Topic: THE RIOT ACT (Read 23577 times)

bk · « **on:** February 10, 2004, 12:02:59 AM »

Holey moley on rye, I'll be swacked and pickled in moonshine - you've read the notes and you know that today is going to be a riot. Yes, Virginia, today is going to be a riot. I haz spoken. Post away, my pretties.

bk · « **Reply #1 on:** February 10, 2004, 12:05:02 AM »

I need one of them little Japanese geishas to step on my back.

Panni · « **Reply #2 on:** February 10, 2004, 12:08:46 AM »

What's with this fixation on the Japanese? Couldn't a Dutch person, or someone from Greenland, or, better yet, a heavy German, do just as well?
(Oops - spoo - I haven't read the Notes yet.)

bk · « **Reply #3 on:** February 10, 2004, 12:16:05 AM »

You must NEVER post without having read the notes. That is just not done and now you must go in the corner and flog yourself like Judge Turpin.

Someone asked what two goodies I got at the book fair on Saturday. I got a first edition of Ernest Gann's The High and the Mighty, an incredibly hard first to find. In fact, this is the first time I've ever seen one and I'm shocked it hadn't been snapped up by one of the dealers. Not in primo condition, but the jacket, which has some interior staining near the flap folds, is complete, not price-clipped and outwardly looks pretty nice. The book itself is in near fine condition. The only reason I think that someone hadn't snapped it up was because the dealer was in one of the out-of-the-way rooms. It was incredibly priced for such a rarity, in fact I couldn't believe how cheap it was (in fact, it was one of the only reasonably-priced books at the fair. I looked it up on the ABE and the only first in jacket listed (in similar condition) is going for 1250 bucks (albeit, signed). That's one hundred percent more than I paid for it.

The other goodie was a Fine copy in Fine jacket of Robert Traver's Anatomy of a Murder. This is a book that just never ever shows up in collectible condition. It was actually not unreasonably priced, but the dealer, who is a friend, took almost fifty percent off and I had to get it. Again, the only like copy on the ABE (NOT in as good condition at all) is listed at 850, which is hugely more than I got it from. My copy is also a "review copy" which makes it even more valuable.

Panni · « **Reply #4 on:** February 10, 2004, 12:19:21 AM »

Now I've read the Notes. I also love "The Party's Over"... In fact, as a younger me, I used to sing it in front of the mirror holding some object or other as a microphone in the smoky nightclub that was my bedroom. My audience was usually my dog, Gypsy (all my dogs were called Gypsy - I mean I only had one at a time, but when that one passed on to doggie heaven, the next one would be Gypsy.) Gypsy always enjoyed my emotional rendition of the song.

Jed · « **Reply #5 on:** February 10, 2004, 12:21:17 AM »

Styne - So much wonderful stuff, of course, but the first to pop in my head would be "It's A Perfect Relationship" and "The Party's Over."

bk · « **Reply #6 on:** February 10, 2004, 12:21:37 AM »

Isn't it ironic that you sung a Jule Styne song to a dog named Gypsy?

bk · « **Reply #7 on:** February 10, 2004, 12:22:00 AM »

I need one of them little Japanese geishas to come over and step on my back.

Panni · « **Reply #8 on:** February 10, 2004, 12:22:17 AM »

I just flogged myself and it felt good. Who knows where this will lead?

Panni · « **Reply #9 on:** February 10, 2004, 12:23:51 AM »

Quote from: bk on February 10, 2004, 12:21:37 AM

Isn't it ironic that you sung a Jule Styne song to a dog named Gypsy?

Yes! As you say, my life is one big DRAMA. I may just flog myself again,

Panni · « **Reply #10 on:** February 10, 2004, 12:25:39 AM »

Are we having a late-night posting frenzy?

bk · « **Reply #11 on:** February 10, 2004, 12:26:14 AM »

Did you ever flog yourself whilst playing golf? You simply must, because golf IS flog, spelled backwards.

Panni · « **Reply #12 on:** February 10, 2004, 12:26:21 AM »

Am I having a late-night posting frenzy?

bk · « **Reply #13 on:** February 10, 2004, 12:27:06 AM »

You are your own frenzy.

Panni · « **Reply #14 on:** February 10, 2004, 12:28:15 AM »

"Golf- flog"

And educational, too. An educational late-night frenzy,

Panni · « **Reply #15 on:** February 10, 2004, 12:30:28 AM »

Frenzy is yznerf backwards. Sounds like an emigree violinist.
"Schlomo Yznerf will now play Beethoven."

Panni · « **Reply #16 on:** February 10, 2004, 12:32:23 AM »

Have you found a Japanese back-walker yet? Studio City has everything. I think there's an all-night back-walking place next to the Gap.

Tomovoz · « **Reply #17 on:** February 10, 2004, 12:32:59 AM »

First melody I thought of listing was "You'll Never Get Away From Me". The BK produced Judy Kuhn sings Styne has all my favourites. What an amazing composer and what a wonderful CD by one hell of a singer. I raher like the two volume Styne Overtures from TER as well.

Panni · « **Reply #18 on:** February 10, 2004, 12:34:20 AM »

Why is nobody saying anything? I don't like being a one-woman frenzy. It's unseemly.

Panni · « **Reply #19 on:** February 10, 2004, 12:35:25 AM »

Thank you for speaking, Tomovoz.

Panni · « **Reply #20 on:** February 10, 2004, 12:37:09 AM »

I should sign off. I'm still wide awake. Perhaps I'll sing "The Party's Over" for Abie, the wonderdog. 'Night, Frenzy Friends.

Tomovoz · « **Reply #21 on:** February 10, 2004, 12:38:07 AM »

And I had refrained from wantin to write wanton. Self flagellation. Let's have a whip round. Bastinado may make for an interesting alternative if you become bored but self administering it may present some difficulty. "Midnight Express" anyone?

bk · « **Reply #22 on:** February 10, 2004, 12:38:19 AM »

I have always tried to give It's a Perfect Relationship to my female singers and have had no takers. It is one of the most sublimely perfect character introduction songs ever written. And Judy Holliday is hearbreakingly funny doing it in a way that no one will be able to top.

DERBRUCER · « **Reply #23 on:** February 10, 2004, 12:42:21 AM »

Quote from: bk on February 10, 2004, 12:22:00 AM

I need one of them little Japanese geishas to come over and step on my back.

And while she's at it, she could proof the galleys of your "Notes", and then instead of:
"...They kind of gave her an “I want” song, but it came to late..."

you would have written "...it came too late..."

der Brucer (yes, dear BK, sone of us do read your notes, yes we really, really, do - and it's so unlike you to miss "too", it's just too, too unlike you!)

Jed · « **Reply #24 on:** February 10, 2004, 12:45:14 AM »

I wholeheartedly agree, BK. "It's A Perfect Relationship" is perfection in character introduction. Sure, hard to measure up to Judy Holliday's wondrous rendition of it, but such a fabulous song!

Jed · « **Reply #25 on:** February 10, 2004, 12:46:11 AM »

Good golly, it's an old-fashioned late-night posting frenzy!

DERBRUCER · « **Reply #26 on:** February 10, 2004, 12:47:52 AM »

And for the record:

Michael Quinion on his site World Wide Words posts the following:

[Q] From Gloria Spielman: “What is the origin of the expression to read someone the riot act?”

[A] These days, it’s just a figurative expression meaning to give an individual or a group a severe scolding or caution, or to announce that some unruly behaviour must cease. But originally it was a deadly serious injunction to a rioting crowd to disperse.

The Riot Act was passed by the British government in 1715. This was the period of the Catholic Jacobite riots, when mobs opposed to the new Hanoverian king, George I, were attacking the meeting houses of dissenting groups. There was a very real threat of invasion by supporters of the deposed Stuart kings—as actually happened later that year and also in 1745. The government feared uprisings, and passed a draconian law making it a felony if a group of more than twelve persons refused to disperse more than an hour after magistrates had told them to do so. To invoke the law, the magistrates had to read the relevant section of the Act aloud to the mob, something that often required courage:

Our Sovereign Lord the King chargeth and commandeth all persons being assembled immediately to disperse themselves, and peaceably to depart to their habitations or to their lawful business, upon the pains contained in the act made in the first year of King George for preventing tumultuous and riotous assemblies. God save the King.

The pains or penalties were penal servitude for life or not less than three years, or imprisonment with or without hard labour for up to two years. The Act remained in force for a surprisingly long time, only finally being repealed in 1973, though it had been effectively defunct for decades.

der Brucer (his daily contribution to information overload)

bk · « **Reply #27 on:** February 10, 2004, 12:51:58 AM »

Why, dear der Brucer, I don't know WHAT you're talking about, really I don't.

bk · « **Reply #28 on:** February 10, 2004, 12:53:09 AM »

It is VERY windy here in the City of Studio. It's kind of eerie and nice, not necessarily in that order.

Jed · « **Reply #29 on:** February 10, 2004, 12:54:14 AM »

Quote from: DERBRUCER on February 10, 2004, 12:42:21 AM

And while she's at it, she could proof the galleys of your "Notes", and then instead of:
"...They kind of gave her an “I want” song, but it came to late..."

And here I thought he was talking about the song somehow regaining consciousness after some period of time.

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Author Topic: THE RIOT ACT (Read 23577 times)