Postings of whatever crosses my mind that I perceive to be relevant to the World as I view it... Rational...Irrational... Sane... Insane... Who gets to make that call?? I DO!!!
This is nothing more than a great opportunity to post some weather songs!!!!!
'Feels like rain...'
'Feels Like Rain'
John Hiatt
Isaac moving into the Gulf of Mexico
'Change in the Weather'
'Change In The Weather'
John Fogerty
Walking in a hurricane...
'Wasn't That A Mighty Storm'
James Taylor
I would say she's ready for the water...
Mermaid at 45 Tchoup
Dearest daughter... if a group of people have to come and save your ass, it will all be for naught, because I will certainly kick it when I see you again...
I am aware that, as I type this, Isaac is still classified as a tropical storm. However, by the time it makes landfall either on the Mississippi or Louisiana Gulf Coast, it is expected to be at least a Category I hurricane.
According to the most recent projections, Isaac should hit the Louisiana Gulf Coast and proceed into the New Orleans area. My daughter lives in New Orleans (NOLA), and I've already had conversations with her about whether or not she should leave for a few days. One of the courses that I teach here at Alluvial Flood Plain State University is a Risk and Insurance class. A one-word definition that I ask my students to use for risk is uncertainly.
As you can tell by the image/map above, at some point when the storm was probably east of the Florida Keys, meteorologists had no idea where the storm would eventually go. This map was indicating Isaac to be a Cat II storm with anticipated landfall around Mobile, Alabama. It seems that Isaac is going to make landfall on August 29, exactly seven years after Katrina hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The storm veered to the east of NOLA, sparing a direct hit. At the time of land fall, Ground Zero being Bay St. Louis, MS, Katrina was a Cat III.
Hurricanes are divided into quadrants.
It is the Right Front Quadrant that is the most dangerous part of a hurricane. This is where the most tornadoes should be generated... the heaviest winds, the heaviest rains. Hurricanes are intense low pressure weather cells, which mean that they have a counter-clockwise movement. When one considers that Katrina moved to the east of NOLA, that meant that the heavy rains and winds would be blowing into NOLA from the north... over Lake Pontchartrain, and forcing heavy waters into the canals that feed into NOLA. Those are the levees that failed... that is why NOLA flooded. It wasn't from a direct hit from Katrina. I recently read that the Army Corp. of Engineers say that a barge broke loose and rammed a levee, causing the breach.
I remember, after Katrina hit, that one meteorologist made the comment that Hurricane CAMILLE killed more people in 2005 than she did in 1969. Someone corrected him and said, 'you mean Katrina killed more in 2005 than Camille did in 1969, don't you?'
The meteorologist said, 'No, Camille gave many people a false sense of security; if we survived Camille, we can survive this one.'
Many didn't.
Interesting Before/After Katrina Photos of Bay St. Louis
I am very familiar with Bay St. Louis, Ms. The bottom photo is referred to as an area being 'slabbed' in the insurance industry. Nothing was left but the slabs of the homes.
I'm sure if you are a fan of 'Walking Dead,' you've seen this image...
dramatic effect of everyone leaving town...
Real effect of everyone leaving town...
Notice that there are no empty lanes... notice that everyone is being routed in the same direction. This is what it looks like when one is in a 'Get The Hell Outta Dodge' mode...
My daughter's subjective risk of this danger is much greater than mine. I would be packed and leaving. She seems to be excited about it.
I suppose this could be an interesting use for post-it notes.
Should work for either gender, I suppose...
This is why men, more often than not,
don't make good crime scene witnesses.
Not much more to be said here...
It is this kind of things that drive us teachers to drink...
or to drink more...
Much More...
If you don't get it, ask, and I will explain it.
Another self explanatory cartoon...
Recent studies have indicated that alcohol abuse use tends to
have some medicinal healing qualities...
However...
it hinders spelling...
It's aisle, not isle...
Let me help you with that selection...
Here is another interesting beer commercial for your viewing pleasure.
All I can say is that I never had anything like that happen to me at the beach... Every time I watch her move close to him at the end, I start 'motorboating' it... if'n you know what I mean...
This next video, I reckon, shows the effect of G-force on articles of clothing...
I never had anything like this happen while I've been driving either...
This next video is a commercial extolling safe sex...
Hmmmmmm... latex...
Here's the answer to the quiz at the beginning of the post...
However, an astute observer would have noticed that
Wow... have you seen the Heineken beer commercial where three guys walk into an almost empty bar... one of the guys gives the bartender a look, the bartender flips a switch... and the bar is converted into one cool place, and the piano player is replaced by...
Clairy Browne and the Bangin' Rackettes...
And she belts out the lyrics to the song I've referenced above...
The Video...
The Commercial...
I can't recall the last time I heard a song drip this much sex...
I totally missed a musically significant day yesterday. I discovered half of the problem when I read Cocaine Princess' blog post (HERE)... and it's that yesterday, August 16, was the 35th anniversary of Elvis's death... August 16, 1977.
young Elvis...
Do you know that 35 years after his death, mourners still flock to Memphis to visit his grave site?
Elvis Mourners...
Elvis Impersonators...
Evidently, there is a lot of money to be made by impersonating the King... a band by the name of Dread Zeppelin took it to the next level... setting Led Zeppelin music to a reggae beat and sung by a fat Elvis impersonator...
Did you know that Elvis wasIS a Zombie? And that they made a movie about it??
Zombie Elvis...
Fat Elvis...
(Not Really...)
Whatever your thoughts, Elvis could bring it...
Another music event that occurred on August 16, is that 50 years ago yesterday...
...The BeaTles fired Pete Best as their drummer
and replaced him with Richard Starkey...
Better known as...
Ringo Starr...
One a more somber note, we had our 'Back-To-School' meetings today here at Alluvial Flood Plain State University...
Blah...
~shoes~
Saturday, August 11, 2012
'Weekend Blues...'
Having lived in the Mississippi Delta most of my Life, it's difficult to move around here and not run into some form or fashion of the Blues... When the British Invasion occurred in the mid-60's, a great deal of what we were hearing here in the States was actually American music... the blues music that was derived from the 'field chants' created by Southern Blacks working in the cotton fields...
Some of the blues music that was written involved a great deal of animal imagery...
One of my most favorite blues song with animal symbolism is "Crawlin' King Snake"...
"Crawlin' King Snake"
Buddy Guy
'Blues Singer' CD
Recorded in Oxford, MS
I do know that many of the old Blacks from my youth were greatly superstitious... and many stories were told about King Snakes...
A maid that worked for Mom and Dad, Miss Mary, told me that she was deathly afraid of King Snakes... she told me about how they would steal your soul if you weren't careful...
You know you caught me crawlin' baby, when the grass was very high
I'm gonna keep on crawlin' , girl
until the day I die,
because I'm a crawlin' kingsnake, baby
and I rules my den
I've heard stories about Blacks finding King Snakes in their cemeteries... and how they believed the snake to be the Devil... if one was found wrapped around a loved one's headstone... well, the news just wasn't good. That said a lot about what had happened to that person's soul.
The King Snake shares a characteristic with the King Cobra... in that they are both ophiophagous... this means that they are snake eaters... the King Snake is immune to the poison of the venomous snakes in its region... King Snakes here in the Mississippi Delta eat Cotton Mouth Moccasins, Copperheads, and Rattlesnakes...
'Speckled King Snake Making Dinner
Out Of A Garter Snake
Speakin' of CottonMouths...
Another favorite "snake" song is this one... I have always been amazed by bands from California (Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Doobie Brothers, Little Feat) that SO wanted to sound like they were from the South... especially the Southern Louisiana area... there is something about Louisiana... interesting things seem to happen there... Speaking of interesting things in Louisiana... have any of you ever visited the grave site of this person?
On August 8, 1969, Lain Macmillan was given about ten minutes in which to shoot this photo. This is possibly the most recognized photo of The BeaTles...
This photo added to the rumor that Paul McCartney had died... conspiracy theorists interpreted the photo in this manner...
John, being dressed in a white suit, represented a priest... one who would conduct a funeral service; Ringo was alleged to be dressed as an undertaker...
Paul, being barefoot in the photo, was representative of being a corpse... and poor George, dressed in denim... he was the grave digger. He certainly wasn't getting much respect at this point of his career.
Anyway... it is debatable what music would be like today if not for The BeaTles... they changed everything... hair length, fashion... Hell, I knew when I saw them on Ed Sullivan for the first time that I wanted to play guitar.
Where have the years gone??? PS: Did you know that
they chose the name, 'Beatles' as an homage to Buddy Holly and the Crickets?
That Little Feat spelled 'feet' the way they did as an homage to The BeaTles?
Clarksdale is a small burg in the Mississippi Delta that is the home of blues artists such as Muddy Waters. The Mississippi Delta has long been regarded as the Birthplace and Home of the Delta Blues..
The 25th Sunflower Blues Festival is scheduled for August 10-12... and you can read about it HERE.
The headliner for this year's blues fest is none other than Robert Plant... of Led Zeppelin fame!!!
The downside to this event is that it's outdoors, and it has been HOT here... last afternoon at 5PM it was 104F.
Muddy Waters, born as McKinley Morganfield, was raised around Clarksdale... he was one of the major influences of the different bands that helped make up the 'British Invasion' back in the mid-60s... bands like 'The Rolling Stones,' 'The Animals,' 'Cream'...
Robert Plant and Jimmy Page are no strangers to Clarksdale and the Mississippi Delta. They have been sighted around here quite often. Quite a few of Zeppelin's early hits were covers of old blues standards.
One of my favorite musical family tree stories of that era starts with a band by the name of the Yardbirds... they had a guitarist, Eric Clapton, that left to pursue other opportunities... and Clapton was replaced by Jeff Beck... then Jeff Beck wanted to do other work, so Beck was replaced by Jimmy Page. Not long afterwards, The Yardbirds disbanded... and Jimmy Page went about re-organizing the band under the name of 'The New Yardbirds'... Keith Moon, drummer for 'The Who,' commented that this band would go over like a lead balloon... and they were so moved by this comment, that they changed the name to 'Led Zeppelin'... so they were a blues derivative band...
This song was written by Willie Dixon... and sang by Muddy Waters... one of just a few songs that Led Zeppelin bastardized covered by Dixon...
My good friend, Green Monkey, over atGreen Monkey Tales used this image on her most recent post. As soon as I saw it, I thought...
"I've seen that!!!!!!"
Back in late May, I had the opportunity to go to Europe, specifically Germany and The Netherlands, as a guest lecturer at several universities...
I spent a couple of days in Frankfurt Am Main, Germany before heading to Aachen... and on one of my treks, I walked along the river walk and came upon this neat pedestrian bridge... the Eiserner Steg (bridge). This bridge was originally constructed back in 1868... as a pedestrian bridge to allow the citizens to reach the other side of the Main River.
Couples have come to the Eiserner Steg to show their everlasting love to each other by attaching a padlock to the bridge. These padlocks are often engraved with their names of the couples and a date, and the keys are thrown into the river.
The Eiserner Steg
This custom came to Frankfurt from the city of Cologne, where it is said that over 40,000 padlocks are attached to a bridge that spans the Rhine River.
Locks Of Love
That type of love... hope... for a future together must be nice...
Each side of the bridge has an
approach like this.
Commitment to a three-way?
Polyamory??
I need to finish writing about my trip... I just kind of lost interest in it...
