William Horberg

Goin' To Chicago

"I come from Chitown. Chitown is my town."

Jimmy Rushing sang it. "Big" Joe Williams sang a version with the Count Basie Orchestra. And Big Joe joined with Dave Lambert, Jon Hendricks and Annie Ross to sing what is for me the definitive version of "Goin' To Chicago" blues.

You keep your New York Joys

I'm going to Illinois

Just as fast as I can

 

You New York women think

You'll make a fool of any man

Play all kinds of games

And you'll cheat if you can

 

Use love like a tool

Make a man a fool

What a beautiful motto

 

Got my money, that's it

How can you mind if I split

 

Going back where a woman

Really knows the way to treat a man

And people are friendly

Without no hidden plan

 

It's the best in the midwest

It's a real darn city full of

Good folks who come from home

 

And when I get back

I'll never roam far

From my little Chitown

Goodbye, farewell

I might see you later

 

Going to Chicago

Sorry but I can't take you

I come from Chitown

Going back to my town

 

Going to Chicago

Sorry but I can't take you

No use in crying

Tired of your lying

 

There ain't nothing in Chicago

That a monkey woman can do

I got to quit you

Can't make it with you

 

When you see me coming, baby

Raise your window high

Hide your window to the sky, yeah

 

When you see me coming, baby

Raise your window high

Catch me passing on the fly, yeah

 

But when you see me passing, baby

Hang your head and cry

search your soul and

Wonder why, yeah

 

Hurry, hurry down sunshine

And see what tomorrow brings

Tomorrow, tomorrow

Hurry, hurry, hurry down sunshine

And see what tomorrow brings

Tomorrow, tomorrow

 

Well, the sun went down

And tomorrow brought us rain

Tomorrow brought sorrow

 

You're so mean and evil

You do things you ought not do

My, you're a mean one

first time I've seen one

 

You're so mean and evil

You do things you ought not do

You used to be cool

Now find a new fool

 

Got my brand of honey

But I won't have to

Put up with you

 

Hate you and your town

That's why I got

To put you down

Goodbye

william

Under The Sea

There are not too many bad films in the Criterion Collection of classic dvd's, but every once in a while they really out-do themselves by bringing to light some forgotten or obscure gem from a remote corner of the world of cinema.

In the case of the new release "Science is FICTION - 23 films by Jean Painleve", that remote corner is actually underwater, as this collection of documentaries by the Frenchman Painleve takes the camera up close and personal into the murky lives of Sea Horses, Urchins, Hyas, Jellyfish, Shrimp, Octopus and other denizens of the deep.

Here is a photo of Painleve with his boxy underwater camera device. You really feel like this guy embodied Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek credo to "boldly go where no man has gone before".

It is hard to describe the unusual beauty of his work. They're like classroom educational films, but as if shot by Jean Cocteau, with moody new musical scores written especially for some of the shorts by Yo Lo Tengo.

Painleve was a scientist, but he was also an artist with a highly developed aesthetic sense. The films defy any sort of easy genre categorization, which is why they come as such a welcome antidote today.

Check it out!

william

The Mad Man From Mexico

Sergio Aragones Domenech sold his first cartoon when he was sixteen for twenty pesos, about $1.85. By the time he had moved from Mexico to the United States in 1962, he had drawn and sold thousands of panel gags, and his career was just getting started. In the summer of 1962 he walked into the Manhattan offices of MAD Magazine with his portfolio under his arm, and one of the iconic cartoon illustrators and stylists of the '60's had found his home.

Remember all of those little drawings and cartoon doodads in the margins and borders of MAD that didn't seem to be part of the story but were like gremlins that had invaded the magazine and taken on a life of their own? That was Aragones' invention, "Border incidents", breaking the rules of the layout and inventing a new language literally outside-the-box.

Here is a typical Aragones drawing. No dialogue balloon or caption necessary. Part of a series called "Viva Karate"!

I love this full page composition and the use of so much empty space. And the way he manages to draw time and create suspense with very simple lines.

And here is a real tour-de-force, a crowded frame of perfectly detailed characters and a comically absurd situation that are both hallmarks of this artist's style. The fertile ground of Latin American politics seemed to afford him ample opportunity for mischief.

His Mad colleague at the time Antonio Prohias, a Cuban exile, was the creator and artist behind the long running and very popular Spy Vs. Spy cartoons. These two Latin artists, speaking very little English but speaking volumes with their pen and ink, had a huge influence on the pop culture of my generation.

william

By The Numbers

5 9 3 3 9 1 4     8 6 9 2 5 9 7

Numerology, like Astrology, is one of those things that tend to exist in the eye of the beholder. Dating back to the time of Pythagoras, numerologists found connections between numbers and physical objects or living things.

Science, or parlor game? 

Like the Ouija Board, books about numerology, as in this small gem from 1917, seem symbolic of modes of entertainment from a quieter, less populous, and pre-electronic time on the planet.

Here is how it works. Basically, every letter of the alphabet is assigned a numerical value from 1 to 9. Therefore, your full name can be converted to a series of numbers, which when totaled up according to the "rules", converts your alphabetical name into an absolute number which, oddly, is either from 1 to 9, or 11 or 22. Each number has its own set of characteristics, for if you are a 4, like all other 4s, you share common traits. 

Therefore, 5 9 3 3 9 1 4   8 6 9 2 5 9 7  can now be read correctly as: William Horberg.

The Sea of Trouble or the Harbor of Success. Where would you rather be? Let's add things up and see. 

My Individuality Number, as expressed by the total values assigned to the vowels in my name, would be a 3. My real self.

( i=9 + i=9 + a=1 + o=6 + e=5 totals 30, which then gets converted to 3+0 = 3.)

My Personality Number, based on "Bill", which according to the book is a shortening of my name that could be the result of sentimentality, conceit or ambition, comes out to 7. What I appear to be.

(b=2 + l=3 + l=3 + h=8 + r=9 + b=2 + r=9 + g=7 totals 43 and 4+3 = 7.)

So what does it all mean? 

According to Mr. Theodore Russell (who penned this thin tome, and I hope made some cash as a result), having an Individuality Number of 3 means that you are "perfect in personal expression". 3's are 'natural salesmen' and 'jolly people who can sing or dance or talk interestingly'! So that is how I really am. Sweet! But how do I appear to be? People with Personality Numbers of 7 are "meditative, introspective, tranquil, restful and refined." 

Introspectively jolly. Not a bad description of me. 

But Russell also warns, if I live on the wrong or negative side of my number, I am "babbling when I should be silent" and my "wisdom is lost in chatter". Ouch!

Interestingly, the guy with the most powerful numerological reading in Russell's book is none other than Theodore Roosevelt, whose names adds up uniquely to 22. For some reason that goes unexplained, 22 is a number that cannot be reduced, and is also the number of greatest accomplishment. 

Thank God he wasn't a 7, "those who through ignorance of the laws of success find themselves adrift in the waters of misery". 

Hard to be introspectively jolly if you're drifting in the waters of misery!!!

Send me your number, and I'll tell you what Theodore Russell has to say about YOU!

william

Our Funny Faces

Here are our family's drawings inspired by last weeks post about the 1910 book Making Faces. Some might see them as listed in descending chronological order, but others of a more waggish bent might say that are ordered from least creative and original to most! 

I think that 3 and 4 are a tie (and, full disclosure, 4 got a little bit of help from 3).

1) Bill:

2) Elsa

3) Natalie

4) Diego

Happy Memorial Day to you and those close to you. Hope you're having a great holiday weekend.

william

8 Track

Does anyone remember the Siegel-Schwall Blues Band today?

Formed by Corky Siegel and Jim Schwall who were bandmates in the Roosevelt University Jazz Band in Chicago in the early '60's, they went on to be regular performers at Pepper's Lounge on the South Side, playing with legends like Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, Willie Dixon and others.

When I was in high school they were well regarded by a certain crowd, as blues music migrated from the night clubs of the South and West sides, and street markets like the famous one on Maxwell Street every Sunday morning, to capture a new white audience and "crossover" as they say.

Siegel-Schwall, who played in front of The Allman Brothers, Janis Joplin and The Jefferson Airplane, were never as popular as other white blues musicians like Paul Butterfield or John Mayall, but they were known for their "good-time" sound and for the infectious energy of their live performances.

I hadn't thought about them in years, but a friend of mine gave me an utterly impractical 8-track tape of one of their old albums for my birthday, which as an object somehow seemed perfectly synonymous with the era in which I first came across their music.

william

Funny Faces

I came across this small book published in 1910 the other day and thought it would be a fun opportunity to turn the blog today into a place to interact with all of you!

Written by Henchel Williams for the A.C. McClurg company in my hometown of Chicago, Illinois, it is a workbook of drawing exercises, in this case the human face and all of its myriad expressions.

Here are a few of the almost 100-year-old drawings I found inside the book.

I've chosen a blank page - for making a funny face - for you to fill in with your imagination.

Send me your doodlings, however raw or refined, and I'll post them here in a future post, alongside Elsa, Natalie, Diego and my own efforts.

Enjoy!

william

The Human Camera

Savant syndrome or savantism is a condition whereby a person with a developmental disability, often Autism Spectrum Disorder, is found to be especially brilliant in one particular area or field. 

I had heard and read some things about this unusual characteristic, but I had never come across the story of Stephen Wiltshire, the British man whose ability as a technical artist and draftsman, combined with a most uncanny photographic memory, has earned him the nickname The Human Camera.

If you have a few minutes, watch this mind-bending video, and contemplate the unlimited capability of the human brain.

Stephen Wiltshire: The Human Camera

His first reported spoken word was "paper" when he was eight or nine years old, and his teachers discovered and encouraged his artistic abilities. He has a gallery of his work online, and has traveled around the world and drawn from memory his intricate architectural landscapes.

It is curious how "ability" and "disability" can be so closely related in certain individuals as to blur the meaning of those words.

william

Marge

Her real name was Marjorie Hendersen Buell, but to millions of readers and fans she was simply "Marge" which is how she signed her work when it first appeared in the Saturday Evening Post back in 1935.

Her single panel gag cartoons featured young precocious Lulu Moppet, her best friend Annie, and their occasional nemesis Tubby Tomkins. Later on, Little Lulu became the star of her own comic book and was syndicated in newspapers around the country.

But I found this beautiful book collecting her early 1930's work at the flea market and picked out a few panels to share with you here.

In a medium and industry dominated by male artists and stories told from a male perspective, it's cool that Marjorie Hendersen Buell found her way into the popular culture of her era.

The truth is, Little Lulu really reminds me of my own little Natalie - perhaps they are around the same age, but they certainly are possessed of the same spirit and originality.

Enjoy!

william

In One Paragraph

In last week's issue of The New Yorker, writer Nick Paumgarten writes a trenchant and sobering article about the totality of the financial meltdown. 

In just one paragraph he manages to summarize about as succinctly and completely as I have read anywhere, a description of the crisis and its multiple causes. 

If written in verse, it could be poetic. If put to music, it could be hypnotic.

"This crisis is the culmination of events and trends reaching back, depending on your perspective, four, seven, seventeen, twenty-two, twenty-seven, thirty-eight, sixty-five, or a hundred and two years. The subprime-mortgage meltdown, the subsequent collapse of the wider real-estate market and then of securities based on real-estate, and of the firms and funds holding those securities, and of the companies selling insurance against the failure of those firms, and, potentially, of the insurers' counterparties, and so on: you could say that all this is merely the finale to a multi-decade saga set on Wall Street and Main Street, in Washington, Riyadh and Tokyo. The causes are technological, mathematical, cultural, demographic, financial, economic, behavioral, legal, and political. Among the dozens of contributors and culprits, real or perceived, are the personal computer, the abandonment of the gold standard, the abandonment of Glass-Steagall, the end of fixed commissions, the ratings agencies, mortgage-backed securities, securitization in general, credit derivatives, credit-default swaps, Wall Street partnerships going public, the League of Nations, Bretton Woods, Basel II, CNBC, the S.E.C., disintermediation, overcompensation, Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, Phil Gramm and Jim Leach, Alan Greenspan, black swans, red tape, deregulation, outdated regulation, lax enforcement, government pressure to lower lending standards, predatory lending, mark-to-market accounting, hedge funds, private-equity firms, modern finance theory, risk models, "quants", corporate bonds, the baby boomers, flat-screen televisions, and an indulgent, undereducated populace. All these factors, very few of them mutually exclusive, conspired to make possible skyrocketing leverage, misperceived risk, and spectacular collapse. To tell the story of them all, in the proper context and detail, will require an Edward Gibbons. The fall of Rome, by comparison, was a local event. Much abridged, a few familiar words will do: debt, greed, hubris."

What a list!

Seems to me like the only thing he left out is Cubs' villain Steve Bartman and the curse of "Billy Goat" Sam Sianis!

If you wanted to make a haiku from Paumgarten's reportage, what would yours be?

Here's mine:

Black swans, red tape

Real or perceived

Very few of them mutually exclusive

william