Category: Music

Prue in Words and Picture

A while back I was contacted by Gary James, who has a Web site called Classic Bands. He asked to interview Prue Bury, and after checking some of his previous interviews I put him in touch with her. Gary transcribes his interviews, rather than posting audio, and here is the link to his conversation with Prue.

Prue Bury, March 4, 1964

I bought the original print of this photo on an eBay/UK auction. It should be here in a couple of weeks. The Australian seller says the date on the back of the picture is March 4, 1964, which places it during the filming of “A Hard Day’s Night.”

I wrote to Prue and said, “I don’t know what pictures you might be missing in your collection. I’m hoping that seeing this one is a surprise for you. It certainly is for me!” Prue replied, “Very much so! Never seen it before, where did it come from?” I don’t know, but perhaps the seller has more information. I’ve had a similar experience a couple of times, where I was shown a photo of myself I’d never seen before, and I had no recollection of it being taken. One of them was from my business trip in Saudi Arabia. I should see if I can find it.

Something worth emphasizing is that knowing everything I do about Prue, her connection to the Beatles may not be the least interesting thing about her, but it is far from the most interesting. Even Prue’s birth is compelling, with her mother carrying her during the family’s flight from occupied Belgium to England. She was born during the last of the Nazi Blitz attacks on London.

Pushing Back on Push-Back

As I recall from college history courses, French philosophers, such as Jean Jacques Rousseau, were hugely influential on Thomas Jefferson’s writing of the Declaration of Independence. In fact, going back to the Pilgrims, there has been an intellectual dialogue going back-and-forth between America and Europe, from politics to popular culture and fashion.

Perhaps the most important outcome so far while the Groper-in-Chief holds the highest office in the land is the #metoo movement. Trump is, as yet, untouchable in any way, including his admitted sexual assault. Harvey Weinstein got nailed instead, and it stuck. Finally, the old “he said, she said” trap was broken! Then came the allegation landslide, with Al Franken rather than Trump paying the political price.

I have no doubt at all that most assertions of sexual misconduct are true, with the accused having no acceptable excuse. Putting it all out in the open is good, from the horrors of the Catholic Church’s abuses of kids, to movie stars exposing themselves to women. I also have no doubt there are minor offenses where a sincere apology should suffice.

Although I think that “slippery slope” arguments are often overstated, the distinctions between assault, abuse, and harassment seem to be getting blurred. If it continues to the point where the bar is set so low that normal social interaction is affected, we’ll be heading back towards the repressive mores of the Puritans.

Catherine Deneuve

In France there has been a call for a more nuanced dialogue regarding the dynamics between men and women, where some behaviors may not be socially acceptable, but are privately enjoyed by both parties. And yet in the United States, even that call to clarify the definition of harassment is considered by abuse victims to be offensive, and it has been met with a forceful rejection. So the back-and-forth between the cultures continues.

I’m not expecting women in the United States to adopt the more generous tolerance of men that is held by Catherine Denueve and other women in France. François Mitterrand’s funeral was, after all, attended by both his wife and his mistress. France’s inexplicable appreciation of Jerry Lewis aside, here is something that was hugely popular in France, that elsewhere might be considered unacceptable, even exploitative, entertainment.

Futzing Around

I had said my next little retirement project would be getting the Sony 300-disc CD changer working again, but doing that is going to be a more complicated job than I feel like tackling right now, as I recuperate. So instead I freshened up the walnut veneer finish on my 45-year-old Dynaco A25 speakers.

Dynaco A25 with “Aperiodic” port behind the non-removal grill cloth.

The Dynaco’s were made in Denmark, so I felt obliged to use Watco Danish Oil, and I’m very pleased with the results. The speakers still sound great, and now they look pretty good too.

There is a Table, Turn, Turn, Turn

Among other potential uses for the logo picture in the upper left corner, I’m posting the covers to some of the albums I’ve been playing. With all of the buzz about the resurgence in interest for vinyl records as a music medium, I never stopped listening to them.

Thorens TD-166 Mk II turntable with Ortofon Super OM20 cartridge.

I bought this high-quality German-made turntable new 35 years ago, and as you can see it’s still in excellent condition. As a small retirement project I have done a bit of work on it, so it is now working perfectly. The RCA plugs were shorting, so I snipped them off and soldered on new connectors, with the most modest of soldering kits.

There is a very active online community for vintage Thorens turntables. The rim of the platter on my record player was looking quite dull and it was slightly pitted in spots. One tip I picked up from the online forums is that the rim can be shined up very nicely by polishing it with a fine grade of steel wool. It took only 15-20 minutes of effort to get the shiny finish seen in the picture.

The rubber belt for the turntable was loose and starting to crack, so I ordered a new one. There are a lot of knock-offs for turntable belts, but mine is from Thorens. Before installing it I cleaned off a lot of rubber residue left behind on the motor pulley by the old belt. I finished my project by installing and aligning a new phono cartridge. An alignment jig came with the turntable, and after using it I checked the stylus by downloading a free protractor and printing it on card stock to ensure accuracy. The alignment checked out as being spot-on. Yay!

Next I need to turn my attention to my 300-disc Sony CD carousel. The CX-335 began fading a few years ago, and eventually became completely non-functional, which is why records have been my primary retirement music medium. There are three rubber belts that are shot and need replacing — one for the door, another for the carousel’s turntable, and the third is for the loading mechanism. As with turntable belts, generic versions are everywhere, but to my surprise Sony makes OEM parts available online, and I now have two sets of belts on hand.

Sony CX300-series CD Carousel Changer

I’m still dealing with my late father’s estate-related matters, but that isn’t fun, and having First World hobbies to indulge is good at keeping me distracted from the stitched-up mess on my scalp. The first follow-up exam with the plastic surgeon is in a couple of days. So far, I feel pretty much the same as it did exactly one week ago upon leaving the hospital. There are a couple of puffy areas, an occasional sharp twinge, and a fairly regular tingling sensation.