Legend: Moondog

Please see the Introduction To Rabbit Hole Legend A-Z post for information about sources and purpose.

Moondog: Moondog has an old association with the Beatles, being one of their earliest names (Johnny and the Moondogs). Also, the lyric in, I Dig a Pony, "I pick a moon dog/Well you can radiate everything you are/Yes you can radiate everything you are/ Oh now".

 At 2:45 in this video, during The Kennedy Awards televised program, Alec Baldwin is giving a speech about Paul and says, "Paul, we honor you tonight for your career as a Beatle, the leader of Wings, and incredible solo performer, creator of our favorite songs, and, yes...as a Moon dog, too." Paul is wearing a Rainbow-coloured ribbon lanyard around his black suit lapel, looking like a moondog'd moon.



 "A moon dog, moondog, or mock moon,is a relatively rare bright circular spot on a lunar halo caused by the refraction of moonlight by hexagonal-plate-shaped ice crystals in cirrus or cirrostratus clouds. Moondogs appear 22° to the left and right of the moon. They are exactly analogous to sun dogs, but are rarer because to be produced the moon must be bright and therefore full or nearly full. Moondogs show little color to the unaided eye because their light is not bright enough to activate the cone cells of humans' eyes." <Source>

"Moon Ring Weather Folklore: Folklore has it that a ring around the moon signifies bad weather is coming, and in many cases this may be true. So how can rings around the moon be a predictor of weather to come? The ice crystals that cover the halo signify high altitude, thin cirrus clouds that normally precede a warm front by one or two days. Typically, a warm front will be associated with a low pressure system which is commonly referred to as a storm." <Source>

"In folklore, moon rings are said to warn of approaching storms. Like other ice halos, 22° halos appear when the sky is covered by thin cirrus clouds that often come a few days before a large storm front.

The similar phenomenon called coronas are produced by water droplets and they are much smaller and more colorful than 22° halos." <Source>

From, Heth and Moab; Explorations in Syria in 1881 and 1882 By Claude Reignier Conder, "Near Banias lies buried a saint who is said to himself have been a dog, but I have not been able to gather any details. Perhaps he may be considered to be a relation of the famous moon dog, Anubis, or of the Vedic prototypes of Hermes." <Source>

From, Symbolic mythology and translation of a lost and forgotten language By John Martin Woolsey, "Sirius was called the dog star because it watched the rise of the Nile, and Anubis, the moon dog, was the watchman of the night, and so the star became the star of Anubus".  (quick Reader on wiki basic of Anubis, the Egyptian jackal-headed guide, protector and embalmer to the dead)

<Interesting history of the etymology of the term Rock and Roll here> but the excerpt pertaining to the musician and conflict regarding the name Moondog, "In 1951, Cleveland, Ohio disc jockey Alan Freed would begin playing this type of music for his white audience, and it is Freed who is credited with coining the phrase "rock and roll" to describe the rollicking R&B music that he brought to the airwaves. The term, with its simultaneous allusions to dancing, sex, and the sound of the music itself, stuck even with those who didn't absorb all the meanings.

Originally Freed used the name Moondog for himself and any concerts or promotions he put on. This arose from the fact he used a piece of music called "Moondog Symphony" by the street musician Moondog as his repeated opening music for his radio show. Moondog subsequently sued Freed on grounds that he was stealing his name. Since Freed was no longer allowed to use the term Moondog he needed a new catch phrase." [see source above]  Please do go check out this link to read about one of the Albums by Moondog, called Moondog. I'd be interested in hearing track 7.