Tuesday, February 6, 2018
Barrett Jackson
Every January the largest classic auto auction in the U.S. is held here in Scottsdale. We made our first visit this year, accompanied by the THC Daughter and the soon to be THC Son-In-Law. The Barrett Jackson Auto Auction covers a one million square feet under solid or tent roof. Hundreds of classic cars, huge areas for related (sometime very loosely related) paraphernalia. The center of the event is the auction arena which seats several thousand. Cars sell for up to, and over, a million dollars. We saw a refurbished 1965 VW microbus sell for $82K. We'll be back next year.
Monday, February 5, 2018
Rain Plans
Who does this band remind you of? Here's a hint.
Israel Nash. The song is Rain Plans. Stay with it as it gets increasingly raucous. The studio version is good but this live version is much better.
Israel Nash. The song is Rain Plans. Stay with it as it gets increasingly raucous. The studio version is good but this live version is much better.
Sunday, February 4, 2018
Barates At The End Of The World
The sandstone tombstone is three feet tall with elaborate carving and inscription. It must have been fairly expensive. The carving shows a seated, robed woman wearing a necklace and bracelets and seated upon a wicker chair. On her lap is a distaff and spindle while to her left is a basket with balls of wool. In her right hand an unopened jewelry box. Her face has been worn away or chiseled off.
(All illustrations from AramcoWorld)
The first part of the inscription is in Latin and reads:
Below is a line in Palmyrene reading:
The tombstone dates from the mid or late second century AD. At Emperor Hadrian's direction the great wall was built in the 120s, and to help garrison it, a unit of 500 archers from the Syrian city of Hama, were imported to northern Britain. Barates was also from Syria, specifically Palmyra, the prosperous desert city located on the caravan routes from Syria to the foreign kingdom of Parthia. He appears to have been a merchant who had established residence near the wall, providing goods and services to the Roman soldiers and the settlements that grew up near its forts.
The deceased Regina was originally the slave of Barates who he subsequently freed and married. She was a Britain, from a tribe located in the midlands. The expense her husband went to in erecting the monument indicates a close attachment between the two.
Barates traveled 3,000 miles from the open, hot and dry desert lands of Palymra to the cool, dark, green and damp lands of farthest Britain, where he married a native and decided to settle. The internal migrations of the Roman Empire had their only comparable parallel in the classical age with the Greeks who migrated from their home country to settle in Afghanistan in the wake of Alexander the Great's conquests.
In 1911 another tombstone, also dated to the second century, was found near the wall, about 30 miles west of South Shields. It is for Barates. Since Barates was a common Syrian name, it is not certain whether it is Regina's husband, but it describes the deceased as a vendor making the link plausible.
The Hama archers and Barates were not the end to the Eastern presence in Roman Britain. At the time of Barates the South Shield fort was called Lugudunum but it is now known as Arbeia. Towards the end of the third century, Rome transferred several hundred boatmen from the upper reaches of the Tigris River, in what is now Iraq, to work on the Tyne. It was at this time the name of the fort became Arbeia and it is theorized the name derives from the Aramaic arbaya or bet arbeia, meaning "arab house".
(The reconstructed gate of South Shields which today houses the museum where Regina's tombstone can be seen)
(All illustrations from AramcoWorld) The first part of the inscription is in Latin and reads:
To the spirits of the departed [and to] Regina, his freedwoman and wife, a Catuvellaunian by tribe, aged 30, Barates of Palmyra [set this up].
Below is a line in Palmyrene reading:
Regina, the freedwoman of Barate, alas.The tombstone, found in 1878, near the Fort of South Shields, along the Tyne River, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall in England, is a reminder of the scale of the Roman Empire, the opportunity for movement it created for its populace (particularly the military and merchants), and the mixing of cultures it triggered. For a look at the other end of the Empire read The Farthest Outpost.
The tombstone dates from the mid or late second century AD. At Emperor Hadrian's direction the great wall was built in the 120s, and to help garrison it, a unit of 500 archers from the Syrian city of Hama, were imported to northern Britain. Barates was also from Syria, specifically Palmyra, the prosperous desert city located on the caravan routes from Syria to the foreign kingdom of Parthia. He appears to have been a merchant who had established residence near the wall, providing goods and services to the Roman soldiers and the settlements that grew up near its forts.
The deceased Regina was originally the slave of Barates who he subsequently freed and married. She was a Britain, from a tribe located in the midlands. The expense her husband went to in erecting the monument indicates a close attachment between the two.
Barates traveled 3,000 miles from the open, hot and dry desert lands of Palymra to the cool, dark, green and damp lands of farthest Britain, where he married a native and decided to settle. The internal migrations of the Roman Empire had their only comparable parallel in the classical age with the Greeks who migrated from their home country to settle in Afghanistan in the wake of Alexander the Great's conquests.
In 1911 another tombstone, also dated to the second century, was found near the wall, about 30 miles west of South Shields. It is for Barates. Since Barates was a common Syrian name, it is not certain whether it is Regina's husband, but it describes the deceased as a vendor making the link plausible.
The Hama archers and Barates were not the end to the Eastern presence in Roman Britain. At the time of Barates the South Shield fort was called Lugudunum but it is now known as Arbeia. Towards the end of the third century, Rome transferred several hundred boatmen from the upper reaches of the Tigris River, in what is now Iraq, to work on the Tyne. It was at this time the name of the fort became Arbeia and it is theorized the name derives from the Aramaic arbaya or bet arbeia, meaning "arab house".
(The reconstructed gate of South Shields which today houses the museum where Regina's tombstone can be seen)
Friday, January 19, 2018
Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad?
Guitar greats Derek Trucks, Warren Haynes, and Eric Clapton at the 2013 Crossroads Guitar Festival. The song is from Derek & The Dominoes 1970 album Layla on which Clapton and Duane Allman shared lead guitar. This version features the final incarnation of the Allman Brothers Band. That's Greg Allman, Duane's brother, on keyboards and Derek is the nephew Butch Trucks, of one of the band's drummers.
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
Dolores O'Riordan
Dolores O'Riordan, lead singer of The Cranberries, died three days ago at the age of 46. You could immediately identify a Cranberries song because of her lovely and very distinctive voice. The band had several hits in the 1990s of which the most popular was Linger, but their most powerful song was Zombies, written by O'Riordan, a mother of three, in the wake of an Irish Republican Army (IRA) bombing on March 20, 1993 in Warrington, England in which two children died. Despite the horror of the incident, the Irish band (O'Riordan was from Limerick) came under criticism from some IRA supporters. Below are both electric and acoustic versions:
Some other good Cranberries tunes; Dreams, Ode To My Family, The Icicle Melts.
Another head hangs lowly
Child is slowly taken
And the violence, caused such silence
Who are we mistaken?But you see, it's not me
It's not my family
In your head, in your head, they are fighting
With their tanks, and their bombs
And their bombs, and their guns
In your head, in your head they are cryingIn your head, in your head
ZombieAnother mother's breaking
Heart is taking over
When the violence causes silence
We must be mistakenIt's the same old theme
Since nineteen-sixteen [a reference to the IRA's Easter Uprising in Dublin]
In your head, in your head, they're still fighting
With their tanks, and their bombs
And their bombs, and their guns
In your head, in your head, they are dyingZombie
Some other good Cranberries tunes; Dreams, Ode To My Family, The Icicle Melts.
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
The Immaculate Reception
We now are guaranteed a Superbowl in which one of the teams will feature a backup quarterback - the winner of the matchup between the Minnesota Vikings and the Philadelphia Eagles - and it is possible, though admittedly not likely, that the other team will feature Blake Bortles(!?!) at quarterback. I'm now a Jacksonville Jaguars fan!
Anyway, Mrs THC and I were watching the Vikings-Saints game on Sunday which had one of the most stunning endings of any contest in NFL playoff history, an ending so bizarre it took us a few seconds to react as we couldn't quite believe what we were seeing:
It started me thinking of other stunning NFL plays and what came to mind was The Immaculate Reception in the Oakland Raiders-Pittsburgh Steelers game in 1972 I came across the best video I've ever seen of the play. Most versions are closeups of the deflection and of Franco Harris without the larger field context.
The Raiders were leading 7-6 in the AFL Divisional Playoff game at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. The Steelers, down to their last play on 4th and 10 on their own 40 yard line with just 22 seconds left to play, called a pass play for receiver Barry Pearson. The play broke down, forcing Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw* to scramble until he spotted halfback John "Frenchy" Fuqua and lofted a pass.
The pass, Fuqua, and Raiders safety Jack Tatum collided at the same time with the ball ricocheting back upfield where it was snatched just before hitting the ground by Steelers rookie running back Franco Harris, who after completing his blocking assignment sprinted downfield in case Bradshaw needed another receiver. Harris ran it into the end zone, completing a 60 yard play and giving the long-downtrodden Steelers a 13-7 victory.
There was immediate controversy about the play which caused officials to huddle before declaring it a touchdown. Under the NFL rules of the time if the pass hit Fuqua and was then caught by Harris it would be rule incomplete. It would only be a completion if it hit Tatum first, or Tatum and Fuqua simultaneously (the rule was changed in 1978). From the video it looks like it bounces off Tatum's chest and the officials agreed. And now, here's the call by Curt Gowdy, who was as surprised as everyone else.
* After retiring as a player Terry Bradshaw brilliantly parleyed his reputation as a dumbass into four decades as a football commentator, actor, and reality show star.
Anyway, Mrs THC and I were watching the Vikings-Saints game on Sunday which had one of the most stunning endings of any contest in NFL playoff history, an ending so bizarre it took us a few seconds to react as we couldn't quite believe what we were seeing:
It started me thinking of other stunning NFL plays and what came to mind was The Immaculate Reception in the Oakland Raiders-Pittsburgh Steelers game in 1972 I came across the best video I've ever seen of the play. Most versions are closeups of the deflection and of Franco Harris without the larger field context.
The Raiders were leading 7-6 in the AFL Divisional Playoff game at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. The Steelers, down to their last play on 4th and 10 on their own 40 yard line with just 22 seconds left to play, called a pass play for receiver Barry Pearson. The play broke down, forcing Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw* to scramble until he spotted halfback John "Frenchy" Fuqua and lofted a pass.
The pass, Fuqua, and Raiders safety Jack Tatum collided at the same time with the ball ricocheting back upfield where it was snatched just before hitting the ground by Steelers rookie running back Franco Harris, who after completing his blocking assignment sprinted downfield in case Bradshaw needed another receiver. Harris ran it into the end zone, completing a 60 yard play and giving the long-downtrodden Steelers a 13-7 victory.
There was immediate controversy about the play which caused officials to huddle before declaring it a touchdown. Under the NFL rules of the time if the pass hit Fuqua and was then caught by Harris it would be rule incomplete. It would only be a completion if it hit Tatum first, or Tatum and Fuqua simultaneously (the rule was changed in 1978). From the video it looks like it bounces off Tatum's chest and the officials agreed. And now, here's the call by Curt Gowdy, who was as surprised as everyone else.
* After retiring as a player Terry Bradshaw brilliantly parleyed his reputation as a dumbass into four decades as a football commentator, actor, and reality show star.
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