Category: Retro & Vintage

Syncopated Polyrhythmic Hot Links

Mark Twain’s study was designed to simulate the pilot house of a Mississippi steamboat.

Rogue Punctuation Nazi strikes after-hours in Bristol, England. He specializes in fixing apostrophe errors on business signs.

Need a Computer Science paper at the last minute? This generator is for you.

I knew that rebooting and hitting F8 gets you into safe mode for trouble shooting. Here’s what the other keyboard function keys do.

“The Frog Survey Letter” went viral a couple years ago.

Never heard of Hooverball? Now you have.

Click “play.”

Like early jazz? You’ll love this free download of 1920s recordings. It’s six hours of syncopated awesome.

[Top image found here.]

Saturday Matinee – Tool, Elvin Bishop & Lonnie Brooks

Very odd video. I like it.

Elvin Bishop goes fishin’. Guy has an amazing history, and I’m surprised he isn’t a full-fledged Rock God by now. His website www.elvinbishopmusic.com is back up and running.

We lost another great bluesman recently:
Lee Baker, Jr., aka Lonnie Brooks (1933-2017).

Lonnie Brooks was another classic bluesman with an interesting background.

Have a great weekend, folks. We’ll be back here tomorrow, whether you like it or not.

The .Gif Friday Post No.478 – Hare Transporter, Prep School Flappers & Buster Keaton

[Found here, here and here. And yeah, I made ’em flap.]

Birthday wishes granted.

[Found here.]

Meretricious Rhadamanthine Hot Links

Johnny Rotten weighs in on Briexit… and Donald Trump.

Roger Daltrey weighs in on Briexit… and Donald Trump.

Luke and Sean share a shirt.

Earliest known definition of “cocktail” as a beverage appeared in 1803. The actual origins of the word are disputed; here’s one analysis.

Groucho Marx once hawked cocktail napkins.

Ever wonder why cocktails are served in different glasses? Me neither.

No idea what the 1927 Jiggling Chair was supposed to remedy.

Attempted Escape of the Maniac from The Wild Witch of the Heath, 1841.

This is mildly amusing. Move your curser, then do it real fast.

From the You Gotta Be Kidding Me Department:
Cloned Woolly Mammoths are planned to be introduced to an Arctic Siberian park in order to stop “global warming climate change.”

Horrific April Fools Day pranks of the 19th Century, and some were lethal. More pranks here.

[Top: Original image of the TV-HiFi console hottie found here.]

Saturday Matinee – Billy Blob, Superstitions & Stevie Wonder

Clever animation from Billy Blob: Two radiation particles travel to Earth with a mission and a cool soundtrack.

Origins of some common superstitions [via]. They missed the obvious. Walking under a ladder is dangerous because you might dislodge it, or whoever’s working up top might accidentally drop something on you. I’d guess that the business about stepping on a crack likely has to do with walking on thin ice. Seven years of bad luck for breaking a mirror? Not so sure about that one.

Stevie Wonder, live at Sesame Street, 12 April 1973. What a killer groove. I liked this one even better:

Yeah. That. Head-bobbin’ trad-blues-funk at it’s best.

Have a great weekend, folks, and we’ve got more cool stuff coming soon.

The Friday .GIF Post No. 477 – WTF Toy, ViewMistress & Nobody Notices Stupid

[Found here, here and here.]

Headless Templates

Yep, that’s a 1930s precursor to photoshop. More info here.

Johann Friedrich Fleischer’s Contribution to the World: Lunar Humidity Distiller

lunar-humidity

“I will tell you this much however, that the rays of the Sun and Moon and Dew must be collected in a clean Jar or Vessel, separated from Rain and dirt, stench, smoke, and also from flying and wandering animals. The ways of attraction are many, but it is as well at home, as in an open place in the wind. As also a most fit and convenient Receptacle.”

Alchemist Johann Friedrich Fleischer‘s invention is described in his paper Chemical Moonshine, published in 1739. A subsequent publication in 1797 included the illustration above, by Sigismund Bacstrom, for its frontispiece

[Image found here.]

Saturday Matinee – Chuck Barris & Eugene Patton, Count Basie & America Paz

Yeah, we lost another famous Chuck this week. Here’s Chuck Barris on The Gong Show featuring the late Eugene Patton, aka, Gene Gene The Dancing Machine. (If you thought I was going to post vids of The Unknown Comic, you’re mistaken, but here’s a link instead.)

GGTDM’s themesong was always Count Basie‘s 1938 hit “Jumpin’ At The Woodside,” so let’s go there. Here’s Basie’s Orchestra playing their 1937 hit “One O’Clock Jump” six years later in the movie Reveille with Beverly.

That 1943 Basie lineup likely included Buck Clayton, Harry “Sweets” Edison, Snooky Young, trumpet; Dicky Wells, trombone; Earle Warren, Buddy Tate, Don Byas, Jack Washington, saxes; Freddie Green, guitar; Jo Jones, drums. Not sure who’s on bass.

This Funk Bass Slapfest is awesome, and the girl’s smacking a six-string. I’m guessing that this how Julliard students settle their differences and go busking at the same time.

OH WAIT! THAT’S AMERICA PAZ!

Very impressive, Ms. America.

Have a great weekend, folks. We’ll see you tomorrow.