News from the Mudd

When I’m 66

MccartneyOnce again it’s Sir Paul McCartney’s birthday. He’s been in this music business for over 50 years, and he’s still touring. His latest stop was in Independence Square in Kiev, Ukraine where he gave a concert sponsored by Victor Pinchuk, Ukrainian businessman and philanthropist. Pinchuk said, “One could not imagine this 30 years ago. Nobody could even dare to hope for this 20 years ago. One could only dream about it 10 years ago. 5 years ago we could only envy our neighbors for whom this became a reality. And finally the day has come. For the first time we have the opportunity to hear the songs that changed the world and created a new culture.” We couldn’t agree more.

Sure, we have the Beatles recordings and even one McCartney solo disc. But the library’s McCartney collection includes Lennon-McCartney tunes interpreted by vocalists Kiri Te Kanawa, Cathy Berberian and Cristina Zavalloni, double bassists, and a brass quintet. Very versatile.

Welcome Alumni!

It’s Reunion Weekend and the Library invites alumni to visit the Mudd. We’re open Friday the 20th, 8am to 4pm and Saturday the 21st, noon to 4pm.

While you’re here (and even while you’re not), you can search the library catalog for books by alumni authors or visit the Lawrence Archives Digital Collections to view photos and documents that document Lawrence’s past.

Stop by and say hello. We look forward to seeing you again.

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May Was Full of Promises

carsJune IS busting out all over. You may think June is noteworthy only because it is the month of Paul McCartney’s birthday (June 18,) but it’s also Lane Courtesy Month. Will you be compelled to purchase large women’s clothing? Be polite to Superman’s girlfriend? Continuously sing “Mule Train?” No, no, it’s the month to yield the left lane to faster drivers. This applies to motorists only. And for those for whom “courtesy” is an alien concept, this site also has links to Fight Your Ticket and Find an Attorney.

Get yourself lane-ready with the Wisconsin Motorists’ Handbook and Study Guide.

Farewell Connie!

ConnieToday the Mudd and physical plant staff said a fond farewell to Connie Bruner, the Mudd’s 1st and 2nd floor custodian for the last several years. We wish her well on the next part of her adventure. Happy travels Connie!

New-ish CDs!

After a long, dry spell, here’s the latest batch of new-to-us CDs. We have dipped into our treasure trove of gifts and extracted a pile of what we like to call the good ol’ M1505’s. For you browsers, M1505 is excerpts from operas. To get the whole deal, go to M1500. This batch even has a few selections from musicals.

SHTOINK!

sizafitzToday would have been Don Martin’s 77th birthday. And he was not a lounge singer, half of a comedy duo, or a manufacturer of British luxury cars. No, children, Don Martin was a brilliant cartoonist, best known for his work in Mad magazine back when it was funny. His comic strips, according to Wikipedia, “featured outrageous events and sometimes outright violations of the laws of space-time.” Who else would picture a man who, after inserting a dollar bill into a change machine, was changed into a woman?

One cannot think of Don Martin without remembering his great use of onomatopoeia. In his honor, and in the hopes that our gentle readers will make appropriate use of it, we give you The Don Martin Dictionary, an alphabetical archive of all his sound effects.

Numbers and Charts and Columns, Oh My

statisticsYou know how things work. In order to prove anything to some people, you have to have data. And that means numbers. One of our favorite sources of data is the Statistical Abstract of the United States. We just received the 2008 edition, which, in reality, gives you stats for 2005 or 2006 and sometimes several years earlier.

There’s an electronic version on the U.S. Census Bureau’s web site that goes all the way back beyond 1878. Compare and contrast the number of post offices (1878: 39,258 – 2006: 36,826) or coal production (1878: 49,130,584 tons – 2005: 1,133,000,000 tons.) Astonish your friends with your storehouse of scintillating factoids.