Ted Taylor - Help the Bear

Listen: Ted Taylor - Help the Bear

I'm pretty sure that the park ranger of the "poking the bear" postcard fame is not gospel, blues, and R&B singer Ted Taylor. But if he was, and he and the bear were fighting over a woman, Taylor seems to think that the bear would be outmatched. My money is on the bear.

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Poking the Bear

The Great Smoky Mountain National Park

In honor of family vacations, I give you the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

I grew up in Tennessee and South Carolina. During the time I lived in Tennessee my parents liked to take us to the Great Smoky Mountains over long weekends. The Smoky Mountains are located within the Appalachian Mountain chain divided between Tennessee and North Carolina. (My dad claims he is going to hike the Appalachian Trail someday, which stretches from Georgia to Maine and is 2,178 miles long) (532 people hiked it in 2008).


Appalachian Mountains

I am sure many of you experienced family vacations in National Parks. I hope you did not experience a park ranger poking a black bear.

Just in case you do have one of those hilarious family adventures- you should step up to the challenge. Here is what trained park rangers tell you to do.

Being too close may promote aggressive behavior from the bear such as running toward you, making loud noises, or swatting the ground. Don’t run, but slowly back away, watching the bear. Try to increase the distance between you and the bear. The bear will probably do the same. If a bear persistently follows or approaches you, without vocalizing, or paw swatting, try changing your direction. If the bear continues to follow you, stand your ground. If the bear gets closer, talk loudly or shout at it. Act aggressively and try to intimidate the bear. Act together as a group if you have companions. Make yourselves look as large as possible (for example, move to higher ground). Throw non-food objects such as rocks at the bear. Use a deterrent such as a stout stick. Don’t run and don't turn away from the bear.

For the record, the postcard does not indicate that the park ranger has made it to "level stick" yet.

They also want you to watch out for panhandler bears.

Other blogs that talk about bears and Memorial Day.

Tom Waits - Coney Island Baby

Listen: Tom Waits - Coney Island Baby

I was tempted to respond to Kendall's Coney Island post with something from one of the Mermaid Avenue albums, but this one is a better fit. You see, when Kendall and I started dating, the very first mix CD (yes, I am embarrassed that it wasn't a mix tape) that I made for her had this devastatingly beautiful Tom Waits song mentioning Coney Island. But when I started doing a bit of research on that song ("Take It With Me" from Mule Variations), I found that Waits has a bit of a lyrical obsession with Coney Island and the bygone Dreamland amusement park depicted in our postcard. I guess the Dreamland pun is just too perfect to avoid (e.g. "I will close my eyes and wake up there in Dreamland" in the song "Flowers Grave").

Today's song also play's with the dual meanings ("Every night she comes to take me out to Dreamland"). It comes from the 2002 album Blood Money, an album of songs that Waits and his wife Kathleen wrote for musical adaptation of an unfinished work by a early 19th century German playwright. The musical, Woyzeck, is a collaboration between Waits and Robert Wilson, the avant-garde theater artist who once staged a seven day long play on seven mountains in Iran.

I'll let Waits paraphrase the plot of Woyzeck:

It's a story that continues to surface in Europe. Wilson told me about this lowly soldier who submitted to medical experiments and went slowly mad from taking medications and herbs. He finds out his wife is unfaithful. He slits her throat and throws his knife in the lake, goes in after it and drowns, and then his child is raised by the village idiot. I said, "OK, I'm in. You had me at 'slit her throat.'"

(Thanks to the Tom Waits Library for providing an incredible amount of info about a musician I really should listen to more often.)

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Coney Island: A Dream Deferred

Dreamland: Coney Island. Circa, 1907-1911

Prepare yourself. I’m beginning to realize that many scenic locations have to do with developers.

Dreamland was built in 1904, supposedly so fast that the city didn’t have time to remove the fire hydrants from underneath it. Dreamland was in operation until 1911, when it burned down because of fire started on the Hell’s Gate ride. The whole park burned in 18 hours. The rumor is that the park stole water from the city's fire hydrants for years and when the fire took place, the water pressure was too low to save it. The owner William Reynolds (also a senator) was indicted in 1912 for perjury associated with Tammany Hall shenanigans, such as land-grabs for his Dreamland Park construction.

Popular attractions at Dreamland before it burned included Midget City, which was a scaled down version of 15th century Nuremberg and premature babies in incubators (this technology was too new for hospitals to accept, but apparently just right for amusement parks).

Joe Sitt, of the Thor Corporation, is trying to open a new Dreamland on top of Coney Island’s Astroland. A fight ensues with Mayor Bloomberg & the City, who have purchased pieces of Astroland/Dreamland and have refused permits for park rides to thwart his overall development plans. Check out NBC New York’s coverage and the Coney Island Message Board for constant updates on the evils of development.

The Great Divide opened in 1907 and was a "scenic" roller coaster. In Michael Immerso’s book Coney Island: The People’s Playground, he describes The Great Divide as “a scenic rail trip over the Rocky Mountains, which wound its way in and out of tunnels, through canyons, and over a 70 foot wide trestle...” When you hear the description of the Great Divide, you wouldn’t think a ride on the roller coaster could lead to this: “While going at a high speed through that tunnel both cars suddenly jumped the tracks…The passengers, of whom it is said many where children, where thrown from their seats and sent whirling through the air. Some of them, it was said, struck the walls of the tunnel with great force.” (From NY Times article, Dreamland Train Derailed: Seven Persons Hurt When Train Leaves Tracks) This was probably two months after it opened- the article is from July 16, 1907.

There you have it people. Don’t get on rides at any version of Dreamland.



Early rendering of Joe Sitt’s Coney Island re-model. Yeah, that’s a blimp. (From New York Magazine.)

Wilson Pickett - You Left The Water Running

Listen: Wilson Pickett - You Left The Water Running

This song was a bit of a soul standard in the mid and late sixties. It was written by Rick Hall (producer and founder of FAME Studios), Dan Penn (FAME's in-house songwriter), and Oscar Franck (who's only other credit I can dig up is an obscure Mavis Staples song). Apparently, none other than Otis Redding recorded the studio's demo for the song in July 1966. Barbara Lynn took it to #42 on the R&B charts later that year.

Wilson Pickett cut this version at FAME and released in on his 1967 Atlantic LP The Wicked Pickett. The big hit from that record was "Mustang Sally," which shares that inimitable Muscle Shoals groove with our song.

Whether it's Pickett, Redding, Lynn, Sam and Dave, or Maurice and Mac on the microphone, the song is a fitting tribute to a fountain memorializing a man who built an aqueduct.

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Los Angeles: Lost in the Desert

Los Angeles, circa 1940(?)

Matt and I went to LA for the first time in October. We visited the Griffith Observatory and I bought this postcard thinking the fountain was around there at some point in time.

Griffith Observatory- Where is the fountain?

(Elevator shaft circled. Perhaps the fountain could have been there?)



(Map of Griffith Park) Circled is where the fountain is in relation to where I visited.


More on the Mulholland and the "Kool Aid" Fountain.

Matt explains:

Mulholland built an aqueduct (around 1913) and it took water away from the orange groves so they couldn’t grow oranges anymore. Then they bought up the land cheap and then the suburbs happened and everybody got rich.

Kendall adds: That’s why this guy got a fountain?

Matt says: Remember Chinatown? I watched it with you.

Staple Singers - Long Walk To D. C.

Listen: Staple Singers - Long Walk to D. C.

Well, I didn't think this would ever actually happen, but I finally have a blog. This is probably my third attempt at starting one up, and I'm only following though this time because Kendall is on board.

The general idea: Kendall will post one of our vintage postcards and I will reply with one of our vintage records. We have a lot more records than postcards, though, so who know how long we can keep that up. Maybe when we run out of postcards we'll move on to political buttons or civil war bullets. Any excuse to hit the flea market, I guess.

Kendall's first post was a DC postcard, which is fitting because it's where we live. It's a pretty good home, too. Last night I had my first presidential motorcade sighting. That is an impressive sight (and sound), even if you voted for the other guy (who still works here, too).

Seeing the president is why Pops, Mavis, Cleotha, Pervis, and Yvonne all decided to take a long walk here for their first Stax single back in 1968. It's a short song, and the MGs keep them moving along all the way from Memphis (or Jackson, Mississippi) to DC.

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2009 Update: What City Am I In?

Postcard of a secret location, circa some time long ago.


Clue #1: A portrait of our first president 205 years later. He's still got it. (You can visit him at a National Gallery dedicated to Portraits).



Clue #2:
On the current state of land lines in the secret area. No one looks frustrated here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/13/AR2008041302349.html

Clue #3:

Current Tallest buildings in the secret location:

The US Capitol, at 288 ft (288 ft)

Twin Towers across the river, 31 stories (381 ft.)

The Washington Monument (555 Ft.)

Those sleuths on Carmen Sandiego are never going to crack this case.