Flat Cauli Rules

The Library's Homeschool Group will be having its first meeting of the new academic year on September 12, 2011 (1:00-2:30 p.m.) in the MPL Youth Program Room, and I see Broadway Gal has brought out the big guns to launch the fun and excitement.  Read our calendar description below to see what's in store.

Click to Bigify

(Not My Fault If It Doesn't)

The star attraction is, quite rightly, moi.  Homeschool Group will be practicing their artistic skills using moi as their subject.  This will undoubtedly be the biggest artistic development in Mooresville, Indiana, since Paul Hadley designed the Indiana State Flag.  What do you suppose portraits of moi will fetch in the leading art galleries around the world?  Quite a pile of cold cash, let me tell you.

For My Portrait?  That Works.

(Thanks to Drawer Dude & Buffalo Gal for the photo)

This alone would be more excitement than most people could handle.  But there's more!  At each Homeschool Group session at the Library, students from different families will be taking home a "flat Cauli," like the one that appeared in my place at the Library's Old Settlers Festival booth earlier in August.  ("Flat Cauli" is my blog photo.)  They will then report about "my" visits with their families, much like respondents reported for "Flat Browser" in Browser the Library Cat's blog.  (Hey, if you jump on the bandwagon, you don't have to walk so much.  Makes sense to moi.)

I can't wait to hear all about the fun our homeschool folks will be having with "flat Cauli" as their companion.  If you can't have the genuine article, it's the next best thing.

"Flat Cauli" Gives New Meaning to Roving Reporting,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Homeschool News Beat

P.S.  Speaking of portraits and fine art, here is a book trailer featuring an interesting autobiographical work by Captain Robert L. Snow, now retired (I think) from the Indianapolis Police Department.  The book, Looking for Carroll Beckwith, explores the intriguing connections between Snow's life and the life of James Carroll Beckwith (1852-1917), who was an artist best known for his portraits, landscapes, and genre paintings.  The book is available for check-out in the Evergreen Indiana online catalog.

It Should Already Be In Your Pocket

The American Library Association (ALA) calendar tells moi that September is Library Card Sign-up Month.  I know that my alert, intelligent readers already have their library cards safely pocketed for quick use, but if you're not among those who are card-carrying library patrons, then you should make haste to your favorite library and get one, pronto!

ALA likes to use promotional videos for these sorts of events, so we should fit in nicely.  Here are our promo trailers, music videos, and other such like encouraging patrons to sign-up for their library cards.  Long-time readers will have already seen these videos, so please bear with moi, for those who haven't yet had the viewing pleasure.

Library cards are your passports to the world of learning adventure.  What better value could you get for free?

I Always Carry Mine, But I Won't Say Where,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

ALA Library Promo News Beat

P.S.  Signing-up for something is often a good idea.  Sometimes, it doesn't quite work out as one might expect, as in the case of signing a music performing or recording contract for Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan, who co-wrote "Sign on the Dotted Line," which was released on Rafferty's album Can I Have My Money Back? (1971).

Cauli Giveaways Are a Sure Patron Pleaser

Hey, Boss Lady!  I notice that our Library has some giveaway goodies for our wonderful patrons, some of which has our institutional name, address, etc., and/or logo.  This is all fine and good, but what do our patrons REALLY want, when it comes to free stuff?  I think the answer is obvious.

  Cauli Le Chat Custom Pen

(Artist's Conception)

(Thanks to the folks at CustomInk.com for this free design feature.)

We already make bookmarks and puzzle worksheets bearing my likeness.  We could have pens, pencils, post-it notes, and such like embossed with my photo, name, and blog URL, but why stop there?  Why not t-shirts, sweatshirts, bags, hats--the whole shebang?  EVERYTHING we distribute to patrons could have Cauli on it!  How cool would that be?  More cool than most people could handle without having to sit down first.

I'm told that these things cost some serious cash, but wouldn't it be worth it to please all of my throngs of fans out there?  We could, of course, sell Cauli stuff as a fundraiser, but let's not put people off too much.  The economy, you understand.

I have a t-shirt design already prepared, but I'm told it's top-secret because of the 2011 Indiana Library Federation (ILF) Conference coming in November at which The Lady With the Red Hair and Scowl-Face will be wearing them for the first time.  Well, I don't want to spoil any surprises.

If you'd like to see some Cauli giveaway items, please leave your comments.  Boss Lady will need some persuading.

A Cauli Giveaway is Better Than Canned Tuna-in-Oil,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Library Promotions News Beat

P.S.  Want to learn more about the Indiana Library Federation?  Sure you do.  So here's a handy video.



Extremes in Anthropomorphism (as the Ultimate Sci-Fi Plot Device)

Humans think that all other animals aspire to be like them.  As if!  Bogus, I'll tell you right now.  Why would we obviously superior mammals (I am speaking, of course, about us felines) want to degrade ourselves and become human?  It doesn't sound like all that much fun, to paraphrase (and take out-of-context) the John Mellencamp lyric from "Authority Song" (1983), which, interestingly, Mellencamp characterized as his attitudinal version of "I Fought the Law" by the Bobby Fuller Four (1966), which I just blogged about a few days ago.

Some humans also seem to hold the misconception that all other life forms on the planet (and probably elsewhere) are designated for their own exploitative purposes.  Only an egocentric species could think like that.  (Incidentally, for those fond of Biblical citation [Gen. 1:28, NRSV, in particular; but cf. Theodore Hiebert's rebuttal], allow me to offer the example of Saint Francis of Assisi and his humane treatment of animals.  There are lots of kind humans out there, in the world today and throughout our long history.  Sadly, the converse is also true.)

Inhumane animal treatment, vivisection, and animal experimentation were hot topics in late-19th Victorian and early-20th century Edwardian England.  Some of the ethical discussion seeped into literature, championed by great authors like H. G. Wells.  His novel The Island of Doctor Moreau, which was first published in 1896, closely examined these social and ethical concerns, and the reader is given much food for thought.  (Wells was educated as a biologist under the legendary Thomas Henry Huxley, so he, Wells, was intimately familiar with scientific animal experimentation.)  The book endures today as a classic from the formative days of science fiction, when Wells and Jules Verne were the literary luminaries who, along with Arthur Conan Doyle,  essentially created and popularized this genre.

Naturally, my Library has a handy book trailer to entice you to read the book.

Check-out any of the many editions of this book from our Evergreen Indiana catalog, if, of course, you have an E.I. Library Card.

For those of my readers who like a little more plot with their literary pie, allow me to elaborate.  Evil Doctor Moreau, who does mean, unspeakable nasties to animals, has been found out by our unlikely hero, Edward Prendick, who was abandoned by a supply ship on Moreau's island after an exotic animal delivery.  Now Prendick has fallen victim to Moreau's perverse experimentation.  Many readers see this work as simply an exciting science adventure story, while others wrestle with the weightier moral considerations.  Wells was a grand storyteller, so there is much there to hold your interest, regardless of your appetite for more philosophical fare.

Naturally, there have been several movies adapted from the book, and we have gratefully borrowed images from the 1977 version for our book trailer.  The 1996 movie version is readily available, too.  I know some folks prefer watching movies over reading books, but, trust me, there is more meat-and-potatoes in the novel than on film.  There always is.  You cannot surpass the original masterpiece.

Hey, here's a thought.  Perhaps people could aspire to be more like felines.  But that would be a perfect world, wouldn't it?

Welcoming a Better World, If We Make It So,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Readers' Advisory News Beat

P.S.  Here is the music video (1984) for "Authority Song," by John Mellencamp.

In Your Mind, You Have Capacities, You Know

Occasionally I do the listeners' advisory thing and tell my readers about great music that I like, which means that you should, too.  Everybody likes what Cauli likes, after all.

If you happened to be around at the time, as I was in one of my earlier nine lives, you might recall the beginning of World Contact Day, which began on March 15, 1953.  On that date, at a preset time, people all around the world attempted to simultaneously communicate telepathically with extraterrestrials.  The message began, "Calling occupants of interplanetary craft . . ."

Klaatu Greeting Earth

(From The Day the Earth Stood Still [1951])

The early 1950s, of course, was the heyday of UFO sightings, and the popular science fiction movie The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) was still fresh in people's minds.  The film, which remains one of the most intelligent science fiction movies ever made, was directed by Robert Wise, who grew up in Winchester, Indiana, and who directed other sci-fi classics such as The Andromeda Strain (1971) and Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), as well as musicals such as The Sound of Music (1965).  The space race between the United States and the (then) U.S.S.R. during the late 1950s through the moon landing in 1969 prompted many of us youngsters to ponder what it would be like to be the first kitty in space.  Well, I did, anyway.

Plus, we thought about life on other planets and what it would be like to make "first contact."  It was an occasionally popular theme for musicians.  I've used a few of those songs, such as "Mr. Spaceman" by the Byrds and "Rocket Man" by Elton John, as musical closers to my postings.  I might also have used "Come Sail Away," by Styx, but I didn't think of it until just now.

I'm talking about all this because this afternoon I happened to listen to the CD 3:47 E.S.T., which, if memory serves, was the exact time mentioned in The Day the Earth Stood Still when Klaatu, the extraterrestrial emissary, arrived on earth.  The album was originally released in 1976 by the band Klaatu, which based much of its recorded work upon the movie's premise.

Klaatu Promotional Photo

 (© 1982, 1996, 1997 Deborah Samuels)

Klaatu (whose official website is here) performed in a Beatlesque style that also paid tribute to other popular groups from the 1960s, such as the Beach Boys, Pink Floyd (the early, Syd Barrett days), the Moody Blues, and others.  Klaatu's engineering was extraordinary, and they achieved amazingly sophisticated sound for the 1970s.  The band instrumentally sounded enough like the Beatles to prompt an American disc jockey to declare that it was the Beatles playing incognito.  This seemed outrageous, especially when one listened to the lyrical content of 3:47 E.S.T.--which was clearly not Beatlesque--but the musical phrasing was sufficiently reminiscent to lend some credibility to the supposition.  Professors at Indiana University School of Music declared that they had isolated a track of Paul McCartney's voice in Klaatu songs "California Jam" and "Sub-Rosa Subway," and Scowl-Face, surely in an unlikely role, recognized phrasing borrowed directly from a George Harrison tune on the Yellow Submarine album.  Klaatu subsequently denied that any of this similarity was deliberate, although they acknowledged their predecessors' influences.  (Who wasn't influenced by the Beatles?  I mean, come on!  You can't hold that against Klaatu.)

You have probably never heard any of Klaatu's songs, but I'd like to remedy that now.  These are some pretty fine tunes, if I do say so moiself.

"Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft"

by Klaatu, from the album 3:47 E.S.T.

"True Life Hero"

by Klaatu, from the album 3:47 E.S.T.

"California Jam"

by Klaatu, from the album 3:47 E.S.T.

3:47 E.S.T. is probably Klaatu's best known album, but the group released five (maybe more) albums altogether, and the work has a considerable fan base worldwide even today.

Well, I've got to run.  E.T. has phoned home, and his starship has arrived to take him away.  Moi, too.

First Famous Feline in Space,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Musical News Beat

P.S.  Okay, it's as good a time as any to present "Come Sail Away," by Styx, from the album The Grand Illusion (1977).  The song's about extraterrestrials, too, somewhere after the instrumental middle break.

Racing Meeces 'Round and 'Round

You'll recall that, in the Hanna-Barbera cartoon Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinks (1958-1962), Mr. Jinks (the feline character) called mice meeces, as in his famous exclamation, "I hate those meeces to pieces!"  I'm down with that lingo, so meeces it is.  So much for the preliminary setup for today's posting.

August 28 is (wait for it ...) Race Your Mouse Around the Icons Day.  The folks at Wellcat.com devised the holiday, for whatever reasons only they could tell you.  But there it is, on the calendar and staring us directly in the whiskers, so we must make something of it and soon, because, in my time zone, it's an hour till midnight.  Not that I'll be changing into a pumpkin or anything, but the holiday will be past, and that doesn't do anybody who's writing a blog about it much good.

Apparently, the Wellcat.com people envisioned computer users racing our computer meeces around the screen icons while we're waiting for something to load from the Internet thingee or Wide World Whatever. Ho-hum, frankly.  Been there, done that.  Who hasn't?  I think we should do racing with actual, living, breathing meeces.

Where's the Dude With the Starter's Pistol?

Apparently, Your (Great) (Grand) Parents Enjoyed the Sport, Too

(Add Parentheticals as Necessary)

I would never have believed it, but racing meeces is apparently a big-money enterprise.  It is lauded as an especially effective fundraising technique.  For example, Gateway Downs Mouse Racing (est. 1988) bills itself as "the original mouse racing company."  Triple Crown Fundraising purports to provide the "finest mouse racing" in St. Louis.  So there must be some interest out there.

Cheering on the Winner

The photo above (courtesy of the Southeast Missourian website) shows the first annual meeces racing (2009) in Cape Girardeau, Missouri to raise money for multiple sclerosis research and treatment.

  

Racing Meeces Draws the Big Crowds, It Seems

What will all this meeces racing lead to?  As popularity of these events mushrooms, there seems only one predictable consequence.

Racing the Indy Car Meeces Circuit

You know something is a really big deal, if it's included in video games.

Video Game Meeces Racing

Apparently, there is no need for a race starter (using one of those starter's pistols), because meeces are too dumb to understand the significance of the blank shot-in-the-air.  Instead of running, they just cower, run frantically for cover, or soil themselves.  (I've known some humans who do the same thing under similar circumstances.)  Racing meeces requires an entirely different kind of official starter.

On Your Marks, Get Set . . . (Pounce!)

Libraries could use meeces racing as a fundraising event!  What do you think, Boss Lady and Broadway Gal?  Just be sure to secure a "rodent racing license" first.  You think I'm joking, but a Danville, Iowa tavern was fined for illegal rodent racing (as unregulated gambling).  Word to the wise.  Just saying.

Want to see some meeces racing?  Remember, you asked for it.

More Fun to Catch Meeces Than to Race Them,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Fundraising Ideas News Beat

P.S.  Speaking of running meeces, here is my Library's book trailer for Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes.

Where Go My Escargot?

Another landmark Mooresville (well, close to) restaurant is under the demolition ball.  It is sad on so many levels.  NOW where will I get my escargot?

  The Great Escargot Escape

Chez Jean Restaurant François (a mile or two north of Mooresville on State Road 67; technically, in Camby, Indiana) first opened for business in July, 1957, where Voelz's Tanglewood Restaurant had previously been situated (see 1956 advertisements below, courtesy of the Mooresville Times).

 

Too bad I wasn't around here in 1956.  That wall-eyed pike dinner makes moi drool!  Notice that Voelz's regular weekday lunch jumped from 75 cents to 85 cents between January and October, 1956.  They were gone a year later.  There's a lesson there somewhere, kittens.

 

Chez Jean celebrated its 50th anniversary in July, 2007, but sometime thereafter (2008, according to one report) the place was closed, for sale, and weedy.  Now it is quite definitely going the way of the wrecking ball.  (Learn more about the history of the restaurant by clicking here.)

Au Revoir, Vieil Ami

(Thanks to Buffalo Gal for these photos of the Chez Jean.)

The inn portion of Chez Jean had some near-personal significance.  Scowl-Face, who, as you know, is one of my lesser library colleagues, spent the night there before his wedding at the Mooresville United Methodist Church (formerly the Methodist Episcopal, or M.E., Church).  (He and his family, who were not M'ville Pioneer natives ["Mo-Pi's"], came from out-of-town for the wedding.)

United Methodist Church on May 31, 1980

If you're interested in the history of the M.E. Church, go here and here. If not, then don't.  It's your call.

Businesses come and go in small towns, of course, as proprietors retire or pass over, but it is a sad event nonetheless.  We mark our personal histories by the establishments we frequented or were familiar with during our formative years.  Certainly, Chez Jean was a familiar landmark for anyone who grew up in Mooresville during the past half century.  Soon it will be only a memory, filed away in my Library's Indiana Room vertical files.  Could I have a tissue, please?  There's something in my eye.

Sniff,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Home Town Eatery News Beat

P.S.  Here is a melancholy look at small town America and the passing of wonderful hangouts.  Simon & Garfunkel rejoined forces to record "My Little Town" in 1975.  Visit the official S & G website for lots of cool information about this classic folk-rock duo.

P.P.S.  Here is another moving look at our changing hometowns:  Bruce Springsteen's "My Hometown," which closed side two of the Born in the U.S.A. album (1984).  Here is a music video of one of Bruce's live performances of the song.

Maybe Our First Big Hit Single

In an earlier posting, I suggested that Cat's Eye View would be a grand name for a rock band.  Well, I've borrowed the tune from "I Fought the Law," by the Bobby Fuller Four (1966) and have written new lyrics for a sure-fire Cauli Le Chat chart topper (try saying that three times fast).  Since this is a "work of parody," it falls squarely within the fair use exception to the Copyright Act (Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., 510 U.S. 569, 114 S. Ct. 1164 [1994]), so the ASCAP or BMI cops can just stand down, thank you very much.

For this premise to work, you'll need to have the music for "I Fought the Law" running incessantly through your head. That's easily done.

Now that you have this tune stuck in your head, read my lyrics below to match the song.

"I Pawed a Blog"

by

Cauli Le Chat

I asked a tabby if she'd read one

(refrain)

I pawed a blog, and the blog's done

I pawed a blog, and the blog's done

I chase down stories in the hot sun

I pawed a blog, and the blog's done

I pawed a blog, and the blog's done

This cat can tell you what you need to know

About our library

All the youth programs and our movie shows

I pawed a blog, and the blog's done

I pawed a blog, and the blog's done

[Instrumental Break--Guitar Solo]

We've got good programs, and you'll have fun

I pawed a blog, and the blog's done

I pawed a blog, and the blog's done

We have new books, and you'll want some

I pawed a blog, and the blog's done

I pawed a blog, and the blog's done

With digital downloads to your ebook pads

You know it's all for free

Just log-in your number, and you'll be glad

I pawed a blog, and the blog's done

I pawed a blog, and the blog's done

Minions, let me know when we've topped the Billboard country charts.  (Topping the pop charts is probably a little too optimistic.)

I Pawed This Blog, and The Blog's Done,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Musical News Beat

P.S.  Here's the Bobby Fuller Four singing "I Fought the Law" on a television program (1966).

Cauli Rocker Takes Center Stage

In the phrasing of humorist Dave Barry, Cat's Eye View would be a great name for a rock-and-roll band.  I'm SO ready to rock!

Cat's Eye View (Band)

Featuring The Music Man (right) & Moi (further right)

(Click to Bigify)

 (That amplifier is shaped just like a gas grill.  Bet you were fooled.  Moi, too.)

We play many different styles--heavy metal, death metal, '60s and '70s rock, rockabilly, folk, jazz, or pretty much anything you pay us to play (or not to play--we've been paid that way, too)--so you'll hear what you like and like what you hear.  So there.

All right!  Bring on our groupies!!

Uh-Oh . . .

 Better (??)

Here, Put This On

 This isn't quite what I had in mind, but let's roll with the flow.  Chill, as Buffalo Gal's generation would say.

Will Play For Canned Tuna-in-Oil,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Popular Music News Beat

P.S.  For no apparent reason, groupies following rock bands reminded me of "Join Together," by The Who (1972).  The song was originally slated for the group's aborted Lifehouse project but was released as a single in 1972.

Kitty Kisses, If You Please

Had a spat with somebody you care about?  You're in luck.  Today (August 25) is Kiss-and-Make-Up Day.  There's no reason to stay mad at anybody, unless, of course, you're a cat, and you've got a really good reason.  But, then, we felines always have good reasons for everything we do.

There are several different types of kitty kisses.

Nose-Touch Kiss

Kitty Bath Kiss

Our rough tongues are perfect for grooming and bathing, as well as giving "sugars," or sweet kisses.

Slobberdog Smooch (Bleeach!)

Hey, Kid!  It's Not Mouth-to-Mouth Resuscitation!

Naturally, the best kisses come from kitties.  If we honor you with one, you should feel privileged.

Now, it is common knowledge that humans, due to their superb ignorance of the feline condition, are constantly offending cats with silly behaviors.  So they have a lot to kiss-and-make-up about, at least as far as we felines are concerned.  Remember that a kiss goes a long way toward reconciliation; however, a can (or several) of tuna-in-oil goes much further.

Ready For My Make-Up Kisses,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Holiday News Beat

P.S.  Eddie Cochran recorded "Kiss and Make Up" (included on the box set Guitar Picker: Rare Recordings, 1954-1960 [2008]), but YouTube has no free video recording for the song.  Not wanting to disappoint, here is another of Cochran's big hits, "Summertime Blues" (1958).

Happy Third Birthday, Evergreen Indiana

Today in Library History:  On August 25, 2008, the Hussey-Mayfield Memorial Public Library in Zionsville, Indiana, became the first library to migrate its online catalog system to the Evergreen Indiana open-source ILS (integrated library system).  Seventeen libraries followed by January, 2009, including my Library (in October, 2008).  Today, Evergreen Indiana (E.I.) includes a consortium of over 90 public, school, institutional, or research libraries across the state.  The E.I. online catalog encompasses over 6.2 million items for 821,000 Hoosier residents.

That, quite simply, is a pretty amazing achievement, considering that Evergreen Indiana is still, technically, a post-toddler (being a three-year-old, after all).  Not many youngsters accomplish so much so soon.  Unless, of course, you're a cat.

In an email CircMaster asked, "Where is the birthday cake?"  Where, indeed.  This is a celebration of monumental importance in the Hoosier library world (and well beyond, I imagine).  I'd like tuna-flavored icing on mine, if you please.

It would not be a bona fide birthday celebration without the Beatles.

"Birthday," from the Beatles "White Album" (1968)

Learn more about Evergreen Indiana by visiting the Indiana State Library website.

My Library has made some promo trailers about Evergreen Indiana.  You may have seen them before in my previous postings, but a good video deserves a reprise.

Most everybody has seen my Library's video parody of Taio Cruz's Dynamite (2010).  Produced, written, and directed by Broadway Gal, our version is much better than the Cruz original, in my not-so-humble opinion.

Librarians Do Taio Cruz, by Mooresville Public Library

My Library also mentioned E.I. in its "Got Access" promo trailer.

Got Access?  You Should

North Webster (Indiana) Community Public Library featured Evergreen Indiana in its 2010 "Twelve Days of Christmas" video.

My question to the Indiana State Library is this:  Why no official Evergreen Indiana video?  If one is in the works, then I might suggest a celebrity presence (moi) that would surely boost viewership.

Happy Third Birthday, Evergreen Indiana!

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Birthday News Beat

P.S.  Another grand birthday song is "It's My Party," by Lesley Gore (1963).  Don't let a dopey ex-boyfriend spoil your birthday party, is my advice.  Just saying.  (The song was written in 1962 by John Gluck, Wally Gold, and Herb Weiner, and Lesley Gore's version topped the U.S. pop and R & B music charts.)

Venturing Into the Unfamiliarly Strange

Today (August 24) is International Strange Music Day.  There are many definitions of strange music, and you may check-out the founder's website for the official lowdown.  For moi, strange merely means unfamiliar.  Everything new and different is initially somewhat strange until we have an opportunity to acclimate or decide that, whatever it is, it isn't our cup of meat, as Bob Dylan lyrically commented in "Quinn the Eskimo (Mighty Quinn)" (1968).  (Okay, Bob wrote "ain't" instead of "isn't," but let's not split hairs, shall we?)

What music do I find strange?  Well, any loud noises are disturbing to us felines, so we prefer volume kept at reasonable levels.  We also dislike piercing pitches, so some instruments are best not played in our vicinities.  But whether these qualities make music strange is questionable; just because something bugs cats doesn't mean we think it's strange per se.  We just don't like the sound and will bite you on the ankle if you keep it up.

In American pop music from a former of my nine lives, I would rate the following song as the strangest I heard at the time.  Here are two fan videos to accompany "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" (1966) by Napoleon XIV, who was actually Jerry Samuels, an American singer/songwriter/record producer.  This song has consistently been rated in the top five novelty songs of all time.

Davy Jones of the Monkees closed "Gonna Buy Me a Dog," the group's own weirdest song candidate (written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, the first Monkees producers), with the title lyrics from Napoleon XIV's hit.  The song closed side two (yes, albums had two sides back in record-player days) of the group's self-titled debut album (1966).

Of course, there are lots of strange sound effects used especially in 1950s science fiction or horror movies, like the theremin.  But International Strange Music Day seems more oriented toward complete musical compositions using unorthodox instruments.

What is/are your candidate(s) for strangest music?  Leave your choice(s) in my comments section.

Try to listen to any music with an open mind.  Give it a chance.  Whatever you're listening to, you might be surprised how much you enjoy it.

Been Called a Little Strange Moiself,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Musical Holidays News Beat

P.S.  International Strange Music Day would feel empty without at least one video from "Weird Al" Yankovic.  Here's a personal favorite:  "Smells Like Nirvana" (1992), the Master's parody of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (from the CD Nevermind, 1991).

Rhythmically Return to Your Roots

The Mooresville Roots & Rhythm Festival will be held this Saturday (August 27, 2011), from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in historic downtown Mooresville, Indiana.  Here is the basic info.  You should attend if you can.  It's a lot of fun!  My Library will have a booth, with lots of great giveaway stuff.  You might even see me there!  I'll be roaming around somewhere.

Event Dates: August 27, 2011 - August 27, 2011 Location: Mooresville, Indiana

5th Annual Roots & Rhythm Festival CAR,TRUCK, & BIKE SHOW LIVE American, Blues, & Roots Music Delicious FOOD Art & Artist Demonstrations Games & events for the kids! AUGUST 27, 2011 from 10:00 a.m. 4:00 p.m. Downtown Mooresville, Indiana. (Main Street & Indiana Street) Various visual & performing artists, vendors, and food will be in the Hadley Mini-Park area. Sponsored by The Mooresville Revitalization Group. Proceeds from the event benefit downtown revitalization efforts and events such as Victorian Christmas. __________________________​__ Contact Rosemary Rogers at 317.437.0102 for information about registration for cars for the event. Contact Jeff Whitney at 317.441.1808 for information about registration for bikes for the event. Know My Roots, and Got My Rhythm, Cauli Le Chat MPL Roaming Reporter Mooresville Festival News Beat P.S.  "Saturday in the Park" (from the 1972 LP Chicago V) is one of Chicago's many hits.  The song recollects summer days spent amidst festivals and public gatherings in the Windy City.  The band performed the song live at the Arie Crown Theater in Chicago, Illinois (November 1972), which was captured on film.