The few stalwarts still reading this series on my sexagenarian southern sojourn will be relieved to know that we're sewing the whole thing up today. Just a few straggling memories of our las…
Like most Americans, I'll wager, I first encountered little person/ actor David Rappaport (1951-1990) in his role as Randall in Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits (1981). As leader of the group of…
Today's new Travalanche posts for November 22, 2025 are a review of Ken Burns' The American Revolution and (in a related post) a visit to the site of The Battle of Kings Mountain. Earlier Tr…
As promised in my earlier post, a few thoughts on The American Revolution docu-series by Ken Burns and his collaborators Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt. On the whole I would say the untram…
The Battle of Kings Mountain (1780), South Carolina, looms large in my family history, as several of my ancestors, relations, and their neighbors were among the so-called Overmountain Men wh…
If ye don't know who Jimmie Rodgers is, God help us all. . As you are an astute and careful reader, you know that this post on my recent stop in Asheville is part 11 in a series of 14, with …
Today's new Travalanche posts for November 21, 2025 are plugs for Universoul Circus at Coney Island, Paragon Ragtime in Oak Ridge, and an account to my recent trip to Asheville. Earlier Trav…
Heads up, New Yorkers! This is just to let you know that the Universoul Circus has pitched its tent at Coney Island and will be playing there through the rest of the month! I love it when ci…
Having just been in Knoxville a few days ago, the news that my friends of the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra were to be playing Oak Ridge, about a half hour outside that city, couldn't do otherwi…
Today's new Travalanche posts for November 20, 2025 are about Norman Greenbaum (singer of "Spirit in the Sky"), and the Eastern Band of Cherokee. Also it's World Children's Day: you may want…
Son Cashel gets very high marks indeed for the next stop on our travel itinerary, the Eastern Band of Cherokee's Qualla Boundary, which was definitely on my Bucket List, though I hadn't thou…
November 20 is the birthday of that great purveyor of Americana…Norman Greenbaum (b. 1942). I wish I'd remembered his earlier work in time to include him in the radio show I did with Will …
Today's new Travalanche posts for November 19, 2025 are about Death By Lightning (the new show about the assassination of James Garfield), character actor George Barbier, Great Smoky Mountai…
This entry in our ongoing series will perhaps more like a family vacation slideshow than any of us would like, but I will try to avoid boring you as much as possible. I have culled ten times…
By a wonderful confluence of circumstances, we find ourself at the birthday of photographer and educator W.S. Lively (William Spence Lively, Sr. 1855-1944) in the wake of just having visited…
November 19 was the date of birth of our short-lived President James A. Garfield (1831-1881). I often like to boast (and in all truth as far as I can tell) that I am related to all the Presi…
November 19 was the birthday of Hollywood character actor George Barbier (1864-1945). What an interesting predicament. Barbier came to Hollywood movies at a time when his namesake, the Frenc…
Today's new Travalanche posts for November 18, 2025 are about musician and comedian Wilbur "Willie" Hall, and Dollywood/ Pigeon Forge. Earlier Travalanche posts for November 18 (in no partic…
At this point in this ongoing series I take the unusual step of giving a shout-out to an area of Tennessee my sons and I blew past in a rush to get somewhere else. This will thus be an odd p…
Fellow show buffs surely know the brightest moment in the career of Wilbur Hall (1894-1983), sometimes billed as Willy Hall. He's in Paul Whiteman's movie King of Jazz (1930). Hall is the gu…
Today's new Travalanche posts for November 17, 2025 are about Rock Hudson, who would be 100 years old today, and a Trav-a-log look at the culture of Knoxville, Tennessee. Thus, a little Rock…
Thanks be to son Cashel for building Knoxville (which I hadn't thought of) into our trip, for I loved what I saw of the town as we blasted through it, and I hope to go back sometime. And als…
Happy I am for this occasion to do a dedicated post on Rock Hudson (Roy Scherer, 1925-1985). The closest I have come previously were ones on McMillan & Wife and a couple of his movies. I…
Proceeding on from yesterday's post… The next leg of our journey was focused on the background of my paternal grandmother, Flora Parker (1912-1991). I remember Flora as a scary and primiti…
Today's new Travalanche posts for November 16, 2025 are about radio star Mary Margaret McBride, Ken Burns' American Revolution, and Part Six of the Southern Sojourn Series. Earlier Travalanc…