entrance making sure you wore masks. However, last week I didn’t see them. Perhaps that’s a sign people are complying. In addition, you could order groceries online and then reserve a time to pick them up. During March and April it was impossible to get a time as they were all sold out. Now, it’s relatively easy to obtain a time slot. I’m not sure what that means. Perhaps people are more comfortable in going into the store.

Interesting article in today’s Times about how pandemics end. How Pandemics End

We have a small record store in town and the owner has posted that when they reopen it may be appointment and with limited hours. I’d imagine that, in addition to masks, I’d wear disposable gloves.

Correct, not the video you posted.