Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2012 March 15

= March 15 =

will she or won't she do it?
The other day, I saw this story on Good Morning America. It was a few highlights of Oprah Winfrey interviewing members of Whitney Houston's family, including her daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown. There have also been reports that she want to legally change her name to Kristina Houston. She's been wanting to do that since her parents' divorce, but her mother wouldn't allow it. It seems like Bobbi Kristina is taking a huge step forward with that type of thing. Who agrees with me on that?24.90.204.234 (talk) 03:07, 15 March 2012 (UTC)


 * Unfortunately, this isn't a forum for such a discussion. -- McDoob  AU  93  03:12, 15 March 2012 (UTC)


 * She can call herself Mary Mary Quite Contrary if she wants to. There's nothing prohibiting someone from changing their name unless they're trying to perpetrate a fraud of some kind. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 03:22, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

No. She wants to sever ties with her father, Bobby Brown. But she still wants to remain spiritually close to her late mother.24.90.204.234 (talk) 07:16, 15 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Assuming she's of legal age to do so, she can change her name to anything she wants... and could have done so anyway, whether her mother liked it or not. As to whether she will do it, that's up to her, and I wonder if there's any reliable source beyond her saying she would "consider" it. As Garrison Keillor once said, a poll showed that a surprisingly large percentage of the American public has said they would "consider" eating squirrel. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 09:39, 15 March 2012 (UTC)


 * In case you missed the previous message, this isn't the place for such discussions. --   Jack of Oz   [your turn]  07:43, 15 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Somewhat similar kind of question and subject: ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 09:35, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

Bobbi Kristina Brown is of legal age to change her name.24.90.204.234 (talk) 18:05, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

NFL announcer
OK, this one is really obscure. I was trying to look up something about a St. Louis FOOTBALL Cardinals announcer from the 1970s. I thought his name was Ray Juracee, or some such spelling. But I can't find anything. Any old "Big Red" fans out there that can help refresh my cobwebby memory? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 03:22, 15 March 2012 (UTC)
 * I remember the guy. The surname is spelled Geraci, and after working in broadcasting, he became the mayor of Highland Park, Illinois. Deor (talk) 13:36, 15 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Aha! Yep, that's the guy. Thank you! Not mentioned anywhere in wikipedia that I can see. I wonder if he's notable enough to create an article about? He worked for the Chicago Cardinals and then with his high school before rejoining the Cardinals for awhile, after they had moved to St. Louis; and then worked his way back to the Chicago area. Would be over 80 now, so probably long retired. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 15:08, 15 March 2012 (UTC)
 * There are notable stadium announcers, see Bob Sheppard. The only issue would be if there is enough good information to use to help you write the article (after all, that is basically what the word "notability" means at Wikipedia, with an emphasis on "good".)  If you can find enough reliable sources, I don't see why you shouldn't create one.  -- Jayron  32  17:11, 15 March 2012 (UTC)
 * He wasn't a stadium announcer, he was the regular play-by-play guy for the NFL Cardinals radio broadcasts for several years. Does that automatically make him notable, or does he need to have done something else? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 22:14, 15 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Technically, there is no automatic notability, but there is the presumption of notability. There shouldn't be a rush to create an article just because a person existed and we remember something about them.  If you really want to do it right, find the sources first then put together an article.  If you can't find enough sources to support an article, don't create it yet.  Sure, you may be "within your rights" to create such an article, but sometimes that isn't the same thing as "doing the right thing".  I always advise people to find the sources first, before doing anything.  -- Jayron  32  03:13, 16 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Good advice. I'll create a sub-page under my account and see if I can come up with enough material to make a usable article. And if not, it be gone. Normally I would just create the article, but there's a lot more sensitivity about BLP's than there used to be. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 03:35, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

The Spasm
I'm interested in a song called "The Spasm" which was recorded by Daddy Stovepipe & Mississippi Sarah. Here's a YouTube of their 1935 recording: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5ubPrtjg9w The lyrics refer to someone variously as "you dog," and "you spasm," e.g.:
 * You ask my man for a meal, you spasm, you
 * You ask my man for a meal, you lowdown hound
 * You ask my mean for a meal
 * Something else you’re trying to steal
 * I’ll be glad when you’re dead, you spasm, you.

So here's my question: obviously "spasm" is pejorative, but does anyone know if this was unique to the song or a general slang term of the period? And if the latter, what did it mean? Crypticfirefly (talk) 05:50, 15 March 2012 (UTC)


 * For what it's worth when I was a lad, many decades ago, in the UK a "spasmo" was a term of abuse and I believe referred to a comparison with someone who had cerebral palsy or was a spastic as it was more commonly (and correctly) known in those days. There was a Spastics Society up until 1994, now known as Scope. Richard Avery (talk) 08:22, 15 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Spasm bands were an early form of jazz band, using home-made instruments. The term "spasm" was obviously a widely used term in black culture at the time - bear in mind that Daddy Stovepipe was growing up in the 1880s and his use of slang terms may date back to that decade rather than later.  Disappointingly, this book doesn't mention it.  Ghmyrtle (talk) 10:07, 15 March 2012 (UTC)
 * The Wikipedia article makes it seem as though the term "Spasm", as a relation to bands, applied to bands composed of young children making amatuer music on home-made instruments. If I were to guess, based on that definition, the term "spasm" as applying to both music and to people, would have the same basic meaning as the word "punk" does today: if "punk bands" are low-culture, simplistic, and youthful as "spasm bands" were according to the Wikipedia article, then calling a person a "spasm" is basically the equivalent of calling them a "punk".  At least, that's my reading of it, and it also fits with the context of the song lyrics (replace the word "spasm" with "punk", and it seems to fit better in the modern idiom).  -- Jayron  32  18:40, 15 March 2012 (UTC)
 * That's an interesting theory, to really make it work in the song the term would also have to imply promiscuity. (Consistent with the earlier meaning of "punk," actually.) You may not have listened to the rest of the verses, the term is being applied to someone who is trying to entice the singer's partner into adultery.  Still, I wish I could find an example of the term other than in the context of spasm bands. Crypticfirefly (talk) 05:47, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Suggest some video games
here is my pc's specs fifa 07 can run on my pc but not 08 49.249.54.26 (talk) 17:49, 15 March 2012 (UTC)
 * CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 2.80GHz
 * Ram: 1.2 GB
 * Video card :96 mb


 * Without knowing the kind of games you play, it would be nearly impossible to give any good recommendations. You can peruse them yourself starting at Category:Video games by year and choosing years within about 5 years to either side of the year your computer was made.  -- Jayron  32  18:00, 15 March 2012 (UTC)
 * umm any good games can do. actually i dont play any specific type of games. i like call of duty, sims2 , gun, GTA, age of empires etc. u can see my gaming collection here


 * https://www.playfire.com/rahuloof/games 115.117.200.29 (talk) 18:25, 15 March 2012 (UTC)


 * Have you checked Good Old Games? There's some good stuff there. CambridgeBayWeather (talk) 17:42, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Whom is David Steinberg married to?
David Steinberg is listed on his page as being married to one "Robyn Steinberg". However, Brynn Thayer is listed on her own page as being married to Steinberg. Normally, I would chalk this up to two women marrying men with the same name, but the LA Times has an article mentioning that Thayer's husband is a grammy-award winning producer involved in the career of Robin Williams. That would seem to be a reference to Williams' album, A Night at the Met, whose producer bears the name David Steinberg. In the allmusic page about the album, that producer credit is linked to a short bio that appears to be about the same David Steinberg we have an article on. So, I'm left here still asking, who is David Steinberg's wife? And who is Brynn Thayer's husband? Someguy1221 (talk) 23:19, 15 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Brynn Thayer is married to David Steinberg ... just not that David Steinberg. The LA Times says her husband is the executive producer of (among other things) The Greatest Game Ever Played. According to IMDb, that's this David Steinberg. David Steinberg, the comedian, gets photographed a lot with Robyn (or Robin) Steinberg, so I assume he's married to her. Clarityfiend (talk) 04:01, 16 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Robyn (nee Todd) Steinberg is indeed married to "the" David Steinberg. His ex, Judy (nee Marcione), has some interesting things to say. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 04:11, 16 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Robyn Todd and David Steinberg were married on Valentine's Day in 2005. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 04:25, 16 March 2012 (UTC)
 * David Steinberg (disambiguation) has 4 or 5 different people, and there are at least 12 listed in IMDB. Pretty common name, it seems. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 04:30, 16 March 2012 (UTC)


 * Thank you fiend. You have given me such clarity. Someguy1221 (talk) 04:18, 16 March 2012 (UTC)
 * You're welcome. By the by, I've found AllRovi not particularly trustworthy, at least as far as movies are concerned; it wouldn't surprise me if they were equally inaccurate with music. Clarityfiend (talk) 04:29, 16 March 2012 (UTC)