WFMU's Beware of the Blog

Percy Thrillington (aka Paul McCartney)

MP3s: Too Many People | 3 Legs | Ram On  | Dear Boy  | Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey | Smile Away  | Heart Of The Country | Monkberry Moon Delight | Eat At Home | Long Haired Lady | Back Seat Of My Car

1977 easy-listening covers of Ram made by McCartney under the name Percy Thrillington. Full story here.

Just one of the many great finds from Ian Peel's alt-McCartney bio The Unknown Paul McCartney: McCartney and the Avant Garde (documenting McCartney's 60s involvement with AMM, Stockhausen, Gong, Pop Art, etc.)

Vote Early, Vote Often. WFMU Nominated for a Plug Independent Music Award

WFMU has been nominated for a 2007 Plug Independent Music Award for College/ Non-Commercial Radio Station of the Year!  Whoa!

You, the blog reader and WFMU enthusiast, can help us come close to victory, if not achieve it, by going to the Plug voting site here and giving WFMU the nod.  Not that we care about these popularity contests realllllly, but it's always nice to have another tchotchke to put on the shelf.  So..... if you'd like to vote,  we're under the "Media (General)" category in the "College/ Non-Comm Radio Station of the Year" section.   Siempre libertad!

What is Charles Addams really like?

Apparently this was THE question New Yorker staff members and contributors were asked all over the world when the subject of the magazine came up in conversation. Biographer Linda H Davis gives us the long form answer in her new book Charles Addams: A Cartoonist's Life (link).

I actually loathe the Addams Family TV show and the Hollywood movies, both make a mockery of Addams' sensibilities - its like they set out to make weird cute. The real body of work is the cartoons and Linda Davis uses them throughout her wonderful biography to illustrate what it was like for Charles Addams to live true to his love of the strange, grim and grisly.  My personal favorite cartoon (a copy hangs in my bathroom) is the one where two men encounter a topless mermaid on the beach, one whispers to the other: "Now, remember to act casual!"

Davis relates how Adams was once asked where he picked up "his interest in the bizarre" - his answer "that's like asking a bird how he learned to sing" If you come to this book hoping to find the secret key to all the weirdness you will be disappointed (although his childhood dentist did hang himself in the swamp!) But Linda Davis does not disappoint when it comes to telling the story of how Charles Addams made it big (I am not even going to go into the bit about the ladies here) and remained true to his artistic sensibilities.

Pompel & Pilt (Videos and MP3s)

The Norwegian TV-show "Pompel & Pilt" was both loved and hated in its home country due to the surreal, amoral personalities  of its characters. After the series was broadcast in 1969, 1973, 1976, 1979 and 1985, the show was banned by NRK (Norwegian National Broadcasting) as it was deemed too dangerous for children. After this a huge cult-following grew, demanding to get "Pompel og Pilt" back on television and today the characters are considered one of the greatest pop-cultural icons in Norwegian television-history.  Watch the first episode (YouTube) The dialog is fairly simple. The two main characters are always looking for something that needs mending, as most stuff in their world is either bizarre, or just malfunctioning in a spectacular way. Be also aware of Gorgon, the janitor, a scary guy, that creeps everybody out with his obsessive-compulsive disorder, spouting out words that rhymes with "reparere [to mend/repair]" - such as "to subliminalise", "regressitate" etc ad nauseum.

Moffedille (upper left corner) is a fantasy animal from the show. The moffedille vaguely resembles a porcupine, eats keys, and communicates through howling sounds and cartoon-style balloons.

The series consists of five episodes, of which the moffedille appears in episodes 2 and 3. It is introduced as the protagonists, the repairmen Pompel and Pilt, sit down on it in the belief that it is a tuft of grass, a misconception that is gradually cleared up as the moffedille starts moving. The moffedille then asks for a key (by uttering a talking-bubble containing a drawing of a key). Pilt, who has earlier found a key, shows it to the moffedille, which immediately grabs it and eats it. It then leaves. This concludes the appearance of the moffedille in episode 2. Moffedille excerpt (.mov/4mb)

Faust's Lost Album V + TV footage

Wow, gawd bless the internet for serving up recordings of legendary Kraut pioneers Faust that I'm sure many of us hadn't heard before (or knew existed). Turns out that after the band recorded their album IV for Virgin and had a somewhat chaotic tour, Richard Branson had his fill of their shenanigans and cut them loose once again in 1975. Although, at this point the band had gone ahead and run up some expensive hotel and studio bills at Giorgio Morodor's Araballe studios, as depicted by member Jean-Herve Peron:

I have no idea how the others managed to get to Munich -- we were all very broke -- but we got to the Arabella and everything seemed fine: Ruud (Bosma) and Joachim had convinced the Arabella management that we were legitimate, and soon we were sitting in the Arabella dining room, happy to meet again after all this time. Rudolf was there, Kurt was there, our dogs were there (they ate the whole time, only the best... and put it on the room bill please, dankeschon); everybody was there.

But, you can imagine, this could not go on forever. After a while (over a week) Arabella got nervous, and then more nervous by the day - until even the sweetest smile from Ruud and the smoothest talk from Joachim could not help us. Who is to pay this huge bill? Panic. Faxes to Virgin -- because we were, in a way, still under contract. They should be pleased that we offer them a master tape of our genial music. But no, Richard didn't even want to listen to our genial music. More panic. Kurt had already discretely left. So, let's rescue the equipment and the tapes at least. We sneaked the equipment and tapes out into the BRS and Ruud and Günther hopped in and... go... run for freedom... speeding gangster-wise through the Arabella grounds, knocking down the closing gates of the parking lot and -- yes, hurrah, they were through!

Like captains in a sinking ship, Joachim, Rudolf and I (where the hell is Zappi?) stayed back to do battle. We were arrested, humiliated (how could anyone not realize the importance of these recordings? Pah!) and no, we none of us had one single pfennig, neither in our pockets nor in the bank, so hang us, torture us, sell our bones to our fans, do what you want with us, but -- please, we're hungry and can't we just talk about this over a nice bottle?

The non-funny, non-heroic end of this story was that Joachim's and Rudolf's mamas bailed us our and paid the bills to save their cherished progeniture. Thank you Mrs. Irmler, thank you Mrs. Sosna.

It seems that Virgin did circulate a promo cassette of the sessions (which apparently contains material done in Wumme as well as at Morodor's place), and as far as actual Faust records go, it's not too shabby. Some trademark drones and freakouts, a very bizarre freeform track called "Jugger's Knot" built around fractured rhythms and junky guitar chords. Some more info on this Faust discography site, the Mended blog has the tracks all available via Rapidshare. Or, here are the MP3s: Track 1, Track 2, Track 3, Baby Rock Out, Duck A L'Orange, Warble Up, Jugger's Knot, Triump Ent. There's also a book out about Faust's 1970-75 years you can check out info on here. As a final bonus, check this out, it's Faust actually jamming out on stage and in the studio somewhere around 1971 (3 minutes, 20MB mpg), rare footage courtesy of this past year's mindblowing WDR-TV German rock documentary, highlights of which you might have caught in the A/V Lounge at this year's WFMU Record Fair.

Bicycle Safety, Spoon Bending, Cartoon Propoganda, and more Google Video finds

So, YouTube is down today, which ruined the plan I had for this week's post, but it gave me an excuse to start flipping around on Google Video. I never really gave Google Video a chance in the past, because my searches don't return nearly as many useful finds, but it is fun to browse through and I have to say that I do like their interface better than YouTube. But little matter anymore, as now they are both under the same umbrella. Perhaps GoogleTube will change design or start charging (at which time the party will be completely over), but until then, here are some videos to keep you occupied.

One Got Fat
In this 1963 bicycle safety film, a group of children wearing monkey masks are biking to a picnic and they get picked off and killed one by one. Yikes. The cheery narration by Edward Everett Horton (classic Hollywood actor and narrator for Fractured Fairy Tales) doesn't help.

Space Invaders
From the French speaking section of Switzerland comes this live action version of the arcade game, using people and a theatre setting to recreate Space Invaders. A little too long, but still quite fun to watch. How it was made (en Français).

Make Mine Freedom and What Makes Us Tick
Ah, brainwashing. What better way to make people do your will than to simplify life with cartoons. Make Mine Freedom (1958) is a humorous look at the terrors of evil Communism. What Makes Us Tick (1952) is an overly optimistic look at the American Stock Exchange (who also produced the film). Politics aside, these are entertaining little propaganda films, thanks to the attractive animation by former Disney animator John Sutherland.

James Randi vs. Uri Geller
In the 1970s, the incredibly awesome magician James Randi (who also toured with Alice Cooper's stage show) made it his mission to debunk the craze of pseudo-science. This one hour television special showcases his first major target, the spoon-bending psychic Uri Geller. Here's another short video, narrated by Randi, which features a great scene where Johnny Carson completely humiliates Geller.

Sensei Rebel's Archive Picks of the Week (November 6, 2006 - November 12, 2006)

(All MP3 and RealAudio links are streaming links from the WFMU Archives.)

The similarity between the album covers for the picks this week is uncanny. Believe me when I say this wasn't pre-planned. I must measure to guess that great musicians and radio DJs do think alike.

Rock And Roll
The Time Beings - "Don't Bother Me" RealAudio from Teenage Wasteland with Bill Kelly, November 12, 2006

International
Miho Hatori - "Song For Kids" RealAudio from (More Than A Few) Exciting Moments with Frank O'Toole (Web-only), November 7, 2006

Experimental
Autechre - "Weissensee" RealAudio from This Is the Modern World with Trouble, November 9, 2006

Dance
DJ Soul Slinger - "God Is A Lobster (B-52's Tribute Mix)" RealAudio from (More Than A Few) Exciting Moments with Frank O'Toole (Web-only), November 7, 2006

Ambient
OCDJ - "Sail Away Sail Away" RealAudio from Put the Needle On the Record with Billy Jam, November 10, 2006

Hip-Hop
Pharcyde - "Passin' Me By (Jazzy Jeff Remix)" RealAudio from Put the Needle On the Record with Billy Jam, November 10, 2006

Fave Song of the Week
Ana D - "Naufragio" RealAudio from Gaylord Fields' show, November 12, 2006

Skate Bording Girls

Perhaps the greatest film ever made? Here's the same thing on YouTube. (found on metafilter)

Adventures In Amplitude Modulation - Part 31

Here’s another foray into the AM band, as explored in the middle of the night. This recording begins just before 1AM local time, and was captured in the Catskill mountains of New York on Sunday October 1st (or the 2nd officially). Usually I start a scan recording at the low end of a band and work my way up, but this time I’m going the other way. Usually when starting at 530kHz and moving up the AM band, I never quite reach the end of the band, so this sample of broadcasting starts at the ass end of AM, and then I roll backwards through the dial.

I don’t spend that much time DXing though the higher end of the AM band. There’s less powerful stations, and especially here in the city there are far more ethnic talk outlets up that way. But unlike the previous post where I offered a taste of these frequencies, this reception was snatched from the sky out in the country away from the RF noise and the bullying strong local signals of the megalopolis. In fact, there are really no local AM stations in the central Catskills where we stayed that weekend. By day, the AM dial was basically silent all the way across the damn thing. Of course, once the sun went down there was some kind of noise or better at every 10kHz stop. Not a bad location to DX medium wave. And this was recorded with my Tecsun BCL-2000, a very sensitive, but buggy analog radio, which should have been on its best behavior on AM without powerful local signals stirring up annoying images across the dial.

Again, this starts from the right and the dial moves slowly to the left, stopping at every place a radio station that might be something, and then listening. The first station I found was in rural Michigan. Here's the audio...

Catskills Late Night Medium Wave Scan 10-02-06 A - 1590 to 1410 (Download MP3)

1590 - WTVB Coldwater, MI

A good way to start, with a solid (if faint) station ID from a distant low power station. It’s a one kilowatt oldies station in south central Michigan broadcasting in a directional pattern (to the northwest!). Station identification comes right before the top of the hour. It’s just about 1 AM EDT.

1580 - CKDO Oshawa, ON

An oldies station broadcasting from the other side of Lake Ontario. Starts out with some syrupy 1970's EZ pop song (sounds like Hall & Oates meets Smokey?) that I’ve never heard before. Maybe it’s some of that “Canadian content” the government forces their music stations to integrate into their playlists. Then “Green Onions,” still one of the greatest insurgent instrumentals around. Sounds great with static too.

Holy Laughter: Getting Drunk On Jesus (video)

Here's a video demonstrating the phenomenon of "Holy Laughter," a practice in some Pentecostal Churches where the members of the congregation fall to the floor in convulsive laughter, often collapsing in "Spiritual Drunkenness," intoxicated by the 151-proof power of the Lord: download mpeg video (16 megs), or youtube it. (Posted to youtube by the decidedly anti-Holy Laughter lalovision)

This clip is from a 1997 Pastor's Conference in which the late minister and plagiarist Kenneth "Papa" Hagin leads the visiting clerics in a raucous Holy Laughter session, cackling, guffawing, and inspiring the congregants to "act like drunks" and make collective noises that must be heard to be believed. One "Holy Laugher" makes sounds which can only be compared to those of Loons (as in the water bird). Other practitioners of Holy Laughter make crowing and mooing noises, find their bodies stuck magnetically to the floor and generally work themselves up to such a frenzy of induced drunkenness that they are sometimes unable to drive home from the service. You can see various samples of similar Pentecostal weirdness on this page, which includes clips from the homebase of Holy Laughter, The Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship.

Little did I know how divisive the practice of Holy Laughter was in the Christian community. Dozens of religious and other Christian sites disavow it, claiming that true believers would never laugh in church. Not that my opinion matters one whit in the debate, but any religion that gets people rolling on the floor laughing is doing something right, as far as I'm concerned. But what do I know - I'm a follower of  the laughing yogi.

Thanks to Listener David for encouraging my fascination with this stuff.

Let It Snow Indeed

Not too early to plan for those music-lovers' stocking stuffers. Promo email of the day:

Billy Idol: Happy Holidays  Label: Cyber Corps
Total Tracks: 17 Total Time: 00:46:37
Available Date: 12-Nov-2006   Artist Website: http://billyidol.net

Log-in to Download To get these tracks and more
  Artist Title Version   
  Billy Idol Frosty The Snowman      
  Billy Idol Silver Bells      
  Billy Idol Happy Holiday      
  Billy Idol Merry Christmas Baby      
  Billy Idol White Christmas      
  Billy Idol Here Comes Santa Claus                                                                                                
  Billy Idol Santa Claus Is Back In Town      
  Billy Idol Let It Snow      
  Billy Idol Winter Wonderland      
  Billy Idol Run Rudolph Run      
  Billy Idol Blue Christmas      
  Billy Idol Jingle Bell Rock      
  Billy Idol Christmas Love      
  Billy Idol Oh Christmas Tree      
  Billy Idol Silent Night      
  Billy Idol Auld Lang Syne

 

Sid transit gloria: an appreciation of Sid Davis (video)

Last month, legendary safety film producer Sid Davis died of lung cancer at age 90. If you were in school between the 1950s and 1980s you might have seen his cautionary films, with names like Keep Off The Grass, What Made Sammy Speed?, ABCs of Walking Wisely and the joined-at-the-moral-hip pair of films, Boys Beware/Girls Beware.

Author Ken Smith, in his comprehensive book on school safety films (Mental Hygiene), called Davis' film style "trancelike ... stripped of anything even remotely approaching drama or human emotion", due mostly to Davis' rock-bottom film budgets and inexperienced acting pool.

Thanks to YouTube and the Prelinger Archives, you can enjoy a retrospective of Sid Davis' cautionary career. The following films, taken from a list in Mental Hygiene of Davis' best work, are available for download and streaming from archive.org, or available for viewing at YouTube.

Cookie Disco

MP3 downloads:   Cookie Monster - "Cookie Disco"    |    Big Bird - "Just One Me"

Being pushed to the B-side of this 45 must have been some blow to Big Bird's avian ego. Cookie Monster had better lay low for a few weeks, Isaac Hayes might have a bone to pick over "Cookie Disco." We wouldn't want to upset the scientologists...

Thanks to Chad for dropping this one onto my desk!

More Cookie Monster love on Beware of the Blog:
- Most influential musician of all time?
- Cookie karaoke
- Bands riffing off the CM style

Pneumershonic (MP3s)

While the whole world is anxiously awaiting Bingo Gazingo's followup to his chart-topping self-titled debut CD from 1997, here is another classic old-school outsider album, Frequencies of the Beast by Pneumershonic, to help you endure the wait. The main man behind Pneumershonic is creative genius and homeless coffee-addict Paul Bourre from New Hampshire, and the album was a collaboration with Matt Jasper (of Tray Full of Lab Mice Productions), who wrote the music over which Paul improvised vocals. You can read more about the whole story behind the album (and a DVD called Mark of the Beast) here, on the website of a New Hampshire magazine confusingly called The Wire. Admittedly, Paul Bourre can actually sing (if he wants to), and he is much less obscene than Bingo, but I am sure you will still enjoy it. It has lots of Optigan in it.

Here is the album in its entirety in MP3 format: Hippy Freakout | The Mark of the Beast | Clothespin Cha Cha | Creature Double Feature | Martian Girlfriend | Greetings Earth | Untitled | Paul Emulates Trumpet | The Ticking (the only track with non-improvised vocals, written out beforehand by Paul in Matt's basement) | Beyond the Moon | Thelonious Paul | Pretty Young Lady |  Bubonic Plague | Backwards | Table Girl | Farewell, Marimba Bimbo

If you contact Matt through the Myspace page, he might just send you a DVD/CD package, such a nice guy is he. Unfortunately, I don't have an address of Paul to send coffee donations to at the current time, but I'll update this post whenever I get one.

Songs in Celebration of The Armpit of the Nation (MP3s)

And when I say armpit, I mean it in the best possible sense. New Jersey's other nickname, "The Garden State" is apparently derived from an 1876 quote in which Abraham Browning attempted to stir the pride of his fellow Jersey-ites by comparing the state to a giant barrel open at both ends, with Philadelphia picking at one end, and New York rifling through the other.

Great. A giant barrel. For most of this and the previous century, the word "barrel" has more of a connotation of toxic waste than of fresh produce. So maybe being an armpit isn't so bad after all.

With this in mind, here are 22 songs celebrating the great state that I never in a million years would've believed I'd be spending my whole life in. Many (but not all) are musically misguided as befits a state that is alternately compared to an armpit or a barrel with the bottom removed. These come from former WFMU DJ KBC's compilation A Garden State of Mind.

Photo by Bob Jagendorf.

(All links are MP3s - right-click to download)

The Chordblenders - I'm From New Jersey   |   Billy Murray - My Old New Jersey Home

Gabrielle - New Jersey   |   Stan Gilmer - Atlantic City (That Big Time Town)

The Treniers - Everything's Wild in Wildwood   |   Al Alberts - On The Way To Cape May

Billy Murray - Over On The Jersey Side   |   NJ X-Cops - Welcome To New Jersey

Junior Demus - New Jersey Drive   |   John Gorka - I'm From New Jersey

Edie From Ohio - No Left Turns In Jersey   |   JC O'Connor - Space Ace From Jersey City

Tiffany & Rocco - I'm A Jersey Girl   |   Johnny Marvin - Jersey Walk

Tommy Facenda - High School USA   |   Cliff Eberhardt - Summers In New Jersey

Bob D'Fano - New Jersey   |   "Robert" - New Jersey

John Pizzarelli, Jr. - I Like Jersey Best   |   Jim Albertson - Jersey Devil

John Linnell - New Jersey   |   Dave Van Ronk - Garden State Stomp

Woodstock Comes To North Korea March 1-4, 2007

Kim Jong Il is looking for bands to rock out in Pyongyang this coming March. From the Voice of Korea website:

If you are a band playing any kind of rock, including heavy metal, then you can participate 'ROCK FOR PEACE' in Pyong Yang, the capital city of North Korea. This is the very first time in history that North Korea allows western musicians in the heart of DPRK territory to play capitalist popular music. There are few restrictions and conditions on participation but any band will be considered even though you are from USA. The lyrics should not contain admirations on war, sex, violence, murder, drug, rape, non-governmental society, imperialism, colonialism, racism, anti-DPRK, and anti-socialism. The concert will be held from March 01 to March 04, 2007 under the management of Voice of Korea. We currently received requests of 35 bands from 19 countries and participations are increasing everyday. ROCK FOR PEACE will be the 2007 version of Woodstock rock festival in 1969 but in different location and in different goals, We welcome every musician as long as they are purely music based without political intentions. For inquiries, email to Jean-Baptiste Kim, the head of Voice of Korea.

And if the Rock For Peace concert isn't enough to make you want to visit, the Voice of Korea also exhorts us Merkins:

Hey Americans, You Should Learn A Lot From Our Norweigan Friends Who Are Having Really Good Time With North Korean Young School Boys.

Blame it on Bryce.

Act Now, Free Beauty!

For a pure dose of beauty, and humor (the two don't often dwell in the same dressing room), Maira Kalman is my hero.  Her fabulous children's books are like The Simpsons, fun for the whole family;  except only the adults get the really good jokes, and let's keep it that way, shall we? Maira has started a blog on the New York Times sight, full of daily paintings, posted the first Wednesday of every month, with archives going back to early summer.  Through November 12th, The Times is offering free access to all of its content, so check out "The Principles of Uncertainty". As if your life wasn't full of enough beautiful happenings this week...( UN ambassador John Bolton's head is the next to roll off the bloated, pompous administration's kitchen counter.  On that note, see Marie Antoinette this weekend for a luscious portrayal of change of government.  Marianne Faithfull is fabulous as the Empress.)

Canstruction is an annual design/build competition pushing the architectural limits of your average kitchen cupboard.  Through color and repetition the humble tinned food is transformed into terrific sights of decorative splendor.  This charitable event takes place in 80 cities across the US; New York City's gourmet gathering is November 9-22, at the New York Design Center. Admission is one can of food.  This competition collects millions of pounds of food, later donated to local food banks and begs the question: wouldn't a tin can octopus get rusty living on the ocean floor?

I can't let the words obsessive decoration slide by without a mention of Yayoi Kusama's show at Robert Miller Gallery in chelsea, up until November 25.

Yayoi was one of the original free love, installation mama's of the 1960's, using obsessive repetition in ways even Andy Warhol hadn't dabbled in yet.  Her paintings from that period grew in later years to huge infinity-suggesting installations, using light and reflective surfaces better than a good acid trip can do ya'.  She has returned to large paintings along with installation in this show and wonderfully reminds us of the power of the small gesture in repeated motion. 

Jason Forrest at the WFMU Record Fair

Here's a short video clip (7.2 MB mpeg) of Jason Forrest, (the artist/ WFMU DJ formerly known as Donna Summer) performing this past Saturday, November 4th in the A/V Lounge during the WFMU Record Fair.

The crowd in the lounge was treated to an intense breakcorealicious set which had some dancing, while others were mesmerized by the amazing video collage running in the background.  Thanks for the show, Jason!

You Curse, They Decide

Ever since the right-wing christian reaction to Nipplegate in '04, the FCC has suffered chronic indigestion over the indecency issue. The commission has failed to come up with a clear policy on the broadcast of smut, leaving TV and radio stations guessing whether a split second of cartoon butt is going to set them back $325,000.

Major TV networks banded together earlier this year over the FCC's latest installment of shaky indecency enforcement, raising First Amendment concerns with a federal appeals court. Worried that these broadcasters might actually have a valid argument, the FCC did what any kid who forgot their homework would do: stall. Willingly, the appeals court granted the FCC permission to take more time to revisit a few of their recent indecency decisions in order to "clarify" matters (coughcovertheirassescough).

As if the FCC wasn't in enough of a pickle already: they willingly allowed prime-time profanity during ABC's broadcast of the fictional movie Saving Private Ryan, but fined a public community station for airing similar curse words in a blues documentary a year later... The FCC, in all of their wisdom, managed to cloud indecency rules even further this week, in a pathetic attempt to demonstrate a method behind their madness to the courts.

The commission reconsidered their decisions on four different cases of allegedly indecent TV broadcasts. Here's what the FCC re-decided, along with their justifications (I just can't bear to use the word "reasoning"). You can read their 36 page manifesto on these topics here.

1. A Survivor cast member interviewed on CBS's Early Show described another contestant as a "bullshitter." The feds initially ruled that "bullshitter" was indecent in this instance (they let it go without a fine), but this week decided that it was ok. Why the change of heart? Because the FCC must exercise "caution with respect to news programming." Miraculously, a catty reality show contestant interviewed on a morning talk program from the same network suddenly becomes legitimate news! Well, it's "news" when the FCC finds "news" a convenient label. Clever cross-marketing, perhaps, but news? The Early Show's top headlines for today include "Messy Road Ahead for Britney and K-Fed," "Winter Squash: Try Roasting It!," and "Barbaro's Cast Comes Off." News, of course. We wouldn't want the FCC watering down the news, would we?

The Tunguska Explosion of 1908

Did you know that in 1908 in Siberia, one of the most catastrophic, mind-blowing (and mysterious) cosmic impact catastrophes ever in the history of civilization occurred - and yet it wasn't widely known outside Russia (save for a few astronomy and research scientist enclaves) until around the 1970's? Even interested research parties didn't learn about or even set foot on the scene of disaster until 1921. It didn't make front page news in the papers when it happened because of the extreme remoteness of that region of Siberia. Also at play was the secretive, unsettled nature of Russia at the time (which of course only heightened the many conspiracy theories surrounding it today).