Bad Album Art for the Week of Jan 31st!

The Spirit is Free - Ronnie Gilbert

I don't have to say much about this one.

And as long as I'm posting, how about some weird American history?

Jan 26, 1998 - On American television, U.S. President Bill Clinton denies having had "sexual relations" with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. It just went downhill from there, didn’t it, Bill?

Jan 27, 1850 - Labor leader Samuel Gompers is born in London England. He would immigrate to the New York City, where he joined the local branch of the International Cigar Makers Union. His time in the union inspired him, and in 1881, founded what would become the American Federation of Labor.

Jan 28, 1922 - The Knickerbocker storm struck the eastern United States. The storm was so strong, that it caved in the roof of the Knickerbocker Theater in Washington DC about 9 p.m. 98 were killed and 133 were injured. How have I never heard a folk song written about this?

Jan 29, 1880 - Comedy legend W.C. Fields is born in Philadelphia. He left home at the age of 11 to join vaudeville, and was being billed as ‘The Eccentric Juggler.’ He became best known for this roles as a lovable, misanthropic drunk in films like “The Bank Dick,” “The Old Fashioned Way,” and “You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man.” His character on screen was not too far from truth. He was known to hide in the bushes in front of his house and shoot intrusive visitors in the legs with a BB gun.

Jan 30, 1982 - Lightnin' Hopkins, famous blues musician, dies in Houston. A prolific songwriter, he said he knew ‘the blues was in him’ at the age of 8, after meeting Blind Lemon Jefferson at a church picnic.

Jan 31, 1930 - American company 3M (Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing) first launches Scotch tape. How did we live without it?

Feb 1, 1893 - Thomas A. Edison finishes construction of the first motion picture studio, the Black Maria in West Orange, New Jersey. The huge structure is essentially a giant rotating box covered in black tar paper, allowing the greatest contrast between the sunlight from above, and the black backgrounds.

Obscure Ameriacan History for the week of Jan 19-25

Jan 19, 1977 - Snow falls in Miami, Florida. This is the only time in the history of the city that snow has fallen. Area retirees are confused and upset.

Jan 20, 1935 - Joan Weston, also known as the Blonde Bomber, Blonde Amazon, Golden Girl, and Roller Derby Queen, is born in Huntington Beach, CA. During the 1960’s and ’70’s, she was the highest-paid female athlete.

Jan 21, 1938 - Robert Smith, better known as Wolfman Jack, was born in Brooklyn. Known for his gravelly voice, goatee, and apparent sense of entitlement (“Who’s this calling on the Wolfman phone?” “Answer the Wolfman door!” “Wolfman Jack can’t find his Wolfman coffee cup!”)

Jan 22, 1984 - The Apple Macintosh computer is introduced during Super Bowl XVII with the famous ‘1984’ commercial. The computer popularized the mouse, as well as a graphical interface. Gone are the days of text-based adventuring.

Jan 23, 1897 - Elva Zona Heaster is found dead in Greenbrier County, West Virginia. The resulting murder trial of her husband, Erasmus Stribbling Trout Shue, is perhaps the only case in United States history where the alleged testimony of a ghost helped secure a conviction.

Jan 24, 1972 - Japanese Sgt. Shoichi Yokoi is found hiding in a Guam jungle, where he had been since the end of World War II. His famous words when he returned: “It is with much embarrassment that I have returned alive.” (Note: While not technically American history, we were involved in WWII, and this was just too weird not to mention)

Jan 25, 1947 - The most famous American gangster, Al Capone, succumbs to pneumonia, brought on by a stroke that occurred a few days earlier. Al Capone would be considered somewhat of a hero here in Isla Vista for his determination, against all odds, to get the people their alcohol.

Oh so late!

Nonetheless, here's last week's obscure American history:

Jan 12, 1967: Bedford Day. Dr. James Bedford, a University of California becomes the first person to be cryonically preserved, in hopes of someday being resuscitated.

Jan 13, 1968: Johnny Cash performs live at Folsom Prison.

Jan 14, 1954: The Hudson Motor Car Company merges with Nash-Kelvinator Corporation forming the American Motors Corporation. They’d go onto to produce cars that even 16 year olds with licenses hot off the laminating machine wouldn’t want to drive - such as the Metropolitan, Rambler, Gremlin, and Pacer

Jan 15, 1919: Boston Molasses Disaster: A large molasses tank in Boston, Massachusetts, bursts and a wave of molasses rushes through the streets, killing 21 people and injuring 150 others.

Jan 16, 1847: John C. Fremont is made Governor of the newly established California Territory. And all he has to show for it now is a really boring town named after him.

Jan 17, 1929: Castor Oyl, star of EC Segar’s comic, Thimble Theater (which had been running for 10 years at the time) and brother of Olive Oyl, while looking for a boat for hire, asks a sailor down at the docks: “Are you a sailor?” The sailor’s response: “J’a think I’m a cowboy?” The gruff, pipe-smoking mariner would soon have a name: Popeye. He was meant as a walk one-shot character, but readers flooded newspapers’ mailboxes with demands to see more of the ornery, wild-fisted sailor.

Jan 18, 1952: Jerome Lester Horwitz, better known as Stooge Curly Howard died at the age of 48. Best known for his “nyuk-nyuk-nyuks,” “woo-woo-woos,” getting beaten with domestic and industrial items, and his exaggerated signature walk. The walk, incidentally, was invented by Curly to cover up a limp that he got from accidently shooting himself in the foot while cleaning a rifle at the age of 12.

Bad Album Art for the Week of January 18

This week's bad album art is courtesy of one Roy Wood, who released the album, "Mustard," in 1975.

The man himself.


If Roy did all the voices and instruments, who are these guys on the inside of the jacket?

After some googling, I found reviews ranging from "My God! It's hard to put into words how amazing this album really is" to "there's a whole load of frustration to be found within its grooves"

Glory.

(enlarge the photo to read the KCSB reviewer's comments scratched in pen in the upper right hand corner)