Lynyrd Skynyrd

 Lynyrd Skynyrd is an American rock band, formed in Jacksonville, Florida in the summer of 1964. A group of teenagers, Ronnie Van Zant, Allen Collins, and Gary Rossington, formed the band and called it "The Noble Five."

The band went through a number of name changes and some personnel changes and were known as "My Backyard" and "The Swampers."

The group won a local Battle of the Bands contest in 1968 and got the opening slot on several Southeast shows for the California-based psychedelic rock band Strawberry Alarm Clock.

In 1970, Van Zant wanted a new name for the band, and after trying out "One Percent" and "The Noble Five," they settled on "Leonard Skinnerd."

The name was taken from a physical-education teacher at Robert E. Lee High School named Leonard Skinner. Skinner was known for being harsh on boys with long hair. Before they released their first album, they changed the spelling to Lynyrd Skynyrd.

The band became prominent in 1973 with the hit song "Free Bird", which received national airplay, eventually reaching #19 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. It has become a rock and roll anthem today.

They achieved worldwide recognition before three members and one road crew member died in an airplane crash in 1977.

The band reformed in 1987 for a reunion tour with lead singer Ronnie Van Zant's younger brother Johnny as the front man. Lynyrd Skynyrd continues to tour and record. Of its original members, only Gary Rossington remained with the band as of 2010. 

The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006.

• Lynyrd Skynyrd - All Time Greatest Hits
• Collector's Edition Lynyrd Skynyrd
• Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd
• Lynyrd Skynyrd
• The Essential Lynyrd Skynyrd 
• God & Guns
• Second Helping
• Nuthin' Fancy
• Sweet Home Alabama: The Rockpalast Collection
• Street Survivors
• Gimme Back My Bullets 

3 Musketeers

The 3 Musketeers candy bar was the third brand produced and manufactured by M&M/Mars. It was introduced in 1932. The candy's name played off the popular The Three Musketeers (French: Les Trois Mousquetaires) novel by Alexandre Dumas which had many film and TV adaptations.The candy's name came from the fact that originally it had three pieces in one package: chocolate, strawberry and vanilla. Rising costs and restrictions on sugar during World War II caused the company to eliminate the less popular vanilla and strawberry pieces.

But why were the Three Musketeers called musketeers when they spent all their time using swords? The French word mousquetaire originally referred to an infantryman with a musket. Over time, the word changed its meaning, lost the connection with the weapon, and referred to a much grander person.

At five cents, it was marketed as one of the largest chocolate bars available - one that could be shared by friends. 3 Musketeers was advertised on television on the 1950s-era Howdy Doody Show, along with a song that Buffalo Bob Smith encouraged children to sing.

In the mid-late 1990s, the bar's advertisements featured three men dressed as the legendary Three Musketeers to market the "45% less fat" campaign. The product's original slogan ("Big on Chocolate!") was expanded in these advertisements to "Big on Chocolate, Not on Fat!"

Most recently, the bar has been pitched to women with the tagline that it is a "Nice, Light Snack" which features "45% less fat" than other chocolate bars.

In Europe, the 3 Musketeers brand name was used for the French version of the Curly Wurly candy bar in the 1970s and 1980s. More Euro-confusion comes from the The Milky Way bar (also from the Mars confectionery company). The American version of the Milky Way bar is made of chocolate-malt nougat topped with caramel and covered with milk chocolate. It is very similar to the Mars bar sold in other countries. But the Milky Way bar sold outside the U.S. (UK, for example) is not topped with caramel and is therefore similar to the American 3 Musketeers bar.

Strawbs

 

STRAWBS (AKA The Strawbs) English rock band founded in 1964 as a bluegrass group. However, they gradually moved into folk rock, progressive rock, and even a flirtation with glam rock.

They have gone through many different member lineups, but their long-time leader and most active songwriter is guitarist and singer Dave Cousins (guitar, dulcimer, banjo, vocals). I discovered them through other similar British bands of the early 1970s such as Fairport Convention, Fotheringay and Steeleye Span. An early line up of Strawbs included vocalist Sandy Denny who was later lead singer of Fairport Convention and Fotheringay.

When they formed as a bluegrass band in 1964, they used the name the Strawberry Hill Boys. This is when the founding members were at St Mary's Teacher Training College which was located at Strawberry Hill in London. (No connection to an American cheap amd popular wine of the era called Strawberry Hill.)  For a 1967 concert, they needed a shorter name to fit an onstage display, so they just shortened theirs to the Strawbs.

They are best known for their hit anthem "Part of the Union", which reached number two in the UK charts in February 1973, and "Lay Down" a popular FM radio progressive rock hit. from the same LP.

I saw the band on a tour they did with Supertramp (promoting Crime of the Century) while Strawbs were promoting their Hero and Heroine album.

The band has remained active in the 21st century recording and touring in two lineups. The acoustic band is with Cousins, Lambert and Cronk. There is also the entirely original Hero and Heroine/Ghosts electric line-up from 1974 of Cousins, Lambert, Cronk, Coombes and Hawken.

They werefeatured on the blue cruise in February 2019 along with Justin Hayward, The Zombies, Todd Rundgren, Dave Mason, Steve Hackett, Alan Parsons, Procol Harum, Al Stewart, Wishbone Ash and (inexplicably) Poco.

Their official website is www.strawbsweb.co.uk

Strawberry Alarm Clock

 

I have a soft spot for the Strawberry Alarm Clock. They were known as a psychedelic rock band formed in 1967 in California. They had 5 songs that charted but are best known for their 1967 hit single "Incense and Peppermints." The song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 during the week ending November 25, 1967.

Though you will find them categorized as acid rock, psychedelic pop, and sunshine pop, their first album was decidedly POP. My 1967 friends considered them to be phony psychedelic.

A history of the band written by member George Bunnell stated that "The Strawberry Alarm Clock came about by parts of two bands, Thee Sixpence and Waterfyrd Traene, morphing into one."

“I know there’s been a lot of different stories about how we got our name, and I think I’ve heard them all,” said Bunnell explained in a 2012 interview. “The most popular one is, we were all sitting around, looking at Billboard, put a finger on a song, and picked ‘Strawberry Fields Forever," but that record wasn’t even released at the time we started calling ourselves the Strawberry Alarm Clock. Our record company kind of picked our name for us. They wanted to use ‘strawberry,’ because I guess it was just a sign of the times. Peace, love and strawberries! So, that was already picked out.”

The “alarm clock” part came later, he said. Members began to throw around names that would fit with “strawberry” until a fateful incident chose the name for them. “We were over at Mark Weitz’s house one day, and his alarm clock suddenly fell down and broke,” Bunnell said. “And we looked at that, and decided ‘alarm clock.’ So, we called up our record company, and told them we were going to use the name the Strawberry Alarm Clock.”

During the Strawberry Alarm Clock's short lifespan, it saw many lineup changes.

SAC also made two notable appearances in films. In the 1968 Jack Nicholson movie Psych-Out, they played several songs including "Incense and Peppermints", "Rainy Day Mushroom Pillow", and "The World's on Fire". "The Pretty Song from Psych-Out" was re-recorded by a San Fernando Valley garage band, the Storybook, for the film's soundtrack album, but the Strawberry Alarm Clock's version was heard in the film. 

In 1970, the band appeared in the Russ Meyer cult classic film Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. By this time the band's popularity had waned considerably, but the band continued on for some time, touring the South in 1970 and 1971 with a then-unknown Florida band called Lynyrd Skynyrd opening for them. In the latter part of 1971, the group, now without a record label and with internal conflicts over musical direction, opted to disband. 

There are many compilation versions of their 4 studio albums, including all 4 albums on 2 CDs. and a vinyl Best Of album.

Their studio albums:

    Incense and Peppermints (1967, Uni Records)
    Wake Up...It's Tomorrow (1968, Uni Records)
    The World in a Sea Shell (1968, Uni Records)
    Good Morning Starshine (1969, Uni Records)
    Wake Up Where You Are (2012, Global Recording Artists)

 

Foil

A foil in literature is a character who contrasts with the main character to highlight the main character’s attributes. The purpose of the foil is to give the protagonist more color, depth, and nuance. So, the kind protagonist has a cruel foil. It's common in novels, movies and comic book superheroes.

A foil is not necessarily an enemy or antagonist. Sherlock Holmes had Dr. Watson. harry Potter has Draco.

But why? We know that a common use of foil is the metal that we use to wrap foods. Jewelers also place foil under gems to make them shine more brightly. Is it because this contrast makes a jewel’s brilliance and facets more apparent. Is that why a literary foil character serves as a "backdrop" to make the protagonist “shine.”

As a noun, "foil" means "very thin sheet of metal". It comes from the Old French words fueille, foile, or fueill, which mean "leaf; foliage; sheet of paper; sheet of metal". These words come from the Latin word folium, which is the plural of folia and means "leaf". The word "foil" has been used since the early 14th century.

As a verb, "foil" means to overthrow, defeat, beat off, repulse, or discomfit. In wrestling, it can also mean to throw or inflict a "foil" upon.

Big Wigs, Mad Hatters and Sons of a Gun

I saw that a question on TV's Jeopardy was about  “Big Wigs.”  The term has come to mean a very important person. The origin is quite literal. In the 18th century, wigs for women and men were common. The important figures within the political system would wear the biggest wigs.

You might have heard the expression that someone is “As Mad as a Hatter” meaning they are crazy or insane. I first encountered it in Alice in Wonderland.

The origin also goes back to the 17th and 18th centuries. Hatters - those who made hats - made felt hats using mercury. That led to all kinds of side effects, including literal insanity. The Mad Hatter, from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, is based on this phenomenon.

It is not a bad thing to call someone a "son of a gun" as it is a term of endearment. The origin I found goes back to when sailors took their wives to sea on long voyages. Inevitably, some of the women became pregnant. It was believed that the safest place to give birth was deemed to be between the guns/cannons. I couldn't find why that was the place, but therefore, a child born on the gun deck was known as a "son of a gun."

Another variation I found is that when in port, wives - and prostitutes - were allowed on board. In the morning, the Bosun's mates would yell "show a leg" as they came to the gun deck, where the sailors hung their hammocks. A female leg meant not to upend the hammock to get the sailor to work. That origin story also said that if a baby was born onboard, especially if the father wasn't known for sure, then the babe was a son of a gun.

Perhaps related is that the term "gundecking" is still used to mean really screwing up or doing the job wrong.

jalopy

It is not a word I hear used as much today as back in the 20th century, but “jalopy” is an informal term used to describe an old, run-down car. 

The origin of jalopy is unconfirmed, but the earliest written use that has been found was in 1924. It is possible that the longshoremen in New Orleans referred to the scrapped autos destined for scrapyards in Xalapa, Mexico. Xalapa is the capital city of the Mexican state of Veracruz and is alternative spelled as pronounced as Jalapa as with the letter J as in English.

This term emerged in American slang during the 1920s and has since been used to describe worn-down automobiles.

Today, a car that is often old and damaged and is in a barely functional state might be referred to as a jalopy, beater, clunker, hooptie, old banger (UK), but the most commonly as just a junk car

This 1961 Rambler American convertible would qualify as a jalopy.

Walk of Life

What is the meaning and origin of the idiom "from all walks of life"?  When people talk about walk(s) of life, they are referring to different types of jobs and different levels of society. "The club has members from all walks of life."

The phrase "people from all walks of life" is often used informally to convey that a group of people consists of individuals from diverse backgrounds and occupations. It can also bring to mind the idea that people from all socioeconomic classes and ways of living are represented

OED's earliest evidence for "walk of life" is from 1733, in the writing of Eustace Budgell.

But why is it a "walk" of life? I found no explanation. My guess would be that each life is a journey and walking is one, especially in the 1700s, way of moving through the day and your life. 

Collective Soul

Collective Soul - 2016 in Camden, New Jersey  Link

Collective Soul is an American rock band that consists of the brothers Ed (lead vocalist) and Dean Roland (rhythm guitarist), Will Turpin (bassist), Johnny Rabb (drummer), and Jesse Triplett (lead guitarist). Formed in 1992, the original lineup consisted of the Roland brothers, Turpin, guitarist Ross Childress, and drummer Shane Evans. 

In 1993, Roland's song "Shine" from the Rising Storm label release of Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid became an underground hit and created a new band lineup.

Ed Roland was reading Ayn Rand's novel The Fountainhead and came across the phrase "collective soul." In the novel, "collective soul" is a threat to the main character's sense of individualism. Roland has said that the choice was not in support of "Ayn Rand, objectivism, egoism, or anything...we just dug the name."

ALBUMS
Collective Soul

Hints Allegations and Things Left Unsaid

Dosage

Afterwords

7even Year Itch: Greatest Hits, 1994-2001

Riding Shotgun

 

Joan Weldon & Randolph Scott in RIDING SHOTGUN

The term "riding shotgun" originates in the early 1700s and for almost two centuries it literally meant a person riding beside the driver of a stagecoach or other vehicle armed with a weapon, A shotgun was the original weapon of choice as it offered a better chance of hitting a robber from a moving vehicle on rough roads at speed.

Armed guards positioned beside drivers continued long after stagecoaches were replaced by motorized vehicles. 

The term gained popularity in movies like Stagecoach (1939) and Riding Shotgun (1954). 

Andy Devine & George Bancroft STAGECOACH

By the 1960s, it had entered into American culture as a common way to claim the front passenger seat with the phrase "I call shotgun."

Why Is Friday the 13th Considered a Bad Luck Day?

 

I posted this on another blog of mine (Weekends in Paradelle) but it really is an origin story. 

Today is yet another Friday the 13th. Not really a rare occasion. It happens at least once and at most three times a year. Any month that starts on a Sunday, like this month, will have one. 

The fear of Friday the 13th is called friggatriskaidekaphobia. Frigga, meaning "Friday" and triskaideka for 13 and the Greek phóbos for phobia or "fear". The word itself isn't ancient - it was derived in 1911 and first appeared in a mainstream source in 1953. And there doesn't seem to be any real written evidence for a "Friday the 13th" meaning bad luck as a superstition before the 19th century.

So how did it acquire that reputation? The most popular theory is that it's a combination of the superstition that thirteen is an unlucky number and another superstition that Friday is an unlucky day.

I'm not superstitious and the day means nothing special to me, but it's an interesting origin story. I'll play along and schedule this post to go live today at 13:13.

According to Wikipedia, looking at numerology, you find the number 12 to be considered the number of completeness - twelve months of the year, twelve signs of the zodiac, twelve hours of the clock, twelve tribes of Israel, twelve Apostles of Jesus, twelve gods of Olympus, and so on. That makes 13 irregular, transgressing this completeness.

And poor Friday (which most working folks love as the end of work and the start of weekend) has been considered an unlucky day at least since the 14th century's The Canterbury Tales. Some people believe it is an unlucky day to undertake journeys or begin new projects. Black Friday has been associated with stock market crashes and other disasters since the 1800s. It has also been suggested that Friday has been considered an unlucky day because, according to Christian scripture and tradition, Jesus was crucified on a Friday. Add to that there were 13 people at his Last Supper and you have yourself a combination superstition.

Here's another theory from Charles Panati, a leading authority on origins: "The actual origin of the superstition, though, appears also to be a tale in Norse mythology. Friday is named for Frigga, the free-spirited goddess of love and fertility. When Norse and Germanic tribes converted to Christianity, Frigga was banished in shame to a mountaintop and labeled a witch. It was believed that every Friday, the spiteful goddess convened a meeting with eleven other witches, plus the devil — a gathering of thirteen — and plotted ill turns of fate for the coming week. For many centuries in Scandinavia, Friday was known as "Witches' Sabbath."

If you read The Da Vinci Code, you might recall that Dan Brown brought into the story the idea that the Knights Templar (whose mission was to protect Christian pilgrims during the Crusades) became too powerful and wealthy, and King Philip secretly ordered the mass arrest of all the Knights Templar in France on Friday, October 13, 1307 which was a Friday the 13th.

Believe what you will, but have a lucky day. And what series of movies would be the ones to watch today? I think you know the answer.

Boob, booby trap, boobs

Jeremy the Boob, the foolish Nowhere Man in The Beatles' Yellow Submarine

You are probably aware that the word “boob” can be used to describe a “stupid”, “foolish”, or otherwise “clumsy” person. This particular definition is generally thought to have derived from the Spanish word “bobo” which roughly means “dunce.” This Spanish word comes from the Latin “balbus” meaning “stammering" and there is a theory that “boob”, meaning “stupid”, has Gaelic origins.

In English, this meaning appears in the late sixteenth century. later, it was applied to birds of the Sula genus that seem foolish because of their very large feet that make them rather clumsy walkers. They would often land on ships, were easy to catch and sailors began to call them “boobies.”

Much later, other things had the term attached with a similar meaning: the “boob-tube” for stupid TV programming, a “booby trap” being a trap that a foolish person would fall for, and a "booby prize” being a prize for the "top loser."

But somewhere along the way, "boobs" as a noun became slang for women's breasts. This usage seems to have gone wide around 1929 as U.S. slang, but the term boobies for breasts appears in the later 17th century. It may have been derived from the Latin puppa, literally "little girl," though it may also have come from the French poupe ("teat") or the German dialectal bubbi which begat the English bubby.

"Bubby" is defined as a vulgar slang that goes back to 1675 and it may have just evolved into "booby" then to be shortened to "boob." 

An explanation that is almost definitely not true, but is amusing, is that the word itself is a visual representation of what a pair of breasts.
Viewed from above B
Viewed from the front oo 

Viewed from a side view b

In 2013, an Australian women’s clothing chain, Bonds, found in a survey that 74% of Australian women typically used the word “boobs” to refer to their own breasts. The company decided to use the word in their “Bonds for Boobs” ad campaign to advertise their bras and as a partnership with the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

Fountains of Wayne

Fountains of Wayne is a Grammy-nominated American power pop band. The group was formed by songwriters Adam Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood. They met as freshmen at Williams College and began playing music together. After college, Collingwood formed the Mercy Buckets in Boston and Schlesinger formed Ivy in New York City, but they connected again in 1996 and formed Fountains of Wayne.

Chris and Adam performing in New Jersey (2007)

The band name was taken from a garden and lawn ornament store in Wayne, New Jersey by that name. Adam Schlesinger grew up in nearby Montclair. The store can be seen in The Sopranos episode "Another Toothpick" but it closed in 2009.

The entrance to the kitschy Fountains of Wayne store in NJ (2007)

Their biggest hit single was "Stacy's Mom." The single was powered by a popular music video, directed by Chris Applebaum, about an adolescent boy's attempts to get closer to the mom of his girlfriend Stacy. The mom was played by model Rachel Hunter. The clever video includes allusions to the 1962 film Lolita and 1982's Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

Adam Schlesinger says "Stacy's Mom" was a tribute to a band they liked, The Cars. The Cars' song "My Best Friend's Girl" has a similar instrumental intro. Cars frontman Ric Ocasek thought that the intro was a sample from his song "Just What I Needed" but the band says they performed it in the studio. Ocasek was asked to be in the video for the song but declined. (Wikipedia)

The band stopped recording but toured for a while after the album Sky Full of Holes.

Collingwood recorded an album as the singer/guitarist in Look Park. 

Schlesinger went on to record with Tinted Windows. This "supergroup" was formed by guitarist James Iha of The Smashing Pumpkins, singer Taylor Hanson of Hanson, Bun E. Carlos of Cheap Trick and Schlesinger. Adam also wrote many songs for other artists and for TV, Broadway and movies. Adam Schlesinger died of complications due to the COVID-19 virus in April 2020.

The band released 5 studio albums and one collection of alternate takes, covers, and rarities, Out of State Plates.

OFFICIAL BAND SITE http://www.FountainsOfWayne.com

ALBUMS

Sky Full of Holes
Welcome Interstate Managers
Traffic and Weather
Fountains of Wayne
Utopia Parkway
Out of State Plates

MP3 Downloads for Fountains of Wayne
Fountains of Wayne: No Better Place - Live in Chicago (DVD)