2015 podcast: Christmas books and poetry of the season with Frank Burke

Christmas books and poetry of the season with Frank Burke....

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"Brief encounter" is intense but very nice

A few years ago, I caught a portion of Noel Coward's "Brief encounter" on TCM.   It is a movie from 1945.

It is the story of a married woman who meets a doctor at a train station.  It's a chance meeting and they begin to see each other.    She is Celia Johnson and he is Trevor Howard.

I had no idea that the movie is considered a romantic classic.    

Also, the movie's soundtrack is fabulous, or Rachmaninoff's second piano concerto exquisitely dropped in at different moments of the story.

Very nice movie.     What happened to the married woman and the doctor?   Watch the movie and find out!

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We remember Mike Flanagan (1950-2011)

We remember Mike Flanagan who was born in New Hampshire on this 1951.   

Mike broke with the Orioles in 1975 and turned into one of the best lefties in the American League.     I remember watching Mike pitch game 1 of the 1979 World Series, a complete game 4-3 victory over Pittsburgh.

His best year was 1979:   23-9, 3.08 ERA, Cy Young Award and a trip to the World Series.

Overall, he won 167 games with a 3.90 ERA.   He also pitched with Toronto in 1987-89.

Mike Flanagan died of an apparent suicide in 2011.   Very sad ending to a pretty good baseball life.

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We remember Jane Austen (1775-1817)

Jane Austen was born on this day in 1775.   She wrote some of the most popular novels of the 19th century.   

In recent years, many discovered her novels because of movies like "Sense and Sensibility"  "Pride and Prejudice" and "Emma".   Jane Austen was one of the greatest writers in English history.   A few years ago, a BBC poll named her one of the "100 Most Famous Britons of All Time." 

She died in 1816.

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My guess is that "birthday boy Beethoven" would love Chuck Berry as much as we do!

We salute Ludwig Van Beethoven born in Vienna on this day in 1770.   

What would Beethoven think of Chuck Berry?   My guess is that he'd love him as much as we do.

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"Roll Over Beethoven"

Well gonna write a little letter
Gonna mail it to my local D.J.
It's a rocking little record
I want my jockey to play
Roll over Beethoven
Gotta hear it again today

You know my temperature's rising
And the jukebox blows a fuse
My heart beating rhythm
While my soul keeps singing the blues
Roll over Beethoven
And tell Tchaikovsky the news

I got a rocking pneumonia
I need a shot of rhythm and blues
I think I caught it off the writer
Sittin' down by the rhythm reviews
Roll over Beethoven
We're rockin' in two by two

Well if you feel it and like it
Well get your lover and reel and rock it
Roll it over and move on up
Just triffle further and reel and rock it
Roll it over
Roll over Beethoven
A rocking in two by two - Ooo

Well early in the morning
I'm a giving you the warning
Don't you step on my blue suede shoes
Hey diddle diddle
I'll play my fiddle
Ain't got nothing to lose
Roll over Beethoven
And tell Tchaikovsky the news

You know she wiggles like a glow worm
Dance like a spinning top
She's got a crazy partner
Oughta see them reel an rock
Long as she's got a dime
The music will never stop
Roll over Beethoven
Roll over Beethoven
Roll over Beethoven
Roll over Beethoven
Roll over Beethoven
Dig to these rhythm and blues

"Gone with the wind" and American history

(My  new American Thinker post)

A few days ago, someone wrote a column suggesting that the movie Gone with the Wind should go away like the Confederate flag. 

Is the movie racist because it tells the story of the Civil War from a Southern perspective?  

Or because it shows scenes with the Confederate flag?

I don't think so, but calling everyone and everything racist goes on just a bit too much in our country today.

Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind was published this week in 1936.  It is the story of a Southern woman caught up in the Civil War, from the days of plantations and chivalry to the bloody war and its aftermath.

I read the book and have seen the movie often.  I never felt that it was racist or pretended to be. 

It is the story of a family living in the South.  

How can you tell the story of a plantation owner (and family) without bringing up slavery?  

Gone with the Wind brought the U.S. Civil War to millions around the world who read the various translations of the book.

The story also confirms that many Southerners were very passionate about states' rights.  (I should add that the Founding Fathers were also very passionate about states' rights, a fact that gets overlooked in the way that we teach U.S. history today.)

My introduction to the story was hearing about it from my grandmother, who read the Spanish version in Cuba – i.e. Lo que el viento se llevó.  

She told me about the plantations and all of those things that made the South different.  She also told me how Cuba also had slaves to work in the sugar plantations.

Before we go PC crazy and start deleting books and symbols, let's remember that novels often teach a lot of history.

For example. Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls introduced many English-speaking readers to the Spanish Civil War of the late 1930s.  It presented the brutal nature of a civil war, where families fight each other and armies bomb their own people.

Gone with the Wind is part of the American story.  Let's count to ten before we start erasing symbols and burning books.  

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Happy birthday Mr. Beethoven (1770-1827)

We remember Ludwig van Beethoven born on this day in 1770.    He died in 1827.

During his life, Beethoven composed some of the great masterpieces of music, from the symphonies to sonatas. 

To be fair, there is a bit of confusion regarding his actual date of birth.   I have seen both December 16th & 17th.   Nevertheless, we will go with the birthday greetings anyway and remember the amazing composer.

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