It's a Small World

HOME SHOW: Hope you're not getting tired of photos of our doings 'round the campus, because that's about all we got (to use bad grammar) right now.

Our seeds-to-sprouts continue to grow. I find it kind of ironic that the ones going gangbusters are the cherry tomato plants (above). While the bigger tomatoes were so late to show and are slow to grow. 

I had about given up on all of our Romas when they finally started to show signs of life. Now, they're getting to a point where we have to separate them soon. (We always hedge our bets and plant more than one seed per little pot.)

We mowed the lawn today. I stopped a couple of times to snap a photo of little spots of interest in the yard. I kind of love these succulents in a random wire basket affixed to a lichen covered, broken-down old fence. 

 And what have we here? Future figs!

Meanwhile, in the bay window by the kitchen sink, our Christmas cactus is putting on a show in May!

 And irises continue to bloom. This one is a sunny, showy flower.

KUDOS: CJ received a grade back today from one of his first submissions in his History of Rock class. He'd written about a song from the barely-pre-rock era, " "by Goree . The professor heaped praise upon CJ for his song choice and the thoroughness of his discussion about it. And, he asked if CJ if he could use his write-up as an example for his future students regarding how to craft a post. Nice!

This week, CJ was supposed to spotlight an early rock song for his classmates. Here's what he chose. 

Song title: Rip It UpArtist name: Little Richard (né Richard Wayne Penniman, he later legally changed his name to his stage name)Year produced: 1956Artist Information: What are three things that you find the most interesting about this artist? Little Richard is often credited with starting the "wild man" persona that was pursued and imitated by hundreds of rock musicians after him. Taxi Blues, Little Richard's 1951 debut single, is one of the first commercial rock and roll recordings. Though Little Richard eventually ceased to record secular music and became a gospel singer, his early (1951-1957) output influenced rockers for years to come. This fact is evident in artists ranging from Mick Jagger to Jim Morrison to Iggy Pop to Prince, all of whom owe at least part of their “bad boy” image to Little Richard’s persona.Song analysis:Narrative: Who is the songwriter? Where does this song fall within the early years of rock and roll? Rip It Up was written by Robert Blackwell and John Marascalco. (When researching them, this song seems to be their biggest claim to rock and roll fame). Rip It Up is an example of a R&B-derived early rock and roll song.What is the form of this song? Rip It Up is in contrasting verse-chorus form.Is this song a cover song? Or, was this song covered by another artist in the early years of rock? Though he did not write the song, Little Richard was the first to record Rip It Up. Interestingly, the song was covered the very same year Little Richard’s version was released, by Bill Haley and his Comets, who were better known at that point, with the hit Rock Around the Clock to their credit. Bill Haley’s version of Rip It Up is somewhat similar to Little Richard’s version, though the recording quality isn’t as good, and it has a more country/western flavor.Why did you choose this song? What specifically drew you to it? I chose this song because I think it does an excellent job of embodying the "wild man" character of Little Richard's famous work. The persona Little Richard adopted stood in stark contrast to the “squeaky clean” image of white pop stars like Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra, or even earlier rock and roll artists like Fats Domino. Even without visual accompaniment that could be seen on TV or in concert, teenage listeners could tell that Tutti Fruitti and Rip It Up were not their father’s pop music. The chaotic energy of the latter and sexual suggestiveness of the former were absolutely nothing like Moonlight Serenade or White Christmas.It’s likely that there was a racial component to the label “wild man” associated with Little Richard. According to the textbook What’s That Sound? by John Covach and Andrew Flory, “While this [persona] made [Little Richard] attractive to white teens, it also made it more difficult for him to advance his career in the mainstream pop market.”

Yesterday, CJ told us he could get extra credit this week for watching a biography about Sun Records founder Sam Phillips. The video quality of this YouTube post isn't the best, but the subject matter was super interesting. We watched both parts 1 and 2, and learned a *lot* about not just Phillips, but the emergence of rock and roll in America. If you have some time on your hands and nowhere to go (hahahaha), we encourage you to check it out.



LET THERE BE LIGHT: We're still working on our new storage space. This weekend we cut a hole in the brand-new roof! In the photo below, you can see sawdust starting to rain down.

 And just like that, a little window to some blue sky.

We had to build a "curb" for the skylight to sit on. Look at this handy tool that Christian fished out of the garage. It holds boards nicely perpendicular when you're trying to fasten them.