In Arthur Godfrey's Time He Was At The Top

Arthur Godfrey was born in New York on this day in 1903. Few people under forty years old probably recognize the name "Arthur Godfrey" or have any idea of his celebrity during the middle decades of the last century. He was a star of stars on radio from coast to coast, an ambitious man with a folksy broadcast persona who in real life turned hubris into a tyranny that eventually destroyed his career. Despite his shortfalls, he remains one of the most influential shapers of radio and television entertainment in the U.S. 

Godfrey at CBS Radio, 1948

Godfrey was introduced to radio during his Navy and Coast Guard careers. He broke into entertainment and civilian radio in Baltimore and Washington in the early 1930s. He also earned his pilot's license in 1931, an achievement that would lead to a distinguished role in military and civilian aviation. His Arthur Godfrey Time breakfast show was heard on radio coast-to-coast shortly after World War II. By 1952, it had joined his other program, Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, on television. Godfrey developed a wonderful easy going, friendly on-air style that captured American radio audiences. That style, coupled with his big smile and his signature red hair made him a natural for television, and for print advertising.

Without question, he was television's first star, rising quickly, then falling almost as fast, a victim of the darker elements of fame and ego. By 1960, he disappeared from regularly scheduled television and began a brief career in film. By 1972, the radio programs ended and his television appearances dwindled as the decade closed. He died in New York in 1983.

Although Godfrey's voice and image had broad media exposure into my college years I only recall listening to his program in morning hours during family vacations in Burlington, West Virginia. Actually the small airfield there provided a much stronger linkage to Godfrey who owned several planes that he flew either from his Leesburg, Virginia, farm or from the nearby airport about 55 air miles east of Burlington's Baker's Air Park. It was owned and operated by Georgia and David Baker, a wonderful couple I came to know early on as my adopted aunt and uncle. They lived next door to my summer place and across the road from the airfield. The flying stories were endless and I was a willing listener.

 Although he wasn't a frequent visitor, Godfrey attended occasional fly-ins there in the '50s.
It was quite an honor to have "your" airfield graced by radio and television's most famous celebrity. It reminds me of visiting small town museums where the treasured display shows an aging photograph of President Truman waving from his campaign train in 1948. Sometimes history comes at a slow pace. Nevertheless, Godfrey's visits were the talk of the town for Burlington folks. Late one afternoon, the little airfield may have saved his life. He and a passenger made a critical emergency landing at the airfield. With its mechanical issues resolved the plane continued on its final leg to Leesburg later in the week. I'll never understand how they got a twin engine aircraft out of that little dogleg of grass. They probably stripped it, released the brake, went balls to the wall, and sampled the tops of the old sycamores at the end of the field. Fifty or so years is a long time to remember, but it wouldn't surprise me if he didn't send the passenger home by car. For a pilot who at one time flew everything in the U.S. Air Force arsenal, "wheels up" at Burlington probably wasn't much of a challenge. It did, however, require a tempered ego to reduce the risk.  

The video below is a fascinating look at aviation from the 1950's and a personal look at Godfrey the aviator.

We know for certain he had both a temper and an ego, not an unusual combination for super successful people. And Godfrey was surely super and successful. He knew how to transcend the airwaves and come into your house for breakfast, make you laugh, maybe even sell you something you didn't need. It was television in it's first real decade in the U.S. And Godfrey transitioned his leading radio talk show into the leading television talk show almost overnight. It was the equivalent of going from silent film to talkies twenty years earlier. He made it look easy. He put millions of listeners at ease, made good conversation, strummed the ukulele, sang a bit, made us laugh, then sent us off for the day. We had a good time. That's really because it was Arthur Godfrey's time.

Sources 

Photos and Illustrations:
CBS photo, the Harris & Ewing Photo Collection, Library of Congress
Moffett Field photo, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Text:

Arthur Godfrey, Wikipedia

The Joy-Filled Genius Of Itzhak Perlman

The virtuoso violinist, Itzhak Perlman, is 77 years old today. For more than sixty years, he has entertained the world with a full spectrum of music, including conducting, and remains quite active performing, teaching, and recording. His talent along with a cordial manner, humor, insight, and effusive personality has made him a beloved Israeli-American musical ambassador around the world. It is no wonder he has accumulated a long list of awards, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (2008), the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2015), and the Genesis Prize (Israel, 2016).

Rather than write about Perlman I'd rather have you listen to his genius, sensitivity, and joy doing what he does best for adoring audiences that he acknowledges are as much a joy to him as he is honored to perform for them.

What a national treasure. Happy birthday, Itzhak Perlman. May your smile and music be with us for many years to come.

Perlman with television showman, Ed Sullivan, in 1958

Sources

Photos, Illustrations, and Text:
Itzhak Perlman, Wikipedia.com

US National Park Service Celebrates A Birthday

National parks are the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst.

                                                                                  Wallace Stegner

Guidon of the United States National Park Service

The National Park Service celebrates its 106th birthday on August 25, 2022.  It's always an important day in my household. My wife and I devoted over 55 memorable years of combined employment toward achieving its noble mission so vividly stated in the enabling legislation of 1916:

....to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.

Seeking a working balance between preservation and use was often a serious challenge but overall the work was extraordinarily satisfying. Even after several years of retirement my blood still runs green with the memories of us working in eight sites and one regional office in eight states and the District of Columbia. Our work took us from coast to coast in the lower 48 states and to Alaska as well as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The journey from a single idea to a complex resource management agency charged with overseeing more than 425 sites has been challenging. Here is part of the chapter, "Early Growth and Administration," taken from a Department of the Interior publication, A Brief History of the National Park Service(1940). It describes the national park movement leading up to the formation of the NPS.

The United States had a system of national parks for many years before it had a National Park Service. Even before establishment of Yellowstone National Park in 1872 as "a public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people," the Government had shown some interest in public ownership of lands valuable from a social use standpoint. An act of Congress in 1852 established the Hot Springs Reservation in Arkansas (which became a national park in 1921), although this area was set aside not for park purposes, but because of the medicinal qualities believed to be possessed by its waters. It was not until 1890 that action was taken to create more national parks. That year saw establishment of Yosemite, General Grant, and Sequoia National Parks in California, and nine years later Mount Rainier National Park was set aside in Washington.

Soon after the turn of the century the chain of national parks grew larger. Most important since the Yellowstone legislation was an act of Congress approved June 8, 1906, known as the Antiquities Act, which gave the President authority "to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of scientific interest that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States to be national monuments.

In these early days the growing system of national parks and monuments was administered under no particular organization. National parks were administered by the Secretary of the Interior, but patrolled by soldiers detailed by the Secretary of War much in the manner of forts and garrisons. This, of course, was quite necessary, in the early days, for the protection of areas situated in the "wild and woolly" West. it is a fact that in this era highwaymen held up coaches and robbed visitors to Yellowstone National Park, and poachers operated within the park boundaries. The national monuments were administered in various ways. Under the Act of 1906 monuments of military significance were turned over to the Secretary of War, those within or adjacent to national forests were placed under the Department of Agriculture, and the rest—and greater number—were under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior. Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Park, established in 1890 as the first Federal area of its type, was administered by the War Department.

Under this disjointed method of operation, national parks and monuments continued to be added to the list until 1915 when its very deficiencies exposed the plan as unsatisfactory and inefficient. The various authorities in charge of the areas began to see the need for systematic administration which would provide for the adoption of definite policies and make possible proper and adequate planning, development, protection, and conservation in the public interest.

Within two years, Secretary of the Interior, Franklin Lane, had secured the help of the philanthropist, Stephen Tyng Mather, to develop a management system to propose to Congress. Mather did so promptly and by 1917 it had been established and officially organized.

For more information, NPS Historians, Barry Mackintosh and Janet McDonnell, have written an excellent brief history documenting the agency to 2005. Their work, The National Parks: Shaping the System, is available online here.

The former directors of the National Park Service have left us some candid, and in some cases historic, commentary on managing the preservation-use dichotomy referred to above. I highly recommend their books, along with a biography of Stephen Tyng Mather, if readers are so inclined:

Albright, Horace M. (as told to Robert Cahn). The Birth of the National Park Service. Salt Lake City: Howe Brothers, 1985.

Albright, Horace M, and Marian Albright Schenck. Creating the National Park Service: The Missing Years. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999.

Hartzog, George B. Jr; Battling for the National Parks; Moyer Bell Limited; Mt. Kisco, New York; 1988

Ridenour, James M. The National Parks Compromised: Pork Barrel Politics and America's Treasures. Merrillville, IN: ICS Books, 1994.

Wirth, Conrad L. Parks, Politics, and the People. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1980.

Shankland, Robert; Steve Mather of the National Parks; Alfred A. Knopf, New York; 1970


As of December 2021 the National Park Service administers 423 units from the Caribbean to Alaska to the South Pacific. Its varied sites recorded 327,000,000 recreation visits in 2019. In all likelihood the future holds both more units and visits all in the face of declining funds, shrinking staffs, and a maintenance backlog of around $12 billion. The situation presents a bold challenge particularly for those staffing field operations who often see their work as a calling rather than a career. We can only hope their enthusiasm and dedication outlasts the obstacles that threaten their mission.

National Park Service arrowhead insignia

Sources

Illustration and text:
National Park Service entry, Wikipedia.org

www.nps.gov

Leni Riefenstahl: The Fuhrer's Remarkable Filmmaker

 

Leni Riefenstall in 1933

Today marks the birthday in 1902 of the German Expressionist film maker, Leni Riefenstahl (1902-2003). If you were in school during the third quarter of the 20th century there's a likely chance you are familiar with her landmark 1935 film, Triumph of the Will. This legendary propaganda piece was the product of her fascination with Adolph Hitler, the National Socialist movement and his desire to document the party rally in Nuremberg in 1934. It was the second film she produced for Hitler.  Its success, as well as their ongoing friendship, resulted in other notable projects but nothing approached the success of Triumph of the Will. At the same time, her association with the party, its principals, and her use of the enforced labor of talented Jews brought her a brief prison term at the end of World War II. She was also shunned for three decades by the world-wide film industry.

Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler greets Leni Riefenstahl, 1934

In the last quarter of her life of 102 years she focused on still photography of nature and culture in Africa. At age 72, she developed an interested in underwater photography, became a certified diver, and went on to produce two books and one film featuring marine life.

Riefenstahl reached the heights of creativity and controversy in her lifetime. I don't expect interpretations of her legacy will change. To admire her amazing technical innovation in documentary film making one has to ignore her association with evil. It is an association she denied but the evidence was deeply embedded in her life and work. We are also left with hard evidence that she was a genius behind the camera.

Here are some highlights from her films: 

The 1932 film, Das Blaue Licht (The Blue Light) is based on a Brothers Grimm fairy tale. Riefenstahl directed, produced, and starred in the film. It is notable as an example of Alpine cinema, one of the first sound films to be shot on location, and the film that attracted Hitler to Riefenstahl. 

Triumph of the Will (1934) is a propaganda masterpiece documenting the Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg directed, co-written, produced, and edited by Riefenstahl. Its imagery has defined Nazi leaders and Nazism to this day.

The film has also produced some viciously effective humor including this propaganda short by Charles A. Ridley in 1941. The Furhrer and members of his leadership circle, especially propagandist Joseph Goebbels, hated both the Lambeth Walk as well as this parody. 

And from the prologue of Olympia (1938) her documentary - written, directed, and produced -of the famous Berlin games of 1936. Image and sound quality are marginal in this clip but the intent shines through. Viewer warning: be prepared for skimpy 1930-style thongs and bare breasts.

For an interesting assessment of Riefenstall's impact on film making, here is D.L. Booth writing in the Bright Lights Journal about the "body beautiful," particularly in the James Bond film series beginning in 1962.

Sources


Photos:
portrait, Невідомо [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
with Hitler, Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-R99035 / CC-BY-SA [CC BY-SA 3.0 de (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons


Text:
wikipedia.org, Leni Riefenstall
leni-riefenstall.de
theguardian.com/film/2003/sep/09/world.news1, Leni Riefenstahl

Remembering The Big Blowup, Our Nation's Largest Forest Fire

 

Wallace, Idaho, after the Big Blowup of 1910

So far, the Western U.S. is in the midst of a moderate fire season that has already claimed the lives of several firefighters. With persistent dry weather the situation could worsen. On this day in 1910 the fire season was far worse. High winds merged almost two thousand small forest fires across Washington, Idaho and Montana into a massive area of fire that burned 3 million acres of timber. This fire, known as the Big Blowup, destroyed several towns, miles of transportation infastructure, and took the lives of 87 people, 78 of them firefighters. It still ranks as the largest forest fire in U.S. history.

Result of wildfire "hurricane" at St. Joe River, C'oeur d'Alene, Idaho

At the time of the fire the U.S.Forest Service (USFS) was a new and struggling agency in the federal government. This fire not only enhanced the agency's purpose but also gave it focus on the strategy and tactics of forest fire fighting. It also produced the USFS's first legendary character, Ranger Ed Pulaski. An article by the Forest History Society tells the story:

Fighting a fire about ten miles southwest of Wallace, Idaho, Ranger Pulaski order his crew of forty-three men to follow him to a mineshaft to escape the inferno. They barely outran the fire. Pulaski ordered his men to lie down on the tunnel floor while he hung blankets over the entrance, threatening to shoot any man who tried to flee. He threw water onto the blankets until the smoke overwhelmed him. When the men awoke the next day, all but five had survived. Pulaski’s decisive actions and his courage in the face of death made for great copy. But it was his simple desire to get home to his wife and daughter in Wallace that struck a universal cord with the public and helped elevate him into Forest Service myth almost before the fires had stopped burning. It was not long before Pulaski became a hero—though he never comfortably wore that mantle—and his story legend. His legend was further cemented when he was credited with inventing the firefighting tool that bears his name. He received no compensation for either his wounds or his invention. The only compensation came in 1923 when he won $500 in an essay contest for the account of his actions in the Big Blowup.

Pulaski's eponymous invention, a combination grubbing hoe and ax

As you read this today, there's a good likelihood a few thousand pulaskis are hard at work on  fires across the US. Behind each one stands a firefighter risking life and limb to protect our resources and populations at almost any cost. Historic fires like the Big Blow led to policies that in the past gave them no options. In the last generation or so the USFS policy of total fire suppression has been questioned given our research in fire and forest ecology and our persistent settlement in what is called the wildland-urban interface. Essentially fire can be thought of as another tool under the right conditions. With new science and news tools, decision making for fire managers is certainly more complex today but it does make what will always be a dangerous job somewhat safer.

On this historic day, and every day we have men and women assigned to forest fires, we need to keep them in mind and more. It's a risky job whether you make the decisions, fly the aircraft or most certainly dig the fire lines, and we want every one of them to come home safe.




Sources

Photos:

National Photo Company Collection (Library of Congress) REPOSITORY: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.
state.sc.us/forest/edutools.htm, Pulaski photo



Text:


idahoforests.org, The 1910 Fire
wikipedia.org, Great Fire of 1910
foresthistory.org, The 1910 Fires
spokesman.com, Forest fire, the largest in U.S. History, left stories of awe, tragedy

(Some) Women Get The Vote

 

Women's suffragists parade in New York City in 1917, carrying placards with the signatures of more than one million women

In early May 1919 a joint resolution was approved in Congress proposing a constitutional amendment affirming that a US citizen's right to vote could not be denied based on sex. It was a brief proposal based on a near century-long effort to achieve that end.\

By 1920, twenty-seven states had already given women the right to vote. The amendment required approval of thirty-six of the forty-eight states before it could be become the law of the land. The ratification process was completed on August 18, 1920 with approval from Tennessee. One week later the Nineteenth Amendment became an official part of the Constitution with the signature of Secretary of State, Bainbridge Colby. 

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

 Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Although now part of national law the Nineteenth Amendment had limitation, Many state constitutions, citizenship and immigration issues, and local regulations including literacy and poll taxes kept African American, Native American, Latina, and Asian women from voting long into the first half of the 20th century. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 and its subsequent amendments reaffirmed and strengthened historic rights to the ballot box. 

This post remembers only one landmark in the fascinating story of women's suffrage in the US. Consult the references listed below, particularly the Wikipedia articles, sources, and external links, for more information.

Sources

Text:

Wikipedia.com, Nineteenth Amendment,  

National Women's History Museum

Women's Rights National Historical Park

Photos and Illustrations:

suffragists, The New York Times photo archive, public domain

Nineteen Amendment, National Archives and Records Administration

Miles Davis's Kind Of Blue

 

On this day in 1959 Columbia Records released an album by the jazz trumpeter, Miles Davis. Some extraordinary talent joined him in the studio, including John Coltrane (saxophone), Cannonball Adderley (saxophone), Bill Evans (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), Jimmy Cobb (drums), and Wynton Kelly (piano). Their album, Kind of Blue, would go on to become the best selling album of all time. These words from the introductory paragraphs of the album's Wikipedia entry define its status:

 

Kind of Blue is regarded by many critics as Davis's masterpiece, the greatest jazz record, and one of the best albums of all time. Its effect on music, including jazz, rock, and classical genres, has led writers to also deem it one of the most influential albums ever recorded. The album was one of fifty recordings chosen in 2002 by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry and in 2003 it was ranked number 12 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

 

In the sixty-plus years since its release interest has not waned. In fact, since 2016, the sale of 1.6 million copies of Kind of Blue pushed the album to certified five-times platinum status or five million copies sold. 

In the online music database AllMusic, senior editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine said this about Kind of Blue:

Kind of Blue isn't merely an artistic highlight for Miles Davis, it's an album that towers above its peers, a record generally considered as the definitive jazz album, a universally acknowledged standard of excellence. Why does Kind of Blue possess such a mystique? Perhaps because this music never flaunts its genius. ... It's the pinnacle of modal jazz — tonality and solos build from the overall key, not chord changes, giving the music a subtly shifting quality. ... It may be a stretch to say that if you don't like Kind of Blue, you don't like jazz — but it's hard to imagine it as anything other than a cornerstone of any jazz collection.

I was on the cusp of my teenage years when the album arrived in record stores but far more interested  in listening to rock and roll on my portable radio. To me jazz at that time meant big bands with Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and Cab Calloway. They made great music but it would take me some years to appreciate other aspects of jazz that I had consigned to beatniks and their coffee houses. That's one of the consequences of being an adult before you experience adolescence.

Regardless, in my seventh decade I can look back and say I've loved Kind of Blue for at least forty years. Listening to it remains very personal and an experience rarely shared. On the other hand, this is a special day in jazz history and it's pleasing to share this landmark event with you. Do enjoy.

Sources

Photos and Illustrations:

Wikipedia

Text:

Wikipwdia.com

biography.com

rollingstone.com, Miles Davis: The Man Who Changed Music

It's National Rum Day 2022!

Yes, friends. it's time to let out a hardy "Yo Ho Ho" on National Rum Day 2022. Americans should be very happy about this event for two reasons. First, rum as we know it is a New World drink. Its distillation first occurred in the Caribbean about 400 years ago. It became wildly popular in the American colonies by the 18th century because of its proximity to and abundance of sugar, the main ingredient. That brings us to our second reason: rum production was a massive recycling project. Rum is a by-product of the sugar industry. After all that sugar boiled off the cane juice, refiners were left with a gooey, black, and useless mess we know as molasses. Enterprising slaves discovered that fermented molasses, when distilled, produced an alcoholic beverage. Soon a new industry emerged out of a vast overabundance of the waste product from sugar production, the relatively brief fermentation period required, ease of storage and long shelf life, and a close-by market eager for cheap spirits. But there's more.

In his fascinating book, And A Bottle Of Rum: A History Of The New World In Ten Cocktails, Wayne Curtis says this about rum:

Rum is the history of America in a glass. It was invented by New World colonists for New World colonists. In the early colonies, it was a vital part of the economic and cultural life of the cities and villages alike, and it soon became an actor in the political life.

Rum's genius has always been its keen ability to make something from nothing. Rum has persistently been among the cheapest of liquors and thus often associated with the gutter. But through the alchemy of cocktail culture, it has turned into gold in recent years. Rum is reinvented every generation or two by different clans, ranging from poor immigrants who flocked from England to the West Indies, to Victorians enamored of pirates, to prohibitionists and abolitionists, right down to our modern marketing gurus, who tailor it day by day to capture the fickle attentions of customers attracted to bright glimmerings of every passing fad.

My first serious encounter with rum didn't involve a bottle or a drink. It was 1966 and I was hiking across the north shore of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands with the intent of documenting the remains of its many sugar mills. Over the next forty years, my career returned me to St. Thomas and St. John many times where I became more familiar with the most famous byproduct of sugar production.

Though not really a staple in our household, we've come to enjoy rum occasionally. Today, we pour it in the summer to make classic mojitos when there's fresh mint in the garden. When it's time to entertain on the porch or patio, it's time to mix up a batch of Painkiller. Makes for a fine dessert all by itself and doesn't need to be powerful to be enjoyed. When it's time to move by the fireplace there are so many ways to enjoy a winter rum I won't attempt to list them.

St Croix [Virgin Islands] Sugar Mill Pre-20th century, artist unknown

And speaking of cocktails what better way to celebrate National Rum Day than sinking into a comfortable lounger with drink in hand and a good book. Time to check the liquor cabinet and fridge!


Happy National Rum Day, y'all!


Sources


Photo:
wikipedia.com


Text:
Wayne Curtis, And A Bottle Of Rum: A History Of The New World In Ten Cocktails, Broadway Books, 2007
David Wondrich, Imbibe!, revised edition, Penguin Group, 2015
wikipedia.com

Woodstock: A Mass Of Talent For A Massive Audience

Woodstock was billed as an Aquarian exposition featuring three days of peace and music. Indeed it's remarkable that the event proved relatively peaceful in spite of a continuing deluge that turned the venue into a sea of mud and logistical chaos. And there was the music, now legendary. Although a vast mythology enveloped the event over the years, there was the music, and it will always stand alone. 

And, no, I wasn't there but the music of a generation and more was there, and in many cases is still with us. So who graced the stage at the festival we have come to know as Woodstock? Here is the list according to the Woodstock Wikipedia page: 

Richie Havens 

Swami Satchidananda 

Sweetwater 

Bert Sommer

Tim Hardin 

Ravi Shankar 

Melanie 

Arlo Guthrie 

Joan Baez 

Quill Country 

Joe McDonald 

Santana 

John Sebastian 

Keef Hartley Band 

The Incredible String Band 

Canned Heat 

Mountain 

Grateful Dead  

Creedence Clearwater Revival 

Janis Joplin with The Kozmic Blues Band 

Sly and the Family Stone 

The Who 

Jefferson Airplane and Nicky Hopkins 

Joe Cocker and The Grease Band 

Country Joe and the Fish 

Ten Years After 

The Band

 Johnny Winter and his brother, Edgar Winter 

Blood, Sweat & Tears 

Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young 

Paul Butterfield Blues Band 

Sha Na Na 

Jimi Hendrix 

The festival opened on August 15 and attracted an audience estimated at 400,000 or twice what the promoters expected. In 1969, the rock critic Ellen Sander said this about the festival's significance: 

No longer can the magical multicolored phenomenon of pop culture be overlooked or underrated. It’s happening everywhere, but now it has happened in one place at one time so hugely that it was indeed historic .... The audience was a much bigger story than the groups. It was major entertainment news that the line-up of talent was of such magnificence and magnitude (thirty-one acts, nineteen of which were colossal) .... These were, however, the least significant events of what happened over the Woodstock weekend. What happened was that the largest number of people ever assembled for any event other than a war lived together, intimately and meaningfully and with such natural good cheer that they turned on not only everyone surrounding them but the mass media, and, by extension, millions of others, young and old, particularly many elements hostile to the manifestations and ignorant of the substance of pop culture.

The Woodstock Preservation Alliance has this to say about the event's long-term significance to the American experience:

 

Woodstock was the culmination of a transformation in American popular music that had begun with [the] Monterey [Pop Festival]....Woodstock introduced the same wide diversity of talent, albeit on an expanded scale, to a truly mass audience....A subsequent documentary film...and several sound recordings helped establish what only two years before had been underground or avant-garde musical styles and ushered them into the mainstream. Participating musicians, industry insiders, and rock critics and historians concur that Woodstock changed the way that popular music was programmed and marketed. Festival promoters noted the large numbers of fans who were willing to put up with often inadequate facilities....Promoters saw opportunities to improve their profit margin by more efficiently organizing festivals....They also understood that increased ticket prices would need to be offset...by moving the festivals from pastoral settings into sports arenas and convention centers and limiting the shows to a single-day or evening.... [Such changes] altered the festival-going experience... and thereby diminished the sense of community that many commentators considered the sine qua non of the Woodstock experience. The development of "arena rock" marked the end of the rock "vaudeville circuit," and led to the demise of the smaller concert hall venues....The arenas also gave the upper hand to the style of music called heavy metal, represented by loudly amplified guitar based and blues-inflected bands composed almost entirely of white male musicians, whose aggressive style of playing was ideally suited for filling the audible space in arena settings. After Woodstock, musicians apprehended the seemingly insatiable demand for their music and began commanding higher fees. It thus soon proved to be no longer economically feasible to book several major bands on the same bill....This in turn led to the segmentation of the fan base....In the years fol1owing Woodstock, however, fans were channeled into attending concerts that featured fewer acts, typically representing one or two musical styles. Part of the Woodstock Festival's enduring legacy is the continuing efforts to counteract this trend by replicating the multi-performer/genre concert experience. Over the past three decades various parties have staged or attempted to stage successors to Woodstock, either by that name at different sites or else on or near the original site under a different name. [These efforts have had mixed success over the decades.]

 

Some impact I'd say. 

If you watched the opening you learned Joni Mitchell didn't appear as scheduled but she penned an extraordinary description of the event. She released the version you heard above on her album, Ladies of the Canyon eight months after the festival. A month earlier, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young featured the song on their album, Deja Vu. Their version proved to be a #1 cover hit revered to this day by audiences young and old.

Well I came upon a child of God, he was walking along the road 

And I asked him tell where are you going, this he told me: 

Said, I'm going down to Yasgur's farm, going to join in a rock and roll band. 

Got to get back to the land, set my soul free. 

We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon, 

And we got to get ourselves back to the garden. 

Well, then can I walk beside you? I have come to lose the smog. 

And I feel like I'm a cog in something turning. 

And maybe it's the time of year, yes, and maybe it's the time of man. 

And I don't know who I am but life is for learning. 

We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon, 

And we got to get ourselves back to the garden. 

By the time we got to Woodstock, we were half a million strong, 

And everywhere was song and a celebration. 

And I dreamed I saw the bombers jet planes riding shotgun in the sky, 

Turning into butterflies above our nation. 

We are stardust, we are golden, we are caught in the devil's bargain, 

And we got to get ourselves back to the garden.

If you want to remember this historic Aquarian exposition or imagine it for the first time you can choose among several original recordings. Better yet watch the director's cut of the documentary, Woodstock. The film, an outstanding example of documentary film making, is a perfect capture of the concert as well as the pivotal national experience that created it. 

Sources 

Photos and Illustrations: 

wikipedia.com 

Text: 

quotations: woodstockpreservation.org/SignificanceStatement.htm 

azlyrics.com

The Irrepressible Singer-Songwriter, David Crosby, Turns 81

 

The American singer, songwriter and musician, David Crosby, turns 81 years old today. He may be a social and political bad boy in the eyes of many but he remains an iconic figure in the performance and evolution of popular music beginning in the 1960s. His talents, notably his songwriting and beautiful high harmony, helped propel The Byrds, and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young to the top of the charts. Crosby is still on the circuit adding his signature sound --and rather strong it remains--after all these years. Furthermore he released his eighth studio album earlier this year. Considering the toll from years of unhealthy life choices both emotional and physical, we're fortunate to have him around for another generation of admirers. For me, Crosby ranks among the best of the singer songwriters.

Here is a sample of the poet's work performed in its golden age, first with Graham Nash, and second, with Nash, Stephen Stills, and Neil Young:

Deja Vu

If I had ever been here before

I would probably know just what to do

Don't you?

If I had ever been here before

On another time around the wheel

I would probably know just how to deal

With all of you

And I feel like I've been here before

I feel like I've been here before

And you know it makes me wonder

What's going on under the ground

Do you know? Don't you wonder

What's going on down under you?

I rarely post links to long videos but here is an exception, a one hour interview with Crosby recorded in 2015 at the Aspen Institute. If you have an interest in pop music history this will be an hour well-spent with an amazingly talented and entertaining man who lived that history most of us can only talk about.

For even more music and storytelling featuring many contributions by Crosby, many of his bandmates, and other from the Laurel Canyon scene of the late 1960's watch Echo In the Canyon. It's a two-hour documentary produced in 2018 and available on Netflix.

Happy birthday, David! Sail on.












Sources

Photo:
miaminewtimes.com, photo by Django Crosby

Text:
miaminewtimes.com
wikipedia.com
davidcrosby.com

Perseid Meteor Shower 2022

 

They're back!  Yes, it's time for the Perseids, the most reliable meteor shower of the year. The shower emanates from the constellation, Perseus. In Greek mythology Perseus was one of the greatest hero warriors. He his best remembered for slaying the Gorgon Medusa whose gaze could turn men to stone. He went on to use the head as a weapon on his journey to kingship in Greek mythology. 

Now that the earth has finally moved into the debris field of the comet Swift-Tuttle, the shower will reach its peak on August 12-13. Unfortunately, this year's watchers will have to contend with reduced visibility due to the full moon. All is not lost though because new research has concluded that the Perseid event produces more fireballs - meteors brighter than the planets, Jupiter and Venus - than any other shower so you can still see them even in full moonlight. One of the most spectacular fireballs I ever saw cut across at least 120 degrees of steel blue sky about half an hour after sunset. It's usually best to skywatch between midnight and sunrise, but predicting shower peaks remains a difficult task. 

Perseus with the head of Medusa

Here's how to enjoy the Perseids. If the night is clear, find a dark location, take a lounge chair or blanket and bug spray outside especially between midnight and dawn and look into the northeast sky. In that sky, you'll see a lopsided "W" known as the constellation Cassiopeia, an easy marker for its neighbor, Perseus. The shower radiates from this point as it rotates across the sky, but it's important to note that meteors may occur anywhere in the sky dome. Furthermore, you will likely see some random meteors that will not fit the pattern.

Don't bother with a telescope, but you may enjoy binoculars for exploring deeper into space when the meteor watch gets a tad boring. Also, if your weather doesn't cooperate at the shower's maximum, keep in mind that it will be gradually declining through the evening of August 18 so you still have a good chance of seeing a piece of the show especially with a waning moon. If your weather doesn't cooperate remember that the shower will be available on  several You Tube live streams. 


For the latest news about this year's shower visit spaceweather.com.











Sources

Photos and Illustrations:
Perseus With the Head of Medusa, ca. 1800, Antonio Canova. Vatican City, Museo Pio-Clementino, Octagon Hall, Canova Cabinet

Text:
earthsky.org

Hiroshima: A New Weapon Ends A War

 

There's been almost no mention of this event in newscasts this week but I believe it's worth remembering.

On August 6, 1945 at 8:15 a.m. Japan Local Time the world changed.

Forty-three seconds after releasing the bomb nicknamed "Little Boy," pilot Col. Paul Tibbets was alerted to the blast by radioactivity tingling in his teeth and the metallic taste from electrolysis on his tongue. Ten and a half miles away, tens of thousands of people had already vanished in a brilliant flash. A massive firestorm would grip the city within minutes and kills thousands more. This photo taken minutes after the blast at a distance of six miles was found in a suburban Hiroshima grade school in 2013:

This photo taken after the removal of street and lot debris revealed the full extent of the destruction.

As the first use of an atomic weapon against an enemy, the decision to drop the bomb on Hiroshima - and Nagasaki three days later - was controversial. The decision assuredly brought a very quick end to the war with Japan and in the eyes of most historians and military experts saved the lives of millions of combatants and civilians. For more on this historic event and its aftermath readers should visit the Harry S. Truman Library & Museum's outstanding archive of primary sources relating to the story.

Tibbets, pilot and commander, in the cockpit prior to takeoff for Hiroshima

For a three minute assessment of the event by Tibbets visit this history.com link.

The last surviving Enola Gay crew member - Theodore "Dutch" Van Kirk - died at his home in Stone Mountain, Georgia, in 2014. It's one more indication that our greatest generation as an eyewitness to history is itself rapidly moving into history.



Sources


Photos and Illustrations:
Ground photo, gizmodo.com.au
Hiroshima aftermath, U.S. Navy Public Affairs Website, chinfo.navy.milEnola Gay photo, National Archives and Records Service

Conrad Aiken: Savannah's Foremost Existentialist

This year marks the 133rd anniversary of the birth of the poet, Conrad Aiken. He was born on August 6, 1889, in Savannah and lived in a townhouse on Oglethorpe Avenue across the street from Colonial Cemetery. He often played in that ancient burial ground midst tabby crypts and tombstones where the mortal remains of many of Georgia's aristocracy found rest. From the time he was eight or nine he wanted to be a writer. Soon he found himself captured by the works of Edgar Allan Poe and happily sharing the terror with his brother and sisters.

With his parents immersed in Savannah society and surrounded by wealth, privilege, and pedigree, he seemed destined for happiness. His father was a successful physician; his mother, a leader in Savannah society circles. Unfortunately, there was little peace in the family. One day, when young Aiken was eleven, his father took a revolver and killed his wife, then killed himself. Aiken never fully recovered from the horror of that day. He would spend the rest of his life exploring the interplay and uncertainty of a good and evil world.

Aiken spent the remainder of his childhood with relatives in New England. Later, he would attend Harvard where he was deeply influenced by the writer-philosopher, George Santayana. He also began a life-long friendship with fellow student, T.S. Eliot. Aiken would go on to write lyrical poetry weighted with symbolism and psychological exploration so deep that, in his own words, "Freud was in everything after 1912." Later in his career he moved predominantly to prose expressing "faith in consciousness" and an endless search for knowledge as the means to bring order and structure to the larger consciousness of the world. In all, he wrote or edited fifty books, including his poetry, short stories, five novels, and one autobiography.

Unfortunately, for all of his output Conrad Aiken never achieved the level of fame of his good friend, T. S. Eliot or other contemporaries. Shyness kept him away from readings that, for a poet, were lifelines to his audience. Also, he was a most candid critic, a posture that did not endear him to his fellow writers. Lastly, as a resident of both the United States and Europe he could never quite be associated with writers, benefactors, and salons on both sides of the Atlantic. By 1960, he had been resident in the U.S for some years and "rediscovered." Aiken eventually returned part-time to the elegance of Savannah. He spent the winters living next to his boyhood home, becoming the focus of social and academic circles and sought out by admirers until his death in 1973.

If you wander toward the eastern bluff in Savannah's magnificent Bonaventure Cemetery you arrive at Aiken Way. At it's end you find a memorial bench Aiken installed before his death. Next to it is a headstone bearing the identical death dates of his parents, an eerie reminder of the chaos we all face in our lives.

For those of us who have found our peace, there is a profound release there under the live oaks and Spanish moss. Others may not be so fortunate. Aiken is one them. In life, he was restless, a constant searcher forever sailing through an uncertain sea. He felt the same about death and wanted us to know. How fitting it was that he should find his epitaph quite by accident while perusing the Savannah newspapers. It appeared in the daily list of port activity and read simply: "Cosmos Mariner - Destination Unknown." Aiken indeed saw himself a cosmic mariner who on his death in 1973 cast off without a port of call, destination unknown. He left behind, engraved on the bench the wish, "Give my love to the world." It is a rather confident wish coming from a restless sailor. We can pray that every man should find safe harbor, all the while knowing that we are not the final judge of his navigation. We are left merely to explore the products of a shy and troubled man who could appreciate a bawdy pun and have his say in singing words and lilting prose.

Ruinous blisses, joyous pains,

Life the destroyer, life the breaker,

And death, the everlasting maker....

If readers want to learn more about Aiken and his world, I strongly recommend they read this interview published in The Paris Review in 1963.







Sources:

Conrad Aiken, The New Georgia Encyclopedia, entry by Ted R. Spivey
Conrad Aiken, Wikipedia
Conrad Aiken: Progidy Unitarian Poet, Richard A. Kelloway
The Paris Review, Issue 42, Winter-Spring, 1968, The Art of Poetry: Conrad Aiken, interviewed by Robert Hunter Wilbur
poem fragment, conclusion from Aiken's, "The Dance of Life" published in 1916.

The Last Crooner: Tony Bennett Turns 96

 

Anthony Benedetto, better known as Tony Bennett, turns 96 this week. He is the last in a long line of great crooners from the 20th century. For more than seventy years on stage he drew huge audiences to his annual full concert schedule of tunes from jazz, to Broadway, to the Great American Songbook. Early last year it was announced that he would no longer be touring due to the progressive Alzheimer's disease originally diagnosed in 2016. A few months later he had quite a retirement party at Radio City Muusic Hall with Lady Gaga to celebrate his birthday and the upcoming release of their new album. He's been retiredf  from the the stage for about a year. 

Bennett in 2018

Bennett has been at the business so long he's had two careers, a fifteen-year affair with the Greatest Generation, and a now forty-year reinvention with new artists, music, and audiences following a brief lull during the rock and roll era. Bennett has also been in the forefront of introducing current generations to the Great American Songbook.

He is an interesting blend of vocal talent and showmanship, a well-perfected entertainer with a not so perfect voice. You have to learn how to appreciate the value of a permanent vocal strain and a sound out of vaudeville. For me, it was a long learning process, but I've come to appreciate and enjoy the total Bennett experience. Here he is performing with the sensational jazz/pop vocalist, Diana Krall:

Lately the entertainer has reached deep into the past for material and produced a series of duet albums with vocalist young and old. In addition to Krall, Bennett recorded albums with Paul McCartney, Josh Groban, Lady Gaga, Stevie Wonder, Norah Jones, and Marc Anthony. Here is a cut from his first album with Lady Gaga: 

Thank you for the music, Tony. Here's wishing you a happy 96th birthday and many more to come.


If you like what you hear, buy the music and help keep jazz, swing, and the Great American Songbook alive and well.







Sources

Photos and Illustrations:
public domain photo, Bob Elyea

Text:
Tony Bennett, Wikipedia.org
Tony Bennett, tonybennett.com

Louis Armstrong: The Barefoot Boy From The Battlefield

 

If there was one personality to play music as a joyful and universal language in the last century it was Louis Armstrong. He once wrote that  "what we play is jazz." He indeed helped make a wonderful world during his near six decades in jazz and popular music. He was a phenomenal jazz trumpeter, performer, writer, stage personality and all around good will ambassador who was born on this day in New Orleans in 1901. He was nicknamed, "Satchmo," short for "satchelmouth," as a child because of his prominent mouth. The moniker stayed with him as he blazed a trail of unforgettable music throughout his life. Although he passed away in 1971 his imprint remains large in popular music and jazz in particular.

Louis Armstrong                                   Adi Holzer, 2002

Here is a short video by storyteller, Mick Carlon, relating Armstrong's impact on the 20th century in a TEDx program for students.

Readers can learn more about Armstrong life and impact at the Louis Armstrong House Museum site.

And here are two pieces of the master at his trade performing Now You Has Jazz at the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival, and his signature song, What A Wonderful World:

In 1956 Armstrong joined with Ella Fitzgerald and the Oscar Peterson Quartet to make an album that to this day consistently appears in lists of the top ten jazz albums of all time. Here is a sample from this masterpiece:

After just a few minutes of this talent on display, I'm sure readers will agree that Armstrong indeed helped make a wonderful world for his audience. May his smile, his sound, and his goodness stay with us for a long, long time.

The Signing Of The Declaration Of Independence, August 2, 1776

 

For those who found the July 4 holiday weekend a hectic time to read the Declaration of Independence today offers you another opportunity. Why today? On August 2, 1776 most of the delegates signed the document. Others signed at a later date, some because they had not been elected. The only signature required by the Continental Congress was that of its president, John Hancock. Regardless, here is an essential document in US history. 

 

In Congress, July 4, 1776


The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation. 

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

When John Hancock signed the document on July 4 it became an official statement by a fledgling government in exile. The collective power of 56 signatures illustrates the serious nature of their endeavor. It is an expression of the statement attributed to Benjamin Franklin made that day that "we must all hang together, or ... we shall all hang separately." Indeed, British forces would go on to destroy the lives and fortunes of many of the signers but their movement would survive to redefine human rights and government around the world.

Sources

Text:
National Archives and Records Administration