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You have come to the spot to absorb diatribes, rantings, historical references, stories, quotes and music for your eyes and ears. Read. Absorb. Learn. Grow. It is part of your daily experience. Learning concepts, ideas, and principles that make meaning in your life is a spiritual quest. Wasting time on senseless crap like useless social media postings, stupid video postings and other mindless crap wastes your time, your mind and your soul. Enrich yourselves with all the world has to offer to make you a better person and make our communities better, safer places.
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Welcome back, Kotter. Hope the weekend went well.
We end Jazz month with a tribute to the Duke. Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington, American composer, bandleader, and pianist, one of the most significant figures in jazz history, was born on this day in 1899. Edward Ellington credited his friend Edgar McEntee for the nickname the "Duke" because his mannerisms and dapper dress gave him the bearing of a young nobleman. Critics consider Duke as one of the the greatest jazz composers and bandleaders of his time. Duke is one of the originators of big-band jazz sound. He began studying piano at age seven. Pratt Institute awarded Duke a scholarship to attend but Duke declined the offer. In fact, Duke dropped out of Armstrong Manual Training School and began to perform professionally at age 17 in cafes and clubs in and around Washington, D.C. He moved to Harlem and became a significant part of the Harlem Renaissance. He performed at the Cotton Club in Harlem during two periods, 1927 to 1932 and 1937 to 1938. His experience there, encouraged him to enlarge his band to 14 musicians and to expand his compositional scope. He musical scope covered jazz - ragtime, swing, be-bop and big band - r&b, gospel, classical, orchestral, opera, and film scores. Ellington made hundreds of recordings, appeared in films and on radio, and toured globally. He continued to lead the band until shortly before his death in 1974. Ellington performed his final full concert at Northern Illinois University on March 20, 1974. In 1980, the university dedicated the ballroom as the "Duke Ellington Ballroom''. He died on May 24, 1974, from lung cancer and pneumonia. Over 12,000 people attended the funeral at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. Ella Fitzgerald noted, "It's a very sad day. A genius has passed." He has been called "the most significant composer of the genre". He earned 14 Grammy awards from 1959 to 2000, three posthumously. In addition, he received an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Milton College, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, an Honorary PhD from the Berklee College of Music, the French Legion of Honour Medal, and a posthumous Pulitzer Prize Special Award. Well deserving of jazz royalty. Click here to visit the official website of Duke.
Duke Ellington composed Don't Mean a Thing in1931. Irving Mills wrote lyrics for the composition. Ellington composed and arranged this jazz standard in August 1931 during intermissions at the Lincoln Tavern in Chicago. The song's title is the credo of trumpeter Bubber Miley, who was dying of tuberculosis at the time. Ellington described the song as "the expression of a sentiment which prevailed among jazz musicians at the time". The song encapsulates the raucous atmosphere of the 1930s Swing era with the change in society from the Roaring Twenties to the start of the Great Depression. The song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008. Many other covers of the classic standard exist but the Duke's still holds prominence. Read more about the top ten songs by Duke according to the Jazz Fuel website.
If I lie on Honesty Day and admit it, am I telling the truth? Today is National Honesty Day, not a day to stab your friend in the back. Need I name names? You must be true and loyal today like Honest Abe and Washington, not like the guy who currently has 91 indictments, including a payoff to a porn star and threatening the peaceful transfer of power on January 6. If you are like most people, you are utterly sick of the complete lack of honesty that exists in the world today. Whether it is companies using misleading language on their products or politicians being incapable of telling the truth or speaking of alternative facts, our lives are inundated with people and companies trying to sell us a line. We call BS. Honesty Day exists to encourage people from every walk of life, and especially those in charge, to adhere to characteristic of honesty. Can you survive the day? Catch anyone in a lie and provide evidence to score points in the afterlife. For those who are looking to make an honest buck, click here. For those NOT looking to make an honest buck, review the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition. Remember, lies will get you. As the good book says, the truth will set you free.
The Thompson Twins, a British band, formed in 1977 in Sheffield. The band started as a new wave group but switched to a more mainstream pop sound with their popularity. The original Thompson Twins line-up consisted of Tom Bailey on bass guitar and vocals, Pete Dodd on guitar and vocals, John Roog on guitar, and Jon Podgorski on drums. The four lived as squatters in southwest London. Future Thompson Twins member, Alannah Currie, lived in another squat on the same street, meeting Bailey in neighborly interactions. Chris Bell soon replaced Podgorski as drummer. At various stages the band had as many as up to seven members, but their best known line-up was as a trio from 1982 to 1986, with Leeway congas and percussion, Bailey, bass and vocals, and Currie, keys and vocals. The band based their name on the two bumbling detectives Thomson and Thompson, close doubles not twins, in the English-language version of The Adventures of Tintin, an animated French television series. The band gained prominence in the US during the Second British Invasion of the 1980's. Their song "In the Name of Love" became a No. 1 dance club hit in the US, even though it's album failed to be as successful. Once the band downsized to a trio, they broke into the UK Singles Chart and the US Billboard Hot 100 chart with two songs "Lies" and "Love On Your Side". The album, Quick Step & Side Kick peaked at number 2 in the UK and certified platinum. "Hold Me Now" peaked at No. 4 in their native UK and reached No. 3 in the US, becoming their biggest American hit. Leeway left the band in 1986, and the remaining duo of Bailey and Currie carried on making music for another seven years. In 1993, they changed their name to Babble, to reflect their change in music. They continued as Babble until 1996, at which point the group permanently broke up. Where are they now? Read more about the Thompson Twins at the Talk About Pop Music website.
It is May Day. Workers of the world unite as we celebrate International Worker's Day. The day was promoted by unions, socialists, communists and anarchists at the Second International in 1904, a pan-national organization of socialist and communist political parties, to commemorate the Haymarket Affair, which occurred in Chicago on 4 May 1886. It began as a peaceful rally in support of workers striking for an eight-hour day and in reaction to the killing of several workers the previous day by the Chicago police. An unknown person threw a bomb into the crowd as police dispersed the crowd. The bomb blast and ensuing gunfire resulted in the deaths of seven police officers and at least four civilians; many others were wounded. Eight anarchists were convicted of conspiracy. Despite the lack of evidence, seven were sentenced to death and one person was sentenced 15 years in prison. The death sentences of two of the defendants were commuted by Illinois governor Oglesby to life in prison and another committed suicide in jail rather than face the gallows. Four hung from the gallows on November 11, 1887. In 1893, Illinois governor Altgeld pardoned the remaining defendants and criticized the trial. Read more about the Chicago event that shaped the world labor movement. The cry continues in the streets. Get up. Get down. Chicago is a union town.
Gil Scot is the man! An American jazz poet, singer, musician, and author, he was known primarily for his work as a spoken-word performer in the 70s and 80s. He combined jazz, blues, and soul with spoken word poetry as lyrical content addressing social and political issues of the time, Born in Chicago, his maternal grandmother cared for him in his youth in Jackson, Tennessee before moving to the Bronx to live with his mother. He attended Lincoln University in Pennsylvania because Langston Hughes, his idol and one of mine, graduated from Lincoln. Although he never earned his degree, the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University accepted him, where he received an M.A. in creative writing. He worked as a full-time lecturer at University of the District of Columbia. A major influence on hip hop music, AllMusic, an online music database, referred to Heron as "one of the most important progenitors of rap music". Others have referred to him as "the godfather of rap" and "the black Bob Dylan". Performers such as Chuck D of Public Enemy, Usher, and Eninem have called Gil Scott an influence on their musical direction. Kanye West, before he became the jerk known as Ye, performed at his funeral service. Check out more about this spoken word master poet.
U.S. Special Operations Forces killed Osama bin Laden, during a raid on his secret compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The raid marked the culmination of a decade-long manhunt for the elusive leader of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization based in the Middle East. Bin Laden, a creation of the CIA, had ordered the coordinated aerial attacks of September 11th, 2001, in which four American passenger jets were hijacked then crashed, killing nearly 3,000 persons. Two jets had struck and subsequently collapsed the 110-story Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York, while another struck the Pentagon building in Washington, D.C. A fourth jet also headed toward Washington had crashed into a field in Pennsylvania as passengers attempted to overpower the hijackers on board. Read more about the events surrounding the raid.
Isis performs the song of the day. Do not confuse this ISIS with the crazy religious fanatics who behead heathens. I am sure they probably drink to high heaven, watch porn and compulsively masturbate because they are so repressed. Do not confuse this ISIS with the goddess of ancient Egyptian religion, who resurrected her slain brother and husband, the divine king Osiris, and helps the dead enter the afterlife. This American metal band formed in Boston in 1997. They released their last studio album, Wavering Radiant, in May 2009 and disbanded a year later in June 2010. Aaron Turner, the guitarist and vocalist referred to their music as "thinking man's metal". Revolver, a heavy metal hard rock magazine noted that the "band has long since transcended the musical boundaries of those genres". ISIS formed as a result of dissatisfaction with past bands. of the founding members. According to Turner, "None of us were happy with what we were doing musically at the time, two of us lived together, we had similar tastes and similar record collections". So, why not form a band! Learn more about ISIS, the band, at the official website.
Today is Teacher Appreciation Day, not Teacher Disrespect Day, like every day. We are the profession that creates all other professions. Of course, politicians, such as Trump, Devos, DeSantis, Cruz, Sandridge, and Prescott and pundits like to persuade the public that it is open hunting season on teachers, the slime of society from which all other problems evolved. I would bet a year's salary that none of those clowns could do the job of a teacher each and every day. It is tiring to work 12 to 14 hours a day almost every day, to take all the remarks, misbehavior and hassles the little smartass punks like to expel like their bad breath. So, why teach? It is the ultimate way to give back to our society, to inspire and give hope to a new generation, to change the future, to touch the future. As much as I came to hate this job so many times, each time I saw minds and eyes light up, as an epiphany swoops you like ocean waves, I felt it was worth it. I just have to keep saying it over and over. It is worth it. Those moments brought joy to my job. I miss the students.
It would be more fun to attend school if you could focus more on things like music, sex, drugs, Tik Tok challenges and computer science with me as your teacher rather than mathematics, geography or language classes. This is the quintessential song for most rock n roll teens, who want to spend the school day high and being little assholes, and not studying. Who better to present such antics than the great Ramones! This classic American punk rock band formed in Forest Hills, Queens, New York back in 1974. Often cited as the first true punk rock band, rightfully so, the band members adopted pseudonyms ending with the surname "Ramone", although none of them were related. The bad adopted their name from Paul McCartney, who checked into hotels under alias "Paul Ramon". Over the course of their career, The Ramones performed over 2,000 concerts, touring virtually nonstop for 22 years. In 1996, the Ramones performed their farewell concert in Los Angeles and officially disbanded. By 2014, all four of the original members met their untimely deaths. Rolling Stone Magazine ranked the band number 26 on the list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". In 2011, the Ramones earned a well deserved Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Visit the official website to learn more about the Ramones.
TGIF: The Gruesome Invading French
Be the scorn of all your peers. Get street cred. Be the beast. Got an original TGIF? Submit the survey with the TGIG. maybe I will post it.
