COMMERCIAL TRUCK ART: Ghost Ship

COMMERCIAL TRUCK ART: Snakes

COMMERCIAL TRUCK ART: Confederate submarine

COMMERCIAL TRUCK ART: Salamander

LONE GUNMEN: RFK Assassination

According to Linda Deutsch of the Associated Press ((6/5/11), "Paul Schrade,who was shot in the head alongside his friend, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, ...now believes there was more than one gunman in the pantry of the Ambassador Hotel when he and Kennedy and four other were shot...I know there was a second gunmen based on evidence. Schrade would provide no further details, because he plans to publish a book on the RFK assassination.

Commentary:  Elsewhere in the world and throughout history, the majority of assassinations involved more than one man. Only in the U.S. is a lone gunmen involved in all assassinations, which is mathematically improbable.
You might say, what about Lincoln. If you took history in school up until maybe 20 years ago, there was no mention of a wider conspiracy---John Wilkes Booth shot President Lincoln (end of story).

UNTOLD STORIES: Edward Day Cohota

Edward Day Cohota

"In 1845, Sargent S. Day, captain of the square-rigged merchant ship Cohota, left Shanghai, China, bound for Massachusetts. Two days from port, he discovered two little half-starved Chinese boys on board. The older boy died, but Day "adopted" the younger boy and named him Edward Day Cohota. Edward sailed the world with Captain and Mrs. Day until the captain retired to Gloucester, Mass. in 1857. He attended school and the other Day children treated him as a brother.
With the outbreak of the American Civil War, Cohota joined the 23rd Massachusetts Infantry. He fought in the Battle of Drury's Bluff near Richmond, Va., on May 16, 1864, and at the Battle of Cold Harbor, Va., June 3, 1864. He stayed with the Army of the Potomac through the end of the war. After the war, Cohota rejoined the Army and was stationed at Fort Randall, Dakota Territory. He married and had six children. He served in the Army for 30 years. He believed that his military service qualified him for U.S. citizenship. In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion act, a legal measure enacted to cease the immigration of Chinese laborers into the United States. Because Cohota hadn't submitted his second set of naturalization papers prior to the passing of this Act, he ultimately was unable to gain American citizenship. Cohota died at the Battle Mountain Sanitarium for Veterans in Hot Springs, S.D., in 1935."---US ARMY

GOT JUJU?: Little Red Riding Hood & Werewolves

"These early variations of the tale differ from the currently known version in several ways. The antagonist is not always a wolf, but sometimes an ogre or a ‘bzou’ (werewolf)... The wolf usually leaves the grandmother’s blood and meat for the girl to eat, who then unwittingly cannibalises her own grandmother. Furthermore, the wolf was also known to ask her to remove her clothing and toss it into the fire. In some versions, the wolf eats the girl after she gets into bed with him, and the story ends there. In others, she sees through his disguise and tries to escape, complaining to her "grandmother" that she needs to defecate and would not wish to do so in the bed. The wolf reluctantly lets her go, tied to a piece of string so she does not get away. However, the girl slips the string over something else and runs off...".---Wikipedia

Commentary:
1.  The brothers Grimm (ironic name) gathered old folk tales and sanitized them for 19th century mid-class readers.
2.  The correct term is were-wolf.
3.  Native Americans use the term "shape-shifter", which are humans (evil), who take the form of animals (sometimes other than wolves).
4.  Look up the word "lyncathropy" in the dictionary.
5.  Want to be scared? Watch the movie "Dog Soldiers"
6.  Personally, I don't believe in vampires, but a werewolf will get you every time!

GOT JUJU?: Hell-hounds

I got to keep movinnnn', I got to keep movinnnn',

Blues fallin' down like hail, blues fallin' down like hail,

Mmmmm-mm-mm-mm, blues fallin' down like hail, blues fallin' down like hail,

And the day keeps on worrin' me, there's a hell-hound on my trail,

Hell-hound on my trail, hell-hound on my trail.---Blues song by Robert Johnson, 1937   Commentary:  Robert Johnson was an obscure blues musician, until by his own report he met the devil at a cross roads at midnight and sold his soul.  He later became and still is one of the most influential blues musicians in history.  At the beginning of his meteoric success Robert Johnson was allegedly poisoned by a jealous husband. If you believe in the devil, it would be just like him to "collect his dues" at the right time. 

KEEPING IT WEIRD: Mutant Maternal Rabbit

Portland, Oregon:  At OHSU this is me standing next to a statue of a half rabbit, half human mutant cradling a dog. Yes, I have my hand on the anatomical correct human half's derriere.

MASCOTS IN THE NEWS: Dirty Donald Duck

  

US woman, Disney settle theme park groping suit

– Tue May 17, 1:25 pm ET

PHILADELPHIA – A woman who claimed she was groped by Donald Duck during a visit to the Epcot theme park has settled her federal lawsuit against Disney.
Court documents indicate April Magolon settled her lawsuit against the entertainment giant last week. She had sued Walt Disney Parks and Resorts last year claiming a costumed park employee grabbed her breast during a May 2008 visit to the Florida park.
The Upper Darby woman claimed she had nightmares, digestive problems and other permanent injuries. She sought more than $50,000 in compensation plus punitive damages.
Magolon's attorney didn't return a phone message left Tuesday. A Disney spokeswoman declined to discuss the details of the settlement.

KEEPING IT WEIRD: Hippo Hardware

Portland, Oregon: Old fashioned style hardware store with hippo theme outside and inside. Columns have two legged hippos dressed in Greek-Roman style.

KEEPING IT WEIRD: Giant Train

Vancouver, WA:  At this time I have no info on giant "steam engine" other than it is has been used in parades.

COMMERCIAL TRUCK ART: Pabst Beer

Vancouver, WA

KEEPING IN WEIRD: Bottle Building

Portland, Oregon

HOBO HEAVEN: "Big Rock Candy Mountain"

Big Rock Candy Mountain song


One evening as the sun went down
And the jungle fires were burning, (note: jungle fires means hobo camp)
Down the track came a hobo hiking,
And he said, "Boys, I'm not turning
I'm headed for a land that's far away
Besides the crystal fountains
So come with me, we'll go and see
The Big Rock Candy Mountains

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains,
There's a land that's fair and bright,
Where the handouts grow on bushes (note: handouts means food)
And you sleep out every night.
Where the boxcars all are empty
And the sun shines every day
And the birds and the bees
And the cigarette trees
The lemonade springs
Where the bluebird sings
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains.

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains
All the cops have wooden legs
And the bulldogs all have rubber teeth
And the hens lay soft-boiled eggs
The farmers' trees are full of fruit
And the barns are full of hay
Oh I'm bound to go
Where there ain't no snow
Where the rain don't fall
The winds don't blow
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains.

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains
You never change your socks
And the little streams of alcohol
Come trickling down the rocks
The brakemen have to tip their hats (note:  brakeman on a train)
And the railway bulls are blind (note: private railroad police; see movie "Emperor of the North")
There's a lake of stew
And of whiskey too
You can paddle all around it
In a big canoe
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains,
The jails are made of tin.
And you can walk right out again,
As soon as you are in.
There ain't no short-handled shovels, (note: migrant worker can't rest on a short-handled shovel)
No axes, saws nor picks,
I'm bound to stay
Where you sleep all day,
Where they hung the jerk
That invented work
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains.
....
I'll see you all this coming fall
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

KEEPING IT WEIRD: Former B-17 Gas Station

 
Milwaukie, Oregon
"Gas up under the wings of Victory! Bomber Gas has been a landmark in the Portland area since 1947, when it arrived and became the region's most unusual filling station. It stopped operating as a gas station in 1991, and has since been associated with the adjacent restaurant, where visitors could grab a bite and a souvenir Bomber place mat."