Comments on: That’s PiaNO! I Said PiaNI!

By: Shannon Love

Shannon Love — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 00:43:47 +0000

I always thought it must have been weird to be a musician back before phonographs. We think of music as a creative endeavor today but back then most musicians, like the saloon piano player, we basically human juke boxes playing the same songs over and over by rote upon request.

Getting interrupted or even shot might have been a relief after a while.

By: Shannon Love

Shannon Love — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 00:40:29 +0000

They didn’t clean the streets of small towns back in the west. The towns than inspired the “wild west” mythology were all boom towns with no hard streets. Horse manure was left to be ground in by traffic or eaten by the semi-feral pigs that ran loose almost everywhere.

Bodies were removed by friends and family and the bodies of strangers were taken care of by the nearest minister. Street cleaning and public health officials didn’t show up until the mid 1890s and only then in the big cities.

Of course, the vast majority of towns in the old west were quite, orderly communities were everyone had guns but the murder rate, including fatalities from events like Indian wars, was lower than New York or Paris of the day. People moved west to get away from big city crime. The “Wild Wild West” is just a literary invention.

By: monsterguru

monsterguru — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 05:24:52 +0000

The who has to scoop up the horse poop probably had a more interesting job. He even came up with a game to pass the time, “What’s that smell?” and “Name their dinner.” These were very popular games of the time. In fact, they were so popular that I hear Nintendo is making them into a 3D game. Can’t wait for What’s that smell.

By: Mahnarch

Mahnarch — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 08:49:13 +0000

It may be a Simpson reference, but before I read (and found) and link I finagled out the capitals as:

P NO I S PN!
Penis Pain…

I got worried there for a second.

By: MortalAnonymous

MortalAnonymous — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 06:22:32 +0000

Not to mention you almost never get a name and risk dying in any number of those fights.

And I won’t ask about The Simpsons, but is the gunslinger’s name a reference to Quick-Draw, or just a coincidence?

By: MrSnow

MrSnow — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 19:28:53 +0000

i always feel like the paino player was the guy that wasnt good enough to go out on excavations or find new stuff in the old west so he had to stay in town and craete an atmosphere for the drunkards

By: LanceThruster

LanceThruster — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 17:08:55 +0000

Don’t forget in “The Long Riders” where the pie-annie player made the James Gang mad playin’ “Battle Cry of Freedom” (I think) and insisted he switch to a tune more appropriate for a rebel audience.

By: desstar

desstar — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 16:30:02 +0000

Me too! It was the first thing I thought of.

By: Cheef

Cheef — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 16:29:52 +0000

For anyone curious about the Simpson’s reference:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rzfVA8cqK0

By: AMooseInAHummer

AMooseInAHummer — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 16:07:00 +0000

I feel like you’ve done this one already…