

[Bottom image found here. Top .gif modified, found here.]

The DeMoulin Bros. Co. supplied hazing equipment for fraternal organization initiations in the early 1900s. Some of the gaffes were truly bizarre.
Apparently the company is out of the fraternity prank business and has moved onto other products: scary marching band uniforms.

[Top image from here; tiled images from .pdf found here; more info here.]
Bonus: Here’s a restored “Fuzzy Wonder” (and a “Spanker”).

House Rent Boogie, John Lee Hooker, from Endless Boogie (1971).Homeschooled and illiterate, Hooker ran away from home at the age of 14. He used various pseudonyms throughout his career (including John Lee Booker, Johnny Lee, John Lee, John Lee Cooker, Texas Slim, Delta John, Birmingham Sam and his Magic Guitar, Johnny Williams, and the Boogie Man) to evade low-paying recording contracts.
How Canadian children are born.
20 Brilliant Ways To Organize Your Cats
Download the Hazard Fraught Tools catalog [via].
Never heard Dominick the Donkey until yesterday.
Thanks a wad, 2020.
Original Stack O’ Lee Blues (1927) by Long ‘Cleve’ Reed and Little Harvey Hill – the Down Home Boys.
An amazing thing happened when a non-communicative dementia patient heard the music of his youth.
[Top image found in an ad somewhere and I messed with it.]
From the Archives: 1 year ago. 5 years ago. 10 years ago.

(I Want A) Rock and Roll Guitar, Johnny Preston (1960)Preston’s biggest hit was Running Bear and made No. 1 on the pop charts in 1959. The “Indian” sounds on the record were performed by J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson and George Jones.
Misheard Christmas song lyrics.
Who was Shorpy Higginbotham?
Party Hard is the best Christmas song you’ll hear all week.
Theater In The Round nativity play is fun (interactive vid).
5 Minutes of a Pink Oyster Mushroom Playing a Synthesizer.
Use of Gamification Techniques to Encourage Garbage Recycling.
[Top image: Antique folk art animal carvings with original paint from here.]
From the Archives: 1 year ago. 5 years ago. 10 years ago.

[It was known as] C.C. Cannan Field since 1918 and as an informal flying field and race track before that. In 1925 the field was purchased by Vince Hays for his Houston Aerial Transport Company. It was on this field that Shorty Walker and Guy Hahn made and flew their airplanes and aircraft engines. [Source]


[Top image found here, 1923 C.C. Cannan Field article found here, 1923 Detroit Free Press ad here.]
“‘Tut Tut Tut Tut’ is indeed the Franco-phonetic way of imitating a busy signal. In the course of this two minute song, Hills huffs 7 TUTs in a row, four different times for a total of 28 TUTS. Then she adds another 15 or 20 during the fade. Who doesn’t love her TUTS?”
The song is featured in the 2020 TV miniseries “Queen’s Gambit” starring Anya Taylor-Joy, but Gillian Hills recorded “Tut Tut Tut Tut” in 1960, featured in the movie Beat Girl. An English version, Busy Signal was recorded by The Lollipops in 1965.
[Update – Corrected factual error. That is Gillian Hills in the video.]
“McClinton sounds EXACTLY like Peter Wolf!” – video comment
Delbert McClinton is the sound of Texas soul, and has the credentials, backing the likes of Sonny Boy Williamson II, Howlin’ Wolf, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and Jimmy Reed. Eventually he had a national hit, playing harmonica on Bruce Channel‘s “Hey! Baby” in 1962.
“Wolf sounds EXACTLY like Delbert McClinton!” – video comment
The J. Geils Band on The Old Grey Whistle Test 1973 (before all that garbage they put out in the 80s). They also covered this song:
Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2009, Bobby Womack was slowing down by the time of this 2013 performance, and he passed away the following year at age 70. He first recorded “Lookin’ For A Love” with his brothers as The Valentinos.
Guess that’ll do it for now. Have a great weekend while you can, see you back here for dessert.

Mind Your Own Business, Hank Williams (1949)“The song’s lyrics were likely inspired by the singer’s own tempestuous relationship with wife Audrey Williams and the buzz it created. […] Hank had cut several duets with his wife Audrey, who by all accounts had limited singing talent.” – Wikipedia
Very cool candles. [h/t Octopus]
Class Action Park – Official Trailer.
I remember games that began like this.
Nobody does Kurdish techno dubstep beatbox better.
[Top image: Raccoon-proof recycling container illustration. See it in action here.]
From the Archives: 1 year ago. 5 years ago. 10 years ago.

The early Thanksgiving Day parades often had a circus orientation, and hence the animal elements. Actual lions, tigers, and bears were trucked down city streets, traumatizing them and causing the elicitation of roars and growls that frightened observing children. Wisely, the use of living animals was abandoned after a few years, with animal balloons and floats substituted, together with some great vintage cartoonish stuff that was rather surreal.
[Image and text found here; previous Thanksgiving posts here.]

[Found in here.]