Music and Picnic and Miscellanea

I'm listening to some Tina Turner on last.fm and thinking how melancholy this particular version of the song Tonight seems. Somewhere around here I have a concert tape with a version that is completely different. The concert version is completely up beat and builds to a peak of elation; the version from the album could be played at a funeral without raising eyebrows. It is amazing how different two different performances of the same piece of music can be. And even more amazing is the fact we still recognize the piece and the artist. Here is the concert version with Bowie:

Speaking of good music, I just got completely distracted as The Animals version of The House of the Rising Sun played. That song is one of my favorite heavy ballads. But I suspect that those of you that knew of my Iron Butterfly and Led Zeppelin addictions might have guessed that. {*grin*} As a clue to how old I am, I can remember listening to that song on the AM radio in junior high school. A song about a house of ill repute and all the bad that can happen there sandwiched between daily reports of the death toll in the Vietnam war - made for really interesting times. (And it was followed on last.fm by Janis Joplin doing amazing things with her voice singing Down On Me with Big Brother and the Holding Company. Totally good stuff!)

In any case, this weekend was the city employee picnic. It is one of two all-hands events that the city sponsors so that the staff and personnel and elected officials can bond a bit. The other is a more formal sit down dinner; this is a family affair with kids invited and held in the park across from the city water park so that the whole family can swim and recreate. For the less energetic, we play bingo for lottery tickets from 5 to 6 and then serve the food at 6. After the meal, we draw employee names from a hat for various raffle prizes.

So here are some annotated pics from yesterdays event. First off is a council member caught calling a game of bingo just before the ball roller broke and before the eats:

 

(Click on the pictures to  enlarge enough to read.)

Another view of the crowd getting ready to stampede for the food:

 

Here's one with the Chief of Police (otherwise know as the master of ceremonies for the picnic) calling a raffle name with the city water park in the distance.

Last but not least is the master of ceremonies raffling off the swag after everyone got stuffed on ham and chicken and meatballs and salads and fruit and bread and cake and ice cream and chocolate. It's a wonder anyone was still able to move at this point.

That was how I spent Sunday afternoon/evening. You'll notice I politely refrained from getting pictures of the carnage as we ate. {*grin*} The only bad thing was that there was something blowing in the air last night and so today I could barely see for most of the day as my eyes kept watering. Oh well, they'll be fine by tomorrow.

P.S. Mom won the battle and accompanied me to the picnic; too bad MIL! If you know what to look for, you can spot her back in one of the pictures.

P.P.S Little Ms Blogger gave me an award, I'll show it off tomorrow.