Sixth Avenue Between 43rd and 44th Streets, New York, 1948

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.]

you got off easy this time bucko

[Found here.]

Happy Labor Day

There was a time when Americans had no choice but to hammer their fruits and vegetables to obtain steeled sinews and refreshed labour.

Macropterous Hot Links

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.”

Spontaneous Lunacy – The History of Rock ‘N’ Roll – Song By Song

Another of Pomus’ contemporaries broke the R&B color barrier soon after: Ioannis Alexandres Veliotes, aka Johnny Otis.

Hot hot was it?

“Doin’ dishes?”

Brains: Liquefied.

Capybara parkour.

“Yes, but on one condition…”

Blowing up Stretch Armstrong.
[via Memo Of The Air]

Over 12,000 phone calls so far this year.
[via The VFLL]

Places to go: The best museum restrooms.
[via Mme. Jujujive]

#BadStockPhotosOfMyJob. (More on The Twitter.)

[Top image: Robot lineup found here.]

From the Archives: 1 year ago. 5 years ago. 10 years ago.

Saturday Matinee – Cooder, Mahal & Cooder, Duane Eddy & La Mississippi

Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal, with Joachim Cooder on drums, from Get On Board, a tribute to Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee. Great country blues.

Mancini’s classic by the Titan of Twang himself, Duane Eddy.

The Mississippi Blues Band formed in Buenos Aires in 1989. Renamed La Mississippi, they released their debut recording, Mbugi in 1993.

Have a great Labor Day weekend, and if you’re driving somewhere, don’t complain about the traffic – once you pull out of your driveway, you ARE the traffic. See ya tomorrow.

The .Gif Friday Post No. 745 – A Sea Slug, A Horseshoe Crab & A Cute Little Puffer

[Found here, here and here.]

Farts are funny.

London England: “A Victorian couple trying not to laugh while getting their portraits done, 1890s.”

[Image found here.]

Stuff I Do When I’m Bored

That .gif? Not me.

Those aren’t bunnies, Annie.

That box of Annie’s Organic Cheddar Bunnies appeared in our kitchen recently and it bothered me. I saw no bunnies, cheesier-tasting or not.
Those are Buzz Puffs.

Leaners

[Images from Life Magazine (November 1948) found here. Related posts here.]