Old Newspapers

I have spent a good bit of time on my new favorite online playground, called Newspapers.com . Initially, I spent the time looking up death notices and other items connected to anyone in my extended family tree. One can search by name, date, or any other phrase one can think of to find anything that might appear in the newspaper. The papers range in some areas from the 18th century (you can find George Washington's 'Farewell Address' as originally published) to 2017 - at least in my local area. There are some gaps in the "searchable" pages, but in many of them you can browse. You can clip and save anything you find.

There was a piece about my Grandmother's house (the house my Mother grew up in) from 1923. It seems they confiscated three 15 gallon stills and a bunch of liquor. Who knew Grandmom was a bootlegger? Or perhaps it was all for personal use. That is, from wha I hear, certainly a possibility.

There were a series of Real Estate transactions whereby my Great-grandfather's brother in law (a real estate agent) sold a property, amounting to a city block, to a man who then sold it to my Great-grandfather's brother who then sold it back to the Brother in law - all on the same day and for a nominal fee. I'm not at all sure who made out on that deal, or how, but I suspect it was the Brother in law.

There was another ad, a few years earlier, place by the fore-mentioned Brother, who was seeking employment as a club pianist. Personally, I was pleased to see this as I am unaware of many musicians in the family tree, and sometimes it feels a little lonely. There are, however, no indications that my Great great-uncle found any musical positions. He later married and moved to Washington, D.C. where he worked as a contractor.

Having exhausted most of the intersting (to me) notices connected to my family, I started looking up various historical things to read the original news reports/ I have read about several 19th century minstrels and popular composers like Septimus Winner. I looked up reports on the Aurora Borealis. I looked up news reports (from London) on the trial or Williams Burke and Hare, and Burke's confession, as well as reports of his execution. I didn't realize his remains are still on display somewhere in London. Nr did I realize that William Hare was released from jail less than a year after some of the murders, and he and his wife disappeared with the aid of the authorities.

I also looked up the history of some of my old favorite bars.

So, while it does require subscription, it is wellworth it. I have been having lots of fun.

Ugh... snow.

Okay. I know that people in New England and Upstate New York have it waaaaay worse than we here in South Jersey, but I am over the snow and cold weather, and I've hated it since I was a child.
I was supposed to go hear a friend playing in the Philharmonic of Southern New Jersey today. The program was to highlight with Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition and would have meant an hour or so of my enjoying the music and whatever childhood memories the piece would have evoked. PLUS I would have had a couple hours of time with my friend afterward at dinner. It was to be a very pleasant afternoon. But, thanks to the snow, the concerts been postponed until next Sunday, and I won't be able to attend.
Well, at least I will make up the time with my friend tomorrow.
Instead of that, I am spending the afternoon copying CDs - mostly classical at the moment - into iTunes on my laptop. Later I will spend a few hours reading while I play whatever music I settle on.
On Tuesday, I have a rehearsal in Pitman for a High School production of The Wizard of Oz. Next Saturday is the first rehearsal with the orchestra for said production. I took the week off from work and there will be rehearsals and performances that entire week.

COMPLAINT

What is it with blogger?
I have followed a series of blogs - among the gay and atheist oriented blogs - and every once in a while I will take notice of the top of the page where it says, "next blog." One would think that Google would direct a person to pages that match their previous viewing, but no. Every page I am directed to is either a jesus page, or some woman's blog about her christian spawn.
I am sensing a little bit of corporate bias here.

YouTube

I am in the middle of Series 1, Episode 2 of Being Human, a british show about a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost who share a flat while trrying to control their baser natures and form a bond in the face of great peril. It's rather entertaining, actually, not least of all because the vampire is totally hot. It does have quite a lot of funny lines in it, and of course the british accent is charming to an american like myself.
While I have not seen or read any of the Twilight series (and am not in the least tempted to do so) I have always been enthralled with vampire films and shows - ever sinve 1966 when dark Shadows came on the air. Even as a child I found Barnabas Collins to be attractive. Now I look back and think otherwise. I was also very much taken with the series of vampire novels by Anne Rice to a point. I don't remember which of her books was the last I read, but I think I am rather satisfied with the first two. Her witch novels only marginally kept me satisfied. The Mummy, which was a completely "romantic" story about (what else) an eternally living (and apparently completely sull of the sexy) Egyptian pharoah who was changed into a mummy by some witch in a cave. It was rather trashy, basically, but I certainly did enjoy it anyway.

Late reading

Still having no functional computer at home, and therefore no internet, I am not really planning to write much here for a bit. However, I don't want to forget my password, so I will log in from time to time just to write something.
Lately, I've been re-reading some Dashiell Hammett stuff - 'The Thin Man' and 'The Contintental Op' - and enjoying them as always. I still haven't finished 'Ripley Bogle', but I will before I return it to the library. I've also been thinking about sampling some H. P. Lovecraft, not having read any of his stuff before.
Not much else to say.

Ripley Bogle. The first novel by Robert McLiam Wilson. The story is about an indigent and homeless man from Belfast, in London. The man was at one time a student in Cambridge, and presumably capable of a much better life than that which he is experiencing. I read somewhere that Wilson was himself homeless at some point in his life.

     It is noticeable that Wilson is given to the indescriminate use of large words like deracination (several times in Eureka Street) and vomacious (not even in my dictionary.) One wonders why. Still, Eureka Street was enjoyable.

     Somehow, given my current circumstances, Ripley Bogle seems a particularly ominous read for me. Perhaps, I think, it will offer some insight into the root cause of my own malaise. I fear that I will be somewhat disappointed if I read it with such a vain purpose in mind. My time might be better spent in seeking a more immediate solution to my problems, which are mounting.

     Did I mention the plumbing issues at home? No. I won't.

Reading

Well, I finally managed to start a book - Eureka Street, by Robert McLiam Wilson (pictured) - that a friend had recommended probably years ago. The friend in question even gave (or leant) to me a copy of said book. Yes, I am enjoying the book. I think my friend discovered the book after seeing the television series that was based on same. Naturally, I am at the library checking to see what else Mr. Wilson has written. It's been 13 years since Eureka Street, and there have been no other books published, although Eureka St. was his third. There was a fourth repeated delayed, but I don't know what happened with that. Perhaps Mr. Wilson was been working on something else.

Not much going on.

I mis-spoke, whether here or elsewhere. My laptop is, in fact, fried, despite the fact that I thought I'd gotten it working. Oh, well, back to the old library.
Having no laptop to amuse myself with, and no money to seek alternative entertainment, I spent the last two days re-arranging furniture and generally cleaning up my condo. I still need to do the bathroom and the kitchen floor, but much improvement has been achieved.
I also got through a cheesy Stephen King novel and two "Inspector McGarr" novels by one Bartholomew Gill. The most amusing thing about any of the reading was a line in "Death of an Irish Lover" referring to some condoms found at a crime scene that were manufactured in Morristown, New Jersey. One of the characters liked the brand name of the condoms, very much. The line was a comment saying that there was some genius in Morristown, New Jersey. Looking at the author bio at the back of the book, I had noted that the author lived (at least sometime) in Morristown, New Jersey.
So, anyway. I am at the library - checking email, blogs, death notices, and jonesing for cigarettes.