Two Tids ... or Are They Bits?

[the_gneech]

Firebird Arts sent me back the following:

Quarks & Quests was a promo album done many many years ago for a company long out of business. It is out of print, out of stock and out of production [and] has been for years.

Well, at least somebody else heard of it!

Also, here's Today's Forgotten English:

sawdust parlance
Circus language, in allusion to the sawdust strewn in the arena of a circus.

--Albert Hyamson's Dictionary of English Phrases, 1922

The Abominable Showman
Birthday of Phineas T. Barnum (1810-1891), American showman extraordinaire who, even if he never actually said, "There's a sucker born every minute," certainly believed it. Barnum denied ever using the term sucker but admitted that he may have asserted, "The people like to be humbugged." He began his show business career in 1842 by opening the American Museum in New York City. It showcased freaks of nature and frauds, such as the "Feejee mermaid" -- a monkey's upper skeleton joined to a fish tail -- and Joice Heth, purported to be George Washington's 160-year-old nurse. Barnum was attracted to politics, serving two terms in the Connecticut state legislature and two years as mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut. In 1871 he created the circus that would become known as "The Greatest Show on Earth," merging with his main rival, J.A. Bailey, ten years later. Known for keeping one eye fixed on the bottom line, Barnum reportedly inquired, "How were the receipts today in Madison Square Garden?" just before he died.

-The Gneech