Thread 17 - TalkLair: "Okay, first of all, what's with the outfit? Live in the now, okay? You look like DeBarge."

[RasaSayangEh]

(Previous thread 16).

Spring is springing, daffodils blooming all over our LairGarden, which have not all been picked by a neighbour's kid...

In the TalkLair, the hearth is glowing, books by non-approved authors line the shelves, cosy rugs are down on the floors looking a bit stained by cat hairball regurgitation. The denizens of the lair are a welcoming bunch though, always eager for general chit-chat on all manner of topics. We just won’t mention the gnawed bones of our prey over there in the corner of the cave…

There are a whole new load of untranslatable foreign words in this year's new Oxford dictionary. Susie Dent was talking about them on Radio 4 yesterday evening. She's someone who has drunk at the fountain of youth. She doesn't seem to have aged a day since she started on Countdown in about 1767.

I couldn't give a Toska

I like the look of the potato farls, those look worth a go, and the oat bread looks just like the excellent bread my brother makes. Never been keen on soda bread as it sets my teeth on edge.

Just read this about Paul Simon, whose singing I've always enjoyed. I had no idea he spent so much time in Essex, nor that he had an 'adopted' family there. A very gentle story to start the weekend.

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/arts/article/paul-simon-essex-brentwood-adopted-family-qngk99fsm

https://archive.ph/Csajl

I was actually in Brentwood a while back, with my DS, at a pool tournament, and I was telling him the story about Kathy from Brentwood. It's a lovely tale, and great that PS kept in touch.

I am officially a child again! I have just got enormous pleasure from tearing a piece of paper in half, sticking a pin through one piece and looking at the solar eclipse through my pinhole camera.

Just been out and tried the same, but without much success! It's pretty cloudy here today.

I love the Paul Simon story! DH and I actually went to see their reunion tour, in 2003 I think, in Boston, which is only a couple of hours from us. The voices were still pretty good then - not so much now, sadly. I heard Paul Simon sing with Sabrina Carpenter on the SNL 50 year reunion show recently and he’s very quavery now. Happens to all of us I guess - we went to see James Taylor probably 17 or so years ago, in New Hampshire, and he was fine then but not so much now.

That must have been a lovely evening, @Britinme

I've always loved Simon and Garfunkel, but Simon's voice was always comforting to me in a way that few other voices ever have been.

I haven’t read the article yet but my dad was a big PS/S&G fan and consequently, so am I. Very fond memories of car journeys together listening to his albums, especially Graceland and There Goes Rhymin’ Simon. I spent much of my youth wandering around listening to S&G on my Walkman like a weirdo.

After my dad died I couldn’t listen to him for years. In fact, it was only two years ago, 10 years since his death, that I felt able to put on a Paul Simon record. First Graceland, which was really painful, and then Rhythm of the Saints which I didn’t know so well so less emotive for me.

ROTS totally blew me away and is now probably my favourite album of all time. The track ‘Spirit Voices’ is just beautiful, I’ve probably listened to it eleventy million times. ‘The Coast’ is another one of my favourites. It was exactly what I needed at that point and it’s really helped me to deal with the grief I’d tried to shut out for so many years.

Also, listening to all these songs later in life gave me a new appreciation for the lyrics. I didn’t have the life experience back then to really understand what they meant or relate to them. And yet he wrote the Sound of Silence when he was 22, which seems crazy now.

I could go on about him all day, but I’ll spare you all the pain

It was, @Vegemiteandhoneyontoast. They had the Everly Brothers on as guests, which was a fun blast from the past too, and their voices were still good.

It’s really comforting isn’t it. Gentle but emotive. His performance of The Boxer on his Live Rhymin’ album is so sad.

He’s touring again soon but only in North America. Apparently he’s touring with flutists so people are speculating there’ll be quite a few ROTS songs. I’m doubtful he’ll come to Europe though.

Gentle but emotive

Yes, that's it, and almost childlike. I love it.

'Graceland' was one I listened to on repeat when it first came out and it's the album that goes with the days of my degree course. That's when I met Mr Veg and 'Graceland' accompanied our early relationship, so it has happy memories too.

I must dig out some tracks and listen again, it'll be like slipping into a warm stream.

That’s lovely. Funnily enough, ROTS accompanied me through the final year of my degree. It was really bloody hard and I had ‘The Coast’ on speed dial. The lyrics ‘to prove that I love you/because I believe in you’ - it felt like Paul was telling me what my dad couldn’t.

it felt like Paul was telling me what my dad couldn’t.

That's so poignant. It's wonderful that songs can do that in your life when the people around you aren't able to.

I haven't listened to 'Rhythm of the Saints' but really must. Just read that sessions for the album included J. J. Cale who was another one whose music I adored. 'Shades' was a big favourite in the 80s.

Got some listening to do!

Paul Simon sang backing vocals on Dion's "Song for Sam Cooke" about 4 or 5 years ago and is okay, but Dion (86 this year, so he must have been 80 when it was recorded) is v.v. good indeed. There's video of the recording on YouTube. I won't link to it, as videos popping up is one of my pet hates on this site, but the bit after the .com is .... /watch?v=pA2AyRi7MuA

I haven't listened to 'Rhythm of the Saints' but really must.

Same! 😀

Graceland was always one of my favourites, especially the African bits, but really I liked all his albums, even Wednesday morning 3am.

Re my message to MrG's #1 son, I realised later that I'd hit "reply all" and so copied in #2 son, who has always been lovely. So I sent him a separate message saying Oops, sorry, the tone of that was not directed at you!

Just got a reply saying yes I get it…I think he’s just trying to be helpful..
Reminds me of back in the day …he can be intrusive and annoying…
I will be chatting with him later today.

Rather him than me! But I was reminded of visits to us in Spain, and our cat's reaction. When #1 + wife visited, they longed to be her friends. Catface made a point of avoiding them. She would skirt the room on the opposite side to wherever they happened to be sitting, hackles up. She was frankly rude! When #2 came, he sat down on the sofa and didn't make eye contact with her. Within 5 minutes she had walked along the back of the sofa and down his chest and was curled up in his lap, where she went to sleep.

I remember having to write an essay on severe combined immunodeficiency after watching a lecture on David Vetter (aka 'the boy in the bubble'). All I can recall about SCID is how excited I was to finally have the opportunity to weave Paul Simon into my degree no matter how many marks it cost me.

I realised later that I'd hit "reply all" and so copied in #2 son

I laughed out loud, sorry!

weave Paul Simon into my degree

Brava! Can you remember what you wrote?

I’ve just had a look, it turns out it wasn’t an essay as such but a reflection we had to do on the ethics of gene therapy as part of an assignment on genetic diseases. I definitely could have linked them better, e.g. gone into ethical debates around funding and research priorities, but to write more would have been pushing my luck I think:

I was particularly taken aback by the ‘Bubble Boy’ section in 4.2.9 (gene therapy) which made me question the ethics of confining a child to a small plastic tent in a laboratory in the rather unlikely hope of finding a cure. Incidentally, this case was referenced in Paul Simon’s 1987 single ‘The Boy in the Bubble’, in which he sets out the juxtaposition of medical and technological breakthroughs and advancements in a time when issues such as famine and terrorism continue to cause widespread death and suffering.

It seemed that David Vetter was relatively well-adjusted under the circumstances, but I was left wondering what would have happened had this not been the case. Would it have been ethical to continue had he exhibited signs of suffering? Would the desire and opportunity to understand, study and potentially cure SCID override a child’s right not to suffer?

I also couldn’t help but try to put myself in the shoes of the people affected by the halting of the 257 gene therapy trials following the death of Jesse Gelsinger. Was it right to suspend a study that potentially could have extended the lives of hundreds of people, after just one death?

Further down I start talking about the film ‘Annihilation’ in the context of missense mutations in cancer. I remember now that it was a really stressful assignment and I think I may have started to dissociate somewhat.

Nice one! Did they really cut points for mentioning music?

I can't remember... probably not more than one or two as it was part of the 'reflection' so not graded in the same way. I never really knew what to write for them, they made me cringe.

Good to hear it was only a couple of points.

Glad I haven't had to write anything like that for a very long time. I'm not good at it and just want to get to the point and be done.