Stacy Keach, who worked in everything from Shakespeare to Cheech and Chong, has passed away. Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog know the procedure. While everyone else salutes his more popular projects, I’ll look at a few of his more obscure items.
DYNASTY (1976)
This Made for Television production was based on a story outline by James A. Michener. He doesn’t seem to have had much else to do with it, however. The Blackwood Family are trying to make a life for themselves on the Ohio Frontier of the very early 1800s.
Circumstances push the family ever further westward as they try to build an empire. Brothers Matt Blackwood – played by Stacy Keach – and John Blackwood – played by Harris Yulin – fight over Jennifer (Sarah Miles).
Despite this, the family stands united against slave-hunters when they come looking for fugitive slave Sam (Charles Weldon). They come to Sam’s aid and he stays with the Blackwoods from then on.
Despite being married to one of the brothers, Jennifer runs off with the other. Long years later, she returns to her husband with her son Mark, played by Harrison Ford. But which Blackwood Brother is his real father? Also starring Amy Irving. Continue reading
STICKY REMINDER: In the midterm elections during Barack Obama, the Democrats were massively blown out and lost SIXTY-THREE seats in the House and NINE MORE in the Senate. Obama fans tell me that had nothing to do with Obama because he wasn’t on the ballot that year. WELL, NEITHER WAS TRUMP ON THE BALLOT THIS YEAR. More elections 
PROJECT U.F.O. (1978-1979) – Jack Webb’s Mark VII Ltd. produced this short-lived wonder which dramatized selected cases from the U.S. Air Force’s real-life Project Bluebook, which investigated reports of Unidentified Flying Objects. 
*** Originally called the Escadrille Americaine, the unit had to drop that name when Germany, the Ottoman Turks and other Central Powers nations complained to the U.S. stating such a name indicated a violation of its official neutrality at that point in the war. The new name was the Lafayette Escadrille in honor of the Marquis de Lafayette, the French aristocrat who served in America’s Revolutionary War. 
*** Two lion cubs became the escadrille’s mascots. The pilots named them Whiskey and Soda.
It’s a Monday current events roundup from 
REMINDER: 2014 – In the midterm elections of Barack Obama’s second term, the Democrats were massively blown out and lost SIXTY-THREE seats in the House and NINE MORE in the Senate. Republicans claimed Obama had been “rebuked for all time” and would be remembered as the man whose presidency was the nail in the coffin for leftism in America. FOR MORE REMINDERS OF RIDICULOUS OVERREACTIONS LIKE WHAT WE’RE SEEING THIS YEAR CLICK 
THE MAN FROM SATURN (1890) – By an unknown author. This work also appeared under the title Willmoth the Wanderer, a cutesy reference to the classic Melmoth the Wanderer. A young, unnamed American encounters Willmoth, a male humanoid who states he is from the planet Saturn and is hundreds of thousands of years old. 
NUMBER TWO TAKES A FALL – In NCAA Division 3, the number 4 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN AT WHITEWATER WARHAWKS visited the 2nd ranked UW-PLATTEVILLE PIONEERS. A 7-7 1st Quarter tie became a 21-7 advantage for the Warhawks by the midpoint. The Pioneers made it a 21-14 game in the 3rd Quarter. UW-Whitewater held on in the 4th for a 24-21 victory
DOWN GOES NUMBER THREE – Up in NCAA Division 2, the 21st ranked AUGUSTANA (SD) VIKINGS welcomed the nation’s number 3 team – the MINNESOTA STATE MAVERICKS. By Halftime the Mavericks led Augustana 20-14 and 27-17 to end the 3rd Quarter. In the 4th, the Vikings charged back to win the game by a final score of 31-30. 
OKUNINUSHI – The Shinto god of medicine who eventually became the ruler of the Izumo area of Japan. Okuninushi lived in Izumo, which was under the control of the extended family of deities of the exiled storm god Susanowo.
