I Couldn't Eat Another Thing!

Holy cow, after Thanksgiving, party on Friday, and the game on Saturday, I feel as if I am going to explode. I need more than a diet, I need a stomach pump. 

Me walking into the Grove on Saturday.

BoDerickus' BNOW - Thanksgiving Edition, Part II

CB, how about some pumpkin ale?

Thanksgiving - a time to eat yourself into a coma and watch football. I can't wait to sit down for my traditional Thanksgiving meal of cod, eel, lobster, swans, leeks and radishes, washed down with a big 'ol glass of beetroot wine.  BoDerickus kicks Thanksgiving old school.  Then, my T-Giving homies and I play a couple of rousing games of Chuck-Farthing and Squat-tag. Hoo-boy! Time to tighten the breeches and strap up the buckle on the shoe, it's about to get crazy here.

Today, I'm digging deeper into the early American life for more names from early Thanksgiving celebrations. Below you will find a few more Pilgrims with bad names. I tell you who there were a lot of at the first Thanksgiving: Johns, Marys and Josephs.  I tell you, if you asked John to pass you the goat's milk, you would get at least 12 bottles. Now, on with the show:

Remember Allerton, Experience Mitchell and Fear Brewster - What is the deal with these pilgrims and these random verb names? If memory serves me, a popular quote from early America was: We have naught to fear but Fear Brewster, because that filly will turn arsy varsy and whip pottage at thee!

Dorcus Samson - Dorcus was an odd, awkward fellow whose claim to fame was a 37 hour marathon of knicker-box, subsiding only on deer jerky and pumpkin juice.

Peregrine White - Peregrine was a mighty hunter whose nickname in the colony was "duck hawk." 

Godbert Godbertson - Little Godbert got beat up by the varsity Squat-tag team . . . a lot.

Tryphosa Tracy - Tryphosa Tracy sounds like a bad comic book villain. Quick Robin, Tryphosa Tracy has taken control of the Gotham City Flower Shoppe (Tryphosa is just starting out and doesn't really "get" the whole supervillain thing).  

You know who else was on the Mayflower? John Goodman, that's who. He felt England no longer had anything to offer him.

Here's John and Peregrine getting ready for a hunt.

Crazy Legalese of the Day

As you may or may not know, Just like Star Jones, BoDerickus is a lawyer. That means I get to sit behind a desk and read important (i.e. boring) documents all day. Almost daily, I see some word or phrase that makes me say: "huh?"  Let's see what Black's Law Dictionary has for us today:

Owelty- a lien created or a pecuniary sum paid by order of the court to effect an equitable partition of property. Heck, even the definition sounds legal-y. I think it kind of sounds dirty. As in: I had to give Ruth an owelty so I could equalize the partition, if you know what I mean.

BoDerickus BNOW - Thanksgiving Edition, Part I

Thanksgiving is this week, so to celebrate, I'm reprinting an oldie from the BNOW email days.

Thanksgiving – A time to give, uh, thanks. As everyone knows by now, Thanksgiving is a major holiday in the U.S. started by the Germans about the time they founded San Diego (they were very thankful for the warm weather and bikini clad native residents of the area).  Can anyone guess what movie I watched last night (for about the 100^th time)?

What better place to start on Thanksgiving themed names than the actual Pilgrims who attended the first one?  This should prove to all you doubters out there that bad names are not a product of the present times.  Mayflowerhistory.com gives us plenty of examples:

Brothers Wrestling Brewster and Love Brewster – yes, I said brothers – from Leiden, Holland. Interestingly, Love went on to become the All-Plymouth wrestling champ (wrestling under the ring name Brother Love).  Wrestling, on the other hand was a bit of a wimp (or, as the Pilgrims would have said, a milksop).

Humility Cooper – Leiden, Holland – It is well documented in the Mayflower ships logs that Humility was, in fact, an arrogant SOB.  Ironic, isn’t it?

Sister and brother, Damaris and Oceanus Hopkins – From England, Oceanus was actually born on the Mayflower, in route to America.  I guess that explains her name.  This would be similar to today’s esteemed tradition of naming the children based on where they were conceived, a ’la Taurus, Kia and LaQuinta. 

Resolved White – England – I have a resolution for you: that is one bad name. 

Degory Priest – England – Many historians think this is actually Degorius Prust. I say this is like the tomaytoe/tomahtoe discussion, it’s a bad name either way.  I guess hopping a boat and sailing weeks wasn’t enough for Degorius to get away from whatever he was running from (probably a baby-momma), he also had to change his name.  Not much effort on the change, though.  Probably already had all his shirts embroidered with his initials. 

And finally, a non-Mayflower name:

The great Latin songbird, Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll.  Shakira means "thankful" in some language I am too lazy to look up.  I, for one, and thankful that her “hips don’t lie.” 

King Biscuit - Part 2

Not much to look at, but excellent food!

Day 2 of the King Biscuit Blues Fest starts off at a true Tunica County gem: The Hollywood Cafe (it gets a shout out in the "famous" Marc Cohn song "Walking in Memphis"). The Hollywood is known for its fried dill pickles, so what better way to start the day? I'll say, eating here is a hell of a lot better than listening to that dang song (don't get me started on that piece of crap).

 Big Plate o' Fried Pickles

Dumas Walker, anyone?

Now, on to the Blues Fest, where the first act we saw was blues legends The Kentucky Headhunters??
Odd choice, but they really kicked butt.  I actually saw these guys in a bar in New Haven, CT way back in 1992 (and ran into them afterward at a sandwich shop). I talked to these guys after their set for a few minutes, and they remembered playing in New Haven and even named the bar. Pretty cool, these guys seemed down to earth now just like they did back then.

Playing guitar while attached to an oxygen tank. 

Then on to the real blues, Hubert Sumlin and Willie "Big Eyes" Smith. 







The crowd was great, despite temps pushing 90+ in October. Very laid back crowd. It is a great venue for watching bands.

The view from the top of the levee towards the stage.
Downtown Helena in the background.

                

A shot of BoDerickus enjoying the show.

A lot of PBR, baby!

 

 

Plus a whole lot of rocking

Equals old hippies getting down:

Grandpa Ponytail and his old lady cutting a rug!

Downtown Helena was packed. "Fair" food vendors, people selling worthless trinkets and street performers all up and down the street. 

It's a roaring good time in downtown Helena - one weekend a year.

Fried pickles not bad enough for you? How about Twinkies, Oreos and Suzy Q's?

A couple of good sets by Michael Burks and Marcia Ball and the night closed out with a rousing set by blues legend Dr. John?  Wait, this is a blues fest, right?  Anyway, it was a great second day and given the dark plus a few too many happy drinks, I didn't get any good pictures of Dr. John.  Check back soon for the third and final day.

This guy looks like Dr. John, but why is he all blurry?

BoDerickus BNOW

BoDerickus has been busy, too busy to stay funny. But, BoDerickus realizes he has responsibilities and cannot shirk those responsibilities. So here's a short but sweet BNOW.

LaTear Eason - Member of the Lady Tigers BB team from LSU.  Is it pronounced teer or tare? I'm hoping for the latter so the LSU announcer can give us: "She broke right through the Vandy defense for that score, she's really on a LaTear tonight, folks!" According to the LSU site, she has two siblings named Eureka and Lavandis. Mr. and Mrs. Eason are vying for that best name of the year (family division) trophy.

Marktrail Lee - Police blotter - Knoxville - He's an expert tracker, but has always had a bit of a problem covering his tracks.

Finally, I'll leave you with the most awesome first name ever. I've actually run across this twice this year:
Swayze Black - BB player at LSU. I've also seen an attorney in MS named Swayze.  I'm not sure there could be a name that exudes more cool than this.  Unless it was Dalton. If you don't believe me, just scroll up to the top of this page.  RIP, you cool SOB.