02/11: Buddy Rich
Category: American Culture
Posted by: an okie gardener
My 8th grade year I walked into the bandroom before school one morning and heard music playing that changed my life. Someone had a Buddy Rich album on the stereo and I stopped dead in my tracks, spellbound. From that moment to this, my favorite music has been jazz.
From YouTube, a clip from 1978 of Buddy and his band playing in the Netherlands, a good introduction to his style.
By 1978 Buddy was already 61 years old, but you noticed in the video clip that his sticks were a blur, and life on the road had not worn him down. Biography here.
Here's Buddy and his band again. He proves that snow on the roof don't mean the fire's out in the stove. Notice how most of the band members are young. Buddy had a good ear for young talent, hired it, and trained it. He was a hard task-master demanding self-discipline, constant attention to detail, and absolute professionalism in performance. His temper was legendary when he thought a member of his band was giving a half-hearted effort. But, the Buddy Rich Big Band was a great training ground for any young player who wanted a career in the business.
This is a Buddy Rich drum solo, from 1970. The tape is not speeded up nor overdubbed. This is a sample of what you could see at any gig he played, from New York club to college campus to Las Vegas to a high school gymnasium in Dubuque. He kept a Big Band on the road long after almost all had died. In this clip the 53 year old man shows the rock boys how it's done.
Many think this is the greatest drum solo every caught on film.
But what always impressed me most was his skill in leading and driving a big band. For example, here on this medley from West Side Story. Buddy crafted his skills as a drummer and leader over decades of disciplined work. Here he is in 1949.
Finally, from Berlin, Buddy and the band doing Mercy, Mercy, a tune that could lift me up any time I was down during those sometimes long nights of high school.
Buddy died April 2, 1987. Frank Sinatra gave the eulogy.
From YouTube, a clip from 1978 of Buddy and his band playing in the Netherlands, a good introduction to his style.
By 1978 Buddy was already 61 years old, but you noticed in the video clip that his sticks were a blur, and life on the road had not worn him down. Biography here.
Here's Buddy and his band again. He proves that snow on the roof don't mean the fire's out in the stove. Notice how most of the band members are young. Buddy had a good ear for young talent, hired it, and trained it. He was a hard task-master demanding self-discipline, constant attention to detail, and absolute professionalism in performance. His temper was legendary when he thought a member of his band was giving a half-hearted effort. But, the Buddy Rich Big Band was a great training ground for any young player who wanted a career in the business.
This is a Buddy Rich drum solo, from 1970. The tape is not speeded up nor overdubbed. This is a sample of what you could see at any gig he played, from New York club to college campus to Las Vegas to a high school gymnasium in Dubuque. He kept a Big Band on the road long after almost all had died. In this clip the 53 year old man shows the rock boys how it's done.
Many think this is the greatest drum solo every caught on film.
But what always impressed me most was his skill in leading and driving a big band. For example, here on this medley from West Side Story. Buddy crafted his skills as a drummer and leader over decades of disciplined work. Here he is in 1949.
Finally, from Berlin, Buddy and the band doing Mercy, Mercy, a tune that could lift me up any time I was down during those sometimes long nights of high school.
Buddy died April 2, 1987. Frank Sinatra gave the eulogy.
It's here, numbers 1-20 of The Telegraph's (UK) lists of 100 most influential American liberals and conservatives. Lots of wth's, but a good set of thumbnail sketches to help keep track of the names in the next year.
The rankings sometimes make me wonder how British journalists define "conservative" and "influential."
The rankings sometimes make me wonder how British journalists define "conservative" and "influential."
01/11: Discussing Evangelicalism
Read this article combining interviews with six evangelical thinkers if you consider yourself an evangelical, are curious about evangelicals, or have never thought about evangelicalism. From Touchstone.
The Telegraph (UK) now has its list of most influential conservatives and liberals in the U.S. extended from 21-100. For critiques on some of the rankings 61-11 see comments under the earlier post.
Although the rankings are a bit odd in spots, the brief descriptions of the people provide a good resource.
Although the rankings are a bit odd in spots, the brief descriptions of the people provide a good resource.
Category: Religion & Public Policy
Posted by: an okie gardener
It cannot be too often repeated that what destroyed the Family in the modern world was Capitalism." G.K. Chesterton in "Three Foes of the Family" found in the collection of his essays The Well and the Shallows.
This statement should be approached by a modern American thinker in the same way one drives to the top of Pike's Peak: gradually in sprirals, ever higher around the mountain. In my first post on this quotation, I gave a brief introduction to Chesterton the man. Today I want to introduce briefly his political/social thought. I'll begin with some quotations from his writings.
First, from the Father Brown story "The Crime of the Communist" Father Brown speaking:
. . . I told you that heresies and false doctrines had become common and conversational; that everybody was used to them; that nobody really noticed them. Did you think I meant Communism when I said that? Why, it was just the other way. You were all as nervous as cats about Communism; and you watched Craken like a wolf. Of course, Communism is a heresy; but it isn't a heresy that you people take for granted. It is Capitalism you take for granted; or rather the vices of Capitalism disguised as a dead Darwinism. Do you recall what you were all saying in the Common Room, about life being only a scramble, and nature demanding the survival of the fittest, and how it doesn't matter whether the poor are paid justly or not? Why that is the heresy that you have grown accustomed to, my friends; and its every bit as much a heresy as Communism. That's the anti-Christian morality or immorality that you take quite naturally. . . . (more below)
This statement should be approached by a modern American thinker in the same way one drives to the top of Pike's Peak: gradually in sprirals, ever higher around the mountain. In my first post on this quotation, I gave a brief introduction to Chesterton the man. Today I want to introduce briefly his political/social thought. I'll begin with some quotations from his writings.
First, from the Father Brown story "The Crime of the Communist" Father Brown speaking:
. . . I told you that heresies and false doctrines had become common and conversational; that everybody was used to them; that nobody really noticed them. Did you think I meant Communism when I said that? Why, it was just the other way. You were all as nervous as cats about Communism; and you watched Craken like a wolf. Of course, Communism is a heresy; but it isn't a heresy that you people take for granted. It is Capitalism you take for granted; or rather the vices of Capitalism disguised as a dead Darwinism. Do you recall what you were all saying in the Common Room, about life being only a scramble, and nature demanding the survival of the fittest, and how it doesn't matter whether the poor are paid justly or not? Why that is the heresy that you have grown accustomed to, my friends; and its every bit as much a heresy as Communism. That's the anti-Christian morality or immorality that you take quite naturally. . . . (more below)
Category: Courts
Posted by: A Waco Farmer
Blackstone's Formulation:
better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer
Even in what many seem to consider a "Bush-controlled, neo-fascist America," we are blessed with a remarkable justice system.
As we speak, the case of Ali al-Marri weaves its way through the American legal process, addressing some of the most crucial issues inherent within the war on terror. The Bush administration currently holds non-citizen (but legal resident), Al-Marri, in military custody as a suspected enemy combatant. According to the executive, Al-Marri's alleged ties to al-Qaida make him a threat to national security.
Today the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia hears arguments on whether Al-Marri should be charged or released from federal confinement. In June, a three-judge panel of the court ruled 2-1 that even under the Military Commissions Act, legislation passed in 2006 to establish military trials, Ali al-Marri retains the right to trial. The government sees it differently and asked for the rehearing, and a ruling is expected in several weeks.
No matter which way the circuit court rules on this case, it is a near certainty that the Supreme Court will eventually rule on the constitutionality of the Military Commissions Act, which will ultimately determine the fate of al-Marri.
The wheels of American justice are turning.
Over at the Supreme Court yesterday, at least five justices agreed to stay the impending execution of Earl W. Berry, who, over the course of nineteen years, had exhausted all his appeals and was on death row in Mississippi and awaiting execution that very evening.
Ironically, Berry, who had brutally beaten to death a 56-year-old woman whom he had kidnapped as she was walking home from choir practice in 1988, argued most recently that Mississippi's system for execution, death by lethal injection, was cruel and unusual punishment.
This case also is part of a larger web of impending cases linked to a future Court decision; in this instance, the issue is the constitutionality of lethal injection.
The wheels of American justice are turning.
better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer
Even in what many seem to consider a "Bush-controlled, neo-fascist America," we are blessed with a remarkable justice system.
As we speak, the case of Ali al-Marri weaves its way through the American legal process, addressing some of the most crucial issues inherent within the war on terror. The Bush administration currently holds non-citizen (but legal resident), Al-Marri, in military custody as a suspected enemy combatant. According to the executive, Al-Marri's alleged ties to al-Qaida make him a threat to national security.
Today the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia hears arguments on whether Al-Marri should be charged or released from federal confinement. In June, a three-judge panel of the court ruled 2-1 that even under the Military Commissions Act, legislation passed in 2006 to establish military trials, Ali al-Marri retains the right to trial. The government sees it differently and asked for the rehearing, and a ruling is expected in several weeks.
No matter which way the circuit court rules on this case, it is a near certainty that the Supreme Court will eventually rule on the constitutionality of the Military Commissions Act, which will ultimately determine the fate of al-Marri.
The wheels of American justice are turning.
Over at the Supreme Court yesterday, at least five justices agreed to stay the impending execution of Earl W. Berry, who, over the course of nineteen years, had exhausted all his appeals and was on death row in Mississippi and awaiting execution that very evening.
Ironically, Berry, who had brutally beaten to death a 56-year-old woman whom he had kidnapped as she was walking home from choir practice in 1988, argued most recently that Mississippi's system for execution, death by lethal injection, was cruel and unusual punishment.
This case also is part of a larger web of impending cases linked to a future Court decision; in this instance, the issue is the constitutionality of lethal injection.
The wheels of American justice are turning.
Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose,
freedom aint worth nothing--but it's free
From the Washington Post:
"[I]n Los Angeles earlier this month, [John K.] Tanner [voting section chief within the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ] said that voter identification laws primarily affect elderly people because they are less likely to have photo IDs, and that such laws are less likely to affect minorities because they tend to die earlier. A few days earlier, Tanner also suggested to the Georgia NAACP that poor people are likely to have photo IDs because check-cashing businesses require them."
Article in full here.
The problem for John Tanner, a thirty-one-year veteran of the Justice Department, is that he has a whole lot to lose. If he was not aware before yesterday, he must be painfully cognizant now, his freedom of speech is limited by the complicated web of racial politics, Washington double-speak, and political correctness that makes up the current climate of American democratic governance.
Tuesday, Tanner spent an afternoon on Capitol Hill apologizing.
The serially inappropriate Dana Milbank observes:
"There is nothing quite so abject, profuse and groveling as an apology offered by a man who fears he is about to lose his job. But even Tanner's ritualistic self-abasement did not put Democrats on the subcommittee in a forgiving mood."
Column in full here.
Congressman Artur Davis (Democrat from Alabama): "You engaged in analysis without knowing the numbers. If you are basing your conclusions on stereotypes rather than facts, then it suggests to some of us that someone else can do this job better than you can."
Congressman Bobby Scott (Democrat from Virginia) called Tanner's statement "bizarre."
Bizarre? Really? Stereotypes rather than facts? What are the real facts here? Perhaps these nuggets of conventional wisdom are absolutely false--but I have heard them for years, usually to prove the existence of systemic racism in America.
Minorities are just as healthy as whites and enjoy similar life expectancies? This is good news. It certainly makes nationalized healthcare less urgent.
As for the check-cashing, is the stereotype that poor people don't use banks or that minorities are more often poor? Either way, again, these are both articles of faith I first heard years ago in my sociology and political science courses, designed to enlighten, educate and broaden my understanding of the “oppressed classes.”
I welcome an honest conversation regarding the DOJ and its track record for protecting voting rights in America. However, when the discussion must necessarily begin with a near-tearful, slobbering apology on the part of the "white guy in charge of looking out for the rights of minorities," at the feet of a Democratically controlled congressional panel intent on embarrassing the current administration and scoring political points, my expectations for something productive emanating from this spectacle are pretty low.
freedom aint worth nothing--but it's free
Kris Kristofferson
From the Washington Post:
"[I]n Los Angeles earlier this month, [John K.] Tanner [voting section chief within the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ] said that voter identification laws primarily affect elderly people because they are less likely to have photo IDs, and that such laws are less likely to affect minorities because they tend to die earlier. A few days earlier, Tanner also suggested to the Georgia NAACP that poor people are likely to have photo IDs because check-cashing businesses require them."
Article in full here.
The problem for John Tanner, a thirty-one-year veteran of the Justice Department, is that he has a whole lot to lose. If he was not aware before yesterday, he must be painfully cognizant now, his freedom of speech is limited by the complicated web of racial politics, Washington double-speak, and political correctness that makes up the current climate of American democratic governance.
Tuesday, Tanner spent an afternoon on Capitol Hill apologizing.
The serially inappropriate Dana Milbank observes:
"There is nothing quite so abject, profuse and groveling as an apology offered by a man who fears he is about to lose his job. But even Tanner's ritualistic self-abasement did not put Democrats on the subcommittee in a forgiving mood."
Column in full here.
Congressman Artur Davis (Democrat from Alabama): "You engaged in analysis without knowing the numbers. If you are basing your conclusions on stereotypes rather than facts, then it suggests to some of us that someone else can do this job better than you can."
Congressman Bobby Scott (Democrat from Virginia) called Tanner's statement "bizarre."
Bizarre? Really? Stereotypes rather than facts? What are the real facts here? Perhaps these nuggets of conventional wisdom are absolutely false--but I have heard them for years, usually to prove the existence of systemic racism in America.
Minorities are just as healthy as whites and enjoy similar life expectancies? This is good news. It certainly makes nationalized healthcare less urgent.
As for the check-cashing, is the stereotype that poor people don't use banks or that minorities are more often poor? Either way, again, these are both articles of faith I first heard years ago in my sociology and political science courses, designed to enlighten, educate and broaden my understanding of the “oppressed classes.”
I welcome an honest conversation regarding the DOJ and its track record for protecting voting rights in America. However, when the discussion must necessarily begin with a near-tearful, slobbering apology on the part of the "white guy in charge of looking out for the rights of minorities," at the feet of a Democratically controlled congressional panel intent on embarrassing the current administration and scoring political points, my expectations for something productive emanating from this spectacle are pretty low.
31/10: I Love This Country
Category: American Culture
Posted by: an okie gardener
Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion. Roadside messages.
The Telegraph (UK) is compiling an excellent resource for the election year: a ranked list of top liberal and conservative figures. Also, a page of quick information on the presidential campaign. The list is not yet complete, but now has numbers 61-100 on both sides.
29/10: Porter Wagoner, RIP
Tom Spaulding has this tribute to Porter Wagoner on his site.
Bio from allmusic.com
From Youtube:
I'll Fly Away Porter with the Willis Brothers
Julie Porter from his show
And, from near the end, Albert Erving Porter with Marty Stuart and his band on the Letterman show
Oops, almost forgot, can't do without a Porter and Dolly
an extended clip that includes Dolly's first appearance on the Porter Wagoner Show
Farmer, you're the real Country Music expert, why not add a few words to this post.
Bio from allmusic.com
From Youtube:
I'll Fly Away Porter with the Willis Brothers
Julie Porter from his show
And, from near the end, Albert Erving Porter with Marty Stuart and his band on the Letterman show
Oops, almost forgot, can't do without a Porter and Dolly
an extended clip that includes Dolly's first appearance on the Porter Wagoner Show
Farmer, you're the real Country Music expert, why not add a few words to this post.
