Czech midget showman Baron Richard Nowak, 19, stands 19 inches high & weighs 17 lbs., while posing on pedestal on the midway at the Hamid-Morton Circus next to one of the band’s tuba players. Location: Trenton, NJ, US. Date taken: July 1940. Photographer: John Phillips.
[Top image (uncolorized) found here; caption and bottom photo found here.]
Do I Worry, Ernie Andrews (1981) Jazz/soul singer virtuoso Ernie Andrews (1927-2022) worked with Harry James, Cannonball Adderley, Gene Harris, Lionel Hampton, the Clayton-Hamilton Orchestra and Kenny Burrell.
[Top image found here. From the comments: “It is a wheel balancer, used to place wheels or other objects on to ensure they are balanced to run correctly. For example, you can place lawnmower blades on it to ensure they run true.”
Belgian guitarist Guy Verlinde covers Hound Dog Taylor. He’s best known as a solo artist and as front man for The Mighty Gators and The Houserockers. There’s not much of a bio on his website other than a link to his Facebook page where there’s not much of a bio either.
Winners of the 2024 UK Blues Band of the Year, The Cinelli Brothers (Marco and Alessandro) revive 1960s – 70s vintage electric blues, R&B and soul with a modern vibe. Guest guitarist Connor Selby is no slouch either, having been named Traditional Blues Artist of the Year (2025).
In the 1990s, Texas bluesman Jay Hooks kickstarted what promised to be a successful career, but he burned out in 2005 due to unspecified personal troubles. 15 years later he began from scratch, reinventing his music and performing in bars; Hooks returned to the studio in 2024 to make his comeback official.
Big news this week: this year’s Super Bowl halftime show is gonna suck again, the word tardigrade offends some people, sombrero memes are racist, and I got a chair on the porch with my name on it. There are others available on a first come first sit basis, so see you there.