I am a large fan of J P R and G. Love Here Comes the Sun. There is also a good recording of that by Richie Havens. I have him here, singing Just Like a Woman.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9UuK-rIpJk
Thanks, edgar. Never heard Richie Havens, but I do like his style, and the unusual rhythm guitar compliments the lyrics to "Just Lake a Woman" in a quaint way.
Well, folks, today is Chico LeBarge's birthday. (don't know him either) but he's singing about a woman just as Richie does.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wdqyq0_k3q8
george carlin
News Bulletin: George Carlin mourned as counterculture hero
George Carlin, who died of heart failure Sunday at 71, leaves behind not only a series of memorable routines, but a legal legacy: His most celebrated monologue, a frantic, informed riff on those infamous seven words, led to a Supreme Court decision on broadcasting offensive language.
The counterculture hero's jokes also targeted things such as misplaced shame, religious hypocrisy and linguistic quirks ?- why, he asked, do we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway?
Carlin, who had a history of heart trouble, went into St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica on Sunday afternoon complaining of chest pain and died later that evening, said his publicist, Jeff Abraham. He had performed as recently as last weekend at the Orleans Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas.
"He was a genius and I will miss him dearly," Jack Burns, who was the other half of a comedy duo with Carlin in the early 1960s, told The Associated Press.
The actor Ben Stiller called Carlin "a hugely influential force in stand-up comedy. He had an amazing mind, and his humor was brave, and always challenging us to look at ourselves and question our belief systems, while being incredibly entertaining. He was one of the greats."
Carlin constantly breached the accepted boundaries of comedy and language, particularly with his routine on the "Seven Words" ?- all of which are taboo on broadcast TV to this day.
When he uttered all seven at a show in Milwaukee in 1972, he was arrested on charges of disturbing the peace, freed on $150 bail and exonerated when a Wisconsin judge dismissed the case, saying it was indecent but citing free speech and the lack of any disturbance.
When the words were later played on a New York radio station, they resulted in a 1978 Supreme Court ruling upholding the government's authority to sanction stations for broadcasting offensive language during hours when children might be listening.
"So my name is a footnote in American legal history, which I'm perversely kind of proud of," he told The Associated Press earlier this year.
Despite his reputation as unapologetically irreverent, Carlin was a television staple through the decades, serving as host of the "Saturday Night Live" debut in 1975 ?- noting on his Web site that he was "loaded on cocaine all week long" ?- and appearing some 130 times on "The Tonight Show."
He produced 23 comedy albums, 14 HBO specials, three books, a few TV shows and appeared in several movies, from his own comedy specials to "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" in 1989 ?- a testament to his range from cerebral satire and cultural commentary to downright silliness (sometimes hitting all points in one stroke).
"Why do they lock gas station bathrooms?" he once mused. "Are they afraid someone will clean them?"
He won four Grammy Awards for best spoken comedy album and was nominated for five Emmys. On Tuesday, it was announced that Carlin was being awarded the 11th annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, which will be presented Nov. 10 in Washington and broadcast on PBS.
"Nobody was funnier than George Carlin," said Judd Apatow, director of recent hit comedies such as "Knocked Up" and "The 40-Year-Old Virgin." "I spent half my childhood in my room listening to his records experiencing pure joy. And he was as kind as he was funny."
Carlin started his career on the traditional nightclub circuit in a coat and tie, pairing with Burns to spoof TV game shows, news and movies. Perhaps in spite of the outlaw soul, "George was fairly conservative when I met him," said Burns, describing himself as the more left-leaning of the two. It was a degree of separation that would reverse when they came upon Lenny Bruce, the original shock comic, in the early '60s.
"We were working in Chicago, and we went to see Lenny, and we were both blown away," Burns said, recalling the moment as the beginning of the end for their collaboration if not their close friendship. "It was an epiphany for George. The comedy we were doing at the time wasn't exactly groundbreaking, and George knew then that he wanted to go in a different direction."
That direction would make Carlin as much a social commentator and philosopher as comedian, a position he would relish through the years.
"The whole problem with this idea of obscenity and indecency, and all of these things ?- bad language and whatever ?- it's all caused by one basic thing, and that is: religious superstition," Carlin told the AP in a 2004 interview. "There's an idea that the human body is somehow evil and bad and there are parts of it that are especially evil and bad, and we should be ashamed. Fear, guilt and shame are built into the attitude toward sex and the body. ... It's reflected in these prohibitions and these taboos that we have."
Carlin was born on May 12, 1937, and grew up in the Morningside Heights section of Manhattan, raised by a single mother. After dropping out of school in the ninth grade, he joined the Air Force in 1954. He received three court-martials and numerous disciplinary punishments, according to his official Web site.
While in the Air Force he started working as an off-base disc jockey at a radio station in Shreveport, La., and after receiving a general discharge in 1957, took an announcing job at WEZE in Boston.
"Fired after three months for driving mobile news van to New York to buy pot," his Web site says.
From there he went on to a job on the night shift as a deejay at a radio station in Fort Worth, Texas. Carlin also worked variety of temporary jobs, including carnival organist and marketing director for a peanut brittle.
In 1960, he left with $300 and Burns, a Texas radio buddy, for Hollywood to pursue a nightclub career as comedy team Burns & Carlin. His first break came just months later when the duo appeared on Jack Paar's "Tonight Show."
Carlin said he hoped to emulate his childhood hero, Danny Kaye, the kindly, rubber-faced comedian who ruled over the decade Carlin grew up in ?- the 1950s ?- with a clever but gentle humor reflective of the times.
It didn't work for him, and the pair broke up by 1962.
"I was doing superficial comedy entertaining people who didn't really care: Businessmen, people in nightclubs, conservative people. And I had been doing that for the better part of 10 years when it finally dawned on me that I was in the wrong place doing the wrong things for the wrong people," Carlin reflected recently as he prepared for his 14th HBO special, "It's Bad For Ya."
Eventually Carlin lost the buttoned-up look and changed to his trademark beard, ponytail and all-black attire.
But even with his decidedly adult-comedy bent, Carlin never lost his childlike sense of mischief, even voicing kid-friendly projects like episodes of the TV show "Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends" and the spacey Volkswagen bus Fillmore in the 2006 Pixar hit "Cars."
Carlin's first wife, Brenda, died in 1997. He is survived by wife Sally Wade; daughter Kelly Carlin McCall; son-in-law Bob McCall; brother Patrick Carlin; and sister-in-law Marlene Carlin.
Thanks, Ragman. I'm listening to one of the man's irreverent videos as we speak, and silently laughing. I would post it, but it may not be the proper thing to do.
Frankly, I appreciate his refusal to be euphemistic and his iconoclastic attacks on the sacred stuff. He makes us think about what is truly good and what is not in our world.
So, George, this is for you, and come on, buddy. This will give you some new material wherever you are. Hey, we can be funny, too.
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/f/a/fallthes.htm
Big Joe Turner
Chains of Love
Joe was a great influence of the artists of the 50s and early 60s.
Hey, edgar. I believe ya, but are you going to play it?
Today is June Carter Cash's birthday, so let's hear one from that talented lady.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwc_YU34buA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BORbFsNjGAk
The Archies. When this song was a hit, I snubbed it, because it was a band created specifically for the Archies TV show, which was based on the comic books. In time, I got used to the concept, and now Ilike it very much.
edgar, wasn't Sugar Sugar known as bubble gum music? I know it, but never heard of The Archies.
Wonder if Diane chews bubble gum.
Here's another, folks, that I think may be of that genre.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ45_kvgyq4&feature=related
Ah, Rock. I love that one by Sir Elton. We have decided it must be about Vietnam. Thanks, honey.
Here's Another by him that is great. We'll dedicate this to all those who love music and songs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTa8U0Wa0q8
A special dedication to a certain someone tonight. I wonder if you will be able to guess who it is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHPDDMQy0dk
My goodness, folks, who could our edgar have meant that song for? Ah, it must be for some lovely lady with long blond hair. I really like that song, incidentally.
Time for me to say goodnight, and I would like to dedicate this to everyone on our forum who feels a bit down.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBk_aeaqSqU
Goodnight, world
From Letty with love
Good morning, WA2K folks.
Today is Ambrose Bierce's birthday, and I have always been fascinated with the man's history and his excellent writing, so let's hear a tribute to him and then a song by The Band.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qYr3Oz5_M4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38JpAMG65Dg
Good morning, Rex. That was excellent, Maine. I had to do a bit of research on MeatLoaf, and was amazed to find out that he was NOT a rapper. Great voice, and your video was perfect. Thanks.
Well, folks, here's the original rapper.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMzoBkaFxh4
Good morning. I particularly like the Band.
Well it's gonna be one of those days. Might as well kick it off with the Shirelles.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns1exm8Y5r4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7LifuVWtH4
What I call "The Long and Boring Song" is sometimes worth a listen to, despite my frequent put down.
Ambrose Bierce
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born June 24, 1842(1842-06-24)
Meigs County, Ohio, USA
Died 1914(?)
Chihuahua, Mexico
Occupation Journalist, Writer
Genres Satire
Literary movement Realism
Notable work(s) An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, The Devil's Dictionary
Influences
Jonathan Swift, Voltaire, Edgar Allan Poe
Influenced
H.L. Mencken, William March, Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortázar, Stephen Crane, Ernest Hemingway
Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (June 24, 1842 - 1914(?)) was an American editorialist, journalist, short-story writer and satirist. Today, he is best known for his short story, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and his satirical dictionary, The Devil's Dictionary.
The sardonic view of human nature that informed his work - along with his vehemence as a critic - earned him the nickname, "Bitter Bierce." Despite his reputation as a searing critic, however, Bierce was known to encourage younger writers, including the poet, George Sterling and the fiction writer, W. C. Morrow.
In 1913, Bierce traveled to Mexico to gain a firsthand perspective on that country's ongoing revolution. While traveling with rebel troops, the elderly writer disappeared without a trace.
Early life and military career
Bierce was born in rural Meigs County, Ohio, and grew up in Kosciusko County, Indiana, attending high school at the county seat of Warsaw. He was the tenth of 13 children, whose father, Marcus Aurelius Bierce (1799-1876), gave all of them names beginning with the letter "A". In order of birth, the Bierce siblings were Abigail, Amelia, Ann, Addison, Aurelius, Augustus, Almeda, Andrew, Albert, Ambrose, Arthur, Adelia, and Aurelia. His mother, née Laura Sherwood, was a descendant of William Bradford.
At the outset of the American Civil War, Bierce enlisted in the Union Army's 9th Indiana Infantry Regiment. In February 1862 he was commissioned first lieutenant, and served on the staff of General William Babcock Hazen as a topographical engineer, making maps of likely battlefields. Bierce fought at the Battle of Shiloh (April 1862), a terrifying experience that became a source for several later short stories and the memoir, What I Saw of Shiloh.
He continued fighting in the Western theater, at one point receiving newspaper attention for his daring rescue, under fire, of a gravely wounded comrade at the Battle of Rich Mountain, West Virginia. In June 1864, he sustained a serious head wound at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, and spent the rest of the summer on furlough, returning to active duty in September. He was discharged from the army in January 1865. His military career resumed, however, when in the summer of 1866 he rejoined General Hazen as part of the latter's expedition to inspect military outposts across the Great Plains. The expedition proceeded by horseback and wagon from Omaha, Nebraska, arriving toward year's end in San Francisco, California.
Personal life
Bierce married Mary Ellen ("Mollie") Day on Christmas Day, 1871. They had three children; two sons, Day (1872-1889) and Leigh (1874-1901), and a daughter, Helen (1875-1940). Both of Bierce's sons predeceased him: Day was shot in a brawl over a woman, and Leigh died of pneumonia related to alcoholism. Bierce separated from his wife in 1888 after discovering compromising letters to her from an admirer, and the couple finally divorced in 1904. Mollie Day Bierce died the following year.
Ambrose Bierce suffered from lifetime asthma as well as complications arising from his war wounds. For health reasons, he traveled to London, where he befriended a number of notable literary personalities.[citation needed].
Journalism
In San Francisco, Bierce received the rank of brevet major before resigning from the Army. He remained in San Francisco for many years, eventually becoming famous as a contributor and/or editor for a number of local newspapers and periodicals, including The San Francisco News Letter, The Argonaut, the Overland Monthly, The Californian and The Wasp.
Bierce lived and wrote in England from 1872 to 1875, contributing to Fun magazine. Returning to the United States, he again took up residence in San Francisco. From 1879 to 1880, he travelled to Rockerville and Deadwood, South Dakota in the Dakota Territory, to try his hand as local manager for a New York mining company, but when the company failed he returned to San Francisco and resumed his career in journalism.
In 1887, he published a column called The Prattle and became one of the first regular columnists and editorialists to be employed on William Randolph Hearst's newspaper, the San Francisco Examiner, eventually becoming one of the most prominent and influential among the writers and journalists of the West Coast. He remained associated with Hearst Newspapers until 1906.
Railroad Refinancing Bill
The Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroad companies had received massive loans from the U.S. government to build the First Transcontinental Railroad?-on gentle terms, but Collis P. Huntington persuaded a friendly member of Congress to introduce a bill excusing the companies from repaying the money, amounting to $130 million (nearly 3 billion dollars in 2007 money).
In January 1896 Hearst dispatched Bierce to Washington, D.C. to foil this attempt. The essence of the plot was secrecy; the railroads' advocates hoped to get the bill through Congress without any public notice or hearings. When the angered Huntington confronted Bierce on the steps of the Capitol and told Bierce to name his price, Bierce's answer ended up in newspapers nationwide: "My price is one hundred thirty million dollars. If, when you are ready to pay, I happen to be out of town, you may hand it over to my friend, the Treasurer of the United States". Bierce's coverage and diatribes on the subject aroused such public wrath that the bill was defeated. Bierce returned to California in November.
McKinley accusation
Because of his penchant for biting social criticism and satire, Bierce's long newspaper career was often steeped in controversy. On several occasions his columns stirred up a storm of hostile reaction which created difficulties for Hearst. One of the most notable of these incidents occurred following the assassination of President William McKinley when Hearst's opponents turned a poem Bierce had written about the assassination of Governor Goebel in 1900 into a cause célèbre.
Bierce meant his poem, written on the occasion of the assassination of Governor William Goebel of Kentucky, to express a national mood of dismay and fear, but after McKinley was shot in 1901 it seemed to foreshadow the crime:
"The bullet that pierced Goebel's breast
Can not be found in all the West;
Good reason, it is speeding here
To stretch McKinley on his bier."
Hearst was thereby accused by rival newspapers?-and by then Secretary of State Elihu Root?-of having called for McKinley's assassination. Despite a national uproar that ended his ambitions for the presidency (and even his membership in the Bohemian Club), Hearst neither revealed Bierce as the author of the poem, nor fired him.
Literary works
His short stories are held among the best of the 19th century, providing a popular following based on his roots. He wrote realistically of the terrible things he had seen in the war in such stories as "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge", "Killed at Resaca", and "Chickamauga".
Bierce was considered a master of "Pure" English by his contemporaries, and virtually everything that came from his pen was notable for its judicious wording and economy of style. He wrote in a variety of literary genres.
In addition to his ghost and war stories, he also published several volumes of poetry and verse. His Fantastic Fables anticipated the ironic style of grotesquerie that turned into a genre in the 20th century.
One of Bierce's most famous works is his much-quoted book, The Devil's Dictionary, originally an occasional newspaper item which was first published in book form in 1906 as The Cynic's Word Book. It consists of satirical definitions of English words which lampoon cant and political double-talk.
Under the entry "leonine", meaning a single line of poetry with an internal rhyming scheme, he included an apocryphal couplet written by the apocryphal Bella Peeler Silcox (Ella Wheeler Wilcox) in which an internal rhyme is achieved in both lines only by mispronouncing the rhyming words:
The electric light invades the dunnest deep of Hades.
Cries Pluto, 'twixt his snores: "O tempora! O mores!"
Bierce's twelve-volume Collected Works were published in 1909, the seventh volume of which consists solely of The Devil's Dictionary, the title Bierce himself preferred to The Cynic's Word Book.
Disappearance
In October 1913, the septuagenarian Bierce departed Washington, D.C., for a tour of his old Civil War battlefields. By December he had proceeded on through Louisiana and Texas, crossing by way of El Paso into Mexico, which was in the throes of revolution. In Ciudad Juárez he joined Pancho Villa's army as an observer, and in that role participated in the battle of Tierra Blanca.
Bierce is known to have accompanied Villa's army as far as the city of Chihuahua. After a last letter to a close friend, sent from there December 26, 1913, he vanished without a trace, becoming one of the most famous disappearances in American literary history. Several writers have speculated that he headed north to the Grand Canyon, found a remote spot there and shot himself, though no evidence exists to support this view. All investigations into his fate have proved fruitless, and despite an abundance of theories his end remains shrouded in mystery. The date of his death is generally cited as "1914?".
In one of his last letters, Bierce wrote the following to his niece, Lora:
"Good-bye ?- if you hear of my being stood up against a Mexican stone wall and shot to rags please know that I think that a pretty good way to depart this life. It beats old age, disease, or falling down the cellar stairs. To be a Gringo in Mexico?-ah, that is euthanasia!"
Legacy and influence
At least three films have been made of Bierce's story, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge". A silent film version was made in the 1920s. A French version called La Rivière du Hibou, directed by Robert Enrico, was released in 1962. This black-and-white film faithfully recounts the original narrative using voice-over. Another version, directed by Brian James Egan, was released in 2005.
The 1962 film was also used for an episode of the television series The Twilight Zone: "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge". A copy of "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" appeared in the ABC television series Lost ("The Long Con", airdate February 8, 2006). Prior to The Twilight Zone, the story had been adapted as an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
The Robert Heinlein story Lost Legacy presents Bierce as a very old and kindly man living with a group of psychic adepts hiding on Mount Shasta. Seeing that the First World War was coming he decided to withdraw from the human race.
Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes wrote Gringo Viejo (The Old Gringo), a fictionalized account of Bierce's disappearance. Fuentes' novel was later adapted as Old Gringo, a film starring Gregory Peck in the title role.[1]
Michael_Moorcock's trilogy 'The_Dancers_at_the_End_of_Time' also makes a brief reference to Bierce's disappearance. The central character, Jherek Carnelian, makes reference to Bierce having been a specimen in his menagerie in the far future, though the author was lost along the other creatures in it following a fire several years before the start of the books.
American composer Rodney Waschka II composed an opera, called Saint Ambrose, based on Bierce's life. [2]
