[Editor's Note] I’m going to be doing a short series of reviews & mini-essays about books and people who I feel deserve attention from me, sort of as a pilot column that I’ll be pitching to the university paper seeing as I really need to be writing on deadline and all that. But enough of the silly banter, here’s the meat.
This week I was going to inagurate this series with a tribute to the late Dr. Hunter Thompson, focusing mainly on his role in the creation of Gonzo Journalism and his book The Great Shark Hunt. But, that can wait until later. Bigger fish have made themselves available for frying.
Instead, I feel that General Ambrose Burnside should be the center of the media spotlight this week. A Union Army general and commander of the of the Army of the Potomac in the Civil War, Burnside was a rad dude.
My first exposure to Gen. Burnside was this summer, during a cookout when a family friend arrived and told me that I was looking “very Burnsidian,” an adjective that I think was created on the spot which was quite appropriate, I think.
To the best of my and anybody elses knowledge, Burnside was the first man to wear his facial hair in such a manner. This being the case, it was decided that said style should be named after him. Some unnamed bard decided to split his name in half and then rearrange it so that the resulting hairdo would forever be known as the Sideburn. Later classifications have dubbed the specific style that the General and I sport as the “Happy Mutton Chop,” but I have no fucking clue where that comes from.
Long after that barbeque, Gen. Burnside’s name, image, and legacy have remained lodged in the back of my brain as being one of the greatest men in the history of facial hair development who has yet to be named and publicly recognised as being the forefather of such a terrific hairstyle.
Since his pioneering work, there has been a great deal of continuation in his work. New styles have been created, variations on a theme in length and trimming.
So, congratulations, Ambrose! 126 years after your death, I hereby commend you on being the inventor of the Sideburn and by extension, the Mutton Chop, a hairstyle with which I have chosen to grace my face for the last year. Selah.
Yours until next week,
Excelsior!
Benzo
5 Comments
January 17, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Mmmmm. Mutton chops. Tasty, tasty mutton chops.
January 21, 2007 at 3:39 pm
I knew there would be a story behind it.
David (ta for visiting my site ;p)
February 27, 2007 at 7:28 pm
nice to know you’re following in good footsteps. he’s a fierce looking old sod, ain’t he!
March 15, 2007 at 9:50 am
Very lifelike portrayal of the old General. Oh by the way, it looks like you’re in this month’s Guardian after all. Credited, and everything. Sir Menzies Campbell is a truly great man.
July 5, 2007 at 2:05 pm
Hello
Great book. I just want to say what a fantastic thing you are doing! Good luck!
Bye