my very elegant mother just served up new potatoes (oh great now that’s two things I have to remember)

first a mnemonic for remembering the names of the planets in order.

second a criticism of the whole notion of mnemonics.

harry smith first went to university near seattle - as a result of the record drive for shellac during the second world war (it had uses in airplane manufacture) the whole city was awash with old records from the early blues, hillbilly, and cajun era - this was the start of harry smith’s collection (the one that later formed the basis of the anthology of american folk music).

curiously enough he says there were a lot of japanese and chinese records as well (presumably from communities interned during the second world war).

unlike fahey etc. harry smith had no need to go door-to-door on record collecting trips to the south (running the risk of being mistaken for voter registering civil rights activists, shot by racist vigilantes and buried in the woods).

later he finds a record warehouse out in new jersey (but that’s another story).