Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get.
Mark Twain

As wet and cold as it was last spring in the mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania, nothing can be taken for granted.  In March of 2012, nature appeared to be giving us a pleasant reward for our trials and tribulations last spring, when record rain fell in these parts causing widespread flooding, and the temperatures remained low through most of April.

This year, our June weather arrived in March.  By the middle of that month, even here in the mountains, the forsythia was blooming ( this is usually an April event at our location).  Other blossoms followed, as the dogwoods, and even the cherry, and apple trees began to get into the act.

In March, I was somewhat fatalistic about this.  Nature is perverse in the Appalachians; just when you think about opening your swimming pool to capitalize on the unexpected spring warmth, a nor’easter will form, and run right up the East Coast, burying your patio furniture in 8 inches of wet snow.

But in fact, what did happen in April is that the temperatures cooled considerably, back to what would be considered seasonal or even a bit cooler.  The forsythia and other blossoms became “locked in” by this temperature change, failing to progress on to green foliage.  Still the weather remained dry, with little rain. With the lack of a melting snowpack, small streams that normally run until July are already still. It sounds good, except for one thing. 

In these wooded hills, an early spring like this is likely to create a bad fire season.

We tend to see our forest fires in mid spring, when the snowpack is gone but the outback is brown and crisp.

My community in particular, is located on the edge of an interesting plant community known as a scrub oak barrens.  This ecosystem is populated by a variety of fire resistant plants, some of which are unusual at this latitude.  They grow there because of some unique environmental conditions that prevail here.  The scrub oak barrens are maintained by periodic fires, which kill the less fire resistant plants like birch trees and red oak which threaten to over top the native barren plants that are shade intolerant.

Every couple of Aprils it seems we get such a fire, one that often starts on a state road that runs north and south past the our little community.  The fire usually starts north of the development and tracks due west with the usual prevailing winds before either  being put out by fire suppression efforts, a rainstorm, or by just running out of fuel.

Last Saturday was a warm and very breezy day.  I just finished a mountain bike ride, and had just returned home when I got a whiff of smoke.  As it was about 60°, my first thought was to wonder why my son would have started a fire in the wood stove on such a warm day.  Very quickly however the sky darkened, in it and it became clear that the source of the smoke was from a much larger conflagration.

Indeed a brush fire started in the usual spot but due to the unusual winds that day (blowing from the north-northwest) the smoke, and ultimately the fire was headed towards our community.

Happily the response from local fire departments was robust and rapid.  Many units, some from quite far away responded, some with equipment particularly suited to fighting brush and forest fires. 

 A crop dusting aircraft circled low dropping fire suppression  fluid for much of the afternoon.

A neighbor and I, eager to understand the extent of the blaze, took my UTV out  to assess how close the flames approached.  We found the edge of the fire but noted that it was not particularly intense,  burning mainly the underbrush and sparing the larger trees (though they will likely die from the heat damage to the root system).

http://s10.photobucket.com/albums/a123/Smithcottage/?action=view&current=VID-20120407-00001.mp4

We did our best to assist the fire officials to understand the location of the problem, and to transport personnel to strategic points.

 Now my home is on the southern end of the community, quite remote from any fire risk.

After the hour or so I returned home, only to find my wife preparing to evacuate.  Apparently a community “phone chain” was undertaken to warn the residents about the fire, though perhaps slightly overzealously.

Ultimately the fire did come within about five feet of my most northernmost neighbor’s garage.  There were numerous fire trucks on their property, and in the surrounding woods . Due to the hard work of the firefighters,  by the evening, the fire was controlled, if not completely out.

On the next day which was Easter, I walked the property that had burned.  Though there was no evidence of active flames, a large contingent of firemen and state officials still patrolled the property to watch for any re-ignition. I thanked everyone I saw.

Now that the danger is passed, the fire will have served up a somewhat useful purpose, namely restoring that portion of the barrens ecosystem and preventing it from transforming into less valuable forested land.  For a year or so, the burn area will act as a fire break for our community’s northern flank.  Ultimately however the dead saplings will become a fuel source once again and this will sometimes result in a more intense fire several years after the initial blaze

Several days after the fire, a friend of mine told me that she was driving along the route where the blaze was thought to have originated.  She claims that she got there at a time when the fire appeared to have just started. She and her companion noted three separate locations along the road that may have been ignition points. This was no stray cigarette.

  Standing nearby was a young boy of perhaps 15 or 16, with an unusual smile on his face.

 If this was the arsonist, he, and we, were both very lucky on that windy April day.

When I survey the music scene, I  cannot help but to be struck by the different levels of talent that have managed to lead to successful musical careers. 

There are some musicians would seem by sheer luck and happenstance, end up with a hit or two, based largely on novelty.

Then, there are solid journeyman musicians who, by hard work, solid craftsmanship, clever marketing and good business practices, court a successful career in music.

Then there are those rare musicians are absolutely transcendent.  From them, music flows as though some irresistible internal compulsion compels the artist to create the melodies, and maybe also to perform with a luminance few can match.

In my musical world, just off the top of my head, I think of artists like Oscar Peterson, James Taylor, Louis Armstrong, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. 

I think of composers like, Mozart, Fredrick Chopin, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Richard Rodgers.

George Gershwin, both as a composer and a performer, was one of these. 

And I cannot help but think of these two gentlemen, Ray Charles, and Stevie Wonder.

The linkage between the last two artists is not coincidental. They are not only just both blind and black.  12 years old Stevland Hardaway Judkins was renamed “little Stevie Wonder” by Berry Gordy, who signed the young man to a recording contract in 1963.  One of his first albums released on his new label was “A Tribute to Uncle Ray” with the young artist introducing some new songs, but mainly covering hits of his idol, Ray Charles.

 His early albums did not do well. In 1963, his breakthrough hit “Fingertips”, propelled 13 year-old “Little Stevie” him to considerable success.  Multiple hit albums in the late sixties, seventies, and eighties established  a now adult Stevie Wonder, as a musical icon.

I have never seen Stevie Wonder live.  I have however, seen Ray Charles onstage.  This occurred several years before his death.  I recall a frail old man being helped out to his instrument by rather sturdy looking assistant.  He looked so diminished that it was natural to wonder whether he would be able to give much of a performance.

I was wrong. 

The moment that he touched the keyboard, he seemed to come alive.  For 90 minutes  Ray Charles was 30 years younger, with his characteristic swaying , his unique phrasing, and his ability to transform a song you thought you knew, into a completely different musical experience.

I’ve come upon several recordings of these men and thought I would share them with you.  They feature Stevie’s song: “Living For The City”.  First recorded by the author in 1973, it was the only song I know of, written and performed by the younger man,  but also covered by “Uncle Ray” who in  1975 released his own very distinctive recording (title video).

The next clip is of a young Stevie Wonder in an extraordinarily well restored video of a performance for a European television show recorded in 1974. I actually don’t think he was as good a performer as he became in later years.  At least in this session, he lacks the incredible vocal agility that has later become his trademark. Maybe he was tired. I do wonder whether it took Stevie some time to adapt to his adult vocal range.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99gNYaz6YaM&feature=player_detailpage

The second video was probably shot sometime in the 1990s or the early “ought’s”.  It’s a live concert featuring Stevie and Ray in the song they both have in common.  The performance showcases the unique approach to the song taken by both men in their separate recordings.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=XJYUSdX-Rps

Probably not long after this, Ray Charles died from liver failure; likely the consequence of a life that included some bad choices.

It is wonderful to watch two such talented musicians, who in some ways were competitors, meld their styles together so beautifully. 

We are lucky to have had the genius of Ray Charles grace the music scene for 40 plus years.

 And we are fortunate still to have a talent such as Stevie Wonder still performing at a very high level even in the seventh decade of his life.