I find humor in ridiculous things like the Great Pumpkin Catapult or singing moldy oldies with Liz in the morning when I’m spooning French Roast into the Braun. I crack up after belting out dreadful tunes from the seventies, something by Gilbert O’Sullivan or Bread, or rocking out, jammin’ to Stevie Wonder in Happy Feet.
I smiled the whole way through a documentary Liz taped off PBS on Les Paul. The way he invented machines to overdub tapes, recorded in every room in his house with his wife, Mary Ford, and, of course, made guitar after guitar with big bodied, amplified sound. Without Les Paul there would be no rock and roll.
Did you know he’s a Midwesterner, born in Waukesha, Wisconsin; his last name was Polfuss before it was Paul. He’s worth millions, saved every guitar, every recording machine, every headset and microphone. The collection will be in the Smithsonian. He’s in his 90’s, still going strong. He loves to laugh and smile and play his guitar for audiences for a pittance. He loves life. That makes me laugh. I want to be near people who love life.
I don’t find humor in jokes. I never have. Riddles and rhymes that crack other people up are lost on me. I just don’t find jokes funny. Half the time they seem crazy or dumb to me. The other half, I probably don’t get it and stare at the person with my face curled up in a dumbfounded question mark. That’s me. The jokeless wonder. I think I still turned out okay.
I laugh out loud when Liz and I dance all crazy across the kitchen floor. This is a regular occurrence. So you can guess, I laugh a lot. I laugh when I play fetch with Mr. Stipeypants. I knew he was okay when I found his furry red ball, his trophy, in his food dish yesterday.
I smile when I watch the moon rise through the oaks. Liz called on the way to work to tell me the full moon tonight will be the closest to the Earth of any in 2007. The movement of planets, moons, and stars makes me smile, connects me to something way bigger than me. I like paying attention to when Mercury is in retrograde (right now). Retrograde, moving around the sun in an orbit opposite to earth. Don’t sign any contracts. Expect communication delays. Back up your computer.
A friend sent me an email a few days ago letting me know that mischievous Mercury, messenger of the god Jupiter, the smallest planet nearest the sun, was up to his old tricks, turning his face counterclockwise, contorting what normally travels with godspeed to a likely destination. I don’t laugh at myself enough. I work every day to let go.
When darkness falls, I’ll watch the Moon’s billowy skirt slide through crackling, clinging leaves along golden rayed bundles of clouds over the deck. I’ll wish I had a tripod to screw on the digital Canon body. I’ll sigh, decide to skip the photos, and enjoy the Earth in shadowy descent.
-related to Topic post, WRITING TOPIC – A LAUGHING MATTER
Les Paul was a genius. He invented the solidbody electric guitar, don’t forget. Leo Fender was the first to implement such a concept in a practical and affordable product, but Les actually created the first.
Wow, I’m a nerd.
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No, I don’t think you can be considered a nerd when your expertise is rock-and-roll guitars.
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SCSS, if it’s any comfort, it seemed like Les Paul was a nerd, too, which endeared me to him even more. All the gods of rock bow down and respect this humble man. (I had forgotten about Fender. I think he was almost single-handedly responsible for the electric bass.)
If you want to read more about Les Paul or watch the documentary, Chasing Sound: Les Paul at 90, here is a link on PBS & some info from Wiki:
THE WIZARD OF WAUKESHA (LINK)
By DAVE TIANEN
from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Les Paul performs weekly, accompanied on piano by John Colianni, at the Iridium Jazz Club, on Broadway in New York City, despite the arthritis that has stilled all but two of the fingers on his left hand.
A biographical, feature length documentary, titled Chasing Sound: Les Paul at 90, made its world premiere on May 9, 2007 at the Downer Theater in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Paul appeared at the event and spoke briefly to the enthusiastic crowd. The film is be distributed by Koch Entertainment and was broadcast on PBS on July 11, 2007 as part of its American Masters series.
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This post reminds me of my very favorite poem…well, it’s kinda my life’s philosophy actually:
PUT SOMETHING IN
Draw a crazy picture,
Write a nutty poem,
Sing a mumble-gumble song,
Whistle through your comb.
Do a loony-goony dance
‘Cross the kitchen floor,
Put something silly in the world
That ain’t been there before.
QM — Sounds like you’re pretty good at this already, especially the singing and dancing part. Don’t ever stop.
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breathepeace, what a great poem! Words to live by, for sure. I like: Whistle through your comb. Do a loony-goony dance.
Some of my best memories are of my mother singing to me on a hot summer day in the backyard while she was pushing me in the swing. “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” is one I remember well. You can’t underestimate the power of song and dance. (Mom loves to dance, too!)
Thanks for your comment. I felt really strange posting these odd habits of mine. Now I see I’m in good company. 8)
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Reading this made me smile. 🙂
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[…] here for full story Der Beitrag wurde am Thursday, den 25. October 2007 um 10:43 Uhr […]
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Ooops, I see that I forgot to tell you that my favorite poem was written by Shel Silverstein. Don’t believe it if someone tells you that his books are for children…they are more appropriately labeled “for the young and the young at heart,” which includes 52-year-old me!
Reading “A Light in the Attic” or “Where the Sidewalk Ends”
is sure to lift your spirits in a “Zip-a-de-do-dah” kind of way!
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I like that you are able to let loose and sing and dance and experience joy… laughter is not everything, but it’s one wonderful way of showing that joy.
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The difference in how your humor practice and ybonsey’s was interesting. You express your humor physically through dance, singing, sharing experiences and she does it through situations or words that invoke laughter. Until now I never thought of the many different ways we can experience/express humor. I think I am more of the situational, joking type.
Funny, now I will have to think about this more. Thanks for getting the synapses moving again (pun intended)!
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R3, I just read ybonesy’s post and you are right. Totally different ways of finding humor. I bet it’s different for everyone. I am very physical in the way I experience humor, kind of real life experience.
breathepeace, oh that was Shel. I should have known! I’ve got Where The Sidewalk Ends somewhere on my shelves.
Thanks Robin and pmousse. One smile is worth a thousand words. 8)
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What a great reflection. We should smile more at things like the movement of the planets.
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Last night’s full moon *was* astounding, QM. Did you smile when you saw it? Jim just called me to the window on the west side of our living room to say, Hey, look at the moon, it’s just like last night but on this side of earth. It is still beautiful.
I find that you have an easy laugh. I’m thinking of one time something happened on the blog where I called you and without hardly saying a word, you broke into laughter. Which made me laugh like crazy. That’s was one time when every time later that day I thought about the thing, I laughed again.
I have a friend, Patty, who laughs a lot more than me. I notice she finds so many things funny that I don’t, and sometimes I wish I could laugh so easily. I have noticed, we all do laugh at different things, some with great ease and some not so much.
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Thanks, jason. I was sure smiling at the planets last night. I woke up in the middle of the night, couldn’t sleep, and got up to sit on the couch and stare out at the moonlight blasting all across the deck, driveway, street. I could see all the details of the night like I had on night goggles. It was amazing.
ybonesy, I didn’t see the full moon. But I sure saw the light. I think it was high and tucked back behind the oaks. It felt transformative to sit quietly in the middle of the dark light. I saw on the news last night that this Hunters Moon actually appeared 17% wider and 34% larger than normal. (I might be a little off on the %’s, but I’m close.)
I’m glad you think I have an easy laugh. I remember exactly the time you called and we were each cracking up over the phone with hardly any words. I can’t remember now even what we were connecting about around the blog. But I sure remember the laughter.
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