One Hundred Years Ago

[Rix Gins]

I kind of feel sorry for Ad, especially when the sports writer said he 'was on the downgrade.'  Anyway, here's his interesting bio.

http://boxrec.com/media/index.php?title=Human:42487

[(Sandman) Logan-5]

...

Fu**king piece of shit Rockefellers. Had to make it look good by publicly decrying Poncho when all they were doing was being robber barons. At least the people of the time knew what the hell was going on, not like the tripe that passes for news now.

Thanks for the post Rix Gins.

[(Sandman) Logan-5]

Now that's funny. 

[K_Dubb]

Tonopah's Daily Bonanza for March 30, 1916.

Wow, Happy's going head-to-head with the Airdome and its new floor!  And the orchestra takes requests!  Reading between the lines, perhaps we can infer that the Airdome does not, and charges for hat check.

Ha, I have an uncle who insists on mashing the potatoes every Thanksgiving, his only domestic duty.  When I pressed him on his technique, it amounts to the hot-milk trick reported here, which he learned from his mother.  They always turn out well.

[GravitySucks]

Wow, Happy's going head-to-head with the Airdome and its new floor!  And the orchestra takes requests!  Reading between the lines, perhaps we can infer that the Airdome does not, and charges for hat check.

Ha, I have an uncle who insists on mashing the potatoes every Thanksgiving, his only domestic duty.  When I pressed him on his technique, it amounts to the hot-milk trick reported here, which he learned from his mother.  They always turn out well.

Adding a tablespoon of sugar was my Grandma's secret.

[K_Dubb]

Adding a tablespoon of sugar was my Grandma's secret.

Interesting; is that for flavor or texture?

[GravitySucks]

Interesting; is that for flavor or texture?

Flavor, the salt enhances it.

[K_Dubb]

Flavor, the salt enhances it.

Cool, thanks!  I'll give it a shot.

[K_Dubb]

Houdini, a hundred years ago today:





and a French cartoon dated today:



"A demonstration of 'mobile hair' conducted by the Nickel-Feet (the fellows in the background) at the expense of a Boche artist."

French humor always seems to manage to be broad and, simultaneously, somewhat inscrutable.

[Robert Ghostwolf's Ghost]

Wow, Happy's going head-to-head with the Airdome and its new floor!  And the orchestra takes requests!  Reading between the lines, perhaps we can infer that the Airdome does not, and charges for hat check.

Sounds like the rivalry is heating up! Who needs a fancy new floor when there's already a perfectly good one at the Miner's Exchange?  The bit about the hats is funny, and it sounds as though the people running the Airdrome dances were a bit stingy with the free dances and encores. I also noticed that a dance at the Airdrome cost a "double jitney," while "Happy" was charging only one a few days ago.  McGuire's orchestra is playing again, so now I'm not sure if Happy was a band leader, a promoter, or a little of both.  Looking forward to seeing what the Bonanza will report about them in a few days!

[K_Dubb]

Sounds like the rivalry is heating up! Who needs a fancy new floor when there's already a perfectly good one at the Miner's Exchange?  The bit about the hats is funny, and it sounds as though the people running the Airdrome dances were a bit stingy with the free dances and encores. I also noticed that a dance at the Airdrome cost a "double jitney," while "Happy" was charging only one a few days ago.  McGuire's orchestra is playing again, so now I'm not sure if Happy was a band leader, a promoter, or a little of both.  Looking forward to seeing what the Bonanza will report about them in a few days!

Me too!  I'm not at all sure any more the rivalry is one of musical styles; the concerns seem more mundane.  It's compelling, though; I'm amassing a small library of orchestral ragtime (a niche, if ever there was one!) under the persuasion, maybe mistaken, that I'm listening to the sounds of Happy's place.

For context, it's worth hearing what's considered the first jazz record, a year away at this point, and marketed as a novelty:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WojNaU4-kI

Ragtime composers were scrupulous in writing down their syncopations, while "jazz' in 1917 seems to mean a lagging beat and an improvisatory liberation from the printed note -- the animal noises and swoopy clarinet flourishes that, to modern ears, can sound uncomfortably like minstrel-show caricature.

[gabrielle]

More news from the Boston Globe:
http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/firstworldwar/brit-sussex.htm

[K_Dubb]

It's also worth noting that, given the recorded evidence, ragtime itself was played pretty straight, even when asserting its dominance over the world:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WryjBA4Tc4w

An Irving Berlin tune recorded in 1913.  Whether the music was played differently for dancing we'll probably never know, unfortunately.

[WhiteCrow]

More news from the Boston Globe:
http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/firstworldwar/brit-sussex.htm

Interesting news article.. In the article I detect some government propaganda to prepare and sway public opinion for America's entry into the war.

What do you think?  Read the lines on third page that mention the Kaiser.

[Rix Gins]

I for one, have always liked early day jazz.  Here is a photo of a recording session circa 1920s.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitch's_Happy_Harmonists
That's Hoagy Carmichael to the left at piano, and Bix Beiderbecke at the far right.

[gabrielle]

Interesting news article.. In the article I detect some government propaganda to prepare and sway public opinion for America's entry into the war.

What do you think... Read the lines on third page that mention the Kaiser?

It may have been propaganda, and it also had to do with what was to become known as the "Sussex Pledge."  I think the U.S. was making it clear that they would not tolerate German attacks on passenger ships.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sussex_pledge

[K_Dubb]

I for one, have always liked early day jazz.  Here is a photo of a recording session circa 1920s.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitch's_Happy_Harmonists
That's Hoagy Carmichael to the left at piano, and Bix Beiderbecke at the far right.

Great photo, Rix!  I like the old fans -- it must have been warm in there -- and those horns showing how closely they were recorded -- I almost wrote miked, but that comes later haha.

[Robert Ghostwolf's Ghost]

I for one, have always liked early day jazz.  Here is a photo of a recording session circa 1920s.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitch's_Happy_Harmonists
That's Hoagy Carmichael to the left at piano, and Bix Beiderbecke at the far right.

Hoagy Carmichael was brilliant!  I watch To Have or Have Not every chance I get just for his musical numbers, especially Hong Kong Blues, and the seedy looking hipsters clustered around his piano.  I had no idea he played with Bix!  I recently learned that Ian Fleming claimed that he envisioned James Bond looking like Hoagy, and also that Hoagy and George Harrison had a deep mutual appreciation!

[gabrielle]

all of this wonderful music is making me miss Meister. 

[WhiteCrow]

It may have been propaganda, and it also had to do with what was to become known as the "Sussex Pledge."  I think the U.S. was making it clear that they would not tolerate German attacks on passenger ships.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sussex_pledge

Sussex Pledge could have many objectives, one being:

Wilson understood that the US would be entering the war.

To prepare public, draw line in sand ..cross line we go to war.

IMHO The article's goverment spoke person,  propaganda is to help the public understand "the line in sand"  And how it is being crossed.. Little Steps to prepare the public  for aceptance of going to war, when an inevitable event like the sinking of the  Lusitiana happens.

[K_Dubb]

I've been trying to find some livelier examples of pre-1916 ragtime just to imagine the demands placed on the dancefloors of Tonopah.  Here is James Reese Europe's (a fascinating character) Society Orchestra from 1913:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xxQQ6xO-d8

and The Versatile Four, recorded in London, where they were apparently an imported novelty act:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfDubf6TnHc

Pretty hot stuff for 1916!

You can really hear ragtime's roots in African American music, especially compared with the same piece played by the Victor Military Band:

https://youtu.be/p7hy4uvd4Qc?t=160

Whether this style had reached Tonopah or not by this time is debatable, but it gives a clearer picture of what Happy may have meant by the "modified form of ragging."

[Rix Gins]

Hoagy Carmichael was brilliant!  I watch To Have or Have Not every chance I get just for his musical numbers, especially Hong Kong Blues, and the seedy looking hipsters clustered around his piano.  I had no idea he played with Bix!  I recently learned that Ian Fleming claimed that he envisioned James Bond looking like Hoagy, and also that Hoagy and George Harrison had a deep mutual appreciation!

My fave Hoagy movie is 'The Las Vegas Story'.  More great acting and singing by Hoagy.  I like the name of one of the casinos in the movie... 'The Last Chance'.  lol  PS, check out the name of Hoagy's character.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044825/

               
                        (Poster from Wikimedia)

[Robert Ghostwolf's Ghost]

My fave Hoagy movie is 'The Las Vegas Story'.  More great acting and singing by Hoagy.  I like the name of one of the casinos in the movie... 'The Last Chance'.  lol  PS, check out the name of Hoagy's character.

  .

I'll watch for that movie--it's bound to be on TCM sometime.

[Robert Ghostwolf's Ghost]

I've been trying to find some livelier examples of pre-1916 ragtime just to imagine the demands placed on the dancefloors of Tonopah.  Here is James Reese Europe's (a fascinating character) Society Orchestra from 1913:

and The Versatile Four, recorded in London, where they were apparently an imported novelty act:

Pretty hot stuff for 1916!

You can really hear ragtime's roots in

It's a shame James Reese Europe isn't better known today given his substantial musical and cultural contributions!  This is the first I'd heard of him.  I imagine life became pretty miserable for the hot headed band member who stabbed him, and he no doubt became a pariah. 

That's some wonderfully crisp drumming and percussion work on The Versatile Four version!  Wow!  I bet he was a real crowd pleaser!

[K_Dubb]

It's a shame James Reese Europe isn't better known today given his substantial musical and cultural contributions!  This is the first I'd heard of him.  I imagine life became pretty miserable for the hot headed band member who stabbed him, and he no doubt became a pariah. 

That's some wonderfully crisp drumming and percussion work on The Versatile Four version!  Wow!  I bet he was a real crowd pleaser!

Yeah, I was amazed when I heard it!  There was some discussion on the video that percussion parts were omitted during many early recordings of the music of this era because the mechanical recording technique couldn't handle them.  Stravinsky sure includes percussion in his 1918 Ragtime for eleven instruments.

I only learned about James Reese Europe from this (excellent) cd, mostly available on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvTEcarrHTk&spfreload=10

[Walks_At_Night]

On March 31st, 1916 Officer William Good of the Omaha P.D. was shot and killed.

Officer William Good was shot and killed after arresting a man for domestic assault at approximately 1:00 am.

While Officer Good waited for a wagon to pickup the prisoner the man produced a revolver and shot Officer Good. The man then returned home and attempted to murder his wife before committing suicide.

[albrecht]

Yeah, I was amazed when I heard it!  There was some discussion on the video that percussion parts were omitted during many early recordings of the music of this era because the mechanical recording technique couldn't handle them.  Stravinsky sure includes percussion in his 1918 Ragtime for eleven instruments.

I only learned about James Reese Europe from this (excellent) cd, mostly available on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvTEcarrHTk&spfreload=10

You know there is quite the stereotype of the French appreciating jazz (and Jerry Lewis) more than Americans and I would imagine that James Reese Europe would've been one of the first to set that in motion? As with many the stereotype is somewhat true, I noticed you will see far more jazz cds in record stores there than you do here (this was back when we had retail outlets.) And there are also are many albums produced/recorded there. Sort of like odd-ball stuff like Germans and Dutch (and Japanese) producing our old folk, country, and punk music. In Germany I not only found Red Sovine and "trucker country" CDs at a market but also was amazed that there appeared to a sub-genre of "trucker country" songs in German sang by German groups! Maybe it is copyright issues or just weird tastes but places like Bear Family Records etc archives more of our stuff than we often do!

[K_Dubb]

You know there is quite the stereotype of the French appreciating jazz (and Jerry Lewis) more than Americans and I would imagine that James Reese Europe would've been one of the first to set that in motion? As with many the stereotype is somewhat true, I noticed you will see far more jazz cds in record stores there than you do here (this was back when we had retail outlets.) And there are also are many albums produced/recorded there. Sort of like odd-ball stuff like Germans and Dutch (and Japanese) producing our old folk, country, and punk music. In Germany I not only found Red Sovine and "trucker country" CDs at a market but also was amazed that there appeared to a sub-genre of "trucker country" songs in German sang by German groups! Maybe it is copyright issues or just weird tastes but places like Bear Family Records etc archives more of our stuff than we often do!

Yeah, I think you are right.  Europe (the man) made a big impression over there, though Golliwog's Cakewalk dates to 1908 so there were earlier influences.  French music, both serious and popular, had been dominated by German models for nearly a century, which provoked much hand-wringing in what was supposed to be the center of European culture.  So, magpie-like, they seized on a serious of foreign, exotic fads (most famously Indonesian gamelan) of which American jazz was one.

[albrecht]

Yeah, I think you are right.  Europe (the man) made a big impression over there, though Golliwog's Cakewalk dates to 1908 so there were earlier influences.  French music, both serious and popular, had been dominated by German models for nearly a century, which provoked much hand-wringing in what was supposed to be the center of European culture.  So, magpie-like, they seized on a serious of foreign, exotic fads (most famously Indonesian gamelan) of which American jazz was one.

It is interesting, think of things like the banjo or the steel guitar that now most people would associate with the "whitest" of music (bluegrass and C&W) but the banjo was from Africa, originally, and the steel-guitar was from Hawaii. It is funny how technology in music moves around, gets co-opted, etc.

[K_Dubb]

It is interesting, think of things like the banjo or the steel guitar that now most people would associate with the "whitest" of music (bluegrass and C&W) but the banjo was from Africa, originally, and the steel-guitar was from Hawaii. It is funny how technology in music moves around, gets co-opted, etc.

Kind of like Finns and their tangos.  Though you could argue they took a dark, sexy dance and, in true Finnish fashion, just made it dark hahaha.