Walt Whitman: American Bard

 

The American poet and essayist, Walt Whitman, was born on this day in 1819 in West Hills, Long Island, New York. His formal education ended after six years but his insatiable desire to learn immersed him in libraries, museums, lectures, salons, and landscapes in and around New York. His life as a poet, essayist, journalist and humanitarian would take him to New Orleans, Washington, Boston, and Camden, New Jersey, but his associations in New York would make the greater metropolitan area the hub of his career.

Whitman in 1887

A free spirit easily recognized as the most extraordinary poet of his time, Whitman bridged the American experience from the early Romantic period in literature to the advent of hard realism as the end of the century approached. I'm not sure what presence he has these days in public school systems across the country but baby boomers - born between 1946 and 1964 - had a full dose of his poetry beginning in elementary school. For more information on Whitman, including an extensive biography, visit the outstanding resources at the Walt Whitman Archive.

For an example of his work here is "One's-Self I Sing," the introductory poem to the third and last section of his collection, Leaves of Grass, as published in 1867.

ONE’S-SELF I sing—a simple, separate Person;

Yet utter the word Democratic, the word En-masse.

Of Physiology from top to toe I sing;

Not physiognomy alone, nor brain alone, is worthy for the muse—I say the

Form complete is worthier far;

The Female equally with the male I sing.

Of Life immense in passion, pulse, and power,

Cheerful—for freest action form’d, under the laws divine,

The Modern Man I sing.

Much of Whitman's poetry has been set to music. Sometimes the blend of music and existing poetry as opposed to lyric has limited success and authors often do not think favorably of such adaptations. I believe Whitman would have approved especially with the music coming from a fellow impressionist, in this case Frederick Delius. This composition has been a personal favorite for forty years. The recording features the superb Welsh baritone, Bryn Terfel, and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Chorus under the baton of Richard Hickox. If you want to follow the text it's available here.

Here is a brief, well-known poem brought to a new generation through it's use in the 1989 film, Dead Poets Society.

Sources

Photos and Illustrations:
public domain photo, George Collins Cox, restored by Adam Cuerden, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

Text:
whitmanarchive.org
Walt Whitman entry, wikipedia.org
One's Self I Sing, wikipedia.org

Benny Goodman: The King Swings

In 1935 Benny Goodman and his band had a regular late-night gig on Saturdays on NBC's radio program, Let's Dance. Broadcast from New York, most of the local teens and twenty-somethings who enjoyed his music were fast asleep. On the other hand, it was perfect timing for young audiences on the West Coast. A labor strike brought the program to a sudden and unexpected end and put Goodman and his band out of work. Together they decided on a coast to coast tour. In the interior states, the tour was a disaster because people didn't care for "upbeat" jazz arranged for orchestra. The band was looking forward to the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles as the last stop and an end to the pain. When they arrived, thousands of young fans who had heard them on the radio were waiting to hear them in person. What was to be a welcome end to a disastrous tour turned into the beginning of the swing era.

In the shadow of Bebop: Benny Goodman, 1946

Eighteen months later , the now famous Goodman Orchestra was invited to present a jazz review on January 16, 1938 in Carnegie Hall, a venue historically reserved for "high brow" music. Several members of the Duke Ellington and Count Basie orchestras and others joined on stage to perform a concert ranging from traditional to unconventional. No jazz bandleader had ever performed there. The concert was a sensation, reaffirming Goodman as the "King of Swing," and jazz as serious American music. In the eyes of many music critics and historians, this concert remains the single most important event in popular music history in the United States. Superlatives aside, the concert was a study in swing music history and jazz improvisation.

After several curtain calls at the end of the concert, Goodman announced to the screaming fans that an encore would follow. Sing, Sing, Sing was the last song in that set. It already was a popular piece for the band but this performance lifted it to holy status in the swing jazz genre. Featured players: Gene Kruppa on drums, Babe Russin on saxophone, Harry James on trumpet, Goodman on clarinet, and Jess Stacy in a masterpiece of improvisation on piano.

Today we celebrate the birthday of the clarinetist and bandleader, Benny Goodman (1909 - 1986). You can read more about him at his Wikipedia entry here. Mention "Palomar Ballroom" and "Carnegie Hall" in the same breath and any popular music historian will follow with "Benny Goodman." His performances at the two venues took place more than 80 years ago. Today we remember both concerts as course changing landmarks in the history of swing and jazz.

Publicity style photo of Benny Goodman around 1960

Sources

Photos and Illustrations:
1946 photo, Library of Congress, William Gottlieb Collection
1960 photo,public domain, publicity style candid photo of Benny Goodman

Text:
bennygoodman.com
Benny Goodman entry, wikipedia.org

One Hundred Ten Years of Stravinsky's Rite Of Spring

On this day 110 years ago the 30 year-old composer, Igor Stravinsky, made music history in Paris. The event was the premiere of the ballet Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring) in Paris. Like his earlier work for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, it was experimental and revolutionary. When combined with primitive choreography and a human sacrifice theme some in the audience were dazzled while others were infuriated to the point of riot.

Photo from 1913 showing original costumes

In the early 1980's the choreography was meticulously reconstructed after being lost for almost six decades. A few years after its completion it was presented by the Joffre Ballet. On the centennial of its premiere (May 29,2013) the ballet was presented in its original location, Theatre du Champs-Elysees, using the reconstructed choreography and costuming. Here is the complete performance for your enjoyment, maybe even astonishment given that this sound - and movement for those who appreciate dance - is over a century old.

Stravinsky's early imaginative compositions, including The Firebird and Petrouchka, went on to have a huge impact on music and the arts. At the forefront stands The Rite of Spring as one of the most widely recorded and performed symphonic works in the world. It remains as fresh in 2023 as it was in 1913. In that century its innovative energy in sound and rhythm has been re-patterned by the likes of Charles Ives, Aaron Copeland, Leonard Bernstein, John Williams, Philip Glass, John Adams and many others.

Some say the most productive experiments often make the biggest messes until they are better understood. The genius and madman in Stravinsky would very much agree.




Sources

Photos and Illustrations:
public domain photo from First Nights: Five Musical Premieres by Thomas F. Kelly. Yale University Press, New Haven, 2000.

Text:

Igor Stravinsky entry, wikipedia.org

Memorial Day 2023

Many of us grew up knowing this day as Decoration Day but now it is best known as Memorial Day. Though both its date and scope have changed over time its central meaning remains strong. At virtually every crossroad town from sea to sea, there will be old soldiers, flags, a speech or two, and prayers. These events will take place at memorial walls bearing the names of the honored dead. Invariably, the audiences will be small, but firmly dedicated to the idea that the nation will always remember the cost of freedom.

This is a day of mixed emotion as we honor men and women who made the supreme sacrifice in service to their country. They gave their lives that we might live out our own in an experiment of community called the United States. As we enjoy the holiday we will take some moments today to think of these honored men and women and what they have given us and our families.

Here in words and images, the contemplative moments continue...

From the silence of sorrowful hours,

The desolate mourners go,

Lovingly laden with flowers,

Alike for the friend and the foe:

Under the sod and the dew,

Waiting the judgment day.

Under the roses the Blue,

Under the lilies the Gray

A Soldier's Burial

by General George S. Patton (1943)

Not midst the chanting of the Requiem Hymn,

Nor with the solemn ritual of prayer,

Neath misty shadows from the oriel glass,

And dreamy perfume of the incensed air

Was he interred;

But in the subtle stillness after fight,

And the half light between the night and the day,

We dragged his body all besmeared with mud,

And dropped it, clod-like, back into the clay.

Yet who shall say that he was not content,

Or missed the prayers, or drone of chanting choir,

He who had heard all day the Battle Hymn

Sung on all sides by a thousand throats of fire.

What painted glass can lovelier shadows cast,

Than those the evening sky shall ever shed,

While, mingled with their light, Red Battle's Sun

Completes in magic colors o'er our dead,

The flag for which they died.

On The Cusp Of Summer

I thrive in the heat and sweat of a subtropical summer in what the magazine, Southern Living, calls the Lower South. And although not tropical by nature there's something very comforting about the formation of the season's first  coastal storm especially so close to the Georgia Bight. There is no wish for the winds, torrential rains, or high flood tides to bring trouble. Rather, it is the realization that the climate cycles have reconfirmed what we can expect from the trade winds that brought many of our ancestors to the New World. We call it the hurricane season and it begins on June 1. In fact, the first such storm in 1495 left Christopher Columbus and his crew begging for salvation and motivating their captain to venture in such storms only "in the very service of God."

In Georgia, the trades usually creep in softly around the middle of May. They appeared briefly then disappeared with the passage of what's likely to be the last cool frontal boundary we'll see until October. At this hour our coastal storm drifts slowly north toward the Carolina coast from its position about 300 miles east of Atlanta. The storm's blustery east winds freshened a stunningly beautiful day of crystal blue sky, low humidly, and warm temperatures. 

When the trades return to the Georgia coast, they will bring in the puffy and low fair-weather cumulus clouds that race over the beach. Occasionally the high cirrus and horsetails will precede them signaling waves of unsettled weather that may develop into hurricanes. Thankfully those friendly cumulus clouds simply sweep inland twenty miles or so where they meet hot air rising off the Georgia landscape. This cloud wall in the sky often transforms into a brisk and exciting line of thunderstorms sometimes extending from the city-state of Charleston to the Players Club fairways at Ponte Vedra Beach. In Savannah you can almost set your watch by the showers that drench the Forest City at 3:00 on summer afternoons.

Tybee Island, Georgia

For years I watched from my home and work on the coast as this light show over Savannah arced north and east toward Hilton Head. Sometimes when the land breezes swept in early in the day the storms moved over us. Such a magnificent show. Most storms over Tybee Island ended by midnight. In the early morning hours a quiet southeasterly breeze resumed and embraced the island in salt-saturated humidity only to be replaced by a slight land breeze that persisted until sunrise. If you slept on a porch or without air conditioning, Boat-tailed Grackles scrambling in the island's oleader bushes often made greeting the sunrise a certainty. I only objected on the weekends.

On the Georgia Sea Islands, it seems the trade wind days never want to end. Instead they dwindle ever so slowly into weeks of spectacular warm, dry, cloudless days, cool nights and warm water lasting into November. Of course, the occasional tropical storm can interrupt the coastal idyll that is the norm on the sea islands. It is to be expected and respected by those who share the fragile boundary of life at the ocean's edge.

High tide in salt marsh from US80 on the way to Tybee

Sources


Photos and Illustrations:
island photo, tybeebb.com
salt marsh, Fort Pulaski National Monument Handbook, 1954.

Memorial Day Weekend 2023

In the American composer Charles Ives's time (1874-1954) the holiday we celebrate on Monday was known as Decoration Day. It was a time to remember men and women in uniform who died in service to their country. Today, we call it Memorial Day and, though both its date and scope have changed over time, its central meaning remains strong. At virtually every crossroad town from sea to sea, there will be old soldiers, flags, a speech or two, and prayers. These events will take place at memorial walls bearing the names of the honored dead. Invariably, the audiences will be small, but firmly dedicated to the idea that the nation will always remember the cost of freedom.

Ives captures much of the historic character of this day in his composition, Holiday Symphony, Section II, "Decoration Day."  The piece has a number of familiar tunes but you may not recognize them without a guide. Like the holiday itself, Ives give us rich, complex, and contemplative moments in time and space.

I hope you experience Decoration/Memorial Day to its fullest; that is, with remembrance and celebration.

A Star Wars Premiere Elicits Memories Of Replicants And What It Means To Be Human

On this day in 1977 Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope opened in theaters across the US. It went on to be a blockbuster in science fiction fantasy filled with memorable characters and computer generated worlds of first-rate entertainment. A franchise worth billions grew out of the film but few of the chapters that have followed in the last forty years, in my opinion, have equaled or exceeded the excitement of the original. Last year when this post first appeared I had planned to write about Star Wars but a radio comment reminded me that the composer, Vangelis, had died a few days earlier. That reminded me of his score for the highly influential sci-fi cult classic, Blade Runner, adapted from Philip K. Dick's novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) and released in 1982.

Most people know a lot about the Star Wars films but unless you're a sci-fi fan you likely don't know much if anything about Blade Runner.  It opened in theaters on June 25 in the midst of some extraordinary competition. The release coincided with that of Star Trek - The Wrath of Khan, widely considered the best of the Star Trek films, and E.T. The Extraterrestrial, a sci-fi treat that would go on to earn the American Film Institute's ranking as the 24th greatest film of all time. Blade Runner, a dystopic, complex, contemplative, and often misunderstood film went on to receive a mediocre box office reception and mixed reviews. In time it would be recognized as a cult classic among sci-fi buffs rather than, at the time of its release, a deserving blockbuster among a wider audience. The film will not answer any questions for audiences but, given today's interest in artificial intllegence, will surely prompt viewers to ponder what it means to be human.

In the forty years since its release Blade Runner has notably influenced all stages of science fiction and fantasy fiction film productions including those of the Star Wars franchise. It also occupies a comfortable spot in several American Film Institute categories. 

In the following scene the "organic robot." Roy Batty, saves the life of Rick Deckard, the blade runner who comes out of retirement to kill him. Batty then goes on to deliver one of the most memorable monologues on film.

If you happened to enjoy Star Wars in 1977 reading this post likely brings a smile to your face. It was 121 minutes of pure entertainment. To see a film that created the anti-Star Wars genre as well as a model for many science fiction fantasy films to come, see the darker entertainment of Blade Runner. You will not be disappointed.

Bob Dylan: Rolling On At 82

Yesterday the legendary songwriter, Bob Dylan, turned 82. As expected, Scott Johnson, the outstanding cultural observer writing at Powerline, treated his readers to a revision of his Dylan tributes. Johnson conveys the message so well I won't begin to add to the story. His first post, Not Dark Yet, discusses the man and his significance in the world of music and beyond. His second post, Not Dark Yet, Cont., is devoted to Dylan the songwriter and features several likely unfamiliar covers of the master's work.

Bob Dylan was only 21 on July 9, 1962 when he walked into the Columbia Recording Studios in New York to record a song to be included on his second album. The song, Blowin' in the Wind, brought him fame and recognition as one of the nation's leading folk poets in the twentieth century. Dylan has this to say about the song in the June 1962 issue of the folk journal, Sing Out:

Too many of these hip people are telling me where the answer is but oh I won’t believe that. I still say it’s in the wind and just like a restless piece of paper it’s got to come down some ...But the only trouble is that no one picks up the answer when it comes down so not too many people get to see and know . . . and then it flies away.

The music critic, Andy Gill, said this about the song in his book, Classic Bob Dylan, 1962-1969: My Back Pages:

Blowin' in the Wind marked a huge jump in Dylan's songwriting. Prior to this, efforts like The Ballad of Donald White and The Death of Emmett Till had been fairly simplistic bouts of reportage songwriting. Blowin' in the Wind was different: for the first time, Dylan discovered the effectiveness of moving from the particular to the general. Whereas The Ballad of Donald White would become completely redundant as soon as the eponymous criminal was executed, a song as vague as Blowin' in the Wind could be applied to just about any freedom issue. It remains the song with which Dylan's name is most inextricably linked, and safeguarded his reputation as a civil libertarian through any number of changes in style and attitude.

Undoubtedly the song remains a poem for our time, perhaps all time. And Dylan just keeps rolling as well,



Sources

Photos and Illustrations:
public domain photo, 1964 Yearbook, St. Lawrence University, New York

Text:
Bob Dylan entry, Wikipedia.org
history.com

Artie Shaw: Much More Than A Musical Genius

The music world has several significant birthdays to remember this week. One of them (May 23, 1910) belongs to  Arthur Arshawsky, the clarinetist, composer, band leader, and author better known as Artie Shaw. To say that Shaw was complex and difficult would be an understatement. He was married eight times, greatly disliked fame, and resented the conflict between creativity and the music industry so much that he virtually abandoned music in the early 1950s. Perhaps his life illustrated a never ending search for perfection by a man who could have approached it in any number of fields. When he died in December 2004 at the age of 94, he was recognized as one of the century's finest jazz clarinetists and a principal force in the development of the fusion of jazz and classical music that would become known as "Third Stream Music." Technically, I think he was at the top. This 1936 recording of him performing his composition, Interlude in B Flat, provides the evidence:

And here is Shaw with strings and woodwinds performing Alberto Dominguez's composition, Frenesi. It charted at #1 in 1940 and would remain one of Shaw's greatest hits.

He completed an autobiography in 1952 and two years later gave up a full-time commitment to the industry and turned to a vast range of interests from advanced mathematics to literature. He went on two write several novels and short stories as well as an unfinished historical fiction trilogy on the jazz era. For a more thorough examination of even more facets in the life of this restless musical genius, visit this link at Swing Music Net for his obituary and this entry for his Wikipedia biography.

Get Ready For NCAA National Lacrosse Champonship Weekend, May 27 and 29. 2023

 

Although neither of the storied lacrosse rivals - Maryland and Johns Hopkins - will appear in this year's national championship weekend games in Philadelphia the action is guaranteed to be fast and hard hitting. Next Saturday, Duke and Penn State face off in the first semifinal game at 12:30 p.m. EDT followed by Virginia and Notre Dame at 2:30 p.m. The winners will meet in the championship gane on Memorial Day at 1:00 p.m. You can watch the big game on ESPN. The semifinals will be on ESPN2.

So what is this game called lacrosse? Lacrosse is an ancient American sport, dating from about 1000 C.E. In it's early days, the game had a religious significance. Sides could consist of as many as a few thousand players and the losing side sometimes paid with their lives. In the middle of the 19th century William George Beers, a Canadian dentist and lacrosse enthusiast, wrote rules and parameters to make the game more gentlemanly. His efforts paid dividends quickly as many clubs formed from the Great Lakes to the St. Lawrence River Valley. The Mohawk Lacrosse Club (New York, 1868) was the first club in the United States. Intercollegiate competition followed a decade later focused on universities from New York to Maryland.

An Indian Ball-Play                          George Catlin, 1846-50

Fast forward to today and you could say the game still has that religious fervor if you live from Maryland to New England, that part of the country where three-year-old boys (and some girls) get little lacrosse sticks for Christmas. These days, the teams are a bit smaller - ten players to a side - but there's still a good likelihood of some some bloodshed of the non-fatal variety. Just a generation ago the game at the college level was a virtually exclusive sport heavily anchored in the Ivy League and the Northeast. Today there are more than sixty Division I teams found on the East and West Coasts and at the flagship universities in the interior. Each year that number grows by two or three teams. Expansion in other college divisions and at the K-12 level is so great that the sport is recognized as the fastest growing team sport in the country. If you're interested in more information go to usalacrosse.com

Today around 900,000 players participate in some form of organized lacrosse. I'd say that's a sign of an outstanding future for the game. And speaking of the future, it looks brilliant for both Maryland and Johns Hopkins as they move from a building season in 2023 to 2024 when both teams should return to powerhouse status. I am so  looking forward to that and as always the annual Maryland-Hopkins clash that began in 1895.

Fear the Turtle!

The Sprites And Ghosts Of Summer's Fire In The Sky

Sprites                            Lomonosov Moscow State University

A forecast for potentially severe thunderstorms this afternoon reminded me that it's time to mention the season of the sprites. A sprite is a member of a family of upper atmosphere lightning phenomena called transient luminous events or TLE's. Other members of the TLE family include blue jets and elves. They are associated with thunderstorms and although observed earlier were unknown to science a little more than a generation ago. Digital photography and advanced computer technology enabled both their imaging and analysis beginning around 1995.

                        Centre Nationales D'Etudes Spatiales

I find these atmospheric events fascinating, beautiful, and mysterious but the probability of observing them in real time is practically nil. I have yet to see one in person. For certain I won't be seeing anything from my woodland home in Georgia or the eastern U.S. for that matter. When you find yourself in a thunderstorm-rich location with unlimited visibility beyond the horizon you have found the ideal conditions for LTE observation. In other words, our readers in Oklahoma, Texas, and other wide open spaces need only step out on the porch and into a comfortable chair to enjoy the possibility of seeing a rare and still mysterious show in the distant sky.

Below is an amazing video by the quintessential storm chaser, Pecos Hank, and the world's leading TLE photographer, Bill Smith. They are also credited with the discovery and naming of a new TLE they called the ghost. It's ten minutes of breathtaking photography and excellent instruction in what could be a complex subject for non-science folks. I can only hope the high standards of science instruction found in this video is in every classroom in the US.

 

In this brief video Pecos Hank documented the TLE activity over Texas on May 17, 2021, when he witnessed his "most incredible sprite storm...to date." As a weather observer for seventty years I can so appreciate his enthusiam on seeing such an amazing phenomenon.

 

These videos are but a small sample of Pecos Hank's award winning work focused on super-cell thunderstorms and tornadoes. If you enjoy weather science and storm chasing combined with high production values his You Tube channel is your destination. 

Keep looking up!

Frank Capra: The Most Prominent Filmmaker Of The Depression Decade, 1930-39

We don't hear much these days about the film director, Frank Capra. His best work is after all nearly a century old. On the other hand he left a rich legacy in the film industry that in many repsects spilled over into the televison era. Far and away he led the industry in directorial praise during the 1930s. He's also credited with shifting the industry's focus from productiion to direction. As an outstanding storyteller and skilled director he's credited with creating the best film portrayals of the human condition during the Great Depression years, 1929-39.

Like many early icons in the American film industry, Capra's story begins in poverty. He was born in Sicily on May 18 in 1897. When he was five his family arrived in this country after a two-week passage in steerage and settled in Los Angeles. He worked his way through college earning a degree in chemical engineering, but also found no work in that field. A series of odd jobs eventually brought him into the film industry where he would become one of the greatest names in 20th century Hollywood.

Today most of us know him as the director of the perennial Christmas film, It's A Wonderful Life (1946). These's much more of Capra's storytelling to enjoy. Here's a small portion of what he produced in his black and white world:


It Happened One Night (1934)

Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (1936)

Lost Horizon (1937)

You Can't Take It With You (1938)

Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939)

War Department Film Series (1942-45)

It's A Wonderful Life (1946)

Here Comes The Groom (1951)


Each of these films received Academy Award nominations and all but one - It's A Wonderful Life - received Oscars in one or more categories. Here is his obituary (1991) from The Washington Post And here is a fine 1978 interview he made with the American Film Institute's American Film about his life and film making technique.

Undoubtedly Capra leaves us a rich legacy in 20th century film entertainment. It's a legacy anyone can enjoy. And there's a good chance we'll learn something about ourselves and the human condition we share.

Buon compleanno, Francesco!



Sources

Photos and Illustrations:
portrait, public domain photo by Columbia Pictures, operarex.highwire.com

Text:
title adapted from quote, acceptance speech, American Film Institute Lifetime Achievement Award, 1982
wikipedia.org

Mother's Day 2023

She was the fourth of seven children born to a farm couple whose deep lineage in the western Virginia mountains has been lost to history. She and my dad met at a community dance in 1931 and married in the fall of 1933. By that time she had worked in a silk mill and as an etcher and designer in a glass factory. Later, she worked throughout World War II as a quality control specialist in a synthetic fabric plant. Her work, and that of thousands of others in the factory, directly supported the airborne invasion of Europe and the eventual defeat of Germany and Italy in World War II.

Mom in the summer of 1959 Burlington, West Virginia

With my birth she became a full time mother and homemaker but still found time to enjoy her church family, reading, gardening, nature, friends, frequent visits with her large family, and many long weekends and summer vacations on Pattersons Creek in Burlington, West Virginia. She was taken from us far too early in 1976 after a long illness. I can't thank her enough for all she did for me.

She never saw her daughter-in-law or her three grandchildren. Still, I think her love, compassion, wonderful sense of humor, and dedication to family and friends had a strong presence in our lives. It is a chain of being that I trust will continue within our family for generations to come.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Hollywood's Orson Welles: From The Top Down

Today marks the 108th anniversary of the birth of Orson Welles. He has been missing from the world stage for over a generation now. The film and stage industries will always owe him immensely for what he brought to them and for the treatment his genius received at the hands of a Hollywood film cartel that resented outsiders.

Welles at 21

There will never be another cinematic alchemist quite like Orson Welles. Interested in experiment and discovery in the performing arts, he was a remarkably talented actor, writer, director, producer, and more. Before he was thirty, he had terrified the nation with his realistic Halloween presentation of H.G. Wells's War of the Worlds radio broadcast (1938) and awed film audiences with Citizen Kane (1941). The film still tops most "best film ever made" lists around the world. Welles was already a rather contentious artist when he achieved almost instant fame. His creativity and drive helped label him as a difficult if not reckless personality and he never endeared himself to the Hollywood in-crowd. As a result his film legacy was limited to a number of noteworthy productions and a long list of unfinished projects and pipe dreams. 

The achievement of early fame and the fast and loose pursuit of art at almost any cost gave him a unique perspective on creativity and the entertainment industry. Although he appreciated his solitude he was never one to shy from the limelight and delighted in interviews and personal appearances where he could deliver and endless stream of anecdotes in his rich, unforgettable baritone voice.

For a taste of Welles as writer, director, and co-star, here is the famous "mirror scene" from The Lady of Shanghai (1948). Film critic David Kehr has called the film "the weirdest great movie ever made."

And here from his 1958 film, Touch of Evil, is the classic "crane shot" that makes an appearance in every college film class.

In later life Welles became known as a great conversationalist. From 1974, here are the highlights from an interview with the British broadcaster, Sir Michael Parkinson. Welles talks about politics, bullfighting, his friendship with Ernest Hemingway, personal heroes (Winston Churchill, Gen. George S, Marshall), the power of criticism, the film industry, the stars (he thought James Cagney was far and away the best), his attitude toward his films, and future projects. It's a quick and entertaining 37 minutes and in my mind reveals much about the man who foreshadowed the flourishing independent film movement we know today.

A film is never really good unless the camera is an eye in the head of a poet.

                                                                   Orson Welles, 1958 

 

Sources

Photos and Illustrations:
Welles portrait, Library of Congress (Carl Van Vechten, photographer, March 1, 1937)

Text:
Title derived from quote, Welles, from the film, F For Fake (1973)

Kehr quote: chicagoreader.com, review of The Lady of Shanghai

Welles quote: "Ribbon of Dreams" in International Film Annual no. 2, 1958

Cinco De Mayo: It Began In California in 1863

It's Cinco de Mayo in the USA! And for the first time since 2020 most Americans can actually sit in their favorite Mexican restaurant to enjoy the festivities. In fact, Americans are celebrating far more than their neighbors south of the border. Why, you ask? It's simply because Cinco de Mayo isn't what you think it is.

Imagine millions of Mexicans celebrating this historic day from Cabo San Lucas to Cozumel. The dancing . . . the parades . . . the patriotic music . . . the parties and feasts into the night. Doesn't happen. That's right, my friends. Cinco de Mayo in Mexico is a regional celebration of the victory over France at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. Outside the capital city and state of Puebla, today is pretty much just another Thursday. For Mexicans, the big national celebration is Independence Day, celebrated on September 16.

Depiction of the Battle of Puebla Francisco Miranda, 1872

Cross the border into the United States today and it's a very different story. What originated in 1862 as a local victory celebration by Mexican gold miners in northern California has spread across the United States as a celebration of Mexican heritage and culture. Like many American holidays, official and otherwise, Cinco de Mayo has grown in popularity in recent decades due to heavy commercial promotion. Greeting card, candy, and florist industries may drive Mother's Day. In the case of Cinco de Mayo a significant force driving the festivities is the alcoholic beverage industry. The distilled beverage of choice will be tequila.

Whatever the reason for such popularity, it's a great time to experience and enjoy the rich heritage and culture of the people of Mexico and their contribution to the American experience. For starters here is some traditional music to set the mood for the day.

The blend of Indigenous, Spanish, and African cultures that is Mexico is rich. May you experience a bit of it today as you have a safe and enjoyable Cinco de Mayo.

The Day Vietman Became Tricky Dick's War

John Filo took this photo - a Pulitzer Prize winner - of Mary Ann Vecchio screaming over the body of Kent State University student, Jeffrey Miller, murdered by National Guard troops during an anti-war protest on campus. The event we know as the Kent State University massacre became a landmark in American history. The date was May 4, 1970. 

That day four unarmed students were killed and nine others injured by members of the Ohio National Guard. Years of conflict over the nation's role in the Vietnam War already had millions of Americans on edge. In seconds, 67 shots fired into a crowd of defenseless students marked the beginning of both the end of an already very unpopular war and a controversial president already well-known as "Tricky Dick" Nixon.

For three days prior to the massacre Kent State had been hit with violent demonstrations threatening both the campus and downtown commercial district. The Ohio National Guard had been on scene by the evening of May 2. From a city firehouse, Governor James Rhodes fueled the conflict by referring to the protesters as "brown shirts...the communist element... night riders... and the vigilantes."  Days earlier President Richard Nixon referred to some campus protesters as "bums."

May 4 began with university officials attempting to ban a campus protest that had been planned days earlier. The result was a loose gathering of around 2000 persons met by guardsmen armed with tear gas and fixed bayonets. For reasons undetermined shots were fired into the unarmed crowd. The average distance of those killed was 345 feet from the guardsmen. The event incited a strike involving millions of students across the nation, forced the closing of hundreds of universities and colleges, and marked a turning point in national opinion among many who had supported American involvement in Vietnam, an ever escalating action that began in 1959.

On May 18, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, one of the nation's most popular bands, released the song, Ohio, as an expression of the anger and frustration as well as a call to action among young Americans over both the war and the murders.

 

A week after Kent State, police killed a student and a passerby at a demonstration at Jackson State College in Mississippi. An unquestionable sense of rebellion began to grip the nation. The Nixon administration was well aware of the situation and took steps to mitigate the danger and political erosion. One of those steps was the creation of the President's Commission on Campus Unrest- the Scranton Commission - in June 1970. The commission was tasked with reviewing the incident. After three months of work the commission concluded:

Even if the guardsmen faced danger, it was not a danger that called for lethal force. The 61 shots by 28 guardsmen certainly cannot be justified. Apparently, no order to fire was given, and there was inadequate fire control discipline on Blanket Hill. The Kent State tragedy must mark the last time that, as a matter of course, loaded rifles are issued to guardsmen confronting student demonstrators.

Location map, Scranton Commission report

Over time the event has been remembered in severak way including the designation of the seventeen acre site as a National Historic Landmark in 2016.  Kent State University also commemorates the event through its May 4 Visitor Center.

  

Two Voices From Two Worlds Of 20th Century American Music

Two iconic 20th century entertainers who were world apart in American music share May 3 as a birthday. 

Crosby publicity photo from the 1930's

Born in 1903, Bing Crosby used his baritone voice and recording technology to develop a personal singing style that made him the nation's top entertainer for a generation beginning in the mid-1930s. Many jazz and pop singers adopted his style and technique over the next thirty years. Young people probably know little if anything about Crosby. He died in 1977 but I think he sits at the pinnacle of the American entertainment industry in that era - along with Bob Hope - and is well worth exploring if you enjoy popular culture. The Crosby family has authorized a comprehensive site about The Crooner if readers want more information. For a small taste of his talent, here is Crosby singing to Grace Kelly in the 1956 film, High Society:

Our second birthday celebrant is Pete Seeger, an entertainer who has been described as the most successful communist in the United States. I'll let readers discover the politics for themselves and focus instead on Seeger as singer and songwriter.

Entertaining at labor canteen opening, Washington, DC, February 1944

He was born in 1919 into a musical family, took up their leftist politics, and made a name for himself as a "protest singer" in the 1940s. In 1950, he was a member of the folk group, The Weavers, and in the bow wave of a folk music revival in the U.S. It was short-lived, however, as the group was blacklisted in 1953 for suspected political reasons. A decade later Seeger found himself at the forefront of the 1960's folk revival embedded in antiwar activities and the Youth Revolution. He continued singing and pursuing his social, political, and environmental activism around the world almost to the day he died at 94 in 2014. For more information and a host of links, here is his Wikipedia entry.

For a taste of Pete Seeger the performer, here he is singing lead and playing his banjo on the first recording (1949) of If I Had A Hammer, co-written with Lee Hays, also with The Weavers:

Although this video highlights Seeger, it does not do justice to the beautiful harmony The Weavers produced. Readers may want to explore the Internet for more of their recordings. Their 1981 reunion concert at Carnegie Hall is a particularly moving statement on the American music experience.



Sources

Photos and Illustrations:
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bing_Crosby_1930s.jpg
loc.gov/pictures/resource/fsa.8d41983/

In 1994 One Book Changed The Life Of A City

May 2 is a significant date in Savannah's modern history. On that day in 1981 Jim Williams shot and killed Danny Hansford. It marked a violent end to a tragic love story and the catalyst for an enormously successful non-fiction novel and the economic and social transformation of a city. In 1977 I moved to a new job near Savannah and was soon seduced by the city's charm and opportunities. I bought a townhouse in the historic district and in a matter of weeks realized the city was a most unusual urban tapestry inhabited by a full range of entertaining and eccentric characters. There could have been a book about Savannah in my future but I was too busy adjusting to work, stumbling through a relationship with the woman who came with me, and serving as general contractor restoring my "livable" townhouse.

John Berendt, the man who would eventually write that book first visited the city around 1981 long after I escaped to the beach. He returned two or three times gathering even more fascinating and compelling characteristics about the city and its people. Three years later he moved to Savannah in search of broadening his writing career. The project that emerged was a travelogue built around the Williams-Hansford story. The result was unlike any proposal the publishing industry had ever seen.

The book was a sensation, a best seller with a broad impact. Savannah's tourism exploded, also enhanced by the highly successful Savannah College of Art and Design and its historic preservation initiative. For comparison, there were 5 million tourists who spent $600 million in 1993. The numbers jumped to 12.5 million and $2.2 billion in 2013. Yes, Savannah experienced change quickly. There were more restaurants to enjoy. The night life flourished. Tour options abounded, from ghost, to pirate, to transsexual. The pace changed: faster, broader, deeper, never ending, and more expensive. The downtown historic district became a hot real estate market on an international scale. It also became a fishbowl brimming with tourists. Soon the preservation pioneers from the '70s and '80s paid $6,000, $8,000, then $10,000 or more in city/county taxes to live in the homes they had lovingly restored. Many of them left. Had I stayed, I too would have been displaced. 

Today, the people go about their daily lives shadowed by those magnificent, moss draped live oaks. The wonderfully restored facades provide a pleasing backdrop. The ships glide in and out of port with the flood and ebb of the tides. And Bonaventure's ancient gate welcomes the living and the dead into what I believe is by far the nation's most beautiful cemetery. So much has changed in Savannah, but in the quiet hours, in the intimate gardens, and in the music of the squares as well as that of a piano a few door away, you can find the city I knew over forty years ago. One thing you can't find is my book. You'll have to look to another author for the story.


John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was published in 1994. It was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in non-fiction in 1995. More than 3 million copies have been sold. The book remains the longest running title - 216 weeks - on the New York Times Best Seller list. Trust me. It's a good read.




Sources


Photos and Illustrations:
front cover art, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Random House, New York, 1994, fair use


Text:
Wikipedia.org
interview, Booknotes, interview with Brian Lamb, C-SPAN, August, 12, 1997

A Welcome To The Warmth Of The Sun And The Greening Of Spring

To be fair we could be talking about workers of the world, the joys of collectivist thought, and even the "fruits" of Communism on this day. I would rather speak of a more ancient and far happier theme.

Earlier today in Glastonbury, United Kingdom

The Gaelic festival day, Beltane ("be-EL-ten-a" in Irish, "BEL-tayn" in English)) occurs on May 1 and is a cross-quarter day marking the beginning of summer in the ancient calendar. It is one of two "turning" days of the year and exactly six months apart from the other, Samhain (saa-wn), marking the beginning of the dead season of winter. In the United Kingdom and other places with Gaelic heritage Beltane celebrations began last night with the lighting of bonfires, dancing and feasting long into the night.

The fun continues with the welcoming of the sun, the selection of the May Queen or earth goddess representing fertility, and the May King or Green Man representing vegetation and growth. The partying includes a Maypole dance - once an ancient fertility rite - and the decoration of houses, farms, and livestock; and more feasting.

Here in the United States there isn't much associated with the day unless there's an opportunity to sell something under the May Day Sale label. Even schools show little interest in May Day but it was a day-long festival at my elementary school in the 1950's. Actually the day was a big event for the whole community. It was so important that I recall the teachers having us outside days in advance to practice the May Pole dance until the lattice pattern on the pole was perfect. I wonder how enthusiastic they would have been had they known we were practicing a fertility rite. Aside from a few New Agers all religious associations with the activities have been left to an ancient past. These days it's simply good fun. Or at least a happy memory.

Maypole Dance, Bascom Hill, Wisconsin, May 1 ca. 1917

May you have a most festive Beltane.










Sources


Photos and Illustrations:
Photograph: University of Wisconsin Digital Collections