Musical ramblings from the manager
Being too young to notice such things at the time, the debut of the Earth’s first artificial satellite (Sputnik, launched on October 4, 1957) did not get me interested in space. The ‘space spark’ was struck by a trip outside with my brother Ron to view Project Echo (the first of two identical satellites […]
From the Vaults: Rock ‘n’ Roll BEP My mother loved music so our house was always awash with records by The Kingston Trio, Burl Ives, Percy Faith, and a mixture of light classical favorites she played on our hi-fi record player/radio. There is a ‘that is a story for another day’ asterisk in the […]
The past several AstroCals, our poor companion seems to have gotten short shrift as the Full Moon has taken place very late in the last few months. We will rectify that situation by starting this edition with the May Lunar events. Not only will this month’s Full Moon take place late in the month […]
First the disclaimer: I use a cell phone, the internet, email, and frequently do online research. I also read books, magazines, and newspapers (real, paper based, non-electronically delivered books, magazines, and newspapers). I also watch and/or listen to the broadcast news. By choice, I do not have a personal social media account, therefore, I […]
Fred Rydholm’s name has appeared in this column on numerous occasions. Fred had a lifelong interest (or obsession) to find out more about the mystery of who removed copper from this area before Europeans arrived on these shores. Who were the ancient miners and where the copper went were the main trunks of a […]
We have visited Uriah Heep twice in past FTV’s. There was a feature focusing on guitarist Mick Box back in 2017 (FTV: Uriah Heep 11-15-17) and another featuring drummer Lee Kerslake in 2019 (FTV: RIP Lee Kerslake 5-8-19). In the 2017 piece, Box talked about the challenges of being the last original band member […]
One of my pet peeves has always been the insertion of unfamiliar terms and foriegn phrases in written works without a) context, b) the proper pronunciation, and/or c) a reason for the inclusion to be there (beyond showing readers that the author knows what they mean). The first time I read about ‘coureur de […]
Are you an optimist or a pessimist? Do you see the glass as half empty or half full? Even the most ‘pie-in-the-sky, the sun is always shining somewhere’ people (think REM’s Shiny Happy People or Katrina and The Waves I’m Walking On Sunshine) certainly have days when things don’t look so rosy. I won’t […]
My source for what “National This or That Day” it is, the Jan Tucker Show, planted the idea for this FTV when Jan mentioned that one of the things designated for April 4 is ‘National School Library Day’. With only so many days in a calendar year, there are usually multiple ‘National This or […]
Robert Weston Smith. Does the name ring any bells? No? How about Big Smith and the Records? Daddy Jules? I will give you a couple of hints: If you have seen the movie American Graffiti or reruns of the TV show The Midnight Special or heard Bob Smith’s, “Have Mercy!” catch phrase, then you might […]