Louis Armstrong

Pat and I took a break from our worldly duties to celebrate our 45th wedding anniversary, January 26, with a trip to the Big Apple, New York City. Having spent most of her childhood in New Jersey, and having fond memories there which included escapades into New York City, my lovely wife gifted me with a surprise adventure and so we lifted off with JetBlue and spent a few days adventuring in the Big Apple. First day was in Greenwich Village, second day in the Brooklyn Bridge area, third day at the Battery Park area, including the 911 museum/memorial. Then we did some touring in Chinatown and Little Italy. Our last night in the City was spent at Studio 54 Theatre, enjoying a Broadway Production, A Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong.

What a great musical show that is! The music and the drama is superb, with incredible choreography and energetic acting. . . lots of dancing, music, singing. Music Director is Darrel Ivey; James Monroe Iglehart playing Satchmo, with Christopher Renshaw directing, orchestration and arrangements by Branford Marsalis. Brandon Louis Armstrong, whose great-great uncle was the Master himself, Louis Armstrong, is listed as a band member, and listed also as an understudy for the lead role, playing his great uncle, the master himself Satchmo Louie Armstrong. I was appreciating all this music so much because I grew up in Louisiana, about 70 miles upriver from New Orleans where the master trumpeteer, Louis Armstrong, had started his career, which, during his lifetime became a worldwide phenom, with historic episodes in Chicago, New York, Hollywood, and God only knows how many other venues in this world hosted the incredible musicality and showmanship of the trumpet virtuoso.  At various occasions during my youth, we would go from Baton Rouge to New Orleans, the "French Quarter", and hear some jazz. Louie Amstrong was the KING of JAzz. So I think it is a great tribute to the master that his people have put this fabulous musical together. I never heard Satchmo; I was too young, and 70 miles away, but I do cherish a few memories of those New Orleans jazz parlours where Louie must have wowed folks with his mastery and showmanship.  Now. . . as a sheltered couple from the Blue Ridge, Pat and I found it to be an exciting entertainment one block off Broadway in Studio 54, which i am told is a classic Broadway theater. I mean the place was so palatial I wanted to take a picture of it but the announcer said no picture-taking. The show was first class, absolute class; now I understand a little bit about what I have been hearing about since my youth . . .catching snippets of Broadway and jazz and the mastery of Broadway productions, mostly through the lens of Ed Sullivan and Johnny Carson. Now, having just heard the phenom with my ears, I celebrate the life and legendary legacy of a true musical virtuoso who was one incredible player in the generation that preceded mine. Louis Armstrong. Thanks, all ye directors, musicians, singers, actors for opening the world of Satchmo so that we could experience a world-class trumpeteer! King of Soul

New York New York

Funny thing: mass media. I grew up in it, surrounded by it. For a boomer kid like me, our fantasy world was defined by the two American coasts: LosAngeles/San Francisco on the west end and NewYork/Washington on the east. Even though I was was southern kid in Louisiana, I was, thanks to TV, an American hybrid, a WestCoast Disney/NewYork/TV Kid. Now in my 73rd year of life in these United States, Pat and I spend the better part of a week wheeling and walking around the Big Apple, New York City. And I am amazed how much of my boomer imagination was shaped by the place called New York. Oh look! There's the Ed Sullivan theater.

Ed's shows covered the early years, my teen years, the New York Jewish comedians like Alan King and Myron Cohen. Then along came my teens, Ed introducing the Beatles and the Dave Clark Five and a host of ther musical groups . . . Simon and Garfunkel. Along came my college years, with not so much TV but a lot of music, Peter Paul and Mary, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Simon and Garfunkel: You can't get much more NewYorkish than them: Diamonds and rust in a hotel room on Washington Square. Rubies and dust in deep-founded media memories that go way back. . . way back in time to childhood. . . and then there's Mickey Mantle,Roger Maris. . . Dizzy Dean and PeeWee Reece talking baseball at Yankee Stadium. There's Yogi Berra and Casey Stengel. Then up pops Ed Sullivan with his really big show, and suddenly, the Beatles, massive teen hysteria, then in the nightime we find Johnny Carson, Ed McMahon. Radio waving Simon and Garfunkel singing "Words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls." Later, Paul had a dream where it seemed he was dieing. . . and his "soul rose, unexpectedly: high up above. . , my eyes could clearly see. . . the statue of liberty, sailing away to sea." And guess wha! That Statue of Liberty; it's still there! I viewed it from Castle Clinton, Battery Park, yesterday.  But then suddenly then, (remember). . . without warning, there's 9/11 and the towers down, the towers gone. . . a world-class-sized pile of rubble where the towers used to be. But guess what! The New Yorkers put it all back together - the same, but different - and kept on slogging, and left a Memorial exhibit to commemorate the build-back spirit of this nation. Here's a special image that I snapped at the 9/11 Memorial.

And guess what folks: it ain't over yet for America. If New York could rebuild after 9/11, I believe America can always be doing the same thing: Living long, living well, reinforcing life itself, making lemonade out of lemons and having a good time. God bless New York and God bless America! Glass half-Full

4th Street Lollygag

People have a lot of nerve when they tryin' to be friends When other people are down and out we just lollygag around looking for some entertainment we have a lotta nerve to say we got a helping hand to lend when we just wanna be on the side that's winning

we say the other side is wrong but we know its not that simplified for as long as folks been on earth we been disagreeing. now so many folks have lost their faith but they had no faith to lose and they know it. We think we know the reason that things are so screwed up but we still among that race called human. We ought admit that we all be fools in this race this race of 4-foot mammals. But we just need to make some peace with the others we call human. Good luck with that! Glass half-Full Glass half-Full

How Far Gone?

While touring the JFK Library at UMass I snapped a pic of President Kennedy, long past.

Now watching news of new administration yesterday I detect 'tween then and now a stark contrast.

And so on this cold and cloudy wintry day I revise an old show tune to elephants and ass:Now watching news of new administration yesterday I detect 'tween then and now a stark contrast. And so on this cold and cloudy wintry day I revise an old show tune to elephants and ass:Now watching news of new administration yesterday I detect 'tween then and now a stark contrast. And so on this cold and cloudy wintry day I revise an old show tune to elephants and ass: A song, to be sung to the tune of "Camelot", as sung by Richard Harris in the 1967 movie of the same name: A law was made a distant moon ago here: Civil War rebellions must not burn too hot, and there's a legal limit to the rebels here in America, a lot. Yes, here in Jack Smith's case we caught a glimpse; his prosecutor's case reveals a lot in evidence of the trumpy's MAGApimps here in Chutkan's Court: a lot. We see the wheat cast out from chaff here as official duties fade behind a MAGA plot 'cuz a President has no business breaking laws here with Elon's musky nazi plot. Supremes had made an order in their Court here: As Roberts' magic likewise had begot: Immunity's woven from whole cloth here in Supreme Court, a lot. So go ask We the People to make a list here to separate traitors' acts from those that are not Cuz there's legal limit to trump's insurrection here in our Democracy, a lot. But Jack got way-laid in his task here of culling private acts from those that are not depending on who was called to smear our Rule of Law, in Jan6 riots, so hot. No President ought our Constitution smear whether in private or official, he should not! but since Jack did spell it out so clear here We must grab the Justice case he brought: One hundred eighty special pages there, of treason's acts on January 6th, so hot! Insurrectionary gangs from far and near having no official duties, so they fought! Against our Capitol and DC police here Where violence and killing ought be not Cuz a Law was made a distant moon ago here in 14th Amendment, section 3, or so we thought! King of Soul

The Great Contest

Here's an excerpt from chapters 18 and 19 of my 2017 novel, King of Soul : “The violin concerto—commonly called Le Quattro Stagioni, or the Four Seasons—was originally named by Vivaldi, in 1725, as Il Cimento dell’ Armonia e dell’ Invenzione , or translated, The Contest of Harmony and Invention. Perhaps, as you listen to this selection from it, you can surmise why the composer considered this work to represent a contest—or a sort of dual—between conventional notions of what music should be, as opposed to what music is as it is created and performed by the impetuous innovator—in this case, the soloist. Such is the perennial contest, from age to age, between art that is generally acknowledged as appropriate and new art that is thought to be too disruptive."

But the contest of harmony and invention was playing out far beyond the scripted staffs of musical history, and presenting consequences more grave than the mere listening pleasure of audiences. Still to be found in the world today was the ongoing contest of order against chaos. Here’s the ever-present duel between right and wrong; there’s the Establishment beating back dissidents, with frequent sightings of the powers that be as they take advantage of the powerless who want to be. And we shan’t neglect to mention the plight of them who think they should be running the show, being perpetually put down by them that are in charge of it. And here we learn we do have words that must be said; yet we have words that should never be spoken; but someone will pronounce those words sooner or later. Yes, we do encounter in this life lines in the sand that daren’t be crossed, and prohibitions that beg to be violated; we find rules that must be broken, and sometimes we encounter the terrible contests of convention vs. contention. King of Soul

Self-promotion Potion

“ Everyone is greedy for gain, and from the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely. .

. “Were they ashamed because of the abomination they have done? They were not ashamed at all.” Hebrew prophet Jeremiah, 27 centuries ago

“In the home of the brave, Jefferson’s turning over in his grave. Fools glorify themselves trying to manipulate satan.” American Prophet Dylan, 44 years ago Glass half-Full

Losing My Head?

Am I losing My Head at the tender age of 73? Wait, not so fast. Back it up a bit. Funny thing happened on the way to Jan 10th, 2025. I woke up from dreaming about Richard Nixon, with an idea that I should forgive him. Okay. Maybe it was the new mattress. Our kids gave us a new mattress for Christmas, which I didn't think was necessary. But hey! It worked like a charm. I slept very comfortably, but an odd thing did happen in the morning. My first awakening on this new mattress seems to have sparked all kinds of gracious things running through my head. Yesterday, we had driven through a town where, in previous years, we had visited my mother and father-in-law when they were living in Davidson twenty years ago. It's a very pleasant, idyllic sort of place. Nothing could be finer than to be driving through that Carolina village in the morning. But my mind was playing tricks on me. There had been a few periods, back in the day, when I had felt slightly resentful of my father in law. May he rest in Peace; don't get me wrong, he was a very good father-in-law, an Irish, a civil engineer, builder of bridges, good husband, and father of nine, one of whom has been my perfect wife for 45 years.  But my mind was disturbing me because it had taken a rather morbid turn. It seemed to me that as I was driving through Davidson yesterday, the thought came to me. . . I am the same age now as my father-in-law was when he was living in that town. What does that mean?. . . and he is dead now so that means I too will be dead some day! But hey! This is getting out of hand. But wait; there's more. I should tell you, as Paul Harvey used to say, the rest of the story. So I wake up the next day, today, dreaming of Richard Nixon!? What's up with that? In the dream I had been sitting across from him and listening, as if I were a journalist interviewing him. But, but. . . with the strange feeling that I should forgive Richard Nixon! For what? You tell me! Sending goons to the Watergate hotel? Well then, anyway, a little later today, I was having breakfast and pondering the Beatles song from the Sgt. Pepper album. . . When I get older, losing my head, many years from now. . . All that to say: if you get a new mattress, read all the labels. There's no telling what memories are stuffed into your old dreaming platform. And the old memories - at least in my experience - will try to sneak back into your golden slumbers while you're dreaming. This is what the Beatles were singing about on Sgt. Peppers: "When i get older, losing my head. . . when I'm sixty-four." But now I'm seventy-three! Way past sixty-four. . . and wake up thinking of Nixon and pardoning him, and - Dare I say it! Does this mean. . .? maybe even pardoning Donald Trump for his leading the insurrection on Jan6, four years ago. And I'm wondering what George Washington would have thought about such a thing.

I better sleep on it again, and besides I want to read Jack Smith's report before I do such a thing. And I am wondering what George Washington would think of what happened on Jan6, 2021? King of Soul

4000 Holes

It’s funny to contemplate how pop culture affects my g-generation. My g-generation was the first to grow up with a TV in the living room. We were the second generation to grow up with radio. I have a memory of—I think it was 1962—laying in bed, ready to sleep, but listening in the dark to my transistor radio. . . pop music, rock ’n roll . . . when, out of the darkness, I heard this: “She was just seventeen; you know what I mean, and the way she looked was way beyond compare.” As it turned out, that was only the beginning of a pop-culture phenomenon that would become a decade of chart-topping Beatles songs. In the annals of popular music, only the Elvis phenom of the ’50’s could compare with it. But these guys—the long-haired rockers from Liverpool. . . there were four of them. So it seemed that the cultural and musical impact of their songs was four times as potent as the Elvis phenom had been. The Beatles had an incredibly innovative—almost revolutionary—impact on of the music of the ’60’s. These guys were progressive; their fourfold lyrical presentation on the Ed Sullivan show was like nothing that ever happened before. As the 1960’s rolled on and on, their magical mystery tour of rock’n’roll innovation set a course of musical exploration that dominated the the pop music of the 1960’s, and contributed widely to the impact of the rock groups of the 1970’s. The entrance of their Sgt. Pepper’s LP into my teen youth was unprecedented in the history of 20th-century entertainment. Their impact dumped the love song requirements of pop music into the “been there/done that” barrel of history. I have a life-long memory of John Lennon, in ’67, singing these words: “ I read the news today, oh boy. . . the English army had just won the war. A crowd of people turned away; but I just had to look, having read the book.” The generation before us—our parents—now THEY were the ones who had the real burden. . . halting hitler’s assault on mankind. Our baby boomer experience was like a walk in the park compared to the world war they endured, from 1939-45. . . By the mid-’60’s, we were living in a fantasy land, an unprecedented magical mystery tour that- compared to what our parents—the “greatest generation” experienced when they defeated hitler and mussolini and their Jap allies in the Pacific realm. Compared to their ordeal, the 1960’s were a walk in the park, like growing up in a dream world constructed by Howdy Doody and Disney and Elvis and . . . and suddenly, there they were: the Beatles, appearing unexpectedly out of a Liverpool fog. By 1967, disguising themselves as Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, this foursome had re-branded themselves as a new English myth that would rival Camelot, or the shire— a dream world that became our LP-spun magical mystery tour. An LP track or two past Ringo’s intro, it was twenty years ago today, Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play; they been goin’ in and out of style, but they’re guaranteed to raise a smile. . . After a few minutes of breaking musical precedents, suddenly there’s John’s explanation: “I read the news today. . . four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire; and though the holes were very small, they had to count them all.” Say what? What the hell is he talking about? John went on to explain: “Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall. I’d love to turn you on. . . “ Now I’ve been wondering about this for half a century. Recently, I came across something on the world web that explains John’s sketchy mention of the mysterious holes.

So now we know what the 4000 holes was all about. I had thought that it was Lennon’s lyrical criticism of rich people hearing music in the Albert Hall, at the expense of laboring people in Lancashire. But according this snippet, it was really about fixing road holes in the north of England. On the other hand, maybe it was really about four thousand seaside holes, which I discovered in 2019, in St. Andrews, Scotland:

Smoke

Electoral Count Reform Act

In January, 2021, donald trump summoned a mob of rebels to mount an insurrection against the Congress of our United States. The mob violently attacked our Capitol; their intent was to disrupt the Constitutionally-mandated counting of Electoral votes, so that trump could unlawfully take possession of the presidency. Those maga insurrectionists were not successful in their attempt. Now, in January 2025, an alliance of concerned citizens has taken on a similar mission, although legally - yes, this time, legally and peacefully - to demand a Constitutionally-prescribed procedure whereby Electoral votes will be re-evaluated, according to Constitutionally-mandated prescriptions, and recounted by Congress. This impending indictment is based upon donald trump's (January 6, 2021) criminal violation of the 14th amendment of our Constitution, and the Electoral Act of 1800, which was revised by Congress in 2022.

Now, in January 2025, a growing coalition of law-abiding Americans are calling attention to our US Constitution. In section 3 of our our 14th amendment, we find: "No person shall. . . hold any office, civil or military. . . who having previously taken an oath . . . to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against (the United States), or given aid or comfort to (insurrectionists)" As inauguration day 2025 approaches, an alliance of concerned, law-abiding citizens are now raising - based on the 14th amendment exclusion cited above - a Constitutionally-mandated resistance against the scheduled January 20 installation of chief insurrectionist donald trump, who had summoned up and incited that illegal, unlawful insurrection against our Congress in 2021. To learn more about this last-minute call for Justice, tune into Jessica Denson's podcast: Glass half-Full

I Got a Hammer

(with a nod of appreciation to brothers Bob and Peter and Paul and sister Mary) Oh where have you been, my American nation? And where have you been my Constitutional one? I've stumbled on the slime of a trump insurrection. I've waited and I've litigated onRule of Law litigation. I've stepped in the middle of many media muddles. I've been out in the middle of a wrecked Rotunda. I've waited for a Special Prosecutor litigation. But it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard gavel gonna fall. Oh what did you see, our American nation? And what did you see in the Jan6 insurrection? I saw a domed Capitol with vandals all around it. I saw a Capitol window with glass that was shattered. I saw a rebellion and a Constitution all tattered. I saw a Congress attacked with duties all scattered. I saw a Senate a-fleeing with resolutions all shattered And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard gavel gonna fall. And what did you hear, my American nation? And what did you hear, my Constitutional son? I heard the sound of rebellion that signaled a warning. I heard the roar of wave that could drown our Republic. I heard one hundred drummers from the 1700's. I heard ten thousand tweets and nobody thinkin' I heard the ringing of liberty from a bell that was crackin'

And its a hard; it's a hard, it's a hard insurrection It's a hard insurrection gonna squall. And what'll you do now, my American nation? Yeah, what'll you do now my endangered one? We're a going to prosecute those unruly rebels. We'll send our special prosecutor to call 'em to Justice. We'll send Counselor Jack to in Justice represent us. Cuz the maga rebellions will not overcome us. Cuz we shall overcome, we shall overcome some day Deep in my heart, I do believe. . . we shall overcome the lawbreakers some day! Glass half-Full