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Isadora Duncan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Isadora Duncan (May 26, 1877 - September 14, 1927) was an American dancer.

Born Dora Angela Duncan in San Francisco, California, she is considered the Mother of Modern Dance. Although never very popular in the United States, she entertained throughout Europe, and moved to Paris, France in 1900. There, she lived at the apartment hotel at no. 9, rue Delambre in Montparnasse in the midst of the growing artistic community gathered there. She told friends that in the summer she used to dance in the nearby Luxembourg Garden, the most popular park in Paris, when it opened at five in the morning.



Personal Life

Both in her professional and her private life, she flouted traditional mores and morality. One of her lovers was the theatre designer Gordon Craig; another was Paris Singer, one of the many sons of Isaac Singer the sewing machine magnate; she bore a child by each of them. Her private life was subject to considerable scandal, especially following the tragic drowning of her children in an accident on the Seine River in 1913.

In her last United States tour in 1922-23, she waved a red scarf and bared her breast on stage in Boston, proclaiming, "This is red! So am I!". She was bisexual which was not uncommon in early Hollywood circles. She had a lengthy lesbian affair with poet Mercedes de Acosta, and was possibly involved with writer Natalie Barney.

Career

Montparnasse's developing Bohemian environment did not suit her, and in 1909, she moved to two large apartments at 5 Rue Danton where she lived on the ground floor and used the first floor for her dance school. She danced her own style of dance and believed that ballet was "ugly and against nature" and gained a wide following that allowed her to set up a school to teach. She became so famous that she inspired artists and authors to create sculpture, jewelry, poetry, novels, photographs, watercolors, prints and paintings. When the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées was built in 1913, her face was carved in the bas-relief by sculptor Antoine Bourdelle and painted in the murals by Maurice Denis.

In 1922 she acted on her sympathy for the social and political experiment being carried out in the new Soviet Union and moved to Moscow. She cut a striking figure in the increasingly austere post-revolution capital, but her international prominence brought welcome attention to the new regime's artistic and cultural ferment. She married the Russian poet Sergei Yesenin, who was 17 years her junior. Yesenin accompanied her on a tour of Europe, but his frequent drunken rages, resulting in the repeated destruction of furniture and the smashing of the doors and windows of their hotel rooms, brought a great deal of negative publicity. The following year he left Duncan and returned to Moscow where he soon suffered a mental breakdown and was placed in a mental institution. Released from hospital, he immediately committed suicide on December 28, 1925. The Russian government's failure to follow through on extravagant promises of support for Duncan's work, combined with the country's spartan living conditions, sent her back to the West in 1924.

Throughout her career, Duncan disliked the commercial aspects of public performance, regarding touring, contracts, and other practicalities as distractions from her real mission: the creation of beauty and the education of the young. A gifted if unconventional pedagogue, she was the founder of three schools dedicated to inculcating her philosophy into groups of young girls (a brief effort to include boys was unsuccessful). The first, in Grunewald, Germany, gave rise to her most celebrated group of pupils, dubbed "the Isadorables," who took her surname and subsequently performed both with Duncan and independently. The second had a short-lived existence prior to World War I at a chateau outside Paris, while the third was part of Duncan's tumultuous experiences in Moscow in the wake of the Russian Revolution.

Duncan's teaching, and her pupils, caused her both pride and anguish. Her sister, Elizabeth Duncan, took over the German school and adapted it to the Teutonic philosophy of her German husband. The Isadorables were subject to ongoing hectoring from Duncan over their willingness to perform commercially (and one, Lisa Duncan, was permanently ostracized for performing in nightclubs); the most notable of the group, Irma Duncan, remained in the Soviet Union after Duncan's departure and ran the school there, again angering Duncan by allowing students to perform too publicly and too commercially.

Later life

By the end of her life, Duncan's performing career had dwindled, and she became as notorious for her financial woes, scandalous love life, and all-too-frequent public drunkenness as for her contributions to the arts. She spent her final years moving between Paris and the Mediterranean, running up debts at hotels or spending short periods in apartments rented on her behalf by an ever-decreasing number of friends and supporters, many of whom attempted to assist her in writing an autobiography, in the hope that it would be sufficiently successful to support her.

Duncan often wore scarves which trailed behind her, and this caused her death in a freak accident in Nice, France. She was killed at the age of 49 when her scarf caught in the open-spoked wheel of her friend Ivan Falchetto's Amilcar automobile, in which she was a passenger. As the driver sped off, the long cloth wrapped around the vehicle's axle. Duncan was yanked violently from the car and dragged for several yards before the driver realized what had happened. She died almost instantly from a broken neck. The tragedy gave rise to Gertrude Stein's mordant remark that "affectations can be dangerous."

The memoir, given the title Ma Vie, that was meant to have been her financial savior, was published posthumously. Its fervor, if not its prose or its accuracy, won the book critical success; Dorothy Parker, reviewing the book (published in English as My Life), called it "an enormously interesting and a profoundly moving book. Here was a great woman: a magnificent, generous, gallant, reckless, fated fool of a woman...She ran ahead, where there were no paths."

Her life story was made into a movie, Isadora (with Vanessa Redgrave, in the title role, more memorable than either the script or its execution), in 1968.

Isadora Duncan was cremated, and her ashes were placed in the columbarium of Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, France.

Miscellaneous

Isadora Duncan was introduced to a generation of alternative comedy fans when reference to her scarf-induced death was used in an episode of The Mighty Boosh on BBC Radio. Character Vince Noir, played by Noel Fielding, was warned by his fellow zookeeper Howard Moon, played by Julian Barratt, about the dangers of neck apparel.

Howard: "You shouldn't wear long, flowing scarves near fast moving vehicles. Are you aware of Isadora Duncan?"

Vince: "Never heard of her. Who is she?"

Howard: "She was a ballet dancer. She was great; she was the toast of the town. One day she was doing a press call. There she was waving to the cameras; long, flowing scarf got caught in the wheel of a car and her head came clean off."

Vince: "No way! What happened?"

Howard: "Well... She never danced again."

Al Jolson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Al Jolson
Origin Lithuania
Years active 1898-1950

Al Jolson (born Asa Yoelson to Moshe Reuben Yoelson and Naomi Etta Cantor - the original family name was Hesselson - in Seredzius, Lithuania, on May 26, 1885 or 1886, and died in San Francisco, California, October 23, 1950) was an American singer and the son of Jewish immigrants. He was one of the most popular entertainers of the 20th century.

Early life and career

The son of the Rabbi of the Talmud Torah Synagogue (now Ohev Sholom Talmud Torah) in Washington, D.C., Jolson became a popular singer in New York City in 1898, and gradually developed the key elements of his performance: blackface makeup; exuberant gestures; operatic-style singing; whistling and directly addressing his audience.

By 1911, he had parlayed a supporting appearance in the Broadway musical La Belle Paree into a starring role. He began recording and was soon internationally famous for his extraordinary stage presence and personal rapport with audiences. His Broadway career is unmatched for length and popularity, having spanned close to 30 years (1911-1940). However, he is best known today for his appearance in one of the first "talkies" The Jazz Singer, the first feature film with sound to enjoy wide commercial success, in 1927. In The Jazz Singer Jolson performed the song "Mammy" in blackface. In truth, Jolson's singing was never jazz, indeed his style remained forever rooted in the vaudeville stage at the turn of 20th century.

While no official Billboard magazine chart existed during Jolson's career, their staff archivist Joel Whitburn used a variety of sources such as Talking Machine World's list of top-selling recordings, and Billboard's own sheet music and vaudeville charts to estimate the hits of 1890-1954. By his reckoning, Jolson had the equivalent of 23 No. 1 hits, the 4th-highest total ever, trailing only Bing Crosby, Paul Whiteman, and Guy Lombardo. Whitburn calculates that Jolson topped one chart or another for 114 weeks.


Al Jolson wearing blackface and white gloves in The Jazz Singer, 1927.Among the many songs popularized by Jolson were "You Made Me Love You," "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody," "Swanee" (songwriter George Gershwin's first success), "April Showers," "Toot, Toot, Tootsie, Goodbye," "California, Here I Come," "When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob-Bob-Bobbin' Along," "Sonny Boy" and "Avalon."

Jolson was a political and economic conservative, supporting Calvin Coolidge for president of the United States in 1924 (with the ditty "Keep Cool with Coolidge") unlike most other Jews in the arts, who supported the losing Democratic candidate, John William Davis.

Jolson was married to actress/dancer Ruby Keeler from 1928 to 1940, when they divorced. The couple had adopted a son, Al Jolson Jr., during their marriage, but when he was 14 the boy changed his name to Peter Lowe after his mother's second husband, John Lowe.

After leaving the Broadway stage, Jolson starred on radio. The Al Jolson Show aired 1933-1939, 1942-1943, and 1947-1949, and these shows were typically rated in the top ten. However, Jolson scored what many believe to be the greatest comeback in show business history when Columbia Pictures produced the film biography The Jolson Story in 1946, which starred Larry Parks as Jolson, lip-synching to Jolson's voice. Jolson himself made a short appearance in the film. A box office smash (it was the highest grossing film since Gone with the Wind), "The Jolson Story" led to a whole new generation who became enthralled with Jolson's voice and charisma. Despite such singers as Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, and Perry Como being in their primes, Jolson was voted the "Most Popular Male Vocalist" in 1948 by a Variety poll.

His legacy is considered by many to be severely neglected today because of his use of stage blackface, at the time a theatrical convention used by many performers (both white and black), but today viewed by many as racially insensitive. Jolson was billed as "The World's Greatest Entertainer," which is how many of the greatest stars (including Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Elvis Presley, Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart, Jackie Wilson) referred to him. A life-long devotion to entertaining American servicemen and -women (he first sang for servicemen of the Spanish-American War as a boy in Washington, D.C.) led Jolson, against the advice of his doctors, to entertain troops in Korea in 1950 when his heart began to fail.

Death

Jolson died on October 23, 1950, in San Francisco, at the age of 64, apparently of a heart attack, and was interred in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California, where a statue of Jolson beckons visitors to his crypt. On the day he died, Broadway turned off its lights for 10 minutes in Jolson's honor.


This US stamp featuring Al Jolson was part of a series of stamps devoted to great singers.Al Jolson has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame:

For his contribution to the motion picture industry at 6622 Hollywood Blvd.;
For his contribution to the recording industry at 1716 Vine St.;
For his contribution to the radio industry at 6750 Hollywood Blvd.

Forty-four years after Jolson's death, the United States Postal Service acknowledged his contribution by issuing a postage stamp in his honor. The 29-cent stamp was unveiled by Erle Jolson Krasna, Jolson's fourth wife, at a ceremony in New York City's Lincoln Center on September 1, 1994. This stamp was one of a series honoring popular American singers, which included Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Ethel Merman, and Ethel Waters. Al Jolson is one of Mr. Burns' (from The Simpsons) favorite actors - he still believes that he is alive. Jolson's song I'm Sitting on Top of the World was played during the opening montage of 1930's New York City in the 2005 remake of King Kong.

John Wayne
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


U.S. John Wayne stamp from 2004John Wayne (May 26, 1907 - June 11, 1979), popularly known as "The Duke",[1] was an American film actor whose career began in silent films in the 1920s.


Life and career

John Wayne's birthplace in Winterset, IowaJohn Wayne was born Marion Robert Morrison in Winterset, Iowa in 1907, but the name became Marion Mitchell Morrison when his parents decided to name their next son Robert. His family was Presbyterian; father Clyde Leonard Morrison was of Irish and Scottish descent and the son of an American Civil War veteran while mother Mary Alberta Brown was of Irish descent. Wayne's family moved to Glendale, California in 1911; it was neighbors in Glendale who started calling him "Big Duke" because he never went anywhere without his Airedale Terrier dog, who was Little Duke. He preferred "Duke" to "Marion", and the name stuck for the rest of his life.

Duke Morrison's early life was marked by poverty; his father was a man who did not manage money well. Duke was a good and popular student. Tall from an early age, he was a star football player for Glendale High School and was recruited by the University of Southern California.

Wayne claimed that he nearly gained admission to the U.S. Naval Academy. He instead attended the University of Southern California, where he was a member of the Trojan Knights and joined the Sigma Chi Fraternity. Wayne also played on the USC football team under legendary coach Howard Jones. An injury while supposedly swimming at the beach curtailed his athletic career, however; Wayne would later note that he was too terrified of Jones' reaction to reveal the actual cause of his injury. He lost his athletic scholarship and with no funds was unable to continue at USC.

While at the university, Wayne began working around the local film studios. Western star Tom Mix got him a summer job in the prop department in exchange for football tickets, and Wayne soon moved on to bit parts, establishing a long friendship with director John Ford. During this period, Wayne appeared with his USC teammates as one of the featured football players in Columbia Pictures' Maker of Men (filmed in 1930 and released in 1931), which starred Richard Cromwell and Jack Holt. In the film, Wayne was billed with his given name of Marion Morrison.

After two years working as a prop man at the William Fox Studios for $35 a week, his first starring role was in the 1930 movie The Big Trail; the director of that movie, Raoul Walsh, (who "discovered" Wayne) gave him the stage name "John Wayne", after Revolutionary War general "Mad Anthony" Wayne. His pay was raised to $75 a week. He was tutored by the studio's stuntmen in riding and other western skills.

The Big Trail, the first "western" epic sound motion picture, established his screen credentials, although it was a commercial failure. Nine years later, his performance in the 1939 film Stagecoach made him a star. In between, he made westerns, most notably at Monogram Pictures, and serials for Mascot Studios, where he played the role of d'Artagnan in The Three Musketeers, set in modern North Africa, with co-stars Ray Corrigan and Max Terhune. In this same year (1933), Wayne had a small part in Alfred E. Green's succes de scandale Baby Face.

Beginning in 1928, Wayne appeared in more than twenty of John Ford's films over the next 35 years, including Stagecoach (1939), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), The Quiet Man (1952), The Searchers (1956), The Wings of Eagles (1957), and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962).

According to the Internet Movie Database, Wayne played the male lead in 142 of his film appearances.

One of Wayne's most praised roles was in The High and the Mighty (1954), directed by William Wellman and based on a novel by Ernest K. Gann. His portrayal of a heroic airman won widespread acclaim. Island in the Sky (1953) is related to it, and both films were made one year apart with the same producers, director, writer, cinematographer, editor, and distributor.

John Wayne won a Best Actor Oscar in True Grit (1969). Many believe that award was given in recognition of his forty-year career, since his performance in the film was over-the-top and he had given better performances in Red River (1948) and The Searchers (1956). Wayne was also nominated for Best Actor in Sands of Iwo Jima, and as the producer of Best Picture nominee The Alamo, one of two films he directed. The other was The Green Berets (1968), the only film made during the Vietnam War to show American soldiers in a positive representation and supported the conflict.

Batjac, the production company co-founded by Wayne, was named after the fictional shipping company in The Wake of the Red Witch.

In 1964 Wayne was diagnosed with lung cancer, and underwent surgery to remove his entire left lung and two ribs. Rumors circulated that his illness was caused by filming The Conqueror (1956) in Utah, where the US government had tested nuclear bombs. Wayne himself however did not believe this, as from the early 1930s until his operation in 1964 he had smoked between three and five packs of cigarettes a day.

Perhaps due to his sheer popularity, or his status as the most famous Republican star in Hollywood, the Republican Party asked Wayne to run for President in 1968. He declined because he did not believe the public would take seriously an actor in the White House. He did support his friend Ronald Reagan's runs for Governor of California in 1966 and 1970, however. In 1968 Wayne was also asked to be conservative Democratic governor George Wallace's running mate in the presidential election; however, this too did not come to pass.

John Wayne died of stomach cancer on June 11, 1979. He was interred in the Pacific View Memorial Park cemetery in Corona del Mar, Orange County, California. On June 9, 1979, the Archbishop of Panama arrived at the hospital and baptized Wayne into the Roman Catholic Church, at the request of his eldest son Michael, who gave him a Catholic funeral service.

Wayne was married three times, always to Spanish-speaking brides; to Josephine Alicia Saenz, Esperanza Baur, and Pilar Palette. He had four children with Josephine and three with Pilar, most notably actor Patrick Wayne and Ayissa Wayne, who wrote a memoir of her life as the daughter of John Wayne.

His romance with Josie Saenz began when he was a college student and continued for seven years before their marriage. Miss Saenz was 15 or 16 at their first meeting at a beach party at Balboa. The daughter of a successful Spanish businessman, Josie resisted considerable opposition from her family to maintain her relationship with Duke. In the years prior to his death, Wayne was happily involved with his former secretary Pat Stacy.

At the time of his death, John Wayne resided in a bayfront home in Newport Beach, California. His home remains a point of interest in Newport Harbor.

Various things have been named in memoriam of John Wayne. They include John Wayne Airport, in Orange County, California, and the 100-plus mile trail named the "John Wayne Pioneer Trail" in Washington state's Iron Horse State Park.

Draft Controversy

Wayne did not serve in the U.S. military in World War II. This fact has been controversial, particularly in light of his political positions. Wayne was throughout his life an outspoken supporter of anti-communism, patriotism, and the military, perhaps most well known through directing The Green Berets (1968) and his criticism of Jane Fonda. He also often was critical of those who objected to the Vietnam-era draft, calling them cowards. Wayne did not serve in the military, despite being of legal draft age at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack. Wayne was thirty-four when the U.S. entered the war and was raising four children, and when he requested deferment, he was granted a 3-A status ("deferred for [family] dependency reasons"). Other actors with children, for example 37-year-old Henry Fonda, did serve throughout the conflict. Later in the war, his Selective Service Classification was changed to 2-A ("deferred in support of [the] national . . . interest"). (Note: This classification does not exist today) A month later the Selective Service reclassified him 1-A. Wayne's studio appealed and his status was reverted to 2-A status. Despite not serving, Wayne did support the military through participation in USO shows for U.S. servicemen.[2]

Wayne later claimed to have applied and narrowly missed out on attending the U.S. Naval Academy, whose graduates are required to serve in the United States Navy.

Robert Morley
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Robert MorleyRobert Morley (May 26, 1908 - June 3, 1992) was an Oscar-nominated British actor who, often in supporting roles, was usually cast as a pompous English gentleman representing the Establishment. In his Movie Encyclopedia, film critic Leonard Maltin describes Morley as "recognizable by his ungainly bulk, bushy eyebrows, thick lips, and double chin, […] particularly effective when cast as a pompous windbag".

Born Robert Adolph Wilton Morley in Semley, Wiltshire, England, he attended Wellington College, RADA and made his West End stage debut in 1929 and his Broadway debut in 1938 but was soon won over to the big screen. A versatile actor who, especially in his younger years, played roles as divergent as those of Louis XVI, for which he received an Academy Award Nomination as Best Supporting Actor(Marie Antoinette, 1938), Oscar Wilde (1960) and a missionary in The African Queen (1951), Morley personified the conservative Englishman in many comedy and caper films. Later in his career, he received numerous critical accolades for "Who Is Killing The Great Chefs Of Europe?" Renowned for repartee and generally being an eloquent conversationalist, Morley gained the epitheton of being a "wit".

His son, Sheridan Morley, is a well-known writer and critic.


Trivia:

Peter Grant, later manager of Led Zeppelin, was often Morley's film stand-in.

Jay Silverheels
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jay Silverheels (June 26, 1912 - March 5, 1980) was a Canadian Mohawk Indian actor.

He was born Harold J. Smith on the Six Nations Indian Reserve, in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.

Silverheels died in Woodland Hills, California and was cremated. His ashes were returned home and scattered in Canada. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6538 Hollywood Boulevard.

Best known for his many appearances as the Lone Ranger's friend Tonto, Jay Silverheels starred in other films such as:

Broken Arrow - (1950) with Jimmy Stewart
War Arrow - (1953) with Maureen O'Hara, Jeff Chandler and Noah Beery, Jr.,
Walk the Proud Land - (1956) with Audie Murphy and Anne Bancroft
Alias Jesse James (1959)
The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold (1958)
Indian Paint (1964) with Johnny Crawford

In 1993, Silverheels was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

A person can learn so much from this thread. Thank you.




MOLLY AND TENBROOKS
(Bill Monroe)

(This is a Bill Monroe classic bout two great race horses
One of them named Tenbrooks from Kentucky
The other named Molly from Rhode Island, and Molly was livin' in California while the Tenbrooks was raised in Kentucky
And they heard about how fast each other was, and it was long way back in them days between Kentucky and California
So they met half way and they had a race. It's the true story)


Hey run ol' Molly run run ol' Molly run
Tenbrooks gonna beat you to the bright and shinin' sun
To the bright and shinin' sun oh Lord to the bright and shinin' sun

Tenbrooks was big bad horse he had a shaggy mane
He run all round to Memphis he'd beat the Memphis train
Beat the Memphis train oh Lord beat the Memphis train

See that train a comin' it's comin' round the curb
See ol' Tenbrooks runnin' he's strainin' every nerve
Strainin' every nerve oh Lord strainin' every nerve

[ mandolin ]
Out in California well Molly done as she pleased
Come back to ol' Kentucky got beat with all ease
Beat with all ease oh Lord beat with all ease

Kiper Kiper you're not ridin' as right
Molly's beatin' ol' Tenbrooks clear her out of sight
Clear her out of sight oh Lord clear her out of sight

Kiper Kiper Kiper my son
Your ol' Tenbrooks provide her let ol' Tenbrooks run
Let ol' Tenbrooks run oh Lord let ol' Tenbrooks run

[ fiddle ]
The women all're laughin' the children all're cryin'
Men're a hollerin' ol' Tenbrooks is flyin'
Ol' Tenbrooks is flyin' oh Lord ol' Tenbrooks is flyin'

Well goin' catch ol' Tenbrooks and hitch him in the shade
We gonna bury ol' Molly in coffin ready made
Coffin ready made oh Lord coffin ready made

James Arness
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

James Arness (originally Aurness) (born May 26, 1923 in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is an actor best known for portraying Marshal Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke for 20 years, a record length for prime time shows that is shared with Kelsey Grammer's portrayal of Dr. Frasier Crane. Arness's parents were Rolf Cirkler Aurness and Ruth Duesler, descendants of German and Norwegian immigrants. Arness is the older brother of actor Peter Graves. He was the tallest actor ever to play a lead role, standing 6' 7" (2.01 m).

Though primarily identified with Westerns, he also is remembered for appearing in two science fiction films, The Thing from Another World and Them!

James Arness served in the United States Army during World War II and was severely wounded at the Battle of Anzio. He was a close personal friend of John Wayne's and co-starred with him in Big Jim McLain.

Since Gunsmoke ended, Arness has continued to perform primarily in western-themed movies and television series, including How the West Was Won, and five made-for-television Gunsmoke reunion movies between 1987 and 1994. A notable exception was a brief turn as a big city policeman in the short-lived 1981 series, McClain's Law.

For his contribution to the television industry, James Arness has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1751 Vine Street. In 1981, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Sally Ride
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Astronaut
Nationality: American
Date of birth: May 26, 1951
Place of birth: Encino, Los Angeles, California
Previous Occupation: Physicist

Sally Kristen Ride (b. May 26, 1951) is a former astronaut and became the first American woman to reach outer space, in 1983. She was preceded by two Soviet women, Valentina Tereshkova (1963) and Svetlana Savitskaya (1982). She was married for a time to NASA Astronaut Steve Hawley.

Career

Ride was born in Encino, Los Angeles, California and attended high school at Westlake School for Girls in Los Angeles (now Harvard-Westlake School). In addition to being interested in science she was a nationally ranked tennis player. She initially attended Swarthmore College but received her bachelor's degrees (in English and physics) from Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. She then received a master's degree and a Ph.D. in physics at the same institution, while doing research in astrophysics and free-electron laser physics.

Ride joined NASA in 1978 as part of the first astronaut class to accept women. As part of her training she was the Capsule Communicator (CapCom) for the second and third Space Shuttle flights (STS-2 and STS-3) and helped develop the Space Shuttle's robot arm. On June 18, 1983 she became the first American woman in space as a crewmember on Space Shuttle Challenger for STS-7. On that flight, the 5-person crew deployed two communications satellites, conducted pharmaceutical experiments, and was the first to use the robot arm to release a satellite into space and the first to use the arm to retrieve a satellite. Her second space flight was in 1984, also on board the Challenger. She has cumulatively spent more than 343 hours in space. Ride was 8 months into training for her third flight at the time of the Space Shuttle Challenger accident. She was named to the Presidential Commission investigating the accident, and headed its Subcommittee on Operations. After the investigation, Ride was assigned to NASA headquarters in Washington, DC. There she led NASA's first strategic planning effort, authoring a report entitled "Leadership and America's Future in Space", and founded NASA's Office of Exploration.

In 1987, Ride left NASA to work at the Stanford University Center for International Security and Arms Control. In 1989, she became a professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego and Director of the California Space Institute. In 2003, she was asked to serve on the Space Shuttle Columbia Accident Investigation Board. She is currently on leave from the university and is the President and CEO of Sally Ride Science, a company that creates entertaining science programs and publications for upper elementary and middle school students, with a particular focus on girls.

Ride has received numerous honors and awards, including the Jefferson Award for Public Service, the von Braun Award, the Lindbergh Eagle, and the NCAA's Theodore Roosevelt Award. She has been inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame and the Astronaut Hall of Fame, and has twice been awarded the National Spaceflight Medal. Ride is the only person to serve on both of the panels investigating Shuttle accidents (those for the Challenger explosion and the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster).

Ride has long been an advocate for improved science education and has written several children's books about space exploration, including The Third Planet, Exploring Earth from Space, To Space and Back, Voyager, and The Mystery of Mars.

Lenny Kravitz
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



(José Cruz/ABr)Leonard Albert Kravitz (born May 26, 1964) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and guitarist whose retro-style amalgam of rock, pop, funk, and even techno is inspired by such music icons as Jimi Hendrix and John Lennon. Like Prince and Sly Stone before him, Kravitz uses a multi-ethnic, mixed-sex group back-up band.

Biography

Early life

Kravitz was born in New York City, and is the son of Russian-Jewish American film producer Sy Kravitz and Bahamian American actress Roxie Roker, best known as Helen Willis, a regular character on The Jeffersons. Kravitz was named after his uncle, Pfc. Leonard Kravitz, who was killed in action in Korea while suppressing a Chinese attack and saving most of his platoon; he was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Some believe the Medal of Honor has been denied to Pfc. Kravitz because he was Jewish, citing similar circumstances in which others have been posthumously awarded the honor.

His parents moved to California. Having taught himself bass, piano, guitar, and drums at an early age and developed his singing voice in the California Boys Choir and the Metropolitan Opera, he attended Beverly Hills High School and performed under the artist name, Romeo Blue. At that stage, he was heavily influenced by Prince. His parents were friends with jazz greats Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Bobby Short, and Miles Davis so he grew up in a musical household although he would pursue a career in rock rather than jazz.

In the late 1980s, Kravitz returned to New York to pursue a musical career. He ended up sharing a house with Lisa Bonet of The Cosby Show. The two would fall in love and marry on November 16, 1987, Lisa's 20th birthday; they are divorced and have a daughter called Zoe. Kravitz would broaden his influences beyond Prince to classic rock and soul artists such as Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield and Bob Marley. He signed a contract with Virgin Records.

Early career

Let Love Rule album coverHis 1989 debut album Let Love Rule was a moderate success, reaching #61 on the US Billboard album charts. The title track would reach #89 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #5 on the modern rock charts. The second single, "I Build This Garden For Us" reached #25 on the modern rock charts.

Kravitz gained greater recognition when Madonna reached number one with a cover version of his song, "Justify My Love" on her 1990 Immaculate Collection album. Kravitz's marriage to Lisa Bonet ended in the same year.

The following year, his second album, Mama Said reached the top 40 of the Billboard album charts and songs on the album were influenced by his divorce from Bonet. It contained the hit single "It Ain't Over Til It's Over", which reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #10 on the Billboard R&B charts. "Always On The Run" featured Slash of Guns N' Roses and reached #8 on the modern rock charts and #40 on the mainstream rock charts. "Stand By My Woman" would scrape the lower reaches of the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #76, while "What Goes Around Comes Around" reached the top 40 of the Billboard R&B chart. The album would also feature a contribution by Sean Lennon which was his first appearance on record.

In 1993, Are You Gonna Go My Way was released, reaching #12 on the Billboard 200 and Kravitz earned a Brit Award for best international male artist in 1994. The title track won a MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video for the video produced by Mark Romanek, in which Kravitz slung his dreadlocks and wore platform boots. The single would reach #1 on the Australian and Billboard mainstream rock charts and #2 on the modern rock charts. Several singles from the album would follow including:

"Believe" #60 on the Billboard Hot 100, #15 on the mainstream rock charts and #10 on the modern rock charts;
"Is There Any Love In Your Heart" would reach #19 on the mainstream rock charts; and
"Heaven Help/Spinning Around Over You" reached #80 on the Billboard Hot 100 and "Heaven Help" reached #92 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles charts.
Kravitz covered the Kiss song "Deuce" for a tribute album, with the track reaching #15 on the Billboard rock chart. He released the Circus album in 1995, which reached number 10 on the Billboard chart on the back of his past achievement. However, it only had two singles: "Rock And Roll Is Dead" peaked at #75 on the Billboard Hot 100, #4 on the mainstream rock chart and #10 on the modern rock charts. "Can't Get You Off My Mind" reached #62 on the Billboard chart and #36 on the US adult chart.

Later career

With 5 (1998), Kravitz embraced digital technology such as synthesizers and tape loops for the first time. 5 introduced his music to an even wider audience, particularly in Europe, thanks to the hit single "Fly Away" being featured prominently in both car manufacturer and airline commercials. 5 would reach #28 on the Billboard 200, with "Fly Away" reaching #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1999 and #1 on the modern and mainstream charts. He would win the first of his four consecutive Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance at the Grammy Awards of 1999. Other hits from the album included:

"If You Can't Say No" reached the top 40 on the Billboard mainstream rock chart in 1999 - dance producer Brian Transeau would remix the track; and "I Belong To You" would reach #71 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #15 on the Billboard adult chart in 2000.

His cover version of The Guess Who's hit "American Woman" won him another Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance at the Grammy Awards of 2000 and helped The Guess Who find a new audience. The song originally came from the soundtrack of Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and was added to the 5 album as a bonus track in 1999. The song would reach #49 on the Billboard 100, #3 on the Billboard modern rock chart and #7 on the Billboard mainstream rock chart.

Kravitz released a Greatest Hits compilation. It proved to be his most successful album, reaching #2 on the Billboard 200 and Canadian album charts and achieve triple platinum status. The single "Again" reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on a world adult composite chart (based on the US, UK, Canada, Germany, France and Australia) and US adult chart. The track would also earn him his third consecutive Grammy for the Best Male Rock Vocal in the Grammy Awards of 2001.


Kravitz released his sixth album Lenny in October 2001. It reached #12 on the Billboard 200 and #9 on the Canadian charts. The first single from the album "Dig In" reached #31 on the Billboard 100 and went top ten in the world adult and US adult charts. It also reached #1 in Argentina, went top 5 in Portugal and top 10 in Italy. He won his fourth consecutive Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal at the Grammy Awards of 2002. Subsequent singles included:

"Stillness of Heart" went top 10 in Italy, top 20 in the US and world adult charts and Argentina and top 40 in Canada and the UK;
"Believe in Me" reached #1 in Portugal, went top 10 in the Netherlands, top 20 in Italy and Germany and reached the top 100 world sales and airplay charts; and "If I Could Fall In Love" reached the US adult top 40.
Jay-Z invited Kravitz to appear on the track "Guns and Roses" on his 2002 Blueprint 2: the Gift and the Curse. Kravitz would also join P. Diddy, Pharrell Williams and Loon on the track "Show Me Your Soul" from the Bad Boys 2 soundtrack. In 2004, he would appear on a track on N.E.R.D's album Fly or Die. Jay-Z would appear on the track "Storm" on Kravitz's 2004 Baptism album.

In early 2003, Kravitz released the track "We Want Peace" as a download-only track as a protest against the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The track reached #1 on the world internet download charts and MP3.com download chart. Kravitz also appeared on Unity, the official album of the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Also in 2003, Kravitz worked with Michael Jackson on a song titled "Another Day". Kravitz said of the experience, "working with Michael Jackson was probably the best recording experience of my life. He was totally cool, absolutely professional and a beautiful, beautiful guy. And let's not forget, Michael is a musical genius." The song, "Another Day," which Kravitz co-wrote and produced with Jackson, was set to appear on Jackson's long-awaited new album. But the album, set for release in late 2003, was cancelled.

Kravitz's seventh album Baptism was released in May 2004. On his website, Kravitz says that he chose the title because "I've made my first record all over again. That's how it feels, as pure as the beginning." Baptism would debut at number 14 on the US album charts, in the top 50 of the Australian album charts and in the top 75 of the UK album charts. The first single, "Where Are We Running," reached #69 on the Billboard Hot 100, top 25 on a composite European chart and top 20 on Internet charts, Argentina, Italy and the world and US top 20 as of the end of May 2004. "Storm," featuring Jay-Z, reached the top 100 of the Billboard Hot 100 and the top 50 of the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop charts. However, "Lady" became the album's surprise hit, making the US Top 30 and propelling "Baptism" to gold status. From March 2005, Lenny toured all over the world with the tour Electric Church, which ended at the Brixton Academy, London in July 2005. Kravitz is currently serving as the opening act for Aerosmith on their fall 2005 tour.

Kravitz's latest project is a charity single for Hurricane Katrina victims. The single titled "From The Bottom Of My Heart" is a song written and composed by Michael Jackson. Kravitz traveled to London, along with other recording artists, to record the song. The single was anticipated to be released towards the end of 2005 but has been delayed to 2006.

A mother and her very young son were flying Southwest Airlines from
Kansas City to Chicago. The little boy (who had been looking out the
window) turned to his mother and asked, "If big dogs have baby dogs,
and big cats have baby cats, why don't big airplanes have baby
airplanes?"

The mother (who couldn't think of an answer) told her son to ask the
stewardess.

So the boy went down the aisle and asked the stewardess. The
stewardess, who was very busy at the time, smiled and said, "Did your
Mom tell you to ask me?" The boy said, "yes she did." "Well, then, you
go and tell your mother that there are no baby airplanes because
Southwest always pulls out on time. Have your Mom explain that to
you."

here's an obvious tribute

Mustang Sally, think you better slow your mustang down.
Mustang Sally, think you better slow your mustang down.
You been running all over the town now.
Oh! I guess I'll have to put your flat feet on the ground.

All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride.
All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride.
All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride.
All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride.
One of these early mornings, oh, you gonna be wiping your weeping eyes.

I bought you a brand new mustang 'bout nineteen sixty five
Now you come around signifying a woman, you don't wanna let me ride.
Mustang Sally, think you better slow your mustang down.
You been running all over the town now.
Oh! I guess I'll have to put your flat feet on the ground.

All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride.
All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride.
All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride.
All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride.

Wow! Lots of things goin' on here in our studio. Thanks, Try, for that Monroe classic. Don't know it, because it was not among the ones that surfaced during the blue grass come back.

Well, Bob be finished with that "Go ask your mother" joke. Very good, hawkman. Sure beats the rhythm method. The turtle and the hawk are being baaaaaaddddddd today.

Now I remember Isadora, folks, I saw the movie, but the only thing that I can remember is the woman standing in an open car and getting her long scarf caught in the tire wheel, thus breaking her neck. From what I read of Boston Bob's info, she went out just as she danced, with panache.

Well, Yit, I know that song as well as Bob's "Fever" and Miss Peggy may have done this one:

I Can Sing a Rainbow:


Red and yellow and pink and green,
Purple and orange and blue,
I can sing a rainbow,
Sing a rainbow,
Sing a rainbow too!

Listen to your heart,
Listen to your heart,
And sing everything you feel,
I can sing a rainbow,
Sing a rainbow,
Sing a rainbow too

Alternate Version:

Red and yellow and pink and green
Purple and orange and blue
I can sing a rainbow,
sing a rainbow,
sing a rainbow too.

Listen with your eyes,
Listen with your ears,
and sing everything you see,
I can sing a rainbow,
sing a rainbow,
sing along with me.

Red and yellow and pink and green,
Purple and orange and blue,
I can sing a rainbow,
sing a rainbow,
sing a rainbow too!

BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL IN THE SKY
(Tom T. Hall)


In the sweet by and by at that Bluegrass Festival in the sky…

There'll be Monroe Flatt Scruggs and the Stanleys
The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers and the whole McGranner's Family
Molly and the Stonemans and Martin and Crow
Dillard and Thompson and Smiley and Reno

(And we will sing)
In the sweet by and by at that Bluegrass Festival in the sky…

[ banjo - fiddle ]
There'll be old Tige and Baker and Clements and Warren
Richmond and Harold Carl Story and Dorrin
Acker McMagaha Wiseman and Gray
The Osbornes Bill Clifton Sprung and Uncle Day

(And we will sing)
In the sweet by and by at that Bluegrass Festival in the sky...

Old man rhythm is in my shoes
No use t'sittin' and a'singin' the blues
So be my guest, you got nothin' to lose
Won't ya let me take you on a sea cruise
Oo-ee, oo-ee baby
Oo-ee, oo-ee baby
Oo-ee, oo-ee baby
Won't ya let me take you on a sea cruise

Feel like jumpin' baby won't ya join me please
I don't like beggin' but I'm on bended knee
I got to get t'rockin get my hat off the rack
I got to boogie woogie like a knife in the back
So be my guest, you got nothin' to lose
Won't ya let me take you on a sea cruise
Oo-ee, oo-ee baby
Oo-ee, oo-ee baby
Oo-ee, oo-ee baby
Won't ya let me take you on a sea cruise

I got to get t'movin' baby I ain't lyin'
My heart is beatin' rhythm and it's right on time
So be my guest, you got nothin' to lose
Won't ya let me take you on a sea cruise
Oo-ee, oo-ee baby
Oo-ee, oo-ee baby
Oo-ee, oo-ee baby
Won't ya let me take you on a sea cruise

Feel like jumpin' baby won't ya join me please
I don't like beggin' but I'm on bended knee
Oo-ee, oo-ee baby
Oo-ee, oo-ee baby
Oo-ee, oo-ee baby
Won't ya let me take you on a sea cruise

You know, Try. That blue grass "by and by" reminded me of a bit of history:




The Future in Song: A Yesterday's Tomorrows Discography
Lori Elaine Taylor, Ph.D.

Every forward-looking segment of the population that makes music has made music out their futures feared or futures hoped for. There were unions: members of the Industrial Workers of the World, Wobblies, sang Ralph Chaplin's "Solidarity Forever." Religious movements imagined their messianic futures on earth or in a better world after death. Many union songs were satires of the better world promised by churches. In Joe Hill's "The Preacher and the Slave," the long-haired preacher promises the wage slaves "pie in the sky when you die." By the end of the Wobbly song, it is the union members, of course, who gain the wealth and feed the people. "You will eat, by and by "In that glorious land above the sky "Work and pray, live on hay "You'll get pie in the sky when you die."

Sound familiar, listeners?

And for shari:


Crazy rhythm, here's the doorway
I'll go my way, you'll go your way
Crazy rhythm, from now on
We're through.
Here is where we have a showdown
I'm too high-hat, you're too low-down
Crazy rhythm, here's goodbye to you!
They say that when a high-brow meets a low-brow
Walkin' along Broadway
Soon the high-brow
He has no brow
Ain't it a shame?
And you're to blame
What's the use of prohibition?
You produce the same condition
Crazy rhythm, from now on, we're through
Crazy rhythm, I've gone crazy.

Anyone know the etymology of high brow/low brow?

Sorry, not me.


I DON'T WANT MY GOLDEN SLIPPERS
(Tom T. Hall)

I don't want my golden slippers when I reach my heaven's home
I just want to see my Jesus sitting there upon his throne
I don't want no fancy mansions just a place to rest my head
Where I rest in peace eternal when I pay my earthly debt

I don't want my golden slippers when I enter heaven's door
I'll be free to sing his praises where the sun shines evermore
Just a plain and simple cottage down the street from Jesus' door
Where I'll visit with my loved ones who had journeyed on before

[ ac.guitar ]
I don't want my golden slippers just a plain and simply shoes
I don't want my golden pathways just a country road or two
Love to see the devil tremble when he sees me on my knees
I don't want my golden slippers I'm just longing to be free

Well, Try, you are a high brow. Just look at that avatar:

Intellectual and aristocratic. Seriously, listeners, I have heard all my life that a high forehead is the sign of a large and active brain. Old wive's tail, perhaps? It does seem, however, that our Try has a SEG on his face.

In looking around our vast audience, I see so many tributes to the children, so I think we should follow suit.

For bean, Mo, and little Jane and any others that I have missed:

Where are you going my little one, little one
Where are you going my baby my own
Turn around and you're two, turn around and you're four
Turn around and you're a young girl going out of the door

Turn around (turn around)
Turn around (turn around)
Turn around and you're a young girl goin' out of the door

Where are you going my little one, little one
*Dirndls* and petticoats, where have you gone
Turn around and you're tiny, turn around and you're grown
Turn around and you're a young wife with babes of your own


Turn around and you're a young wife with babes of your own

Where are you going my little one, little one
Where are you going my baby my own
Turn around and you're two, turn around and you're four
Turn around and you're a young girl going out of my door