It Had To Come
You know Conrad by now, ever one to seize the day and exploit the Hades out of it, and since of late we have been babbling about 'Stones' as regards megaliths, reference to stones that are involved in music was always on the cards. Art!
There you go. the 'Rolling Stones', just not how you imagined them. You were expecting the band? Well have this iconic music magazine instead. It has branched out somewhat from it's early days, boasting Hunter S. Thompson - the 'S' is there to differentiate from all the other Hunter Thompsons out there - as a writer. In fact RS was so iconic there were songs about it. Art!
Yes yes yes we'll get to the band. PATIENCE! Art?
'Like A Rolling Stone'? No I do not, I cordially detest them. O the Dylan song? Ah yes I quite like that. It came out in 1965 and was an immediate success, despite radio stations being reluctant to play a six-minute song, when three-minutes was the norm. This was Dylan transitioning from a folk musician to a rock performer and one of the most influential songs he ever wrote. No, it had nothing to do with the British band, it was actually a distillation of 10 pages of stream-of-consciousness scribblings he'd done. Art!
Another connection between lithic and music, just possibly not the one you were expecting. This is the band - you may be ahead of me here - The Stone Roses, and that's their debut album, also known as - you may be ahead of me here again - 'The Stone Roses'. The Roses were one of the pioneer bands of the 'Madchester' scene, as I believe it was called, releasing said album to enormous acclaim. Some critics called it the best record ever, which is nonsense as 'Waiting For A Miracle' by The Comsat Angels is. No arguing or Remote Nuclear Detonator.
ANYWAY with a debut like that there was no way to improve on it, their second album got a mixed reception and they split up in 1996. Ian Brown, their singer, got landed with a 4-month prison sentence for threatening a flight attendant. Since then, crickets on the SR front. Art!
Here an aside. Hey, I waited for over 300 words! Referring to my 'Brewer's Dictionary Of Phrase And Fable', we find the phrase 'Stone the crows' as meaning an exclamation of dismay or dislike or similar. The origins are in Australian English of First Unpleasantness era, so now we all know more than we did five minutes ago. Conrad feels that it would be quite difficult to stone a crow, as they would tend to take off and fly hither as soon as anything you whanged at them got close.
ANYWAY AGAIN the band, again music and stones going together, STC were a Scottish band from Glasgow, heavy on the blues-rock approach, formed in late 1969. Their lead guitarist, Lee Harvey, was the younger brother of Alex Harvey, and they were managed by the formidable Peter Grant, who also suggested their name change from Power.
I also had no idea that Les Harvey was fatally electrocuted on stage in front of a live audience in 1972, when his guitar strings contacted a live ground wire*. Art!
Say hello to Stone Temple Pilots, South Canadian rock band out of San Diego, who began as a grunge band but evolved over time, branching out into different genres. They were an immediate critical and commercial success, and are still around, although they sacked original singer Scott Welland for being too much into Bolivian Marching Powder. Art!
Conrad vaguely remembers seeing this lot on television once. They were, according to mighty Wiki, a 'pop band' notable for having an ex-guitarist from the Bay City Rollers present, which is about as much as I feel like typing about. Art!
Then there's this completely different Rosetta Stone, a goth rock duo from Liverpool and the Nineties. Again, that's as much as I feel like typing. Art!
Yes, we finally get to The Rolling Stones. I did warn you. That above is the AI Art Generator working off a prompt of 'The Rolling Stones as cyborg zombies' and pretty darn hilarious it is, too. It also reveals why the rotting undead monsters avoid returning to the Allotment Of Eden - they would cause airport metal detectors to light up like a Christmas tree.
Every word true.
"The War Illustrated Edition 213 17th August 1945"
I cheated a little for this picture, as I went and looked at the stored photographs I have on file. Art!
This, in one illo, is a physical demonstration of why the Teutons were defeated and how Japan was about to be smitten severely from the air. These are B-17 bombers lined up at a reserve depot near Munich, in Germany. The Unpleasantness in Europe being over, they are about to be despatched to the Far East to bring good news to the Japanese home islands. Conrad's quick and dirty counting tallies over 120 planes here.
Conrad Is ANGRY!
O so angry! Furiously angry! Yes, it's the Codeword compilers again, the dastards. I mercifully hold off vapourising a few of them and they get cocky.
CHORIZO: What, we're now expected to be experts in Spanish cuisine and spelling, are we? Fortunately I have half of a chorizo sausage in the fridge so this one wasn't totally baffling, but really! a seven-letter word ending in a vowel and with the letter 'Z' present. Art!
Vegans look away now
SAGACIOUS: You'd have to be pretty sagacious yourself to get this one. Come on, how often do you use this word in conversation or writing? It means to be clever or perceptive, more so than the common man and OF COURSE it has a Latin root, 'Sagac' meaning 'Wise'. Pikers.
'Sagacious' is dull. Have a Zebratiger Monster instead
GENII: I should have gotten this as I'd got the 'II' part, but couldn't for the life of me figure out a 5-letter word that ended that way. Here it is, the plural of GENIE. Once again, how often do you see the plural of GENIE in print?
On That Day
Conrad was doing his due diligence on the subject of Famous Deaths for September 19th - I plan ahead - and found a curious coincidence. Art!
This is President McKinley, South Canadian President, who was assassinated in 1901, dying on September 19th. Art!
This is President Garfield getting assassinated on 19th September in 1881. That date again. Must be something in the water.
Now, bear in mind that date for McKinley jitterbugging off this mortal coil: 1901. Enter stage left the adult terrible Ambrose Bierce, who was working for the Hearst Press as a journalist, and whom had established a formidable reputation for biting social commentary and satire. So biting that he always went armed with a pistol, which he was a dead shot with. Neither Bierce nor the Hearst Press were fond of Prez McKinley, a dislike which was heartily returned. Then, in 1900, the Governor of Alabama, William Goebel, was assassinated - that does seem to be a recurring theme in South Canada, doesn't it? - and Bierce published a poem about it.
Needless to say, Ol' Amby got into very hot water when the Prez was assassinated. As I said, he always went armed, and he had the luck and skill to survive the South Canadian Civil Unpleasantness. Rather amazingly, he was only sued for libel once, and the case was laughed out of court. Art!
O Dearie Me
I see the Big Orange Oaf Himself has arrived in the Allotment Of Eden, doubtless puffed up with pride, self-importance and lies. He may be hoping to get away from the taint of Epstein and his Files, but we here at BOOJUM! are acidly happy to keep taunting him. Watch your back, Donold.
And with that we are done. DONE!
* No you don't get a photo. Ghouls.
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