Glorious Summer

What a glorious day to be off. It's going to be very hot but there is a beautiful breeze and all is well with my world. The highlight of my day so far was to go to the local strawberry field, get a couple of boxes of still-warm, fat, juicy berries and then the store to get a container of cold heavy cream. I put the two together and voila, the real highlight of the day.....so far.

I'm having a friend for supper who is in serious need of comfort after a devastating blow in the relationship field. Who hasn't had one of those and needed a shoulder to cry on.

I asked my son this morning what he wanted for a home-cooked meal today and he said tacos and French onion soup. I'm afraid neither is on the menu with company coming to dinner but I'll try that combination for tomorrow. I thought it was kind of a strange combination but everyone has individual tastes.

That brings me to music. I love how musical tastes are so diverse. It also changes over time. I was listening to a song today that I like very much but it ends with loud rock and roll. I always want to turn it off at that point. I certainly loved loud rock and roll at one time but have moved away from it to a large degree.

Something I never understood was that my mother did not like The Moody Blues. She liked Frank Zappa, Led Zeplin, Neil Young, CSNY, The Beatles and Stones and all that I listened to back in the late sixties but could not stand The Moody Blues. My oldest son does not like The Waifs and my uncle doesn't like Ray Charles. I don't understand it but accept that others have different musical tastes.

Since my Uncle Ray doesn't read this blog I'm posting Ray Charles. There is so much to choose from from this great, great artist that it's a difficult task. I've chosen two very different styles because he had blues hits, pop hits and country hits. Here's some blues, Hard Times, and some country, Seven Spanish Angels, where he's singing with Willie Nelson. Seven Spanish Angels may not work. If anyone else using Putfile has already uploaded a song mine piggybacks it and it is used on my page. It doesn't seem to be working but may later. It does not good to upload it again as it will piggyback to there again. I've uploaded another. I had I've Got a Woman on a 45 that I remember so well. I found it in a hiding place before Christmas and never told anyone - until now.

Prime Minister of the Blues, Dutch Mason

I wish I could enlarge the above image that I picked up off the internet. I don't know how I forgot to put in a paragraph about Prime Minister Dutch Mason in my post earlier today.

I woke this morning to hear the news that my Maritime hero, Dutch Mason, had died. I was shocked. Even though he had been ill for years, to hear such news surprised and saddened me. I've been a Dutch Mason fan since the early 70's years in my Saint John years where he played often. I have most of his albums and lots of great memories of his always wonderful and unique performances.

Once, in the early 80's, I was working evenings and Dutch was booked to play a week at a Charlottetown nightclub. I took a week's vacation and went every night and was so glad I did. He was remarkable.

The last time he played in PEI, a lot of my friends were in various places in the club on a hot summer night. No one was dancing and I wasn't about to be the one to begin. Everyone headed outdoors during the intermission and I arranged that everyone (my friends) get up on the first beat of the first song after intermission and head to the dance floor. We all did and the party began. We had a real blast. I got an autograph from Dutch that night and saw the really devastated appearance of his hands. He was no longer playing at that time in the early 90's.

The last time I saw/heard Dutch was in Nova Scotia. About four years ago, S and I went on a little overnight camping trip to Joggins and Parrsboro to satisfy my fossil jonesing. Turned out that Dutch was playing at the Ships Theater in Parsboro that night. We were too late to get tickets but the Ships Theater is an old boat with a tarp for a roof. We sat out on the deck on that hot summer night and drank beer and listened to the master. While everyone was inside sitting in their seats, we were outside, inches from Dutch sitting in his wheelchair, waiting to be introduced. I kept my cool and didn't fawn or bug the man.

He was truly a master and was aptly named the Prime Minister of the Blues by BB King. I want to have my old albums preserved digitally or on cd somehow. They've always been considered treasures of mine as there really aren't a lot of those old albums around.

You'll certainly be missed Dutch Mason, but you'll get to join your old friend Rick up there and I can well imagine Heaven's going to be filled with the blues tonight.

For Dutchie fans here's a link back to Hard Times on my music page and I'm uploading Nine Below Zero, Walkin Blues and Baby Please Don't Go for today. I've also included them on my Christmas Eve playlist that I make every year tha I'm about to burn so we can all hear it tonight. I wish I could have a copy of Dutch's version of Alright, OK on my computer. He does a better job of that song than anyone, in my opinion.