clarkspicks.com

It’s the 4th of July, Independence Day here in the USA. To celebrate, here is a clip of Chet Atkins playing John Philip Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever.

People of a certain age can remember seeing Tiny Tim on the Tonight Show singing Tiptoe Through The Tulips in an amazing falsetto voice while strumming a ukulele. The inspiration for that awe inspiring performance, and for Tiny Tim’s only top twenty hit record, was Nick Lucas, who sang Tiptoe Through The Tulips in the 1929 Warner Brothers film Gold Diggers of Broadway, another in a long series of movies about people putting on a Broadway show. Tiptoe Through The Tulips became Lucas’ signature song. He sang it at Tiny Tim’s wedding, on the Tonight Show in 1969. Nick Lucas lived until 1982 and continued to perform most of his life.

Nick Lucas, born in 1897, played banjo, ukulele, mandolin and guitar and appeared in vaudeville with his brother, Frank, and friends, as Lucas Ukulele Trio and the Lucas Novelty Quartet, before 1920. He became a popular solo performer, playing intricate arrangements on a concert sized, Gibson guitar, later sold as the “Nick Lucas Special,” and singing in a style that resembles crooners like Bing Crosby. Lucas was also one of the earliest musicians to use a steel stringed guitar, in place of a tenor banjo, in a jazz band and probably the first to play single note melody on the guitar with a band. He has been called “the grandfather of jazz guitar.”

For comparison, here is Tiny Tim singing the same song:

ê¿êspi20.com — watching and writing, a blog that I had never heard of until this morning, has given Clark’s Picks an award. The Arte y Pico Award, which I think is Spanish for “What a hot guy!” Well, pico de gallo is a kind of spicy salsa, so it could mean that, maybe. Margaret, who writes the blog says “There really isn’t much I can offer in the way of a comment beyond “wonderful choice!” or “WOW”. Clark picks some of he coolest videos to be found anywhere on the net and brings them to me.”

That’s a pretty darn nice thing to say, if you asked me.

Margaret goes on to say “The “Arte y Pico” award was created to be given to bloggers who inspire others with their creative energy and their talents, whether it be writing, artwork in all media. When you receive this award it is considered a special honor. Once you have received this award, you are to pass it on to at least 5 others.”

By doing a little research I have discovered that this award was originated by a blogger named Eseya who lives in Paraguay and makes the most beautiful dolls. She created a blog for the sole purpose of giving this award to other bloggers who’s art she admires. Now the award has escaped into the wild and taken on a life of it’s own as a kind of meme. I want to propose some stricter rules for the Arte y Pico award so here I go.

1. Please download the graphic and host it on your own account so that you don’t put an extra burden on someone else’s. You can get a free photo hosting account at Flickr, Photobucket or Picasa into which you can put megabytes of images.

2. Please link to and acknowledge the blog that gave you the award. (That would be me)

3. Please also link to and acknowledge the founder of the feast, Eseya who deserves all the SEO she can get for creating this award.

4. Please pick 5 blogs that have artistic merit of some kind and pass the award on to them, asking them to follow these instructions, too. Be selective about the blogs you choose. This is not an award to give because everybody is special.

Now, I’m going to give the Arte y Pico award to some deserving bloggers. I hope that you will all participate, even though it departs from your regular format. It will be good for you blog’s Google rank and for those you pass the award on to. If yours is already so established that it has it’s own gravitational field then the largess you bestow upon some lesser blogs will be all the greater.

First Jon Swift , wherever he may be, who has revived the literary art of satire and has earned the right to call himself by his assumed name. An assumed name is a good thing to have when your wit is barbed and is directed at the powerful.

Second Kimchihead , in Los Angeles, who’s short short stories redefine the genre noir. He scares me, actually.

Third Swing, Jazz and Blues, Dance to the Music a music blog from Stockholm, Sweden, written by DJ, Henrik Eriksson. Henrik concentrates on swing dancing and classic swing era jazz. He’s kind enough to write his posts in English for me and sometimes I steal ideas from him.

Fourth The Field Negro , in Philadelphia, PA, who has made an art out of speaking truth to power. Well, really the guy’s a lawyer. I bet he hangs out in the same barbershop as John Edwards.

Fifth Thoughts On Quotes. I don’t know where Jeremy lives. He gives us the pithiest phrases in the English language and then thoughtfully expands on them. He asked me to guest post once, but I couldn’t think of a thing to write that would come up the the standard tat he has set.

Not to disappoint, how about a little music from Trout Fishing In America?