Fear Nothing (Dreadnought)

 

September is slipping on by!

 Fear not, you now have a new blog post from me...

You will never guess what I just learned recently...you know I will tell you! Richard likes to look at guitars (after all he is an excellent guitarist, don't you know) and he was explaining the different kinds of guitars to me. One that he mentioned was a "dreadnought" guitar, which is an acoustic guitar that has a larger body and a squared shoulder shape with a strong bass. I looked it up!  It was first developed by C.F. Martin & Company in 1916. Now, here is the thing that really startled me - it is named after a British battleship.  It was the HMS Dreadnought, launched in 1906 that only used big guns and therefore, had a much larger shape. Looking further the word "dreadnought" had been around since the 17th century and it means "fear nothing".

 Just as a side note here, whenever we played Monopoly, I always wanted to be "the ship"! It was easy to hold onto, and I liked the idea of sailing around the board! My sister was always the dog, and my brother liked the car. Which one did you prefer? I think I read that they did away with the thimble. Shame, that is the one I got if someone else got the ship.

 I have a video (again) for you! Since I wrote my last post with the Turtles video, YouTube popped up with a video of the lead singer saying that they wrote "Eleanore" as a parody of "So Happy Together" just because the publishing company pressured them into making another hit.  I had no idea! Funny thing, even though it was written tongue in cheek, they are all so good, it DID become a huge hit for them. (Looking back, using the word "etcetera" is a bit cheeky but hey, I was just a kid in 1968, I thought it was just a really good song. We had the single and we played it over and over, along with "Hey Jude", which was also a big hit at the time.) I LOVE this video. The bandmember with the wild, wooly hair is Mark Volman, the one who just passed away recently. I love the wild abandon that he displays on the stage. It is fun to see! The lead singer, Howard Kaylen has such a great voice, and the drumming by John Barbata is spot-on, don't you think? (Sadly, only Howard Kaylen is still with us, the drummer died in 2024.) Remember when you watch the video, that this was performed LIVE and that just really shows you how great they were!

I found a short clip of "Who Do You Think You Are" with Richard Osman.  I urge you to look at YouTube and see the whole episode which is about an hour long. It is so good! You will thank me after you have watched it. (I wish I could meet his mother!)  Richard Osman is very successful as an author (you remember he has written "The Thursday Murder Club" books) but has been known in the UK for a long time as a popular TV Game show creator and host.  If you get the chance, search out the one called "Richard Osman's House of Games".  It is very well done, very funny and most entertaining. He is just so doggone nice! Watch him and see if you don't agree with me.  (Also, he has a new book that will be released this month, Sept. 30!  It is "The Impossible Fortune".)

September and that means, beautyberry! Those bright purple berries don't even look real, but they are. It is a native and even the leaves are gorgeous. It is also time for the "hearts a busting" to show the bright seeds for us... also a native!

                             Statue in middle of a roundabout in Old Town Conyers, Georgia.

I just looked at my blog title: "Fear Nothing (Dreadnought)". That is actually pretty good advice. Now, if only I can follow it myself...

Hope you are all doing well, my friends.  Take care.