Monday, February 28, 2011

John Keats And The Keats Shelley Memorial House In Rome


The above drawing is by Joseph Severn and is in the Keats Shelley Memorial House in Rome. Severn lived with Keats for two months in Rome and took care of him until he died.


Click to enlarge these photos.

 The Keats Shelley Memorial House in Rome at The Spanish Steps. He lived on the second floor.
John Keats was 25 years old when he died there on the 23rd of Feb. 1821 from TB or what they used to call consumption.

Ode on a Grecian Urn


by John Keats





Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness,

Thou foster-child of Silence and slow Time,

Sylvan historian, who canst thus express

A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:

What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape

Of deities or mortals, or of both,

In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?

What men or gods are these? what maidens loth?

What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?

What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?



Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard

Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;

Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd,

Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone:

Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave

Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;

Bold lover, never, never canst thou kiss,

Though winning near the goal--yet, do not grieve;

She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,

For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!



Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed

Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu;

And, happy melodist, unwearied,

For ever piping songs for ever new;

More happy love! more happy, happy love!

For ever warm and still to be enjoy'd,

For ever panting, and for ever young;

All breathing human passion far above,

That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy'd,

A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.



Who are these coming to the sacrifice?

To what green altar, O mysterious priest,

Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,

And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?

What little town by river or sea shore,

Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,

Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn?

And, little town, thy streets for evermore

Will silent be; and not a soul to tell

Why thou art desolate, can e'er return.



O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede

Of marble men and maidens overwrought,

With forest branches and the trodden weed;

Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought

As doth eternity: Cold pastoral!

When old age shall this generation waste,

Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe

Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,

'Beauty is truth, truth beauty'--that is all

Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.


More on John Keats in the link below. His last letter to Fanny Brawne written in 1820 in his Hampstead House. Now the Keats Museum located there.
http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=46156

Friday, February 25, 2011

More Pictures From 1955 Kirbyville Wildcat Yearbook Kirbyville Texas


Click to enlarge the above drawing.



The old gym around 1950. Check out that old car. A Nash Ambassador it looks like. It is either a 1948 or 1949 or 1950 model.
 This is an empty field now. By 1952 a softball field and backstop had been added in the far right hand corner of the above photo. Click to enlarge all these photos.

The old school. It was the elementary school in 1952 but it included the auditorium. Now it is an empty field.
These two pictures above are not from the 1955 Kirbyville Texas Wildcat Yearbook. All the pictures below are from the 1955 Kirbyville Texas Wildcat Yearbook.


On the road again. On the way to New Orleans to march in a Mardi Gras Parade in 1955. Feb. 20,1955. The Mid City Krewe. I am ready to get rolling.








Click on the label Kirbyville Texas in the box below to see all my other posts about Kirbyville Texas in 1955.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Things I Have Learned In A Half Century Of Living By Sloan Wilson

Sloan Wilson wrote the book The Man In The Gray Flannel Suit that was made into a good movie of the same name starring Gregory Peck.
    He wrote many others books as well. This one is called What Shall We Wear To This Party. It has an epilogue that is the title of this post. I first read Things I Have Learned In A Half Century Of Living  in the old Washington Star back in the 1970s. Click(and double click if necessary) on these pages to enlarge and read them.



Click on these pages to enlarge them.
Click on the link above to learn more about Sloan Wilson.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

More Photos Of Kirbyville Texas Back In The Day

Click on these pictures to enlarge them. 



Kirbyville Band 1955. Karl Wadenpfuhl is on the left hand side.
The Palace Theater Kirbyville Texas 1955.

Taking down an old tree in our yard in Kirbyville Texas. I think it was hit by lightning. 1955.

Shooting some hoops in our yard in Kirbyville Texas. 1955.


That is me up in the tree and the other guy is Thomas Adams pointing at something. This photo was taken in 1955 in the 25 acres behind our house outside of Kirbyville Texas. Check out those sneakers. I was 14 going on 15 years of age when this photo was taken.

The bench in the picture above is where old men met in Kirbyville Texas to sit and talk. It was called "The Hookworm Bench". In the link below you can see a picture of how this location looks today. Some one has painted a picture on the wall of that same building that shows old men sitting where real men once sat.

And click on the link below to see the Flickr page on Kirbyville Texas today.
Note the picture of Wilson Drug Store today in the link above and the painting on the wall where the men  once sat back in the day.

Bobby Timmons Dis Here Dat Dere And Moanin'





http://www.cannonball-adderley.com/1157.htm


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cannonball_Adderley_Quintet_in_San_Francisco






Bobby Timmons wrote all three of these tunes.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Cannonball Adderley Quintet At The Lighthouse Azule Serape Victor Feldman


Azule Serape Means Blue Shawl in English.
Click on the link below for more information on this LP.
http://www.cannonball-adderley.com/245.htm


This is the original cover for the LP. The colors are black and gold. Not yellow and black as shown above this picture.
Original five 45s for jukeboxes. Click on the photos to enlarge them.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Kirbyville Texas Band On The Way To New Orleans To March In A Mardi Gras Parade In 1955 Note The Way The Girls Wore Their Blue Jeans With The Cuffs Rolled Up The Picture On The Steps Was Taken In Baton Rouge Louisiana At The State Capitol


Click and double click to enlarge the photos.
At the Louisiana State Capitol Building in Baton Rouge they gave us a tour and showed us where Huey P. Long was assassinated. You could still see the bullet holes in the marble walls.
More pictures below of the trip to New Orleans to march in the Mid City Mardi  Gras Parade on Feb.20, 1955.
Click to enlarge the above photo. It is in Jackson Square in New Orleans with The St. Louis Cathedral in the background and Kirbyville Band Members coming toward the camera.

The above picture is of Bruce Reed. He is sitting in the Kirbyville Texas school bus we rode on to New Orleans. It is parked near an A&G cafeteria where we ate lunch. You can see the A&G sign in the background. Click to enlarge the photos.

14 year old Joe B. in Jackson Square in front of the St. Louis Cathedral. Looks like I was finally beginning to grow. That uniform is too small for me. I grew about 12 inches in the next two years.

I took this picture on the way to New Orleans or on the way back to Kirbyville, Texas. It is most likely somewhere in Louisiana. When I started to take the picture from the window of the school bus he began to raise his arm.  He did not want his picture taken. At the time I was surprised. Now I wonder if he had something to hide.

The above picture and the two below are from the 1955 Mid City Mardi Gras Parade in New Orleans. It was a Sunday afternoon. Feb. 20,1955.



Here is some  information on the history of the Mid-City Krewe in New Orleans.
The theme in 1955 was Candy. They even sprayed the floats to smell like the particular kind of candy represented.
Click on the label Kirbyville Texas in the box below to see more posts about Kirbyville Texas.

Kirbyville Texas 1955 Drugstore Newstand With Comic Books

Click and double click if necessary to enlarge the photo. It is from the 1955 Kirbyville High School Yearbook Shown in the post below.