The Worst Vice Presidents Of The United States
PG wrote a post yesterday. One of the topics was the “Siamese Twins”, James Buchanan and William Rufus King. (The article is reposted below.) While researching the feature, PG googled his way to a Time magazine article about the Worst Vice Presidents in American History. PG is well known for his negative attitude, and writing about the worst things in life always appeals to him. This is a repost, with pictures from The Library of Congress
The first name on the list is Aaron Burr. He had a problem with Alexander Hamilton, and shot him dead in a duel. Elbridge Gerry (the namesake of Gerrymandering) served under James Madison for twenty months, and died. John C. Calhoun served under John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson, and managed to get Mr. Jackson so upset that Mr. Calhoun was fired.
Richard M. Johnson served under Martin Van Buren, and was bad at PR. “Johnson scandalized his colleagues by taking one of his slaves as his common-law wife; as a result, he barely garnered enough support to serve in Martin van Buren’s administration. While in office, he proposed an expedition to the North Pole so Americans could drill to the center of the Earth, believing the planet was hollow (his resolution was defeated). Evidently van Buren’s experience with Johnson soured him on vice presidents altogether — when he ran for re-election he dropped Johnson from his ticket and didn’t bother replacing him. Instead, he ran alone.”
William Rufus King was VP under Franklin Pierce a mere six weeks before he died. There is no word on the status of his relationship with James Buchanan at the time. The Time magazine article has a picture of Fernando Wood , which was mistakenly thought to be of Mr. King. (Wikipedia uses the same picture to illustrate an article about Mr. King.)
The VP under James Buchanan (there is no word on who was top or bottom in the Buchanan-King household) was John Breckinridge. During the War Between the States, he left the Union to fight for the Confederacy. Mr. Breckinridge was charged with treason after the war. “The town of Breckenridge, Colorado is named in his honor — although it altered the spelling of its name after the Civil War, so as not to be associated with a traitor.”
Andrew Johnson did not make the list, but maybe should have. He was drunk at his inauguration, and made a fool of himself. Mr. Lincoln had nothing to do with him, until a meeting on April 14. This was Good Friday. Mr. Lincoln went to the theater that night.
Johnson had been marked for death by the conspiracy, but Wilkes Booth had little confidence in the man assigned to kill Mr. Johnson. The afternoon of the assassination, Mr. Booth was at the Kirkwood House, where Mr. Johnson stayed. Mr. Booth left a note for Mr. Johnson at the desk of the hotel… “Don’t wish to disturb you. Are you at home. J. Wilkes Booth”. The idea was for the police to find the note, and implicate Mr. Johnson in the killing of Mr. Lincoln. This mini plot was spoiled by the secretary for the Vice President, who collected the mail that afternoon. He took the card with him. The secretary had met Mr. Booth a few years earlier, and thought the note was for him.
The other three Vice Presidents who took office after the boss was murdered… Chester Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson… were not mentioned in the Time article. All three are mentioned in conspiracy theories about the killings that promoted them into office.
When Theodore Roosevelt was elected to a full term as President, his VP was Charles Fairbanks. “Teddy once ordered a noisy and distracting crystal chandelier removed from his office because it disturbed him. He ordered it to be installed in the office of the Vice President to keep him awake.”
Getting back to Time’s honor roll, Hannibal Hamlin was Lincoln’s first VP. Thomas A. Hendricks survived nine months under Grover Cleveland, before passing away. Thomas Marshall served two terms with Woodrow Wilson, and refused to take over the office when Mr. Wilson had a stroke. Calvin Coolidge did little while waiting for Warren Harding to die. Henry Wallace was, and will be, the only third term VP in our history. He acquired a few enemies, and was replaced by Harry Truman.
Richard Nixon was ok once he got elected, but almost managed to blow that. There were charges of financial shenanigans, and some thought he should be kicked off the ticket. After the Checkers Speech he was on his way to stardom. (After Mr. Nixon died, PG saw a large flag flying at half staff. The flag belonged to a hamburger chain called Checkers.) When Mr. Nixon became President, his VP was Spiro Agnew. Once again, there were charges of financial shenanigans, and much, much more. While the nation wallowed in Watergate, Mr. Nixon needed a diversion. It was suddenly discovered that Mr. Agnew had taken bribes. He was pressured into resigning.
Dan Quayle was VP for George H.W. Bush. He was widely regarded as an idiot, although his damage as VP was minimal. The last VPOTUS on the list is Dick Chaney. For some reason, he was regarded as having more power than the President, George W. Bush. Mr. Chaney was said to be one of the major promoters of the wars which have damaged America so much during the last ten years.
2018 UPDATE: Joe Biden said the F word at a press conference, and did not run for President when Barry retired. The jury is still out on Mike Pence.
Fun loving Dick Yarbrough is up to his old tricks. The neighbor newspaper nabbler penned a post about California education. . It seems there is a new law, in the falling into the ocean state, “that will require schools to teach at all grade levels about the historical contributions of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.” Our buddy does not think this is a good idea.
The story goes on to say “Our children will find out that President James Buchanan and Vice President William R. King were more than, shall we say, good friends,” she said coyly. I didn’t want to tell Gay that the first thing the teachers need to do is tell the students who James Buchanan is before they talk about what he did. Not many people have ever heard of him. That is because he didn’t do anything while president.” Holy historic revisionism.
To start off, The Vice Prez under Mr. Buchanan was John C. Breckinridge. Mr. King was elected to back up Franklin Pierce. Mr. King died after six weeks in office. If a President has ever bumped gooberheads with his Vice President, the walls of the White House have kept quiet about it. Those rumors about John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson are too gruesome to contemplate.
Mr. King and Mr. Buchanan lived together for a number of years. Neither was married to a female, although Mr. Buchanan had been engaged. (There is speculation that his fiance’, Ann Caroline Coleman, died of an overdose of laudanum.) There are numerous indications that Mr. King and Mr. Buchanan were *good buddies*.
Mr. Buchanan was the last President before the War Between the States. It is possible that he could not have done much to prevent that unpleasantness. Historians are not kind when talking about the man, and rank him as one of the worst Presidents. Perhaps Mr. King could have helped.
The newspaper that Mr. Yarbrough opines for is delivered, free of charge, on Wednesday. (This weeks edition has not arrived. Any connection between this late delivery and the opinions of Mr. Yarbrough, is uncertain.) Some of these free papers are not taken inside by the resident. Often, a driveway will have several weeks of free adrags left behind. Soon, the rain soaks these newsprint droppings. Some are washed into the street and run over. The result is an ugly mess.
Chamblee54 had a previous discussion with Dick Yarbrough. Mr. Yarbrough is still publishing columns in 2018. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Politically Relevant
A facebook friend shared a post. “i don’t really believe in engaging in electoral politics all that much but would everyone please vote for Stacey Abrams so the material conditions of myself and many of my friends doesn’t get immediately worse if Kemp is elected? like i’m really asking for all my radicalized georgians here to get registered and show up to vote this ONE TIME!!!! like as a personal favor to me. i’m really open to talking about this if you’re unconvinced, and people do deserve the right to abstain! i support you! but also we have to survive long enough to organize ffs”
The discussion that followed is presented below. Names of the other players are replaced by numbers. You should never wrestle with a hog. You will get dirty, and the pig will enjoy himself.
Luther Mckinnon Are the supporters of Miss Abrams going to try to shout down Mr. Kemp,
like they did Mrs. Evans?
@001 Of course! Every damn day.
@002 That’s a really weird point to get hung up on. But hey. Shouting down Kemp is a very fine idea and I am sure you will be joining us, right Luther?
Luther Mckinnon That would guarantee a victory for Mr. Kemp
@003 Abrams supporters didn’t shout down Evans.
Luther Mckinnon Somebody did shout down Mrs. Evans, and Miss Abrams defended them.
@003 Because she defends “freedom of speech,” and because Evans also needed to be held accountable. But she had a good point, why are you hung up on that?
Luther Mckinnon Because this is how mob rule works. Democrats will make excuses for this sorry behavior, but Republicans and Independents will not. If you want to hand Mr. Kemp a victory, then go ahead with your playground tactics.
@003 What are you even talking about
@003 You don’t even know what happened and you’re so defensive.
Go out and canvass if you’re so upset.
Luther Mckinnon Stacey And Stacey
@003 Sorry, I’m not familiar with the reputable source “chambles54.wordpress”
@003 But it’s okay, you’re still upset at Abrams for whatever reason, let’s pretend that won’t make people vote for Kemp, good day sir
Luther Mckinnon Click on the link, and learn about the incident.
@003 Lol, I did click the link, the bright colors of the font threw me off, and I am very familiar with the incident.Again, have a good one
@004 Ugh log off Luther
@004 Old white dudes politically relevant? Not on my watch
Miss Abrams did support people who shouted down her opponent in August 2017. What would happen if white republicans sent a mob to shout down a speech by Miss Abrams? How would republicans react to a mob shouting down Brian Kemp? Would the republicans send security officers to forcibly break up the shouting? This business of shouting down your opponent could get ugly fast. Miss Abrams expressed support of the mob shouting down Stacey Evans. Miss Abrams also played a role in the 1992 riots, after the Rodney King verdict was announced.
Brian Kemp has a lot of shortcomings, and would probably make a bad Governor. If Stacey Abrams runs a playground campaign, as some of her supporters want, then Mr. Kemp is almost guaranteed a win. In the general election, old white dudes are politically relevant. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. “At the May Day pageant in Siloam, Greene County, Georgia” Jack Delano, photographer, 1941 May. UPDATE: More posts were made after this feature was published.
@004 Did you just call us pigs in your horribly designed blog
@004 Kemp is a shitheaded racist who engages in overt voter suppression
I really don’t think you get to tell people how to treat him
Luther Mckinnon You can’t make this up.
Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell
A few weeks ago, PG was at the library. He had a story to take home, before going over to the biography section. There he found Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell. At least with fiction, you know you are dealing with a made up story. With biography, you have to use judgment.
It is a familiar story. Joni was born in the frozen north, was a rebellious girl, and got pregnant. She gave up the daughter for adoption, only to be reunited many years later. Joan Anderson gets married to, and divorces, Chuck Mitchell. Joni sings, writes, tunes her guitar funny, becomes a star, gets too weird to be popular, makes and loses money, smokes millions of cigarettes, and becomes an angry old lady. There is a bit more to the story than that. Reckless Daughter fills in a few of the blank spots.
Millions of cigarettes might be an exaggeration. Joni started smoking when she was nine. When she was a star, she was almost as well known for her constant puffing as her pretty songs. When Joni was in a Reagan era slump, she was going through four packs a day. Just for the sake of statistics, lets call it two packs, or forty fags, a day. Multiply forty by 365 and you get 14,600. If she started at 9, and had her aneurysm at 72, that gives you 63 years of nicotine abuse. If you assume that there were forty fags a day for 63 years, that gives you 919,800 smokes. IOW, while seven figures is not out of reach, it is rather unlikely that Joni smoked more than 2,000,000 cancer sticks.
The author of Reckless Daughter, David Yaffe, is a problem. He talks about the mood of America in 1969, four years before he was born. Mr. Yaffe goes to great lengths to show us that he knows about making music. Some readers will be impressed. There are mini-essays on Joni songs from her golden years, the time between “Ladies of the Canyon” and “Hejira.” And gossip, gossip, and more gossip. Joni is well known for her celebrity lovers.
We should make the point that PG enjoyed Reckless Daughter. The inside stories are fun, and pages turn over without too much head scratching. Maybe this is a statement about the career of Joni Mitchell. You enjoy the music for many years, and then complain about the details. Reckless Daughter follows the trajectory of other celebrity biographies. The star is born, takes up a craft, gets a break, becomes successful, goes over the mountaintop into a long decline. With Joni, nothing after “Mingus” was well received. The chanteuse was broker, and angrier, by the minute.
On page 13, Joni hears Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini by Sergei Rachmaninoff. This is the piece that makes her want to be a musician. One page 129, we learn the story of A&M studios in Hollywood. At one time, The Carpenters were in studio A, while Carole King was recording “Tapestry” in studio B. Joni was recording “Blue” in studio C, which had a magic piano. One time, Carole King learned of a break in the studio C booking, and ran in. Three hours later, “I feel the earth move” was recorded.
A few years later, Joni was on the Rolling Thunder tour with Bob Dylan. One of the concepts was support for Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, whose story can be found elsewhere. Joni became disillusioned with Mr. Carter. When Joan Baez asked Joni to speak at a benefit concert, Joni said she would say that Mr. Carter was a jive ass N-person, who never would have been champion of the world. Joni later got in SJW trouble for posing in blackface, for the cover to “Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter.”
On page 251, we learn that Bob Dylan does not dance. Other items include “Free man in Paris” being written about David Geffen, and Jackson Browne writing “Fountain of Sorrow” about Joni. Mr. Brown is a not-well-thought-of ex of Joni. As for Mr. Geffen…. Joni stayed at his house for a while, at a time when Mr. Geffen was in, and out, of the closet. Did they make sweet music together?
So this book report comes to an end. Joni is recovering from a brain aneurysm, and will probably not produce anything else. The book is going back to the library, and PG will move on to something else. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Runoff
PG got back from the school, after going up the path to vote. The path gets narrower and narrower. The part you walk on has been washed out, by the same rains that send the weeds into a growing frenzy. The job of trimming back these weeds is never done. Is a primary runoff the electoral equivalent of trimming back these vines?
The voting takes place in the media center, formerly known as the library. A large, obviously new, rug is in the lobby of the school. There is nobody in line at seven thirty. The lady asks for an ID. PG asks the lady not to laugh at the picture. The next lady tries to scan the drivers license, and winds up typing the information in on the touch screen. She goes one letter at a time, using an ink pen. Finally, she gives PG a small plastic card, which he puts in the slot, on the machine. The handicapped booth serves both Democrats and Republicans.
There are only three races in the Democratic runoff. One is for some kind of school board person. Neither name is familiar, so PG picks the most normal sounding name. In the other two races, all four candidates have called PG on the phone. The two Congressional candidates used a live human to call, and the two Judge wannabes utilized a robocall machine. PG has a rule: do not vote for someone that calls you on the phone. All four candidates have broken this rule.
In the judge election, both candidates have funny sounding names. One of them sounds vaguely African. The other sounds like a black lady, born in the United States. PG picks the name that is easier to pronounce. PG does not want to meet either one in court.
The Congressional race is a bit more complicated. PG has written about Lucy McBath. Her opponent, Kevin Abel, is a nice looking young man. Both candidates have sent stacks of slick, well produced, mailers. Mr. Abel sent one with a picture of Donald Trump, with the word “Lies” prominently displayed. It is uncertain how this will help.
The Democrat winner will run against Karen Handel. She is a certified poopyhead. The job at this stage is to determine who will have the best chance of defeating Mrs. Handel. While Kevin Abel has a certain blonde appeal, Lucy McBath will get people interested in the election. Neither last name will inspire a vulgar campaign slogans. (Vote your McBath off.) Mrs. Handel is a heavyweight contender, and will be tough to defeat. Lucy McBath is the best choice here.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Gawker Orphans
Why Immigrants Like Me Hate Illegal Immigration ~ atlanta’s berlin wall ~ 1927 topo map ~ “A Complete Shit Show”: As Fusion Media Implodes, Will the Gawker Orphans Hit the Block? ~ stabbing of Applebee’s waitress ~ 6-month-old grazed by bullet during shooting, police say ~ Low ~ Read a Transcript of Trump and Putin’s Joint Press Conference ~ Maddow: Time For Americans To Face ‘Worst Case Scenario’ On Donald Trump ~ rachel maddow says the kkk endorses trump ~ Did The KKK Endorse Donald Trump? ~ Texas Shouldn’t Execute Chris Young for Murder Even Though He Is Guilty of the Crime ~ 10 Unconventional Facts About William Burroughs ~ laurie anderson ~ Clever Beaver ~ nagasaki ~ nuclear test videos ~ pink trap house ~ “Track Two” Documentary, on 1981 Toronto Bathhouse Raids ~ Papa John’s CEO Was Banished Because He Is A White Man Who Talked About Race ~ Don’t Judge A Book By Its Cover ~ lingthusiasm ~ white man steals your soul ~ @GideonResnick “John Poulsen, a 47-year-old Harrisburg mechanic who voted for Obama then Trump, said he was tired of big city liberals standing up for white rhinos.” ~ 3 Approaches for Confronting Microaggressions ~ @AP BREAKING: Trump administration proposes limiting habitat protections for endangered species. ~ battle of shanghai ~ kill the puppy dogs ~ Ta-Nehisi Coates is leaving the Atlantic ~ Robin Williams’ widow: ‘It was not depression’ that killed him ~ The Democratic Party Apologizes to Black Voters ~ four ways to pronounce banal ~ .@romanmars .@99piorg I enjoyed the interobang show Here is a related blog post I wrote. If you have not already done so, this could be a future episode Why do computers have 789 on the top row, while telephones have 123 on top? ~ semantics test ~ dancing girl ~ more putingate ~ American flag burned outside LA office of congresswoman ~ 34 years ago, a KGB defector chillingly predicted modern America ~ things that got me blocked. @chamblee54 i have done research on this, and the key was the people voting for johnson and stein hrc spent 3% in michigan that she spent in ohio hrc lost michigan by >1%, lost ohio by 8% maybe the more of hrc voters saw, the less they liked her @EmoNegro1 Or maybe Russia tampered with the vote totals or Russian assets Jill Stein and Bernie Sanders siphoned off votes from the left, which they were paid to do? @chamblee54 this is why you need to avoid insulting voters that you need an election is not a teaching moment it is about electing a flawed person instead of a much more flawed person call out racism AFTER you elect your candidate @EmoNegro1 So you’re saying Hillary/Democratic Party need racist voters to win? @chamblee54 yes this is politics you need the support of people you think are horrible could the democrats win without prejudiced black people? @EmoNegro1 So you believe black people are prejudiced? @chamblee54 duh there is a semantic game here. people say black people can’t be racist, but can be prejudiced tomayto tomahto until we pay the same attention to black prejudice that we pay to white racism, we will never get anywhere @EmoNegro1 We ain’t got no more to say. You and Bernie want politics centered on white people. Hillary hurt your fee fees You believe black people not voting for Bernie means they are racist. You brought us Trump. Live it, love it and you’re BLOCKED! @EmoNegro1 More If you come running up in my mentions defending racism and saying Democrats NEED to pander to racists in order to win, you’ve let me know you’ll sell my black ass off to the highest bidder for your comforts and YOU GETS BLOCKED! ~ You are blocked from following @EmoNegro1 and viewing @EmoNegro1’s Tweets. Learn more ~ I don’t watch MSNBC, so I don’t know what Miss Maddow was saying in 2016. Today, she claims to be all over the Russia thing, which she might have been. However, that is not what I remember hearing. I heard about a tiny Arkansas newspaper getting blown up into “The KKK endorses Trump.” I remember hearing that if you vote for Trump you are a racist. In the end, the smalltown voters in Michigan did not like being called racist. That is what the pro-Hillary media did, and how Rachel Maddow helped Donald Trump get elected. ~ klepto kakisocracy klique ~ Compassion is when you use dark letters against a light background, so the text can be easily read. ~ This presumes that an idea is at some time alive. An idea.. aka belief,opinion etc. … , is a construct of the human mind. Can this be said to be alive, or dead, in the same sense that plants or animals are? ~ The activities at the place-that-must-not-be-mentioned should be kept as quiet as possible. Unfortunately, the cat is out of the bag. I still think we should utilize some discretion in describing these activities. As for the purpose of the ARF page… it is a place to announce local events. I think it gets caught up in promotion of fae-related stuff. Maybe the admins could be a bit stricter about this. I think the admins are doing a good job as the page evolves. To the admins of this group:THANK YOU!! ~ Another purpose of this page is posting items that may be of interest to the community. Some of these items are going to be *problematic* to some. You are not obligated to read, or react to, anything that ruffles your feathers. I would enjoy having a vibrant forum, with the understanding that we are not always going to agree. ~ pictures for the publication of last week’s notes are from The Library of Congress. ~ here is the poem from last night at java monkey:
maybe i just never went out quietly ~ swashbuckling rutabaga mannequins
i hope that i would but i can’t literally ~ skedaddle spelunker shenanigans
i’ll try but i’ve got a problem absolutely ~ brouhaha pumpernickel appetite
irregardless i have to shoot stuff quickly ~ quintessential humbuggery morphodite
kumquat lollygag idiot mambo ~ nincompoop fooey manatee latrine
cuckhold phalanx tomfoolery bongo ~ umpteen kaleidoscope bunghole peen
nincompoop fooey manatee latrine ~ strumpet ragamuffin charlie mingus
umpteen kaleidoscope bunghole peen ~ discombobulated cunnilingus
strumpet ragamuffin charlie mingus ~ cuckhold phalanx tomfoolery bongo
discombobulated cunnilingus ~ kumquat lollygag idiot mambo
Acronyms
PG was cruising the internet, minding his own business, when he saw the initials HSAT. He was puzzled, but knew that uncle google could help. 0.28 seconds later, PG was looking at Healthy School Action Tools and Hazardous Substances Academic Training. Sensing that these were incorrect, politically and otherwise, our fearless scribe clicked on the third choice, Acronym Finder. One of the five options was Having Said All That , which fits the context of the inital HSAT.
About this time the idea light bulb went off over PG’s head…why not do a post about acronyms? With a tsunami of text flooding our capacity, acronyms help certain phrases to stand out. It can be a way to make a statement with ease, like saying TMI after hearing something you did not need to hear. Acronyms are short, and brevity is the soul of wit.
A popular misuse of acronyms is what wikipedia calls false etymology. A popular cussword does NOT mean “for unlawful carnal knowledge”. According to snopes , the urban mythbuster, acronyms are largely a twentieth century phenomenon.
Two military phrases from World War Two, snafu and fubar, are credited as being among the first acronyms to become popular. (The link for this detail no longer works.) They might be obsolete. DOD Dictionary of Military Terms does not include snafu and fubar.
This is a repost, with pictures from The Library of Congress. When you recycle a post from 2011, most of the links have gone bad. Webster’s Dictionary is now Merriam-Webster. When you look up acronyms, you find this: What’s an Initialism? “‘UNICEF’ is an acronym. ‘ACLU’ is an initialism. Why?” This is getting to be complicated. If you want to know about initialisms and acronyms, follow the link. You are responsible for any brain damage.
The Lurid Digs Interview
There is a site called Lurid Digs_NSFW. It can be very, very funny. It is also filthy. Fifty years ago. publishing pictures like this would get you sent to jail. You have been warned.
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. 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. You can never be too careful.
The very next day, this arrived: 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. 2018 UPDATE Lurid Digs is still available for viewing. However, LD does not put a date on posts. The LD twitter was last updated 25 Sep 2017. This interior landmark may have run out of steam.
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?
688
There was a comment at Chamblee54. “Steve Loehrer – So tell me what you know about Rose’s Cantina. I booked the music there from 1978-80 – Thorogood, Delbert, The Thunderbirds, The Fans, The Razor Boys and on and on. I was the one that did it. And I probably know you.” This blog has previously published features about the Great Southeast Music Hall, Richards, and the Georgian Terrace Ballroom. One more music venue post is not going to hurt anyone, and will be a good excuse to post some more pictures, from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. This is a repost.
688 Spring Street is a nondescript building, located down the hill from the Varsity. At one time, a company called Southern Tailors made wine jackets there. It is currently a Concentra Urgent Care Center. In between, it was the site of two rock and roll nightclubs, Roses Cantina and 688. One block over, at 688 West Peachtree, is a Catholic Construction management office.
House manager Rose Lynn Scott is quoted as saying “You know, we really aren’t sure exactly when it all started and ended,” Scott said. “Honest to God, we weren’t paying that close attention.”PG first knew about it around 1977, and really didn’t go very often. There is a running list for this post, and whenever a new band sinks into the mush, it is duly noted. Some band did “Love Gun,” which sounds remarkably similar to “Amphetamine Annie” by Canned Heat.
The punk rock revolution did not completely pass Atlanta by. A band called the Fans said they were making the pop music of the eighties. PG saw them twice and Roses, and they might be the only time he ever paid to get in. They were an impressive outfit, doing Velvet Underground and Telstar. Later, they opened for Talking Heads at the Agora, and were pretty awful. Much, much later, PG shared an apartment with the brother, of the drummer, for the Fans. Also living there was the brothers wife, a cable guy, seven snakes, a ferret, and a cat.
Back to the words of Rose Lynn, “It was a dive bar supreme and proud of it.” The stage was in the middle of the house, with a game room behind the stage. If you liked to shoot pool and listen to bands, this was the place. As for drinking, PG might get a beer or two, but mostly got bombed at other spots.
In those days, PG would go rambling from club to club, often accompanied by his friend Dinkson. One night, they stumbled in on a three piece band. They did a song called “Madison Blues”, with the guitar playing slinging riffs, and the bass playing playing the same notes over and over, never changing the look on his face. This was George Thorogood and the Destroyers.
One other night, PG stumbled in on the last few minutes of a show by the Brains. They wrote a song called “Money Changes Everything” that Cyndi Lauper did well with. This is another great local band that never seemed to get a national audience. Another night, some old black man, possibly John Lee Hooker, was playing guitar.
Around about this time, PG decided to either grow up, or take his childhood seriously. He wound up in Seattle WA. That wore off after a while. On the greyhound bus going home, PG talked to a young lady, who said something about a punk rock club in the Roses Cantina space. This was the 688.
A few weeks later, Iggy Pop did a week at 688. Here, through the miracle of copy paste, is the story. It isn’t plagiarism when you wrote it yourself.
At any rate, by the time PG got back from Seattle, some brave investors decided to have a punk rock club at 688 Spring Street. Soon, Iggy Pop would be playing a week there. In the seventies, the bands would play for five days at the great southeast music hall or the electric ballroom, two shows a night, and if you were really cool you would go on a weeknight before it got too crowded. Soon after that, it was one night in town only, and you either saw it or you didn’t.
PG had a friend at the Martinique apartments on Buford Hiway. There was someone living in the complex known as ZenDen, who sold acid. You would go to his place, wade through the living room full of grown men listening to Suzi Quatro, and purchase the commodity.
On to the the 23 Oglethorpe bus, and downtown to 688 Spring Street. Before anyone knew it, the band was on the stage. A veteran of the Patti Smith Group, named Ivan Kral, was playing bass. Mr. Kral sneezed, and a huge cocaine booger fell across his face. He was not playing when the show ended.
There was a white wall next to the stage, and someone wrote the song list on that wall. That list of songs stayed on the wall as long as 688 was open. “I want to be your dog” was on the list, as well as the number where Iggy pulled his pants off and performed in his underwear. Supposedly, in New York the drawers came off, but the TMI police were off duty that night.
The show was loud and long, and had the feel of an endurance event…either you go or the band does. Finally, the show was over, and PG got on the 23 Oglethorpe bus. You got the northbound bus on West Peachtree Street. You could look down, from Fourth street, and see the Coca Cola sign downtown. Freeway expansion sent that section of West Peachtree to old road hell.
Twenty years after that, PG worked in a building at that corner of Fourth and West Peachtree. If he had known about the future of working for Redo Blue, PG might have jumped under the 23 Oglethorpe bus, instead of getting on it. The Coca Cola sign was long gone by then.
There was band called Human Sexual Response in those days. PG caught their act at 688. They had three vocalists, wearing matching outfits, and sang a lot of lyric happy songs with really cool harmonies. The problem was, PG was not familiar with those oh so witty lyrics, and did not know what it was all about. At least he got out of the house.
Kevin Dunn played guitar for the Fans. (He had an ad for guitar lessons on the bulletin board at Wax and Facts. It said that raising racing turtles was more profitable than playing guitar.) One night at 688, he performed with his band The regiment of women. They opened for someone, possibly the Plastics, who we will get to in a minute. So, this guy plays guitar and sings, and a woman plays a drum machine. No skin pounding drummer, but a lady who twisted the knobs on a machine.
The Plastics were from Japan, and did a killer version of “Last Train to Clarksville”. It was about this time that PG got a job, and decided that he liked sleeping better than hanging out downtown.
One night, about 1983 or so, PG made an exception. The band that night was Modern English. Before the show, PG ate three z burgers from the Zestos on Ponce de Leon. During the show, the singer rubbed his stomach, and said to feel the music. About this time, the z burgers were making their presence known, and PG could feel something, but it wasn’t the music.
The last show PG saw at 688 was Hüsker Dü. The best guess is February 14, 1986. There was a totem pole, made of old TV sets, in the front part of the club in 1986. Here is the story.
Hüsker Dü means “do you remember” in Danish and Norwegian. PG saw them sometime in the eighties. It might have been the metroplex, but it might have been the 688. There is a list of shows they played, and the metroplex is not on there.
PG saw a show at the Metroplex the next night. The band is forgotten. The metroplex was a dark spooky building on Marietta street near the omni. The balcony was very dark, with everything painted black. PG tripped over a bench.
688 was a different story. PG saw a bunch of shows there, both as 688 and Rose’s Cantina. HD may have been the last show PG saw before they closed. PG was well into the work/sleep lifestyle that preoccupied his life after a certain point, and just didn’t make it out much anymore. A friend won tickets to the show or he wouldn’t have made it.
PG didn’t get into the show very much. HD was a trio, with the later-outed Bob Mould as the guitar g-d. For all of his musical skills, Mould is not much for onstage charisma. PG felt that if he had been more familiar with their music, he would have enjoyed it more. Some bands you can see without hearing their records and get into it right away, where others need a bit of familiarity.
Jesus PTSD
Annabelle is a song by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. It is quite lovely. Annabelle is the daughter, and the one bright spot in a hard life. This life of toil lasts until we “go to Jesus.”
PG has had a tough time with Jesus. Rudeness, disrespect, verbal abuse, and humiliation have been landmarks on the journey. When you don’t agree with the plan for life after death, you wonder if the bad parts of Jesus are worth it. To PG, the negatives overwhelmingly outweigh the positives. Just hearing a passing reference to Jesus can set him to brooding.
This morning, PG wondered if it was always going to be like this. When people talk/sing/act out for Jesus, is it always going to remind him of the pain? The Jesus worshipers have so much fun with their noise, that they scarcely notice the discomfort of others. They usually don’t care. .
Some youtube listeners felt the same way. gotohellgoogle2223 i just wish the words weren’t religious. 001Bigred @gotohellgoogle2223 I don’t find this religious except in the aspect that it tells the TRUTH. You can’t have all things to please you til you go to Jesus. Hope you find Him.
PG has found Jesus, in the words and deeds of his believers. It has been one of the worst experiences PG has known. When you decide that Jesus was killed for being a trouble maker, and his death has nothing to do with what happens to you when you die… it takes away the one justification for all the abuse. Maybe one day there will be no Jesus, and PG will know peace.
This is a repost. Pictures from The Library of Congress.
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