Hobo Jungle

[webenda]

Rachmaninoff's "Second Piano Concerto" and his "Rhapsody on a Theme by Pagannini" can move me like that, which I have no shame in admitting, and not a single note is sung.

The Russian composers put a lot of passion into their compositions.

However, Rachmaninoff does not do it for me. "Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto" written in Russia, sounds like a prelude to the Russion Revolution, it leaves me feeling agitated.

Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme by Pagannini" is delightful. Listening is to the ears like going for a drive is for your eyes... enjoying scene after scene as the view continuously unfolds. I especially like variation 18 where Pagannini's Caprice is played slowly upside down in D-flat major... ah!

I am in love with the way Valentina Lisitsa plays the Russian composers. Here she claims Rhapsody on a Theme by Pagannini is as easy as playing Chop Sticks... anyone can do it.
https://youtu.be/JoqSntXpcSk

I can't explain why Liszt's Totentanz played on a old out-of-tune upright Valentina found while waiting for the train at St Pancras Station, London does do it to me. Maybe because I feel empathy for the piano... Valentina gives the piano a heart attack playing this piece.
https://youtu.be/1NZpPg_9N90
(Liszt was Hungarian, not Russian.)

[rogruth]

Valentina, IMHO, js an exceptional pianist and she can also explain what the music is doing.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Can I hear a little applause for Chopin, "The Nocturns"? Luv 'em in the car while taking a recreational drive through NY hills and forests.
Murph

[healey36]

Stay out of those NY hills and forests for awhile Murph...word has it that there are a couple of homicidal maniacs running around out there...

Healey

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Maybe the Black bears will find them first.

[webenda]

Can I hear a little applause for Chopin, "The Nocturns"? Luv 'em in the car while taking a recreational drive through NY hills and forests.
Murph

Murph! That is dangerous listening to the Chopin Nocturnes while driving.

Even Valentina Lisitsa puts hereself to sleep when she plays them. I suppose it is a sign of a great pianist to be able to play in her sleep. At the end of this clip she is clearly sound asleep: https://youtu.be/tV5U8kVYS88

[rogruth]

I don't particulary care for Chopin but when played with the feeling Litsitsa puts in them I can listen. Without going to sleep.

[healey36]

Sarge - Trickle charge on the Sprite tonight:



It's been awhile since I had to use this...can never remember if you're supposed to clip both leads to the battery terminals or the negative to ground...

Had a flat tire...that's a bit troubling. Pumped it up and I'll recheck it in the morning. Topped off the motor oil and the carb pots, dumped in two gallons of fresh 93 octane Shell (with a dash of StarTron and Marvel's Mystery Oil). Checked the master-cylinders...what am I missing? The back of the garage looks like a Super-Fund site...going to need an overhaul with new main-seals sooner than later.

Hoping for a clean start tomorrow. Weather looks good for Sunday.

Healey

[sarge]

Stout Lad!

I played a little out in the shop, fixing my wife's Cruiser and puttering with the B a bit. Piped up the spare a bit; was dead flat so we'll see how that looks tomorrow as well.

Don't forget your clutch fluid levels while you're in there doing brake masters.

I trickle a battery in these sorts of things on the poles myself; never completely trust the earthing even though this one looks to be good. Mine is late enough so there are a few odd diodes to mind, one in the handbrake for the light sometimes goes, allowing current to the starter somehow. It sounds bizarre but late B's have been known to butt the wall of carpark buildings or other cars when the handbrake is up and the gearbox is left in gear and that stupid diode fries. I digress, of course, but back to the matter at hand that's why I trickle to the posts with the car unhooked!

It looks to be a pleasant 40 minute run down on Sunday and the lingering showers to be done by 8AM here.

So, given I don't break the dam thing between now and then, look for a white rubber-bumper B with a Bournemouth registry and a RAC badge up front, leaving a tiny trail of oil drips behind so it can find its way home after...

[The Dirt]

We will, of course, want pictures.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Can I hear a little applause for Chopin, "The Nocturns"? Luv 'em in the car while taking a recreational drive through NY hills and forests.
Murph

Murph! That is dangerous listening to the Chopin Nocturnes while driving....

i should have qualified that further by explaining the Chopin is played when traveling at approx. 1-5 mi/hr. hereabouts...

[sarge]

Lovely, Murph...

[healey36]

This weekend Westminster remembers the 152nd anniversary of Corbit's Charge, more recently known as the Battle of Westminster. It recalls the hot summer day in June 1863 when an incredibly brave, perhaps crazy, Union cavalry officer named Charles Corbit led his hundred Delaware troopers against Jeb Stuart's division of five or six thousand cavaliers:



After a brief scrap the Union men were overwhelmed, but the incident delayed Stuart for a few hours, and with night falling he pulled up for the evening at Union Mills a few miles northwest of town on the road to Gettysburg.

The two sides initially clashed here, at the intersection of the old Washington Road and Main Street:



The Trumbo-Chrest house, the center gray building in the picture still bears scars from the fight (that's a mini-ball lodged in the brickwork ):



The Union cavalry retreated westward down Main Street where they were soon rounded up or dispersed. Here's a pic of Main Street looking east toward the scene of the scrap (the Union cavalry would have been retreating toward this point with the southerners in hot pursuit):



When it was over there were four dead (two from each side) and twenty or so wounded. Lieutenant John Murray, a confederate officer, and one of the Union dead were buried in the old Ascension Church cemetery. The Union man's family retrieved his remains after the war, but Murray is still here in Westminster:





In 2006 the town erected a stone to commemorate the event:



It stands across the street from the old court-house, still used occasionally when the case-load warrants (no pun intended):



There's always been great debate over whether the "Battle of Westminster" had any significant impact on Gettysburg. I tend to believe the effect on the actual battle was minimal, but that the impact of Stuart's overall actions during the campaign was significant. Lee was effectively blind to Meade's location and intentions while Stuart was lolly-gagging around the country-side raiding the Union rear. What we do know is that Stuart got his behind handed to him by Pleasanton, Custer and the rest of the Union cavalry screen when he eventually reached the field.

Anyway, big goings-on this weekend...hopefully the weather holds up.

Healey

[ChipR]

Healey,

Many thanks, well written, photographed and informative. Hope to be in the vacinity in September.

ChipR

[rogruth]

That is an interesting traffic signal mounting in the second photo.