Music Whenever: John Mellencamp "Pink Houses"

Another great tune I file under the genre "Americana" rock.



There's a black man with a black cat
Livin' in a black neighborhood
He's got an interstate runnin' through his front yard
You know he thinks that he's got it so good

And there's a woman in the kitchen
Cleanin' up the evenin' slop
And he looks at her and says
"Hey darlin', I can remember when you could stop a clock"

Oh, but ain't that America for you and me
Ain't that America somethin' to see baby
Ain't that America home of the free
Little pink houses for you and me

There's a young man in a t-shirt
Listenin' to a rockin' rollin' station
He's got greasy hair, greasy smile
He says, "Lord this must be my destination"

'Cause they told me when I was younger
"Boy you're gonna be President"
But just like everything else those old crazy dreams
Just kinda came and went

Oh, but ain't that America for you and me
Ain't that America somethin' to see baby
Ain't that America home of the free
Little pink houses for you and me

Well there's people and more people
What do they know know know
Go to work in some high rise
And vacation down at the Gulf of Mexico, ooh yeah

And there's winners and there's losers
But they ain't no big deal
'Cause the simple man baby pays for the thrills, the bills
The pills that kill

Oh, but ain't that America for you and me
Ain't that America somethin' to see baby
Ain't that America home of the free
Little pink houses for you and me

Cooper River Fall 2011

The more astute among those of you who still read my drivel after all these years; you may have noticed that I haven't been sailing my Classic Moth that much...... and you're right! I last raced my Maser in June and neither my Maser or any of my project Classic Moths have been dipped in water since.... that is until last weekend. My job as a sailmaker for the US Naval Academy went away in July, it was a temporary assignment after all, and I, in trying to navigate what is indeed a difficult job market, I haven't been able to wrap my head around racing my Classic Moths. There have been other distractions as well; a wedding and other temporary work. Well, last weekend I bundled my trusty Maser onto the trailer and made the trip up to Philadelphia with my Mothboater travel mate, John Z. The river provided a nice 5-7 knot, typically fluky breeze, the temps were close to 60 F, the sun was out, not a cloud in the sky, a gorgeous afternoon. We raced 6 short races, I finished 3rd out of 5 and had a blast. After the racing, as is the custom, the Mid-Atlantic Mothboaters spent time sampling weird and wonderful beers, orchestrated by Mike and Barbara Parsons. We had the Dogfish Pangea, a spicy beer with a strong orange taste, Fegleys Imperial Pumpkin, my review of which has been relegated to my Pumpkin Beer post , Samuel Smith Winter Ale with a typical English maltiness and my cheaper but still tasty, Farmhouse Ale Stout. A picture from left to right; George, who is the author of the blog Mid-Atlantic Musings, Mike, a friend of Mike's who only likes watered down lite beer but we still let him join the party, Barbara, who brought out the Imperial Pumpkin Ale, and the blogmeister, still sporting his zinc oxide sun screen. (John Z is behind the camera.) One of the neat things about Cooper River is that it has the feeling of being in a quiet suburban setting but you can see the skyline of Philadelphia poking out above the treeline. Here is the skyline behind the massive rowing center building on Cooper River. In my dotage, I pick my fall days I want to go sailing and you couldn't pick one better than this.

Music Whenever: Tribute "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"

From Wikipedia :

In 2004, George Harrison was inducted posthumously into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" was played in tribute by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Steve Winwood, Steve Ferrone, Marc Mann, and Dhani Harrison, along with fellow inductee Prince.

Actually this serves two purposes; it allows me to cleverly connect this following music video into the current mess in the Laser class.

In the mid 90's, Prince decided to change his name into a symbol that couldn't be printed. Everyone had to refer to him awkwardly as "the artist formerly known as Prince".

As Tillerman notes, in 2011, Bruce Kirby decided to rename his Laser design to "The Kirby Sailboat". Now everyone should refer to Tillerman's favorite sailboat (again awkwardly) as "the Kirby Sailboat formerly known as the Laser".

Anyway, great music video, particularly when "the artist formerly known as Prince" does his solo at the end.

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Update: Baydog has kindly posted another version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (as well as some Bob Dylan) over here . Also, in the comments, Tillerman suggests going to YouTube and watching a live version with George and Eric Clapton done during a 1992 Japanese concert.

Kids and Parents and Sailing

A few years ago, Nick Hayes published a book "Saving Sailing; full of suggestions to grow the sport. Tillerman wrote a post about his thoughts on the book over here . One of the suggestions Nick made was that parents should actually go sailing with their kids rather than dropping them off at the club to be herded around the water by some college aged instructors. I think there is some merit in Nick's suggestion, though I am not one that can be held up as an example; I was much more into my singlehanded sailing as my kids were growing up and not so much into taking them out. Understandably my kids went off and found other activities they enjoyed more.

Here are three very different videos with parents/adults sailing with their kid(s).

The first one has a young tyke, somewhat overwhelmed, bombing along close to the water with his parents in a Hobe Tri-Foiler.

Salim goes sailing August 2011 from AaronDavis on Vimeo.

The second video has mom crewing for her two kids, one steering and one tending the jib on an older wooden catamaran (by the look of the crossbeams it may very well be an old Prout Shearwater, but I'm guessing this is Australia so it may be some home grown design). The video ends with what looks like Dad and maybe an older son, double trapezing on a modern skiff type vessel.

Sailing at the richmond river sailing club and rowing sunday 6/11/2011. from Callum on Vimeo.

And for Baydog, who has written about his family sailing on an E-scow , here is a kid steering an E-scow. By his grin from ear to ear, an experience he'll remember the rest of his life. (And plenty of grins and laughter from the old farts too!)

I've got to add this one from a fellow blogger. My2Fish, blogger about Sunfish sailing, music, and Michigan State football , points to his video of sunset sailing on his Sunfish with his oldest son. Beautiful colors in this video.

sunfish sailing with my son from my2fish on Vimeo.

Music Whenever: Bon Iver "Holocene"

Another recommendation from Robyn.

Supposedly Bon Iver fell in love with the beauty of Iceland and I have never seen a better music video in capturing stunning natural wonders. Combine this with Bon Iver's haunting acoustic sound to create something special.

BON IVER "Holocene" from nabil elderkin on Vimeo.

Header Photo; 1888 Topsail Cutter "Elf"

I wrote a post in June about the Elf Classic Yacht Race, a cross-the-Chesapeake Bay Classic Yacht Race. This is the restored 'Elf', off Annapolis Harbor, waiting for her skipper to row out so she can get underway in the race.

Volvo Ocean Race: 2011 Edition

The around the world Volvo Ocean Race starts tomorrow. I think those Volvo guys are absolutely nuts, right up there with those crazies that jump off mountains in those flying squirrel suits and then zoom feet from the rock face. I would be hard pressed to name another endurance event that is as long and draining as the Volvo Ocean Race. American Kenny Read hits the nail on the head with this interview.............