A Cut Above ...

“I dream of Jeanie with the light brown hair

Borne, like a vapor, on the summer air

I see her tripping where the bright streams play

Happy as the daisies that dance on her way …”

          ~ “Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair”

             ~ 1854 parlor song by

                Stephen Foster

                   ~ 1826-1864

           ~popular song performed by

                 Barbershop Quartets

      ~ the opening line was notably used as the basis for the title of the 1960s TV series “I Dream of Jeannie”

As the oldest barber shop in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Woody’s Barber Shop is a cut above for sure! I shot this image of this mainstay in the West End of the city on an early May afternoon.

Woody’s Barber Shop has been in business for 91 years. Services include high and tights, flat tops, kids cuts, and old-fashioned regular haircuts.

 The barber’s pole is a type of sign used by barbers to signify the place or shop where they perform their craft. The trade sign is, by a tradition dating back to the Middle Ages, a staff or pole with a helix of colored stripes (often red and white in many countries, but usually red, white and blue in the United States).

 For more information visit https://www.woodysbarbershopatown.com/.

 

Beautiful Dreamer ...

“Beautiful dreamer, wake unto me,

Starlight and dewdrops are waiting for thee,

Sounds of the rude world, heard in the day,

Lull’d by the moonlight have all passed away …”

  ~ “Beautiful Dreamer”

  ~parlor song by American songwriter

              Stephen Foster

                  ~ 1826-1864

 ~published posthumously in March 1864

  ~ one of Foster’s most memorable ballads & best loved works

  ~ recorded by Bing Crosby in 1940 & various other artists

 ~ Foster, known as “the father of American music,” was an American songwriter known primarily for his parlor music. He wrote more than 200 songs, including “Oh! Susanna,” “Hard Times Come Again No More,” “Camptown Races,” “Old Folks At Home” (“Swanee River”), “My Old Kentucky Home,” “Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair” and “Beautiful Dreamer.” Many of his compositions remain popular today. He has been identified as “the most famous songwriter of the nineteenth century” and may be the most recognizable American composer in other countries. His compositions are sometimes referred to as “childhood songs” because they have been included in the music curriculum of early education. Most of his handwritten music manuscripts are lost, but editions issued by publishers of his day can be found in various collections.

An April sunset beckons as a beautiful blossom waits for a nearby bud to wake and bloom on my favorite pink magnolia tree at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania.