National Meteor Watch Day 2023

 

Perseid Meteor 2012

Today is National Meteor Watch Day. It's a fine time to go outside tonight and watch these small bits of space debris put on a show. The moon will not interfer this year so a clear sky away from light sources should make for excellent viewing. Most meteors only survive about one second as they hit the earth's atmosphere at around 25,000 to 160,000 miles per hour. The show takes place anywhere from thirty to seventy miles above in the atmospheric region known as the mesosphere. Depending on composition and speed, meteors can appear in a variety of colors including white, orange, yellow, blue, purple, and red. If a meteor reaches the ground it becomes a meteorite. Thankfully, few meteors actually hit the earth intact but about six tons of meteor dust settles on our planet every day. Although it's fun to watch the sky for meteors and other near earth objects the potential for significant environemntal impacts on the planet certainly warrant their observation and study.  Here is a good example why.

This day is also a good reminder that the Perseid shower, the most reliable of the year, peaks on August 13. Unfortunately the moon will be just past full so there will be plenty of interference that evening. All is not lost because the Perseids begin around mid-July and end in late August so there will be plenty of hours of clear skies and good viewing during that five week period.

Here's a link for more information about National Meteor Watch Day. For a forecast of what you can expect to see in the weeks leading up to and including the Perseids you can check out the American Meteor Society's website here.





Sources:

Photos:
Visian ICL Blog, visianinfo.con, Roberto Porto

Text:
wikipedia.com
nationalcalendarday.com

Lena Horne: Entertainer, Activist, American Icon

In the years around the turn of the century I was a member of the planning and design team for the newly established Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site in Alabama. Fundraising was a big part of our mission and we asked a large core group of airmen who they would like to see as a national spokesman for the effort. To a man, the response was, "Lena Horne!" who made a number of visits to their two Tuskegee airfields during World War II. They adored her. She was beautiful, had a sultry voice, the perfect figure for a World War II pinup, and a highly successful musical career on stage and screen. She was also strong-willed and, at times, defiant, both characteristics that served her well in the American civil rights movement following the war. No wonder she appealed to them.

Horne publicity photo from 1964, NBC Bell Telephone Hour

Who was this international star and favorite pinup? Lena Horne was born on this day in Brooklyn in 1917. Those familiar with the singer will always remember her remarkable talent as a legendary performer with a sparkling personality and a beautiful smile, In her almost seventy years in entertainment she worked the big band and cabaret circuits, movies, Broadway, and television. She became politically active in the fight for civil rights following World War II, a decision that placed her on the federal entertainment blacklist for over a decade. Readers can learn more details about Horne's life and career in a New York Times obituary published following her death in May 2010.

Horne at Tuskegee Institute banquet, Tuskegee, Alabama, during World War II

Due to her age and disabilities, Horne was unable to take on the role the Tuskegee Airmen so enthusiastically desired but fundraising commenced in a different direction and eventually contributed to construction and interpretation at the park. Her image and the stories of her visits are embedded in those exhibits.

I remember Horne well from her frequent television performances and recordings beginning in the 1950's. She's always been a personal favorite among pop and jazz singers and the stories of her association with the Tuskegee Airmen tells me she was one very special lady.

Here she is performing her signature song, Stormy Weather, from the 1943 film of the same name.

And here is a fine synopsis of the life and times of Horne prepared for a segment of the PBS News Hour in 2010.

Sources

Photos and Illustrations:
public domain photograph, NBC Television, Wikipedia.org
banquet photo, Noel Parrish Collection, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington

The Comedy Genius, Mel Brooks, Turns 97 Today

When he was 14, Mel Brooks, began his career in show business as a comedian at several Catskill Mountain resorts north of New York City. After service in Germany in World War II - he dismantled booby traps and defused land mines among other duties - he returned home determined to establish a career in entertainment where he soon found himself enjoying writing more than performing. He honed that skill for several years on Sid Caesar's Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour. Around 1960 he teamed up with Carl Reiner, also a Caesar comedy writer, to develop a sketch that would make both of them famous.

Entitled "The 2000 Year-Old Man," the concept featured a comic Brooks as the old man being interviewed by Reiner as the straight man. Over fifty years the duo produced several recordings of the often ad lib sketches produced in studio as well as live on countless television programs. After this success and a move to Hollywood filmmaking wasn't far behind.

Today we wish the 2000 year-old man a very happy birthday. The performer, writer, director, producer, songwriter, and perpetually wacko comic personality is 97 years old. In his seventy year career he's brought us some of the finest comedy to grace the American stage, big screens in theaters, and the television screens in millions of our homes. And there's no end in sight either with his work in animated features and now rare television appearances. It's only a guess where his talents could emerge in the future.

Brooks in a still from Blazing Saddles, 1974

His film career began with The Producers in 1968. The rest is history, a laugh track of films including:

Blazing Saddles (1974) "Mongo only pawn...in game of life."

Young Frankenstein (1974) "Abby...Normal."

Silent Movie (1976) "Non!"

High Anxiety (1977) "Those who are tardy do not get fruit cup!"

History of the World Part I (1981) "It's good to be the king."

Spaceballs (1987) "May the schwartz be with you."

Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993) "Actually Scarlet is my middle name. My whole name is Will Scarlet O'Hara. We're from Georgia."

Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995) "I have been to many stakings - you have to know where to stand! You know, everything in life is location, location, location...."

The Producers (musical) 2001 "Will the dancing Hitlers please wait in the wings? We are only seeing singing Hitlers.

The Producers (film remake) 2005 "My blue blanket! Give me back my blue blanket!"

Young Frankenstein (musical) 2007 "He vas my boyfriend!"


The American Film Institute's 100 Greatest Comedies list has The Producers (1968), Blazing Saddles, and Young Frankenstein ranked at #11, #6, and #13. Here is the unforgettable three minutes and twenty seconds from the film he calls his personal favorite, the 1968 production of The Producers:

I think one reason why the 2000 year-old man is still laughing with us at 97 rests with the fact that the Mel Brooks on stage and film is most often the same man one finds in private life. How does he do it? I recall the many stories my National Park Service colleagues told of Brooks and his wife, Anne Bancroft. In the '70's and '80's they were frequent guests at Caneel Bay Resort inside Virgin Islands National Park on the island of St. John. Known for playing practical jokes on the younger park rangers and resort staff during the day, Brooks and Bancroft hosted them at after-hours gatherings where hilarity ruled. Given the public comedy we know, one can only imagine the memories to come out of the spontaneity of such an evening. The world would be a far happier place if all of us could have more evenings like that.

Today, instead of laughing at the comedy and satire Brooks gave us over the years the political correctness of the day would rather smother it and insure we never produce it again. So unfortunate. Regardless, with the passing of Carl Reiner at 98 in 2020, we're looking at Brooks as the last man standing from a remarkable era of comedy entertainment in the US. Here's wishing one of the funniest men on the planet a very happy birthday. It's my hope that we can laugh at his wacko genius for years to come.

For more information as well as a most entertaining read this summer I recommend Brooks's memoir published in 2021. Without a doubt it will leave you smiling.

Johnny Mercer: The South's Musical Ambassador To The World

For almost fifteen years I've spent many happy hours blogging about famous people on their birthdays but sometimes circumstance warrant remembering their deaths especially when it involves personal experience. That was the case when I transferred to a new job in Savannah in early 1977. There, I found a city in mourning over the loss of their most beloved and famous personality, Johnny Mercer (1909-1976).

It's hard to believe that this week marks the 47th anniversary of his death. As a sentimental gentleman from Georgia and the favorite son of Savannah, he went on to New York and Hollywood to become one of the most significant figures in American music history. 

He died in Los Angeles after almost fifty years in a wide-ranging career as a prolific lyricist and songwriter, popular singer, music industry innovator, entrepreneur and benefactor. No matter how souccessful he became he jumped at every opportunity to return to his hometown and the source of so much of the character and imagery preserved in his catalog of more than 1400 songs.

Johnny Mercer statue by Susie Chisholm, erected in Ellis Square, Savannah, in 2009

For those who may not be familiar with his work, here is a list of what Mercer considered his "bread and butter songs," including his four Academy Award-winning efforts (in bold) and several nominations (underlined):

Lazybones (1933), music by Hoagy Carmichael

Goody, Goody (1936), music by Marty Malneck

Too Marvelous For Words (1937), music by Richard A. Whiting

Jeepers Creepers (1938), music by Harry Warren

Satin Doll (1958), written with Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn

You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby (1938), music by Harry Warren

That Old Black Magic (1943), music by Harold Arlen

Accentuate the Positive (1944) music by Harold Arlen

Fools Rush In (1940), music by Rube Bloom

I Remember You (1942), music by Victor Schertzinger

Day In - Day Out (1939), music by Rube Bloom

Dearly Beloved (1942), music by Jerome Kern

Come Rain or Come Shine (1946), music by Harold Arlen

Tangerine (1942), music by Victor Schertzinger

Hooray For Hollywood (1938), music by Richard A. Whiting

Laura (1945), music by David Raksin

Dream (1944), words and music by Johnny Mercer

On the Atcheson, Topeka and the Santa Fe (1946, Academy Award for Best Music, Original Song), music by Harry Warren

Something's Gotta Give (1954), words and music by Johnny Mercer

One For My Baby (1943), music by Harold Arlen

In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening (1951, Academy Award for Best Music, Oroginal Song), music by Hoagy Carmichael

Skylark (1941), music by Hoagy Carmichael

Autumn Leaves (1950), music by Joseph Kosma

I Wanna Be Around (1962), words and music by Johnny Mercer and Sadie Vimmerstedt

Blues in the Night (1941), music by Harold Arlen

Charade (1963), music by Henry Mancini

Summer Wind (1965), music by Henry Mayer

Moon River (1961, Academy Award for Best Music, Original Song), music by Henry Mancini

Days of Wine and Roses (1962, Academy Award for Best Music, Original Song), music by Henry Mancini


Hardly a day passes that even a casual music listener will not hear a Johnny Mercer song. For those who enjoy the Great American Songbook and jazz/pop vocals, the Mercer magic remains very much alive in contemporary music. Looks like the music of the man once described by the lyricist, Yip Harburg, as "one of our great folk poets" will be around for a long, long time. How lucky we are!

Mercer self-portrait and signature, Mercer grave, Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah, GA

Sources

Photos and Illustrations:
grave site photo, Emily E. Beck

Text:
Harburg quote, Portrait of Johnny: The Life and Times of John Herndon Mercer, Gene Lees, Hal Leonard, February 2006.

George Orwell: Speaking Volumes

For a prescient and enigmatic 20th century personality it is hard to surpass that of the British social critic and writer, George Orwell. In 1949 he published his most significant work, the novel 1984. Can't speak about today but 60 years ago at the height of the Cold War with the Soviet Union virtually every high school graduate knew of the book and many of them read it or parts of it as required reading.

Orwell experienced the rise of collectivist thinking in Great Britain and other parts of the world including the United States. He was also well aware of the totalitarian collectivism in the Soviet Union. The totalitarianism he rejected outright but not all the elements of collectivist thought At the same time he raised issues with republican and democratic forms of government and the capitalism that sustained them. In other words Orwell was a critic at large whose observation and analysis would have broad appeal and give rise to thought-provoking quote, including this one:

The new aristocracy was made up for the most part of bureaucrats, scientists, technicians, trade-union organizers, publicity experts, sociologists, teachers, journalists, and professional politicians.

Our volatile nation-wide experience over the last five years, and particularly our dance with the Covid-19 coronavirus, has brought us face to face with many members of this new aristocracy. The American democratic republic embraced many of these players in the 20th century first with Progressivism, then with Roosevelt's New Deal, but it was Lyndon Johnson who would embedded significant elements of the "new aristocracy" in his Great Society program. It was after all a national government initiative designed to end in a progressive utopia for the American people. I leave an evaluation of the program's success over the last two generations to my readers. Instead I choose to focus on Orwell who as time passes seems to be more and more a visitor from the future who spoke not in terms of political parties but in an exploration of the human condition, universal rights, classical liberalism, and the power of the individual.

George Orwell - Eric Arthur Blair - was born on this day in India in 1903 and educated at Eton College and through self-study and his experiences in Asia and Europe. Wikipedia defines him aptly as "an English novelist, essayist, journalist and critic. His work is marked by lucid prose, awareness of social injustice, opposition to totalitarianism, and commitment to democratic socialism."

George Orwell Press Photo, 1933

Most of us know him only as the author of 1984 but there is much more to read and appreciate from this man who is consistently described as one of the most influential writers of the last century. If you only know him as a novelist, I suggest you read some of his early essays, especially Down and Out in Paris and London (1933), The Road to Wigan Pier (1937), and Homage to Catalonia (1938). These works explore social justice themes in some of the finest, most vivid, objective, and descriptive writing to be found in modern English. More aspects of Orwell's insight appear in his literary criticisms which are available in several compilations.

For a man who passed away at 46, George Orwell left us an enormous and rich body of work that I am sure will influence social and political thought for a very long time.





Sources:

Photos and Illustrations:
public domain, old accreditation for National Branch of Union Journalists, www.netcharles.com

Text:
George Orwell, wikipedia.org

First Around The World: One Plane. One Engine, Two Aviation Pioneers

Wiley Post and Harold Gatty left New York on this day in 1931 on the first single-engine flight around the world. The flight began at Roosevelt Field on Long Island, New York, and took them to Newfoundland, across the Atlantic Ocean to Wales, then to Germany, Russia, Alaska, and Canada, before returning to Roosevelt Field after a refueling stop in Cleveland. In all they made thirteen stops during a mission of eight days, fifteen hours, and fifty-one minutes. 

The two successful ocean fliers during their stopover at the Central Airport in Berlin - Tempelhof about to start their flight to Moscow. 

It's hard to believe this event occurred just fifteen years before my birth. We've come a long way in aviation and when you think about all the aircraft in flight around the world at this very minute the Post-Gatty flight seems insignificant. As readers of this blog know, I'm somewhat fond of aviation so I'm perfectly happy to give these pioneers the credit they deserve in a time when history seems little more than an afterthought.

"Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine"

Eric Whitacre, composer, with lyrics by Charles Anthony Silvestri

I.

Leonardo Dreams of his Flying Machine…

Tormented by visions of flight and falling,

More wondrous and terrible each than the last,

Master Leonardo imagines an engine

To carry a man up into the sun…

And as he’s dreaming the heavens call him,

softly whispering their siren-song:

“Leonardo. Leonardo, vieni á volare”. (“Leonardo. Leonardo, come fly”.)

L’uomo colle sua congiegniate e grandi ale,

facciendo forza contro alla resistente aria.

(A man with wings large enough and duly connected

might learn to overcome the resistance of the air.)

II.

Leonardo Dreams of his Flying Machine…

As the candles burn low he paces and writes,

Releasing purchased pigeons one by one

Into the golden Tuscan sunrise…

And as he dreams, again the calling,

The very air itself gives voice:

“Leonardo. Leonardo, vieni á volare”. (“Leonardo. Leonardo, come fly”.)

Vicina all’elemento del fuoco…

(Close to the sphere of elemental fire…)

Scratching quill on crumpled paper,

Rete, canna, filo, carta.

(Net, cane, thread, paper.)

Images of wing and frame and fabric fastened tightly.

…sulla suprema sottile aria.

(…in the highest and rarest atmosphere.)

III.

Master Leonardo Da Vinci Dreams of his Flying Machine…

As the midnight watchtower tolls,

Over rooftop, street and dome,

The triumph of a human being ascending

In the dreaming of a mortal man.

Leonardo steels himself,

takes one last breath,

and leaps…

“Leonardo, Vieni á Volare! Leonardo, Sognare!” (“Leonardo, come fly! Leonardo, Dream!”)

I wonder if Post and Gatty ever thought about Leonardo during their aerial circumnavigation of our planet.  I'm sure Leonardo dreamed about them and their journey.




Sources:

Photos and Illustrations:

Deutsches Bundesarchiv, photo 102-11928

Text:
lyrics, ericwhitacre.com

kalw.org, almanac

Summer Solstice 2023

Today's astronomical event we know as the summer solstice introduced the season on the East Coast of the US late this morning. On this day the sun reaches its highest point in the sky in the northern hemisphere. It's also the longest day and shortest night of the year.

Summer solstice sunrise at Stonehenge, Wiltshire, England

Although the sun begins its daily descent from that highest point tomorrow, insolation from our star will continue to raise atmospheric temperatures until late July. As this day marks the end of the season of renewal and the beginning of the season of growth and flower, I am reminded of this quote by the renowned American novelist, essayist, and critic, D. H. Lawrence:

The greatest need of man is the renewal forever of the complete rhythm of life and death, the rhythm of the sun's year, the body's year

There's plenty of interesting and appropriate music for the day including this 13th century English round:

Middle English

Sumer is icumen in

Lhude sing cuccu!

Groweþ sed and bloweþ med

And springþ þe wde nu,

Sing cuccu!

Awe bleteþ after lomb,

Lhouþ after calue cu.

Bulluc sterteþ, bucke uerteþ,

Murie sing cuccu!

Cuccu, cuccu, wel singes þu cuccu;

Ne swik þu nauer nu.

Pes:

Sing cuccu nu. Sing cuccu.

Sing cuccu. Sing cuccu nu!

Modern English

Summer has arrived,

Loudly sing, Cuckoo!

The seed grows and the meadow

blooms

And the wood springs anew,

Sing, Cuckoo!

The ewe bleats after the lamb

The cow lows after the calf.

The bullock stirs, the stag farts,

Merrily sing, Cuckoo!

Cuckoo, cuckoo, well you sing,

cuckoo;

Don't ever you stop now,

Sing cuckoo now. Sing, Cuckoo.

Sing Cuckoo. Sing cuckoo now!

Here is a tone poem, A Song of Summer, written some 700 years later by Frederick Delius and transcribed and arranged by Eric Fenby:

And then there is summer as the season of youth, the school break, the summer job, of free time and good friends, and for many what the renowned mythologist Joseph Campbell called "friendship set to music."

May your summer living be easy, wonder-filled, and set to music.











Sources


Photos and Illustrations:
photo, nasa.gov


Text:
thoughtcatalog.com

Juneteenth 2023

My thanks to the Biden administration for making Juneteenth our newest national holiday. I find it hard to believe the nation waited so long to see this day. I find it even harder to believe that President Donald Trump, standing with the Grand Old Party of Abraham Lincoln, failed to declare a one-time federal holiday for Juneteenth in 2020 during a critical bid for reelection. It was a grave tactical error. He chose instead to announce his support for such a designation in the last days of September. Instead of being the topic at countless family gatherings and other celebrations on June 19 itself, the message was lost in the 24/7 flurry of rhetoric during a bitter campaign.

So, what is the new holiday about? If you are an American with African ancestry dating to the Civil War era you have known about Juneteenth from very early childhood; otherwise, the term may be vaguely familiar or perhaps even new. I think of Juneteenth as an ingredient in our national experience that is just now blending in the melting pot concept we learned about in elementary school. We're going to hear much more about the day as we should. This description from the Library of Virginia is a good place to start:

[Juneteenth] has grown into a popular event across the country to commemorate emancipation from slavery and celebrate African American culture. Juneteenth refers to June 19, the date in 1865 when the Union Army arrived in Galveston and announced that the Civil War was over and that slaves were free under the Emancipation Proclamation. Although the proclamation had become official more than two years earlier on January 1, 1863, freedmen in Texas adopted June 19th, later known colloquially as Juneteenth, as the date they celebrated emancipation. Juneteenth celebrations continued into the 20th century, and survived a period of declining participation because of the Great Depression and World War II. In the 1950s and 1960s Juneteenth celebrations witnessed a revival as they became catalysts for publicizing civil rights issues of the day. In 1980 the Texas state legislature established June 19 as a state holiday.

Emancipation           Thomas Nast, American, 1865

Several significant days have competed to honor the subject including:

September 22: the day Lincoln issued his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation Order in 1862;

January 1: the day it took effect in 1863;

January 31: the date the 13th Amendment passed Congress in 1865, officially abolishing the institution of slavery, and;

December 6: the day the 13th Amendment was ratified in 1865.


The persistence of the celebration in Texas on June 19 embedded the celebration in the social fiber of former slaves and their families who carried it with them in their migrations to all corners of the nation and to urban areas in particular. Growing wealth among black communities in the 20th century enabled them to hold lengthier and more elaborate celebrations.

Despite a near-century of prejudice and racism, both de jure and de facto, Juneteenth survived across the nation. It was revitalized nationally by the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. (April 4, 1968), in combination with his Poor People's March on Washington (planned for May 12 to June 24, and its early conclusion with the Solidarity March on June 19.

We extend our best wishes for a joyous day to all those celebrating Juneteenth. And it's the perfect time for all of us to "honor the countless contributions made by African Americans to our Nation and pledge to support America’s promise as the land of the free."

Visit Juneteenth to learn more about story and meaning of our newest national holiday.



Sources:

Photos and Illustrations:
Library of Congress at loc.gov

Text:
virginiamemory.com
loc.gov
wikipedia.com
pbs.org, The African-Americans: Many Rivers to Cross
"honor the countless" quote, whitehouse.gov

Father's Day 2023

I'm sure I speak for others who have lost their fathers that not a day goes by without a wish to have our dads and their guidance with us once more. How fortunate we were to have such beacons in our lives. And how fortunate are those who still have their fathers in their lives.

Graduate                                      Class of 1925

His mom and dad were the son and daughter of first generation immigrants from Germany and Wales. He graduated from high school in the midst of the Roaring Twenties, went to work to support his aging parents and married the love of his life in the midst of the Great Depression. He was an entrepreneur at heart who owned a successful business by the early '50's. but left his hometown for better opportunities in hospitality management. It was a field he loved dearly because of his commitment to quality service and customer satisfaction and the fact he never met a stranger.

By example he demonstrated the value of a strong faith, a sound and loving marriage, a remarkable work ethic, constructive civic engagement, humor and wit, and a love of country. He also taught me the value of being an independent and critical thinker, of staying curious, and practicing life-long learning.

Gettysburg National Military Park                                     1954

Though he never lived to see his three grandchildren his values were a constant presence in teaching them to be responsible, caring, and loving adults. Such continuity across the generations is essential if we are to have community and commonwealth in these and future times. And given these times how wonderful it would be to see the reverence and respect for fatherhood restored in our nation today.

That said, I'll end with this wish: Happy Father's Day and a big "Thank You" to you Dad, and to dads everywhere.

Igor Stravinsky: Sounds Beyond Horizons

Igor Stravinsky, popularly recognized as a leading founder of Modern music in the 20th century, was born in Russia on this day in 1882. He lived in Switzerland and France before immigrating to the United States after World War II. Over his lifetime he composed in a variety of styles but is best remembered for his dazzling, rhythmic music in the early years - 1910 to 1914 - of the Ballets Russes produced by Sergei Diaghilev in Paris.

Portrait of Stravinsky             Robert Delaunay, 1917

His work during that brief period included The Firebird (1910), Petrushka (1911), and The Rite of Spring (1913). One could say they are all signature pieces - experimental and revolutionary - that dazzled and in some cases infuriated their audiences. Regardless, the three compositions as well as other sounds from Stravinsky's imagination had a huge impact on music and the arts. He was 27 when audiences first heard The Firebird.  Keep in mind that Henry Ford sold 10,000 cars that year, the U.S. had 1000 miles of paved road, half the American population lived on farms or towns with fewer than 2500 people, and the flying machine was a very rare and thrilling sight.

In the century since the premiere of The Firebird, its innovative sounds have been re-patterned by the likes of Aaron Copeland, Leonard Bernstein, John Williams and others including Philip Glass who has perhaps carried rhythm as art to its farthest horizon to date. In the view of Tom Service writing in The Guardian in 2011,

Stravinsky is the only common influence that composers from Steve Reich to Thomas Adès, from Judith Weir to John Adams, from Elliott Carter to Louis Andriessen, can all agree on. Without Stravinsky, there would be no minimalism, not much neo-classicism, not enough rhythmic energy, and not nearly enough compositional freedom in the 20th and 21st centuries. Four decades on, the Stravinsky that's proved most popular with audiences, orchestras and concert halls is the colouristic brilliance of the three early ballets, Firebird, Petrushka, and the Rite.

Indeed, Stravinsky broke rules. In doing so he made new music. A century later it remains as fresh as the year it was composed. And although Stravinsky left this world almost a half century ago he indeed remains as the title of Service's article describes him, "Stravinsky Our Contemporary." Here's more proof with excerpts from a November 2019 concert by the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the baton of the brilliant conductor, Gustavo Dudamel. The Rite of Spring is one of the orchestra's signature pieces.

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.

For more on the place of dissonance in Stravinsky's music here is an entertaining seventeen minute journey on the subject by the British composer, Davis Bruce. This video can be as technical as you want to make it. By no means am I a musical technician so I enjoyed it by simply listening to how Stavinsky's used dissonance to create some of the most popular music of the last century.

Sources

Photos and Illustrations:
portrait, public domain, Robert Delaunay, New Art Gallery Walsall, West Midlands, England

Text:
Igor Stravinsky entry, Wikipedia.org
quotation, Tom Service, "Stravinsky Our Contemporary", theguardian.com, April 6, 2011

A Day For Bloomers: Celebrating James Joyce and Ulysses

Today is far from an ordinary day in the world of western literature. It isn't that a number of significant events occurred or that any event occurred that day. Instead, June 16 (1904) is the setting for a several hundred page descriptive stream of happenings in the life of the fictional character, Leopold Bloom. The work is Ulysses, published in book form in 1922. The author is James Joyce.

Ulysses is a shape shifting piece of art written out of the ashes of the Belle Epoque, a period of peace and prosperity in Europe from around 1875 to 1917, and the alienation of an increasingly existential world. If you accept that meanings are in people this book assuredly means something different to every person who accepted the challenge to read it. You can't get more existential than that. The Swiss psychiatrist, Carl Jung, said this about it:

What is so staggering about Ulysses is the fact that behind a thousand veils nothing lies hidden; that it turns neither toward the mind nor toward the world, but, as cold as the moon looking on from cosmic space, allows the drama of growth, being, and decay to pursue its course.

First edition copy described as "unread except for the racy bits."

To say the least, Ulysses is an adventure. For some it may be merely pornographic or a huge word puzzle or a unique work of art in its truest form. However you chose to view the novel keep in mind that people are celebrating this work and its author across the world today on what has become known as Bloomsday. And even those who know nothing about Bloomsday, never read the book or know little about the author have likely encountered bits and pieces of Joyce's skill in school and through popular culture. This memorable paragraph ends the book:

I was a Flower of the mountain yes when I put the rose in my hair like the Andalusian girls used or shall I wear a red yes and how he kissed me under the Moorish wall and I thought well as well him as another and then I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes and then he asked me would I yes to say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes.

I came to appreciate that quote so much for its realism and balance between the sensuous and sensual that I used it for almost twenty years in a descriptive writing course. Other quotes could have been useful but their playfulness simply made them interesting, maybe even enjoyable if you had a reading guide - an essential - at hand:

Meditations of evolution increasingly vaster: of the moon invisible in incipient lunation, approaching perigee: of the infinite lattiginous scintillating uncondensed milky way, discernible by daylight by an observer placed at the lower end of a cylindrical vertical shaft 5000 ft deep sunk from the surface towards the centre of the earth: of Sirius (alpha in Canis Maior) 10 lightyears (57,000,000,000,000 miles) distant and in volume 900 times the dimension of our planet: of Arcturus: of the precession of equinoxes: of Orion with belt and sextuple sun theta and nebula in which 100 of our solar systems could be contained: of moribund and of nascent new stars such as Nova in 1901: of our system plunging towards the constellation of Hercules: of the parallax or parallactic drift of socalled fixed stars, in reality evermoving wanderers from immeasurably remote eons to infinitely remote futures in comparison with which the years, threescore and ten, of allotted human life formed a parenthesis of infinitesimal brevity.

So there is word play at its best with lots of traditional arts and sciences, a dash of Dadaism, even a precursor or two of pataphysics. Rest assured there's more there than the racy bits.


If you want to learn more about the day, the book, and the author, visit these sites: Bloomsday, Ulysses, and James Joyce.





Sources

Photos and Illustrations:

theguardian.com, June 4, 2009, photo by Martin Argles


Text:
quotations, goodreads.com
Malcolm Cowley, Exile's Return: A Literary Odyssey of the 1920s, revised, Viking Press, 1964

Magna Carta Day 2023

By all accounts he was a rather nasty king who habitually squeezed money from his subjects to fund his quest for territory. He was so land hungry that he was nicknamed "Lackland" because his father gave all his sons territory except for him. By the early 1200's England's King John had lost Normandy and virtually all of Avignon to France. He also quarreled with Pope Innocent III over a nominee for the post of Archbishop of Canterbury. By 1215, the king found himself face to face with opposition from influential, learned, and powerful members of English society.

On June 15 of that year the opposition demanded certain liberties from the English crown throughout the kingdom. King John had no alternative but to sign the document, the Magna Carta, if he wished to remain on the throne. The document had several demands including protection the rights of the churh, prevention of illegal imprisonment of barons, guarantee of swift justice, and regulation of feudal fees to the monarchy. Adminsitartion was to be carried out by a council of 25 barons.

In the American experience, the Magna Carta of 1215 provided enthusiasm for independence from Great Britain and much of its intent would be embedded in the Declarartion of Independence (1776), Articles of Confederation (1777), and U.S. Constitution (1789).

Articles of the Barons (Magna Carta), 1215 British Library

Here is a summation of the significance of the document for English people written by Michael Wood in his book, The Story of England, a companion volume to the BBC documentary of the same name:

In the Magna Carta in 1215 King John had acceded to the barons' demands made in response to his wholesale abuses of power. In essence it was a charter for the ruling class but it embodied the crucial principle that the king was bound by the law. Immediately after John's death Magna Carta was reissued in the name of his successor, and there were several versions up to 1225. Since then it has come to be regarded by English people, and by all who have adopted English law, as the chief constitutional defense against arbitrary or unjust rule. Its most famous clauses express some of the English people's most deeply held political beliefs, and pertain to both rich and poor: No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed, or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgement of his equals, or by the law of the land. . . To no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay right or justice.

 Later lawyers found here the basis for fundamental English rights: equality before the law and freedom from arbitrary arrest . . . .

Stephen Hayward provide more information in this fine 2015 Instapundit tribute to today's historic moment in Western history.

Here is a British Library link to a complete translation of the Magna Carta. The original document is in Latin.

Sources


Text:
Kings and Queens of England and Great Britain, Eric R. Delderfield, David & Charles Publishers, Devon, 1977

Flag Day 2023

Today is Flag Day, a day for commemorating the adoption of a design by Francis Hopkinson as the official Flag of the United States on this date in 1777. President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation in 1919 declaring June 14 as the official day.

Francis Hopkinson Flag, 1777

Here are some words about the Hopkinson flag from the link above:

Hopkinson is recognized as the designer of the official "first flag" of the United States. Although he sought compensation from Congress, the letter was somewhat comical. He asked for a quarter cask of wine in payment for the flag, the Great Seal, and various other contributions. Congress used the usual bureaucratic tactics of asking for an itemized bill. After some back and forth, Congress eventually refused on the pretext that Hopkinson was already paid as a public servant. The letter also mentioned that Hopkinson collaborated with others on his designs because he was one of many contributing to the Great Seal.

While there is no known Hopkinson flag in existence today, we do know from his rough sketch that it had thirteen stars and thirteen stripes. It is believed that his flag used red and white stripes and white stars on a field of blue. Because the original stars used in the Great Seal had six points, we might also assume that Hopkinson's flag intended the use of a 6-pointed star. This is bolstered by his original sketch that showed asterisks with six points.

The legend of Betsy Ross as the designer of the first flag entered into American consciousness about the time of the 1876 centennial celebrations. See Betsy Ross Flag for the full story. Today many Americans still cling to the legend that she designed the first flag with it's familiar circle of thirteen stars, At the same time most are unaware of Hopkinson's legacy.

There are any number of songs written about our national flag. Among the best of them is George M. Cohan's 1906 rouser, You're A Grand Old Flag, written in 1906 for his musical, George Washington, Jr. Here it is performed by"The President's Own" United States Marine Band:

Sources

Photos and Illustrations:
Hopkinson Flag, public domain image, Wikimedia.org

Text:
Francis Hopkinson, entry, Wikipedia.org
"You're A Grand Old Flag," entry, Wikipedia.org

D-Day: Win The Cliffs, Win The Continent, Win The War

Into The Jaws Of Death, US Troops Wading Through Water And Nazi Gunfire

June 6, 1944, 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. It remains the largest amphibious invasion in history. General Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which “we will accept nothing less than full victory.” More than 5,000 ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end on June 6 the Allies gained a foothold in Normandy. The D-Day cost was high - more than 9,000 Allied soldiers were killed or wounded - but more than 100,000 soldiers began the march across Europe to defeat Hitler.

We don't teach history much these days. If students simply learned that "more than 100,000 soldiers began the march across Europe to defeat Hitler" and his National Socialist movement, I would be somewhat pleased. I'd also like every student to know that 16 million Americans served during World War II. About 130,000 are still alive. About 110,000 die each year. In a short time all of these eyewitnesses to history will be gone. There will be no one to thank, no one to question. We can only remember.

For more on the significance of this day link to the U.S. Army D-Day Page.

A portion of 9388 interments at Normandy American Cemetery adjacent Omaha Beach

Sources

Photos and Illustrations:

photo, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Public Domain Photographs, 1882-1962
map, Department of History, United States Military Academy

Text:
title derived from a quote by President Ronald Reagan, www.army.mil/d-day, U.S. Army D-Day Page
statistics, U.S. Army D-Day Page