Soundgarden - Rusty Cage

Two killer renditions of a great song. Original version.

Johnny Cash - Rusty Cage

Johnny Cash version. Note Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers jamming on the song with the Man in Black.

Today in History

November 19, 1863. Abraham Lincoln gives his famed Gettysburg Address on the ground where thousands of U.S. and C.S.A. soldiers had died 4 months earlier.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Today in History

November 17, 1934. Future president Lyndon B. Johnson marries Claudia Alta Taylor, more affectionately known as "Lady Bird." Many years later a cartoon Texan, Mr. Hank Hill, will affectionately name his beloved bloodhound after the First Lady.

Metallica - Disposable Heroes

To all veterans, of all nations, that have put themselves in the line of fire fighting senseless wars perpetrated by evil leaders. We cannot begin to comprehend what these men and women have gone through. I did not make this video, I found it online, but I think it portrays well the atrocities and brutal realities of war.

Today in History

Robbed!
November 6, 1995. Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell announces he is moving the team to Baltimore. The Browns were an NFL institution, with some of the best and most passionate fans in the league. Fortunately, Cleveland retained the rights to the Browns name and football came back to the shores of Lake Erie in 1999. However, the Browns have never been the same, making the playoffs only once since their rebirth. To rub it in even more, Modell's new team, the Baltimore Ravens, would win a Super Bowl within five years of leaving Cleveland.

Today in History

Happy Birthday Karate Kid! Ralph Macchio turns 49 today. It is also the birthday of beloved humorist Will Rogers, born in 1879. If you get a chance, visit the Will Rogers Memorial Museums in Oklahoma.


Will Rogers Museum: http://www.willrogers.com/

Reel Injun

Independent Lens, a series on PBS displaying excellent independent films and documentaries, has quickly become one of my favorite things to watch. Last night the series premiered Reel Injun: On the Trial of the Hollywood Indian. Directed by Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond, the film examines the images and stereotypes of Native Americans in movies over the years. It is a very well put together piece, using clips from films and input from Native American activists, filmmakers, and actors. Diamond also interviews Clint Eastwood, who has appeared in and directed a handful of movies starring Native Americans. Diamond also uses some great music in the documentary, including Iron Maiden's "Run to the Hills." This was an extremely interesting film, and I recommend it to anyone, particularly those interested in the images of Native Americans in Hollywood, as well as those interested in the representation of the American West in popular culture.

More about the film can be found here: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/reel-injun/

Feliz Dia de los Muertos!

Desert Solitaire

"No, wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread. A civilization which destroys what little remains of the wild, the spare, the original, is cutting itself off from its origins and betraying the principle of civilization itself."

Desert Solitaire, by Edward Abbey, recounts Abbey's experiences as an employee with the National Park Service, stationed at Arches National Monument (now National Park) near Moab, Utah. Abbey works in the park at a time before the roads were paved, before the onslaught of tourists that were to come by the hundreds of thousands. His home is a small camp trailer, and his only companions are the desert wildlife and solitude. Abbey tells his stories with ease; it makes one's heart ache to be in the desert, to experience what he was able to experience. One of the most poignant adventures that Abbey relates is his foray into Glen Canyon, prior to the construction of Glen Canyon Dam, and the subsequent flooding of the landscape that resulted in modern-day Lake Powell. Abbey writes, "The beavers had to go and build another goddamned dam on the Colorado." What a tremendous experience, to see this area before it was inundated. He and a friend spent nearly a week, floating down the river, breathing in the landscape around them. The greatest thing about Abbey's experiences, which is conveyed in his writing, is that he was alive. He wasn't merely existing, but he was actually living, and living life to the fullest. I absolutely loved this book, and would recommend it to anyone interested in the Desert Southwest, particularly Southern Utah. It is also essential reading for those interested in environmental history, and will appeal to the casual reader as well.