Just Walk Away, Michael

Michael Brown, the brilliant leader and keyboardist of the rock group, The Left Bank, passed away last year at the age of 65, according to the Los Angeles Times.  Brown was the main songwriter for the group, though he left in 1967 after just one album. At the age of 16, he co-wrote and wrote, respectively, the band's best-known songs, "Walk Away Renee" and "Pretty Ballerina", both odes to unrequited love. The band's use of strings and harpsichord earned them the label "baroque-pop," while their sound echoes on in the work of acts such as Belle & Sebastian, Elliott Smith and Jens Lekman, whose "Black Cab" sampled the band's "I've Got Something On My Mind."   

I was a big fan of Left Banke in freshman year at Michigan State University in 1969. They just seemed to hit a chord for a young man with a heavy background in high school chorus and pop music who was living away from all of his family and friends for the first time. Almost every evening had Association, Left Banke, Simon and Garfunkel, and CSNY songs filling the third floor of Fee Hall.  

For your enjoyment, Walk Away Renee:  

                

Timing is Everything

So Ann and I went to see Star Wars a second time yesterday and in the middle of the movie, we each needed to leave for a brief time to use the facilities. It wasn't a problem because it was our second time through the movie and we're pretty sure we didn't miss anything important, but I felt bad for the lady next to us who had to leave for a while because she didn't look like the type of person to see any movie twice. "My time is just too important." So it seemed serendipitous that the next day I run across an ad for an app on Itunes and Android Play called RunPee.

The app lists times to go to the bathroom during a movie without missing too much and a brief synopsis you can read in the bathroom to see what you are missing.

Here's the Avengers: Age of Ultron example given on the website -

You probably noticed it also tells you if there are any things worth hanging around for during the credits - a major deal in Marvel movies.

You probably wouldn't want to be opening the app during the movie, but you could look ahead of time to find opportune times to run out. We'll see how it works out this weekend when we go see the biggest blockbuster hit of 2016: Kung Fu Panda 3. Awesome!