Ramblin’

Security guy brushes his teeth near remote polling station Meghalaya, India. Reuters photo by Adnan Abidi:

RIP guitar wizard Dicky Betts, 80. Born in West Palm Beach Fla., he was playing ukelele at five and began adding other string instruments along the way. He played in a series of bands before meeting Duane Allman. The Allman Brothers Band formed in 1969. He wrote and sang the group’s only top ten single, Ramblin’ Man, which hit #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in ’73. He is the composer of the soaring instrumentals In Memory of Elizabeth Reed and Jessica, the latter garnering him a Grammy for Best Rock Performance. Bett’s reputation, and that of his mates’, began to grow in 1970 when they performed 300 times. This eventually led to one of the greatest live albums of all-time, At Fillmore East, recorded in NYC in ’71' It begins with the monumental Statesboro Blues and closes with the incredible Whipping Post. Such work cannot be surpassed, only equaled. Like so many artists, Betts had problems with substance abuse and was in and out of the band several times, permanently banned in 2000. Given his lifestyle, it seems remarkable he lived as long as he did. His Wiki profile lists 14 solo albums. He was ranked #61 on Rolling Stones Greatest Guitarists in 2011.Married five times, he was a father of four. I feel foolish that I did not realize it wasn’t Gregg Allman who sang Ramblin’ Man. Photo from GI:

Headline from foxnews.com: “Let’s use sprawling new tech to stop fentanyl at the border and keep it from killing Americans.” By all means.

From FN: “Half of US states revolt against EPA crackdown on gas cars with major legal challenge.” Let’s hope the other half come to their senses as well. Once again, I’m not anti-green. It’s not ready to dominate energy supply — not even close!

NYC, Youth America Grand Prix students break Guinness World Record for most ballet dancers en pointe simultaneously. Photo by John Nacion/Getty Images, posted at theguardian.com:

The floating book shop was rained out.

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