Summer's Denouement

With its final breath, summer conjures up the zephyr of autumn. One act closes, and the next begins.

Astronomically summer ends with the autumnal equinox. Meteorologically it ends on August 31. Traditionally it ends on Labor Day. No matter which point you arbitrarily choose, September is a month of seasonal transition.

The name comes from the Latin word for seven. The seventh month of the Julian calendar became the ninth month of the Gregorian calendar. For US history buffs, September marks the date of the Mayflower departing England , the signing of our oft-neglected Constitution and the penning of The Star Spangled Banner following the siege of Ft. McHenry.

Contrived celebrations clutter the month. Outre observances include Mold Awareness Month, Better Breakfast Month and National Pediculosis Month (for the less pedantic that's head lice- technically pediculosis capitis). If all this spins your head, distracts you, or causes you to lose focus, it's also Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Month. Try not to become churlish and uncivil about it, though, as September is National Courtesy Month.

Counterintuitively, as beer aficionados know, Oktoberfest begins in September. The mayor of Munich opens the first keg proclaiming, "O'zapht is" - "It's tapped." A tidbit of calendar trivia: December aways begins on the same day of the week as September. These months are separated by 91 days (a multiple of 7). - as ever BB

"Tis the last rose of summer left blooming alone; all her lovely companions are faded and gone." - Sir Thomas More

My Les Paul Story

Last week a true genius departed this plane of existence. In the days since Les Paul's passing much has been written about his prowess on guitar and his visionary ideas concerning amplification and recording.

Let me share a personal Les Paul story. I grew up listening to him. Since I could remember, Les Paul and Mary Ford played throughout my house. How High the Moon, Bye, Bye Blues and Via Con Dios, were among the first songs I remember. As I reached my teens in the late 60s, I realized that all the music my parents enjoyed was L7 baby - square.

One day in 1968 a bunch of us were hanging around a friend's house. His older brother walked in after swapping a VW Beetle-dune buggy for a guitar. He proceeded to regale us with his good trade - an early 60s, Les Paul sunburst. He went on and on about the guitar and it's designer. Figuring no one to whom my parents listened could create a guitar used by Pete Townsend and Eric Clapton, I mentioned that I had heard of the designer's father.

My friend's brother relished in exposing my ignorance to all present. The man who played with Mary Ford, Bing Crosby and others was the same one who pioneered the solid body, electric guitar. An invention that could justifiably be called the greatest impetus to Rock & Roll. One of my first steps in realizing my parents weren't as square, nor I as smart, as I thought - as ever BB

"You've got to learn your instrument. Then you practice, practice, practice. And when you finally get up on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail." - Charlie Parker

Left Out

Yesterday, August 13, was Left Handers Day. Once again it passed virtually unnoticed. No parades, speeches, fireworks, but I expected no less. We lefties are truly the neglected minority. Throughout history, we have received no respect. Instead we have been vilified as products of evil and untrustworthy. The left-handed Marx Brother, Harpo, wasn't even allowed to speak!

The Latin word for left, sinistra, is the root of the English word sinister. The Chinese adjective left means improper. This prejudice is obvious in such idioms of the English language as out in left field and left-handed compliment.

About 8% of the world's population is left-handed. However, southpaws excel in a much larger proportion. From Michelangelo and DaVinci to Escher and Klee, from Mozart and Beethoven to Hendrix and Dylan, Mark Twain, Lewis Carroll, Franz Kafka, the list of illustrious lefties is boundless. 18% of our Presidents have been left-handed. Out of the last seven Presidents only two were right-handed - Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush. I think that makes my point.

Of course there are infamous lefties. Jack the Ripper, Billy the Kid, John Dillinger are less that exemplary, but did show elan and panache.

Show us compassion as we try to cope in your dexterous (from the Latin "on the right") world, and your insidious inventions like scissors, ladles, fountain pens, can-openers, etc. -as ever BB

"The raft of knowledge ferries the worst sinners to safety." the Bhagavad-Gita

Non Sequitur Ardor

Non sequitur is a Latin phrase that translates as "it does not follow." Often used in humor, it provides a comedic twist which always tickles my funny bone. As in the joke, "How many existentialists does it take to screw in a light bulb?" The answer - "Fish!"

I could put on airs and attribute this to my reading of Keirkgaard's, The Sickness unto Death, or Camus', The Myth of Sisyphus. But to be honest, it traces back to watching Rocky & Bullwinkle in my youth. The show's writers filled every episode with puns, satire, irony and, yes, non sequiturs creating a smorgasbord of silliness.

That flying squirrel and befuddled moose opened my mind to a plethora of peculiar portholes: in art, Dada and Surrealism; in philosophy, Existentialism and Absurdism; in music, Sun Ra and Edgard Varese; in literature, Richard Brautigan and Kurt Vonnegut; in comedy, Firesign Theater and Monty Python.

One may say that it does not follow that a simple cartoon show from the early 60s could uncover such disparate paths. My response is, "Exactly!" - as ever BB

"A squid eating dough in a polyethylene bag is fast and bulbous." - Capt. Beefheart

Yin-Yang

The basis of ancient Chinese philosophy, science and medicine is the concept of yin-yang. The world constantly changes with nothing static. The universe was emptiness - wuji. From that, opposites formed and melded creating the world's balance. Good-bad, winter-summer, love-hate, each holds the essence of its opposite. The symbol of yin-yang is the taigitu. The outer circle is the wuji within that yin and yang co-exist.

In June of 1960, I turned six-years-old. To me, growing up in this period illustrates yin and yang. Beginning with the Eisenhower era of prosperity and superficial family values; ending with the Nixon era of turmoil and social upheaval. These watershed years reached their apex with two events that approach their 40th anniversary. The Manson murders and Woodstock - the opposites of a decade.

On the evening of August 8, members of Charlie Manson's "family" left the Spahn movie ranch for Benedict Canyon. After midnight, they committed grisly, iconoclastic murders. The next evening, August 10, the scene was repeated. Five days later, hundreds of thousands gathered at a dairy farm in upstate New York for the Aquarian Exposition - Three Days of Peace and Music known as Woodstock.

Those 10 days in August 1969 symbolized the yin-yang of the sixties- as ever BB

"I like to think of my behavior in the sixties as a "learning experience." Then again, I like to think of anything stupid I've done as a "learning experience." It makes me feel less stupid." - P.J. O'Rourke

Remembering Lenny Bruce

August 3, 1966, Lenny Bruce was found dead in the Hollywood Hills. Not just an important figure in the history of comedy, Bruce was a touchstone for the anti-conformist generational upheaval of the 60s. Mixing wit and satire with the improvisation and rhythms of jazz, Bruce strove to shake-up the buttoned-down world of post WWII America.

Some pearls from Lenny:

"If something about the human body disgusts you, complain to the manufacturer."

"Life is a four-letter word."

"Every day people are straying away from the church and going back to God."

Obsession over his persecution based on obscenity charges combined with his deleterious lifestyle prematurely snuffed out a remarkable, creative candle. In retrospect his routines seem tame, but Lenny Bruce stomped on the terra. - as ever BB

"One last four-letter word for Lenny: Dead. At forty. That's obscene."

- Dick Schapp in his Playboy obit of Lenny Bruce