tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-167938722024-03-07T10:57:44.861-08:00Mixed MetersLIFE IS TOO SHORT TO LISTEN TO UGLY MUSICDavid Ockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03468370745653879674noreply@blogger.comBlogger790125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16793872.post-28508193637540690622023-09-06T05:08:00.000-07:002023-09-06T05:08:48.096-07:00William Kraft CentenaryToday is a big day for my friend composer William Kraft, who passed away in 2022. It's his centenary. Better known to his friends and colleagues as Bill, he was born in Chicago on September 6, 1923, exactly 100 years ago today. Last year I wrote two Mixed Meters articles in his memory, one about his music and the other about my personal memories. I've written David Ockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03468370745653879674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16793872.post-90860080377422270252023-09-02T17:02:00.000-07:002023-09-04T04:35:47.533-07:00Wesley "Scoop" NiskerCan you remember anything you did on June 13, 1964? I can remember getting a lesson about life on that date - with an assist from my first cousin Wesley Nisker. Wes passed away recently at age 80. Wesley "Scoop" Nisker (1942-2023)Along with my parents and other family members, I was attending Wes's college graduation at the University of Minnesota Memorial Coliseum (seating David Ockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03468370745653879674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16793872.post-38459525413892187682023-02-06T14:20:00.000-08:002023-02-06T14:24:36.667-08:00A visit to Oaxaca, MexicoAt the end of January Leslie and I, along with our friends Jim and Mark, spent three and a half days in the city of Oaxaca, Mexico. We toured. We shopped. We ate. We took pictures. I myself took over 1500 pictures and most of them are here in this post. After the initial cityscapes and landscapes, feel free to keep scrolling. Farther down you'll see David Ockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03468370745653879674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16793872.post-54212572278044242122022-04-06T06:08:00.012-07:002022-09-19T21:54:14.183-07:00Memories of Bill KraftAlthough he was known professionally as William Kraft, anyone who knew him personally called him Bill. Bill had an extended musical career as performer, conductor, composer and teacher and he liked nothing better than telling stories about his experiences. I knew Bill Kraft for nearly five decades. After years of being my music copying client we became friends. We hadDavid Ockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03468370745653879674noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16793872.post-46243533023836823512022-04-05T23:30:00.008-07:002022-04-06T21:12:35.492-07:00The Music of William KraftAlthough he was known professionally as William Kraft, anyone who knew him personally called him Bill. Bill had an extended musical career as performer, conductor, composer and teacher and he liked nothing better than telling stories about his experiences. I knew Bill Kraft for nearly five decades. After years of being my music copying client we became friends. We hadDavid Ockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03468370745653879674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16793872.post-14209773173616537652022-01-05T02:00:00.001-08:002022-01-05T02:00:00.183-08:00Banjo 'toonsIt was quite a year.Now it's another year. Consider yourself lucky to experience new years. Get as many of them under your belt as possible. Add them together. Eventually they will create your lifetime.I'm posting now just to announce that Mixed Meters is still here at the beginning of 2022. (Imagine a short flourish of banjo sound now.) It's been almost aDavid Ockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03468370745653879674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16793872.post-52870134585006778692021-01-22T00:03:00.000-08:002021-01-22T00:03:19.966-08:00Spackle and the ScreensaverOn YouTube, I posted yet another video, shot in 2010, showing Spackle Puss, our late pussy cat. Watch as she sits in front of my computer, mostly looking into the camera. Meanwhile the screensaver shows random photos behind her. Spackle knew how to do 'cute'. She was very cute. The video, however, is really about the screensaver shots.
Spackle and the David Ockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03468370745653879674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16793872.post-44416643254105337292020-12-31T05:07:00.002-08:002020-12-31T06:18:40.106-08:00Spackle Puss (2006-2020)Our beloved, unique, demanding little kitty Spackle Puss passed away in her sleep Sunday night. Leslie and I are saddened at this loss. Spackle has been a daily part of our lives for over 14 years. We've begun to notice many small emptinesses caused by her absence - most especially at dinner time. She was a tiny cat yet always first in line (and very hungry and very David Ockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03468370745653879674noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16793872.post-23382983834494201922020-10-31T03:45:00.006-07:002020-10-31T23:06:58.041-07:00Waiting For The ElectionThe last presidential election (in 2016) ended with a very bad result. We
are told, as citizens, that if we don't like our elected representatives then it
is our right to replace them at the next election. We've had to wait four
long seemingly endless years for that opportunity and now it's right around the
corner. Just a few days away.
The waiting has been torturous.David Ockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03468370745653879674noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16793872.post-61577293548058800542020-05-15T00:14:00.000-07:002020-05-15T00:16:44.746-07:00Arboretum With PeacocksThis post is about a short walk in a park.
In this case the park is the Los Angeles County Arboretum in Arcadia California - Arcadia is one city east of Pasadena - a place where many pea fowl live and squawk.
Remarkably the Arboretum has been open to visitors in this time of the Coronavirus. Leslie and I took an hour-long stroll there several days ago. In this time of shelter in David Ockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03468370745653879674noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16793872.post-6775704366338161402019-09-16T05:25:00.001-07:002020-05-15T00:16:44.791-07:00Cactus FlowerToday is the fourteenth anniversary of Mixed Meters. Feeble yay.
To celebrate, here's a picture of a cactus flower.
Now, a quiz: How is a cactus flower like this blog?
Answer: a cactus doesn't often get new flowers and this blog doesn't often get new posts.
My very first post in 2005 addressed the issue of infrequent posting. Here's the whole thing:
In which David fails to David Ockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03468370745653879674noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16793872.post-88834705565226909922019-04-24T03:45:00.001-07:002019-04-24T03:45:31.930-07:00KumquatsThis post is to celebrate our excellent kumquat harvest.
An uncertain number of years ago, maybe 25 or so, Leslie bought me a kumquat tree because she had discovered that I liked them. For roughly half those years Kumquat Tree lived in a big pot. Then we replanted it in the ground next to our driveway.
The tree went through some difficult years until we discovered that itDavid Ockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03468370745653879674noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16793872.post-70457264461313813182019-01-04T22:24:00.000-08:002019-01-04T22:30:46.675-08:00Pet PicturesBack during the B.E. posting an occasional picture of your pet was essential. "What's the B.E.?" I hear you ask. It was "The Blog Era."
The B.E.is long gone, killed off by Social Media. S.M. makes posting pictures of your pets much easier. Actually, anything you could do on a blog is easier with S.M. You just need to sell your soul by sharing your personal data.&David Ockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03468370745653879674noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16793872.post-40332062861673616672018-01-05T00:14:00.000-08:002018-01-05T00:14:58.651-08:00Jingle Bells Dementia TestIt's a tradition at Mixed Meters, part of our yearly war on Christmas (and on all the other solstice holidays as well). Yes, it's a piece of music based on Jingle Bells.
Jingle Bells Dementia Test © 2017 David Ocker - 335 seconds
This season's offering takes inspiration from a test for senile cognition. It's a real medical test. Now that I've reached a "certain age" this testDavid Ockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03468370745653879674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16793872.post-78914356929429249272017-12-28T01:40:00.000-08:002017-12-28T01:40:11.768-08:00Tossing My B,a,b,b,it,t TubesSomething strange happened in our house last week. It was this: I cleaned out a closet. If you could see the inside of our closets you might think we were hoarders. Maybe we are.
Anyway, in this one, now clean, closet (there are many others that need cleaning and plenty of drawers to boot), I found the tubes I often used to perform a solo clarinet piece entitled B,a,b,b,it,t byDavid Ockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03468370745653879674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16793872.post-5339798487270542662017-11-26T21:33:00.002-08:002017-12-03T19:05:21.628-08:00TubasRight now the world needs the occasional escape from politics. What could be less political than . . . tubas?
Mixed Meters has given you tubas before. Most prominently, way back in 2008, in the post Tubas on the Beach in Art and Advertising. which showed two actual print ads featuring scantily clad women sporting that most feminine of all instruments, the sousaphone (which is just a David Ockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03468370745653879674noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16793872.post-73807712464620384862017-08-31T16:45:00.001-07:002017-08-31T16:47:07.522-07:00Albert Marsh (1930-2017)Leslie and I were very saddened to learn of the passing of our friend Albert Marsh. We met Albert and his husband Johnnathan through an accident of real estate when they moved into the house next door. That was nearly 25 years ago. For a few years our lives met figuratively and literally over the back fence. They became our adopted family, a relationship which has David Ockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03468370745653879674noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16793872.post-65956943015329117672017-07-31T23:35:00.001-07:002017-07-31T23:36:02.036-07:00Mixed Meters Attempts Political OptimismProgressives could use some good news. It’s pretty bleak out there right now for the far left. Hard it is to write something even minimally positive.
The best news we might get in the near term - the next three years or so - is that some of the front and center political stories, the ones we can’t escape daily, the ones that scream headlines at us from every media pore, might somehow David Ockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03468370745653879674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16793872.post-77475516284899827422017-06-30T23:36:00.000-07:002017-07-01T05:45:49.127-07:00First Person Rants
We at Mixed Meters love rants. By "we" of course I mean me, David Ocker, who single-handedly writes every word of this blog with his two bare hands. Personally I really hate it when he mixes first person writing with third person. I'm sure you agree.
Anyway, as I was saying, we adore good rants, especially political rants. There's an awful lot to rant about nowadays, David Ockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03468370745653879674noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16793872.post-23469296318641894722017-05-31T23:22:00.000-07:002017-05-31T23:22:05.850-07:00Normalization FatigueDonald Trump has been President of the United States for over four months. I am sick of it.
Please note that I just called him Donald Trump. I didn't call him Donald Fucking Trump as I always did before the election. Nor did I refer to him with some third person pseudo-pronoun, like "the new president" or an acronym ("SCROTUS") as I have since.
Calling him by his actual name is a David Ockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03468370745653879674noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16793872.post-10570200693174849062017-04-30T23:57:00.002-07:002017-04-30T23:57:48.596-07:00The New Yorker on the toiletFor years my interest in The New Yorker magazine was limited to the cartoons. Good cartoons. I would read the magazine from back to front, stopping only for the comics.
The New Yorker features profiles, extended articles about interesting accomplished people. I remember reading only two over many years, both of people I actually knew - first Nicolas Slonimsky and then David Ockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03468370745653879674noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16793872.post-67209052315350138982017-03-31T23:58:00.003-07:002017-04-01T00:03:30.818-07:00Dumb Democrat EmailsDemocrats are my second least-favorite political party.
Here's an email I received today - from the DCCC. It makes me angry. (Should be easier to read if you click on the picture.)
(Here's the same text written in text to help dumb search engine bots:)
from: FINAL-NOTICE@dccc.org
Subject: AUTO-CONFIRM: [Member Status (03/31/2017)]
We hate to bug you again, but this is the FINALDavid Ockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03468370745653879674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16793872.post-41531473487199982702017-02-28T23:30:00.000-08:002017-03-01T01:37:55.432-08:00Articles of PoliticsThere's been a flood of thoughtful editorial writing analyzing recent political changes in our democracy-based republic. There was already a lot during the election, but now there's so much more. I try to keep up as best I can, really I do, yet I'm losing the battle.
To cope, I've started saving links to articles which I think I might want to refer to later. That list is David Ockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03468370745653879674noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16793872.post-29396323018980395492017-01-19T18:31:00.003-08:002017-01-20T15:04:47.721-08:00Expect the UnexpectedYou may have heard: a new U.S. president is being inaugurated. You know who I'm talking about.
Many confused people and a lot of confusing pundits have been pouring out endless verbiage trying to predict the future under this new guy. We all have a burning desire to know what he's going to do before he does it. We need predictions NOW!
What, we ask over and over again, David Ockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03468370745653879674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16793872.post-5531286580589208252017-01-12T21:08:00.001-08:002017-01-12T21:08:07.750-08:00Wine Bottle SizesI have a hard time throwing things away.
Today I've been spending time trying to sort through piles of papers in my office in hopes of finding some empty desktop space underneath - actual empty physical space.
In one pile I found this small piece of paper clipped from a Wired Magazine - dated November 2012, more than four years ago.
I saved this because I thought it would make a nice subject David Ockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03468370745653879674noreply@blogger.com0