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Happy Birthday, Woody!

Saturday was the 100th anniversary of the birth date of Woody Guthrie.

According to Wikipedia, Mr. Guthrie "was an American singer-songwriter and folk musician whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works.  He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his guitar.  His best-known song is "This Land Is Your Land."  Many of his recorded songs are archived in the Library of Congress.  Such songwriters as Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Pete Seeger, Joe Strummer, Billy Bragg, Jeff Tweedy and Tom Paxton have acknowledged Guthrie as a major influence.

Guthrie traveled with migrant workers from Oklahoma to California and learned traditional folk and blues songs.  Many of his songs are about his experiences in the Dust Bowl era during the Great Depression, earning him the nickname the "Dust Bowl Troubadour."  Throughout his life Guthrie was associated with United States communist groups, though he was seemingly not a member of any.

Guthrie was married three times and fathered eight children, including American folk musician Arlo Guthrie. Guthrie died from complications of Huntington's disease, a progressive genetic neurological disorder.  During his later years, in spite of his illness, Guthrie served as a figurehead in the folk movement, providing inspiration to a generation of new folk musicians, including mentor relationships with Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Bob Dylan.

Woody Guthrie was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame in 1997."

In 1972, just five years after Woody's death, the Oklahoma chapter of the Huntington's Chorea Foundation decided to have a fundraiser in his memory.  It was held at the Oklahoma City Fairgrounds.  Several musicians were invited to participate including a group that I had briefly been playing with.  So early in the program the good folks of OKC got to see John Hadley, Adam Granger, Bob Mead, and Dudley Murphy (on bass) perform together for the first and last time.  The other three went on to successful careers in music as both songwriters and performers.  In fact, just a few weeks ago I heard Adam on A Prairie Home Companion.  I wisely decided that I was not cut out for a musical career.  Can that really have been forty years ago?!?!

Celebrate

Speedster Progress...

A few days ago, I posted some pictures describing my friend Dan building a Model T Ford speedster with his grandson Daniel.  Today I was at the shop and took a couple progress pictures.  I'll continue to update these as the car takes shape.

Grandpa

Grandson

An Unusual Chief Petty Officer - John F. Morrissey

At the beginning of World War II, it was the practice of the military services to enlist or commission people at a rate or rank that was appropriate to their civilian occupation.  When I served on the USS Maloy (DE-791) in 1964-65, we had a Chief Petty Officer who had never been anything but a CPO!  John F. Morrissey had owned a successful office supply business in the Boston area before the war.  When he volunteered for the Navy immediately after Pearl Harbor, he went through some abbreviated "boot camp" and was granted the rating of Chief Yeoman.  He was around 44 years old when this took place.

The Chief served his country for the duration of the war and stayed in the reserves afterwards.  After a few years, he decided to come back on active duty to finish up twenty years of active duty and earn a normal retirement.  He did this through the so-called "TAR" program, which stood for Temporary Active Reserves.  Because he was over 65 years old when I made his acquaintance, he was actually on some kind of official waiver to be assigned to sea duty.  He loved going to sea on a ship.

During the 1930's, Chief Morrissey had invested some money with a schoolmate of his who was expanding his restaurant business.  That fellow's name was Howard Johnson.  The result was that when I became acquainted with the Chief, he was an extremely wealthy man.  That wealth led to something that seemed fairly bizarre at the time.  We would come into port from a month out at sea.  A long chauffeur-driven limousine would appear at the end of the pier, and Chief Morrissey would be whisked off for his weekend.  His home was in Cohasset, Massachusetts, as I recall. And his wife was bedridden with some long-term debilitating disease, for which she had round-the-clock nurses.  He would spend his weekends with her when we were in port and then he would return to the ship in time for Monday morning muster.

Typical Ship's Office

We decommissioned the Maloy in 1965, after which the Chief was transferred to a shore duty assignment to complete his career.  He was a real gentleman, a good shipmate, and a beloved member of the crew.

A Late Sunday Lunch...



Every once in a while, Mary Ann and I catch an episode of Guy Fieri's TV show, "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives."  And more than once we've said, "We ought to try one of those places.  I wonder if there are any close to home."  Well, on Sunday, Mary Ann said, "There's a Greek restaurant in Nashville that was featured on that Food Network show.  What would you think about doing a Sunday excursion?"  Never one to back down from a challenge, I of course said yes.  So after a few minutes of preparation, off we headed for Music City, about 135 miles away.

The object of our quest was the Athens Family Restaurant at 2526 Franklin Pike, Nashville, TN 37204.  It was featured on Fieri's show entitled "Burgers and More."  The object of his feature was described on the Website as "in Nashville, Tennessee, a Greek restaurant serving a bacon burger with a twist - it's made with lamb."

We programmed the address into the GPS and off we went.  It was a simple, straightforward route and we found the restaurant without a hitch.  It's a small but attractive place on a busy city street.

The interior was pleasantly decorated in the mediterranean blue and white that is often used in Greek restaurants, emulating the Greek flag.  Our waitress was pleasant and helpful.  Mary Ann ordered a Rueben sandwich (one of her favorites) while I opted for the bacon trimmed lamb burger signature item.

We were not disappointed in general.  The featured items were exceptional.  Mary Ann said her sandwich was moist and the home-smoked brisket of corned beef was very flavorful.  Likewise my burger was well prepared, juicy, laden with swiss cheese, and wrapped in a belt of hickory smoked bacon.  The bun was oversized to handle the size of the hand-formed lamb patty.

The french fries disappointed.  They were dry and cold, as if they had been prepared well in advance.  They had a sprinkling of feta cheese, but that couldn't salvage them.  After we had finished our meals, our server returned and suggested dessert.  At first we declined, but she informed us that the caramel cheesecake dessert (described in the menu as "caramel cream") was a treat worth waiting for.  We accepted her suggestion.  It turned out to be the highlight of the meal!

The Caramel Cream Cheesecake Dessert

We drove up to the Riverview Park after our late lunch to look for the Red Grooms' Tennessee Foxtrot Carousel, but apparently it has been closed.  It was described in one of the on-line tourist guides as, "The joys of childhood come alive in this working carousel created by internationally renowned artist Red Grooms. Grooms carved the 36 riding figures, each representing a famous Tennessean from past and present.

Included are the likes of Andrew Jackson, country music star Kitty Wells, and Tennessee pioneer Davy Crockett. This one-of-a-kind carousel showcases the contributions of famous folks to Nashville's evolution and is a joy to view and ride."  I was disappointed that we were unable to find it, although by this time, our thermometer was indicating an outside temperature of 98 degrees.

We decided to proceed towards Franklin, after which we took the liesurely route down highway 431 to Fayetteville and home.  It was a really delightful day.

A Wonderful Resource for Oddball Music..

The Edison Junior Cylinder Player

Professor Otto Robert Shurig lived on Wendell Avenue in Schenectady in the 1940s and '50s.  His daughter Janet went to school with my sister Ann.  So our families knew each other.  One day Janet informed me that her father wanted to talk to me about doing some work for him.

Somehow, Dr. Shurig had learned that I was skilled at repairing all things mechanical.  In fact, I still love anything mechanical and do have an aptitude for dismantling and reassembling even the most complex mechanical devices.  Dr. Shurig asked if I would be willing to work on one of the antique phonographs in his collection.  This was to be my introduction to the wonderful world of mechanical devices that produce sound.  Eventually I would work on several such gadgets to include not only cylinder and disk phonographs, but music boxes, player pianos, and organs.

The first item that he asked me to work on was a small Edison cylinder device.  I learned that it was called the Edison Junior model.  I learned that the cylinders used on this player only lasted 2 minutes.  Later devices played cylinders of 4 minutes' duration.  Dr. Shurig provided me with a few cylinders to use in testing the phonograph once I had repaired it.  By the way, after I had completely dismantled this instrument, I realized that all it needed was a thorough cleaning, lubrication, and adjustment to be like new.

I found this machine to be absolutely enchanting.  Even though I was a teenager at the time I worked on it, I would listen to those cylinders and be transported to a much earlier time.  I could imagine a family gathering around the phonograph's horn at the turn of the century and being amazed by the music.  I listened to the cylinders many times over.  The cylinders he had provided were "Molly and the Baby" a prohibition song, "Carry Your Cross With a Smile" sung by Homer Rodeheaver, and "Ain't Dat a Shame?"  Because I heard these songs so many times, I learned them and have sung them occasionally for the past 60 years.

The other day I ran across a remarkable asset on the Internet.  It's called the Library of Congress' National Jukebox.  According to the Web site, "At launch, the Jukebox includes more than 10,000 recordings made by the Victor Talking Machine Company between 1901 and 1925."  So even though it doesn't currently include any Edison cylinder recordings, I found the following versions of some of my "old favorites."