Blues Crab

2012-01-22T06:16:00.000-08:00

2012-01-22T06:12:00.001-08:00

2012-01-16T14:44:00.001-08:00

Smothers Brothers Television, 1969

2012-01-12T04:09:00.001-08:00

2012-01-09T08:10:00.000-08:00

...we read each day about the horrors of drug abuse, the murder of policemen, the involvement of our own government in drug running, and so on. We are all aware that organized crime has never been richer, nor the society more demoralized. What is the solution? I would repeal every prohibition against the sale and use of drugs, because it is these prohibitions that have caused the national corruption, not to mention most of the addiction. Since the American memory has a span of about three days, I will remind you that in 1919 alcohol was prohibited in the United States. In 1933 Prohibition was repealed because not only had organized crime expanded enormously, but so had alcoholism. What did not work then does not work now. But we never learn, which is part of our national charm. Repeal would mean that there is no money for anyone in selling drugs. That's the end of the playground pusher. That's the end of organized crime, which has already diversified and is doing very nicely in banking, films, and dry cleaning. Eventually, repeal will mean the end of mass drug addiction. As there will always be alcoholics, there will always be drug addicts, but not to today's extent. It will be safe to walk the streets because the poor will not rob you to pay for their habit.

Gore Vidal, 1988

2011-12-30T06:07:00.000-08:00

2011-12-29T04:50:00.000-08:00

2011-12-27T05:41:00.001-08:00

2011-12-27T05:21:00.001-08:00

2011-12-27T05:19:00.000-08:00

Little Vermont, NYC

2011-12-22T05:15:00.001-08:00

"Closing Time"

Ah we're drinking and we're dancing
and the band is really happening
and the Johnny Walker wisdom's running high

2011-12-17T11:54:00.000-08:00

Green cabinets.

2011-12-07T03:45:00.001-08:00

Perhaps men could cease to be wolves to one another, and human beings could learn to be human.

--Ben Franklin

2011-12-07T03:37:00.001-08:00

Crabs of the world, Unite. You have nothing to lose but your claws.

2011-12-06T02:17:00.001-08:00

Come Back With the Wind

2011-11-24T15:04:00.001-08:00

Eulogy for Gary, the dead race horse.

2011-11-23T05:05:00.001-08:00

2011-11-19T09:38:00.001-08:00

Music, Music, Music.

2011-11-13T05:18:00.001-08:00

EGS

2011-11-11T08:52:00.001-08:00

2011-11-11T08:50:00.001-08:00

2011-11-11T08:48:00.001-08:00

NuArt Bookends, c. 30's or 40's

2011-10-24T03:23:00.000-07:00

Sidi

2011-10-20T04:51:00.000-07:00

Photos of old Mississippi by Eudora Welty. From the book: One Time,One Place

http://www.upress.state.ms.us/books/545

2011-10-17T03:58:00.000-07:00

"Top o' the Morning" 9 miles out, c. 1974

2011-10-16T04:40:00.000-07:00

"Whaddya say, Handsome?"
--Porter Middleton

2011-10-14T23:13:00.000-07:00

Billy Joe Johnson and Friends, Myrtle, '73.

2011-10-12T06:36:00.000-07:00

2011-10-05T08:15:00.000-07:00

Latter day Haint.

2011-10-05T08:03:00.000-07:00

2011-10-01T12:41:00.000-07:00

2011-10-01T12:39:00.000-07:00

Pin cat

2011-10-01T12:38:00.000-07:00

2011-09-25T17:20:00.001-07:00

2011-09-24T10:04:00.000-07:00

2011-09-24T10:03:00.000-07:00

Adolphus Hotel, Dallas, Texas. March, '64.

2011-09-21T00:10:00.001-07:00

The 2,500-year anniversary of the Battle of Marathon is about to happen on the east coast of the United States (Europe and Asia have already begun the 2,500-year anniversary day).
In just over 12 hours, Professor Paul Cartledge, A.G. Leventis Chair of Greek Culture at Cambridge University and Chairman of Marathon2500, will begin the final - and ninth - lecture of the Marathon2500 program.
Joined by scholars around the world live via webinar/toll-free conference call, Professor Cartledge will reflect on the context and meaning of the Battle of Marathon and why we have been celebrating the 2,500 year anniversary over the last 12 months.
Interested and curious adults the world over are invited to join us for this commemoration of the 2,500 year anniversay. Register here for the toll-free phone number and webinar ID:
http://marathon2500-9.eventbrite.com

2011-09-14T19:04:00.001-07:00

And sometimes live music by the crablegs

2011-09-04T05:13:00.000-07:00

2011-09-04T05:06:00.000-07:00

Postcard purchased at Hotel Manx, San Francisco, 1963

2011-08-30T14:32:00.000-07:00

2011-08-30T13:22:00.000-07:00

Hark
While I croon a verse
In praise
Of the universe.
The universe is quite good-sized,
And is, I think, well organized,
Containing as it does, a slew
Of stars and planets. Comets too
Occasionally whiz about
And dodge and circle in and out
Among the clustered nebulae.
They scare the dickens out of me,
But I suppose they know their stuff
And are expert and quick enough
To keep from bumping or colliding
With other worlds. But I'm residing
At present on the planet, earth,
And it does not arouse my mirth
To see these reckless comets fly
Around as if they owned the sky.
It's much too dangerous in a crowd,
And really shouldn't be allowed.
Yet tho there's nothing to prevent
Bad manners in the firmament,
The heavenly bodies, generally,
Are well behaved and courteously
Avoid all quarrels and disputes-
Tho when they have them, they are beauts.
As to the universe's size,
It's rather large than otherwise,
Containing stars and galaxies
And satellites of all degrees.
And some are dim and some are bright,
But all are lighted up at night,-
Mostly along the Milky Way-
A quite remarkable display.
Some scientific fellows hope
By peering thru a telescope
To chart the heavens and name each star
Of all the billions that there are.
More sensible I think it is
Just to sit back and let them whiz
Along on their accustomed track
Around and round the zodiac.
For since they are not bothering me
I think it's best to let them be.
And that is all I have to say
About the universe today.
---The Poems of Freddy the Pig
By Walter Brooks

2011-08-23T18:32:00.001-07:00

The Moth and the Star A young and impressionable moth once set his heart on a certain star. He told his mother about this and she counseled him to set his heart on a bridge lamp instead. "Star's aren't the thing to hang around," she said; "lamps are the thing to hang around." "You get somewhere that way," said the moth's father. "You don't get anywhere chasing stars." But the moth would not heed the words of either parent. Every evening at dusk when the star came out he would start flying toward it and every morning at dawn he would crawl back home worn out with his vain endeavor. One day his father said to him, "You haven't burned a wing in months, boy, and it looks to me as if you were never going to. All your brothers have been badly burned flying around street lamps and all your sisters have been terribly singed flying around house lamps. Come on, now, get yourself scorched! A big strapping moth like you without a mark on him!"
The moth left his father's house, but he would not fly around street lamps and he would not fly around house lamps. He went right on trying to reach the star, which was four and one-third light years, or twenty-five trillion miles, away. The moth thought it was just caught in the top branches of an elm. He never did reach the star, but he went right on trying, night after night, and when he was a very, very old moth he began to think that he really had reached the star and he went around saying so. This gave him a deep and lasting pleasure, and he lived to a great old age. He parents and his brothers and his sisters had all been burned to death when they where quite young.
Moral: Who flies afar from the sphere of our sorrow is here today and here tomorrow.

---James Thurber

2011-08-20T13:43:00.000-07:00

2011-08-20T13:22:00.000-07:00

"The Oysterman", by Fonville Winans

2011-08-20T13:19:00.000-07:00

Denver, 1984

2011-08-18T03:47:00.000-07:00

2011-08-17T17:46:00.000-07:00

Post Card

Myrtle Beach, 50 years ago.

2011-08-16T16:53:00.001-07:00

Steinlen

2011-08-16T16:49:00.000-07:00

2011-08-16T13:25:00.000-07:00

2011-08-16T13:19:00.000-07:00

Post Card

2011-08-07T07:10:00.000-07:00

2011-08-07T07:06:00.000-07:00

2011-08-04T01:56:00.000-07:00

1950 Oldsmobile Station Wagon

2011-07-31T06:12:00.000-07:00

2011-07-26T07:34:00.000-07:00

2011-07-01T15:54:00.000-07:00

2011-07-01T15:50:00.000-07:00

2011-06-17T03:29:00.000-07:00

2011-05-30T18:29:00.000-07:00

2011-05-27T04:48:00.000-07:00

2011-05-26T05:35:00.000-07:00

2011-05-26T03:45:00.000-07:00

Gemma Halid

2011-05-26T03:31:00.000-07:00

"Hail, child of fair-faced Semele! He who forgets you can in no wise order sweet song."

Homeric Hymn to Dionysus

This translation, by Evelyn-White, is in the public domain.

Related Resources

• Primary Texts Index - Public Domain Texts
• Homer

VII. To Dionysus

(59 lines) (ll. 1-16) I will tell of Dionysus, the son of glorious Semele, how he appeared on a jutting headland by the shore of the fruitless sea, seeming like a stripling in the first flush of manhood: his rich, dark hair was waving about him, and on his strong shoulders he wore a purple robe. Presently there came swiftly over the sparkling sea Tyrsenian (30) pirates on a well- decked ship -- a miserable doom led them on. When they saw him they made signs to one another and sprang out quickly, and seizing him straightway, put him on board their ship exultingly; for they thought him the son of heaven-nurtured kings. They sought to bind him with rude bonds, but the bonds would not hold him, and the withes fell far away from his hands and feet: and he sat with a smile in his dark eyes. Then the helmsman understood all and cried out at once to his fellows and said:
(ll. 17-24) `Madmen! What god is this whom you have taken and bind, strong that he is? Not even the well-built ship can carry him. Surely this is either Zeus or Apollo who has the silver bow, or Poseidon, for he looks not like mortal men but like the gods who dwell on Olympus. Come, then, let us set him free upon the dark shore at once: do not lay hands on him, lest he grow angry and stir up dangerous winds and heavy squalls.'
(ll. 25-31) So said he: but the master chid him with taunting words: `Madman, mark the wind and help hoist sail on the ship: catch all the sheets. As for this fellow we men will see to him: I reckon he is bound for Egypt or for Cyprus or to the Hyperboreans or further still. But in the end he will speak out and tell us his friends and all his wealth and his brothers, now that providence has thrown him in our way.'
(ll. 32-54) When he had said this, he had mast and sail hoisted on the ship, and the wind filled the sail and the crew hauled taut the sheets on either side. But soon strange things were seen among them. First of all sweet, fragrant wine ran streaming throughout all the black ship and a heavenly smell arose, so that all the seamen were seized with amazement when they saw it. And all at once a vine spread out both ways along the top of the sail with many clusters hanging down from it, and a dark ivy-plant twined about the mast, blossoming with flowers, and with rich berries growing on it; and all the thole-pins were covered with garlands. When the pirates saw all this, then at last they bade the helmsman to put the ship to land. But the god changed into a dreadful lion there on the ship, in the bows, and roared loudly: amidships also he showed his wonders and created a shaggy bear which stood up ravening, while on the forepeak was the lion glaring fiercely with scowling brows. And so the sailors fled into the stern and crowded bemused about the right-minded helmsman, until suddenly the lion sprang upon the master and seized him; and when the sailors saw it they leapt out overboard one and all into the bright sea, escaping from a miserable fate, and were changed into dolphins. But on the helmsman Dionysus had mercy and held him back and made him altogether happy, saying to him:
(ll. 55-57) `Take courage, good man......you have found favour with my heart. I am loud-crying Dionysus whom Cadmus' daughter Semele bare of union with Zeus.'
(ll. 58-59) Hail, child of fair-faced Semele! He who forgets you can in no wise order sweet song.

[From the ancient history blog of N. S. Gill]
About.com Ancient / Classical History
_ancthist on le twitter

2011-05-22T17:02:00.000-07:00

Sidi's Last

2011-05-22T16:53:00.000-07:00

at the flag of the crab

2011-05-22T16:51:00.000-07:00

'e cas' he net 'pon top de watah....

2011-05-22T16:49:00.000-07:00

cherry island

2011-05-22T16:45:00.000-07:00

Last voyage of the Good Ship Buzzard

2011-05-20T15:41:00.000-07:00

2011-05-15T18:10:00.000-07:00

Better answer that......it might be a phone.......

2011-04-15T06:21:00.000-07:00

The First Mother's Day proclaimed in 1870 by Julia Ward Howe
was a passionate demand for disarmament and peace.

Arise, then, women of this day! Arise, all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be that of water or tears!

Say firmly: "We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have taught them of charity, mercy and patience. We women of one country will be too tender of those of another to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the bosom of the devastated earth, a voice goes up with our own. It says, "Disarm, Disarm!"

The sword of murder is not the balance of justice. Blood not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession. As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail & commemorate the dead. Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesars but of God.

In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.

2011-04-15T06:02:00.000-07:00

The Easter Sunny

2011-04-15T05:51:00.000-07:00

2011-04-14T08:59:00.001-07:00

2011-04-13T06:21:00.001-07:00

2011-04-12T07:55:00.000-07:00

wood burner

2011-04-11T09:18:00.000-07:00

ART: tahitians, greeks, latins, sioux, aussie aboriginal tourist stuff,

and painting by EGS

2011-04-07T06:09:00.000-07:00

http://www.jodihead.com/cathouse.html

Ms. Jodi Head, maker of custom guitar straps in the east village, cares for cats.

2011-04-07T04:37:00.000-07:00

an unplain plane

2011-04-07T04:35:00.000-07:00

2011-04-06T13:56:00.000-07:00

Swingline

2011-04-02T14:50:00.000-07:00

‎"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion."

-- Albert Camus

Existencha......whut?

2011-04-01T16:58:00.000-07:00

2011-03-26T08:56:00.000-07:00

2011-03-25T05:06:00.001-07:00

2011-03-25T04:44:00.001-07:00

2011-03-16T04:54:00.001-07:00

somewhere around Louden, Tn.

artist in her 90's

2011-03-13T04:57:00.000-07:00

plane and march '64 pic of dealy plaza

2011-03-12T02:15:00.000-08:00

egg thing and xenophon

2011-03-10T05:06:00.001-08:00

Epitaph of a blues man:

"I didn't wake up this mornin' "

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=hR1&rls=com.ubuntu:en-US:unofficial&q=lightnin+hopkins&bav=on.2,or.&pdl=3000&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1024&bih=570

2011-03-10T04:59:00.000-08:00

the greekman's blues

Rage. Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilleus,
murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses,
hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls,
great fighters' souls, but made their bodies carrion,
feasts for the dogs and birds,
and the will of Zeus was moving toward its end.

---Homer, the wandering kithara player (edited Robert Fagles' translation)

If you see the will of Zeus coming-----look busy.

2011-03-07T03:08:00.000-08:00

2011-03-07T02:59:00.000-08:00

2011-03-06T05:47:00.000-08:00

fixer-upper

2011-03-06T05:42:00.000-08:00

a rising tide lifts all boats

2011-03-04T05:34:00.000-08:00

chuck berry wrote on my piece of paper

2011-03-04T05:32:00.001-08:00

2011-03-04T05:30:00.001-08:00