1. I try not to dwell on politics in this blog, but this being a presidential election year and the existence of some tremendously and unbelievably entertaining characteristics of the republican party's candidates make it very difficult to resist. Nevertheless, I continue to strive to relate EVERYTHING to music, or a least involve a little music SOMEWHERE.
2. Watching the 'Colbear Repporr' recently, I'm not sure which made me laugh more, Colbert or his footage of Romney talking about the trees being the right height in Michigan and the little lakes in all the 'parts' of Michigan and Santorum's rant from 2008 about Satan attacking the U.S.
(from By Eric Marrapodi, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor)
". . . A 2008 speech by Rick Santorum at Ave Maria University is making
waves this week, in large part because Santorum said Satan had his
sights set on America and the country was facing spiritual warfare. The speech came at the beginning of the academic year at the Catholic
university in Florida. At that point, the 2008 presidential campaign
was in full swing. Then-candidate Barack Obama had recently made a
statement about abortion and the issue of deciding when life began,
which he said was above his pay grade.
"This is not a political war at all, this is not a culture war at
all, this is a spiritual war," Santorum said, according to a recording
of the speech on the university's website. "And the father of lies has
his sights on what you think the father of lies, Satan, would have his
sights on. A good, decent, powerful, influential country, the United
States of America.". . . "
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(from Wikipedia.com) Denial (also called abnegation) is a defense mechanism postulated by Sigmund
Freud, in which a person is faced with a fact that is too
uncomfortable to accept and rejects it instead, insisting that it is not
true despite what may be overwhelming evidence. The subject may use:
simple denial: deny the reality of the unpleasant fact
altogether
The concept of denial is particularly important to the study of addiction. The theory of denial was
first researched seriously by Anna
Freud. She classified denial as a mechanism of the immature mind, because it conflicts
with the ability to learn from and cope with reality. Where denial
occurs in mature minds, it is most often associated with death, dying
and rape.
More recent research has significantly expanded the scope and utility of
the concept. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross used denial as
the first of five stages in the psychology of a dying
patient, and the idea has been extended to include the reactions of
survivors to news of a death. Thus, when parents are informed of the
death of a child, their first reaction is often of the form, "No! You
must have the wrong house, you can't mean our child!"
* the popular conservative presidential candidate this year has little to no footing in the real social world choosing instead to prescribe to an ancient, archaic and tribal concept of religion which divides (in that anyone who disagrees with that concept is branded as 'prosecutorial') the public
* every human being deserves respect and equal rights and protection under the law [in spite of personal social or religious bias based upon ancient. . . (see above)]
* the current global economic conditions are a result of more than eight years of deregulation and abuse and no human being currently in office is or could possibly be capable of undoing what has taken that long to do
* and. . . .
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William John Evans, known as Bill Evans (August 16,
1929–September 15, 1980)
His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of
traditional jazz repertoire, and trademark rhythmically independent,
"singing" melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists. He is
considered by some to be the most influential post-World
War II jazz pianist.
Evans had a distinct playing style in which his neck would often be
stooped very low, and his face parallel to the piano.
Evans's first professional job was with sax player Herbie Fields's
band, based in Chicago. During the summer of 1950, the band did a
three-month tour backing Billie Holiday, including East Coast appearances at
Harlem's Apollo Theater and shows in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and at
Washington D.C.'s Howard Theater. In addition to Fields and Evans, the
band included trumpeter Jimmy Nottingham, trombonist Frank Rosolino and bassist Jim Aton. Upon
its return to Chicago, Evans and Aton worked as a duo in Chicago clubs,
often backing singer Lurlean Hunter.
Shortly thereafter, Evans received his draft notice and entered the
U.S. Army. After his army service, Evans returned to New York and worked at
nightclubs with jazz clarinetist Tony Scott and other leading players.
Later, he took postgraduate studies in composition at the Mannes College of
Music, where he also mentored younger music students.
Working in New York in the 1950s, Evans gained recognition as a
sideman in traditional and so-called Third Stream jazz groups. During this period he
had the opportunity to record in many different contexts with some of
the best jazz musicians of the time. Seminal recordings made with
composer/theoretician George Russell, including
"Concerto for Billy the Kid" and "All About Rosie," are notable for
Evans's solo work. Evans also appeared on notable albums by Charles Mingus, Oliver
Nelson, Tony Scott, and Art
Farmer. In 1956, he made his debut album, New Jazz Conceptions, featuring the original
version of "Waltz for Debby," for Riverside Records. Producer Orrin Keepnews was convinced to record the reluctant Evans
by a demo tape guitarist Mundell
Lowe played to him over the phone.
In 1958, Evans was hired by Miles
Davis, becoming the only white member of Davis's famed sextet.
Though his time with the band was brief (no more than eight months), it
was one of the most fruitful collaborations in the history of jazz, as
Evans's introspective approach to improvisation deeply influenced
Davis's style.
At the turn of the decade, Evans led a trio with bassist Scott
LaFaro and drummer Paul
Motian. This group was to become one of the most acclaimed piano
trios — and jazz bands in general — of all time. With this group,
Evans's focus settled on traditional jazz standards and original
compositions, with an added emphasis on interplay among the band members
that often bordered on collective
improvisation, blurring the line between soloist and accompanist.
The collaboration between Evans and the young LaFaro was particularly
fruitful, as the two achieved a remarkable level of musical empathy. The
trio recorded four albums: Portrait in Jazz (1959); and Explorations, Sunday at the Village Vanguard,
and Waltz for Debby, all
recorded in 1961. The last two albums are live recordings from the same
recording date, and are routinely named among the greatest jazz
recordings of all time. In 2005, the full sets were collected on the
three-CD set The Complete
Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961. There is also a lesser-known
recording of this trio, Live at Birdland, taken from radio
broadcasts in early 1960, though the sound quality is poor.
(from Wikipedia.com)
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Traveling down to the Congo
Flyin' round Amazon way
Natives are playing the bongos
Listen to what they have to say
You know I'm ready for love
And I thank my lucky stars above
She's all dressed up and there's no place to go
But she's a wild woman
She's got a secret 'cause nobody knows
that she's a wild woman
She won't pretend to be something she's not
And I don't have to need her
'Cause she's something I've got
Swinging from cocoanut branches
Swim with the crocodiles too
But late at night she romances
What is a helpless boy to do
I've seen it a thousand times before
You get hit in the back with the slammin' door
She's all dressed up and there's no place to go
But she's a
wild woman
She's got a secret 'cause nobody knows
that
she's a wild woman
She won't pretend to be something she's not
And
I don't have to need her
'Cause she's something I've got
She's just a lady and you can count on that
A little shady but she'll get up to bat
You think she's crazy but she can smell a rat
I've seen it before let me tell you
Maybe I'll see it again
Maybe I'll learn something from this
About how to lose and how to win
It's not a good thing to lose your cool
And be forced to say something out of school
She's all dressed up and there's no place to go
But she's a
wild woman
She's got a secret 'cause nobody knows
that
she's a wild woman
She won't pretend to be something she's not
And
I don't have to need her
'Cause she's something I've got
. . . recently contained such things as tubas . . .
. . . being stolen from southern California high schools for the black market providing the instruments to the latest craze in Latino music, space junk left over from satellites and space missions orbiting the earth and not being cleaned up and federal immigration agents are shooting each other. . .
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He just ain’t no youngster anymore. There are certain things in his life that were begun years ago in his youth which he must follow through to completion. In the following-through process, he must interact with a number of persons. Many of these persons are good, upstanding, honest, forthright, scrupulous, hard-working, salt-of-the-earth individuals.
But then, there are the others. "Believe me," he said, "I am not being petty, catty or gossipy." He had lived long enough and experienced a sufficient amount of humanity to recognize, and not necessarily at first sight- but after years of interacting with such individuals, personalities whose dedication to the preservation of self is so great that it consumes and underlies all their actions (and interactions) during the course of each day every day up to and surpassing good, correct and honest human behavior. And consequently, in consciously acting in the above described manner, one must apply another ‘veneer’ to ensure (they think) that the general perception of their actions is that of good, correct and honest human behavior.
He called this hypocrisy because the inherent behavior of such individuals is of such a contrary extreme from that which they attempt to display (or ‘betray’), that he could summon no better descriptor of the phenomena. But then, to them the combination of the dishonesty of their underlying actions and the dishonesty of their public personalities is probably united in their minds as normal behavior; or ‘just the way they are’.
So in reaction to the conduct of such individuals and in his pursuit of his ultimate goal, that being a ‘retirement’ of sorts from the daily routine of earning a living to the pursuit of his passion, he must undertake a similar ‘dance’. As a result of his recognition of such undesirable and undermining conduct, he finds himself absolutely loathing such personalities. Make clear that he must encounter them and interact with them on a daily basis, but he finds the experience to be an unappealing drudgery. And then, in addition to this disgusting combination of circumstances, he must ‘be nice’ in order to remain active in this professional situation and follow through on his long-terms plans.
Is he just as hypocritical?
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