Football Without A Helmet
@chamblee54 @marcmaron heard the #davidbowie ad at start of podcast~dude is greatest marketer ever even beyond the grave ~ I don’t know about that football-without-a-helmet business. That hair could stop a few tacklers. ~ shelly from da block @OhItsShell_ @MTVNews it’s a shame bc its 2016 and y’all are still racist lol. Haven’t learned shit. ~ Even bloggers have to pay the bills! Monthly subscriptions- no matter how small- help give me the security to devote time to this place and keep a roof over my head. If you like what you read, please do help out: ~ If you start to feel too happy, know that the world is between 6000 and 4,543,345,678 year old, and you are living at the same time as Donald Trump. ~ Maybe the time to “call out” someone is when they are alive. ~ @red3blog Dangerous Fat Activist. Humorless feminist. Pedantic liberal. Artisanal blocker. Not all blocks are personal. ~ Pro Tip #2: If you share a story, add a picture of your own . This way, your picture will show, instead of the headline from the story. Often, the headline of the story does not accurately reflect the story. If you add a picture, all people will see is the web address. You can add a comment if you like. ~ The red in my neck spread up. ~ there is always something to clean up at my house ~ there is a mcmansion in progress across the street, and they are loading the old driveway in a dumpster it sounds like a bomb going off every few minutes ~ The post about david bowie had 661 words. The best place to add five words was at the end of the paragraph about the contradictions in his personality. A youtube video was found, of a live performance of “Cracked Actor.” Some text was written. The word count was now 667. To get it down to 666, singular they will be used. Subject/vowel agreement will have to wait for another day. Singular they is so tacky. ~ @cool_as_heck Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers. Nothing’s wrong, I just become more powerful when I feast on the cognition of others. ~ @WernerTwertzog It is important for academics to use social media, so they can compile the evidence for their own job termination. ~ Is David Bowie 20th Century? ~ An arab proverb loosely translated: He who tells the truth must keep one foot in the saddle. ~ Doc Ock @OckyJ83 Behold, the astounding racial bias of modern feminism– a tale of 2 predators (R. Kelly vs David Bowie) ~ Can I suggest unfollowing, as opposed to unfriend. If you do not follow someone, you will not be subjected to the well intentioned memes that pave their road to hell. When you unfriend someone, you slap them in the face, and they will always wonder why you did this too them. Maybe Joe Blow is a marginal person to you, but you might not be to him. Hurting people carelessly is not good karma. Just because it has been done to you, this is not a good reason to do it to someone else. ~ How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks, but only at what he does himself, to make it just and holy. Marcus Aurelius ~ @TransGriot #oscarssowhite that pointed hoods will be included in the swag bags this year ~ The posers are happy to be seen, or obscene. Many of them need to leave their clothes on. ~ @WernerTwertzog It is important for poor children to be exposed to lead to maintain the fiction of cognitive meritocracy. ~ They are pouring the driveway for the McMansion across the street. The left rear wheel of the concrete truck sank into the driveway mud. ~ I want to be the eyes that function comfortably after being lubricated by tears of joy. ~ I was thinking how this would be with contemporary pronouns. “A friend of mine was wearing one when they was shot by their spouse” It can be confusing. ~ sunday morning is too good to waste in church ~ those who love peace must learn to organize as effectively as those who love war ~ Do only people living in “swing states” have a chance of winning the lottery? They are the only ones with a vote in the electoral college system of choosing POTUS. ~ One person said that singular they might pave the way for singular ya’ll. ~ bowie stuff ~ mental health `~ language ~ first person ~ we african americans are an extremely privileged group of people ~ Bowie Won’t Face A Rape Indictment ~ So You Aren’t Racist. Good, but It’s Not Enough ~ Marcus Aurelius ~ White Privilege arguments that sound good to speaker ~ flyer talk ~ introvert ~ so called truth ~ pictures from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. ~ selah
Lurid Digs
There is a site called Lurid Digs. It can be very, very funny. It is also filthy. Fifty years ago. publishing pictures like this would get you sent to jail. If you want to find it, you can do so on your own.
PG was trolling the internet one night, and he landed at Lurid Digs. He saw a picture that might be fun to use, to illustrate a post about NASCAR.(spell check suggestions: MASCARA) However, at the bottom of the LD page was some troubling language about copyrights. PG decided to write LD and get permission, before he used any of their pictures.
The very next day, this message was in the inbox (spell check suggestions: inbreed ) :Hi Luther…Sure, you can use the credited pics. Also I’m available for ‘interview’ should you have any questions you like to ask…Cheers, David K Publisher Lurid Digs
An interview with the publisher of Lurid Digs! What a coup! PG opened up a wordpad and started to think of questions. He edited them to a numerically proper twenty. The questions were sent to Lurid Digs. The reply arrived a few days later.
Oy, too convoluted for me. But thanks anyway. (I was thinking of something much more simpler.) Cheers, David K luriddigs.com
PG was disappointed. As Scarlet might say, tomorrow is another day. The questions will make a fun post by themselves. This is a repost, with pictures from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. Lurid Digs is still published, in all it’s NSFW glory.
01- Are the models and decorators for Lurid Digs certified to be drug free? 02- What kind of strings do you use on your guitar? 03- Why do birds fly up in the sky, every time you walk by? 04- What can the argyle community do to fight racism? 05- If Jesus were to pose for you, would you put makeup over the holes in his hands? 06- Who asked Sarah Palin what she thought? 07- What impact does Lurid Digs have on global warming? 08- How much was the model’s bail? 09- Have residences been inspected by the fashion police? 10- Does Chenille ever go out of style? 11- Do the neighbors in the trailer park get suspicious when you do a photo shoot? 12- Why don’t we just go ahead and make murder legal? 13- Are humans as smart as dogs? 14- What do the youth of today want? 15- Why do people include the office disclaimer when sending out joke emails? 16- Is NASCAR rigged? 17- Who wrote the book of love? 18- If a model dies during a photo shoot, is he greeted in heaven by 72 virgins? 19- What do you put on pizza you order for photo shoots? 20- Do you ever play 20 questions?
The Great Speckled Bird
One day in the eighth grade, PG had a sore spot in his eye. They called it a stye. One afternoon, he got out of school, walked to Lenox Square, saw a doctor, and got some eye drops.
When he left the doctor’s office, there was a man, standing in front of Rich’s on the sidewalk, selling a newspaper. He had blond hair down past his shoulders. PG asked what the newspaper was. Mostly politics, he said. PG gave him fifteen cents for a copy of “The Great Speckled Bird”.
The Bird was an underground newspaper. It was so bad, it needed to be buried. If you are under fifty, you have probably never seen one. These papers flourished for a while. The Bird was published from 1968 to 1976. The April 26, 1968 edition was volume one, number four. This was what PG bought that day.
The Georgia State University Library has a digital collection. Included in it are copies of The Great Speckled Bird. Included in this collection is edition Number Four. PG went looking for that first copy. He needed to be patient, for the GSU server took it’s time. Finally, the copy he asked for came up. It was mostly politics.
When PG saw page four, he knew it was the edition from forty eight years ago. “Sergeant Pepper’s Vietnam Report” was the story of a young man sent to Nam. It had a paragraph that impressed young PG, and is reproduced here. The rest of the article is not that great, which is typical of most underground newspaper writing.
A couple of years later, PG spent the summer working at the Lenox Square Theater. The number two screen was a long skinny room. If you stood in the right place, you could hear the electric door openers of the Colonial Grocery store upstairs. The Bird salesmen were a feature at the mall that summer, which not everyone appreciated. This was the year of the second, and last, Atlanta Pop Festival. PG was not quite hip enough to make it. He was back in the city, taking tickets for “Fellini Satyricon”. The Bird was printing 26 pages an issue, with lots of ads, pictures, and the distinctive graphics of the era.
Stories about hippies, and the Bird, can be found at The Strip Project. This repost has pictures from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
The Last David Bowie Show
It has been a strange week for a David Bowie fan. On Friday, I was looking for a rerun to post, and was reminded that January 8 was his birthday. (Along with Elvis and Shirley Bassey) I put up a piece about Mr. Bowie, and fashioned a poem out of his song titles. Aquarian Drunkard reissued a collection of the “best and most interesting Bowie oddities”. A new album was released, with a lot of comments about how strange it was. Strange is something Bowie fans turn to face.
On Monday, I woke up. Go on the internet. MSN news says that David Bowie has died. This is surprising. I know what people are going to talk about for a few days.
I typically download the new wtf podcast on Monday. The show is “supported” by Columbia records, presenting David Bowie’s new album “Blackstar.” Marc Maron gushes on about how ” DAVID BOWIE I LOVE DAVID BOWIE. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?” The single is called “Lazarus.”
The timing of the whole thing is bizarre. Was this planned? To release a puzzling new work on your sixty ninth birthday, and then die two days later. With the master media manipulator involved, prior planning cannot be ruled out. Or was it just a parting shot of synchronicity? We will never know.
In what might be a new move for celebrity deaths, sex scandal rumors emerged. A lady named Lori Maddox claims that Mr. Bowie “devirginized” her. Miss Maddox was underage at the time. Some people think that this incident makes Mr. Bowie a terrible person, whose artistic output should be ignored. One made the inevitable comment “As someone who sees White stars get a pass for things that celebrities of color get crucified for.”
I learned a long time ago to separate the performer from the performance. I also apply this rule to David Robert Jones. (David Bowie was a stage name. The legal name was never changed.) In 1976, there was an interview, where the artist said “Don’t believe anything you hear me say.” While the creative/marketing genius can be enjoyed, there was always a bit of coldness behind the mask. Some press reports say that this softened as the years went by. In the end David Bowie was human. Ziggy Stardust was a character played by an actor. Does it matter that they were a Cracked Actor?
It is ironic that David Bowie played Andy Warhol in Basquiat. Both combined creation of art, and the marketing of art product, into a seamless unit. The two did not have a good first meeting. “Remember, David Bowie was not a big star. He was just some guy off the street as far as Andy Warhol was concerned. They found a common ground in David’s shoes. David was wearing yellow Mary Janes and Andy had been a shoe illustrator, which David knew so they began talking about shoes.”
This would have been in 1971. Mr. Bowie discusses his adventures in between songs of this show. There is another story from that first tour: “I think that must’ve been part of the Mercury Records publicity tour in early 1971, Gus. Ted Vigodsky, if I remember correctly, brought Bowie by The Great Speckled Bird’s offices on North Avenue where Moe Slotin and I met him. Bowie was dressed in an ill-fitting gingham dress and looked something like a gaunt, poverty-stricken woman in one of those Walker Evans photos from the Depression. He informed Moe and me that he was gonna be the next big star in rock-n-roll. It took all of our will power not to laugh in his face. This was before anyone in America had heard of him and he had no records out yet (“Space Oddity,” a hit in England in 1969, was not released in the USA until 1973). Six months later Moe and I realised we had completely underestimated him. I had forgotten Charlie had called you about interviewing him.” Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
A Question And A Joke
You can listen to hours of talk, and then hear everything you need to hear in one sentence. This happened to PG twice recently. Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
Dr. Glenn Loury is a frequent flyer at Bloggingheads.tv. He hosted a recent discussion with the eyeball grabbing headline Are school suspension policies racist? The guest, Robert Cherry, was going-on-and-on about black household percentages, when Dr. Loury asked “What’s the source of those data?” The guest never did answer the question.
In many internet incidents, statistics are accepted without question. Weasel words like average and prove are not challenged. Simple questions, like “who paid for the study” are not asked. Is this an authority issue? Do rhetoric spouting bullies use statistics as weapons, never to be challenged?
The war on drugs is another playground for authoritarianism. A recent episode of radiolab, The Fix, explores developments in chemical solutions to the remorseless desire to get fucked up. Some say we are headed to a “prozac moment,” to a sea change in the way we view addiction. Others hold onto the AA method, and say that it is the only thing that works for some. Since everyone approaches substances in their own unique way, there probably will never be a one-size-fits-all answer.
The radiolab show links to a panel discussion with “top addiction researchers.” Despite the charming European accents, the show is suicidally boring. At the 13:24 mark, Eric Nestler says “Dr. Volkoff gives me a lot of grant money I cannot disagree with her.” It was intended as a joke.
Google It
It was a good try. The grammar mistakes could give an english teacher nightmares. The all caps, hashtag heavy, rhetoric rampage was obnoxious even by Bernie Sanders standards. When you follow the gentle suggestion to “GOOGLE IT” you see some things that make BS look like a loudmouth fool.
For those people who are yet asking how #BernieSanders will pay for all the things he is campaigning for… LISTEN GOOD!!! You maybe heard the things #BernieSanders wants to do. But you didn’t pay attention.. 1) I don’t going to do it easy for you.. if you are really interested in how he going to pay for. .. GOOGLE IT!!! I’M. F*#&@ING TIRED OF PEOPLE LIKE YOU TRYING TO DEMORALIZED PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY ARE DOING SOMETHING TO CHANGE THE WORLD. SO MOVE YOUR FINGERS AND LOOK FOR YOURSELF. 2) OPEN YOUR MIND TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IS HIS MESSAGE, HE CAN’T DO IT BY HIMSELF. 3) OPEN YOUR HEART IF YOU STILL HAVE ONE.. if you are doing this just to waste our time or our energy…JUST BACK OFF… #BERNIESANDERS #FEELTHEBERN #MYCITYCONNECTED #SEETHEBERN #BreakEmUp #TheRealDeal #LetsGetToWork http://www.berniesanders.com
The lady said to “GOOGLE IT.” PG highlighted how #BernieSanders will pay for all the things he is campaigning for, right click, “Search Google for”…
If you look at the turmoil BHO went through to get badly needed health care reform through congress, you might be wondering how BS is going to get free college tuition approved. The answer is that he will not. BS is making a lot of promises that nobody could come close to fulfilling. Lets put that aside, and consider how these promises will be paid for.
The Huffington Post is the top result, and is fairly sympathetic. Bernie Sanders Explains How Taxing The Rich Will Pay For His Policies “But he admits it could take more than higher contributions from the top 1 percent alone.”
The Free Thought Project notes the cost of the proposals. BS does not plan to cut back on military spending, but will go full spending speed ahead. Drone warfare would continue, although BS says he would be more careful. The unquestioning support of Israel would continue, with Palestinians blamed for the slaughter in Gaza. At no time does anyone say #GazaLivesMatter.
The Wall Street Journal does not #feeltheBern. Price Tag of Bernie Sanders’s Proposals: $18 Trillion claims that the BS proposals could double the national debt. The WSJ article does not say how the proposals would be paid for.
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
December Gun Violence
The fun loving Parents Against Gun Violence likes to post a graphic image every month. It is a list of sketchy incidents involving firearms. In addition to the graphic, PAGV posts a list of links. This enables the reader to learn more about the incidents. This custom is rare on facebook. More meme mongers should provide backup for their graphic rhetoric. Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
The graphic has a brief description of the incident. The text is usually, though not always, accurate. This textbite is written in first person. In the case of Josmel Herrera, this adds a touch of irony. Mr. Herrera was cleaning a gun on a skype chat, and shot himself. The injury was fatal. Maybe he wrote the text on the way to the hospital.
In most of the twenty one cases, the ethnic identity of the actor is not indicated in the report. Several of the shooters had Hispanic names. In six cases, the race of the perp was obvious. Out of these six, three were white, and three were black. Another irresponsible gun user was named Si Phu.
In one Missouri incident, a man was hearing music that nobody else heard. “On Saturday afternoon he heard annoying bass noise again, coming from an adjoining apartment in the 12500 block of Ardwick Lane. Police say he put on a bullet-resistant vest, took a handgun and confronted the neighbor, ordering Yi-Ping “Peter” Chang to “turn the bass down.” … He shot and killed Chang during the confrontation about 3:30 p.m., then waited outside for police to arrive, saying the shooting was in self-defense, according to police.”… neighbors said James C. Blanton complained about non existing noise often, and that he is mentally ill. “
Mental illness is possibly involved in an Arizona story. “Police responded to the apartment at 1515 W. Missouri Avenue after receiving reports of a dead African-American woman covered in a towel laying on the sofa. When officers arrived to the apartment, Anitra Braxton told police that no one was inside her apartment and that she lived alone. … However, noticed what appeared to be a body laying on the sofa. Braxton was then arrested and taken to police headquarters. Once police obtained a search warrant for the apartment, they found the body of Crystal Hillman wrapped in a towel and laying on the couch. She had sustained a gunshot wound to the head. … While being questioned, Braxton told police Hillman’s body was a “shrine from God” and was actually her own body. She later told police that the victim had been shot in the eye for not believing in God.”
A Detroit family had a Christmas to forget. “The alleged shooter, Sharonda Benson, left the family outing after a dispute over an ex-boyfriend and came back to the home firing 5-10 shots into the home striking the two girls, aged 7 and 8 were playing on the ground floor of the home with newly received Christmas gifts. … the 7-year-old has died, the 8-year-old is hospitalized in critical condition.”
Several of the shootouts were in Florida. “Officials say “Case Closed” after a woman accidentally shot her fiancé in the wrist … their two Pit Bulls, “Ruby” and “Blueberry” were fighting in master bedroom. Charles Jones says, while he was holding the two dogs apart, he asked Cindy Kittelson to grab their .38 revolver and shoot “Ruby” in the head. Kettelson retrieved the revolver, pointed it at “Ruby’s” head and pulled the trigger. Unfortunately, the bullet passed through the dog’s ear and struck Jones in the wrist. … At the conclusion of their investigation, deputies confirmed that the incident was completely accidental and no charges were filed against Cindy Kettelson. Animal Control was called to investigate the animal’s well-being.”
Georgia Statehood Day
@EdDarrell “Hey, Georgia! Fly your flags on January 2, 2016 , to honor Georgia Statehood Day!” PG has lived in Georgia all his life, and never knew that this was statehood day. Today in Georgia History has this to say: “Georgia elected six delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787. Only four went. And only two—Abraham Baldwin and William Few—signed the final document. … Georgia called a special convention in Augusta to consider the proposed charter. The delegates voted unanimously to ratify the new U.S. Constitution, on January 2, 1788.”
The Constitutional Convention was called to revise the Articles of Confederation. They wound up scrapping the old document, and creating the Constitution from scratch. The “Founding Fathers” created the system of Government that we use today, along with a way to amend the Constitution. (PG has served on bylaw revision committees. The one thing you must have is a way to amend the bylaws.) The new document would not take effect until nine of the thirteen colonies ratified it.
Delaware was the first state to approve the Constitution, on December 7, 1787. It’s neighbors Pennsylvania (December 12) and New Jersey (December 18) soon followed. Georgia was the fourth state, and the first southern state.
Slavery was still legal in Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey in 1787. One famous citizen of Pennsylvania, Ben Franklin, owned two slaves, named King and George. Franklin’s newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette, routinely ran ads for sale or purchase of slaves.
The concept of flying the state flag has an ironic twist in Georgia. The design of the flag has changed twice in the last fifteen years. In 1956, the legislature voted to incorporate the St. Andrews cross, aka the Confederate flag, into the Georgia state flag. (If you want to debate their motive for doing so, please go somewhere else.) After much controversy, the flag was changed in 2001, and again in 2003. It probably will not be changed again.
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
New Years Day
One thing that is accepted without question is the year starting at midnight on December 31. That is, in some cultures. Jews have a new year in September, China celebrates some time in January, and the fiscal year is whenever the bean counters say. If you ask google “why does the year start january first”, you get 436m options.
The earth runs on a cycle, based on it’s annual trip around the sun. The winter solstice is the longest night of the year, and in many ways the logical end of the year. The celebration of Christmas, a few days after the solstice, is not a coincidence. The question today is, why do we start a new year a week after Christmas, or ten days after the solstice?
The top ranked answer at google is from catalogs.com. They talk about Julius Caesar and Pope Gregory XIII(13), but never quite say why January first is the big day. It does end on a helpful note: “Calendars are a way that grownups organize time, but clearly not all grownups do it the same way. Happy New Year, therefore, whenever it happens for you.”
Lifeslittlemysteries continues with the talk about Caesar and the Pope. It is noted that January 1 was the day that Roman officials started their term of office. In England and her colonies, the new year was celebrated in March until 1752.
The rest of the google results do not look promising. PG does not know the answer to this. Maybe the best answer is that the New Year starts January 1st is because the calender says so. This is a repost, with pictures from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
Did Jesus Go To Hell?
This is a repost, with pictures from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. Tim Tebow’s fifteen minutes are over.
A blogger named Older eyes put up a post about Tim Tebow and Bill Maher, who recently had a twitterspat. It went like this. “Maher Tweeted: Wow, Jesus just f—- TimTebow bad! And on Xmas Eve! Somewhere in hell Satan is tebowing, saying to Hitler, “Hey, Buffalo’s killing them” … To Tebow’s credit, he ignored Maher, Tweeting only, Tough game today but what’s most important is being able to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Merry Christmas everyone GB² (according to Tebow’s website GB²=God Bless+Go Broncos).
PG … who forgives Denver for Super Bowl XXXIII … felt obliged to pile on. He left this comment: 1-In all probability, Jesus was not born on December 25. The celebration of his birth was grafted onto a pagan festival day. 2- It sure was fun watching Buffalo run those interceptions back for touchdowns. 3- There is no good choice here. In both cases, you have the option of turning the TV off, or switching away from twitter. If you are in enforced contact (a work or family situation) with someone who will not shut up, who repeats his obnoxious opinions with disregard for his neighbor, then you do not have this option. 4- Jesus said, when Satan was through talking to Hitler, please leave me out of this.
This got PG to thinking. If you saw a mushroom cloud rising over Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, that might have been the result. Did Jesus go to hell?
The party line is that Jesus paid the price for the sins of mankind. Is forty four hours in a cave enough? When you consider the billions of lies, murders, and fornications, you have to wonder. Maybe Jesus is taking the place of man in hell, paying the price for your sins.
Great Southeast Music Hall Stories
Chamblee54 posted a tribute to The Great Southeast Music Hall a few years ago. This was a concert venue, with no hard liquor and a 500 person capacity, next door to a bowling alley on Piedmont Road. It was about a mile north of Piedmont Park, and in front of the dirt road that became Sidney Marcus Boulevard. GSEMH hosted some great shows. This was when record companies would invest in new bands by putting them on promotional tours, and Atlanta was a popular stop.
The chamblee54 post attracted 85 comments. This is a slow day for Matt Walsh, but is a record for chamblee54. Most of the comments were boring … great place to play, I saw Steve Martin there and drank too many buckets of beer. A few of these comments tell stories. This post puts the best of the GSEMH comments in one place. Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. See if you can guess which one was taken at GSEMH.
Neal B. – Som Records June 10, 2012 at 5:18 pm Great reading! Brought back some memories. I saw three shows at the Music Hall – The Dixie Dregs, Elvin Bishop and David Allan Coe. I saw Coe the night before my SATs in 1978 or ’79 and it was (and still is) the most bikers I’ve ever seen in once place. Elvin Bishop just tore it up, really good.
jake lamb May 17, 2011 at 11:34 am Great stories of our past. I can’t remember the shows I went to, but after reading your post it certainly helps clear the fog. As I went thru the list I noted, “Yep I was with CG at that show, that one too, oh yeah, I remember Al saying to you what time it was but didn’t you delete the expletives? Odetta blasting the audience for not showing her the proper respect…what a crybaby! The autographed Marc Almond Album, meeting them backstage to learn how the finger was ripped from Jon’s hand after a tree limb caught on his ring finger when he jumped out of a tree during a photo shoot, resulting in having to learn how to play the saxaphone with one less digit ala Jerry Garcia, and the Hot Tuna Show with Papa John Screech. Flora and Eye Ear Toes logo on his equipment. Was it there that we went on Halloween, me dressed as a bagman for Nixon (A paper sack over my head) and you going as a Bee-keeper (a vegetable strainer over your head)? God we were hilarious! It’s all beginning to come back, but what never went away was remembering the great friend I went with.
Eugene Gray June 24, 2012 at 11:30 am I grew up in Atlanta so thanks for the memories about the shows at The Great Southeast Music Hall. I attended numerous shows between the years 1974 and 1977. From what I can remember (I do have “70s Memory” after all), here’s some highlights: Kinky Friedman — Smoked a huge cigar throughout the show and tipped his ashes in an ash tray attached to his microphone stand. Brought the house down with ‘Sold American.’ David Allan Coe — Played the first half of the show in his “Country Crooner” persona wearing a white suit and white cowboy hat; then played the second half as The Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy complete with rhinestone jacket and black mask. Played a hard-rockin’ version of ‘Bossier City’ to close out the show. Best memory: New Riders of the Purple Sage Show opened late with only John Dawson (acoustic guitar) and Buddy Cage (pedal steel) taking the stage. Seems their limo made the right exit off of 285 but the other limo kept going. After Dawson telling us that, he said, “Well, you might not have all of us but you do have two.” He and Cage then played a short set together including a beautiful version of ‘Gypsy Cowboy.’ The other members trickled in and started playing, all having a good time with the audience about their site-seeing tour of Atlanta via 285. Fantastic show and my best memory of The Hall. Weirdest experience: For lack of something to do, went to see the New Zealand group Split Enz. A fun but bizarre show with a group outside my typical taste. Sort of a cross between Devo and Bowie and the Bay City Rollers. Truly a strange show. Worst experience: Pure Prairie League — I was always, always let in and served beer before I turned 18 in ’76. Except for one time. Missed Pure Prairie League because we were all carded; the only time I was ever asked for my ID here. Always regretted missing them since the original band broke up right after this tour. Damn. Thanks again for a spot to remember one of the best concert venues (ever) in Atlanta.
Anonymous July 11, 2012 at 3:03 pm Saw many great shows at the Music Hall; Leon Redbone, Don McLean, Bruce Cogburn, but the funniest thing was at Darryl Rhoads show. My girlfriend (now wife of 30 years) went missing when she left to go make the parent check-in phone call. I found her coming around the corner in the hallway, mad at some guy who wouldn’t get off the phone in the lobby. The “guy” was Darryl and he made a few comments to her from the stage during the show just to keep her pissed. It’s funny now, but I could have died then…
Pharmacist Jim April 28, 2013 at 12:01 pm How about when Jimmy Buffett opened for Billy Joel there in 1974. I was a Pharmacist at Eckerd Drugs in the plaza at the time when Jimmy called me and asked me to call his physician in Key West for a prescription–a musician who wanted to get a legitimate prescription, unheard of!!! I was already a Buffett fan, but this just made me respect him that much more and I’ve been a “Parrot Head” since, now so more than ever since I live in Florida.
Anonymous October 23, 2013 at 8:29 am My best friend and I moved to Atlanta (on purpose) for just the summer of ’73 and attended MANY MANY great shows at the Music Hall. It was SO awesome. Saw Billy Joel right around the Captain Jack release time and he asked me out after the show. Of course, I answered with a resounding “NO! Thank You!!” (you see, I was ABSOLUTELY too cute for him…hehe — not to mention, I thought his nose was entirely too big.) Also, saw Jimmy Buffett who talked to us from the stage because we were from Hattiesburg, MS and he had gone to school there at the University of Southern Mississippi. SOOO COOL!!!
Rod Pearman May 28, 2015 at 10:00 am Couldn’t help but have a smile on my face as I read all these comments. THE Great Southeast Music Hall and Emporium………man, the memories. Sometimes I think I could write a book. My roommate and I lived at Bordeaux Apts. on Buford Hwy, which was just a hop skip and jump over to The Hall via the dirt road which is now Sidney Marcus……..we lived there from 1972 to early 1980, which might be a record for two dudes that were party animals to have survived that long in one apartment complex. Anyhow, we frequented GSEMH about once a month when an act we wanted to see was to play there. A couple of my fondest memories now that I’m in my mid 60’s is, it had to be sometime in ’75. We went to see The Dirt Band (one my favorites of all time) The opening act was this guy named Steve Martin, who at that time, no one on the planet had ever heard of him. Well he comes out, and within 30 seconds he has us so cracked up we’re shooting beer out our noses from his comedy. Really funny stuff, and had no idea it was coming. Well, he does his gig, then the Dirt Band comes out. They play a great set, take a little break, and when they came back out on stage, here comes Steve Martin with a banjo over his shoulder. So we’re all thinking this will be something funny, this guy with a banjo. This guy took off on his “ban-jer” and everybody’s jaw hit the floor. He really tore it up. Then the Dirt Band joined in and he played a few tunes with the band. The guy was incredible on the banjo. Then a few months later, Saturday Night Live did their first show, and there’s Steve Martin on TV. I look over at my roommate as he’s looking at me, and we’re both saying in unison, hey, that’s the guy from The Great Southeast Music Hall. Pretty neat that we got to see him when nobody had a clue of his talent. … I got home later that night, and my roommate (yeah, the same guy I mentioned in earlier chapters of this book….) said he saw something on TV that I wouldn’t believe. Turns out, one of the local TV stations (2, 5, or 11) had sent a reporter over to cover the final show of The Great Southeast Music Hall, and while reporting out front of the establishment, there were about a dozen folks standing there sorta behind the reporter. Well, this one fair lady decided to nonchalantly pull a boob out of her tank top and display it for all the world to see, right there on live TV. My roommate said it was something he’d never forget, and we tell the story often. (I wonder who that young lady was sometimes……) but I digress……..
alun v September 23, 2014 at 11:54 am As the Audio Engineer and last guy to walk out the door @ the Lindbergh (and Cherokee Plaza) locations, the walls, painted and autographed by many of the acts, were destroyed; (legal issues I guess). I still have the door to the tech room, signed by Cowboy, a personal favorite. BTW, I saw the concrete sidewalk @ Peaches, with hand / foot prints and signatures, also destroyed and hauled off………lawyers.
julia guthrie November 26, 2015 at 10:38 pm I just caught the 50th anniversary! of Alice’s restaurant masacree on pbs. Brought back the memory of seeing Arlo at the Great Southeast Music Hall. I was drunk(and maybe other) and it was my birthday, so my bf said I should try to talk to Arlo because my name is Guthrie! I was just drunk and young enough to do just that. I finagled my way to the tourbus door(was pretty good at talking my way into things back then), announced that I was a cousin, and ended up sitting at the little bus table, smoking and talking with Arlo and fam. Pretty sure all I added to the conversation was a shit-eating grin, but it was one of the highlights of my youthful escapades. Loved going to the Music Hall! Ah…youth and happy times. I also lived at Bordeaux apts for a while! Peace:)
Rod November 27, 2015 at 11:06 am You can’t beat Alice’s Restaurant on Thanksgiving Day. I used to have an annual tradition of listening to that song on my Technic’s turntable for probably 30+ years, but somehow that tradition faded out a few years ago. (Maybe because my turntable is sitting on a shelf in my closet Definitely great memories at the Hall. Hard to believe it’s been 40 years ago, give or take. I lived at Bordeaux for 7 years through the ’70’s, which might be a record. We were in G building, and had some of the best parties in NE Atlanta. It was standing room only, kegs on the deck, music crankin’ just below distortion level. Those were the days!
BRIAN HOLCOMB June 19, 2015 at 6:00 pm I was a freshman student a GSU in 74 After one of the shows( can’t remember who) I was standing outside in the corridor waiting on some friends. When out the door came my General Chemistry Professor Dr Sears arm in arm with the best looking girl in my class. They turned beet red turned and got away from me as quick as they could. I often wonder if I could have went and bribed an A out of him. LOL
SideShow Bennie December 1, 2015 at 5:24 pm I just stumbled across this article when I Googled GSMH. I lived in Atlanta in 1972-73 and attended a lot of shows at the Broadview Plaza location. I was at one of the Howdy Doody Revival shows that is on the poster pictured in the article. I remember Bob Smith hitting a bad note on the piano, reaching inside and pulling out a pack of ZigZag rolling papers saying, “Clarabelle leaves these things everywhere.” Other shows I remember seeing were Johnny Nash with Sons of The Jungle (The first actual Jamacian Reggae band I ever saw) John Hartford, The Earl Scruggs Revue, Joe Walsh with Barnstorm, Jim Croce, Harry Chapin, Doc Watson, The Hahavishnu Orchestra, Martin Mull, Doug Kershaw. I am pretty sure I was at the Ellen McIllwain and the Breakfast Special shows you mentioned but there were show where a lot of beer buckets were emptied so a lot of those shows are a little hazy. I still have a bucket or two around the house here somewhere. Thanks for the memories!!
Fruitcake
A facebook friend put some fruitcake facts on the internet. PG saw a chance for some text to put between pictures. He would be nutty as a fruitcake to turn down this chance. This is a repost.
Fruitcakes were buried with the dead in Ancient Egypt. It’s true. Ancient Egyptians used to fill the tombs of the dead with all the supplies that they would need to enjoy the afterlife, including food and water. Fruitcake was often put into the tomb of a deceased person because a fruitcake soaked in a natural preservative like alcohol or fruit juice would last a long time. It was thought that the preserved fruitcake would not spoil on the journey to the afterlife. Fruitcake was a staple food of other ancient Middle Eastern, Southeast Asian and Mediterranean cultures as well
Candied fruits are used in fruitcake because using sugar was the only way to preserve the fruit long enough to get it back to Europe from the Middle East. When the Crusaders began carrying exotic fruits back to their European home the fresh fruit would spoil long before they were able to get it home. Ingenious traders began drying the fruits by candying them with sugar which made them an even more delicious treat and preserved them indefinitely. Once the candied fruits were sent to Europe and to other parts of the world they were baked into cakes so that they could be shared with family and friends on special occasions.
Fruitcakes will last for years without spoiling. It’s true. A fruitcake that is properly preserved with an alcohol soaked cheesecloth that is then wrapped in plastic wrap or foil can be kept unrefrigerated for years without spoiling. In the past, before refrigerators came along, families would make fruitcake for holidays and special occasions months in advance of the actual event and then let the covered fruitcakes sit wrapped in an alcohol soaked cloth until the event happened. As long as the cloth was remoistened with alcohol occasionally the cakes not only didn’t spoil, they actually tasted richer and sweeter because they had been soaking in brandy and rum for a couple of months.
To millions of fruitcake consumers, the town of Claxton GA is very special. This south Georgia town, just down the road from Reidsville, is home to Claxton Fruit Cake . The story of the Claxton Fruit Cake company is a sweet one. Savino Tos founded the Claxton Bakery in 1910. He hired Albert Parker in 1927, and sold him the business in 1945. Mr. Parker decided to sell Fruit Cake to America.
No story about fruitcake is complete without mentioning the “Fruitcake Lady”. Marie Rudisill , an aunt of Truman Capote, wrote a book of fruitcake recipes. She became a tv celebrity, before going to the bakery in the sky November 3, 2006.
The urban dictionary has nine listings for fruit cake. The ones for homosexuals and crazy people are there. UD gets creative with this selection: “The act of releasing green chunky diarrhea onto your partners face then, ejaculating on it, then punching him/her in the nose causing the colors to mix together to form a fruit cake like color.”
If you tire of jokes about fruitcake, you can go to The society for the protection and preservation of fruitcake . (If you click on the “new URL”, you will be invited to join in the green card lottery.) There used to be a link on the society page that enables you to buy Fruitcake Mints. “Keep your breath fruitcake fresh with these festive mints!”
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
Chamblee54 
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