Lessons from Baby Smithers
Friday, January 5th, 2007The equivalent adult pain endured during a diaper change or putting on pajamas would be similar to having all your skin burned off with boiling acid.
Archive for January 5th, 2007
Oliver North
Friday, January 5th, 2007
He’s against the Presidents troop surge plan for Iraq:
A “surge” or “targeted increase in U.S. troop strength” or whatever the politicians want to call dispatching more combat troops to Iraq isn’t the answer. Adding more trainers and helping the Iraqis to help themselves, is. Sending more U.S. combat troops is simply sending more targets.
This following the publication of a new poll suggesting that only 1 in 3 service members in the military approve of the way President Bush is handling the war, a majority believe that it was wrong to go into Iraq in the first place and they reject the notion that sending additional troops to Iraq will make any difference.
It’s is taking a while for the media to wake up, but word is starting to get out that the Fearless Leader/John McCain/Joe Lieberman escalation of the war is not a very good idea.
If you close your eyes, and listen very carefully, you can almost hear Ollie North’s buddy Sean Hannity crapping in his pants.
Music Friday
Friday, January 5th, 2007
Do yourself a favor, pick up Ellington at Newport when you have the chance.
Duke Ellington had already experienced what some could only dream of in a career in music by 1956. The development of “big band” jazz and his popular compositions had made Ellington very successful between the 1920’s and 1940’s. By the early 1950’s, the popularity of smaller “bebop” jazz groups began to take hold and Ellington’s band found themselves having less work available to them.
The concept of the jazz festival was fairly new when Duke Ellington and his orchestra were invited to participate at Newport Rhode Island in 1956. During the early course of his show the audience reception to Ellington was polite but reserved, certainly not the “bring the house down” reception that Ellington was probably looking for.
This would all change when Ellington had his crew pull out a pair of works from nearly 25 years earlier in their career, entitled Diminuendo in Blue, and Crescendo in Blue. Ellington announced this selection to the crowd and stated that the two works would be separated by a solo interval by his tenor saxophone player Paul Gonsalves.
The way these pieces worked was that Diminuendo in Blue started off with blustering pomp in the tradition of the big band style and then work itself down to a more reserved and quite end with just Ellington on the piano. It was at this point that Gonsalves stepped up and, for all practical purpose, took over the festival.
Gonslaves blew an unheard of 27 straight chorus improvisations that were so strong and powerful that they sent the audience into a state of pandemonium. When Gonslaves’ solo was complete, and the audience dancing in the aisles and shouting for more, Ellington and the entire orchestra picked up where Gonslaves left off with the pounding and building triumph of Crescendo in Blue.
Ellington and his band were in perfect form and set Newport on fire that night. At the end of his set the audience refused to let the orchestra off stage and demanded two more sets from Ellington before the night was over. Festival promoters were worried about a riot but Ellington was able to sooth the crowd with features by band members Johnny Hodges and Sam Woodyard.
It was a night of magic and CBS records was on hand to record it. If you are looking for Ellington at Newport make sure you buy the “complete” version with the actual recording of the evening as opposed to the original studio dubbed version.
Here is an example of Ellington and his band for your enjoyment.
