come on down to fifty-four (10. 051)

Released on this day in 1978, the eponymous second studio album from the band, C’est Chic (Trés Chic in Europe), not only includes their signature funk, disco number “Le Freak,” other tracks “Chic Cheer,” “Savoir Faire” and “I Want Your Love” also did exceedingly well in the charts, prompting not only climbing to and holding number one international but also the album’s inclusion on the US Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry as “culturally, historically and artistically significant.” The song commemorates the New Year’s Eve party at Studio 54 that the bandmates did not get to attend, despite having been invited by Grace Jones—she neglected apparently to inform the doormen and bouncers, and originally had the refrain “F— you!” instead of “Freak out!,” which was the response of club staff when refusing bassist Bernard Edwards and guitarist Nile Rodgers entrance.

7x7 (10. 050)

smokin’: Bill McClintock remixes Clarence Carter’s “Strokin’” (That’s What I Be Doing) with Boston’s “More Than A Feeling”  

s morgenstern’s classic tale of true love and high adventure, the ‘good parts’ version: wildly divergent book covers for The Princess Bride, via Super Punch  

we’re walking in the air: author and illustrator Raymond Briggs (previously) has passed away, aged 88  

development purgatory: more titles and properties never released by movie studios—see also—via Things Magazine   

scarborough faire: housing developer agrees to rebury unique Roman villa for future conservation a year after it was discovered  

the seventh seal: AI designs movie posters  

seona dancing: Ricky Gervais’ synth-pop group from 1983

vertrag von verdun (10. 049)

Agreed on this day in 843, the Treaty of Verdun divided the Frankish Empire of Ludwig I, son and successor of Charlemagne, into three kingdoms to be ruled by the emperor’s three sons. The outcome of a succession crisis, civil war and palace intrigues, the negotiations were the first of a series of partition arrangements that to a large extend correspond with the borders of modern Europe. Though the peace was not destined to last long, the brothers agreed to recognise the suzerainty of their father, Lothair (already created king of Italy) was given Francia Media (Middle Franconia—stretching from the northern half of the Italian peninsula and up the corridor of the Rhein river valley to the Low Countries), Louis the German (of Bavaria) received Francia Orientalis—eastern Franconia, comprising the largest, unified constituent realm of the Holy Roman Empire, and Karl II, Francia Occidentalis, Burgundy and Aquitaine, most modern France with the exception of Bretagne. The provisioning—which reflected the custom of partible inheritance (see above) rather than leaving property to the most senior offspring—saw centuries of border swapping especially for the middle kingdom, with few natural defences for territorial integrity and communication was curtailed by the Alps, and a legacy of disunity and division for Italy.

cinematography (10. 048)

Everlasting Blört directs our attention to the portfolio of artist Shahin Sepheri through their homage to the history of movies with forty-five iconic visual references, starting with 1922’s Nosferatu and coming full-circle with the Lumière Brothers and Voyage to the Moon from 1902.

 

 

you’ll catch your death in the fall (10. 047)

Fancy Notions directs our attention to a 1970 promotional short from Bell Telephone that offers a rather remarkable if not a tad touched with the hubris and inflated self-confidence of echoed in modern Tech. This piece by Ugo Torricelli, is part informative and part psychedelic freak out, posits that the downfall of humanity and expulsion from the Garden of Eden was the first act of invention.

7x7 (10. 046)

chorizo: prominent French scientists apologies after posting a sausage slice and claiming it was an image from the JWST—via the always excellent Everlasting Blört 

gall stereographic projection: D’Arcy Thompson’s mathematical transformations and correspondent biological speciation—see also 

chapel of sound: otherworldliness of a monolithic amphitheatre with views of the Great Wall accentuated with a film short that evokes the landscape of Prometheus (see also)  

a bridge too far: there are no crossing over the Amazon—via the New Shelton wet/dry (at a new home at the New Inquiry)  

casino clock: a flip-face time-keeper sourced from a card deck  

scenic route: a navigation device that emphasises fun and adventure—via Swiss Miss  

when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie: the Solar System rendered as food items (with the help of Midjourney—Mercury as a cookie looks a lot like the Disc of Nebra)—via Super Punch

we now return to regular programming (10. 045)

Interrupting regularly scheduled, prime-time programming on this day in 1974—ironically as he regularly attacked the medium as an instrument of liberal bias and never stopped blaming TV for wrecking his first US presidential bid against JFK having not fared well on screen during televised debates—to address the nation and announce his imminent resignation in the face of the so called “smoking gun” recording that revealed what the president knew about the botched burglary in the Democratic National Committee headquarters and told he would face certain impeachment— Richard M Nixon offered, “I have concluded that because of the Watergate matter I might not have the support of the Congress that I would consider necessary to back the very difficult decisions and carry out the duties of this office in the way the interests of the nation would require.” Adding that he was contrite errors in judgment, Nixon failed to mention, however, any talk of congress leveling articles of impeachment against him. Tendering his resignation the following day, Nixon submitted a letter to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and left office, effective noon 9 August.

sounded sad upon the radio, moved a million hearts in mono (10. 044)

Released as the lead single from the group’s second studio album—Too-Rye-Ay (which includes the eponymous refrain)—Dexys Midnight Runners’ (with credit to Emerald Express) “Come on Eileen” climbed to the top of UK charts on this day in 1982, holding number one for weeks, best-seller of the year and later ranked as one of the defining songs of the decade. The character “Eileen” on the single cover as well as in the music video is played by Márie Fahey, sister of Siobhan Fahey of the group Bananarama. The introductory fiddle solo is a riff on the melodic setting of Irish poet Thomas Moore’s “Believe Me, I All Those Endearing Young Charms”—already quite well established in popular culture as the so called “xylophone gag,” wherein a cartoon villain rigs up an instrument to detonate when the C bar is struck and presents the would-be victim sheet music (usually of the above title) who inevitably plays a discordant note at the crucial time, prompting the bad guy to show the other who it is supposed to be played, thus dispatching himself.