MetaFilter posts tagged with kentucky

U.S. Census Worker Hanged Himself in Kentucky with the Word "Fed" Scrawled Across His Chest

Slap Factory — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:27:33 -0800

Cancer survivor, teacher, single father, and part-time U.S. Census worker Bill Sparkman was found dead September 12, hanging from a tree with the word "FED" written on his chest. It was actually a suicide. (Previously)

One powerful man's nothing is a hundred men's lives.

T.D. Strange — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:51:48 -0800

Lexington’s Mayor, Jim Newberry, bristled at critical questions about The Dame block, “Nothing of consequence ever happened on that block.” Richie Wireman begs to differ. Wireman spent 4 months documenting the final stages of the long and controversial demise of one city block full of established local businesses to make way for a dubiously financed high-rise development. While no longer a gaping eyesore, today, the project is not exactly as advertised.

U.S. Census worker found hanged in Kentucky with "FED" scrawled on his chest.

zoomorphic — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:49:51 -0800

Cancer survivor, teacher, single father, and part-time U.S. Census worker Bill Sparkman was found dead September 12, hanging from a tree with the word "FED" written on his chest.

Black Lung Rising.

grabbingsand — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 10:09:41 -0800

Black Lung Rising. "When coal miners suffering from black lung reach the point where they can no longer dig coal and they meet guidelines such as working the required number of years exposed to coal dust, they become eligible to file a black lung claim to obtain monthly benefits to live on ... When the decision is made to award a miner monthly benefits, the coal company has the right to appeal that decision, and often does." "Coal miners will tell you that they love their job. They come to terms with the dangers involved. They are loyal to their company and do the work needed to supply the fuel that lights up this country. "All they ask in return is that justice be served."

He works odd jobs just to make ends meet

saturnine — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:37:54 -0800

"The 2000 census found that nearly 23 percent of families living in Letcher County, KY, fell below the poverty line. The median household income in most counties is at or below $25,000, with individuals making on average $12,000 a year." The White Family by Carl Kiilsgaard You can find more of the White family (without commentary) on the photographer's own website.

Election Fraud in Kentucky

chunking express — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 06:20:10 -0800

Election Fraud in Kentucky. "I think this is the first documented case of election fraud in the U.S. using electronic voting machines (there have been lots of documented cases of errors and voting problems, but this one involves actual maliciousness)."

Walk on Water

Ogre Lawless — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 09:43:49 -0800

Walk on Water: OH Napier is a living piece of Americana and performing a conceptual piece with guitar, river, .25-.38 cal pistol and disquieted camera woman. You may get as many as three songs for your 2:31 of youtubery, I can't say for certain if they are individual pieces or just movements in a larger piece. Also, spirit liquor may have played a part in the creative act.

Screaming Eagle

yiftach — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:45:29 -0800

When I heard NPR's remembrance of Tom Gish yesterday, I figured someone would beat me to posting about him here on the Blue for sure, but apparently not. Gish, who died last week at 82, was the editor and publisher of The Mountain Eagle, a rural Kentucky newspaper. While still covering typical small-town happenings over the last 50+ years, he and his wife Pat (and eventually their kids) brought to light myriad injustices, from political corruption to poverty, safety violations in local mines to illiteracy. I found this appreciation, with bottom line proof of the Gish's popularity and influence, despite the death threats, firebombing, boycotts, and other hardships they endured:

"The population of Letcher is less than half what it was when they moved up here," said Ben Gish, editor of The Mountain Eagle and the couple's son. "But circulation has more than tripled."

The Little Colonel

tellurian — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 20:49:33 -0800

Annie Fellows Johnston wrote The Little Colonel books. Kate Seston Matthews, her friend and neighbour, took photographs depicting characters from the series.

A barber came to Bristol...

flapjax at midnite — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 01:25:04 -0800

Eighty one years ago to the day, barber, banjoist and balladeer B.F. Shelton travelled from his home in Kentucky to take part in a recording session in Bristol Tennessee. Now referred to as the "Bristol Sessions", these recordings are widely viewed as some of the most important and influential in American music history. The four songs Shelton recorded that day, stark, simple and immensely powerful in their unadorned honesty, can all be heard here. After Bristol, Shelton never recorded again. I'd like to note here that the Wiki page and the various articles linked to on the Bristol page (both linked under Bristol sessions of this FPP) offer some fascinating insights into the history of not only these particular recordings but also the early development of the record industry, and particularly the royalty system, which was, according to some, essentially inaugurated by Bristol recordist and entrepreneur Ralph Peer, working for Victor Records. Here's a blog entry from a fellow who's thoughtfully included audio files of "Pretty Polly" by BF Shelton and the great Dock Boggs, for your listening and comparison pleasure. Bare bones (ain't a whole lot known about the man, after all) bio of BF Shelton. Though not in complete versions, the Bristol Sessions recordings are available to purchase, in this volume and/or this volume.

That's that-there yell.

PhatLobley — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 19:15:41 -0800

The Turtle Man More on snappers and their bite.

To the library!

phrontist — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:45:08 -0800

Something about the library inspires one to jump.

No more Anonymous AskMe questions?

desjardins — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 22:22:17 -0800

Kentucky Lawmaker Wants to Ban Anonymous Internet Posting. This bill is pretty much a nonstarter, but should online defamation be criminalized? [pdf]

Down with the old folks at... MySpace.

flapjax at midnite — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 01:04:35 -0800

Each of the following MySpace Music pages features bios and/or photos and/or videos and/or miscellaneous related materials and/or up to four songs by each of the following Old Time, Traditional, Appalachian folk (and related) artists: Lowe Stokes, Clarence Ashley, Charlie Poole, Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers, Roanoke Jug Band, Roscoe Holcomb, Hobart Smith, The Weems String Band, Burnet & Rutherford, Bascom Lamar Lunsford, John Masters, Dock Bogg s, Tampa Joe & Macon Ed, William Stepp, Buddy Thomas, Buell Kazee, Isidore Soucy, John Salyer, Cousin Emmy, Luther Strong, Elizabeth Cotten, Fred Cockerham, G.B. Grayson, Melvin Wine, Lewis Brothers, Uncle Dave Macon, George Lee Hawkins and Wilmer Watts. And here's some general Old Time (etc.) pages, featuring various artists: Dust To Digital, Traditional Music of Beech Mountain and North Carolina Folklife Institute. And though they present all kinds of old music (not only Trad/Old Time and such), I'd like to include a link here to the Venerable Music MySpace: they are a wonderful resource for historic music of many kinds. And they have some wonderful old photos on their page.

Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot

phrontist — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 15:29:55 -0800

Knob Creek Gun Range , a former military-munitions test range situated near Fort Knox is home to the "World's Largest Machine Gun Shoot and Military Gun Show". Run by private citizens excercising their second amendment rights (Kentucky has no state-level gun laws) the focus is on Class III firearms - things like assault weapons and anti-tank rifles, but also the occasional high-caliber sniper rifle and cannon. Hold my bourbon and w a t ch this! (more)

Scenes from That High Lonesome Sound

y2karl — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 06:12:28 -0800

FolkStreams:" Remembering The High Lonesome " - Dillard Chandler
Roscoe Holcomb - Little Birdie
Roscoe Holcomb - Graveyard Blues
And from Roscoe Holcomb comes the song which is the soundtrack of the eponymously entitled Moonshiner. Dylan described a certain untamed sense of control in his singing and Ralph Stanley once said 'you could feel the smell of wood smoke in his voice'.
Yes, I watched High Lonesome Sound again, last night...

Venus, get your gun.

tizzie — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 05:32:03 -0800

I support gun control, but for 82-year-old Miss America Venus Ramey, I make an exception. The first redhead and the only native Kentuckian ever to be Miss America, she's pretty fearsome with a snub-nosed .38.

The Blue People of Troublesome Creek

jonson — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 22:59:18 -0800

Martin and Elizabeth set up housekeeping on the banks of Troublesome and began a family. Of their seven children, four were reported to be blue.

For those unfamiliar with the story of Martin Fugate & his descendents, the 1982 article from Science magazine entitled "The Blue People of Troublesome Creek" is a fascinating read; a recessive gene & decades of inbreeding lead to a clan of Kentucky hill folk with deep blue skin from head to toe.

The Song

Postroad — Fri, 05 May 2006 11:27:05 -0800

The Song In the world of sports, there is not a more moving moment than the one when the horses step onto the track for the Kentucky Derby post parade and the band strikes up "My Old Kentucky Home". Link has history, lyrics. My Old Kentucky Home [realplayer]

Cops on Myspace

Lusy P Hur — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 13:01:26 -0800

Cops on Myspace

Country Boys

allkindsoftime — Wed, 11 Jan 2006 19:48:13 -0800

Country Boys is Donald Sutherland's latest film documentary being hosted by PBS. Like his previous film on PBS, this one too is a tough but real story of American life. It focuses on the coming of age of two boys in rural Kentucky. You can watch the full program online (the third part will be released tomorrow).

"No, he thinks he's Arnold Palmer"

Armitage Shanks — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 11:23:47 -0800

Named after the hill on which Jesus was crucified, Golgotha Fun Park, once the country's #1 shaded biblical mini-golf destination, is now but a memory. Fortunately, there are still other options.

"It's a sad day for Kentucky."

davy — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 10:19:44 -0800

Governor Pardons All But Himself In Personnel Investigation In case y'all thought Kentucky's only problem was obesity. The local paper's article has a sidebar of related stories, including a link to a "full coverage" series on this Merit System Investigation. As he told the Grand Jury, "I would like this to be a new day."

"We are killing ourselves off."

davy — Sun, 17 Jul 2005 11:29:25 -0800

"Kentucky is one of the sickest states in America."

The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved

airguitar — Fri, 06 May 2005 16:10:55 -0800

Total chaos, no way to see the race, not even the track...nobody cares. Big lines at the outdoor betting windows, then stand back to watch winning numbers flash on the big board, like a giant bingo game.

Old blacks arguing about bets; "Hold on there, I'll handle this" (waving pint of whiskey, fistful of dollar bills); girl riding piggyback, T-shirt says, "Stolen from Fort Lauderdale Jail." Thousands of teen-agers, group singing "Let the Sun Shine In," ten soldiers guarding the American flag and a huge fat drunk wearing a blue football jersey (No. 80) reeling around with quart of beer in hand.

No booze sold out here, too dangerous...no bathrooms either. Muscle Beach...Woodstock...many cops with riot sticks, but no sign of a riot. Far across the track the clubhouse looks like a postcard from the Kentucky Derby.