A Lesson in Copyrighting – JUST DO IT!

My Grampa – Herbert Lyle Mayfield – is a very talented man. He grew up during the Depression & grew up in a poor family. Though it wasn’t well recognized at first, he was gifted from birth with a rare sense of musicality & has since grown to be a prolific composer & performer of folk music in Illinois – his music & playing enjoyed by many throughout the country. He has also built many instruments throughout the years.

Grampa told me an interesting story about a song he once composed. The story is so intriguing that I am going to let him tell you in his own words. Here is Grampa Lyle singing his song. Listen, then read what follows.

Love is Like a Rainy Day by natesean1099

“LOVE IS LIKE A RAINY DAY – In the first year that I was starting to play guitar, I put a song together. While stationed at Fort Hueneme, California, as a member of the Seabees, I played it numerous times for a worker at the USO in nearby Oxnard. He liked it a lot and even asked me to record it for him on a small disc record. Many years later a movie came out that had a song in it with the exact same melody. The film…and I believe the song…won an Academy Award. The title was “Around The World In 80 Days”. That’s when I learned about copyrighting my work.”

Here are a few of the many takes on the melody & chord progression stolen flat-out from my grandfather:

Victor Young Version
Bing Crosby Version
The Chordettes Version

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The original lyrics to this song are as follows:

Love is like a rainy day,
it comes, and it goes, but it doesn’t stay.

I should know that love’s not true,
For it’s a thing I’ve been all through.

I let it start and it broke my heart,
I wish I had left it alone.

Yes, love is like a rainy day,
It comes and goes, but doesn’t stay.

– Herbert Lyle Mayfield (1928 – present)

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The DeLira Avocado Tree

Today I will attempt to start an avocado seedling (more like a pit, or bulb). Grandma DeLira was making some of her wonderful Avocado Dip for our family gathering, celebrating Aaron & Danielle’s engagement/marriage. As she showed me how to make it, I commented on how large the seed was. She proceeded to hand the seed to me as she informed me how I should start it’s growing process. From this day forward, this tree will be named “Mary”, after Jessica’s grandmother. I’m going to take photos tracking the seed’s progress for the next few weeks. The photos will be posted as progress is made.

I also have started apricot kernel seedlings. I believe all fruit seeds have powerful preventative & curing effects for all forms of cancer. I became very convinced of this after reading G. Edward Griffin’s, “World Without Cancer” & Dr. John A. Richardson’s, “Laetrile Case Histories”. After all, Genesis 1:29 does tell us that they are food;

“Then God said, ‘I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.'”.

I eat 6-7 apricot kernels a day, as they have the highest concentration of Laetrile/Amygdalin/B17 of any seeds on the planet. No, it isn’t poisonous, though it is a cyanide-containing substance. The molecular structure of Amygdalin doesn’t allow the cyanide to be released, except for at the site of malignant cancer cells. It is an essential compound for human health, but it has also been proven to cure dogs & other animals of cancer.

Until next time, farewell!

Amazing Find

So during my third year of working for the Dallas Public Library, I quite belatedly decided to look through the county history books of Illinois just to see if there might be something interesting to read about one of my ancestors. I had previously done some reading in Indiana books because I found some of my earlier ancestors in that state. However, I somehow overlooked the very first step in my research; reading the county books for my grandparents’ town. If I had done so earlier, I would have found the article that my grandfather wrote about my great-great-grandfather, Charles Hunniman Mayfield {slaps self across the face}

My mother’s parents live in Greenville, Illinois, which is located in Bond county. I cracked open the Bond county history book, flipped to the index, and found a familiar name, Charles Mayfield. I thought, “hmm…that’s my grandfather’s grandfather’s name”. Sure enough, my own grandfather had written an article for the person who published the county book. You’d think since my grandfather is still living, he would have told me a lot about his fathers, and he has told me a lot, but there was a lot of info in the short article that I hadn’t learned previously. I was given a few more clues for my future genealogical research. Here’s a quote from the article;

“Legend goes that the first Mayfield came to the colonies in 1649 from Cambridge, England. Here he married and sired five sons. The story continues that all Mayfields in the U.S. are directly descended from those five.”

I was thrilled to find the article, but I just can’t get over how something can sit right in front of your face, unrecognizable to you for such a long time before you finally realize its presence.

I’d like to post some of my family tree stuff up here soon, but for now I’ll just post a few pictures from this article.

~Nathan

Bond County Illinois History

Repairing my 1832 Chickering Piano: Preliminary Steps

Well, I’m starting this blog in hopes that it will lead to better notation of my life’s timeline. I think it will be good to start taking note of the things that are occupying my time. Though it’s my 20th year of life and I haven’t done a very swell job of notating my days, I suppose there’s no better time than now to begin this sort of adventure.

This summer I had planned on diving into the repair of my old 1832  Boston Chickering piano. My plans were overtaken for the most part by other dates, as well as bouts of laziness. I did however manage to read up a bit about piano tuning and repair, and began to clean the insides of the piano. I read enough to figure out how to safely remove the action (keys and hammers – surprisingly all one piece) from the piano. I cleaned the ivories (all original to the piano) and vacuumed off all the 177 year-old dust. Unfortunately, a few of the hammers are broken off. I was already expecting some major repair, but it looks as though I’m going to be on this project for quite some time. Currently the piano needs tremendous amounts of repair. Here is a basic list of what it needs:

• A full set of new strings (the most pricey factor)
• At least 5 new hammers (i.e., if I don’t decide to replace all of the hammers for better quality key-response)
• All new felt for the hammer heads
• 4-5 replacement ivory front-tops
• An extreme amount of adjustment to the key-response/action (this happens after I replace the hammers)
• Sanding, repolishing, decal replacement (the final steps…thousands of dollars later…)

Throughout the maintenance period I will be updating my blog with images and some words about my progress. I plan to keep up with this blog semi-ardently, but don’t hold me to my word.

Here are a few pictures of the piano in its current condition:

P.S. Unfortunately, my mother sees the piano more as a decorative place for pictures and candles than a musical instrument. This shall change.

~Nathan