Grave Matters: A Show of Hands

A lot of times, when I'm out and about in a cemetery, I come across graves with hands carved on them. Hands are a common symbol in the world of iconography, but ones that play an important part.

It all began many thousands of years ago, when Christianity was still in it's infancy. Owing to a misreading of the book of Exodus, showing any pictorial, or written description of God was strictly forbidden. It comes to us from Chapter 20, Verse 4 of the Book of Exodus in the Old Testament after Moses has led his people out Egypt and climbed to the summit of Mt. Sinai to converse with God.

"Thou shalt not make unto thee, any graven image or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water underneath the earth."

Taken quite literally at the time, it didn't leave a lot of wiggle room when it came to answering the question what does God look like? So here was the problem. We want to show God, but how can we do it if it's not allowed?

Well, there are other ways to reference God, specifically, passages in the bible that reference the hand of God coming down, or the arm of God, so there was a way around it and much later it was was adapted into usage on the gravestones we see today and of the images of hands, there are three which are probably the most common. A hand coming down, a hand pointing up, or a pair of hands clasped together.


Here we have to images of hands pointing upwards. When seen on a gravestone, this denotes that the soul of the person buried here has gone up to Heaven. In the case of member of the clergy, this can also be seen as the "Manus Dei" if two fingers of the hand are pointing upwards.

On the tombstone below, note the Gothic touches as well as the clusters of oak leaves and acorns. These are symbolic references to truth and spiritual power in times of adversity. They can also be seen as a symbol of birth and renewal as oaks grow from the acorns drop to the ground and in turn spawn new trees. The stone above shows a hand pointing towards a star. In the iconographic world, a star or stars represent the guidance of the divine, and in this case, because it's a single star, it's also a reference to the Star of the East, or the star that guided the three wise men to the manger when Jesus was born.

The next two headstones show hands coming down. Again, this is a symbol of the hand of God, as sometimes this type of hand is depcited as coming from a group of clouds. The stone on the left also has acorns on each side of the wrist, again a reference to truth and spiritual strength.

The hand on the right it is along the same lines, the only difference being that instead of acorns, the hand is flanked by a pair of tassles, which are mostly just a decorative touch and hold no reference to the bible. What both have in common are a chain that appears broken, with one link clasped in the hand. This is a reference to the chains or bonds of holy matrimony that have been broken by the death of the person, but will be restored in heaven.

Finally, we come to hand clasped together as seen in these next images. Note closely that one is masculine in appearance and the other feminine. The way to tell this is to look closely at the cuffs of the sleeves. A man's cuff should have a wider width or a button on it, while the woman's will most likely appear to be made of lace. On these headstones, the left hand is the woman's and the right is the man's.


















In some cases however, the sleeve has no detail or is considered gender neutral. If this is the case, then it can be interpreted as a welcome from Heaven, or a farewell to earthly possessions or relationships.

These last two images are two rarities that I've come across. Both are unusual because the hand has been carved with the palm facing out rather than inwards as is common on most graves, while below it is an open book with no text. This device can be used in one of two ways, either as a bible, with a piece of scripture or verse carved into it's face, or as a record of the birth and death dates of the deceased.

The shaft on the right is one that I came across in an Masonic Cemetery near Olympia. Here we see, carved into the shaft of the obelisk, a hand with a heart in the palm with three links of chain above it. The heart is a powerful symbol in iconography denoting the most deepest feelings of human emotion and of the love of God. Here the hand is also clearly male if we take a closer look at the cuff. The chain in use here however is not a symbol of matrimony, but rather a symbol used by the Odd Fellows and the Masons which share a number of the same symbols. To tell whether the person was a Mason or an Odd Fellow, look closely at the chain for the initials F, L, and T inside the links which stand for Friendship, Love and Truth.

So the next time you find yourself in a cemetery, take a look around for a show of hands, and you'll be amazed at how many there are.

Grave Matters: The unusual. Part 2

It all began in 1831. It was in this year that Mt Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts became the first landscaped and designed cemetery in the America. A place not just for the dead, but created for the enjoyment of the living. Inspired by Paris' Pere La Chaise cemetery it was the first to follow the natural contours of the landscape with winding roads and vistas pleasing to the eye with flowers and trees carefully planted to bring out the beauty of the grounds. Immensely popular with the public, soon landscaped cemeteries became the norm for most locations.

It also marked a drastic change in the appearance of tombstones and graves. No longer thin, upright pieces of cold slate marked with dire warnings for the living and cold, staring death's heads, carvers and sculptors now went to work creating works of art in marble, iron, bronze, and granite. They also came up with a lot of the iconography we see today. These are a few more of the unusual standouts I've come across over the last five years.

This first carving comes from the small California Mission town of San Juan Bautista, and is part of a grave stone of a ten year old boy who died in 1874. Here we have a man leaning on a pedestal, head in hand with signs of obvious grief while behind him is a weeping willow, a classic 19th century symbol of immortality because the tree will spring back to life if the branches are pruned off. Even cut down to a mere stump, a willow will always begin regrowing. Also behind is a Cypress tree which has been common in cemeteries going back as far as early Christian and Pagan times and used in Greek and Roman times as well because of it's association with Hades and or Pluto, the god of the underworld. In modern times, the Cypress represents the finality of death. Once it is cut down it will never regrow. Here, both symbols represented tell the viewer that the life on earth has been cut short, but, like the willow, there is also everlasting life even in the depths of grief.

Lakeview Cemetery on Seattle's Capital Hill has been a landmark since it's first burial in 1872. Here, visitors can wander about a beautifully landscaped setting and view the last resting places of Seattle's earliest and most famous families. Names like Denny, Yesler, Leary, Maynard, and others who helped shaped the city are here, however most visitors come only to see the grave site of it's two most famous burials, martial artist Bruce Lee and his son Brandon. For those who take the time however to check out the rest of the cemetery, there is always this amazing grave. Here carved out of single granite boulder and graced with a marble insert of a piano, is Ada Plachy who died in 1895 complete even down to a scroll of music on the holder. While most people think that the piano is of the Grand type, it's actually a style known as a Fortepiano, coming from the Italian words for loud and soft. This type of piano was popular mostly in the late 18th century until the late 19th century when rapid changes in the design and construction reduced it's popularity.

Another striking monument from Lakeview Cemetery, is this statue marking the last resting place of a Klondike miner. This is a prominent monument in the cemetery at the base of a hill. In his right hand he holds a shovel which at it's base rests a gold pan which was a common tool for surface or placer mining used to extract gold from streams and rivers. On his left side curled at his feet is his trusted canine companion. Behind him is a large Holly tree. Holly is a common part of the cemetery landscape and is said to be the wood used to build the cross upon which Christ was crucified, and also as a symbol of the Passion. Because it's an evergreen it is also a referal to immortality.

The Hauberg monument, located in the very back of Lakeview cemetery remains one of my favorites, in terms of unusual and modern design. It owes its uniqueness to the world of Northwest native art and was created to resemble a Haida bentwood box. Bentwood boxes are created by splitting a single piece of cedar wood in key points and then steaming it until it becomes pilable enough to bend around a form after which it is pegged or glued with resin. Typically they were then painted or carved with designs from native mythology or a totem symbol, which is this case the etching on the granite is in the form of a bear.

The last grave for today's posting is the grave of Carlo Bossi and his wife Petronilla. Located in Ross Bay Cemetery in Victoria BC, this is a highlight of the self guided tour that is offered. Carlo was born in the Lombardy region of Italy and came to Victoria by way of New York after fleeing conscription in the Austrian Army. Upon arriving in Victoria, Carlo became a stone mason and helped to create downtown Victoria and later with his brother Giacomo became a merchant which gave them wealth enough to build the Osborne house on Blanshard and Pandora Sts. What's notable about this grave, aside from the profiles of the couple, is the garland of flowers underneath them. Carlo's boasts an easter or Madonna lily, a symbol of casting off wordly possessions in pursuit of heavenly qualities, while Petronilla's garland contains carvings of the Passion Flower. First discovered by the Spanish Conquistadores in Central America, the flower was no known in Europe until it's introuduction in Rome in 1568. Immensely popular is has come to represent the Passion, Redemption and Cruxifiction of Jesus. Also notable is the central carving containing a pick ax, shovel and ax which relates to Carlo's early days in construction.

Grave Matters: The unusual

Once in awhile, while I'm walking about a cemetery, I come across a grave or two that are so unique, so different that I'll just stand there and take in every piece of detail. These are three of the most unusual graves I've come across. The first two images are from California cemeteries and both have representations of a sleeping child incorporated into their design, while the last is from Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

This first one is from the small town of Santa Margarita, midway between San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles on the Central Coast. My first time trying to find it however, I got lost and with time waning I sadly had to make my way back to Arroyo Grande. On my second attempt however, I managed to find out where I went wrong (I bore left instead of right) and after a short drive outside of the town I finally came across it. The cemetery is very small, and really didn;t have much in the way of anything, expect for this grave. What catches the eye here is the clamshell which acts as a bed for the sleeping child, and the peace and serenity on the child's face is very well carved and the overall amount of detail is incredible. While I wasn't very happy with the way the overall picture came out once I got back and downloaded it, I still felt it was worth posting simply because it's so very out of the ordinary of childrens graves.

This second gravestone is one I ran across in Sacramento at Old City Cemetery. Old City is simply put, incredible. The day I was there, every flower and every rose on every grave was in full bloom and in the early morning hour with the dappled sunlight coming through the trees it made an excellent first impression. The headstones, statues and tombs were rich with remarkable detail, and well cared for and each grave I stopped to take a picture at had something in the way to offer in the way of iconography. When I came across this monument, I was stunned by the wealth of detail. Everything from the facial features, to the small pillow that the child rests upon was a feast for the eyes.




This last grave is from Ross Bay Cemetery in
Victoria BC. I've been to Ross Bay now three times, and photographed it in three different seasons. It's an amazing place, full of history, elaborate and very well cared for, in fact the day I was there I watched a maintenance worker gently washing a Celtic cross with nothing more than soap and water. This gravestone is one of my favorites on the small scale. The picture actually makes it look larger than it is, as up close, it's a mere 2 ft tall, but it's packed with detail, from the rope work around the seat of the chair to the small shoes and socks placed on the seat. It's a stunning visual reminder of how high the mortality rate was among children in the days before modern medicine. But what truly sticks with me the most about this gravestone, is it's simple one line epitaph, "a little hero.

Grave Matters: Cherubs pt. 2

Pictured here are two more examples of Cherubim, one from a cemetery on the Central Coast of California, and the other from a cemetery near Olympia, Washington. In this case, both are seen standing, with one on clouds, and the other with small branch behind the leg to provide stability to the statue, and both were carved as female figures in downward gaze with a small bouquet of flowers carried in the right hand, while with the left they scatter the blossoms over the grave of the person. In some cases the flowers in the bouquets are either roses or lily and represent the purity and innocence of the person interred below.

Grave Matters: Cherubs

Along with lambs, and doves, cherubs are also used as visual markers on a child's headstone. Cherubs, or Cherubim, are the second part of the first sphere in the order of angels, the first being the Seraphim. In early symbolism, they were known as the bearers of the Throne of God, and they were said to have four wings and four faces. Their name comes to us from the Ancient Assyrian word "Karibu", or "One who intercedes", and they were sent by God to guard the way to the tree of life and were ruled by the archangels Gabriel, Raphael, and Satan, the prince of darkness and evil who was an archangel before his downfall and casting into Hell to watch over the spirits of the damnned.

Pictured here is a stunning representation of a Cherubim that I stumbled upon in a cemetery in San Luis Obispo. Exquistely carved, his downward gaze shows him to be deep in thoughtfulness as he leans upon an inverted torch which symbolizes that while the flame of life is no longer visible here, it still burns in the other world.

Grave Matters: The Lamb

The second most popular and frequent symbol on a child's grave is the lamb. Lambs are used to denote innocence and can be commonly found on infants graves. They are also a reference to Christ as found in the New Testament in the Book of John, chapter 1, verse 29 "Behold the lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world".

Christ is also referred to as the Shepherd in the bible for the way he led his flock of believers, and it also has ties the the Vernal or Spring Equinox when a lamb would be sacrificed during Easter, Passover or Ramadan in ceremonial rites. The grave pictured here is one from a local Washington cemetery. What makes this representation so unique is that it is made from cast Zinc, or "White Bronze. Gravestones such as this were commonly manufactured and sold through mail order catalogs such as Sears, Roebuck and Co, or they could also be ordered from the mortician who would then place the order during the arrangement process.

Grave Matters: Doves

Probably the most common animal found in any cemetery is that of the dove. Used to denote innocence and a representation of the holy trinity, they usually mark the graves of children, but they can also be found on adult headstones as well.

Typically the sculpture is three dimensional and perched on top of the marker if it's a child's grave. In other forms, the dove can be carved to make it appear dead, which is a symbol of the shortness of life. On an adult headstone, it is more common to see them in relief form and usually with the head pointed downwards above a set of gates that represent the gates to the heavenly kingdom and in it's beak it sometimes holds an olive branch which is taken from the Old Testament story of Noah who sent out two birds, a dove and a crow to see if the waters of the flood had abated yet.

In this picture from a local cemetery I took, here we see the dove perched on top of the grave of a child who died at the age of three. On the side of the epitaph is a calla lily which when found on a gravestone can represent either marriage, if the person is an adult, or beauty of the highest order and it too is a common symbol in the cemetery.

A grand life

The first tycoon: the epic life of Cornelius Vanderbilt
Copyright 2009 By T, J Stiles
Alfred A. Knopf Publishing, New York
ISBN 978-0-375-41542-5
Hardcover
719 PP w/ illustrations
US $37.50
CD $45.00

If I had to choose one book from the list I've read this year, one that is an absolute must read, it's The First Tycoon. Author T.J. Stiles gives us a look a into the life of one 19th centuries most intriguing and controversial figures, and he does it with well documented research and an eye for the truth, to bring out every aspect of one of the 19th centuries most influential and controversial figures. Not since

He gives us Vanderbilt as he was, a man who worked his way from lowly beginnings in Staten Island, New York in 1794 to his rise as the wealthiest man in America at the time of his death in 1877. He was also a man known to never be crossed when it came to business, as his enemies quite soon found out in the high stakes world of Wall Street, which here too is presented to us from it's earliest days until it became part of the American fabric. We're shown the rise and fall of companies both large and small, of bear and bull, cornering the market to take control and taking money out of your enemies pockets while keeping yours intact.

The amount of detail in the book overall shows that Mr. Stiles did his research and did it quite well. One look at his primary and secondary source notes shows that he left no stone unturned, and was also able to deftly separate fact from fiction, and gives us a view of the world surrounding Vanderbilt and his contemporaries. His description of New York at the start of the 19th century is fascinating and vision producing with his words, conjuring up a world that we today can hardly imagine existed but did. We see New York and Vanderbilt grow together, from a time of manual labor to a time when steamboats and railroads dominated the land and sea, from New York growing from a dirty, fetid backwater second city to the Queen city of America with a world class railway system and gave the city one of it's most enduring landmarks, Grand Central terminal. We also see how Vanderbilt kept his hand on the pulse of the country, when, how, and where he saw needs to improve travel and then made them happen, from his earliest days running ferries from Staten Island, to his work transporting 49'ers to Gold Rush California, to linking New York to the world. We also see his highly competitive edge when it came to his dealings with his mortal enemies "Robber Barons" James Fisk and Jay Gould during the Erie Railroad war, and how he managed to rise above every dirty trick his enemies could pull.

Also intriguing is the look into the immediate family of Vanderbilt that shows that while he could be rather rough around the edges, he was still a caring, thoughtful man who remained devoted to his first and second wives, although his two sons were causes for consternation, especially Cornelius J, his second son who's immense gambling addiction the Commodore found rather embarrassing, as well as how little hope he held out for first born William, who actually exceeded his father's low expectations to become his father's right hand man.

Overall, it's a very skillfully crafted and well worded book that doesn't bog down, doesn't try to over simplify when it comes to explanations such as stock and bond trading, buyouts, leverages and mergers. It take this highly complex structure and presents it to the reader in way that helps you understand how it all works and gives a great new look at man whose name still resonates today 132 years after his death.

Goosebumps and shivers

Haunted Homeland
Copyright 2006 by Michael Norman
A Forge Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates LLC New York
ISBN 13-978-0-765-30172-7
448 PP
$17.95 Hardcover

Over the past twelve years of doing paranormal research, I've read a large volume of books, and as a result have a rather extensive collection covering cities and towns, states and countries from Europe to the US. Some are truly standouts with well done research, plausible suggestions for the cause, first hand accounts from the people involved and in some cases actual field experimentation and results and well written and readable. Others I'm sad to say miss their mark and turn out to be nothing more than campfire ghost tales designed more to entertain, than to enlighten and educate and where unsubstantiated legend is presented as bald faced fact without the research to back it up.

Together with the late Beth Scott, with whom he worked on the first five volumes of the Haunted America series, Michael Norman is among the category of standouts. Haunted Homeland is a well crafted collection of tales and legends from across the U.S and Canada that show off not only his writing talent, but also what well done research can do to make a good story. But what also I liked is that Mr. Norman is up front with the reader when it comes discerning between fact and fiction. If a story is more urban or local legend that can't be substantiated, he makes it clear. He also doesn't just cover one aspect, but in some chapters gives the reader several versions of the same tale and allows them to figure out for themselves if the story may have some truth to it.

Case in point is Chapter 12 entitled "A Weeping Woman", which covers the legend of La Llorona, a prominent ghost from the New Mexico region. Most accounts of her state that she is the ghost of a woman who drowned her children after a failed love affair such as the modern day case of Susan Smith in 1994. In the Weeping Woman, we, the reader are given not only the basis for this classic ghost tale, but several versions of it, and the facts of the case behind it as well, which makes for interesting reading. Just the opening alone about Susan Smith, was enough to creep me out.

What also makes this a good ghost read are first hand accounts. In Chapter 11, we're introduced to the ethereal resident of a house from Gulfport, Mississippi in the story called "Find my Bones". Not only does it begin with a good start, which then segues into the history of the dwelling we're also introduced the people that lived and resided in the house and their experiences in the late 1950's and early 1960's. In the case the activity went beyond the normal muffled voices and eerie footsteps and included a few cases of near arson.

Overall, this is one of the better paranormal books I've come across and it's just as good as the first five in the series. So if a good, chilling tale is something you are in the mood for, then this book provides it. It's especially good after dark with the reading light on low.

What might have been

An Unfinished Life
John F. Kennedy
1917-1963
By Robert Dallek
Copyright 2003
Little, Brown and Company
ISBN 0-316-17238-3
838 PP w/ Illustrations
Hardcover $30.00 US $45.00 CD

I grew up hearing about JFK from my father(even though,God love him, voted for Nixon in 1960)and to this day, some 46 years after his assassination in Dallas, he still remembers in vivid detail where he was and what he was doing at the exact moment the news came out that he had been shot and killed.

Truth be told, Kennedy has always been a hero of mine. He's on my list alongside FDR, Teddy Roosevelt, Washington and Lincoln as one of the greatest American presidents. I admired his heroics in WWII, his courage and fortitude during the Cold War, staring down Khrushchev during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the aura that surrounded his administration.

But as they say, things are not always what they seem, and I slowly learned that my hero, was not exactly perfect. In fact, he had a number of human foibles just like the rest of us. But in a way that made him even more of a hero to me because now I understood that despite being flawed, at the end of the day, he listened to others and then to himself, and he did what he thought was right, and in so doing he led us through some incredibly rough times in our nations history.

I've oftentimes wondered what the world would be like today had he lived and been re-elected in '64? Would we have gone to war in Vietnam? Would the Cold War have ended sooner? Would we still be keeping an embargo against Fidel Castro and Cuba clear into the 21st Century? How much of an imprint on politics in this country could he have made and would we be in a better situation of foreign policy and understanding of other cultures and peoples given his amazing knowledge on the subject? I wanted to know his personal views and more details about his life than having to piece them together from the dozens of other biographies out there, so when I came across the book at a local seller, and read the first two chapters I snapped it up.

I first read Robert Dallek in the late 1990's when his two volume biography of Lyndon Johnson (Lone Star Rising, and Flawed Giant) came out, and from reading that I knew that in Kennedy's case, Dallek wasn't going to paint a varnished, perfect picture or whitewash the truth as has been done in previous bios I've read.

Here we are presented with a man, who even though he came from a privileged background still had to overcome personal obstacles to achieve his goals. His medical problems alone from childhood, and his injuries to his back in WWII alone would have made a lesser man give up his cause. His religion too was another obstacle, one that dogged him repeatedly during his campaign, but yet one that made him bring the issue to the forefront of discussion and debate before ultimately proving that just because a person was Catholic, it meant he was unfit for office. We're given a sense of the man inside the man, his personal feelings, his hopes and fears, and when put all together, we're given a man who achieved greatness in his short lifetime.

All in all, the book is very well researched, and detailed in its prose which was drawn from numerous sources and contemporary views from Kennedy's family and friends. It get's a little hard to follow all the detail in some passages, but overall the book flows smoothly and is a engaging and engrossing look at the man who led us into the "New Frontier".

Along the banks of the Seine

Paris
The Secret History
By Andrew Hussey.
Copyright 2006
Published by Bloomsbury USA, New York
ISBN 1-59691-323-1
485 PP W/ Illustrations
$32.50

It seems fitting to write today's blog post about the history of the City of Paris. On this day in 1794, Maximilian Robespierre, leader of Committee of Public Safety and known as "The Incorruptible" took his last trip through the streets of Paris in a cart to the Place De La Revolution, placed in the guillotine and executed. With his death ended one of the blackest periods the city has known in it's long history, from the days of the Roman Empire to today.

Covering the full range of historical events and personages, Andrew Hussey leads the reader on an incredible look at one of the worlds most famous cities with lush prose, excellent quotations from people of the period, and contemporary views from insiders and outsiders alike. From the Roman Conquest of 54 BC the reader watches as the city grows and expands and confronts times of war and peace, abundance and famine with the rise and fall of the Monarchy, the Napoleonic Era, the restoration, The Second Empire, the Belle Epoque and two World Wars. It's a history that is still unfolding, and Hussey brings it fully to life in a way that is immensely fun to read and easy to grasp. This is truly a book for the Francophile and the novice to the world of French history.

Two Madams and a Love Pirate

Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul.
By Karen Abbott
Copyright 2007
Random House Publishing Group
ISBN 978-1-4000-6530
Hardcover
356 PP $25.95

The Love Pirate and the Bandit's Son: Murder, Sin and Scandal in the Shadow of Jesse James.
By Laura James
Copyright 2009
Union Square Press
ISBN 978-1-4027-6069-3
Hardcover
306 PP
$19.95

First off, no, this is not the start of a dirty joke. But what it is about are two extraordinary books on a subject I admit I'm fascinated with, the world of the fallen woman.

In the waning years of the 19th Century, few things spoke louder then money. Old money, new money, it didn't matter how you came by it, just that you had it, that you were part of the upper echelons of society, that you lived in the proper neighborhood, knew the "right" sort of people, wore the latest fashions, had a grand house, and had all the luxuries life could afford, including women who practiced the worlds oldest profession. But where to go to get the "proper" kind of lady to satisfy your needs? Why just pay a visit to Minna and Ada, proprietors of the world famous "Everleigh Club" in Chicago's notorious Levee District.

In Second City, we get to meet the two women who put out welcome mat, literally, to the rich and famous. Politicians, titans of industry, heirs to fabulous family fortunes like Marshall Field Jr (who wound up shot after a night at the club), and heads of state including His Royal Majesty Henry, Crown Prince of Prussia.

Minna and Ada Everleigh were sisters of a "aristocratic" background who sought to create the worlds most famous, most luxurious, and most expensive night a man of means could have with the most beautiful woman he could imagine, an Everleigh Butterfly. Women who were not only experience in the languages of love, (and discipline if the gentleman wished it) but also well versed in poetry, music, and current events all of which could be discussed over a gourmet supper in the dining room before heading upstairs. True, there were a few who didn't measure up to the sister's standards, but at the Everleigh Club, you were after all, free to leave at anytime of your own accord. In fact you could go to work for that battle ax down the block Vic Shaw, who ran the worst kind of house, with the worst kind of women, and who had been a troublemaker for the sisters since the day they moved in and stole her thunder.

Locked in battle with Vic Shaw and her counterpart Zoe Millard was one thing however. Doing battle with the forces of the Church in it's war against sin, corruption of young men and the white slavery of innocent young women however was ultimately a battle the sisters lost in 1912, when at last the doors closed for the last time and the sisters entered into retirement.

What makes this a really great book is not just the subject matter, but how the author makes the reader sympathetic to the sisters, and put one in their corner, rotting and cheering for them, hoping that in the end they'll succeed against the forces lined up against them. Miss Abbot has created a world as well, a world that invites us in and draws back the veil on a time and place when two sisters sought to make the world of the demimonde "acceptable".


Zeo Zoe Wilkins was one of those wild women of the day, the kind of woman your mother prayed you didn't get hooked up with. A gold digger par excellence, Zoe went from being a ragged girl born in poverty in Ohio to an osteopath with a degree from the American School of Osteopathy at the age of 17, to become a woman with a dubious practice, to a wealthy woman through a series of scandalous marriages to much older, wealthier men.

He was Jesse James Junior, son of the late Jesse James, the notorious bandit and thief who watched his father being gunned down in their home by James Ford. It was a shock and trauma that haunted Jesse the rest of his days and one he never fully got over. Trying hard to erase the negative image of his famous father, Jesse Jr. became a lawyer specializing in of all things criminal defense. Sadly, no matter hard he tried to wash away the stigma of being the son of a bandit, Jesse's flirtations with the law never brought him the acceptance he so craved.

Things came to a head for Jesse and Zoe in 1924. On March 15th, during the hours of the night Zoe was brutally murdered and $100.000 in jewelery and bonds disappeared. Who killed her and why? Among those brought in for questioning was her new lawyer, Mr. Jesse James Jr. Did Jesse kill Zoe for her money? Was it perhaps a hit from an enraged wife of a man Zoe had flirted with (and there were many)or perhaps one of her myriad of ex-husbands who gave Zoe her millions? The mystery into the events of that night and just who committed the crime are as much a mystery today as they were on the night of March, 15th 1924.

With The Love Pirate and the Bandits Son, I have to admit, just the title alone caught my attention and made me take it back to my table at Barnes and Noble to read as I sipped my coffee. It had me hooked from the start and I ended up walking out with it as a purchase. Once I got it home, I tore threw it like a man starved. At just 306 pages, which for me is a short read, or at least 3-4 hours of laying on the couch I was amazed at how much attention to detail was payed by the author in such a short space, and how she brought all the players to life and left it for the reader to come to their own conclusions as to who murdered Zoe and why. Overall, an excellent read, and one that I'm glad I picked up that night.

The Crime Of The Century

Manhunt:
The 12-day Chase For Lincoln's Killer
By James L. Swanson
2006, Harper-Collins Publisher
ISBN 13:978-0-06-051849-3
448 pp with illustrations
$26.95

The events of the night of April 14, 1865 are indelibly inked into the pages American History. The Civil War, the bloodiest four years the country had ever witnessed is now at an end, and there is cause for celebration in the streets of Washington, indeed all over the Union. Save for one man, John Wilkes Booth.

Any student of history today can tell you that on that night in question, John Wilkes Booth, the famed actor crept into the Presidential box at Ford's Theater, aimed his derringer at the head of Abraham Lincoln and pulled the trigger and with one bullet, changed the course of history.

What is little known about are the 12 days it took the Federal Government to track down and find Booth as he fled through Maryland and ultimately into Virginia where he died after being shot by a Union officer while hiding in a tobacco barn on the farm of Richard Garret.

In this riveting tale, James Swanson gives the reader an thrilling in-depth look at those twelve days, and never misses a beat in retelling this amazing story that may seem too good be true but is.

We are there while Booth and his accomplices plot and scheme in the days and hours before the murders. We smell the gunpowder and hear the report of the Derringer and the cries from Mary Todd Lincoln. We can hear the bone breaking in Booth's left leg as he jumps from the presidential box and yells out before fleeing backstage to his waiting horse. We are also there at the residence of bedridden Secretary of State William Seward and we're given the frightening and bloody account of his near murder at the hands of Booth's accomplice Lewis Powell.

On the lamb,we watch as Booth flees Washington D.C. the night of the killing, we follow him into Maryland and feel his sense of pride at killing the president. We feel the pain of his injured left leg which will ultimately prove to be his downfall. We watch as he and his associate David Herold are forced to hide out in a thicket for five excruciating days before making the crossing of the Potomac into Virginia and his inevitable date with destiny.

Over the one hundred plus year since that fateful evening, there have been many conspiracy theories as to whether Booth survived his ordeal and lived on, only to die years later. Later these stories became the basis for the 1977 movie "The Lincoln Conspiracy". Here Swanson is in fantastic form, as he describes in detail, Booth's last and final moments on Earth and what happened to his body after being brought back to Washington which ultimately put's to rest any of the stories of his survival.

Although the author reminds the reader several times of past events in the chapters preceding, which has a tendency to be redundant, it doesn't detract too much from the overall sense of drama, and pulse racing excitement as the events unfold and the chase gathers momentum and rushes us into it's thrilling end.
Overall the book is a great read for anyone who enjoys Civil War history, and a book that is hard to put down once it's begun.

American Enigma

Kate
The Woman Who Was Hepburn
by William J. Mann
Henry Holt and Company
2006
ISBN 13:978-0-80507625-7
621 PP
$35.00

She was legendarily feisty, self assured, a trailblazer, and above all, an actress whose career took her to new heights and established her as an American icon. She was Hepburn.

For most of her life however, Kate was an enigma. Those who tried to figure her out, even those closest to her through out her life were left puzzled and wondering. Even her exact date of birth was a secret.

Perhaps the two greatest mysteries about Hepburn were of course, was she really and truly a Lesbian, or perhaps bi-sexual, and what was the true nature of her almost thirty year love affair with Spencer Tracy? Mann attempts, and successfully shows us through amazing detail what it was like for Kathryn to be Kathryn to the public, and also just plain Kath to herself and to her closest friends. We are given an inside glimpse of the wild and decadent world of Gay Hollywood in the 30's, 40's and 50's and taken to the heights of her fame in films such as "Little Women" "The Philadelphia Story", "Woman of the Year", "The African Queen", and her lowest points of her early career, the plays and movies that flopped, that made her Box Office Poison by 1942, and her series of films with her co-star and the greatest love she ever knew Spencer Tracy that cemented both in the consciousness of America.

It's the behind the scenes Kate however that comes through the most in this book, and it let's us understand the reality of her life and career and the fabricated, mythological and mysterious Kate that the public thought they knew. From her early days in Hartford, Connecticut, her relationship with her father and how it shaped her life and outlook, to her arrival in Hollywood in 1932 and her first big break, to her early marriage to Ludlow Ogden Smith, her close friendships with women, and her relationship with directors John Ford and George Cukor who brought her her greatest fame, we see Kate in a whole new light, and most of all, as human as the rest of us.

Available at the History Wolf Store on Amazon.com

Guiding the way.

I lived on the Central Caost of California for three years from 1989 until 1992, and many is the timeI would see it's beacon flashing and illuminating the fog from across the bay and someday I told myself I'd take a hike out there and see it. Well, that was 17 years ago, and I never did until yesterday when I took the guided 7 mile round trip hike, and I was well rewarded for my efforts to visit the San Luis Light.

San Luis Lighthouse has been guiding ships into Avila Beach and Port San Luis for more than a century now since it's light was first lit on June 30 1890.

The need for a lighthouse in Port Harford dates back to 1873, when John Harford built a pier extending 540 feet into the water, which was later extended to 576 feet, with the addition of a narrow gauge railroad to off load passengers and cargo and deliver them to San Luis Obispo. The railroad itself was an extension of the Pacific Coast Railway that connected to Pismo Beach, Arroyo Grande, Guadalupe, Santa Maria, Los Alamos, and terminating at Mattie's Tavern in Los Olivos, where travellers could rest before taking the stage coach into Santa Barbara.

Getting the money for the construction though proved very problematic. The first mention of a light came in 1867 under President Johnson who signed an executive order calling for lighthouses to be built along the entire west coast of the United States. At the time however, Congress as in the middle of paying off the debts incurred for the Civil War and Reconstruction. Not until Congressman Romualdo Pacheco introduced a bill in 1877 to build the lighthouse. However the project still had quite a ways to go before the port would see construction begin, in fact it would not be until 1886 that Congress would finally pass the bill and allocate $50,000 for the contruction.

The project however was still not out of the woods yet. Obtaining the land to build the lighthouse proved to be the hardest hurdle, and adding to that, the cost of the bids that came in to build the light were too high by Government standards which would have further delayed construction had an incident in 1888 not brought the need for a lighthouse to the forefront.

May 1, 1888. The coastal steamer, Queen of the Pacific was sailing down the coast when she started to take on water fifteen miles from the coast. Looking at the charts, her captain decided to make for Port Harford where they could put in. But with no light to guide her, and under dark evening skies, the captain was forced to slow the speed of the vessel. A mere five hundred feet from the edge of the pier, the Queen finally sank and settled onto the ocean bottom up to her waterline. Thankfully catastrophe was averted and all on board were safely off loaded onto dry land. The desparate need for a light at Port Harford was finally given the attention it needed to get the project off the ground.

Construction of the light commenced in 1889 and finished in June with a wooden dwelling of two floors and a tower fixed with a 4th order Fresnel lantern which was hand made in France and then shipped from New York. Nearby a duplex dwelling was built for the two assistant lightkeepers and their families, along with a kerosene shed and a steam powered fog signal building. Two, fifty thousand gallon cisterns were also contructed to provide drinking water using a rainwater runoff system.

The lantern was lit every night and extinguished each morning when the lantern room and the lens were washed to prevent the build up of soot from the kerosene. The lens used approximately a 1/2 gallon of kerosene each night and was rountinely checked throught the night. In 1915, the steam boilers for the fog signal were replaced by a compressed air system, which remained in place until 1933 when the lighthouse and the lantern were electrified, and in 1942, a radio listening station to track Japanese transmissions was built and a second duplex was added for armed forces personel.

The 1960's and '70's saw the end of the line for the San Luis lighthouse. The duplex next to the light was torn down owing to age and the effects of the elements in 1961 and in 1969, the lens was taken from the tower and replaced with a eletric lighting system. In 1974 the order came from the Coast Guard to shut the lighthouse down and the last keeper was moved out. For 25 years the lighthouse sat abandoned to the elements and vandals until 1992 when the 30 acre parcel was handed over to the San Luis Harbor District from the Federal Government with the proviso that the lighthouse and ground be restored. In 1995 official responsibility for the maintence and restoration of the lighthouse was given to the non profit Port San Luis Lighthouse Keepers Corporation.

Today the lighthouse is open the to the public but only by appointment two weeks in advance and by docent led tours. Plans are in the works however to repave the road leading from Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant to allow van tours to those who are not able to make the 7 1/2 mile round trip hike.

For further information, or to book your own hike to the lighthouse, check out the Point San Luis Lighthouse pages or Lighthouse Friends.Org

Not politics as usual

1960
LBJ vs JFK vs Nixon
The Epic Campaign That Forged Three Presidencies
by David Pietrusza
Union Square Press
ISBN 978-1-4027-6114-0
523 pp with illustrations
$24.95 Hardcover

Ask anyone, and they will tell you politics is a very dirty game, a world where shady backroom deals are made and lives change in the wink of an eye.

David Pietrusza takes us into that world, a world where money truly talks, and in the case of Joe Kennedy, money which also greased a lot of palms, paid off the Mob, and vaulted his son into becoming the nation's first Catholic president. This is politics, boiled down to it's most base elements, and the author pulls no punches and spares no feelings when he get's down to the nitty gritty of the candidates themselves as the person behind the mask. And in the case of Nixon, several different masks, each one uglier than the one before.

This book opened my eyes and changed a few impressions I had of people that I've read up on in other biographies such as Bobby Kennedy, President Eisenhower, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Harry S. Truman. It also gave me a glimpse into some other famous names that I wasn't familiar with such as Barry Goldwater, Hubert Humphrey, and Nelson Rockefeller, but after reading about them, the way they played the game and the down and dirty nature of their true values and reasons to want to be president, I was left with a feeling that Harry Truman was right when he said "If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog!" After I finished this book, I wouldn't want any of these men as my friends, let alone my enemies.

So for those of you who like sheer, nasty down and dirty soap opera dramatics, this is one hell of a ride! It starts off fast and doesn't stop until the end. I could easily say it's made the usual dry political biography one that makes me now want to read up some more on some of the men and women who make up the modern political spectrum.

Goosebumps Guaranteed.

Ghost Stories of California's Gold Rush Country and Yosemite National Park.
By Antonio R. Garcez
ISBN 0-9634029-8-6
Red Rabbit Press, New Mexico
207 pp with illustrations

My interest in the paranormal sciences goes back to when I was a kid. I was fascinated by books about ghosts, and reading about them. So when I had the chance five years ago to co-found a paranormal research group with some friends I took it. In the course of the last few years I've widely read up on paranormal activity and stories about haunted locations and ghosts, but sometimes I'm left disappointed because the books are just a rehash of old legends with very little eyewitness reports or scientific research to back it up.

I found this book at a local used bookstore in Arroyo Grande, CA a few weeks ago. The title stood out and so I decided to take a chance and buy it and I'm glad I did. I spent the next hour at a local Starbucks tearing through the first few chapters. To begin with, Mr. Garcez is an excellent writer and historian, his use of words paints a wonderful picture of the region.

What made this book truly stand out is his use of personal interviews with actual people from the Gold Rush towns who have experienced haunting's and sightings of ghosts in their homes and businesses. I found myself reading with real excitement and in truth the book almost makes made me want to take my car and head up Hwy 49 for several weeks just so I could see for myself the fascinating locations he mentions.

All in all, this is an excellent read, and a few of the stories really do get creepy enough to make the hair on the back of your neck stand up and your arms get goosebumps. So once you get your copy, sit back, turn down the lights and settle in for a really good set of true ghost stories.

We Three Kings

Once upon a time, there were three kings. Actually, three kings of England, all named Richard.....And one no one has ever heard of.

The first, King Richard I, was called Le Couer De Leon, or The Lion Hearted. Richard loved one thing and one thing only, the sights, sounds and smells of battle, and battle he did. Personally leading the charge to retake Jersulem from Saladin, a charge that failed, but not before 3,000 Muslim's were put to the sword first. On his way home, he managed to get captured and to ransom him cost 100,000 Pounds, and if that wasn't enough, the defend his turf in Normandy, he built an immense castle that cost a whopping 11,000 pounds. His death was not one would expect from this warrior king. He succumbed to wounds from an arrow after trying to take a subjects castle.

The second Richard, Richard II, has been named by history as a bad king. A tyrant, a narccissitic, whiny, spoiled, vain and just plain rotten to the core. But on further examination, we learn this was not the case. Richard was actually, quite a good king. His first test came at the ripe old age of 14, when his Barons lead a revolt against him because he opposed their taxing of the peasantry to pay for wars in France. At Smithfield, the revolt came to a head, and after the leader, Watt Tyler was brought down by the Mayor of London, he issued a blanket pardon to everyone to avoid further blood letting. His next act was to end the wars that were money makers for his barons. Richard took his role as king very seriously, believing that he was mandated by God to rule. His baron's didn't see him as such. They couldn't stand the man to the point that in 1387, three of them lead a revolt, slaughtered his advisors and deposed him. Fighting amongst themselves, he was able to regain control, that is until 1399, when Henry of Lancaster returned from exile and murdered Richard and took the throne for himself. Henry, now Henry IV now cast Richard as one of the most evil men in order to justify his usurping the throne.

"And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover,
To entertain these fair well-spoken days,
I am determined to prove a villain
And hate the idle pleasures of these days.
Richard III, 1. 1

So says our last Richard in Shakespeare's play Richard III. But was he really the hunchbacked villian we've come to know or was he too a victim of slander? In 1483, Richard became protector to his nephews upon the death of their father Edward IV. Their mother, a conivving, grasping woman, sought power herself and tried to take over the throne by having the eldest boy, Edward V, crowned king. Locking his nephews in the Tower of London to keep them from their mother's grasp, Richard then had parliament declare him protector. His nephews never say the light of day again, and even know the mystery of what really happened to them remain just that. Getting a bishop to do his bidding, he then had the late Edward IV's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville declared invalid, his children bastards, and Richard was crowned king.

So, so far, Richard is proving to be not such a nice guy? Or is he? According to records, Richard proved to be a most capbale and able administrator, peacekeeper and defender of the poor. Richard reformed the legal system, insisiting trials be conducted in English instead of Latin, and installed the jury system of trial and protections for jurors.

In 1485 his rule came to an end at the Battle of Bosworth when he was killed by Henry Tudor, who became Henry VII and established the Tudor Dynasty which ruled England until 1603.

So who is this mystery king? Well, you have to watch the show to find out. So enjoy this, the last installment of Medieval Lives.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYLXlbE6Ly4

Fetch the thumb screws

In 1991 Kevin Costner gave us his version of the legend of Robin Hood, but sadly, it was, like earlier versions, a complete myth. The legends passed down are just that, legends.

So what was crime and punishment like in Medieval England? Surprisingly until the Norman Invasion of 1066, remarkably peaceful. Many Anglo Saxon towns policed themselves and violence, and crime was low. There was even a system called compensation and it was a money maker. Say you hit your neighbor with a sword and cut off his ear, that was 12 shillings. Damage his nose, 6 shillings, mangle or cut off his foot or damage his eye, 50 shillings. Knock out his four front teeth and you'd get dinged 6 shillings per tooth and four shillings for each after that going down in price the more teeth you removed from his head.

We often hear of the "Merry Men" who followed Robin Hood on his adventures. Yes, there were gangs, but none were that merry. One of of gangs roaming about the countryside, terrorizing nobleman and peasant alike were actually a noble family of brothers named Folville and they were about as far removed from Robin Hood as one could get. Robberies, murder, pilaging and raping, these brothers set the stage for crime.

After William the Conqueror came ashore and reformed the legal code, things got harder and it wasn't as easy to go hunting in the forest for something for dinner anymore either. The penalty for poaching under Richard I was removal of the eyes and testicles....Ouch!

Actually being an outlaw was a rather serious thing and something most people were loathe to become as it was the equivalent of being banished, and it meant a life always on the run, and if you were to get caught, you would be forced to stand trial. Failure to meet your court appearance three times would get you sent to prison, and how you were treated there depended on how much money you had.

Most of us remember the Sherrif of Nottingham, in the legend of Robin Hood as a very bad man, a man driven by greed, lust for power and lust for the fair maid Marian. But in truth, a sheriff spent so much time dealing with bureaucartic matters it left little time to go searching Sherwood Forest.

Think America in the late 20th and early 21st centuries was letigious? It's nothing compared to England during the Middle Ages. The legal system was overloaded with case after case of people suing other people for the most mundane things imaginable, like a hedgerow that over grew into your neighbors yard.

Seriously muck it up, and you'd best be on your way to the town of Beverly, which was known for being a sanctuary for criminals. But that was only good for forty days when you would be forced to leave the country.

There is so much to touch on, but the rest of the documentary covers that, so hopefully you'll stick it out and watch this, the seventh installment of Medieval Lives.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9GsccLoLvY&feature=PlayList&p=GXxQQqRaQHA

Tricks and Magic

Most people would if asked, probably say that medicine and the sciences of the Middle Ages were a lot of quackery and hogwash, and that the Church forbade any delving into anything that upset God's order. But then how does one explain the philosopher and the alchemist? Learned church men such as Roger Bacon who not only invented the spectrum some 400 years before Newton, but also invented the telescope before Galileo?

What of Monastic Hospitals where certain herbs such as Yarrow and Tormentill were used to treat wounds and worms in the intestine, or even Heath Pea which staved off hunger and thirst for a several days? And few can imagine that if surgery were needed, you could actually be anesthetized by being given a potion of Henbane, Hemlock, and Opium Poppy.

These men of the church also knew the shape of the world to be round, until Washington Irving came around in 1828 and said the church said the world was flat in his biography of Columbus, who by the way found his way around the coastlines of Spain by using maps and charts created by...Who else?

The world would not have Gothic structures if The Cathedral of Canterbury hadn't burnt to the ground in 1174, and the monks let a Frenchman build the second cathedral and use flying buttresses to hold up the walls.

And we would never know what time it is had it not been for the Abbot of St. Albans, Richard of Wallingford who built the worlds first astronomical clock.

So there you have it, the combination of science and religion. Thank heavens for it, or we'd all be pushing up the daisies by now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTf2EzTd1TE&feature=PlayList&p=GXxQQqRaQHA

Pray thee good Sir Knight

A swift and valiant horse, and an honorable knight, charging into battle, saving and wooing the fair damsel in distress....Hardly.

Forget all your ideas of chivalric knights battling for love and honor. This episode covers what being a knight actually was, and for the most part it was love of slaughter and love of money that drove the knights, and turned them inot mercenaries and soldiers of fortune.

On one side of the coin is John Hawkward, the mercenary swordsman who was paid by the Holy Church herself to exact vengeance on a small town. With his men he murdered 5,000 men, women and children, and became so handsomely paid for the service he was able to build a castle and given the honor of being buried in Florence Cathedral.

On the other side, we are shown the life of William Marshall, who raised himself from poverty to become the shining example of chivalry and goodness that is the mainstay of many a novel or Hollywood epic.

But most of all, this is a lesson in good horsemanship, the evolution of armor, and how to make some good money along the way doing it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhWFQtzM4r0&feature=PlayList&p=GXxQQqRaQHA

Strike the harp

In part four, we now encounter the world of the minstrel, or "little servant" from which the word is derived. Minstrels, and their later counterparts, the Troubadour, were very much an integral part of the Medieval lanscape and the fabric of court life. And some were quite famous, as their names have been passed down to us throughout history, the most of course being Geoffrey Chaucer.

But in this segment, we learn of other names too such as that of Tyfair, the minstrel of William the Conqueror, who pretty much got the Battle of Hastings, and the subsequent end of Saxon England off to a flying start by juggling his sword and a spear. There is also Richard who in 1306 prevented a fire from destroying Windsor Castle while on watch duty.

Here too is the Song of Roland, a 4000 line epic poem that was the greatest "Chanson D'jest" of the Norman Period, and of the songs of Duke William IX of Aquitane who changed the4 face of minstrelry with the introuduction of poems in the langauage of the street, which gave Chaucer his start.

So, if the Hit Parade for 1350 is your bag, your going to dig these crazy tunes, and the people who sang them.

Not your usual fairy tale ending

We come now to Episode 3 Season One, "The Damsel." If you think women during the Middle Ages were the come hither beauties eager to be rescued in their hour of need by a knight in shining armor on a white steed, think again.

Women were anything but chaste, demure or pure in those days. Take for instance the story of Christina of Markyate who in 1066 defied her parents, and the very Bishop of Durham himself to retain her chastity for God, or Margery, Countess of Carrick in Scotland who lured a knight into her castle, seduced him, and a result bore one of Scotland's greatest monarchs, the legendary Robert The Bruce.

This third installment also shows us how Black Death of 1350 which decimated the population thrust women into the forefront of society as they took on the traditional roles of men.

So, grab thy fair wife, sit back, drinketh some wine and enjoy Terry Jones' Medieval Lives, chapter 3.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL5CviNAhnk&feature=PlayList&p=GXxQQqRaQHA

A Monks Tale

This, the second in the new series of Terry Jones' Medieval Times" takes a look at the role of the church in English History from it's humble beginnings with Saint Benedict, who gave the world the Benedictine Order, to the righteous and extremely wealthy Cistercians who virtually owned England, (and ran a few brothels too) and the King, until Henry VIII put a stop to everything and spoiled all the fun.

The role of the Church in England is quite fascinating, and here Terry doesn't miss a trick, showing us not only the Peasants Revolt against the money and power that the Church had, but also how the monks made wine, ate, slept, and fashioned iron from primitive forges for everything from sheep sheers, to processional crosses. And as usual, it's interspersed with brief bits of humor that make this a very fun episode to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7kixg7E3Pk&feature=PlayList&p=GXxQQqRaQHA

An exciting series

Being a history buff, and a rather ardent Anglophile, I've spent countless hours ensconced in British History, reading the history's and chronicles of the Kings and Queens of England, and with only a slight gap during the Georgian Period, I've come to think I knew everything there was to know about English history.

That was until this morning when I went onto You Tube and found this fascinating and illuminating set of documentaries about the Medieval Period hosted by Terry Jones (of Monty Pythons Flying Circus.)

At first knowing Terry's TV background, one would think this is going to be a comedic look at the period, but first impressions can and in this case are very deceiving. Terry Jones gives an excellent tour as host and shows the viewer all aspects of society at the time and in a straight forward (with slight comedic touches) and simple manner that make watching this series very fun, and incredibly detailed.

Because embedding is blocked, I can only provide the URL here, but if you want to learn more about this truly incredible and in some cases misunderstood time, I invite you to watch "Terry Jones' Medieval Times" with part one, "The Peasant."


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg3YDN5gTX0&feature=PlayList&p=GXxQQqRaQHA

As for me. I think I'll be spending the rest of my day sitting here, headphones on and glued to my monitor.

Distant lands, distant sounds

We were the "Pepsi Generation", the "Me" Generation, "I want my MTV", the children of baby boomers. We wore odd and brightly colored clothes, wore our hair big, wrapped our legs in leg warmers, Wall Street ruled and greed was good (according to some). "The Golden Girls" made us laugh, "Dallas" made us love to hate JR Ewing and "Dynasty" gave women shoulders like linebackers with the popularity of shoulder pads. We cheered for Luke and Leia, held our breath for Indy to get out of a jam, cried at Luke and Laura's Wedding and we partied like it was 1999! Our generation was the 80's.

Musically it was incredible but sometimes odd period. New Wave, Techno, Rockabilly Revival, Rock and Roll all blended together to create sounds we had never heard before and coupled with the worlds first all music channel debuting in 1981, the perfect mix was achieved. Sometimes, if you looked a little deeper, past the usual Top 40, you could find some unusually good sounding, and rather interesting songs by seldom heard of groups, that even today, sound great.

This video by a German/Australian group known as "The Other Ones." starts us off. The song is called "Holiday" and it debuted in 1987 and was an international hit. The group was comprised of Alf, (vocals) Janey (vocals) and Johnny Klimek (Bass) and Andreas Schwarz-Ruszczynski (guitar), Stephan Gottwald (keyboards) and Hoffmann (drums). Musically, the group fell under "Third Wave Ska" which had it's roots in Jamaican music, but became popular in the decade with groups like "The Other Ones" and "Save Ferris".



Remakes of 50's, 60's and 70's songs were popular during the decade and it certainly seemed at times there was a new one everyday being played on MTV. Sometimes the group itself was more interesting than the song that was being covered, and for a group like "Doctor and The Medics", interesting is the operative word. The group was formed in 1981 with Clive Jackson (The Doctor) with Steve McGuire on the guitar, drummer Steve Ritchie (aka Vom) with backup vocals courtesy of Collette Appleby and Wendi West. What really makes the group standout of course wasn't their choice in music, but costumes. Coupling British Psychadelia with Japanese Kaubuki costumes and makeup, it created a look all their own. Here are their two biggest hits from 1986. A cover of Norman Greenbaums 1974 "Spirit in the Sky" and ABBA's 1974 hit "Waterloo".





Most people who remember the Rockabilly revival of the 80's would immediately think of "The Stray Cats", but there are a few of us out there who know it actually started in 1980 with Rocky Burnette crooning "Falling in Love (Being Friends) from his album "Son of Rock and Roll" which had a literal meaning owning to the fact that his father was Rock and Roll Pioneer Johnny Burnette and his brother and Rocky's uncle Dorsey who both hit the charts in the late 50's and early 60's.



But where Rocky really hit the big time was in this top ten hit called "Tired of Towing the Line", which hit the Top 10 in 1980 and is still a great song and one that the author fondly remembers being played on radio station KIQQ in his L.A. days.



Our last stop in this music history post is a song by an artist who showed a comepletely different side of himself, and also managed to skewer Billy Idol, Boy George, Michael Jackson, Willie Nelson and Cyndi Lauper in the process and it also makes for a hsyterical video. "Just a Gigalo/I Ain't got Nobody" was originally recorded by jazz great Louis Prima in 1956. Here is David's cover from his 1985 album Crazy from the Heat", which is remarkably almost note for note and interesting for a cover as most times covers were usually close, but more or less left up to the artist to put their personal angle on it.




So there we have some of the wild side of a decade that became the focus of a generation that looks back and smiles when they hear some favorite song on the radio. Video may have killed the radio star, but our stars still shine when we hear a song on the radio.

Revolutionary Women

Liberty
The Lives and Times of Six Women in Revolutionary France
2006 Harper Press
Hardcover 464 pp
ISBN-13 978-0-00-720601-8
$29.95 US

Quite a lot has been written on or about the French Revolution and the men who had a role in the turbulent decade 1789/1799. Robspierre, Danton, Desmoulins, Necker, Marat and Corday, Antoinette and Louis, but very little aside from the Queen and her ladies has been chronicled, let alone delved into the role that women played in the Revolution.

Author Lucy Moore presents a painstakingly accurate look at the role of women at that time and their struggles to gain acceptance and equality at a period when women had few, if any rights, were virtualy left in many cases, uneducated, or treated as less than equal.

This book chronicles six women of the period and their personal stamp on history. Germaine De Stael, daughter of Finance Minister to Louis XVI, Jaques Necker, and one of the richest women in Europe at the time, whose salon attracted some of the greatest names of the Revoltionary Period; Pauline Leon, a choclatier and woman of the merchant classes who co-founded the first all women's political club in Paris; Theroigne de Mericourt, a former courtesan and fallen woman who was linked to the Girondist party, and spoke at the Cordeliers Club on the rights of women, was imprisoneed by the Austrians, and later committed to a mad house; Manon Roland, a political authoress who championed the cause of the Girondist party and gently guided her views through her salon only to be imprisioned and guilotined after the fall of the Girondists: Theresia Cabaruss Fontenay Tallien, an actress and intimate friend of Rose De Beauharnais, (later Empress Josephine), whose lover Jean-Lambert Tallien led the call to arrest Robespierre during the dramatic events of 9 Thermidor; and Juliette Recamier, a quiet, reserved woman who's beauty made her the toast of Paris and drove men including Napoleon to fall at her feet until her extravagant ways forced her husband into bankruptcy in 1805.

Along the way the reader is also introduced to several other women of distinction like Lucy de la Tour du Pin, a lady in waiting to Marie Antoinette who survived the ordeal of the Great Terror in 1794 and later returned to Paris after exile in America, The Princesse de Lamballe personal friend to Marie Antoinette who met a horrible fate at the hands of a violent mob, Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun, the celebrated woman painter of Versailles and the aristocracy and Helen Williams, an English woman living on the continent at the time who set down in writing her account of the events as they happened and her view of a few of the ladies listed above.

The story itself is broken down into chapters that switch back and forth between each of the women and the years 1789 to 1811, and it brings to the readers imagination, the sense of what life was like at a point where for the first time in history, women sought and fought for a place in poltics and to be treated as equals. Along the way, Moore also paints a vivid picture of Paris that truly makes the reader feel as though they are there watching the events as they unfold.

Six different women from six different aspects of French society and one great read!

Strange Genius

"If they saw my face, could I still take a bow? Will they know me, know me, know me now?"

The Nomi song.



When one thinks of performers who blazed across the scene and then died too soon, a few names come to mind. Buddy Holly, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison Jimi Hendrix, Cass Elliot, Kurt Cobain. They all gave us their gifts before they died much too soon before their times and it begs the question, Why is it that the good ones go under appreciated and then die before their full potential is discovered?

Such is Klaus Nomi. Klaus was one of the pioneers of New Wave music, which had it's roots in punk music of the mid to late 70's but by the latter part of the decade was being used to refer to the musical sounds of groups like Blondie,Kraftwerk, and Devo and artists like Gary Newman that relied on synthesized sounds,wild costumes and makeup, instead of the traditional guitar, bass and drums of pop music.

What made Klaus a standout was his combination of monochrome vinyl outifts, other worldly makeup, but most all his voice. Klaus was a rare breed of singer being a counter-tenor and having the ability to sing soprano and mezzo soprano vocals, which he coupled with his covers of songs by earliers artists such as Leslie Gore, Lou Christie and Chubby Checker. It was this combination that made Klaus an integral part of the history of the New Wave scene after he first sang at the New Wave Vaudeville in 1978 performing Delila's aria "Mon Couer S'ouvre a ta Voix" from the opera Samson and Delila by Sain Saens.

The reaction was powerful and overwhelming and it established Klaus as an artist who now found himself increasingly in demand to perform at clubs all over New York City and later brought him world wide recognition.

For me, my first exposure to New Wave music came with the December 15th '79 broadcast of Saturday Night Live when I watched Klaus perform the backup vocals along with Joey Arias while David Bowie sang "The Man Who Sold The World" and later in the show, "TVC 15." It was mind blowing to say the least, for a ten year old kid who was more used to listening to groups like The Village People and the Bee Gees.

While the SNL broadcast brought Klaus fame, and a recording contract sadly his career was cut all too short after he contracted AIDS and died at the age of 39 in 1983.

In one of his most chilling performances, given in 1982 while he was suffering from the symptoms of the disease, Klaus performed "The Cold Song" an aria from the Baroque opera "King Arthur" by English composer Henry Purcell, who died in 1695 at the age of 36. Here is the video clip of Klaus singing the aria.




What power art thou, who from below
Hast made me rise unwillingly and slow
From beds of everlasting snow
See'st thou not how stiff and wondrous old
Far unfit to bear the bitter cold,
I can scarcely move or draw my breath
Let me, let me freeze again to death.

In 2004 "The Nomi Song", a documentary on Klaus, his life and times was released by Palm Pictures and it helped to bring Klaus and his music to new audiences and has left his stamp on the world of music.

Hello and welcome

To all of you who are here for the first time, welcome to my world. Here I'll be exploring and talking about a wide variety of subjects that I'm hoping many of you will find interesting such as, Iconography, photography, cemeteries, history, and paranormal research among others. I'll also be occasionally providing book and move reviews and video blogs, as well as posting upcoming events and my photo shoots. So, kick back, turn down the lights and enjoy!