Past, Present, Future.

2012-05-31T10:17:00.000-04:00

"And those who were seen dancing
were thought to be insane by those
who could not hear the music."
———— Friedrich Nietzsche ————

Looking for my Meridian Memorabilia blog?

Go here:

Meridiana

Click below to get brought up to date:

We Didn't Start The Fire

If you don't continue to read this blog...

2012-03-25T16:55:00.000-04:00

I'm going to kill these two puppies.

Lovely West Texas Photography.

2012-01-22T14:33:00.001-05:00

If you enjoy photography of natural things and an attention span longer than that of a gnat, click on.

Beautiful West Texas Photography

My Back Pages - An Anthem

2012-01-17T10:08:00.000-05:00

Bob Dylan's 30th Anniversary - a celebration his music.

Recorded in October, 1992 at Madison Square Garden in NYC.

Bob Dylan - 30th Anniversary

"You Ain't Goin' Nowhere"
More 30th - Mary Chapin Carpenter, Roseanne Cash, Shawn Colvin

"City Of New Orleans"

2011-12-20T11:47:00.000-05:00

A recent rider's experience

Here's a radio interview with the song's author, Steve Goodman (1948–1984, Leukemia, 36 years old). Goodman also sings "The City of New Orleans" at the conclusion of the interview

"Bastard Blue" by Murray Dunlap.

2011-11-12T12:31:00.000-05:00

Over the last year I discovered a friend. I also discovered a writer whose stories soar. I'm referring to Murray Dunlap. The stories he has pulled together in his newest book of stories, "Bastard Blue", had me reading many over several times. They are that good. Most of them are themed from his experiences growing up in south Alabama, but they are not simply regional. They cast a much wider net than that and the texture of the lives he writes about are palpably universal.

"Bastard Blue" is available at Amazon– in both hard copy and the Kindle edition – and bookstores everywhere.

What those who know are saying:

High Praise...
“Forged with a poet’s attention to cadence and rhythm, a storyteller’s devotion to character, and tension that just keeps ratcheting up, Bastard Blue is finally a love story, between a young man and the place that made him, the southern culture that proves to be both a blessing and a curse. Murray Dunlap is a brave writer, and an honest one; the lives he portrays here are as heart-stoppingly authentic as his prose is dazzlingly beautiful. He serves up everything I want in a story: compassion, humor, substance and style.”
Pam Houston, author of Cowboys Are My Weakness

"Yes, Bastard Blue is a first book but there’s more than promise on display within its pages. This collection introduces us to a fully realized talent. Murray Dunlap’s voice is confident, his characters richly drawn, his sense of place as vivid as you will find in fiction. Sentence for sentence his prose is crisp and direct, edged somehow with both menace and hope. He has a knack for creeping up to sentiment in his stories without crossing the line, leaving only genuine, well-earned emotion on the page. This book is so fine somebody should offer a money back guarantee."
-Michael Knight, author of The Typist

"If possible, read Murray Dunlap’s Bastard Blue in a Louis XV style chair, near a subtle fire, or in an Adirondack chair, between peach and dogwood trees. Reading his stories is about as close to having a storyteller there—present, in the room--as I know. This collection is full of heart, mischief, and sly winks. What a grand triumph."

-George Singleton, author of The Half-Mammals of Dixie

Murray's recent history is a tribute to his courage, tenacity and strength.

Murray on Murray: I was very nearly killed on 6-7-08 in a car wreck, so I'm trying very hard to put my life back together. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a complex injury with a broad spectrum of symptoms and disabilities. The impact on a person and his or her family can be devastating. And my memory-loss has to be the most frustrating component of this entire disaster. It is as if I woke up from a dream of a life to a nightmare of a reality. But, as we all do, I keep focused and build a new life.

Murray Dunlap's work has appeared in about thirty magazines and journals. His stories have been twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize, as well as to Best New American Voices, and his first book, "Alabama," was a finalist for the Maurice Prize in Fiction.

Falling Slowly – the song

2011-11-01T20:26:00.000-04:00

This is a song I like very much. It is from the movie, Once, released in 2007 and well-received by critics. It was low budget: $160K and grossed over $20M. One well-regarded critic wrote, "It may well be the best music film of our generation." I liked the movie, too.

Used Prose Poem II

2011-11-01T00:17:00.002-04:00

Friend's Wife

I will undo you. I will do it single handed like I might a button on a collar. And I will watch you as you, like a collar, spread apart. And I will hear your breath’s soft whistle as you pull the air inside you. And I will know your eyes are closed. And we will.

Afterwards, because we swore we wouldn’t, your expletives will sting like hornets. And we will swear we won’t again.

Love Hurts

2011-10-14T11:39:00.000-04:00

Many have covered this great old Everly Brothers song (1960) written by Boudleaux Bryant, perhaps most notably by the Scottish group, Nazareth, in 1975. However, I like the Gram Parsons (1946 - 1973, at 26) and Emmylou Harris version best.

You decide.

A Rather Short Story

2011-10-07T14:25:00.000-04:00

Choosing Sunrise

Who knows how many words have been written about sunrises. Or how many paintings, or photographs. Or, in the age of video, how many times, from start to finish, has Earth's opening ritual has been captured. But seeing it with your own eyes is still seeing it for the first time.

She arrived on the beach when it was still too dark to see the ground and she bruised her feet on shells and rocks. She went forward though, until her feet felt the edge of the water and then she sat on the damp sand. She felt the water come forward and go back, but couldn't yet see it.

It starts with a glow, really, making it look like it’s the sea which illuminates the Earth.Then a few golden-yellowish rays shoot forward, like sentries coming to see if this area is ready to be lit. Finally, the almost indistinguishable shape begins to rise and, even with its tiny tip, it begins to fill up the whole world with light almost immediately. It did this this day it seems to let Ellen know that it (and other things) were much bigger than her or even this planet. She got the message and because of the Sun's debut, her body began to warm.

Somewhere, almost 17 miles away, her daughter was knocking on her door because it was time to go to the doctor. More tests. Ha! Ellen had, for weeks, contemplated writing her daughter a letter.Telling her what it was and that, for centuries, whenever someone in their family had it in their brain, it had never been anything else but a slow, painful death. She wanted to tell her that you have to live life and not spend so much (or any) time worrying about the end... because it will end. Worry instead about being able to maintain a closeness with those around you.

But she didn't write it, the letter, not one word. Because had her mother written such a letter before the screams of agony and writhes of pain began, Ellen would've discarded it as the final, senseless blathering of a dying old lady.The daughter would have to figure it out for herself and, hopefully, like Ellen, before it became too late.

The oxycodone began to kick in — she took triple her day's prescription this time — so, no pain but she felt the need to lie down, first resting her elbows on the sand, then bringing her whole body down.The soft, damp sand made a surprisingly comfortable bed and she wondered why she had never done this before, slept on the beach. Her eyelids grew heavy and she closed them for a moment.

The red hue of the Sun was still visible in her mind and she quickly opened her eyes again to see it.Yes, she thought squinting at the fully emerged Sun, it's one sight we haven't been able to ruin yet. She was drifting now and smiled because it didn't hurt, not at all. Her last, pleasant thought was that they may never find her out here and that that was okay.

DNJ

"Whiter Shade of Pale" – a timeless favorite

2011-09-29T14:59:00.004-04:00

NPR's All Things Considered, April 15, 2009 - Procol Harum's classic "A Whiter Shade of Pale" has just been named Britain's most-played song in public places in the past 75 years.

Annie Lennox does a great cover of the song, too.

Martha Markline Hopkins's Art.

2011-09-25T10:00:00.004-04:00

I really appreciate friend and former classmate, Martha Ann's paintings and sculptures

"One Wire,"
My piece chosen for the exhibition "Bare Essentials: Minimalism in the 21st Century" at Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, IL, Nov. 4 - Dec. 22, 2011. Note that though it shows masculine austerity and uses industrial materials, it also has expression shown through the history of other movements of the wire. The addition of expression is a quality I expect to see in many if not all of the works in this upcoming show.

"One Wire," 12" x 12" x 2, Canvas on Board painted with Rabbit Skin Glue, Wire, and Tacks. (Click on image to enlarge.)

A companion piece: "Four Wires":

Suzzane-Leonard Cohen- Judy Collins

2011-09-05T20:17:00.002-04:00

A favorite Leonard Cohen song done in duet here.

New Yorker Cartoon

2011-08-28T14:34:00.002-04:00

"Losing My Religion" – R.E.M.

2011-08-20T14:16:00.000-04:00

A favorite song. A favorite video.

R.E.M. - Losing My Religion by WBRNewMedia
The video is based in part on Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" which tells a story about an angel who falls down from heaven and how people make money displaying him as a "freak show." Michael Stipe is a big Marquez fan and the song's whole idea of obsession and unrequited love is based on the central theme of the author's masterpiece, "Love in the Time of Cholera". The video was also heavily influenced by the art of Caravaggio and by the sensibilities of film director, Tarkovsky

Cartoon - fishing Hey pal

2011-08-07T10:34:00.001-04:00

From Ghost Town To Havana – a film

2011-07-24T01:25:00.028-04:00

A new documentary film being made by Eugene Corr.

"In the summer of 2006, three unarmed kids were gunned down on an Oakland street. Roscoe Bryant, 44 at the time, ran out of his house. One of the boys, Thomas, 15, died in his arms. Roscoe, the father of two boys himself, decided he had to do something. As an alternative to the gangs and violence engulfing his Ghost Town neighborhood, he started the Oakland Royals baseball team. We've been following the story of Coach Roscoe and his players for the past three and a half years." – Eugene Corr

I have long been touched by the despair that resides in the sad existences suffered by inner city kids, who, through no fault of their own, with no nuclear family and no role models except "Rap Stars", drug dealers and other criminals in their respective communities are presented with nothing positive and useful upon which to base their futures.

I believe a compelling lesson can be learned from Eugene Corr's film, “From Ghost Town To Havana” and that is that, if the sad, dangerous and wasteful things are going to be changed in the many neighborhoods like Ghost Town (this film focuses on West Oakland, California, but there are Ghost Towns in every one of our larger cities), mentors are needed and needed badly. The film's purpose is to show that more Roscoes ( learn about him in the trailer) can make a difference.

I spent the week of July 10 – 15, in Berkeley, California, pro bono, to learn more about the film from "Gene" and his associate producer and its needs – which as you might expect is money, needed to complete the full translation from Spanish and final editing. The film's cost was front loaded and still needs about $200,000 to finish with the translation and final editing so it can find a public audience with PBS, HBO or other similar venues.

If you find "From Ghost Town To Havana" can be an important vehicle to make a difference and you can make a 501(c)(3) tax deductible contribution, we will be grateful and hopefully some kids will have a better shot at improving their lives through the film's mentoring objectives.

I invite you to review this inspiring film’s trailer here:
http://playtwopictures.com/

Red Light Lullaby

2011-07-08T22:59:00.003-04:00

Ruby Friedman / Nick Page

‎1912, Storyville prostitutes, New Orleans

From the New Yorker

2011-06-28T19:10:00.001-04:00

"Set a Spell"

2011-05-19T16:49:00.000-04:00

Click on for a larger photo:

July 1939. Gordonton, N.C. "Country store on dirt road. Sunday afternoon. Note kerosene pump on the right and the gasoline pump on the left. Rough, unfinished timber posts have been used as supports for porch roof. Negro men sitting on the porch. Brother of store owner stands in doorway."

Photo by: Dorothea Lange (May 26, 1895 – October 11, 1965) she was an influential American documentary photographer and photojournalist, best known for her Depression-era work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA).

North American Indians (Denver Post Series)

2011-04-19T00:04:00.017-04:00

In 1906, American photographer Edward S. Curtis was offered $75,000 to document North American Indians. The benefactor, J.P Morgan, was to receive 25 sets of the completed series of 20 volumes with 1,500 photographs entitled The North American Indian. Curtis set out to photograph the North American Indian way of life at a time when Native Americans were being forced from their land and stripped of their rights. Curtis’ photographs depicted a romantic version of the culture which ran contrary to the popular view of Native Americans as savages.

More Remarkable Native American Indians via The Denver Post's "plog".

3 Father Poems by Meg Pokrass

2011-04-08T15:52:00.007-04:00

Meg is a friend of mine. Her recently released book, Damn Sure Right is getting brilliant, rave reviews and is available from Amazon and leading bookstores everywhere. She is one of the brightest, most creative people I have ever read... or known.

Father Poems

by Meg Pokrass

no proof exists

my dark father
was human though
no proof exists

his photographs
were torn in two
then four then eight
his face in the trash

pieces slipping

near each other
becoming
who I wanted him to be

my father never loved us but I loved him madly when I was three

riding his shoulders
grabbing his hands

seeing from above
how breakable
we really were

Before Dusk, Autumn

The two kites went up
into the late afternoon.
One of them, then the other.

I was locked in the car
while Dad and my cousin, Mamie
swirled the field.
Mamie, watching her shadow grow,
looked embarrassed.

I watched through the window-
The kites were leaves,
wind picking them up,
grabbing them.

As shadows spread
Dad must have remembered
that I was his daughter,
that it was my birthday.

Piggy Back

“Let's go
for a piggy back ride!”
He
draped me
over him
like a sweater.
Shouldered safely
I let my hands
explore
his face
and found
two caterpillars.
He told me
to feel his chin,
how it was
like sandpaper.
Everything
was
BIG,
HAIRY,
TERRIBLE
(laughing high above his face).

___

My friend, Meg told me, "Fathers really are a rich source. My mother and I left my father when I was five, I never saw him again, so I had many years to think about the memories."

About Meg:

Meg Pokrass writes flash-fiction, short stories and poetry. Damn Sure Right is her debut collection of flash fiction. Meg serves as Editor-at-Large for BLIP Magazine (formerly Mississippi Review) and before that, for SmokeLong Quarterly. Her stories, poems, and flash fiction animations have appeared in nearly one hundred online and print publications, including Mississippi Review, Gigantic, Gargoyle, The Nervous Breakdown, HTML Giant, Wigleaf, The Pedestal, Keyhole, Annalemma, Smokelong Quarterly, elimae, Prime Number, Women Writers and Joyland. Meg creates and runs the popular Fictionaut-Five Author Interview Series for Fictionaut and consults with Writing MFA programs about online publishing. Meg lives with her small, creative family and seven animals in San Francisco, where she edits and teaches flash fiction privately.

Another Side of Bruce Springsteen

2011-03-22T09:17:00.000-04:00

w/ The Seeger Sessions Band

"If I Should Fall Behind" w/ wife, Patty Scialfa

"Oh, Mary Don't You Weep, Don't You Mourn"

Buying Cars Down South

2011-03-21T10:17:00.000-04:00

New Orleans – John Stewart

2011-02-28T17:23:00.009-05:00

A favorite song by an original member of the Kingston Trio, a '60s folk singing group. (R.I.P. 9/1939 – 1/ 2008)

And one would be hard-pressed to find a more poignant elegy for the pre-Hurricane Katrina Crescent City than “New Orleans,” with its heartbroken piano accompaniment a la Tom Waits and Randy Newman, regret-filled vocals, and lyrics that were largely written by John’s longtime wife, soulmate and sometime singing partner, Buffy Ford Stewart.

Another video of the song with great NOLA video.

Not a relation. I promise.

2011-02-11T11:29:00.000-05:00

Watch it!

2011-01-12T14:29:00.000-05:00

Meet Meg Pokrass and her Newest Book

2011-01-05T22:58:00.049-05:00

Meg is a friend of mine and I am anxiously awaiting the release of her new book, Damn Sure Right. It is scheduled to be released this February, 2011. She is one of the brightest, funny women I have ever read... or known.

Meg Pokrass writes flash-fiction, short stories and poetry. Damn Sure Right is her debut collection of flash fiction. Meg serves as Editor-at-Large for BLIP Magazine (formerly Mississippi Review) and before that, for SmokeLong Quarterly. Her stories, poems, and flash fiction animations have appeared in nearly one hundred online and print publications, including Mississippi Review, Gigantic, Gargoyle, The Nervous Breakdown, HTML Giant, Wigleaf, The Pedestal, Keyhole, Annalemma, Smokelong Quarterly, elimae, Prime Number, Women Writers, and Joyland. Meg creates and runs the popular Fictionaut-Five Author Interview Series for Fictionaut, and consults with Writing MFA programs about online publishing. Meg lives with her small, creative family and seven animals in San Francisco, where she edits and teaches flash fiction privately.

To view Meg's website – a great slide show review of her book with a sample story

To order a copy of her new book go here

Praise for her writing:

“Pokrass writes like a brain looking for a body. Wonderful, dark, unforgiving.”
– Frederick Barthelme
“Read Damn Sure Right, a collection of miniature tales sure to ruin your
waking hours the way you’ll want them ruined.”
— Kyle Minor, author of In the Devil’s Territory
“Meg Pokrass’ flash fiction conveys entire worlds that are touching,
haunting, funny, moving and strange in the most beautiful ways.”
— Jessica Anya Blau, author of Drinking Closer to Home
“Meg Pokrass is the new monarch of the delightful and enigmatic tiny
kingdom of micro- and flash fiction.”
— Brad Watson, author of Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives
“Meg Pokrass is the brewmaster of flash.”
— Sean Lovelace, author of How Some People Like Their Eggs
“No one this side of Amy Hempel is more capable of saying more with
a handful of well-chosen words… and no one is better at stretching
language into such brilliant new hallucinatory shapes.”
— Grant Bailie, author of Morta rville and Cloud 8
“I feel Pokrass thinking through her sentences, surprising herself, taking
chances. Some of her lines hover between the best stand-up comedy and
Dostoevsky.”
— James Robison, author of The Illustrator
“Pokrass’ unsettling, exciting approach to fl ash is indeed infectious.”
— Sam Rasnake, editor of Blue Fifth Review

Enjoy Caroline Herring

2010-12-26T21:20:00.002-05:00

I think she's terrific!

About Her:

Caroline Herring is a Canton, Mississippi-born artist whose music has been hailed for combining traditional folk and bluegrass sounds with striking, original observations of modern life and love. Thoroughly steeped in southern culture, Herring began her music career in Austin, TX, where she released her first album, “Twilight,” and won Best New Artist in both the Austin American Statesman and Austin Chronicle in 2002. Since that time, Herring has built an international following and released three more albums, including the masterpiece “Golden Apples of the Sun.”

And learn about Walter Anderson

The critical acclaim for “Golden Apples of the Sun” firmly supports Herring’s status as one of the top musical artists of her generation. The Oxford American says, “Golden Apples is the album of a woman who has come into her powers as a singer-songwriter, claiming as her stomping ground the territory where folk meets alt-country.” NPR’s All Things Considered interviewed Caroline in January 2010 about the making of the record, and Jim Allen of All Music Guide said the following: “It's not easy being a great folksinger -- Kate Wolf, Linda Thompson, and Iris DeMent are some of the names on the short list, but ‘Golden Apples of the Sun’ makes a strong case for the addition of Caroline Herring.”

Herring’s album “Lantana” (2008) received widespread acclaim as an alt-country masterpiece. The Austin Chronicle proclaimed it to be “the best modern Southern Gothic album since Lucinda Williams’ Sweet Old World,” and NPR named it one of the “ten best folk albums of 2008.” On “Lantana,” Herring writes and sings about a myriad of southern topics, from a character in a Larry Brown novel to the infanticide and racism exposed by the dark and troubled life of Susan Smith. With “Golden Apples of the Sun” Herring stakes out new terrain, exchanging the country-influenced resonance of her previous albums for a sound inspired by the iconic female folk singers and songwriters of the 1960s and 70s.

Caroline Herring lives in Atlanta, with her husband and two young children.

For a lot more of Caroline's music, go here:

Opossum

2010-11-20T18:14:00.000-05:00

Hurricane Katrina –Came Ashore on Monday, August 29, 2005

2010-11-05T23:57:00.026-04:00

Click on(for a larger photo)

More Katrina with Narrative and more Photos

A Joan Baez favorite

2010-10-28T12:17:00.002-04:00

All You Need to Know About Life.

2010-10-15T14:56:00.000-04:00

Here's Looking at You Kid

2010-10-08T12:38:00.004-04:00

Great Lyrics Here

Cartoon 10/10

2010-10-01T11:49:00.001-04:00

Fireflies – Rhett Miller

2010-09-21T20:51:00.003-04:00

Sorry, my mistake!

2010-09-16T11:32:00.001-04:00

Sarah McLachlan

2010-09-13T12:07:00.000-04:00

Montreal Die In

2010-09-05T16:28:00.000-04:00

Photo and Narrative by photographer, Kreddible Trout. I think he has captured an interesting event here. He's a good, alert photographer.

montreal die in
© Kreddible Trout

Visiting my hometown of Montreal a while

back I happened upon this. A mass die-in.

Normally I get all the memos on protests in

my vicinity, but I haven't lived in MTL in a

decade so I'd no idea what I was about to

bump into. I had spent the day shooting

headshots for a good friend when I lucked

out on this. We zigged when we might have

zagged and I noticed a swarm of cyclists

appearing in all directions. My Troutie senses

started tingling... something was going on here.

Next thing I knew, they stopped and dismounted.

Right spot. Right time. Dozens of point and

shoots and phones started snapping where they

stood, I thought 'vantage point!' I was closer to

the front so I b-lined it. I think I made a good

choice.They were protesting the death of a cyclist

onMontreal street. Killed by a motorist It was incredible.

They shut down Rue Ste. Catherine.

in the late afternoon on a Saturday.

Closed the city for ten minutes.

It was beautiful.

I would say that it made a lot of Montreal

motorists unreasonably angry, but that

would mean the protesters really had no effect.

New York City from Above

2010-08-24T21:07:00.000-04:00

Click through this slide show below –

provided by The Denver Post.

Captured: New York City from Above – Plog Photo Blog

Meet Ferron – A Canadian-born Folksinger

2010-08-17T10:27:00.001-04:00

My favorite song of hers:

"Ferron writes of love with the relentless introspection of Leonard Cohen, and, as with classic Bob Dylan, her songs' tough, questioning attitude sometimes gives way to an unexpected." - Rolling Stone Magazine

When Canadian singer-songwriter Ferron was 15, she hit the road alone. She had a single shopping bag with a change of clothes, a toothbrush, a waitress uniform, and a Leonard Cohen LP. Little did she know then, but one day her own songs would be compared to Cohen's for their depth of word-craft, intimacy, and wisdom. (NPR)

Ferron's Website

Wild And Free

2010-08-12T23:36:00.001-04:00

Vedran Vidak, Photographer

From: Imotski, Croatia

The photographer's Narrative:

On the vast pastures of untouched nature Livno field, only ten kilometers away from the town of Livno, relaxing peace that rules the area impairs gallop over two hundred wild horses! That way they inflict on the area has been circulating since Koritine to Pine head, impress the stunning scenery herds of wild horses, in search of good grass, salt and water a day and go to the tenth kilometers. Wild horses on these pastures, almost fifty years of living under the open sky, left to themselves, weather conditions, strong winters and attacking wild animals in the surrounding woods is a lot. Survive only thanks to regions that are rich grass.

Wild Horses

Peace

Winter Comes

A Lynching 81 Years Ago, August 7, 1930 in Marion, Indiana

2010-08-06T19:13:00.012-04:00

The photograph below was cited by the songwriter as the inspiration for the song: "Strange Fruit" which began as a poem written by Abel Meeropol, a Jewish high-school teacher from the Bronx, about the lynching of the two black men.

The song, "Strange Fruit" has been covered by Nina Simone, Jeff Buckley and others.

Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith were two African-American men who were lynched on August 7, 1930 in Marion, Indiana. They had been arrested the night before, charged with robbing and murdering a white factory worker and raping his girlfriend. A large crowd broke into the jail with sledgehammers, beat the two men, and hanged them. Police officers in the crowd cooperated in the lynching. A third person, 16 year old James Cameron, narrowly escaped lynching thanks to an unidentified participant who announced that he had nothing to do with the rape or murder. A studio photographer, Lawrence Beitler, took a photograph of the dead bodies hanging from a tree surrounded by a large crowd.

Cameron, the third person, stated in interviews that Shipp and Smith had, in fact, started to rob a white man, who was later found shot. He says that he fled when he realized what was going on. The police accused all three men of murder and rape.

Much more info in an NPR article, Linked here.

Trepagnier House – St. Charles, Louisiana

2010-07-26T00:01:00.001-04:00

The Trepagnier Plantation was expropriated, along with several others, by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers to build the Bonnet Carre' Spillway.

Per Frances E. Johnson, the Photographer – 1938
"St. Charles Parish, Louisiana. 'The Rookery', Trepagnier House. Norco vicinity. Abandoned plantation house now occupied by Negroes."
Photo courtesy of Shorpy.com.

From the front porch view, it looks like the home of a laundress.

Additional Photos of the Trepagnier House by Lee Russell in the Library of Congress archives. FSA and WPA Photography

Blues in the South – Photos and Music

2010-07-16T16:00:00.004-04:00

Brief Bio of photographer, George Mitchell

George Mitchell was born in Coral Gables, Florida in 1944. He was raised in Atlanta, Georgia and in 1958 discovered by accident the two radio stations in Atlanta that played black music, WAOK, and WERD, the first black-owned station in the US. Mitchell was drawn to black music, and as a teenager listened intently to Samuel B. Charters’ anthology The Country Blues. He also went to blues and R&B shows and saw Bo Diddley, Jimmy Reed, Ray Charles, John Lee Hooker, and the Staple Singers with his grandmother in tow; they were the only white people at that performance. George's obsession with photographing and recording country blues players in the Southeast has allowed their tradition to survive.George Mitchell resides in Atlanta with his wife Cathy.

Pulling up to a Stuckey's in Senatobia, Miss., in 1967, Mitchell was looking for well-known bluesman Fred McDowell, who had recorded extensively and toured Europe. He asked the attendant pumping gas where to find McDowell. "You're looking at him," the attendant said. GEORGE MITCHELL

William Grant, seen here at his home in Pittsview, Ala., was adept as a solo harmonica player, alternating singing and harp-playing with great agility. GEORGE MITCHELL

More Snapshots of Blues in the South

By George Mitchell

Some of the music? OK. Hang on!:
John Lee Hooker – Tupelo

Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, Little Walter — My Babe

When Sheepdogs Get Bored

2010-07-10T11:49:00.000-04:00

They Play Leapfrog –

So Long, Drive-In Movies

2010-06-09T16:30:00.000-04:00

At their peak, which most experts agree was in 1958, there were almost 5000 drive-ins. Today, there are only 372 drive-in theaters still open in the US.

Remembering the Drive-Ins properly demands some Bob Seger music.

Hores

2010-05-07T17:45:00.000-04:00

Billboard

2010-04-28T17:46:00.000-04:00

Sign of the times:

Rust Never Sleeps

2010-04-23T10:23:00.000-04:00

Click on for a larger picture.

Old, Old Print Ads

2010-04-16T21:48:00.005-04:00

This Lard one's a spoof:

He said he once briefly dated a girl from Mississippi whose father thought she wasn't eating properly in the big city. So he came up here and loaded a nice bucket of bacon fat into her freezer. I'm not sure it made her any happier, but it did help him retain his position as Regional Secretary of the Lard Information Council.

Model T Ford Postcard – 1928

2010-04-11T19:29:00.000-04:00

Offering Mechanic Services.

Click on:

Notice the sophisticated addressing scheme! This was sent on a penny postcard. Of course, it's all relative. A dollar was hard to come by in 1928.

Roadrunner Cartoon

2010-04-05T12:09:00.000-04:00

By Seth MacFarlane, creator of TVs Family Guy and other comedy. I think his stuff is hilarious.

Deliverance

2010-03-29T23:48:00.001-04:00

Welcome to Atlanta – Old and New

2010-03-18T21:56:00.000-04:00

Slide show with music. Long, but well done.

More from Brad Watson

2010-03-17T18:19:00.003-04:00

The below Narrative Magazine story, In the Prime of Their Lives is but part of Brad's novella which is in his excellent new book of stories:
"Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives"

Click on this link to read this delightful story.

“SHE WAS A GOOD Baptist girl, but she wasn’t a prude, and she liked to drink a beer here and there, and go to parties, and she generally liked my rowdy crowd. She was a virgin, though, and determined to stay one until she married.”

Biographical Information

Brad Watson was born and grew up in Meridian, Miss. He became interested in theater in high school, and, after graduation, went to California to look for work in Hollywood as a set-builder. Unable to find a movie job due to a strike, Watson worked as a garbage collector. After about a year, he returned to Meridian and worked in a variety of jobs, including carpentry and bartending. He also attended Meridian Junior College, where he became interested in writing. Watson earned a BA in English at Mississippi State University in Starkville in 1978. He then enrolled at the University of Alabama, earning an MFA in creative writing and American literature in 1985. In the mid-1980s, Watson also worked for a weekly newspaper on the Gulf Coast. He later wrote for the Montgomery Advertiser and for an advertising agency in Montgomery.

From 1988 to 1997, Watson was employed by the University of Alabama as an instructor and as a writer in the public relations office. During this time, he was also writing short stories. Several were published in literary journals such as The Greensboro Review and Story. A collection, Last Days of the Dog-Men, was published in 1996. The following year, Watson moved to Massachusetts where he held a five-year appointment as a Briggs-Copeland Lecturer at Harvard University. He published a novel, The Heaven of Mercury, in 2002. Watson then moved to Pensacola, where he was writer-in-residence for a year at the University of West Florida. He spent a semester teaching at the University of Alabama at Birmingham before being appointed the John and Renee Grisham Writer in Residence at the University of Mississippi in Oxford. In 2005, Watson became a member of the English faculty of the University of Wyoming and moved to Laramie.

Interests and Themes

Brad Watson’s fiction is set in the South and frequently involves failed interpersonal relationships. Last Days of the Dog-Men is a collection of short stories about dogs and people. The Heaven of Mercury is set in a fictional town that is based partly on his hometown of Meridian, Miss., and partly on Alabama Gulf Coast towns like Foley and Gulf Shores.

Want to learn more about Brad? This is an excellent 2002 interview that really draws him out.

How 'bout some Jackson Browne?

2010-03-15T15:36:00.012-04:00

Soundstage 1976 – The Pretender

One more: "The Load Out/Stay", also BBC 1978

Two Romanian Photographers

2010-02-20T21:26:00.000-05:00

Michaela Cojocariu – Her Blog

"Wrong Written Life"

"Frida is Back" –

A photographic portrayal of Mexican painter and wife of painter, Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo.

George Gradinanaru – signs his work, "Horhhe"

"Night traveller III"

Both of these talented photographers are from

Brasov, Transsilvania, Romania

Listen to Caroline Herring

2010-02-17T16:11:00.000-05:00

I think she's terrific!

About Her:

Caroline Herring is a Canton, Mississippi-born artist whose music has been hailed for combining traditional folk and bluegrass sounds with striking, original observations of modern life and love. Thoroughly steeped in southern culture, Herring began her music career in Austin, TX, where she released her first album, “Twilight,” and won Best New Artist in both the Austin American Statesman and Austin Chronicle in 2002. Since that time, Herring has built an international following and released three more albums, including the masterpiece “Golden Apples of the Sun.” The critical acclaim for “Golden Apples of the Sun” firmly supports Herring’s status as one of the top musical artists of her generation. The Oxford American says, “Golden Apples is the album of a woman who has come into her powers as a singer-songwriter, claiming as her stomping ground the territory where folk meets alt-country.” NPR’s All Things Considered interviewed Caroline in January 2010 about the making of the record, and Jim Allen of All Music Guide said the following: “It's not easy being a great folksinger -- Kate Wolf, Linda Thompson, and Iris DeMent are some of the names on the short list, but ‘Golden Apples of the Sun’ makes a strong case for the addition of Caroline Herring.” Herring’s album “Lantana” (2008) received widespread acclaim as an alt-country masterpiece. The Austin Chronicle proclaimed it to be “the best modern Southern Gothic album since Lucinda Williams’ Sweet Old World,” and NPR named it one of the “ten best folk albums of 2008.” On “Lantana,” Herring writes and sings about a myriad of southern topics, from a character in a Larry Brown novel to the infanticide and racism exposed by the dark and troubled life of Susan Smith. With “Golden Apples of the Sun” Herring stakes out new terrain, exchanging the country-influenced resonance of her previous albums for a sound inspired by the iconic female folk singers and songwriters of the 1960s and 70s. Caroline Herring lives in Atlanta, with her husband and two young children.

For a lot more of Caroline's music, go here:

Elvis was generous.

2010-02-15T16:21:00.000-05:00

Some said to a fault.

Click on:

Opera While Shopping

2010-02-07T12:00:00.000-05:00

Am I the only low brow, white trash that listens to
this stuff? Anyone else have it on their iPod to listen
to while driving? It's calming and keeps me from
pulling my Glock out of the glove compartment
and taking out folks talking or texting on cell phones
while driving.

Several months ago at the central market in Valencia,

Spain, opera singers disguised as shopkeepers were

selling produce at the various stalls there. Suddenly,

Verdi's Il Travatore starts playing over the loudspeakers

and they burst into song.

None of the shoppers has a clue what's going on.

Hallelujah

2010-01-30T15:48:00.001-05:00

Covered here by Jeff Buckley (1966 – 1997) It sometimes seems only the good die young. He drowned in Memphis... perhaps on purpose.

This is probably my favorite song. It was written by Leonard Cohen and released on his 1984 album (CD) Various Positions. It's been covered by K.D.Lang, John Cale, Kate Voegle, Alison Crowe and many others including Bob Dylan, Bon Jovi and Willie Nelson

Hallelujah Lyrics by Leonard Cohen

If you like the song, check out these other two renditions. I like them all.

Another good cover version sung by Rufus Wainwrght

The Photography of Ruadh DeLone

2010-01-20T13:52:00.000-05:00

Photographer DeLone, working in Rheden, Netherlands, shoots a wide variety of subjects. Those in which he achieves the look and feel of 17th century paintings in the style of the Dutch Masters are far and away my favorites. Nota Bene: The whimsical milk mustache on the first photo.

Click on for an enlarged look.

Meet Seasick Steve

2010-01-08T08:09:00.007-05:00

Steven Gene Wold, aka Seasick Steve, is knocking them out in the UK and much of Europe. The music videos of him at the bottom of this post are at the Rock Werchter Festival in Belgium which, since 1974, has been called the world's premier music fest, lasting 4 days each year. In the UK, he's thought to be the world's coolest pensioner.

"Man From Another Time"

Click on and move your cursor over the screen to check him out:

Diddley Bo

Dog House Boogie

Born in Oakland, California in 1941 (68 years old), Wold left home at 13 to avoid abuse at the hands of his stepfather, and lived rough and on the road in Tennessee, Mississippi and elsewhere, until 1973. He would travel long distances by hopping freight trains, looking for work as a farm labourer or in other seasonal jobs, often living as a hobo. At various times, Wold worked as a carnie, cowboy and a migrant worker. Of this time he once said: "Hobos are people who move around looking for work, tramps are people who move around but don't look for work, and bums are people who don't move and don't work. I've been all three."

Even More Bloodroot by Amy Greene

2010-01-06T21:18:00.001-05:00

Best Books of the Month
Discover our editors' picks for January--available at 40% off all month long--plus more new releases not to missed.

Bloodroot by Amy Greene

Bloodroot is that rare sort of family saga that feels intimate instead of epic. Set in Tennessee’s Smoky Mountains, it’s told largely in tandem voices that keep watchful eyes on Myra Lamb. She is a child of the mountain, tied to the land in ways that mystify and enchant those around her. There’s magic to Myra--perhaps because she has the remarkable blue eyes foretold by a nearly-forgotten family curse--but little fantasy to her life. Bloodroot is as much about the Lambs as it is about a place, one that becomes ever more vivid as generations form, break free, and knit back together. Its characters speak plainly but true, they are resilient and flawed and beautiful, and there's a near-instant empathy in reading their stories, which--even in their most visceral moments--are alluring and wonderful. --Anne Bartholomew

Bloodroot to publish on Tuesday, January 12th, 2010.

Amazon price: Hardcover, Deckle Edge $14.97

"Crazy Heart" movie

2010-01-05T11:21:00.000-05:00

Don't miss this one:

I'm am a sucker for movies about redemption.

The movie's full theme song: "The Weary Kind".

I think this one will compete for best picture in 2010.

The Painter's Apprentice

2009-12-31T10:00:00.000-05:00

Click on:
Title: The Painter's Apprentice. (Rotterdam, 1627)
A current photo that captures the style of 17th Century painters.

by Edd Carlile - from his "Faces Of The Past" series.

Simulating the Camera Obscura technique (Latin for "dark room"; "darkened chamber") popular with 17th century painters.

WLAC Radio - Nashville

2009-12-29T14:26:00.000-05:00

Back in the 1950s, when white teenagers were just beginning to discover that Pat Boone's version of "Ain't That A Shame" was not the original, a radio station in Nashville, Tennessee, was beaming rhythm and blues and gospel music to millions of young listeners, each discretely tuning his dial to 1510 on the AM dial late into the evening hours.

It was 10:00 pm in the East, bed time for many a schoolkid. But, if the weather was cooperative and the tuner sensitive enough, wonderful sounds soon began to issue forth. Not Perry Como, not the Chordettes, certainly not Pat Boone. No, here streaming directly into our bedrooms were the strange, new, and wonderful tones of Chuck Berry, Jimmy Reed, Fats Domino, Lightning Hopkins, Muddy Waters, Little Junior Parker, The Spaniels, Sonny Boy Williamson, Howling Wolf, and Etta James.

Jimmy Reed-"Baby What You Want Me To Do?"

Here was something special, something to be shared only with your very best friends, not with those jerks at school who didn't know about it and couldn't understand it if they did. Here was something that made you wish you could soundproof the door to your room or, perhaps, buy a pair of headphones, all to insure that listening bliss might continue into the wee hours when your mother assumed that you had long been asleep.

Work With Me Annie (1954) by

Hank Ballard and the Midnighters

(Who didn't know what this song was about?)

Gene Nobles was on WLAC for Randy's Record Shop. Nothing characterized the WLAC listening experience more than the nightly program sponsored by "The World's Largest Mail Order Phonograph Record Shop" -- Randy's Record Shop in Gallatin, Tennessee. They must have done a heck of a business. No street address, no post office box ... just "Gallatin, Tennessee."

During the mid-'50s, Randy's sponsored what may have been the most listened to disc jockey show in the country. Introduced by the nostalgic tones of "Suwannee River Boogie" by Albert Ammons, "Randy's Record Hi-Lights" was broadcast on clear-channel WLAC at 10:15 pm Central Time, six nights a week--and at 11:00 pm on Sunday. And 50,000 watts of power insured that it could be heard all over the East, South, and Mid-West, probably in Canada and Mexico as well.

Gene Nobles has as much claim as anyone to being the first to play rhythm and blues records for a racially mixed audience and developing a distinctive deejay "patter." Gene called it "Slanguage" and it included such phrases as "from the heart of my bottom." Mr. Nobles passed away in 1989.

Commercials by regular sponsors: Click on to listen.

Live Baby Chicks
Royal Crown Hair Dressing
Ernie's Record Mart
Randy's Record Shop

"Randy" was Randy Wood, a successful entrepreneur whose catalog boasted that his shop was "The Home of the World's Largest Stock of Recorded Music. Randy was patriotic too, offering a "10% discount to all men and women now serving in the Armed Forces." Lest we forget, these records were "also available in 45 r.p.m."

Giving Randy's show a run for the money was the program sponsored by the venerable Ernie's Record Mart, at 179 3rd Avenue North, Nashville, Tennessee. "Ernie's Record Parade" could also be heard every night. It was a one-hour show broadcast Monday through Friday at 9:00 pm Central Time and on Saturday from 8:00 until 9:45 pm. On Sunday night the "all spiritual" show began at 8:30.

The host on Ernie's show was the steadfast "John R." His full name was John Richbourg and he began working at WLAC in 1942. His distinct, deep, and sometimes gravelly voice, together with his "hep-cat" patter combined to confuse many listeners into believing that he was a black man. Actually, he was a white man who had come to WLAC following stints at other stations and a youthful attempt to pursue a career on the musical stage. John R. signed off for the last time on June 28, 1973. As late as the 1980s, Mr. Richbourg was answering letters from his fans, sending out autographed photos, and selling tapes of his programs.

Herman Grizzard

Youthful insomniacs and dedicated listener's could stay up past midnight in the East and listen to the third in the nightly series of record-shop-sponsored shows, this one brought to us courtesy of Buckley's Record Shop. Buckley's show, entitled "After Hours," was introduced by the theme song "After Hours" by Erskine Hawkins. The host disc jockey was a gentleman who seemed to be older than Gene Nobles or John R (and was). That gentleman was Herman Grizzard, who had been with the station since the '30s. Each of these record shops offered "special" packages of records available by mail order at a group price. As I recall, each 5-record special from Ernie's was offered for a period of a couple months and was called something like Ernie's "Bullseye" Special or some similar name that would distinguish it from, say, Ernie's "Blue Ribbon" Special. Five records for three dollars or so was a great deal too, as long as you didn't mind having a ringer or two in the group--some title that you probably wouldn't have otherwise purchased. I mean ... did someone really want a copy of "Gumbo Mombo" by Guitar Gable?

Bill "Hoss" Allen was yet another popular dee-jay at WLAC. After graduating from Vanderbilt in 1948, Allen began his radio career at WHIN in his hometown of Gallatin, Tennessee, hosting "Harlem Hop." Allen soon moved to WLAC, initially filling in where needed, ultimately taking over the 10:15 to midnight spot, when Gene Nobles retired.

The "Hossman" also hosted many gospel programs. Indeed, in 1981, Savoy Records released an LP (SL 14627) entitled: Bill "Hoss" Allen Presents "Let's Go To The Program." Subtitled "Twelve of America's Greatest Gospel Groups," the record includes recordings by such groups as The Swan Silvertones, The Soul Stirrers, and The Original Blind Boys of Alabama, introduced by Allen and altered to include applause, as though the performances were actually live, in concert.

Atttribution: Jim Lowe's recollections (edited for length)

I have awfully fond memories of lying in bed late at night with that faint, tiny red light glow on my radio, turned down low... just listening away to WLAC. (DNJ)

Talley Ho! – a new blog.

2009-12-16T10:35:00.000-05:00

Click on this blog: Tally Ho!

Joe B. Stewart has put together a great new place to visit. I find his posts to be fascinating because he shares many of his life's interesting, varied and unique experiences. I think you'll enjoy dropping by.

Lady Lisa

2009-12-11T01:05:00.001-05:00

Every Picture Tells a Story
by Sandy Powers

Lady Lisa. I saw her and had to photograph her so I got up my nerve and went and asked to take her photo. She was delighted, and talked to me for a long time about how she used to be a model. I showed her the picture and she really liked it !

Poetry by Beth Ann Fennelly

2009-11-25T17:10:00.000-05:00

Beth Ann Fennelly, an OA contributor, reads at The Oxford American magazine's 10th anniversary Southern Music Issue release party at Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, Miss.

In my opinion, Beth Ann Fennelly who teaches at Ole Miss — along with her husband, novelist, short story writer, Tom Franklin — is the best US poet of this decade. Her poem, The Kudzu Chronicles, is the best contemporary Southern poem (and I have read a lot of them) out there.

First Warm Day in a College Town

Today is the day the first bare-chested
runners appear, coursing down College Hill
as I drive to campus to teach, hard

not to stare because it’s only February 15,
and though I now live in the South,
I spent my girlhood in frigid Illinois

hunting Easter eggs in snow,
or trick-or-treating in the snow,
an umbrella protecting my cardboard wings,

so now it’s hard not to see these taut colts
as my reward, these yearlings testing the pasture,
hard as they come toward my Nissan

not to turn my head as they pound past,
hard not to angle the mirror
to watch them cruise down my shoulder,

too hard, really, when I await them like crocuses,
search for their shadows
as others do the grounghog’s, and suddenly

here they are, the boys without shirts,
how fleet of foot, how cute their buns, I have made it
again, it is spring.

Hard to recall just now
that these are the torsos of my students,
or my past or future students, who every year

grow one year younger, get one year fewer
of my funny jokes and hip references
to Fletch and Nirvana, which means

some year if they catch me admiring
the hair downing their chests, centering
between their goalposts of hipbones,

then going undercover beneath their shorts,
the thin red or blue nylon shorts, the fabric
of flapping American flags or the rigid sails of boats —

some year, if they catch me admiring, they won’t
grin grins that make me, busted,
grin back — hard to know a spring will come

when I’ll have to train my eyes
on the dash, the fuel gauge nearing empty,
hard to think of that spring, that

distant spring, that very very very
(please God) distant
spring.

This poem opens her 2008 book of poems:

UNMENTIONABLES

Original Civil War Photographs

2009-11-06T14:33:00.001-05:00

Variously referred to as The Civil War by most everyone, but in the South you'll hear it often called as The War Between The States. Oh, and for those "unreconstructed" Southern souls, it's sometimes called The War of Northern Aggression. Your call.

Click on the link below:

Original Civil War Photographs

Jackson Pollack - Mural

2009-11-04T18:28:00.000-05:00

The critic Clement Greenberg, Pollock's principal champion, said he took one look at this painting and realized that "Jackson was the greatest painter this country has produced." A Museum of Modern Art curator, the late Kirk Varnedoe, said Mural established Jackson Pollock as the world's premier modern painter.

Decoding Jackson Pollack — Smithsonian Magazine

Lonely Hearts

2009-11-03T09:37:00.000-05:00

Each month Smithsonian Magazine has a Last Page feature. This one, from an old 2007 issue, struck me as quite funny. But maybe it's just me. Click on it to read it.

A sample:

Time Out

2009-10-30T21:36:00.001-04:00

When this posting fellow needs a break, he can always scan and post Ms. Posting Fellow's engagement picture at the tender age of 20— 44 years ago. Click on.

Or I guess he could post some interesting video out takes from the below movie(s).

Bloodroot by Amy Greene

2009-10-15T18:01:00.001-04:00

I've pre-ordered and I am anxiously awaiting the January 2010 release of this novel. I first came across Amy Greene's writing as I chased my passion, short stories, in literary magazines. I found her writing fascinating. Learning that she had debut novel, Bloodroot, accepted and scheduled for publication by Knopf further piqued my interest in her work. I contacted both her and her husband, Adam, also a writer, to tell them how much I enjoyed her work in the short stories I read. Amy and Adam live in Eastern Tennessee with their two children. Buy her book. You won't be disappointed.

Booklist Online is an irresistible book review site and a powerful collection development and readers’ advisory tool serving libraries, library patrons, and book lovers. Complementing and expanding on Booklist magazine from the American Library Association, Booklist Online delivers highly searchable and creatively linked reviews, columns, and features—all designed to help users find exactly the right book.

Bloodroot.
Amy Greene, (author).

Jan. 2010. 304p. Knopf, hardcover, $24.95

REVIEW. First published October 15, 2009 (Booklist).

This stunning debut novel is a triumph of voice and setting. Following one impoverished family from the Depression up through the present, the story is told in six voices and set in a remote region called Bloodroot Mountain, so named for the rare flower that grows there, which can both poison and heal. The family’s struggles with poverty and human cruelty and their endless search for connection are set against the majestic Appalachian landscape, which is evoked in the simplest and most beautiful language. At the center of this dramatic story is Myra Lamb, raised by her loving grandmother and born with sky-blue eyes and a talent for connecting with animals and people. Allowed to run free on the family’s mountaintop, Myra is a charismatic figure who eventually draws the romantic interest of John Odom, the wealthy son of business owners in town. Their marriage, which starts out with so much promise, gradually turns abusive as Myra is imprisoned in her new home and prevented from seeing her grandmother. The long repercussions of their violent relationship, on both Myra’s children and Myra’s own sanity, are played out through the decades as each family member speaks to the lasting effects of John Odom’s hot temper. With a style as elegant as southern novelist Lee Smith’s and a story as affecting as The Color Purple, this debut offers stirring testimony to the resilience of the human spirit.

Lookin' for Love - Urban Cowboy

2009-10-11T21:56:00.000-04:00

Don't know why, but I've always liked this silly little movie.

Cinderella Updated

2009-09-30T00:45:00.000-04:00

Victorian Era Asylum Nursery - UK

2009-09-20T20:53:00.001-04:00

Click on to enlarge the picture

Mental Asylum Nursery - London

This is a picture from the children's nursery of a derelict mental asylum. The mental asylum has been derelict for decades, but most of it is in excellent condition, it was one of London's last great Victorian mental asylums, and was completed in 1903. The derelict complex is guarded by security, and strictly, nobody is allowed casual entry.

The children's ward, located inside the same building as the padded cells, housed those born while their mothers were behind the walls of the asylum. The room is actually just a converted prison cell.

The asylum is massive, around 100,000 sq ft, and walking around it is a nerve testing experience. You leave with images that stay in your mind for days. I've visited seven times and have documented most of the rooms inside the 20 large buildings that make up the complex. From the mortuary, to the padded cells, to the dentists operating room, everything remains almost as the same as the day it was left. — JPG

Nice Rack!

2009-09-17T22:56:00.000-04:00

Woodstock's 40th Anniversary - 08/15/69

2009-08-16T10:46:00.000-04:00

As it's said, "If you remember Woodstock, you probably weren't there."

Click through these great Photos:

Then

And

Now

And...

Goin' Up The Country - Canned Heat

Sopranos Tribute

2009-08-07T15:24:00.001-04:00

The theme "Woke Up This Morning" is by the British band, Alabama 3. They are known in the US as simply "A3".

Lead singer, Rob Spragg, wrote this song after hearing about a case in which a wife finally shot her abusive husband after twenty years. It was originally written as an expression of female empowerment.

Final Season (6th), Final Scene.

I think the Sopranos was great — and often very humorous — TV drama. To me, the series also featured some of the best in popular music exquisitely woven into the plot(s). My favorite character? Why, Uncle Junior, of course.

Great website dedicated to the Sopranos - for news, memorabilia, music and trivia. Check it out.

David Chase, the creator, writer and director, has hinted a movie may be in the future.

Street Scenes in Niamey, Niger

2009-07-30T21:36:00.000-04:00

Want to take a walk?

Click on for a larger photo.

Library Book Drop

2009-07-29T08:25:00.000-04:00

In Newton Massachusetts after a three day weekend

From the 07/28/09 issue of New Yorker magazine.

Love at the Five and Dime - Nanci Griffith

2009-07-25T13:09:00.000-04:00

A favorite song.

R.I.P.

These Five and Dime — "downtown" — department stores are gone forever:

S.H. Kress (1896-1981)
J.J. Newberry (1911-1997)
F.W. Woolworth (1878-1997)
and others were the precursors to the big box stores
of today: WAL-MART, KMART, etc.

Deep Thoughts

2009-07-20T13:29:00.000-04:00

From Jack Handey's interstitial segments on Saturday Night Live (1991 - 1998)

Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

Children need encouragement. If a kid gets an answer right, tell him it was a lucky guess. That way he develops a good, lucky feeling.

If a kid asks where rain comes from, I think a cute thing to tell him is "God is crying." And if he asks why God is crying, another cute thing to tell him is "Probably because of something you did."

The face of a child can say it all, especially the mouth part of the face.

One thing kids like is to be tricked. For instance, I was going to take my little nephew to Disneyland, but instead I drove him to an old burned-out warehouse. "Oh, no," I said. "Disneyland burned down." He cried and cried, but I think that deep down, he thought it was a pretty good joke. I started to drive over to the real Disneyland, but it was getting pretty late.

Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself: "Mankind". Basically, it's made up of two separate words - "mank" and "ind". What do these words mean ? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind.

The memories of my family outings are still a source of strength to me. I remember we'd all pile into the car - I forget what kind it was - and drive and drive. I'm not sure where we'd go, but I think there were some trees there. The smell of something was strong in the air as we played whatever sport we played. I remember a bigger, older guy we called "Dad." We'd eat some stuff, or not, and then I think we went home. I guess some things never leave you.

Back After This Commercial Break

2009-07-17T11:42:00.001-04:00

(embed removed by video owner)

Click on:

Velvet Jones - Eddie Murphy

Neko Case

2009-07-05T11:02:00.000-04:00

Deep Red Bells

“It’s based on the Green River killer,” she says. “When I was a kid in Tacoma, we were all scared all the time. I actually carried a knife to school with me. The ‘you’ in the song is one of his victims. They were all prostitutes, but we didn’t know that. They could have been anybody; they could have been us.”

When you know this, “hiding place” becomes pretty ominous, and “silver tongues” may allude to the way the killer — Gary Ridgway — used sweet talk and photographs of his son to lull his victims into trusting him.

This song's powerful lyric

Stand By Me

2009-07-04T22:27:00.000-04:00

This song is supposedly based on a 1955 Gospel version song of the same name by The Staples Singers. Ben E. King wanted The Drifters to record it, but the group's manager rejected it. After leaving The Drifters, King brought it to the legendary songwriting team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who gave it a more contemporary sound and polished it into a hit. The bassline at the beginning was Stoller's idea. Many others have covered "Stand By Me" , but give a listen. I like this version by street singer, Roger Ridley and others... much better.

Another one?

Bring it on Home: Roger Ridley

Roseanne Cash

2009-06-21T10:53:00.000-04:00

I like her.

Some more ?

I Don't Know Why
Seven Year Ache

Edvard Munch's "Scream"

2009-06-08T19:01:00.000-04:00

The Kudzu Chronicles — Poetry of the South

2009-06-05T10:11:00.000-04:00

By Beth Ann Fennelly. She and her husband, Tom Franklin, a short story writer, both teach at Ole Miss. In my opinion, Beth Ann Fennelly is the one of — if not the— best poet writing today. Her poems of the South and her life in Mississippi are simply captivating. This video is of her reading an excerpt from "The Kudzu Chronicles", a rather long poem. Contained within the complete poem are references to Faulkner, the Neshoba County Fair and her home in Oxford.

Missionary Work — few folks really like poetry. Some say they do. By clicking on here, you may either read "The Kudzu Chronicles" or, if you prefer, listen to her reading it and discover her for yourself.

The Kudzu Chronicles

Another one:

Souvenir

Click on for more of this superb writer:

Essay

The University
of Mississippi
Department of English
Beth Ann Fennelly

Associate Professor of English

Office: Bondurant W104
Telephone: 662-915-7914
E-mail: bafennel@olemiss.edu

"Mad as Hell"

2009-06-03T13:42:00.000-04:00

Wonderful Peter Finch (as Howard Beale) scene in the movie: Network. In my opinion, this is a great, satirical Paddy Chayefsky/Sidney Lumet film. Today, it seems sort of topical... to me.

Used Prose Poem

2009-05-30T11:15:00.000-04:00

Seeking A Story Without Words

He wants to tell her a story. One in which the silence is necessary to make audible the bare whistle of her breath as she sleeps. Or rather than sound, or even the absence of sound, the story might at first be no more than her faint clover scent, remembered still from the last time they touched, coupled with memory’s measure of that time they spent.

There may not even be a beginning. He wants to tell her a story without a beginning, or maybe one that is a succession of beginnings and a story without endings too.

What chance did words have beside the distraction of her body? He wants to go where language couldn’t take him, wants to listen to her breath break speechless from the parenthesis of her chest to wordlessly trace her skin like a slow flow, spreading between her nape and her breasts. What is that stretch of her body called? He is looking for a place where her body is yet undiscovered and unclaimed and unnamed.

Fiction, which may be defined as “the lie that tells a deeper truth,” is at once too paradoxical and yet not mysterious enough for this.

The lie he is looking for is one that permits them to keep going. This does not require the suspension of disbelief, but the suspension of common sense that his continued loving her requires. So, thus, his silent narrative will be forever complete... or forever incomplete.

He wants to tell her a story without telling that story with words.

2007

Big Joe Williams

2009-05-26T20:44:00.000-04:00

The material for this interesting post was provided by Joe B. Stewart, who knows an awfully lot of stuff about an awfully lot of stuff. You'll have to click on the photos to read the text. Sorry. My posting skills are limited.

Big Joe Williams, the famous Miss. blues man grew up on my grandfather Marion Stewart's farm outside Crawford, Mississippi.

I took George Cummings (a founder of Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show) to Crawford in May of 1978 to meet Big Joe. They sang and played together at that time on a back porch. It was memorable. So George and I arranged to take Big Joe up to Muscle Shoals, Alabama for a recording session in late August and early Sept. of 1978. We did this and a CD was released some years later in or around 1998.

Big Joe Williams is not to be confused with Joe Williams who was a jazz singer who performed with the Count Basie band.

Below is a picture of me and Big Joe with a 60 pound watermelon. (Joe B. Stewart)

This picture was taken in Crawford in August 1978 as we got ready to leave for Muscle Shoals.

Big Joe's signature song that he is credited as having written was:
BABY PLEASE DONT GO.
It has been covered by many artists from Mose Allison to Bob Dylan.

2009-05-26T15:00:00.000-04:00

A first grade girl handed in this drawing for a homework assignment.

After it was graded and the child brought it home, she returned to school the next day with the following note:

Dear Ms. Davis,

I want to be very clear on my child's illustration. It is NOT of me on a dance pole on a stage in a strip joint. I work at Home Depot and had commented to my daughter how much money we made in the recent snowstorm. This picture is of me selling a shovel.

Mrs. Harrington

Mississippi Delta Blues, Robert Johnson

2009-05-09T21:32:00.001-04:00

Robert Johnson is one of the most admired and influential Delta blues artists despite his short life and the small number of recordings that he left. His songs, such as "Sweet Home Chicago", "Come on in My Kitchen", and "Crossroad Blues", are blues classics -- played by thousands of blues artists and adapted by rock 'n' roll artists such as the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Eric Clapton. His life and work would later influence the growth and talent of such famous musicians as Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters, Bonnie Raitt, the Rolling Stones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and yes, Elvis.

Sweet Home Chicago - the song

Robert Johnson was a gifted singer, guitarist and songwriter whose life story is wrapped in mystery and legend. Only two photographs are known to exist of him and he recorded only 29 songs before his death in 1938 at the age of 27. Many of his contemporaries believed that he met the Devil at a lonely crossroads at midnight and made a deal to sell his soul in return for becoming the greatest blues musician of all time. More likely, he was blessed with enormous talent and spent a lot of time learning from other blues masters and honing his skills. He achieved some success and fame from recordings and performances during his life and was scheduled to perform at the first "Spirituals to Swing" concert at Carnegie Hall when he died.

Although his burial place remains uncertain (Gayle Wardlow may have tracked it down), it is generally accepted that his death was not accidental. Johnson was poisoned by a jealous husband (or girlfriend) while performing at a juke joint near Greenwood, Mississippi and died on August 16, 1938. He defined the 30s blues era, but died in 1938 at the young age of 27. Though he only wrote 29 songs, his impact on the world of music has been incredible. Many consider him the father of modern rock and roll.

A Favorite Poet

2009-05-04T15:10:00.001-04:00

Triolet *

Why should the Devil get all the good tunes,
The booze and the neon and Saturday night,
The swaying in darkness, the lovers like spoons?
Why should the Devil get all the good tunes?
Does he hum them to while away sad afternoons
And the long, lonesome Sundays? Or sing them for spite?
Why should the Devil get all the good tunes,
The booze and the neon and Saturday night?

by A.E. Stallings

I really like her stuff.

*A Triolet is a poem consisting of eight lines with a rhyme scheme of abaaabab in which the first, fourth, and seventh lines are the same, as are the second and eighth lines.

A New Product — as seen on TV

2009-05-01T15:41:00.000-04:00

"Hey, Billy Mays here, and this stuff REALLY works!
Only $19.95. But wait, there's more. Order today and we'll send you, no, not one, but two bottles..."

Vern Gosdin R.I.P.

2009-05-01T11:01:00.000-04:00

August 5, 1934 - April 28, 2009

A favorite singer of sad, sad country love songs.

"That Just About Does It... "

"Do You Believe Me Now?"

"Till The End" w/Janie Fricke

Past, Present, Future.

If you don't continue to read this blog...

Lovely West Texas Photography.

My Back Pages - An Anthem

"City Of New Orleans"

"Bastard Blue" by Murray Dunlap.

Falling Slowly – the song

Used Prose Poem II

Love Hurts

A Rather Short Story

"Whiter Shade of Pale" – a timeless favorite

Martha Markline Hopkins's Art.

Suzzane-Leonard Cohen- Judy Collins

New Yorker Cartoon

"Losing My Religion" – R.E.M.

Cartoon - fishing Hey pal

From Ghost Town To Havana – a film

Red Light Lullaby

From the New Yorker

"Set a Spell"

North American Indians (Denver Post Series)

3 Father Poems by Meg Pokrass

Another Side of Bruce Springsteen

Buying Cars Down South

New Orleans – John Stewart

Not a relation. I promise.

Watch it!

Meet Meg Pokrass and her Newest Book

Enjoy Caroline Herring

Opossum

Hurricane Katrina –Came Ashore on Monday, August 29, 2005

A Joan Baez favorite

All You Need to Know About Life.

Here's Looking at You Kid

Cartoon 10/10

Fireflies – Rhett Miller

Sorry, my mistake!

Sarah McLachlan

Montreal Die In

New York City from Above

Meet Ferron – A Canadian-born Folksinger

Wild And Free

A Lynching 81 Years Ago, August 7, 1930 in Marion, Indiana

Trepagnier House – St. Charles, Louisiana

Blues in the South – Photos and Music

When Sheepdogs Get Bored

So Long, Drive-In Movies

Hores

Billboard

Rust Never Sleeps

Old, Old Print Ads

Model T Ford Postcard – 1928

Roadrunner Cartoon

Deliverance

Welcome to Atlanta – Old and New

More from Brad Watson

Biographical Information

Interests and Themes

How 'bout some Jackson Browne?

Two Romanian Photographers

Listen to Caroline Herring

Elvis was generous.

Opera While Shopping

Hallelujah

The Photography of Ruadh DeLone

Meet Seasick Steve

Even More Bloodroot by Amy Greene

Best Books of the MonthDiscover our editors' picks for January--available at 40% off all month long--plus more new releases not to missed.

Best Books of the Month

Bloodroot by Amy Greene

"Crazy Heart" movie

The Painter's Apprentice

WLAC Radio - Nashville

Talley Ho! – a new blog.

Lady Lisa

Poetry by Beth Ann Fennelly

Original Civil War Photographs

Jackson Pollack - Mural

Lonely Hearts

Time Out

Best Books of the Month
Discover our editors' picks for January--available at 40% off all month long--plus more new releases not to missed.