More Cash, Fewer Panties
A Second Look At The Best of Johnny Cash Show On DVD
Because of the email I’ve received about the Johnny Cash TV Show DVD featured in Heck of a Guy Recommends Cash - Best of Johnny Cash Show On DVD, today’s post focuses again on this entertainment gem.
The Heck of a Guy DVD Diner Luncheon Menu - Today’s Specials:
1. For the musical gourmands among our guests, we’re offering a pictorial smörgåsbord with screenshots of most of the performances on the DVD arrayed in groups of complementary tastes
2. For the more adventuresome, Chef DrHGuy has prepared a spicy Linda Ronstadt episode, served either with dressing (specially purchased for this dish) or, in an extra zesty version, sans panties with a side of June Carter Cash Remonstration providing a piquant counterpoint
The Visuals From The Johnny Cash Show
From Left to Right
Top Row: Joni Mitchell and Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, Creedence Clearwater Revival
Middle Row: Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Louis Armstrong and Johnny Cash
Bottom Row: Kris Kristofferson, Glen Campbell, Ray Price, Stevie Wonder
From Left to Right
Top Row: Carl Perkins, Eric Clapton, & Johnny Cash; Carl Perkins1
Middle Row (Far Right): Neil Young
Bottom Row: Tammy Wynette, James Taylor,2 Pete Seeger
From Left to Right
Top Row: Loretta Lynn, Neil Diamond, Conway Twitty, Roy Orbison
Middle Row: Hank Williams Jr and Johnny Cash, Chet Atkins
Bottom Row: Bill Monroe And His Blue Grass Boys, Tony Joe White and Johnny Cash, Ray Charles
From Left to Right
Top Row: George Jones, Merle Haggard,3 Waylon Jennings4
Bottom Row: Jerry Lee Lewis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Jerry Lee Lewis5
Johnny Cash, Linda Ronstadt, June Carter Cash, And Linda’s Missing Panties
The Narrative
By Penni Lane, hairstylist on the Johnny Cash Show:
The Storyboard
Top Row (Left): Penni Lane (hairstylist for the show) narrates
Top Row (Middle): Linda Ronstadt and Johnny Cash embrace
Top Row (Right): Linda Ronstadt and Johnny Cash prepare to chat
Bottom Row (Left): Linda Ronstadt, presumably wearing bloomers, cautiously seats herself
Bottom Row (Right): Johnny Cash spells “R-O-N-S-T-A-D-T”
Top Row: Johnny Cash discovers Linda is from Tucson, Arizona, notes that he likes to hunt jackrabbits in that area, and asks Linda if she participates in the same sport
Bottom Row (Left): Linda answers hat she can’t bring herself to pull the trigger (note left hand used as visual aid)
Bottom Row (Right): In response to Johnny’s explanation that he actually doesn’t like killing the rabbits, just hunting them, Linda observes that it’s all right to kill the bunnies
Top Left: Johnny sings with Linda enthralled (repeat X30)
Bottom Left: Johnny administers quasi-chaste kiss to Linda’s cheek
Between Top Left and Bottom Right: Singing in sub-optimal conditions (i.e., not bare-butted), Linda’s musical expressions run gamut from A to B
Footnotes
- An unsolved mystery is why Carl Perkins, who one assumes had a steady salary as a regular on the show, chose to wear a toupee that couldn’t cost more than $7.22 ~back~
- This was the first appearance of James Taylor on national TV, and, in case you’re wondering why I chose a shot with his eyes closed, as far as I can determine, he sang the entire song with his eyes shut ~back~
- This is Merle before he was haggard. ~back~
- Yep, Waylon was once this young - but still scary ~back~
- The only reason I can discover that The Killer’s piano playing gyrations on the show are heralded as spectacular is that he gave the same incredible performance a few hundred times in a few hundred other venues ~back~
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The Other Photos From The Thanksgiving 2007 Trip To Mom’s Home
While I’ve already posted all the photos of the specimens in my Mother’s collections1 from our visit to her home this past Thanksgiving, there are a few other pictures of people that I’m posting as an indulgence to the nostalgia rampant at the end of the year.
This photo of Mom was taken at Thanksgiving.
On the wall of the basement, I found this blurry picture of Julie’s parents (on left), my parents (on right), and Julie2 and me (in center) at our wedding.
And this even blurrier photo, also from the wedding, of Julie, her daughter, and me.
In this shot, my brother, Bobby Lynn,3 is on the left and I’m on the right. In the center section, Bobby Lynn is on the left and I’m on the right.
Footnotes
- To read about and view my mother’s impressive collection of doodads, antiques, gadgets, widgets, junk, tchotchkes, collectibles, oddities, curios, odds, ends, and much, much more, see Mom’s Collectibles ~back~
- Julie Showalter was my much-beloved, fiercely smart, wickedly sexy wife and prize-winning writer, who died in 1999 from cancer diagnosed the week of our wedding nearly 20 years earlier. There are many other posts about her and her writing in this blog. For information, see Julie Showalter FAQ ~back~
- Bobby Lynn, two years younger than I, died at 16 of Hodgkin’s. ~back~
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Heck of a Guy Recommends Cash - Best of Johnny Cash Show On DVD
The Johnny Cash Show: The Best of Johnny Cash 1969-1971
Two weeks ago, Bill Flanagan of MTV, moonlighting on the CBS Sunday Morning News Music Segment, recommended several DVDs featuring important historical pop performances, including “Dreams To Remember: The Legacy Of Otis Redding,” “Smokey Robinson And The Miracles Definitive Performances 1963-1987,” and “Jazz Icons” that presents full concerts by Charles Mingus, Sarah Vaughan, Dexter Gordon, Dave Brubeck, Wes Montgomery, and Duke Ellington.
For me, however, the main attraction was Flanagan’s summary of “The Best of Johnny Cash 1969-1971:”
The Best of Johnny Cash 1969-1971 DVDs
Hustling to Amazon.com, I found that “The Johnny Cash Show: The Best of Johnny Cash 1969-1971″1 (herewith denoted by “The Johnny Cash Show DVDs”) was released September 18, 2007 and is currently out of stock in most outlets. Happily, a quick check showed that Netflix carried the two disk set and a week after the selection was added to my que, both DVDs arrived.
Even more happily, the performances lived up to and surpassed Mr Flanagan’s laudatory description of it.
The Music
I remember the show well enough, but I didn’t recall how many great rock, country & western, and folk stars were featured. The guests, for example, on the series premiere which aired June 7, 1969 included the actress, Fannie Flagg, Doug Kershaw (AKA the “Ragin Cajun”), Joni Mitchell, and a young, well groomed to the point of non-recognition, Bob Dylan.
Dylan sang I Threw It All Away and was joined by Cash for a duet of Girl From the North Country from Dylan’s Nashville Skyline album.
The latter performance is available from YouTube:
While Cash was sometimes given to moralizing, frequently referencing his Christian faith, he also brought still-controversial Pete Seeger on his show and defied network censors, refusing to drop the word “stoned” from his rendition of Kris Kristofferson’s “Sunday Morning Coming Down.”
The DVDs (especially Disk 1) includes commentary from son John Carter Cash, Kristofferson, Hank Williams, Jr., and others that suffers in comparison to the music. I found myself going to the main menu to use the option of selecting exclusively from the list of songs.
The entire playlist of 66 songs is included below but the standout tracks for me were the Dylan numbers, two performances by Derek and the Dominos (”It’s Too Late” and a version of “Matchbox” featuring Eric Clapton trading verses with Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash, ‘Needle and the Damage Done’ by Neil Young, three songs by an impossibly young Waylon Jennings, and Cash’s duets with Louis Armstrong and Ray Charles.
The Official Recommendation
Watching The Johnny Cash Show DVDs is, I can testify, a wonderful way to spend an afternoon in northern Illinois with 5-6 inches of snow falling. While I haven’t tested these DVDs in the full range of locations and meteorologic postconditions, my working hypothesis is that the recorded performances will have the same effect on viewers in all regions of the US, including, for example, Chapel Hill, Kansas City, Las Angeles, New York, and, yes, even Joplin.
Complete Playlist
Disc 1
Johnny Cash - Ring Of Fire
Bob Dylan - I Threw It All Away
Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash - Girl From The North Country
Kris Kristofferson - Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again)
Louis Armstrong and Johnny Cash - Blue Yodel #9
Stevie Wonder - Heaven Help Us All
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Bad Moon Rising
Linda Ronstadt and Johnny Cash - I Will Never Marry
George Jones - Medley (White Lightning with Johnny Cash, She Thinks I Still Care, Love Bug, The Race Is On)
Johnny Cash - Hey Porter
Waylon Jennings - Only Daddy That’ll Walk The Line
Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash - The Singing Star’s Queen
Waylon Jennings - Brown Eyed Handsome Man
Tammy Wynette - Stand By Your Man
Marty Robbins - Medley (Big Iron, Running Gun, El Paso)
Johnny Cash - Come Along And Ride This Train
Johnny Cash - As Long As The Grass Shall Grow
Johnny Cash - Man In Black
James Taylor - Sweet Baby James
Pete Seeger and Johnny Cash - Cripple Creek, Worried Man Blues
Johnny Cash - Sunday Morning Coming Down
Johnny Cash - Old Time Religion
Johnny Cash, The Carter Family, The Statler Brothers, Carl Perkins and The TennesseeThree - Daddy Sang Bass
Mother Maybelle and The Carter Sisters - Wildwood Flower
Neil Young - The Needle And The Damage Done
Johnny Cash and The Tennessee Three - Tennessee Flat Top Box
Joni Mitchell and Johnny Cash - The Long Black Veil
Johnny Cash and The Tennessee Three with Carl Perkins - Big River
Disc 2
Johnny Cash - I Walk The Line
June Carter Cash - A Good Man
Derek And The Dominos - It’s Too Late Derek And The Dominos with Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins - Matchbox
Charley Pride - Able Bodied Man
Bill Monroe And His Blue Grass Boys - Blue Moon Of Kentucky
Loretta Lynn - I Know How
Jerry Lee Lewis - Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On
Johnny Cash - Ride This Train (America The Beautiful, This Land Is Your Land)
The Everly Brothers with Ike Everly and Johnny and Tommy Cash - That Silver Haired Daddy Of Mine
Ray Charles - Ring Of Fire
Johnny Cash - A Boy Named Sue
Conway Twitty - Hello Darlin’
Mother Maybelle Carter - Black Mountain Rag
Tony Joe White and Johnny Cash - Polk Salad Annie
Glen Campbell - Wichita Lineman
Neil Diamond - Cracklin’ Rosie
Ray Price - For The Good Times
Roy Orbison - Crying
Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash - Oh, Pretty Woman
Johnny Cash - Wanted Man
Chet Atkins and Johnny Cash - Recuerdo De La Alhambra
Chet Atkins - Medley (Country Gentleman, Mister Sandman, Wildwood Flower, Freight Train)
June Carter Cash with Homer And Jethro - Baby, It’s Cold Outside
Merle Haggard - No Hard Times
Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash - Sing Me Back Home
Carl Perkins - Blue Suede Shoes
Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, The Carter Family and The Statler Brothers - The Old Account Was Settled Long Ago
Roy Clark - Medley (In The Summertime, 12th Street Rag)
The Statler Brothers - Flowers On The Wall
Johnny Cash - Working Man Blues
Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash - Jackson, Turn Around, I Love You Because
Hank Williams Jr. - Medley (You Win Again, Cold Cold Heart, I Can’t Help It If I’m Still In Love With You, Half As Much)
Johnny Cash - A Wonderful Time Up There
Footnotes
- Also for sale are two DVDs of Johnny Cash Christmas Specials, selectiona that came up regularly in my searches for The Best of Johnny Cash. The Christmas DVDs may be wonderful as well but I’m not familiar with them and mention them only to alert buyers to this possible source of confusion ~back~
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The Anjani Chronicles - Introduction
Prologue To The Preface To The Foreword Of The Introduction Of The …
The title, “The Anjani Chronicles,” and the recurrent invocation of Anjani’s name throughout this post notwithstanding, the specific entry before you has less to do with Anjani Thomas than with writing about Anjani Thomas.
One of the perks of blogging is learning, in the process of writing and publishing posts, a new skill, discovering a new fragment of information, and, if one is very lucky, reaching a new understanding about how the world works.
Another perk of blogging is wielding absolute authority in the decision to share said skill, information fragment, or understanding with readers.1
And, in fact, a more accurate if less alluring heading for today’s post would be “How I came to interview Anjani and what I consequently learned about the journalism of interviews along with an ambiguous promise that the material from those interviews will actually be published someday soon.”
Consider yourselves warned.
Interviews With Anjani2 That Will Make You Want To Kiss - Well, Anjani, Of Course
I suspect that The New Yorker, to name a publication renowned for publishing extensive profiles of important individuals, has never in its 82 year history felt it incumbent to preface a biographical sketch or interview with a notification of this sort:
Really.
The Anjani Chronicles are not another in the series of satirical pieces, fictional conversations, extended jokes, fake news stories, or other snark-infested exemplars that populate much of the Heck of a Guy Blog.
The Anjani Chronicles are, instead, character sketches and biographical illuminations that, one hopes, provide insight into Anjani Thomas.
Again, the Anjani Chronicles are the results of real interviews.
This is not a drill.
To be fair, I also suspect that no New Yorker interview has opened, as did my interviews with Anjani, with “So, what are you wearing?”3
As the astute reader will have inferred, the Anjani Chronicles do not precisely follow the standard template for Biographic Articles About Musical Artists, Jazz Singers, Female.
The Making Of The Anjani Chronicles
Anjani is a singer and keyboardist best known for her Blue Alert CD, which features elegantly performed songs suffused with evocative lyrics, and her professional and romantic relationships with Leonard Cohen, an accomplished singer-songwriter in his own right.
My own connection to Anjani began in late July 2006 when I was captivated on first hearing the tracks from Blue Alert and immediately posted a review on my Heck of a Guy blog that reflected my fascination with the music, Music Recommendation That Will Make You Want To Kiss Me.
What happened next is described in this excerpt from Anjani And DrHGuy FAQ:
For a brief shining moment,4 Anjani Thomas, she of the dulcet tones, exotically lovely visage, and long-term relationship with Leonard Cohen, and DrHGuy, he of the facile wordplay, Ozarks-bred charm, and infamously jejune sexual fantasies, carried on an outrageously outré, energetically eroticized flirtation in the Heck Of A Guy blog open to anyone who cared to read the exchanges.
To obviate responding individually to the continued emails from viewers curious about the relationship,5 I’ve consolidated the pertinent blogobits. I wrote the posts; Anjani’s remarks are in the Comments sections.
Otherwise, there isn’t much to explain. I was wild for Anjani’s CD, Blue Alert, and wrote a heartfelt, adoring review – that also included allusions (also heartfelt and adoring as all get-out, if arguably tinged with a tad of smart-aleckedness) to my simultaneously bedding Anjani and two other female vocalists, the nature of the connection between “Lenny & Anji,” and the similarity between my serendipitous discovery of the Blue Alert album to the blind date that led to the catastrophe known as my first marriage.
Anjani graciously responded with an unsolicited comment that sweetly acknowledged my endorsement of Blue Alert without admonishing me for the less respectful portions of the post.
Proving that no good deed goes unpunished, I posted a rejoinder to her comment, much of which was an elaboration of the theme that, well, “upon reading my post, Anjani was instantly infatuated with me.”
I also claimed that [ahem] “She was also totally turned on by the notion of the foursome and wondered how I would feel about mixing and matching with Tina Turner and Joan Jett.”
She responded to that post as well, giving as good as she got.
The rest is, as they say, history.
Since then, I’ve published a batch of blog entries about Anjani and the Blue Alert album6 and enjoyed a sporadic email correspondence with her that is as predictably exhilarating and bedazzling as one might expect from this type of asymmetric communication between a fan and the object of the fan’s adoration.
But don’t get me wrong, I’m probably as gratified by the connection as she is.
Two months ago, a flurry of email between us was occasioned by my plan to bulk up the somewhat perfunctory entry on Anjani in Wikipedia, which then did not even show her likeness. After Anjani sent photos and signed the waiver to allow their use by Wikipedia, I nudged them through the Byzantine system of safeguards that insures that graphics on that site are not in violation of copyright. In the course of checking the accuracy of references and content for the anticipated changes in the Wikipedia text entry with Anjani, I pointed out that Wikipedia’s “No original research” policy7 precluded verbatim use of information I garnered directly from her in Wikipedia unless it could be supported by other references. “Even if I were to do an extended interview with [her],” I wrote,” I wouldn’t be able to use it in a Wikipedia entry.”
It was a short step from that exchange to the deferral of the Wikipedia project in favor of completing an interview with Anjani for the Heck of a Guy blog.
Two long telephone conversations and several clarifying emails between Anjani and me followed. The completion of the interviews and the publication of this material was delayed by logistics (e.g., time zone conflicts and parental visitations, in Hawaii for Anjani and the Ozarks for me, over Thanksgiving), other obligations that competed for my time, and my pondering and fretting about how one goes about this business of writing a competent interview.
The Publishing Format
The material from my interviews and email with Anjani could have been forged into a single post, but both writing and reading it would have been massive tasks, its length dwarfing that of the longest reader-daunting New Yorker Profile - and many novellas.
And, the publication date would have been shortly after New Years Day - but not New Years Day 2008.
Instead, I’m publishing the interviews as The Anjani Chronicles, a series of posts focused on one theme, time period, or episode.
The Perspective Taken By The Anjani Chronicles
Sometime after my interviews with Anjani, I read a number of articles and a book or two on the journalistic aspects of writing biographical material that would have been helpful - had I read them prior to those interviews. One of the most thoughtful and insightful was “The New Yorker Profile: People and Place,” by Larissa MacFarquhar,8 which is the source of the following excerpts.
Well, for what it’s worth, I didn’t ask Anjani when she lost her virginity so those of you hoping to find that information will have to wait until Premiere does its own interview.
I did ask her about pet names she and Leonard Cohen have for each other, but I suppose that’s not the same thing.
Yep. That sounds about right.
I can think of no better use of a New Yorker expense account than funding five or six days non-stop with Anjani. The Heck of a Guy Blog budget, however, is such that Anjani insisted on paying for the second phone call.
Anjani specified that no areas of her life were off limits.9 While she may well have felt there was limited risk that I would go Janet Malcolm on her, writing a devastating article that dissected her life to reveal that she is, say, emotionally frigid, an abuser of illicit substances, amoral, and sexually perverse,10 there were, interspersed throughout the interviews, uncomfortable moments of self-examination such as those MacFarquhar describes, and responses that, I believe, indicate traits and behavioral patterns that explain, in part, how Anjani became the person she is today.
Oops. I heartily agree with MacFarquhar’s premise, that the best interviews are those in which the interviewer disappears from the article. I tend, in fact, toward apoplectic reactions to journalists who use their proximity to the famously talented for self-aggrandizement.
But, beyond those occasional email exchanges between Anjani and me, this blog proffers more than enough information about me, including my scribblings about Anjani, to disqualify me as a blank screen of the sort MacFarquhar outlines.
Since the optimal interviewer role is not possible in this situation, my contention is that the next best option is making the relationship clear to the audience up front and using the access afforded by our limited familiarity to explore beyond the usual interviewer’s queries (e.g., “Who were your musical influences?”) and draw conclusions beyond those found in the final paragraph of the usual articles (”Anjani sings real good.”).
These may be my favorite lines from the essay. I find it heartening as well as endearing to think of a writer saying to herself, “What on earth can I possibly know [about the interviewee]?” and then writing a moving, discerning, acutely perspicacious Profile about that interviewee.
That is certainly the way I’ve approached the upcoming posts about Anjani.
The Anjani Chronicles Graphic
The graphic atop this post is based on “Lady With Organ,” a much reproduced tapestry from the late 15th century featuring a Mille Fleurs background. The original is now displayed at the Andgers Castle. I’ve reordered the elements and, of course, added the legend, “The Anjani Chronicles.” The figures and the portable organ, however, are unchanged from the original design. Note the smaller figure behind the organ pumping the bellows.
Coming Attractions
The first non-introductory post of The Anjani Chronicles should be published next week.
Published Posts From The Anjani Chronicles
All published Anjani Chronicles posts can be found by clicking on Anjani Chronicles in the links listed under “Categories.”
Footnotes
- Regrettably, a blogger’s absolute authority to proffer such content does not extend to coercing viewers to read that content or, even if they read it, buying into the blogger’s premise. ~back~
- To readers asking themselves “Who the heck is Anjani?”
Anjani is an outstanding jazz vocalist, whose best known work is the “Blue Alert” album, which I reviewed in Music Recommendation That Will Make You Want To Kiss Me. This post is about my interviews with Anjani.To Readers searching for the Anjani who performs traditional Indian dance or the Anjani who makes Bollywood movies, to those attempting to make reservations at the Anjani Hotel, to those hoping to land a job with Anjani Etech Solutions, Inc., and to those looking for any Anjani other than the dulcet voiced, sexy, and enchanting singer and keyboardist, Anjani Thomas
This is not the the destination you intended - which is not necessarily the same as “the wrong place.” You can re-Google to navigate to your Anjani of choice but you may find it a pleasant and gratifying experience to take advantage of the serendipity that brought you here and spend some time with this Anjani. ~back~ - On the other hand, “The Genome Warrior,” a New Yorker Profile published June 5, 2000 about J. Craig Venter, the biologist who was instrumental in mapping the human genome, did open with this quote from an unnamed scientist: “Craig Venter is an asshole.” ~back~
- In non-metaphorical terms: August 5-17, 2006 ~back~
- These queries typically take the form of
Anjani? You? Huh? I don’t get it. Why you?
or
Who really wrote that? ~back~ - All posts dealing with Anjani can be found at Anjani Thomas ~back~
- Wikipedia: No original research fully explicates the concept of “No original research” which is summarized thusly:
-
* Wikipedia is not a publisher of original thought, nor a forum for promoting one’s own point of view; all material must be verifiable
* Facts must be backed by citations to reliable sources that contain these facts
* Interpretations and syntheses must be attributed to reliable sources that make these interpretations and syntheses - “The New Yorker Profile: People and Place” is a transcript of the presentation given by New Yorker staff writer Larissa MacFarquhar at Northwestern University’s “Literature of Fact” Lecture Series on November 17, 2003 ~back~
- Anjani did request, without insisting, that I not include two of her responses: her one line critique of another performer, which was, at worst, unenthusiastic, and (2) the specific nature of one of her projects, lest someone else appropriate her idea. ~back~
- There was, on the other hand, the all too real risk that I could go Hunter Thompson on her, describing her as, say, emotionally frigid, an abuser of illicit substances, amoral, and sexually perverse - which, in a gonzo journalistic context, could be considered high praise. ~back~
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Headquarters, New York TImes
In What Do You Mean, Giving Me That?, a thoughtful, quirky piece about holiday gift-giving published December 23, 2007 in the New York Times, author Guy Trebay introduces the subject by describing his own experience as a five year old recipient of the gift of a record player and a selection of records:
“With the exception of one, the titles of those records have vanished from recollection. The remembered record was called “Cold Nose, Warm Heart,” and it was a song about a dog. A Google search suggests that the dog in this particular song was probably Lassie, but the writer does not remember or care very much about that.” [Emphais added]
The Heck of a Guy Blog - Caring and Sharing Since 2006
Headquarters, Heck of a Guy Blog
Well, thank goodness, someone remembers and, yes, cares about the facts.
And, thank goodness, when the New York Times falls short, the Heck of a Guy Blog is on hand to pick up the slack.
As it turns out, “Cold Nose, Warm Heart” was also the first record I ever owned. The opening lyrics, as I recall them, went something like this:
He’s one dog that you gotta see.
He’s exactly as a dog should be,
He’s got a cold nose and a warm heart.
If my “Cold Nose, Warm Heart” is the same song as Mr.Trebay’s “Cold Nose, Warm Heart,” I believe one will find that it was a track from “Songs of Rin Tin Tin,” a 7 inch, mono, 45 rpm, vinyl record on the Golden Records (EP 745) label performed by the Sandpipers.1 The track listing follows: I Wish I Had a Dog Like Rin Tin Tin; A Dog’s Best Friend; Cold Nose, Warm Heart; Rinny, Rusy and Rip; 101st Cavalry Gallop; Rough Around the Edges.
Now, aren’t you more at peace and centered with the identity of the warm-hearted, cold-nosed canine ascertained? Doesn’t the universe seem less threatening and capricious now that justice has been done and Rin Tin Tin, whose fame was largely eclipsed by Lassie’s popularity, has been rightfully accorded his place in the Songbook of America? Isn’t it empowering to be back in sync with the universe as a result of the story’s ambiguity having been dissolved in the solvent of truth? And, isn’t it comforting to discover that the common man in search of information doesn’t have to rely exclusively on the whims of the New York Times to decide what is and isn’t important to know?
Rather than gloating, however, DrHGuy, Editor of The Heck of a Guy Blog, quietly and sagely noted,
Heck, to be fair about it, The New York Times had done most of the work on this story already. We’re all in the publishing gig together - we are just happy we could help out our New York colleagues. And they have nothing to be ashamed of; with some experience and perhaps some additional fiscal resources, they could have a bright future.
Heck of a Guy Bonus: The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin
From left to right: Corporal Rusty and Rin Tin Tin
While the character of Rin Tin Tin appeared in a batch of movies dating back to 1922 and between 1930 and 1955 was heard in three different radio series,2 my experience with Rin Tin Tin3 was as the titular hero of the ABC television show, The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin from 1954-1959.4
According to TV.com,
The mainstays of The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin in front of
what appears to be an urban outreach office of Fort Apache
I had remembered the same premise, but on putting my version in print, it seemed a tad implausible, leading me to defer to the TV.com quotation. Apparently, US Army Lieutenants in the late 19th century had the authority to promote 10 year old boys to Corporals, which qualified them to live on their own in forts in hostile territory.
Sweet.
Footnotes
- The group who sang “Cold Nose, Warm Heart” were the same Sandpipers who sang the “Mighty Mouse Theme Song” but were not the Sandpipers who sang “Guantanamera” ~back~
- Wikipedia - Rin Tin Tin ~back~
- As with most canine actors in starring roles, Rin Tin Tin had several uncredited doubles. Rin Tin Tin, Jr. appeared in several short films in the 1930s, including the 12-part serial, The Adventures of Rex and Rinty. Rin Tin Tin III starred alongside a young Robert Blake in 1947’s The Return of Rin Tin Tin. The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin featured Rin Tin Tin IV as the lead dog, although much of the work actually was performed by Rin Tin Tin II and several other dogs. From Wikipedia - Rin Tin Tin ~back~
- From Wikipedia - The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, which also reports that “Reruns of the show ran on daytime television and on Saturdays on CBS from October of 1959 until September of 1964. A new set of reruns was shown in 1976, and continued well into the mid-1980s. The original black and white prints were tinted light brown. “ ~back~
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The Lord of Leisure1 Photo Gallery
Double Arch Alcove - Zion Canyon
[Click on graphic for view of larger image]
Editorial Note: A glance at the sidebar on the left will show that “Lord of Leisure Photo Gallery” is now a full-fledged Heck of a Guy Blog category. All of Lord of Leisure’s photos can be found by clicking on the link at Lord of Leisure Photo Gallery Category
Lord of Leisure writes:
This picture displays the two elements that make photography in the Desert Southwest special: light and sandstone. Light that shines directly on sandstone reflects with a very warm color, but when that light is reflected onto another sandstone surface the result is an eerie glow of reds, oranges and yellows.
In this instance, the nearly two thousand foot wall of sandstone in this picture is bathed in the light that has been reflected from the opposing wall of sandstone. Without the reflected line this north-facing wall would be in deep shade with barely discernible colors rather than the vivid hues seen here.
As noted in previous posts, the color in the photo accurately depicts what we saw with our eyes.
Footnotes
- Lord of Leisure was previously known in these posts as Mr. Science. Both Lord of Leisure and Mr Science spend most of their time disguised as Neil Ellis, mild-mannered, retired teacher at a great suburban school system, who can identify a bird by its call, complete the New York Times Friday Crossword in ink, and snap a heck of a photo. ~back~