FORGOTTEN MUSIC: THANKSGIVING DAY

Some of these are probably not forgotten but they all seem appropriate today.

Thanksgiving Song by Mary Chapin Carpenter:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NSQLMPUK-8

Some interesting flute music here;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEN-b_3twFo&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL96BFA4C5BC4EA364

This one's from an episode of Doctor Quinn, Medicine Woman.  But, hey, it's Johnny Cash:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pA7ujUJCIdE&feature=related

Thanksgiving dinner and its aftermath gave Arlo the opportunity to protest the Viet Nam War:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_7C0QGkiVo

Mention Thanksgiving songs and most people will think of this one;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sac2CVHs5Do

After a large meal, you probably should exercise:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGUI_dcNkiI&feature=related

We all have something to be thankful for today.  This is just one of them:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaI5IRuS2aE

I hope you all have a great day, and be sure to check out more Forgotten Music at Scott D. Parker.

FAIR AND BALANCED

According to a new poll done by Fairleigh Dickinson University, persons watching Fox News knew less than those who watched no television news.  The study concentrated on the recent uprisings in the Middle East and Egypt.  It turns out that Fox viewers were "18-points less likely to know that Egyptians overthrew their government."  Overall, 53% of the responders knew that the Muburak government had been overthrown.  The poll also points out that Fox viewers were "6-points less likely to know that Syrians have not yet overthrown their government."  Forty-eight percent of the overall responders knew that.

     "There is something about watching Fox News that leads people to do worse on these questions than those who don't watch any news at all," said Dan Cassino, a poly-sci professor at the university,  The poll taken had controls that factored in political partisanship and education.

     The poll was taken among New Jersey residents.  Perhaps Fox News can make something of that.  Last year, a UMaryland poll showed that "Fox viewers were more likely to believe false information about politics."

     As Rush would say, must be those uppity folks on the East Coast.

DANDELION WINE

This one is for Ray Bradbury fans.  I found it in a 1965 pamphlet, Pioneer Comforts and Kitchen Recipes:  Oldtimey Highland Secrets from The Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains, by Ferne Shelton.  Sorry, it won't be ready for Thanksgiving tomorrow.  Maybe next year.


DANDELION WINE  (Considered a tonic for stomach and energy)

Gather 1 gallon Dandelion blooms (no stems).  Boil blooms with rind and juice of 4 oranges and 4 lemons in 2 gallons water for 1/2 hour.  Let set 24 hours.  Then strain, and add 8 cups of sugar and 1 package yeast.  Leave in covered crock 2 weeks.  Strain again and bottle.


There's also a recipe for Pokeberry Wine, but I don't know what the heck a pokeberry is.

OVERLOOKED TELEVISION: THE GETAWAY CAR

Today's selection for Todd Mason's Overlooked Films is an episode from Studio 57, an anthology series that started on the old Dumont Network.  When Dumont tanked in 1955, the series continued in syndication.  IMDB lists 124 episodes shot, of which this was number 117; IMDB also lists this episode as the last one shown -- numbers 118 through 124 were listed under an "Unknown Season" airing in 1955.  This episode is from March 31, 1958.  (IMDB and Wikipedia also say the the show's syndication ran through 1955-6.  Go figure.)  Whatever.

     The Getaway Car was directed by Earl Bellemy, a veteran director credited with over 1600 episodes for more than 100 series.  This episode was originally filmed as a pilot for a proposed television series, Motorcycle Cop.  It starred Mike Connors (MANNIX, TIGHTROPE, TODAY'S FBI) as Patrolman Jeff Saunders.  Also heading the cast were John McIntire (WAGON TRAIN, THE VIRGINIAN, NAKED CITY) and veteran character actor Wallace Ford (THE DEPUTY).

     The teleplay was by Frederick Brady (here listed as "Frederic Brady"), who wrote scripts for 21 television series, including many of the anthology series of the Fifties, as well as 77SUNSET STRIP and TIGHTROPE.

     The Getaway Car was based on a short story by...

     wait for it...

     John D. MacDonald!  That's right, John D. MacDonald.  Not only that, the story the eppisode was based on was "The Homesick Buick," one of JDM's most reprinted stories.  It first appeared in the September, 1950 issue of EQMM (where it won a third prize in Queen's annual mystery story competition) and has been featured in a number of anthologies, including Tony Hillerman's The Best American Mystery Stories of the Century (2000).

     For your viewing pleasure, here is a rare television adaptation of a John D. MacDonald short story:

http://www.archive.org/details/Studio57-TheGetawayCar1958

**********

     For more Overlooked films and such, go to Sweet Freedom.

INCOMING

Slightly over two dozen books this week.

• Stephen Baxter, Manifold Time.  SF.
• Richard Lee Byers, Dark Fortune.  Horror.
• James M. Cain, Mignon.  Historical novel.
• Agatha Christie, Six Mary Westmacott Novels.  Omnibus of the romance novels Christie first published under the "Mary Westmacott" name:  Giants' Bread, Absent in the Spring, Unfinished Portrait, The Rose and the Yew Tree, A Daughter's a Daughter, and The Burden.  Most of my copies of Westmacott had gone walkabout some time ago; this gave me a chance to get all six in an inexpensive volume.
• Richie Tankersley Cusick, The House Next Door.  YA horror.
• David Drake, Fortress.  Military SF.
• Daphne du Maurier, Don't Look Now.  2008 compilation of nine du Maurier stories, selected by Patrick McGrath.
• Roger Elwood, Dwellers.  Christian novel of the war of good vs. evil, with the Nephilim and Satan as the baddies.  I don't expect too much from Elwood and a quick glance shows I'm probably right:  the hero's name is Kindred and his rescuer/mentor is named Klatu.
• S. K. Epperson, Borderland.  Horror.
• Mertin H. Greenberg, editor, The Further Adventures of Superman.  Look!  It's a bird!  It's a plane!  No, it's an anthology of ten stories featuring the Man of Steel!
• M. R. Henderson, By Reason Of...  Suspense.
• L. Ron Hubbard, If I Were You.  Two fantasy stories, a  story "preview, and the usual touting of L. Ron as a genius.
• Stephen King, Blockade Billy.  Sure, I read this in the Cemetery Dance edition, but this is the Scriber edition with the added story "Morality."
• Louis L'Amour, May There Be a Road.  Collection of ten adventure stories.
• Denise Little, editor, Familiars.  Fantasy anthology, 15 stories.
• Jack McDevitt, Ancient Shores.  SF.
• Craig McDonald, Head Games.  Thriller with the head of Pancho Villa.
• Martin Millar, The Good Fairies of New York.  Fantasy.  Scottish thistle fairies want to start a punk rock band in New York.
• Thomas F. Monteleone, The Reckoning.  Horror novel from the Mothers and Fathers Italian Association.
• George P. Pelecanos, Nick's Trip.  A Nick Stefanos mystery.
• Christopher Pike, Thirst, No. 1.  Omnibus edition of three YA horror novels:  The Last Vampire, Black Blood, and Red Dice.
• Robert Rankin, Armageddon The Musical and Nostadamus Ate My Hamster.  Humorous SF.
• Alistair Reynolds, Chasm City.  SF.
• Greg Rucka, Critical Space.  Suspense.  An Atticus Kodiak novel..
• David Weber & Linda Evans, Hell's Gate.  Doorstopper military SF novel -- over 1200 pages!
• Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman, editors.  I picked up this quintet of "Dragonlance" anthologies for twenty cents apiece, so I thought I'd give them a try:  The Dragons of Krynn, Heroes and Fools:  Tales of the Fifth Age, The Players of Gilean:  Tales from the World of Krynn (this one is based on a novella by Weis and Aron Eisenberg [Nog from Deep Space Nine]), Rebels and Tyrants:  Tales of the Fifth Age, and Relics and Omens:  Tales of the Fifth Age.  Sixty-three stories all together.

WE INTERRUPT THIS REGULAR HYMN TIME

Neither of these songs are hymns, but both display courage, faith, and hope.

     First, a powerful song born from the horror of Srebenica that endsith a faint ray of hope.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js-wEJR0cM8

     And from last month, 91-year-old Pete Seeger and others at Occupy Wall Street with a song of determination that has helped change history.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyn5nnqorbI

HAPPY 100th BIRTHDAY, MARY ELIZABETH COUNSELMAN!

Mary Elizabeth Counselman, author of the classic weird tale "The Three Marked Pennies" (written when she was a teen) and others, was born on this day a hundred years ago in Birmingham, Alabama.  Although her output was small -- three dozen or so weird tales, plus some mystery and adventure stories for the pulps, as well as work for the slicks -- her work was well respected for its Southern Gothic sensabilities and its imagination.  She worked as a newspaper reporter and was a creative writing teacher.  She spent most of her life in Gadsden, Alabama, living on a houseboat.  She passed away six days before her 84th birthday in 1995.  (One source puts her death on May 3, 1994.)

     Counselman's best known book was Half in Shadow, a collection of 14 weird stories published in Britain as a paper back in 1964; 14 years later, August Derleth published a revised version for his Arkham House press, eliminating six of the original stories and replacing them with six others.  Her other books include African Yesterdays:  A Collection of Native Folktales (1975; expanded, 1977), Move Over -- It's Only Me (poetry, 1975), Everthing You Always Wanted to Know About the Supernatural -- But Are Afraid to Believe (1976), SPQR:  The Poetry and Life of Catullus (1977), The Eye and the Hand (poetry, 1977), New Lamps for Old (1978), and The Face of Fear and Other Poems (1984).

     A definitive collection of her work would be very welcome.