Category: American Culture
Posted by: an okie gardener
Here in Oklahoma we are celebrating our centennial. (Well, white Oklahoma is, but that's a different story.) As part of the festivities many towns are writing local histories, some even performing plays and pageants based on their stories. One such community is Ada, in south-central Oklahoma. Here is an excerpt from the Ada Evening News.
In 1909, Ada was a thriving little town of 5,000 that had the reputation of being one of the toughest places in the whole Southwest. The west end of Ada’s Main Street was lined with bootlegging dives, and the town had 36 murders during 1908. Crime went unpunished, for the most part. Moman Pruiett was a brilliant criminal lawyer in Pauls Valley who had defended 343 persons charged with murder and, with his flamboyant way of charming juries, had succeeded in gaining acquittals for 303 of them.
The town was full of gunfighters employed by one of two factions that had long been feuding. On one side was Gus Bobbitt and on the other side were Joe Allen and Jesse West. Constant warfare went on between the two sides. Ada was a frontier town trying to resolve itself into some semblance of law and order, and though there were some who were determined to have respectability prevail, they were in a tough spot.
Gus Bobbitt began to curry favor with the law-abiding element and was successful in gaining a better reputation. He had served as a U.S. Marshall during the Cleveland administration, and he was a Mason, a strong organization in Ada. Bobbitt’s wife, three sons and a daughter had the approval of the social set, which was a big point in Bobbitt’s favor.
. . . When Bobbitt was assassinated
Further investigation indicated that Bobbitt’s old enemies, Joe Allen and Jesse West, had hired Miller to kill Bobbitt. Miller was caught near Fort Worth and brought to Ada by George Culver, Ada’s police chief. Allen and West were arrested shortly thereafter along with a man named B.B. Burrell who had acted as an intermediary between Miller and his employers. They were all in the Pontotoc county jail.
Miller laughed at the nervousness of Allen and West who, knowing Ada, were concerned about their fate. Miller continued to dress well and to eat well, having food sent over from the Elite Café. He wanted all to know that they had hired the Pauls Valley lawyer, Moman Pruiett, and that they would be exonerated of charges.
On a Sunday night in April, Ada’s electricity and telephone service were cut off and a group of between 40 and 50 men came into the jail, overpowered and tied up the guards and took out the four men being held for the Bobbitt murder. They took these prisoners to the old Frisco barn about 30 feet from the jail and hanged them with ropes from the rafters in the barn. Then the group of nameless citizens who had their bellies full of lawlessness in Ada dispersed down an alley to their homes. No news ever leaked about their identity.
Vigilante Justice was common on the frontier, as ordinary means of law enforcement proved inadequate to the challenge. And this during the days before "criminal rights", when bounties sometimes were placed on the heads of wanted men, dead or alive. Perhaps the most famous example of the rewards put on outlaws was the $10,000 offered for Jesse James by Missouri governor Crittenden, which prompted a member of James' own gang to shoot him for the reward. After the Civil War violence plagued my home state of Missouri until bounties were placed on wanted men, dead or alive.(more below)
In 1909, Ada was a thriving little town of 5,000 that had the reputation of being one of the toughest places in the whole Southwest. The west end of Ada’s Main Street was lined with bootlegging dives, and the town had 36 murders during 1908. Crime went unpunished, for the most part. Moman Pruiett was a brilliant criminal lawyer in Pauls Valley who had defended 343 persons charged with murder and, with his flamboyant way of charming juries, had succeeded in gaining acquittals for 303 of them.
The town was full of gunfighters employed by one of two factions that had long been feuding. On one side was Gus Bobbitt and on the other side were Joe Allen and Jesse West. Constant warfare went on between the two sides. Ada was a frontier town trying to resolve itself into some semblance of law and order, and though there were some who were determined to have respectability prevail, they were in a tough spot.
Gus Bobbitt began to curry favor with the law-abiding element and was successful in gaining a better reputation. He had served as a U.S. Marshall during the Cleveland administration, and he was a Mason, a strong organization in Ada. Bobbitt’s wife, three sons and a daughter had the approval of the social set, which was a big point in Bobbitt’s favor.
. . . When Bobbitt was assassinated
Further investigation indicated that Bobbitt’s old enemies, Joe Allen and Jesse West, had hired Miller to kill Bobbitt. Miller was caught near Fort Worth and brought to Ada by George Culver, Ada’s police chief. Allen and West were arrested shortly thereafter along with a man named B.B. Burrell who had acted as an intermediary between Miller and his employers. They were all in the Pontotoc county jail.
Miller laughed at the nervousness of Allen and West who, knowing Ada, were concerned about their fate. Miller continued to dress well and to eat well, having food sent over from the Elite Café. He wanted all to know that they had hired the Pauls Valley lawyer, Moman Pruiett, and that they would be exonerated of charges.
On a Sunday night in April, Ada’s electricity and telephone service were cut off and a group of between 40 and 50 men came into the jail, overpowered and tied up the guards and took out the four men being held for the Bobbitt murder. They took these prisoners to the old Frisco barn about 30 feet from the jail and hanged them with ropes from the rafters in the barn. Then the group of nameless citizens who had their bellies full of lawlessness in Ada dispersed down an alley to their homes. No news ever leaked about their identity.
Vigilante Justice was common on the frontier, as ordinary means of law enforcement proved inadequate to the challenge. And this during the days before "criminal rights", when bounties sometimes were placed on the heads of wanted men, dead or alive. Perhaps the most famous example of the rewards put on outlaws was the $10,000 offered for Jesse James by Missouri governor Crittenden, which prompted a member of James' own gang to shoot him for the reward. After the Civil War violence plagued my home state of Missouri until bounties were placed on wanted men, dead or alive.(more below)
Category: American Culture
Posted by: an okie gardener
Story here. The story speaks for itself.
Story here, with link to the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram.
The Ft. Worth, Texas, man had the DVD playing in his vehicle when police spotted it. He was arrested for obscene display, not having a drivers' license, and for an open alcohol container.
Should the police have acted when they saw the images on the screen? Was this an invasion of the man's privacy?
I think it was a good arrest. A car is not private space, but at best semi-private space; which means semi-public space. In order for a driver to see out, others will be able to see in. I think the same would even hold if a person watched pornography near enough an uncurtained window for someone to see in.
The argument that if you don't like it don't watch it, has only limited merit. We also do not want our children exposed to it. Watching pornography in automobiles exposes our children to the images.
The Ft. Worth, Texas, man had the DVD playing in his vehicle when police spotted it. He was arrested for obscene display, not having a drivers' license, and for an open alcohol container.
Should the police have acted when they saw the images on the screen? Was this an invasion of the man's privacy?
I think it was a good arrest. A car is not private space, but at best semi-private space; which means semi-public space. In order for a driver to see out, others will be able to see in. I think the same would even hold if a person watched pornography near enough an uncurtained window for someone to see in.
The argument that if you don't like it don't watch it, has only limited merit. We also do not want our children exposed to it. Watching pornography in automobiles exposes our children to the images.
Category: American Culture
Posted by: an okie gardener
If you close your eyes at an Indian pow-wow, you can imagine yourself anywhere, or anywhen. The men beating the drum in the center of the circle keep up a complex rhythm that sounds on the surface deceptively simple, boom boom boom. The men singers and lady singers do songs in which rhythm and pitch seem to matter as much as the words. While the drummers around here mostly use Southern Style, if you close your eyes, you could be in Oklahoma, or New Mexico, or Texas. With a little imagination you could be anywhere in the world people gather round the drum to sing and dance. Or, you could be anywhen, now or the last century or 3000 years ago. The drum, the singing, the dancing.
Tonight at the Veterans' Day pow-wow put on by the Comanche Indian Veterans Association veterans were honored individually, called into the place of honor during the dance, one at a time. Between dances they were called to the east side of the circle, in small groups, and given gifts. Warriors honored for their service. It does not take much imagination to see other places, other times--the drums and dancing and honor given to warriors: red skin or white skin or black skin or yellow skin or brown skin.
War has been a constant of human history. Before there were nations to defend, there were tribes, clans, families. Apaches in the old days lived in temporary brush shelters, resembling brown igloos with a long entrance passageway. The man slept in the entrance passage, the woman and children in the main body of the shelter. Anyone entering had to get past the man, the warrior.
Tribes and peoples of any and all times and places honored their warriors, for the survival of The People depended upon the courage and tenacity of the men.
We modern Americans tend to think peace is the normal state of humanity, interupted by occasional war. Many Americans even think that wars somehow will not involve us if we give no provocation. Perhaps, we dream, with enough food and education and the spread of democracy or construction of international organizations wars will cease. So we dreamed in 1918, when at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month The Armistice took effect. But, we learned differently on December 7, 1941. And Armistice Day became Veteran's Day to include those who fought in another war after The War to End All Wars.
So it continues. Our nation will remain free only so long as we have courageous and tenacious warriors, men who will put themselves between those who sleep and danger. Men who think that home and family and country are worth dying for. In the case of the United States, that liberty is worth dying for. G.K. Chesterton, criticizing the descent of England into merely commercial enterprise, wrote: Men must in the last resort love it; for the simple reason that men must in the last resort die for it. No community or constitution can survive and retain its identity at all, that has not in the minds of its subjects enough of an ideal identity, to appear to them in certain extremes of peril as the vision of something to be saved. It is on that ideal, inhering in the reality, that every state will depend when there is a struggle of life and death. And we will have such warriors only so long as warriors are honored, and remembered.
Tonight at the Veterans' Day pow-wow put on by the Comanche Indian Veterans Association veterans were honored individually, called into the place of honor during the dance, one at a time. Between dances they were called to the east side of the circle, in small groups, and given gifts. Warriors honored for their service. It does not take much imagination to see other places, other times--the drums and dancing and honor given to warriors: red skin or white skin or black skin or yellow skin or brown skin.
War has been a constant of human history. Before there were nations to defend, there were tribes, clans, families. Apaches in the old days lived in temporary brush shelters, resembling brown igloos with a long entrance passageway. The man slept in the entrance passage, the woman and children in the main body of the shelter. Anyone entering had to get past the man, the warrior.
Tribes and peoples of any and all times and places honored their warriors, for the survival of The People depended upon the courage and tenacity of the men.
We modern Americans tend to think peace is the normal state of humanity, interupted by occasional war. Many Americans even think that wars somehow will not involve us if we give no provocation. Perhaps, we dream, with enough food and education and the spread of democracy or construction of international organizations wars will cease. So we dreamed in 1918, when at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month The Armistice took effect. But, we learned differently on December 7, 1941. And Armistice Day became Veteran's Day to include those who fought in another war after The War to End All Wars.
So it continues. Our nation will remain free only so long as we have courageous and tenacious warriors, men who will put themselves between those who sleep and danger. Men who think that home and family and country are worth dying for. In the case of the United States, that liberty is worth dying for. G.K. Chesterton, criticizing the descent of England into merely commercial enterprise, wrote: Men must in the last resort love it; for the simple reason that men must in the last resort die for it. No community or constitution can survive and retain its identity at all, that has not in the minds of its subjects enough of an ideal identity, to appear to them in certain extremes of peril as the vision of something to be saved. It is on that ideal, inhering in the reality, that every state will depend when there is a struggle of life and death. And we will have such warriors only so long as warriors are honored, and remembered.
Norman Mailer is dead. AP story here. Author of many books including The Naked and the Dead, The Executioner's Song, The Armies of the Night, and Harlot's Ghost.
He was An Important Novelist back when that phrase meant something, when people expectantly awaited the next book from Mailer, or Vidal, or Updyke. Novels no longer have a big place in contemporary culture. People await movies, or television shows, or video games. I do not think I am simply being a Luddite or curmudgeon when I say it is a shame.
A good novel immerses the reader in a slice of the universe, real or imagined, in a way that a movie cannot. Movies are flat. The nature of their medium prohibits the kind of richly detailed characters, events, and issues that one can find in a rich novel. Compare Moby Dick to any movie made from it, or read Rabbit, Run then watch the movie (to take nothing away from James Caan). Read a James Joyce novel and try to write a screenplay.
And, novels can provoke sustained thought in a way movies cannot. We can pause a novel any time by lifting our eyes from the page. We can reflect on a word, a phrase, an idea for a moment, a cup of coffee, or an entire day, and lose nothing. Good reading is an active interaction between reader and author, beyond the experience of a movie.
Authors like himself, he said more than once, had become anachronisms as people focused on television and young writers aspired to screenwriting or journalism.
When he was young, Mailer said, "fiction was everything. The novel, the big novel, the driving force. We all wanted to be Hemingway ... I don't think the same thing can be said anymore. I don't think my work has inspired any writer, not the way Hemingway inspired me."
He was An Important Novelist back when that phrase meant something, when people expectantly awaited the next book from Mailer, or Vidal, or Updyke. Novels no longer have a big place in contemporary culture. People await movies, or television shows, or video games. I do not think I am simply being a Luddite or curmudgeon when I say it is a shame.
A good novel immerses the reader in a slice of the universe, real or imagined, in a way that a movie cannot. Movies are flat. The nature of their medium prohibits the kind of richly detailed characters, events, and issues that one can find in a rich novel. Compare Moby Dick to any movie made from it, or read Rabbit, Run then watch the movie (to take nothing away from James Caan). Read a James Joyce novel and try to write a screenplay.
And, novels can provoke sustained thought in a way movies cannot. We can pause a novel any time by lifting our eyes from the page. We can reflect on a word, a phrase, an idea for a moment, a cup of coffee, or an entire day, and lose nothing. Good reading is an active interaction between reader and author, beyond the experience of a movie.
Authors like himself, he said more than once, had become anachronisms as people focused on television and young writers aspired to screenwriting or journalism.
When he was young, Mailer said, "fiction was everything. The novel, the big novel, the driving force. We all wanted to be Hemingway ... I don't think the same thing can be said anymore. I don't think my work has inspired any writer, not the way Hemingway inspired me."
09/11: Jarrell McCracken, 1927-2007
From the Waco Tribune-Herald :
"Jarrell McCracken, 79, pioneer of the Christian entertainment industry, died Wednesday after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease."
"McCracken founded Word Inc. in Waco in 1951 and turned the company from a one-man operation into one of the world’s largest makers of religious recordings and publications."
"The company that began in McCracken’s Waco kitchen burgeoned into a worldwide operation employing more than 400 people. Names such as Amy Grant, Sandi Patti and George Beverly Shea dot Word’s roster of recording artists. The publishing division boasts prominent names such as Billy Graham, Ruth Carter Stapleton, Dallas Cowboys great Roger Staubach and legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden."
"In 1974, ABC bought out McCracken’s share of the company. He remained on as president, however, until 1986, when he resigned amid differences of opinion regarding management style and direction."
McCracken will be remembered for his love for family, the people he met, Baylor Univeristy, and his church.
Jarrell McCracken, rest in peace.
"Jarrell McCracken, 79, pioneer of the Christian entertainment industry, died Wednesday after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease."
"McCracken founded Word Inc. in Waco in 1951 and turned the company from a one-man operation into one of the world’s largest makers of religious recordings and publications."
"The company that began in McCracken’s Waco kitchen burgeoned into a worldwide operation employing more than 400 people. Names such as Amy Grant, Sandi Patti and George Beverly Shea dot Word’s roster of recording artists. The publishing division boasts prominent names such as Billy Graham, Ruth Carter Stapleton, Dallas Cowboys great Roger Staubach and legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden."
"In 1974, ABC bought out McCracken’s share of the company. He remained on as president, however, until 1986, when he resigned amid differences of opinion regarding management style and direction."
McCracken will be remembered for his love for family, the people he met, Baylor Univeristy, and his church.
Jarrell McCracken, rest in peace.
Category: American Culture
Posted by: an okie gardener
We Americans are blessed that we inherit the hard-won liberties of the Mother Country. For the story of a step on that road, see this post from Brits At Their Best. Anselm's life and work alone demonstrate that the "Dark Ages" are a misnomer.
Of course, no people's saga is spotless. Ask Wales, Scotland, and especially Ireland about their history with the English. But in terms of our inheritance, we benefit from what our Founding Fathers called their Rights As Englishmen.
Of course, no people's saga is spotless. Ask Wales, Scotland, and especially Ireland about their history with the English. But in terms of our inheritance, we benefit from what our Founding Fathers called their Rights As Englishmen.
08/11: Hank Thompson, 1925-2007
Category: American Culture
Posted by: A Waco Farmer
From the Waco Trib:
"Hank Thompson, Waco native, died Tuesday of lung cancer at his Keller home; he was 82. Thompson shaped country music in the 1950s and 1960s with his “honky tonk swing,” a danceable sound that made his Brazos Valley Boys the No. 1 country music band from 1953 to 1965. He pioneered much that is standard in the music industry, from lighting and sound systems to stereo recording, live albums and Las Vegas concerts."
"Thompson’s death came only days after spokesman…had announced the country star was retiring after more than 60 years as a performer. Fittingly for some Waco friends, his last public performance came Oct. 8 at the Heart O’ Texas Fair & Rodeo, a day proclaimed as Hank Thompson Day by Gov. Rick Perry and Waco Mayor Virginia DuPuy."
I am linking Carl Hoover's excellent obituary here--but I am also adding the tribute in full under the "read more" section, as the Trib does not permanently archive their stories on the internet.
Country Music Hall of Fame link here.
Via YouTube, Thompson's first hit, "Whoa Sailor," and a retrospective montage to the tune of "Six Pack to Go."
Perhaps his most famous lyric (from the "Wild Side of Life") and one that embodies a dominant motif for a generation of country music artists and fans:
I didn't know God made honky tonk angels
I might have known you'd never make a wife
You gave up the only one that ever loved you
And went back to the wild side of life
The glamour of the gay night life has lured you
To the places where the wine and liquor flows
Where you wait to be anybody's baby
And forget the truest love you'll ever know
Perhaps the quintessential "somebody done somebody wrong song."
From the Bosque Boys: Hats off to the leader of the Brazos Valley Boys. Rest in Peace.
For the Trib article in its entirety:
"Hank Thompson, Waco native, died Tuesday of lung cancer at his Keller home; he was 82. Thompson shaped country music in the 1950s and 1960s with his “honky tonk swing,” a danceable sound that made his Brazos Valley Boys the No. 1 country music band from 1953 to 1965. He pioneered much that is standard in the music industry, from lighting and sound systems to stereo recording, live albums and Las Vegas concerts."
"Thompson’s death came only days after spokesman…had announced the country star was retiring after more than 60 years as a performer. Fittingly for some Waco friends, his last public performance came Oct. 8 at the Heart O’ Texas Fair & Rodeo, a day proclaimed as Hank Thompson Day by Gov. Rick Perry and Waco Mayor Virginia DuPuy."
I am linking Carl Hoover's excellent obituary here--but I am also adding the tribute in full under the "read more" section, as the Trib does not permanently archive their stories on the internet.
Country Music Hall of Fame link here.
Via YouTube, Thompson's first hit, "Whoa Sailor," and a retrospective montage to the tune of "Six Pack to Go."
Perhaps his most famous lyric (from the "Wild Side of Life") and one that embodies a dominant motif for a generation of country music artists and fans:
I didn't know God made honky tonk angels
I might have known you'd never make a wife
You gave up the only one that ever loved you
And went back to the wild side of life
The glamour of the gay night life has lured you
To the places where the wine and liquor flows
Where you wait to be anybody's baby
And forget the truest love you'll ever know
Perhaps the quintessential "somebody done somebody wrong song."
From the Bosque Boys: Hats off to the leader of the Brazos Valley Boys. Rest in Peace.
For the Trib article in its entirety:
Category: American Culture
Posted by: A Waco Farmer
Back in June, when Lionsgate Films released Michael Moore's Sicko, I predicted an "anemic performance." I suppose "anemic" is relative. Fact: Sicko has grossed $24,540,079, which makes it the third highest grossing documentary of all time. It is just ahead of An Inconvenient Truth and tens of millions behind March of the Penguins and Moore's own Fahrenheit 9/11. On the other hand, Sicko did not take the nation by storm like the other three fore-mentioned films.
This week, Sicko hits the DVD racks. We'll see what happens next. Here is my original non-review from June:
"At least one source is already calling the early box office for Sicko "healthy" ($1.3 million in 441 theaters on Friday).
“An aside: these numbers are approximately five-times weaker than the opening for Fahrenheit 9/11--but still very strong for a documentary.
“Considering the pre-opening publicity for the film, which began in earnest a month ago, the high profile of the filmmaker, and the plethora of positive reviews, no one should be surprised at the initial interest in Michael Moore's latest offering.
“Having said that, my hunch is, in the end, Sicko will fall well short of expectations (however, even if my prediction comes to pass and the picture goes South, don't hold your breath for much critical press coverage).
“The feature-length documentary is receiving a big push from the studio and a first-class ride from the film-reviewing fraternity, many of whom are big fans of Michael Moore's politics and like-minded in their basic assumptions about America, big business and evil Republicans.
“However, my prediction is that Sicko will not have legs. Once the usual suspects see the film (and go back and watch it again a few times for the team), who else is really going to care about this film?
“In general, American filmgoers are not fans of the documentary genre. In terms of style, if you have seen one Michael Moore film, you have seen them all. Why would Joe Sixpack and family spend thirty-some dollars to go see a serially angry and malcontented demagogue deliver a heavy-handed and patronizing harangue dripping with sarcasm and a depressingly redundant deep-seated cynicism?
“In the bluntest terms, it is unlikely that the work will ever appeal to anyone other than the axis of American liberalism (Hollywood, the mainstream media and academia). One great irony is that the biggest fans of this film will be an elite echelon of Americans who actually enjoy the best health care in the world. Even more ironic, there are actually very few of these ostensibly compassionate humanitarians who will be willing to give up their own premium personal care to stand in line in some national health system so that the "unfortunate" might have more access. In the most practical sense, they are as much against "leveling" as William F. Buckley.
“In the end, the hype around Sicko will prove to be another self-indulgent exercise of the American Left. Without seeing the picture, I can already tell you that it is a frontrunner for an Academy Award. Barring a late entry from Al Gore, Michael Moore should have a clear path to another statuette. On the other hand, Moore, who too often listens to his own press and the retinue of fools who encourage his antics, is still not a major player in American politics. He is a major player in Hollywood--but he carries very little weight (no pun intended) in fly-over country.”
Orignal post here.
This week, Sicko hits the DVD racks. We'll see what happens next. Here is my original non-review from June:
"At least one source is already calling the early box office for Sicko "healthy" ($1.3 million in 441 theaters on Friday).
“An aside: these numbers are approximately five-times weaker than the opening for Fahrenheit 9/11--but still very strong for a documentary.
“Considering the pre-opening publicity for the film, which began in earnest a month ago, the high profile of the filmmaker, and the plethora of positive reviews, no one should be surprised at the initial interest in Michael Moore's latest offering.
“Having said that, my hunch is, in the end, Sicko will fall well short of expectations (however, even if my prediction comes to pass and the picture goes South, don't hold your breath for much critical press coverage).
“The feature-length documentary is receiving a big push from the studio and a first-class ride from the film-reviewing fraternity, many of whom are big fans of Michael Moore's politics and like-minded in their basic assumptions about America, big business and evil Republicans.
“However, my prediction is that Sicko will not have legs. Once the usual suspects see the film (and go back and watch it again a few times for the team), who else is really going to care about this film?
“In general, American filmgoers are not fans of the documentary genre. In terms of style, if you have seen one Michael Moore film, you have seen them all. Why would Joe Sixpack and family spend thirty-some dollars to go see a serially angry and malcontented demagogue deliver a heavy-handed and patronizing harangue dripping with sarcasm and a depressingly redundant deep-seated cynicism?
“In the bluntest terms, it is unlikely that the work will ever appeal to anyone other than the axis of American liberalism (Hollywood, the mainstream media and academia). One great irony is that the biggest fans of this film will be an elite echelon of Americans who actually enjoy the best health care in the world. Even more ironic, there are actually very few of these ostensibly compassionate humanitarians who will be willing to give up their own premium personal care to stand in line in some national health system so that the "unfortunate" might have more access. In the most practical sense, they are as much against "leveling" as William F. Buckley.
“In the end, the hype around Sicko will prove to be another self-indulgent exercise of the American Left. Without seeing the picture, I can already tell you that it is a frontrunner for an Academy Award. Barring a late entry from Al Gore, Michael Moore should have a clear path to another statuette. On the other hand, Moore, who too often listens to his own press and the retinue of fools who encourage his antics, is still not a major player in American politics. He is a major player in Hollywood--but he carries very little weight (no pun intended) in fly-over country.”
Orignal post here.
06/11: Flashback
Category: American Culture
Posted by: an okie gardener
For some reason, the music in my head this evening is from the early 70s--specifically some of the groups that tried to put jazz and rock together: Chicago, Blood, Sweat, and Tears, and Chase. The last group is not well known, turning out three albums. For a year or so in high school, I got the juices flowing with a shot of Chase in the morning, cranked up.
From Youtube, a cut from their first album. For those of you too young to remember, the thing you are seeing in the video is called a turntable and the round piece of vinyl going round and round was called an album.
My favorite album is the second, Ennea, because of side two, a retelling of Greek mythology of the gods.
The Wikipedia entry on Bill Chase, the group's leader, and the band. A great bio from Trumpetgig that includes some great clips. (Does anyone but me, think captions for the last two clips are switched?)
From Youtube, a cut from their first album. For those of you too young to remember, the thing you are seeing in the video is called a turntable and the round piece of vinyl going round and round was called an album.
My favorite album is the second, Ennea, because of side two, a retelling of Greek mythology of the gods.
The Wikipedia entry on Bill Chase, the group's leader, and the band. A great bio from Trumpetgig that includes some great clips. (Does anyone but me, think captions for the last two clips are switched?)
