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Readers!

 

The time has come for my annual short Thanksgiving/Christmas fund drive for Behind The Black. I must do this every year in order to make sure I have earned enough money to pay my bills.

 

For this two-week campaign, I am offering a special deal to encourage donations. Donations of $200 will get a free autographed copy of the new paperback edition of Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8, while donations of $250 will get a free autographed copy of the new hardback edition. If you desire a copy, make sure you provide me your address with your donation.

 

As I noted in July, the support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.

 

In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.

 

Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.

 

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Evanescence – Bring Me To Life

An evening pause: Hat tip Cotour.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 

The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

19 comments

  • wayne

    Cotour–
    excellent selection!
    That version has been on my short list for some time.

  • wayne

    Evanescence –
    “Everybody’s Fool”
    2004
    https://youtu.be/jhC1pI76Rqo
    3:34

    “there’s nothing better than a good lie…”

  • Alex Andrite

    I don’t get it.
    Noise.

    But then, I am of the once Motown era.
    Now of the Rachmaninoff and Friends era.
    Also, of reading a good book, while resting seated in my outdoor rocker, and soaking in the warming morning sun.

    I look forward to the next “Cool Image” entries.

  • OK.

    Alex Andrite: Dude, you listen to Rachmaninoff, and you don’t get this? Motown?

    I have heard pieces of this song since it was released, but never the whole thing, as pop radio isn’t my thing. Amy Lee is a good singer, and more of a showman. She gives the people what they want, and that’s worth my money.

    The melodic layering, the call-and-response structure: the song pushes the right buttons. I suspect it will stand the test of time.

  • wayne

    Alex–
    check this out….

    Wagakki Band; Tokyo Singing
    Bring Me To Life with Amy Lee
    2020
    https://youtu.be/hk1GtYK7BJM
    4:16

  • Alex Andrite

    Wayne –
    Wow – thanks for getting me to put down my book and get out of my rocker !
    That was fine !!

    Blair –
    ok – I will take another listen or two, now that I am up and moving.

    Thanks to all for priming my pump !

    A.

  • Lee Stevenson

    I was lucky enough to see these in concert a few ( well more like 15, lol) years ago live in concert, and Blair K Ivey, you are correct, Amy Lee is an excellent showman, it was an excellent evening!

  • wayne

    Lee-
    Good deal! Who else have you seen?

  • Lee Stevenson

    @wayne…. The list is too long to mention…. But highlights are Prince, 3 times and never less than excellent, Oasis, Jarvis Cocker ( of Pulp fame), most of the other “Brittpop” bands, many Swedish bands… I’m a lover of live music, and back in the 90’s I ran a bar right next to a 5000 person music venue. I let the security guys in for a late drink, and they let me in thru the side door to watch the gigs…. Excellent arrangement! 2 more that spring to mind are Beck, and Skunk Annansie. Prince remains my favourite, the first time was in 88 and by pure chance we ended up at the front, and I still have a tambourine and a plectrum he threw out to the crowd…. Times I cherish! How about you?

  • Lee Stevenson

    I forgot to mention Leonard Cohen, I saw him the very last time he played in Sweden, and my neighbor was working security…( I’m lucky in some respects!), He spotted me in the cue and fixed me up with a front row seat…. Leonard was in his 70s yet played 2 X 90 minutes sets…. 3 hours of brilliance from a much missed artist in every sense of the word. Never mind the politics, the world has become a little darker in the last few years musically…. My teenage kids are into music from the 60s thru to the 90s…. Even they agree modern music is rubbish…lol…..

  • wayne

    Lee-
    Great Tales!
    (Prince, eh!? didn’t see that coming!)
    Where I live, if you wanted to see someone big, that generally (but not always) involved a lengthy road-trip, to Detroit or Chicago.
    -AC/DC, Def Leppard, Metallica, Rush, REM, Pearl Jam, Ozzy, Springsteen, to name a few. I did manage to see Arlo Guthrie by pure happenstance; Tampa Florida, 1980-ish, Thanksgiving Day– went to get a beer at a small bar in the evening, got roped into paying a $5 cover to get inside, then Arlo popped up, played the full version of Alice’s Restaurant, signed some autographs & took pictures. then sat down and had dinner with the owner.

    let me toss this in real quick–

    The Day The Music Died : 2-3-59
    –Visit to Clear Lake, Iowa, the Surf Ballroom, and the crash-site….
    https://youtu.be/09QnKCc9TXM
    10:11

  • Lee Stevenson

    @wayne…. Prince was the soundtrack to my teens… I wear a tattoo I got when he died…. The world will be lucky if it ever sees another talent like him… I’m liking your taste in music…. I’m not adverse to a bit of hard rock myself…. I’m actually from the same area as the Ozborns, Heavy metal was named after the area I grew up in, which was the birthplace of heavy industry… And just to drop a name out, I used to call friend, and indeed buy my hash off Ozzy’s late brother Tony. They didn’t speak, and I never asked why, it didn’t matter, Tony was a good man, and “the black country” was a good place to grow up… I rarely click on YouTube links… But I’m off to watch yours now…. Have a nice evening!

  • Hanging on to the Thread That Will Not Die:

    Watched the Tokyo link Wayne provided. That’s a solid 10.5; because:

    It’s in Japan.

    The drummer is earning his money.

    About the last third of the song, you can see that people are getting in to it. They are having fun.

    Except for some of the ‘classical’ musicians, who look bored.

    Would have liked to have seen more footage of the conductor.

    Liked the lyrics in Japanese and English on the screens. Useful, especially if Ozzy Osbourne ever takes the stage again.

    Solid.

  • wayne

    Blair–
    hilarious! (Ozzy reference)(( he’s articulating more clearly ever since Sharron got rid of that quack psychiatrist who had him loaded up on lithium, depakote, and ativan. He never struck me as bi-polar. Tangentially–mid 1990’s there was a major change in Medicaid-billing for mental-health, and overnight 15% of our clients went from a primary DX of “substance mis-use,” to ‘bi-polar.’))
    Ref-Wagakki Band; Saw those lyrics on-screen as well– you have a good eye!
    Apparently (but don’t quote me)—that whole concert is available, although it might be sliced up into single videos. A quick cursory search yielded Amy Lee singing in Japanese. (plug in Wagakki + Amy Lee )

    If you’re partial to Japanese bands– let me know what you think of this:

    Band Maid
    Thrill (スリル)
    https://youtu.be/Uds7g3M-4lQ
    4:10

    –(rough) English lyrics [https://youtu.be/BZdmWbxNstk]

  • wayne

    going WAY tangential here…..

    [instrumental surf-rock from Owosso, Michigan]

    The Dirt Surfers
    “First to the Wall”
    https://youtu.be/LXIkHsuZ8Lo
    4:49

  • “instrumental surf-rock from Owosso, Michigan”

    A sentence I never thought I’d see in my lifetime.

  • wayne

    Blair–
    almost spewed my coffee through my nose on that one!

  • Alex Andrite

    Well, that certainly wore me out.
    Now, back to my rocker and book.

    Great thread !

  • wayne

    Alex–
    ok, we’ll fix everything in post-production and call it a might!

    [“it’s better to burn out, than to fade away…”]

    Neil Young & Crazy Horse –
    Hey Hey, My My ( Into the Black ) live 1991
    https://youtu.be/w_hoW6qmeOo
    5:22

    (“Neil + Crazy Horse’s performance was so legendary, that even Rosa Parks (0:43), Neil Young himself (0:56), Freddie Mercury (2:03), Slash (2:39/sunglasses), and Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys (2:48) was in the audience.” –Hilarious remark in the comment section on the crowd shots.)

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