RETRO KIMMER'S BLOG

5.28.2012

RETROKIMMMER'S COACHVILLE PHOTOS ADDED TO GERMAN IGGY FILM!

We had some exciting news this week! I sold some of my Coachville photos to a German Film company that is doing a documentary on Jim (Iggy Pop) Osterberg's life.

Back in 2009 I had a visitor from Australia staying at my home and I took him to see this tiny trailer court. He wasn't an Iggy fan so I shot the photos pretty quick and we were off to see other sights in Ann Arbor.

So far I have had 3 sets of people interested in these images and that is really gratifying. This little park used to have airstream trailers and mobile homes. Now the trailers are vinyl sided or manufactured homes.

5.27.2012

PT BARNUM "THE GREATEST SHOWMAN ON EARTH!"

What's on the 6th Floor?

The greatest prankster of the nineteenth century, P.T. Barnum (1810-1891) was impresario, humbug, circus owner, lecturer, speculator, politician, and America’s greatest showman. For decades he reigned supreme as he presented one curiosity and extravaganza after another. He had a huge gift for entertaining and amusing the American public.

Barnum for all his faults and failed schemes was a dreamer. He had a talent for knowing what types of things would entertain the public. Didn't matter to him if he had freakish people, wild animals, and often items he invented to thrill the people.

In my opinion... Barnum lived to entertain...yes money was important as was his religion... but to me Barnum was always envisioning new ways to enthrall his audience.

PT Barnum Museum photo: Gary Baggett

A good show promoter focuses on their events not on their own ego... When you create a show to draw attention to yourself, you'll get it but most likely you won't like it for long. Barnum knew this... He produced the "Greatest Shows on Earth". He used his name on shows like his Barnum and Bailey circuses to brand them. That way lesser circuses would be recognizable as a fake.

Years ago I met Bill Goodman from the "Gun and Knife Show". He used his name on his show for the same reason. Most promoters know that ego has no place in the business. You just make a target out of yourself that way. Keep your goals for the audience out front....

P. T. Barnum Phineas Taylor Barnum (July 5, 1810-April 7, 1891), known as P. T. Barnum, a prominent Universalist, the most influential American showman of the nineteenth century, was the founder of the first important public museum and creator of the modern three-ring circus.

“If Barnum could not get his hands on a genuine curiosity for his museum, he had no problem making one up. He often mislabeled displays, claiming that ordinary items were really historically important artifacts.

Thus a wooden club was transformed into ‘the very one that killed the esteemed Captain Cook.’ A boat oar became ‘the very tool with which Miles Standish himself rowed his fellow pilgrims to our great American shores.’ And a deer antler became a ‘rare specimen of the horn of the mysterious elusive unicorn.’” --Candace Fleming, The Great and Only Barnum (2009)

Barnum’s celebrities included the curious Feejee Mermaid; General Tom Thumb, the Man in Miniature; the singer extraordinaire known as the Swedish Nightingale, Jenny Lind; conjoined twins Chang and Eng, Madame Josephine Clofulia, the Swiss Bearded Lady, and Jumbo the elephant.

Art of Money Getting Free Book

Phineas was born on July 5, 1810 in the small Connecticut community of Bethel to Irena Taylor and Philo F. Barnum. Barnum's first job was clerking in his father's country store. As a young man in the 1820s and the 1830s he worked as a clerk in Brooklyn, ran a fruit and confectionary store back home, and was a lottery agent in Pennsylvania. In 1829 he married Charity Hallett. In time they had four children.

Between 1831 and 1834 Barnum edited his own newspaper in Danbury, the Herald of Freedom. He started the paper to combat what he perceived to be sectarian attempts to bring about a union of church and state. Three times charged with libel for statements he made about opponents, he was once convicted and was incarcerated for 60 days.

He spent his time in jail comfortably. "I had my room papered and carpeted previously to taking possession," he wrote. He had a constant stream of visitors including a pastoral visit from a local Universalist minister. His release was a public relations event. (Of course it was...)

PT Barnum Museum Exhibits
Museum Videos
PT Barnum and Tom Thumb Graves

5.11.2012

ROCK STAR OF HAIRSTYLISTS VIDAL SASSOON: A REMEMBRANCE

Vidal Sassoon

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Vidal Sassoon, hair stylist and fashion world pioneer who created a natural look in the 1960s and built a multimillion-dollar business on his name, died on Wednesday after a long battle with leukemia. He was 84. Sassoon died at his home in Los Angeles surrounded by loved ones and his wife of 20 years, Ronnie, his family said in a statement. "He will be greatly missed," they said. ...

Sassoon 5 point haircut

5.07.2012

MY DEAR FRIEND JIM SMITH PASSED AWAY

Jim Smith "To Truly Live"

When you meet true love/friendship...you know it and Jim was that for me... we met at work and we had an unusual connection from the beginning.... he was my Jiminy Cricket. He had all the right answers for me. All the time. He got me to quit smoking and to lose weight. He helped me in every way. What a great father, friend, and life counselor he was. This is just so unfair...

Without exaggeration Jim and I talked into the wee hours by phone for years. He left the cable company and I sadly stayed. Down the road he met a girl and I met a guy...we drifted apart from our phone calls but not our emotions.

Jim loved to ride dirt bikes

We really loved to talk about health, religion, love and all forms of life. This man was a such joy and I have no doubt he is coaching people on the other side. I can barely write this without sobbng...I miss him already. At least he introduced me to our mutual friend Scott Buel...also a great guy... There are some fun Jim videos on his Facebook please leave your thoughts there for his daughter and parents....

Jim truly saved my life...I will never forget him....

I miss you already JR....thanks Scott for keeping me in this sad loop xxKim

5.04.2012

SUPER MOON VS METEOR SHOWER THIS WEEKEND!

'Supermoon' May Outshine Meteor Shower This Weekend - Yahoo! News

The biggest full moon of the year, a so-called "super moon," will take center stage when it rises this weekend, and may interfere with the peak of an annual meteor shower created by the leftovers from Halley's comet.

The supermoon of 2012 is the biggest full moon of the year and will occur on Saturday (May 5) at 11:35 p.m. EDT (0335 May 6), though the moon may still appear full to skywatchers on the day before and after the actual event. At the same time, the annual Eta Aquarid meteor shower will be hitting its peak, NASA scientists say.

RETROKIMMER: SUPER MOON MAR 19, 2011 STORY

"Its light will wash out the fainter Eta Aquarid meteors," NASA meteor expert Bill Cooke of the Marshall Space Flight Center told SPACE.com in an email. Still, Cooke said there's a chance that the brightest fireballs from the meteor display may still be visible.

Meteor Shower To Coincide With ‘Supermoon’ This Weekend

Peak viewing conditions for the Eta Aquarid meteor shower, which occurs annually when Earth passes through the debris trail from Halley’s Comet, will begin on the evening of May 5 and last until the early morning hours on May 6, NASA officials announced earlier this week.

The meteor shower, which is caused by the cosmic debris from the comet burning up in our planet’s atmosphere, produces between 40 and 60 meteors per hour under ideal conditions, the US space agency said in a statement on Wednesday.

However, they report that a full moon will occur on May 6, and the light from the full (or nearly full) moon will make it more difficult to observe the Eta Aquarid meteors this year.

“NASA fireball cameras have already detected several bright Eta Aquarid meteors this year, so the odds are pretty good that a bit of Halley’s Comet can be seen over the next few days,” they said. “Ideal viewing conditions are clear skies away from city lights, especially just before dawn.”

Source: redOrbit (http://s.tt/1aQOO)

The exact time of the next SUPER full moon is:
Sunday * 6th May 2012 * 05:35:06 am
Central European Summer Time (CEST)
Moon sign: Scorpio 16° 01'

Here you find this time converted into different timezones for other cities:
SYDNEY = Sunday * 6th May 2012 * 01:35:06 pm (AEST)
TOKYO = Sunday * 6th May 2012 * 12:35:06 pm (JST)
BEIJING = Sunday * 6th May 2012 * 11:35:06 am (CST)
DELHI = Sunday * 6th May 2012 * 09:05:06 am (IST)
MOSCOW = Sunday * 6th May 2012 * 07:35:06 am (MSK)
BERLIN = Sunday, 6th May 2012, 05:35:06 am (CEST)
LONDON = Sunday * 6th May 2012 * 04:35:06 am (BST)
RIO = Sunday * 6th May 2012 * 12:35:06 am (BRT)
NEW YORK = Saturday * 5th May 2012 * 11:35:06 pm (EDT)
MEXICO CITY = Saturday * 5th May 2012 * 10:35:06 pm (CDT)
LOS ANGELES = Saturday * 5th May 2012 * 08:35:06 pm (PDT)
HONOLULU = Saturday * 5th May 2012 * 05:35:06 pm (HAST)

5.03.2012

THE HOWLING DIABLOS AND: CINCO- DE- MAYO

Hey gang this is a trailer for a blues show The Howling Diablo's filmed for PBS that will air soon on PBS. Johnny Bee sent me today. The Howling Diablos won a ton of Detroit Music Awards last week and are one of my very favorite bands.

A Video Sampler from 2006 Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival featuring Calvin Cooke, Alberta Adams, Johnnie Bassett, "Sir" Mack Rice, and the Howling Diablos.

RETRO KIMMER IS HONORED AS A KENTUCKY COLONEL!

The commission of Kentucky Colonel is the highest title of honor bestowed by the Governor of Kentucky. It is recognition of an individual's noteworthy accomplishments and outstanding service to our community, state and nation.

I Retro: Kimmer, am a KENTUCKY COLONEL...no joke I really am. I was appointed by the only woman Kentucky Governor The Honorable Martha Layne Collins on my birthday February 9, 1986. I have attended the Kentucky Colonel Pancake Breakfast at the Kentucky Derby in the past and drank Mint Juleps with other Colonels at the Derby/Churchill Downs... Y'all take a peek at the history of the Colonels... Elvis Presley was one too! xK

Kentucky colonel is the highest title of honor bestowed by the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Commissions for Kentucky colonels are given by the Governor and the Secretary of State to individuals in recognition of noteworthy accomplishments and outstanding service to a community, state or the nation. The sitting governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky bestows the honor of a colonel's Commission, by issuance of letters patent.

History

The title "Kentucky colonel" was first formalized in 1813, but was in informal use before that to refer to people with honored reputations, often related to military service in the American Revolution.

It was often associated with landowners respected in their communities. When the Kentucky Militia was deactivated following the War of 1812, Governor Isaac Shelby commissioned Charles Stewart Todd, one of his officers in the campaign, as an aide-de-camp on the Governor's Staff with the rank and grade of colonel. (Todd married Shelby's youngest daughter two years later.)

Former Kentucky Gov. Martha Layne Collins

Early colonels served military roles in the state. In the latter part of the 19th century, the position took on a more ceremonial function. Colonels in uniform attended functions at the Governor's mansion and stood as symbolic guards at state events. By the late 19th century, the title had become more of an honorary one. But, since commissioned Kentucky colonels are considered members of the Governor's Staff as his honorary aides-de-camp, all are entitled to the style of "Honorable" as indicated on their commission certificates. This is rarely used, however; Kentucky colonels are usually just referred to and addressed as "Colonel". In writing, usage is Kentucky colonel when the term is not being used as a specific title for an individual.