I’ll just leave this here . . . .
No, the article wasn’t referring to the Board of Regents. (smile)
But if it was zombies, they’re gonna have one helluva hangover. From my dealings with OB and Crown beer while in Korea (which at the time still had measurable traces of formaldehyde), that sh!t will give you one of the worst hangovers possible.
Because of the date of the original incident, this song has become a minor Thanksgiving tradition on many modern radio stations. This should also bring back a few memories for our Vietnam-era readers; hopefully, at this point, the passage of time has made them reasonably mellow ones. Enjoy.
For what it’s worth: the song actually is based – loosely – on a real event. Alice was a real person (Alice Brock); Alice had indeed purchased an old church (Trinity Church) and lived in same with her husband Ray as depicted in the song.
Arlo Guthrie and a friend, Richard Robbins, really were arrested for illegal littering in Stockbridge, MA, on Thanksgiving Day, 1965 – after they hauled off some of the Brocks’ garbage, found all local dumps closed, and illegally dumped the trash elsewhere. The arresting officer actually did look through the garbage to find a clue (the Brock’s address on an envelope), leading to Guthrie’s and Robbins’ arrest.
The judge that later heard the case actually was blind, and the arresting officer was named William J. “Obie” Obanhein – sometimes referred to as, yes, “Officer Obie”. (The judge’s use of a seeing-eye dog, the famous “twenty-seven 8 by 10 color glossy photos”, and much of the rest of the song’s purported dialog and/or events may well be satirical exaggeration on Guthrie’s part). They pleaded guilty to littering and creating a public nuisance and were indeed fined $25 each – or $50 total.
Guthrie was later called for the draft (some accounts say he tried to voluntarily enlist). Whether his attempted entry into the military was voluntary or not, he was indeed disqualified for military service based on his criminal record (his guilty plea to the crimes of littering and creating a public nuisance and resulting in the payment of a $25 fine).
Though the song was at the time considered anti-war and adopted by the antiwar movement, Guthrie has long said the song was not written as an antiwar song. Rather, he says he wrote it more as an “anti-stupidity” song.
I have to say he has at least a partial point. Disqualifying someone for military service because of a guilty plea to the crime of littering at a time of manpower demand so extreme it led to Project 100,000 (AKA MacNamara’s “Moron Corps”) does seem to fail the “WTF?” test. Then again, all of us who’ve served already know that the Five-Sided Asylum often seems to regard common sense as a disqualifying trait for, well, pretty much anything. (smile)
Happy Thanksgiving, all. And remember:
You can get anything you want, at Alice’s Restaurant
(Excepting Alice)
You can get anything you want, at Alice’s Restaurant
Walk right in it’s around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want, at Alice’s Restaurant
The 1970s were an . . . . interesting time in music. In truth, some of it was crap – remember that abomination called disco? And towards the latter part, punk?
But some of the music of that era was good. The Stones did some wonderful stuff during the early 1970s. Ditto Deep Purple. The 1970s was Bowie’s heyday – along with that of Alan Parsons and Al Stewart.
And in particular, I got a chance to reconnect with one band from that era recently.
So be forewarned – yeah, I’m rambling off-res again. (smile)
. . .
New York City isn’t generally thought of as a musical Mecca. Yet in the 1970s, a fair number of influential bands hailed from there. KISS is a NYC band. Before KISS made it big, there was a thriving punk scene – of which some was even listenable! The New York Dolls, the Ramones, and Patti Smith all hailed from the Big Apple in the 1970s; ditto Blondie and the Talking Heads. CBGBs was there, and was legendary. And for better or worse, Asbury Park isn’t that far away either.
Of that group out of NYC, KISS eventually became the best known and most successful. There was, however, another NYC rock band out of NYC that made it reasonably big in the 1970s as well. They were also pretty good.
Besides, ya gotta love a band that has the stones to write a song about freaking Godzilla (and use some clips from the Japanese movie as part of the video) – then actually make it work pretty damn well. And they may have had the absolutely neatest band logo of all time:
They called themselves Blue Öyster Cult. And while they weren’t as flashy as KISS – and didn’t end up being as big – their music is IMO worth a listen.
(And no, the logo is not an occult or Satanic symbol. It was created by the artist Bill Gawlick for the band’s first album, using the ancient symbol for Chronos/Saturn as a pattern and modifying from there.)
I won’t bore you with a longer write-up. Here’s a sampler of their work:
Cities on Flame With Rock and Roll
E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)
Maybe it’s not your “cup of tea”. Or maybe you just had to “be there” in the 1970s. But hell, I liked them. Still do.
Had the chance to see these guys once live in the late 1970s, before they’d released “Godzilla” and “Burnin’ for You”, unfortunately (IMO those are two of their best). They really could play – and put on one helluva good show.
Oh, and for what it’s worth: they’re still touring (3 of the original 5 members – the band’s creative core). They’ll hit Laughlin, NV, Thanksgiving weekend; Mount Pleasant and Milwaukee, WI, in Dec and Jan; and Everett, WA, and Leesburg, VA next Jan. Plus a load of other places later in the year. They’re still “rockin’ on”.
Well, I think I’ll be heading back to the res . . . .
Here ya go, bud. Since you have to put up with a Shaheed Shaheen for a Senator for a while, I thought I’d post something here that might cheer ya up a bit.
Yeah, the second title is indeed an election reference. (smile)
And, since it wouldn’t be Gabriel without something a bit avant-garde (and perhaps somewhat dark and disturbing):
Enjoy.
The following was related to me second-hand. It comes, however, from someone who I trust – and who claims to have heard it personally from one of the US soldiers involved. I believe it to be true, but cannot swear to that as fact.
But if it’s not true . . . it should be. (smile)
I am not an aviator, so I apologize any minor procedural or equipment-related errors in the account which follows.
. . .
Friendly Activity at Time of Incident: routine air recon patrol vic Kuwait-Iraq border during DESERT SHIELD
SALUTE Report
Size: one (1) enemy soldier, one (1) other
Activity (Enemy): well, that’s kinda . . . complicated. See below.
Location: vic Saudi-Kuwaiti border
Unit: unknown
Time: sometime during hours of darkness
Equipment (enemy): mil uniform, some personal gear
As for “enemy activity” . . . well, the incident was, as noted above, observed during a routine recon patrol by the crew of a US Army helicopter. The cockpit conversation – presumably over the aircraft’s intercom system – probably went something like this (the names “Bill” and “Jack” used below are intentionally fictitious):
COPILOT: “What the . . . damn. Bill, check this out. You ain’t gonna believe this sh!t.”
PILOT: “What, Jack?”
COPILOT: “Check out the enemy troop over there.”
PILOT: “Where?”
COPILOT: “Approx 11 o’clock, top of the second line of dunes.”
PILOT: “Roger . . . . OK, got it. Wait, what the . . . oh, Jesus H. Christ!”
The two had observed an Iraqi soldier who was outside the enemy’s perimeter. The Iraqi soldier apparently was unaware he was being observed.
But the guy they observed probably wasn’t on sentry or patrol duty – because the guy also wasn’t alone. Let’s just say the Iraqi soldier they observed using their NVG was at the time thoroughly enjoying himself with some (apparently) female company.
Problem was, that female company was from the species ovis aries.
To the pilot and copilot’s credit, they did manage to control their laughter (and/or revulsion) well enough to keep from crashing. The remainder of the mission was reportedly uneventful, and they returned to base at end of mission.
No word on whether the Iraqi soldier and his “friend” did likewise. (smile)
Over Veterans day I decided to take my six year old son out to seem some static displays around base. It was one of those traditional things that my family on my parents side did for me when I was a kid.
We stopped by the Cemetery on post first in order for hem to start understanding what Veterans day is and how we should be grateful for those who have gone into harms way on our behalf. I may have to wait until he his older or a different approach. It did not help that he ran through the grassy area and got water in his shoes. He started to get cold so we moved on to the next site on post that had some static Tank and other military vehicles. We saw tanks from different decades and wars. Lasted longer then I thought he would. Lastly we went to the Air Force side and ran into a few hidden historical gems.
The first one was a F-16(A?) Falcon on display at the National Guard Headquarters. The interesting fact was that this F-16 Falcon had taken part in the Air Patrols immediately following the September 11th attacks. Unless someone took the time look at it, they would never know. The other gems were at a static aircraft display with over 15 aircraft. Two of them were rare finds as it turns out. They were the Douglas B-18 Bolo and the DouglasB-23 Dragon. Both were pre-world war two aircraft and were not used on the war and not very well known at all. But I think that make it more special because it was something new to see in how this history of aviation progressed from the biplane to the monoplane. More so because it seems that number of known examples of these aircraft in the world is in the single digits. I was able to show my son two such aircraft in one day.
So in short I was able to show some history and learn some myself. But given all the things that one can do on Veterans day, it always interesting to find out how much history at each post.
Also on a separate note, what has worked for you in explaining Veterans day to Children of single digits?
Presented for your Monday enjoyment: a thoroughly crude (and ABSOLUTELY NOT SAFE FOR WORK/AROUND CLERGY, PRUDES, OR CHILDREN) but thoroughly hilarious tune from Adam Sandler. I think any guy or gal with limited $$$ who ever owned an old “beater” of a car can identify with this one.
Ah, memories – and ONLY memories today, thankfully. (smile)
Ever wonder if there’s a military newspaper that’s published to serve the Pentagon and DC? You know, like most Bases/Posts/Camps/Stations have an installation newspaper.
Yeah, one exists. It’s called the “Pentagram”.
Seriously. And it’s owned by the company that owns the Washington Post.
Yeah, the internal newspaper for the DoD HQ is named after a symbol today associated with the Occult.
You couldn’t make this sh!t up.
