The inspiration this week on the Inspire Me Thursday blog is “the lost art of letter writing”. February 6, 1964 Dear Pete, Hello, bloke. How’ve you been? I know it’s been about a fortnight since you went to visit your mum. (How is the old bird, by the by?) We haven’t been able to talk …
In 2006, Jaco Pastorius was voted “The Greatest Bass Player Who Has Ever Lived” by reader submissions in Bass Guitar magazine. His short, but extremely influential career ended abruptly, but not unexpectedly. From unlikely beginnings in Norristown Pennsylvania, Jaco Pastorius moved with his family to Fort Lauderdale, Florida at a young age. He started his …
When I was five or six, my favorite singer was Allan Sherman. I listened to my parents’ Allan Sherman records. They had his first five releases. I knew every lyric to every song. I knew the order of every song on every album. My Mom and Dad roared with laughter at Sherman’s songs and laughed …
This is the story of my great-great uncle, Aloysius Josh Pincus, the man for whom I am named. Just prior to the turn of the twentieth century, Aloysius ran the soda fountain at Blehall’s Pharmacy, a sprawling retail establishment housed on the street level of a massive and ornate building at the corner of 14th …
The illustrationfriday.com word this week is “adapt”. A man is sitting at a table in a bar having a beer. He looks up and sees a interesting looking guy standing at the bar. The guy has a wooden leg, a hook for a hand and an eyepatch. He’s dressed in stereotypical pirate garb. The man …
Doug Kenney was one of the founders of National Lampoon magazine. He served as writer and editor from its inception in 1972 until 1977, when he left to pursue his dream of screenwriting. Along with Chris Miller and Harold Ramis, he co-wrote the screenplay for National Lampoon’s Animal House. Kenney even had the small role …
Karl Wallenda was born in Germany in 1905 to a circus performing family. He himself began performing at age 6. In 1922 he put together his own act with his brother Herman, a family friend, and a teenage girl, Helen Kreis, who eventually became his wife. The act toured Europe for several years, performing some …
Sarah Holcomb only appeared in four movies in her brief three-year career. Chances are, you’ve seen half of them. At 18, Sarah made her film debut in National Lampoon’s Animal House as Clorette DePasto, the underage virginal daughter of shady mayor Carmine DePasto. She meets Larry (played by future Academy Award nominee Tom Hulce) when …
When I was a kid, my mom introduced me to what would become my life-long appreciation for novelty records. As long as there have been different genres and trends in popular music, there has been someone making fun of it. In my mom’s era, there was Spike Jones. My mom had several of Jones’ 78s …
Lena Zavaroni grew up on the Isle of Bute (a part of Scotland) and began singing at the age of two. At nine, she appeared on the British talent search program, Hughie Green’s Opportunity Knocks and won the show for a record-breaking five consecutive weeks. She released Ma, He’s Making Eyes At Me, a collection …
