Archive for January, 2011
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Day 341: Are You Too Chicken to Read This?
My friend Erik Sherman and I have a lot in common. True, I didn’t go to MIT like him (teensy issue with my math SATs,) but I’ve got a spiritual slide rule in my pocket.
Erik lives in my home state of Massachusetts and writes for a living from his home, like me. More important, he has a flock of chickens (at left.) I never tire of hearing news about them on his Facebook page.
In fact, I was brooding about them what with the record, subzero temps back home and was relieved when Erik announced last week he was going to install a heat lamp in their coop.
Well, you can imagine what happened next. We started imagining. And by “we” I mean all of us geeks (see MIT above) like Erik’s and my friend, the writer, Linda Lenzen Treiber, and others who like to have pun.
For me, at least, having an eggstraordinarily sweet thread like this for distraction is the next best thing to having a big block of milk chocolate at my side while I work.
Erik Sherman
Chickens’ heat lamp is on and the red glow has issued forth. I expect the mirror ball to descend any minute. Instead of break dancing, they will probably do beak dancing. Or the Funky Chicken.
Monday at 2:46am · Like · Comment
5 people like this.
Sue Anderson Wagner Achy beaky heart
Monday at 4:36am · Like · 1 person
Erik Sherman The Wattletusi
Monday at 5:02am · Like · 1 person
Sue Anderson Wagner My Little Deuce Coop
Monday at 5:40am · Like · 1 person
Erik Sherman Stairway to Henven
Monday at 6:12am · Like · 1 person
Dana Kennedy Haying Alive
Monday at 12:36pm · Like · 1 person
Erik Sherman Last Train to Clucksville
Monday at 12:51pm · Like · 1 person
Dana Kennedy It’s Only Flock and Roll (but I like it.)
Monday at 1:02pm · Like
Gene Retske It’s fun to stay at the K-F-C, eh?
Monday at 1:08pm · Like
Erik Sherman Band in the Run
Monday at 1:39pm · Like
Dana Kennedy Jailhouse Cock
Monday at 1:55pm · Like
Gene Retske Tern, Tern, Tern
Monday at 2:01pm · Like
Erik Sherman Respecked
Monday at 2:04pm · Like
Gene Retske I Wanna Hold Your Hen
Monday at 2:18pm · Like
Erik Sherman Purple Lays
Monday at 2:29pm · Like
Erik Sherman Suite: Judy Blue Eggs
Monday at 2:43pm · Like
Dana Kennedy One Yolk Over the Line
Monday at 3:22pm · Like
Dana Kennedy Bat out of Shell
Monday at 3:50pm · Like
Erik Sherman That’ll be the Hay (or Lay)
Monday at 4:24pm · Like
Dana Kennedy It’s Raining Hen
Monday at 4:29pm · Like
Gene Retske Lay, Lady, Lay
Monday at 4:32pm · Like
Dana Kennedy These Boots are Made for Squawkin’
Monday at 4:38pm · Like · 1 person
Erik Sherman Papa’s Got a Brand New Egg
Monday at 4:45pm · Like
Dana Kennedy Oops, I Did It Egg-Hen
Monday at 4:49pm · Like · 2 people
Erik Sherman Nesterday
Monday at 4:50pm · Unlike · 1 person
Erik Sherman Livin’ on a Layer
Monday at 4:52pm · Like
Dana Kennedy Eggspress Yourself
Monday at 4:55pm · Like
Gene Retske Shell we dance?
Monday at 4:56pm · Like
Dana Kennedy Highway to Shell
Monday at 4:58pm · Like
Erik Sherman Born in the U S Hay
Monday at 5:04pm · Like
Linda Lenzen Treiber Pecker Face
Monday at 5:05pm · Like
Linda Lenzen Treiber I Want to Hold Your Hen
Monday at 5:06pm · Like
Erik Sherman Devil with a Blue Crest
Monday at 5:07pm · Like
Erik Sherman Henny-Penny Lane
Monday at 5:07pm · Like
Linda Lenzen Treiber Smells Like Teen Poulet
Monday at 5:09pm · Like
Linda Lenzen Treiber Little Wing
Monday at 5:10pm · Like
Erik Sherman My Boyfriend’s Buck
Monday at 5:12pm · Like
Gene Retske I Started a Yolk
Monday at 5:15pm · Like
Linda Lenzen Treiber Layla
Monday at 5:20pm · Like
Linda Lenzen Treiber Should I Lay or Should I Go?
Monday at 5:21pm · Like
Erik Sherman Sweet Home Alabumen
Monday at 5:23pm · Like
Linda Lenzen Treiber West Fried Story
Monday at 5:27pm · Like
Linda Lenzen Treiber Bwock Like An Egyptian
Monday at 5:35pm · Like
Linda Lenzen Treiber Bwock This Way
Monday at 5:36pm · Like · 1 person
Dana Kennedy Beat It
Monday at 5:49pm · Like
Sue Anderson Wagner I’m A Scramblin’ Man – Waylon Hennings
Monday at 7:10pm · Like
Linda Lenzen Treiber Cluck You – Cee Lo Green
Monday at 7:12pm · Like
Dana Kennedy Hit the Road Crack
Monday at 7:41pm · Like
Sue Anderson Wagner Yolklahoma
Monday at 7:46pm · Like · 1 person
Dana Kennedy You Cheep Me Holding On
Monday at 7:50pm · Like · 1 person
Erik Sherman You’re the Crop
Monday at 8:20pm · Like
Dana Kennedy I Fought the Straw (and the Straw Won)
Monday at 8:45pm · Like
Dana Kennedy Don’t Go Breaking My Eggs.
Monday at 10:03pm · Like
Linda Lenzen Treiber It’s a Hard Bwock Life
Yesterday at 12:14am · Like
Dana Kennedy I Get a Chick out of You
Yesterday at 12:19am · Like
Linda Lenzen Treiber I Only Have Thighs For You
Yesterday at 1:05am · Like
Suzanne Kolowich Howell Born to be Fried
Yesterday at 1:12am · Like
Linda Lenzen Treiber She’s Got Legs
Yesterday at 1:14am · Like
Linda Lenzen Treiber Pin Ball Gizzard
Yesterday at 1:15am · Like
Linda Lenzen Treiber Poulet Vous Coucher Avec Moi?
Yesterday at 1:19am · Like
Erik Sherman Wind Beneath My Wings
Yesterday at 1:57am · Like
Erik Sherman Stormy Feather
Yesterday at 1:57am · Like
Erik Sherman Wild Wing
Yesterday at 1:58am · Like
Erik Sherman I Love You a Bushel and a Peck
Yesterday at 1:59am · Like
Erik Sherman Buckgin the Beguine
Yesterday at 2:01am · Like
Erik Sherman Sunny Up Side of the Street
Yesterday at 2:02am · Like
Dana Kennedy Don’t Leave Me This Hay
23 hours ago · Like
Dana Kennedy Simply the Nest
23 hours ago · Like
Dana Kennedy Don’t Let the Heat Lamp Go Down on Me
22 hours ago · Like
Erik Sherman Do You Know the Way to San Poulet?
22 hours ago · Like
Erik Sherman Hennies from Heaven
22 hours ago · Like
Dana Kennedy Flock Around the Clock.
20 hours ago · Like
Dana Kennedy Paradise by the Dashboard Lamp
20 hours ago · Like
Dana Kennedy Hennie and the Jets
20 hours ago · Like
Dana Kennedy All the Young Broods
19 hours ago · Like
Erik Sherman Broodin on a Sunday Afternoon
18 hours ago · Like
Erik Sherman Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Yolkadot Bikini
18 hours ago · Like
Dana Kennedy Cluckin’
18 hours ago · Like
Dana Kennedy Bohennian Rhapsody
18 hours ago · Like
Dana Kennedy My Prereggative
18 hours ago · Like
Dana Kennedy Behind Blue Thighs
18 hours ago · Like
Sue Anderson Wagner Rock around the Cluck
7 hours ago · Like
Sue Anderson Wagner Yesterlay
7 hours ago · Like
Dana Kennedy Love me Hender
6 minutes ago · Like
Dana Kennedy Heartbeak Hotel
6 minutes ago · Like
Dana Kennedy Light My Wire
6 minutes ago · Like
Dana Kennedy While My Guitar Gently Cheeps
5 minutes ago · Like
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Day 339: R.I.P. Jack LaLanne!
One of my all-time heroes made it t0 age 96 by walking the walk as much as talking the talk.
Goodbye, fella.
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Day 320: Be the Sugar-Free Change You Want to See in this World!
Be The Change You Want To See In This World – Mahatma Gandhi
During 1930′s, a young boy had become obsessed with eating sugar. His mother was very upset with this. But no matter how much she scolded him and tried to break his habit, he continued to satisfy his sweet tooth. Totally frustrated, she decided to take her son to see his idol – Mahatma Gandhi; perhaps her son would listen to him.
She walked miles, for hours under scorching sun to finally reach Gandhi’s ashram. There, she shared with Gandhi her predicament. -
“Bapu, my son eats too much sugar. It is not good for his health. Would you please advise him to stop eating it?”Gandhi listened to the woman carefully, thought for a while and replied,
“Please come back after two weeks. I will talk to your son.”The woman looked perplexed and wondered why had he not asked the boy to stop eating sugar right away. She took the boy by the hand and went home.
Two weeks later they revisited Gandhi. Gandhi looked directly at the boy and said,
“Boy, you should stop eating sugar. It is not good for your health.”The boy nodded and promised he would not continue this habit any longer. The boy’s mother was puzzled. She turned to Gandhi and asked,
“Bapu, Why didn’t you tell him that two weeks ago when I brought him here to see you?”Gandhi smiled,
“Mother, two weeks ago I was eating a lot of sugar myself.” -
Day 317: A Universal Truth?
“This life…is what you make it. No matter what you are going to mess up sometimes; it’s a universal truth. But the good part is, you get to decide how you’re going to mess it up.
Girls will be your friends, they’ll act like it anyway. But just remember, some come, some go. The ones that stay with you through everything, they’re your true best friends. Don’t let go of them.
Also remember, sisters make the best friends in the world. As for lovers, well, they’ll come and go too. And babe, I hate to say it, most of them– actually pretty much all of them are going to break your heart, but you can’t give up.
Because if you give up, you’ll never find your soul mate. You’ll never find that half that makes you whole. And that goes for everything; just because you fail once, doesn’t mean you’re going to fail at everything. Keep trying, hold on, and always, always, always believe in yourself.
Because if you don’t, then who will sweetie? So. Keep your head high. Keep your chin up. And most importantly, keep smiling. Because life’s a beautiful thing and there’s so much to smile about.”
–Marilyn Monroe -
Day 316: A New Year with an Old Pro
It’s so helpful to have Irish blood! Means you can drink half a bottle of rose champagne, stay out until 2 a.m. – and wake up in the morning feeling fine.
No time for a hangover this morning, the first of 2011, because we were scheduled to go to the free 11 a.m. annual New Year’s concert of the Nice Philharmonic (l’Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice) at the Acropolis.
When your last address was midtown Manhattan, Nice often seems like a ToyTown. Can you really compare the Nice Philharmonic to anything in New York?
Little did I know my New Year would begin in the presence of one of those celestial personalities who lift you above the ordinary and tedious and renew your faith.
From the minute the concert started, it seemed fantastic to me. ”How can you tell if this is not as good as something in New York, London or Paris?” I whispered to my friend. None of us knew.
I was enchanted by the powerhouse conductor, 73-year-old Roberto Benzi. I couldn’t take my eyes off him. He was wearing a black waistcoat, and standing on a rise in the center of the orchestra. Talk about a commanding figure.
He was so filled with passion and fire it was like watching a human in musical instrument form. He was fierce, too. At one point the audience thought the piece was over and started to clap. Bad idea. He turned and threw us all a death glare.
Not a person to mess with. I loved him!
At one point, during a slow section (sorry, I don’t know how to write correctly about classical music), he turned to the cellist nearest him and she played solo for a few minutes and it was so beautiful I felt tears come to my eyes.
Wow, I thought, who knew provincial little Nice, France had such a talent?
It clearly wasn’t just me who adored Benzi (even though I’m only one who yelled ‘Bravo!”)
The maestro got four encores (they’re probably not even called that in classical music, sorry again) strutting back and forth onstage and coming out a final time as colored confetti rained down on the audience and Benzi raised a glass of champagne to the audience.
Back home, I looked up Roberto Benzi. No wonder I thought he was so great.
He was born in Marseilles to Italian parents and began studying music at 3 and conducting lessons at 10 with a famous conductor in Paris. At 11, no less, he conducted concerts in Paris. He also starred in two French films as a child and became famous all over Europe.
During his 50-year career, he conducted at pretty much every major orchestra and opera house in the galaxy: the London Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Ensemble Orchestrale de Paris, to name just a few.
People were flipping for Benzi 60 years before I did today. When Benzi was conducting at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris as an 11-year-old in 1949, the German maestro Joseph Krips got to know him. Both the photographs above are of Benzi as a child with Krips.
Krips even wrote a letter in 1949 attesting to Benzi’s talent, translated from the German here:
Roberto Benzi is not a child prodigy. He appears to me as a real piece of music. He does not conduct, he does not make music: he is the music itself. Music springs out from his delicate body and finds its right expression through his movements. What this boy is doing is fascinating and enchanting. All in him is natural. The feeling of this child about the musical line (only reached in mature years by most musicians) is surprisingly already an evidence. He hears each wrong note and corrects the players, like a very experienced conductor. Will God protect the small Roberto and keep him healthy. By following in this way, the level he can reach is immense.
I couldn’t have said it better myself!
Bonne Année, Maestro!
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Recent Posts
- Day 365: Tell the Women of Congo You Love Them!
- Day 364: What If the World Did End in 2012?
- Day 363: Twilight of the Dictators, Twilight of No Candy
- Day 353: Howl of a Candy Addict
- Day 351: Self-Deprivation Sucks
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