Posted 8:45 PM by Gene

As HOUNNNNNNNNNDOG prepared to cover a hit tune by an acquitted killer, the Times ran this all-too-brief piece on the fraternal clubs that flourished in New York before the Great Depression brought a crashing halt to their party. (Has anyone calculated the enormous ruin the Great Depression caused worldwide, in every field of endeavor, not just in the war it inspired?) I doubt if the phenomenon was solely New York's. Within earshot of my apartment are two great old social clubs, the Penn Athletic on Rittenhouse Square (later acquired by the Signal Corps, sold and converted into apartments in the late 70s) and the Yale, a improbably handsome tombstone of a tower (ultimately occupied by the Jewish Federation, now being converted in super-expensive condos). The article features a picture (above) of the Pythian Temple -- a truly historic building. It is a measure of how deaf to nuance The World's Greatest Paper has become that it completely ignored the fact that not only was the Temple built for a largely black fraternity, the Knights of Pythias, for years it served as Decca Records' New York recording studio. This will get you excited, HOUNNNNNNNNNDOG: Bill Haley recorded "Rock Around the Clock" there. Buddy Holly cut tracks in the Temple too. Given the immortal genius of the greatest musical form ever you would think some intern would have known that.