Sometimes it snows in April

Highway 21 East, towards Nacogdoches, near Alto, Texas, on Saturday, April 7

Stephen F. Austin State University campus around 5:00 on Saturday, April 7

Maybe this guy knows what it means?

"Style"

From the Sinatra/Rat Pack movie Robin and the 7 Hoods, here are Bing Crosby, Dean Martin and Sinatra performing "Style," by Sammy Cahn and James Van Heusen:


plus Sammy Davis, Jr.

Mannix

Mike Connors - an early hero
Mannix aired on CBS from September 1967 to April 1975. When I was around seven or eight years old, it was not uncommon to find me outside pretending to be Mannix (when I was not playing Star Trek). This would entail me tucking a cap gun very similar to this one
behind my back, in my pants (just as Mannix did). In addition, I was known to provide my own soundtrack by loudly humming the swingin', killer Lalo Schifrin theme song. I remember this, because I was confronted one time by slightly bigger, older kids in the neighborhood, who just happened to overhear and observe me while in the middle of "playing" Mannix. This caused me profound embarrassment, hence my strong memory of the occurrence.

IMDb plot summary: One of the most violent detective series in TV history, "Mannix" tells the weekly adventures of private eye Joe Mannix, who originally worked for a high-concept computerized firm known as Intertect, but later opened his own agency at 17 Paseo Verde, Los Angeles, California. Peggy Fair was his black secretary, who was frequently kidnapped. Lots of shootings, car chases, fights, and crashes.

Pittsburg, Texas

Pittsburg, Texas (population 4,347), the Camp County Seat, is 19 miles N of Gilmer and 14 miles S of Mount Pleasant.

Pittsburg is the largest and the oldest town in the county. Caddo and Cherokee Indians resided in the area during the early 1800s, but they had for the most part abandoned the area before settlers began arriving from Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama in the late 1830s. A community began to emerge in the 1850s, and when the post office was established in 1855 it was named Pittsburgh, in honor of the family of William Harrison Pitts. (from Handbook of Texas Online)

The Prayer Tower in Witness Park - the tower features four Paccard bells from France and a chapel that never closes.

Witness Park - the statue is titled Jesus Washing Peter's Feet
Pilgrim Bank - Pilgrim's Pride has a strong presence in Pittsburg


1931 Frank Sexton Lodge


Camp County Courthouse (c. 1928, Texas Renaissance style - dominant design from about 1900 until the 1930s)

The brick, Prairie Style, First Methodist Church (c. 1904-05)
One can't escape from Pilgrim's Pride in Pittsburg.



W.L. Garrett Building (c. 1890s)

Main Street, with Pilgrim's Pride silos looming in background
I can imagine for employees of Pilgrim's Pride who live in or near Pittsburg, it must feel like there is never an escape from their employer. First of all, Pittsburg is the company's headquarters and the location of the distribution center and recently opened Pilgrim's Pride World Headquarters Park. Sitting in front of the distribution center is something that almost caused me to run off the road (a frequent experience for me on these explorations of Texas towns). This is just a tad bit megalomaniacal, and completely bizarre:

Giant Bo Pilgrim head
Statue of Bo Pilgrim with a chicken (Henrietta) sitting in an unfortunate location (for a chicken).

"Wave"

This is Antonio Carlos Jobim (and band) performing the title track (as well as my favorite Sinatra song) to his classic, 1967 album, Wave:



Jobim (the "Gershwin of Brazil") in the early '60s

Gilmer

Gilmer, Texas (population 4,799), the Upshur County Seat, is 35 miles NE of Tyler. When the Great Depression was being felt elsewhere, oil was discovered near Gilmer in 1931. The boom paid for the new Courthouse in 1937. After WWII, with the new availability of cars, Gilmer's workforce was able to drive to jobs in Longview, Tyler and Marshall. This brought in cash at first, but then workers started seeing things to spend their money on in Longview, Tyler and Marshall. (info. from TexasEscapes.com)

Thank you to 1000Words for pointing out that Gilmer is the hometown of Johnny Mathis. Who'd have thunk it?? Perhaps memories of Gilmer propelled him to stardom?

Upshur County Courthouse (c. 1933, Modern style)

Plaque for The Looney School, (located 4 blocks north)




C.S.A. Leather Factories building

"On this site during the Civil War, a shoe factory converted leather into footgear for the Confederate Army. A harness factory nearby made bridles and saddles and also leather lines and breechings that hitched horses and mules to gun carriages, wagons and ambulances, to move armies through campaigns and battles. Leather was obtained from a local tanyard that treated over 2,000 hides a year. East Texas plants furnished the South 900 sets of harness and 300 saddles monthly during the war."

Arcade '84

Keith at Malls of America has this video some guy made, in which he pays tribute to the video arcade of the mid-80s: "Arcade '84 is my attempt at recreating the atmosphere of the classic arcades. It's a 3-minute+ trip through an imaginary arcade circa 1984 entirely rendered in 3D computer graphics."



Game over, indeed.