This Banjo on My Knee - Episode 134

Why have the abandoned farm houses outside of town filled up and why are the squatters shooting at each other? Are they even human? What is a “mam-mama” or a “goomah?” What state is Parabellum City in? Listen to find out!This Banjo on My Knee, episode 134 of This Gun in My Hand, was farmed and worked by Rob Northrup. This episode and all others are available on Youtube with automatically-generated closed captions of dialog. Visit http://ThisGuninMyHand.blogspot.com for credits, show notes, archives, and to buy my books, such as Sisyphus, Eat Your Heart Out, available in paperback and ebook from Amazon. What musical instrument accompanies my lyrical exposition? This Gun in My Hand!Show Notes:1. When I moved from Michigan to Houston for a year, courting my pen-pal Melinda, I heard one of her teen-aged nieces use the term “Mam-mama” for her grandmother. I developed a theory that across the South, they keep adding the sound “mam” for every generation of a matriarch. My theory was wrong. It was just one kid who had trouble pronouncing “grandmama.”2. “Goomah” is an Americanized pronunciation of the Italian word “comare,” informally used to mean mistress.3. A great aunt or second cousin in my mother’s father’s family published a book of genealogy and stories about the family, including a poem by somebody way back which included the down-homey line “Now Pa, you’re fabricatin’.”4. Another mistake I found after recording and editing which I didn’t feel like fixing: the word “this” is a demonstrative pronoun or demonstrative determiner, not a personal pronoun.Credits:The opening music was from The Sun Sets at Dawn (1950), and the closing music was from Killer Bait (1949), both films in the public domain. Interstitial music from the public domain radio show Mystery House, “Dagger in the Dark” broadcast July 5, 1946. Most of the music and sound effects used in the episode are modified or incomplete versions of the originals.Sound Effect Title: Park ambience - mostly birdsLicense: Public Domainhttps://freesound.org/people/Mafon2/sounds/274175/#Sound Effect Title: Shoe polishing - tripple wipe stroke - 221098_AshtiHari_SD100_Term4.wav by 221098HariPotterLicense: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0https://freesound.org/people/221098HariPotter/sounds/655571/?Sound Effect Title: footsteps cellar.wavLicense: Public Domainhttps://freesound.org/people/gecop/sounds/545030/Sound Effect Title: Gun Fire by GoodSoundForYouLicense: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0http://soundbible.com/1998-Gun-Fire.htmlSound Effect Title: 38 Caliber Gun Shot 5xRecorded by Mike KoenigLicense: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0http://soundbible.com/375-38-Caliber-Gun-Shot-5x.htmlSound Effect Title: Real Colt 45 M1911 (shot) by CarmelomikeLicense: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0https://freesound.org/people/Carmelomike/sounds/255216/Sound Effect Title: 22lr Caliber Rifle Shots and Reloading License: Public Domainhttps://freesound.org/s/717133/ Sound Effect Title: gavel-double.flacBy zerolagtime (Sen. John Kerry recorded from C-Span)License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0https://freesound.org/people/zerolagtime/sounds/70069/Sound Effect Title: typewriter18.ogg by tams_kp License: Public Domainhttps://freesound.org/s/43558/ Sound Effect Title: G24-01-Warner Brothers Body Fall.wav by craigsmith License: Public Domainhttps://freesound.org/s/438300/ The image accompanying this episode is a modified detail of the cover of Hillbilly Comics, Volume 1, Number 4, October 1955, by Art Gates, public domain. Full issue available at:https://digitalcomicmuseum.com/preview/index.php?did=12739Alt Image Text: Comic book art line art of six stereotypical hillbillies in a sleek yellow convertible, speeding away from the silhouette of a man jumping in the distance, a word balloon saying “Stop” pointing to him. A man with black beard, no mustache and ragged hat is smiling as he leans over the steering wheel. A beautiful young black-haired woman in a patched and ragged blouse sits in the middle of the front seat with her arm behind the driver. A scowling man with a bowl haircut and grey cap (possibly a Confederate kepi) is in the passenger side of the front seat, his bare feet dangling out the side of the car with a black boar held in his lap. In the back seat are an older, heavy woman laughing widely with one tooth missing, a distressed looking young man sprawled in her lap with his feet out the side of the car, and an excited young man in a coonskin cap with a long-barrelled musket that is firing. A word balloon pointing to the man with musket says, “THIS BANJO ON MY KNEE comics.” A word balloon pointing to the driver says “SOLD TO THE AMERICAN!”