canada
Music Monday: When Irish Eyes Are Smiling 1913
Image Credit: Knick Of Time Blog
One-hundred, ten years ago…
When Irish Eyes Are Smiling is a lighthearted song in tribute to Ireland and was very popular in June 1913. Its lyrics were written by Chauncey Olcott and George Graff, Jr., set to music composed by Ernest Ball, for Olcott’s production of The Isle O’ Dreams and, Olcott sang the song in the show. It was first published in 1912, at a time when songs in tribute to a romanticised Ireland were very numerous […], both in Britain and the United States. During the First World War, the famous tenor John McCormack recorded the song.
The song continued to be a familiar standard for generations. Decades later, it was used as the opening song on the radio show Duffy’s Tavern. The song has been recorded on over 200 singles and albums, by many famous singers, including Bing Crosby, Connie Francis and Roger Whittaker.
Wikipedia Summary
As I have stated in previous posts, Billboard’s charting abilities, in the early 20th Century, is difficult to navigate. My first stop, for these early pieces, is the Tsort site. Playback FM is very helpful, too. Digging around in the Wayback Machine can be a complete rat maze. The data is there but, how much time do you devote to searching for it.
There was a Shamrock Summit in March 1985, apparently, in Canada (which I don’t remember). Starting on St. Patrick’s Day, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and President Ronald Reagan met & talked for two days. Remember the Acid Rain Scare back then? It was seen as a Turning Point in U.S.-Canada Relations (both Trudeaus don’t play well with others?) and the closing ceremonies were televised, with the men & their wives singing the song (Mulroney & Reagan are Irish surnames). I find the meeting in Quebec City and the singing of an Irish song, ironic and amusing. ~ Vic
Additional:
♦ Irish Eyes Are Smiling (The Account of Composer Ernest R. Ball’s Life/IMDb/1944)
♦ Still Something To Smile About (Pocono Record/Marta Gouger/Wayback Machine/03-06-2007)
♦ When Irish Eyes Are Smiling (Irish Music Daily/Pat/No Date Given)
♦ List Of Movies Using The Song
Meeting Canadians
Phil suggested that I try to write more so…
I lived in Virginia Beach for a year (July 2001 – July 2002) with my, then, Marine Corps husband. I don’t remember the exact date but, one evening, we happened to be wandering the streets of Norfolk, near Norfolk Harbor. We saw a neon sign in a window of a bar: O’Malley’s. The place was full of what appeared to be sailors but, they weren’t Americans. They were busy drinking and singing Irish drinking songs. The Marine and I did manage to find a couple of empty bar stools, way at the end of the bar, deep into the establishment. The Marine took the very last stool to my left and I tried to position myself into the remaining empty stool. It was a tight squeeze and I began to think to myself… “How in the hell am I going to get my big ass thru that narrow space to get onto that stool?” For the split-second pondering it took, the full-bearded gentleman to my right, turned to me and said “Do you not want to sit next to me for some reason? I know I look rough but…” I immediately jumped in to reassure him that, that was not the case and shared my “OMG, I won’t fit…” fears, out loud, right there in front of God and everybody. He threw his head back and roared. “Have a seat, my dear…and, have drink.” He turned out to be the COTB (Chief of the Boat) of the Canadian Frigate HMCS St. John’s, that was in Norfolk for degaussing. It was a fun evening and that COTB invited us to tour the ship the next day.
We arrived around 4:00pm and I noticed that a Canadian Frigate really stands out next to American Navy vessels. It’s an odd green color, next to the blue of the American ships and I was told that it doesn’t have any right angles on it. We boarded the ship and asked for the Chief. They retrieved him and he rolled out looking like he’d been on a three day drunk. He was clearly hung over. He called for a much younger seaman to give us the tour of the ship and joined us later.
One neat thing aboard a Canadian vessel is…the bar. They had a beautiful, stained wooden bar and, a full stock of beer and wine. They also had a few women on board, which I found odd, even though women were allowed on board American war ships, beginning in 1994. It was still a rare sight back then.
We were invited to stay for dinner. It was a simple meal for sailing men but, I’m pretty sure that, not many people can say that they dined with the entire crew of a Canadian Frigate…and not been a crew member. It was really cool. I wish I could remember the name of that COTB. He offered me a St. John’s sweatshirt and I declined because I didn’t have any money. I intended to return to the ship with money but, we never made it back. That would have been a cool souvenir.
HMCS St. John’s (Facebook)
HMCS St. John’s (FFH-340) (Military History Fandom)
HMCS St. John’s (Wikipedia)
Scoop Saturday: Family of Ducks
It’s not unusual for a mother with kids in tow to take a stroll through the library. Many bookworms fondly remember such childhood visits [but], it is unusual when that mother is a duck and she has five ducklings all following in a row as they march through a British university library. Employees at the University of Nottingham’s George Green Library were treated to just that sight recently after open doors let in more than a cool breeze. “It had been very hot that week, so we had left our doors open for some extra air movement,” Emma Halford-Busby said, according to Good News Network. Apparently, the duck walked in with her brood and they took a tour, “…walked around our atrium for a while, mom in front and ducklings in a line behind. Mom was totally calm and unflustered.”
A worker gently herded them toward the door and they marched back out again. “As they walked towards our other entrance, one of our staff gently ushered them through the gates and back outside,” Halford-Busby said. “You often come across ducks in seemingly odd places around campus but, that was definitely the oddest place I’ve seen them,” Stuart Warren, the senior library adviser, told BBC. Halford-Busby added that the cute sighting “did bring some excitement into an otherwise peaceful evening.”
It’s not just ducks across the pond who are part of this phenomenon, either. Gary Allen High School in Ontario, Canada, has a long-standing tradition with a local duck who takes an annual tour through the school buildings to get to a creek. “At least once a year, a mother and her brood of ducklings make their way from her nesting grounds, through a high school, to a nearby creek,” CBC posted on Facebook in 2019. “Staff have helped guide the family on their journey for the last 10 years.”
Additional:
Adorable Baby Ducklings Ushered Outside After Waddling Into Library (Western Journal/Amanda Thomason/09-14-2021)
Family of Ducks Waddles Through University of Nottingham Library (BBC East Midlands/09-01-2021)
Adorable Footage Shows Family of Ducks Being Ushered Out of Library (Good News Network/09-07-2021)
Song Sunday: Ice (Sarah McLachlan)
“The only comfort is the moving of the river…”
This Sunday night’s playlist submission was never released. The 8th track from her album Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, it has no chart information. Sarah was already a star in her native Canada but, this album was her breakthrough in the US, exploding on the scene when her first track, Possession, was released. Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1968, she was playing music, early, starting with a ukulele at age four. In high school, she was the singer for the short-lived band The October Game and, after finishing a year in college, signed a recording contract with Nettwerk without having written a single song.
This is another album/CD I have worn out. I can remember when Possession showed up on the radio and I first heard it. I was driving home from work and immediately went looking for her album. Her music has been used in many television shows and I remember her being on Charmed. Notable movies using her songs are City of Angels, Message in a Bottle, The Brave One and Four Christmases.
Sarah McLachlan (Official Website)
Sarah McLachlan Online (Fan Site)
Tune Tuesday: Dancing In The Dark 1984
Thirty-five years ago, today, the #1 song on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock chart was Dancing in the Dark from the album Born in the USA by Bruce Springsteen. The music video was directed by Brian De Palma (Carrie/Scarface/The Untouchables) and it introduced the world to a, then, unknown Courteney Cox. This was his biggest hit single and the album is, to this day, his best selling. The song also went to #1 with Cash Box, in Canada, with Radio & Records and, went on to #1 in 1985 in Belgium & The Netherlands. Notable cover version artists are Kermit the Frog, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Pete Yorn.
Awards
♥ Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male Grammys
♥ Grammy Hall of Fame Grammys
♥ Pop/Rock Single American Music Awards
♥ International Album of the Year Juno Awards
♥ Best Stage Performance MTV Video Music Awards
Nominations
Grammys: 2
American Music Awards: 2
Brit Awards: 1
MTV Video Music Awards: 1
Chris Thomas: An Update On Our Evolution
A Mini-Book From: The Chris Thomas Files
The Situation Post 21/12/12
Many people have asked me for an update of our situation following the passing of the 21st of December 2012 “deadline”. This essay is not intended to be a full update as not all of the information is yet available to carry out a full assessment of where we are and what exactly happened on the day. However, two things are already very clear:
[1] The reason for so few people undergoing soul re-integration is, as a result of, human lack of belief in themselves. I am not going to explore this aspect in full as this will be the subject of a future essay.
[2] Given that there were so few completions on that date, those who would re-shape the world into their view of a “New World Order” have stepped up their plans of moving people in directions that the NWO wish to go whilst totally ignoring the choices of the people.
It is this second situation that I would mainly like to explore in this essay and, in doing so, will highlight many of the reasons for the seeming “failure” of so many to re-integrate.
New World Order?
This is a term that has been used by most leading politicians, as well as many others, in recent years. However, not everybody is familiar with the term and certainly not with its implications. Think of Aldous Huxley’s [sic] novel “1984” [Note: George Orwell wrote 1984. Huxley wrote Brave New World, a very similar novel. Chris Thomas got his authors reversed. He was under enormous strain while writing in 2013. This is the last year he wrote anything.] and that will give you some idea of what the term “New World Order” means. Essentially, the plan is to create a one world government, a one world bank and a one world police force. A central government that rules the world and enforces its policies with a police force under its direct control.
Is this a bad thing? Well think about the governments we currently have. Are they honest? Do they carry out “the will of the people”? Do they treat all of their citizens equally? Most people would answer no to all of those questions. Imagine all of the political corruption there would be if there was only one world government. If you were a part of, or favoured by, that government, you would be allowed to get away with virtually anything. If you were not favoured by the government, you would be made to suffer or even be imprisoned.
There are far too many examples of these kinds of behaviour in the world today by individual governments. The only thing that holds back their, sometimes, extreme behaviour is the reactions of other individual governments. Without those individual governments expressing their views, the one world government could do as it pleases without hindrance. But, would this one world government actually be there to carry out the wishes of the electorate or would it be under the control of what has become known as “the industrial/military complex”?
At the time of writing, a bill is passing through the American government (Obama Administration) that has been written by the GMO company Monsanto. Known as the Monsanto Protection Act, it gives the company total immunity from all health and environmental controls that are currently in place in America. Monsanto are looking to be able to plant any genetically modified organism (GMO) anywhere it chooses on American soil with total immunity from any current or future environmental law. “Monsanto’s Law” has been passed by the American Congress and is headed towards the American Senate where it is anticipated it will pass without change.
Then, we have the situation in Guantanamo Bay prison. Both President GW Bush and President Obama have granted pardons to more than half of the prisoners held at Guantanamo as they have been proven to have no connections to any terrorist organisations. The Presidential Orders further state that the prisoners who have been granted pardons be repatriated to their home countries. The military controllers of Guantanamo have ignored both Presidents, locked down the prison, refused access to the prisoners’ legal representatives and stopped commercial flights into the area. The prisoners have responded by going on a hunger strike and this hunger strike has had a news blackout as it has not been reported in the western media.
We have all seen the recent banking situation in Cyprus. Due to EU and government policies, the banking system in Cyprus is in a state of dire collapse. The European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund have stepped in with a rescue package of measures. The first thing they did was to reduce the level of state benefits to pensioners, the disabled, etc…by twenty percent and halt the spending on government projects. They, then, close the banks, preventing people from accessing their own money. They insist on a one-off tax of ten percent of all the money individuals hold in their bank deposit accounts. When this causes riots, they modify this tax to taking ten percent but, could be up to eighty percent, of the accounts that hold more than one hundred thousand Euros. The Bank of Cyprus collapses because of the activities of the European Central Bank, International Monetary Fund and the Cyprus government and, who pays the price for it? Ordinary people who have tried to generate some savings against a rainy day. Most people now see this as the model for future bank bailouts.
We have already had situations where governments gave the banks many millions of tax payers’ money but, next time the banks deliberately mess up the economy, they will plunder our savings accounts. At the time of writing, I have heard strong rumours that the Canadian government is looking to pass a law that gives them the powers to act in the same way as the Cyprus government is acting when future problems arise in the banks in Canada. Imagine how safe your savings would be if there was only a one world bank?
To continue reading (this is a 39-page mini-book), download the PDF version HERE.
[Note: This PDF was originally posted on the The Spirit Guides UK (Post Removed) and on the One Vibration Forum Blog on April 13, 2013.]
Wayback Wednesday: Loma Prieta Earthquake 1989
Photo Credit: heavy.com
In 1989, at 5:04pm local time in California, a 6.9-7.1 magnitude earthquake struck an area nearly 10 miles northeast of Santa Cruz on the Loma Prieta segment of the San Andreas Fault. The epicenter was in The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park. Named for the Loma Prieta Peak in the Santa Cruz Mountains, the effects and damage covered Santa Cruz County, Monterey County, the San Francisco Peninsula, the ‘Frisco Bay and across the bay in Oakland. There were 3,700+ injuries and 63-67 deaths (depending upon what article you read) and $5-$6 billion dollars in damage. The earthquake disrupted Game 3 of the 1989 World Series.
Photo Credit: huffingtonpost.com
Other October 17 history:
1814…..The London Beer Flood kills eight people. (Yes, this actually happened.)
1931…..Al Capone goes to prison for tax evasion. (Addendum: There seems to be confusion on the specific date of his conviction. Time Magazine, The NYTimes and the History Channel say the 17th. The FBI says the 18th. Pick one…)
1973…..OPEC imposes the oil embargo as punishment for assisting Israel during the Yom Kippur War. (Remember those gas lines, anyone?)
1979…..President Jimmy Carter signs into law the Department of Education Organization Act, creating the U.S. Department of Education and renaming the Department of Health, Education & Welfare to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (Because the government wasn’t big enough, already…)
2018…..Canada just legalized cannabis for recreational use…today!
Throwback Thursday: Klondike Gold Rush 1896
GOLD! It’s in them, there hills! August 16, 1896, gold was discovered in Dawson City, Bonanza Creek, Klondike River, Yukon, Canada. George Carmack, his wife Kate, her brother ‘Skookum’ Jim Mason (Keish) and Dawson (Tagish) Charlie began looking for gold on one of the river’s tributaries. History is still unclear on ‘who’ actually made the discovery but, George Carmack is generally referred to as the claim maker.
After the panics of 1893 and 1896, economic depression, inflation and unemployment were rampant. The Coinage Act of 1873 had destroyed the use of silver dollar coins, dropping the price of silver and ending bi-metallism. This prompted many to dash to the area in search of gold, leaving behind other jobs in a quest for adventure and financial security. Even author Jack London headed north for his fair share and many of his novels were born out of his experiences. Pacific port towns reaped the benefits of the traders and travelers, desperate to survive the economic downturn.
Very few walked away from Dawson City rich. George and Kate split and, George remarried, living fairly well on his earnings. Skookum Jim, though wealthy, continued to prospect until his death. Dawson Charlie spent money and drank too much, dying in an alcohol related accident. Most of the businessmen and miners died penniless. The damage to the area from the mining was extensive and, the Native people suffered from contaminated water and disease.
Although this song is based on a John Wayne movie, and the George mentioned isn’t the same George in history, it’s still apropos…and, a great song. It’s sad, though, that Johnny Horton died shortly before its release.
Cosmic-Observation 