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Music from the Museum

The Fiddler, ambrotype c.1858

Janus Museum Radio

Listen in to our webmaster, Tibor Szégy-Légy, as he presents a wide-ranging program of some of his favorite music.

Program 3 in our new series - Outlaws and Bad Persons

Program 9 - Music from the Civil War for Decoration Day

Program 8 - Jazz, harp, and hurdy-gurdy.



We're pleased to feature tunes from The Janus Museum's extensive music library. Every week - or more often as the spirit moves, we'll feature a tune, song, or sound from the collection in streaming Real Audio format.

Our Current Selection

The Red Clay Ramblers sing
Jim Canaan's from their album It Ain't Right.



Previous Musical Selections



Here's an extremely rare treasure, a 78 rpm recording of The Rocket Ranger March from the 1953 TV series Rod Brown of the Rocket Rangers These may be the the first internet performances of The Rocket Rangers March, performed by the Rocket Rangers Chorus, and also an instrumental version of the Rocket Ranger March, performed by the Rocket Ranger Philharmonic Orchestra of Zagreb.



For Armistice Day - The Bells of Hell, from a newly reissued DVD of Richard Attenborough's Oh! What a Lovely War.



And now, a Stephen Foster song especially for the Fourth of July, Plain Old Soldier, sung by Leslie Guin. From Songs of Stephen Foster.



Here's a sprightly archaic banjo tune - Pompey Ran Away (1782) from Carson Hudson Jr.'s I Come from Old Virginny! Early Virgina Banjo Music 1790-1860, another recent find in the old-time music bin.



Here's a thumping good tune, Chasing Old Satan, from the Double Decker Stringband's fine new album, The Rest is Yet to Come.



In honor of the splendid Hésperion XXI concert we recently attended, here's Jordi Savall performing Captain Tobias Hume's A Souldiers Resolution on the viola da gamba.



To commemorate the end of legal fox hunting across the pond, here are two songs from the rich tradition of hunt songs:

Nic Jones sings Reynard the Fox from Ballads and Songs.

Oak, Ash and Thorn perform Bold Reynard from Sowing Wild OATs & Out On A Limb.



Highly Recommended




Film Reviews

We occasionally mention of some of the classic films that are shown in The Janus Museum's Fellow's Lounge - here are links to the webmaster's capsule reviews:

Aaya Toofan

Aelita, Queen of Mars

Amar Akbar Anthony

Astérix & Obélix contre César

L'Atalante

Babes in Toyland (1934), AKA March of the Wooden Soldiers

Baiju Bawra

Bajrangbali

Balram Shri Krishna

The Beggar's Opera; additional

Berserk!

Body

Book and Sword

Boxer

The Brain That Wouldn't Die

Bride & Prejudice

British Intelligence

Byron

The Calamari Wrestler (Ika Resuraa)

The Call of Cthulhu

The Captain's Paradise

Catwoman

The Charge of the Light Brigade

China Gate

Chronicles of Narnia

The Clowns

Cold Comfort Farm (1995 version)

Cousin Bette

The Crawling Hand

A Dance to the Music of Time

Death in the Air (AKA Pilot X)

Drôle de Drame

Elena and Her Men, More on Elena

Enchanted

The Eye of Vichy

Fathom

Finnegans Wake (Passages from Finnegans Wake)

The Flame and the Arrow

French Cancan

Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs

A Good Woman

George Washington II: The Forging of a Nation

Giulio Cesare

Glen or Glenda

The Golden Coach

Gormenghast

H.M. Deserters (C.K. Dezerterzy)

Halaku

Har Har Mahadev

The Heart of the World

Henry V (1944 version)

Hot Fuzz

The Illusionist

Les Indes Galantes

The Indian Tomb (Das Indische Grabmal; Fritz Lang's Indian Epic)
More on The Indian Tomb

Jai Santoshi Maa

Janosik: The Highland Robber
More on Janosik

Jungle ki Nagin

The Kaiser's Lackey (Der Untertan)

Lagaan

The Living Corpse

Lola Montes

The Lost Zeppelin

Luv Kush (TV serial)

The Maggie

Mahabali Hanuman (Dara Singh, 1980)

Mahabali Hanuman (Rakesh Pandey, 1981)

Mahabharat; And another entry

Maniac

March of the Wooden Soldiers

La Marseillaise

Master and Commander

The Mikado (1939 version)

Mister Vampire 3

Münchhausen (1943)

Oh! What a Lovely War

Old Khottabych

Old School

Our Man in Havana

Les Paladins

Passport to Pimlico

The Phantom Empire

The Pirates of Penzance (1980)

The Pirates of Penzance (1983)

The Pirates of Penzance (1994)

The Pirates of Penzance (2007)

Porco Rosso

Pride and Prejudice (2005)

Private Life of a Cat

Ramayan (TV serial)

Royal Flash

The Saddest Music in the World

Sadko

Sampoorna Ramayana (children's theater version)

Sampoorna Ramayan; Also a video segment

Seven Years Bad Luck

Shaolin Soccer

Sikander-e-Azam

Sita Sings the Blues

Sleepy Hollow

The Stranglers of Bombay

The Legend of Suriyothai

Tarzan (1985 Bollywood version)

Teenagers From Outer Space

They Who Step on the Tiger's Tail (Tora no o wo fumu Otokotachi)

Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines

Titus

Two Comrades Were Serving (Sluzhili dva Tovarishcha)

V for Vendetta

Valiant

Wagner - The Complete Epic

Waterloo

War of the Worlds (2005)

The Wrong Arm of the Law

Yahudi

The Young Visiters

Zeppelin




News & Comment

City Journal

DEBKAfile

Thomas Friedman

History News Network

Jane's Information Group

New York Times

The New Yorker

Oliphant

Salon

Slate

Washington Post




Weblogs and Filters

Achenblog

Airminded

AirSpace

ArtsJournal

Arts & Letters Daily

BibliOdyssey

Lilek's Bleat

Boing Boing

Brass Goggles

Cephalopodcast

Chase me Ladies, I'm in the Cavalry

Combat Helmets of the 20th Century

Command Post

Comics Curmudgeon

Cooked Books

Cool Tools

Cottage Renovations

Cronaca

Cul de Sac

Cute Overload

Daffodil Field

Daily Kos

DC Blogs

Defense Tech

Fed by Birds

Fig Newtons and Scotch

FuturePundit.com

Gizmodo

Good Name for a Dog

Grow-a-Brain

Hand Eye Paint

Hanuman

Hullabaloo

Intel Dump

Irish Elk

J-Walk

The Kitten Channel

Language Hat

The Law West of Ealing Broadway

Life on Two Acres

Martin Klasch

Metafilter

Ministry of Minor Perfidy

Mirabilis

The Nonist

The Nonist Annex

Notes from the Technology Underground

Octopia

The Online Photographer

Other Men's Flowers

Pharyngula

Pinky Diablo and His Singing Grubworm

Political Animal

Ramage

Ref Grunt

Repository for Bottled Monsters

The Rest is Noise

Retro Thing

The Rhine River

The Salt Mine

Samizdata.net

seven years in the navey

Squid

Squidblog

Talking Points Memo

things magazine

Time Has Told Me

The Tsarina of Tsocks

Your Daily Art

Winds of Change

Janus Links

Another Janus Museum

Temple of Janus by Peter Paul Rubens

Temple of Janus by H.W.B., 1883

Some Thoughts on the God Janus

Janus in Myth

More Janus in Myth

The Mystery of Janus

Emblem 18 from Andrea Alciato's Book of Emblems (1531)

Engraving of Janus from Vincenzo Cartari's Le Imagini de gli Dei (1608)

Janus and Athena

Mars, Janus, and Minerva

Janus Galleries

The Art of Katherine Janus Kahn

Janus Great Danes

The Society of Janus (not connected with The Janus Museum)


Photography

The American Museum of Photography

Eugene Atget at George Eastman House

Atget at the International Center of Photography

Civil War Photographs from the Library of Congress

The Daguerreian Society

f295.org

The George Eastman House

Kathleen Ewing Gallery (represents the Janus Estate)

Helios - Photography at the National Museum of American Art

Klotz/Sirmon Gallery

Robin Schwartz

Star Camera Company


Music

Alan Lomax Archive

Archeophone Records

Archie Edward's Blues Heritage Foundation

Blues on Air

Classical Music Archives

Classical MIDI Connection

Concertzender Radio

Dr. Horsehair

Hackmann Hurdy-Gurdies

honkingduck.com

John Fahey

Magnatune

Joe Bussard's vintage 78s

Max Hunter Folk Song Collection

Music by Michael Starke

Old-Time Music Homepage

Phonozoic

Roots of Folk: Old English, Scots, and Irish Songs and Tunes (Bruce Olson's Web Site)

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

Sugar in the Gourd

Time Has Told Me

Weenie Campbell


History & Reference

American Civil War Portal

American Memory - Library of Congress

CivilWar@Smithsonian

Common-Place

Cyber Times Navigator (New York Times)

Government Information Awareness

The Great War in a Different Light

Historical Picture Collections

ibiblio

Making of America

Moving Image Archive

New York Public Library Digital Gallery

Online Books Page

Open Video Project

Proceedings of the Old Bailey 1674-1834

Repositories of Primary Sources

David Rumsey Map Collection

SIRIS - Smithsonian Institution Research Information System

Statistical Abstract of the United States

Studies in Intelligence

Voice of the Shuttle


Favorites

5ives

Amusing Seaches

The Apothecary's Drawer

Big Meadows (Virginia) Webcam

Bookworm Game

Cat of the Day

Coconino World

Coudal Partners

Ferd'nand

Framley Museum

Golden Age Comic Cover Gallery

Jesus of the Week

Lawsonomy

Mars Attacks

Macaroni and cheese recipes

Mutts - the Official Site

Mutts Online

Patrick O'Brian Web Resources

Pepys' Diary

Sodaplay

The Tsarina of Tsocks

Washington Grove Pacer Farm

webplayer

Recent photographs, commentary, and links from The Janus Museum's webmaster, Tibor Szégy-Légy



Every now and again you stumble on a weblog that seems to perfectly encapsulate a way of life, an environment, people, characters, whatever (although the Janus Museum is not all it seems, we think).

--- things magazine



8 February - Reenactments for Felines

Cat Natasha, in the Trenches

Cat Natasha takes advantage of the snow and the shoveled trenches with a moving reenactment of the famous 1914
Christmas Truce. Don't know why Natasha isn't wearing her überzug.

link     comment

8 February - Museum Closures

The Circle, Washington Grove, During the Snow Storm
The Circle, Washington Grove, during the Great Blizzard

Perhaps I ought to have mentioned that the Janus Museum is closed today, due to the Great Blizzard of '10. Actually, we were closed on Saturday and Sunday, too. Will probably be closed tomorrow, what with the additional expected snowfall. And things are beginning to look kind of iffy for the big
Spring Wallowing Season Opener in March.

Funny story - when we cancelled Saturday's Annual Groundhog Day Catwalk, we thought we had notified all of the various bus tour groups that were planning to come that the event was off. Evidentially, we missed one group - a Pittsburgh cat club; and they started for the Museum early Saturday morning. Well, they never made it, of course, and no one has heard from them since Saturday afternoon when they stopped for gas in Breezewood, Pennsylvania. I wonder what happened to them?

Oh, well...

link     comment

8 February - A Generous Gift, with Pickelhaubes

A German troop train, off to the front, c.1914

Am very pleased to show off a generous donation to the Museum made by our old Friend of the Museum, the eminent photographer and collector
Rodger Kingston, whose Forgotten Photograph collection has appeared here from time to time.

Rodger's generous contribution is shown above - a postcard showing German troop train preparing for departure, probably at the beginning of the war, July 1914. The caption, translated, says "Departure for the Theater of War". Many of the soldiers are wearing their pickelhaubes, which are fitted with fabric field covers - an überzug, it was called. The others wear their round caps - feldmützen, or krätzchen. Wonder how many of the chaps survived the war?


A German Feldmutze of WWI

Gus models a feldmütze from the Museum's collection. By the way, he says his back "feels a lot better", though I predict a relapse when he hears about tomorrow's forecast of more snow.

Many thanks for the superb donation, Rodger. Oh, and check out Rodger's online gallery, too.

link     comment



7 February - After the Snow

Cats Nutmeg and Natasha on Grove Road, Washington Grove

Awfully sorry to report that I'm too exhausted to give a full report on our snowfall of the last two days - our so-called "maintenance" man Gus called in with a "bad back", so guess who was called upon to do shovel out the Museum? Really, it's all I can do to weakly lap up a glass of cheap Fellows' Common Room brandy and make this inadequate entry.

Above; at least Nutmeg (front) and Natashsa enjoyed themselves. More snow is expected on Tuesday, by the way.

link     comment

6 February - Our Man in Havana

Burl Ives in pickelhaube as Dr. Hasselbacher in 'Our Man in Havana'

I've seen
Our Man in Havana (1959, from Graham Greene's novel) before, of course, but somehow had totally forgotten its pickelhaube content. Burl Ives (with the world's worst German accent) as Dr. Hasselbacher dons his old kurassier uniform - and thoughtfully provides an extra helmet for a guest. He mentions at one point in the film that he's from Munich. So perhaps he served in the Bayer. 1. Schweres Reiter-Regiment Prinz Karl von Bayern which was raised in Munich; or conceivably in Bavaria's other kurassier regiment, the Bayer. 2. Schweres Reiter-Regiment Erzherzog Franz Ferdinand von Österreich-Este1; it's not actually vital to the plot, though. At any rate, he wouldn't have worn those odd comic-opera epaulettes in either regiment. Also appearing, Alec Guinness as Wormold, the vacuum cleaner salesman turned spymaster, Ernic Kovacs, Maureen O'Hara, Noel Coward and Ralph Richardson. An excellent film, if one can get past those epaulettes.


1. Information courtesy of The Kaiser's Bunker, an invaluable site.

link     comment

5 February - Cancellation Due to Weather Conditions

Cat Natasha in the Snow

Cat Natasha checks the current conditions at the edge of the Janus Museum Forest Preserve as the snow comes down. Local reports of the storm are practically apocalyptic - I swear I heard a news report claiming a chance of a snow zombie onslaught. Anyway, we were forced to cancel the annual Groundhog Day Catwalk scheduled for tomorrow - most disappointing - always a popular event - had to call off a couple of busloads of paid participants. Here's video of a previous Groundhog Day Catwalk:




One may keep an eye on the catastrophe on the Museum's
Circle Cam, if one is so inclined.


The Janus Museum Forest Preserve in the Snow

Oh, one more shot of the Forest Preserve, before I hole up in the carriage house for the duration.

link     comment

31 January - Inspired by Ramen

A bowl of tonkatsu ramen at Temari, Rockville, Maryland

Reading Matt Gross's
scintillating article on ramen - Japanese noodle soup - in today's New York Times made me realize that what I desperately needed was a bowl of ramen. Fortunately, we have the excellent Temari Cafe within easy striking distance on Rockville Pike - it's in the same strip mall as the previously mentioned Kielbasa Factory. I had the tonkatsu (pork broth) ramen, as pictured above. How was it? I'm not a ramen connoisseur like the obsessives mentioned in the NYT article, but I'd have to say it was fabulous. But Temari's katsu curry - Japanese style curry with rice and pork cutlet - is also... well, fabulous.

link     comment

31 January - Back on the Old Quai

Quai de la Megisserie, Paris

And now, a rare quiet moment without traffic on the Quai de la Mégisserie, Paris, home of a street
bird market.

link     comment

30 January - More Snow; Some Helmets

The historic Circle, Washington Grove, being snowed on

These were the conditions in the Circle earlier today. There's now about 4 more inches; I would go out and snap the same scene, to show the dramatic contrast, and all, but I don't wanna. Instead...


Early aviators' crash helmets

... Let's admire the mode in early aviators' crash helmets circa 1912, via the always fascinating
Mostly Forbidden Zone. The helmet at center in the bottom row is most similar to the one that the dummy of our maintenance Man Gus wore when he appeared as the Gunner of a World War I French Voisin VIII bomber at another museum:


Gus as a WWI French Gunner

... As narrated previously. "Dummy of Gus" is a bit redundant, isn't it?

link     comment

30 January - The Origin of Cosmo Cat

Cosmo Cat Stumbles

And now, the thrilling origin of superhero Cosmo Cat,
via Apocolyte's World of Comics. Also, a sobering reminder that one should be very careful while handling ordnance.

link     comment

24 January - Lamb Lunch at Accokeek

New-Born Lamb, Accokeek, Maryland, 1987

A new-born lamb, still moist, has a spot of lunch, Accokeek, Maryland, 1987. And there's even something related, tune-wise:





Hallalujah to the Lamb, performed by our old favorites,
the Double Decker Stringband on their album Giddyap Napoleon, now tragically out of print. But the Double Deckers' latest album, The Rest is Yet to Come, is available and is highly recommended.

link     comment

23 January - Just Me and the Horse

Horse, Versailles

Another foggy morning in Versailles; just me and the horse, not far from the Petit Trianon. I don't think I ever made it to Versailles when it wasn't foggy.


Previously Posted Versailles Imagery:

Bassin d'Apollon
Statues around the Bassin
Rainy Evening in Versailles
Belvedere Sphinx
Bassin d'Apollon, again
Tableau Militaire
Trianon
Even More

link     comment

23 January - Hannibal the Bentley

1934 Bentley 'Hannibal'

Hard to miss while taking a walk this afternoon was this beautiful Bentley parked by the town hall. A note on the windshield told me that it's from 1934, and it's for sale - could I ever afford it? Haw, haw - no. Its owner was at the town hall for a meeting of homebrewers of
Brewers United for Real Potables (BURP), and a very hospitable bunch of people they were - invited me in and plied me with drink, they did. I found out that the Bentley is named "Hannibal". I was told other interesting things about the car, but after a generous quantity of old ale, I remember very little.


bentley2 (30K)

It's a very beautiful car; the nicest car to be seen on Center Street since the Nicklas boys brought their 1964½ Mustang over.





Here's a song for the BURPers - Oh, Good Ale, sung by the great Cyril Tawney.

I am now going to lie down for a while in a darkened room.

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23 January - The Missing Magi

Statues, College Park, Maryland

An apostle, a deer, and a squad of magi at a statuary factory in College Park, Maryland - a wonderfully contemplative site along Rt. 1, now tragically gone. Wonder what happened to all those magi?

link     comment

22 January - Advances in Bacon; Possible Service Interruption

Bacon Jam

I haven't joined in the current
bacon enthusiasm - I like bacon, of course, but don't go nuts over it. But I will confess to a surge of delight when old Friend of the Museum Eve Zibart presented me with a couple of jars of Bacon Jam, a superb product of the Skillet Street Food company. What's good is a slice of home-baked bread, toasted, buttered, spread with Bacon Jam, and then presented with a hunk of Brie, not too runny. Served up so, it is very, very fabulous. It's also good on waffles. You know, I'm not sure I can think of anything it wouldn't be good on - maybe on curried haggis, I don't know. And now, excuse me - I want to be alone with my Bacon Jam.



We often have the tragic occurrence, at the end of the month, when the Museum's web site's measly traffic allocation is exceeded, and the site tragically goes black. We're pleased to announce that the Museum has now sprung for a more sensible service plan, and blackouts will be a thing of the tragic past. However, I'm told that we may have to republish the site - so we may have to go off the air one more time. Our Intern Zoe tells me that it won't be for long, though.

Update

We did go off the air for a bit last evening, but thanks to the heroic efforts of our intern Zoe, we republished the site pretty smartly. There were some glitches - the MP3 players were particularly balky, but seem to be working now. If you happen across any missing pictures, or anything broken looking, we'd appreciate a quick message at refdesk at janusmuseum dot org. Oh, let's try a tune - as a test and a celebration of the end of end of the month measly bandwidth allowance blackouts.





It's a solo for tympani, the Marche de Timalles, performed by Alexander Peter, by André and Jacques Philidor, from the album Virtuoso Timpani Concertos, previously mentioned here. Crank up them speakers.

link     comment

17 January - Hiawatha - Now in Color

Hiawatha, National Park Seminary, Forest Glen, Maryland

Thought I had a color shot of
Hiawatha at Forest Glen showing the full glory of his fine yellowness; just found it in the 1999 archives. How brave and fierce and yellow he looks!




Here's a fierce tune, Indian March, played by the great Hobart Smith, from the album In Sacred Trust: The 1963 Fleming Brown Tapes.

link     comment

17 January - At Jug Bay

Jug Bay on the Patuxent River, 1983

Another January afternoon, some years back, on the beautiful shore of
Jug Bay on the Patuxent in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Strangely, I don't feel much like hiking about in a swamp - pardon me, a wetland - today. Must be the rain, or the cold, or the slothitude.

link     comment

The Flame and the Arrow - The Fan Page - Audio Experiment

Count Ulrich in 'The Flame and the Arrow' (1950)

The evil Count Ulrich (Frank Allenby) wears a fine proto-pickelhaube in
The Flame and the Arrow (1950). Very exciting, featuring swashbuckling acrobatics by Burt Lancaster and Nick Cravat as a sort of practice run for the classic The Crimson Pirate of 1952. Oh, Cravat later played the gremlin on the aircraft wing in the Twilight Zone episode Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.



I know that all the kids are on the Facebook, nowadays; so this news from our intern Zoe may be of interest - the Janus Museum now has a fan page on the Facebook. So - if you're on the Facebook, and find the Janus Museum or these pages of interest, you might like being a fan of the Museum on the Facebook. I don't understand any of it, myself.



Over the years, we've tried to feature music in different ways here - anyone remember Janus Museum Radio? Here's our latest attempt, so easy to implement that I can do it myself. Whether it actually works or not...





It's a fine sprightly elegant tune, a Villanos by Francisco Guerau played by Juan Carlos Rivera, from a superb album, Zarambeques: Música Española de los Siglos XVII y XVIII.

link     comment

16 January - Gerald, a Soldier of Fortune/House Cat

Gerald, Soldier of Fortune/House Cat, by Ryan Abegglen

This is Gerald, soldier of fortune/house cat - snappy dresser and lapsed Catholic with tuna stink. Can he speak enough French to get by? From a superb series by
Ryan Abegglen.

link     comment

9 January - Hiawatha

Hiawatha, Forest Glen, Maryland

Hiawatha, over on the grounds of the old
National Park Seminary, Forest Glen, Maryland. Hiawatha is painted bright yellow. His feathers, bolted to his forehead, occasionally loosen and hide his face. He stands next to the Theta Mission House.


Previous Forest Glen Snaps:

Caryatids
Cat and Caryatid
Caryatid, Silva, Czech Hedgehogs

link     comment

9 January - The Winter War

Natasha prepares to launch her ambush

Cold and windy today, but we decided that a short catwalk was in order. Above, the battle of the drifts - Natasha (right) prepares to ambush Nutmeg. There was a brief though spirited chase, then we went in for espresso and to watch
Balram Shri Krishna again.

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9 January - Versailles Atmospherics

Bassin d’Apollon, Versailles, 1987

Very foggy - a real pea-souper, or a soupe aux pois as the French say, early one morning down at the Bassin d’Apollon, Versailles, back in November, 1987.


Previously Posted Versailles Snaps:

Statues around the Bassin
Rainy Evening in Versailles
Belvedere Sphinx
Bassin d'Apollon
Tableau Militaire
Trianon
A Bunch More

link     comment

8 January - Elegy Photographed in a City Graveyard

Etting Cemetery, Baltimore, 1987

The quick are supported by the dead as the gardener of the Etting Cemetery takes a break during mowing ops, April 1987. The Etting Cemetery, Etting Street, Baltimore, dates back to 1799.

Previously on Etting Street,
an arabber wagon.

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8 January - The Black Sheep of the Flock

Black Sheep, Stowe

Kind of sad, really - a black sheep, all by itself, at
Stowe. Previously at Stowe, the Congreve Monument.

link     comment

5 January - Broadway Cat from the Collection

Cat - Cabinet Card, Bostwick Photographic Art Studio

Here's a fine cabinet card portrait of a fine, though unnamed cat from the
James A. Bostwick studio at Broadway and 34th Street, circa 1875.

link     comment

5 January - Call of the Wild Poodle

Wild Potomac Poodle, 1983

I had a look at
the previous entry for the Wild Potomac Poodle, referenced a few days ago in connection with the Wild Highland Spaniel and the Curried Haggis, and decided that a new scan was in order; so here it is, above. It takes me back to that day in 1983 - I was wandering the Virginia bluffs above the Potomac - suddenly, the magnificent creature crested the bluff, saw me, and struck a pose - as if he was channeling the Monarch of the Glen. I was struck dumb by the poodle's magnificence, but managed to snap an exposure. Then his master came into view, whistled, and the poodle tamely heeled and off they went. I still marvel at my luck - few are privileged to glimpse the rare elusive dangerous Wild Potomac Poodle, and survive.

Also - White Poodle Frightened by a Storm by Ianthe A. Gergel.

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3 January - Nostalgie in the Luxembourg Gardens

Dog Paddington, Jardin de Luxembourg, 1987

And now, a walk in
the Luxembourg Gardens with Dog Paddington, 1987. Paddington was a very fine fellow who lived in a nice apartment across the street from the Panthéon with his humans, Gary and Irene Edwards, who are also very fine. Not far from the Luxembourg was, I recall, a bar that specialized in Belgian beers, and featured Gueuze Lambic from the cask, which was also very fine - very fine, indeed.

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1 January - Near Comus

Sugarloaf Mountain from Comus Road

Oh, one more shot of Sugarloaf Mountain from this afternoon's expedition - taken near Comus, Maryland, off Comus Road, not far from
the Comus Inn.

link     comment

1 January - The Lost Opportunity, with Curry

Wild Highland Spaniel, Arthur's Seat
Wild Highland Spaniel

I snapped this shot below
Arthur's Seat, near Edinburgh, as a sort of companion piece to my Wild Potomac Poodle. A few minutes later, I walked back into town, cold and hungry. I stopped at a chippy and had the following conversation with the friendly proprietor, a South Asian gentleman, Indian or Pakistani or Bangladeshi:
Me: Good Day. Order of chips, please.

EAG: Yes sir, right away - would you like a nice haggis with that, sir?

Me: No thanks, just chips.

Proprietor: Very nice, very fresh haggis, sir!

Me: Chips, please. Just chips.

Proprietor: But sir, it is deep-fried haggis!

Me: Chips.

Proprietor: But sir, it is deep-fried CURRIED haggis!

Me: ----!!

This was years ago, and I was a less adventurous eater than I am now - nowadays, I'd have bought one, photographed it, tweeted about it, started a Yelp thread and a Deep-Fried Curried Haggis Appreciation Group on Facebook. And eaten the damn thing, too. When will I get the chance to eat a deep-fried curried haggis again? Will ye no' come back again?

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1 January - Monadnock and Pickelhaube

Sugarloaf Mountain from Beallsville Road
Sugarloaf Mountain from Beallsville Road
From One Hundred Famous Views of Sugarloaf


On New Year's Day, for some reason, I occasionally post a picture of Sugarloaf Mountain, Central Maryland's mighty monadnock. Today is also the blog's seventh anniversary, which makes me feel very tired, which totally has nothing to do with the quantity of méthode Champenoise de Moldova I consumed last night. In related news, the condition of Fellows' Common Room this morning is startingly squalid, and the maintenance man is nowhere to be found, so who does one suppose will have to swill it out?


Previous Sugarloaf Posts:

The Hornbostel Institute Great Monadnock Expedition
New Year's 2009
New Year's 2006
From Old Hundred Road
From Mt. Ephraim Road
From Thurston Road
Summiting Sugarloaf, November 2007


A Cat in a Pickelhaube by Louis Wain

And now, a cat in a pickelhaube and a fine Wilhelmine mustache by the great Louis Wain. It's available here as an inkjet - sorry, I mean a giclee print. Many thanks to old friend T.J. Gill for finding it.

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31 December - The Year in Catwalks

Natasha, New Year's Eve
Positively the Last Catwalk of '09

Looking back, it was a pretty good year for catwalking, except that my sprained foot back in September cut back on my mobility a bit. After
a promising opener, there seemed to be a little less wallowing than in previous years - dunno why. But we did have some fine catwalks - let's look back on some memorable moments in '09:





Previous Years in Catwalks - 2007, 2008.

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30 December - The Happy Return

Tragically, the Janus Museum's site's been off the air for about a week, but here we are again - many thanks to Friend of the Museum Rebecca Richters for monitoring our web situation and alerting us to the resumption of web services.

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24 December - That Cherub Pose

Tintype, after Raphael - 1

The Janus Museum holds a particular photographic collection that I think must be unique. Some years back I found an uncatalogued group of nineteenth century images in an unmarked box; the first image was the picture shown above - how odd, I thought, to find a shot of two dudes with their shirts off, c.1880. Then, with the next tintype...


Tintype, after Raphael - 2

... I figured out what was going on. These pictures were take-offs on the famous image of the two putti, the cherubs, looking up from the bottom of
Raphael's Sistine Madonna:


The Sistine Madonna, Raphael - carte-de-visite

The Sistine Madonna, Raphael - carte-de-visite.


Detail of the putti of the Sistine Madonna - carte-de-visite

Detail of the cherubs, Sistine Madonna - carte-de-visite.

The painting was popular, as a wood engraving, lithograph, and photographic reproduction, to the point inspiring a humor concept, as the cache of images demonstrated. I was explaining this to a well-known curator of photography from a well-known museum, as I showed here the collection. No, she said emphatically. No, it was just a posing convention - a conception of a dignified pose, which also helped steady the sitter during a long exposure. Nothing to do with cherubs or Raphael, she said with a condescending larf. Oh, I said, and pulled out the next picture:


Stereoview after Raphael

And I suppose, I said, that the wings were a standard posing convention, too, hmmm? The conversation ended quite soon thereafter.


Fairbank's Cherubs Trade Card

The inclusion of a trade card of a piggy version rather cinches the matter, I think.


Tintype with Muffs, after Raphael

Oh! We also have a rare variant with muffs.

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24 December - Toscanini's Guilt Trip

Arturo Toscanini (1867-1957)

Our old friend Herb Grossman, former assistant to
the great conductor, sends us another fine Tale of Toscanini; since it's all about laying down a guilt trip, it's perfect for the holiday season:
In his last years with the NBC, a number of things happened, for the most part not witnessed by me (those were my Munich years), but the incident I remember mostly had to do not with one of his final performances overall but with his last performance of an opera he had conducted since Puccini himself was alive, La Bohême - in concert form. It occurred in the final scene of the last act where Rodolfo overhears one of his colleagues whisper that Mimi is dead. The French horns (why is it always the French horns?), after a silent downbeat of great drama, immediately let loose with a series of three blood curdling chords, the orchestra immediately picks up with a melodramatic, heart-stopping phrase from an earlier aria, at the end of which Rodolfo shrieks "MIMI," a scream of agony which in my estimation is the most powerful such utterance in the history of the medium. As happened occasionally at this time when Toscanini knew he would soon have to give up the conducting which had been his life for more than 65 years, his emotions overcame him and the downbeat which precedes the three chords was struck with such strength and passion that two of the five horns entered where there should have been silence; the others, shocked, tried to catch up, the first two realized their mistake and tried to retreat - chaos ensued for what must have seemed an eternity, though it was only a matter of seconds before they straightened themselves out.

In a few minutes the performance came to an end and the musicians retreated to their orchestra room not knowing what kind of wrath awaited them. As they sat there pale and anxious, the door opened and a stern Toscanini walked through the door, asked all but the Horns to leave the room, then turned and stared. He continued staring, they shivered in dread until finally, "Tonight you will all go home and make love to your wives," he said, "while I, Povero Toscanini, will lie awake all night visiting and revisiting the shame of a ruined career."

And with that, without another word, the old man turned and walked out of the room, quietly closing the door behind him.

Nothing more ever was said.


Previous Toscanini Tales:

Toscanini's Blinding Glare
Toscanini's Soup
Toscanini's Watch

And also - the New York Philharmonic Mafia

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23 December - Augmented Seasonal Cat Content

Cat Toby in the Circle, December 2002

Here, from the archives, is another classic seasonal cat photograph - good old
Cat Toby enjoying the first flakes of a winter storm event in the Circle, December 24, 2002.

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22 December - Tragic Lack of Seasonal Cat Photography

Cat Natasha in the Snow

My apologies for the lack of
festive seasonal cat photography - the snow's too high for catwalking, and the usual suspects much prefer the warmth of the Historic Cottage, and I have a cold. Above, a quick snap of Natasha snapped while we got the newspaper...


Natasha at the Gazebo


At the Gazebo with Natasha, Again

... Meanwhile, so there shouldn't be as you might say total deprivation, here are a couple of shots taken at the gazebo in previous years.


Cat Tucker, waiting for Santa Claws

... And from Christmas, 2004, the classic shot of Cat Tucker, waiting for Santy Claws. Perhaps conditions will improve for the annual Christmas Catwalk.

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21 December - Four Seconds Along the Canal

The Canal at Coulon - Autochrome, 1912

Here's another
Autochrome from the collection - along the canal in Coulon, France. Photographer unknown, but he recorded the date - 16 September, 1912; also the exposure - f/16, four seconds. Here's our previously featured Autochrome, the Dog with Boy and Orange.

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20 December - The One-Eyed Captain

Captain E.G. Fetchet of the 8th Cavalry?

Here's a bit of a puzzle from the scanning queue. The gallant though one-eyed officer shown above is identified on the reverse of the carte-de-visite:


Reverse of the Carte of the Gallant Captain

... Except that I can't quite make out the name - "Capt. Teshel(?) 8. U.S. Cav". A bit of searching brought up a Captain E. G. Fetchet of the 8th Cavalry, most notable for his participation in the skirmish that resulted in the death of Tatanka Iyotaka - Sitting Bull - on December 15, 1890:


Account of the Death of Sitting Bull

From
the McCook (Nebraska) Tribune, December 26, 1890.

I haven't found much else on Capt. Fetchet - nothing, for example, about not having all of his ocular equipment. Does anyone with a better command of 19th century orthography think that the scrawl on the card could be Fetchet?

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19 December - Coffee, Rum, Snow



The Museum's Video Unit presents a short but evocative feature on the joys of café correto in a blizzard, having somehow purloined the bottle of rum from
the Fellows' Lounge.

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19 December - Ring dem Bells

The Royal Hand-Bell Ringers

Here are the lads of
the Royal Hand-Bell Ringers, AKA the Poland Street Temperance; they were quite an eminent ensemble, according to the label on the back of their carte-de-visite:


More on the Royal Hand-Bells

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19 December - Closed on Account...

Conditions from the Historic Cottage porch

... Of the blizzard currently falling on the Museum, and the rest of the Washington Grove/Washington DC area. Which means that the Museum's Fruitcake Festival is cancelled, which is a shame, since we were hoping to sell a load of recalled fruitcakes. Which reminds me that we had a fruitcake-related disaster the other day - someone attempted to flush a hunk of fruitcake down the toilet in the public facility. We had to call in the plumbers. The Museum fellows refused to allow Museum visitors to use the Fellows' loo, which means we had to close the Museum.

Meanwhile, the maintenance man, Gus, who should be shoveling for god's sake, is nowhere to be found.

Also, the site may go dark - the measly traffic allowance, of course. Ah, but here's something festive for the season and all:


Christmas Around the Iron Lung

Celebrating around the old iron lung - via
Martin Klasch, via Weetstraw, via the New York Public Library Digital Gallery. Oh, and here's a previously featured cigarette card from the NYPL.

Say, why not check out the Janus Museum Museum Shop?

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12 December - Now as Seen on TV

Animals Aloft, as seen on TV

During the summer of '07, I
mentioned a television project that the Janus Museum assisted, but didn't elaborate, much, on its nature. It was, in fact, a video version of the National Air and Space Museum/Janus Museum book Animals Aloft, produced by the Smithsonian Channel. It premieres tomorrow at 8 PM, and will be repeated frequently. Not that we'll be able to watch it in the Fellow's Lounge - our local cable doesn't offer the Smithsonian Channel, so we'll have to wait for the promised DVD. Oh, here's a teaser:




And here's my own behind the scenes video:




Gilmore, famous lion mascot of Roscoe Turner, is dramatically revealed in his fridge. Too bad the camera stops at that point - the alien bodies from Roswell are stacked just past Gilmore.


Gilmore being filmed for the Animals Aloft video.

Gilmore was interviewed for the program - very witty guy, Gilmore. Gus, our maintenance man, was also interviewed, standing in for me, the actual author of the book - Gus having been deemed more photogenic, god save us. Fortunately, every new edited version we saw contained a little less Gus, and I have hopes that the finished program will have zero Gus content. Oh, and here's a post on the program over at AirSpace, the National Air and Space Museum's blog.

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9 December - Alarmed Mountain Cow

Cow and Calf, Paris Mountain

I forget what I said that so alarmed the poor cow. It's not as if I gestured wildly toward her calf with a hamburger bun or anything like that. Taken on the Blue Ridge, near Paris, Virginia.

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7 December - A Prodigy, Interrupted by Cat

Mozart, aged seven, with cat
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with his favorite cat, Leroy

The Royal Society is celebrating its 350th anniversary with a new online library project called
Trailblazing, which presents a fascinating trove of documents from the Society's archives. The report that caught my attention is a report by the naturalist Daines Barrington (1727-1800) on a visit to London in 1769 by the thirteen year old prodigy Mozart. Barrington also describes an earlier encounter in London, when little Wolfgang was only eight - Barrington set a number of musical trials to gauge Mozart's talent:
My intention in carrying with me this manuſcript compoſition, was to have an irrefragable proof of his abilites, as a player at ſight, it being absolutely impoſſible that he could ever have ſeen the muſic before.

The ſcore was no ſooner put on his deſk, than he began to play the ſymphony in a most maſterly manner, as well as in the time and ſtile which correſponded with the intention of the compoſer.

I mention this circumſtance, becauſe the greateſt maſters often fail in theſe particulars on the fiſst trial.

Other tests follow, and Mozart trots out some masterly improvisations. And then Barrington voices a doubt:
Witneſs as I was myſelf of moſt of theſe extraordinary facts, I muſt own that I could not help ſuſpecting his father impoſed with regard to the real age of the boy, though he had not only a moſt childiſh appearance, but likewiſe had all the actions of that ſtage of life.

For example, whilſt he was playing to me, a favorite cat came in, upon which he immediately left his harpſichord, nor could we bring him back for a conſiderable time.

He would also ſometimes run about the room with a ſtick between his legs by way of horſe.

On further investigation, Barrington reports that Leopold Mozart had been truthful about the prodigy's age - only eight. Although I put it to you that even an older performer might get a little bored with a lengthy musical examination, and suddenly declare a cat break.

And I muſt admit that I maſſively enjoy uſing the antique long s in a poſt - adds a touch of founding fathers ſtyle gravitas. The HTML code for the long s, by the way, is ſ.

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6 December - Specialization in Photographic Equipment

A Camera for Werewolves from Creepy Magazine

I can't say that the need for such a camera's ever come up in my own work, but it's nice to know that the Werewolf Camera Gun exists, at least in the pages of
Creepy Magazine. Tragically, Bob Atria, the dapper werewolf in the story, was equipped with a bulletproof vest. Armor-piercing silver bullets would have done the trick - a photographer ought to be prepared for anything, you know.

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5 December - A Doe and a Verger Queued

Doe, Bushy Park, Hampton Court

Today's encounters in the scanning queue included (above) a cautious doe photographed in Bushy Park, Hampton Court, and...


The Old Verger, Washington Grove

... A vintage portrait of old Elias Wallingford, verger of St. John's in Washington Grove, c.1885. By the way, a verger (or virger, so called after the staff of the office) is a person, usually a layman, who assists in the ordering of religious services, particularly in Anglican churches (
via Wikipedia). Old Elias, the story goes, was fond of the bottle and established a still in St. John's crypt. When the church, a fine gothic pile, burned down in 1889, Elias was the first chap the cops went looking for, but he was never seen again - rumor had it that he retired to a cave on Sugarloaf Mountain, not far from the Duplicitous Louie Grotto.

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