Welcome to Don's Basement: Halloween Edition

Happy Halloween to all my ghosts, ghouls, creatures of the night and relatives. In today's post, we explore this holiday and try to get the true meaning of Halloween.

Halloween began as the holiday Hop-tu-Naa which is the New Year's Eve of the Celtic New Year as celebrated on the Isle of Man. The Isle of Man (sic) is located in the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Ireland. 

To celebrate Hop-tu-Naa, the people carve turnips, dance, sing songs, and I'm guessing drink O'kell's beer. 

Traditionally, divination also has taken place during Hop-tu-Naa. I suggest these two methods that have worked for me.

-Steal a salt herring from a neighbor, roast it over the fire, eat it in silence and retire to bed

Nothing says Halloween like stolen herri

-Hold a mouthful of water in your mouth and a pinch of salt in each hand as you listen to a neighbor's conversation, whereupon the first name mentioned would be that of your future spouse. (True story. This is how I knew Peggy would be my wife. )

Halloween like most holidays is an example of cultural appropriation of a pagan holiday into a formal religious one. All Hallows Eve and the three days that follow were set aside as a time for honoring the saints and praying for the recently departed souls who have yet to reach Heaven. 

Today, Halloween fun includes decorating your house with gravestones with funny sayings, inflatable cats, and horrifying realistic zombies, monsters or demons. Dressing up as a Disney or Marvel character and trick or treating. Or going to bars that have fake cobwebs on the walls and ceiling.

Today's video is a change of pace. 

Viewer discretion is advised.

The Fall of Don's Basement: The Autumn Leaves

The lovely song "Autumn Leaves" was written in 1945 by Hungarian-French composer Joseph Kosma with lyrics by poet Jacques Prévert.  The title in French is"Les Feuilles Mortes. Any French speakers out there.

Right.

Dead Leaves.


Since 1945 Autumn Leaves has been covered, dozens of times. In 1955 Roger Williams, the pianist not the founder of Rhode Island, had a number 1 hit on the Billboard 100 Chart  (for 5 weeks--October 29-through November 29) with an instrumental version of the song. 

"Love is a Many-Splendored Thing" by The 
Four Aces preceded "Autumn Leaves" and "Sixteen Tons by Tennesee Ernie Ford followed it on the Chart.

Never covered "Autumn Leaves" 

Don's Basement fans will be interested to know that the song "Love is a Many-Splendored Thing" was written as part of the score for 1955 film of the same name. The movie is set and partially filmed in Hong Kong. Don's upcoming book, Hong Kong Blues, is also set in Hong Kong but the film version will not star William Holden or Jennifer Jones because they are dead. 

Jennifer Jones in costume 

Also, the book is finished yet. 
Also, there have been no offers for the movie rights.

Here is a partial list of artists who have recorded "Autumn Leaves": Doris Day, Andy Williams (no known relation to either of the Roger Williams), Harry James, Jimmie Rodgers, Frank Sinatra, Ahmad Jamal, Vince Guaraldi, Bill Evans, The Coasters, Patti Page, The Everly Brothers, Al Hirt, Barney Kessel, Stephane Grappelli, Chet Baker, Grace Jones, Chick Correa, Keith Jarret, Rickie Lee Jones, Jerry Lee Lewis, Andrea Boccelli (The Dead Leaves version), Iggy Pop, Eric Clapton, Jermaine Jackson. Leslie Odom Jr, and recently Bob Dylan.

I am singling out two versions. The first and to my mind the coolest is performed by Nat King Cole. It is a Japanese version called Kareha (枯葉). 

I believe this youtube commenter gives a proper review to this video.

this is so fucking cool A french Cancion, translated to an english version, which was then translated into Japanese, and then sung by this guy in the 1950's holy fuck that's awesome.

The version that I chose for my video is from Cannonball Adderly's 1958 album, "Something Else." which features Miles Davis, Hank Jones (piano), Sam Jones (bass), and Art Blakey (drums). 

The track is just over 11 minutes. Well worth checking out. Click Here. 

My video is about two minutes and if you've read this far you might as well look at it.

The images were shot on my phone in the last few weeks.

Thanks for checking out Don's Basement.

The Five Minutes of Krinsky

Books take a long time to read. We are all busy checking our phones and FACEBOOK posts or binge-watching Paw Patrol. Who has time?

EG:

32 Hours

15 Hours

Classified

My own book, The Five Books of Krinsky (available by clicking this purplish thing) takes 5 hours and 24 minutes according to Kindle. But if you skip over the boring parts you can finish it in an afternoon. (Conversely, you can start a book club/Bible study group to determine how each of the weekly Torah passages touches your own life and spend a year or more.)

At East on Central local writer's event.

To help the time-challenged, I have created The Five Minutes of Krinsky video. I hope you enjoy it.

C-SPAN INTERVIEW with Don's Basement: Day 1 of the The 5 Days of Krinsky™

On Saturday, October 14 from 1 to 4 at the Highland Park Library, local authors will offer their books for sale. While normatively I abjure any form of capitalist commerce, I bought 20 paperback copies of The Five Books of Krinsky. And they are not helping anybody where they are now.

Krinsky in his natural habitat

The Local Author's Book Fair is sponsored by East on Central, a journal of arts and letters. Peggy and I are proud to have been published by this esteemed organization.

In anticipation of this event, I am presenting what I am calling The Five Days of Krinsky™. 

From Monday, October 8 through Friday the 13th, I will post information or pictures about the Local Author
Fair, The Five Books of Krinsky, the beginning of the Torah reading cycle, large inflatable cats, and YHVH(AKA Yahweh, Adonai, El Shaddai, et al.)

The Comic Torah: Created by Aaron Freeman and Sharon Rosenzweig

Provenance unknown

In anticipation of this event, Susan Swain took time out of her interview with John Updike ( alav ha-shalom) to interview me about all things Krinsky and Don's Basement.

Thank you to anyone who is reading this.

(Views, images, and other nonsense are the work of Donsbasement and not the Highland Park Library. East on Central, C-SPAN, or any of the "callers" on the video.)

Not for Gentiles Only™ : The Fall Festivals

Hello again everybody and welcome to another edition of Not for Gentiles Only™ 

You may think that the Jewish Holidays are over for a while. As you know Yom Kippur ended at Sundown last Saturday, September 30 or the 10^th of Tishrei on the Jewish Calendar.

Your Jewish friends have all fasted, atoned for their sins, and had a lox and bagel pizza to break the fast. (If you have sinned against a Jew or a Jew has sinned against you, it is pretty much too late to do anything about it. Try again next year.)  

Beginning on Wednesday night (October 4 or Tishrei 10), Jews will celebrate 4 holidays in 8 days or 9 days. Don’t worry about the extra day unless you live in New York and have kids in public school.

These holidays are: 

SUKKOT: FESTIVAL OF BOOTHS/TABERNACLES

This holiday lasts 7 days in Israel and in the Torah. In the diaspora, it lasts anywhere from 8 days to 0 days depending on one's level of observance. 

You may see these types of booths in your neighborhood. This one is in our backyard.

Been very dry in Highland Park

Traditionally observant Jews eat their meals and sleep in the sukkah. You may also observe people waving a piece of fruit and some stalks and branches. 

HOSHANA RABBAH: THE FINAL JUDGEMENT

For a holiday, I'd never heard of until last week it is pretty important. It falls on the final day of Sukkot. 

The Midrash tells us that G‑d told Abraham: “If atonement is not granted to your children on Rosh Hashanah, I will grant it on Yom Kippur; if they do not attain atonement on Yom Kippur, it will be given on Hoshana Rabbah.” Chabad.org  Last stop on the repentance train.

Traditionally Jews stay up all night reading the entire book of Deuteronomy (5th and final book of the Torah aka Old Testament) and After Midnight...read the book of Psalms and listen to  J.J. Cale.

Chill version(click to enjoy)

SHEMINI ATZERET: 8 DAYS A WEEK

The day after Sukkot. Celebrated the same day as Simchat Torah. Except when it isn't. 

SIMCHAT TORAH: ROLL THE SCROLL

                                  DANCE-REPEAT

A super popular holiday filled with dancing with the Torah and each other. And drinking. Sometimes excessive drinking. There used to be many articles on the Internet about excessive drinking during Simchat Torah. Either the drinking has been curtailed or the Internet has given up.