Category: Retro & Vintage

Condoned by Congress, The USS Comfort Carried Captured Camels

In 1855, Congress approved a plan developed by Secretary of War Jefferson Davis to import camels as pack animals for the U.S. Army operating in the American Southwest.

The camels were also considered for use as a long-range mounted force that could drive “hostile Indians out of the country.” The storeship USS Supply was refitted with special hatches, stables, hoists and a “camel car” for the sole purpose of loading and transporting dromedaries.

Once the first herd of camels was obtained in North Africa, Supply [w]as further modified to compensate for the towering humps of the camels by cutting away part of the main deck. The camels were delivered to Texas where their potential was recognized but the plan was never fully implemented due to the advent of the Civil War.

So instead of wasting them, the U.S. Army sold the camels to zoos. TRUE

[Image and story found here. More about the Camel Corps here.]

Hot Links Away In Margaritaville

“Keh-leh-fone-yeh.”

These guys are annoying as hell but they’re talented.

Gregg Shorthand is not a slide-guitar virtuoso. More here.

Flight 24 to The Restaurant at the End of the Universe now boarding. All systems are go.

An original copy of The Chantays‘ classic LP “Pipeline” sells for $27 and more. I have this same stereo copy.

Swing for a Crime is also in my collection. Spy music interspersed with clips from movies, including the unmistakable voice of Lee Marvin (as mobster Vince Stone from The Big Heat, 1953) yelling, “You pig! You lyin’ pig!“

It’s always 1700 somewhere. The Department of the Navy Superior Public Service Award has been bestowed upon singer and songwriter Jimmy Buffett. It’s the highest US Naval award allowed for a civilian. Here’s a classic Buffett song that justifies that well-deserved award.

Mallows have been used as a food staple for thousands of years. The common name for Althaea officinalis is “Marsh Mallow” and it has medicinal properties.

The confection referred to as a “marshmallow” dates to the 1800s, and the original recipe used the root sap of the marsh mallow.

Yes, you can make your own marshmallows, and you don’t need to chase down mallow roots.

[Top image: “Osaka’s Marshmellow Kid” [sic] from a collection of fake retro Japanese cartoon characters, found here.]

Saturday Matinee – TUOOGB, Steppenwolf & Link Wray

I’m embarrassed to say that I never heard of The Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain (TUOOGB) until recently, even though they’ve been around for a while. From their website:

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain is a group of all-singing, all-strumming Ukulele players, using instruments bought with loose change, which believes that all genres of music are available for reinterpretation, as long as they are played on the Ukulele.

Great stuff. The world is your lobster if you have a bass ukulele.

Nice groove.
It’s a cover of Willie Dixons’ “Hoochie Coochie Man” by Steppenwolf at the Riverfront Festival in Louisville, KY, 7 October, 2000.

How ’bout some 1974 retro?

Link Wray played so dirty and nasty. No flourishes.
It was all in-your-face-deal-with-it-badass-rock the way it was always meant to be.

You still want toast?

Have a great weekend, folks. See you back here in a few hours.

 

“Bank of America will no longer lend to companies that make ‘military-style’ weapons.”

LMAO.

[Related post here.]

Vegan Hot Links Con Carne

The Ping Pong Match.

When birds attack [via].

So, a guy runs into a bar…

Turn on the sound for this one.

Is this a great country or what?

Jake and Benson share some fries.

It’s the worst time in history to be a clown.
Blame Stephen King.

Japanese a capella doowop group is awesome.

Need a hard copy of Wikipedia? Contact this guy.

Archery is not the same as when I was growing up.

Random Word Generator.
I got, “Hunt dragon log, pocket oven vitamins, spy bandage.”

Scroll for Old Croak – Kentucky Straight Embalming Fluid.

This Interactive Graffiti Wall is cool. Express your artistic talent (or lack of) for everyone to see.

[Top image: Leonard Emanuel was a hoot. Literally. He was one of the winners of the 1975 Hollerin’ Contest at Spivey’s Corner, North Carolina. Held annually since 1969, the 2018 contest may be the final one.]

 

Saturday Matinee – Grand Funk, Todd Rundgren, Sarah Collins & The Joanna Connor Band

Yeah. Found here. Grand Funk Railroad released “We’re an American Band” in 1973, It was produced by a 25 year old named Todd Rundgren and it went gold.

Many of his own recordings were catchy pop (and somewhat sappy) love songs and covers of the same IMO, but I liked them.  I liked them especially because the pretty coeds would stay around longer when Todd Rundgren was spinning at 33rpm. Then in 1983 he wrote and performed one of the best ska tunes ever – Bang The Drum All Day. (As a resident of Hawaii, he later recorded “Bang The Uke All Day.)

Sarah Collins‘ vocal overdub of The Specials‘ 1979 cover of Dandy Livingstone‘s 1967 rocksteady song Rudy, A Message to You makes me smile, but we can’t close out with that one. Sorry, Sarah.

DO NOT BYPASS THE INTRO.
Joanna Connor covers Son House‘ classic “Walkin’ Blues.” She pats your head, then smacks you twice before you realize what happened. Pure awesome.

Have a great weekend, folks, see you soon.

1968 Pontiac Firebird With The 9-Foot Tall Escort Option.

[Found here.]

Saturday Matinee – Live From NorWay, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Fishbone & The Allman Brothers Band

LIVE CAM: Train Engineer’s Cab View in Norway [click here for local time]. Not sure which line this is, where it’s headed, or if it’s running above the Arctic Circle. Check it out in full screen view and I’ll see you back here in a couple of days.

Someday, I suppose I’ll go to Norwegia and ride that train. Meanwhile, I’ll listen to The Mighty Mighty Bosstones from 1993.

Or maybe I’ll roll with Fishbone, one of the tightest ska/rock/funk bands I ever heard. Those guys won me over a long time ago. (Check out this 1987 live version. Sound quality sucks, but the energy is killer.)

Let’s turn it down a bit with a cover of Bob Dylan’s “All Along The Watchtower.” The Allman Brothers Band in 2011 always found a nice groove (presumed band lineup here).

Have a great Easter/Passover/Seder weekend, folks. See you soon.

 

Policing The Strip

“The girl you won’t forget.”

[Found here.]

Supercutaneous Hot Links

The antonym for the prefix “sub” may be “super,” but “supercutaneous” just doesn’t sound right.

An AI humanoid taught itself how to, um, walk. More here.

The straightest line between two points is an arc. Proof.

In memory of Zippo.

She looks familiar.

Clever girl. [h/t Rory P]

When Brain Police attack.

Czesława Kwoka (1928 – 1943) was a Polish Catholic child who died in the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp at the age of 14. She was murdered with a phenol injection into the heart.

China built a solar farm shaped like a giant panda. True.

The literal translations of the names of countries is cool. I’ve been to Land Of The Rabbits and In The Navel Of The Moon, but I haven’t been to The Village. Surprisingly, the translation of Iceland is Ice Land.

Actors cold-read statistics for a PSA and learned something in the process [via].

Radioactive cars from the Fukushima disaster are slowly being eaten by nature.

[Top image: Три українських жінки з яблуком found here.]