Charles Farley
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He Loved Words, Women, Beer and the Desert

5/29/2020

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Edward Abbey (1927--1989)--a cranky environmentalist, anarchist, curmudgeon, and crazy romantic--remains one of my favorite authors.  He wrote about nature and the earth like a lover speaks of his beloved--that is with an open and honest heart.  He could be contrary and outrageous in his passion for our world, while holding all governments and developers in well-deserved contempt.

I am reading this week a compendium of excerpts from some of his many books.  Entitled The Serpents of Paradise and edited by John Macrae, the book captures some of Abbey's best writing.  My favorites are:  Desert Solitaire, a soliloquy on the desert, the love of which I share with the author; Black Sun, a genuine romantic love story that celebrates what true love is all about; and, of course, The Monkey Wrench Gang, at once a comic farce and a manual for guerrilla environmentalists everywhere.

Like Abbey, I have always prized the out-of-doors, and, hopefully, I have instilled this appreciation in my kids who I have dragged on endless hikes, wild whitewater raft trips, and primitive wilderness camping jaunts.  So I dedicate this blog to them, and to the Ferguson family who have so often joined us, as well as to my female partners who have endured maybe more of this unvarnished nature that they thought they were signing up for.  

"May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view.  May your mountain rise into and above the clouds."
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Me and my oldest sons, Ian and Dai, on the south rim of the Grand Canyon.
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Emily, Sam, me, and Jacob atop a ridge in the Wind River Range in western Wyoming.
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Wop bop a loo bop a lop bom bom!

5/21/2020

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May 20, 2020--Well, they are burying Little Richard today here in Huntsville.  There's a private graveside service out at Oakwood Memorial Gardens on the campus of Oakwood University, where the singer studied theology back in 1957, and where ethereal music flourishes like cotton in Alabama.
I'm sorry the service is not open to the public.  I'm not much for funerals, but I would have gone to this one.
Why?  It's just that Little Richard, the self-proclaimed King (and Queen) of Rock 'n' Roll, meant so much to my generation who grew up after World War II in staid, middle class (more or less), white-bread America where a boring, bourgeois life seemed all too certain.  Then along came someone who embodied the antithesis of our fate:  wild, untamed, black, androgynous, crazy as a mad dog, and oh so lollapalooza loud.  Nothing could be better!
When he did shows in the South, back in the 50s, before he found God, they roped off the black kids from the white kids, but by the end of the show the rope was gone and the black and white audience intermingled, dancing for joy with each other.  So Little Richard was more than just a Rock 'n' Roll singer (and God knows he was that!), he was also a mighty force of nature.
This excerpt from a poem by Bobby Byrd, entitled "Why I am a Poet, #7," pretty well sums it up for me:
             Getting drunk on dreamy horny Friday nights
             45 rpm records with the big holes dripping rhythm and blues                          onto the turntable
             Jimmy Reed and Bobby Blue Bland and Little Richard,
             God bless them all,
             They saved my life I thank them I praise them


​
             

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Say It Ain't So, Joe!

5/14/2020

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It just can't be summer without baseball, but the longer this pandemic drags on, the chillier the forecast appears.  At this writing, there is some talk about opening the major league season in some form or another (empty stands?) in July, but who knows?  This virus seems to have an angry mind of its own.
With that said, we decided to head out to Toyota Field in Madison, Alabama, to get a peek at what was in store for us when, or if, this season finally starts.
The Huntsville, Madison County area has been without a professional baseball team since the AA Huntsville Stars absconded in 2015 for, of all places, Biloxi, Mississippi.
So when a deal was struck in 2018 for the Mobile BayBears to relocate to the Rocket City, fans were excited and eager, especially when a new $46 million stadium was thrown in, even if it was way the hell out on the I-565 connector in suburban Madison, and even if the AA affiliate of the L.A. Angels was too cutesily renamed after a local alias for a raccoon:  the Trash Pandas.  True!
Well, even if we can't watch a game yet, we decided to check out the new ballpark, sans the Trash Pandas.  Here's the video of our tour 
https://youtu.be/BgUT93o9BWA

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Blues Foundation 2020 Blues Awards

5/7/2020

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This year this popular awards show was presented virtually, which was not a lot of fun, despite some outstanding performances by Samantha Fish and Tierinii Jackson and Ori Naftaly of Southern Avenue.
Shemekia Copeland was the personable host, with many "oldie but goodies" winning awards, including Bobby Rush (86), Bettye Lavette (74), Bob Margolin (71), and Jimmie Vaughan (69), as well as some newbies like Clarksdale Blues Museum alumnus Christon "Kingfish" Ingram (21), who garnered several accolades, including Album of the Year ("Kingfish").
The best part of the online show, which can be viewed at blues.org/blues-music-awards/, was the Flashback Moments that featured old film clips from previous Blues Foundation award shows.  Particularly fun were B.B. King and Curtis Salgado, Irma Thomas, Luther Allison, and Rufus Thomas and Bonnie Raitt.
Hopefully, next year's show will be live again and back at its usual venue:  the venerable old Orpheum Theater in downtown Memphis.

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    Author

    Charles Farley is an author who lives and writes in Huntsville, Alabama.

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