They all asked about you down on the farm (Little Feat)

Heading around the corners of the garden shed now - had to add more wire and trellis.

Wie geht's?

So, what's the go at Maple Grove? I think I hear you ask...

Having polished off the rest of Jacky's trifle, the Christmas tree and the rest of the trappings have been packed away for another year and we are in that lull between December 25 and the new year.

All the wet weather we've had in Takapau has been brilliant - you can read the repercussions of that on my Jewels For The Thirsty post for last week.

Maple Grove is currently playing host to Jade's pooch. Tango is having a lovely holiday at his second home - following me around and going for a daily saunter around the paddocks as I harrow.

The WTWMC amigos are wrapping up the Loved Ones playlist in the coming week, so I've been happily immersed in listening out for some Kiwi gems to celebrate Barbara of the Auckland Simmses (Kevy's mum).

And finally, with all the humidity and rain, the passionfruit vine has gone ballistic!

Mmmm...passionfruit!

Love and peace - Woz

How I'll hate going out in the storm (Dean Martin)

Wie geht's?

My to-be-read pile is pictured. Left to right, there are three stacks: non-fiction (non-music related); fiction; music books.

The photo doesn't include a book I've just started - Alan Alda's Never Have Your Dog Stuffed. It's an autobiography and I've roared out laughing quite a few times so far. 

It probably should have been called Don't Notice Anything (his mother's advice when visiting friends) because he notices everything!!

His early life was dominated by his father's burlesque and vaudeville career and his comedy instincts are in his DNA, but his writing skills are all his own.

What a talented guy. Comedy is about timing and to get that right in the written form is especially difficult. Bravo!! I salute him!

Here's an excerpt for you, describing the massages he had to endure when he had polio aged 8:

Three times a week, I was laid out on the dining room table in my Jockey shorts while a physical therapist took each of my limbs and tried to unscrew it from its socket. Sometimes she ripped an arm off and had to plug it back in again, but usually she was satisfied just to keep bending it until I agreed to turn over playmates who were members of the French underground.

Merry Christmas! Love and peace - Wozza

Poi E whaka-tata mai (Patea Maori Cub)

Wie geht's?

Keegan's birthday is on the 19th of December. A big un too, this year - his 40th! That's him fresh home from Westown Maternity (New Plymouth) in 1984. Back then he weighed 8 pounds.

His origin story is here.

As it states in that post, I compiled media stuff from the week he was born in '84. Here is a random selection:

• The horoscope for those born this week - count your blessings, rather than your grievances.
• Gremlins and Cannonball Run 2 were on at the movies in New Plymouth. 
• It was raining in NP on 19 December 1984.
• Everton were top of Division one this week (hard to believe) and Arsenal were 4th.
• Billy Joel's An Innocent Man was the top album and Poi-E by the Patea Maori Club was the #1 single.

Happy birthday Keegan! Suggest you fire up the popcorn maker and watch Gremlins tonight to celebrate.

Love always - dad

I feel fine (The Beatles)

Wie geht's?

I'm fresh from watching The Beatles '64 on Disney+. It's a new documentary produced by Martin Scorsese and the current keepers of the Beatles flame (Sean, Paul, Olivia and Ringo).

Unashamedly, I got very emotionally involved as I watched because it touched on some core memories - of joy, wonder, love, shock, appreciation.

Memories I have written about before - especially around my reaction to the fabs appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show.

The documentary starts by putting The Beatles 1964 tour of America in context with a series of clips about John F Kennedy. He was assassinated on November 22, 1963 and The Beatles world tour reached America in August 1964.

I certainly remember the assassination, as the shock waves rippled their way to 18 Korma Ave., Auckland, New Zealand. A paper clipping was kept and the funeral images are seared into my brain.

The Beatles '64 world tour started in Denmark in June and went to The Netherlands, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, England, Sweden and back to England, before heading to America in August. Thirty concerts during those three months. They worked their socks off!

The documentary just concentrates on the American part because they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show twice and the world was never the same again.

As one interviewee says - the world was darkness, The Ed Sullivan appearance happened, and the light went on.

I loved the interviews, both archival and new.

Paul in '64 disagrees when an interviewer, trying to sum up the Beatles influence uses the term 'western culture'. Paul says, "It's not culture, it's a laugh".  

What I noticed again and again in the film were the smiling faces of the boys and their audiences, all the people having a laugh.

The Beatles unleashed a torrent of joy. One interviewee says the music touched her heart. She says, "I could relax".

I definitely felt that as I watched as they, impossibly young, performed on Ed Sullivan and in Washington, and reflected on how fate led me to the lounge at 18 Korma Ave., to watch their original appearance.

The awe is still there and I'm so grateful that my time on the planet has intersected with John Paul George and Ringo.

Love and peace - Wozza

Song for Adam (Jackson Browne)

The males of the family

Wie geht's?

Adam's birthday celebrations are today's order of business.

The 11th of December 1986 seems a while ago now in some ways, but in other ways it's permanently in my brain in full focus.

Here are the facts: 

• Born in National Women's Hospital, Auckland at 10.28am, Adam Lennon Purdy was an 8 pound plus bundle of energy right from the off. With deep blue eyes and a killer smile to boot. 
• His horoscope for the week gave good advice - 'be versatile, keep things simple'.
• Top of the pops was Walk This Way - Run DMC.
• Arsenal F.C. were leading in English Division One on 38 points.
• Jacky, Wozza and Keegan were proud as punch!

Join with me in a rousing happy birthday to our special little guy.

Love - dad

You're the cream in my coffee, you're the salt in my stew (Colonial Club Orchestra)

Wie geht's?

Lately, I've been listening to a lot of dance bands from the 1930s and 1940s, as you do when prepping music selections for parents who were teenagers in those years. I'm speaking about Kevy's dad, Greg's dad and my parents - both of whom belonged to the Auckland Swing club (their membership pin, which I wear on a suit, is pictured above).

Dance music of that era conformed to a pretty strict formula. My parents were both born in NZ and they gravitated towards American swing bands. Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Woody Herman, Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw and Glenn Miller were my parents' favourites. 

On the other hand, Joe Simms and Harry Knowles were originally from Blighty and they were more inclined towards British dance bands who 'typically played melodic, good-time music that had jazz and big band influences but also maintained a peculiarly British sense of rhythm and style which came from the music hall tradition'. 

So, my Spotify listening this week has been built around Billy Cotton and Jack Hylton, with a side order of Benny Goodman and Woody Herman.

Ironically, this was music I couldn't wouldn't shouldn't like when growing up and while I still don't understand it, I certainly have enjoyed exploring the genre and expanding my listening repertoire.

Again, what hits you between your ears and stays with you throughout your life, comes down to the era of music you happen to become a teenager in. Up to that point you are forced to listen to the music of your parents' generation. For me it's the early 1970s, but for Harry Knowles, born in Kent in 1922, it's the mid-thirties; for Graham (1928), Dulcie (1930) and Joe (born in Manchester 1930) it's the early forties.

All of them were teenagers (not that the term existed) within that dance band/ swing era.

The week ahead focuses on Harry Knowles. You can track our progress here.

Love and peace - Wozza

All I am, and all that I was ever meant to be, in harmony, shining true and smiling back at all who wait to cross. There is no loss (Kansas)

Wie geht's? 

I am fond of telling people that I have lived a charmed life. That doesn't mean I have mastered the embrace of Amor Fati (a love of fate). But I aim to, even though it's tough sometimes. Especially when loved ones depart from our lives.

This week on our current Wander to Wozza's Music Club playlist (WTWMC - Loved Ones) the three amigos are celebrating my mum - Dulcie Mary Purdy (a.k.a. Dulse). She was born in April 1930 and passed away in November 1983. She was the greatest mum ever - yes, I know, but she was. Trust me.

I still own most of the records that are my five selections for the week. I inherited them when dad passed away in 2009. They mean a lot to me.

In the spirit of Amor Fati, I am determined not to be sad this week. Instead, it's a musical celebration of a great person in my life, someone who set me up well for what was to come.

She wasn't well educated, in the sense that she finished her formal schooling before secondary school to get a job and support her own mum, but in many ways her values and the things she learned and passed on were invaluable to me.

See - a charmed life!

Love and peace - Woz