Episode Details
It’s Episode 24 and the crew is giving everybody the bird. Chicken — I say, chicken, that is! Today, we look at the history, comedy, tragedy, and commoditization of what has become the world’s most versatile and necessary animal — including its legendary role in Italian winemaking — all while sipping the 2015 Nizzole Chianti Classico. Cin cin e alla tua salute!
Books
Why Did the Chicken Cross the World?
Author: Andrew Lawler
Publisher: Atria Books (2014)
Why Did the Chicken Cross the World? presents the sweeping history that this humble fowl deserves. Queen Victoria was obsessed with it. Socrates’s last words were about it. Charles Darwin and Louis Pasture made their scientific breakthroughs using it. Catholic popes, African shamans, Chinese philosophers, and Musilms mystics praised it. Neuroscientists studying the long-abused chicken brains are uncovering signs of a deep intelligence as well as insights into our own behavior. (Publisher)
The History of the Hen Fever: A Humorous Record
Author: George P. Burnham
Publisher: James French and Company (1855)
(Available on Archive.org and Gutenberg.org)
“To the amateurs, fanciers, and breeders of poultry, the successful and unfortunate dealers, throughout the United States; and the victims of misplaced confidence in the hen trade, generally, I dedicate this volume!” — (Dedication page)
Freedom’s Detective: The Secret Service, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Man Who Masterminded America’s First War on Terror
Author: Charles Lane
Publisher: Hanover Square Press (2019)
[A]s the new controversial chief of the Secret Service, [Hiram C. Whitley] and his agents led a covert war against the KKK and became the first to use undercover work in mass crime—what we now call terrorism—investigations. But like all spymasters, Whitley had a dark side. His penchant for skulduggery and dirty tricks led him to a conspiracy that would bring an end to his career and transform the Secret Service as we know it today. (Publisher)
Booze
2015 Nizzole Chianti Classico Reserva, Tenuta di Nozzole Winery, Greve, Italy
Cherry and violet aromas, persistent and rounded flavors of spices and mushroom. Great structure with elegant finesse. Pairs well with meats and meat pasta sauces, poultry and hard cheeses. (Winemaker)
93 points — Black cherry, blackberry and dark plum fruit is allied to a muscular frame, with dense tannins. Tobacco, rosemary, thyme and tar notes play supporting roles as this builds to a long finish. Best from 2023 through 2038. (Wine Spectator)
Other Beverages
Chicken Scratch American Pilsner, Little Harpeth Brewing Co., Nashville, TN
Chicken Scratch is light on the palate & flavorful. Listed as a classic example of style category 27F-Pre-Prohibition Lager by the globally distributed Beer Judge Certification Program Style Guidelines. (Producer)
The Reckless Rooster Ontario Pale Ale, Shakespeare Brewing Co., Ontario, Canada
The Reckless Rooster does as he pleases. His citrus hop aroma complements his balanced malt character. He finishes with a refreshing mild bitterness that recklessly lingers on the palette. (Producer)
Links to source material & references
The Fiasco
Traditional Chianti comes in a thin-necked bottle with a fat bottom wrapped in dried wicker called a fiasco.
Per the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, ‘going pear-shaped’ is the informal British idiom for something that’s gone wrong.
According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, fiasco has Late Latin roots in the word for bottle. By 1855, fiasco had become theatrical slang for a failed performance and by 1862 had assumed the broader sense of “any ignominious failure or dismal flop.”
So, at some point, somebody — probably a London theater critic — used the pear-shaped Chianti bottle as a metaphor for some production or other — my guess is a lousy Italian opera — and turned fiasco into a sly and witty dysphemism for a laughably bad situation.
Chianti
A Beginner’s Guide to Chianti Wine (2023) — Winepros.org
What Grapes Are Used in Chianti Wine? — Alchemixer.com
The Differences Between Chianti, Chianti Classico, Chianti Classico Riserva and Chianti
Classico Gran Selezione — Vinepair.com
A Beginners Guide to Chianti Wine: Part 2, Timeline & Classification — TuscanyNowAndMore.com Tuscany Now And More specializes in villa rental, but they provide lots of other great info on discovering Italy. Check it out!
Anatomy of a Feather — Birds come in different shapes and sizes, but one thing they have in common is feathers. Feathers are unique to birds; that is, everything that has feathers is a bird (PoultryExtension.org)
Taking a Bird’s-Eye View…in the UV: Recent Studies Reveal a Surprising New Picture of How Birds See the World — BioScience, Volume 50, Issue 10, October 2000, Pages 854–859. Read it for FREE at Oxford Academic!
(image from TheEarthSite.GreaterGood. com)
Music
Brave Combo — For the past three decades the Denton, Texas based quintet has perfected a world music mix that includes salsa, meringue, rock, cumbia, conjunto, polka, zydeco, classical, cha cha, the blues and more. They are America’s Premier Dance band and a rollicking, rocking, rhythmic global journey — offering what one critic recently wrote, “Even if you come for the party, you’ll leave with something of a musical education.” (Website)
Shop Brave Combo Music & Merch
Listen to Brave Combo on:
Spotify, Apple Music, IMDB.com
***CORRECTION*** Group Dance Epidemic was released in 1997, NOT 1979! ***
The Birdie Song (1981) – The Tweets — Here’s where it all started. It was the ’80s but this looks more like some late 1960s to mid-1970s H.R. Puffinstuff craziness.
Out most execelent theme song was created and produced by Arcontas Blank . Find Arcontas Blank on SoundCloud and Facebook
Website Services
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