Hi, James!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

AH>  what is the theme??

                           [...]

JB>  Mine: Feces, and compost seems to cover it!   maniac>


          Another gardener told me he'd learned a lot from hard physical
work. And one of the things I find very interesting & rewarding about
making compost is how nature can turn so much stuff humans reject into
"black gold"....  :-))



JB>  I just know my family worries about me. My song writing

JB>  partners' wife was trying to set me up with friends,
     |partner's (unless two or more males are sharing one wife!)

JB>  until I sent that little gem over the facsimile. ()-8*


          Hmm.  There's a saying that "art reflects life"... and
as a musician you've probably had some experience with the seamy side. 
Music often involves pushing limits, including the limits of social
acceptability.  Your lyrics may be disturbing.  But the stuff I hear on the
radio isn't all sweetness & light, and the ditty about Ms. Borden...
like most nursery rhymes... isn't so amusing when the historical background
is taken into consideration.  Although I didn't go into detail with my
students, I was pushing limits there.  I've been told I make people think. 
I certainly tried to do that in the classroom, and I would imagine you get
some enjoyment from shaking up your family & friends too.  ;-)



JB>  like I say, my dark waters are a cold, ugly place.


          I realized they might be.  Some people need to talk over such
things with others.  Maybe you don't, if you can work through them via
music....  :-)



JB>  I thought this trait would make me a good murder
JB>  investigator


          I thought I'd like to be a nurse until I saw my father after surgery
... and noticed a drainage tube running into a bucket under the bed!  I can
do it now if the situation requires it.  But in general I make a better
teacher & you may be doing more good as a musician than you would have
as a cop....  :-)



JB>  Sure a person can stomach La Trivi??? (Do you know the
JB>  one I mean?) But the build-up, and the denouement can
JB>  be a long and winding road.


          La Traviata.  I note with interest, however, that you've spelled
the title as if you were thinking of trivia.  In the majority of musical
plays the plot is little more than a bridge between songs... and while it
may be complex it's usually not very profound.  I can get the gist of what
people are talking or singing about in Italian when I have the libretto in
front of me.  But do I care enough to sit through three hours of it??  In
most cases I don't....  :-)



JB>  Bugs Bunny will be the most recognized Opera singer,
JB>  because Disney chopped it into digestible pieces


          Yes, I've noticed a lot of good music in those old cartoons....  :-)



["... but you cannot make him think."]
JB>  I suspect that too was written before these PC days.


          Uh-huh.  Late 1960's, early 1970's.  And I was quoting....  :-)



JB>   "You must say 'them!'"


          Nowadays I do.  Miss Langwidge may be rolling in her grave, but I
am trying to communicate with folks who would probably run away screaming
if they thought I sounded too pedantic.  One must always consider one's
audience.  ;-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+