More Hot Car

The madness continues...

Pre Victorian Porn

Interesting article on "proper" female behavior, mostly in Britain, since the 1600's.

Impressions of Orange County

Double D's in SUV's...

Hot Babe and Hot Car

I have lost my mind...

More Pulp, and a Little Noir

This comes under the category of retiree wastes his days on the Internet...

Actually, searching on Snappy Magazine or Breezy Stories brings up a wealth of info on the pulp mags 1910-1960 or so, as well as lots more fun cover art.  And the background stories of the pulp publishing companies is equally, well, trashy...

And just for the hell of it, in a femme fatale direction, a photo of my favorite bad girl of film noir, Lizabeth Scott...

Well, it is late at night at the moment...  and thoughts turn dark...

King Sunny Ade and the African Beats

I found this picture from a Chicago gig back in the early 90's.  A few of us had flown to Chicago for a long weekend of Braves vs. Cubs games.  Since, back then, the Cubs played all day games, we had evenings free.  So we wandered down to Soldier Field where a massive festival was held.  Four different stages around the Stadium, but the one we encountered featured African music.

(click on pic for a larger image)

King Sunny Ade and His African Beats...  what a show!  The musicians came on stage one at a time, slowly adding to the musical presentation.  This took awhile, as the picture shows, the group was quite large.  Soon the whole band was cooking, just in time for King Sunny to appear,  and then it was on, on, on..  What a treat!  And, they were staying at our hotel!

I've always enjoyed African music, particularly the older Nigerian High Life style.  In the 70's. I used to listen to Music Time in Africa on shortwave radio, and occasionally pick up music from Soweto via Radio South Africa.  These days, African groups regularly tour the US, so summer festivals often feature an African group.  But I've never seen since the Chicago experience such a large African group...  travel expenses are just too great.

Jack Bruce

Sad to hear of Jack Bruce's passing.  Best known for his time with Cream, I always enjoyed his '60s music, jazz and blues with some of England's best musicians.  "Things We Like" is one of my all time favorite recordings...  hard bop to free jazz, and check the list of musicians!  This was rereleased on CD about 10 years ago and should be available...  Get it!

Halloween Pulp

Sunsets

Our view from up in high Aves is often blocked by neighbor's houses and trees.  However, in April and October, the sun sets in this little notch that affords us a great view of sunset glory.  A couple pics from the other night...

Surfin' Surfari--The Tunes

I mentioned in my last post that I recorded Japan's Surf Coasters at the Double Down Saloon in Las Vegas during the group's mini tour in August.  The recording can be heard or downloaded in various formats at Archive.Org.

Enjoy!

Road Trip--Surfin' Surfari

The second part of my epic road trip involved my secret passion for surf music!  The Surf Coasters from Japan were celebrating 20 years as a group with a brief US tour...  first Las Vegas, then Orange County.  Since I had recorded their previous two gigs at the infamous Double Down in Vegas, I just had to recorded this latest event.

An added treat was the appearance of the Boss Martians, newly reformed.  And what an evening!  The crowd went wild!

The next day it was off to Orange County for the Surf Guitar 101 convention, and another reunion with surf music fans from all over the world, some I've known for 20 years or more.

12 hours of surf music!  I left with my brain reverberating (literally!) and hopped on a fresh horse (I drove the wheels off the Cadillac, again literally, and had to trade in the rental) for the trip back home.  Two weeks on the road, many adventures, many friends, a good time.

Road Trip--The West is the Best

I've previously blogged a bit about my return trip from Illinois, through Nebraska via two lane highways.  Quite an adventure, hampered only by some anxiety about how much distance I could cover (plenty as it turns out) and lodging in small towns (mixed).

But once I got into Colorado, and closed in on the Rockies, things changed.  The sky was bluer (lack of humidity?) , the air purer... my spirits soared...  at least until the drenching thunderstorms attacked me in the middle of serious road construction!

I enjoy the mountains, but I'm a bit of a desert rat, and since I wasn't headed directly home, I got to cross the San Rafael Reef.

The most amazing stretch of Interstate in the country!

And headed for Vegas, I had time for a side trip into the Kolob area of Zion National Park (thank you lifetime Golden Eagle Pass).

The West IS the best...

Road Trip--My Home Town

Well, a long delay finishing my road trip adventure.  In today's edition, we cover Roanoke, Illinois where I grew up.  It's been 10 years since I visited, and I was pleasantly surprised that things looked good, not as depressed as the town seemed in the past.  New subdivisions, a swimming pool in the park, new grain elevators, and corn, corn, corn.  The most intense corn crop I've ever seen...  so thick that driving country roads was an adventure, crossroads had no visibility for other traffic.

Mt. Jumbo, the old town landmark, really isn't much of a mount these days, especially since I moved West into the Rockies.  Jumbo is really a slag heap from the old coal days, long gone before I was born.  The American Legion used to blast fireworks off the top, then roll an old car ablaze off the side!  What a 4th of July thrill!

Below Mt. Jumbo is the ball park, not very well developed, but the scene of many afternoons of baseball.  And nice to see a new tribute to the old coal industry.

And here's those new grain elevators.  We are definitely in midwest farm country now...

Went past the high school since it was my 50th class reunion...  Nice new rocket, but the old school building is coming down at last, making way for a new facility.  Sorta sad...

I also drove past my old house...  it's been redone so many times I didn't recognize it.  Well, it has been 50 years!

This trip was a multiple reunion.  I found a favorite cousin who I'd lost contact with...  he's moved back to the family farm and is still quite active at 92.  I also had lunch with another cousin couple who have the most amazing farm...  a combine bigger than my house,  Turkey coops extending seemingly into the horizon, and of course, corn.  I guess I just have some of this farm boy stuff in my genes somewhere, I thoroughly enjoyed my time surrounded by corn.

Then the class reunion, great to see so many show up.  Older, hopefully wiser, retired or close to it, but mostly alive!

I had one other bit of business back in Roanoke.  Finally, a gravestone for my mother.  Her ashes are buried in the old church graveyard out in the country, along with my uncles and aunts and grandparents.  Very peaceful and moving.

Road Trip--Victorian Edition

Jumping ahead to the return trip, sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.  I was cruising along US136 in southern Nebraska, getting tired of driving, and looking for a motel.  I missed my turn and ended up in Superior.  I stopped at the Victorian Motel and got the last room (I'd find out the next day that there wasn't much further down the road, particularly my original destination, Red Cloud).  This town has some sort of Victorian fetish (including a festival).  I have to admit, my room was quite charming in the style.

And only 50 bucks!

The hostess recommended Dave's Place for dinner.  I ordered the house specialty...  the kraut pizza...  standard pizza with sauerkraut and your favorite meat.

I didn't find much in the way of Victorian homes, certainly not like can be found in Canada.  But I did discover a couple interesting buildings...  the local movie theater and an old opera house under slow restoration.

An interesting little town of about 2000 people.  And 100,000 geese in the Fall when they hang at a local lake and gobble up leftover corn from the harvest.

Road Trip--Wyatt Earp Edition

The small town of Monmouth is a sleepy little burg, still looking sad and neglected, sustained by a small college.  It is also the birthplace of Wyatt Earp, but even this tourist attraction, including a corral, doesn't seem to attract.  Notice the For Sale sign.

Road Trip--Many Rivers to Cross

The wide Missouri...

The bright Mississippi...

The Illinois...

Road Trip--Cold War Edition

Right off the freeway between Lincoln and Omaha is the Strategic Air Command Museum.  A beautiful building contains some cool old military planes and other implements of mass destruction.  Some pics from the museum.