by david allan van nostrand | Nov 24, 2025 | Americana, Behind the curtain, The Wayback Machine
The side-wheel steamboat Sultana was only a few miles above Memphis on the Mississippi River and headed north. Confederate General Robert E. Lee had surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse just two weeks before. More than 2,000 Union...
by david allan van nostrand | Nov 17, 2025 | Organizational Behavior, Rituals, The Wayback Machine
Day is done, gone the sun, From the lake, from the hills, from the sky; All is well, safely rest, God is nigh. If we know the tune at all, we know Taps was written to signal lights out to armies spread across large outdoor encampments. Armies used the bugle because it...
by david allan van nostrand | Nov 10, 2025 | Behind the curtain, The Wayback Machine
No, it’s not Peter Wolf, once married to actress Faye Dunaway, of Chinatown and Bonnie and Clyde fame. Peter Wolf was the frontman for the J. Geils Band. Perhaps you’re familiar with their tune, Centerfold, from the album Freeze-Frame. Rolling Stone called him “the...
by david allan van nostrand | Nov 3, 2025 | Americana, Language, Point of view, The Wayback Machine
Recently I came across the term “mosquito swarm.” I pictured a high-pitched whining mob of vicious mosquitos looking for blood in swamps, but I searched the term anyway to see what the machine would try to feed me. In most cases the first several results had paid to...
