497-519 Broadway, New York City 1853-55 and now

I spotted that in a collection of photos with the description:

Broadway looking north from between Grand and Broome Streets in New York City, 1853–55.

The photo includes visible addresses, so I decided to take a drive down Grand [via Google Maps] and look for 497, 499, 501 & 519 Broadway.

A lot changed in +160 years. Some buildings were razed and rebuilt, others have been refaced, but a few are still there, like the large white building, the 2nd building closer (with the fire escape), and the one on the far right of the top image.

Also note that there is a blurry horse pulling a trolley in the top photo and a car named after a horse in the other, and if the drivers swapped places in time, neither one would know how to steer.

Saturday Matinee – Going Fishing, Rock & Bluegrass, The Flying Burrito Brothers & 1929 Elders

This is kinda cool [found here].

1971 – When Rock & Roll Met Bluegrass. It’s part of an Earl Scruggs tribute video. Click on the link to the Utoobage to see the awesome lineuup of players. “Easy Chair” is sappy as hell, and it’s one of my all-time favorite songs.

1969’s Altamont Speedway Concert was to be California’s answer to 1967’s Woodstock, but turned to disaster once the concert promoters thought it was a good idea to hire the Hell’s Angels as security. (It was as stupid as if the promoters of Burning Man had hired M-13 and the Zetas to keep the peace out in the middle of the desert).

Now THAT is important. 90 year old voices from 90 years ago. Just think of what they witnessed in their lifetimes, and think of what your grandchildren will witness in theirs.

Have a great weekend, folks, and it’s not too late to plan for a crockpot full of Bunk’s Chili for your Sunday StuporBlow Party.

 

 

Rightful, Righteous, Indignant & Indigenous Hot Links

Montreal police stopped to ticket an illegally parked DeLorean – made out of snow.

20 great stories of passive/agressive revenge. More here.

THE INSULT FILE includes such gems as this one:

“You are a fiend and a sniveling coward, and you have bad breath. You are the unholy spawn of a bandy-legged hobo and a syphilitic camel. You wear strangely mismatched clothing with oddly placed stains. You are degenerate, noxious and depraved. I feel debased just knowing that you exist. I despise everything about you, and I wish you would go away. You are jetsam who dreams of becoming flotsam. You won’t make it. I beg for sweet death to come and remove me from a world which became unbearable when the bioterrorists designed you.”

Parrot sounds off after his hated cage is destroyed.  [NSFW, NSFK h/t Octopus]

Ah dinnae ken “air beige” until it was explained in this short video on Scottish slang [via].

Nice collection of Ed “Big Daddy” Roth graphics. More of Roth’s work here.

On sanctuary cities: Los Angeles residents spoke up at a City Board of Supervisors meeting before they were shut down (March 2017). The rude condescension of Supervisor Sheila Kuehl to her own constituents is stunning.

The J.C. Whitney Catalogue was the equivalent of a phonebook for amateur and professional auto mechanics. So many things I wanted (like a Klaxon horn) and so many things I couldn’t afford as a teenager. I bought a vinyl black “leather” jacket for $14 and a can of “Smell-Nu” for my ’57 Chevy. Worked so well I made my bedroom, bathroom, hallway, family room and kitchen smell like a new car. Mom was not pleased.

For $4 you can get a rear wheel outer grease seal for your 1928-38 Ford Model A. Presses into hub and keeps dirt out of the roller bearing, but you’re going to need two.

[Top image: 19th century loon-shaped Tsimshian seal grease bowl, found here.]

Saturday Matinee – Paul Simon and Chevy Chase, Tito Larriva & Tom Waits

By the end of the week I usually have a couple of videos already in the queue, but I found I had none ready to post, so I defaulted to retro vids.

A 2011 Paul Simon performance of “Kodachrome caught my ear. The missus walked in and asked why I was listening to that sappy song. I said I needed to post something for Saturday.

“If you’re going to post a Paul Simon video, it should be You Can Call Me Al with Chevy Chase,” and she’s right. It’s a classic, and it’s also the best Paul Simon video ever.

He ducked back down the alley
With some roly-poly little bat-faced girl

IIRC, that was recorded about the same time that David Byrne was doing his own version of international music, like featuring Tito Larriva:

Then there’s this.
Tom Waits took Psychobilly to a new dimension in 2006.

Have a great weekend, folks, and don’t worry. Everything is gonna be all right despite what the doom mongers tell you.

The .Gif Post No.520 – Demon Alcohol, Parkour Flooby & Biermeister Oopsie

[Found here, here and here.]

Carole was a hottie.

 

“A small, wrinkled Glass-man examined Niles as a younger one stared at Carole.”

[Found here.]

Julia Child was a Muppet.

[Found here.]

Saturday Matinee – The Fabulous Bingo Brothers, Neil Innes, Cab Calloway with The Nicholas Bros. and Doug & The Slugs

The Fabulous Bingo Brothers: Eric Idle and Neil Innes ca. 1975.

“Protest Song.” I remember this parody of Bob Dylan by Neil Innes. “I suffered for my music, and now it’s your turn.”

I attempted to play that song years ago: the vocals, harmonica and guitar parts are easy, but I discovered that I can’t do any two of them at the same time. More recently I found that I can’t type transcripts from audio either, no matter how much I slow down the recordings. I guess it’s a brain fluke, or maybe it’s tied into being left-handed. I dunno, Babs…

Let’s go retro x 1943.

That there’s some incredible dancing that hurts to watch. From the UToobage description:

[It’s] a clip from the movie “Stormy Weather” (1943) featuring Cab Calloway and his orchestra performing “Jumpin Jive”. After awhile they let the Nicholas Brothers jump in and lend their feet to the action.

Doug & The Slugs (recorded 1977-1992) were a popular band from Vancouver. Founder Doug Bennett passed away in 2004, but here’s one of his last perfomances.

Have a great weekend, folks. More to come.

The .Gif Friday Post No.519 – Ancient Fertility Figurine Pron

This collection of animated figurines by Nina Paley is pure awesome [via].

Related post here.

Harp Closet

As one of the first women members of The Cleveland Orchestra—and one of only a few women musicians in any orchestra—Alice Chalifoux (principal harpist 1931-74) faced unique challenges such as orchestra halls without women’s dressing rooms. Alice sometimes used her harp case as a backstage dressing room when the Orchestra was touring across the U.S.

[Found here.]