Happy Birthday "Oh, By The Way" 2026!

Seventeen years ago, I had a dream in which I started a blog called "Oh, By The Way." When I woke up that morning, I went to the computer and promptly started a blog called "Oh, By The Way." Seriously--it was the first thing I did that morning, and yes, I often act out in waking life things I have dreamt.

"Oh, By The Way" is my digital scrap book of things I like, things I would share with a close friend and say: "Oh, by the way, do you know of this artist / clothing or interior designer / model / singer / actor / gorgeous man … or, have you seen this video / photo/ film... or heard (or do you remember) this song / band ... or, read this book / poem / inspiring quote ... or, visited this place / restaurant / famous building ... or, have you heard of this amazing new scientific discovery?"

Followers and regular readers: thank you so much! I hope you find this blog by turns fascinating, beautiful, interesting, moving, inspiring, informative, enriching, and uplifting. Welcome to the birthday party! This year I am virtually serving scoops of Lavender Rose Ice Cream by Elizabeth Labau at SugarHero! Regular readers know that if it tastes like a flower, I will happily eat it ... macarons, shortbread, cake, ice cream, whatever "it" may be. Enjoy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, "OH, BY THE WAY!"

Happy Birthday "Oh, By The Way" 2025!

Congratulations "Oh, By The Way," you are sixteen years old today!

Sixteen years ago, I had a dream in which I started a blog called “Oh, By The Way.” When I woke up that morning, I went to the computer and promptly started a blog called “Oh, By The Way.” Seriously--it was the first thing I did that morning, and yes, I often act out in waking life things I have dreamt.

"Oh, By The Way" is my digital scrap book of things I like, things I would share with a close friend and say: “Oh, by the way, do you know of this artist/clothing or interior designer/model/singer/actor/gorgeous man… or, have you seen this video/photo/film... or heard (or do you remember) this song/band... or, read this book/poem/inspiring quote... or, visited this place/ restaurant/ famous building... or, have you heard of this amazing new scientific discovery?”

Followers and regular readers: thank you so much! I hope you find this blog by turns fascinating, beautiful, interesting, moving, inspiring, informative, enriching, and uplifting. Welcome to the birthday party! This year I am virtually serving Julian Angel's Blueberry Cake with Lemon Curd with a glass of iced rose-matcha from Emily Laurae! Enjoy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, "OH, BY THE WAY!"

Happy Birthday "Oh, By The Way" 2024!

Congratulations "Oh, By The Way," you are fifteen years old today!

Fifteen years ago, I had a dream in which I started a blog called “Oh, By The Way.” When I woke up that morning, I went to the computer and promptly started a blog called “Oh, By The Way.” Seriously--it was the first thing I did that morning, and yes, I often act out in waking life things I have dreamt.

"Oh, By The Way" is my digital scrap book of things I like, things I would share with a close friend and say: “Oh, by the way, do you know of this artist/clothing or interior designer/model/singer/actor/gorgeous man… or, have you seen this video/photo/film... or heard (or do you remember) this song/band... or, read this book/poem/inspiring quote... or, visited this place/ restaurant/ famous building... or, have you heard of this amazing new scientific discovery?”

Followers and regular readers: thank you so much! I hope you find this blog by turns fascinating, beautiful, interesting, moving, inspiring, informative, enriching, and uplifting. Welcome to the birthday party! This year I am virtually serving a delicious pistachio cake from Jules at Bonni Bakery.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY "OH, BY THE WAY!"

Happy Birthday "Oh, By The Way" 2023!

Congratulations "Oh, By The Way," you are fourteen years old today!

Fourteen years ago, I had a dream in which I started a blog called “Oh, By The Way.” When I woke up that morning, I went to the computer and promptly started a blog called “Oh, By The Way.” Seriously--it was the first thing I did that morning, and yes, I often act out in waking life things I have dreamt.

"Oh, By The Way" is my digital scrap book of things I like, things I would share with a close friend and say: “Oh, by the way, do you know of this artist/clothing or interior designer/model/singer/actor/gorgeous man… or, have you seen this video/photo/film... or heard (or do you remember) this song/band... or, read this book/poem/inspiring quote... or, visited this place/ restaurant/ famous building... or, have you heard of this amazing new scientific discovery?”

Followers and regular readers: thank you so much! I hope you find this blog fascinating, beautiful, interesting, moving, inspiring, informative, and uplifting. Welcome to the birthday party. This year I am virtually serving a gorgeous cake topped with incredibly realistic buttercream flowers from Atelier Soo in South Korea. Enjoy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, OBTW!

Happy Birthday "Diva" by Annie Lennox!

Following a phenomenal career and string of hits while fronting Eurythmics, Annie Lennox released her first solo album, "Diva," on April 6, 1992...THIRTY ONE YEARS AGO TODAY. It's hard to fathom it has been that long. So let's celebrate the anniversary of this stellar collection of songs. There's not a bad one in the bunch; it is literally a perfect album. Listen to the songs below but also marvel at the sheer emotive power of Lennox. She is simply mesmerizing to watch. All the videos are great but I particularly like "Little Bird" with all her past incarnations sharing the stage.

Thank you, Annie, for all the music!

https://www.annielennox.com/

Happy Birthday, Iva Davies of Icehouse!

A very happy birthday to Mr. Iva Davies, founder, lead singer, multi-instrumentalist, and immensely talented songwriter of the Australian band Icehouse.

I am feeling great love and nostalgia for this 1980 song from their debut album. Not only is Icehouse the name of the group, having changed it from their original name Flowers, but the song itself is also titled "Icehouse." Although Icehouse was never truly seen as a New Romantic band (yet they were tagged with the catch-all New Wave title by some), I sure felt they belonged with other fantastic New Romantic groups like Ultravox. The "Icehouse" song and their debut album (as well as their sophomore album "Primitive Man") was an atmospheric, synth-heavy affair with a marvelous use of texture. The accompanying video resembles New Romantic classics like Ultravox's "The Thin Wall" and "The Voice," and even Kim Carnes' "Bette Davis Eyes" and "Draw Of The Cards," all directed by Australian film director Russell Mulcahy. Follow this haunting, touching narrative that beautifully supports the chilling, profound lyrics and aching, moving melody.

It's always cold inside the icehouse
Though the rivers never freeze
There's a girl outside the icehouse
I can see her clearly though the trees

Now she's dreaming of a new love
And she hopes he'll be there soon
She's got so long to wait for him
Because he needs another year to get there

She'll wait another lifetime out there

There's no love inside the icehouse

The devil lives inside the icehouse
At least that's what the old ones say
They say He came along time ago
He came here in the winter snow
Now it's colder every day

But she's still dreaming through the summer
And she's hoping through the spring
She says she's got no time for winter nights
She doesn't notice as the days grow darker
She can't remember getting any older

There's no love inside the icehouse

 
Now she's dreaming of a new love
And she hopes he'll be there soon
She says she's got no time for winter nights
She doesn't notice as the days grow darker
She can't remember getting any older

There's no love inside the icehouse
There's no love inside the icehouse
The icehouse

Happy Birthday, Iva! Thanks for sharing decades of your music with us.

https://icehouse-ivadavies.com/

Happy Birthday "Bringing Up Baby"!

Eighty-three years ago today, the delightful, classic Screwball Comedy "Bringing Up Baby" was released. Starring the incomparable Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant (previously here)--and they made an incomparable duo indeed (they are sublime together in "Holiday" as well as working together beautifully in "The Philadelphia Story" previously here)--"Bringing Up Baby" is often held up as the epitome of its genre. A hallmark of Screwball Comedies is the pratfall, and there are many in this film, as seen in the images below. And despite its age, it still feels as fresh and energetic as ever. If you've never seen it, do yourself a favor and find it somehow...it really is a must-see for anyone serious about film and film history. Or if you just want a good laugh.

"Five Years" by Duran Duran

For David Bowie's birthday today, Duran Duran have released a stunning cover of his song "Five Years" from the "Ziggy Stardust" album. It is a lovely, faithful cover (with one exception: DD thankfully changed a lyric to "queen"), Simon's voice sounds simply superb (maybe better than ever), and never have the lyrics been more relevant as it seems we really do only have about another good 10 years or so. Yeah, my brain hurts a lot.

Wave bye-bye!

http://duranduran.warnereprise.com/

https://livemap.davidbowie.com/

"In Goya’s Greatest Scenes We Seem to See..." by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

In honor of National Poetry Month, I will be presenting special works by selected poets each Monday in April.

And let's start this month with a poem by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, legendary poet, artist, publisher, and co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers, who just celebrated his 100th birthday on March 24, 2019!

In Goya’s Greatest Scenes We Seem to See...
by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

In Goya’s greatest scenes we seem to see
the people of the world
exactly at the moment when
they first attained the title of
‘suffering humanity’
They writhe upon the page
in a veritable rage
of adversity
Heaped up
groaning with babies and bayonets
under cement skies
in an abstract landscape of blasted trees
bent statues bats wings and beaks
slippery gibbets
cadavers and carnivorous cocks
and all the final hollering monsters
of the
‘imagination of disaster’
they are so bloody real
it is as if they really still existed

And they do

Only the landscape is changed

They still are ranged along the roads
plagued by legionnaires
false windmills and demented roosters
They are the same people
only further from home
on freeways fifty lanes wide
on a concrete continent
spaced with bland billboards
illustrating imbecile illusions of happiness

The scene shows fewer tumbrils
but more strung-out citizens
in painted cars
and they have strange license plates
and engines
that devour America

You Can't Ignore The Past

“I don't live in the past, although your past is so much a part of what you are that you can't ignore it.”
--Lauren Bacall

Happy Birthday, Jacques-Louis David!

Today is French painter Jacques-Louis David's 267th birthday! From violent revolution to calm wisdom, his life and beliefs were reflected in his paintings. It is fascinating to survey his oeuvre and to see just how many of his works have become absolute iconic, famous images (like, oh, just every single one you see here).

Top to bottom: Bonaparte at the saint-Bernard Pass; Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon and the Coronation of the Empress Josephine; Madame Récamier; Oath of the Horatii; Portrait of Pierre Sériziat; The Death of Marat; The Death of Socrates; The Intervention of the Sabine Women

Joyeux Anniversaire, Monsieur David!

http://www.jacqueslouisdavid.org/

The Birth Of Peanuts

Sixty three years ago today, Charles M. Schulz debuted the first four panels of his iconic comic strip, "Peanuts." And here they are... the 1950 introduction to a world that still enchants, thirteen years after the death of its creator.

Happy Birthday, gang!

http://www.peanuts.com/