Okay, the Frankfurt School was a pretty formative part of my education -- for what it's worth -- so I was scratching my head when I first saw attacks upon them come up in Republican boilerplate.

Dog Days

According to the National Weather Service: The “dog days of summer” is a phrase used to describe the hot and humid days of summer. It can be traced back thousands of years to the days of the Roman Empire. It refers to the dates from July 3 through August 11, which is 20 days prior and 20 days after the star Sirius rises and falls in conjunction with the sun. Sirius was known as the “Dog Star,” because it is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major (Large Dog).

The name Sirius comes from an ancient Greek word for “scorching” or “glowing.” Plus, Sirius is the brightest star visible from Earth, and it’s visible from both hemispheres. Also, it’s the brightest star in the evening sky during the Northern Hemisphere winter... Sirius is behind the sun as seen from Earth during the Northern Hemisphere summer. Then, in late summer, it appears in the east before sunrise, near the sun in our sky. ... And then, it traveled across the sky with the sun all day. Thus, early stargazers might have imagined a double-whammy from Sirius and the sun caused the hot weather.

Afternoon folks!

Well, it's something of a grab bag this week. I didn't really have a plan and these are the records that were clean, ready and digitized this week.

So here we go, we've got a James Cotton Band album from the late disco/soul era followed by a very early Charley Musselwhite album with Harvey Mandel on the guitar. Then there's a Tony Joe White album with his big hit (Polk Salad Annie) followed by a later Roy Buchanan album from near the end of his career. After that there's a later period Flying Burrito Brothers album with Gene Parsons (Byrds) and Sneaky Pete Kleinow on steel guitar. Following that there's a Climax Blues Band album from the early part of their more mainstream success period. Then we've got some alt rock from The Beat Farmers and some rock and roll from Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends (including Keith Moon, Ritchie Blackmore and Noel Redding) with a terrible title track, but the rest of the album is good rock and roll. We finish up with Dr. John performing solo piano pieces.

Enjoy and have a great weekend!

“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”
Pablo Picasso

I hope the week has treated you well. I am busy with outside summer work and highly appreciative of the contribution of C99 members who keep these Saturday Open Threads active with dialog and music.

Happy Friday everyone. I hope everybody is doing well. As always, post any photos, memes, or music you like.

It's been a hot one this week. On Tuesday the thermometer on my patio hit 100°. The high temps sparked a nearby wildfire requiring the use of 3 aircraft (2 helo's and a tanker) as well as ground equipment to put out. The flames were visible from my house. Thankfully there were no Santa Ana winds so the fire was quickly contained and extinguished. This is the fourth time in the seven years I've been living in this house there has been a fire that close. Between fires, floods, droughts, extreme cold and other weather events, no matter where you live in the world these days, it's never a dull moment with Mother Nature.

On a less dramatic note, I spent a little time in the rose garden at Balboa Park Tuesday morning photographing the little critters.