Last month, Virginia Davis passed away at 90 years of age. She was the real life (warning: lousy formatting) little girl (warning: teh kyoot) whom Walt Disney sent into the land of cartoons, responding to the popularity of Max Fleisher's Out of the Inkwell series, which used his "rotoscope" and brought cartoon figures into filmed space. Walt reversed the formula, and found his first star.
1923: Alice's Wonderland [more inside]
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur on Sep 23, 2009 - 23 comments

As jazz fans know, fifty years ago on March 2, 1959, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb met at the Columbia 30th Street Studios in NYC for the first session of Miles new album, Kind of Blue. (Link goes to the 50th anniversary collector's box set edition page at amazon.) It was the touchstone for many other future recordings bearing its mighty influence and it fostered several high profile careers, and a new modal sound for jazz. Kind of Blue went on to be certified platinum, selling 4 million records, the most ever for a jazz album. Bill Evans had left the band in late 1958, but was called back by Miles for the sessions, which included his new pianist Wynton Kelly on one track only, Freddie Freeloader. The tunes they did that day, "So What", "Blue in Green" (written by Evans, though credited to Miles) and "Freeloader" all became standards as did "All Blues" from the April session. Documentaries and entire books have been written on this one album alone. The phenomenon lives on. (previously on AskMeFi, but just on Trane and Miles.)
posted by Seekerofsplendor on Mar 3, 2009 - 71 comments

The Supreme Court today issued a one line statement refusing to hear Troy Davis' appeal. Troy Davis was convicted of the 1989 murder of a police officer in Savannah, GA, and sentenced to death solely on eyewitness testimony. No murder weapon or any physical evidence linked him to the crime. Since the conviction, seven of the nine witnesses have recanted or changed their stories, and one of the two who haven't changed their stories is the other suspect in the case. Things were looking good for Davis when the Supreme Court issued a stay two hours before his execution last month. Justice may really be dead in this country.
posted by x_3mta3 on Oct 14, 2008 - 60 comments

Sammy Davis Jr—entertainer , photographer... camwhore... SATANIST!!!??? Did hanging out with this guy make Sammy bad? Or was he just selling his soul to be groovy? [more inside]
posted by miss lynnster on Jun 2, 2008 - 51 comments

Wolf William Eisenberg died this past Thursday, May 14. Comics fans may know him better as Will Elder, one of the original MAD artists who, along with Wally Wood and Jack Davis, et al, worked with Harvey Kurtzman to make "furshlugginer" and "potrezebie" household words in the 1950s. No one could pack a cartoon panel with more gags than Elder, the exemplar of the "chicken fat" school of art. [more inside]
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit on May 19, 2008 - 17 comments

"The most brutal, ugly, degenerate, vicious form of expression it has been my displeasure to hear," Frank Sinatra wrote of rock 'n' roll during the time of Elvis Presley. But Frank wasn't stupid... he knew his relevance was fading and if you can't beat 'em, you have to join 'em. So in 1960, Elvis Presley was welcomed home from his two year military tour by the Frank Sinatra Timex Show "Welcome Home Elvis" special. Later Sinatra said, "I'm just a singer. Elvis was the embodiment of the whole American culture."
posted by miss lynnster on Feb 26, 2008 - 17 comments

Post your grandson's mad football skills on YouTube, get him recruited by Manchester United.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane on Aug 2, 2007 - 52 comments

From organically-farming Zen centers to celebrity-cultivating Scientology centres^TM, California is a seedbed of the most earnest (and most frivolous or worse) branches of spiritual inquiry. What's in the water in the Golden State that has made it The Visionary State? In an interview with editor Geoff Manaugh of the excellent BLDGBLOG, author Erik Davis -- whose published passions have ranged from an analysis of Philip K. Dick's "divine invasions" to erudite musings on Led Zeppelin's fourth album to an ode to the joys of being a teenage bongeur -- talks about the formerly chic devil-worshipper Anton LaVey, Beat Zen, Aldous Huxley, the Watts Towers, and beyond, with great photos by Michael Rauner, who collaborated with Davis on the new book.
posted by digaman on Aug 10, 2006 - 30 comments

This evening, I entertained myself with these clips from YouTube and Google Video. Come inside if you like Bette Davis, Charles Laughton, Kubrick, Frankenstein, Shakespeare, and company...
posted by grumblebee on May 21, 2006 - 46 comments

Don't piss off the chimpanzees. Really. They'll chew your **lls and face off.
posted by digaman on Mar 4, 2005 - 67 comments

Davis to face recall
posted by raaka on Jul 23, 2003 - 48 comments

Will the Governor of California be recalled? Just 7 months after the election, the drive to recall California's Governor Davis is really building up steam. Helped in no small way by conservative Republican lawmaker Darryl Issa's contributions to the cause and his website about it. It will cost $25 million and be decided in 1 off-season election if enough signatures are gathered. Will it happen? Is it a waste of money? Will it result in chaos and a "free-for-all" or will it be the sign of a healthy Democracy in action?
posted by aacheson on Jun 12, 2003 - 23 comments

National Fred Davis Registry - Do you know Fred Davis? How about Fred Davis? They're both on the registry, along with a whole bunch of other Freds.
posted by fnirt on Apr 18, 2002 - 4 comments

State Rep. Forwards Racist E-mail A state representative forwarded an e-mail to fellow lawmakers this week that claimed, "Two things made this country great: White men & Christianity....There's a lot of it that's truth, the way I see it," Davis said. "Who came to this country first -- the white man, didn't he? That's who made this country great."

i don't know about you, but i feel dumber for having just read that story.
posted by adampsyche on Aug 22, 2001 - 26 comments