Spitball Army

The first cool wisps of Autumn swirl around me in an invigorating embrace. I feel warmer somehow, energized. I must be a lettuce.

[Written to Alice in Indianapolis, Indiana.  Return addressed: Richard, Ward 43, U.S.N.H., St. Albans, L.I., N.Y.  Postmarked at Jamaica, N.Y., on 18 Apr 1946 at 7:30 P.M.]

April 18, 1946

Hello Sweetheart,

     What a surprise!  I got a letter this morning.  That was an interesting clipping you sent.  One look at that and I know I’m not going back to school.  I wouldn’t live that way if I was single.  Anyway, I’m not and I wouldn’t go up there without you; so I guess we will wait in Indianapolis until something developes someplace.

     There isn’t anything new.  I’m just eating and sleeping and waiting.  Waiting to get my hands on you.  When I do, I’ll literally squeeze the love right out of you.  You will be worse than “drooly.”

     Good-night Sweetheart
          I love you with all my heart
               Pleasant dreams
                    Goodnight Sweetheart
                         x x
                              ‘Nite

xx

She bundles the kids and sends them out to clean the yard. “Bag them one leaf at a time.” She’s just bought 23 minutes of sanity.

Card is titled: “4400.  Largest Outdoor Organ in the World.  Balboa Park, San Diego, California.  1A-H456.”

Printed on back of postcard:

LARGEST OUTDOOR ORGAN IN THE WORLD
This organ, the only one of its kind in the world, a gift to the city of San Diego by John D. and Adolph Spreckles.  The pavilion ius daily the scene of musical concerts and recitals and faces a seating area that accommodates over 3,000 people..

Publishing information:  Western Publishing & Novelty Co., Los Angeles, Calif.  “C.T. Art-Colortone”  Reg. U.S. Pat. Off.

The card has been posted with a 1 cent stamp, and was postmarked at San Diego, Calif. on 14 February 1941 at 6 PM.  Postcard is addressed to Mr. & Mrs. Nowakowski, 245 Roycroft Dr., Rochester, N.Y.

Text of written message on back of postcard:

Hello darlings!

Well here I finally am.  I have a date with Matt for supper.  He wanted to take the day off but I wouldn’t let him.  I’ll write you more after I see him.

Love
Ollie

Not truly the “Best of,” but the tracks in today’s playlist are drawn from the recordings from roughly the last year that I enjoyed listening to the most. These are albums and EPs that I found myself listening to repeatedly. To me, that makes them better than most or, at least, my favorites.

I feel like I say that every time I put together one of these year-end lists.

The numbered list, such as it is, can be seen within this post.

Approximate playing time: 71 minutes.

1. John Lennon & Yoko Ono  “(Just Like) Starting Over” (stripped down version)
2. Little Silver  “Sleep Til Morning”
3. Josh Rouse  “Sweet Elaine“
4. Mandelring Quartett & Claire-Marie le Guay  “Robert Schumann: Piano Quintet in E flat major, Op. 44 (III. Scherzo. Molto vivace)”
5. Josh Rouse  “Lemon Tree”
6. John Lennon & Yoko Ono  “Woman” (stripped down version)
7. The Silver Seas  “From My Windowsill”
8. Daniel Tashian  “High Time”
9. The Silver Seas  “What’s the Drawback?”
10. Laura Veirs  “Summer Is the Champion”
11. Clare Burson  “The World Turns on a Dime”
12. Ed Harcourt  “Do As I Say Not As I Do”
13. Broken Bells  “The Ghost Inside“
14. Ed Harcourt  “Lachrymosity”
15. Justin Townes Earle  “Workin’ for the MTA”
16. Clare Burson  “I Will / With You”
17. Laura Veirs  “When You Give Your Heart”
18. Justin Townes Earle  “Slippin’ and Slidin'”
19. Broken Bells  “October”

[Written to Alice in Indianapolis, Indiana.  Return addressed: Richard, Ward 43, U.S.N.H., St. Albans, L.I., N.Y.  Postmarked at Jamaica, N.Y., on 17 Apr 1946 at 7 P.M.]

April 17, 1946

Hello Sweetheart,

     Well, I’m still here and I’m afraid I’ll still be here this week-end.  I wasn’t on the transfer list for this Friday.  The Record Office called me up Monday and asked me a couple of questions so I know they haven’t forgotten me and they are at least doing something.  It should be near the first of next week now.

     What have you decided about coming up here?  Think it over Sweetheart and I’ll get your answer Sunday night.  Don’t let any stubbornness interfer.  We might never see this part of the country again.  I don’t think I’ll want to come back.  I’ve seen enough of New York to last me for a lifetime.

     Here are my bowling scores.  Last Tuesday – 130, 156, 158, & 138.  Yesterday – 147, 152, 155, & 123.  That 4th game is always too much.  I get tired.  Only one out of the 8 on the two teams beat me yesterday.  He bowled 148, 142, 158, & 135.  Beat me 6 pins.

     The tempest is fugating, so I’ll just say “I love you Sweetheart” and sign off.

     Goodnight Sweetheart
          I love you with all my  heart
               Pleasant dreams
                    Goodnight Sweetheart
                         x x
                              ‘Nite

x x

Lists! And none of them are in ranked order. Also, none of the lists include the couple of handfuls of things that I forgot. Here goes:

My favorite music of 2010 (the source material for this coming Sunday’s playlist):

1. Mandelring Quartett / Schumann: Piano Quintet
2. Josh Rouse / El Turista
   I disliked this album at first, but after about five run-throughs, I couldn’t turn it off.
3. Little Silver / The Stolen Souvenir EP
   Hem member Steve Curtis’ new side-project. Beautiful and moody – just how I like ’em.
4. John Lennon & Yoko Ono / Double Fantasy: Stripped Down
5. Laura Veirs / July Flame
   The lyrics to these songs inspired several small pieces that I wrote this year.
6. Ed Harcourt / Lustre
7. Justin Townes Earle / Harlem River Blues
8. Broken Bells / Broken Bells
9. Clare Burson / Silver & Ash
10. Daniel Tashian / The Lights of Town EP
    and
    The Silver Seas / Chateau Revenge
11. Diane Rehm’s voice

The worst musical idea of the year was hatched by the person or persons at Sony or in Bruce Springsteen’s camp who decided that the remastered version of Darkness on the Edge of Town would only be made available within the nearly $100 super-souped up package called The Promise. Losers.

My favorite screen-things of 2010:

1. The Thin Red Line (blu-ray)
   My almost favorite film got better this year when The Criterion Collection added it to their roster. I doubt there is a more gorgeous, more emotional film about war and humanity that you could see, or a more perfect way in which to view it.
2. The King’s Speech
   The Birmingham crowd (with whom I had to endure nervous tittering and laughter through Black Swan only the night before) applauded at the end of this movie. As did I.
3. Summer Hours (blu-ray)
4. Sweetgrass (DVD)
   Sheep herders in rural northern Montana. So gorgeous you can almost smell ’em.
5. The Terrace Theatre (James Island, South Carolina)
   I love this independent cinema near my Mom’s home in South Carolina. I try to make a stop there at least once every time I visit her. Why Birmingham, Alabama, doesn’t have such a place for movie lovers is completely beyond me. (They’d have to charge me rent!)
6. Mad Men (cable TV)
7. Temple Grandin (DVD)
   Someone ought to invent a new award for Claire Danes’ performance in this HBO film. Whoever wins the Best Actress Oscar should be thankful this wasn’t released in theaters.
8. The Secret in Their Eyes (DVD)
   One of the most unexpected yet sensible endings in a film since The 39 Steps. And that was a really, really long time ago.
9. I Am Love (DVD)
10. Top Chef (cable TV)

The favorite things I read in 2010:

1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
   I first read this book when I was in high school or earlier. This was a good year to revisit it.
2. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
3. All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono by David Sheff
4. The New York Times on the Kindle
   I halted the Sunday home delivery of the Times to get it seven days a week on my new Kindle. 50% savings and news every day. <Like>
5. Composed by Rosanne Cash
   Which the very nice author signed for me after her Alys Stephens Center concert.
6. City of Nets: A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940s by Otto Friedrich
   An older book I pulled off my shelf, about Hollywood in the old days. Fascinating and seedy.
7. Hint Fiction: An Anthology of Stories in 25 Words or Fewer
   I’ve been writing lots of flash fiction and micro-essays this year. These stories were fun twists on those forms.
8. Augustus: The Life of Rome’s First Emperor by Anthony Everitt
   I watched all of the Rome mimi-series this year, and was curious about what happened after the show’s timeline stopped. This book helped inform me of that. Really well written; not dry history at all.
9. The Imperfectionists By Tom Rachman
10. FUBAR: Soldier Slang of World War II by Gordon L. Rottman
    Plucked from the obscure depths of the Barnes & Noble bargain cart. I’ll be running to this as a reference for years to come.

Eight hours of continuous highway driving. Despite the companionship of some high-energy music, I arrive at my destination with gas-pedal eyes.

[Written to Alice in Indianapolis, Indiana.  Return addressed: Richard, Ward 43, U.S.N.H., St. Albans, L.I., N.Y.  Postmarked at Jamaica, N.Y., on 16 Apr 1946 at 1:30 P.M.]

April 16, 1946

Hello Sweetheart,

     I went to the show in the auditorium last night.  What a picture!!  “Lost Week-end”  It was the funniest thing – the first place everybody went after the show was the nearest drinking fountain.  The picture made me so thirsty that I couldn’t get enough water afterwards.

     I got some “personel affects” back yesterday.  It was some things that I had in my blanket roll, I think.  There may have been some things fom my sea bag too.  I don’t remember taking both pair of glasses with me.  Anyhow, I got the glasses – one pair all broken to pieces and the other pair in one piece.  They also sent back some letters and 15 stamped envelopes.  I had to throw most of it away.  It was green with mould and mildew.  What a lovely smell.

     We’re going bowling this afternoon.  I’m on the ward team this week.  We (the 43 Cripples) are bowling “The 102 Plastics.”  Everyone on our team has either a bad arm of leg; and the other team, every man has had plastic surgery work done on his face.  There isn’t anything wrong with their arms and legs.

     No more news Sweetheart.  There isn’t a thing left to write but I love you.  You already know that so I’ll just tell you again away.  I love you Sweetheart.

     Good-night Sweetheart
          I love you with all my heart
               Pleasant dreams
                    Goodnight Sweetheart
                         x x     ‘Nite

xx

The trailer for The Lost Weekend (1945):

The last sight leaving Alabama on I-20: a quaint red barn. The first sight upon entering Alabama: a run-down lean-to, peeling red paint, near collapse.