Your Own Inner Child

Your Own Inner Child

Your Own Inner Child
Hold closely yet loosely

your own inner child,

for it weighs but lightly,

travels quite nicely,

and when things go amiss

will lead you across
any abyss.

HL April, 2008

Save the Children - In honor of those who lost their lives at Sandy Hook

"I just want to ask a question; who really cares?" - Marvin Gaye

Save the Children - In honor of those who lost their lives to gun violence at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, CT, December 14, 2012

On The Death Of Friends In Childhood

On The Death Of Friends In Childhood

by Donald Justice

We shall not ever meet them bearded in heaven

Nor sunning themselves among the bald of hell;

If anywhere, in the deserted schoolyard at twilight,

forming a ring, perhaps, or joining hands

In games whose very names we have forgotten.

Come memory, let us seek them there in the shadows.

Chase Kowalski, Age 7

A Refusal to Mourn the Death by Fire of a Child

A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London

by Dylan Thomas

The games boys play or, diamonds are a girl's best friend

The games boys play or diamonds are a girl's best friend. 

The world mourned last June, when, five bare days before the nuptials, 26 year old buxom blonde (now there's a surprise) Crystal Harris, broke off her engagement to her 86 year old Pay Pal and fiancee, Hugh Hefner. 

High Apple Pie in the Sky Hopes

Any time you're feeling low, 'stead of lettin' go, just remember that Frank Sinatra and Eddie (The Wells Fargo Wagon Kid) Hodges once shared a hole in the head, high hopes and a 1959 Academy Award for this charmingly silly little ditty. 

The Frank Sinatra Show

Some Say a Heart Is Just Like a Wheel

This poignant love song, written by the late Kate McGarrigle and her sister Anna, is performed here by the three McGarrigle sisters, Maria Maulder and Linda Ronstadt.

Some say a heart is just like a wheel 
When you bend it, you can't mend it 

Dave Brubeck: "a wigging cat with a way out wail"

Dave Brubeck died yesterday at age 92. When he was featured in a Time magazine cover story in 1954, he was referred to as a "wigging cat with a way out wail". I don't know about that but ...

25 years aboard the Night Train: tracing the roots of a riff

25 years aboard the Night Train or tracing the roots of a riff. 

Tom Jones, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young are a Long Time Gone

Quibble with or wonder about his career choices, but when they gave Tom Jones a TV show, he knew what to do with it.

Tom Jones and CSNY are a Long Time Gone 1970

You Don't Have to Cry - 1970

142 minutes with Van Morrison in all his confounding glory

In December 1998, Van Morrison gave a concert in Germany that was broadcast in it's entirety on live television. It featured, in this long time Van man's view, his greatest band and is a great concert That's all.

Leaves and Be Gone

The earth spins 365 times and nothing changes. Every year I have 2,786, 242 leaves on my lawn and my neighbor has eleven. I have a leaf blower and he’s not home. It seems only fair to share mine with him. If I spend a few more eons outside the gates of heaven in exchange for an hour more of playtime today... well, I call that rough justice. Hand me my leaf blower and my dancing shoes – I’m blowin’ and I’m gone!

King Pleasure

King Pleasure (born Clarence Beeks 1922-1982) emerged in the early 1950's as one of the very few early practitioners of vocalese, a singing style in which lyrics were written and sung note for note to famous jazz instrumentals. During his brief career, which ended in 1960, he helped launch the careers of Jon Hendricks,  (later the avatar of Lambert, Hendricks and Ross), Blossom Dearie and the great Betty Carter, who made her recording debut on Pleasure's Red Top. King Pleasure never recorded after 1960 and disappeared into obscurity; the rest of his life a mystery. 

Martha Reeves was one of the finest Detroit vehicles ever manufactured and it wasn't enough.

Martha Reeves was one of the finest vocal vehicles Detroit ever manufactured. - and it wasn't enough. 

I know that Diana Ross was a bigger star than Martha Reeves. I believe that I know why. That doesn't mean I have to like it.

Nowhere to Run

Dancing in the Street

Heatwave

Everybody was always talkin' at Fred Neil

Everybody was always talkin' at Fred Neil. He preferred searching for dolphins in the sea.

Bobby Darin and the Supremes salute Rogers and Hart

Bobby Darin and the Supremes join forces in a tribute to Rogers and Hart

Sunday morning jazz with The Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra

One of the great jazz show bands of the 1930's, The Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra are featured in this wonderful 1935 film short along with The Three Brown Jacks dance team and singer/dancer Myra Johnson.

Inspirational Verse: "Rhythm is out business, rhythm is what we sell. Rhythm is our business, business sure is swell.

Dudley Do-Right; A Beacon of Good-it-tude

As our nation again turns its' lonely eyes to our Northern borders in search of a true hero, there stands Dudley Do-Right, a true beacon of good-it-tude. In this graphic and shocking episode, the ever stout, brave and true Dudley rescues Nell from the evil clutches of Snidely Whiplash just before she is divided in two. Spoiler alert: in a stunning reversal of form, Nell finally expresses her appreciation in a show of affection for Dudley instead of his horse.  11.10.12

What are we really voting for?

UPDATE: The Republican party convention that nominated "I, Trump, to the Presidency of US passed without a a single mention of the stalled nomination by President Obama of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. We are now more than halfway through the Democratic convention of Hillary Clinton and still no acknowledgement of that forsaken nominee.

The Republican's stunning display of hubris and abdication of their responsibility to even hold hearings on the nomination forced The Supreme Court to  limp through its' session with 8 justices.

Garland's fate is now sealed.  Despite being a highly respected jurist and a centrist, Garland will be consigned to being a footnote in history.

If the Trumped Up Republicans win this election and retain control of the Senate, they will attempt to impose on us someone aligned with their core belief in their absolute right to maintain private arsenals, interfere with women's most intimate private decisions and everything else that conforms to their corrupt ideology.

This is an insult to democratic principles. It is time to consign these profiteers in human misery to the trash can of history themselves - each and every last one of them. July 28, 2016
..............................................................................................................................................................

UPDATE: On the morning following the election, politicians did what they always do. The victors reached for the sweet fruit of victory only to find it spoiled by the poisoned venom of the losers intent on avenging their repudiation. November 10, 2012

It's Time to Face the Music, Man

No sooner are we finished with one election, chock filled with dire warnings of doom and gloom, when here comes another shameless huckster trying to convince us that only he can save us from lots and lots of trouble.

Ya Got Trouble

76 Trombones

A song of childhood

Song of Childhood

Words By Peter Handke

Music by Van Morrison

The Sweet Taste of Victory and precious few bitter herbs

The evening afterglow brings the sweet taste of victory to be savored and precious few bitter herbs:

Singin' and laughin' in the rain

"I'm laughing at clouds so high up above ..."

"

Dwight Eisenhower warns against the military-industrial complex

I have no doubt that those who will take time to read the text of Dwight D. Eisenhower's farewell address warning of the dangers of the military-industrial complex, will applaud the sentiments of this now iconic statesman. My hope that anything will come of the acknowledgement that we, as a nation and member of the civilized world, are the leading global purveyors of this insidious evil is nil.

Vote for me and I'll set you free!

I wrote this in November, 2012. I did not update it in November 2016 for the following reasons: 

Charles Pierce talks me off the last left limb

Earlier today, in a blooming burst of whimsy, I flirted with the notion of voting for Green party candidate, Jill Stein for President. Oh, I might not have actually pulled her lever, but when a simplistic on line survey compared my positions with that of the candidates and concluded that Ms. Stein was my one true champion, how could a simple fellow such as I resist?

Will racial bias cost the President the election?

Here's some interesting campaign math: If the white vote constitutes 74 percent of the total vote, as it did in the last election, and Romney receives at least 61 percent of that white vote, Obama must either improve on the 80 percent non-white vote he received last time – and maintain the same turn out levels, or Romney wins.  Polls estimates are that Romney leads Obama among likely white voters 60-37. Can it really be true that 60% of white voters disagree with Barack Obama over policy? Or is there something darker that is being rejected?

What's My Line hosts a macabre Halloween visitor

A macabre Halloween visit with Alfred Hitchcock -1954

Will The Willow shutter FEMA? The daily update and a history lesson

During a debate at the height of the GOP primary, Mitt Romney was asked, in the context of the Joplin disaster and FEMA's cash crunch, whether FEMA should be shuttered and states required to take over responsibility for disaster response. His response?

A musical playlist as Sandy's waters rise behind us

AS HURRICANE SANDY MAKES HER INROADS ON OUR SHORES, A MUSICAL WISH THAT ALL REMAIN SAFE, WARM AND DRY WITH SHELTER FROM THE STORM STARRING MAMAS AND PAPAS, JIMI, JOHN AND PAUL, NEIL, BRUCE AND FEATURING THE FATHER OF MOTION PICTURES, THOMAS A. EDISON

John Franklin Stevens Open Letter to Ann Coulter

As many of you no doubt know, self-styled pundit and provocateur Ann Coulter recently indulged in her penchant for the insult when she tweeted the following of the President:

Ann Coulter ‏@AnnCoulter                                                                             October 22, 2012

I highly approve of Romney's decision to be kind and gentle to the retard. 

She responded to the ensuing hue and cry with her predictably graceless flair:

Remember these Oldies But Goodies On The Big D?

The Beatnik DJ himself, Dick Robinson with some anonymous has-beens or 

never were in the first place fellers. 

John Keats' Ode to Autumn

Ode to Autumn by John Keats

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Mitt's foreign policy revealed: Cowboy up! Oops!

ETCH-A-SKETCH UPDATE: Oh great! Yesterday I was ready to grab my 10 gallon hat, boots, spurs and rusty cap gun and saddle up for Team Romney to play Sheriff to the world just like back in the good old Bush days when oliver sudden morphs into a peacenik and pulls the plug on the whole shooting match. All that fretting and fuming over whether Mittens was gonna steal the nuclear code and hit the button right there on the debate stage and it turns out all he wants to do is give peace a chance. Fooled me again, slick.

Keith Jarrett playing in the Autumn Leaves

Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette playing in the Autumn Leaves.

(introduction) 

Mitt Romney, Robert Bork and abortion

It is now days before the election and we are still expected to peer behind a mask of obfuscating slogans in search of the very few clues we can find that tell us which way the Willow will bend when the winds blow and what it is that he will risk mussing his hair to fight for.

On one issue at least, help is here, courtesy of Politifact.com which has compiled Romney's abortion positions over the years, step by circuitous step.

Tim Buckley is Alive

Tim Buckley (1947-1975) was a soaring vocalist who stretched far beyond his origins as a folk-rock artist. His oeuvre is stylistically varied, often confusing and ultimately frustrating, but his commitment to allowing free rein to his imagination and exploring the limits of his art is unquestioned.

Song to the Siren - Monkees TV show - 1968

Fred Neil's The Dolphins 

John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman serenade this lovely Autumn

If I could borrow one singer's voice to sing one song just once in my life, that singer would be Johnny Hartman. The song would be Autumn Serenade. And my band would be The John Coltrane Quartet.

George McGovern - A Tribute

As George McGovern's life draws to an end after 90 years and another Presidential election looms, it is time to reflect upon and remember the legacy of this man who carried himself with dignity and grace and inspired a generation to revere and strive for peace. 

Romney's Vietnam- The Tale of a Fortunate Son

A Fortunate Son

In 1966, Mitt Romney was a freshman at Stanford at a time when the campus was roiled by anti-war demonstrations.  Romney, like his father, was an ardent supporter of the war. Mitt's campus contribution? He joined a counter-protest urging his fellow students to abandon their protests. That's him in the upper right corner of the photo. 

The Art of Politics

“Politics is the art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich by promising to protect each from the other” Oscar Ameringer (1870-1943) American Socialist.

“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” H.L. Mencken (1880 – 1956).

Bob Dylan with God on his side - 1964

Oh my name it is nothin'

My age it means less

The country I come from

Is called the Midwest

I's taught and brought up there

The laws to abide

And that land that I live in

Has God on its side

The Days Grow Short As We Reach November

No month that I know of has more beautiful songs written about it than the month of September.  Here is a selection of wonderful September Songs.

Tom Jones swoons over the Autumn leaves

I'm not a real big fan of the "dream boat" types and always thought Tom Jones was miscast in that role. It would have been more interesting to see what he could have done with an R&B based career but apparently he preferred Vegas where he could out Humper the other dinks. 

Anyway, he was kinda like Elvis in that you could give him any song to sing and he could deliver. Here he is, back in the day, swooning over The Autumn Leaves - Ladies, get your panties ready for the one, the only Mr. Tom Jones!

Another Mass Kiss Off for Mitt the Man With No Home

Coda: When it was over and he was soundly beaten, Mitt Romney delivered a concession speech that revealed himself to be a gracious, decent and honorable man. Unfortunately for him, he never learned to run a gracious, decent and honorable campaign.

The Next to the Last Great Debate

UPDATE: How do you debate someone who never takes a consistent position on anything and when he is called out on any one of them, denies that was ever his position in the first place? I've been listening to this guy for 18 years and still haven’t got the slighted clue what be truly believes in. The last time this country bought a bundles of surprises like this it was gift wrapped by Richard Nixon. The last time we elected an actor this skilled, his name was Ronald Reagan, right down to the Brylcreem. If that’s your cup of tea, take a swallow. But first, ask yourself this: who is it you are voting for and what is it that he is going to do for you, especially if you are among the 47% who, when behind closed doors, he dismisses as freeloaders? And how does he propose to reach across the aisle when he’s got the right wing of his party ready to smack him down every time he tries it right on down to the next Supreme Court Justices? Etch-a-Sketch is the name of the game alright. PS You balanced the budget in Massachusetts because it is a constitutional requirement, sport.

UPDATE: BOOM! 149 MINUTES INTO DEBATE #2 AND ... Barry O. hits Mittens with "47%" for the final blow. That's 47% people. Remember, folks, Mittens said it behind closed doors surrounded by $$$. Are you or your loved ones in that 47%? If so, what's left to decide? One guy is a poseur in an empty suit under a coiffure and the other is the present and future President of the United States of America. VOTE!

Nat King Cole understood the beauty of Autumn leaves

Nat King Cole understood the beautiful melancholy of the falling Autumn leaves - 1957

A Boat, Beneath a Sunny Sky

Lewis Carroll’s ‘Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There’ is dedicated to the ten year old girl who was his muse and inspiration, Alice ‘Pleasance’ Liddell.  ‘A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky’ is an untitled poem that appears at the end of the book.  The poem is an acrostic in which the first letter of each line read downward, spells out the name of the author’s muse.

A Boat, Beneath a Sunny Sky

by Lewis Carroll

Poem In October

Poem in October

BY DYLAN THOMAS

It was my thirtieth year to heaven ...

Van Morrison is haunted by the sound of leaves falling down

When the leaves come falling down - live

When the leaves come falling down -studio recording

I saw you standing with the wind and the rain in your face

And you were thinking 'bout the wisdom of the leaves and their grace
When the leaves come falling down
In September when the leaves, come falling down

Neil Young Celebrates the Harvest Moon

I would not have cast that old brooding loner Neil as the care free, swinging leading man but, playing against type. he carries the part off with charm and aplomb. 

Proof positive that, from time to time, 

Neil Young actually has fun. 

On the Way Home/Tell Me Why - 1971

A Moondance 'neath the cover of October skies is a fantabulous time

No other musician I know of is more in tune with Autumn (or any other season for that matter), than Van Morrison)

A Moondance in Ireland -1979

Moondance for the very first time - 1970

Ali vs. Frazier; The Thrilla in Manilla

Ali v. Frazier - The Thriller in Manilla

"Lawdy Lawdy, he's a great champion" - Joe Frazier.

On this day in sports history, October 1, 1975 Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier met for the third time and final time in the “Thrilla in Manilla”, considered by many to be the greatest fight in the history of boxing. October 1, 2012

This link is to the most stirring account of this legendary fight, written by Mark Kram for Sports Illustrated. "Lawdy, Lawdy, He's a great champion"

September in the Rain With Sarah Vaughan

Everyone enjoys September in the Rain - at least when Sarah Vaughan sings about it. 

An Eternal Autumn in New York with Ella and Louis

An Eternal Autumn in New York with Ella and Louis - 1958

A Tribute to Eva Cassidy

When Eva Cassidy passed away in 1996 at the age of 33, she was a largely unknown local singer. I first heard her when Nightline broadcast this story in May, 2001 and was simply stunned and moved to tears.  I just watched it again with the same reaction. Whether you have also heard Eva in the ensuing years or have not yet had the very profound pleasure, do yourself a favor: listen. 

Over the Rainbow

What a Wonderful World

Chain of Fools

Cheek to Cheek

Time After Time

Popeye Meets a Most Remarkable Fellow

Max Fleischer Presents!

Popeye Meets Sinbad

Starring: 

Popeye as The Spinach Eating Sailor

Olive Oyl as The Irresistible Damsel

J. Wellington Wimpy as The Hamburger Fiend

and

Sinbad Bluto as The Most Remarkable Fellow

Todd Akin gets wowed by Claire McCaskill

Less than a month after insisting that "legitimate rape rarely causes pregnancy",  Senate wannabe Todd Akin remains on the attack, lamenting that his opponent, incumbent Claire McCaskill, refuses to act more "ladylike".

Following their recent debate, he opined, "I think we have a very clear path to victory, and apparently Claire McCaskill thinks we do, too, because she was very aggressive at the debate, which was quite different than it was when she ran against Jim Talent," Akin told the The Kansas City Star. "She had a confidence and was much more ladylike (in 2006), but in the debate on Friday she came out swinging, and I think that’s because she feels threatened."

Several days later, apparently still recovering from the threat he presented, he offered this, "The first two minutes, wow, it's like somebody let a wildcat out of the cage," Akin told a small group of supporters and activists in Rolla, a rural college town between St. Louis and Springfield. "She was just furious and attacking in every different direction, which was a little bit of a surprise to us." 

Apparently, what would most satisfy Todd would be if, while he attacked, Claire played the docile tabby, rolled over onto her back and enjoyed the ride.

Despite demonstrating, once again, that he has yet to evolve beyond the level of the Neanderthal, Akin has regained the support of the The National Republican Senatorial Committee which endorsed him yesterday. Ugh.