Egad, Danggumit!

Heck, criminey, zounds...these exclamations, known as minced oaths, have been used for centuries to express frustration or surprise without giving offense.

Pseudo-profanities date to ancient Greece. During the time Socrates was edifying Athenians, the king disapproved of the populous swearing to the gods. He made it a crime to do so, and they began swearing to trees, birds and rocks.

The invention of the printing press,the rise in literacy, and the power of the church led to a flowering of minced oaths. Many phrases thought to be Elizabethan colloquialisms were created to avoid using the Lord's name in vain.

Ods Bodikins- By God's body or over God's body//Zounds - God's wounds//Gadzooks - By God's hooks (nails on the cross)//Begorrah - By God

Time did little to change this editorial practice. Words that passed muster in earlier times, were revised by later generations. 19th century editor, Thomas Bowdler tamed some of Shakespeare's phrases and lent his name to the process of rewording existing works - bowdlerization.

Two of my favorite minced oaths are in common parlance today and few know their origins. Before Disney, Jiminy Cricket was an interjection used in place of Jesus Christ. Before Bart Simpson, Desi Arnez introduced "Ay, Caramba" to America's TV audience. This is a Spanish pseudo-profanity. Ay - being an exclamation for pain and caramba being a minced oath for the male genitalia.

Think of that the next time you catch an I Love Lucy rerun and hear Desi say, "Ay caramba Lucy, you can't be in the show" - as ever BB

“Let us swear while we may, for in heaven it will not be allowed” - Mark Twain

Annual Benediction

As the last Thursday of November approaches, we prepare for a nationwide celebration of giving thanks. The facts behind this holiday blur with the abridgement of history and the passage of time. I point out certain misunderstandings not to lessen the day's import, but to illuminate how time distorts our view.

This week, eager young minds learn about the First Thanksgiving in 1621 at Plymouth Plantation. Forgotten are the thanksgivings held by Martin Forbisher in Newfoundland in 1578, by the Spanish in St. Augustine in 1569, or by colonists in Virginia in 1619.

Another fallacious fact concerns the Puritans. That first group of religious refugees who landed on Cape Cod wanted to separate from the Church of England. They called themselves Saints and others called them Separatists.

Puritans did not disembark onto our shores until several years later in Boston Harbor. They wanted to purify, not separate, from the Church of England. These strict, intolerant zealots presided over the infamous witch trials, banished or slaughtered those who would not convert to the Puritan view. Think of them as the colonial Taliban.

Those desperate settlers scratching existence on the Cape did not call themselves pilgrims. But that term is more accurate. In his Of Plimouth Plantation, William Bradford borrowed from the Old Testament (Hebrew 11: 13-16), "..they were pilgrims and strangers on earth." In the 18th century, writers like Cotton Mather began calling these emigres, pilgrims.

These trivialities don't amount to a hill of mashed potatoes as you sit enjoying food, family, friends and football. What matters most is to give thanks for what you have. I want to thank all of you for tolerating my musings and broadsides. As ever - BB

"Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: it must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all." - William Faulkner

Lesterese

Lester Young, a seminal figure in Swing and Bebop, played tenor saxophone with many jazz greats. Aside from his music, what attracted me most about The Prez was his fashion sense and use of language.

In the 40s, most big band musicians wore formal wear to perform. Coming from a more relaxed, Kansas City tradition, Lester wore rumpled suits and a pork pie hat. His hat became so iconic that when he died, Charlie Mingus entitled his elegy for Lester, Good-Bye Pork Pie Hat. With his horn's smooth tones, sophisticated harmonies, his relaxed dress and flippant attitude, Young embodied the ethos of cool.

For me, his most fascinating trait was the language he used. Jive is nothing new to musicians. But Lester didn't just popularize the patois like Cab Calloway or Mezz Mezzrow, he created his own vocabulary. One of words he coined, bread meaning money, made it's way into the Jive Dictionary,

His friends would marvel at this unique vernacular calling it Lesterese.

• Bob Crosby - police or other law enforcement officer
• His people - the keys on his saxophone
• George Washington - a song's bridge
• Bomber - a drummer with a heavy touch
• Way back - an old girlfriend

Like many of his ilk, the oppression of Jim Crow and personal demons shortened the life of this master musician. But his music lives on as does his language.

"My people were smooth during that George Washington. Too bad the bread didn't smell as sweet. Watch out for Bob Crosby, he's been sniffin' round that bomber's way back." - as ever BB

"I stay cool, and dig all jive,

That's the way I stay alive.

My motto, as I live and learn,
is

Dig and be dug
In return." - Langston Hughes

Doggone Good

"Blues is a natural fact, it's something that a fellow lives." - Big Bill Broonzy

Rudy "Rude Dog" Strukoff knows the Blues, plays the Blues, lives the Blues. The music's innate excitement and soul should be heard live. But Rude Dog's latest CD, Resurrection, captures the art form's essence and vitality.

This collection of previous recordings, many no longer available, shows not only the breadth of the blues, but the range of Rude Dog's talent.

Huddie Ledbetter's "Gallis Pole" and Robert Johnson's "Love in Vain" display Rudy's grasp of traditional blues. "I'm Ready" and "Back Door Man" pay homage to Chicago and "Born Under A Bad Sign" adds some Memphis spice.

Strukoff's unique style augments the selection with a half-dozen originals. "They Call Me the Rude Dog" highlights his sense of humor, and Baltimore's local color surfaces in "My Little Hampden Hon."

This CD's a keeper. Resurrection displays not only Rude Dog's outstanding technique, but his fervor for the music. That's a natural fact. - As ever BB

Clutch Hit

Clutch Cargo - maybe it wasn't a hit, but it was one of my best-loved cartoons. First aired in 1959, it ran for 3 seasons. Clutch with his ward Spinner, dog Paddlefoot and grizzled, pith-helmeted sidekick, Swampy would thrill this five-year-old every week with cliff-hanging adventures.

It also involves one of my premier cartoon/TV trivia tidbits - Swampy was voiced by actor Hal Smith. While not a household name, everyone knows Hal Smith from playing Otis, the town drunk, on the Andy Griffith show.

Clutch Cargo used the animation technique - Syncro-Vox. Human lips mouthing the lines would be superimposed onto the animation cells. Producers liked this process not because of edgy technology, but because it was cheap. Cartoons done in Syncro-Vox incurred about 1/5th the cost of those done traditionally.

Cambria Productions patented this technique and followed Clutch Cargo with Space Angel. This cartoon had good plots, some of which were "borrowed" several years later by sci-fi icon, Star Trek. The final Cambria offering was Captain Fathom. This ran for one season, 1965, and is remembered by myself and probably no one else.

Cheaply done animation, kitschy production and inferior artwork earmarked these cartoons. They were as cheesy as a bag of Cheetos, but didn't get orange detritus all over my fingers.

Snycro-Vox lives on...in Pulp Fiction where a Clutch Cargo segment can be seen on a television set, in Conan O'Brien's fake celebrity interviews on Late Night and in the talking pirate picture during Sponge Bob Squarepants' opening credits.

Obviously, I was a five-year-old who was ahead of his time - as ever - BB

"To me bad taste is what entertainment is all about." - John Waters

Thoughts on a Rainy Day

Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 - I never understood the title of this Dylan tune. Maybe that was his intent. Rain is a paradoxical thing. As a boy, nothing was more disheartening than a rained-out Little League game. Yet, rain during a football game was a surprise gift. Bruises and losses were inconsequential amid the joy of mud-covered combat.

The Bergeron process explains the condensation of atmospheric water vapor into liquid precipitation. How soporific! Earlier civilizations waxed far more poetically. On the southern shores of Lake Titicaca is a ruin called the Gate of the Sun. Carved in the center is the Sky God. The ancient Inca believed that rain poured forth from his eyes and called it "tears from the skies."

Be it a stormy nor'easter or a gentle shower, when you find yourself rained upon don't feel so all alone. Everybody must get wet! As ever - BB

"Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby." - Langston Hughes

Musical Notes

Ephemeral effluent oozes from the temporal lobe of my cerebral cortex. Over the years, sensory neurons formed a continuum of long-term potentiation. Neurological pedantry aside, the ensuing exudation elucidates some music trivia.

Most people know Richard Wagner's iconic "Ride of the Valkyries" from the operatic cycle, Der Rings Des Nibelungen. Fewer know the song, "Here Comes the Bride", is the "Bridal Chorus" from his opera, Lohengrin.

Many theories exist about the etymology of the word jazz. The word came from the jasmine perfume worn by working girls in New Orleans' brothels, from the French word for chatter, jazer, from the African/Creole, jaz, meaning to speed-up, from the J.S., one of the first riverboats to feature jazz.

According to the generally accepted theory, jazz was borrowed from baseball. In the early 20th century, sportswriters used the term to express vim or vigor. The hitter had some jazz on his bat; the pitcher's fast ball showed some extra jazz. That origin is compelling as baseball and jazz are two uniquely American institutions.

High school pals, Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, formed 60's pop group, The Turtles. After that band broke up, they joined Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention. Contractual restrictions not only forbade them from using their former band's name, but from using their actual names. Enter the Phlorescent Leech (Howard Kaylan, later shortened to Flo) and Eddie (Mark Volman).

In addition to working with Zappa, Flo & Eddie lent their harmonies to performers as divergent as T Rex, David Cassidy and the Ramones. They also created the music for the children cartoons Strawberry Shortcake and Care Bears.

Pedal steel guitar player, Sneaky Pete Kleinow, anchored the sound of seminal country rock band, The Flying Burrito Brothers. He played with the Rolling Stones, Joni Mitchell and countless others. Kleinow was also a special effects artist. Specializing in stop motion animation he lent his talents to TV shows like Gumby, The Outer Limits and David & Goliath. His motion picture work included The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao starring Tony Randall.

Hopefully the release of this data will prevent the information in my gray matter from reaching critical mass. as ever - BB

"I've got the brain of a four year old. I'll bet he was glad to be rid of it." - Groucho Marx

Gimme a Shot Out Of The Blue Bottle

That's diner-speak for Bromo Seltzer. Adam & Eve on a raft - wreck 'em, Noah''s boy on bread, walk a cow through the garden and pin a rose on it. These evocative phrases epitomize the golden age of diners

(For those less fluent in diner-speak: two scrambled eggs on toast, a ham sandwich and a hamburger with lettuce, tomato and onion.)

Diners evolved from 19th century, horse-drawn lunch carts. In the early 20th century, entrepreneurs bought discarded railroad dining cars, set them down on an undeveloped parcel of land and started serving up the kitchen sweepings (a plate of hash).

As a kid, Sunday morning after mass, the family would end up at one of the local diners. The Diamond Diner (originally the Grove Street Diner), the Collmont, the Oaklyn Diner, Ponzio's were all within three miles of our house. Once I had a driver's license, I could expand my diner dalliance to Olga's, the Brooklawn and the Melrose (Everybody who knows goes to Melrose).

Open 24-hours, diners provide sanctuary and a hot meal any time of day. I would sit nursing my cup of hi-test (black coffee), picking at Eve with a lid on it (apple pie), or cackle fruit with pigs (eggs and bacon) waiting for sunrise.

Alone in a booth reading the ubiquitous newspaper, I felt like a figure in Edward Hopper's Nighthawks. Instead of loneliness, or melancholy, I felt security and warmth. I'd people watch for hours on end fabricating situations and back-stories for those I observed.

As the man said in the old news reels, time marches on...but the diner remains. I'm heading down to my local eatery to get a heart attack on rack (biscuits & gravy). As ever - BB

"In a restaurant one is both observed and unobserved. Joy and sorrow can be displayed and observed "unwittingly," the writer scowling naively and the diners wondering, "What the hell is he doing?" " - David Mamet

"We're Goin' Hoppin"

October 7 has double significance for American Bandstand. The show, with local dancers, first aired in Philadelphia today in 1952. (It began in September with film clips, interviews and no dancers.) Five years later, October 7, 1957, Bandstand aired prime time on Monday nights. This lasted only two months.

Originally a local show, Bob Horn's Bandstand, in August 1957 it went national. The name changed to American Bandstand. By then, the host was Dick Clark. In 1964, American Bandstand moved to Los Angeles losing its Philly panache.

Bandstand was just one of the Philly dance shows during that era. "Sunshine on the Pier" from Steel Pier in Atlantic City with Ed Hurst, the Geator with the Heator, Jerry Blavat's "Discophonic Scene" and Ron Joseph's "TV Dance Party" all competed for the Delaware Valley's youth.

Each of these began on radio. Along with Hurst and The Geator, Philly's airways grooved to Joe Niagara, aka The Rockin' Bird, and Hy Lit. Through my pocket-sized AM radio, they introduced me to rockers like Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent, the Detroit soul of Motown and the Memphis beat of Stax.

By the time I reached my teens, FM radio was changing the market. Psychedelia was blossoming. The original Electric Factory had opened in an old tire warehouse at 22nd & Arch and the underground newspaper, The Distant Drummer was published. In 1968, Sun-Ra moved his Arkestra to the Germantown section of Philadelphia.

Things were never the same, but I thank those DJs for applying my rich, musical base coat. As ever - BB

"We're going hoppin'/We're goin' hoppin' today/Where things are poppin'/The Philadelphia way..." - lyrics to Bandstand Boogie - written in the 50s as a big-band instrumental; Barry Manilow penned the lyrics in 1975.

Penny Ante

A friend and co-worker got married last weekend. The most interesting station at the reception was the candy bar. In a corner of the room stood a table filled with jars containing a wide variety of penny candies, a smorgasbord of sweets.

Aside from a considerable sugar-buzz, this conglomerate of confections produced a pang of nostalgia. Being old enough to join AARP, I remember the small "Mom & Pop" stores that carried these tasty tidbits. The favorite stores in my hometown were Don's and Keefer's Korner. During school months, by 3:15pm lines of kids clutching nickels awaited their daily candy fix.

Swedish fish, Double Bubble, Mary Janes, Bit O'Honey, paper sheets covered in candy-buttons, atomic fireballs, wax bottles filled with sugary syrup - a veritable cornucopia of candy was crammed into eager mouths. By the 70s, these establishments began dying out. Today, the Internet is the largest purveyor of penny candy. While it's reassuring to be able to purchase these tactile memories of youth, ordering on-line and waiting for delivery doesn't capture the same ambiance of a local store and a queue of classmates. With ubiquitous inflation, a penny no longer suffices.

Some attribute the decline of penny candy's popularity to the inception of shopping malls and the demise of the small family-owned stores, some to the rise of mass-marketing. Browsing a book store, I came across "Whatever Happened to Penny Candy" by Richard Maybury. I expected an nostalgic romp into a world of delicious wonder. What I got was an economic treatise.

Written less onerously than most fiscal tomes; it still wasn't what I expected. Discussion of our free market system modeled on Austrian economics, comparisons of neoclassical and subjective theories of value and methodological individualism did not whet my appetite. I found solace, however, in a pound of gummy bears and some pixie sticks - as ever BB

"Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker

You can drink all the liquor down in Costa Rica.

Aint nobody's business, but my own." - Taj Mahal

Acute Hirsute

One of the secondary sex characteristics of the human male is the increase production of body hair. Through the ages, man has had a love/hate relationship with his facial hair. Some civilizations embraced beards to others they were anathema.

Archaeologists found clam shells believed to be used by Neanderthals to pluck facial hair. Alexander the Great banned the beard from his army to deny foes whiskers for which to grasp his soldiers. The Greeks and Romans saw beards as a sign of virility.

By the 17th century, facial hair fell out of fashion in Europe. Peter the Great so strongly desired to follow the continent's lead that he levied a whisker tax to trim the Boyars' beards. Two centuries later, facial hair experienced a regrowth and entered its Golden Age.

The 19th century saw muttonchops, mustache wax and meticulously manicured beards. No American President sported facial hair until Abraham Lincoln. Abe's beard started a trend and for the next 52 years, all but two chief executives followed suit. The last President with facial hair was William Howard Taft.

"Never trust a man in a beard." 20th century society embraced this adage. A man in a beard must be hiding something. Only bohemians and ne'er-do-wells wore whiskers. Anarchistic beatniks donned goatees as they played the bongos. The word "beard" became slang for subterfuge. Married movie moguls romancing young starlets would attend premieres and galas with their paramours and a good-looking young actor. Said actor was the mogul's "beard" to throw off inquiring gossip columnists.

At first genes, then later corporate policies, gave my facial hair a close shave. However by my 40s, my free spirit manifested itself. For the past 15 years, I have sported a Van Dyck as an outward sign of my non-conformity. Well, that and the tattoos - as ever BB

"There's many a man has more hair than wit." - William Shakespeare

All the News in Fits of Pique

Before movable-type, the public received its news by word-of-mouth. People assailed travelers with questions about happenings outside of their parochial environs. By the 15th century, the printing press and use of the vernacular expanded information.

Time marches on...radio and newsreels gave life to the headlines. Television brought these images into our homes. In the 50s, national news took 15 minutes out of the programming day. The 60s expanded coverage to a half hour of national combined with a half hour of local news. Over the next decade coverage increased, and the dam broke in 1980 when Ted Turner created CNN.

The news is now major programming and provides networks with millions in advertising dollars. With several 24-hour news providers, the focus is no longer on facts. Broadcasters interpret and opine. They present a myriad of dross as news no matter how inane.

Demagogues rule the airways. Kowtowing to popular desires and prejudices has replaced journalism. Thirty minute press conferences generate hours of analysis. Coiffed talking-heads explain what we heard, how it affects us and what we should think about it. Celebrity peccadilloes prompt hours of coverage.

Integrate this with tweets and social website postings to replace thinking with indoctrination and propaganda. What me worry? - as ever BB

"...the press affords sufficient information to elate vanity and stiffen obstinacy, but little to enlarge the mind." - Dr. Samuel Johnson in the mid-18th century - some things never change!

Time Squared

The opening of a Pop Tart superstore in Times Square this week triggered several synapses in my old cranium. The mere fact that a foil-wrapped, prebaked toaster pastry warrants a super store is too preposterous to ponder.

A neurotransmitter diffused impulse that I can write about is the metamorphosis of Times Square from bucolic Longacre Square to a veritable Brand Theme Park.

Originally farm land, the area was renamed Times Square when the NY Times moved its headquarters there in the early 20th century. As theaters proliferated around Broadway, Times Square became part of "The Great White Way."

The decline began during the Great Depression. By the 60s, Time Square had become a nefarious den of go-go bars, strip joints and adult sex shows. In the 90s, the city had cleaned up its salacious underside heralding the era of "Disneyfication".

Now, neon and LED displays flash logos from West 42nd to West 47th. Jumbotrons herald messages proclaiming that in this digital/viral age, location advertising still works. Brand experience and orientation create perceptions in the consumer. These perceptions generate brand recognition which positions a product/service apart from the miasma of competition. (Insert a transparent plug for Gaga's understanding and mastery of brand marketing here).

Regardless of new innovations to deliver your message, your brand remains the linchpin of marketing. Times Square is a colorful, vivacious bazaar of brand awareness. Of course, the Naked Cowboy still embodies New York City's eccentricity. - as ever BB

"Every advertisement should be thought of as a contribution to the complex symbol which is the brand image." - David Ogilvy

Time Out

"The only reason for time is so everything doesn't happen at once." - Albert Einstein

The sun rises and sets in different places as the earth moves. The moon and stars change position from month-to-month. These objects were the first keepers of time. Man, in his hubris, believed he could do better.

Shadow clocks, sundials, water clocks, then sand-filled hourglasses dictated early man's daily activities. Mechanical escapements, pendulums, electronics, quartz and atomics have permitted us to dissect the day into smaller, more accurate parts. Time became a device for the myriad of man-made bureaucracies to dominate our lives.

Paradoxically, the more we scrutinize time, the more befuddled we become. Is time the fourth dimension? Does time-slice ontology lead to unchanging reality, or to flux and decay? Maybe such cerebral exercises are just a waste time.

Engrossed in monitoring our movements through life, we forget to savor its beauty, sanctity and unpredictability. We should remember to occasionally take a time out. Deep-six our watches and give time a rest. As ever - BB

"Time is but a stream I go a-fishing in." - Henry David Thoreau

New Jersey's Fault

This morning Gaithersburg, MD experienced an earthquake. The tremor measured slightly over 3 on the Richter scale. Seismologists attribute it to the Ramapo Fault, which runs through New Jersey.

Sure, blame New Jersey. From colonial times (Ben Franklin called it a barrel opened at both ends) to modern times (Andy Warhol claimed the state bird was a mosquito), New Jersey has gotten a bad rap.

The Ramapo, a band of the Lenape Tribe, inhabited northeastern New Jersey. Their namesakes include the Ramapo River, Ramapo Mountains and Ramapo State Park. Not every New Jersey Park ends with "& Ride."

The Pine Barrens have the nation's largest and purest watershed (17 trillion gallons). New Jersey has 127 miles of beautiful, sandy beaches. It grows delicious tomatoes, corn, blueberries, cranberries and grapes. Bramwell Welch founded his juice company in Vineland, NJ in 1869.

But nooooo..., as John Belushi would say. The Pine Barrens are known for the Jersey Devil, the beaches are thought to be littered with syringes and used condoms, many think the state produces nothing but gangsters and guidos.

Stereotypes are inaccurate perceptions created by small minds. So as I enjoy Taylor's pork roll and drink my cawfee, I got your fault - rightcheer! As ever - BB

"Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." - Finley Peter Dunne

Wait for the Pop

During my casino gypsy days, I spent four years in Davenport, Iowa. Besides being the hometown of jazz great, Bix Beiderbecke, Davenport is the birthplace of chiropractic medicine.

In the late 19th century, D.D. Palmer founded chiropractics and coined the term. At his 2nd Street office, he practiced on the deaf janitor, Harvey Lillard. Palmer's manipulation of the janitor's spine produced a loud pop. Harvey mentioned hearing a buzzing sound. They both realized the noise was coming from the street below. Harvey could now hear.

I was told this story many times while in Davenport. To me, it's a metaphor of life. We plan, dream, work and scheme to reach our destination. But, life is an uncharted sea and unknown breezes alter our course. Few are where they thought they'd be ten, even five years ago.

Always listen for that pop. Performing a mundane chore, or during some idle past time, POP, an unexpected manipulation can open your ears to life-changing sounds. - as ever - BB

"Penetrating so many secrets, we cease to believe in the unknowable. But there it sits nevertheless, calmly licking its chops." - H.L. Mencken

Of Thee I Sing!

Sunday is the Fourth of July. Festivities will be as varied as the nation’s constituents. Our roots gravitate from every country, ethnicity, and social strata.

Far from being monolithic, our culture is an amalgam. America absorbs heritage from each huddle mass that yearns to be free and from civilizations extant prior to European pioneering. If this country is a melting pot then we, the people, are the viand – a gumbo, a pozole, a burgoo.

A fine example of this stew is old time music. Also known as folk music, hillbilly music and Appalachian music, the genre mixed Celtic, German, African, French and other traditional rhythms to create an American sound.

Originally families would play these tunes together at home. Minstrel and medicine shows took them on the road. By the 1920s, radio and records had spread the sound across the rural and urban landscape. Old time music laid the groundwork for what would become country, bluegrass, blues and rock ‘n roll.

The names of these string bands reflect the music’s creativity and humor: The Skillet Lickers, Dr. Humphrey Bate & His Possum Hunters, The Fruit Jar Drinkers, Seven-Foot Dilly & His Dill Pickles to name a few.

This weekend wherever you celebrate, in the backyard, at the beach, on the porch, on the stoop, grab a guitar, banjo, fiddle, kazoo, spoons, or whatever you have. Revel your patriotic fervor with a glorious noise. As ever - BB

“As I was walking a ribbon of highway/I saw above me an endless skyway/I saw below me a golden valley/This land was made for you and me” - Woody Guthrie

Hot Dog!

Red Hot, wiener, frankfurter, wienie, dachshund sandwich, meat slurry by any other name would still taste as sweet.

As Independence Day approaches, aficionados look to their Mecca - Coney Island and the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. I discussed the bout for the Mustard Colored Belt last year. This year’s focus will be on the morsel itself.

Food historians relish debating the origin of the sausage. Some cite a translation of Homer’s The Odyssey that mentions the sausage; others eschew that translation. Some attribute the treat to Nero’s chef; others boil at that idea and claim it apocryphal.

By the Middle Ages many cities laid claim to the legend of the link. Frankfurt, Germany declares a local butcher created a pre-cooked sausage, ergo the Frankfurter. Craving to catch up to its rival, Vienna, Austria also alleges ancestry. Vienna in German is Wien from which comes the word wiener.

But a sausage is just that until its put on the bun. Who first matched bun and wiener? Those stories peel forth like layers from an onion. Several world fairs, sidewalk and sport venue vendors claim the bright spark of adding the bun.

One fact is certain. In 1916, Nathan Handwerker left his employer to sell hot dogs for half what the ex-boss charged. This action gave rise to an annual July 4 tradition - watching grown adults shove as many red hots down their gullet as they can in 10 minutes. That’s what this country is all about. As ever- BB

"I devoured hot dogs in Baltimore 'way back in 1886, and they were then very far from new-fangled..." - H.L. Mencken

"It's like a bromance...I'm having fun with it." - Joey Chestnut current holder of Nathan's Mustard Colored Belt

Thumbs Up

During the Depression, thousands of teenagers left home to ride the rails. Some left to escape hardship, some to find work and some seeking adventure.

I entered my teens in 1967 with a strong wanderlust and a craving for precarious thrills. By then the free transit option of choice was hitchhiking. For almost a decade, putting out a thumb and accepting rides from strangers was my principle mode of transportation.

The rides were sometimes mundane, sometimes interesting and sometimes unnerving. As the proverb says, “God watches over fools.”

During these treks, the one constant was a sense of freedom. Whether a seven-mile hop across the bridge into Philly, or a cross-country journey, the act of putting out my thumb, throwing caution to the wind and offering myself to the Moirae exhilarated me. No matter what the outcome, I had crossed the Rubicon and the die was cast. Nothing in later life has captured that sense of disenthrallment.

I have not hitchhiked in many a decade, but often think of the open road. My heart stirs to the words of Walt Whitman, “Reckless O soul, exploring.” – as ever BB

“I might be walking over to a kid's house, then of all a sudden I would just stick out my thumb and hitchhike across three states.” Rickie Lee Jones

World's Most Popular

Football, not the gargantuan of American television but the international sensation we know as soccer, is the planet's most popular sport. From June 11 to July 11, millions of excited fans will focus on the World Cup in South Africa.

Ancient Chinese and Japanese texts mention a ball game using only the feet and head. The Romans enjoyed a similar pastime. The sport's acceptance took time. In 14th century England, King Edward III outlawed the sport as a public nuisance. Queen Elizabeth I levied punishments of up to 27 days incarceration for playing football. Times changed and 250 years later, England formalized the rules of game we know today.

Gaga Marketing embraces the world's most popular sport and sponsors the Rangers FC, a 1st Division Futbol Club based in Washington, DC. As of last weekend, they are in first place with a record of 5-0!

As World Cup fever raises the temperature of fans around the globe, you don't have to endure the hassle of international travel to enjoy world-class soccer. Just check out the next Gaga Rangers game. - As ever BB

"To say that these men paid their shillings to watch twenty-two hirelings kick a ball is merely to say that a violin is wood and catgut, that Hamlet is so much paper and ink." - J.B. Priestley