Eddy Arnold Was At The 1953 Houston Livestock Show And Rodeo And So Was Bob Dylan In 2002

I saw Eddy Arnold at the 1953 Houston Livestock show and Rodeo. All I remember about the Houston Livestock show is how fat and sleek all the cows and bulls looked. I think it was also called the Houston Fatstock show then.
http://www.rodeohouston.com/about/history.aspx

   Eddy Arnold came out and did his thing right in the rodeo arena just like they still do today.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houston_Livestock_Show_and_Rodeo

http://www.boblinks.com/022002r.html

Bob looks like a cowboy singer now. He dresses in suits that look like Hank Williams and Jimmie Rodgers.

The link below is to past performers.

http://www99.rodeohouston.com/concerts/past-performers.aspx

And below is a link that gives a history that says it was in fact called The Fatstock Show in the beginning.

http://www.texasexplorer.com/HoustonRodeo.htm

Eddy Arnold - Make The World Go Away (1966)

NC:IRENE/ATLANTIC BEACH/"GOOD NIGHT IRENE" SIGN - Video - WCVB Boston

NC:IRENE/ATLANTIC BEACH/"GOOD NIGHT IRENE" SIGN - Video - WCVB Boston
Click on the link above and then wait for the advertisement to end and then the video will start.

And below is another Good Night Irene sign.

Irene goodnight

The Sky Over Washington D.C. On Thursday Night August 25th 2011

Click on this picture to enlarge it.
   This is what the sky looked like last night over Washington D.C. and Arlington, Va. also.
 It was a strange copper colored sky.
Or it could be described as looking a fiery colored red. Either way it looked ominous.

On Wednesday Rachel Flew To Paris On An Air France A380

Click on the photos to enlarge them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A380

Air France A380 Cabin Interior

Now That The Earthquake Is Over Back To Something More Pleasant

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

Being moved in 1939 prior to WW2.
  

Click on these photos to enlarge them.

We Had An Earthquake Today In Virginia And A Hurricane Is On The Way For This Weekend.

  http://news.yahoo.com/quake-rocks-washington-area-felt-east-coast-181550612.html?bouchon=511,dc

Rachel is out hiking. I am glad she was not at home.



  Well I really felt that one. All the people ran out of the buildings around here. The house shook and then shook again and again. Lasted for 10 seconds or so each time. I decided to get out of the house.

I can now say I have been in an earthquake. No damage here in the neighborhood so far as I can tell.

Scary all right. Felt like a plane was about to crash into the house. Or that the house was about to fall down.
The whole house shook and then shook again.  I thought maybe the roof was going to come crashing into the living room. 


A lady came out of one of the places next door and laughed. She said that  was an earthquake. That she had been in one in California. She seemed to think it was funny. I did not think it was funny at all.

Now Irene is coming this weekend. An earthquake and a hurricane all in one week would really be something. I had a feeling something was going to happen and it did. It always does.

When Rachel got home an hour or two later she told me that she and her fellow hikers had not felt a thing.

Saturday Evening on the Left Bank of the Seine

The opening scene of this video is the same location of a scene from The Bourne Identity a 2002 film with Matt Damon. In the movie they have their car parked there facing Notre Dame.

Go to youtube to see all of the videos by this person. I feel he has the best videos of Paris I have seen so far.  And he continues to make more and more. So go  to his channel on youtube and stay tuned in.

Seine River Excursion Boat Paris

Place de la Sorbonne, Paris, France

Street Performer Blowing Bubbles in Paris

WRECK OF THE OLD 97 by Vernon Dalhart 1924

This song is about a famous train wreck and it mentions Danville, Va.
See post below for more info on Danville, Va. and this famous train wreck.

C.S.A "The Night They Drove Ole Dixie Down" This Is The Band And It Is Levon Helm That Is Singing

Good info on this song in the link below.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_They_Drove_Old_Dixie_Down

And below is good info on Danville, Va. the last capitol of the Confederacy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danville,_Virginia

Basin Street Blues - Ray Charles

This song is on the album The Genius Hits The Road just like the ones on the two posts below this one.

Carry Me Back To Old Virginny

He mentions the Dismal Swamp in this song. There is a large wildfire burning there right now.
This song is on the album Ray Charles The Genius Hits The Road. See post below this one.

RAY CHARLES - I'M ALABAMY BOUND 1960 /AUDIO HQ

This is one of my favorite albums. Every song on this album is a winner.
I remember when I first heard this LP around 1960 or 1961 when it first came out. I still have my copy. This is some Ray Charles at his best.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Genius_Hits_the_Road

David"Fathead" Newman and Hank Crawford are both playing behind Ray on this album.

There's No Chicken In Chicken Fried Steak- It Is Just Steak Fried Like Chicken

CHICKEN FRIED STEAK AND MASHED POTATOES AND GRAVY AND LITTLE GREEN PEAS

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Beef/ChickenFriedSteak.htm
   
There used to be a restaurant in Meridian, Mississippi back in the 1950s and 1960s called The Triangle. Their specialty was called Chik Steak. It was Chicken Fried Steak on a bun. No gravy though. Maybe a pickle.

I just read on another blog someone asking for the recipe of the Triangle Chik Steak and they were told it is a patented recipe and they can't give it out to anyone.

I seem to remember reading some years ago on a Meridian, Ms. message board(maybe on The Meridian Star message boards) that someone bought the recipe and tried to open a restaurant and use it. So maybe it still exists somewhere waiting for a comeback.

The recipe below is from the link at the top of this post.

Chicken-Fried Steak Recipe - How To Make Chicken-Fried Steak


Recipe Type: Beef, Milk Gravy

Cuisine: Southwest

Yields: 4 servings

Prep time: 5 min

Cook time: 10 min

Ingredients:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste

Freshly ground black pepper

1 large egg

2 tablespoons water

3/4 cup buttermilk baking mix (such as the brand Bisquick)

2 pounds bottom or top round steak (cut into four individual portions), pounded well to tenderize

1/3 cup vegetable oil




Preparation:



Preheat oven to 150 degrees F.



In a shallow pan or plate, sift together flour, salt, and pepper.



In another shallow pan, combine egg and water.



In still another shallow pan, place baking mix. Coat steaks in flour mixture, dip in egg mixture, and then coat with baking mix.



In a large frying pan (I like to use my cast-iron skillet) over medium-high heat, add vegetable oil and heat until a drop of water sizzles. Add coated steak pieces, in batches, and fry 4 to 5 minutes per side or until golden brown and thoroughly cooked (add additional vegetable oil if needed). Remove from pan and keep cooked steaks warm in preheated oven.

Makes 4 servings.

 In the meantime I would think the recipe above would get close to the original. After all how many ways are there to chicken fry a steak? It is common in Texas and other places in the South.
   Denny's serves Chicken Fried Steak and here is their recipe.
http://secretrecipes.blogspot.com/2007/11/dennys-chicken-fried-steak.html

 Their other specialty of the Triangle Restaurant in Meridian, Miss. was Dutch Apple Pie. That was Apple Pie served heated with either American cheese or ice cream on top of the apple pie.

And here is a recipe for a Chicken Fried Steak Sandwich.
http://www.bakespace.com/recipes/detail/Chicken-Fried-Steak-Sandwich/16646/

Pierian Spring And The Empyrean 7th Heaven

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


An early reference to the Pierian spring is found in the Satyricon of Petronius from the late 1st century AD:




"This is the right armour of genius–

'Drink deep or taste not the Pierian spring.'

Only then pour out your heart."

Lines 215 to 232 of Pope's poem read:



"A little learning is a dang'rous thing;

Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:

There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,

And drinking largely sobers us again.

Fir'd at first sight with what the Muse imparts,

In fearless youth we tempt the heights of Arts,

While from the bounded level of our mind

Short views we take, nor see the lengths behind;

But more advanc'd, behold with strange surprise

New distant scenes of endless science rise!

So pleas'd at first the towering Alps we try,

Mount o'er the vales, and seem to tread the sky,

Th' eternal snows appear already past,

And the first clouds and mountains seem the last;

But, those attain'd, we tremble to survey

The growing labours of the lengthen'd way,

Th' increasing prospects tire our wand'ring eyes,

Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arise!"

The Divine Comedy's Empyrean, illustrated by Gustave Doré

A traveller to the edge of the world peers through the celestial spheres at the wonders of the Empyrean beyond. From Camille Flammarion's L'atmosphère (1888).

Click to enlarge these images.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empyrean

Ed Kienholz At The Washington Gallery Of Modern Art- Catalogue- Walter Hopps Director

Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

What an eye opener this show was. Walter had just arrived in Washington D.C. and this was one of his first shows. Modern West Coast L.A. art had arrived in D.C.
  More of this catalogue will be added from time to time. Check back. Click and double click if necessary on the pages below to enlarge to read them.

Selected pages from the catalogue. See below. I will add more later. Click and double click if necessary on the photos to super enlarge them.

The viewer was given the choice of looking in the window or not.
Kienholz once worked at a state mental hospital just as Ken Kesey had.
Years later(1974) I worked at a private psychiatric hospital called Chestnut Lodge in Rockville, Maryland. See my posts on Chestnut Lodge for my Tales From The Locked Wards Of A Psychiatric Hospital. When I first saw the Kienholz exhibition in 1967 little did I know that I would one day work in one of these places as a psychiatric aide.

Clifford Brown Sextet - Brownie Eyes

Rue Cler in Paris And An Outstanding Collection Of Paris Videos

Click on the name of the maker of this video( Mxsmanic  ) and you can see all his other fine videos made recently in Paris.
Double click on the video to watch full screen for best viewing.

Art Farmer & Gigi Gryce Quintet - Blue Lights

World's Heaviest People Including Francis John Lang Aka Michael Walker (1000 Pounds Plus) Who I Saw In Mobile In 1956

Francis John Lang, aka Michael Walker (b. 1934) of Gibsonton, FL (born in Clinton, IA); 6 ft 2 in, believed to have reached a maximum weight of 1187 lbs. Lang had weighed only 150 lbs as a soldier in Korea. He blamed his masssive weight gain on prescription drug abuse, claiming that his narcotic of choice had the side effect of giving him an uncontrollable appetite. Though unable to walk (a handicap that kept more than one fat lady out of the side show), Lang found a unique way of capitalizing on his situation: he had a mobile home built with observation windows, and traveled the country putting himself on display at carnivals and fairs. Lying nearly nude on an oversize circular bed, he preached to the curious about the evils of drugs, using his own body as the moral lesson. His peak weight, claimed for him by Christian Farms of Killeen, TX, in the summer of 1971, was unverified, but Guiness Superlatives found photographic evidence to be reasonably conclusive. In early 1972 Lang was hospitalized in Houston for a suspected heart attack, at which time he was estimated to weigh between 900 and 1000 lbs. His symptoms proved to be caused by an inflamed gallbladder, probably aggravated by his weight loss, and the examining physician declared his heart to be "unusually normal." By 1980, Lang had reportedly reduced to 369 lbs.

Below is a link to a list with pictures of the World's Heaviest People.
The guy I saw is #6. Francis John Lang, aka Michael Walker
http://www.dimensionsmagazine.com/dimtext/kjn/people/heaviest.htm
I am sure this is the guy I saw in Mobile, Alabama in 1956. He had a trailer that he parked and charged people 50 cents to have a look.
I paid the 50 cents and walked up to have a look. I looked.  I didn't say anything to him and he didn't say anything to me.
I was 15 years old at the time and the trailer was parked on Old Shell Road in Mobile opposite The Rebel Queen which is mentioned in the post below this one. Scroll down.
   It certainly made an impression on me at the time. Seems odd to me that he was parked on Old Shell Road. That is not normally a place where you would encounter such an attraction.

Ludo Bites Mobile - Queen G's Cafe In Mobile Alabama Was Once The Rebel Queen In The 1950s

Click and double click if necessary to enlarge the photos.

http://queengscafe.com/queen-gs-on-tv/

We were watching Ludo Bites Mobile on the Sundance Channel today. I only got a glimpse of the outside of Queen G's cafe and thought it looked familiar. I looked it up on the web and checked the address on google maps and lo and behold I was right. It used to be The Rebel Queen back in the 1950s and 1960s. Located on Old Shell Road only two blocks from my aunt and uncle's house and one block from where my mother and I lived in 1956. I haven't been back to Mobile and that part of Old Shell Road in over 40 years. I would say that takes the cake for visual memory on my part.

This is the Rebel Queen in 1958.
Ludo Bites America. And Ludo Bites Mobile, Alabama.
http://gomiso.com/m/ludo-bites-america/seasons/1/episodes/3?item_id=8073941
Link to Queen G's Website below.
http://queengscafe.com/
http://queengscafe.com/location/
2518 Old Shell Road Mobile, Alabama.
Below is the way it was in 1958. Picture is from an advertisement in the 1958 Mohian which is the yearbook for Murphy High School in Mobile, Alabama.

The Gypsy Gold Ring Scam And Pickpockets in Paris

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187147-i14-k2249315-Metro_Scam_and_Gold_Ring_Scam-Paris_Ile_de_France.html
Above link is to a page of info on the Gold Ring Scam. Here she is again. Or someone who looks like her.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGE9XLvJb84&feature=related
3 times I have had pickpockets attempt to steal my wallet on the Metro in Paris.
So far they have not gotten it.
 But from now on I am going to stay off the Metro and stick to the above ground excellent bus system.
I think if you look English or American or simply like a tourist you are a target for scams and pick pockets in Paris.
No more Paris Metro for me.

And here is how it is done.

Food Critic(Customer) Spits In His Food In The Cafe du Marche In Paris France

The Cafe du Marche is on the Rue Cler in Paris. This is not a criticism of the Cafe. It is a place recomended by travel guru Rick Steeves. He also stays at and recommends the Hotel Champs du Mars which is across the street from The Cafe du Marche. My wife and I stayed and the Hotel Champs du Mars. The rooms are small but it is cheap and usually fully booked and it is hard to get a room there.

We decided to eat dinner at the Cafe du Marche. It is very popular and always very crowded in the evening.
    We sat down and ordered one of the specials. I was watching the people and saw a young man come in and sit down.  When the waiter brought his food he tasted it and then complained to the waiter. They got into a loud argument. The customer demanded to see the owner or the chef. This was all in French but I could get the drift without understanding all the words. The hand gestures and exclamations and pointing at the food told me he was a very unhappy customer.
   I have been told French people take their food very seriously. I was about to find out just how seriously.
After yelling back and forth with the cook or chef the customer stood up and leaned over and spit in his food and walked out.
    I felt we had just witnessed a real Parisian moment.
The video below is a visit to the Rue Cler. It has a link to a more interesting street market in Paris.
Click on the title of the video to go to YouTube and read the comments to find the link.