The Power of Music - 1962 and 2019

The Power of Music

Music has been a part of my life for 65 years, since I took accordion lessons when I was 7.  I eventually taught myself to play piano (somewhat) and guitar (poorly, but…), and played sousaphone, trombone, and baritone horn in high school band.  Even now, sometimes, I would prefer being alone with the stereo on nearly full blast, or with headphones so I don’t disturb others.

And what would be playing would probably begin with “B” – Bach, Beatles, Beach Boys.

One notable exception though, would be Peter, Paul and Mary – anything they did.

This morning, about 4 AM, I was awakened when Barry put a CD on the clock radio which is between our beds.  Now we’ve had this radio for several years, and it has never, and I mean NEVER, been tuned to anything but NPR, through our local public broadcasting station, WEKU, out of Eastern Kentucky University.

What awakened me was that he had put a PP&M CD on.  And as I listened to it, it hit me.  I have been a fan of PP&M since high school, in 1962, when two friends and I played the trio in a school talent show.  I eventually purchased nearly every one of their albums, notably

“Peter, Paul And Mary” (1962)	” (Moving)” (1963)	“In The Wind” (1963),
“In Concert” (1964)	“A Song Will Rise” (1964)	”See What Tomorrow Brings” (1965)
“Album” (1966)	“Album 1700” (1967)	“Late Again” (1968)

But more than the fact that they were and still are my favorite performers, several of the songs they sang seem to speak to me today.

PP&M, along with Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and other significant folk singers and groups, became the conscience of the 1960s -- from anti-war, to pro-civil rights.

Several PP&M songs that still resonate in 2019 as much as, if not more than, they did in 1962, include If I Had A Hammer, Blowin' In The Wind, This Land Is Your Land, Because All Men Are Brothers, The Times They Are A'Changin', and Where Have All The Flowers Gone.

Justice, Freedom and Love – we don’t seem to have as much of any of these as we used to just a few short years ago.  So to remind us, from “Peter, Paul and Mary” in 1962, If I Had A Hammer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxWTDcP9Y5E

IF I HAD A HAMMER

Seeger/Hayes- Ludlow Music Corp. - BMI

If I had a hammer, I'd hammer in the morning

I'd hammer in the evening, All over this land

I'd hammer out danger, I'd hammer out a warning,

I'd hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters, All over this land.

If I had a bell, I'd ring it in the morning,

I'd ring it in the evening, All over this land

I'd ring out danger, I'd ring out a warning

I'd ring out love between my brothers and my sisters, All over this land.

If I had a song, I'd sing it in the morning,

I'd sing it in the evening, All over this land

I'd sing out danger, I'd sing out a warning

I'd sing out love between my brothers and my sisters, All over this land.

Well I got a hammer, And I got a bell,

And I got a song to sing, all over this land.

It's the hammer of Justice, It's the bell of Freedom,

It's the song about Love between my brothers and my sisters, All over this land.

It's the hammer of Justice, It's the bell of Freedom,

It's the song about Love between my brothers and my sisters, All over this land.

Civil rights – we made great strides during the decades of PP&M; now we’re going backwards.  From “In The Wind”in 1963, Blowing In The Wind - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld6fAO4idaI

BLOWIN' IN THE WIND

Bob Dylan- Special Rider Music - SESAC

How many roads must a man walk down 

Before they call him a man?

How many seas must a white dove sail 

Before she sleeps in the sand?

How many times must the cannon balls fly 

Before they're forever banned?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind

The answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many years must a mountain exist 

Before it is washed to the sea?

How many years can some people exist 

Before they're allowed to be free?

How many times can a man turn his head 

And pretend that he just doesn't see?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind

The answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many times must a man look up 

Before he can see the sky?

How many ears must one man have 

Before he can hear people cry?

How many deaths will it take till he knows 

That too many people have died?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind

The answer is blowin' in the wind.

The answer is blowin' in the wind.

Whose country is it?  Corporate greed, “bought” politicians – we need to remember just WHO this country belongs to.  From “(Moving)”m 1963, This Land Is Your Land - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks7SY2V73oY

THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND

Woody Guthrie -Ludlow Music Inc. BMI

This land is your land, this land is my land,

From California, to the New York Island,

From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf Stream Waters,

This land was made for you and me.

I roamed and rambled, and I followed my footsteps

To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts

And all around me a voice was singing

This land was made for you and me!

This land is your land, this land is my land,

From California, to the New York Island,

From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf Stream Waters,

This land was made for you and me.

As I went walking that ribbon of highway

I saw above me that endless skyway

I saw below me those golden valleys

This land was made for you and me!

This land is your land, this land is my land,

From California, to the New York Island,

From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf Stream Waters,

This land was made for you and me.

As the sun was shining, and I was strolling,

And the wheat fields waving, and the dust clouds rolling,

As the fog was lifting, a voice was saying

"This land was made for you and me!"

This land is your land, this land is my land,

From California, to the New York Island,

From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf Stream Waters,

This land was made for you and me.

Racism and hatred, like I’ve never seen in my lifetime – Black, Hispanic, Muslim – anyone who is not white and male.  We need to start singing, from “See What Tomorrow Brings”in 1965, Because All Men Are Brothers - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcRGfGFxtFs

BECAUSE ALL MEN ARE BROTHERS

Bach/Glazer- Amrita Music Corp. ASCAP

Because all men are brothers wherever men may be

One Union shall unite us forever proud and free

No tyrant shall defeat us, no nation strike us down

All men who toil shall greet us the whole wide world around.

My brothers are all others forever hand in hand

Where chimes the bell of freedom there is my native land

My brother's fears are my fears yellow white or brown

My brother's tears are my tears the whole wide world around.

Let every voice be thunder, let every heart beat strong

Until all tyrants perish our work shall not be done

Let not our memories fail us the lost year shall be found

Let slavery's chains be broken the whole wide world around.

The New Progressives -- Since the 2018 election, things are changing.  The rise of the new left, progressives, women and other minorities now represented in Congress, reminds us that, from “The Very Best of Peter Paul and Mary” in 1964, The Times They Are a-Changin’ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dcaSCYnvtY

THE TIMES THEY ARE A' CHANGIN'

Bob Dylan- Special Rider Music-SESAC 

Come gather 'round people where ever you roam

And admit that the waters around you have grown

And accept it that soon you'll be drenched to the bone

If your time to you is worth savin'

Then you better start swimmin' or you'll sink like a stone,

For the times they are a' changin'!

Come writers and critics who prophesy with your pen

And keep your eyes wide the chance won't come again

And don't speak too soon for the wheel's still in spin

And there's no tellin' who that it's namin'

For the loser now will be later to win

For the times they are a' changin'!

Come senators, congressmen please heed the call

Don't stand in the doorway don't block up the hall

For he that gets hurt will be he who has stalled

There's a battle outside and it's ragin'

It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls

For the times they are a' changin'!

Come mothers and fathers throughout the land

And don't criticize what you can't understand

Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command

Your old road is rapidly agin'

Please get out of the new one if you can't lend your hand

For the times they are a' changin'!

The line it is drawn the curse it is cast

The slow one now will later be fast

As the present now will later be past

The order is rapidly fadin'

And the first one now will later be last

For the times they are a' changin'!

Endless war – first Korea and Viet Nam, to Iraq and Afghanistan, with those in the current administration who wouldn’t mind war with North Korea, Iraq, and Venezuela at the same time, “Peter, Paul and Mary” in 1962, Where Have All The Flowers Gone - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmBLSGy6g58

WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE

Pete Seeger- Sanga Music Inc -BMI

Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?

Where have all the flowers gone, long time ago?

Where have all the flowers gone? Young girls have picked them everyone.

Oh, when will they ever learn? Oh, when will they ever learn?

Where have all the young girls gone, long time passing?

Where have all the young girls gone, long time ago?

Where have all the young girls gone? Gone for husbands everyone.

Oh, when will they ever learn? Oh, when will they ever learn?

Where have all the husbands gone, long time passing?

Where have all the husbands gone, long time ago?

Where have all the husbands gone? Gone for soldiers everyone

Oh, when will they ever learn? Oh, when will they ever learn?

Where have all the soldiers gone, long time passing?

Where have all the soldiers gone, long time ago?

Where have all the soldiers gone? Gone to graveyards, everyone.

Oh, when will they ever learn? Oh, when will they ever learn?

Where have all the graveyards gone, long time passing?

Where have all the graveyards gone, long time ago?

Where have all the graveyards gone? Gone to flowers, everyone.

Oh, when will they ever learn? Oh, when will they ever learn?

Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?

Where have all the flowers gone, long time ago?

Where have all the flowers gone? Young girls have picked them everyone.

Oh, when will they ever learn? Oh, when will they ever learn?

Random thoughts today...

Say I go to the doctors to find out if I had a certain disease.  He says, no you don't have that disease.

So I text and email everyone I know to say, I don't have that disease.  Those who said I did were wrong, lying, fake news.

But then the doctor tells me, no I don't have THAT disease, but I DO have FIFTEEN others, each one of which is as serious, or more, as the one people thought I had.

So it is with the "Barr Letter" -- I won't call it the Mueller Report because it isn't.

Attorney General Barr, who was critical of the Mueller investigation LONG before he became AG, has effectively told Trump that there was no collusion with Russia on Trump's part.  And he may be right there.  But why then, are so many administration and campaign officials facing jail time?  Isn't money-laundering to benefit Russia evidence of collusion in and of itself?  Apparently not.

But Trump isn't home free.  There are more than a dozen other investigations going on all over the place, any one of which could land him in jail for a very long time.

Impeachment is off the table.  Without clear evidence from the Mueller report (which almost NO ONE has seen, yet EVERYONE knows what's in it, it seems) there can be no impeachment.

However, with the House of Representatives voting 420-0 for public release of the document, it WILL see the light of day -- even though "turtle" McConnell has stopped the Senate from even considering release.

This is not over.  The fat lady hasn't even taken the stage to sing, yet.

Banks, Bernie, and 'Braska?

Farmer's National Bank, Danville, KY

Last night the Boyle County Genealogical and Historical Society hosted a presentation on the Farmer's National Bank, of Danville, with branches in nearby counties.  The two women who gave the talk have been digging through the basement files of the 140 year old bank, and have uncovered some true treasures, many of which are now on display at the main office.

FNB is still an independently owned bank, not part of a multinational corporation.  It has the same address it had when it was founded in 1879, and bank officers are passionate about preserving the history of the bank, and hence the community as well.

It was a pleasure to see two people, one a current employee, and one a retired employee, saving a major part of Boyle County history.

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Bernie, Bernie! 

Already, I'm hearing "I won't vote for any Democrat but Bernie" and "I won't vote for Bernie because he's not a Democrat."  Well, buckoes, that's the attitude that put Trump in the White House.  I said in the last election that even if Hillary were the Devil Incarnate, she'd be better than Trump.  Some of my friends voted for Jill Stein  or stayed home because they couldn't bring themselves to vote for Hillary.  They elected Trump, as much as those who actually VOTED for Trump.  And now we find that Stein was in there with Mike Flynn cozying up to Putin?

If ANY Democrat does NOT vote for the party's eventual nominee, they had better not complain to me about Trump!  Unfriending is quick and easy.
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Flooding in 'Braska

Stories of towns and cities cut off by flood waters really pique interest, but when one thinks of calving time in the plains, the flood waters are taking newborn calves by the hundreds or even thousands. 

Given all the sanctions on American farm products these people are already suffering, now to have climate change making flooding worse than "normal" is so tragic not just for the animals which are dying, but for the families who have been farming for 3-4-5 generations, who may not recover from this.

Is it libel / slander if someone says something about you that you don't like?

In 1735, the publisher of a newspaper in New York City, John Peter Zenger, published an article that was critical of the governor of the New York colony.  The governor sued arguing that Zenger had slandered him by being critical.  The courts disagreed, and established the principle that in order for a plaintiff to win a  libel (written or printed) or slander (spoken) case, he or she had to prove that what was said was untrue, that the speaker or writer KNEW it was untrue, and that it was said or written for the purpose of harming the reputation of the plaintiff, and in fact DID harm the plaintiff.

In other words, if it's TRUE it's not libel or slander.

Now where does satire fit in?

Well, it may or may not be true, the speaker or writer may or may not know it isn't true, but it isn't done to harm the reputation of the other person. 

Our courts recognize something called "Freedom of Speech and of the Press" which allows us to criticize our leaders.

We've been doing that in this country since 40 years before our Declaration of Independence.

And we've done it to Republicans, Democrats, Whigs, and every other political party we have ever had.

Satire or criticism many years ago was so strong that it makes today's criticism look like milquetoast in comparison.  The criticism of our leaders as we do it today would pale compared with what was said and written in, say, 1870, or even in other countries today, such as the United Kingdom, where criticizing the prime minister is almost national sport.

So when I hear of a president of the United States who wants a long-running television program investigated by the FBI and the Justice Department because they satirize him, my head wants to explode.

Until I realize that Donald Trump has not the faintest idea of what the First Amendment stands for.

Totally Non-Political Post?

Well, maybe.  We'll see.

Yesterday, members of our cemetery group, the Central Kentucky African American Cemetery Association, met with Boyle County jailer, Brian Wofford.

Barry and I had met Mr. Wofford at a Democratic Party Breakfast last October, and we talked with him about possibly getting help from the inmates at the Boyle County Jail to work on Meadow Lane Cemetery in Danville.  At that time, he said he couldn't help us, but new state laws now permit that.  So, we met.

Now, a few days ago, an elderly African American man, whose father in law is buried in another cemetery, Zion Hill (Persimmon Knob), went into the Courthouse to ask if anyone there could help work on that cemetery.  He had asked us earlier, but we were limited in what we could do at the time (and still are).  Anyway, when we met with jailer Wofford, and three of his staffers, his offer was to have inmates from the county jail work on BOTH Meadow Lane and Persimmon Knob.

That was a total surprise to us, and as the conversation ensued, the topic of Wilsonville came up.  Now, we were advised by several people to hold off on working there because there was some disagreement over who controlled the cemetery.  So we backed off, unfortunately leaving a huge pile of brush.  Jailer Wofford said though, that he could have a crew dispose of that brush in a day, so we won't worry about the appearance of the cemetery when relatives come to visit for Memorial Day.

On Persimmon Knob, Wofford said he'd need to know who owned the cemetery, and that he would need permission to go in with his work crew.  So this morning, I was back in the Courthouse researching land records.

I not only found out who owns Persimmon Knob, I found out that the land had been sold in 1962 by the African Methodist Church, and that it had been purchased by that church in 1901.

Those deeds thus gave me the beginning and end dates of the Mount Zion Colored Methodist Episcopal Church -- after 1901 to before 1962.

So now, through the jailer ,our cemetery association, and two county offices, we'll get three cemeteries worked on and restored!

It's been a good week.  And no politics in THIS post!

Watching the beginning of the end?

All the liberal pundits make all sorts of comments about Trump "high crimes and misdemeanors."

They talk about impeachment.  They talk about his indictment(s).  They talk about voting him out of office.  They talk about what the next president can do to undo the damage Trump has done.  They talk about how everyone around him is inept, corrupt, or both.

What they do NOT talk about is that his regime isn't going anywhere.

He is already inuring his base to the idea that any election in the future will be rigged if he and the Republicans don't win.  The only reason to do this is to get his base so stirred up that if he does not win, they will not accept the results, and will keep him in power, violently if necessary.

Congress can't impeach as long as the Senate is Republican.  If the Senate were to flip, Republicans will stage a coup, and send Congress home.

And Democrats will still be arguing "Hillary vs. Bernie" and thus will be impotent to do anything.

I wonder often, is this what the last days of the Roman Republic looked like?

White Privilege

Facebook reactions to a newspaper story recalling a  slave auction of 436 people in 2 days in Savannah, GA, 1859:

• "But that was over 160 years ago.  No one alive was a slave or a slave owner."
• "Every society was enslaved at one time or another."

Pretty obvious that both of the commentators have no idea of their "White Privilege."

White privilege allows white people to say, well that was so long ago, it doesn't affect us nowadays now, does it?

White privilege allows white people to say, well it happened to other groups of people too, didn't it?

White privilege allows white people to misunderstand totally the real issue.

White privilege allows white people to say, "it was so long ago, get over it", or "stop playing the race card."

White privilege allows white people to ignore the ongoing emotional scars and open psychological wounds that people of color still face.  Every. Single. Day.

And yet, many white people still fly the battle flag of a country that lost its independence war 150 years ago -- it's their "heritage" and they trot out that flag every chance they get.  They didn't "get over it."  But the people who were enslaved under that flag are supposed to "get over it"?


https://www.ajc.com/news/local/the-weeping-time-the-largest-sale-enslaved-blacks-history/GGzriPsu0smp9cR1AOfrZN/?fbclid=IwAR2R0MfE9ZqHLa5dLzsynaA8eWob0wDSmF57spFXMk_855EMk41gG5XUWEo

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire?

Contemplate these three scenarios:

1. When prosecutors try to put a bad guy behind bars, they use other bad guys for testimony.
2. If a person always lies, then when he says something we like or agree with, he must be lying, right?
3. When we say we believe an enemy and he says something that contradicts what a friend says, we then must believe the enemy.

Three different thoughts, all about lying.  All seen and displayed this week.

Prosecutors do not go after people who are honest and above board in order to gain testimony about illegal acts.  They go after those who are closest to the bad actor, and that often means expecting convicted or accused liars to testify truthfully.  That's exactly what Congress is doing with Cohen.  They KNOW he's a convicted liar.  But go back to September 1963, when Congress had a mobster, convicted of 9 murders, testifying.  They knew what and who he was, but they solicited his testimony anyway because literally, he knew where the bodies were buried.

If Cohen says that Trump did not hit Melania in that elevator, and Cohen always lies, then that must mean logically that Trump DID hit Melania.  Trump supporters need to digest the logic of this.  Either their hero is a wife-beater, or Cohen is capable of telling the truth.  Most Republicans will ignore this conundrum, I suspect.

Trump believes Kim, period.  So if Trump says Kim wanted ALL sanctions lifted, and Kim says he only wanted SOME lifted, then we must believe Kim's account, and not Trump's.  Let's see how (or even IF) Republicans try to spin THAT.

Finally, on a non-political front, our local animal shelter is moving rapidly toward becoming a no-kill shelter.  They now place about 90% of the animals in their care in forever homes.  KUDOS to them!