From Lalena to Kurt Weill and back again

Earlier today I had the desire to play some old Donovan music. I have an lp of his. I looked up some of the tunes on Wikipedia and found that the tune Lalena was actually named for Lotte Lenya, the singer/actress famous for her role in Kurt Weill's The Three Penny Opera, among other roles. I wonder how many of you out there have heard of it or him. Once upon a time Bobby Darin had a hit with a tune from The Three Penny Opera, Mack the Knife. But then who now remembers Bobby Darin.

Sketches New and Old

Sketches New and Old is the fifth book in the Oxford Mark Twain collection, published in 1875. It contains material written from between 1863 and 1875 some of which can also be found in a book Twain did not favor, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Other Sketches. This includes the title sketch "in English. Then in French. Then clawed back into civilized language once more by patient, unremunerated toil". I, as SLCLemens in Second Life, have recorded readings from this book, produced slide shows of same and published them on YouTube or other service.

SPEECH ON ACCIDENT INSURANCE, from Sketches New and Old

GENTLEMEN: I am glad, indeed, to assist in welcoming the distinguished guest of this occasion to a city whose fame as an insurance center has extended to all lands, and given us the name of being a quadruple band of brothers working sweetly hand in hand—the Colt's Arms Company making the destruction of our race easy and convenient, our life insurance citizens paying for the victims when they pass away, Mr. Batterson perpetuating their memory with his stately monuments, and our fire-insurance comrades taking care of their hereafter.

On Insurance

Roughing It - Chapter 64

On Mark's third day on Oahu he saddles up on a horse of the same name and visits an ancient Hawaiian temple. This leads him to make comparisons with changes wrought by missionaries. Much of this chapter is the subject of a short sketch Twain had previously published in his Jumping Frog book, Oahu.

Looking for Mischief
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