Category Archives: 50s

LOUIE LOUIE by Richard Berry

The origin LOUIE LOUIE was released by Richard Berry in April of 1957. Over 55 years ago and the 45 sold 40,000 copies. There was no fuck in it like the later cover by the Kingsmen. Berry sold his rights to Flip records for $750. And they stole all his money. You know who ‘they’ […]

Old School Godzilla

Godzilla first emerged from the Pacific in 1954. Gojira was a portmanteau for ‘ape’ and ‘whale’. The nuclear devastation of Nagasaki and Hiroshima were blamed for the evolution a creature dedicated to the destruction of Japan i.e. a manifestation of the USA. Godzilla was relatively thin for an all-consuming atomic fire monster sheeronking during his […]

A GIRL AT HER BEST by Peter Nolan Smith

My introduction to baseball came on a warm Saturday morning in April of 1958. My older brother and and I was watching my favorite show, THE THREE STOOGES. Moe was slapping Larry and Curley. My father entered the living room of our house on Falmouth Foresides and shut off the Zenith black-and-white. “It’s too nice […]

The Year Of The Crow

My grandmother traveled by ship from Ireland to Boston at the age of 14. One heel of her good shoes broke coming down the gangway. It was her welcome to America. Once on a visit up to Maine someone asked the year of her arrival and Nana responded, “The Year of the Crow.” None of […]

Map for Kerouac’s ON THE ROAD

This map from Jack Kerouac’s diary detailed his hitchhiking across the USA in 1947. His itinerary included more stops than the classic hit ROUTE 66 sung originally by Nat King Cole. New York City, Chicago, Davenport Des Moines, North Platte, Cheyenne, Denver, Laramie, Salt Lake, Reno, San Francisco, Madera, Fresno, Selma, Los Angeles, Prescott, Albuquerque, […]