ATF!

Hey quit yer bitchin'! Better late than never. ok so what's on the table this evenin'? Lastweek I threw out like 600 topics that you bastards all ignored. So all those are fair game.

As for tunes... its sort of a quiet night.... cool.... not violently cold... I'm thinking Shostakovic. Hey... Fire of Eternal Glory is never a bad call. I may wonder off to the Classical Masterpieces channel and leave her lay for while. The little lady is tired as she can be... and that means I can pretty well lose myself in the analysis of the pieces... and the insane musicianship that's almost always involved. Has anyone ever noticed that Symphony Number 9... no matter who's symphany it is that you're talking about... is always awesome? Is there some arcane rule among composers to name their best stuff symphony number 9?

We don't talk about music enough here. So how 'bout it? Do we have any lovers of art-music here? I use the term "art-music" to describe what laymen call "classical". Classical actually refers to a musical period, that fell between the baroque, and the romantic.

The romantic period... which has nothing at all to do with love songs... is without question my favorite. All the big guns were writing then... Dvorak... the afformentioned russian... and several other russians as well.

The period to me is best represented by Saint-Sean's Danse Macabre'. The Romantic period was typified by music that was designed to tell a story, or describe a scene. In Danse, its all about Death playing the fiddle in a grave yard. You get 12 strokes of a bell to signify Midnight. You get xylophones rattling away like the bones of the dead. The lead violin is actually tuned down partly to create an eerie desonance that you just have to hear. There are little things to find here and there... not to mention memorable themes that jerk your senses around.

And at last... there's even a rooster crow.

It's not the greatest work of the period. But it is the most demonstrative I think. The greatest work... well duh... That would be the New World Symphony, by Antonin Dvorak.

Perhaps its a wine night then? Yeah... I think so too. Hell.. I may even head out and grab a box of wine in honor of JAC!

So what of smokes then? I confess to be undecided at this point... though its unlikely that I'll remain so. I've had some baking in the humidor for a while now... trying to recover them from a dastardly experience... to horrific to describe here... I'm thinkin' their about done.

And guns? Guns.... I like them. The topic of gun talk shall be recreational. Who all breaks clays? DrWho and I love it. JAC and Mrs JAC love it. Do you? Whatcha shoot? What's your game?

As usuall, standard Friday posting rules apply.