WHAT YOU MAY FIND HERE

RANTS, RAVINGS and RUMINATIONS along with
RAUCOUS RIBALDRY and RAMBLING REFLECTIONS

Monday, April 27, 2020

Geography Div (Social Distancing Subsection)

How far away from another person can you get? Depends on where you live. How big is your state?

           State Size Based On Population Density


Saturday, April 25, 2020

A Little Saturday Nite Bluegrass Div (Canadian subsection)

John Reischman and the Jaybirds doing their band standard Saltspring.



John Reischman - Mandolin, Nick Hornbuckle - Banjo, Patrick Sauber - Guitar, Trisha
Gagnon - Bass and Greg Spatz - Fiddle

Monday, April 20, 2020

Geography Div (More ancient roads subsection)

Last week was an ancient "trip-tik" Here's another version of a "road" map; only these are Roman:


The Tabula Peutingeriana, an itinerary map, is a reproduction of a Roman map, showing the highways of the Roman world all the way from England to Sri Lanka. It isn’t to scale and manipulates space to show the road system. Pictured are stopping places, prominent towns, and mountain ranges. The Tabula Peutingeriana is also massive at 22 feet in length. At that size, it wouldn’t be useful for a road trip, but with 555 cities and 3,500 place names, it is a chronicle of Rome’s reach. The map’s geographic information dates back to before at least 79 AD, since you can spot Pompeii. The original map has been lost, but we still have a copy thanks to a monk who reproduced it on 11 scrolls in 1265. 

Saturday, April 18, 2020

A Little Saturday Nite Bluegrass Div (Lotsa Fiddlin' subsection)

Becky Buller's new video The Barber's Fiddle. See if you can spot all the "All-Stars."


Becky Buller Band: Becky Buller - Vocals, Fiddle Ned Luberecki - Banjo Dan Boner - Guitar, Fiddle, Harmony Vocal Nate Lee - Mandolin, Fiddle Daniel Hardin - Upright Bass, Harmony Vocal

Fiddle Solos: Laura Orshaw, Michael Cleveland, Stuart Duncan, Jason Carter, Deanie Richardson, Johnny Warren, and Sam Bush

Group Fiddlers: All soloists, Bronwyn Keith-Hines, Jason Barie, Katie Penn, Fred Carpenter, Tyler Andal, Brian Christenson, Laurie Lewis, Shawn Camp, Nate Lee, Dan Boner, and Becky Buller

Monday, April 13, 2020

Geography Div (Nostalgia subsection)

When I entered the travel industry I worked for the Auto Club (AAA) as a "Service Counselor." The biggest part of the job was marking maps and producing "Trip-Tiks" for members. The "trip-tik" was a bound series of strip maps showing the towns, services and points of interest along the route. They were assembled and marked by hand (Mapquest, etc had not yet made an appearance). Many folks were amazed to see one for the first time. However, they've been around for a long time. Here's one from 1250:


At first glance, this medieval itinerary map by Matthew Paris doesn’t even look like a map. Instead, it’s a line of castles and buildings crossed by red text and blue waves. The map charts a route from London to the Holy Land, highlighting all the sights along the way. The mapmaker included rivers and hills, alternate routes, and places to stop on a religious pilgrimage.  At the bottom left of the map, you can see Matthew Paris’s depiction of London as a thick city wall ringing a blue church.  Like many medieval maps, this one was not intended to be carried on the road. It was an expensive work of art that may have been used for an imagined pilgrimage - one where the pilgrim never had to leave England.







Saturday, April 11, 2020

A Little Saturday Nite Bluegrass Div

New album and video from Chris Jones and the Nightdrivers, We Needed This Ride. 



Chris Jones - Guitar, lead vocal, Mark Stoffel - Mandolin, Grace Van't Hof - Banjo and Uke and
Marshall Wilborn - Bass.

Wednesday, April 8, 2020

Midweek Bluegrass Div (Obit subsection)

John Prine passed away yesterday, a victim of the Covid-19 virus.

As mentioned in the NPR obituary linked above, Paradise, the Kentucky hometown of his parents, recalls
his boyhood memories of a place destroyed by the coal-mining industry.

RIP John ..........

 
  • Dudley Connell - guitar, vocals
  • Ronnie Simpkins - bass
  • Rickie Simpkins - banjo, fiddle, guitar
  • Fred Travers - Dobro, vocals
  • Lou Reid - mandolin, guitar, vocals

Monday, April 6, 2020

Geography Div (Passing on subsection)

Moe Lane from moelane.com has created this hilarious satirical map which shows the most common cause of death that keeps getting covered up, in each U.S. state.



... and if you look at Mike Pence you'll suspect this map has some truth to it .....

(Sad note subsection -- The late contributing mini-bear JS would have been 70 today .. RIP.)

Saturday, April 4, 2020

A Little Saturday Nite Bluegrass Div

Della Mae doing Bourbon Hound from their latest album The Butcher Shoppe.



  • Celia Woodsmith - vocals, guitar
  • Kimber Ludiker - fiddle, vocals 
  • Jenni Lyn Gardner - mandolin, vocals 
  • Courtney Hartman - guitar, banjo, vocals 
  • Zoe Guigueno - bass, vocals

Thursday, April 2, 2020

Pandemic Div (Supreme Leader subsection)

Well, it appears that the Mango Monster has, again, taken a test for the virus currently ravaging
the country. Like his first try, this one proved negative for the virus but once again proved what he's full of.

Wednesday, April 1, 2020

A Little Mid-Week Bluegrass div (Obit subsection)

This seems to be happening more often lately. This isn't due to the current malady sweeping the
Nation, but I hold my breath.
Banjo prodigy Jimmy Henley here with Marty Stuart when both were much younger doing the old Bill Monroe standard Rawhide.
RIP Jimmy ..............

  
Jimmy Henley - Banjo, Marty Stuart - Mandolin, Roy Clark - Fiddle ..... Guitar player unknown
to me.