March 5, 2024 - Ungulating, Strings, Birthday Boy, Dorothy
After a rocky start, I bravely string together an electro-pop birthday.
Nuggets of Information: Land That Time Forgot
About 6 miles off the coast of Germany, in the Baltic Sea, researchers and students from Kiel University found a row of rocks. Yeah! I know – rocks! That is a cool enough story for me, but their conclusions about the when and why of how the rocks got there is even more interesting.
In the fall of 2021, the research vessel RV Alkor found an almost perfectly aligned series of stones – including some large boulders – that stretched for more than half a mile. A subsequent study, results published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), reviewed and eliminated possible natural explanations for the rock wall, dubbed the Blinkerwall. The more likely explanation is that late Paleolithic or early Mesolithic hunter-gatherers created this structure to corral reindeer into either a narrow corridor or into the water, where they could then be killed by the hunters.
In the PNAS report, comparisons to other similar structures are drawn, including the Drop 45 site at the Alpena-Amberley Ridge in Lake Huron.
“The submerged “Drop 45” site located on the Alpena-Amberley Ridge in Lake Huron, United States, shares several characteristics with the Blinkerwall, including
a location near the top of the slope, but below the crest,
a subparallel trending marsh/lakeshore on one side,
the construction on bedrock,
the good preservation in a submerged context of 20 to 30 m water depth, and
solid and continuous construction
The functionality of Drop 45 is thereby assumed to be a drive lane for hunting large ungulates.”
This leads then to an obvious question: How do you cook ungulates? Luckily, the Food & Beverage Desk at Boo’s N.E.W.S. has you covered.
Enrichment: Ooooh Billy Billy Billy
Last Friday a group of us ventured to State Farm Arena in Atlanta to see Billy Strings and his band. I had seen Billy last year at State Farm and was blown away. I saw a lot of great live music last year, and his show was at the top of the list.
Our night started at a fun happy hour for three friends who all had birthdays – Monica, Hilary and Scott. We met at our local Louisiana eatery, where I enjoyed the wedge salad with fried shrimp. Oh yeah! From there, we headed over to the closest Marta station and took the train down to State Farm. Our group consisted of me, Julie & Tom, David M., Seth S., Alan R. and special guest all-the-way-from-St.-Pete-Florida: Dan Lassiter. We all had seats in different parts of the arena, so most of our group ended up in a cool open area right behind section 117 – great view, great acoustics, plenty of room to move around and close to bathrooms & concessions. While there we were joined by Amanda Burns and an old friend, Brad Lawson.
Billy & band started soon after we arrived, and again they blew us all away. Two sets, 27 songs, and by my estimation over 7 million notes played. Billy is an other-worldly guitar and banjo player and has pulled together a band of equally talented musicians. Billy Failing on banjo, Jarrod Walker on mandolin, Alex Hargreaves on fiddle and Royal Masat on the stand-up bass each had many opportunities to showcase their talent. Not surprising that Billy has had 26 nominations and 9 wins across the Grammys, Americana Music Awards and International Bluegrass Music Awards.
Bio info courtesy of Wikipedia:
“Billy Strings was born William Lee Apostol on October 3, 1992, in Lansing, Michigan. His father died of a heroin overdose when he was two and his mother remarried Terry Barber, an accomplished amateur bluegrass musician whom Strings regards as his father. The family later moved to Morehead, Kentucky, and then to Muir, Michigan. While he was still a preteen, his parents became addicted to methamphetamine. He left the family home at the age of 13 and went through a period of hard-drug usage. His family eventually achieved sobriety; Billy stopped using hard drugs and drinking alcohol, becoming "California Sober" and consuming only cannabis and similar "light drugs" (ie psychedelics).
Barber was a heavy influence on his stepson, introducing him to traditional bluegrass artists at a young age, including Doc Watson, Del McCoury, David Grisman,Bill Monroe, John Hartford, Ralph Stanley, Earl Scruggs and Larry Sparks. Strings is also a rock and metal fan, influenced by Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Winter, Widespread Panic, Phish, Grateful Dead, Def Leppard, Between the Buried and Me and Black Sabbath, and played in hard rock and indie rock bands in his teens.
Apostol got his stage name, Billy Strings, from his aunt, who saw his ability on multiple traditional bluegrass instruments.”
I have two videos from the show for you to check out. One I did in portrait orientation, for all the Insta folks, one in landscape orientation for us old-timers. Two different clips, so check them both out!
Set list
Set 1: Hollow Heart > Blackberry Blossom (Traditional), Must Be Seven > Secrets, Hellbender, I’ll Remember You, Love, In My Dreams (Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys), On The Line > Train 45 (Traditional), The Baggage Coach Ahead (Mac Wiseman), New Camptown Races > Unwanted Love, My Alice, Escanaba, John Deere Tractor (Larry Sparks), Dig A Little Deeper In The Well (Oak Ridge Boys)
Set 2: Cocaine Blues (Traditional), I Told Them All About You (Cliff Friend), Country Blues (Dock Boggs), Dos Banjos, Running The Route > So Many Miles > Dealing Despair, Love And Regret, Black Clouds (The String Cheese Incident), My Little Georgia Rose (Bill Monroe)
Encore: Standing In Need Of Prayer (Hot Rize), Richard Petty
Workshop: Take Me Out To The Ballgame
My birthday is this week, and usually I keep things simple. Birthday happy hour, family dinner, the showering of gifts and compliments, sincere appreciation for Facebook birthday wishes, annual dental flossing, and hitting as many IHOPs as possible in 24-hours for my free birthday pancakes.
This year, I’m mixing things up. I’m actually going to ask for something for my birthday. I would like to go to a Braves game with my friends, and if you are reading this, you are my friend! Not one big outing with all my friends, but individual outings where we can sit, enjoy the game, and spend time together. If this cockamamie scheme succeeds, I’ll get to go to a lot of baseball games, but more importantly, I’ll get to spend quality time with quality people. Time and experiences are more important than material belongings. No obligation to cover food and drinks. I’ll even take care of parking. Just get the tickets – doesn't matter what section – and let’s do this! And this drastically increases your chances of being featured in a future edition of Boo’s N.E.W.S.! Check with me on dates and we’ll find something that works!
If you aren’t in the Atlanta area, or have an aversion to baseball, and want to do something for my birthday, subscribe to this newsletter, and share it with others. Or make me an ungulate wedge salad!
Selected Content: Polo & Pan & Vulf
Recently I was invited over to Julie & Tom’s house for dinner – Tom's mom Bonnie was in town, and they were having a potluck get-together to celebrate her visit. Bonnie is awesome – funny, caring, smart – and fresh off a trip to Vietnam and Thailand. We had a lovely visit, with great food as always. Once the feasting was done, we settled for conversation while Tom VJ’d videos on their smart TV. Everything he played was enjoyable, but there were two standouts that I actually made note of.
First, Vulfpeck. I’d heard of them but hadn’t heard them. In 2011, at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Jack Stratton (keyboards, drums, guitar), Theo Katzman (guitar, drums, vocals), Woody Goss (keyboards) and Joe Dart (bass) formed Vulfpeck as a more modern version of the 1960’s funk session musician groups like the Wrecking Crew and the Funk Brothers. In 2014, they released “1612” featuring Antwaun Stanley on vocals. Other notable releases include “Back Pocket” and “Dean Town.” Check out the bass in the “Dean Town” link – thunderous!
The second selection was “Dorothy” by French electo-pop duo Polo & Pan. Tom discovered them on NPR’s Here & Now, and now shares their unique sound with friends. Paul Armand-Delille (Polo) and Alexandre Grynszpan (Pan) met in 2012 at the Parisian bar 'Le Baron', where they both performed. A year later they released their first EP, “Rivolta” followed by “Dorothy” the next year. Their first album, Caravelle, was release in 2017, featuring the EP “Canopée.” In 2021 they released the album Canopée, which included their biggest hit to-date, “Ani Kuni.”
They are definitely my favorite French DJ duo. Very cool – I hope they tour soon.
Saw BMFS for 2 nights in Nashville the week before ATL. Loads of special guests because, you guessed it, its Nashville. Anyway, Taj Farrant, was a special guest and I wanted to put him on your radar. He is 14YO and can slay guitar. He dueted with Billy. Check him out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxpTTmcrtSI