I will raise a glass today to Emperor Norton. Oh, that we had a ruler like him instead of Emperor Donald and his loyal dogs. Except evidently we lost one yesterday. Bummer the other one is still around.
Had no idea about this dude! Leave it to a San Franciscan? Certainly, he was way ahead of his time in progressive sensibilities, but it's notable that his followers depicted were all men. What did he think of women's roles and rights?
Norton's fame would spread throughout the U.S. in the 1870's. The completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869 connected America from Atlantic to Pacific, reducing a six-month journey by wagon or ship to only seven days. Now San Francisco was a tourist destination. Many knew about the Emperor from travel books and newspapers. When journalists from newspapers throughout the United States arrived to see and write about the city, they were unimpressed with Golden Gate Park, the zoo, the seals and sea lions. They preferred to write about Emperor Norton."
My (tenuous) connection was via Emperor Norton's Jazz Band, a really good quintet of crusty old guys that played in the South Bay (and maybe other places) 50 years ago. I sat in with them a few times at a club in Los Gatos. Was a lifetime highlight.
I have a hate/hate relationship with musical instruments, unlike all the rest of my family. So I just sing, tho my relationship with my own vocal chords is, shall we say, tenuous...
My superpower back then was knowing the tunes they played, and knowing the lyrics (some to tunes even they did not know had lyrics).
My Superpower? I like to scat along to instrumental jazz classics while doing the dinner dishes. I've listened to them so many times - they're embedded in my brain.
I started doing that (the vocalese – not the dishes) when I was a little kid. My dad was a musician and big fan of Benny Goodman, so I had alla the Goodman small group tunes embedded note for note by the time I was 6 or 7. Moved on from there to whatever else I could find to listen to. Eventually I spent a LOT of time trying to sing the great songs in honor of the folks who sang them best: Johnny Hartman, Nancy Wilson, Nina Simone, Tony Bennett, Sarah Vaughan, Mary Stallings...
And yeah, it's all still there, brainwise – can't shut it off. Drives the missus crazy. I do the dishes now in penance.
Like many other cities, San Francisco has/had its share of Eccentrics of Note. Herb Caen (King of 3-Dot Journalism!) had a stable of them he pulled out regularly to spice up a column. He'd have a gold mine if the Emperor had been around in his day...
Thank you, Peter, for this introduction to a very interesting person. Although I only live 90 miles from San Francisco, I've only been there a handful of times in the past 64 years. How interesting to learn of such a colorful (and apparently harmless) character.
Imagine having benevolent,forward thinking leadership,who cared about community and the people there.
It's strange that when we have leadership that even remotely resembles it,they are tossed away for schmucks like tfg.
Whatta world...
The Emperor post was designed to contrast Trump without mentioning him. Glad it worked.
And you succeeded beautifully!
It sure enough did!What a big difference between each of them.
He craves attention.
Wow, this was a delightful read today --and much needed.
Thanks. It was intended as a Trump-free tonic
Thanks! Learned something new today!
Good to hear. Always be teaching is my motto.
I will raise a glass today to Emperor Norton. Oh, that we had a ruler like him instead of Emperor Donald and his loyal dogs. Except evidently we lost one yesterday. Bummer the other one is still around.
Had no idea about this dude! Leave it to a San Franciscan? Certainly, he was way ahead of his time in progressive sensibilities, but it's notable that his followers depicted were all men. What did he think of women's roles and rights?
Good question. I didn’t see anything on that topic.
Read more about Emperor Norton in Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Norton
Excerpt from:
https://web.archive.org/web/20070223023720/http://www.sfhistoryencyclopedia.com/articles/n/nortonJoshua.html
"The Emperor as a National Character
Norton's fame would spread throughout the U.S. in the 1870's. The completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869 connected America from Atlantic to Pacific, reducing a six-month journey by wagon or ship to only seven days. Now San Francisco was a tourist destination. Many knew about the Emperor from travel books and newspapers. When journalists from newspapers throughout the United States arrived to see and write about the city, they were unimpressed with Golden Gate Park, the zoo, the seals and sea lions. They preferred to write about Emperor Norton."
Great find. There was so much interesting material on the Emperor. But I try to keep my posts a quick read
Thanks for this, Peter.
My (tenuous) connection was via Emperor Norton's Jazz Band, a really good quintet of crusty old guys that played in the South Bay (and maybe other places) 50 years ago. I sat in with them a few times at a club in Los Gatos. Was a lifetime highlight.
How cool is that! What do you play?
I have a hate/hate relationship with musical instruments, unlike all the rest of my family. So I just sing, tho my relationship with my own vocal chords is, shall we say, tenuous...
My superpower back then was knowing the tunes they played, and knowing the lyrics (some to tunes even they did not know had lyrics).
My Superpower? I like to scat along to instrumental jazz classics while doing the dinner dishes. I've listened to them so many times - they're embedded in my brain.
I started doing that (the vocalese – not the dishes) when I was a little kid. My dad was a musician and big fan of Benny Goodman, so I had alla the Goodman small group tunes embedded note for note by the time I was 6 or 7. Moved on from there to whatever else I could find to listen to. Eventually I spent a LOT of time trying to sing the great songs in honor of the folks who sang them best: Johnny Hartman, Nancy Wilson, Nina Simone, Tony Bennett, Sarah Vaughan, Mary Stallings...
And yeah, it's all still there, brainwise – can't shut it off. Drives the missus crazy. I do the dishes now in penance.
Will toss here one more observation:
Like many other cities, San Francisco has/had its share of Eccentrics of Note. Herb Caen (King of 3-Dot Journalism!) had a stable of them he pulled out regularly to spice up a column. He'd have a gold mine if the Emperor had been around in his day...
Thank you, Peter, for this introduction to a very interesting person. Although I only live 90 miles from San Francisco, I've only been there a handful of times in the past 64 years. How interesting to learn of such a colorful (and apparently harmless) character.
Thanks for this. I was just thinking about Emperor Norton, and here he is!
No surprise. Who doesn't think of Emperor Norton?
The Emperor has a mention in a novel I'm working on!