Day Tripper: Fort Scott, Kansas

To wrap up my summer journeys, I must get to Fort Scott, Kansas- 88 miles south of Kansas City.

Besides the Fort Scott National Cemetery (one of the 12 original National Cemeteries created by Lincoln during the Civil War), which has distinction of being "National Cemetery #1". Interestingly a half dozen Confederate soldiers are buried there, and while all other graves are parallel north-south, east-west, and diagonally, these graves are at an angle.

Fort Scott is an amazing piece of history. While I know of a few forts in the midwest, I was blown away by what I took away from this one.

Established in 1842, it was one of a series of forts on the midwest border from Minnesota to Louisiana with the purpose of maintaining a 'permanent Indian border'. Dragoons (the forerunner of the cavalry) rode their horses to keep peace between tribes.

The Mexican-American War in the 1840s meant that many of the soldiers who fought came from the Fort; but it also led to 'manifest destiny', and that whole 'permanent Indian border' thing being scrapped. in the 1850s, the fort was left and sold to the townspeople. Two Hotels were opened- one from the infantry barracks and one formerly an officers quarters.

More importantly, one hotel was a "Free State" Hotel and the other was a proslavery hotel, so it wasn't long before the town and its fort saw action between both groups in the days of "Bleeding Kansas".

Because of the troubles stirred up, the Union army returned, and fought off two unsuccessful attempts of capture by the Confederates. The Kansas and Missouri battles of the Civil War are pretty interesting and not nearly as well knwon (and not as documented0 as the battles in the East. Neither side are very sympathetic. The Jayhawkers massacring Freestaters at Marais des Cygnes

Another local battle was the Battle of Mine Creek, where 2600 Union soldiers faced 7000 Confederates, and routed them. Considered some of the bloodiest 30 minutes in the Civil War, 1200 confederates were killed to about 100 Union soldiers.

The Fort last saw soldier in the 1870s as Railroad Companies moved west. This led to a battle between the railroad companies encouraged by the government to buy up all the land and the locals who felt the land was theirs. Settlers protested, and so the government send troops to Fort Scott in a rare case of government siding with the Railroads instead of the American people.

As far as the fort itself, it's in good shape and always interesting to see how soldiers leave (and how much better officers had it).

Should you want to read more, go here to the Fort's official website which gives a lot more detail.

On the Shelf 99: Pet Shop Boys

The Pet Shop Boys have a new album called Electric (which is popular this year apparently, so does Richard Thompson, and OMD's reunion disc is called English Electric).

I wanted to make some kind of grand statement about how I almost gave up on the PSBs.

But, I haven't..

Which is amazing. Twelve albums and 27 years in, I've followed (largely) their every move.

It's something I can't really get my head around. The only other artist I can think of that was in my favorite list of artists at age 12 and never left is Bruce Springsteen. Really, I have a hard time thinking of another one (Billy Idol hasn't been relevant in years. Duran Duran still make music I like, but have had hiatuses and some real lows. Sting- still relevant, but I have long given up on. Prince? Maybe, but I never appreciated him until I was far into my teens.)

Surely, you wouldn't have predicted it. Maybe a career trajectory closer to The Fixx (who seemed more likely)- break-ups, nostalgia festivals, and little noticed (however critically acclaimed) reunion albums.

Still, the PSBs have soldiered on, and whenever it looked like they were done, they were off in a slightly different direction.

No doubt my favorite Pet Shop Boys are when they are at their danciest, and as you can guess, where I am headed with this, is to say I like them very much on Very.

So maybe no surprise, that Iam digging the new album a lot, because it's in a similar vein. in a lot of ways, the live 2010 album Pandemonium was what kept me interested, and this album is in that direction as well.

It's not perfect. It is a party album, and for the most part it is more LMFAO than Morrissey- songs about the weekend instead of songs about irony. Not that there isn't both- the best song on the album "Love is a Bourgeois Construct" is classic Tennant and Lowe songwriting.

It lacks the hit single ("Construct" is close), but as a group of songs, it's strong. It also probably suffers in comparison to its competition (Daft Punk, will probably be inevitable). It is still the band's best album in quite some time.

"" (Watch on YouTube)

"" (Watch on YouTube)

Raised on Radio #33- Starbuck

It's been awhile since I've posted a song from my youth. Ostensibly, this series has been about my favorite songs of that era.

Still, I've spent a lot of time talking about artists that I heard a lot of on local radio- regardless of how much I liked them- I can't tell you how many times I heard Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street", Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Get Down" or Cliff Richard's "We Don't Talk Anymore'. Good, bad, or otherwise, there was plenty of Jim Croche, Paul Davis, and Bertie Higgins. There was Al Stewart, Albert Hammond before his son was in the Strokes, and Donna Summer leaving her cake out in the rain in "Macarthur Park".

The truth is you know most of the bands (Fleetwood Mac, Carpenters) or at least remember them (Juice Newton, Ronnie Milsap) or at least know them as a punchline (Christopher Cross, Starland Vocal Band).

Which brings me to Starbuck.

I don't know that i could have even named the band, but I swear I probably heard "Moonlight feels right" more times in my life than most any song you can name.

Like a lot of songs of that era, it's not aged well, though it's catchy as hell. I think even then as a kid, I thought it was cheesy. It's almost as old as I am, so it would have been a couple of years dated by the time I heard it, but I am sure I already knew it was uncool.

And it is.

It's everything that is uncool about the 70s.

-A cheesy sci-fi sounding band name (though it does predate Battlestar Galactica)
-Lyrics that sound like bad pick up lines
-Burt Reynolds-style moustache
-Boat captain's hat
-A sound that is simultaneously vanilla and druggy/sleazy
-keyboards that had to be a real b*tch to move

and most importanly

-Marimba solos

This song will haunt me to the grave.

"" (Watch on YouTube)

Movie Reviews from the couch : 42

Jackie Robinson's life story makes for a good movie plot, and it really hasn't had a big budget telling since 1950 when Jackie played himself inThe Jackie Robinson Story.

I have seen some recent documentaries on Jackie, and so i know there's a lot more than just the fact he was the first African American professional baseball player.  He went through hell.

That said, I had high expectations for this movie, but at the same time, I have hard time for biopics when real life offers so much richer detail and I know the story well.

42 tells the story and gets a lot of deatils in for people just learning about Jackie Robinson. 

That it does that well (a show of support from Pee Wee Reese, heckling from racist manager Ben Chapman, etc) in giving good detail and making a pretty gripping story.

Chad Boseman as Robinson is sympathetic, but also multifaceted.  Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey was an inspired choice (He does some of his Harrison Ford-isms but they are perfect as Rickey's larger-than-life character who looms large throughout).  The movie's look is great- from capturing the action on the field to the crisp, bright uniforms.  Screenwriter Brian Helgeland  (LA Confidential, Mystic River) brings real life dialogue and the action is well paced.

It all leads to a story that is true and a little bit more than what you might expect from what could have been a cliche sports movie.  It doesn't overplay it's hand in trying to teach a lesson.  It doesn't over-explain or under-explain the story.  It's warm, it's inspiring, and it's a real solid family (for the most part, at least fine for teens and preteens) movie.  It's not quite Oscar worthy, but it is enjoyable.