In the wake of The Beatles, many a British pop act lit up the U.S. charts. Most experienced short-lived fame on these shores, but Petula Clark was a different story. In the mid-to-late 60

I can’t find anything on the origin of this.

Well, it can be argued that callers and dancers have an top/bottom relationship: the callers “dominate” the dancers for the dancers’ pleasure (a relationship made semi-explicit here). I guess certain groups might get away with an explicit celebration of this festival at a square dance.

There’s always the song “You Always Hurt the One You Love”.

The first recorded use of tobacco was made by Christopher Columbus in his journal entry on this day in 1492. He noted the use of it by the Indians he had found in the “new world” of North America.

“Smoke, Smoke (that Cigarette)” is obviously appropriate. Maybe “Smoke on the Water” would work.

The Beatles film project for 1968 was Yellow Submarine. This animated psychadelic adventure brings the Beatles to Pepperland to help thwart the Blue Meanies. It seems the Blue Meanies have taken over, and it’s up to the fab four to help return music and happiness to Pepperland. Although Yellow Submarine had very little input from the Beatles, they do contribute several songs, and make a personal appearance at the end of the film.

I really like the new Down Under version of “Yellow Submarine”. You could also do other Beatles songs, or under water songs.

It’s the anniversary of the November 8, 1308 death of Duns Scotus, a medieval scholar who was responsible for the introduction of the word “dunce” into the English language.

Here’s some more info on the origin of the dunce cap:

As it turns out, the dunce cap comes from a 13th-century philosopher named John Duns Scotus, who, not surpisingly, was born in Duns, Scotland.

This well-respected but terribly oblique scholar felt that conical hats actually increased learning potential. Here’s the theory — knowledge is centralized at the apex and then funneled down into the mind of the wearer.

Scotus was an inveterate hair-splitter and came up with terms like “haecceitas,” or “thisness.” He was widely praised in his day, but eventually fell out of intellectual favor. His “duns cap” was a pretty obvious target of derision and came to symbolize stupidity.

So the logic behind the dunce cap is that it makes slow pupils learn better, but it was later used to humiliate the wearer and motivate students to try harder.

We need to be kind here…I can think of lots of dancers who could celebrate this day…but maybe we’d better stick to our own dunce-ness.

We could change the singing call classic to “Oh, Stupid Me”.

Or, we could do the Shania Twain song, “Don’t Be Stupid”.

Relevant Records

• DonÕt Be Stupid (MMCD 2004)

November 8th has officially been designated as “Abet and Aid Punsters Day.” It is a day to make dreadful puns and encourage others to do the same. Laugh wholeheartedly instead of groaning.

I’m not very good at punning, but if you are, you should make the most of that skill today.

The only Tina Turner (well, Ike and Tina actually) singing call I know is Proud Mary.

Relevant Records

• Proud Mary (Rhythm 197)

November 18, 1928, the date that “Steamboat Willie” debuted, is recognized as the official birthday of Mickey Mouse.

Probably any Disney tunes would be appropriate, but at the very least, we should all play the Mickey Mouse Club theme song at our dances today. Not to mention featuring Load the Boat, in honor of Steamboat Willie.

Relevant Records

• Mickey Mouse Club March (Stampede 601)
• Zip-a-dee-do-dah (Chaparral 414)
• Disney Medley (Global 701)
• Colors of the Wind (Hi Hat 5198)
• The Lion King (Global Music 907)

I’m sure we all have our ideas on how to celebrate Halloween at a square dance. There are lots of singing calls: “Monster Mash,” “Monster’s Holiday,” “Ghostbusters” (see a more complete list at Dosado.com.

Here’s a silly call: Spook ‘Em. This is a writeup I did, with an emphasis on Challenge concepts; however, there are lots of ways to play with the call at MS and Plus.

At our Wilde Bunch party, we did a tip in the dark.

I use a CD of scary sound effects. In between tips, I’ll play Halloween silly songs (The Blob, the original Monster Mash, etc.).

Relevant Records

• Monsters Holiday (Silver Sounds 125)
• Witchy Woman (Upbeat 9602)
• Old Black Magic (Chaparral 806)

Traditionally (well, at least since the 30’s), Sadie Hawkins Day has involved events where women chase men. It was inspired by the Li’l Abner cartoon strip by Al Capp.

For a square dance, you could:

• have a tip where women ask men to dance (probably would only work at a singles club)
• do a theme tip with Chase Right/Left Chase where the girls always chase the boys
• play nothing but fiddle/banjo music in honor of Sadie Hawkins’ hillbilly roots.

Any other ideas?