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June 2006 Archive 30 June - Flash in the Pan II  Following last year's humiliating debacle when our maintenance man Gus couldn't get his flintlock musket to fire during Washington Grove's Fourth of July ceremonies, I was pleased to see that he's taking some pains to achieve a respectable boom at this year's celebration. He found a source for good quality musket flints, bought a fresh can of black powder, and is giving the musket a fairly thorough cleaning. Here's a short video showing that success may actually be within Gus's grasp. He didn't add a charge to the barrel, so all we get is a flash in the pan. Cat Booper is an interested eyewitness. link home 30 June - Archaic Banjo Update I mentioned Carson Hudson Jr.'s new banjo album, I Come From Old Virginny, the other day; I also sent a little note to Mr. Hudson through his CD Baby page to say how much I liked the album - just got a very nice reply from him - he mentions that he's working on a new album of Stephen Foster songs, and that he hopes it'll be out around Christmas. I wrote back to suggest that my favorite Foster song, Plain Old Soldier, might be a good choice to include. Since it's an appropriate song for the Fourth of July, and since the Fourth of July is almost upon us - here it is (Real Audio format), sung by Leslie Guin, from this classic Nonesuch album. link home 30 June - On a Rock in the River  Lucy as Siren Here is the latest installment in our search for the actual locations of some of the classic photographs in the Janus Museum files. Lucy as Siren was taken on the Virginia banks of the Potomac, upriver of the American Legion Bridge. We think that this is the location, courtesy of Google Earth:  If you examine the site through this placemark on Google Earth, turn on the Google Earth Community layer - zoom out a bit, and you'll see that Lewis "Scooter" Libby's place is just a bit southeast of the Lucy location. Rotate to head west, and you can fly up the Potomac to the beautiful Great Falls of the Potomac, which Fanny Trollope, mother of Anthony, found both sublime and terrifying, back in 1830: To call this scene beautiful would be a strange abuse of terms, for it is altogether composed of sights and sounds of terror. The falls of the Potomac are awfully sublime: the dark deep gulf which yawns before you, the foaming, roaring cataract, the eddying whirlpool, and the giddy precipice, all seem to threaten life, and to appal [sic] the senses. Yet it was a great delight to sit upon a high and jutting crag, and look and listen...From Domestic Manners of the Americans. Read the full passage here. link home 29 June - Truck 'n Tacos  I could have done many useful or improving things last Saturday; what I hit on was to go to the nearby Gaithersburg - Washington Grove Volunteer Fire Department Fire Museum and ogle the splendid 1941 Diamond T pumper truck. I like fire trucks. And then:  Tacos at the convenient next-door taqueria. In front, a taco al pastor. In back, chorizo. What a nice day. link home 29 June - Fresh Almanac Here 
This week's installment of Richard Thompson's Richard's Poor Almanac, courtesy of the Washington Post, is a handy instructional guide in rhyme for surviving art auctions with your piggy bank intact. What a public service! link home 28 June - Cat Toby  Toby Gray Remembering Cat Toby today, a fine cat much missed around the Museum. Many thanks to Friend of the Museum Grahame, who has made a generous contribution in Toby's name to Feline Rescue. link home 28 June - Flood Report  Dr. John Herrera of the High Speed Triumph Research Laboratory sent this picture, taken from the porch of the lab residence, of Catoctin Creek in flood. Three people drowned upstream, and two teens are missing nearby. link home 28 June - After the Flood  The Janus Museum Forest Preserve is a large swamp today - too moist for a catwalk - but I ventured out in between sub-basement pumpings and saw this handsome eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina). link home 28 June - The Pirate Cat Reading List  Captain Kidd and Mc•Dermot, by Robert Lawson What to read while waiting to go see the cool new pirate movie, or while manning the pumps in one's Museum's sub-basement - how about Captain Kidd's Cat, a two-fisted, four-pawed sea-yarn, narrated by the Adventure Galley's tough ship's cat, Mc•Dermot? It was written and wonderfully illustrated by Robert Lawson (1892-1957), a favorite from my distant youth. Lawson was most famous as the illustrator of Munro Leaf's The Story of Ferdinand, and he did a number of other historical novels told from an animal eyewitness's point of view - Mr. Revere and I (Paul Revere's horse) and Ben and Me (Franklin's mouse), later made into a Disney feature. I loved the illustrations as a kid - still do - they're funny, beautifully drawn, and the period detail always looks right - I remember especially his illustrations for Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray, set in medieval England. Oh - all right, one more from Captain Kidd's Cat:  Kidd and Mc•Dermot in Newgate Yes, the "•" in "Mc•Dermot" is according to the text. The good news is that many of Lawson's titles are available as paperback reprints, and old hardbounds are readily available - the copy of Captain Kidd's Cat I bought for a friend (and promptly borrowed) is an ex-library copy - why would they get rid of it? It's a much better book than all those Potter books the kids are reading nowadays. Wizards, forsooth. What's wrong with pirates, and pirates' cats? link home 28 June - Knitted Goods of the Ordovician  Darling knitted nautiloids - ancient cephalopods - by Beth Skwarecki. Full instructions here. Via Boing Boing. UPDATE - How strange - exactly a year ago, I ran a blurb on a lovely crocheted yarn squid - what a coincidence. link home 27 June - A Flood of Biblical (Revised Standard Version) Proportions The Washington DC area is in the middle of a hell of a monsoon - almost 12 inches of rain in two days. The sub-basement of the Janus Museum's Historic Cottage is flooded. We attempted to invoke the Janus Museum Disaster Plan, but the only copy of the plan is stored in - the sub-basement. Gus, our feckless maintenance man, is away at a pro miniature golf tournament, so it's left to me to man the pumps. Actually, we only have one pump, and it's not keeping up with the raging waters too well. Pray for us. UPDATE - the cat wallows are now swimming pools.  UPDATE - Here's a shot of the situation in the Janus Museum's sub-basement this morning. Here's a video of the operation. We were making progress with the pump, but now it's raining again. link home 26 June - The Faithful Hound, Saint-Cloud  We continue our fascinating new series in which we explore where various photographs in the Janus Museum's collections were taken - the hauntingly beautiful image above was shot at the old park of Saint-Cloud, across the Seine from Paris. Bonaparte had a palace there, and Atget also made memorable photographs there. Here's where our image was made:  And here's the Google Earth placemark, for those with Google Earth. This is pretty high-level photo-historical-geographical stuff - please keep us in mind during pledge week. link home 26 June - Lubok at the Multiplex 
These are very fine - modern movies interpreted as woodcuts in the Russian Lubok folk art tradition. Above, Lord of the Rings, of course. Via the excellent BibliOdyssey. link home 25 June - Indiscipline in the Ranks  Fusilier Billy with Lance Corporal Dai Davies, Royal Welsh Regiment (AP Photo) Sad news - Billy, The regimental goat of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Welsh Regiment, has been demoted from lance corporal to fusilier (private) after disrupting ceremonies for the Queen's birthday in in Episkopi, Cyprus last week, as reported by the AP: ... The goat's handler was unable to keep control during the June 16 march. The mascot darted from side to side, throwing soldiers off their stride, Capt. Crispian Coates, a spokesman, said by telephone from the base in Cyprus.Gad, sir, in my day regimental goats knew something about discipline - towers of strength, they were. Why, I recall the Battle of Derwood - the damn rebels were over the works - our sergeant major burst into tears and the colonel was about to lower the colors when our goat - Granville, his name was - rallied the men, head-butted the rebel commander, and saved the day. Promoted, Granville was - Lincoln made him the commander of the Army of the Potomac, briefly, after Burnside was relieved. Goats were real men, back then... Contrast Billy's behavior with Private Gwylim Jenkins' (Shenkin) dignified interview. Via Metafilter. link home 25 June - Where the Beloved Treasure was Taken 
Here's a screen shot from Google Earth of the location of the hauntingly beautiful photograph shown below. This is fascinating, far-reaching scholarship. If I received a generous grant, I could probably plot the locations of many of the Janus Museum's images - I can't do all this for nothing. I have to make a living, too, you know. link home 25 June - Archaic Banjo I bought a second CD when I got the new Double Decker Stringband album mentioned earlier - it's Carson Hudson Jr.'s I Come from Old Virginny! Early Virginia Banjo Music 1790-1860. I'm a fan of archaic banjo music, and a tune from 1782 like Pompey Ran Away (Real Audio format) is the banjo equivalent of the Lascaux cave paintings to the history of art. Hudson also includes songs from the minstrel show tradition - one may listen to the songs on the album's CD Baby page. And if this is the sort of thing you like, you'll also want this excellent CD, Minstrel Banjo Style. And old-time music fans will also want to tune in to the online radio stream on the Sugar in the Gourd site, presenting a judicious mix of of vintage recordings and modern bands - I heard the new Double Decker album first on the Gourd. link home 24 June - Another Beloved Treasure from the Collection  Here's another lovely image from the Janus Museum files, taken at the Bassin d'Apollon at Versailles. If one has Google Earth installed on one's computer, one may see exactly where the photograph was taken merely be clicking this. Several other Janus Museum Versailles shots, including another taken at the Bassin, may be viewed here. link home 24 June - The Roots of the Spit-Take  Jack Brawn's historic spit-take in Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend (1906) Regular readers, if any, will know of our interest in the history of the spit-take. We've illustrated several international versions of the classic cinematic device here. Previously, the earliest spit-take we've found is Max Linder's 1921 bed spit:  ... in Seven Years Bad Luck. However, a much earlier contender for the title of the historic first spit-take is the shot illustrated above, performed by Jack Brawn in Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend, directed by Edwin S. Porter. One may view the spit-take segment (and a couple of other excerpts) here, via Google Video. The entire film is available in a Kino collection, The Movies Begin - A Treasury of Early Cinema, 1894-1913, which I may have to save my pennies for. The movie's based on Winsor McKay's visionary comic strip, Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend - there's a collection of the strips available, too - a bit cheaper than the movie. Purists will insist that a proper spit-take is in reaction to another actor's statement or action, and that the 1906 Brawn spit is, therefore, not a true spit-take. I'll leave that discussion to the film scholars; my interest is in finding the pioneering roots of the technique and its international variants. And also in getting a generous grant to continue my far-reaching survey. link home 24 June - Under Attack  Blue jay in flight, Groveland Security Network Node 4 Last evening we were treated to a thrilling reenactment of the battle of Midway, with blue jays playing the SBD Dauntless dive bombers, and poor Cats Leroy and Natasha appearing involuntarily as the Japanese carriers Akagi and Soryu. The jays came down in steep dives as the cats zigzagged desperately - Natasha made it to the porch and was let in; Leroy went to ground under the honeysuckle - Our intern Zoe dug him out and carried the poor fellow inside, as he peered anxiously around him, with the jays screaming in rage the whole time. As soon as Leroy was inside, Natasha beat him up in a fit of displaced aggression. It was a very exciting evening - wish I'd had the camera handy. link home 24 June - Double Decker Update  Looking more closely at the Double Decker Stringband's excellent new CD, The Rest is Yet to Come, mentioned here last week, I noticed the picture of the band shown above, taken at Fell's Point, Baltimore, around 1980. It's not credited, but I suspect that it was taken by old Friend of the Museum Tico Herrera. The sad thing is that I think I may have been present when it was taken, but can't quite recall. Well, it was a long time ago, and I'm getting old, and... what's the word? Forgetful. link home 24 June - Your Poor Almanac Fix  Sorry I'm running a bit late, here - busy week - overrun with museum visitors and researchers - museum fellows running amuck - center not holding - but here's last Saturday's special Father's Day edition of Richard Thompson's Richard's Poor Almanac, courtesy of the Washington Post. Hey, I said I was sorry. link home 18 June - Again From the Collection  Today's lucky dip in the Janus Museum's collections is this fine carte-de-visite photograph of an unidentified Confederate officer, c.1862. link home 18 June - A Good Day for Yellow Airplanes  I was at the Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center yesterday for book-signing purposes, it being Family Day out there. A number of fabulous planes had been flown in to display on the Center's runway, including Charlie Maples lovely Beech Staggerwing shown above. Friend of the Museum Brian Nicklas once had a ride in it, and told the thrilling story here. It was a good day for yellow airplanes, as this immaculate 1946 Piper J-3C Cub belonging to Tim Leohrke was also attending: 
Very nice. And I signed seven copies of the book, and had a barbeque sandwich. link home 18 June - A Wallow and a Walk  The latest Catcam video opens with Cat Leroy enjoying a leisurely wallow in the South Wallow; the mood darkens somewhat as he and Natasha plunge into the Janus Museum Forest Preserve for a brisk catwalk. Speaking of wallows, I've noticed that the North Wallow, which was all the rage with the Circle Cats last summer, is no longer the fashionable place to hang - it's hardly ever used. Instead, it's the South Wallow where everyone is to be seen - such is fashion, even among cats. link home 17 June - From the Collection, Again  Here's one of the Janus Museum's oldest objets - it's a painting on a wood panel, showing an elegant British officer in light infantry uniform, chatting up a group of yokels in a tavern. It's a bit primitive, but the period detail is so exact that our Curator believes that it was probably painted around the time it portrays, or not long after - say, around 1780-1790. link home 17 June - From the Collection  No story, here - just a nice cabinet card photograph by an unidentified photographer of a farmer and his horses, from around 1870. link home 16 June - Fresh Tunes Received a new CD, The Rest is Yet to Come, from my favorite old-time music group, the Double Decker Stringband - it's fabulous - you all need to buy a copy or two. Here's one of the songs, Chased Old Satan (Real Audio format); one may listen to the other songs and buy the CD on the band's CD Baby page. One of the Doubledeckers, Bill Schmidt, is also an artist of note - we were hung together (his paintings, my photographs) in a Baltimore gallery some years back. Bruce Hutton also has played in the excellent group Hesperus, which has been mentioned here occasionally. CD Baby is also worthy of notice - I placed my order yesterday - paid for regular Postal Service delivery - the order arrived today, all the way from Portland, Oregon. And I got this cute email order confirmation: Your CDs have been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.Hey - great tunes, great service - I'll be back. link home 16 June - I Get No Kick From Propane  Following on the experience gleaned in my fresh ham event back in April, I tried another one last Sunday. Things were proceding well when the damn propane gave out. Disaster stared me and the pork butt in the face. I moved it to the oven in the carriage house, and continued the cooking - disaster averted, and it turned out pretty well. Sorry; not a very exciting cliff-hanger, I guess. link home 16 June - In the Wallow  Leroy patiently endures a pat on the head while in the South Wallow. The dry weather means that the wallows are in excellent condition - very dusty, very fast. Coming soon - a new Catcam video featuring wallow action and a jolly good catwalk. link home 16 June - Tourists' Tips in the Poor Almanac  Last week's installment of Richard Thompson's Richard's Poor Almanac features a useful guide for Washington tourists, and includes a hilarious reference to Lawrence Small, the embattled head of our sister museum, the Smithsonian. Say, did he ever get around to performing his community service? link home 11 June - Film Chats Noir  The room being dark, and the cats being black, it is the eyes of neighbor cats Dinah and Oscar that are the most prominent feature of this strange, moody, haunting and yet compellingly beautiful video... link home 11 June - Guest Stars on the Catcam  I strolled down 1st Avenue in Washington Grove yesterday; Booper and Cat Van Beek were kind enough to allow me to tape them for a Catcam video, which may be viewed here. A couple more Catcam videos may show up a bit later. link home 11 June - Jasmine  Here's a more recent snap of Jasmine, our late Akita friend, mentioned last week. We'll miss her. link home 10 June - Ad Astra per Monofilament  Gus has finally gotten around to hanging our new A.V. Roe Triplane model in the Fellows' Lounge - goes very well with the decor, I think. We found out that it was made by the late Richard Virgo, head of design at the Smithsonian Museum of History and Technology (now the National Museum of American History). link home 10 June - Them Jersey Cats are Tough How to tree a bear, if you're a cat. link home 10 June - Oxford, Iowa, Revisited  John Honn - carpenter in 1984 and Pentecostal minister in 2005 We reported on the New York Times' report on Friend of the Museum Peter Feldstein's wonderful Oxford Project back in April; the June issue of Smithsonian Magazine has a good article on the project - check out Peter's site, too. link home 7 June - And now, Your Poor Almanac Fix  See, this is why Americans don't trust Big Media - The Washington Post failed to put the June 2 episode of Richard Thompson's Richard's Poor Almanac on their web site. That's one entire week without a fresh dose of sublime wit and hideously exaggerated noses. Anyway, here's the June 3 installment. And there may be some good news in the offing - I hear rumors that Richard's weekly comic strip, Cul de Sac, now available only in the Post's Sunday magazine, may become a syndicated daily strip! You should probably start pestering your local rag's comics editor to pick it up as soon as it's available - the thrilling adventures of Mr. Danders the guinea pig are not to be missed. link home 6 June - Good Dog  Very sad to report that our good friend Jasmine, a friendly, dignified Akita, died last Friday. She loved, while out on a walkie, to come sit on the Historic Cottage's porch and visit for a bit, and would patiently endure our childish efforts to straighten out her fine curly tail. She and Cat Toby were good buddies, too. Our picture shows her as an incredibly cute puppy - I know I have some more recent snaps - will try to find one. link home 3 June - Sniff and Sensibility  So poor old Leroy is checking out Natasha earlier today during a little stroll in the Sacred Circle - a little genteel sniff, just being friendly, you understand - nothing crude or ungallant. However, Natasha chose to take offense:  ... And gently corrects Leroy, who promised to modify his behavior in future.  But later on, Leroy attempts to lay down the law. What followed is too, too shocking to show. Leroy had to lie down in a darkened room with a damp cloth on his forehead, but he may recover. link home 3 June - A Jolly Nice Find  I go to about one yard sale per year, and so rarely find anything of note. But I lucked out today - found a handsome handmade model of an A.V. Roe Triplane of 1909-1910, made by the old dad of the yard sale lady. Here's a little movie, showing the wheel actually moving the rudder and tailplane. I think I'll suspend it from the ceiling of the fellows' lounge. Leroy really likes it, too:  link home 3 June - Why There is no British Empire I've been sifting through the Museum's tech files while I await the completion of the configuration of the new box - which it finally arrived yesterday afternoon - and I came across this fascinating document, a copy of a paper that British pilots carried with them on missions in southeast Asia during World War II. If the pilot was downed, he was meant to show the paper to the locals. Presumably, it would have been translated into the appropriate language, but one never knows. 1. The white man holding this paper is a friend of the Government.Such a statement of bald-faced arrogance I have not come across since the Secretary of Defense's last press conference. link home 2 June - Cats without Wires  Natasha, Peake, and Leroy form up in a cat convoy during a recent un-catcammed catwalk in the Janus Museum Forest Preserve. The new computer has not yet arrived, much less been configured, so I'm working on a borrowed laptop over at the nearby Java 'n Dollar Treasures. The coffee is swill, and the ambience is noisy 'n squalid, but this is my first wireless blog entry - makes me feel very hip 'n high tech. link home |
