East Side of Sorrow | City Reliquary Museum | Roman Empire | YouTube Rabbithole
Alright @YouTheReader,
Today’s tune on this Sunday Stumblin’ Along is East Side of Sorrow by Zach Bryan. I haven’t had a Zach Bryan song on in the background while writing since December 3rd last year, that is forever ago in this here parts. This song was featured on his new album which came out late last August.
This is an intense opening to a song coming from the perspective of a kid who enlists in the military out of anger and maybe a bit lost or confused. Zach Bryan joined the Navy at 17 years old. Both of Bryan’s parents also served in the Navy. Young people join the military for many different reasons such as family tradition, discipline, and the opportunity to serve their country, but surely there may also be quite a few young people who don’t really know why.
He may have lost friends from combat. The women in the West could be about his girlfriends or his mother. He skillfully wrote this Verse 1 rhymed using AA, BB, CC, and DD. He does this throughout the song.
Verse 2 is about him losing his mother, while he was 20 years old, and still in the Navy.
Here he shares how he coped with the loss. The song picks up with the trumpet coming in for the chorus.
It’s cool how we all interpret music differently. This is a very sad but also very hopeful song.
Verse 3 seems to come from the perspective of what he may have thought other people thought of him at the time. It could also be coming from someone asking his sister how he was doing while he was in Tulsa up until 6 AM. The way this is framed however could also represent many veterans who come back and end up in the cities unwell.
The way he says how his pain is just another sing-along sounds like he’s disgusted by it. Making music and writing about it is a way for him to cope with the pain, but he also acknowledges that it may get numbed down by turning it into songs for us to sing.
Turnpike Troubadours are an Oklahoma country band that after going on their hiatus, did come out with a new album, and they are touring with Zach Bryan on his Quittin’ Time Tour in ‘24.
This is a sad song with a ton of hope and resilience. It’s hard not to listen to a song like this and get inspired.
Great tune! Here is a bit of history…
Last Sunday somehow in my drunken stupor I Stumbled Along to The City Reliquary in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The museum filled with very cool New York City history is open on Saturdays and Sundays from Noon to 6 PM. For a $10 visit, you can see a ton of cool relics from The City, this week's Stumblin’ Along on Week to Week Notes features a bit on… Seltzer…
Seltzer, or carbonated water as some like to put it, has been around for over 2,400 years. Some Greek guy named Hippocrates, who apparently had an oath, first documented the use of carbonated water for his doctoral practices. He used naturally carbonated water to treat burns. He also used pig lard and vinegar, which I guess was better than rubbing some dirt on it. Fast forward to 1581, and another doctor, Jakob Tabernaemontanus of Germany, also touted carbonated water's healing powers. Tabernaemontanus lived in a small town called Niederselters, which would eventually get so popular they shortened it to Selters, and that is how the name Seltzer came about. The natural springs would become famous all around Europe. The people of Selters started to bottle up their natural spring water and sold it to the rich who could afford it. (Source: Food Republic)
In 1772, a British scientist named Joseph Priestley then invented how to carbonate still water, which made seltzer more accessible to us simple plebians who drink it today. Priestley was encouraged by an American you may know, Benjamin Franklin, to perform such experiments. I wonder if Priestley and Franklin kept in touch after 1776 or if things got a bit awkward, but still, this Red Coat’s first chemical publication was creating bubbles out of still water, that’s pretty cool! By the way, does he look awfully like George Washington or am I seeing things?
Just 11 years later, in 1783, a German-born Swiss jeweler by the name Jacob Schweppe figured out a way to mass produce Jacob Priestley’s discovery. Schweppe set up shop in London and marketed his seltzer as good for indigestion & bladder problems. If the name Schweppe sounds familiar, you probably recognize it from Schweppes Ginger Ale which is still in production today and owned by Coca-Cola. Don’t worry, I won’t do a fake ad for Schweppes Ginger Ale, I’m more of a Canada Dry guy when my belly hurts.
This is where New York City comes in… John Matthews, an English immigrant who lived in New York, became the Soda Fountain King when he invented one in Kips Bay. The year was 1835 and Matthews was able to sell the new machine to drugstores, hotels, and saloons in The City. From this invention, flavors would eventually get added thanks to Eugene Roussel of Philadelphia. The syrups that would be used in flavoring would be orange, cherry, lemon, teaberry, ginger, peach, root beer, and whatever Coca-Cola is.
Women especially couldn’t get enough of soda water. The National Bottles Gazette wrote a piece in 1882 that, “The ladies, especially the younger ones, are ever partial to soda water… The quantities consumed by the gentler sex is something enormous.” I’m not surprised at all that the ladies got hot and bothered by soda, they always do have great taste!
The Seltzer Bottles found in Brooklyn were almost like the first canned or bottled drink that you see everywhere at every store, gas station, bar, pub, and restaurant today. My guess is that these were just carbonated water that you could travel with. The top of the bottles almost have handles that we press down for soap today. I’m making an educated guess that the syrup flavor you’d want would still have to be stirred in, but it was progress at the time. Lastly, these glass bottles that were drunk in New York all seem to be made in Bohemia or the modern-day Czech Republic.
- Diamond Bottling Co.
- John Morgan
- A&M Beverage
- Colony Club
- Geller & Sokoloffe
- George F. Schneider & Co.
The Seltzer Bottles at the City Reliquary might be the least interesting of the stories you’ll read from this awesome museum in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. More to come next week!
This Week’s Bit on The Roman Empire
This week your quick bit on The Roman Empire brought to you by Week to Week Notes featuring Ancient Rome: The Exhibition in New York is on the Roman Legionary.
The Roman Legionary were soldiers of the legion, which were known as miles or legionarius in Latin. To become a part of the Roman Legionary, Roman citizens had to be younger than 27 years old and at least 5’8” or 172 centimeters. Later on, the Roman Legionary would raise the age to 45 years old and became much more laissez-faire with physical requirements like height. A Roman Legionary soldier would be enlisted in a legion for a service time of 25 years, in the final 5 years he would be assigned less heavy duties. Last week, we went in-depth on the Roman Centurion. They were military officers ranked above the legionary.
The Roman Emperor Trajan had a massive column statue made where Roman Legionary soldiers were depicted. The spiral relief, Trajan’s Column, shows 155 scenes of legionary fighting in the Dacian Wars. Dacia today would be considered Romania. Rome and modern-day Romania fought in a series of conflicts starting around 87 AD and ending around 106 AD. There were technically two wars, but ultimately the gist of it is that Trajan defeated the Dacian King, Decebalus. One of the final scenes of the war was Decebalus committing suicide in front of Roman commander Maximus so that he could not be taken prisoner. Maximus brutally beheaded the dead Dacian King's corpse. Not only did Roman Emperor Trajan take claim of the Dacian lands, but then went back to Rome victorious, the Romans went on a 123-day bender that saw the likes 10,000 gladiators fight in victory games.
Last but certainly not least, for Christmas I got my grandma the book A Little History of the World by E. H. Gombrich. She highly recommends it and also stumbled along into parts about Roman history so she took some Notes. She found that Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, who ruled from 161 to 180 AD, hated war. He was more of the gentle quiet philosopher type. Unfortunately, he died in a battle near Vienna against Germanic Tribes. The Emperors that succeeded him were more like soldiers and who had power wasn’t always the Roman Emperor which would lead to confusion everywhere.