Press Conference with Bob Dylan, 1965

I am currently reading ONCE UPON A TIME, THE LIVES OF BOB DYLAN by Ian Bell.

I say “currently” although it seems I have been reading it forever, or at least months and months.  It is on an e-book, and it looks like 5 pages equal 1%.  Today I  hit the 44% mark. 

I have a short attention span so it is doubly hard to stay reading the same book, so during this time, I have already averted reading three or four other books, which of course, slowed down my pace, or delayed my finishing time on this one.

I am not ready to talk about he book.  I might do that after I finish.

To pacify my sort attention span, I took a break yesterday  and found on You-Tube a 51 press conference  Bob Dylan had in San Francisco .  He was just a kid, but had his own plane to get him and his band to gigs.

I have read in the book I’m reading that he can spot someone phony or a pseudointellectual instantly.  You can tell in this video of the press conference he picks up on that several time and almost, with a smirk,  mocks some of the reporters.

I thought “you know” was something only about a decade old of a way of delaying the answer to a question until you find the right words.  When I hear someone say that, I want to say, “No we don’t know, that is why we are asking you.”  Dylan used “You know” over and over in his press conference.   And Bob Dylan is known to be a man of words.

The press conference above in informative and interesting, click on it if you have 51 minutes.   Actually you can do it increments, It took me about four increments (my short attention span).

The Whites, Gallengers, and the Neighbors

Speaking of the White Family of Boone County, West Virginia. (what?  you don't read my Facebook posts?), brings up the Jerry Springer types, which bring up my neighbors across the street.  

They use their front yard as a stage and I think they know they have us as an audience.   They speak in loud booming voices as if they are on a stage; as the daughter said to us once, "We are loud people."  Every time they do put on a show, which might be a knock-down-drag out which more than a few times has involved 911, the cops, fire trucks, and  ambulances.   Each time a "show" starts happening we take our places:  I get at one window, Anna gets at another window, the 92 year old lady that lives next to us gets in her window, and the neighbor that lives on the other side of them gets on the other side of the hedge and we all get on the phone and describes the action from different angles.

It is almost as good as the cable TV serial SHAMLESS.    I much rather see SHAMELESS because it is fiction - it did not really happen.  Or did it?  The things that happens on that show are too bizarre that a mere mortal could make up.

For instance on the past Sunday night show  the so-called head of the Gallenger family is dying with a bad liver.  He is sinking fast and already looks dead.  He needs a liver transplant but they  are not high on the list to get one and besides they do not have the money they need.  Through a friend of a friend they find a doctor with an Arabic accent.  He refuses to give his real name because his medical license is not  recognized in the U.S. to he has to perform operations illegally.  Normally, he is a taxi driver.  He demands 30 grand and the family can only come up with  $26,000 - he thinks for a minute and accepts the money.  He advises them that after he finished the job and leaves they should call 911 and then he will be rushed to the hospital to be taken care of, post op- care.  He operates, they call 911 and he is rushed to the hospital  The family went to the hospital and the examining doctor said he did not have a liver transplant, but they did take one of his kidneys, so now, that put him head of the list.   On the same show a thug that lives close by has a Russian Whore for a wife and he is her pimp; he was reminisces  the times in school he was a total terror to kids with lunch money and how he would nearly beat them to death and put them in the hospital, and he almost got a tear in his eyes and said, "God!  I miss my school days!" 

Hercules John

 

Elton John's middle name is Hercules*

 

 

 

 

*Uncle John's Almanac March 9, 10, 2013.

CIRCUS Ole'

I know, I know, that is not how you spell it.   It is Circus Olay.

Seriously folks, yesterday we went to see Cirque Du Soleil, the TOTEM presentation at Atlantic Station in Atlanta yesterday.

They put on quiet a show doing various juggling and acrobatic feats to the beat of fast music with a plenty of loud drum music.  While sitting in our seats I overheard two couples that are friends with each other talk about the other Cirque Du Soleils they have been to and the ones they knew about.  They have several in Las Vegas, Disney World, New York City and whatever else they said blended in.

They have many acts that blend from one to the other.  One act I was impressed with was 6 or 8 Asian females on high unicycles doing the darnest things with little metalic bowls.  Each had a stack and with their feet they would lob them to the another female's head, or "ring a head" so to speak.  It amazed me of their precise synchronization and not even looking at each other, now that is teamwork. 

There were no lions, tigers, elephants or any other kinds of animals, as you might expect a circus to have.  It was a series of scenes with a similar them:  Mankind.  First the creation and evolution of life and on to the diversity of it all.  And all of it to a fast musical beat.

Photograpy wasn't allowed.  These pictures I took as we walked outside of the tent.

Background:  14th and 15 Streets Area

Background:  Atantic Station; what used to be Atlantic Steel

July 13th Birthdays

1821 Nathan Bedford Forrest -Tennessee, brilliant cavalry leader, Lt Gen

Everybody agrees that CSA General Nathan Bedford Forrest was a brilliant strategist and a brave man. Whether he was a hateful racist or not is debatable.

 

1913 Dave Garroway - Schnectady NY, TV host (Today Show)

Dave Garroway was the first TODAY SHOW host. He co-anchored it with chimpanzee J. Fred Muggs. I think Garroway fitted the spot perfectly and J. Fred didn’t do bad either. Dave Garroway took his own life. I don’t know why he committed suicide but being upstaged by a primate probably didn’t help.



 

1942 Harrison Ford actor (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Frantic).

Man! Harrison Ford has starred in some great movies. If I was 65 years younger I would imagine myself in whatever role Harrison Ford played in just after I saw the movie. I’m one year older than he is, where did the time go?

 

1946 Richard "Cheech" Marin comedian (Cheech & Chong).

Cheech and Chong have made some hilarious movies about not giving a hoot about authoritarian figures, the same as the Marx Brothers did – anarchism at its funniest. Richard Marin metamorphosed himself out of Cheech and is now an established fine-art collector and dealer.

Did You?

So Long Whitney Houston (1963-2012)

Saturday we went to a home show in Duluth, Georgia, to get some ideas about our bathroom project. Our GPS navigator Jill gave us the scenic tour. We went through the John’s Creek area of nice homes and rolling hills and by The Country Club of the South.

I noticed at The Country Club of the South all drives going into the area were gated. I told Anna that is where Whitney Houston used to live. I thought to myself of the times Whitney and her spouse Bobby Brown had domestic problems of violence and drugs and called 911. How did the emergency vehicles, fire trucks, and police cars get through the gates? Whitney died near the same time I was thinking about her and her problems.

Later we learned that Whitney was found dead at the Beverly Hills Hilton. My first thought was “drug overdose”.

She was a great singer. I think her gospel singing upbringing taught her to develop her musical talent – it is a shame the gospel upbringing didn’t teach her other things about life.

She had such a lovely heartwarming smile it is shame that it will be nevermore. Last night on the news they showed a lot of pictures of Whitney – and a good many of them she looked lit or high.

The bad thing about people who develope reputations of being dope addicts – they are not allowed to die a natural life, I’m sure many actually do die natural life having heart-attacks, cancer, and all other natural forces that take lives – but the public will remember how they made the news and are sure that is what caused their deaths. What will Whitney's legacy be?

HAPPY SUPERBOWL SUNDAY!!

This Day in Hilstory, Feb the 2nd:

1927 Ziegfeld Theater (Loew's Ziegfeld) opens at 6th Ave & 54th St New York NY
1932 Al Capone sent to prison (Atlanta GA)
1942 Los Angeles Times urges security measures against Japanese-Americans.
1948 President Truman urges congress to adopt a civil rights program
1954 President Eisenhower reports detonation of 1st H-bomb (done in 1952)
1956 Coasters sign with Atlantic Records
1959 Buddy Holly's last performance

Party Day at Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta

We heard this is the 32nd annual party Oakland Cemetery has had.

This Day in History, August the 3rd

Comedian Lenny Bruce died this date, August 3, 1966, of a morphine overdose.

Lenny Bruce had a persistent back pain which he had prescribed pain medicine to help him get through it. I honestly don’t know if he ever used illegal drugs or not.

He was a stand-up comedian and arrested many times for his drugs and his indecent comedy routines. How indecent you ask? He made jokes about the Pope in Chicago, which the police force then was predominately Catholic. That is how indecent. He also poked fun of American idols and used four letter words freely on stage.

Some give him credit for giving freedom of speech to comedians and in the long run made sitcoms more realistically.

Some might even say Lenny died so other funny people can even be more funnier.

He gets the Pie-In-The Face Stand-Up Comedy Award, posthumously, of course. Or is that posthumorsly? get it? yuk yuk!

Streakers at the Superbowl

Not long ago on NP Radio Saturday morning program “WAIT WAIT, DON’T TELL ME.” Mark Roberts was mentioned and his big disappointment.

The other day on The Today Show it was said that TV time for commercials during the Super Bowl cast about $100,000 a second. Ten second is a million bucks. Not bad.


After a little Google searching: Mark Roberts is a devoted streaker. He has streaked at just about every notable national sports event for a while. As of 2009 he has streaked 380 times. Mark is British and father of three.

What would drive a person to streak in front of thousands of people? I think his back has the answer. I read there is a big tattoo on his back which has a name of big gambling casino operation.

Do you think that he might just be a running billboard?

I haven’t read that he has a tattoo on his front side or not. I doubt it, I doubt if the eyes are on his chest

I suppose at the XXXVIII Super Bowl, in Houston, February 1, 2004, Mark had plans on running out across the playing field and earning some big bucks.

Unfortunately for Mark, he chose to run after the half time shows, which Janet Jackson had a “wardrobe malfunction” at.




Janet overshadowed Mark. Mark’s streaking was hardly noticed.

Mark is no longer allowed in the United States. But Janet is.

The Auctioneer's Crescendo

If you could harness the energy of that voice you could power a speedboat.

This Date In History, August the 27th

Today’s date August the 27h produced some memorable people and events in the 20th Century; such as:

Lyndon B. Johnson, the 36th president was born in 1908. I looked for a picture of LBJ showing his operation scar but couldn’t find it. I hope the above will do.




In 1912 Edgar Rice Borroughs published TARZAN. Since then many little boys have fell out of trees breaking their bones while giving the Tarzan yell- or was that a scream of pain?




Pee-Wee Herman aka Paul Reubens was born in 1952. Not many people noticed him until he was arrested for fondling himself in a Florida movie house.







Last but not least is Mother Teresa (Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiul) was born in Yugoslavia in 1910. Tell me, if you could take the hand of one of these two religious figures to guide you to Heaven would you take Mother Teresa’s hand or Jerry Falwell's?

Bitter Humor - This Day in History

On this date, July 24th, 1965 Bob Dylan released "Like a Rolling Stone".

It is coincidental that I listened to Bob Dylan sing “Like a Rolling Stone” on Willow’s and my walk this morning.

One of the lines brought back a quick flashback of a brief memory snippet. The line went something like, “You see a juggler clown frowning when he thought no one is looking….”.

About twenty-five years ago we took our sons to a circus in Atlanta. I remember one of the clowns was a tiny little man. In one of the clown skits a tiny little car came zig-zagging out and stopped in front of the bulk of the crowd. An unbelievable number of clowns and pets climbed out, and doing funny childish things. They were doing childish, or non-grownup, things, like yo-yoing, swinging baseball bats at butterflies, attached to the bat by a springy wire, and things like that. One clown hit the tiny little clown in the head or face. It knocked him off his feet – ooofff! The little clown said. It had to hurt. For a brief second. The other clown realized he hit him hard – and for a brief moment there were a rage and scowl in the little fellow’s eyes. Pain and a temper flare-up at the same moment. Then he realized hundred of eyes on him and his face turned into a dumb-carefree funny face and he bounced off doing his thing.

That brief moment he was very pissed off his fellow clown, the job he had, the crowd’s laughter, and probably other things only he things only he has thought about.

Street Music in New Orleans

Here I am sealing someone else's work again. Instead of saying "stealing" lets say something cleaner. Lets say I am presenting their work.

If you want to listen and watch a flow of endless Dixieland jazz-Blues go to youtube and search for Tuba Skinny and Meschiya Lake.
The first three videos below are of the Tuba Skinny band. I dug through and found three that I think show the characters of the performers.








In the above youtube videos on the Tuba Skinny band did you notice the coronet player? Her sitting postion is second from the right. Her name is Shaye Cohn. I think shaye can really blast out a good tune. She complements the bellowing singress Erika Lewis.

While flipping around on youtube searching for some good Dixieland to listen to I came across the Meschira Lake and the Little Big Horns. And yep, there was Sheye sitting right in the middle of them, blowing her coronet. Do musicians switch around to releive people in other bands sometimes? Even if that band is a compeitor? I think they are alll in the same fun-loving laid back community.

Jazz Trumpeter Miles Davis's Birthday

Miles Davis was born this day, May 26, 1926, in Alton, Ill. He died September 28, 1991. He lived 65 years.

He played in a very relaxed way I thought. I know it relaxed me. I think he was the definition of "cool" in the jazz dictionary.

An interview with Bryant Gumbel on the TODAY SHOW in 1982:





Here is a sample of his music, SUMMERTIME from PORGY AND BESS:

A little Tuba Skinny Saturday Morning Music

When I flicked onto my youtube account this morning. This was waiting, suggesting I might enjoy it. I did. I have that same song on a Maria Muldaur LP. To me it just reeks of street corner French Quarters in New Orleans.

On this Date

October 4th

1931 - Dick Tracy hit the daily newspaper comic strips. The comic strip cop was the creation of Chester Gould. Dick was one hellova crime fighter that was surrounded by many eccentric characters. B.O. Plenty comes to mind.

Dick also had a watch telephone. Talking into a small object not connected to cords? Impossible!

1970 - Janis Joplin died of a drug overdose at age 27. She was wild and she had a wild fast beat that she bellowed out in the form of song that made you want to rock, or at least jump up and down like she did on stage. "Get It While You Can" is playing in my head at the moment, just thinking of her. The official cause of death was an overdose of heroin with possibly combined with effects of alcohol, probably Southern Comfort.

She could sing great - but smart?

View from the Window

Remember yesterday I grumbled because we were enticed to sit and eat in the window at a restaurant in Acworth? We were tempted but declined.

Well yesterday evening we were not given a choice. We went to Ephraim’s on the Square and the hostess took us directly to the table in the window for people walking by on the sidewalk could see us dine. Boy, we must be pretty!

But it is a give and take situation. We could look at them also. And look at beautiful Glover Park (above) on the other side of the street… and the speculate if the lady UPS driving picking up around the Square and loading up her truck was Indian or Asian.

Remember the scene above; it will play in this post again.

After we had barbecue salads and was finishing up the hostess brought back two women for the table across from us, also in the window. I told Anna, “Our replacements have arrived.”

We went across the street to stake out a spot to watch the concert for the evening. Billed was The Mustangs. I don’t know if we were to think of a bunch of wild horses or a bunch of Shriner Mustang convertibles or what.

It was a good music making group. They had plenty of beat…. I think they had some age on them, so all that time paid off, they were good, or at least we thought so.

We ran into a bunch of Good old boys, such as Monty, Paul, Arnold, Melvin, and Tillman. We sat fairly close to them.





A man preaching to no one listening. He had a sandwich board sign that you used to see in cartoons in a lot and as a matter of fact, you can still see that kind of one on one advertising on Barrett Parkway.

The preacher found his soap box in small Life College Gazebo and preached loudly and clearly to no one. No one was paying him any attention – but me who took his picture.

Now, remember the top picture of us looking out the window. In the background of the second preacher picture you can see the window we were looking out at.

One of his messages was this: “Love thy neighbor but that don’t mean you can fornicate with your neighbor!” I guess that is plain and direct enough.

Later he told the non listening audience as he was exiting that he was going to the Farmer’s Market in the morning to give the people the message.

He reminded me of the same park 60 years ago. We used to cut through the park to go to the Strand Theater and there was almost always a preacher preaching to no one or to a several drunks sitting on a bench passing the brown paper sack around. That was back in Cobb County dry days.

Also, the guest of honor of the last Good Old People Eating Meeting, Mrs. Howell at the concert. I asked her did she she her picture on Chicken Fat. She said the hadn't got around to it yet. Well, not everybody is attached to their computer like I am. I have to accept that.

I noticed the Cobb Theater lit up again. The last time the Cobb Theater was lit up it was the 3 Bears Café. Now it is the North Park Bistro. I heard it was haunted. Sho ‘nuff.