WA2K Radio is now on the air

Good morning, WA2K listeners and contributors. Hope everyone is up and about on this October Friday, and ready to deal with the day.

edgar, speaking of "magic moments", I was transfixed looking at the full and setting moon from my stoop. Nothing, anywhere, is more magnetic. One is not likely to see such a sight in the mountains.

To follow edgar's trend:

Peter, Paul, and Mary

When I was a young man and never been kissed,
I got to thinking it over- what I had missed.
I got me a girl, I kissed her and then,
Oh Lord, I kissed her again.

Chorus:
Oh, kisses sweeter than wine,
Oh, kisses sweeter than wine

I asked her to marry me and be my sweet wife,
And we would be so happy the rest of our lives.
I begged and I pleaded like a natural man,
And then, oh Lord, she gave me her hand.

(Chorus)

I worked mighty hard and so did my wife,
Workin' hand in hand to make a good life.
With corn in the field and wheat in the bins,
I was, oh Lord, the father of twins.

(Chorus)

Our children, they numbered just about four,
They all had sweethearts knockin' at the door.
They all got married and they didn't hesitate;
I was, oh Lord, the grandmother of eight.

(Chorus)

Now that we're old, and ready to go,
We get to thinkin' what happened a long time ago.
We had a lot of kids, trouble, and pain,
But, oh Lord, we'd do it again.

(Chorus)

Janet Gaynor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Janet Gaynor [1] (October 6, 1906 - September 14, 1984) was an American actress who, in 1928, became the first winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Early life

Born Laura Gainor in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, her family moved west to San Francisco, California when she was just a child. When graduated from high school in 1923, Gaynor decided to pursue a career in acting. She then moved to Los Angeles, California, where she supported herself working in a shoe store, receiving $18 per week. She managed to land unbilled small parts in several feature films and comedy shorts for two years. Finally, in 1926, at the age of 20, she was cast in the lead role in a silent film called The Johnstown Flood, the same year she was selected as one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars. Her outstanding performance won her the attention of producers, who cast her in a series of films.

Rising career

Within one year, Gaynor was one of Hollywood's leading ladies. Her performances in Seventh Heaven (the first of twelve movies she would make with actor Charles Farrell) and both Sunrise and Street Angel (in 1927, also with Charles Farrell) earned her the first Academy Award for Best Actress in 1928. It was the only time in Oscar history that the award was given for multiple roles: it was given on the basis of the actor's total work over the year, and not just for one particular performance.

Gaynor was one of only a handful of leading ladies who made a successful transition to sound movies over the next decade. And for a number of years, Gaynor was the leading actress of the Fox studios and was treated accordingly with top billing and the choice of prime roles. However, when Darryl F. Zanuck merged his fledgling studio, 20th Century, with Fox, her status became precarious and even tertiary to that of actresses Loretta Young and Shirley Temple. She managed to terminate her contract with the studio and achieved acclaim in films produced by David O. Selznick in the mid-1930s.

In 1937, she was again nominated for an Academy Award, this time for her role in A Star Is Born. After appearing in The Young in Heart, she left film industry for nearly twenty years, returning one last time in 1957 as Pat Boone's mother in Bernardine.

Death

She died in 1984, at the age of 77, partly as the aftermath of a traffic accident in San Francisco in which a driver running a red light crashed into her taxi, killing one of the passengers, and injuring the rest, including her husband, Paul Gregory, and her long-time companion, Mary Martin. Gaynor never fully recovered from the accident.

She was interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California.

Posthumous allegations

After Boze Hadleigh's 1996 book Conversations with 10 Hollywood Lesbians, it was claimed that Janet Gaynor and Mary Martin had had an intimate long-term lesbian relationship. Many gay or lesbian actors and actresses were forced to hide their sexuality by making sham marriages during Hollywood's early years, and it was not uncommon for stars to later have it revealed that they had led secret sexual lives. [2] [3] [4]

In Hadleigh's 1994 book Hollywood Babble On (ISBN#1-55972-219-3), actor Robert Cummings is quoted as saying regarding Gaynor and Mary Martin: "Janet Gaynor's husband was Adrian, the MGM fashion designer. But her wife was Mary Martin..." It should, however, be noted that neither Gaynor nor Martin were interviewed for the book nor were either alive at the time of its publication.

Carole Lombard
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Carole Lombard (October 6, 1908 - January 16, 1942) was an American actress. She was born Jane Alice Peters in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Her parents were Frederick C. Peters and Elizabeth Knight. Lombard's paternal grandfather, John Claus Peters, was the son of German immigrants, Claus Peters and Caroline Catherine Eberlin. Lombard's mother's family originates in England; her ancestors John and Martha Cheney emigrated to the North America in 1634.

Career

Lombard made her film debut at the age of twelve after she was seen playing baseball in the street by director Allan Dwan, who cast her as a tom-boy in A Perfect Crime (1921). In the 1920s she worked in several low-budget productions credited as Jane Peters, and then later as Carol Lombard. In 1925 she was signed as a contract player with 20th Century Fox and she also worked for Mack Sennett and Pathé Pictures. She became a well known actress and made a smooth transition to sound films, starting with High Voltage (1929). In 1930 she began working for Paramount Pictures.

In October 1930 she met William Powell and the couple were married on June 26, 1931. Lombard commented to fan magazines that she did not believe their sixteen-year age difference would present a problem, but friends felt they were ill-suited as Lombard had an extroverted personality while Powell was more reserved. They divorced in 1933 but remained friends and worked together without acrimony.

Lombard became one of Hollywood's top comedy actresses in the 1930s. In comedies like Twentieth Century (1934) directed by Howard Hawks, My Man Godfrey (1936) directed by Gregory La Cava, for which she received an Academy Award for Best Actress nomination, and Nothing Sacred (1937) directed by William A. Wellman, she received praise from critics and was described as one of the key exponents of screwball comedy. Despite her glamorous looks Lombard was a natural comedienne, and was not afraid to look silly for the sake of being funny. Offscreen, she was much loved for her down-to-earth personality and sense of humor. She also loved playing pranks during filming. About her husband Clark Gable, she once joked, "If his pee-pee was one inch shorter, they'd be calling him the Queen of Hollywood."

In the mid-1930s Lombard started an affair with Clark Gable. Their relationship was kept quiet due to the fact that Gable was still married to his second wife, Ria. Gable was finally divorced from Ria on March 7, 1939, and on March 29, 1939, Gable and Lombard were married. They bought a ranch, previously owned by director Raoul Walsh in San Fernando Valley, California. They called each other "Ma" and "Pa," and lived a happy, unpretentious life. Although he remarried twice after Lombard's death, to all who knew Gable, she was the love of his life.


Death

When at the end of 1941 the US entered World War II, Lombard travelled to her home state of Indiana for a war bond rally. At four o'clock in the morning of Friday, January 16, 1942, Lombard and her mother boarded a DC-3 airplane to return to California. After refueling in Las Vegas, the plane took off on a clear night, and twenty-three minutes later crashed into Mount Potosi, 30 miles southwest of Las Vegas. All of the 22 passengers aboard were killed.

Just before boarding the plane in Indiana, Carole had addressed her fans, saying, "Before I say goodbye to you all, come on and join me in a big cheer! V for Victory!" President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who admired her patriotism, declared her the first woman killed in the line of duty during the war and posthumously awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Shortly after her death at the age of thirty-three, Gable (who was inconsolable and devastated by her loss) joined the United States Army Air Forces, serving as a gunner on a bomber on combat missions over Europe. The Liberty ship SS Lombard was named for her and Gable attended its launch on January 15, 1944.

Her final film, To Be or Not to Be, directed by Ernst Lubitsch and co-starring Jack Benny ― a satire about the Nazism and the World War II ― was in post-production at the time of her death. The film's producers decided to cut the part of the film in which her character asks, "What can happen in a plane?" as they felt it was in poor taste, given the circumstances of Lombard's death. A similar editing instance happened when the 1940 Warner Brother cartoon, A Wild Hare, was reissued. Lombard's name was originally mentioned in a game of "Guess Who," but all reissue prints have the name dubbed over with Barbara Stanwyck.

She is interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. The name on her headstone is "Carole Lombard Gable". Although Gable remarried, he was buried next to her when he died in 1960.

Trivia

Lombard was a second generation Bahá'í who formally declared her membership in 1938.[1]

She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6930 Hollywood Blvd.

Thor Heyerdahl
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thor Heyerdahl (October 6, 1914, in Larvik, Norway - April 18, 2002, in Colla Micheri, Italy) was a Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer with a scientific background in zoology and geography. Heyerdahl became famous for his Kon-Tiki Expedition in which he sailed by raft 4,300 miles (7,000 km) from South America to the Tuamotu Islands. He died, aged 87, from a brain tumor.

Thor Heyerdahl established already as a young child, a strong interest in zoology. He created a small museum in his childhood home, with a European Viper as the main attraction.

The Kon-Tiki Expedition

In the Kon-Tiki Expedition, Heyerdahl and a small team went to South America, where they used balsawood and other native materials to construct the Kon-Tiki raft. The Kon-Tiki expedition was inspired by old reports and drawings made by the Spanish Conquistadors of Inca rafts, and by native legends and archaeological evidence that there was contact between South America and Polynesia. After a 101 day, 4,300 mile (7,000 km) journey across the Pacific Ocean, it smashed into the reef at Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands on August 7, 1947, showing that it was possible that people before the arrival of the Europeans could have accomplished such a journey with relative ease and safety. The only modern technology the expedition had on board was a radio, food in the form of military rations, and fresh water in 56 small cans. While en route, the crew supplemented their diet by fishing.

Although the Kon-Tiki raft was an accurate replica of a South America sea vessel, its crew was unaware of most of its steering capabilities. Subsequent experiments by Heyerdahl and other have demonstrated that by manipulating such a raft's several centerboards, an amazing degree of maneuverability is possible. Inspired by the adventure of Kon-Tiki, many rafts have repeated the voyage thus demonstrating that the success of the original expedition was not due merely to "luck". Heyerdahl's book about the expedition, Kon-Tiki, has been translated into over 50 languages. The film documentary of the expedition, itself entitled Kon-Tiki, won an Academy Award in 1951.

[2] Most anthropologists continue to believe, based on linguistic, physical and genetic evidence, that Polynesia was settled from west to east, migration having begun from the Asian mainland. There are controversial indications, though, of some sort of South American/Polynesian contact most notably in the fact that the South American sweet potato served as a dietary staple throughout much of Polynesia. Other indications of possible contact include other South American plants, some of the stone masonry and statuary found on Easter Island and elsewhere, and Easter Island's unusual bird-man cult which has parallels on the South American mainland.

Heyerdahl's theory of Polynesian origins

Heyerdahl claimed that in Incan legend there was a sun-god named Con-Tici Viracocha who was the supreme head of the mythical fair-skinned people in Peru. The original name for Virakocha was Kon-Tiki or Illa-Tiki, which means Sun-Tiki or Fire-Tiki. Kon-Tiki was high priest and sun-king of these legendary "white men" who left enormous ruins on the shores of Lake Titicaca. The legend continues with the mysterious bearded white men being attacked by a chief named Cari who came from the Coquimbo Valley. They had a battle on an island in Lake Titicaca, and the fair race was massacred. However, Kon-Tiki and his closest companions managed to escape and later arrived on the Pacific coast. The legend ends with Kon-Tiki and his companions disappearing westward out to sea.

When the Spaniards came to Peru, Heyerdahl asserted, the Incas told them that the colossal monuments that stood deserted about the landscape were erected by a race of white gods who had lived there before the Incas themselves became rulers. The Incas described these "white gods" as wise, peaceful instructors who had originally come from the north in the "morning of time" and taught the Incas' primitive forefathers architecture as well as manners and customs. They were unlike other Native Americans in that they had "white skins and long beards" and were taller than the Incas. The Incas said that the "white gods" had then left as suddenly as they had come and fled westward across the Pacific. After they had left, the Incas themselves took over power in the country.

Heyerdahl said that when the Europeans first came to the Pacific islands, they were astonished that they found some of the natives to have relatively light skins and beards. There were whole families that had pale skin, hair varying in color from reddish to blonde, and almost Semitic, hook-nosed faces. In contrast, most of the Polynesians had golden-brown skin, raven-black hair, and rather flat noses. Heyerdahl claimed that when Roggeveen first discovered Easter Island in 1722, he supposedly noticed that many of the natives were white-skinned. Heyerdahl claimed that these people could count their ancestors who were "white-skinned" right back to the time of Tiki and Hotu Matua, when they first came sailing across the sea "from a mountainous land in the east which was scorched by the sun." The ethnographic evidence for these claims is outlined in Heyerdahl's book Aku Aku: The Secret of Easter Island.

Heyerdahl proposed that Tiki's Stone Age people colonized the then-uninhabited Polynesian islands as far north as Hawaii, as far south as New Zealand, as far east as Easter Island, and as far west as Samoa around A.D. 500. They supposedly sailed from Peru to the Polynesian islands on pae-paes?-large rafts built from balsa logs, complete with sails and each with a small cottage. They built enormous stone statues carved in the image of human beings on Pitcairn, the Marquesas, and Easter Island that resembled those in Peru. They also built huge pyramids on Tahiti and Samoa with steps like those in Peru. But all over Polynesia, Heyerdahl found indications that Tiki's peaceable race had not been able to hold the islands alone for long. He found evidence that suggested that seagoing war canoes as large as Viking ships and lashed together two and two had brought Stone Age Northwest American Indians to Polynesia around A.D. 1100, and they mingled with Tiki's people. The oral history of the people of Easter Island, at least as it was documented by Heyerdahl, is completely consistent with this theory, as is the archaeological record he examined (Heyerdahl 1958). In particular, Heyerdahl obtained a radiocarbon date of A.D. 400 for a charcoal fire located in the pit that was held by the people of Easter Island to have been used as an "oven" by the "Long Ears," which Heyerdahl's Rapa Nui sources, reciting oral tradition, identified as a white race which had ruled the island in the past (Heyerdahl 1958). Genetic research has found, however, that modern-day Polynesians are more closely related to Southeast Asians than to American Indians.

Expedition to Easter Island

In 1955-1956, Heyerdahl organized the Norwegian Archaeological Expedition to Easter Island. With a staff that included several professional archaeologists, the expedition spent several months on the island investigating several of its profound mysteries. Highlights of the project include experiments in the carving, transport and erection of the famous moai statues, and excavations at prominent sites such as Orongo and Poike. The expedition published two large volumes of scientific reports (Reports of the Norwegian Archaeological Expedition to Easter Island and the East Pacific) and Heyerdahl later added a third (The Art of Easter Island). The work of this expedition laid the foundation for much of the archaeological research that continues to be conducted on the island. Heyerdahl's popular book on the subject, Aku-Aku was another international best-seller.

The Boats Ra and Ra II

In 1969 and 1970, Heyerdahl built two boats manufactured from papyrus and attempted to cross the Atlantic from Morroco in Africa. There has been much confusion about the purpose of these voyages. They were not, as it is often stated, an attempt to prove that Egyptians visited the New World in ancient times, something that Heyerdahl himself found unlikely. Instead, they were meant to test the possibility that vessels made of bouyant reeds were seaworthy. Such boats of various sizes were in use in a number of culture areas around the world in ancient times. Based on drawings and models from ancient Egypt, the first boat, named Ra, was constructed by boatbuilders from Lake Chad in the Republic of Chad using reed obtained from Lake Tana in Ethiopia and launched into the Atlantic Ocean from the coast of Morocco. After a number of weeks, Ra took on water after its crew made modifications to the vessel that caused it to sag and break apart. The ship was abandoned and the following year, another similar vessel, Ra II was built by boatmen from Lake Titicaca in Bolivia and likewise set sail across the Atlantic from Morocco, this time with great success. A book, The Ra Expeditions. and a film documentary were made about the voyages.

Apart from the primary aspects of the expedition, Heyerdahl deliberately selected a crew representing a great diversity in race, nationality, religion and political viewpoint in order to demonstrate that at least on their own little floating island, people could cooperate and live peacefully. Additionally, the expedition took samples of ocean pollution and presented their report to the United Nations.

The Tigris

Heyerdahl built yet another reed boat, Tigris, which was intended to demonstrate that trade and migration could have linked Mesopotamia with the Indus Valley Civilization in what is now modern-day Pakistan. Tigris was built in Iraq and sailed with its international crew through the Persian Gulf to Pakistan and made its way into the Red Sea. After about 5 months at sea and still remaining seaworthy, the Tigris was deliberately burnt in Djibouti, on April 3, 1978 as a protest against the wars raging on every side in the Red Sea and Horn of Africa. In Heyerdahl's open letter to the Secretary of the United Nations he said in part:

' Today we burn our proud ship... to protest against inhuman elements in the world of 1978... Now we are forced to stop at the entrance to the Red Sea. Surrounded by military airplanes and warships from the world's most civilized and developed nations, we have been denied permission by friendly governments, for reasons of security, to land anywhere, but in the tiny, and still neutral, Republic of Djibouti. Elsewhere around us, brothers and neighbors are engaged in homicide with means made available to them by those who lead humanity on our joint road into the third millennium.
'To the innocent masses in all industrialized countries, we direct our appeal. We must wake up to the insane reality of our time.... We are all irresponsible, unless we demand from the responsible decision makers that modern armaments must no longer be made available to people whose former battle axes and swords our ancestors condemned.
'Our planet is bigger than the reed bundles that have carried us across the seas, and yet small enough to run the same risks unless those of us still alive open our eyes and minds to the desperate need of intelligent collaboration to save ourselves and our common civilization from what we are about to convert into a sinking ship.'
In the years that followed, Heyerdahl was often outspoken on issues of international peace and the environment.

Other work

Thor Heyerdahl also investigated the pyramidal mounds found on the Maldive Islands in the Indian Ocean. There, he found sun-oriented mounds and courtyards, as well as statues with elongated earlobes. Both of these archeological finds fit with his theory of a sea-faring civilization which originated in what is now Sri Lanka, colonized the Maldives, and influenced or founded the cultures of ancient South America and Easter Island. His discoveries are detailed in his book, "The Maldive Mystery."

In 1991 he studied the Pyramids of Güímar on Tenerife and discovered that they cannot be random stone heaps, but actual pyramids. He also discovered their special astronomical orientation. Heyerdahl advanced a theory according to which the Canaries had been bases of ancient shipping between America and the Mediterranean.

His last project was presented in the book Jakten på Odin, ('the search for Odin'), in which he initiated excavations in Azov, near the Sea of Azov at the northeast of the Black Sea. He searched for the possible remains of a civilization to match the account of Snorri Sturluson in Ynglinga saga, where Snorri describes how a chief called Odin led a tribe, called the Æsir in a migration northwards through Saxland, to Fyn in Denmark settling in Sweden. There, according to Snorri, he so impressed the natives with his diverse skills that they started worshipping him as a god after his death (see also House of Ynglings and Mythological kings of Sweden). Heyerdahl accepted Snorri's story as literal truth. This project generated harsh criticism and accusations of pseudo-science from historians, archaeologists and linguists in Norway, who accused Heyerdahl of selective use of sources, and a basic lack of scientific methodology in his work. The central claims in this book is based on similarities of names in Norse mythology and geographic names in the Black Sea-region, e.g. Azov and æsir, Udi and Odin, Tyr and Turkey. Philologists and historians reject these parallells as mere coincidences, and also anachronisms, for instance the city of Azov did not have that name until over 1000 years after Heyerdahl claims the æsir dwellt there. The controversy surrounding the search for Odin-project was in many ways typical of the relationship between Heyerdahl and the academic community. His theories rarely won any scientific acceptance, whereas Heyerdahl himself rejected all scientific criticism and concentrated on publishing his theories in best-selling books to the larger masses.

Heyerdahl was also an active figure in Green politics. He was the recipient of numerous medals and awards. He also received 11 honorary doctorates from universities in the Americas and Europe.

Subsequent years

In subsequent years, Heyerdahl was involved with many other expeditions and archaeological projects. However, he remained best known for his boat-building, and for his emphasis on cultural diffusionism.

Heyerdahl's expeditions were spectacular, and his heroic journeys in flimsy boats caught the public imagination. But his diffusionist theories were considered eccentric and old-fashioned by some archaeologists. His central claims that migrations linked comparable ancient civilisations have not been supported by more recent evidence. He has even been accused of an "imperialist" mentality. But Heyerdahl undoubtedly increased public interest in ancient history and in the achievements of various cultures and peoples around the world ?- he also showed that long distance ocean voyages were technically possible even with ancient designs. As such, he was a major practitioner of experimental archaeology.

Although much of Heyerdahl's life work was controversial, his books served to inspire several generations of readers. He often broke the bounds of conventional thinking and was unapologetic for doing so. "Boundaries?", he is quoted as asking, "I have never seen one but I hear that they exist in the minds of most people."

Thor Heyerdahl's grandson, Olav Heyerdahl, retraced his grandfather's Kon-Tiki voyage in 2006, as part of a six-member crew. The voyage, called the Tangaroa Expedition, was intended as a tribute to Thor Heyerdahl, as well as a means to monitor the Pacific Ocean's environment. A film about the voyage is in preparation.

Britt Ekland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Britt Ekland (born October 6, 1942 as Britt-Marie Eklund) is a Stockholm-born Swedish actress, long resident in the UK.

Britt Ekland became famous as a result of her whirlwind romance with British actor and comedian, Peter Sellers, who proposed after seeing her photograph in the paper; they had one daughter, Victoria, before divorcing. The couple made two films together, After the Fox in 1966 and The Bobo in 1967.

She later had a much-publicised romance with rock star Rod Stewart, (she is heard whispering on his song Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)), and in 1984 she married rock musician, Slim Jim Phantom, who was almost two decades her junior; they also divorced.

She had a number of guest appearances in Television shows and Made for TV movies including The Six Million Dollar Man, McCloud, Battlestar Galactica (1978), The Love Boat, Matt Houston, Fantasy Island, and Lexx.

She appeared in the 1974 James Bond movie The Man with the Golden Gun. Other film appearances include The Night They Raided Minsky's, Get Carter, the 1973 film The Wicker Man (for which her voice was dubbed - see notes) and The Ultimate Thrill.

In the 1999 BBC television series I Love the '70s she hosted the 1971 episode in homage to her role as Anna in Get Carter, which was released that year.

She was portrayed by Charlize Theron in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004).

Elisabeth Shue
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Elisabeth Shue (born October 6, 1963) is an Academy Award-nominated American film actress.

Shue was born in Wilmington, Delaware, into a prosperous and well-educated family and grew up in Bergen and Essex counties in New Jersey. Her parents divorced while she was in the fourth grade. Her father, who was active in Republican politics, once unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate in New Jersey. Shue graduated from Columbia High School, in Maplewood, New Jersey, and attended Wellesley College and Harvard University, from which she withdrew to pursue her acting career. She returned to Harvard, 15 years after withdrawing, to finish her degree in Government in 2000. [1]

During her studies at Columbia and after her parents' divorce, she found a way to make extra money by acting in television commercials. A state junior level gymnast, Shue became a common sight in ads for Burger King, DeBeers diamonds, and Hellman's mayonnaise.

In 1984, she co-starred in The Karate Kid as the onscreen girlfriend of Ralph Macchio, and had a role as the teenage daughter of a military family in the short-lived series Call to Glory. She continued her acting work with Adventures in Babysitting, her first starring role, Cocktail, Soapdish, and The Marrying Man. Trying to shed her girl-next-door image, Shue took a chance on a low-budget, high-risk project called Leaving Las Vegas. Her portrayal of a prostitute mixed up with a suicidal alcoholic played by Nicolas Cage earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Since then, she has starred in The Saint, Deconstructing Harry, Palmetto, and Hollow Man.

In 2006, Shue and her two brothers are producing Gracie, a movie about a teenage girl with an interest in soccer, in part based on Elisabeth's own experience. It is in part filmed on location in areas where she grew up.

Personal life

Known among her friends and family as "Lisa," Shue is married to Davis Guggenheim, director of the HBO TV series Deadwood. They have a son, Miles William (b. November 11, 1997), and two daughters, Stella Street (b. March 19, 2001) and Agnes Charles (b. June 18, 2006).

Her brother is actor Andrew Shue, of Melrose Place fame. Another brother, William, died in 1988 at the age of 26 from a freak accident while on family vacation. Son Miles's second name is in homage to Will.

HOW DOES YOUR STATE RATE?

ALABAMA ... Was the first place to have 9-1-1, started in
1968.

ALASKA ... One out of every 64 people has a pilot's license.

ARIZONA ... Is the only state in the continental U.S. that
doesn't follow Daylight Savings Time.

ARKANSAS ... Has the only active diamond mine in the U.S.

CALIFORNIA ... Its economy is so large that if it were a
country, it would rank seventh in the entire world.

COLORADO ... In 1976 it became the only state to turn down
the Olympics.

CONNECTICUT ... The Frisbee was invented here at Yale
University.

DELAWARE ... Has more scientists and engineers than any
other state.

FLORIDA ... At 759 square miles, Jacksonville is the US's
largest city.

GEORGIA ... It was here, in 1886, that pharmacist John
Pemberton made the first vat of Coca-Cola.

HAWAII ... Hawaiians live, on average, five years longer
than residents in any other state.

IDAHO ... TV was invented in Rigby, Idaho, in 1922.

ILLINOIS ... The Chicago River is dyed green every St.
Patrick's Day.

INDIANA ... Home to Santa Claus, Indiana, which get a half
million letter to Santa every year.

IOWA ... Winnebagos get their name from Winnebago County.
Also, it is the only state that begins with two vowels.

KANSAS ... Liberal, Kansas, has an exact replica of the
house in The Wizard of Oz.

KENTUCKY ... Has more than $6 billion in gold underneath
Fort Knox.

LOUISIANA ... Has parishes instead of counties because they
were originally Spanish church units.

MAINE ... It's so big, it covers as many square miles as
the other five New England states combined.

MARYLAND ... The Oujia board was created in Baltimore in
1892.

MASSACHUSETTS ... The Fig Newton is named after Newton,
Massachusetts.

MICHIGAN ... Fremont, home to Gerber, is the baby food
capital of the world.

MINNESOTA ... Bloomington's Mall of America is so big, if
you spent 10 minutes in each store, you'd be there nearly
four days.

MISSISSIPPI ... President Teddy Roosevelt refused to shoot
a bear here. That's how the teddy bear got its name.

MISSOURI ... Is the birthplace of the ice cream cone.

MONTANA .. A sapphire from Montana is the Crown Jewels of
England.

NEBRASKA ... More triplets are born here than in any other
state.

NEVADA ... Has more hotel rooms than any other place in the
world.

NEW HAMPSHIRE ... Birthplace of Tupperware, invented in
1938 by Earl Tupper.

NEW JERSEY ... Has the most shopping malls in one area in
the world.

NEW MEXICO ... Smokey the Bear was rescued from a 1950
forest fire here.

NEW YORK ... Is home to the nation's oldest cattle ranch,
started in 1747 in Montauk.

NORTH CAROLINA ... Home of the first Krispy Kreme doughnut.

NORTH DAKOTA ... Rigby, North Dakota, is the exact geo-
graphic center of North America.

OHIO ... The hot dog was invented here in 1900.

OKLAHOMA ... The grounds of the state capital are covered
by operating oil wells.

OREGON ... Has the most ghost towns in the country.

PENNSYLVANIA ... The smiley, was first used in 1980 by
computer scientists at Carnegie Mellon University.

RHODE ISLAND ... The nation's oldest bar, the White Horse
Tavern, opened here in 1673

SOUTH CAROLINA ... Sumter County is home to the world's
largest gingko farm.

SOUTH DAKOTA ... Is the only state that's never had an
earthquake.

TENNESSEE ... Nashville's Grand Ole Opry is the longest
running live radio show in the world.

TEXAS ... Dr. Pepper was invented in Waco back in 1885.

UTAH ... The first Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant opened
here in 1952.

VERMONT ... Montpelier is the only state capital without a
McDonald's.

VIRGINIA ... Home of the world's largest office building...
the Pentagon.

WASHINGTON ... Seattle has twice as many college graduates
as any other state.

WASHINGTON D.C. ... Was the first planned capital in the
world.

WEST VIRGINIA ... Had the world's first brick paved street,
Summers Street, laid in Charleston in 1870.

WISCONSIN ... The ice cream sundae was invented here in
1881 to get around Blue Laws prohibiting ice cream from
being sold on Sundays.

WYOMING ... Was the first state to allow women to vote.

My goodness, BioBob. I am totally amazed at the state trivia. I noticed that Florida and Virginia were among those who were rather lack-luster in their claim to fame. I guess I never thought of the Pentagon as an office building, and I most certainly did not know that Jacksonville was the largest city in the U.S. I should have, however, because I have by-passed it enough while driving to Virginia.

Your celebs are really interesting, hawkman, but will wait to comment after our resident photographer appears with the pictures and the proofs.<smile>.

Here's a song inspired by coberst's "Ironic" thread:

Artist: Fitzgerald, Ella Lyrics

Song: Isn't It Romantic? Lyrics
Isn't it "ironic"
Music in the night, a dream that can be heard.
Isn't it "ironic"
Moving shadows write the oldest magic word.
I hear the breezes playing in the trees above
While all the world is saying you were meant for love.
Isn't it "ironic"
Merely to be young on such a night as this?
Isn't it "ironic"
Every note that's sung is like a lover's kiss.
Sweet symbols in the moonlight,
Do you mean that I will fall in love perchance?
Isn't it "ironic."

(instrumental)

Sweet symbols in the moonlight,
Do you mean that I will fall in love perchance?
Isn't it "ironic"
Isn't it "ironic"

It is also ironic, folks, that "romance" simply means Romanesque

I was standing in the lobby when she asked if I was going to fix the drains, "no" I said, I am the…

Rocket Man
Elton John Lyrics

She packed my bags last night pre-flight
Zero hour nine a.m.
And i'm gonna be high as a kite by then
I miss the earth so much i miss my wife
It's lonely out in space
On such a timeless flight

And i think it's gonna be a long long time
Till touch down brings me round again to find
I'm not the man they think i am at home
Oh no no no i'm a rocket man
Rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone


Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids
In fact it's cold as hell
And there's no one there to raise them if you did
And all this science i don't understand
It's just my job five days a week
A rocket man, a rocket man

And i think it's gonna be a long long time

Good morning. Reporting from Smiley City.

Hey, Try. Love Rocketman, buddy. You're standing in the lobby with Sir Elton and Hank is waiting in the lobby.



I didn't have to be thrown in a dungeon
Or left in a chamber cold and dark
For such loneliness I'm sure is the same that I endure
While I'm waiting in the lobby of your heart

And now I'm waiting waiting in the lobby of your heart
I'm on the doorstep yet we're so far apart
Many times I tried you wouldn't let me come inside
Now I'm waiting waiting in the lobby of your heart

You could have had me thrown into a prison
Or bound and tied with shackles on my feet
Instead of this sad taint to sit alone and wait
In the lobby of a heart that's cold as sleet
And now I'm waiting..

Hey Miss Smiley. I think I recognize all your pictures, PA. Let's see. There is Janet and Greta and Britt and Elisabeth, right? A quartet of ladies today. Hmmm. that sounds like a trendy magazine.

LEE KERNAGHAN »
You Rock My World Lyrics

There was nothin' going on in this old town
Just one street and the shop's shut down
The sun has come the grass is dry
You came kicking up dust as you rolled by
With tangled hair and spirit free
Something stirred inside of me

You rock you rock a country world
And you roll me in your loving ways
And you shook you shook the stony ground
Go girl
You rock my world

Your wide smile turns hard and thin
When your horse plays up and he won't give in
Well I'm amazed at everything you do
Like a desert fire I burn for you
Well there's a power I can't explain
It's like thunder rollin' across a plain

You rock you rock a country world
And you roll me in your loving ways
And you shook you shook the stony ground
Go girl
You rock my world

Your eyes so deep they draw me in
And you take me higher than I've ever been

You rock you rock a country world
And you roll me in your loving ways
And when you shook you shook the stony ground
Go girl
You rock you rock a country world
And you roll me in your loving ways
And you shook you shook the stony ground
Go girl
You rock my world

Yes you rock my world
Rock my country world
C'mon baby don't you rock it

Hey, Try. Speaking of rocking, how about a little rollin', buddy.

Here's an old train song. Incidentally, folks. I have been to a big estate in Virginia called Oak Ridge that had it's own train station. Amazing, no?


Chorus
Roll in my sweet baby's arms
Roll in my sweet baby's arms
Lay around the shack
Till the mail train comes back
Roll in my sweet baby's arms

I ain't gonna work on the railroad
Ain't gonna work on the farm
Lay around the shack
Till the mail train comes back
Roll in my sweet baby's arms

[chorus]

Where were you last Friday night
When I was in jail?
Walking on streets with another man
[Wouldn't even] go my bail

Well, listeners, another happy occasion. Squinney and bi-polar bear are having an anniversary. Wish them well:

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=2300908#2300908

here i'm back again after a short interlude
one of my 'oldie' favourites - from a 2 lp-set i bought some 30 years ago .
hbg
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I've Got A Gal In) KalamazooGlenn Miller & His Orchestra lyrics

[Words by Mack Gordon]
[Music by Harry Warren]

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H
I got a gal in Kalamazoo
Don't want to boast
But I know she's the toast of Kalamazoo
(Zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo)

Years have gone by, my my how she grew
I liked her looks when
I carried her books in Kalamazoo
(Zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo)

I'm gonna send away, hoppin' on a plane, leavin' today
Am I dreamin'? I can hear her screamin'
"Hiya, Mr. Jackson"
Everything's OK, A-L-A-M-A-Z-O

Oh, what a gal, a real pipperoo
I'll make my bid for that freckle-faced kid I'm hurryin' to
I'm goin' to Michigan to see the sweetest gal in Kalamazoo
(Zoo, zoo)
(Zoo, zoo, zoo, Kalamazoo)
K (K)
A (A)
L-A-M-A-Z-O
(Oh, oh, oh, oh what a gal, a real pipperoo)
(We're goin' to Michigan
To see the sweetest gal in Kalamazoo)
(Zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo)
(Kalamazoo)

Jukebox Saturday Night
Glenn Miller w/ Marion Hutton & The Modernaires

[Words by Albert Stillman]
[Music by Paul McGrane]

Moppin?' up sodapop rickeys
To our heart's delight
Dancin?' to swingeroo quickies
Jukebox saturday night

Goodman and Kyser and Miller
Help to make things bright
Mixin?' hot licks with vanilla
Jukebox saturday night

They put nothin?' past us
Me and honey lamb
Making one Coke last us
Till it's time to scram

Money we really don't need bad
We make out alright
Lettin?' the other guy feed that
Jukebox saturday night

After sippin?' a soda we got a scheme
Somebody else plays the record machine
It's so easy to say pet names
When you listen to the trumpet of Harry James

---- Instrumental Interlude ----

If I didn't know why the roses grow
Then I wouldn't know why the roses grow
(Spoken) Now listen, honey child
If I didn't know all them little things
I'm supposed to know
Then I sure would be a Sad man
If I didn't know

Money we really don't need it
We make out alright
Lettin?' the other guy feed that
Jukebox saturday night

hamburger, Welcome back. You must be feeling better, Canada. Wow! You are not going to believe this, but I got a message from my sister talking about compiling songs for the progeny. That was among them.

And speaking of siblings and such, folks. This is for my brother who was also born in October:


When The Swallows Come Back to Capistran
Ink Spots


When the swallows come back to Capistrano
That's the day you promised to come back to me
When you whispered, "Farewell", in Capistrano
Twas the day the swallow flew out to sea

All the mission bells will ring
The chapel choir will sing
The happiness you'll bring
Will live in my memory
When the swallows come back to Capistrano
That's the day I pray that you'll come back to me

All the mission bells will ring
The chapel choir will sing
The happiness you'll bring
Will live in my memory
When the swallows come back to Capistrano
That's the day I pray that you'll come back to me

Oops, sorry, edgar. Missed your song, Texas. Love those oldies, buddy, and thanks for not shooting the juke box.

How about a Friday night song, folks:


Vandenberg
» Friday Night

During the week I'm only half alive, wasting my time all day from 9 to 5
They think I'm slow and I'm a lazy guy
They should see me now, I'm here in your town, I'm blowing the fuses right out
Friday night - gonna let it go, dynamite - ready to explode
My boss says I'm not working hard enough
Don't even know that I sleep on the job
I'm only interested in rock 'n' roll
I'm using the week to save energy, I'm recharging my batteries - ow!
Friday night - gonna let it go, yeah, dynamite - ready to explode
Friday's okay, I get my pay, spending all night on rock, women and wine
(Solo)
Oh-oh - I'm allergic to those working days
Oh-oh - but I must survive 'til Friday, Friday, Friday
Friday night - gonna let it go, yeah, dynamite - ready to explode
I just can't wait 'til
Friday night - gonna let it go, yeah, dynamite - ready to explode, oho
Friday night - Friday night
Dynamite - that's the night that I like, that I like
Friday night... (to fade)

thanks for welcoming me back , letty !
it's good to be back
remember this oldie with ray eberly and helen o'connell ?
hbg
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TangerineJimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra w/ Bob Eberly & Helen O'Connell lyrics

[Words by Johnny Mercer]
[Music by Victor Schertzinger]

(Bob Eberly)
Tangerine, she is all they claim
With her eyes of night and lips as bright as flame
Tangerine, when she dances by
Senoritas stare and caballeros sigh
And I've seen, toasts to Tangerine
Raised in every bar across the Argentine
Yes, she has them all on the run
But her heart belongs to just one
Her heart belongs to Tangerine

---- Instrumental Interlude ----

(Helen O'Connell)
Tangerine, she is all they say
With mascara'd eye and chapeaux by Dache
Tangerine, with her lips of flame
If the color keeps, Louis Philippe's to blame
And I've seen, clothes on Tangerine
Where the label says, from Macy's Mezzanine
Yes, she's got the guys in a whirl
But she's only fooling one girl
She's only fooling Tangerine

Indeed I do remember Tangerine, hamburger. That song could really swing, and our tenor sax man really swung it and sang it as well.

Love the parody as well, Canada.

Also this goody:

They Say It's Wonderful
Frank Sinatra

They say that falling is love is wonderful
It's wonderful, so they say.
And with the moon up above,
It's wonderful
It's wonderful, so they tell me.

I can't recall who said it;
I know I never read it;
I only know they tell me
That love is grand, and
The thing that's known as romance
Is wonderful, wonderful
In every way, so they say.

To leave your house some morning,
And without any warning,
You're stopping people shouting
That love is grand, and
To hold the girl in your arms
Iis wonderful, wonderful
In every way, so they say.