Category: Retro & Vintage

Adiapneustial Hot Links

 

Alalaké, Bembeya Jazz National (1971)
Formed by vocalist Aboubacar Dembar Camara in 1961 and specializing in modern arrangements of Manding classic tunes, Bembeya Jazz National won the first two national Biennial festivals in 1962 and 1964 and was crowned National Orchestra (of Guinea-Bissau) in 1966. The song is from a live album, Hommage a Demba Camara, recorded during a 1971 concert.

Fun Fact: No one has ever visited this blog from Guinea-Bissau, the Central African Republic, North Korea or Turkey.

Blue-Eyed Cicadas.

Vehicle Hood Ornaments.

The Doodle Boy reminds me of this kid.

Wikipedia has the power to shape science?

Cool 3D watercolor .gif animation technique [via].

Magawa the Rat was awarded a gold medal for his heroism. [h/t Corinne L.]

The Ford Pinto was no more dangerous than other sub-compacts of the 1970s.

“In the beginning, there was disorder, discord and confusion.”

The fate of seven young explorers is a scary story. Here they are enroute to the Urals in 1958. [h/t eaglesoars]

[Top image: 1949 Buick Super 4-Door Sedan in retirement, found here. Classic Harley Earl design.]

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

 

The Macroscope

October 1923: A young girl looking into the mouthpiece of a tuba during the National Band Festival at Crystal Palace, south London.

[Found here.]

Saturday Matinee – Refrigerator Rockets, Billy Gibbons, R. L. Burnside & The Obscuritones

“…and packs an impressive top speed of 100mph.” Good God.
[Found here.]

Billy Gibbons covers R. L. Burnside. From the YouTube comments:
“Just hit play on this one and my 6 year old son immediately yelled from across the room ‘is that was ZZ TOP?!'”

R. L. Burnside was born in Lafayette County, Mississippi, learned from Mississippi Fred McDowell who lived in the next county over. Burnside and his family, tired of the life of sharecroppers, moved to Chicago in the early 50s. Subsequently his father, two uncles and two brother were murdered there. In 1959 he returned to Mississippi, was convicted for murder himself, and served time at the Parchman Penitentiary.

“I didn’t mean to kill nobody. I just meant to shoot the sonofabitch in the head and two times in the chest. Him dying was between him and the Lord.”

The Obscuritones self describe as “Close harmony and rockin rhythm. Like the Andrews Sisters singin with the Stray Cats after a night out with the Cramps.” Okay, almost, but not bad for this sextet from the UK, and their album got a decent review.

Have a great weekend and we’ll do something tomorrow for sure.

Saturday Matinee – June Foray & Bill Scott, Cliff Richard & The Shadows, Devil In A Woodpile & Green Day

“True fun, not fake fun.”
June Foray and Bill Scott were my heroes, two of the most recognizable and ubiquitous voices of my childhood. They also did the morning traffic reports as Rocky and Bullwinkle in Boston. At 02:01, Rocky and Bullwinkle introduced a Kiss song on WBCN.

Cliff Richard & The Shadows had some stiff competition – check out the Billboard Hits for 1960. Sir Richard holds the record as the only act to make the UK singles charts in all of its active decades (1950s–2000s). The Shadows were Richard’s backup band (1958-1968), and they reunited in 2020 to play their 1960 hit Apache.

Bron-Y-Aur Stomp is a Led Zeppelin cover, named after Bron-Yr-Aur, a house in Gwynedd, Wales, and based on Waggoner’s Lad, a song by Bert Jansch that appeared on his album Nobody’s Fault But Mine. Go figure. I almost forgot – Devil In A Woodpile is awesome.

Possibly the greatest Ramones cover that’s not a Ramones cover. Green Day had some great stage moves, too. Yeah, I know, it doesn’t fit in with the other vids, but it clicks with me somehow.

Good God. It’s 2:30am. I’m outta here, see you in a few.

Having a blast at the Soviet May Day Celebration 1968

[Found here.]

Delta Tau Chi 1963

[Found in my garage.]

Saturday Matinee – Feeling Through (short film), John Hiatt & the Jerry Douglas Band, Cowboy Jack Clement & Jerry Lee Lewis

A homeless teen meets a deaf blind man in Feeling Through.

John Hiatt & the Jerry Douglas Band 2021. Hiatt’s been around for a long time, glad to see he’s still recording.

Cowboy Jack Clement was one of those guys who seemed like he’d be around forever, but then one day he’s gone. He played with and produced for some of the biggest names in both rock n’ roll and country music, and reportedly “discovered” (and recorded) Jerry Lee Lewis while Sun Records founder Sam Phillips was on vacation.

Yep. That’s The Killer in his heyday, and he’s still going.

Running short on post time here, but we’ll see you tomorrow for something or other.

Belgian Coal Miners ca. 1900

That’s an elevator and some of the “safety gates” are missing. The workers are wearing wood clogs. Actual date and place is unknown.

[Found here.]

Wanted: Milo, Sawa & Cagwang

National Geographic September 1948

Seems a bit steep for a cagwang (flying lemur), but let’s recognize that these prices are in Filipino money. A four foot sawa (python) could run you $1.50 in US money, up to $37.50 for a 28 foot specimen. Here we see two Filipino men holding a reticulated python and a crested serpent eagle.

I presume there’s takeout in the back.

[Image and caption found here.]

Nothing Much Happened Today.

[Found here.]