Category: History

Saturday Matinee – NASA 1961, Jason D. Williams, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, & The Yonder Mountain String Band

This magnificent feat was engineered with slide rules, and it amounted to blasting a giant bullet containing a human into the sky, then recovering both it and Alan Shepard intact [via]. Those early astronauts had big brass ones, and the creepy music made it even better. (John Glenn appears at 04:15.)

Speaking of Great Balls of Fire, here’s the next best thing to The Killer. Jason D. Williams pounds the ivories with Sticks McGhee‘s 1947 classic “Drinkin’ Wine Spo-dee-o-dee.”

Spodiodi was street slang for chipping in for a cheap bottle of fortified wine in a brown paper bag and sharing it with your buddies. Urban Dictionary says “Spodiodi” is a glass of wine spiked with bourbon. Nah.

BTW, Sticks McGhee was the brother of Brownie McGhee, who partnered with harmonica player Sonny Terry known for his harmonica whooping. “Key to the Highway” was covered by many, including what’s his name. That famous British guy. You know. That guy.

Here’s some Easy-On-The-Ear-Holes stuff from The Yonder Mountain String Band. They need some authentic whooping in my opinion. Maybe even some eefin.

Have a great weekend, folks, and be glad that you’re not in Turkey.

“The woemen are attired, and pownced.”

Roanoak Indians 1590

Roanoak Indians 1590 Quote

From A briefe and true report of the new found land of Virginia [Hariot, Thomas (1560-1621). Published in Frankfort Germany 1590.]

[Found here via here. Printed word image from here.  More about Dasamonquepeuc here.]

Independence Day 1906

Independence Day 1906

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Read it in its entirety, and then read it to your children.

 
 
 

#BREXIT

UK-Flag-Wooden

[Image found here.]

1930 Zukunftsphantasien

1930 zukunftsfantasien13_121930 zukunftsfantasien12_41930 zukunftsfantasien13_9

Space Station – Check.
Smart Phones – Check.
Steam Powered Dirigible from Australia via Tehran – Pending.

(Note that die Frauen trinken und Rauchen stumpft in the park next to the airstrip while keeping tabs on die Kinder.)

[Found here via here.]

Saturday Matinee: Dancebot, Johnny Cash, Howlin’ Wolf & Joe Bonamassa

Very cool bot moves. Amazing that the people can replicate their own moves, too.

Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley were competitors of sorts during their Sun Studio recording days. Here’s Presley doing Cash.
[Vid found in here.]

That’s Howlin’ Wolf in 1966. The song was a reworking of “Hey Lawdy Mama,” written and performed by Buddy Moss in 1934. Wolf’s version was covered by The Fabulous Thunderbirds and re-titled “Runnin’ Shoes.”

“How Many More Years” as covered by Joe Bonamassa in a tribute concert in 2015. Pretty impressive lineup, too:

Bonamassa’s touring band, dubbed the “Muddy Wolf Band” [and] includes Anton Fig (drums), Michael Rhodes (bass), Reese Wynans (piano, Hammond organ), Lee Thornburg (trumpet, horn arrangements), Ron Dziubla (saxophone), Nick Lane (trombone), Mike Henderson (harmonica), and Kirk Fletcher (guitar) [via].

Have a great weekend folks. We’ll have some more fun tomorrow.

 

D-DAY 6 JUNE 1944

D-DAY 1944 
Many lives were lost
to save the lives of many more.

 
 
 

Here is the church and here is the steeple: Locklear’s & Elliot’s Contribution To The World

Steeple Crash

He meant to do that. Stunt pilots Lt. Ormer “Lock” Locklear and co-pilot Milton “Skeets” Elliot were filming The Skywayman, a silent movie released in 1920, and crashing the church steeple was part of the script.

From Wiki:

Principal photography on The Skywayman began on June 11, 1920, with DeMille Field 2 as the main base of operations. Despite Locklear’s public claim that new stunts “more daring ever filmed” would be involved, the production would rely heavily on models and less on actual stunt flying. Two stunts, a church steeple being toppled by Locklear’s aircraft and an aircraft-to-train transfer were both problematic and nearly ended in disaster.

Their final stunt did end in disaster, a nighttime dive that killed both Locklear and Elliot instantly when they didn’t pull up in time.

[Image found here.]

One Chord Hot Links

WHATEVER

Amazing Naval weaponry: Lasers, Railguns and Hypervelocity Projectiles. If this is unclassified, just think of the stuff that is.

Greek Fire was a weapon used successfully to thwart invasions by muslim pirates in the early 7th century.

The Crusades were fought in response to Islamic aggression in the 11th century.

Who were the Barbary Pirates?

Okay, so the carpet caught fire. Big deal. It was an act of God.

Here are the rules for Kingyo-sukui.

Ruining Rock Paper Scissors. Look. Just throw the same 3 times in a row, then double your bet and throw the one that beats your previous three.  Pocket your winnings and leave the neighborhood asap. Coming up next: How to get dibs on a baseball bat.

Wild Man From Borneo by Kinky Friedman. One of these days he’s going to have a Tribute band.

I’m not a “gamer” so I’m not sure what to make of The Stanley Parable, but it looks pretty cool.

[Top image from The Greatest Rock Video Under Two Minutes Ever.]

REMEMBER.

MemorialDay 2016