Weekend's Over!

Back To The Old Grind!

Not My Victrola

Pax41 has posted "Any Ice Today, Lady?" one of the many amusing songs to come out of the 1920's. I never thought about it before, but evidently, delivering ice was once a common summer job for college students.

"I Am The Eagle,

There's Blood On My Feathers."

I Think I'll Have A Little Skunk Tartare.

Thanks, Deb. You are now an official True Blue Contributor!

Mr. Completely's 2010 e-Postals Have Begun!

Click over to Mr. Completely to read the rules and download your target for "Seeing Stars," the first match of the year. Mr. C has created a contest that will be decided not just by shooting skill, but also judicial application of tactics to maximize your score. It will be lots of fun, and good shooting practice.

Weekend Steam

afd218 posted this threshing scene on his YouTube channel. It appears to be on an Amish farm, based on the clothing of many of those present, and the horses hitched to the bundle wagon. It was shot near Arthur, Illinois.

Last night I found a video of a cute little steam launch running on a stream in New York State, put together a post, and set it to come up right after midnight. I checked it this morning and...nothing! This seems to happen regularly when I set up a post for the next day, so that is why I usually publish the post and then change the time to the next day. Oh well.

Crankin' It Up

"Carry Me Back To Old Virginny" was one of the first records I posted on YouTube, and I never was happy with the way it came through. We had a low quality microphone then, and I used Audacity to take out some of the needle hiss, so the record sounded thin and tinny. It still got lots of hits, though, and lots of comments. It seems that people either love this song or they hate it; really hate it.

James Bland, the author of this song was a well educated, free, black man born in 1854, who made entertainment his life. He wrote "Carry Me Back To Old Virginny" in 1874, and it was an immediate hit. He soon went to work in minstrel shows, and he performed in England and Europe for about twenty years. During his career he wrote hundreds of songs, and he was a pioneer in breaking down barriers into the publishing and entertainment world. He died in poverty from tuberculosis in 1911. By that time, minstrel shows had nearly disappeared.

Alma Gluck was one of the most remarkable singers of the Twentieth Century, and you should look up some of the biographies about her on the internet. I am always saddened to think of her brief career, which ended in the 1920's when she lost her performing voice. The last recordings by her were not released, and all of her records were made during the pre-electric, acoustic era. She died from liver problems at age 54 in 1938.

This recording was made with our good microphone, and no noise removal was done, so you hear this song as the old Brunswick plays it. Just like old times.

Inch by Inch

There are some big goings-on in Washington, Iowa right now. A three story brick building has been picked up eight feet; wheels and drive units are under it now, and it is being moved several blocks, where it will be installed on a new foundation. At first I was incredulous, now I am flabbergastedly impressed. The YouTube video below was lifted from KCII Radio's website.

Nice Ride!

We saw this beautiful Model A Ford last fall when we gassed up at a Moto-Mart over in southern Indiana on our return trip from Boonville. I was a bit surprised that the owner didn't put a drop cloth around the filler. It sounded as good as it looked when he cackled out of there.

I'll See Your Paper Target, And Raise You An Explosion!

Derek has been shooting again, and he makes paper targets look a bit ho-hum. This was videoed at last year's Boomershoot; click over to Joe Huffman's blog, and go to the Boomershoot Category.

Gilson Hit-And-Miss Engine At Boonville

Here is a nice hit and miss engine running at Boonville, Indiana last fall. I am just about out of raw video from last year's shows, so I may have to resort to creative writing, or using other peoples' videos. Anyway, this video shows the hit-and-miss governor parts working, so it is interesting to watch.