. . . again. On the crest of another Monday morning.
A dear friend fighting for life. . . want to help
A respite from a dull, cursory week was welcome, and now over
Hot, steamy conditions with which to cope, and with which I have little problem. (No shovels required)
Good conversation with my west-coast son
Exhilarating workouts at the keyboard
Stressful coping with the 'critical' element
Progress made in the creative direction
Another future opportunity to make some joyful noise for friends and their family
Wonderful meals and time with my loved one (and ones)
But here comes that Monday again. . .
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AMBIENCE & WINE
. . . THE HELP . . . and thought about a lot of things. . . including
MINGUS!!!
(from http://www.jazzwax.com/2009/05/charles-mingus-fables-of-faubus.html)
Up until May 1959, no jazz composition recorded by Charles Mingus had
been ascontroversial or as
politically charged asFables
of Faubus. The song, first recorded 50 years ago this month on Mingus
Ah Um, was meant to be a condemnation of Arkansas governor Orval
Faubus. In 1957 Faubus had ordered the state's National Guard to prevent
the integration of Little Rock Central High School by nine
African-American teenagers. With the reissue of Mingus Ah Um
by Sony Legacy yesterday (along with Mingus Dynasty), I am
struck yet again by the boldness of Fables of Faubus' breathy,
lumbering indignation. [Photo of Charles Mingus in 1959 by Lee
Friedlander]
Along with Sonny Rollins' Freedom Suite in
1958, Mingus' composition courageously raised the ante among jazz
artists, insisting they become creative agitators for change rather than
just concerned bystanders. Interestingly, Louis Armstrong played a
role. I spoke to Nat Hentoff and Sue Mingus yesterday about the
significance of Fables of Faubus and the Civil Rights Movement.
More from them in a moment.
Contrary to most fans' impressions,
Mingus wasn't a political protester, per se. He was first and foremost a
composer who was vocal from the bandstand about all things unfair and
unjust—from noisy ice in glasses to Jim Crow. As Mingus told Brian
Priestley in Mingus: A Critical Biography:
"I just write tunes and
put political titles on them. Fables of Faubus was different,
though—I wrote that because I wanted to."
More than a year after Mingus
Ah Um, Mingus recorded the Original Fables of
Faubus onCharles Mingus
Presents Charles Mingus (Candid Records), this time with a brazen
set of lyrics. The words were talk-sung by Mingus and shouted by drummer
Dannie Richmond and other band members, who function as a Greek chorus
ferociously condemning racism and racists.
Why the song's lyrics
weren't recorded the first time around on Mingus Ah Um isn't
clear. Most likely the omission came at the behest of Columbia
executives, who at the time didn't want to overly inflame the label's
Southern markets. Writes Gene Santoro in Myself When I Am Real: The
Life and Music of Charles Mingus:
"[The group recorded] Fables of Faubus,
but Columbia, Mingus said, wouldn't let them record the lyrics."
When
Mingus wrote the song in late 1957, the Little Rock standoff had been
the most shocking and dramatic episode to take place in the Civil
Rights Movement. The event marked the first time that Southern racism
was exposed on network television, and the news story unfolded slowly in
September 1957. The sight of armed National Guard soldiers preventing
nine students from attending a public school and the federal
government's slow reaction was harrowing. The month-long televised drama
deeply affected jazz musicians and people throughout the country who
had heard about unjust conditions in the South but had never seen them
in action.
Ultimately, the Justice Department sought and was
granted an injunction against Faubus' order, and the governor had to withdraw National
Guard troops. But the move offered little protection for the students or
assurance that the community wouldn't riot or bar them from the school.
So on September 24th—20 days after the incident's start—President
Eisenhower finally federalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent the
army's 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock enforce integration and
safeguard the African-American students.
To gain insight into
Mingus' strident recording of Original Fables of Faubus in
1960, I spoke briefly yesterday with Nat Hentoff, who produced the
Candid session:
"The
Little Rock standoff in 1957 had been extraordinary. The Supreme Court's
decision three years earlier [Brown v. Board of Education] had made
integration possible. The decision was unanimous and had been signed
individually by each justice. Never before had that happened. Little
Rock was an attempt to put the decision to test.
"During the Little Rock
standoff, President Eisenhower dragged his feet, which angered Louis
Armstrong. Louis made uncharacteristically heated comments about
Eisenhower during a newspaper interview that belied his cheery
disposition. I'm sure his unrestrained public statement partly motivated
Mingus to write Fables of Faubus. Louis simply said what many
in the jazz community were thinking and feeling at the time.
"I remember the recording
session. I think I sent out for sandwiches and that's about it [laughs].
You didn't have to manage a Mingus session. The lyrics? They didn't
seem controversial to me. They were as natural as sunlight.
"The
one thing about [Candid owner] Archie Bleyer is I never knew what he
thought about any of the recordings we made. He never interfered and he
stood by his word. I had total freedom, and I approached the Mingus date
with that frame of mind.". . . .
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Jozwiak
I just bought a new HP ethernet printer and for some golldarn reason it will not recognize my wireless service. That's it. No suggestions, no alternatives, no nothing. Well, there is a help number.
But that's not the point. What galls me about the situation is the frustratingly inevitable way setting up new electronics sucks such a LARGE chunk of time from my day!!!
HP has cornered the new E-print market with Apple products and it's the first time since my MAC that I feel Apple has let me down. The HP printer is NOT intuitive like the MAC. (At least setting it up isn't.) The HP printer does not identify the problem and fix it like the MAC. The HP printer does not make the digital world a pleasure - like the MAC.
Well, I'd like to say I feel better after ranting but I really won't feel better until my printer works. Hopefully sometime today without wasting TOO MANY MORE PRECIOUS HOURS. And sometimes, after complaining about my inability to accomplish something electronic (or mechanical for that matter - I am a complete klutz) - I miraculously figure it out.
download your
very own copy of
ANOTHER SHOT
by Ray Jozwiak