For those of you who are big Led Zeppelin fans you already know that the song Bron-Y-Aur Stomp off of Led Zeppelin III is about Robert Plant’s dog Strider. Here’s a photo of the pooch in question with his somber companion. Interestingly the song was misspelled on the original album: it was supposed to read Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp.
Listen to: Bron-Y-Aur Stomp live from the Led Zeppelin live album How The West Was Won
Lyrics: Continue reading
Out with The Old, In With The New – NYC Parking Meters Replaced by Muni Meters
Old baaaaad- parking meter
They are all gone now. At least from Manhattan. As of September 19, 2011, all the parking meters have been replaced by Muni Meters. The parking meter, which allowed you to park in many commercial areas of New York City for a designated amount of time, will soon be a memory. Like rotary phones, telephone booths and those red fire alarm boxes attached to lamp posts, parking meters have become obsolete. Continue reading
Speech Impediments Were Fair Game For Early Songwriters
Forget The Who with “My Generation” or David Bowie with “Changes.” Stuttering lyrics were once blatant and over the top. Unlike today where some songs contain stuttering verses, 100 years ago, the stuttering was in the title or subtitle.
In 1907 an imaginative songwriter said to himself, “Hey. I’ve got an idea, I’ll write a song about stuttering, it will be a smash!” But he thought it over, “Hmmm, that’s been done already. What if I added something about having a lisp?”Maybe that is the way the smash hit, The Boy Who Stuttered and The Girl Who Lisped by Louis Weslyn came to fruition. Two speech impediments are better than one.
Today it seems politically incorrect (and in bad taste.) If songs like this were being produced today, protesters would be lining up to have the songs banned.
Back then, nothing was thought of it; a stutter or lisp would make perfectly acceptable lyrical content. The more outrageous the lyric, the better. Click here to listen to the song performed in 1908 by Billy Murray and Ada Jones.
The unusual thing is that Billy Murray seemed to be very good at fake stuttering and recorded one of the most popular stuttering songs of all-time, K-K-K-Katy “the sensational stammering song success” written by Geoffrey O’Hara in 1917.
When you hear Murray’s rendition of K-K-K-Katy in the vocal break towards the end, you will be reminded of Mel Blanc, the famous Warner Brother’s cartoon voice of Porky Pig and Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck etc. etc.) . You can be sure Blanc took a page from Murray to create Porky’s stammer as Blanc later recorded his own version of K-K-K-Katy. Click here to listen to Murray’s K-K-K-Katy.
And while Murray was an accomplished early recording star and performer, and could sing i
n other styles, he recorded another stuttering song in 1922, You Tell Her I S-T-U-T-T-T-E-R which was written by Billy Rose and Cliff Friend. Continue reading
The New York City Junior High Schools or Middle Schools as they are called now, were once the breeding ground for a well-rounded education. My parents and grandparents were the products of the old New York City public school system and they never went to college. Yet they could read and understand Latin, had beautiful handwriting, could type, played and studied music and developed “the lifelong habit of turning to books for the information they needed.”
Brooklyn, NY Walt Whitman JHS 1961 Yearbook page
In 1961 students learned how to make things because the U.S.A. was still an industrial society and could actually design and manufacture useful products.
As shown in this 20 minute film, everyone learned about electricity, the elements of printing and participated in the novelty shop; where they could “build things for use and for pleasure.” There was what would now be termed sexism – girls learned millinery work, domestic arts, dressmaking, respect for manual labor and “neatness,” while boys learned the manly arts of metal, wood, print, plastics and electrical wire. But up until the 1970’s gender work roles were applied in most of the fields of employment.
The children were taught “ideas and facts in citizenship, current affairs, history, geography, and government, to appreciate democratic ideals.”
Okay, maybe they were brainwashed.
But compared to today’s middle schools, they got a fine education. Continue reading
Six Views of New York by Luigi Kasimir
In 2000 and 2001 Swann Galleries (a New York auction house) held New York City auctions. All the items: books, posters, maps, ephemera, photographs, prints and art were related to the city. It was a great concept that they discontinued after 2001. It was at these auctions where I first encountered the art work of Luigi Kasimir.
Kasimir was born in 1881 in the Austrian-Hungarian Empire and later came to New York where he repeatedly captured the architectural sights of the city. Today, Kasimir is best known for his detailed etchings, many of which were done in color, which apparently was not the norm for early 20th century etchings. The New York Times distinguished Kasimir from other etchers of the time at a contemporary exhibition in 1926 by referring to him as a “colorist.” Continue reading
Gil McDougald Needs to Be Reminded Where He Can Stand
Photo © Bill Nehez
New York Yankee third baseman Gil McDougald had one of the most unorthodox batting stances of all time. He would face the pitcher with both feet pointing towards the mound in an open stance.
At Municipal Stadium on June 12, 1953 the Cleveland Indians were upset with where McDougald was standing, claiming his right foot was over the line of the batter’s box. Continue reading
The west side of Fifth Avenue between 23rd and 24th streets had been country land well into the middle of the 19th century. The land for many years had been occupied by a quaint tavern and horse changing station.
Franconi’s Hippodrome- Fifth Avenue 23rd -24th Streets (click to enlarge)
On this site in March 1853, Henri Franconi, a European from a long line of equestrian performers, arranged with investors to have an amphitheater built which was then called Franconi’s Hippodrome. This precursor of the modern day circus with performers, animals and chariot races was housed in a large structure shaped like an ellipse and was 338 feet by 196 1/2 feet that could seat 10,000 people and was covered by a red, white and blue canvas supported by a center pole 70 feet in height and a circle of smaller poles 40 feet in height.
It opened on Monday, May 2, 1853, and The New York Daily Times was not impressed with the class of people attending the Hippodrome shows. Attendees they said “…were blacklegs, gamblers, rowdies, and the miscellanea of polite roguery and blackguardism.” The reporter added “The Hippodrome is badly conducted and Continue reading
Bon Scott and Angus Young With A Blistering Version of Riff Raff
Rock n’ roll was meant to be dangerous and a live performance should reflect that.
In the late 70’s as AC/DC were on the way to conquering the world with a relentless tour schedule and knockout performances, they filmed a few shows for posterity. This one at The Apollo Centre Theatre in Glasgow Scotland on April 30, 1978 does not have great footage, nor is the sound quality all that good. What is exceptional is the dynamic tension that is displayed in this show. AC/DC is ready to blow any other band off the stage. And you can feel it. Continue reading
Babe Ruth Signing Autographs
The Yankees won’t be in the World Series this year. The Detroit Tigers beat the Yankees three games to two in the American League Divisional Series last night. So we won’t be hearing God Bless America at Yankee Stadium during the 7th inning stretch for the rest of 2011 at the ballpark in the Bronx.
In 1936, after Babe Ruth retired, he did not show up to many ball games as a spectator. He grew disillusioned with not being given the chance to get a management job in the game he loved and tended to avoid baseball parks. Of course it was always hard for Babe to go out in public without being besieged by autograph seekers. But he signed for everyone. That was the Babe. Continue reading
