Hey, Bulldogs

If you saw this past Sunday’s Parade magazine, you saw the ad (click to enlarge) for “the irresistibly cute… Bulldog Christmas Tree.”

Eric spotted this and stared in stunned disbelief, as did we, his humble parents. What possible connection could bulldogs have to Christmas? Then we realized. Of course. The three wise men, bearing gifts of gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. And their bulldogs, bearing hot dogs. Added spice for me is the fact this never-to-be forgotten — or even gotten — treasure of a collectible is from the Danbury Mint in Norwalk, CT.

Marathon Monsoon

The weather improved a lot from what it was earlier, so when the Boston Marathon started this morning it was raining lightly and the wind had dropped considerably. Now I wish I could have been in the pack, instead of being merely a spectator!

Boston Marathon Starting Line

Due to the weather, the crowd at the starting line was smaller than usual. My vantage point was right behind where the “W” is in this TV image. I took a few pictures. Click the thumbnails to enlarge.

Boston Marathon 2007Boston Marathon 2007Boston Marathon 2007
Boston Marathon 2007Boston Marathon 2007Boston Marathon 2007

Give Pet A Chance

If you’ve been reading the interviews with Petula Clark I’ve linked to, you may have caught a comment about her being in a certain place at a certain time. Don’t blink, or you’ll miss her in this video clip.

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/APR07/GivePeaceAChance.flv 400 300]

Why was Pet there?

“I’d been staying in French-speaking Canada but was starting to have hits with records in English as well. So when I was booked to perform at the Place des Arts in Montreal, I thought I’d do a bi-lingual show. Wrong. It was open war.

“After the show, I was upset and I went to John’s hotel to ask his advice. I didn’t really know him that well, but I do remember he was very rude about the audience.

“There was a very strange atmosphere in the suite and I remember the cameras being there but I really didn’t realise [sic] they were making Give Peace A Chance at the time.”

Al “Capp” Caplin was a full-time jerk. I never did much like Li’l Abner. But in fairness, John Lennon was a part-time jerk. It would have been much more interesting seeing Pet, instead of Capp, talking to John. Recognize any other faces in the crowd?

Two Arms! Two Arms!

Blogging newspaper editor Mike Dobbs has posted some scans from a 1939 magazine article called “The Movies Launch a Kindergarten of Democracy”. [Link] The pictures are scenes promoting the Warner Brothers cartoon “Old Glory”, directed by Chuck Jones. Here’s the cartoon, released in 1940, in all its patriotic, rotoscoped, Technicolor™ old glory.

http://youtu.be/utkBu-mqi-c

Notice the two words that are missing from the Pledge of Allegiance? And of course there are two states missing in the map of the United States.

Synthetic Sir George

Time BeatWaltz in Orbit

I’ve been trying to find a copy of a 1962 single of partially electronic music, Time Beat b/w Waltz in Time, by Ray Cathode. I’ve placed bids, and lost, for the single on eBay, but fortunately I found these MP3’s on WFMU’s Beware of the Blog. [Link] Here are the tracks.

Ray Cathode – Beat Time
[audio:http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/DG/time_beat.mp3]

Ray Cathode – Waltz in Orbit
[audio:http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/DG/waltz_in_orbit.mp3]

Ray Cathode was a pseudonym for a collaboration between BBC technician-producer Maddalena Fagandini and George Martin, who would sign the Beatles to Parlophone Records just a couple of months later. The recording was made for the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, which was set up to create atmospheric music and effects for radio and TV. The 1963 production by Delia Derbyshire of Ron Grainer’s theme for Doctor Who is undoubtedly the workshop’s most familiar work.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/APR07/DoctorWho.mp3]