This Day in Music History: Journey/Escape (07/31)

On this day in 1981, Journey released their 7th album, Escape (or E5C4P3). Selling over 12 million copies, it was certified 9x platinum and reached #1 on the Billboard Album charts.

Do I even need to tell you the songs? It had four Top 40 singles: "Don't Stop Believing" (#9), "Who's Crying Now" (#4), "Still They Ride (#19), and last but not least "Open Arms" (#2). That last song began the love song spiral of doom...

However, to me the best songs on the album weren't even the hits. "Stone in Love" and the title song "Escape" both kick ass. Journey was never as rocking after those two songs and this album.

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This Day in Disney History: Alice in Wonderland (07/28)

Released on this day in 1951, Alice in Wonderland became the 13th of Disney's animated features. It was based on the Alice books by Lewis Carroll. The film features the voices of Kathryn Beaumont (who later voiced Wendy Darling in the 1953 Disney film Peter Pan) as Alice, and Ed Wynn as the Mad Hatter. Disney first attempted unsuccessfully to adapt Alice into an animated feature film during the 1930s, and finally revived the idea in the 1940's. The film was originally intended to be a live-action/animated film, however, Disney decided to make it an all-animated feature in 1946. While the film was critically panned on its initial release, the movie proved to be ahead of its time and has since been regarded as one of Disney's greatest animated classics, notably one of the biggest cult classics in the animation medium, as well as one of the best film adaptations of Alice.

Whatever, this is one messed up movie y'all...

Epic Find While Lost

So we had sadfully said our goodbyes to Savannah, GA and then Charleston, SC to find ourselves heading towards our next destination in the Great Smoky Mountains. Sarah, my co-pilot, wanted to avoid those boring highways and visit parts of rural America instead, so we ignored the suggestions of Google maps and took the roads less travelled. At some point we had crossed the border into North Carolina, and stopped for gas and food up in the beautiful mountainous town of Cashiers. Not knowing where we were, and barely having a signal, I checked in on Swarm (the coffeepot on the map on the right), and also this update on Facebook, where if I ended up missing, my friends and family would know where to start a search.

This Day in Music History: Yes/Yes (07/25)

On this day in 1969(!) YES released their debut album simply called YES. This is another one I have already covered, so I will just leave you the links to those posts.

Side One, Side Two



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Magnet #96

Molly hits up the West Coast and brings me back a magnet!

Be sure to check out the Refrigerator Magnet Challenge at the top!

Check it out on Facebook here.

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This Day in Disney History: The Black Cauldron (07/24)

The Black Cauldron is an American animated dark fantasy adventure film released on this day in 1985 by Walt Disney Pictures. The 25th film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics, it is loosely based on the first two books in The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander, a series of five novels which in turn is based on Welsh mythology. Set in the mythical land of Prydain during the dark ages, the film centers on the evil Horned King who hopes to secure an ancient magical cauldron and rule the world with its aid. He is opposed by a young pig keeper named Taran, Princess Eilonwy, the bard Fflewddur Fflam, and a wild creature named Gurgi who seek to prevent him from ruling the world by destroying it.

While it both was the most expensive animated film ever made at the time and costing $44 million to produce, the film was a box office bomb, grossing only $21.3 million domestically. It was so poorly received that it was not distributed as a home video release for more than a decade after its theatrical run. Adding insult to injury, the film was also beaten at the box office by The Care Bears Movie ($22.9 million domestically), which was released several months earlier by Disney's much-smaller rival animation studio Nelvana. It was also the last Disney animated film completed at Walt Disney Pictures in Burbank, California. The animation department was moved to Glendale in December 1984, and, following corporate restructuring, became a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios known as Walt Disney Feature Animation (later Walt Disney Animation Studios).

Our Trip to the Georgia State Railroad Museum in Savannah, GA

Quite a bit of different things here from the Georgia State Railroad Museum in Savannah, GA. First, the trains:

1886 Baldwin 0-6-0ST 

(Central of GA #8)

 

Magnets #'s 78 - 95

Back from a long two-week road trip vacation and you know I loaded up on magnets along the way! Magnets #'s 78-81 are from Savannah, GA; #82 is from Charleston, SC; #83 is from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park; #'s 84-86 from Chattanooga, TN; #'s 87-88 from Townsend, TN; #'s 89-90 from Mammoth Cave National Park; #'s 91-92 from Mobile, AL; #93 from Florida Caverns State Park; and #'s 94-95 are from St. George Island, FL.

Be sure to check out the Refrigerator Magnet Challenge at the top!

Check it out on Facebook here.

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