Homer Simpson Tries ToVote For Obama

This is not a joke. Matt Groening is deadly serious about this, and this is how he will reach people.

Some states and municipalities have reverted to paper ballots so there is a paper trail. The electronic machines were really a project and priority for the RNC and compulsive liar and crook Karl Rove. Although there are still efforts to disenfranchise voters in some states by way of address matching, I'm hoping that we won't have a third election in a row with huge voting irregularities like we had in Florida in 2000, and Ohio in 2004.

The Beverly Hillbillies, Allan Grant, 1963

Allan Grant, 02 February, 1963

Cleaning His Gun: William Hoople, (1923)

William Hoople, 30 June, 1923

Country Gentleman: For The AmericanFarmer And His Family

Woman On A Bucking Bronco, Frank Hoffman, 19 April, 1924

I found this, and a wealth of post-Victorian culture while poking around for some images of Paul Newman, (RIP). It's basically the entire catalog of cover art published by Country Gentleman and The Saturday Evening Post from about 1900 through the early 70's. The Curtis Publishing Company, publishes the catalog online.

There are illustrations and photographs by some famous folks as well as the really obscure. I'd love to post a couple of dozen of these, but I'll just do a couple, and let folks choose their own. Some of the images are of pretty good resolution, some are not. It's the company which manages the rights and licensing , after all.

McCain/Palin In Their Own Words

I broke my own rule, I know, but this is really too much.

The Circassian Beauties

Little Flora "Cannibal" via Sideshow World

A tip of the hat to: benhästen, and Uncertain Times.

"Any freak show worth its salt in the 1880s included a Circassian Beauty. She was invariably a pale-skinned young woman kitted out like a hippie from the 1970s: puffy silk pants, sheer-flowing coats, and most importantly, a nimbus of frizzy, Afro-style darkish hair. Usually these women had names beginning with ‘Z’: Zana Zanobia, Zoe Meleke, Zula Zeleka, Zalumma Agra, Zoberdie Luti. Often they would seat themselves cross-legged on stage, holding a water-pipe, and looking demurely at the audience as the pitchman presented them as the purest example available of the Caucasian race. (...)

The Circassian beauties were of course a hoax. Zoe Meleke, who appeared on the P T Barnum circuit in the States, was American-born. According to the circus press agent Dexter Fellows in the 1930s, one of the most famous Circassians - ‘Zuleika, The Circassian Sultana’ - was an Irish immigrant from Jersey City. Women tricking themselves up as these beauties would create the trademark ”mossy hair” by using beer as shampoo and an artful use of the comb. The only real requisite was pale skin and a certain round-faced vacant beauty - that and a willingness to be gawped at by rubes pruriently imagining her in congress with a Turkish overlord"

From the very scholarly and erudite folks at The Vapour Trail

What We Got Here Is...

Strother Martin and Paul Newman, Cool Hand Luke, 1967.

Conform? NEVER. Sure the eggs were fun and all, but this scene was burned into my little brain forever.

THERE WILL BE SOUP!

As captioned. Image: United States Social Security Administration.

I have been trying to remain positive by declaring a ban on reading or watching any US media outlets, but it still seeps through. It's just tough because folks like those smart English kids at at The Financial Times, have been warning of bank failures for nearly a year. It is ridiculous to hear about how this is such a calamitous "surprise". And oh my goodness, even Tony Blair is shocked and stunned. (hmmm... I'm wondering if I have an "I told you so" post in the archive).

I'm sure you have noticed the disclaimer in bright yellow at the top of the SSA's page. Hilarious.

Old And In The Way (click here)

These poor little bastards were cast-out just across the street, and down one

Okay. This sort of thing is getting to be a freaking regular occurrence. A case of Ergo-Gnomics?

My new friend Betty emerged from behind her garage door just after I arrived on the scene. She looked to be an octigenerian, with gnarled hands, black teeth, and a huge, infectious smile.

"I'm unable to take care of them any more. They need paint, too".

"It sure is nice to know someone on this street."

" I used to know everyone on the street, but not anymore."

"I have lived in this house since 1951."

"I know the people next door, but I'm afraid they were taken off to a retirement home."

"If you have a place for them, you may have them."

Wow. A little bit more than I bargained for, but pretty much to the heart of the matter. Verbatim.

Half A Rose, (And Half A Buck)

Rose Maddox, 1947, age 19. Rockabilly Hall Of Fame

Rose Maddox began her music career with her brothers at age 11, billed as, "The Maddox Brothers And Rose". Most folks have this duet, (Mental Cruelty, 1964), with Buck Owens in their catalog , but few know all that much about Rose Maddox, and the profound influence she had on her contemporaries and future country music giants. I couldn't find a picture with Rose and Buck together, so I guess it's actually fitting.

"[Rose] hit it big after World War II when she toured with her four brothers as The Maddox Brothers and Rose. They were billed as "The Most Colorful Hillbilly Band in America."

Maddox had a reputation as a lusty firebrand, with uptempo songs such as "Hangover Blues" and "Pay Me Alimony." Her musical styles ranged from hillbilly to rockabilly to gospel.
Known for her colorful Western costumes, Maddox once shocked a Grand Ole Opry audience by appearing on stage with a bare midriff, a stark contrast to her sometimes staid female contemporaries. "

"Kitty Wells would stand up there and not even
move," said biographer Jonny Whitesides. "Rose
would get on stage and high-kick and
shimmy-shake. That drove people crazy."

Associated Press Obituary, Via : ElvisPelvis.com/Fuller up Dead Musicians Directory

Paul Newman 1925-2008

Cool Hand Luke, 1967. imdb

it's been a bad week.

I Got A Crush On Buck #2

Fillmore West, 1968 Art by: Pat Hanks
Bill Graham Collection/Old Handbills Dot Com

Here He is with Them Buckaroos at The Fillmore West, 1968. I am no guitar player, but what particularly stands out for me in this tune is the really brief Telecaster, (I think), solo. My friends that play typically owe some thanks to Buck and probably Dick Dale for this.

I STRONGLY recommend that you visit Old Handbills. There is a wealth of great handbill art, and the Bill Graham collection of music handbills alone is incredible. (Many good medium+rez) All the artist info, dates, everything one needs, if one needs.

Where Does The Good Times Go?

"Bakersfield" hillbilly guitar hero, Buck Owens

I first heard, and saw Buck Owens on Hee Haw in the early 70's when I was still a young kid, (cough). I watched it every week. The Honky-Tonker's and guitar players of our generation owe a great deal to this man. It's kind of like how even a Jazz player I know learned Travis Picking as a fundamental early on.

This is a great picture I found over yonder at If Charlie Parker Was A Gunslinger(...). Many thanks to the illustrious benhästen. Now I have to compliment these folks for all of the incredibly awesome stuff they post over there, but I have noticed that they are not sticklers about sourcing images, or taking care of the attribution chore. Please folks, I got more information than I ever needed from one of your posts, by just looking at the embedded documention in Photoshop. Please try to do better. These other folks are just as important as Eudora Welty and Diane Arbus. Besides, I wanna KNOW. Thank you, that is all.

The Dilemma Of Grief Part 3

Ocean tragedy, Boca Raton, Florida 1986

I apologize for this, but as I go back through a bunch of film that is over 20 years old, I'm feeling the need to work through some conflicts that go with these memories. The main premise, I first posted here, and also here, where I set out my main problem:

"Grief pictures shouldn't be made unless something good can come from it. That almost never happens. In this case, I was assigned to shoot everything, including invading this poor woman's home when her daughter was only dead two days. It's funny though, they always welcome you, and want to talk. I sat with one woman, (I had witnessed the recovery of her son ) , for an hour once, and she showed me his pictures, and told me all about what he was like. They sent me over there only a day after his death. She was still in shock."

The picture I posted above shows the friends of that boy, who was cavalier about diving in the ocean without a dive flag, and was tragically killed. This was the one case where I thought that some of my pictures might help prevent another tragedy just like it. I did what I was taught not to do, (as since I had no supervisor at the time), I edited the rescue effort and recovery pictures as more like a story, not allowing the above picture or overt grief to be the central object. I guess I "got away with it". This was the first time I had to deal with the violent death of children, while working, anyway. And I hadn't been at all prepared to go to his house the next day and face his mother.

The other half of the conflict remains: Do we withhold the grief and suffering of Genocide? Or of Oppression, or the plight of Tsunami victims?

I Heart Seamonsters

Hamburg-Amerika Line/ Germany to Whitehills, Kentucky 1907

How to get the power company to turn your juice back on

Hurricane Ike kicked our butts, and I’m in Louisville, Kentucky. The ornery old bastard swung up to our country after it finished with Texas and Louisiana. On Sunday we were suddenly hit with 80 MPH+ winds, and our huge maples and tulip poplars came tumbling down on the power lines. Don’t think I’m making any comparisons with Galveston because I’m not, but we were without power for six days. I have never been without electricity that long in my whole life. It was a revelation. I can’t imagine what the folks in south Texas and Louisiana are going through. If our misery was only a minute fraction of theirs, my prayers are with them tonight.

But, I’ll tell you what: this storm has opened my eyes. It puts a whole new spin on those interesting speculations that we do about survival and “WTSHTF” scenarios. I’ll be doing some more on this in the days to come. I spent a lot of time doing audio recordings, verbal journals of what was happening. I’ll post some of those as I’m able to process through them.

Oh yeah, how do you get the power company to turn your power back on? Get really desperate, go to Home Depot and lay down $800 for a 5000 watt generator, and when you get home, your lights will be on.

Syd

And I Thought We Had Suffered The Worst

.

"We can see Russia from land here in Alaska"

"The war in Iraq is God's task"

"Nucular weapons"

Bush Doctrine? Huh?

Any of this sound familiar?

James Fallows had this to say:

"A further point. The truly toxic combination of traits GW Bush brought to decision making was:

1) Ignorance
2) Lack of curiosity
3) "Decisiveness"

That is, he was not broadly informed to begin with (point 1). He did not seek out new information (#2); but he nonetheless prided himself (#3) on making broad, bold decisions quickly, and then sticking to them to show resoluteness.

We don't know for sure about #2 for Palin yet -- she could be a sponge-like absorber of information. But we know about #1 and we can guess, from her demeanor about #3. Most of all we know something about the person who put her in this untenable role."

I say: The world is oscillating between hysterical laughter and tears. Who cares about the Constitution, or anything else for that matter, so long as I don't have to pay Capital Gains Tax? Or, (insert issue here).

I also say James Fallows and "Softball" Charlie Gibson, were extremely gracious for not calling this idiot out. Charlie Black's strategy of brandishing the sexism card like a club from the beginning, has predictably cowed the national media. This is the " look the other way" policy that got us George Bush, Dick Cheney, a war, an assault on the Constitution, torture, and the list goes on forever. And I thought we had been through the worst.

A Sign That Fall Is Near

Green is the color of Autumn

The Squirrels and the Jays are hopping and scurrying around with great excitement. The Oaks, (mostly Live Oaks), have begun to rain raw acorns, pelting me in the head at times, and blanketing even the street with the Green Gold that is a spectacular windfall for the critters. I don't know how these guys think, but even with the Jay's higher intellect, I think that the evolutionary urge to grab as many Acorns as possible and go about planting them, by the thousands, must be purely automatic. I only learned just last season that the Jays swallow these things whole for safekeeping until they reach the burying ground.