Olympics Cities Destination Quiz- Berlin to Stockholm

Though it has been a tragic day here in the United States, as all of us are mourning the shooting victims at midnight premiere screening of "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises" at a theatre in Aurora, Colorado, but we are going to go ahead with our plans to conclude this series.

We finish this series up with a look at the distance between Berlin, Germany, which hosted the very controversial 1936 Olympics, in which Adolf Hitler promoted Aryan supremacy, and Stockholm, Sweden, which hosted the more sanguine 1912 Olympics.

American track and field athlete Jesse Owens (1913-1980), a black man who is the subject of a folk song by Greensboro, NC, singer/songwriter Bruce Piephoff (a personal friend) entitled "Jesse" (2008), was able to prove the absurdity of Hitler's concepts as he won four gold medals in Berlin.

On a more tragic note, I learned from an exhibit about the 1936 Berlin Olympics at the National Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, that Endre Kabos (1906-1944), a Hungarian athlete of Jewish heritage who won gold in Berlin in addition to his gold medal at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics was among the millions of Jewish people killed during World War II.

Kabos was sent to a concentration camp, but his death reportedly came on the battlefield after he escaped. His Hungarian teammate Attila Petschauer* (1904-1943) who won gold medals in fencing at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics and the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics was killed in a concentration camp.

Just this week, Hungarian officials detained Laszlo Csatary, 97, for alleged role in deporting Hungarian Jews to concentration camps.

On a lighter note, today's Berlin features stop lights, featuring little green men  and little red men, which are one of few surviving relics from East Germany. In 2004, several German cities, including Dresden introduced female counterparts for pedestrian stop lights.

As for the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, among the gold medalists were Finnish wrestler Kaarlo Koskelo, Italian gymnast Alberto Broglia and Australian women's swimmer Fanny Durack. The above pictured dish is a popular one in Sweden during the holidays.

And, even though he has nothing to do with either Olympics, we will mention Bruce Jenner, the American 1976 Montreal Olympics track champion, since the mere mention of his name assures significantly more hits for our blogs.

So just how far apart are these two cities?

A) 454 miles

B) 479 miles

C) 504 miles

D) 529 miles

http://www.ushmm.org

http://www.jewishsports.net

http://www.washington.org


*-I happen to share a first name with the Hungarian Jewish athlete. My first name is Attila. My late Turkish father Mehmet Gokbudak chose to give me the Hungarian spelling as opposed to the Turkish spelling which is Atilla, which has assured that people in Turkey, including passport officials, do not spell my name correctly.

Quote of the Day- Charles Bukowski

Today, we begin a week-long series of quotes from famous American writers, including poets and playwrights. We start with the eccentric novelist and poet Charles Bukowski (1920-1994) who made no secret of his alcohol consumption.He was portrayed by Mickey Rourke in the film "Barfly."

His work also had dark, subversive themes, and that's one of the reasons why we love him so much. Bukowski is also one of Greensboro, NC, singer/songwriter/poet Bruce Piephoff.

Here is Bukowski's quote:

"The young poet starting out...should stay the hell out of writing classes and find out what's happening around the corner."

The Last 10 CDs I've Listened To....

Since Greensboro, NC, folk singer Bruce Piephoff is a personal friend, I thought it would be safer to go with an image of him, which I took from a Belgian web site_ of all places, than one for either David Bowie or Turkish psychedelic singer Erkin Koray, who turned 70 last year. All of these artists, along many bands that most of you will recognize, were in the last group of cds that I have listened to. Here they are in order:

1) Erkin Koray. "Erkin Koray" (1973) Key Tracks: "Kizlar Da Alin Askere" /("Let the Girls in the Army Too")

2. Bruce Piephoff. "The Chestnut Tree" (2008) Key Tracks: "Notes from Knoxville," "The Chestnut Tree," "The Ballad of Charlie Poole," "Jesse" and ""Jasper's World of no Return."

3. Coldplay. "A Rush of Blood to the Head" (2002). Key Tracks: "In My Place," "The Scientist" and "Clocks."

4. David Bowie. "Heroes." (1977) Key Tracks: "Beauty and the Beast," "Joe the Lion" and "Heroes."

5. The Rolling Stones. "Let It Bleed" (1969) Key Tracks: "Gimme Shelter" and "You Can't Always Get What You Want."

6. U2. "Boy" (1980; debut album) Key Tracks: "A Day Without Me" and "I Will Follow."

7. The Pretenders. "Learning to Crawl" (1983). Key Tracks: "Back on the Chain Gang," "Middle of the Road" and "Show Me."

8. The Police. "Synchronicity." (1983). Key Tracks: "Every Breath You Take," "King of Pain," and "Wrapped Around Your Finger."

9. The Cars. "Candy-O." (1979) Key Tracks: "Let's Go," "It's All I Can Do" and "Double Life."

10. Rush. "2112" (1976, considered to be the band's best record). Key Tracks: "A Passage to Bangkok" and "The Twilight Zone."

Greensboro vs. Roanoke- Dive Bar Hopping (4 of 6)

Today, we have our fourht installment of our Greensboro vs. Roanoke, which looks at familiar local things in Greensboro, NC, where I reside, and Roanoke,Va., my hometown.



And, we now move to a look at two of the most familiar bars in both cities.



First, there is the Coffee Pot on Brambleton Avenue, which is actually just outside the city limits in Roanoke County. The Coffee Pot is a historic roadhouse with a stucco coffee pot structure near its roof. The establishment was built in 1936. Willie Nelson and the Rev. Billy C Wirtz, who is actually a South Carolina blues singer/comedian are among the famous singers who have graced the stage of the road house.



The Flatiron on 221 Summit Avenue is actually in the city limits of The Gate City and it is close to Elm Street, which is the main street in downtown Greensboro. The bar was built much, much later than the Coffee Pot as it opened in 1993.



Though I could not find out if any big name celebrity singers have performed there, the venue has hosted acclaimed local and regional acts, including Greensboro folk singing legend Bruce Piephoff (a personal friend of mine) and the band Jews and Catholics, which has an interesting and confusing name.



Of the two, we would choose the Flatiron simply for the fact that Greensboro has a much mroe thriving local music scene. Since I don't drink beer very often, although I'd love to have a Terrapin Beer brewed in Athens, Ga., some time, one is not too likely to see me at either place. But, I am told that bars are supposedly the best place to meet women. Hmmmm........



SIDEBAR: Kudos to Ragsdale High School, located in the Greensboro 'burb of Jamestown, NC, as they defeated Grimsley High School 37-7 last night. But, the Tarheel State's most thrilling high school game may have been Carrboro High School's 47-36 win over Central Davidson.

Things We Learned on Wikipedia This Week- Capital of Kazakhstan

We are continuing our look at former republis of the Soviet Union today with Kazakhstan. The second largest former Soviet republic behind Russia was made famous/infamous by the film "Borat" (2006) starring Sacha Baron Cohen as the fake television reporter from Kazakhstan.

The film, which was in my top five list for the best films of 2006, will always be a special to me because the rodeo scene where Borat/Cohen tricked rodeo-goers into singing a butchered verison of "The Star Spangled Banner" was filmed at a rodeo in my hometown of Salem, Va. And, just today, I saw that the Internet Movie Database indicated one of the film's factual goofs is that it shows Salem, which neighbors the larger city of Roanoke, as being in the eastern part of Virginia as opposed to southwest Virginia.

Many of the Kazkakhstan village scenes for the movie were actually filmed in Romania. In one of the scenes, the audience is introduced to Borat's neighbor Nursultan Tuyakbey, who is a cross between the names of the current Kazak president/dictator Nursultan Nazabayev and his political opponent in the mid-2000s Zharmakan Tuyakbey.

In April, Nazabayev ran virtually unopposed and got close to 100 percent of 'the vote.'

Today's question is what is the capital of Kazakhstan? Is the answer:

A) Alma Ata

B) Astana

C) Chimkent

D) Pavlador

This is the fifth of 17 entries in this series, and the first one presented in trivia question form. The other four Soviet republics in this series were Uzbekistan, Russia, Kyrgzstan* and (the) Ukraine.

*-This has to be one of the hardest countries in the world to spell!

SIDEBAR: My friend Bruce Piephoff, a folk singer in Greensboro, NC, may not be heading out to Kazakhstan for a concert anytime soon, but he will be performing a live set for WXDU (88.7-FM, Durham), the student-run radio station of Duke University at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. My personal favorite song of his might very well be "I Remember Asheville," even though I've only been Asheville, NC, one time!

Roanoke vs. Greensboro (Entry 1 of 6)- Mill Mountain or The Green Bean

First of all, I want to express my sincerest apologies to (mr) Shannon Wheeler for using an image of his most creation Too Much Coffee Man without his expressed written permission. We are actually Faebook friends, but since times are hard for comic strip artists, he could very well sue us for ten million dollars even though we don't make one cent from this blog!

Today, I am putting myself 'in the bedroom' as I make comparisons between my beloved hometown of Roanoke, Va., and my wonderful adopted city of Greensboro, NC. Of course, using these adjectives will not change the fact that I have mortal enemies in both zip codes!

Like most communities, these two cities are very proud of their respective independent coffee shops. We should point out that while there is only one Green Bean, which is located in downtown Greensboro, there are actually six Mill Mountain coffee shops, four of which are in the Roanoke area. To make matters more confusing, apparently the Mill Mountain store in Blacksburg pulled a Kosovo and became a separate outfit though they still have the same name as the other five coffee-shops.

The coffee and specialty drinks at both places are quite good, and if there was a blind taste test between one's cappucino or latte and the other's, I could not honestly say which one was better.

However, I must profess the fact the Green Bean features live music while Mill Mountain does not makes me like the independent Greensboro coffeeshop more.

This year alone The Green Bean has featured local legend folk singer Bruce Piephoff (a personal friend) in addition to Miss Lana Rebel (pictured here), a folk singer who literally travels across America with her bandmates in a schoolbus purchased in Vancouver, Wash., through Craig's List, and Bess Rogers from Brooklyn, NY, who actually performs acoustic covers of 1980s hair band songs. (Yeah, something like "Is This Love" by Whitesnake though I don't think that's one of the songs she covers!).

The Last Ten CDs I've Listened To- New Wave to Pakistani

For those of you in Greensboro, NC, you should say you want a burger like this the next time you go to Fincastles Diner downtown on Elm Street; the establishment is actually named for the town of Fincastle, Va., a hamlet of about 800 folks near Roanoke. My mom taught middle school there for about 11 years.

We are actually going with this hamburger image because another Greensboro institution, my friend and folk singer Bruce Piephoff's cd "Hamburger Square," which was produced in 2001 but features material recorded prior to that year, is one of the last ten I've listened to.

Since I had a chance to see the indie punk Superchunk from Chapel Hill, NC, perform in their backyard at Cat's Cradle last night, I picked up their 1991 recording "No Pocky for Kitty." Superchunk happens to have a loyal following in Japan, and pocky is a popular snack there.

Bluegrass Singer Tim O'Brien's 2008 cd "Chameleon" is also on the list. Right now, O'Brien, a native of West Virginia, is quite far from home as he is performing in New Zealand and then Australia in the next few days, according to his web site.

Closer to home, the folk band Eddie from Ohio (they are actually from Virginia) is going to be performing at the Rams Head Tavern in Annapolis, Maryland, from March 18-19. Their 1997 recording "Big Noise" featuring one of my favorite folk songs by someone besides Mr. Piephoff "Juan in the Rear View Mirror" is on that album.

Les Blank, a great documentary filmmaker who I met a few years ago, got me introduced to Lightin' Hopkins (1912-1982) as he made a short film about the blues legend which I saw on Link-TV a few years back.

Most Americans are probably not familiar with the Turkish instrumentalist Okay Temiz, but he is more well-known in Europe. In fact, at one time, he lived in Finland. His 1994 recording "Fish Market" is quite exceptional, and there is no true way to describe his unique sound, so I guess I'll just have to recommend you check out his videos on Youtube.

Anyway, here is the list, I better post this before I wake my mom up as I'm visiting her this weekend:

1. "Night Song" (1995. Nusret Fateh Ali Khan and Michael Brook. World/Inspirational).

2. "No Pocky for Kitty" (1991. Superchunk. Alternative/Punk).

3. "Chameleon" (2008. Tim O'Brien. Bluegrass).

4. "Big Noise" (1997. Eddie from Ohio. Folk).

5. "Hamburger Square" (2001. Bruce Peiphoff. Folk).

6. "Very Best of Lightin' Hopkins" (1999. Compilation of music recorded many, many years ago. Blues).

7. "Drummers of Burundi" (1993. Drummers of Burundi. World).

8. "Fish Market" (1994. Okay Temiz. World. Instrumental/Jazz).

9. "Yuru Anca Gidersin" (2003. Yildiz Tilbe. Turkish pop).

10. "Vacation" (1982. The Go-Gos. New Wave/Pop).

It's Been a Messy Week

The weather may have actually been nice in Fargo, N.Dak., than it was in Greensboro, NC, yesterday. Snow, sleet, ice and freezing rain left much of Virginia and North Carolina in a mess in a storm which also went through parts of South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia and Maryland.

There were fatal highway accidents near Lexington, Va., and Fayetville, NC, which are about six hours away from each other.

As a result, we are behind with lots and lots of things, folks!

So, until things get back to normal, I highly recommend a Youtube video of my friend Bruce Piephoff singing "I Remember Asheville" or you can always settle for Ukrainian folk dancing or Hungarian klezmer clarinet music!