Friday Music

Oftentimes known as SRV, Stevie Ray Vaughan was the guitarist and frontman for Double Trouble.  He is singularly considered one of the most influential musicians in the history of blues music and one of the greatest guitarist on the planet.

Like many talented musicians he struggled with substance abuse for most of his short life; nevertheless, he turned things around, began flying straight and level, and commenced touring again with Double Trouble in late 1986.  His fourth and final studio album In Step climbed to number 33 in the US in 1989.  Including his hit single Crossfire; the album was both a critical and commercial success.

His mainstream career spanned only seven years; cut short on August 27, 1990 when he, and four others, were killed in helicopter crash after a performance at Alpine Valley in East Troy, Wisconsin.  An acquaintance of mine was witness to that performance and the tragedy that followed.

Good thing someone had the presence of mind to tape this.  Live at The El Mocambo, Toronto, Canada, 1983......

On This Day In History

Twenty four years ago I was driving to the office listening to WHAD’s Tom Clark interview someone in New York City.  The interview was punctuated by the interviewee in New York noting that first responders had been dispatched following initial reports of a small plane crashing into one of the World Trade Center towers. 

Arriving at the day job I found Mike had live coverage of the smoking tower on the television in his office. Details were sketchy.  As we speculated upon the crazy notion of how someone could possibly fly into a skyscraper a second plane crashed into the other tower - a commercial airliner.  We knew then that it was no small aircraft that struck the first.  That tower collapsed and we watched until the second structure fell. 

Four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks were carried out by al-Qaeda on that day.  So as we reflect-upon the solemnity of this anniversary let us not forget that that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi Arabia citizens.  Dozens of well-connected Saudis had fled the United States on chartered flights in the days after 9/11.  The House of Saud is a notoriously loathsome collection of individuals.  The gruesome murder and dismemberment of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi is further evidence of its odious persistence. 

As far back as the early 1980s I enjoyed multiple opportunities to tour the towers. This photo was snapped on the observation deck. I have some photos of Connie Chung doing a live broadcast from the CNN studio.  I’ve even dined at the 107th floor Windows on the World restaurant.  

That day almost two and a half decades-ago was a seriously bad day.  Strange how all of the details remain so fresh in the present day.  My Pearl Harbor life event I suppose.

Ask if you would include the Saudi royal family among your friends.....

Friday Music

A couple of years ago I noted and celebrated the 50th anniversary of my high school graduation from James Madison High School in Milwaukee.  The Mighty Knights.  This song figured significantly in that period as it was the theme song for a high school prom - Knights In White Satin.

Composed by Justin Hayward it was featured on the album Days of Future Passed.  It was originally released as a single in 1967 barely charting in the US.  When reissued in 1972 the single rose to number two in the US on the Billboard Hot 100 making it the band's most successful single in the US.  

Nights In White Satin was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.

This is a terrific 1970 live recording from my favorite city.... 

Nixon

Not the late president, Tricky Dick, but a place to visit if you find yourself on the Gulf Coast.  

Recent travel to visit with family found us in Mobile Alabama for a week with an opportunity to become temporary Mobilians and soak-up the history, food and ambiance of this coastal city.

Set in a 1920s-era building that housed Nixon’s Drugs for decades, the restaurant embraces a nostalgic soda-fountain vibe—wooden bar, candy jars, retro ads—with a funky vintage flair. The menu features made-from-scratch sandwiches, wraps, quesadillas, and salads.  Standouts include the Nixon Sandwich (house-roasted roast beef, caramelized onions, provolone), TBS (turkey, bacon, Swiss, honey mustard aioli), and creative items like the seared tuna steak with wasabi aioli or Thai wrap with fried-onion crunch.

If you're thirsty there are 20 draft taps offering local, regional, and global beers and ciders, plus wines and creative cocktails like the Cherry Lime Rickey or Buzzed Brown Cow milkshake.

Nighttime attracts sports fans with multiple TVs, shuffleboard and pool tables adding to the fun.  Entrées are reasonably priced—around $11 on average—making Nixon’s a frequent local haunt.  

Best of all there are all manner of vintage pharmacy posters on display for your modern-day amusement.

 

If you're in-town; check it out! 

Glamping

Recently I burned about eight gallons of diesel brushing-out 3.5 miles of trails, a six acre wildlife opening and the ancestral campsite.  Campsite, you ask?  Yup; in the early years it was there we camped.  Eventually we purchased a park model trailer home, The Villa, adjacent to Potawotomi State Park and commuted back and forth from there to here and back.  Yup; we lived in a trailer park too.  And then eventually built a house (second home) and finally moved here permanently.

Over the years the Missus and I have been acquainted (and married) we've done a great deal of camping.  We've camped across the breadth of Canada, south to the Gulf of Mexico, all of the southwestern US, most of Wisconsin and we even took a Jeep trip off-road across the rocky mountains.

With two homes, a tree farm to maintain and the creep of maturity and eventually retirement the camping itch doesn't need much of a scratch.  Nevertheless, from time to time and on special occasions  we'll still pitch a tent, and cook over a fire or a camp stove.  We've saved all the camping gear and have our own private campsite down by Silver Creek.

I can bake a campfire dutch oven pizza, the best pudgie pie on the planet and have special kind of s'mores recipe in case you're interested. 

Anyway, the ancestral campsite has been cleaned-up.  A rough-cut with the Rhino bush hog...

Followed by a trim with a weed whacker...   

The original picnic table from more than three decades ago has been returned to its proper place.  I even added a Leopold bench for good measure.

We don't have electrical or water hook-ups.  But we have clear dark skies at night, no bothersome  drunken neighbors keeping you up until 2 AM and all the free firewood you need to roast a wienie and keep your tootsies toasty.  We even have a shitter.  You have to bring your own roll; butt the view is spectacular.  Pun intended.

Think of it as the first iteration of glamping.

Raising a toast to fun times out-of-doors and around the campfire.

War Monger

Hardly a day goes by that I'm not tickled to have experienced a 1960s childhood.  This toy was produced by REMCO in the early 1960s as part of their Marine Raider series included in their Monkey Division line.

It featured a 19-inch mortar tube mounted on an adjustable bipod and base plate.  It included 5-inch plastic shells with an adjustable spring-loaded launching mechanism.  Shells were launched with a trigger.  

Regrettably, I never had one of these.  If I did, I could have raised the standard of backyard warfare to an entirely new level.

Periodically, one of these finds its way to E-Bay and Craig's List but they're usually missing the sighting optics and/or the shells.  A complete set-up sells for hundreds of dollars.

Nevertheless, I did have one of these.

A genuine REMCO Monkey Division Jungle Guerilla Warfare helmet.  Naturally, it has been lost to the trash heap of poorly executed childhood battles.

Shucks...

Following Instructions

If you've owned a VW Beetle you would appreciate this 1960s humor...

Highway Patrol

Preferred by police fleets everywhere this happens to be a 1956 Wisconsin State Patrol Customline police interceptor.  

And a 1957 Michigan State Trooper and his Ford 300 Cruiser.

Available in both two or four-door configurations it features a new easy-handling ball-joint front suspension, Angle Poised Ride (whatever that is) and Ford Lifeguard engineering.

 You can dissect all of the specifications here.

Remember....

You can't outrun Motorola.

Friday Music

The inspiration for the catchy chorus for this song came when the band members saw two girls walking down the street in Bergenfield, New Jersey.  Who doesn't like very short cutoff jeans on a shapely young lady on a sunny summer day?  Seriously.

This 1957 rock and roll hit by The Royal Teens, a band from New Jersey, was written and performed by Tom Austin, Bill Crandell, Bill Dalton, and Bob Gaudio. It became a major success in 1958, reaching #3 on the U.S. pop chart and #2 on the R&B chart.  It's got an old school classic boogie woogie beat and Jersey accented vocals too.

Short Shorts.... 

Friday Music

 

It would seem to me that this band has been around forever.  Ray Benson and Reuben Gosfield formed the group in 1969 in Paw Paw, West Virginia.  Before too long they were the opening act for Alice Cooper and Hot Tuna and in short order relocated to Oakland, California at the invitation of Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen.  (I told you they’ve been around forever).  They eventually settling down in Austin, Texas on the advice of Willie Nelson. 

 

For 55 years, Asleep At The Wheel’s Ray Benson has been traversing the globe spreading the gospel of Western swing music and introducing it to generations of devotees. 

 

More than 100 musicians have passed through the Wheel and Benson persists as the front man and keeper of the fire. He’s racked up more than 30 albums, ten Grammy Awards and literally millions of miles on the road.

 

 

Another terrific performance at the intimate venue of Gibraltar High School. 

 

From the Austin City Limits 2024 Music Festival is a full set - including almost all of the performance artists appearing in Door County a week and a half ago.  Solid collection of musicians they are....

 

Classic Sandwich Simplicity

  

There is nothing more elegant in its simplicity than the radish sandwich.  Hearkening back to my childhood this was a favorite of my father and remains a summertime indulgence of mine.  It is sublime.   

Ingredients:   

Garden radishes – sliced thin  

Two slices of bread - rye, sourdough, whole wheat 

Unsalted sweet cream butter – room temperature  

Sea salt  

Instructions:  

Slather each slice of bread generously with butter.   

Top with radish slices.  

Cracked sea salt over all to taste.  

Yields one sandwich.

 

 

You can learn more about radishes here...

Serving Suggestion

Molly Bee was an American country music singer and guitarist famous for her 1952 recording of the early perennial "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" and as Pinky Lee's sidekick on The Pinky Lee Show. 

Here she is pitching frozen hamburgers.

I ate my share of these growing-up in the 1960s and can vouch for the excess fat and shrinkage of these frozen hockey pucks.

Further evidence of the menu wasteland of my childhood; and prescient of the culinary renaissance that would emerge forty years later....

Fizzle

Growing-up in the early 1960s there is a childhood memory of a fascination of all things that went fizz without shaking-up a pop bottle and lifting the crown cap to release of volcano of soda flow. 

Sodaburst was an innovative instant ice cream soda mix introduced by Birds Eye in the 1950s and 1960s. Marketed as "the real ice cream soda that makes itself at home in one minute—cold," it offered a convenient way to enjoy a soda fountain-style treat at home. Each package contained a scoop of ice cream, flavored syrup, and soda fizz; consumers simply added water to create the beverage 

Available flavors included black and white (chocolate and vanilla), strawberry, pineapple, and all chocolate . Despite its novelty, Sodaburst was eventually discontinued, likely due to changing consumer preferences and market dynamics.

Seems like all that's left nowadays is Alka-Seltzer tummy and cold remedies... 

The Taco Revolution

Pup 'n' Taco was founded by Russel Wendell in 1956 as a southern California drive-in restaurant that served tacos, tostadas, hot dogs, pastrami sandwiches, fries, RC cola, root beer and slushes.  The first officially-branded Pup 'n' Taco was opened in 1965 in Pasadena.  By 1973 there were 62 locations.  Not bad for a privately-owned fast-food enterprise.

In 1984 Taco Bell acquired 99 stores specifically for their prime locations in expensive real estate markets.  In relatively short order those locations were closed or converted.  The Taco Revolution was not entirely bloodless.

Three stores located in Albuquerque, New Mexico were not part of the sale and remained in business until closing in 2013.

 

What To See In The June Sky

Looking to take a walk down memory lane?  

Indulge a childhood memory?

Indulge in wishful thing?

Consider making a wish-upon a star after the sun goes down.  To make it easy I'll give you a couple to look for beginning this evening and it doesn't even require you to stay up late or rise from your slumber in an early morning.

After sunset and as the sky darkens step outside and cast your gaze to the southern sky.  

Image credit - Starry Night

You will be able to spot yellow-orange Arcturus in the constellation Boötes (the Herdsman)  This happens to be the fourth-brightest star found in the whole of the night sky worldwide.  

Next, cast your gaze to the east  to locate an equally bright star Vega in the constellation Lyra (the Harp).  Two very bright stars in the June night sky to wish-upon.

Go ahead.

Make a wish.

Sometimes you never know what will happen....

Friday Music

Mr. Tambourine Man has found its way to the pages of this blog now a half-dozen times over the years.  Most recently with a 1964 live recording from the Newport Folk Festival.

From a Roy Orbison Tribute concert that aired in 1990 on the Showtime Network, here's another live recording featuring the significant contributors to the continuing popularity of this timeless song.....

Homemade?

In the unlikely event that you have any doubts about the wasteland of culinary underachievement in the 1960s there is this.

And it's passed-off as homemade.... 

Friday War Monger

For a change of pace there is no music today.

Instead there is this gem that I stumbled-across on the interweb.

In the early 2000s the US Army adopted the recruiting slogan of An Army Of One.  It was short-lived and eventually replaced by Army Strong.  Regarding the former Army of One I wonder if recruiters took a page from the marketing of toys to boys in 1964? Prescient?  I digress.

If ever there was a real-life reenactment of my childhood this would be it.  This is how we played.  And boy oh boy did I covet this as a tool of backyard warfare.  My parents and my buddies parents never indulged any of us with this multi-tool of world domination.  I figure they knew intuitively that anything as sophisticated as this wouldn't last until the end of a day's ordinary battle......

Old Time Radio Hour

Duffy's Tavern is an American radio sitcom that ran from 1941 to 1951 on several networks.

The show was set in a fictional dive bar in New York City, owned by the never-heard but often-mentioned Duffy.  The main character was Archie, the watering hole's manager, played by Ed Gardner, creator and producer of the show. 

Each episode revolved around Archie's misadventures, harebrained schemes and humorous interactions with patrons, celebrities and his dim-witted employee Eddie - played by Eddie Green.  The show featured a steady parade of celebrity appearances including names like Lucille Ball, Vincent Price, and Marlene Dietrich. 

Memorable catchphrases from the show include:  Duffy ain't here - Archie's standard way of answering the phone and Hello, Duffy's Tavern, where the elite meet to eat - the show's signature opening.

Despite its simple setting this was one of the most beloved comedy programs from the Golden Age Of Radio.   It was the inspiration for the 1945 movie and a short-lived television adaptation.

Evolution of Desktop Computing

The Tandy 5000 MC was a high-end PC introduced by the Tandy Corporation in 1989.  It was available through Radio Shack.

Equipped with an Intel 80386 CPU running a 20 MHz, 2 MB of RAM (expandable up to 16 MB) , it also came with the 40 MB hard drive.  The operating system was MS-DOS (v 3.3) and Windows 386 and it supported color monitors with EGA/VGA graphics.

There were expansion slots for further customization allowing additional cards for enhanced graphics, sound and networking. 

The target market for this device were business and professional users and the 386 processor (I remember it) was relatively new that year and very robust for the time. 

It competed with the IBM 386 which, depending on configuration, sold for $10,000 to $15,000 in 1989.