Baker's heartbeat

       Astral Weeks, by Van Morrison, may be regarded as a masterpiece.      A favorite album was first released 54 years ago. It has never aged and I can unreservedly suggest Astral Weeks as a music masterpiece.    The second album recorded in 1968 by Irish singer Van Morrison has become a cult favorite. Its melodies and words are magic in some real ways.      The album was aptly described by famed rock critic Lester Bangs as this: "Astral Weeks, insofar as it can be pinned down, is a record about people stunned by life, completely overwhelmed, stalled in their skins, their ages and selves,  paralyzed by the enormity of what in one moment of vision they can comprehend."    This work of art has attracted much attention including on its 50th anniversary in 2018. Astral Weeks has also been remastered a few times -- my copy is a CD from many years ago.     I love great singers and Van Morrison, now 76 years old, is surely one of the best. Astral Weeks was recorded when he was ju

This leads to a path that crosses the Mississippi River in Keokuk, Iowa.  It runs along the Keokuk & Hamilton Bridge.      Many of us in the Quad-Cities are excited that the new bike path and pedestrian trial on the I-74 bridge is to open in the next few months.     According to I-74 Corridor Manager George Ryan, the opening of the path connected to the Illinois-bound span will come after a few bells and whistles are added. These include seating, decorative sculptures and lights below the circular oculus in the middle of the path, Ryan said in a Quad-City Times story written April 5, by Barb Ickes.     The new path is a modern version of  pedestrian trails that now cross the Mississippi River. Another one is the Keokuk & Hamilton Bridge, which runs from Keokuk, Iowa to Hamilton, Illinois.     I caught a look at this path while spending a recent night in Keokuk.     Fun fact: Ralph Modjeski was the original engineer of the Keokuk bridge, as well as for the Government Bridge whi