In honor of the holiday...

[Garrett Fitzgerald]

...I give you "To Anacreon in Heaven".

I.
To Anacreon in Heav'n,
Where he sat in full glee,
A few Sons of Harmony
Sent a petition
That he their Inspirer
And Patron would be;
When this answer arrived
From the Jolly Old Grecian:
"Voice, Fiddle, and Flute,
No longer be mute,
I'll lend you my name
And inspire you to boot,
Chorus
And besides I'll instruct you,
Like me, to intwine
The Myrtle of Venus
With Bacchus' Vine."
II.
The news through Olympus
Immediately flew;
When Old Thunder pretended
To give himself airs.
"If these Mortals are suffered
Their scheme to pursue,
The devil a Goddess,
Will stay above stairs.
Hark, already they cry,
In transports of joy,
'Away to the Sons
Of Anacreon we'll fly,
Chorus
And there with good fellows,
We'll learn to intwine
The Myrtle of Venus
With Bacchus' Vine.'
III.
The Yellow-Haired God
And his nine fusty Maids
From Helicon's banks
Will incontinent flee,
Idalia will boast
But of tenantless shades,
And the bi-forked hill
A mere desert will be.
My Thunder no fear on't,
Shall soon do its errand,
And dam'me I'll swing
The Ringleaders I warrant.
Chorus
I'll trim the young dogs,
For thus daring to twine
The Myrtle of Venus
With Bacchus' Vine."
IV.
Apollo rose up,
And said, "Pry'thee ne'er quarrel,
Good King of the Gods,
With My Vot'ries below:
Your Thunder is useless"--
Then showing his laurel,
Cry'd "Sic evitabile
Fulmen, you know!
Then over each head,
My laurels I'll spread,
So my sons from your Crackers
No mischief shall dread,
Chorus
While, snug in their clubroom,
They jovially twine
The Myrtle of Venus
With Bacchus' Vine."
V.
Next Momus got up
With his risible Phiz
And swore with Apollo
He'd cheerfully join --
"The full tide of Harmony
Still shall be his,
But the Song, and the Catch,
And the Laugh shall be mine.
Then, Jove, be not jealous
Of these honest fellows."
Cry'd Jove, "We relent,
Since the truth you now tell us:
Chorus
And swear by Old Styx,
That they long shall intwine
The Myrtle of Venus
With Bacchus' Vine."
VI.
Ye Sons of Anacreon,
Then join hand in hand;
Preserve Unanimity,
Friendship, and Love!
'Tis yours to support
What's so happily plann'd;
You've the sanction of Gods,
And the Fiat of Jove.
While thus we agree,
Our toast let it be:
"May our Club flourish Happy,
United, and Free!
Chorus
And long may the Sons
Of Anacreon intwine
The Myrtle of Venus
With Bacchus' Vine."

[Kathy Li]

Meanwhile, I'm watching 1776 on the DVD player. Other people watch It's a Wonderful Life every Christmas, I watch 1776 every July 4th. And as Mark Evanier once blogged, no matter how many times you've seen it, no matter how many of the songs you can sing, no matter how much historical hindsight is staring you in the face, there's always at least one moment when you're caught up in the drama, and you think to yourself, "They're never going to get that thing signed!"

We're waiting for the chirp chirp chirp
Of an eaglet being born...

[Garrett Fitzgerald]

We're waiting for the
Egg
To
Hatch
On this humid Monday morning in this
Congressional Incubator
And just as Tom here has written
We say "To Hell with Great Britain"
The eagle inside belongs to us!

Oh, yeah, it's a tradition over here, too. I once rented the Laserdisc from Scarecrow Video and taped it (twice: once with commentary) because that was the only way to see the movie they actually made. Of course, I pre-ordered the DVD from Scarecrow as soon as they announced it.

I can forgive cutting out most of "Piddle, Twiddle, and Resolve", but when they mess with the underscoring... :-(

[Kathy Li]

I'm just happy that we finally got "Cool, Considerate Men" back, and that the director is happy with what's out there for general consumption.

I did get a really weird nostalgic thing happening when I realized that if you're not as old as we are, you can have absolutely no sense of the Battlestar Galactica connection (or the Benson connection, come to think of it) that one gets watching that movie. Northern Exposure maybe....

[Garrett Fitzgerald]

Well, Benson, obviously, but it just took me 10 minutes of fast clicking with IMDB to figure out who had the Battlestar Galactica connection. :-)

And Northern Exposure, definitely. The first time I watched 1776 with Donna, she said "Hey, that's Holling!" Ever been to "Cicely", or rather, Roslyn, WA? It was within reasonably easy driving distance for us from Bothell, so we dropped in a few times, and shopped in Dr. Fleischman's office. :-)