December 22, 2024

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History / Sports

Sir Bobby Moore, the Golden Boy of Soccer, on his 80th birthday

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“Hero is a word that is often overused, but an understatement when describing Bobby Moore”

Born April 14, 1941, he would been 80 years old today

Bobby Moore World Cup onemanzMoore’s death from colon cancer at age 51 sent much of the world into mourning for the unassuming man from London’s working-class East End who was knighted for restoring pride in the English people during the post war years of dearth and derision, as a larger than life champion in sport and as a role model in society throughout the turbulent Sixties and Seventies, due to his generous good heart and “perfect gentleman” personality. And for never losing touch with his humble origins, despite partying with the likes of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and the Who, while having movie star babysitters like Michael Caine.

While the Babe Ruth of soccer was certainly Bobby Charleton of Manchester United, its Lou Gehrig was Bobby Moore, the man Pelé called the best defender in history, and Charleton named the greatest footballer England ever produced.

With movie star looks of curly blonde hair and bright blue eyes, Moore arose from the rough and tumble streets of Barking, “like a shining light,” at a time when England was in serious economic and social depression after WWII. He was 14 when the local pro team recruited him, but his mother wouldn’t let him go until he was 16 and had completed his “O levels,” the British equivalent of  high school graduation. Moore was still in his early twenties when he led the perennial also-ran West Ham United to winning the 1964 FA Cup (the tournament of all the English football leagues) and the 1965 European Cup (the tournament of all the cup winners from European nations,) before captaining the 1966 national team that won England’s only World Cup and restored them to the heights of international soccer after years of obscurity.

Moore was the subject of two recent documentaries, the sentimental Hero (2002) and Bo66y (2016) that commemorates the 50th anniversary of the 1966 World Cup victory. Neither of those is readily available. But this one made by a TV News department just after his death is pretty great.

Arts and Culture / music / NYC

Highland Shatners Mini Set for St. Paddy’s Night

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St. Patrick’s Day Tradition Means Music Around Here

The Highland Shatners sorta live…

From their shore leave in the Omicron Delta system, to a viewing screen near you…

The Highland Shatners had to cancel last year’s annual appearance at Freddy’s Back Room, in Brooklyn, due to the COVID-19 Emergency. And this year we gathered as best we could for a mini set. Not too shabby for a parcel of lads who haven’t played these songs for a year, let alone met up in person.

 

The Highland Shatners coalesced from a larger collection of musicians who performed for an annual event at La Mama ETC of Scottish music and poetry, to raise money for the Burns Night Supper of a now extinct Scottish society in New York City.

The band’s set lists typically contain traditional and modern Celtic music, together with Paisley Pop tunes from the ’60s and ’70s and, appropriately enough, songs from the original Star Trek series.

Although it has been some years since they performed with any frequency, the Highland Shatners continue to play each St. Patrick’s Day at Freddy’s Back Room in Brooklyn, NY.  Come by for a good time, March 17, 2022, and a spectacular corned beef sandwich too!

Uncategorized

Revolutionary Russia – Monday Map

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Come the Revolution!

March 8, 1917, “bread riots” in Saint Petersburg light the flame that engulfs Tsarist Russia

For the next five years the chaos of revolution changed Russia forever. And the map the late Nicholas II’s vast empire was latered into a number of new states. By 1923 most no longer existed, having been destroyed by or absorbed into the U.S.S.R..
Russia 1917 Revolution States onemanz

Little Known History

Few westerners remember the existence of such places. But when it comes to Russia, Siberia is a name known to many, even if they do not know where it is or much about it – other than as a place in the movies or TV shows where people were sent when they had done something bad. But deep in the American conscience the dreadful omen associated with Siberia remains, because of the ill-fated invasion of Siberia by American troops in 1918.

Here is a fascinating article from Smithsonian magazine about the forgotten troops that ended up in the middle of the Russian Revolution in those days.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/forgotten-doughboys-who-died-fighting-russian-civil-war-180971470/

 

Around the Web / music

World of Radio – Monday Map

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Brief Tour of World Radio Stations

The New Sensation of Radio! (Well, new to me!)

Here is a short video I put together, as I wondered the globe, listening to music from many lands, “from station to station,” as it were, and zooming in for brief visits to the local communities, all thanks to an amazing site that uses digital satellite technology and Google Earth.

(New Edit with tweaked volume and typo repair.)

The site radio.garden allows one to listen to radio stations around the globe, from their hometown to the most exotic locals their imagination can think up.

It must be similar to having a shortwave radio set, used to seek out signals from foreign lands and whatever voices and unusual music one could pull out of the ether. Only in this case, it is all digital quality via satellites. A modern wonder.

I had a great fun making this video, and have a new hobby, listening to radio stations from foreign lands. Try it out for yourself!

radio.garden

 

World of Radio radio.garden onemanz