Something/Someone Old

My Something Old today is the original Doobie Brothers (1970-1975). I love the pre-Michael McDonald Doobie Brothers. It's not that I hate Michael McDonald; I just love the sound of the early Doobies. Did you know that "Doobie Brothers" was meant to be a placeholder for a better name when they came up with one? The whole band thought the name sounded dumb. But they never could come up with a better one.

So here's Patrick Simmons, Tom Johnston, Tiran Porter, John Hartman and Michael Hossack, along with Jeff Baxter of Steely Dan fame playing steel guitar. Gotta love The Captain and Me!

The Captain and Me also holds some of their most recognizable hits, considerably peppier than "South City Midnight Lady."

This might be my favorite of their hits other than "Black Water," which, as I understand it, was meant to be an unregarded B side. Ah, the days of LPs, which led to a lot of these little unexpected happenings...Speaking of "Black Water," its A side, which was meant to be the hit single before it got overshadowed by their paean to the Mississippi River, is also one of my favorites. This is a Tom Johnston special. Very pretty guitar work, and, while some might consider that an insult, I mean it as a true compliment. I love the sound. It's off their fourth album, What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits, a great album with a name that's hella hard to remember right. Thanks to Untimely Rippd for the correction!

1973 and 1974. Great years in music.

Something New

It's been a while since I stuck my head up and looked at new music, other than Alice Merton, whose hit "No Roots" managed to reach even me.

I like to check in on who's emerged into the blues scene, since it's one of my favorite all-time kinds of music, and this guy seems quite amazing. Little hints of Stevie Ray Vaughn in his guitar. Meet Christone "Kingfish" Ingram:

Apparently this song was used in Luke Cage, which I am sorry to say got sunk in the anti-Marvel tsunami that hit Netflix. Of all the Marvel series on TV, this one was by far the best, and it was that unusual thing, a series about black people apparently written for black people. It leaves Black Panther in the dust, which is probably why we'll never see its return.

But Christone Ingram is something, isn't he?

Something Borrowed

My Something Borrowed today is tea.

Derived from only two varieties of one plant, true "tea," by which I don't mean "any unspecified but tasty plant with boiling water poured over it," but actual tea, originated in China. Camellia sinensis is a plant native to east Asia:

Tea originated in Southwest China during the Shang dynasty, where it was used as a medicinal drink.[6] An early credible record of tea drinking dates to the 3rd century AD, in a medical text written by Hua Tuo.[7] It was popularized as a recreational drink during the Chinese Tang dynasty, and tea drinking spread to other East Asian countries. Portuguese priests and merchants introduced it to Europe during the 16th century.[8] During the 17th century, drinking tea became fashionable among Britons, who started large-scale production and commercialization of the plant in India. Combined, China and India supplied 62% of the world's tea in 2016.

It's interesting that it began as a medicine. I'd argue that many of us use it that way still; I definitely self-medicate with caffeine. It's also just comforting to put one's hands around a warm cup of tea, isn't it?

So the Portuguese "borrowed" it for Europeans, and the British made large plantations of it in India. However, they also encountered a native version of tea in the Assam province of India:

The introduction of the Assam tea bush to Europe is related to Robert Bruce, a Scottish adventurer, who apparently encountered it in the year 1823. Bruce reportedly found the plant growing "wild" in Assam while trading in the region. Maniram Dewan directed him to the local Singpho chief Bessa Gam.[7] Bruce noticed local tribesmen (the Singhpos) brewing tea from the leaves of the bush and arranged with the tribal chiefs to provide him with samples of the leaves and seeds, which he planned to have scientifically examined. Robert Bruce died shortly thereafter, without having seen the plant properly classified. It was not until the early 1830s that Robert’s brother, Charles, arranged for a few leaves from the Assam tea bush to be sent to the botanical gardens in Calcutta for proper examination. There, the plant was finally identified as a variety of tea, or Camellia sinensis var assamica, but different from the Chinese version (Camellia sinensis var. sinensis).

This is pretty cool. I had thought the introduction of tea to India was purely a colonial affair, but it turns out they were drinking a version of Camellia sinensis already, and the Brits just took till the early Victorian period to catch up with it. They annoyingly attempted to displace it with the plants they had "borrowed" from the Chinese--apparently this "borrowing" was not limited to the Portuguese importation of tea to Europe, but also involved the Brits attempting to smuggle seeds and plants out during lulls in the Opium Wars--but, lucky for me, the indigenous plant proved better at surviving in the Assam province than the imported one. The Brits couldn't stamp it out, so they hybridized it with the Chinese import, and we got the Assam tea I know and love. Yeah, I like a strong brew.

Of course, their motivation for doing this was to break the Chinese monopoly on tea, but the resulting plant is nice, even if the British Empire wasn't.

Unlike Darjeeling, Assam is grown in the lowlands, in the floodplain of the Brahmaputra river, an area bordering Bangladesh. I didn't realize till I looked at the map how close it is to China:

Despite colonialism, theft, profit-driven wars and other pernicious behaviors, still a lovely and beneficial plant.

Something Blue

To continue the east Asian theme, meet the Himalayan Blue Poppy:

Meconopsis betonicifolia, also known as Meconopsis baileyi and the Himalayan blue poppy, was first documented in 1912, by Lt. Col. Frederick Marshman Bailey.

However, the genus was identified much earlier, and given the tendency of the plant to hybridize freely within its genus, it's probably the more significant discovery. What is and is not a singular species can, apparently, be very debatable:

Meconopsis is a genus of flowering plants in the family Papaveraceae. It was first described by French botanist Viguier in 1814[1] who named it as poppy-like (from Greek mekon poppy, opsis alike). The species have attractive flowers and have two distinct ranges. A single species, Meconopsis cambrica (Welsh poppy), is indigenous to England, Wales, Ireland, and the fringes of Western Europe, although recent studies suggest that it does not belong in the genus.[2] The other 40 or so (depending on classification) species are found in the Himalayas. Within the Himalayan types there is much debate as to what constitutes a particular species as many readily hybridise with each other and produce viable seed. It is likely that some individually named species are in fact a single species but with an under-appreciated morphological diversity.

This one is from Longwood Gardens, a botanical garden in Pennsylvania that I was introduced to by danceyoumonster and joanneleon. It was a memorable occasion complete with a rather fine mushroom soup. I don't remember seeing a blue poppy there, but I'm glad they've managed to cultivate one; apparently it's rather difficult.

I hope dym stops by; I believe he goes to Longwood Gardens rather often, and might be able to tell us if a blue poppy is still there in residence.

How are you all today?