Winds Howling

I’ve listened to this one a few times now: on the way to dinner a few days ago, yesterday while poking around on the computer, and at least one other time I’ve now forgotten. I’ve gotten in the habit of not writing these up immediately, but listening to the symphony two or three times over the course of days.

The first couple of times I listened to this one, I listened to the version by Academy of Ancient Music/Christopher Hogwood. That’s been my go-to move lately — I haven’t listened to any other version for the last several symphonies. But this one just wasn’t doing much for me, and I figured I’d been over-relying on those recordings, so I also checked out the version by Adam Fischer and Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra. They definitely felt different from each other; the Hogwood is lighter and more delicate sounding, while the Fischer is louder and punchier. I appreciated the change.

My favorite two movements were the first (‘Allegro molto’) and last (‘Presto’). The first kicked off energetically and featured a nifty little downward run as it slid into the minor key sections — an example of something I thought the Fischer recording rendered more clearly than the Hogwood. The ‘Presto’ had lots of festive trilling and some smooth dramatic turns that felt somewhat unique among the symphonies so far, only slightly brought down by a slow part in the middle that seems to get lost in thought before snapping back to attention.

The other two movements were inoffensive. The second movement (‘Andante cantabile’) was pleasantly tranquil, but by the third (‘Minuet & trio’) the symphony had become pretty dull, seemingly hesitant to do anything too interesting, and was partially rescued by a decent presto.

Length: 18:12
Next up: Symphony No. 25

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Last night we saw a partial lunar eclipse from our campsite at Sleepy Hollow State Park outside of Lansing, Michigan.

The eclipse was all but complete, covering 96.2% of the moon with the shadow of the Earth cast by the sun.

Here’s the first photo I got of it, when around 10:39 p.m. one of Camilla’s friends called her to remind her to look up. You can see a chunk getting taken out of it in the bottom left.

I took most of my photos from outside the campground bathrooms. They were really very nice bathrooms.

By 11:20 p.m. or so, the moon had been reduced to a fingernail clipping, and the Earth’s shadow deepened into red.

Here’s the picture I took closest to the point of maximum eclipse, which is supposed to have come a couple of minutes later.

Here’s the last photo I got of it before heading to bed.

For bonus points, here’s our campsite. Camilla set it up earlier in the day, then went to Grand Rapids for a friend’s surprise birthday party. I met her back here after I got off work.

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Dolly Parton died today. The news came to me at 2:08 p.m., with a message from a friend: “RIP DOLLY.”

It’s a bit more striking than the average celebrity passing, despite the facts that she was relatively quiet during my lifetime, I only overlapped with the last 35% of her life, and I’ve never been a particular fan of hers anyway. I think it’s because she was one of the last great pop culture characters of the last century, one of the oldest remaining mega-stars whose life stretched back almost as far as the modern music industry. There’s a sense of a link to the past being severed, like when one of the last veterans of a war dies. It’s also possibly because she’d turned herself into something a little more than human, both physically and as a brand. It’s like I just found out SpongeBob died. It almost seems impossible. Was he even real in the first place? And now he’s gone forever?

When I went to visit my parents for dinner tonight, my car was tuned to Willie’s Roadhouse, an old-school country station on Sirius XM backed by its own ancient star, Willie Nelson. By that time it had become a call-in vigil hosted by one of the station’s regular voices, Dallas Wayne. “My Tennessee Mountain Home” by Dolly Parton was playing as I started to drive. Here are a few of the stories people called in to tell.

Hilda:

I will never forget standing in my living room when she was on that award program, and they ended the program with her and a choir singing “He’s Alive.” I had the Don Francisco album of that for several years, and so I knew the song, and she touched many lives, because that was on nationwide, worldwide, and if you’re as old as I am you might remember the reaction the next day, that’s all they talked about was her singing “He’s Alive.” I stood there and cried because I knew that she was singing to so many people that had never heard the gospel in that way. … I don’t remember what network it was on, but the telephone lines got jammed. … It was unforgettable, and if you can play it, she can do it again.

Steve:

Several years ago, April of ‘71, I was a junior in high school, and Dolly was travelling with Porter. They did a show at the local high school gymnasium. Admission was $2 for students and $3 for adults. The dressing room, which was the boys basketball team locker room, was for Porter and Speck and the other guys. Dolly had to walk up a little set of steps into the band room, and that was her dressing room. I was walking around the backside of the gymnasium, and Dolly came out of the band room and down the steps. I encountered her there at the steps. She said, hi, how you doing? I turned around and looked behind me and had nobody behind me and I said dadgum, she’s talking to me! She is talking to me! And I will never ever forget that, Dallas. She was in a beautiful blue dress with white flowers on it. We stood and talked for, it seemed like forever, but it may have been 10 minutes or something. She was waiting to go on stage, and she just asked me how I was doing, and how I liked school, and everything about my community, and was just so down to earth, just so easy to talk to. Fifty-five years ago now, and I’ll never forget that conversation. … I have six grandbabies, and their Christmas gifts are passes to Dollywood. It’s about a three-hour drive from our home in eastern Kentucky, and we always try to go early April or May when Dolly usually goes for a little ride through the park when the park opens. We have been lucky enough to be there on some of those occasions, and my little grandkids’ faces just light up. They love Dolly, they love Dollywood, and they love papaw’s story about meeting Dolly at the local high school 55 years ago. It’s just a special, special, special memory for me.

Sherry:

I heard the news, and I was OK with it, you know, everybody’s gonna go. But when I heard Dallas’ announcement on the radio earlier, that’s when I lost it, because I heard the hurt in his voice, and that’s when it became really real. My favorite Dolly memory is one from years ago when I was younger. My uncle was fortunate enough to be able to set up concert venues for many, many artists, many that he met. One of them was Miss Dolly. I had tickets to her concert, and as a teenager, I was so excited. But two days before, my brother and I decided to go hiking and climbing rocks and things. Well, I jumped down, broke my ankle, then I went to the doctor, fell backwards through the doctor’s window, got stitches on my legs, stitches in my arms, so I was just not able to go anywhere. My uncle was there, and he was like, yeah, my niece was supposed to be here, she was supposed to come, but she can’t. Somehow, word got back to Miss Dolly about it. And she hunted down until she found my uncle. … She took pictures with him, she signed an autograph for me, gave him a hug and said give it to her. When he said, I got a picture with her for you, I didn’t believe him, of course, being doubtful, and sure enough, as soon as he got that camera back and the film developed, I was over the moon excited, and I keep it tucked away inside of a trunk, inside of a box, just for safe keeping, and tonight I’ll probably go home and look at it and realize how much I miss her already.

Sophia:

When I got married to a wonderful man 50 years ago, he told me shortly after we got married that he wanted me to know that there was only one woman in the whole wide world that he would ever leave me for. And he said Dolly Parton. He said, now, I’m not going looking for her, but if she ever calls me, I just want you to know that I’m gonna go. So I said, you know, I feel like I should start singing, “Dolly, Dolly, Dolly, please don’t take him just because you can.” She was my Jolene in a way. He is a preacher, by the way. We’re married 50 years. He was a pastor this whole time, but he loved, loved, loved, we all did, Dolly Parton, and our favorite Dolly Parton song, of course, my children, my grandchildren, all of us know every word to: “Daddy Was an Old Time Preacher Man.”

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Today was the first day of the summer that I thought felt like fall. Cloudy almost all day, with a chilly breeze. When I went out for a walk, I put on a jacket I haven’t worn since May and heard some of the first fallen leaves of the season being blown across the pavement. It was only hot for a few minutes around 3:30 p.m., when the sun got a chance to shine for more than a few minutes.

Looking back, this summer began to make itself felt here in mid-April, when I texted my friends about the first days of the year above 70F. “I’m already tired of the summer. It’s too hot,” I said on April 14. Spring still had a hold, though, and two and a half weeks later, I said the summer had been “teasing us” with a high of 64F.

We ended up going through a couple of heat waves, one at the beginning of June and another at the start of July. I started complaining in early August, too: “It might be a bit hot to stand and listen,” I texted while figuring out whether I should go see a local guy read aloud from the Declaration of Independence.

Today’s taste of fall was over by 9 p.m., by which point the dew point had crept back up to 60, and I relented and put on the AC.

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Here are my first impressions of three new albums Cam and I listened to in the car on the way up north this weekend.

Ariana Grande — petal
Released July 31

This one disappointed me. It’s a lot of whispering, insubstantial vocals, with lyrics that are usually unintelligible from the speakers of a 2021 Subaru Crosstrek, backed by weak rhythms and undistinguished pads of synths. It felt like music made by people who could barely keep their eyes open. There was hardly anything to grab onto, and about seven minutes after it was over, I realized it had almost entirely left my head.

Bellamy Brothers — 50 Years On
Released June 26

Before this album, I knew one song by the Bellamy Brothers — 1979’s “If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me.” I first heard it on a country radio station while driving around town delivering DoorDash on a particularly nice summer evening, and it ended up being one of the first country songs I saved to a playlist. I never got into Bellamy Brothers beyond that song though, so I was intrigued when Apple Music served up their new album. The title track, “50 Years On,” was easily the strongest—a pretty unique song reflecting on five decades in the music industry, alluding to old stories and misadventures. Nothing else on the album was as good as this. Most of the other songs felt a bit waterlogged — usually too long by a chorus or two, and with a chronically low energy level. To be fair, these are old men, and the one song I knew by them is a chill one, but I still think they could have picked it up a little bit, especially on a track like “Barndominium,” where their emotionless, slightly-too-quiet monotone brings down what should be a fun, funny track. Moderately clever lyrics enliven some other songs — I enjoyed the singalong ode to Jimmy Buffett and another where the refrain was “I hate to break it to you baby / But your grandma was a whole lot cooler than you are.” But overall I don’t think I’ll be returning to this much.

Weezer — Weezer (Gold Album)
Released Aug. 21

I really liked this one. I’ve never been much of a Weezer person, but now I’m Weezer curious. Songs had good ideas behind them and never overstayed their welcome; none of them really struck me as bad or superfluous. One got stuck in my head pretty quickly (‘C.E.O.’). I laughed out loud a couple of times — this line got me: “Bought a toaster just to make some toast / First I had to scan a QR code.” A couple nights later, I listened to the album again and liked it even more.

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I finally got an answer to a question I’ve been wondering about ever since voting in Michigan’s primary election on Aug. 4: where did that “I Voted” sticker come from?

The worker handing it out at the polling place said the sticker was “designed by kids.” The local official in charge of our elections, Clinton Township Clerk Kim Meltzer, told me via email that it was a winner of a 2024 sticker design contest, but actually, it wasn’t one of those designs, either. She did me the favor of asking the county where it came from, since they were the ones that doled out the stickers to local officials.

In response, they forwarded a press release from six years ago, which doesn’t seem to be available online in raw form, so here you go. It revealed that the design was by Kayla McCuen, a then-high-school-senior who won a county-run contest in 2020, where kids in the local school districts could submit sticker designs. The theme was “YOUR VOTE / OUR FUTURE.”

Here’s what McCuen said about the design at the time:

In my sticker, you can see a pair of hands cradling the words “Your Vote Matters.” It’s a reminder that you make a difference! I’ve always believed that it was not only your right, but a privilege to be able to make such an impact.

I reached her over Facebook, and she told me she never expected her sticker would be passed out for this long.

“Even still, my friends text me every election, be it a local or presidential election, and send me pictures of my sticker,” she said, adding, “I even see it out in the wild posted in bar bathrooms or street sign poles.”

She said she thinks she did it as a project for an art class.

“It was a really cool experience to be a part of,” she said. “That year was my first year voting in a presidential election, so it’s an interesting piece of memorabilia for me.”

Goce Nedanovski, election specialist with the county clerk’s office, told me “there isn’t really a story” behind this sticker still seeing active use.

“We just had a lot left over from 2020,” he said. “We finally gave out the last of it this year.”

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Saturday 7/18
12:42pm Deplaned at Great Falls International Airport.
12:53pm Picked up Jeep Wrangler from Alamo car rental desk.
1:30pm Got lunch and beer flights at Mighty Mo Brewing Company in Great Falls.

3:12pm Started driving to St. Mary Village.
4:52pm Filled the Jeep with gas in Browning.
5:40pm Checked in at St. Mary Village.
7:40pm Arrived at Many Glacier Hotel to meet friends for dinner.

9:14pm Dinner is served at Ptarmigan Dining Room.

10:50pm Got back to St. Mary Village.

Sunday 7/19
5:30am Woke up.
7:05am Got breakfast at Many Glacier Hotel.
8:30am Took boats across Swiftcurrent Lake and Lake Josephine.
9am Started hiking toward Grinnell Glacier.
12pm Got to Grinnell Glacier.

1:30pm Started hiking back from the glacier.
3:44pm Arrived back at boat dock.
4:30pm Bored of waiting for seats on a return boat, Cam and I decided to separate from the others and start walking back to Many Glacier Hotel from the Lake Josephine boat dock.
5:26pm Arrived back at Many Glacier Hotel.
5:42pm Our friends arrived back at Many Glacier Hotel by boat.
6:40pm Cam and I got back to St. Mary Village.
8:05pm Sat down for dinner at Snowgoose Grille.
8:30pm Dinner is served.

11pm Went to bed.

Monday 7/20
7:30am Woke up.
9:12am Arrived at Many Glacier Hotel to meet friends.
10:16am Started hiking Iceberg Lake Trail from hotel.
12:16pm Got to Ptarmigan Falls.
1:39pm Arrived at Iceberg Lake.

2:46pm Started back from Iceberg Lake.
3:57pm Got back to Ptarmigan Falls.
5:40pm Arrived back at Many Glacier Hotel.
6:24pm Sat down at Many Glacier Hotel patio with drinks.
7:58pm Dinner is served at Ptarmigan Dining Room.
9:00pm Cam and I left Many Glacier Hotel.
9:30pm Cam and I got back to St. Mary Village.

Tuesday 7/21
5:10am Woke up.
6:01am Got coffee and breakfast sandwich from Triple Divide Coffee Company at St. Mary Village.
6:06am Started driving to Logan Pass parking lot.
6:42am Parked at Logan Pass.
7:09am Started hiking to Hidden Lake Overlook.
7:55am Arrived at Hidden Lake Overlook.

8:02am Started back to the parking lot.
8:41am Got back to Logan Pass Visitor Center.
9:25am Left Logan Pass parking lot and started driving Going-to-the-Sun Road.
9:27am Stopped at Oberlin Bend.
9:40am Stopped at rest area (48.7265732, -113.7221841).

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We just got back from a four-day trip to Traverse City, where we stayed in an AirBnb with a bunch of friends for a combined bachelor/bachelorette party. Good times aside, here are the highlights from a travel point of view.

Staying on the lake. We stayed outside of Traverse City, on the east side of the Leleenau Peninsula, with a tantalizing view of Power Island in the bay. Nothing in the AirBnb was fastened tightly; anything that could wobble did wobble. Don’t lean too hard on the railings.

The drinking bus. We chartered the Brew Bus, driven by a friendly local guy, who took us to two wineries and a cider place: 45 North, Black Star Farms and Sutton’s Bay Ciders.

45 North was a little bland, and I don’t like ciders much, so Black Star Farms was my favorite — here are some pics of that.

Renting a boat on Torch Lake. This was a fun bit — expensive for what it is, but hey. Boat time.

Driving back home. We turned our 4-hour drive into a 6.5-hour drive by stopping at two breweries, checking out the “Tridge” in Midland and being forced to crawl through torrential rain. I’ll have a couple more articles from this leg of the trip coming shortly.

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Here are some words I learned recently and where I learned them.

perspicuous — clearly expressed, easy to understand; lucid. (learned 8/6 from “Roadside Picnic”)

fortalice — fortress; a small fort. (learned 8/7 from “Life on a Mediaeval Barony”)

mollycoddle — to treat with an excessive or absurd degree of indulgence and attention. (learned 8/9 from “Robin Hood” (2010))

punter — a person who gambles. (learned 8/10 from a Diamond Geezer post)

emendation — an alteration designed to correct or improve. (learned 8/11 from “Henry I” by C. Warren Hollister)

disseise — to deprive, especially wrongfully, of seisin; dispossess. (learned 8/12 from “Henry I”)

—> seisin — the possession of land or chattels.

ASO — short for “anvil-shaped object”; a lower-quality cast iron anvil that is softer and prone to wear. (learned 8/15 from Mythbusters episode “Myths Redux”)

roundel — a round figure or object. (learned 8/16 from a Diamond Geezer post)

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Six months late, Burger King’s latest marketing push finally broke through to me yesterday. I scrolled past something on my phone that told me they updated the Whopper. A few more minutes of reading revealed this happened all the way back in February and was just one part of a campaign to manufacture good vibes through stuff like self-effacing YouTube videos, begging the public for criticism and, apparently, refreshing the Whopper.

Looking at my records, it appeared that I was myself one of Burger King’s lost customers. The last transaction I had any evidence of was from May of last year, when I bought “Hamburger,” according to the emailed receipt. I decided to check out the new Whopper.

The main changes, according to Burger King, are:

• “a more premium, better tasting bun.”
• “better tasting mayo.”
• instead of a paper wrapper, it’s “served in a box to ensure it makes it to Guests exactly the way it left the kitchen.”

The press release heavily implied these changes were based on feedback solicited from the general public during their “text the president” campaign, but I don’t see how that’s possible, given that they only collected feedback for nine days before launching the new Whopper.

When I tried placing my order on the app, it glitched and said there was an error processing it, but I still got a receipt email. I relaunched the app and found that I had a Whopper meal in my cart but could also track the status of one I’d just ordered. I sighed and got on my way.

They’d gotten my order after all, but it was out of reach behind the counter. Fortunately, an employee happened to be troubleshooting the slushie machine at the time, and was too close to pretend I wasn’t there. They fetched my bag and I sat down with my food 10 minutes after ordering it. I mention the time because the Whopper wasn’t quite all the way warm — I’ll assume they were just insanely quick in making it.

I started eating the Whopper at 8:24 and finished at 8:29, with Darius Rucker’s “Wagon Wheel” playing from Burger King’s speakers basically the whole time.

I appreciated that half the Whopper was wrapped pretty tightly in paper, making it easy to keep your hands clean while you eat it.

I can’t honestly say I noticed much of a difference from what I remember of the last Whoppers I had, whenever those were. It tasted good, but ordinary, and I wished it had been warmer.

When I finished my Whopper and finally looked up, I noticed tons of paper crowns all over the place, free to take. It turns out these are from another marketing campaign that launched a couple of weeks after the updated Whopper, called “There’s A New King And It’s You.” Following the same vein as the feedback collection drive, it’s all about making the customer feel like they’re the center of Burger King’s universe.

The campaign officially fires the brand’s King mascot, who has been absent from its marketing communications in recent years, and places the crown on its Guests, whose feedback continues to guide the brand’s decisions.

It must be fun to stack these crowns up again into neat little pyramids when people knock them over.

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