BITS AND PIECES

Openers:  The year was 1958; the planet Mars was approaching its closest position to Earth, and the two friends completed their plans for the most daring adventure ever known to humanity.  All the world had said they were lunatics to attempt it, but that had not in the least deterred them.  Confident of success, they were determined to make the effort.  The one was rich enough to make this venture possible, and the other was the outstanding genius of his time.

-- "Bat-Men of Mars" by Wood Jackson, from Air Wonder Stories, May 1930 (Part One); Wonder Stories, June 1930 (Part Two), and July 1930 (Part Three)


Incoming:   Two books this time:

• James Lee Burke, Jesus Out to Sea (2007), collection of eleven stories
• "G. G. Fickling" (Forrest and Gloria Fickling), Kiss for a Killer (1960), the sixth novel in the Honey West P.I. series.  She only lasted for one season (thirty episodes) on television, but Anne Francis will always be my Honey West.

Good Gravy, I'm Getting Old:  Here are some of the Grammy winners and nominees whose names I recognize:

• Cardi B.
• Brandi Carlile
• Drake
• Kendrick Lamar
• Beck
• Ariana Grande
• Lady Gaga
• Kelley Clarkson
• Pink
• Taylor Swift
• Alice in Chains
• Weezer
• John Prine
• Lee Ann Womack
• Christina Aguilera
• Demi Lovato
• Tony Bennett
• Diana Krall
• Maroon 5
• Justin Timberlake
• Willie Nelson
• Seal
• Barbra Streisand
• Bjork
• David Byrne
• Toni Braxton
• Loretta Lynn
• Keith Urban
• Buddy Guy
• Maria Muldaur

Of these, there are less than ten performers whose songs I have heard -- none of which are songs for which they were nominated.  You can guess who they are.   The rest I know from tabloid stories and headlines or from occasional references from television.  Ask me to name a song they have done and I'd be stuck.

Here are some of the winners and noms I had no idea existed:

• H.E.R.
• Post Malone
• Janelle Monae
• Kasey Musgraves
• Bad Bunny & J Balvin
• SZA
• 21 Savage
• Zedd, Maren Morris & Grey
• Ella Mai
• Shawn Mendes
• Cloe x Halle
• Luke Coombs
• Greta Van Fleet
• Dua Lipa
• Margo Price
• Bebe Rexha
• Jorja Smith
• Camila Cabello
• Above & Beyond (featuring Richard Bedford)
• Disclosure (featuring Fatoumata Diawawa)
• Fisher
• Virtual Self
• Twenty One Pilots
• St. Vioncent
• Ghost
• Sofi Tukker
• Bring Me the Horizon
• TOKiMONSTA
• Arctic Monkeys
• THE FEVER 333
• Halestorm
• ...and the list goes on and on...

It's official.  I'm old.  Time has past me by and that happening guy I was in the past is no longer relevant.

I can live with that.

Chickens:  I like them.  I like them fried and broiled.  I like the concept of having chickens as (outdoor, not indoor) pets.  I like chickens, especially when they come home to roost.  And they appear to be roosting in the White house, Trump Tower, Mar-a-Lago, and various other places including the late, unlamented imaginary campus of Trump University.

Yup.  I like chickens.

History:  Today is the anniversary of Henry VII being recognized as the supreme head of the Church of England.   Several of his wives were also recognized as heads.  Wait.  There are bodies too, about fifteen feet away...

Many years earlier on this date, Tiberius, heir to the Roman empire, died [cue foreboding music] mysteriously, paving the way for Nero to become Emperor.  It took over eighteen more centuries for Archie to appear by his side.

And even much earlier, at least according to tradition, Japan was founded by Emperor Jimmu.  History has not recorded who losted it in the first place.

And on February 11, 1938, the first science fiction television program was aired on the BBC -- an adaption of Karel Capek's R.U.R., the 1920 play that gave us the word "robot."

Florida Man Turns Ugly:  2019 may be known as the year that Florida Man transitioned from just plain stupid to disgustingly evil.  Garrick Bloom, 37, is actually Pennsylvania Man, but he hidiug out in Florida when he was caught so we reluctantly have to claim him.  This piece of pond scum was with 865 charges relating to child rape (the victim was five-years-old when the assaults began).

Christopher Hartley, 33, of Boynton Beach, was arrested after an 11-month-old baby overdosed on Hartley's stash.

Shelby John Nealy, 25, killed his wife in January 2018 and them spent a year pretending to be her on text messages to her parents.  On December 15, he killed his in-laws and his wife's brother, along with the family's three dogs, with a hammer at their home in Tarpon Springs.  Six days after the murders, Nealy ordered pizza to be delivered to his in-laws home.  The three bodies were not discovered until New Year's Day.  Later captured in Ohio, Nealy helped Florida authorities find the body of his wife buried in Pasco County.

And let us not forget Florida Woman,  Penny Pospisil, 47, killed her husband back in August in an RV park in in Sumter County.  After cutting up the body, she moved to another RV park, this time in Brevard County, taking her dismembered husband with her.  She lived in the trailer with her now-dislocated husband for several months.  Evidently Penny did not count on her neighbors being bothered by the overwhelming stench of a decomposing body.  They called the police who discover the body parts on December 30.  The sordid story was reported in January.

Move over, Virginia.  Florida secretary of state Michael Ertel had his job for only three weeks before he resigned after photos of him were released showing him in blackface, mocking survivors of Hurricane Katrina.  Florida state representative Anthony Sabatini, however, refused to resign after photos of him in blackface appeared.

I weep for the Florida Man that was and hope that Evil Florida Man's reign is short.

Today's Poem:

ONE MEATBALL

A little man walked up and down,

He found an eating place in town,

He read the menu through and through,

To see what fifteen cents could do.

One meatball, one meatball,

He could afford but one meatball.

He told the waiter near at hand,

The simple dinner he had planned.

The guests were startled, one and all,

To hear that waiter loudly call,

"What,

"One meatball, one meatball?

Hey, this here gent wants one meatball."

The little man felt ill at ease,

Said, "Some bread, sir, if you please."

The waiter hollered down the hall,

"You gets no bread with one meatball.

"One meatball, one meat ball,

You gets no bread with one meatball."

The little man felt very bad,

One meatball was all he had,

And in his dreams he hears that call,

"You gets no bread with one meatball.

"One meatball.one meatball,

Well, you gets no bread with one meatball."

-- Hy Zaret & Louis C. Singer

(posted in honor of Josh White's 105th birthday)