December 4, 2010 archive

Original v. Cover — #54 in a Series

Black and White Cadillac Pictures, Images and Photos

This week’s feature song was the title track of a Berwyn, Illinois group’s debut studio album in 1970.  When the song was released that year, it became the fastest selling single in Warner Brothers’ history.  The group was named by the group’s bass player, as homage to a memorable line he’d read in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar when he was a high school student.

The song peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #1 on the corresponding Cash Box chart.  The single sold more than a million copies and was awarded the gold disc in November, 1972.  The album itself reached #55 nationally.  

The band toured with many headline acts during the early 1970s, opening for the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Led Zeppelin.  The group also participated in the train tour featured in the 2003 documentary “Festival Express”, but their work was not included in the film.

Popular Culture 20101203: The Old Language

Many of you who read my posts on a regular basis know that I was born and raised in Hackett, Arkansas.  Hackett is about nine miles south of Fort Smith, and just about a mile from the Oklahoma border.  Many people are of the mistaken opinion that the hill country of Arkansas are all Ozarks, but that is not right.

There are actually two major hill ranges in Arkansas, the Ozarks and the Ouachita (pronounced wash’-a-tah) Mountains.  These two ranges are quite different both in geology and in the old language.  The Arkansas River is roughly the dividing feature betwixt the two ranges.  You might know the Ouachitas because of the excellent natural sharpening stones that are quarried there.

Party!

The best part about a cyber party is.. you don’t even have to dress up!

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My homespun MovieMaker video/slideshow Debut, a gift to Docudharma, after the bleep.

Wherein I Glorify my Prudishness

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Lately I’ve noticed in my blogosphere wanderings the big controversy over President Obama’s balls.

I can’t even believe I wrote that!  Bleeeccchhhh!  Ewww.

I am really not interested, outside of my love life, in anyone’s organs of any kind.

I lament the loss of real privacy, which is an essential part of intimacy, one of the more pleasurable experiences in this crazy life.

Whiners? Really?

I mean, how did I end up in this place…or how did this place come to be a location where people working for equal rights are whiners?

Really?

Really?

I can only imagine that someone who would say such a thing also thought that Martin and Malcolm and Medger were also just whining.  And so were César and Dolores and Philip Vera Cruz and the Filipino farm workers at Delano.  Whiners all.  Really, there was so much more important stuff to worry about than equal rights in their time.  

Now, I don’t claim to be anywhere near the same league as those people, but the point is the same.  You either believe in equal rights or you don’t.  And when you see someone without them, you do your damnedest to see that must change.  

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