The Maroon Vol. 2… No. 57 Tuesday, July 26, 2022
“Bringing us all to a place we don't want to lose."
Observer: American Pie
Macky’s New York: The Girl With The White Bonnet (and green water pistol)
William Peay: Tales From The Wood…
RHS Athletic Hall Of Fame: Save The Date: Nov. 5th 2022
RHS Tired Teens: Later School Start Times
M + A NYC: Mighty Are We As One
Jim Schoneman: Rock Hound
Siobhan Crann Winograd: Around The Village
Kathy & Ross Petras: You’re Saying It Wrong
Observer
American Pie
Try to find the movie The Day the Music Died: The Story of Don McLean’s American Pie’ on the Paramount+ streaming channel, then by all means watch. American Pie is a song every performer treads lightly upon when they decide to sing it. Even 50 years later we all know the words, and certainly the chorus by heart. If you ever tried to figure out with your friends what the lyrics to American Pie meant this documentary provides the answer from Don McLean himself.
Knowing the song’s intent takes nothing away from it. Six verses sung over eight and one half minutes was unheard of in the Terrestrial radio format of American popular culture at the time. I saw him perform American Pie on the South Street Seaport in Manhattan in 1977. He didn’t need to remind anybody that the song was one that WABC tried to kill because of its length. The vinyl (45 RPM) single had half of the song on Side A and the other half on Side B. The AM stations tried to get away with playing only Side A. Fortunately, an overwhelming number of people called to complain, so they had to play the entire song from the vinyl (33 RPM) album.
I find it hard to compare the American Pie phenomena to anything going on today. We have no similar anthems in terms of one we all know and can feel. We have so many choices and so little social cohesion. Nothing written in the last fifty years compares. Maybe there never will be.
I’m not saying I want to bring back the Vietnam War protests, or the 1960s riots over pervasive racism & segregation. Yes, we had a more activist youth population in those days, but they wrongly assumed it was going to be easy to change the world. That has never been the case.
If you admire the hopes & dreams efforts like those the counter-culture of the 1960s-1970s to incite change, you’ll see in this new documentary how Don McLean captured a bit of their confidence as well as anger. He used his own anger to compose this elegant poem called American Pie using dignified language.
Now that his true meaning of the song has been revealed, we can move on. You can say he wrote the eulogy for that bygone era of dashed expectations. He wrote it with heroic intention in mind, however badly you consider the movement turned out in hindsight.
Macky’s New York
Matthew Cortellesi Photography
July 14. 2022 - Upper West Side.
The Girl With The White Bonnet (and green water pistol)
A little girls tries to figure out how to capture the water from the fountain into her new water pistol.
This is a pure reflection shot into wet granite - looking north at 60th street.
Time: 1pm
#ny1pic
William Peay
Tales From The Wood…
Walked by the haunted house today.... I can remember when it was pink. Midland ParK, but it's like 50 yards from Ridge School...
RHS Athletic Hall Of Fame
Save The Date: November 5, 2022
Visit The RHS Athletic Hall Of Fame & Order Tickets for 2022 Inductees Banquet
Digital Printing for the RHS Hall of Fame provided by Tim Boucher, RHS 1988
RHS Tired Teens
Later School Start Times
M + A NYC
Mighty Are We As One
Inspired by art, designed in New York, and made by hand with love by artisans all over the world. Shop home décor and wearable accessories at www.mplusanyc.com
Jim Schoneman
Rock Hound
Soybeans in the fog. Center Road, Town of Pine River, Wisconsin.
Siobhan Crann Winograd
Around The Village
“Do not fear failure but rather fear not trying”. So today I dropped off 378 nominating petitions in an attempt to get on the November 2022 Ballot for Ridgewood Village Council. Thank you to everyone who helped and signed. I am incredibly grateful.
Kathy & Ross Petras
You’re Saying It Wrong
July 22, 2022
Wait... Is There a Difference?
A listener question has us talking about words we often use interchangeably that actually might mean different things.