Ripley’s “Believe It or Not!” operates “Odditoriums” and other attractions in eleven states, Canada, Mexico and six other countries. These locations do not include his hometown, Santa Rosa California, where the “Church of One Tree” once housed a museum celebrating Robert Ripley. Continue reading “Ripley’s Believe It or Not! and the Church of One Tree”
Category: Persons
People who interest me
Guitar That Changed the World
Scotty Moore died last week. He was 84 years old. He made history on July 5, 1954. On that date he recorded “That’s All Right” at Sam Phillips’s tiny Sun Studio in Memphis. Moore, accompanied by bass player Bill Black and singer/rhythm guitarist Elvis Presley, laid down the mind-shattering guitar licks on the recording that changed everything.
Keith Richards, who plays guitar in a popular band, once said, “When I heard ‘Heartbreak Hotel,’ I knew what I wanted to do in life. It was as plain as day. All I wanted to do in the world was to be able to play and sound like that. Everyone else wanted to be Elvis, I wanted to be Scotty.”
Rolling Stone magazine’s Scotty Moore tribute.
plus ça change… ?
In May 1895, Oscar Wilde entered Newgate Prison in London to begin two years hard labor for his crime of “gross indecency.” On June 17, 2016, the Tampa Bay Rays drew their largest crowd in a decade. The Rays hosted the San Francisco Giants with 40,135 in attendance on “Pride Night,” dedicated to the victims of the shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. Average attendance for the Rays is 16,037, second lowest in the major leagues.
Jackie Robinson’s $36 Million Contract
Jackie Robinson signed his original contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. His rookie salary was $5,000 – the equivalent of $55,000 today. (The minimum major-league salary in 2016 is $507,500.)
Texas Panhandle Attractions
Route 66 traverses the city of Amarillo, mid-panhandle Texas, about halfway between Albuquerque and Oklahoma City. For motorists getting their kicks on the Mother Road, a mandatory stop is the Cadillac Ranch. A few miles west of the city, ten Cadillacs, vintages 1949 to 1963, are half-buried at an angle, in line, nose down, tail fins pointed skyward.
Literally Decimated & Other Malapropisms: Post-Mother’s-Day Thoughts
Language is a living, ever-evolving organism. The meanings and uses of words change over time. If a word is misused enough over a long-enough period of time, it becomes part of the accepted language.
Continue reading “Literally Decimated & Other Malapropisms: Post-Mother’s-Day Thoughts”