Wolfe Tone

The whole world is a bottle, and life is but a dram. Meditations and ruminations on photography, bourbon, music, Irishness, books, whiskey, photography, and, uh, whisky?

em—bee:

“You’ll never beat the Irish!!!”

Ireland’s official song for euro 2012! Featuring some big names such as The Dubliners, The Irish team, Bressie, Damien Dempsey! Enjoy! COME ON THE BOYS IN GREEN!!!!!! 

Saw the Wood Brothers last night. Great, great, great show. I am inspired by their devotion, by their talent and by their sound. Chris Wood in particular is incredible, playing harmonica and upright bass with amazing soul and skill. There is no voice like Oliver Wood’s. Nothing sounds like it anywhere on earth. I shot some video but have yet to master the art of video production (uh, I don’t know how to upload it - too big).

Saw the Wood Brothers last night. Great, great, great show. I am inspired by their devotion, by their talent and by their sound. Chris Wood in particular is incredible, playing harmonica and upright bass with amazing soul and skill. There is no voice like Oliver Wood’s. Nothing sounds like it anywhere on earth.

I shot some video but have yet to master the art of video production (uh, I don’t know how to upload it - too big).

benoitfelten:

I got the Wood Brother’s Live “Sky High” last week and it’s been on heavy rotation since then. These guys just melt my heart every time. I can’t wait for them to come over to Europe. Listening to this version of Luckiest Man and tell me it doesn’t do something to you…

(Source: youtube.com)

My recovery progresses. It’s possible that I have been in a two-year depression. I’m not a clinician and don’t pretend to have insight even into myself, despite the amount of time I spend on the subject, but things were not right and they were getting wronger by the minute. Luckily for you all, I won’t bore you with a conversion/salvation story. Nothing that dramatic, but I will say that there are some positive steps you can take if you are in a funk. And they are easy. And they don’t even involve abstinence (alcohol or sex). Exercise and activity are the key to it all. Run, walk, swim, cycle, skate, ski, climb, hike, move, dance, do. Cut back a bit (really, just a bit…) on the excesses and your energy will quadruple. That’s it. Enough of that. The child in the photo above (the photo of the photo and scotch whisky) is 17 years old now. Back then, we called him ‘Bam-Bam’ because that’s what he did most of the time. He is pretty much graduated but for the ceremony and is moving on to life in Boulder, Colorado (far from here) come next fall. It’s hard to believe. Once, he was banging pots and lids, then he was heading to college. He was pretty sick the other day and we went to the doctor. They checked his vitals and did his height and weight. 74 inches. Officially past me now though I only told him, “welcome to the club.” He’s looking down and back towards me. I’d like to take credit for the man he is becoming but he is driving this bus himself for the most part. He is an athlete and is lately becoming a scholar as well. There is a seriousness that took about 16 years to develop. It was never there before, and it comes at the expense of some of the joie de vivre that he always had naturally. But not all of it. He has just changed where he gets the joie from. In a few weeks, we’re heading to Greensboro, NC where he will run in the high school track and field National Championships. Not as an individual, but as part of a relay team (4 x 800 and 4 x 1 mile). Quite an accomplishment and one that he worked very hard to earn. He’s going to attempt to walk-on in Cross-country and track for the Buffaloes. Proud moments. Sorry for the sentimentality but it is life and comes unbidden at moments like this. I could have kept it to myself but I felt like I needed to just check in and share some of what is going on. Take it for what it’s worth.

My recovery progresses. It’s possible that I have been in a two-year depression. I’m not a clinician and don’t pretend to have insight even into myself, despite the amount of time I spend on the subject, but things were not right and they were getting wronger by the minute.

Luckily for you all, I won’t bore you with a conversion/salvation story. Nothing that dramatic, but I will say that there are some positive steps you can take if you are in a funk. And they are easy. And they don’t even involve abstinence (alcohol or sex). Exercise and activity are the key to it all. Run, walk, swim, cycle, skate, ski, climb, hike, move, dance, do. Cut back a bit (really, just a bit…) on the excesses and your energy will quadruple. That’s it. Enough of that.

The child in the photo above (the photo of the photo and scotch whisky) is 17 years old now. Back then, we called him ‘Bam-Bam’ because that’s what he did most of the time. He is pretty much graduated but for the ceremony and is moving on to life in Boulder, Colorado (far from here) come next fall. It’s hard to believe. Once, he was banging pots and lids, then he was heading to college. He was pretty sick the other day and we went to the doctor. They checked his vitals and did his height and weight. 74 inches. Officially past me now though I only told him, “welcome to the club.” He’s looking down and back towards me.

I’d like to take credit for the man he is becoming but he is driving this bus himself for the most part. He is an athlete and is lately becoming a scholar as well. There is a seriousness that took about 16 years to develop. It was never there before, and it comes at the expense of some of the joie de vivre that he always had naturally. But not all of it. He has just changed where he gets the joie from.

In a few weeks, we’re heading to Greensboro, NC where he will run in the high school track and field National Championships. Not as an individual, but as part of a relay team (4 x 800 and 4 x 1 mile). Quite an accomplishment and one that he worked very hard to earn. He’s going to attempt to walk-on in Cross-country and track for the Buffaloes. Proud moments.

Sorry for the sentimentality but it is life and comes unbidden at moments like this. I could have kept it to myself but I felt like I needed to just check in and share some of what is going on. Take it for what it’s worth.

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

—Oh Whiskey, My Whiskey Vol. 3 - Mud in the Water

lerabbithole:

re-posting this:

Oh Whiskey, My Whiskey Vol. 3 - Mud in the Water 

features delta blues, ragtime and generally African-American odes to Whiskey.

1. Intro featuring Townes Van Zandt & Uncle Seymour 
2. Robert Hicks as “Barbeque Bob” - Me and My Whiskey 
3. Joshua White as “Pinewood Tom” - Pigmeat and Whiskey Blues 
4. Big Bill Broonzy - Whiskey and Good Time Blues 
5. Peetie Wheatstraw - More Good Whiskey Blues 
6. Willie Dixon - If the Sea Was Whiskey 
7. Amos Milburn - One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer 
8. Fats Domino - Whiskey Heaven 
9. Lauren Aitken - More Whiskey 
10. Wynonie Harris - Don’t Take My Whiskey From Me 
11. Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five - Whiskey Do Your Stuff 
12. Errol Dixon - Too Much Whiskey 
13. Lucky Millinder - Who Threw the Whiskey Down the Well? 
14. John Lee Hooker & Canned Heat - Whiskey n Wimmen 
15. Sonny Boy Williamson - Whiskey Headed Woman Blues 
16. Johnny Laws - Bad, Bad Whiskey 
17. Merline Johnson as the “Yas Yas Girl” - Bad Whiskey Blues 
18. Muddy Waters - Whiskey Ain’t No Good 
19. Muddy Waters - Whiskey Blues 
20. Outro - Townes Van Zandt & Uncle Seymour


- yours truly

Better Now

Just for form’s sake I’ll indicate to anyone listening in that things are better now. I’m not sure I’m ready to resume a lot of posting here but my head is in a better place.

I made some decisions and took some action and remembered that doing is always better than not doing. Better to be an active participant and blunder about even than to sit passively on the sideline watching or not watching the game in progress.

Concretely, I took steps to improve my energy with some regular exercise. Because of the fragile condition my joints and bones I am now a swimmer. Twenty laps today (1000 yds.) in less than 20 minutes. I’ll take it. My triathloning days are past me now (yes I had those days) but there are new mountains to climb. A programmed approach to smart weight loss is another factor. A lot less alcohol consumption is another part of it. Would be hard for it not to be a lot less. So there you have it.

Part of the reason I have not decided to resume a lot of posting here is the time suck that tumbling requires. Scanning the dashboard, finding the interesting stuff, writing up the original stuff. I guess I’ve prioritized a few other things ahead of those activities and am currently the better for it. The community here is not intensely fulfilling for the amount of time required to keep up. You all are some nice creative interesting inspiring people but I’m just doing some other things at the moment. Along with the life changes, I am keeping my hand into some sort of virtual social networking and photography using Instagram. Nothing like the stuff I posted here (well a few photos of various bourbons and whiskies are always going to make it in there). Feel free to stop by and say hi to me over there. @dacphoto.

I’m pretty sure I’ll be back though so don’t take me off your feed just yet. Now I have to go get ready for the big game. Go Bruins!