A door is a panel or barrier, usually hinged, sliding, or electronic, that is used to cover an opening in a wall or partition going into a building or space. A door can be opened to give access and closed more or less securely.
Doors also have an aesthetic role in creating an impression of what lies beyond. They are also used to screen areas of a building for aesthetic purposes, keeping formal and utility areas separate. They act as a barrier to noise.
Doors are often symbolically endowed with ritual purposes, and the guarding or receiving of the keys to a door, or being granted access to a door can have special significance. Similarly, doors and doorways frequently appear in metaphorical or allegorical situations, literature and the arts, often as a portent of change.
"The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live." - Flora Whittemore
"There's a door. Where does it go? It stays where it is, I think." - Terry Pratchett
"If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite." - William Blake
"All doors open to courtesy" - Thomas Fuller
"It is often the last key on the ring which opens the door." - Proverb
"Don't ever slam a door; you might want to go back." - Don Herold
"Men shut their doors against a setting sun." - William Shakespeare
"Aunt Marion was right... Never marry a musician and never answer the door." - Charles M. Schulz
"We often get in quicker by the back door than by the front" - Napoleon Bonaparte
"Ten men waiting for me at the door? Send one of them home, I'm tired." - Mae West
Laughter is an audible expression or appearance of merriment or happiness or an inward feeling of joy and pleasure (laughing on the inside). It may ensue (as a physiological reaction) from jokes, tickling and other stimuli. Inhaling nitrous oxide can also induce laughter; other drugs, such as cannabis, can also induce episodes of strong laughter. Strong laughter can sometimes bring an onset of tears or even moderate muscular pain. Laughter is a part of human behavior regulated by the brain. It helps humans clarify their intentions in social interaction and provides an emotional context to conversations. Laughter is used as a signal for being part of a group — it signals acceptance and positive interactions with others. Laughter is sometimes seemingly contagious, and the laughter of one person can itself provoke laughter from others as a positive feedback. This may account in part for the popularity of laugh tracks in situation comedy television shows.
"Laugh at yourself first, before anyone else can." - Elsa Maxwell
"Laughter is an instant vacation." - Milton Berle
"There is nothing in which people more betray their character than in what they laugh at." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"Laughter is the closest distance between two people." - Victor Borge
"Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand." - Mark Twain
"The most wasted of all days is one without laughter." - e. e. cummings
"Man plans and God laughs." - Jewish Proverb
"One horse-laugh is worth ten thousand syllogisms. It is not only more effective; it is also vastly more intelligent." - H. L. Mencken
"Beware of those who laugh at nothing or everything." - Arnold H. Glasgow
"It takes a big man to cry, but it takes a bigger man to laugh at that man." - Jack Handey
"Laughter is not at all a bad beginning for a friendship, and it is far the best ending for one." - Oscar Wilde
"Man, when you lose your laugh you lose your footing." - Ken Kesey
"In this life he laughs longest who laughs last." - John Masefield
"He who laughs last didn't get it" - Helen Giangregorio
During the beginning of recorded sound industry, no one was sure what people wanted to hear. The idea behind Laughing Records was pretty simple - laughter is contagious, why not have recordings of people laughing? It's not The Dave Chappelle Show, but back then, you took your entertainment where you could get it. I started collecting Laughing Record sound files a few years ago, here's a taste of some of the better ones - these and more can be found at the Internet Archive and the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project.
I'm guest blogging over at Cover Lay Down, the theme is Gallows Pole and Variants - stop by for a spell and find out about a ballad that's been around for a millennium.
"When we are afraid we ought not to occupy ourselves with endeavoring to prove that there is no danger, but in strengthening ourselves to go on in spite of the danger." - Mark Rutherford
"So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." - Franklin Roosevelt
"A timid person is frightened before a danger, a coward during the time and a courageous person afterwards." - Jean Paul Richter
"The secret of reaping the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment from life is to live dangerously." - Friedrich Nietzsche
"Considering how dangerous everything is, nothing is really very frightening." - Gertrude Stein
"Danger is a good teacher and makes apt scholars." - William Hazlitt
"Wherever there is danger, there lurks opportunity; whenever there is opportunity, there lurks danger. The two are inseparable. They go together."- Earl Nightingale
"If you define cowardice as running away at the first sign of danger, screaming and tripping and begging for mercy, then yes, Mr. Brave man, I guess I'm a coward." - Jack Handy
"Those who'll play with cats must expect to be scratched." - Miguel de Cervantes
"In this world there is always danger for those who are afraid of it." - George Bernard Shaw
"Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies." - Thomas Jefferson
"A truth spoken before its time is dangerous." - Greek Proverb
"As soon as there is life there is danger." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
"To a profound pessimist about life, being in danger is not depressing." - F. Scott Fitzgerald
"Every good thing in the world stands on the razor-edge of danger." - Thornton Wilder
"The path is smooth that leadeth on to danger." - William Shakespeare
"There's nothing more dangerous than a resourceful idiot." - Scott Adams
"Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts." - Charles Dickens
"Time engraves our faces with all the tears we have not shed." - Natalie Clifford Barney
"Tears are Summer showers to the soul." - Alfred Austin
"Those who do not know how to weep with their whole heart don't know how to laugh either." - Golda Meir
"It is such a secret place, the land of tears." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"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.'" - Jack Handy
"We must laugh at man to avoid crying for him." - Napoleon Bonaparte
"The soul would have no rainbow had the eyes no tears." - John Vance Cheney
"We are born crying, live complaining, and die disappointed" - Thomas Fuller
"It is not whether you really cry. It's whether the audience thinks you are crying." - Ingrid Bergman
While planning a 4th of July post, I looked over what was relevant for the occasion and realized over the years I've pretty much already posted the best stuff. So, consider this a collection of highlights.
Jean Shepherd was an amazing storyteller, humorist, writer and radio host. His show ran on WOR in New York from 1956 until 1977. He's probably best known to modern day audiences for the film A Christmas Story.
Shepherd's account of a memorable Fourth of July, Ludlow Kissell & The Dago Bomb That Struck Back, was first published in Playboy magazine (the origin of the illustration above) and later as part of In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash, a collection of Shep's short stories. Thanks to The Jean Shepherd Project, here's Jean's first reading of Ludlow Kissell, recorded live on WOR.
"What is there about a solid molar rattling explosion that sets the blood tingling and brings the roses to the cheeks? There are muddle headed souls who will tell you over and over that man is basically a peaceful and quiet creature, destined ultimately to while away his golden days strumming lutes, penning odes and watching birds. I have never yet witnessed the turtle preparing to ignite the portentous fuse of a cherry bomb. No - it remained for man to concoct black powder from the innocent elements of the Earth and ultimately to split the atom, all in pursuit of that healing bomb, that thundering report."
As the news spread around New Jersey, and Bruce Springsteen circles, of the death of "Madam" Marie Castello - the famed fortune teller from Springsteen's 1973 favorite, "Fourth of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" - one newspaper had the others beat.
And as seems fitting, it was The Asbury Park Press.
The Press, based in nearby Neptune, N.J., these days, got the last interview with the 94-year-old Castello - who got busted in the song by the cops for "tellin' fortunes better than they do" - less than two months ago. So when she died Friday, and word broke today, the Gannett paper posted the lengthy May interview by staffer Bill Handleman online.
She retired in the mid-1990s but family members have kept the boardwalk booth open.
One excerpt from the Press:
"One time he came over and said 'All I've got is 50 cents,'" she remembers. "I told him, 'You don't have to give me your 50 cents.'" As the story goes, she told him he would be famous one day. She probably said that to all the boys, Springsteen once conceded. Still, he would immortalize her in song. He would make her the most famous fortuneteller ever to peer into a crystal ball. "He always comes by to say hello," she says now. "He knows where he came from."
Those of you that watch The Colbert Report are aware of the John McCain Green Screen Challenge. McCain gave a speech that even Fox commentators felt boring, so Stephen Colbert kindly offered his help. Senator McCain was good enough to have his speech in front of a green backdrop, making it perfect to spice up using chroma key. The show has made available the raw materials for download, so if you're handy with video editing, you can replace the green screen behind McCain with something more exciting (links below). Here are some of the better ones.
As Stephen mentioned on last night’s show, when Republican Presidential nominee John McCain addressed a crowd in Kenner, Louisiana on June 3, he did so in front of a green screen, thereby issuing a bold challenge to Americans to make him seem more exciting.
Here is the McCain footage as promised. Right-click and download now! Then upload your green screen makeovers to our server over here.
In 1957, Memphis musician, Jim Stewart, tried hawking a two song tape to Sun Records, who turned him down. Undaunted, he started his own company, Satellite Records, to release it. After a few years of success, Atlantic signed them to a distribution deal. Satellite's first major hit was Last Night, which had been recorded by The Royal Spades, who upon release had their name changed to the Mar-Kays. It rose to number two on the R&B charts and three on the Pop. National prominence forced the fledging company to change their name - a California organization was already using the Satellite moniker. Last Night was reissued as the first record on Stax, the "St" taken from Stewart and the "Ax" from co-owner, May Axton. It's fitting that it was the inaugural release, since it's an early indicator of what would later become the Stax sound - fat drums, loud bass, front and center horns.
Sheffield's Arctic Monkeys have the distinction of being one of the first bands to be successfully promoted via MySpace. They also have a clever video to go with the song that I included below. Gotta love that Yorkshire accent.
Burning Dervish is celebrating the two-year anniversary of the site's launch by reposting all 24 mixes from the last 24 months. These are the deepest of deep cuts, more rarities than I can totally list. You'll find Reggae, African, Jazz and World music, among other numerous genres. I found this delightful surprise, Roll Jordan Roll by the Wingless Angels, amongst the choice selections. After Keith Richards moved to Jamaica, he became friends with Ska pioneer, Justin Hinds, a member of Wingless Angels. They got together and recorded the band's only album, which Richards played on and produced. It's filled with primal drumbeats, chants and hymns from the Nyabinghi Rastafarian sect, to which the seven Wingless Angels belong. Allmusic called it "an utterly unique and refreshing listening experience" - I couldn't agree more.
I think I can count the number of good white Reggae bands with all the fingers on Django Reinhardt's left hand. Sublime is one of them. Most are aware of Bradley Nowell's heroin overdose just two months before the release of Sublime's self-titled third record, which ended up going platinum five-times over. Today's selection comes from that bestseller - how can you lose with lyrics like, "Mucho gusto, me llamo Bradley, I'm hornier than Ron Jeremy"?
Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller) was a mystery. By the time of his death in 1965, he'd been around long enough to have played with Robert Johnson at the start of his career and Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Robbie Robertson at the end of it - his first wife was Howlin' Wolf's sister. At various times, he called himself Aleck "Rice" Miller, Willie Williams, Alex Willie Williamson, "Little Boy Blue," "Buzzard Beak", "The Signifyin' Goat" and gave birth dates somewhere between 1893 and 1909. He made one last trip to England in the mid 1960s where he told blues fans he was the real Sonny Boy Williamson, a rouse he had carried on for more than 20 years. The original Sonny Boy Williamson was born in 1914, died during 1948 and was associated with Bluebird Records - ironically, they would both pass within a week of Memorial Day. Between 1951 and 1965 Sonny Boy Williamson II wrote, sang and played harp on some of the finest blues recordings of all time - he was nicknamed "King of the Harmonica" by his peers, here's a page about his harp playing with some sound samples. Rumor has it had he lived longer, he would have been a member of The Band when they joined Bob Dylan.
Good news for bandwidth suckers - I now have an unlimited transfer account for the mp3s, so leech away. Music lovers are welcome to insert URLs into their neato streaming players - if you can't beat 'em... Now that I no longer have to worry about transfer/storage, I can concentrate more on content. To celebrate, I've restored all the sound files for posts starting back from 7/22/07, along with a few other choice ones. If you have something you'd like me to update with working links, let me know.
It's been brought to my attention that I haven't been doing a good job of letting all you invisible friends know that I can also be found over at Star Maker Machine, a fine collective of music bloggers from across the Internets. Here's links to a few of my posts:
Luck refers to that which happens beyond a person's control. This view incorporates phenomena that are chance happenings, a person's place of birth for example, but where there is no uncertainty involved, or where the uncertainty is irrelevant. Within this framework one can differentiate between three different types of luck:
1. Constitutional luck, that is, luck with factors that cannot be changed. Place of birth and genetic constitution are typical examples.
2. Circumstantial luck, that is, luck with factors that are haphazardly brought on. Accidents and epidemics are typical examples.
3. Ignorance luck, that is, luck with factors one does not know about. Examples can be identified only in hindsight.
James "Sugar Boy" Crawford said he never received royalties from Iko Iko, the song his Jock-A-Mo is based on. Crawford was inspired by chants he heard in Congo Square in New Orleans - when interviewed in the 80s, Crawford said: "I'd heard these chants and liked the sound of them, so I just put a little tune to them. I can't take credit for the words, obviously, but I guess the tune is mine. It came from two Indian chants that I put music to. 'Iko Iko' was like a victory chant that the Indians would shout. 'Jock-A-Mo' was a chant that was called when the Indians went into battle. I just put them together and made a song out of them. Really it was just like 'Lawdy Miss Clawdy.' That was a phrase everybody in New Orleans used. Lloyd Price just added music to it and it became a hit. I was just trying to write a catchy song...."
I'm afraid Harry Nilsson is becoming one of those artists neglected by time. An incredible tunesmith that recorded some of the most emotion-filled Pop of the 70s, he died in January of 1994 of heart failure after slowly deteriorating from a massive heart attack in 1993. Today's featured tune comes from the soundtrack of Son Of Dracula, produced for Apple Films by Ringo Starr. It starred musicians John Bonham, Peter Frampton, Ricki Farr, Bobby Keyes and Keith Moon. In an understatement, Ringo Starr said "It is not the best film ever made, but I've seen worse." Of the nine songs in the soundtrack, only Daybreak, a tune from a vampire's POV, was written especially for the film.
This week, Alton Kelley, who with his creative partner Stanley Mouse, designed Grateful Dead album art and psychedelic concert posters for the Avalon Ballroom and Fillmore West, passed on. Kelley was an visual alchemist whose work helped define 60s art, you can still see his influence today. In his honor, a cut from American Beauty, an album he designed the cover art for. American Beauty is a masterpiece, one of the finest complete albums ever - a perfectly conceived blending of American music genres. Not bad for a bunch of dirty, filthy hippies.
What is it about Denmark bands? I find myself posting an inordinate amount of Danish music, it must be in the water. Powersolo is a Danish punk trio founded by the guitar playing Jeppesen brothers, I think their press release describes them best: "Danish B-Movie punk-a-billy cats. It's Sick-o-billy roots, fucked up and hurt bad with tremolo-twisted echo and reverb dementia! Bullet-ridden Americana! Druggy angst and questionable mental health! Weirder and wilder… because it is from Denmark!"
Curtis Mayfield is one of the few members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame who have been inducted more than once - first with the Impressions in 1991 and again as a solo artist in 1999. In 1990, a freak accident during a Brooklyn concert left Mayfield permanently paralyzed from the neck down. I saw Curtis in concert just a few months before the accident, the man exuded dignity, grace and soul. He died in 1999, his uplifting brand of R&B lives on through the artists he influenced and his recordings. Here's the extended version of his 1970 solo hit - don't disturb this groove.
"The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right." - Mark Twain
"Fools live to regret their words, wise men to regret their silence." - Will Henry
"An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools." - Ernest Hemingway
"A wise man changes his mind, a fool never will."- Spanish Proverb
"That's the penalty we have to pay for our acts of foolishness - someone else always suffers for them." - Alfred Sutro
"I have great faith in fools - my friends call it self-confidence" - Edgar Allan Poe
"Old fools are babes again." - William Shakespeare
"He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever." - Chinese Proverb
"Any fool can write a novel, but it takes real genius to sell it." - J. G. Ballard
"Fools gain greater advantages through their weakness than intelligent men through their strength. We watch a great man struggling against fate and we do not lift a finger to help him. But we patronize a grocer who is headed for bankruptcy." - Honore de Balzac
"You can fool some of the people all the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time." - Abraham Lincoln.
"You can fool too many of the people too much of the time." - James Thurber
"Every fool finds a greater one to admire them." - Bioleau
"When in doubt, make a fool of yourself. There is a microscopically thin line between being brilliantly creative and acting like the most gigantic idiot on earth. So what the hell, leap." - Cynthia Heimel
Now that Memorial Day, the unofficial start of summer in the US, is in our rear mirror, it's time for some summertime music. Here's a repost from last year - judging by the stats it was one of the more popular posts at snuhthing/anything, so enjoy!
When I was a kid in New York City, a sure sign the summer was about to start was when the local top forty radio station, WABC (now all news), played the Jamies paean to the season. Last year, Chris from Locust St, gave his read on Summertime, Summertime - good stuff, check it out.
The Beach Boys weren't really a surf band, but a vocal group in the tradition of The Four Freshmen (picture a bunch of guys in matching sweaters). Those Beach Boy harmonies would glisten like the sun beating down on a blue flake 1964 Corvette Stingray.
Who doesn't like Weezer? Maybe parents that were forced to watch the Olsen Twins movie, Holiday in the Sun, where it was used endlessly in the soundtrack. But outside of that...
Here's an interesting personal fact - I attended the same high school as Frank Zappa (not simultaneously, of course). We even shared the same music teacher, Rey Vinole. Mr. Vinole did not like rock music and would even lecture on its evils, so we also shared Vinole's distaste.
Hey, Bucko! Have you often felt yourself without style or grace? Wearing shoes with no socks in cold weather? Then it's time for some Talking Heads for you! David Byrne always seems to be up to something, his latest is a "guitar pedal carpet" installation - from Mr. Byrne's blog: "My piece will be comprised of a kind of carpet of one hundred guitar pedals, which benefit attendees must walk on in order to enter the main dining and performance space. A guitar will be plugged into and run through all the pedals, and then into an amp." Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any TS-9 Ibanez Tube Screamers - pity that.
I wrote at length about Marvin Gaye here, if you need some background on the best R&B singer of all time. The sign of a great artist is whether or not their music still resonates after they're gone - this song is more relevant now than when it was released. Check out the live performance video, it's even better than the studio version.
I've been stretching out a bit and having a blast posting over at Star Maker Machine. This week's theme is "Songs titled with a woman's name (and nothing else)", stop by for a look. Appease me - enjoy the weekend!
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