Fred G. Johnson’s (1892 – 1990) banners were used to illustrate A Century of Progress for the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair His artwork also advertised the Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey and Clyde Beatty circuses.
Hired by banner painter Harry Carlton Cummins to clean equipment and stick up banners, Cummins taught Johnson how to paint them, which he did, producing as many as four a day. The art is fast, subjective and made to deadline.
Not to be confused with the great Fred Johnson, bass singer for The Marcels.
Scone Cash Players is a Miami based funk jazz group led by Adam Scone on the Hammond B3. Scone is an Ohio native, and the accompanying video may (or may not) be a hat tip to the steel industry surrounding Youngstown.
Past week so hot I was forced to dig out my official Steve Irwin Crikey Shorts, hose myself down and sit for hours in front of the Vornado. Thankfully, tropical storm Kay showed up and blew out the heat. I’d forgotten how nice it is just to stand in the rain – and listen.
Have a great weekend. Tomorrow we’ll mess with stuff.
Image captured by American photographer Joel-Peter Witkin.
Much of his work is twisted and creepy, presumably due to what he witnessed as a child, and NSFK. You’ve been warned.
Todd Webb composed Sixth Avenue Between 43rd and 44th Streets, New York, 1948 from eight separate images. It depicts the west side of Sixth Avenue between West 43rd and 44th Streets, taken on the afternoon of March 24, 1948. Realizing he had to work fast to retain the same light, Webb plotted the shoot beforehand, lining up the edges of each photo with chalk marks on the sidewalk. The image was exhibited at the 1958 Brussels Worlds Fair, and he became internationally recognized as the “historian with a camera.”
“Where am I off to? Gonna check out a record store on 6th. I’ll be back in a few. Weeks.”
What a treat for the earballs. Imagine what the people of 1948 considered oldies.
[Record store photo found here. Panorama (with caption) and others from here thanks to a Tineye search.]
My Good Pott, Doc Pomus & Curley Russell’s All Stars (1948)
Jerome Felder, better known as Doc Pomus, was one of the grandfathers of rock and roll. He wrote and performed rhythm & blues, a genre that belonged almost exclusively to black American artists whose 78s were often categorized as “race records.”
“By the late 1950’s he was established as one of the best songwriters in the business which is where he’d make his name and cement his legend. During that time it’s doubtful anyone buying his classic compositions performed by The Drifters, Dion & The Belmonts, Ray Charles and the ultimate white-Negro Elvis Presley, were even aware Pomus once sung this kind of music before any of those artists had even cut their first record.”
Tacky Raccoons 