Things Aren't Going So Swimmingly at Walden Pond

One of the reasons I was so excited to move back to the Boston area was the opportunity to renew acquaintances with Walden Pond in Concord. 

I first started going to Walden Pond almost 20 years ago and it is my go to place when I want to get away from city life for a few hours. When I first went to Walden Pond, it was to walk around the pond. My favorite spot is a clearing very near where Henry David Thoreau built his cabin. As time passed, I went to Walden Pond to swim rather than to walk. In recent years, I would swim its width which is a good mile each way. 

Now that I live in Cambridge it is much easier to get there by train by virtue of being situated near Porter Square. On June 18th, I went to Walden Pond for the first time in nearly four years. I did not swim it's width as this was the first I had done swimming of any kind since the pandemic began in earnest in March 2020. But I got a taste of the good life and was looking forward to more.

But at the beginning of the month, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) abruptly banned open water swimming at Walden Pond following several drownings - none of which occurred at Walden Pond. Swimmers are restricted to a single roped off area which is very tiny and not conducive to swimming laps. On top of this move, Governor Charlie Baker is seeking to impose fines of $500 to swimmers who violate the new law. 

As my landlady put it, "People are more likely to die because of a heatwave than because of drowning while swimming." She told me that she had signed an online petition to reverse the ban which I have done as well. While I realize there is an inherent risk in swimming, Walden Pond should never be confused with Lake Lanier in Georgia. 

There are few things more serene and spiritual than swimming in the fresh waters of Walden Pond. Swimmers have been flocking to Walden Pond for decades for that very reason. Why deter people from visiting?

But if they want to deter people from visiting then they have succeeded. Oh, I'll go back in the fall to walk around the pond. But if I want to swim in fresh water during the summer I'll have to go elsewhere. Which means I will most likely swim at Crystal Lake in Newton. That is, unless, Massachusetts DCR has the good sense to reverse course and once again make our lives go a little more swimmingly.

Will America Reach Its 250th Anniversary?

Today marks the 245th anniversary of America's independence. Today, I wonder where will America will be on July 4, 2026.

It is said that empires last an average of 250 years. The United States might not have been founded as an empire and one can debate if it is an empire in the sense Rome or the Mongols were. But it has been the most powerful country the world has ever known and will remain that way unless it collapses from within. 

Alas this collapse has been well underway with the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States in 2016 and his refusal to accept his defeat in 2020 with claims of voter fraud made out of whole cloth. Unfortunately, there is a critical mass of the population that accepts his word at face value and does not brook any criticism of him. This made itself apparent on January 6th of this year when Trump supporters attempted to prevent the peaceful transfer of power to a Biden presidency. 

With the subsequent passage of voter suppression laws in Republican states, I fear this is only the beginning. For starters, I fear the possibility of violence at the polls especially in Democratic strongholds. Notwithstanding such a possibility I can easily see a scenario where Stacey Abrams defeats Brian Kemp and is elected Governor of Georgia only for Republican loyalists handpicked by the Georgia legislature to overturn the results. All of which would serve to undermine faith in democracy as our form of government which is exactly the objective and would please those in Moscow, Beijing and a hundred other dictatorships - petty and otherwise.

There is every reason to believe that Trump will run in 2024. He doesn't need to ask for the GOP nomination. The Republican Party has become just like one of his properties - something which has lost its value except as a tax write off. Should Trump run in 2024 and lose yet again to Biden his screams of fraud will be ten times as loud. If there is a Republican majority in the House of Representatives then they will not certify Biden's re-election. Should that happen and the Supreme Court upholds it then all bets are off. We will cease to be a democracy. We might still be called the United States of America, but this would be in name only.

While I place the majority of the blame on Trump's toxicity and the quislings in the GOP for our current state of affairs, I do not hold the Democratic Party or the Left blameless. While I like Joe Biden, he leads a party where a critical mass of its members view American with disdain and claim the country was founded on racism. Biden, who has spent his political career unifying people, will be a relic of the past by the end of this decade possibly sooner. Meanwhile, the people in the Democratic Party who believe America is inherently racist will soon have the prevailing point of view.

Of course, racism has and will always be a part of America's history and must be condemned when it arises and efforts must be made to prevent it in the first place. But if Frederick Douglass could both mourn the Fourth of July and yet forgive Thomas Jefferson and forgive the man who enslaved him. Unfortunately, a critical mass of Democrats can no more distinguish between hating the sin and loving the sinner than they can between those who sought to preserve slavery and those who sought to end it. Democrats won't get very far if they cry, "You're all a bunch of racists, please vote for me!!!" If America is to survive people have to see the good in it. If Democrats claim America is inherently racist then how do they expect people to stand up for our democracy against Trump's authoritarianism?

I look at the America of five years ago and see what is now despite President Biden's best efforts and shudder to think what America will be like five years from today if our present course is not altered.

Happy Fourth of July! While we still have it.

How I Loved This Cool, Rainy 57 Degree Day in July

Three days ago, it hit 100 degrees in Boston making it the hottest June on record. Today, July 3rd, the high was 57 - a record low. And it has been raining all day.

I absolutely love it. It is a relief. As much as I love having an air conditioner I'm glad I haven't had to use it today. I can wear long sleeves, enjoy the soothing rain outside my window and sleep without any noise from an AC. Having had to deal with hot weather since the end of February when I was still living in Atlanta I cannot begin to tell how much I enjoyed today.

This shall soon pass. Temperatures are going to gradually warm up and reach the 90 plus degree mark in three days from now. I'm just going to savor these rare few hours of natural cool comfort accompanied by gentle rain as I make my way to a pleasant slumber.

Thoughts on the 50th Anniversary of Jim Morrison's Passing

In about an hour or so, I will be heading up north to Swampscott to see a friend perform. Upon inviting me to his show, I informed him that he would be playing on the 50th anniversary of Jim Morrison's death. This intrigued him. We shall see if he sees fit to pay homage to the Lizard King.

There has always been a romantic allure about the Doors' front man's passing - being found dead naked in a bathtub in Paris hotel room at the age of 27 and buried at Pere Lachaise where people from all over the world come to pay their respects. While most people would rather live to 77 than 27 there are some people who aren't destined to live a long life regardless of their social condition. As Morrison himself put it, “People fear death even more than pain. It's strange that they fear death. Life hurts a lot more than death. At the point of death, the pain is over.”

My maternal grandfather, who work in a coal mine in Alberta's Crowsnest Pass for 43 years, shared much the same sentiments though I don't think he would thought much of The Doors' music. He lived to 84 and told me, "When you're dead you have nothing to worry about." Grandad also told me, "Don't get old."

I, on the other hand, worry about everything up to and including death. Perhaps it isn't a healthy way to live but I do want to live as long as I can for better or for worse. Of course, I'm sure most people won't remember me 10 minutes after I'm dead much less right now. The jury is out as to what I will leave the world when I'm gone.

Jim Morrison left a legacy of a deep sonorous singing beautiful yet dark lyrics that he wrote. Just last Sunday I was sitting in park in Harvard Square and there were a bunch of Doors tunes remixed, but Morrison's voice remained. The Doors don't open without Jim Morrison. It was true in 1971. It is true in 2021 and it will be true in 2071.

Fanny: The Right to Rock Helps Make David Bowie's Dream Come True

In a 1999 interview with Rolling Stone, David Bowie paid homage to Fanny, an all-female band who recorded five albums during the early 1970's and had been relegated to the ash heap of history:

One of the most important female bands in American rock has been buried without a trace. And that is Fanny. They were one of the finest fucking rock bands of their time, in about 1973. They were extraordinary: They wrote everything, they played like motherfuckers, they were just colossal and wonderful, and nobody’s ever mentioned them. They’re as important as anybody else who’s ever been, ever; it just wasn’t their time. Revivify Fanny. And I will feel that my work is done.

Bobbi Jo Hart, a Montreal-based documentary filmmaker, has done her part to revivify Fanny with a new film she both directed and produced called Fanny: The Right to Rock which premiered in Canada this past April before its U.S. premier last month in San Francisco. Hart first discovered Fanny five years ago when she was looking to buy a guitar for her daughter. While looking on the Taylor guitar website, Hart came across a video of Fanny lead guitarist June Millington leaving her both thrilled and upset:

I was equally thrilled and upset, because I grew up in California as a preteen in the seventies, and my parents were hippies—they were into all the best rock 'n' roll that was going around, you know. They had piles of LPs, and when I discovered Fanny I just thought, 'How come their LP was not on the pile? How come it was not played on our record player when I was growing up?' California is where they formed, and where they launched.

Hart is far from alone in feeling simultaneously thrilled at discovering Fanny's music and upset at not discovering them sooner. These sentiments permeate the comments section of Fanny's performance of the Marvin Gaye classic "Ain't That Peculiar" which has garnered more than 4 million views on YouTube. "Ain't That Peculiar" was part of a 35 minute, 7-song set Fanny played on the West German TV show Beat Club in November 1971 which has attracted a respectable 700,000 plus YouTube views. Similar comments can be found there such as, "Why wasn't this a huge hit band? Why aren't we hearing them every day on every classic rock station? Someone dropped the ball on these ladies."

Fanny: The Right to Rock examines these questions by tracing Fanny's origins through June Millington and her younger sister Jean who emigrated from The Philippines to the U.S. in 1961 as they entered their teens settling in Sacramento, California. The Millington sisters soon encountered racism and the isolation which comes with it. They would escape the isolation through music by forming an all-girl group called The Svelts with June on rhythm guitar and Jean on bass. The Svelts would soon be fixtures performing at sock hops and for soldiers leaving for war. Their musical prowess was such that the Millington sisters' younger brother Scott tells the story of how The Svelts would attract hundreds of people when they would rehearse in the backyard. 

At one point, The Svelts would have three Filipina members with the addition of Brie Berry (now Brie Howard-Darling) on drums. After Darling departed to have a child, Alice de Buhr would replace her on drums awith Addie Clement on lead guitar. By the end of the '60s the group now known as Wild Honey would move to L.A. in search of a record contract and would attract the attention of producer Richard Perry after his assistant Norma Goldstein-Kemper (who is briefly interviewed in the film) witnessed a raucous performance at an open mike night at The Troubadour. Perry would arrange for Wild Honey to sign with Reprise Records. After subtracting Clement, keyboardist Nickey Barclay would be added while June would move from rhythm to lead guitar. Darling would briefly rejoin the group before being unceremoniously kicked out when Reprise wanted a female Beatles and thus only four members. Soon they would be renamed Fanny and the group would make history becoming the first all-female group to release an album on a major label in 1970.

After four albums (Fanny, Charity Ball, Fanny Hill and Mother's Pride), Fanny still faced skeptical audiences and a media unconvinced that women could play rock 'n roll. Sexism was complicated by June and Alice having to hide their sexual orientation. As de Buhr put it in the film, "You couldn't be a lesbian in Fanny." With poor record sales, Reprise pressured the group to wear skimpier outfits emphasizing their sex appeal over their soulful music. This would be the final straw for June Millington who quit the band and was soon followed by de Buhr. 

Fanny would release one last album on Casablanca Records called Rock 'n Roll Survivors with Darling returning to the band on drums and Patti Quatro (from the Detroit-based, all-female rock band The Pleasure Seekers) replacing June on lead guitar. Fanny would enjoy their highest charting hit with the Jean Millington penned "Butter Boy" which was inspired by David Bowie with whom she had a romantic relationship. However, by the time the song peaked at 29 on the Billboard charts Fanny had broken up.

Fanny: The Right to Rock features interviews with the likes of Bonnie Raitt, Joe Elliott of Def Leppard, Cherie Currie of The Runaways and Earl Slick, the longtime sideman to Bowie who was also married to Jean Millington. Viewers are also treated to archived footage of Fanny's TV appearances as well as rare footage of The Svelts performing. 

Hart spends much of the documentary focusing on the Millington sisters' reunion with Darling to record their 2018 album Fanny Walked The Earth - the band's first release in more than 40 years which also featured contributions from de Buhr and Quatro. Sadly, a week before they were set to go on tour, Jean would suffer a stroke which has rendered her unable to play bass. However, it has not robbed the younger Millington sister of her dignity, grace and optimism she will again play bass one day.

Having immersed myself into Fanny's music over the past year, I have several quibbles about Fanny: The Right to Rock. For starters, the film doesn't pay nearly enough attention to the musical contributions of either Nickey Barclay and Alice de Buhr aside from a brief clip of them performing "Blind Alley" from the Beat Club session. While Barclay has long since dissociated herself from Fanny, the fact remains she wrote or co-wrote a majority of the songs on the first four Fanny albums. To the extent Barclay is discussed it is in reference to her temperamental personality rather than her talent. To not discuss Barclay's songwriting prowess would be akin to producing a documentary about The Byrds while ignoring Gene Clark. 

As for de Buhr, before moving to California she was also in an all-female trio in Iowa called The Women. In their own way, The Women were every bit as pioneering as The Svelts. After leaving Fanny, she spent many years working in the marketing department of A&M Records and was involved in promoting the The Go-Go's. Given that Go-Go's bassist Kathy Valentine was interviewed for the film it is odd that de Buhr's association with the group isn't mentioned. Equally odd is that Addie Clement is never mentioned in the film despite having signed and recorded with Fanny before departing prior to the release of their debut album.

Hart also omits the fact that the following the success of "Butter Boy", the Millington sisters, Darling along with percussionist Padi Macheta (who collaborated with June in a post-Fanny band called Smiles) and keyboardist Wendy Haas, a member of the 1960's all-female band The Freudian Slips, had formed a group called L.A. All-Stars and were to sign a record deal with Arista Records. However, June would balk when the deal was contingent on the group calling itself Fanny and playing only Fanny songs. 

Fanny didn't disappear without a trace right away which somewhat complicates Hart's narrative. The music business, fickle as it might be, was still interested in Fanny in the mid-1970's. So what would have happened had Fanny had been reconstituted? Given the conditions laid out by Arista there's a good chance the group would have been constrained creatively and remained a novelty act thereby further exacerbating June's personal anguish. 

In the grand scheme of things, June putting the kibosh on putting Fanny back together might have been for the best for all parties concerned. Perhaps June doesn't meet Ann Hackler, her partner of nearly 40 years, much less collaborate with her to establish the Institute of Musical Arts (IMA) which has mentored a generation of aspiring female musicians. Yet whatever role sexism in the music industry played in burying Fanny, some of its members carried shovels and helped dig the group's grave.

Nevertheless, as movie theaters gradually reopen in the post-pandemic world, Fanny: The Right to Rock will help to serve as a gateway for broader awareness of Fanny's music and their revivification. If David Bowie were to suddenly fall back to Earth, I believe he would be heartened by Bobbie Jo Hart's film.

Why is McCarthy Shocked Cheney Accepted Pelosi's Appointment To The 1/6 Select Committee?

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is shocked, shocked that Liz Cheney would accept House Speaker's Nancy Pelosi appointment of her to the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol.

I cannot fathom why McCarthy would be shocked. Of course, perhaps his head is so far up Donald Trump's ass that he is completely divorced from all reality and really couldn't see it coming. But Cheney has drawn a line in the sand and hasn't deviated so much as a millimeter where it concerns the events of January 6th. 

Perhaps he is afraid that Cheney will see fit to call him as a witness and question him about his phone conversation with the former President who infamously told him the rioters were more upset about the election than he was. Not only should this not shock him, but McCarthy had better damn well be prepared. 

After all, McCarthy can appoint five Republicans to the Select Committee and he sure wasn't going to pick Cheney. So Pelosi did it for him. 

In so doing, it takes away McCarthy's ability to call the committee partisan. Maybe a 9/11 Style Commission isn't looking so bad after all.

MLB Notes for June: The Nats Party Like It's 2019

To paraphrase Yogi Berra is it a case of Deja Vu all over again for the Washington Nationals.

In May 2019, the Nats were 19-31 and 10 games back in the NL East. After May 23rd, the Nats went 74-38 earning a NL Wild Card berth en route to their first World Series title in franchise history.

The Nats began May 2021 in last place in the NL East seven games back of the New York Mets. But after a 19-9 June (including wins in 13 of their last 16 games), Washington is only two games out of the top spot in the NL East. Perhaps the biggest factor the Nats' recent success has been ex-Cub Kyle Schwarber who has slammed 16 HR in his last 18 games. 

But with a powerhouse NL West (more on them shortly), the Nats will likely have to win the division to reach the post-season this time around and the Mets aren't rolling over and playing dead. Although both the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies have underachieved in 2021 they are only 4 1/2 and 5 games back, respectively. And let's not count out the Miami Marlins. If the Nats can climb back into contention 7 games back then why couldn't the Marlins rise to the surface 8 1/2 games back?

The Milwaukee Brewers have built up the biggest divisional lead in all of MLB on the strength of ending the month with 8 straight wins including a sweep of the Chicago Cubs who have dropped six straight. The Brewers own a 6 game lead over the Cubs with the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds both 8 games back of the Brew Crew. While the Reds have given themselves a fighting chance, the Cardinals fell from grace with a 10-17 June which was only marginally better than the Pittsburgh Pirates' 9-17 mark last month. The Redbirds' less than stellar offense has fed rumors of Nolan Arenado opting out of his multi-year contract after this season.

The San Francisco Giants continue to own MLB's best record. However, a three game sweep at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers but the defending World Series champions only 1 1/2 games out of first place in the NL West. The third place San Diego Padres are only 2 1/2 games back having finished June winning 9 of their last 10 games. There's a very good chance all three teams will end up in the post-season although the question remains if the Giants can remain on top. The same cannot be said for the Colorado Rockies. Although 17 games back of the Giants, they are 12 1/2 games ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks whose 3-24 record in June was even worse than their 5-23 effort in May. A 17-game losing streak along with a 24-game road losing streak which dated back to late April render the D'Backs only marginally better than the 1962 New York Mets. They could get worse. After winning 14 games in April, Arizona has had only 8 wins in the last two months.

Moving over to the American League, the Boston Red Sox have retaken control of the AL East owning a 3 game lead over the Tampa Bay Rays who fell back to earth in June after a 23-6 May. The Toronto Blue Jays are 7 1/2 games back and a full game ahead of the New York Yankees who are only a game above .500. With the way Yankees fans are carrying on about wanting Aaron Boone fired you would think the team had a 27-54 record like the last place Baltimore Orioles. 

The Chicago White Sox maintain a four game lead over the Cleveland Indians in the AL Central. Although the Detroit Tigers are 12 games off the pace they have enjoyed back to back winning months and finished June winning 7 out of 10. Josh Donaldson picking fights with Gerrit Cole and Lucas Giolito does little to distract from the fact they are 13 1/2 games out of first place. The Twins can take pride they are no longer in the AL Central's cellar. After a 15-9 April, the Kansas City Royals went 11-17 in May on the weakness of an 11-game losing streak. While managing to get three games above .500 by June 4th, the Royals have gone 4-20 since ending the month with eight straight losses. The Royals have turned into jesters. 

The Houston Astros cling to a half game lead over the Oakland A's in the AL West. After an 11-game winning streak, the Astros lost five of their last six to the Tigers and Orioles. This race could go to the wire. The Seattle Mariners are hanging in there six games off the pace but will need to surge if they hope to reach the post-season for the first time in 20 years. The Los Angeles Angels continue to underachieve but Shohei Ohtani's league leading 28 HRs have helped soften the blow of Mike Trout's calf injury which saw him recently transferred to the 60-day disabled list. I just wish the Angels would stop sending Ohtani out to the mound. One of these days he is going to get hurt. The closest thing the Texas Rangers have to Ohtani is Joey Gallo who has homered in five consecutive games. 

We are 10 days away from the All-Star Break. Will Aaron Boone still be in the Yankees dugout? Will the Tigers make the AL Central a three team race? Can Oakland return to first place in the AL West? Can th Giants stay in first place in the NL West? Could the Brewers have a double digit lead in the NL Central? Can the Washington Nationals continue to party like it's 2019? We shall see in 10 days.