If the quiz has you stumped, here are some definitions:
Kakistocracy- A government that is run by the worst, least qualified, or most unscrupulous citizens.
Kleptocracy- A government by corrupt leaders who use political power to steal the wealth of
people.
Oligarchy- A government in which power rests with a small number of (usually wealthy) people.
Plutocracy- A society that is ruled or controlled by people of great wealth or income.
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I picked out some pieces of wood, cradling them in my arms, then turned back toward the house to carry it in. Suddenly a fox came out of the darkness and trotted across the driveway toward me. It shuffled through the snow to the far end of the woodpile, sniffing around. I was very surprised, knowing how wary wild animals are to humans. The fox then walked around walked around the end of the woodpile and started headed directly toward me.
This seemed very bizarre. Surely, I thought, it was aware of me standing there, but maybe it was paying all of its attention to sniffing around. Just to make sure that it knew I was there, I spoke out to it.
“Hey fox, I am here. “
However, the fox seemed totally unconcerned about my presence. This was pretty amazing, so I yelled to my wife who was in the house, so she could come out and see the fox, but unfortunately, she was busy playing the piano, so didn’t hear me.
The fox then turned its back to me and walked calmly away, disappearing back into the darkness from where it came.
Of course, this was not some dramatic wildlife encounter, but it was an incident that has always stuck with me, because of the fox’s trust that I didn’t present a danger to it.
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Last week when I studied those cards where the autographs occurred, I happened to turn them over and I found it interesting, because they told of some of the things that I kept in my wallet back then.
Perhaps the most interesting to me was the back of the card that featured David Crosby’s autograph. It was my old Bob Schaad Record Club card, something that I had totally forgotten about. I remembered the name Bob Schaad, but little else. Bob Schaad had a record store in downtown Evansville, my home town. I don’t remember much about the store, but evidently I was a member of their Record Club.
It looks like if I bought ten record albums, I got a whopping $.98 off of my next album. Back in the 1960’s albums were very expensive, especially for a teen like me, who didn’t have a lot of money, so it would have been a big bonus to get 98 cents off, after buying ten.
This Record Club card tells another story. See the two “X’’s over the stamps. After I got David Crosby’s autograph on the other side of the card, I certainly didn’t want to turn it in when I became eligible for the free album, so I must have taken the card into Bob Schaad’s and explained the problem, and they marked the two “X”s over the stamps to indicated they were no longer valid, then they gave me a new card, with the same amount of stamps, so I could still get my $.98 discount, and at the same time keep my David Crosby autograph.
The other cards that I had gotten autographs on the back of, were:
A 1963 Driver’s Education Certificate so I could be taught how to drive at my high school when I was 15 years old.
A high school “Letterman’s Pass” (I was on the track team). The pass allowed me to get into all of my high school’s “home” games.
My college student ID and also my college library card.
At my age, I have been enjoying looking back at the life I lived, and certainly, seeing these sixty year old artifacts that I used to carry around in my wallet, stimulated some long buried memories.
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I have been constantly surprised at how rich our social activities were in the Robson Valley during the 1980’s and 90’s. We were surrounded by a wonderful group of like-minded friends with whom we visited, watched VCR movies, dined, played volleyball, and partied. Luckily, we lived right next door to Kjell and Celine, whose house became the party-central for many of those get-togethers.
They hosted many theme parties that required costumes, food, and music related to the theme. The “Blues Brothers” party happened in 1989. Dark suit coats, hats, and glasses, were donned by the males, emulating Elwood and Jake, the main characters in the Blues Brother movie. The women also wore dark glasses to accent their swanky dresses.
The on-going eating and dancing to the blues music, was interrupted by the Blues Brothers Air Band performance. I was impressed at how much Bruce, the high school principal, (shown holding the girl) got in to the part. When he wasn’t mouthing the words during the song, he gyrated and dangerously swung the microphone around by its cord.
The women performed as a dance troupe named “Ruby and the Red Lips” and grooved to heavy beat of a driving blues song. It was a wonderful party of abandonment with our alter egos, and I am sure it is remembered fondly by all of the participants.
Ah, to be young again.
I do remember making a dance tape for the party, because one of the songs on it was Dire Straits, “Money For Nothing” which had just been released, and was was a big hit during the party.
Our large group of friends sure had some stellar times back then.
One big reason for all of that exciting social life was our neighbors Kjell and Celine. They were very social-oriented and who were constantly organizing “theme” parties, where party-goers were expected to dress up to fit the chosen theme of the party. The food, music, and entertainment were also expected to fit the party’s theme, and were always wonderful. We were amazed at how the participants could always come up with, and create; unique costumes for the theme, from items they found in our tiny one-horse Village of McBride.
This morning while going through one of my old file folders, I found the invitation I created for the “Night in Jamaica” party that our neighbors put on. I was always given the task of creating the invitations to the parties and you can see what I came up with for the Jamaica party. This was before you could do much on a computer, so I had to use pen, photos, and a black and white photocopier.
I think I dressed up as a plantation owner to the party.
This is how it looked yesterday. The sun was blasting on the mountains, whose tops were completely blanketed with snow. I thought it made for a stunning shot.
My paintings can be seen at: davidmarchant2.ca
We are off to spend the day in the neighboring Village of Valemount, where we are taking Kona to the groomers for her haircut.
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On Friday, I was paying for the insurance on my truck and mentioned my “worthless” $1,600 to Rosemary in the insurance office. She told me that she thought that I was wrong, and my paper cash was still valid. She advised me to ask at the Credit Union, so I drove over there. There, the clerk assured me that those old paper bills were still legal tender. That left me really confused, so when I got back home, I checked again on the internet, and re-read what I had found there.
It was then that I discovered that the Canadian paper money that was no longer legal tender were just those dominations, that had been discontinued: One Thousand dollar bills, five hundred dollar bills, and two dollar bills, not the old paper money that I had. So happily, the cash I found is still good.
Like I said, I hate the flood of disinformation that is online, and I certainly don’t want to be the author of any, so I thought I should put it out there that I had been wrong, and old Canadian paper money in denominations of $1, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100 are still valid
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Back in 1963-4, I was very much into Folk Music. I was a dedicated viewer of the Hootenanny show which broadcast recordings of folk music concerts from university concerts. I was in my 3rd year of high school, but I loved the banjos, guitars, and harmonies of those performances. One of of my favorite folk groups that often appeared on the show was the Chad Mitchell Trio. They often did humorous songs with social satire lyrics with wonderful harmonies.
Peter, Paul, and Mary where a huge part of the “Folk Music Revival” although they never did appear on the Hootenanny show. I did hear a lot of their music from albums that my friends shared. One of the songs that became a hit for them was “Leaving on a Jet Plane”. I was really taken by that song and in one of my folk music magazines, I learned it was written by someone named John Denver. I had never heard of him, but loved the song, and figured that someone who wrote it must be very talented. I kept his name in mind, hoping to someday hear more about him.
In 1965 Chad Mitchell the “leader” of the Chad Mitchell Trio, quit the Chad Mitchell Trio, hoping to go out on his own, musically. The remaining two members of the group renamed themselves the “Mitchell Trio and added a replacement for Chad Mitchell. The replacement was an unknown singer/songwriter named John Denver.
I think it must have been in 1966 that the Mitchell Trio came to my home town of Evansville, Indiana to do a concert at Robert’s Municipal Stadium. I don’t remember if I knew that John Denver had been made the replacement for Chad Mitchell, or whether I learned it when I went to the concert, but there he was, the writer of “Leaving on a Jet Plane” there on the stage, singing in the Mitchell Trio. He did sing “Leaving on a Jet Plane”, as part of the concert.
When their concert was over and the audience was leaving, I bravely walked backstage, and got to talk to John Denver. I told him how much the song “Leaving on a Jet Plane” meant to me, and that if I could create something like that, I thought I could die a happy man. He was very friendly and I got him to autograph the backside of a card I had in my wallet.
John Denver’s was the last of the precious autographs that I got. Don’t get the idea that I was constantly collecting the autographs of performers, because I was not. In my whole life I only got a handful of autographs, just from those artists whose music I had come to love. Now I find it very interesting that when I got those autographs and got to meet David Crosby, Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Chris Hillman, and John Denver, they were all unknown performers, just members of musical groups. It was only later in their musical careers, that they became famous and internationally known.
Below is a photo of the Mitchell Trio with John Denver. Here is a link if you want to see them sing a humorous song about the KKK.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3TcUA5jE6o
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Here is how that memorable night went:
Everyone has their favorite concert experience and mine took place on May 20, 1967. A few months before, I started hearing the song “For What It’s Worth” by the Buffalo Springfield that was getting airplay on the local radio station. The Buffalo Springfield was a previously unknown group, but I really liked the song and was quite surprised to find out that the group was coming to Evansville to play for a dance, (yes, a dance) at Roberts Municipal Stadium. My cousin Dan, who was in town visiting, my sister, and I all decided to attend.
We were early at arriving, but nevertheless, when we climbed out of the car in the large, empty stadium parking lot, we could hear the wailing of an electric guitar, emanating from the stadium,. “Wow,” we exclaimed as we looked at each other, “This could be good.”
Once inside the stadium we were surprised at how few people were there, but our attention quickly focused on the stage, where a lanky dark haired guy wearing a turned down white navy hat and a long-fringed leather jacket was loudly putting his guitar through its paces. We later learned that his name was Neil Young.
He soon disappeared backstage, and there was a lull with nothing happening, so we just milled around with the sparse crowd on the floor of the large cavernous stadium. Both The Buffalo Springfield and a group called The Outsiders were scheduled to play for the dance. I was familiar with the music of the Outsiders because they got a lot of radio play in Evansville, but they were nothing special to me, I was there to hear the Buffalo Springfield.
The MC came on stage and explained that there had been some disagreement between the two bands as to the order in which the two bands would play. It had been decided that the Buffalo Springfield would begin, then The Outsiders would play a full set, followed with a final set by the Springfield.
We gathered along with a few others at the edge of the stage and stood right in front of it, which was at shoulder-level. The Springfield came out and started their first song. I was totally blown away. They were so tight and professional, with both their instruments and vocals.
I stood there transfixed by the wall of sound in front of me, Neil Young’s piercing guitar solo stuck me from the right, then Stills hit me from the left, his riff produced by fingerpicks on his electric guitar strings. Richie Furay jumped in with his electric twelve-string from the middle. Vocals came in from different directions harmonizing, exactly on time and on pitch. I was positioned immediately in front of the stage. I was so close, I could just about reach out and touch Stephen Still’s boot.
Having mostly heard local bands playing live, I was mesmerized by the precision of the group in front of me and I thought to myself, this is the real thing, this is what it must be like hearing The Beatles up close.
The Buffalo Springfield finished their set and while The Outsiders were setting up. I turned around to see what was happening in the rest of the stadium. There still weren’t many people there, but obviously some had been dancing and during the break, they were retreating to the stands.
During the lull, members of the Buffalo Springfield meandered over to sit in the empty stands and watch The Outsiders. My cousin, sister, and I walked over to talk to the Springfield and get autographs. I asked Stephan Stills if he had ever played the banjo, since he was using finger picks on his guitar. No, he didn’t. When asked, they told me they had gotten their name from a steamroller they had come upon, and it had the name “Buffalo Springfield” on its nameplate.
The dancing picked up when The Outsiders began to play. I am sure they were the big draw for most of those who were in attendance. We remained talking to the Buffalo Springfield during the Outsider’s set, until they went back to prepare for their final set.
Full of energy the Springfield started to perform again. All of their songs except “For What Its Worth” were new to me, but I was ecstatic standing there watching what the guitar players were doing in an attempt to learn some new tricks. On and on they played.
They began playing an extended version of what I believe was the song “Mr. Soul,” because the guitar riff reminded me of “Satisfaction.” The magic intensified. Neil Young would break into a screaming guitar solo, then Stills would answer with one of his unique playing riffs. Back and forth they went, playing off of each other; Stills, Young, Stills, Young. I loved it. Unfortunately, then the stadium lights began to flash on and off as the building staff tried to signal that it was time for everyone to leave.
The Buffalo Springfield slowly returned to Earth, and the greatest musical experience of my life came to an end.
Sadly, those precious autographs I had gotten that night are now almost incomprehensible, particularly that of Neil Young. Which is one of my biggest losses. (below)
The autographs of Richie Furay (who later formed the band Poco) and Dewey Martin (Springfield drummer) are still legible. (below)
I had been an early fan of Bob Dylan, and in sometime in 1965, I started hearing some of Dylan’s songs recorded by The Byrds. I was immediately captured by the folk rock sound that The Byrds created with their jangling electric 12-string guitar, and their beautiful vocal harmonies.
I think it must have been in 1966 that The Byrds played a concert at the outdoor Mesker Amphitheatre in my home town of Evansville, Indiana. I sat through the opening band, but then walked down to the fence that blocked the stage. As I stood there by the gate, a guy came out to get some soft drinks for the band and asked me if I wanted to get in to the stage, which I did. He let me help carry some of the drinks in for the band.
Once inside, I got to meet some of the Byrds, and got the autographs of Mike Clarke, drummer and vocalist, and David Crosby, rhythm guitar and vocalist. (Photo of autographs above) I had always loved David Crosby’s high harmonies. I also got the autograph of Chis Hillman, who played the bass for the Byrds. (Photo below).
Getting to meet and get the autographs of some of The Byrds, did have one big drawback: Because I was back stage, I didn’t get to see them perform. I heard them playing, but it certainly would have been nice to see them do it.
Both Crosby and Hillman went on to became very well known for their musical talents later in life. After leaving The Byrds, David Crosby became a member of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, and Chris Hillman formed the Flying Burrito Brothers Band-- All music that I love.
I prized these autographs, but early on I made a tragic mistake in an attempt to protect those valued autographs. I put adhesive plastic on the top of them thinking that would protect them, but over time it did just the opposite, and caused the signatures to deteriorate. Then later, when I put them into our safe thinking that would keep them safe, the moisture in the safe destroyed them to the point where it is now difficult to make the signatures out.
Tomorrow, I will blog about more deteriorating autographs.
Every night when I wake up in the middle of my sleep, it takes me some time to get back to my slumber, so during that awakening, I often think about the upcoming day, and what jobs I will do.
Last night I decided I would finish my work in the greenhouse. I have been blocking places where tree roots have been getting into my plant bed and sucking out all of the water in the soil. I have been blocking the cracks with small copper sheets, because I remember hearing in a university botany class, that copper was deadly to roots.
During my waking period, I also thought about the square I was going to paint, which was going to be simpler, and easier than the ones I have been painting. Lastly, I thought about what I was going to blog about.
With my day planned, I eventually fell back to sleep, but when morning came and Kona woke me up and I looked outside, I was surprised and somewhat dismayed to see the ground covered with 5 inches (13 cm) of snow. That changed everything I had planned.
Immediately after breakfast, I decided that I should get out the snowblower, so I could use up the fuel that was in the tank of the snowblower, so I wouldn’t have to drain in later in the spring when I store the snowblower.
I started the snowblower and began clearing the driveway. I was working on the top of the drive, up by the road, when suddenly, the cable that turns the snow chute broke. That put an end to my snowblowing, so I walked the machine back to the shop, and finished my driveway clearing with a snow shovel. I will have to deal with my broken snowblower cable some other day. (That is it trailing out from the snowblower on the bottle left of the photo.)
When I came back into the house, tired from my snow shoveling, I decided I would take my blood pressure. I am always curious and surprised about it being so low after I exercise. It seems like it ought to be higher as I work my muscles, breathe harder, and make my heart beats faster, but it is always lower when my heart rate goes up. It was the same today, my blood pressure was a lower than normal (115/72) and my heart beat was higher than usual (68).
Anyway, the snowfall threw all of my planning for the day out the window: No greenhouse work, no painting, and this blog is different than the one I had planned. Do things ever work out the way you planned?
You can see my paintings at: davidmarchant2.ca
Yesterday, I opened the safe to see what we had put in it. It was a sobering experience. I guess it was the lack of air circulation in the safe that caused the problem, but a lot of the important papers we had in there were moist, stuck together, and deteriorating. It was a depressing experience, but then I saw that we amongst our saved valuables, there was a stack of cash.
“Wow,” I thought, “a forgotten windfall.” My spirits brightened.
Taking a closer look at the cash I noticed that all of the bills had the old design and were paper. Canada had since changed all of its bills to plastic with anti-counterfeit strips. I wondered if having those old paper bills would present a problem, and they did.
A search on the internet told me that 2021, was the last year that the Canadian Government accepted and recognized the old paper currency, and after that it was not valid. So I discovered that the $1,600 in cash that we had in our save, was now worthless.
Having always been a news junkie, I am sure I must have heard that the old paper money was going to expire in 2021, but I had totally forgotten that I had a stash of it in our safe.
I wish we would have spent that money long ago instead of putting it in the safe, so we would have it in case of an emergency. I guess that was a lesson learned the hard way.
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