A Rain of Frogs—the blog at onetinleg.com
“The outrageous is the reasonable, if introduced politely...” —Charles Fort, Book of the Damned
Carl Sagan’s Baloney Detection Kit
Post hoc, ergo propter hoc―“...it happened after so it was caused by―a confusion of cause and effect.” OneTinLeg.com’s epigraph, “Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known,” is the handiwork of Carl Sagan, astronomer (1934-1996). Dr. Sagan is reported to have said: “They laughed at Einstein. They laughed at the Wright Brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.”
Claire Hunter (Claire-ity.com)
Hip-hop, the West Coast urban scene, overpass art and social protest, to fashion shoots that feature people much too beautiful to live in her pop’s neighborhood―Jennifer (Claire) Hunter and her camera get to go there. You can, too. Have a credit card ready. Jenny’s album cover work with the late Tupac Shakur is featured on the 2Pac 4 the People! project T-shirt here.
Charlie Hunter
Tahi’s husband, Clyde and Lila’s pop. Charlie Hunter may be heard on the Telarc, Ropeadope and Bluenote labels. A Tuesday’s child: “...somebody said, ‘You need to check out Charlie Parker and Charlie Christian and John Coltrane,’ and it was like boom!” Charlie represents the author’s foothold on the DNA Ladder of Fame.
Chris Albertson
This jazz writer and broadcaster (bon vivant, gent about town and most knowledgable of cognoscenti) was the station manager of WBAI-FM in New York City in the days when I was the recording engineer. Chris’ blog Stomp Off is well worth a visit for jazz memorabilia, rare sessions, video and audio clips and oodles of graphic enchantments: Alberta Hunter and Paul Robeson at the Drury Lane Theatre is a winner. Alberta Hunter, Lester Young and Stan Kenton pieces are among the latest adds (May 2011).
The Annals of Tape, etc.
In the Sixties WBAI was the place to be. I was there—cutting tape, recording shows, massaging volunteer producers, and helping to shepherd the station’s fund-raising marathons through our wasteland of navel-gazing toward a self-sustaining mirage of Free Speech Radio. Yea, verily. The staff personalities―hothouse flowers crammed too tightly together for comfort―sqaubbled incessantly. Somehow we got things done. Very worthwhile things, too, in 50-years worth of hindsight. Always broke, we couldn’t afford the line fees to broadcast a congressional hoedown on the righteousness quotient of Harvard professor John K. Fairbank, a “China Hand.” These were suspect, then as now. Student volunteers from WAMU in Washington headed north with 10" reels of tape and, handing off a Greyhound youth card like a relay runner’s baton, kept us current. Not yet the speed of Planck, the Greyhound Bus Co. kept us on the air and only three hours late with the daily feed. Chris Albertson (see above) reminded me of a stunt I once performed, helping a leading man to speak Latin for a Marlowe play. My inspiration was Nat Levy of Masterpiece Recording, my boss and life coach, who taught me the byways of voice editing. Nat had once metamorphosed an hour of Arabic into :30 seconds of fractured English. The speaker was King Saud; the pay was good. Chris’ WBAI Blog is here. Also highly recommended is the blog of Bob Fass, a nice guy and the proproetor of Radio Unnameable from the WBAI days.
Hot Club of San Francisco
Jazz Manouche, Gypsy Jazz―the music cues for “A Pass on the Tabouli.” The Hot Club of San Francisco is an ensemble of accomplished and versatile musicians celebrating the music of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli’s pioneering Hot Club de France. The ensemble borrows the all-string instrumentation of violin, bass and guitars from the original Hot Club, but breathes new life into the music with innovative arrangements and original compositions from the group’s superb lead guitarist Paul Mehling. You are invited to browse their offerings.
Quirks and Quarks
CBC Radio’s weekly one hour science review—it has been part of my Saturday mornings for the past 20 years. St. John, New Brunswick, while a brisk downhill run even at the speed of Planck, is my nearest station. A comfort while my home brew PBS stations are serving up a weekend palette of grand opera (gack!). Yes, I ante up my $35.00 a year for Maine Public Radio and will defend to the death the right of anyone who isn’t me to listen to opera on the radio on an otherwise inoffensive Saturday. Quirks boasts a podcast archive and, for those far from Canada, downloading is encouraged.
Dreamwalk
Special thanks to Passamaquoddy flutist Rolfe Richter, whose haunting evocations of Native spirituality are the signature of the spirit-priest in Chimaera Constant and The Red Sneaker Zones. The music is from Mr. Richter’s CD Dreamwalk and used by permission. Dreamwalk is a limited edition. You may get a copy from Rolfe Richter P.O. Box 88, Perry ME (USA) 04667.
Alexander “Sasha” Spivak
Alexander Spivak is a professional artist who has been living and
working in the USA since 1989. His paintings are in great demand in the
national and international art markets. His unique, refined style is known
as “Poetic Symbolism.” His illustration “Actors,” decorates the MP3 links
for my three Prosper tales, and is from the book
Misha's Nutcracker.
“Actors” is the copyrighted work of the artist and is used with permission.
Read more about Alexander “Sasha” Spivak at
www.spivakart.com
Dum Luk’s
Empirical oddities. You are cordially invited to use any idea here strictly at your own risk: “Who lacks wealth, cunning, office, brawn, beauty, charm or brains must live by sheer dumb luck alone...” As author, Marty Langeland claims first refusal on the words. If you figure out how to make money with them, he wants some. Astrology, Newtonian physics and fine dining. Such as Molly Ivins’ Texas bean recipes―”The most amazing part of cow college was meeting the cow whisperer...” You are welcome to quote, with attribution.
Ravenari (Pia Van Ravestein)
Pia Van Ravestein (also known as Ravenari) is an illustrator and artist who works primarily in ink, watercolor pencil, acrylic and pastel, and her work reflects an animist spirituality: “...we ARE nature. And as aesthetically unpleasing as it may seem, our buildings, our cars, our plastics-that-last-millions-of-years, our condoms and trash and medical waste and concrete and ‘refined’ uranium wastage is a part of nature. It’s a destructive part, it’s not a pretty or wanted or very romantic part of nature. But it is nature. Because WE are a part of nature.” Ravenari hangs her hat in Perth, West Australia; Ravenari’s painting “Teddy” is the graphic signature for the tale The Last Teddy Bear.
The Mom and Pop Culture Shop
Anna Haferman is the proprietrix. Outsider Art, Nashville Moments, Food & Drink, Celebrities Are Smarter than You and Me, Mrs. Butterworth and Mr. Sneekers. And― “...what’s a unicorn gotta do to get a drink around here? Seriously, it must be hard to and drink out of a shallow puddle, especially if by virtue of your mythic species you possess a certain footloose and fancy-free spirit. This must be why unicorns are ‘extinct.’ They all died of thirst.”
Mondolithic Studios
Scientific American, National Geographic Kids’ Magazine and cover art for a myriad of Sci-Fi and Fantasy book jackets―all the illustrations on this site are available as archival quality prints signed and numbered. There’s a new illustration every Monday so check back, or e-mail Kenn and Chris and be added the MondoMail list. Receive your weekly reminder to cool thought provoking artwork.
Elizabeth Ostrander
Elizabeth is a sculptor who resides on Moose Island (Eastport), Maine. “I think of my sculptures, paintings, and collages, as connections and conversations between reality and fantasy,” she trills. She is the creative engine behind the originals of “Francie’s Song to the Birds,” the cover art and MP3 links for the tale Facelift, and dean and docent of the Ostrander Studio Gallery and Sculpture Garden, a world of mermaids, goddesses, green men, and other joyous beings celebrating nature, myth, and spirit.
contact Rob Hunter
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