It was only a few years ago that I learned not *all *chili (or wannabee chili – Skyline is “real” chili) comes on spaghetti! I was stunned! 
And your kin were settled in Cincinnati while mine were still in England! (Not sure when the German side came over, but I think it was later, as well.)
It was just a few years ago that I learned that not all chili rellenos were “crispy”. I’m from Denver, and awhile back (1960’s?) the proprietors of Mexican restaurants in the Denver area began making chili rellenos by wrapping cheese filled, roasted chili peppers in won-ton wrappers, deep frying them and smothering them with green chili. Absolutely fantastic! My favorite Mexican dish by far! But when I’d order chili rellenos in other parts of the country, I’d get these soggy, egg-batter dipped peppers. Just plain WRONG! (Of course the egg-batter rellenos are the “traditional” way of making them.) Had no idea that the Denver version was unique and regional, but so it is. So…If you’re in the Denver area, try the “crispy” chili rellenos.
And yes, most of my family has been wandering around on the American frontier since the 1600’s to late 1700’s, never doing especially well, but keeping alive, I suppose. 
The most recent immigrant I know of was actually a German fellow (surname Kestner) who settled in Belmont county Ohio in about 1850, fought in the Civil War and later moved West. The folks in Cincinnati (Hamiltons) were later in Greene County, Ohio (1805 timeframe) and moved West about 1850. (Though I’m glad, for their sakes, they moved before people started eating chili on spaghetti!)
Steve
I’ve never heard of chili rellenos – which is strange, because there is a heavy Hispanic population in my area – but I googled them, and they look delicious!
Well, maybe our families came over on the same boat! 
My earliest American ancestors came on a voyage shortly after the Mayflower (the sixth boat? Something like that.) The ones who first settled in Cincinnati came from Oxford, I believe. Those from other parts of the States were in the Civil War as well though. (Two Kentucky brothers on my dad’s side actually split up to fight, one in the North and one in the South – When reunited, they realized they had both lost opposite legs! Another relative, a northerner, raised fourteen kids while her husband was away at war. Whew – I count her as the family war hero!)
Anyway, I don’t really know where the other folks came from, or when they settled in Cincinnati. But soon enough, English, German, Irish, Russian, Polish, and Native American all mixed together and here I am!
They’re missing out, man! Missing out!
P.S. Sorry for getting an already off-topic thread even more off topic!
Awww… Kate, Chili Rellenos are awesome! But, you’re young so plenty of time to try them!
I’m sure we’re related, it’s just a question of how recently. I had some ancestors on the Mayflower, some after, some in Virginia, and some in Pennsylvania, some in Maryland and Rhode Island. It’s still amazing to me how recently we all are related. I’ll post this article again for anyone that’s interested, but it appears that everyone with any european ancestry is descended from everyone that lived in europe that had descendants 1,000 years ago. Not just related to a common ancestor,* everyone * that had descendants. (That means we’re all descended from Charlemagne by the way)
nature.com/news/most-europeans-share-recent-ancestors-1.12950
Steve
Oh man. You have an early night, wake up and the thread’s morphed into an appreciation of spicy Mexican food. What did Guy Fawkes ever do to deserve that?
I just wanted to dial back a bit to Dylan, and specifically what Dick said about his being misanthropic. I agree that, in his drug-addled youth (he apparently used to stay up for days on end during his Blonde on Blonde period, fuelled by amphetamines and booze, and that ain’t going to do your constitution or disposition any good at all) there was a swirling, snarling undercurrent of misanthropy - tinged, alas, with misogyny - to his music. Check out, for example, Most Likely You Go Your Way and I’ll Go Mine, Positively 4th Street, My Back Pages, Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window or - quintessentially - Now Your Mouth Cries Wolf from that period.
But while Bob may have a somewhat pessimistic - some might say jaundiced - view of humanity, and of life generally (and in that respect he reminds me a lot of Martin Amis, a literary prodigy, but you can see his lip curling when you read his books), he is not a misanthrope. He has consistently championed the rights of the underdog, the marginalised, the outcasts in society. And he has consistently denounced the evils of bad government, powermongers and warmongers, capitalist greed.
Perhaps the purest expression of his Biblically righteous anger comes in his song Masters of War:
Man that’s angry! But *shouldn’t *we be angry at this sort of thing? Shouldn’t we burn with a white hot, Christ-like anger at the slaughter of the innocent in the name of power? (Interesting footnote; when Bob performed this song at Wembley in, I think, 1984, he omitted the “even Jesus would never forgive what you do” line.)
As for Bob’s ECT theology, let us not forget that he was born and raised a Jew, was steeped in the Bible during his upbringing - particularly the Old Testmament - became the icon of a generation when he was only in his early twenties, almost burned out and faded away completely in the mid sixties, and then again in the early seventies. When he came to Christianity he was seized upon and exploited by Christian leaders who wanted to use his cachet and fame for evangelistic purposes. But being a natural iconoclast, he soon got tired of playing that game. I suspect his theology to this day is skewed by his experiences back then. And he has written some lovely devotional songs. Really. So let’s not be *too *hard on him, Dick .
As for his love songs, Dick - well, that’s for another post.
Matt, if you want to start another thread that’s fine by me. Any fan of Pink Floyd is a friend of mine . (Although you can keep your evil, devil worshipping Led Zeppelin dinosaurs ).
Love to all
Johnny
PS James, if you’re out there mate, do drop by and give us your thoughts. I’m struggling to distinguish my death metal from my doom metal .
I don’t wanna be hard on Bob - ‘Bob I love ya man and done you partial wrong’ But don’t you go upsetting our Johnny with your hellfire stuff you extremely rich misogynist’. Mend your ways and you’ll be my Top Cat too - and then even old Dicker here will be a hep cat, bob cat, cool cat.
As for Pink Floyd - I hope you’d be referring to Syd Barrett’s Pink Floyd there. ‘See Emily Play’ is definitely cool - ‘Put on a gown that touches the ground/ Float on a river for ever and ever Emily’ - but after he left their level of cool declined severely. (Pass the pop corn )
Well I’ve much enjoyed this exercise in youthful tribalism. Soft war is a good game - far better than the hard stuff
Glad you liked it You must be under 40 I’m not sure about the locales of the video, but it did remind me a bit of the Pacific Northwest.
I guess I should know, since I live in Oregon and am in the area.
Actually, I’m not really into Pearl Jam, I just happen to like that song of theirs.
Pretty much the only album I’ve listened to of theirs is Ten, which a lot of people consider their best album, and which Release was the last song on.
And yeah, V For Vendetta was an awesome movie. And no worries, I saw your avatar
I’ve gotta get around to reading the graphic novel it was based on sometime.
I’ve enjoyed some of Alan Moore’s other work, like Watchmen and Batman: The Killing Joke, so I’m sure I’d like it.
And we’ve gotta talk our beloved Dick into getting his head out of his books for a couple hours so he can watch it sometime
Blessings to you
He listens to his plenty of music as well as reading his books - and tinkles the ivories as well as playing the spoons. We can’t do everything in life
Ah well, this is probably fine just the way it is as long as no one has a problem with it. And hey, please don’t tell me that you’re of those people who thinks that Zep tells people to worship Satan when you play Stairway To Heaven backwards 
Oh the humanity!
Well, you may not like Zep, but you might like this:
youtube.com/watch?v=HF52VRaN_OY
It’s a lovely cover of an old Tim Buckley ballad, called Song To The Siren, that Robert Plant did a few years ago.
Funnily enough, though I do enjoy their more heavy stuff, my favorite Zep songs are actually their more mellow ballads, like Going To California, That’s The Way, Thank You, and The Rain Song.
Robert Plant had a great vocal range, but I think his voice was suited best to ballads, and even to this day in his old age he still sings them well, Song To The Siren being an example. But anyways, that’s just my take on it.
Taste in music is like taste in food, everybody’s got their own things that they like or dislike.
And actually, coming to think of it, though I do like Floyd (my favorite song of theirs is probably Wish You Were Here, and overall my favorite album is probably The Wall) probably my closest second to Zeppelin, or even equal to them, among the old school rockers, is Queen.
It’s sad and a shame that their great lead man Freddie Mercury is no longer with us, but the band left behind a bevy of great music, even including their song Heaven For Everyone, which needless to say has some strong UR undertones
Check it out:
youtube.com/watch?v=X9DOp1oJJsI
Blessings to you mate
You’ve got a point there
Ohhhhhh alright Matt - just for you I’ll watch V for Vendetta and well get some virtual beers in.
But it had better be good mind 
or I’ll force you listen to something really horrible. Prince Charles singing the ‘Ying Tong Tiddle I Po’ song - a firm favourite of his apparently 
-now that is a rebarbative and deeply offensive thought . By the way His Royal Highness was 65 yesterday and there was a cartoon of him looking at his birthday cake and asking the waiter ‘Nutty Fruitcake?’; and Camilla replying (instead of the waiter), ‘Don’t be too hard on yourself Charles.’
You gotta listen to this - thinking of Prince Charles singing it in the bath is horrible (and I’m not even a Republican!!! in the convinced anti-royalist sense). I’ll just go wash my mouth out with carbolic for having opened up a chasm in your mind-
Glad to see that you’re game for it
You can watch it here for free online if you like
viooz.co/movies/1437-v-for-vendetta-2005.html
And I’m sure I’d enjoy ol’ Charlie’s singing, I’m sure it’d make for a good laugh Though seeing him in the bath might traumatize me
I let you off easy there Matt - I should have insisted that you were word perfect in the Ying Tong song first I remember Jackie Mann doing a comedy gig in London and breaking into a florid Jewish cantor haunting rhapsody of lament; and then breaking off saying ‘Come on you gentiles - won’t cha sing along’. So if a New Yorker can pull that one on a London audience- come on Matt come on Steve ,come on Kate - ‘Ying tong, ying tong, tiddle I po, tiddle I po!’
I’ll watch the film in the weekend - promise.
(I think Johnny probably knows the song well and holds it dear to his heart. He’s also a fan of Kirsty MacCool which shows that he can be cool - the criteria for what is cool/uncool, pure/impure in terms of music being what I - glorious me - happens to like - isn’t that reasonable 
I’m sure Prince Charlies rocked out to this one many, many times in ye royal shower. He probably used the back brush for a mic and everything.
Very true Kate
Indeed, Dick, The Ying Tong Song sits proudly on my iPhone, alongside Ernie the Fastest Milkman in the West by Benny Hill, Court of King Caractacus by Rolf Harris (are we still allowed to listen to that? ), Hoots Mon! by Lord Rockingham’s XI, Donald Where’s Your Troosers? by Andy Stewart, The Banana Boat Song by Stan Freberg and a real personal favourite Canyons of Your Mind by the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band - “this is the B side of our platter, sports fans, and I’m singing just for you covered in sequins”.
Them’s cool .
Must dispute your assertion that the Ramones were not really punk, on the dubious grounds that they had long hair.
Quoth Wikipedia, what we all know is truerer than a true thing telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help it God: “The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first punk rock group. Despite achieving only limited commercial success, the band was a major influence on the punk rock movement in both the United States and, perhaps to a greater extent, in the United Kingdom.”
Hah!
Johnny you are such a smart alec! How dare you disagree with me on a matter of such weight OH the Wikipedia (mind you I do love Sheena is a Punk Rocker, Rockaway Beech, Blitzkrieg Bop, and their version of ‘Do you wanna dance?’ which is a vast improvement on Cliff’s)
Well here is a major influence on Polly Styrene (not the Ramones!)
youtube.com/watch?v=pEmPWd4TuiU
A note on Patti Smith - since two of our correspondents here have mentioned her with some approval. I remember Richard III (Mr Rotten) giving a review of her from onstage at the Roxy -
'Patti Smith. ‘'Did you see her at the Roundhouse last week? That’s right ‘Horses, horse, horses!’. That’s right, sing along boys and girls. More like horse’s doovers if you ask me!’.
Oh I’ve really gone and done it now. What first Bob Dylan and now Patti Smith? I think I’d just better shut my mouf. (mind you I like her version of Because the Night and I’m fond of old Bruce Springsteen too - but I don’t think her version of Gloria is good sing-along stuff at EU )
Johnny I’ve had my fill of the therapeutic soft war game now Felling much better (and ask everyone’s forgiveness - I’ve been at it solid for six weeks on site ). You come from Battersea? I come from Brixton. Both are in the borough of Lambeth. So will you join me in a fine old music hall song?
youtube.com/watch?v=wkS0lIysivQ
And everyone else join in (sing along Bob, pretty Polly, Kurt, Patti, the Ramone Brothers, and Johnny R. too)
Anytime you’re Lambeth way
Any evening any day
You’ll find them all doing the Lambeth walk
Oi!
(My Dad used to sing this to me )
Oh and here’s the versions that kept people’s spirits up during the War
youtube.com/watch?v=gYdmk3GP3iM
Hitler was outraged at this bit of Brit humour apparently - so it must be good!!!