Oldest Banjo Recording Known

Here is a podcast from the Washington Post about someone’s awesome junk pile find. In a box of old wax cylinders there was a recording from 1891 of Charles Asbury playing Haul the Woodpile Down.

It was recorded during the height of Minstrelsy by one of its top stars. While modern sensibilities are rightly horrified at the thought of white performers donning blackface to portray stereotypical characters, at the end of the 19th Century, it was by far the most popular form of “authentically American” entertainment.

How popular was it? Literally every stereotype of African Americans was born on a minstrel stage. Kids today still hear Campton Races when they turn their jack-in-the-box handles. Modern variety shows still employ the staging of the minstrel shows.

Minstrelsy was a weird time in American history that produced a lot of ugliness that we reject directly, yet built the backbone of American entertainment that still delights.

Webb Delayed Again

Just saw that the replacement for the Hubble Telescope will be delayed again.

Webb Space Telescope pushed back again, won’t launch until 2021

The biggest problem facing Webb is after 2019 the funding needs another Congressional approval for 2020 and beyond. With NASA and hard science spending a low priority of the #MAGA race to the bottom crowd it might not ever get up there.

Some lowlights of what triggered this delay:

  • Fasteners for the sunscreen weren’t tightened sufficiently prior to testing under simulated launch conditions. Over a dozen of them popped loose, several ended up inside the spacecraft body, and two of them still haven’t been definitively located.
  • Using a solvent to clean valves without checking with the valve manufacturer; the improper solvent damaged the valves and forced their replacement.
  • Relied on the word of a single technician that test wiring was installed properly. As a result, hardware was exposed to excess voltage.

These are right up there with, “forgot if they were using the English or Metric system.”

Here’s hoping I live long enough to see an operational space telescope again.

A Triple Header of Suspense

Like Stranger Things? How about A Quiet Place? Classic Stephen King stories from back before he realized he could just churn out the same story over and over?

Well make way for The Boogeyman.

I just saw a blurb announcing the producers of Stranger Things, and the writers of A Quiet Place just optioned the rights to make Stephen Kings short story The Boogeyman into a movie. You can find that story on Night Shift which was the collection of early short stories that came out in 1978.

It’s still early in production, but this already sounds like it’ll be awesome. It also gives me a good excuse to pick up an old book and see if those stories were as good as I remember.

How ’bout Them Tigers

Let’s see, last time I did a Tigers post it was Father’s Day and they’d just won again to get their record to 36-37. How have they been this last week and a half?

36W-43L

Yep, that’s right, in the six games they’ve had since then, the Tigers have lost every single one of them. They got the Buckeye sweep losing twice to Cincinnati and three times to Cleveland and they’ve lost the first to Oakland.

The Red’s and A’s games were close, but the Tribe series had a combined score of 26-3. Now that we’re almost through June it looks like the Tigers days of sneaking in some wins against the better teams might be over. If they can’t beat the mid and bottom tier teams either, then there’s nowhere to go but down.

War is peace.  Freedom is slavery.  Ignorance is strength.

“When somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no Judges or Court Cases, bring them back from where they came. Our system is a mockery to good immigration policy and Law and Order,” he wrote.

The only thing more scary than the current President of the United States proposing we eliminate due process in the name of law and order, are the legions of partisans cheering him on as he dismantles democracy.

The greatness of our system of justice is that it applies equally to all. It isn’t supposed to play favorites or be withheld from groups that a politician declares aren’t worthy. By protecting even the lowest and least deserving of us, it guarantees protection for all of us.

Requiring a judge to hear the government’s case for kicking someone out of the country, even when we’re reasonably sure that person will be excluded, is one of the checks on power that keeps the government from just rounding up its critics and declaring them unworthy of justice.
First they came for…

doesn’t have a happy ending. Even if you’re white…. or a loyal, party over country, Republican.

Happy 80th Eddie Adcock

Yesterday, one of the remaining living legends of bluegrass banjo celebrated his 80th birthday. Eddie Adcock was one of Bill Monroes Blue Grass Boys. He was an originalCountry Gentelmen. He started the first “Newgrass” group, II Generation, with his wife Martha. He has played country rock and outlaw country. He’s done just about everything but brain surgery in his awesome career.

Oh wait, did someone say brain surgery? In October 2008 Eddie was facing giving up playing due to hand tremors. While under local anesthesia forDeep Brain Simulation surgery Eddie played his banjo so the doctors could check out what was happening in real time.

And here’s a whole range of Eddies mastery

Disney Halting the Star Wars Universe

After the less than spectacular reception of its Han Solo movie, Disney has out all future Star Wars movies on hold.

Honestly Disney, the old farts like me that grew up wanting more stories about the original characters made them all up long ago. We loved those characters not because we knew their backstories. We loved those characters because of the infinite possibilities that were left open to our imaginations.

Don’t believe me? How deep and dark of a villain was Darth Vader in the original trilogy? How deep and dark is he after the prequel trilogy showed us he’s just a spoiled brat with daddy issues?

If you’re new to Star Wars then you want to know more about the characters that are central to these new movies. You aren’t interested in a backstory for Han Solo, because he died half way through your first Star Wars movie. You aren’t nostalgic for a character you barely knew.

Here’s hoping Disney and Lucasfilms take this pause to stop trying to make blockbuster movies they think the fans want and actually figure out how to tell some good, Star Wars stories that aren’t just trying to cash in on faded memories.

Make America Feckless Again

feckless

ADJECTIVE

  • Lacking initiative or strength of character; irresponsible.

    With the ugly, completely foreseen consequences of President Trump‘s newest policy on immigration, which essentially amounts to, “Fuck ’em all,” the President did what he does best.

    He held a one hour meeting with the Republican toadies where he managed to say absolutely nothing while convincing both sides he is on their side.

    Some lawmakers emerged from the hour-long huddle adamant Trump had endorsed a compromise measure that would allow families to remain together.
    But others were more equivocal, saying Trump only expressed support for any bill that arrives on his desk — either the compromise plan or a more conservative version whose prospects appear dim.
  • With the ugly, completely foreseen consequences of President Trump‘s newest policy on immigration, which essentially amounts to, “Fuck ’em all,” the President did what he does best.

    He held a one hour meeting with the Republican toadies where he managed to say absolutely nothing while convincing both sides he is on their side.

    Some lawmakers emerged from the hour-long huddle adamant Trump had endorsed a compromise measure that would allow families to remain together.
    But others were more equivocal, saying Trump only expressed support for any bill that arrives on his desk — either the compromise plan or a more conservative version whose prospects appear dim.

And just to make things clear as mud,

The White House said afterward Trump “endorsed both House immigration bills….”

The only times President Trump and his minions actually choose a side is when they’re reserving a special place in hell for Canada, the enemy of human rights, while insanely declaring North Korea is peachy keen and its champion.

When I was working immigration on the border, separating families was the last of last resorts. They’re caught. They’re going home. Throwing in some good, old fashioned cruelty just for kicks is the exact opposite of what the United States used to stand for.

Just How Dysfunctional are the Caps?

Two weeks after the Washington Capitals won the Stanley Cup, their coach, Barry Trotz is out of a job.

Toronto’s Mike Babcock makes the most at $6.25 million on an eight-year deal after coaching Detroit for 10 seasons, Chicago’s Joel Quenneville is next at $6 million entering his ninth full season with the Blackhawks and Montreal’s Claude Julien brings in $5 million after coaching Boston for nine-plus seasons. All three have won the Cup like Trotz, including Quenneville three times.

The Caps apparently wanted to pay the coach who brought them two President’s Trophies and their first Cup two million bucks and wouldn’t commit to a five year deal. Trotz rightfully told them to “Take this job and shove it.”

I guess they want to go another 43 years before winning another cup.

Nick Castellanos’ Happy Father’s Day Weekend

The Detroit Tigers managed a sweep of the Chicago White Sox this Father’s Day weekend thanks to timely homeruns by Nick Castellanos. He had been in a funk the past week or so with only one hit in 21 late appearances. On Saturday he knocked two over the fence and added a third on Sunday.

The win was the Tigers fifth in a row and seventh win out of their last ten games. It also put them one game below .500 at 36-37. With two games coming up against the Cincinnati Reds they just might enter the rarefied air of having won more games than they’ve lost…. or they might start another five game losing streak. It’s been that kind of season.