Category: History

J. V. Lafferty’s Contribution to the World

lucy-the-elephant-building2_amazing-building.jpg

If you lived here, you wouldn’t need to keep your old trunk in the attic. From Wikipedia:

James Vincent de Paul Lafferty, Jr. (1856-1898) was an Irish-American inventor, most famous for his construction of Lucy the Elephant. Born to Irish parents in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he received Patent Number 268503, on December 5, 1882 to protect his original invention, as well as any animal-shaped building. Broke by 1887, he was forced to sell her and in 1898, he died, and is buried in the cemetery of St. Augustine’s Catholic Church in Philadelphia.

This architectural gem was built, still stands, and is protected as an historical something or other. [You can see Lucy in all her glory in this previous post.]

Babe Magnet: Duct Tape

babemagnet-w-ducttape_.jpg

It’s a difficult call as to whether or not this magnificent piece of machinery truly qualifies as a genuine Babe Magnet. The role of the duct tape would give it automatic induction into the realm of the BM, but this relic seems to be sitting a a few too many parking lots downstream of the Stop-N-Go store in uptown Tomball.

In other words, it just isn’t advertising itself… except for one, actually two details.

babe-magnet-duct-tape2.jpg

Yep. Rubber doorstops for the broken window regulator grant this monster machine a solid thumbs up as a genuine Babe Magnet. Pure efficient genius.

[Images from here.]

UPDATE 12 March 2008: I’m embarrassed to admit that I missed one other important detail. The seven little white things on the dashboard are either (a) Sun-bleached Easter peeps from last year; (b) Partially consumed rice balls; (c) A used Kleenex collection; or (d) Little tiny ghosts.

There may be other solutions to the mystery of the little white things. I know that some of y’all have more expertise identifying LWT’s through the windshield of a Babe Magnet than I, and I’d appreciate any suggestions so that we can put this Bunk stumper to rest.

Go to the Head of the Class

duckboat_finduck_honey.jpg

“Look! Out in the water! It’s a duck! It’s a boat! It’s a sauna! It’s a floating summer cottage!” No you fools. It’s MallardMan.

duckboat_finduck_honey4.jpgduckboat_finduck_honey3.jpg

Fin-duck is powered by an outboard motor. The driver’s place is in the head of the “duck”, where a chair can be put into position when someone sits there. On the back of the “duck” one can take sun. Eight persons can sit in front of a fireplace. In the sauna fits four persons.

Measurements:
Length 5,5 m
With 2,8 m
Height 3,2 m
Height in saloon 195 cm
Draught 25 cm
Weight 900 kg
Speed about 5 knots
Equipment:
Outboard motor 15 hv
Fireplace
Sauna and shower
Toilet and hand basin
Kitchen with a sink and a refrigerator

I can hear it now:
“Honey, when are we gonna get underway?”
“Any minute dear. But first I have to go to the head.”

Then there’s this lovely lair of leisure:

wellnessskul_vvork_080222.jpg

“Wellness Skull” by Atelier Van Lieshout. Like Wellness centers it has a few places to relax. In the neck of the skull is a small bath. The head of the Skull contains a sauna.

If you say so. Like I really need to go to the head to relax. Then I find that it’s full of warm water, just like I thought. I can hear it now:
“Honey, you need to relax.”
“I’ll relax after I go to the head! Is that okay with you, DEAR?!”

Meanwhile, I Love Lucy:

lucy-the-elephant-building3_amazing-building.jpg

Lucy the Elephant is an American Treasure. I can hear it now:
“Honey, there’s no sauna in there! Why are you running?”
“Get outta my way, dear! I’ve gotta go to the head!”

[Images with indented commentary from here, here and here.]

Saturday Matinee: Animals + Tobacco Road = ?

This video, related to yesterday’s monkey taunting .gif post, is better with the sound off.

On the other hand, this video, that’s been around for a while is still amazing, and better with the sound up.

More Animals. Here’s Eric Burdon (from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England) with “Tobacco Road” from1966(?).

Okay, I meant here’s the Nashville Teens (from Weybridge, Surrey, England) with “Tobacco Road” from 1964. Drummer Barry Jenkins joined the Animals in 1966.

Okay, I really meant, here’s the Edgar Winter Band (from Beaumont, Texas, England) with “Tobacco Road” from 1974(?).

Okay, what I really, really meant is: here’s Lou Rawls (from Chicago, England) with “Tobacco Road,” first recorded in 1963.

Enough animalia with nicotiana rural routes for now. Come back tomorrow for more fun.

Saturday Matinee: Jimmy Stewart to Jimi Hendrix

Bunk’s jaw dropped when his daughter Seraphina Strutts presented this excellent find from the Utoobage, and said, “I don’t know if you’ll like this, Dad, but Mom laughed her Hasselhoff.”

Bunk likes it, especially the mashup between 1938’s “You Can’t Take It With You” and the 5 Discs’ 1962 recording of “Never Let You Go.”

And speaking of the music of 1962, here’s music from 1964: Joey Dee and the Starlighters, limp-sinking a medley of their greatest hit. Joey’s head is huge in this video while the guy on the right looks like a pinhead. Must be a result of early video lens distortion. [Mr. Dee has a delightfully awful website here.] When I was a teenager, I found his album “Live at the Peppermint Lounge” at a garage sale. All the songs sound like this one, kinda like a pre-Ramones formula. (Papa Strutts once categorized it as “all drums and lights.”)

As sappy as this sounds, Joey Dee and the Starlighters had some serious connections to future rock n roll heavyweights. From Wikipedia:

“…the most famous lineup of Joey Dee and The Starliters is considered to be Joey Dee, David Brigati, Larry Vernieri (vocals), Carlton Lattimore (organ), and Willie Davis (drums). Later members of the touring group would include Eddie Brigati (David’s brother), Gene Cornish, and Felix Cavaliere – three-quarters of The Young Rascals – as well as guitarist Jimmy James (later known as Jimi Hendrix) and Charles Neville of The Neville Brothers.”

And speaking of the music of 1964, here’s an A&E clip about 1966, and James Marshall Hendrix.

Where else but here can you get semi-cognizant linkage between 1938 and 1966?

Rubber (Duckies) Soul

bbbd_neatorama080201.jpg

Neatorama is amazing. Their crack team of webminers found Joliet Jake and Elwood Blues recast as Rubber Duckies. Made me wanna take a warm bath with an 8-track player nearby belting out Sam and Dave’s Greatest Hits…

Until I followed the Neatorama link and found this:

celebriduck-mrt_baronbob.jpg

“Ah Pity Da Foo Who Don’t Lather, Rinse, Repeat!”

No way am I getting wet with Mr. T unless it’s raining. Other excellent Mr. T accouterments may be found here, here, and especially here.

Related Rubber Duckie report from the world-renowned Strutts News Services may be found here, and for you afficionados, more specific duck info here.

And Bunk just broke his own record for most links in a single post. G’head and click on ’em, but be back here in time for dessert, okay?

Everybody picked on Bob.

arrow-shirts_eatliver080124.jpg

Arrow Shirts had been mocking Bob mercilessly since elementary school, and they decided to get one last jab at him with this ad. Bob kept wishing that Arrow Shirts would stop thinking about him and just leave him alone.

Epilogue:

Bob is now CEO of MetaInfrared International, married Miss Amazon 1995, has four kids.

Paul graduated from Ball State with an associate degree in geology, and balances tires at a Goodyear store in Indianapolis, married and divorced three times, raises and trains rottweilers.

Steve, well let’s just say he did some really really bad things, and won’t be eligible for parole until he’s about 270 years old.

[Image from here.]

Saturday Matinee: Oddness, S.O.T.W. & Doggy Doo

Something nicely odd about this one. I think I might be a Maximov fan.

Strangely entertaining: S.O.T.W by a Japanese orchestra. Wait for the vocals. Nice version overall. (Here’s the link to Deep Purple live in Japan, and lastly this trainwreck.)

After those two, what I really wanted to hear was a country/western song about dog poop, and I knew just where to look. So, here’s Pinkard & Bowden, two great musicians that you’ve heard but never heard of (and Bunky ain’ta gonna tell you why).

[First video link found at Kitty’s place even though she was talking about something else entirely. Second video link from Arbroath. Third link deliberately hunted down on the Utoobage.]

Bunk Speaks

wingnut448.jpg

Folks,

We’ve noticed a few broken links on past posts. If any of you happen to notice videos that don’t play, images that don’t load, lettuce know, and we’ll do our best to fix ’em. YouTube is kinda notorious for pulling videos, and if they yank ’em, we won’t know unless you tell us. Leave a comment on the post with the damaged linkage and we’ll give it a bandage, because, after all, readers of TackyRaccoons visit this site for perfection, and you rock.

Bunk

P.S. TackyRacoons made it past the first cut for January at www.iblogcup.com. 2nd elimination round is going on so vote once a day, but only if you really want to. Maybe we’ll win a cupcake or something. If so, we’ll share it with you because we like to share. It’s just the way we are. Sometimes.

[UPDATE: Tacky Raccoons came in 4th place in January, but there were apparently some shenanigans going on according to the webmaster. Sorry, no cupcake.]

Front-Running Candidates for President of the U.S. Debate Their Own Presidentialityness

dragon-dance_seattletraveler.jpg

New Hampshire, CA – (Strutts News Services)

Four Democrat U.S. Presidential hopefulls gathered tonight to discuss platitudes on nationwide television, and each arrived with trainers to keep them from attacking each other. (Senator Ed Norton was not present for this pre-debate photo op, but was recognized during the live video as someone else entirely.)

The first question from moderator Lannie Foosers set the stage for the remainder of the so-called debate. The question itself didn’t matter, as the answer for that one and all subsequent questions was, “I will fight for change and am prepared to agree with all who disagree with my nomination, and the current administration is at fault for that, and what you said as well.”

g-men.jpg

Prior to the Democrat “debate” was the Republican “debate.” Candidate Ron Paul began the discussion before tape started rolling with, “Where is he? Obama was supposed to be here!”

The other Republican candidates all answered with, “You Fool! Of course we support the troops, and we’ll buy them lunch!” before moderator Lannie Foosers asked them each to attack Senator Obama on behalf of Senator Mrs. Bill Clinton.

We can all thank the writer’s strike for this absurd waste of network time. If Bunk was in charge, we’d be watching re-runs of The Prisoner with Patrick McGoohan instead.

[Top image from here, lower image picked off a page of the .pdf file linked from here.]