Happy 242nd US Navy, 220th USS Constitution
October 16, 2017 § 1 Comment
It follows then as certain as that night succeeds the day, that without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive, and with it, everything honorable and glorious.
— George Washington
The mission of the Navy is to maintain, train and equip combat-ready Naval forces capable of winning wars, deterring aggression and maintaining freedom of the seas.
— Mission statement of the United States Navy
The Celebration
AP 13 Oct 2017 The world’s oldest commissioned warship will set sail from Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston on Oct. 20. It will be the warship’s first sail since October 2014, and commemorates the Navy’s 242nd birthday and the 220th anniversary of the Constitution’s launch.
The wooden ship will travel to Fort Independence on Castle Island, where it will fire a 21-gun salute. An additional 17-gun salute will be fired as the ship passes the U.S. Coast Guard station, the former site of the shipyard where the Constitution was built and launched in 1797. ~
I would love to witness gun salutes blasting from this mighty and historied vessel!
USS Constitution
The USS Constitution is a spectacular wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy, named by President George Washington after the Constitution of the United States of America. She was among the first naval warships commissioned by the US government in 1794 and notably seaworthy to date. As such she is the world’s oldest commissioned naval vessel afloat. She got the nickname “Old Ironsides” from significant naval victory against the British in the War of 1812.
The United States Navy
Non sibi sed patriae (Not for self but for country)
The U.S. Navy is the largest, most capable navy in the world, with the highest combined battle fleet tonnage. The U.S. Navy has the world’s largest aircraft carrier fleet, with eleven in service, one in the reserve fleet, and two new carriers under construction. With service has 322,421 personnel on active duty and 107,577 in the Navy Reserve, the Navy is the third largest of the service branches. It has 276 deployable combat vessels and more than 3,700 operational aircraft as of June 2017. ~wiki
The U.S. Navy traces its origins to the Continental Navy. It was established during the American Revolutionary War thru the strong support and influential feats in naval battle of George Washington. On 13 October 1775, the Continental Congress authorized the purchase of two vessels to be armed for a cruise against British merchant ships; this resolution created the Continental Navy and is considered the first establishment of the U.S. Navy.
Towards the end of the Revolutionary War in 1785 the Congress sold the last remaining vessel in the Continental Navy, the Alliance, due to lack of funds to maintain the ship or support naval resources.
The Naval Act of 1794
With the success of the Revolutionary War, the United States became an independent nation but lost its navy and the protection of the British Empire. The subsequent decade of protection by the precursors of the Coast Guard seemed sufficient. Ultimately, it left American merchant ships vulnerable to intimidation by hostile nations and wholesale seizure by Barbary pirates. It was the latter that incited urgent action to create what would over time become the current US Navy. The USS Constitution was among the largest of the first warships commissioned by the US Congress in the Naval Armament Act of 1794. These ships would aggressively respond to the Barbary threat in the Mediterranean Sea.
The Act to Provide a Naval Armament (Sess. 1, ch. 12, 1 Stat. 350), also known as the Naval Act of 1794, or simply, the Naval Act, was passed by the 3rd United States Congress on March 27, 1794 and signed into law by President George Washington. The act authorized the construction of six frigates at a total cost of $688,888.82. These ships were the first ships of what eventually became the present-day United States Navy. ~wiki
USS George Washington
Titans of the seas. The Nimitz Class nuclear-powered aircraft carriers are the largest warships ever built. The next generation, the Gerald R Ford Class, will be even larger. Carriers are only named for Presidents and other such notable individuals, like Admiral Nimitz. Carrier strike groups are both an offensive and defensive capable presence in the seas worldwide.
USS George Washington (CVN 73) Carrier Strike Group
SOURCES: heavily wiki cuts – not all are cited, AP, various military themed sites.
Happy 242nd US Navy, 220th USS Constitution was originally published on Field Grass
Robert F. Kennedy’s Greatest Speech Still Resonates in 2017
August 21, 2017 § Leave a comment
“The Ripple of Hope”
This piece was delivered by RFK in apartheid South Africa, 1966. It is considered by scholars and others to be his greatest speech. The entirety needs to be heard by all people in the United States to remind us of the ideals of our nation and the principles we stand for during these divisive and uncivil times. An incredible piece. Profound and timeless.
“We must recognize the full human equality of all of our people before God, before the law and in the councils of government. We must do this, not because it is economically advantageous, although it is; not because the laws of God command it, although they do; not because people in other lands wish it so. We must do it for the single and fundamental reason that it is the right thing to do.”
~ Robert F. Kennedy, 1966, “Ripple of Hope” speech
Robert F. Kennedy’s Greatest Speech Still Resonates in 2017 was originally published on Field Grass
The Kiss of Judas by Giotto
April 13, 2017 § Leave a comment
On the evening before the crucifixion of Jesus, Good Friday, Jesus celebrated The Last Supper with his Apostles sealing a covenant with God and his fate. As Jesus had predicted during the meal, Judas betrayed Jesus’ location and then his identity to the Roman soldiers with a kiss.
The image below is part of a fresco cycle by Giotto. The entire work was completed about 1305 and considered to be an important masterpiece of Western art. Giotto’s fresco cycle focuses on the life of the Virgin Mary and celebrates her role in human salvation. wiki
Giotto
Giotto has been credited with ushering in The Renaissance. He introduced a revolutionary artistic style that created a sense of realism seen here with the folding cloth that envelopes bodies, light and shadow, and perspective – depth with elements diminishing in size and detail as they recede back into space. This style represented a dramatic departure from the visually flat, decorative, and iconographic images of the Middle Ages.
“Judas greets Jesus with a kiss, identifying him for the Romans who have come to arrest him. The look on Jesus’ face speaks volumes – he knows what is happening. The Judas’ kiss became the most poignant symbol of betrayal in the Christian world.” art bible.info Giotto
Cappella degli Scrovegni
The church was dedicated to Santa Maria della Carità at the Feast of the Annunciation, 1303, and consecrated in 1305. Giotto’s fresco cycle focuses on the life of the Virgin Mary and celebrates her role in human salvation. – wiki
Photographs taken of the Cappella degli Scrovegni in Padua Italy.
Sources for images and cited text:
The Kiss of Judas by Giotto was originally published on Field Grass
WTF? My Web Host Disappeared!
February 12, 2017 § Leave a comment
WTF?! The posts to this blog come from my web site toni-two.com. As do the images. With that site, I have 4 other sites connected to it. THEY ARE GONE. Along with my web host’s site. The servers have been down, likely catastrophic crash, unreachable for days now. Not even by email.
I had problems with backups using WordPress plugins. They told me not to user them, use their backups. I’m an idiot, for the first time in years – I didn’t keep my own back-ups. It gets worse, I won’t go into it.
The most recent back-up I have is 2 years old. I didn’t do much in 2016, maybe it’s not a big loss for at least one of my 5 sites. I kept WP.com blogs for each site, so I should have something.
So for now, I’ve got broken posts from my blogs. We’ll see what I can do.
SMILE!
Frida Kahlo, Animated Portrait
April 24, 2016 § Leave a comment
An inspired animation of Frida Kahlo’s famous portrait that was taken by her father, Guillermo Kahlo, in 1932 . The animation incorporates key images from her works that also defined her life as she depicted it on canvas. I had to have it.
Frida Kahlo Bio as Artist
“Mexican fantasy painter known as much for her turbulent personal life as her fanciful self-portraits. Kahlo learned to paint in 1925 after recovering from a debilitating bus accident that left her unable to bear children. The tragedy was often the subject of her paintings and was an integral part of her personal imagery. Her work can be seen as the product of a kind of exorcism by which she projected her anguish on to another Frida, in order to free herself from pain and at the same time maintain a hold of reality. Small in scale, primitive in style, and bold in color, the artist is sometimes shown as an animal, such a deer, which have lead artists and critics alike to label her work Surrealist. The artist eschewed this, maintaining that she painted images from her own life, not dreams. Also the subject of several works was her tumultuous marriage to artist Diego Rivera. One portrait shows the artist as a tiny figure in traditional Mexican dress, dwarfed in size by the large, brooding Rivera. In 1953, Kahlo’s leg was amputated at the knee due to gangrene. She subsequently turned to drugs and alcohol to relieve her suffering. She died almost certainly by suicide in 1954. Her work received notoriety in the 1970’s, becoming popular with feminist art historians and Latin Americans living in the United States” – via MoMA
Masterpieces
Frida Kahlo spent the majority of her life confined to a bed and in physical pain. She painted her small world in graphic and sometimes gruesome detail. Her work was and still is labeled as Surrealism, which she strongly rejected. So, I applied another label I found, Magic Realism. The first painting, below, is her first of many future self-portraits. The bottom 3 paintings represent some of her greatest works. All of the images are Courtesy of www.FridaKahlo.org.
The Broken Column, 1944 by Frida Kahlo. Courtesy of http://www.FridaKahlo.org
Frida Kahlo, Animated Portrait was originally published on Field Grass
Mobile Theater | by Gordon Parks
April 18, 2016 Comments Off on Mobile Theater | by Gordon Parks
Gordon Parks was an outstanding, black, photographer who captured the dark side of American society in technically brilliant photos in an essay for Life Magazine. This is a great photo for various reasons. Taken 2 years after the historic Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling that segregation is unconstitutional. It is beautiful, charming, and hateful. It captures the era of ugliness, clearly marked, through which many like these two innocents navigated daily. Technically incredible. What should be a nice outing is marred by hate, spelled out in cheerful neon light.
Mobile teacher Joanne Thornton Wilson and her niece, Shirley Kirksey, were photographed by Gordon Parks outside the Mobile Saenger Theatre in 1956. Parks was on assignment for Life magazine, which did not publish the photo at the time. (Courtesy of the Gordon Parks Foundation)
Personal note: I will share this image, and others, with my ESL class. They, as foreigners to the US and our history, are shocked and bewildered.
Animated Short by Salvador Dali and Walt Disney
February 20, 2016 § Leave a comment
Destino
An animated collaboration between Salvador Dali and Walt Disney. 1946.
Animated Short by Salvador Dali and Walt Disney was originally published on Field Grass
Free! Download 19th Century Japanese Master Woodprints
February 19, 2016 § Leave a comment
Free! Download 19th Century Japanese Master Woodprints was originally published on Field Grass
Stellar Bits, Best of Opera
February 18, 2016 § Leave a comment
Moving, famous, opera arias performed by equally well-known legends. The second video below, “the best of opera”, is a great opportunity to experience the truly exceptional. Do try a few pieces. They are single songs, not entire operas. You will recognize a few. Sit back and listen on a quiet day, distraction free. Consider it meditation. Until it gets loud.
But first…I prefer Placido Domingo’s “Nessun Dorma” much more than Pavarotti’s, and in general. I am not a big Lucianno Pavarotti fan. His voice is too piercing to my ear. I prefer a full, warmer, voice – the first video below, I love Placido Domingo:
Per gli amanti dell’Opera Turandot, ascoltiamo questa imperdibile uscita Live del grandissimo Tenore Placido Domingo
1. Norma: “Casta Diva” – Antonino Votto, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Maria #Callas
2. Il trovatore: “Condotta ell’era in ceppi” – Opole Philharmonic Orchestra, Silvano Frontalini, Patrizia Chiti
3. Turandot: “Nessun dorma” – Orchestre de Paris, Leone Magiera, Luciano Pavarotti
4. Don Carlos: “O’ Don Fatal” – Opole Philharmonic Orchestra, Silvano Frontalini, Patrizia Chiti
5. Il trovatore: “Tacea la notte placida” – Orchestra del Teatro Alla Scala di Milano, Maria Callas, Antonino Votto
6. Gianni Schicchi: “O mio babbino caro” – Rai Symphonic Orchestra, Tullio Serafin, Maria Callas
7. La traviata: “Ah, forse è lui. Sempre libera” – Orchestra del Teatro Alla Scala di Milano, Maria Callas, Carlo Maria Giulini
8. Tosca: “E lucevan le stelle” – Orchestre de Paris, Leone Magiera, Luciano Pavarotti
9. Pagliacci: “Vesti la giubba” – Orchestre de Paris, Leone Magiera, Luciano Pavarotti
10. La favorita: “O mio Fernando” – Opole Philharmonic Orchestra, Silvano Frontalini, Patrizia Chiti
11. Rigoletto: “Caro nome” – Tullio Serafin, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Maria Callas
12. Lucia di Lammermoor: “Spargi d’amaro pianto” – Berlin Rias Symphonic Orchestra, Herbert Von Karajan, Maria Callas
13. La Pace di Mercurio: “La Pace di Mercurio” – Opole Philharmonic Orchestra, Silvano Frontalini, Patrizia Chiti
14. Maruzza: “Ei viene” – Dnepropetrovsk Philharmonic Orchestra, Silvano Frontalini, Natalia Margarit
15. Luisa Miller: “Quando le sere al placido” – Orchestre de Paris, Leone Magiera, Luciano Pavarotti
16. Tosca: “Vissi d’arte” – Victor De Sabata, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Maria Callas
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- Music
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Music
- “Norma: “Casta Diva”” by Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Maria Callas Listen ad-free with YouTube Red
Stellar Bits, Best of Opera was originally published on Field Grass
Matisse Sketching a Nude
February 3, 2016 § Leave a comment
Renior in His Studio
February 3, 2016 § Leave a comment
First, Best Images of Pluto | NASA
December 19, 2015 § Leave a comment
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has sent back the first in a series of the sharpest views of Pluto it obtained during its July flyby – and the best close-ups of Pluto that humans may see for decades.
Surreal. It is difficult for my mind to process this image of Pluto. Pluto has always been there, as a spot of light in a telescope. To see textures and color in photographs of it is epic. I had to save one.
Source: New Horizons Returns First, Best Images of Pluto | NASA
First, Best Images of Pluto | NASA was originally published on FieldGrass
Love this: Hero |film
December 19, 2015 § Leave a comment
One of my all time favorite films, if not top favorite: “Hero”, with #Jet Li. Chinese, with subtitles. An epic visual and aural masterpiece. A compelling story centered around the unification of #China.
This post is for the music. This is a tiny segment of the film score with a small, important but almost minor to the entire story, sequence of scenes for the love story. An anomaly for me in that I am greatly moved and love it (their saga within the film) – as I generally am bored, highly irritated, or disinterested in love stories in film.
You won’t be able to glean their saga from this. Nor the significance. Impossible. Just watch and listen. And yes, it is a #Kung fu movie. Operatic ballet. Beautiful, epic, ethereal, with outstanding cinematography, choreography, and kickassery…
That is what I expected from “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon”. Not boredom. This film is so much, much, better. I do need to see “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” again. It was beautiful, great Fu, but I saw it in the theater when it came out. I remember being bored for periods of time and not liking their wire work much (people on wires). But it is epic, I love epic.
Anyway, a tiny but moving portion of the music from “Hero”. It stirs my heart almost to tears…
Love this: Hero |film was originally published on Field Grass
The Station on the Hill |LB Scott
March 20, 2015 Comments Off on The Station on the Hill |LB Scott
we’re all lost little children who can’t find their way
following politicians straight to judgment day
in God we trust they say and put it on the dollar bill
then they rape the land we love from the station on the hill
——–for some would lie and some would kill
some would cheat and some would steal
from the station on the hill——-
in 1965 a strong young man I be
joined up for my country so the whole world would be free
they used me and abused me the truth they did not tell
babies were a burning but dow-jones was doing well.
——–for some would lie and some would kill
some would cheat and some would steal
from the station on the hill——-
well now’s the time today I say
throw them all in Boston Bay
let freedom ring again my friends like in the olden days
– LB Scott
This piece was penned by a very close friend. I was struck by his words as soon as I read them. I am sure it is a song. A song I hope to hear as a whole with voice and instrument. If I get a recording, I will update this post with it.
The Station on the Hill |LB Scott was originally published on FieldGrass
St. Valentine, martyrdom and courtly love
March 20, 2015 Comments Off on St. Valentine, martyrdom and courtly love
Saint Valentine is a widely recognized third-century Roman saint commemorated on February 14, the date of his martyrdom, and associated since the High Middle Ages with a tradition of courtly love.
He was said to have supported young couples in a time when marriage was banned for young men. Emperor Claudius II desperately needed soldiers, not lovers. In a time in which marriage was prohibited, he secretly performed marriage ceremonies.
Contents
Saint Valentine
Valentine was a holy priest in Rome, who, with St. Marius and his family, assisted the martyrs in the persecution under Claudius II. He was apprehended, and sent by the emperor to the prefect of Rome, who, on finding all his promises to make him renounce his faith ineffectual, commanded him to be beaten with clubs, and afterwards, to be beheaded, which was executed on February 14, about the year 270. 1)Catholic.org
The man was clubbed and beheaded. His body was disinterred and stolen by his followers. They have his skull in a glass reliquary box in Ireland. Not quite the romantic association that I had anticipated. February 14 will never be the same. How is this romantic? Read on.
Courtly Love
This is courtly love, breathtaking, romantic and beautiful…
It was an experience between erotic desire and spiritual attainment that now seems contradictory as “a love at once illicit and morally elevating, passionate and disciplined, humiliating and exalting, human and transcendent”.2)Courtly Love
Prayer to Saint Valentine
Giver of Love and Passion,
And He who strings the hearts cords,
Lead the Lovers this day, February ten plus four.
The day during the month of two,
When the date is the perfect number of God
Greater two souls and two hearts.
Some Loves are fleeting,
But that which is built on you will never fail.
So guide the Lovers to know what is to be.
Your truths the Lovers’ mouths should speak,
For Your truth is that which is honest to the heart.
Only this, then, should pass over the red lips of the Lovers.
Your art, the Lovers simply a medium.
It is only with True Hearts that You can create a Masterpiece,
So let the Lovers remember that their Soul’s Desire
Is the one for which You light their Fire.
And let it be You who creates the Art of the Lovers;
The art of two into one.Amen. 3)Prayer to Saint Valentine
I missed Valentine’s Day. And the mood hit.
Sources
1. | ↑ | Catholic.org |
2. | ↑ | Courtly Love |
3. | ↑ | Prayer to Saint Valentine |
St. Valentine, martyrdom and courtly love was originally published on FieldGrass
First African American Dictionary
March 19, 2015 Comments Off on First African American Dictionary
A delightful slice of history! The image: Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Lena Horn and Cab Callaway
Cab Callaway not only had a way with words, his love of them led him to compile a “Hepster’s Dictionary” of Harlem musician slang circa 1938-40. It featured 200 expressions used by the “hep cats” when they talk their “jive” in the clubs on Lenox Avenue (see the map below). It was also apparently the first dictionary authored by an African-American.1)Ayun Halliday http://www.openculture.com/2015/01/cab-calloways-hepster-dictionary.html jQuery(“#footnote_plugin_tooltip_4420_1”).tooltip({ tip: “#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_4420_1”, tipClass: “footnote_tooltip”, effect: “fade”, fadeOutSpeed: 100, predelay: 400, position: “top right”, relative: true, offset: [10, 10] });
The places to be for the hep cats of Harlem…
Below: Harlem Night-Club Map. Illustrator Elmer Campbell was a friend of Calloway and the first African-American cartoonist to be nationally published in the New Yorker, Playboy, and Esquire, whose bug-eyed, now retired mascot, Esky, was a Campbell creation.2)Ayun Halliday http://www.openculture.com/2014/09/a-1932-illustrated-map-of-harlems-night-clubs.html jQuery(“#footnote_plugin_tooltip_4420_2”).tooltip({ tip: “#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_4420_2”, tipClass: “footnote_tooltip”, effect: “fade”, fadeOutSpeed: 100, predelay: 400, position: “top right”, relative: true, offset: [10, 10] });
Callaway never took his hepster slang too seriously; it was all about having fun and being unique. Soon lots of people wanted to speak just like Cab. To help facilitate this, Calloway produced a “Hepster Dictionary” that accompanied Cab Calloway sheet music.3)Brett & Kate McKay http://www.artofmanliness.com/2008/09/25/are-you-hep-to-the-jive-the-cab-calloway-hepster-dictionary/ jQuery(“#footnote_plugin_tooltip_4420_3”).tooltip({ tip: “#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_4420_3”, tipClass: “footnote_tooltip”, effect: “fade”, fadeOutSpeed: 100, predelay: 400, position: “top right”, relative: true, offset: [10, 10] });
HEPSTER’S DICTIONARY
A hummer (n.) — exceptionally good. Ex., “Man, that boy is a hummer.”
Ain’t coming on that tab (v.) — won’t accept the proposition. Usually abbr. to “I ain’t coming.”
Alligator (n.) — jitterbug.
Apple (n.) — the big town, the main stem, Harlem.
Armstrongs (n.) — musical notes in the upper register, high trumpet notes.
Barbecue (n.) — the girl friend, a beauty
Barrelhouse (adj.) — free and easy.
Battle (n.) — a very homely girl, a crone.
Beat (adj.) — (1) tired, exhausted. Ex., “You look beat” or “I feel beat.” (2) lacking anything. Ex, “I am beat for my cash”, “I am beat to my socks” (lacking everything).
Beat it out (v.) — play it hot, emphasize the rhythym.
Beat up (adj.) — sad, uncomplimentary, tired.
Beat up the chops (or the gums) (v.) — to talk, converse, be loquacious.
Beef (v.) — to say, to state. Ex., “He beefed to me that, etc.”
Bible (n.) — the gospel truth. Ex., “It’s the bible!”
Black (n.) — night.
Black and tan (n.) — dark and light colored folks. Not colored and white folks as erroneously assumed.
Blew their wigs (adj.) — excited with enthusiasm, gone crazy.
Blip (n.) — something very good. Ex., “That’s a blip”; “She’s a blip.”
Blow the top (v.) — to be overcome with emotion (delight). Ex., “You’ll blow your top when you hear this one.”
Boogie-woogie (n.) — harmony with accented bass.
Boot (v.) — to give. Ex., “Boot me that glove.”
Break it up (v.) — to win applause, to stop the show.
Bree (n.) — girl.
Bright (n.) — day.
Brightnin’ (n.) — daybreak.
Bring down ((1) n. (2) v.) — (1) something depressing. Ex., “That’s a bring down.” (2) Ex., “That brings me down.”
Buddy ghee (n.) — fellow.
Bust your conk (v.) — apply yourself diligently, break your neck.
Canary (n.) — girl vocalist.
Capped (v.) — outdone, surpassed.
Cat (n.) — musician in swing band.
Chick (n.) — girl.
Chime (n.) — hour. Ex., “I got in at six chimes.”
Clambake (n.) — ad lib session, every man for himself, a jam session not in the groove.
Chirp (n.) — female singer.
Cogs (n.) — sun glasses.
Collar (v.) — to get, to obtain, to comprehend. Ex., “I gotta collar me some food”; “Do you collar this jive?”
Come again (v.) — try it over, do better than you are doing, I don’t understand you.
Comes on like gangbusters (or like test pilot) (v.) — plays, sings, or dances in a terrific manner, par excellence in any department. Sometimes abbr. to “That singer really comes on!”
Cop (v.) — to get, to obtain (see collar; knock).
Corny (adj.) — old-fashioned, stale.
Creeps out like the shadow (v.) — “comes on,” but in smooth, suave, sophisticated manner.
Crumb crushers (n.) — teeth.
Cubby (n.) — room, flat, home.
Cups (n.) — sleep. Ex., “I gotta catch some cups.”
Cut out (v.) — to leave, to depart. Ex., “It’s time to cut out”; “I cut out from the joint in early bright.”
Cut rate (n.) — a low, cheap person. Ex., “Don’t play me cut rate, Jack!”
Dicty (adj.) — high-class, nifty, smart.
Dig (v.) — (1) meet. Ex., “I’ll plant you now and dig you later.” (2) look, see. Ex., “Dig the chick on your left duke.” (3) comprehend, understand. Ex., “Do you dig this jive?”
Dim (n.) — evening.
Dime note (n.) — ten-dollar bill.
Doghouse (n.) — bass fiddle.
Domi (n.) — ordinary place to live in. Ex., “I live in a righteous dome.”
Doss (n.) — sleep. Ex., “I’m a little beat for my doss.”
Down with it (adj.) — through with it.
Drape (n.) — suit of clothes, dress, costume.
Dreamers (n.) — bed covers, blankets.
Dry-goods (n.) — same as drape.
Duke (n.) — hand, mitt.
Dutchess (n.) — girl.
Early black (n.) — evening
Early bright (n.) — morning.
Evil (adj.) — in ill humor, in a nasty temper.
Fall out (v.) — to be overcome with emotion. Ex., “The cats fell out when he took that solo.”
Fews and two (n.) — money or cash in small quatity.
Final (v.) — to leave, to go home. Ex., “I finaled to my pad” (went to bed); “We copped a final” (went home).
Fine dinner (n.) — a good-looking girl.
Focus (v.) — to look, to see.
Foxy (v.) — shrewd.
Frame (n.) — the body.
Fraughty issue (n.) — a very sad message, a deplorable state of affairs.
Freeby (n.) — no charge, gratis. Ex., “The meal was a freeby.”
Frisking the whiskers (v.) — what the cats do when they are warming up for a swing session.
Frolic pad (n.) — place of entertainment, theater, nightclub.
Fromby (adj.) — a frompy queen is a battle or faust.
Front (n.) — a suit of clothes.
Fruiting (v.) — fickle, fooling around with no particular object.
Fry (v.) — to go to get hair straightened.
Gabriels (n.) — trumpet players.
Gammin’ (adj.) — showing off, flirtatious.
Gasser (n, adj.) — sensational. Ex., “When it comes to dancing, she’s a gasser.”
Gate (n.) — a male person (a salutation), abbr. for “gate-mouth.”
Get in there (exclamation.) — go to work, get busy, make it hot, give all you’ve got.
Gimme some skin (v.) — shake hands.
Glims (n.) — the eyes.
Got your boots on — you know what it is all about, you are a hep cat, you are wise.
Got your glasses on — you are ritzy or snooty, you fail to recognize your friends, you are up-stage.
Gravy (n.) — profits.
Grease (v.) — to eat.
Groovy (adj.) — fine. Ex., “I feel groovy.”
Ground grippers (n.) — new shoes.
Growl (n.) — vibrant notes from a trumpet.
Gut-bucket (adj.) — low-down music.
Guzzlin’ foam (v.) — drinking beer.
Hard (adj.) — fine, good. Ex., “That’s a hard tie you’re wearing.”
Hard spiel (n.) — interesting line of talk.
Have a ball (v.) — to enjoy yourself, stage a celebration. Ex., “I had myself a ball last night.”
Hep cat (n.) — a guy who knows all the answers, understands jive.
Hide-beater (n.) — a drummer (see skin-beater).
Hincty (adj.) — conceited, snooty.
Hip (adj.) — wise, sophisticated, anyone with boots on. Ex., “She’s a hip chick.”
Home-cooking (n.) — something very dinner (see fine dinner).
Hot (adj.) — musically torrid; before swing, tunes were hot or bands were hot.
Hype (n, v.) — build up for a loan, wooing a girl, persuasive talk.
Icky (n.) — one who is not hip, a stupid person, can’t collar the jive.
Igg (v.) — to ignore someone. Ex., “Don’t igg me!)
In the groove (adj.) — perfect, no deviation, down the alley.
Jack (n.) — name for all male friends (see gate; pops).
Jam ((1)n, (2)v.) — (1) improvised swing music. Ex., “That’s swell jam.” (2) to play such music. Ex., “That cat surely can jam.”
Jeff (n.) — a pest, a bore, an icky.
Jelly (n.) — anything free, on the house.
Jitterbug (n.) — a swing fan.
Jive (n.) — Harlemese speech.
Joint is jumping — the place is lively, the club is leaping with fun.
Jumped in port (v.) — arrived in town.
Kick (n.) — a pocket. Ex., “I’ve got five bucks in my kick.”
Kill me (v.) — show me a good time, send me.
Killer-diller (n.) — a great thrill.
Knock (v.) — give. Ex., “Knock me a kiss.”
Kopasetic (adj.) — absolutely okay, the tops.
Lamp (v.) — to see, to look at.
Land o’darkness (n.) — Harlem.
Lane (n.) — a male, usually a nonprofessional.
Latch on (v.) — grab, take hold, get wise to.
Lay some iron (v.) — to tap dance. Ex., “Jack, you really laid some iron that last show!”
Lay your racket (v.) — to jive, to sell an idea, to promote a proposition.
Lead sheet (n.) — a topcoat.
Left raise (n.) — left side. Ex., “Dig the chick on your left raise.”
Licking the chops (v.) — see frisking the whiskers.
Licks (n.) — hot musical phrases.
Lily whites (n.) — bed sheets.
Line (n.) — cost, price, money. Ex., “What is the line on this drape” (how much does this suit cost)? “Have you got the line in the mouse” (do you have the cash in your pocket)? Also, in replying, all figures are doubled. Ex., “This drape is line forty” (this suit costs twenty dollars).
Lock up — to acquire something exclusively. Ex., “He’s got that chick locked up”; “I’m gonna lock up that deal.”
Main kick (n.) — the stage.
Main on the hitch (n.) — husband.
Main queen (n.) — favorite girl friend, sweetheart.
Man in gray (n.) — the postman.
Mash me a fin (command.) — Give me $5.
Mellow (adj.) — all right, fine. Ex., “That’s mellow, Jack.”
Melted out (adj.) — broke.
Mess (n.) — something good. Ex., “That last drink was a mess.”
Meter (n.) — quarter, twenty-five cents.
Mezz (n.) — anything supreme, genuine. Ex., “this is really the mezz.”
Mitt pounding (n.) — applause.
Moo juice (n.) — milk.
Mouse (n.) — pocket. Ex., “I’ve got a meter in the mouse.”
Muggin’ (v.) — making ‘em laugh, putting on the jive. “Muggin’ lightly,” light staccato swing; “muggin’ heavy,” heavy staccato swing.
Murder (n.) — something excellent or terrific. Ex., “That’s solid murder, gate!”
Neigho, pops — Nothing doing, pal.
Nicklette (n.) — automatic phonograph, music box.
Nickel note (n.) — five-dollar bill.
Nix out (v.) — to eliminate, get rid of. Ex., “I nixed that chick out last week”; “I nixed my garments” (undressed).
Nod (n.) — sleep. Ex., “I think I’l cop a nod.”
Ofay (n.) — white person.
Off the cob (adj.) — corny, out of date.
Off-time jive (n.) — a sorry excuse, saying the wrong thing.
Orchestration (n.) — an overcoat.
Out of the world (adj.) — perfect rendition. Ex., “That sax chorus was out of the world.”
Ow! — an exclamation with varied meaning. When a beautiful chick passes by, it’s “Ow!”; and when someone pulls an awful pun, it’s also “Ow!”
Pad (n.) — bed.
Pecking (n.) — a dance introduced at the Cotton Club in 1937.
Peola (n.) — a light person, almost white.
Pigeon (n.) — a young girl.
Pops (n.) — salutation for all males (see gate; Jack).
Pounders (n.) — policemen.
Queen (n.) — a beautiful girl.
Rank (v.) — to lower.
Ready (adj.) — 100 per cent in every way. Ex., “That fried chicken was ready.”
Ride (v.) — to swing, to keep perfect tempo in playing or singing.
Riff (n.) — hot lick, musical phrase.
Righteous (adj.) — splendid, okay. Ex., “That was a righteous queen I dug you with last black.”
Rock me (v.) — send me, kill me, move me with rhythym.
Ruff (n.) — quarter, twenty-five cents.
Rug cutter (n.) — a very good dancer, an active jitterbug.
Sad (adj.) — very bad. Ex., “That was the saddest meal I ever collared.”
Sadder than a map (adj.) — terrible. Ex., “That man is sadder than a map.”
Salty (adj.) — angry, ill-tempered.
Sam got you — you’ve been drafted into the army.
Send (v.) — to arouse the emotions. (joyful). Ex., “That sends me!”
Set of seven brights (n.) — one week.
Sharp (adj.) — neat, smart, tricky. Ex., “That hat is sharp as a tack.”
Signify (v.) — to declare yourself, to brag, to boast.
Skins (n.) — drums.
Skin-beater (n.) — drummer (see hide-beater).
Sky piece (n.) — hat.
Slave (v.) — to work, whether arduous labor or not.
Slide your jib (v.) — to talk freely.
Snatcher (n.) — detective.
So help me — it’s the truth, that’s a fact.
Solid (adj.) — great, swell, okay.
Sounded off (v.) — began a program or conversation.
Spoutin’ (v.) — talking too much.
Square (n.) — an unhep person (see icky; Jeff).
Stache (v.) — to file, to hide away, to secrete.
Stand one up (v.) — to play one cheap, to assume one is a cut-rate.
To be stashed (v.) — to stand or remain.
Susie-Q (n.) — a dance introduced at the Cotton Club in 1936.
Take it slow (v.) — be careful.
Take off (v.) — play a solo.
The man (n.) — the law.
Threads (n.) — suit, dress or costuem (see drape; dry-goods).
Tick (n.) — minute, moment. Ex., “I’ll dig you in a few ticks.” Also, ticks are doubled in accounting time, just as money isdoubled in giving “line.” Ex., “I finaled to the pad this early bright at tick twenty” (I got to bed this morning at ten o’clock).
Timber (n.) — toothipick.
To dribble (v.) — to stutter. Ex., “He talked in dribbles.”
Togged to the bricks — dressed to kill, from head to toe.
Too much (adj.) — term of highest praise. Ex., “You are too much!”
Trickeration (n.) — struttin’ your stuff, muggin’ lightly and politely.
Trilly (v.) — to leave, to depart. Ex., “Well, I guess I’ll trilly.”
Truck (v.) — to go somewhere. Ex., “I think I’ll truck on down to the ginmill (bar).”
Trucking (n.) — a dance introduced at the Cotton Club in 1933.
Twister to the slammer (n.) — the key to the door.
Two cents (n.) — two dollars.
Unhep (adj.) — not wise to the jive, said of an icky, a Jeff, a square.
Vine (n.) — a suit of clothes.
V-8 (n.) — a chick who spurns company, is independent, is not amenable.
What’s your story? — What do you want? What have you got to say for yourself? How are tricks? What excuse can you offer? Ex., “I don’t know what his story is.”
Whipped up (adj.) — worn out, exhausted, beat for your everything.
Wren (n.) — a chick, a queen.
Wrong riff — the wrong thing said or done. Ex., “You’re coming up on the wrong riff.”
Yarddog (n.) — uncouth, badly attired, unattractive male or female.
Yeah, man — an exclamation of assent.
Zoot (adj.) — exaggerated
Zoot suit (n.) — the ultimate in clothes. The only totally and truly American civilian suit.
BONUS MUSICAL INSTRUMENT SUPPLEMENT
Guitar: Git Box or Belly-Fiddle
Bass: Doghouse
Drums: Suitcase, Hides, or Skins
Piano: Storehouse or Ivories
Saxophone: Plumbing or Reeds
Trombone: Tram or Slush-Pump
Clarinet: Licorice Stick or Gob Stick
Xylophone: Woodpile
Vibraphone: Ironworks
Violin: Squeak-Box
Accordion: Squeeze-Box or Groan-Box
Tuba: Foghorn
Electric Organ: Spark Jiver
Sources
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First African American Dictionary was originally published on FieldGrass
Race Riot | Warhol
February 27, 2015 § Leave a comment
Sources
1. | ↑ | Race Riot is an acrylic and silkscreen painting by the American artist Andy Warhol that he executed in 1964. It fetched $62,885,000 at Christie’s in New York on 13 May 2014 |
Race Riot | Warhol was originally published on FieldGrass
On Images of The Prophet
January 18, 2015 § Leave a comment
The author explores images of the Prophet Muhammad through creating an historical and cultural timeline sourced from Islamic texts, book art, and paintings. I post this as a point of interest and insight to learn, not for debate. I am not a Muslim, I am not knowledgeable, I offer no opinion, no answers. I do have deep respect and…more
Read On Images of The Prophet originally published on FieldGrass
A Scandalous Makeover at Chartres
January 7, 2015 § 3 Comments
“Carried away by the splendors of the moment, I did not initially realize that something was very wrong. I had noticed the floor-to-ceiling scrim-covered scaffolding near the crossing of the nave and transepts, but had assumed it was routine maintenance. But my more attentive wife, the architectural historian Rosemarie Haag Bletter—who as a Columbia doctoral candidate took courses on Romanesque sculpture with the legendary Meyer Schapiro and Gothic architecture with the great medievalist Robert Branner—immediately noticed that large areas of the sanctuary’s deep gray limestone surface had been painted…”
Read more…
A Scandalous Makeover at Chartres was originally published on FieldGrass
Michelangelo’s disintegrating frescoes
November 20, 2014 § Leave a comment
“Without having seen the Sistine Chapel one can form no appreciable idea of what one man is capable of achieving.”
—Johann Wolfgang Goethe, 23 August 1787,
The article, and title of this post, is below The Restoration of 1984-94 segment. It is about the current alarming state of the Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling. It is a painful read. “Today, as the new physical threat is seen to be turning the frescoes white…”.
The Restoration
“We said at the time that the restoration constituted a crime against art.” – Artwatch
(If you, like I, need to see a much larger image go to the original post on my site)
The Sistine Chapel’s ceiling restoration began on 7 November 1984. The restoration complete, the chapel was re-opened to the public on 8 April 1994. The part of the restoration in the Sistine Chapel that has caused the most concern is the ceiling, painted by Michelangelo. The emergence of the brightly coloured Ancestors of Christ from the gloom sparked a reaction of fear that the processes being employed in the cleaning were too severe and removed the original intent of the artist. – wiki
11th November 2014. Michael Daley, Artwatch:
Michelangelo’s disintegrating frescoes
As we predicted at the time of the last restoration of the Sistine chapel ceiling, by removing all of the glue-painting applied by Michelangelo to finish off and heighten the effects of his frescoes, the Vatican’s restorers exposed the bare fresco remains for the first time in their history to new dangers from the atmospheric pollution that is exacerbated by huge numbers of paying visitors. Then, 2 million visitors entered the chapel every year. Now, that figure is 6 million.The Vatican has been carrying out secret attempts to remove disfiguring calcium deposits building up over the remains of Michelangelo’s painting. These deposits are caused when moisture given off by tourists and air-borne pollutants are absorbed by the plaster. This now-acknowledged process will also activate, as we specifically contended, the remnants of the cleaning agents (sodium and ammonia) that were washed into the frescoes during the rinse cycles of their last so-called restoration and conservation treatments. At the time, the use of the ferociously aggressive cleaning agent AB 57 was justified by the Vatican on the grounds that it was necessary to remove, among other things…ordinary solvent-resistant calcium deposits that had built up over the centuries in parts of the ceiling exposed to leaks in the roof.
Then, the Vatican promised that special air-conditioning systems would protect the newly exposed fresco surfaces in perpetuity. That system had failed even before the Vatican recently celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the end of the last restorations of Michelangelo’s paintings. Today, as the new physical threat is seen to be turning the frescoes white, the Vatican promises new, improved air conditioning units (from the same firm).
To counter the new pale appearance, the Vatican recently installed thousands of LED lights, each individually attuned to heighten the colours in Michelangelo’s painting.
Michelangelo’s now twice-injured painting has been left a colourised but still lucrative wreck – and an EU-funded (EUR 867 000) showcase (“This made the Vatican City’s Sistine Chapel the ideal venue for LED4ART”) for a company that shows in its advertisements that it has no idea what the Sistine Chapel looks like.
We said at the time that the restoration constituted a crime against art. Now, the Vatican promises to limit the numbers of visitors inside the chapel to 2,000 at any one time. But that means allowing a crowd as big as a full capacity audience at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, to pack into the small chapel all day long. The Vatican’s administrators – who have known of the present problems since 2010 – now concede that the glue coatings (that were in truth Michelangelo’s own final painted adjustments) had served as a protective barrier against all air-borne pollutants. The tills will continue to ring. Art lovers remain weeping. Shame on the Vatican’s administrators.
For our previous coverage, see:
Misreading Visual Evidence ~ No 2: Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel Ceiling;
The Sistine Chapel Restorations: Part I ~ Setting the Scene, Packing Them In;
The Sistine Chapel Restorations, Part II: How to Take a Michelangelo Sibyl Apart, from Top to Toes;
The Sistine Chapel Restorations, Part II – CODA: The Remarkable Responses to Our Evidence of Injuries; and Thomas Hoving’s Rant of Denial;
The Sistine Chapel Restorations, Part III: Cutting Michelangelo Down to Size;
The Twilight of a God: Virtual Reality in the Vatican;
Sistina Progress and Tate Transgressions;
ArtWatch Stock-taking and the Sistine Chapel Conservation Debacle;
Coming to Life: Frankenweenie – A Black and White Michelangelo for Our Times
UPDATE: 16 November 2014
While the Vatican now admits the hitherto concealed fact of the damage that is being caused to Michelangelo’s frescoes by the massive increase of tourist numbers, it remains in denial about the destruction during the last restoration of the final a secco adjustments that Michelangelo had made to those frescoes. That autograph last-stage painting – which was observed and described with perfect, detailed clarity by the painter Charles Heath Wilson in the 1881 (second) edition of his book Life and Works of Michelangelo Buonarroti– is characterised, preposterously, and against the evidence of all contemporary and subsequent copies of the Sistine ceiling, as consisting of“centuries of built-up candle wax, dirt and smoke”, as if such substances might somehow have disported themselves along the lines of Michelangelo’s design so as to reinforce his modelling and depict shadows cast by his figures. This latest apologia is carried in an Associated Press article “Sistine Chapel frescoes turning white ~ Humidity, tourists’ CO2 to blame”:
Officials acknowledged that the major cleaning of the frescoes completed in 1994 – which removed centuries of built-up candle wax, dirt and smoke – probably removed a barrier between the frescoes and the environment that allowed the whitening to take place. But they said the main culprit was the sheer number of human beings who cram into a tiny shoebox-shaped space that has limited natural air flow.
A paperback facsimile of a 1923 edition of Wilson’s milestone book (in which he describes his close examination of the ceiling on a special portable scaffold) is now available. It is time for the Vatican to acknowledge that Michelangelo had indeed finished his frescoes with secco painting, and that its curators, restorers and conservation scientists had blundered badly and inexplicably when, having judged Michelangelo’s specific, purposive pictorial enhancements and modifications to be nothing other than arbitrary accumulations of polluting material, removed it – and, thereby, exposed the lime plaster surfaces of the frescoes to their present dangers. That initial error and the subsequent falsification of art history that was made on its back, have both now been maintained for two decades.
via http://artwatch.org.uk/michelangelos-disintegrating-frescoes/
My only edit was the pull quote, and adding the AP quote. – T
Michelangelo’s disintegrating frescoes was originally published on FieldGrass