Last month we saw the 100th anniversary of the first recordings by King Joe Oliver's Creole Jazz Bank. These records, made in Gennett's Richmond, Indiana studio, were also the first recordings to feature Louis Armstrong:
This ad offers the first record, with "Dipper Mouth Blues" and "Weather Bird Rag."
Richmond Item, 26-May-1923
This ad offers records from other pioneering jazz groups. Ladd's Black Aces was an alias used by the Original Memphis Five. The New Orleans Rhythm Kings was formed in Chicago by New Orleans musicians. They were very popular.
I remember when the Giants traded a bunch of people to the Athletics for Vida Blue. I liked many of them, like Dave Heaverlo. We were at Candlestick for the 1989 game where he got married. Willie McCovey was best man. People say nice things about Vida Blue. He ran the Junior Giants program for years. I am sorry to learn he has died.
Saturday we watched bits and pieces of the crowning of Charles III and his consort Camilla. It was nice to see the old traditions, but whole thing was silly.
In the golden age of radio, remote music broadcasts from hotels and clubs were very common. Here is an early example from the Fairmont Hotel to station KPO. John W Weeks was Secretary of War in President Harding's cabinet. Known as an honest man, Weeks was not involved in the Teapot Dome scandal.
Hale's Radio to
Relay Music
by Oliver W. Tuttle.
Commencing Sunday night at 8:30 o'clock "KPO," Hale Brothers'
big broadcasting station, will inaugurate its new remote
control system from the Fairmont Hotel.
Controlled by a switch install on the huge panel in the "KPO"
operating room, the magic waves of Rudy Seiger's famous Fairmont
Orchestra.
This notable feat of radio engineering skill was made possible
through the co-operation with Hale Brothers of the Fairmont Hotel
and the Leo J Meyberg Company.
Since the closing down of the old "KDN" station at the Fairmont
radio fans have constantly inquired why Rudy Seiger and his musicians
were no longer to be heard via the radio. They will now be heard
daily between the hours of 1 and 2 and 4:30 and 5:30 o'clock in the
afternoon. The regular Sunday concert will also be a feature of the
weekly program.
The concert Sunday night will be featured by violin solos by Rudy
Seiger. The members of the orchestra are J. Chandler Smith, piano;
Jasha Schwarzman, cello; Jerome Simon, violin; H. Seiger, base, and
Rudy Seiger, conductor.
Secretary of War John Weeks will speak from Hale Brothers' studio
tonight at 8 o'clock.
His words will be eagerly listened to by thousands of radio fans up
and down the Pacific coast, who, through the medium of their receiving
sets, will have this great opportunity of hearing a figure of national
importance. An attractive musical program will also be broadcasted.
Blackhawk was one of my favorite comic book characters, although I first encountered him and his team, the Blackhawks, when DC tried to turn them into costumed superheroes, about 1968. I found some older issues and even older stories reprinted in books. Blackhawk, an American or a Pole (it varied over the years), led a paramilitary team of ace aviators. Their airplanes are Grumman XF5F Skyrockets, a very cool-looking Navy fighter that never reached production. They started out fighting the Axis in Quality's Military Comics. The Blackhawks also appeared in their own title. After the war, Military became Modern Comics. Their enemies became Communists. DC took over the Quality line. The series went downhill until it reached its Nadir in the New Blackhawk Era and the superhero experiment. It died soon after, but it has returned now and then.
