Balladeer’s Blog’s Random Weirdness item makes its long-awaited return with this little honey:
Monthly Archives: August 2019
COLLEGE FOOTBALL: PRIVATEERS NAME ZACH STERLING ASSISTANT COACH
The Maritime College football team and head coach Mickey Rehring announced the addition of Zach Sterling to the coaching staff as an Assistant Coach and Offensive Line Coach on August 1. Sterling will also serve as the Strength and Conditioning Coach for the athletic department.
I’d like to thank Coach Rehring and the Director of Athletics, Kris Schnatz, for the opportunity to coach here at Maritime College,” said Sterling. “I am excited to help continue the success and tradition of Maritime Football and to be back in New York coaching the game I love.” Continue reading
Filed under college football
BON JOVI: SANTA FE – FRONTIERADO SONG
With a loved one in the hospital it’s been a subdued Frontierado here today. Still, wherever you are and whatever your Frontierado Saga, I hope you and yours are having a terrific time! In the past Bon Jovi has given us holiday songs like Wanted: Dead or Alive, Blaze of Glory and Billy Get Your Guns. This time it’s Santa Fe or as some call it Judgment Day in Santa Fe.
Filed under FRONTIERADO
HAPPY FRONTIERADO! TIMELINE OF THE WICKED BURG: SIDNEY NE
Frontierado is here at last! Time for buffalo steaks, cactus salads, Tumbleweed Pizzas, Cactus Jacks, Deuces Wilds, Western Spaghetti and lots of games of Frontierado Poker. Naturally the day ends with Silverado plus a few other westerns of your choice. I usually add Posse or Once Upon A Time In The West.
And since it’s a three-day weekend you’ve got both Saturday and Sunday to recover.
When it comes to Wild West towns places like Tombstone, Dodge City and Deadwood get the lion’s share of the attention. In keeping with Balladeer’s Blog’s overall theme here’s a look at some of the action in the neglected town of Sidney, NE. Figures like Wild Bill Hickok, Luke Short, Susan B Anthony, Whispering Smith and Dom Pedro II of Brazil passed through Sidney in its heyday. Here’s a timeline of just some of the events in the town infamous as “The Wicked Burg”:
April 29th, 1868 – Daniel Richardson, Thomas Cahoon and William Edmondson became the first recorded dead men buried in Sidney’s Boot Hill Cemetery. All three men were killed in a clash with Native Americans.
May ?, 1875 – Susan B Anthony delivered a lecture in Sidney advocating women’s suffrage.
October 24th, 1875 – At the Capitol Saloon the livery stable owner Robert W Porter and Charles Patterson got into an argument (the subject is not known) that resulted in Patterson shooting Porter to death with 3 shots. Patterson was placed under arrest. Continue reading
Filed under FRONTIERADO
DELL SUPERHERO PANTHEON
Superheroes rule pop culture right now and readers demand more superhero items whenever I go too long without one. Here’s a look at yet another neglected pantheon of comic book heroes who don’t get the attention that Marvel and DC do.
PHANTASMO
Secret Identity: Phil Anson
Origin: A young American ran off to Tibet in 1915 and spent 25 years studying with the Grand High Lamas to learn some of their mystic secrets. After mastering them he returned to the U.S. to fight the forces of evil.
First Appearance: The Funnies #45 (July 1940). His final Golden Age appearance came in 1941.
Powers: Phil Anson only had superpowers in his astral body. He would go into a trance – during which his vulnerable physical form would be guarded by his sidekick, bellhop Whizzer McGee. While in this trance Anson’s astral form, Phantasmo, could fly, had massive super-strength and could grow to giant size as well as turn invisible.
Comment: Phantasmo had a kind of “Superman crossed with the Spectre” appeal.
NUKLA
Secret Identity: Matthew Gibbs, Air Force Pilot
Origin: While flying a U-2 spy plane over Communist China, Matthew Gibbs and his aircraft were hit by multiple Red Chinese experimental nuclear missiles. In the aftermath, Gibbs was able to reassemble his body, which now possessed extraordinary nuclear powers. He donned a costume and began working for the CIA as the superhero Nukla.
First Appearance: Nukla #1 (October 1965). His final Silver Age appearance came in 1966.
Powers: Nukla could shoot controlled nuclear explosions from his fingertips as well as render his body immaterial at will.
Comment: As was the case with Timely/ Marvel Comics, Dell went from having World War Two spawn many of their Golden Age heroes to having the Cold War spawn many of their Silver Age heroes. And since Nukla sounds like a female figure this hero could be a woman if revived today. Continue reading
Filed under Superheroes
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