December 17, 2007: Songs for a smiling man, and a sweet set from Hungrytown.
Ten weeks to the day after my mother, my dad, Ralph Thomas Trudel passed away at age 84.
My parents were a very close couple, even though my dad had spent nearly the last two years of his life in a nursing home apart from her. Ralph had broken his hip in early November. I believe he died of a broken heart (quite literally-- he had a heart attack a week after breaking his hip, and it's what went on him in the end).
Ralph nearly always had a smile on his face, even when times were tough. He'd had his share of those, raising five children on a middle class income, managing to give us all a decent home and love. In later life he was a survivor of prostate cancer, a broken neck, a broken shoulder, a stroke (and a few small ones) and various heart ailments. Somehow he managed that smile and a few bad jokes along the way to get himself through it all. I usually knew that he was doing okay when we'd have the following exchange: Me, "How are you feeling?" Dad, "Oh, with my hands."
He and my mom Lois are at peace, and together again.
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The "rivals" (my dad was a lifelong NY Yankees fan, having been born in the Bronx. I was born in Flushing, Queens, NY, home of the NY Mets, so I developed a fondness for the "underdogs." Dad and I would have many gentle "arguments" over which was the best baseball team.
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Joshua Rifkin: Joseph F. Lamb
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"Ragtime Nightngale"
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Rags and Tangos
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London
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William Bolcom
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"Graceful Ghost"
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Heliotrope Bouquet: Piano Rags 1900 - 1970
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Nonesuch
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Paul Lolax: Joplin
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"The Entertainer"
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Ragtime Guitar: Selected Works of Joplin and Lamb
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Titanic
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William Bolcom: Joplin
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"Heliotrope Bouquet"
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Heliotrope Bouquet: Piano Rags 1900 - 1970
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Nonesuch
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James P. Johnson
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"Blues for Fats"
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Earl Hines Trio
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"Honeysuckle Rose"
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Fats Waller
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"Ain't Misbehavin'"
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Hearing is Believing!
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"Rhapsody in Blue"
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Hearing is Believing demonstration record
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RCA
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Mead Lux Lewis
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"Honky Tonk Train"
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Cuttin' the Boogie: Piano Blues and Boogie Woogie
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Ralph Trudel as a boy on the backyard fence, either in the Bronx or Jackson Heights, Queens, where the family later moved.
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Richard Thompson
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""Al Bowlley's in Heaven"
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Judy Garland
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"Over the Rainbow"
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The Mills Brothers
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"Shine"
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Four Boys and a GuitarThe Essential Mills Brothers
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Columbia Legacy
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Paul Robeson
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"Ol' Man River"
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The Odyssey of Paul Rosebon
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Omega Classics
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Teddy Thompson
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"Down Low"
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Upfront and Down Low
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Verve Forecast
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Hungrytown
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"Hungrytown Road"
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Hungrytown
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Live performance by Hungrytown (Rebecca Hall and Ken Anderson)
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-"Rose or the Briar"
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-"One Morning In May"
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-"Rosemary Lane"
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-CD: "Sylvie"
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-"Every Day"
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-CD: "Solid Ground"
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-"With Tomorrow" (Gene Clark)
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-CD: Erica Smith - "Start from Nothing"
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-"
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-"Lucille,Lucille"
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Hungrytown
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"November Song"
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Erica Smith and the 99 cent Dreams
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"The World is Full of Pretty Girls"
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Alice Bierhorst
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"Come Little Baby"
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The Vigil
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Shur
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Dad, in his Army uniform in WWII. As an engineer, he helped build bridges over the Rhine in Germany to assist troop movements. Ralph was especially proud of his activities later in life with the American Legion as a chaplain and treasurer in the Morristown, NJ area (where our family made its home from 1969 to 2007).
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Fritz Reiner & The Chicago Orchestra: Richard Strauss
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"Also Sprach Zarathustra"
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Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra
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BMG
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