All the way from OKC, the band consists of two step-sisters and one of their brothers. Fire and fury and all alt punk flair mixed in with some good harmonizing and hooky choruses. I’m amazed at the passion and performance that lead singer Kelli Mayo brings to the stage. Combine that with Peyton Bighorse who trade off on songwriting duties and singing. Their voices match and blend and play off one another.
Then to give the girls some more flexibility they added in Bro Kurtis Lee Mayo to hold down the drums so they could go to town on the bass and lead guitar. This trio got it going on and they are coming to Boise.
So take a bit of Kristin Hersh and Throwing Muses, combine that with a bit of Pixies, throw in some Yeah Yeah Yeahs and you are getting there. This band makes some great music and it makes you wonder how many bands are out there with a similar repertoire and they may languish with people just never knowing. So much music, so little time.
When it comes to matching the head dress with the real dress, I think these ladies got it going on. The hat is called an “Auto Gele,” and I know zero about fashion but I know they are pretty cool.
In the work of J.D. ’Okhai Ojeikere (1930-2014), we see hair as storytelling. Over nearly half a century, the renowned photographer documented thousands of intricate, gravity-defying hairstyles that were the fashion in his native Nigeria after it won independence from the British Empire in 1960.
Before then, hairstyles were social markers symbolizing marital status, ethnic origins, socioeconomic class. With Nigerian independence, they took on political meaning too.
Ojeikere’s work seems to have had a threefold purpose. He captured the resurgence of indigenous hairstyles that had fallen from favor under colonial powers. He documented hairstyle innovations as citizens reestablished their identity. And after a time, his approach became more archival, to preserve the memory of the styles in the face of globalization.
This is an actual place. It combines a waterfall with some natural gas leak flame underneath. Why nature why? Could you be more freaky?
This is in New York at the Shale Creek Preserve, Chestnut Ridge Park… you know the one, Western New York. Evidently, as the story goes, the original flame was lit by native Americans, which makes for a much better story than some hippie wandered off from Woodstock, lost on a ‘shroom trip, pulled out a lighter and still thought Hendrix was playing, lit it and…. whoah man… what a trip!!
Eternal Flame Falls is a 35-foot waterfall and one of its grottos actually contains a small flickering flame about 8 inches high and believed to be lit thousands of years ago by Native Americans. For a long time, scientists have believed that the fire burns because of gas pockets that rise from the old, extremely hot bedrock made of shale. The rock’s high temperatures break down the carbon molecules in the shale, which in turn creates natural gas.
However, a group of scientists from Indiana University led by Professor Arndt Schimmelmann, found that the shale under the waterfall isn’t actually hot enough or old enough to be causing the formation of gas pockets. Schimmelmann says, “This flame and these seepages have occurred for millions of years in those areas and we know that the source rock, about 400 meters deep, is not very warm. It should not even be able to produce much gas at this temperature, yet the gas is coming and it’s not being depleted. So our hypothesis is that a different mechanism is responsible for continuous gas generation at depth.” In other words, something else must be keeping the “eternal flame” burning and to this day researchers still don’t know exactly what that may be.
Planning to visit? If so, make sure to bring a lighter with you because despite its reputation for being “eternal,” the flame actually goes out sometimes when winds blow water into the grotto. In fact, kind hikers relight the flame whenever it goes out. While the hike there is only about half a mile, it can get quite muddy and difficult during the rainy season. Just wear a good pair of hiking shoes and start trekking!
Leave it up to the French to take lemons and make something more cultured than lemonade—a digital art space from a converted immense German WWII era U-Boat base! Well that’s what they did in Bordeaux during the height of Covid quarantining. Ahhh… the French!
With digital art you can display gigantic full-colored projection of all the world’s great art in one place. My guess is that at Bassins de Lumières the focus is on all things French art as they have that stuff laying around like happy mean containers in a Wal Mart Parking lot. First off, if you wanna go, you gotta know where you are going.
Sitting off the Bay of Biscay where I’m sure they invented Bisque soup…no? Maybe? I dunno. But Bordeaux is known for wine, the left bank, the right bank, Graves, Medoc, Gironde, Sauternes, etc., etc. The Garonne River flows into the Atlantic making it a prime location for the Nazi’s to base their U-Boats to harass and blockade Allied Naval efforts. But did you know the City is also a designated World UNESCO heritage site? That’s right, those crazy French!!
Now just where is that crazy digital art U-Boat base place??
Why there it is, just off the A630, southeast of the Bordeaux IKEA… you can’t miss it, stop into the IKEA and have some Swedish meatballs for lunch while you are at it.
What a cool space? Old galleys that they could pull submarines into now turned into a color-rich immersive art experience! They even project art into the water inside the bays turning them into something envious of the like of a Pink Floyd laser light show.
I slipped my fingers into a set of knucks, Cast-iron knucks molded in a foundry pattern, And there came to me a set of thoughts like these: Mister Fischman is for Abe and the “malice to none” stuff, And the street car strikers and the strike-breakers, And the sluggers, gunmen, detectives, policemen, Judges, utility heads, newspapers, priests, lawyers, They are all for Abe and the “malice to none” stuff.
I started for the door. “Maybe you want a lighter pair,” Came Mister Fischman’s voice. I opened the door … and the voice again: “You are a funny customer.”
Wrapped in battle flags, Wrapped in the smoke of memories, This is the place they brought him, This is Abraham Lincoln’s home town.
Oh yeah, everyone has a place they call home, hell you can have several places you can home, Middleton, Boise, Eagle, C-Springs, Grapevine, Ranger, TX, John Day, Burns, Oregon… and Seattle, Woodinvale, WA… hell we might as well throw Hendersonville and Flat Rock, NC in there as well. It’s where Carl Sandburg called home, Flat Rock… and his home is still there…. Here, near here where I’m at. I’d say a mere stones throw but shit…. That would be one hell of an arm and also not an original way to say… simply… it’s nearby.
Well the family outfit of Skating Polly hails from Oklahoma, yeah that Oklahoma… you know… North Texas extended?? OKC, the City, the big one in Oklahoma. Step sisters… Kelli Drew Mayo (born March 29, 2000) and Peyton McKenna Bighorse got it started. They added in some more Mayo…. Kelli’s bro in fact… Kurtis Lee in fact… bam a Band.
I got a castle in my sky for you and I And it’s rumored there might be a prize I’m gonna build myself a moat around our abode ’cause Thieves made me shy
And if we fail together well… No, that’s not really failure
Everyone has a home, everyone has a voice…. whether you are a punk-core band out of OKC or a beloved American Poet who was a Tar Heel. Homes and words and noise….
There’s a Church in North Carolina called Barbecue Presbyterian Church!!! Seems like something the Baptist’s or the Bible churches would do, definitely the evangelicals, but not the boring staid and staunch Presbyterians!! What the hell!!!
I think the original church established in 1757 burned down probably when the Traeger tipped over one Sunday prepping an brisket for the evening potluck. I mean what in the hell did you think they were going to have at that church’s potlucks??!!??!! Vegan tofurky chili?? Hell no son! That shit ain’t going down at Barbecue Pres. Duh!
Please don’t get it confused with “Meat Church BBQ,” which I know, I know… sounds like a porno and all. But it’s not. The porno is “Meat Gods,” which is something entirely different.
Everything about the Thornhill Chapel brings the outside in. I think of spaces that remind me of God and the last thing I think of is it to sit in a modern darkened-theater-like building with no hint of nature. Nature, to me, being the closest equivalent of the concept of God.
In its Ozark Mountain setting amidst the trees, it’s the compliment to the natural setting it is comfortably located in. All the materials are locally sourced to include the flagstone floors and Arkansas pine. Designed by E. Fay Jones, an architecture who studied under Frank Loyd Wright, it just seems to fit.
Thorncrown Chapel is a non-denominational chapel open to anybody and all regardless of faith. It was designed so the material could be carried by two men down a path, fitting seamlessly in the Ozark landscape. When you combine this with nearby Eureka Springs you have a getaway to lose yourself in.
Eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina encompass the National Park known as the Smoky Mountains. I don’t know terribly much about them but it happens to be the most visited park in the United States. Take half the visitors and you don’t even get the number of visitors to the 2nd most visited park… The Grand Canyon. And there’s not even an entrance fee… Americans love free nature. Well anything free actually.
The Cherokee Called the Mountains “Land of the Blue Smoke”
One of our favorite facts about the Great Smoky Mountains is how they got their name. The Cherokee called the mountains “Shaconage” (Sha-Kon-O-Hey), which means “land of the blue smoke”. When Euro-Americans settled in the area in the early 1800s, they took inspiration from the Cherokee when they named the Great Smoky Mountains and the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains.
What gives the mountains their signature smoky look? The “smoke” is in fact fog that is released by vegetation in the mountains. The millions of bushes, trees, and other plants in the Smokies all give off a little vapor when they exhale, and this comes together to form the magical haze that wafts through the area. The fog often appears blue because the vapor scatters blue light from the sky.
The Smokies Have an Incredible Variety of Animal and Plant Life
There are more than 17,000 species of plants and animals living in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park! Scientists estimate that there are also between 30,000 and 80,000 species that haven’t been discovered yet. Here are just some of the flora and fauna that call the Smokies home:
Over 100 types of native trees, which is more variety than you will find in all of northern Europe
– Nashville’s Centennial Park is home to the only replica of the Greek Parthenon. A sculpture of Athena Parthenos inside the Parthenon is the tallest indoor sculpture in the western hemisphere at 42 feet high. – The first FM-broadcasting license went to Nashville’s WSM radio station in 1941. David Cobb, a WSM announcer in the 1950s, is credited with calling Nashville “Music City” for the first time. – Elvis Presley recorded more than 200 songs at Nashville’s historic RCA Studio B. There is still a string of Christmas lights on display that were hung when Elvis couldn’t get into the spirit while recording a Christmas album. Nashville native William Walker became the president of Nicaragua in 1856. No other American has become president of another country since.
– Nashville was named after American Revolutionary war hero Francis Nash. It was founded by James Robertson, John Donelson, and a party of Overmountain Men on Christmas Eve 1779. – President Richard Nixon performed on the Grand Ole Opry during its first show at the new Opry House in 1974. He played “God Bless America” on the piano. “Jingle Bell Rock,” “The Bunny Hop,” and “Hokey Pokey” were all recorded in Nashville. – Blind Vanderbilt University student Morris Frank traveled overseas to investigate the use of seeing-eye dogs. He brought the first service dog back to the U.S. in 1928 and founded The Seeing Eye, Inc. in Nashville.
Who knew Broadway was actually here in Nashville? I thought it was in NYC, what, what?
– The Country Music Hall of Fame’s architecture reflects its musical contents. One end of the building features an RKO-style radio antenna, and the tall, narrow windows resemble a piano keyboard. From the air, the building looks like a bass clef. – Originally called WSM Barn Dance in honor of a similar radio program in Chicago, Nashville’s famous weekly country music show was renamed Grand Ole Opry by George Hay on December 10, 1927. It is the world’s longest-running live music radio show. – Nashville is home to the largest songwriter’s festival in the world. Tin Pan South takes place every spring and draws more than 350 songwriters who perform original work in venues around the city.
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