Reader Tips

Reader Tips 50 Comments

A lot of people have heard Kate and Anna McGarrigle singing Log Driver’s Waltz in the National Film Board’s short cartoon of the Wade Hemsworth song, but mostly they wrote and sang beautiful music of their own. Here, in an in-studio televised performance, the sisters sing a song, written by Kate, about yearning, and leaving and finding home, called Talk To Me Of Mendocino.
The comments are open for your Reader Tips.

50 Replies to “Reader Tips”

  1. From the “No Ship, Sherlock” files:
    “Toyota cars really do suffer from sticky accelerator pedals and floor mats that can trap accelerator pedals to the floor. But those of you who remember the great Audi 5000 debacle of the late 80s will be unsurprised to learn that the bulk of recent reports of runaway acceleration in Toyota vehicles were likely the result of (drumroll please) driver error:

    The U.S. Department of Transportation has analyzed dozens of data recorders from Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles involved in accidents blamed on sudden acceleration and found that at the time of the crashes, throttles were wide open and the brakes were not engaged, people familiar with the findings said. The results suggest that some drivers who said their Toyota and Lexus vehicles surged out of control were mistakenly flooring the accelerator when they intended to jam on the brakes…

  3. Well EBD … I’ve been quietly listening to your musical picks and wondering when you’d hit on something that I could get into.
    This one is so far off the wrong side of the music spectrum for me that I dispair of finding any common ground with you on performers… material or style.
    Sigh….
    Makes me feel a little guilty for wanting to post a “Tip” …. but post I must because this particular little outrage is one of those … It can’t happen here! … sort of moments in history.
    Yes it can happen here!

  5. Hey OMMAG relax. Back in the day EBD posted gems like this:
    http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/archives/012538.html
    of course, most of the time people responded with a “Great Selection, Vitruvius”
    He’s now got this gig all to himself, and he’s experimenting a little; it’s like he’s just gone to university and discovered his mom will never find out what he drags home every night.

  7. Someone is finally asking the Obama administration why it’s suing Arizona for enforcing Federal Law, instead of cities who willingly violate that law:
    http://minx.cc/?post=303628
    and for anyone who wants to waste a few minutes on a voyage of self-discovery, a personality test:
    http://www.personalitytest.net/cgi-bin/q.pl
    I’m an Introverted, Intuitive, Judmental, Thinker, better known as the INTJ personality.
    (Mrs. SDH agrees I can be rather difficult at times.)

  8. OMMAG, it is – quite literally – impossible to please everyone, so I really and truly can’t care one whit about any one commenter’s opinion. Whatever it is that you do like (you didn’t specify in your complaint) I guarantee that there are other people extant who don’t like it whatever it is that you like.
    The very first time – in this current stint – that I posted a piece of classical music some commenter popped up to upbraid me – “there’s more kinds of music than classical, you know” – and suggested that I select more Middle Eastern music; months prior to that, some commenter was angry that I’d linked to Middle Eastern Music.
    Tonight’s selection was a suggestion from commenter Batb. I’d heard it twenty years ago, but when I got around to listening to it anew a couple of days ago I found it a sublime, powerful, and very awake song, written and sung by a couple of lovely Canadian women.
    Here’s the important thing, OMMAG -and you’re not the only person who seems unclear on the concept: the introductory entertainment is a passing amusement en route to the Reader Tips. Take it however you will, on any given day, but it’s not the topic of the thread. No matter what the selection is, it’s never going to be *news* that someone doesn’t like it.
    It’s a Readers’ Tips thread. If you don’t like the video, don’t watch it; it won’t bother me or anyone else. There are millions of videos on YouTube, so pick whatever you like and watch it yourself.

  9. Kate may be gone but she lives on in her daughter Martha Wainright, an amazing talent.

  10. If anyone has gone to rethinkalberta.com, where the greenies are hoping to trash Alberta, one interesting change from this morning is that the comments section is nowhere to be found!
    I don’t think the comments were going quite the way they wanted and so they’ve removed them entirely.
    Saving the planet through censorship. That’s the green way!
    Figures.

  11. Ahhh, “Mendocino”; from the first Transatlantic Sessions…
    The very cut that prompted me to order the DVD from the sunny UK; effectively parting me from a decent pile o’ cash. But did I care?
    Hah!…”A fig for the beadle!”
    Where else was I going to see AND hear Kate & Anna playing with Iris Dement, Aly Bain & Jay Ungar, Guy Clark, Phil Cunningham, Donal Lunny, & lord knows who else – all performing with the towering Jerry Douglas on dobro!
    Thanks for reminding me, EBD; I think I’ll be cueing that up tomorrow night.
    Man! No wonder I like this pub…
    So, where was I ?
    Ah; my new favourite acronym, via Michelle Malkin: NAACP – The National Association for the Advancement of Coddled People‎.
    Too great.

  18. Be afraid, very afraid.
    Why BP is Readying a ‘Super Weapon’ to Avert Escalating Gulf Nightmare

    (CHICAGO) – In a desperate attempt to stop a huge area of the Gulf ocean floor from possibly rupturing due to subterranean methane gas (leading to a calamity no human has ever seen) BP has ripped a page from science fiction books.
    The giant oil company is now quietly preparing to test a small nuclear device in a frenzied rush against time to quell a cascading catastrophe. If successful they will have the capability to detonate a controlled fusion generated pulse.
    . . .
    At a super-secret security base-CFB Suffield-located in southern Alberta, Canada, area reports indicate that high level engineers, physicists and military scientists are feverishly working to complete an ‘explosively pumped flux compression generator’ (EPFCG).

    ———————–
    Heard some super conspiracy theories raised since the spill began, but this one takes the cake.
    (it is a conspiracy theory, isn’t it?)

  19. Yikes! I has no idea about the nuclear shit going on in the Suffield block. That said, this is good.
    Finally, someone will recognize the significance of the flux capacitor.
    Syncro

  23. PET Cemetery U-Tube Report:
    X-rated Ziffy goes for the Exit.
    Ziffy: “Just Visiting”.
    “*It is complete bullsh–,” a senior Ignatieff advisor told QMI Agency.”
    …-
    “Travers: U of T offers Ignatieff an exit plan”
    http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/835891–travers-u-of-t-offers-ignatieff-an-exit-plan
    …-
    Rae Days:
    “*complete bullsh–,”.
    “*There is speculation that these latest rumours of Ignatieff’s looming departure come from the same camp as the merger talk — Jean Chretien, a backer of Ignatieff’s leadership rival Bob Rae. Rae has denied several attempts to link smears against Ignatieff to his associates and has publicly pledged loyalty to the leader. While Rae says that he has no leadership campaign underway to replace Ignatieff, it is believed that loyalists continue to organize in the background.”
    “*Ignatieff’s political exit rumour denied”
    http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2010/07/15/14718401.html

  24. Our Enemy, The State.
    Red Terror in socialist Manitoba, Canada.
    …-
    “Manitoba drivers told to hang up, butt out
    If you don’t keep cellphones and cigarettes out of your hands while driving starting Thursday, you may be reaching for your wallet instead.”
    (canoe.ca)

  25. When are these morons going to figure out that having the cell phone in your hand is not the problem.
    It’s the freaking conversation that is the distraction. I guess all manual transmissions are going to have to go away in Manitoba now? I know I spend about half my commute steering with one hand and shifting with the other.

  26. Funny, Iggys tour does look like some sort of farewell gig. broken down bus. foreign type aging band ,long eyebrows instead of hair.
    “Spinal Crap”

  27. The Manitoba law is No Smoking While there are children in the car, Which i whole heartly agree with. Children should not be exposed to cig.smoke Especialy in confined area’s.
    And that is coming from a smoker.
    The phone ban is also a good law & i hope that includes texting on the crackberries.
    I live in Ontario & this is one law i supported from McShifty

  28. maz2-
    Is there any mention of other items such as coffee cups, sandwiches and various comestables, or is it strictly cell phones and (gasp!) cigarettes.

  29. I dont support Nanny State Laws, However when we live in a world of stupidity i can see why governments are compelled to enact such laws as Smoking in cars when there are children there.
    Children should not be exposed to cigarette smoke.
    Now you of course cannot control this in ones home, But only a complete idiot would smoke around children.

  30. If we are going to encourage laws against stupidity we might as well give up…
    we’ll all end up in jail someday.

  31. My “Not Waiting for the Asteroid” quote of the day comes from an AM tv report on sneaky McGuinty’s new eco tax on everything from batteries to lightbulbs which silently came through the back door and that MSM again did not report on before hand:
    A citizen is interviewed after his purchases at his neighborhood Home Depot:
    “I am quite shocked and upset…I did not have a clue this tax was coming…I AM GOING TO HAVE TO GO ON THE INTERNET MORE OFTEN TO FIND OUT WHAT’S GOING ON…”
    Frankly, I was quite surprized they did not edit the internet comment…I was surfing channels in bed this AM so not quite sure where it came from but I think it was the A channel…CBC would never had let that pass the editing board.

  32. Re: Terry Tory
    From what is being said on talk radio shows out of Ottawa the eco fee (not a tax says Dolton McLiar) can be as much as 30% of the purchase price of an item. The HST applies to the eco fee as well. Tax on tax.
    Dolton and his gang of thieves want stores to “hide” the eco fee in the ticketed price of an item and not display it as a seperate charge on the cash register receipt.

  33. bluetech says it well @ 8:58. Total control of our lives, one little law at a time.

  34. Yep…That’s Ontaxio for ya!…Now, all residents of this fine Province, let’s all shrug our shoulders in unison…That’ll teach them bastard politicians…But wait, it’s for the environment and all…That oil leak in the states…that boat leak in the St-Lawrence……those Alberta tarsands…Oh the humanity!…Let’s reelect McGuinty!
    Got to keep sane…Got to keep sane…Got to keep sane…
    Now for some comedic relief with edge and intelligence damn the PC crap…It’s the latest segment of Miller Time on the Bill O’reilley show…a must see…enjoy:
    http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/oreilly/index.html#/v/4282463/must-see-miller-time/?playlist_id=87254

  36. This eco (not a tax) TAX is completely ridiculous. You are charged this TAX on prescription drugs, cleaning supplies, batteries, and a whole lot of other items. This is in the name of proper disposal of hazardous waste.
    BUT, what if I finish my Rx, use up all my dish soap (you get the drift), then there is nothing to dispose of. I already pay to recycle the container through my property taxes.
    I looked on the Stewardship Ontario website and discovered that in order to properly recycle/dispose of these items, I would have to travel to several different locations to dispose of each type.
    Maybe I should send it all to Queen’s Park…
    Best bumper sticker ever, spotted in Ottawa:
    “Save the planet
    Kill yourself”

  37. I’m curious whether anyone has see The Secret Of Oz. A friend of mine recommended it, suggesting that the movie provides a way to quickly clear up all of our economic problems.
    If someone has seen it and has an economist background, I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.

  40. Psssst…Anne (not from Cornwall).
    Wanna bet that the ditzy Anne FROM Cornwall was all over Count Iggy, like a cat in heat, when he visited there.

  41. http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/07/the_parade_of_bleeding_stumps.html
    “The Parade of the Bleeding Stumps.”
    This unsavory phrase originates in British government bureaucracy and darkly refers to the Civil Service’s clever response to the threat of spending cuts. The idea is that whenever cuts in a department are demanded by elected ministers, civil service bureaucrats respond by ignoring the many cases of waste, inefficiency, or general uselessness in the department, and instead tell the minister that the only way to cut spending is to axe necessary or politically important services and initiatives. So for example, when a government minister demands cuts to a hospital, the bureaucrats hide the two hundred administrators in a back room and haul out the battered and bruised hospital patients (aka the “bleeding stumps”) to show the minister “who will be hurt most by spending cuts.” The hope is that the minister will then back down, realizing that cutting funding would be politically unfeasible.

  44. EDB: That Anne and Kate selection was beautiful – I listened to it 3 times. I had not heard them doing it before. Yes, your choices are eclectic but the so were Vits thats why we keep coming back.

  45. Our Enemy, The State.
    The State is a criminal.
    …-
    “B.C. opens first sanctioned online casino in North America
    Vancouver Sun”

  46. With all due respect to OMMAG, IMHO Talk to Me of Mendocino is exquisite, especially as performed on the McGarrigle’s first album. This particular rendition is a little slow, a little uninspiring, but Anna’s harmonies are heart-breaking.
    The Northland was calling this week; ‘caught Anna and Kate on the car radio on the way home singing Kate’s ex, Loudon Wainwright III’s, Swimming Song. LOL!!
    … This summer I swam in a public place
    And a reservoir, to boot,
    At the latter I was informal,
    At the former I wore my suit, I wore my swimming suit. …
    And, yes, when I went swimming, I wore my swimming suit.

  47. I LOVE The Swimming Song!
    I just checked out YouTube versions: alas, nothing by the McGarrigles. I listened to a few other versions. Nothing caught the verve and toe-tapping, BIG guffaw, humour of Anna and Kate’s rendition.

  49. batb- Heart Like a Wheel by K & A is good, but imho Linda Ronstadt does it better- maybe because she does something to me- always has. But Mary Black also has a nice rendition. (YouTube it).

  50. Thanks, Snagglepuss. I’m listening to Linda Ronstadt singing Heart Like a Wheel as I write! I first heard HLAW with Ronstadt singing, when I had no idea who Kate and Anna McGarrigle were. She has an amazing voice (but I love the McGarrigle harmonies!).
    I’m a sucker for ’50s orchestrations, and have two albums of LR singing ’50s standards with Nelson Riddle’s Orchestra.

Proudly powered by WordPress & Skyrocket Themes

MENU

Navigation