Author - Paul Schatzkin

Scotch Mist’s Greatest Hits (music from 1982)

May 23, 2015
Paul Schatzkin
celestial jukebox, Digest, music, travel
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ScotchMist2

Sailing off the coast of Maui on the original Scotch Mist in 1982

Well, that was ridiculously easy…

In the 1980s, I lived in Hawaii and owned/operated a yacht charter service out of Lahaina Harbor on Maui. The boats were called “Scotch Mist” – the name bestowed by the original owner who sailed his Cal 36 sloop in a race from Victoria, BC to Maui in 1970. I acquired the boat/business in 1980, and in 1982 added another boat, the Santa Cruz 50 “Scotch Mist II.”

Sometime in 1982, I put together a mixtape of island and sailing songs – the old fashioned way: by dropping a needle into a vinyl groove, then recording the track onto a reel-to-reel tape. Stop the tape, find the next track, cue the tape, drop the needle, rinse and repeat a couple dozen times. It took about two days…

Last night I saw the name Danny O’Keefe in a thread that J Fred Knobloch started about great guitar solos. I recognized the name because a song called “Islands” – from his 1973 LP “American Roulette” – was one of the tracks in that “Scotch Mist” mix tape I assembled in 1982.

After finding “Islands” on Spotify, it occurred to me to see if I could find the same tracks and build a playlist on Spotify. I found all but one (Mark Almond, “Trade Winds”).

It took, oh, maybe 15 minutes to search for every track in the list and add them to a playlist, which is posted here for your “summer has arrived / Memorial Day weekend” musical enlightenment:

Welcome, Juniper Rae

May 21, 2015
Paul Schatzkin
Digest, photography
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If you’re wondering why no digest last week…. this is why.
Ann’s son Robert and his wife Melissa have been expecting their first child – and our first grandchild, to arrive around May 21. But May 5, word came that Melissa’s labor had begun; Ann flew up two days later, just in time to greet baby Juniper Rae Stout within hours of her birth.
I flew up to join the new family a week later, and got this photo of Ann holding the baby by a window. There’s a bit of pretzel logic going on here: I’m holding a reflector in my LEFT hand, shining the window light back from somewhere around my RIGHT hip, and I’ve got the camera cradled in my RIGHT hand, also at hip level, and firing the shutter with my thumb.
Whatever it takes to get the shot…

@shotgun49 with her first Grandchild, Juniper Rae w @milsa and @bertmcgurck

Fountains Abbey At Twilight

May 21, 2015
Paul Schatzkin
Digest, photography, travel
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I recently joined a Facebook group called “England from the Roadside” and submitted this as one of my first posts to the page:

Fountains Abbey – Yorkshire, England@Welcome2Yorks @GreatBritain @instagood

more at http://ift.tt/1koYz4J
#medieval #UK #medievalworld #UnitedKingdom #GreatBritain #travel #ig_europe #photooftheday #thebest_capture #ig_masterpiece #nuriss_tag #architectur #travel #awe_inspiringshots #pro_ig #global_highlights #igworldclub #ig_select #editoftheday #capture_today #waycoolshots #featuremeinstagood @instagood #igcapturesclub #ig_masterpiece #ig_great_pics
©2015 [email protected] aka @driver49

Free “Portals” for your Computer Desktop and Mobile Gizmo

April 29, 2015
Paul Schatzkin
Digest, photography
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The 1861 Project
Greetings, Regular Readers and Subscribers:

This is a message that I sent out at the beginning of April to the subscribers to a new list I’ve created just for my “Portals Of Stone” collection of photoart.

Every month, I’m going to send out a pair of images from the collection in a format suitable for display as “wallpaper” on your computer desktop or mobile device.

It suddenly dawns on me that most who visit this site or subscribe to the Weekly Digest should have the same opportunity as the subscribers to my other list.

For April, I offered the following two images:

The first one is the one called “GPS Failure.” As in “Uhhh…. Honey… I don’t think the GPS is gonna do much good in another mile or so….”

Screen Shot 2015-04-29 at 10.32.22 AMClick here to download “GPS Failure.” This one is laid out in a horizontal format, and will look great on your computer desktop.

“GPS Failure” is from my expedition to the ruins in the spring of 2013. Here’s a newer one from my return in the fall of 2014: This is the ruins of the great cathedral in St Andrews, Scotland. In its day (like the middle of the 15th century) St. Andrews was the largest church in all of Scotland. Now it is (in the words of Tywin Lannister…) “just a blasted ruin…” (extra credit if you know what that line is from, or what he was referring to).

Screen Shot 2015-04-29 at 10.31.59 AMClick here to download “St. Andrews.” This one has a mostly-vertical aspect ratio, and will look great on your phone or tablet. I’ve had it on my iPhone for a week now and think it looks pretty cool.

April was the first month that I offered these files, and there will be some new ones come the first week of May. Hopefully, I’ll remember to post something here with that news.

But you might consider hoping over to PortalsofStone.com and signing up for the new list over there, Let me know if there is a particular image you’d like to have configured this way.
Thanks, and see you “on the other side of the Portal…

–PS

Appomattox +150

April 29, 2015
Paul Schatzkin
Digest, photography
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Click Here for “Grant & Lee – The Final Interview” Limited Edition Fine Art Print

If you have any knowledge at all of American history, then the word “Appomattox” can only mean one thing: the end of the Civil War in April 1865.

Unfortunately, that’s a slight exaggeration. Yes, on the morning of April 9, 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee did meet with Federal Commander Ulysses S. Grant, and Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia, ending the war in the dominant theater of combat. But that didn’t entirely end the war.

A recreation of Grant's final interview with Lee

A recreation of Grant’s final interview with Lee

The morning after Lee’s surrender, Grant and Lee met again. This time on horseback, for roughly 30 minutes. During that conversation, Grant tried to persuade Lee to use his influence on the other generals still in the field – most notably General Joseph E. Johnston, in command of what remained of the Confederate armies in the Western Theater – to likewise surrender their forces and end the War once and for all.

As much as he wanted the war to be over, Lee did not have the authority to speak for the other armies. And though Appomattox is remembered through the centuries as the end of the war, Johnston did not surrender until April 26, and sporadic fighting continued in locations around the country well into the spring of 1865. And, then, of course, there’s the KKK…

I spent several days in Appomattox, VA earlier this month, and have just compiled several galleries of photos taken during the recreation of those historic events 150 years ago.

Visit the galleries here: apx150photos.com

Here are just a few of artistic impressions of the occasion:

Easter Morning, 2015

April 26, 2015
Paul Schatzkin
Digest, photography, travel
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Yeah, I know, I’m late with this one… I posted it to Instagram on Easter Sunday, but didn’t remember to post it to the digest.
From my Celtic Pilgrimage to the UK in the spring 2013, this is the ruin of Linsifarne Priory, on the Holy Ilse off the coast of Northumberland – the cradle of Christianity in Northern England.

For your #Easter weekend: Lindisfarne PrioryThe cradle of Christianity in northern England (#Northumberland, to be precise)more at http://ift.tt/1koYz4J @GreatBritain @instagood #medieval #UK #medievalworld #UnitedKingdom #GreatBritain #travel #jesus, #christian, #religion #worship #ig_europe #photooftheday #thebest_capture #awe_inspiringshots #pro_ig #global_highlights #igworldclub #ig_select #editoftheday #capture_today #waycoolshots #featuremeinstagood @instagood #igcapturesclub #ig_masterpiece #ig_great_pics
©2015 [email protected] aka @driver49

This Is Why I am “Driver49”

March 24, 2015
Paul Schatzkin
Digest, photography
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This is the 1949 Chevy Pickup that I got for myself back in 1999 when I sold songs.com to Gaylord Entertainment. I don’t get to drive it much, it’s really a ridiculously impractical vehicle on today’s roads. It starts to shake itself to death at about 55MPH. I in the 15 years I’ve had this truck I have taken it on an interstate exactly once, and it was the scariest four miles I ever drove
But every spring, I take the truck across town in order to get my lawnmower serviced, and this year I went on a gorgeous beginning of spring day that just made driving an old truck with no radio a sheer pleasure.

What I’m driving around #nashvilleTN today. #chevy #oldtruck #antique #didsomethingright#nashville #nashvilleguru #igersnashville #heartnashville #nashvilleinstagram # #nashvillegram #nashvegas #tennesseeinstagram #tennessee #musiccityliving #musiccityusa #musiccity #615 #nashvillescene #nashvillelife
©2015 [email protected] aka @driver49

Sally Taylor at TEDx Nashville

March 21, 2015
Paul Schatzkin
Digest, photography
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I was actually a little disappointed in the line up at this year’s TEDx conference… the acronym stands for “Technology, Entertainment, Design” – but this year’s lineup was light on those three elements and heavy on social issues.
One notable exception was this presentation by Sally Taylor about “The Beautiful Dilemma of Our Separateness.” It was an interesting take on art and perception that I cannot do justice to. I’ll post the video when they make it available.
I chatted with Sally a bit at a reception the evening before the conference. I did not know at the time that her parents are James Taylor and Carly Simon. I wonder what difference it would have made if I had known… ?

Sally Taylor @ConsensesArt @TEDxNashville

TEDx

March 21, 2015
Paul Schatzkin
photography
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Standing by for another year’s worth of cool ideas and inspiration @TEDxNashville
– I’m still quoting speakers from back in 2013.
@NashvilleTN