Dick Came to Canoe /SONGS OF MY LIFE /Shilkloper, Swingle's Bach, Guitar Trio's 9th Sym, Il Postino

My brother Dick Dannells, of Pismo Beach CA, loved to come to the Pacific Northwest to join us on canoe adventures. He told us many times he loved to review in his mind all of the places we put in the water over the years he came annually and that it was a highlight of his life. Being 12 years my senior, we weren't really close until these trips. He had left for college when I was just been starting elementary school. He always lived many states away. His coming to canoe each year enabled us to develop a closeness that wouldn't have been there otherwise. My brother died in March 2023 at 88. Thanks for the memories, Dick.

The music that accompanies this is not arbitrarily chosen. He loved brass, as he had played trumpet growing up, so I start with brass: Song For Everyone by Arkady Shilkloper. The Swingle Singers were a thing singing familiar classical songs in jazz vocal style starting in the early 60's, and Dick had a healthy appreciation for classical music, so I chose Bach's Prelude No. 19 In A [The Well-Tempered Clavier - Book 1]. In his retirement he was always traveling someone, and often to Europe, so I chose Il Postino (Titoli) (From "Il Postino" Soundtrack) by Luis Bacalov. Dick was rooted in Western values of which Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is evocative, was California-based much of his life, and he has a son who is a son-of-a-gun professional guitarist -- so of course, I am choosing the California Guitar Trio's version of Beethoven's Ninth. In driving to different canoeing spots we would often listen to music from the 50's and 60's such as The Teddy Bears' To Know Him Is To Love Him from 1958, but I've chosen the version by The Langley Schools Music Project originally recorded during the 1976–77 school year. So AUDIO UP people.