Thanks, dragonknitter! I kind of suspected it was you.

I think my favorite track on the album (and yes, darnit, I am going to continue to call these things "albums," even if they are on CD) is probably either the Willie Nelson version of "Good Night, Irene" or the Chieftans' take on "Cotton Eyed Joe" - that one starts off as you would expect it, but then 10 or 15 bars in, it metamorphoses into an Irish step-dance tune. I laughed and clapped with delight the first time I heard it. It's really wonderful how seamless the change is: the meter stays the same, it doesn't seem to change key (and I'm getting better at noticing things like that, now that I play the piano some)

Really, it does make sense to mix "trad" country (I don't care so much for country "pop," but I do like some of the traditional stuff. And I like Willie Nelson (and Dolly Parton) even though I don't typically care for most country music) and Irish music, because a lot of the people through whom what we now call country music developed were Irish or Scots-Irish people in the "hills" of Appalachia. There's a definite kinship between things like bluegrass and traditional Celtic music.

The final track is also interesting, in that everyone who performed on the album (even Bela Fleck, who is there, but you didn't really notice him before) gets their turn - it's 12 minutes long and a big messy (in a good way) compilation of stuff. And there's laughter in the background, and whoops, and comments - it sounds like they're having a good time.

I suppose "how you do anything is how you do everything." One thing that interests me is the "phylogeny" of music types, how different forms grew out of other forms. And also foods...I was reading my big funny (it's burlap-bound and looks VERY 60s-counterculture) "The People's Cookbook" and they were talking about how ravioli and things like Pierogi could really be traced back to the steppes of central Asia and China. And it's interesting to think about: most cultures have some form of filled dumpling. And they have some form of flatbread. And I wonder how much of the similarities are due to cross-pollination (dumplings apparently being introduced along trade routes, and also possibly to Italy by Marco Polo) and how much is what we could call "convergent evolution" if we were speaking biologically (there are only so many ways you can cook an unleavened bread if you do not have an enclosed oven...which many people in India did not have, nor did most Mexican farmers have...hence the chapatti and the tortilla)

And also many cultures have a donut-like object. And today is Fat Tuesday, a/k/a Pancake Day, a/k/a Paczki day (ah, to have access to a REAL paczki. If I were willing to drive to Dallas, I'm sure I could find a bakery with them, but I'm not willing to do that just for a donut). I may have to do a little something to mark the day. I don't do the full-on Giving Up Stuff for Lent (my brother and sister-in-law went vegetarian one year; I know people who give up sweets. And it used to be traditional to not use eggs or butter - which is why the pancakes and donuts the day before: to use them up and also have one last big blow-out of the good stuff before the 40 days of abstention.) I suppose the local Episcopal church is doing their Pancake Day again; they usually do, but I never seem to make the time to get down there.


****

Still haven't finished the new "Neverending Project of Neverendingness." I'm down to about 1/8 of the ball of yarn left, but for small balls, the yarn I'm using has lots of yardage. I'm going to make a push to finish this tonight, so I can assemble the rest of the swap-stuff so I can send it off soon.

I find these days I can really only concentrate on one "big" project at a time. I think next up after this one is finished is to work more on Honeycomb. (Especially since I realize that to do the sleeves for Thermal, I will need the shorter size 3 needle I am using on Honeycomb. Or buy another one, which would also be an option...)