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Thursday, May 14 -- quick (late) addition --
THOUGHT FOR TODAY from one born on this date...
"When wealth is passed off as merit, bad luck is seen as bad character. This is how ideologues justify punishing the sick and the poor. But poverty is neither a crime nor a character flaw. Stigmatize those who let people die, not those who struggle to live."
~ Sarah Kendzior, journalist and author (born May 14, 1978)
(with thanks to A.Word.A.Day)
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Update: Tuesday event added.
Right here, UP TOP:
Tuesday, May 12:
6:30 pm Pacific --
It's "INTERNATIONAL NURSES' DAY" the final day of the U.S. "National Nurses' Week."
Tonight, we are joining together to honor the nearly one hundred nurses who have died from COVID-19 and the health care workers who are still putting their lives at risk. We’re hosting a virtual candlelight vigil tonight that will be streamed live on Facebook and we want you to join us.
The more people who join from all over the country, the more we can call attention to the lives that are at stake if our elected leaders continue to leave us without the proper PPE we need.
Enough is enough. Employers and Congress have refused to take action to protect nurses even as more and more of us die due to the lack of PPE and other protections. We are coming together to remember those lost but also to continue to fight for those still on the front lines.
We hope you can join us.
In solidarity,
National Nurses United
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(Otherwise for all event listings, see the events chronology, just before the bottom end of the edition.)
Before that: Sunday morning, for Mother's Day.
Before that, we added Saturday morning content on the future of things with the Guide.
And before THAT, bunches of NEW MATERIAL was added, incl. Cyber & TV music, with massive coverage of what was (then) about to happen on Friday.
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"Fiddle de dee. Tomorrow is another day... at Tara."
~ Scarlett O'Hara.
Today is here now. For the present, it is the present. And "now" will never be here again.
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Want to make a big difference in THE WORLD?
Literally, the whole world -- and it costs you NOTHING, nada, zilch -- except a quick phone call
House of Representatives leaders could agree on the next Covid-19 relief bill as early as Friday morning. This is a key opportunity to enact provisions of Congressman Chuy Garcia’s global relief bill that would extend economic relief to poor countries through the International Monetary Fund. These provisions would cost U.S. taxpayers nothing. It’s just a question of the U.S. government joining the rest of the world in signing-off to allow them.
As Chair of the powerful Financial Services committee, California Congresswoman Maxine Waters can play a crucial role in getting this legislation included in the next Covid-19 bill.
Call Congresswoman Maxine Waters’ office now at 202-225-4247. When you reach a staffer or leave a message, you can say something like:
“I urge the Representative to co-sponsor the García bill, H.R.6581, that would change IMF policy to help poorer countries confront the pandemic. And I want to urge the House leadership to include these provisions in the next pandemic relief package. These IMF policy changes would cost U.S. taxpayers nothing and could save millions of lives.”
A good follow-through? Sign the petition to the full Congress:
So, who is "Just Foreign Policy"-? We've reported on them many times. The word "Just" doesn't mean "only." It refers to enacting a U.S. foreign policy based on a sense of justice and fairness, rather than bribery with weapons and insider deals for Big Oil or other corporate exploiters. They do good work and we are proud to support them.
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"National Teacher Appreciation Week" continues
Sign the card -- you can include your personal message -- to thank California's teachers for continuing to teach their students remotely and maintain the sense of support and community in their now-virtual classrooms.
Your kind words will be sent to the California Teacher's Association, via Schools and Communities First:
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Wednesday, May 6th
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THOUGHT FOR TODAY from one born on this date...
"Thinking is an experimental dealing with small quantities of energy, just as a general moves miniature figures over a map before setting his troops in action."~ Sigmund Freud, neurologist, founder of psychoanalysis (born May 6, 1856, died 1939)
(our thanks to A.Word.A.Day)
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On this day... two quick tidbits from Garrison Keillor
"On this day in 1862, Henry David Thoreau died of tuberculosis. He was 44. Before he died, his aunt asked him if he was at peace with God, and Thoreau replied, 'I was not aware that we had quarreled.'"
- - -
"It was on this day in 1994 that the Channel Tunnel ('Chunnel') opened, connecting Britain and France via an underground tunnel beneath the English Channel. It was the first time Britain had been connected to the European mainland since the last Ice Age, more than 8,000 years ago. ... The 31-mile tunnel cost more than $15 billion to build. It is now possible to journey from London to Paris in less time than three hours."
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Facepalm, but ya can't touch your face...
On late-night TV, Stephen Colbert said, “This tweet I posted last Cinco de Mayo has not aged well: ‘Happy Cinco de Mayo 2019! I can’t wait to go to a crowded bar and get some Corona in me!’”
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"But seriously" meets utter imbecility...
Titled, "‘I believe I am treated worse,’ Trump says. As if."
It's Dana Millbank's column in the Washington Post:
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There IS no "politics-as-usual" anymore
One:
"Burt the Turtle," aka Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, is embarked on an obsessive ambitious strategy for remaking the federal courts. His refusal to do his Constitutional duty to confirm many nominees during the entire four years of President Barack Obama’s second term created a huge shortage of federal judges, simply due to retirements. But McConnell went from utter obstructionist to a turtle on steroids for the current administration, helping Trump appoint more than one-quarter of all appellate judges.
Two:
A New York Times investigation shows how Jared Kushner and a team of young volunteers fumbled the job of chasing down medical supplies. (The other shoe dropping will be the upcoming investigation that shows how manipulators got rich off creating shortages, then routing supplies when the "shortage" made the price went up.)
Three:
The Orange Imbecile, in Arizona, said yesterday: “Will some people be affected badly? Yes. But we have to get our country open and we have to get it open soon.” He also indicated the Coronavirus Task Force would be "disbanded" by the end of May -- though the White House contradicted that this morning. (We'd have gone over there to Arizona to carry our sign that says, "I won't DIE to protect your stock dividends!" Or the one that says "Your reopening death panel will kill grandma!" Except we would be mixing with those maskless red-hatted Branch Covidians.)
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If you pay ANY attention to Big Pharma's profiteering and coziness with cable news channels and the powerful, this will not surprise you...
US Government Fears China will Give Away COVID-19 Vaccine for Free
MintPress News, by Alan Macleod
(via "Redacted Tonight" host Lee Camp, from today's "Lee Camp Ledger")
The number of official global coronavirus mortalities surpassed a quarter of a million people today, including over 69,000 in the U.S. [it's topped 71,000 at the Guide's press time - ed.] (although this is very likely an undercount). Polls show that the American people are extremely worried about contracting the virus. However, the government has a much bigger concern: that if they find a COVID-19 vaccine, China will copy it and distribute it for free.
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Today starts "National Nurses Week"
National Nurses Week runs Wednesday, May 6, through Tuesday, May 12, Florence Nightingale’s birthday. And THIS year, with health care workers in the spotlight and on the front lines during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s going to be more of a high-visibility occasion than ever before. That, even as the pandemic alters the way nurses can celebrate.
In some places, official proclamations mark today as "National Nurses Day."
The Guide brings you a profile of one very special nurse, then links to stories on several others who have become America's new heroes. Here's our profile:
"Given that today is National Nurses Day, it seems fitting to say that, in a generational crisis like this pandemic, I know exactly the person I want at the front of our response: Lauren Underwood," says John Sarbanes.
"Lauren's a nurse, she's a first-term member of Congress, and she understands the importance of a compassionate, science-based response to the coronavirus," he adds. He should know. John Sarbanes is Lauren's colleague in the House of Representatives, where his "PAC-Free Member of Congress" status is America's longest.
He continues, "Lauren won for the first time in 2018 by upending the political establishment. She promised to do better by the people of her district and America, and has she ever delivered. Health care as a human right? Yes. Ending the culture of corruption in Washington D.C.? Lauren's right there with us. And now, she's leading the charge for a people-first response to the pandemic — not one that bails out big corporations or ignores science while putting lives at risk."
National Nurses Week runs Wednesday, May 6, through Tuesday, May 12, Florence Nightingale’s birthday. And THIS year, with health care workers in the spotlight and on the front lines during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s going to be more of a high-visibility occasion than ever before. That, even as the pandemic alters the way nurses can celebrate.
In some places, official proclamations mark today as "National Nurses Day."
The Guide brings you a profile of one very special nurse, then links to stories on several others who have become America's new heroes. Here's our profile:
"Given that today is National Nurses Day, it seems fitting to say that, in a generational crisis like this pandemic, I know exactly the person I want at the front of our response: Lauren Underwood," says John Sarbanes.
"Lauren's a nurse, she's a first-term member of Congress, and she understands the importance of a compassionate, science-based response to the coronavirus," he adds. He should know. John Sarbanes is Lauren's colleague in the House of Representatives, where his "PAC-Free Member of Congress" status is America's longest.
He continues, "Lauren won for the first time in 2018 by upending the political establishment. She promised to do better by the people of her district and America, and has she ever delivered. Health care as a human right? Yes. Ending the culture of corruption in Washington D.C.? Lauren's right there with us. And now, she's leading the charge for a people-first response to the pandemic — not one that bails out big corporations or ignores science while putting lives at risk."
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| Lauren Underwood, nurse and first-term Member of Congress. |
He concludes by warning of "...holding the line against the big Republican attacks that are coming [against her]. Because you can bet they're going to do everything they can to try to defeat Lauren."
Most everyone knows a nurse. Not so many really know a doctor in America, where, unlike say, the UK, doctors tend to run in more elite economic circles. But nurses are the ones who do it all. They double-up to make rent on the apartment next door. They're in line in their scrubs at the supermarket, behind their masks, looking exhausted.
We smile from behind our masks, giving a nod of gratitude, figuring they appreciate respect for their solitude more than having to say anything in acknowledgement if we spoke.
Baltimore-area school nurses are helping health departments track and contain the coronavirus
In Baltimore County and other jurisdictions, school nurses are helping health departments track coronavirus cases and educate patients about how to keep the virus from spreading.
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‘They never cease to amaze me’: Carroll Hospital nurses on the front lines, in the spotlight during coronavirus pandemic
National Nurses Week begins Wednesday and runs through May 12, Florence Nightingale’s birthday, and with health care workers in the spotlight and on the front lines during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s going to be a very special celebration this year, even as the pandemic alters the way nurses celebrate.
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‘This is what we trained for:’ Nurses at Baltimore’s Mercy Hospital volunteer for coronavirus duty
Nurses at Baltimore’s Mercy Hospital cross train to help save coronavirus patients.
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‘I’m afraid it’s going to walk its evil head through that door’: Harford assisted living nurses on frontline of coronavirus pandemic
Nurse Karen Briggeman has been on the frontlines of two wars — one human, the other viral. But the fight against the coronavirus is nothing like what she, or other Harford County assisted living nurses, have experienced before.
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Wednesday's online performances
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Wed, May 6:
JEWEL, the acoustic singer-songwriter who grew up in the Alaska wilderness, knows a thing about social distancing. Tonight, she’s holding a guided meditation — and performing some new music — for a New York Times event.
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Wed, May 6:
1 pm Pacific --
Fantastic Negrito via the New York Guitar Festival’s Facebook channel, exploring the music of Reverent Gary Davis, the start of a 12-day series with various artists benefitting MusiCares
* click here
* click here
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Wed, May 6:
2 pm Pacific --
Robyn Hitchcock and Rhett Miller
* via Paste’s YouTube
* click here
* via Paste’s YouTube
* click here
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Wed, May 6:
5 pm Pacific --
"Whiskey Sour Happy Hour" with Ed Helms and artists TBA
* presented by the Bluegrass Situation
* presented by the Bluegrass Situation
* via Facebook
* click here
* click here
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6 pm Pacific --
ANDY & RENEE, co-leaders of the award-winning band HARD RAIN and hosts of the annual DYLANFEST, do two online shows this week -- today and Sunday.
* Renee tells us, "We're excited for our show Wednesday on Facebook. If you tried watching one of our first fews shows and found the feed and sound a bit lacking, please try us again...We've made vast improvements! Go to the links below so you don't miss the show. You can "Chat" with other viewers while watching...It's fun!"
* Today, via FB: www.facebook.com/reneesafier
* SUNDAY, May 10, via Youtube, at 2 pm Pacific, at:
https://youtu.be/9pDSAXdAQGk
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7 pm Pacific --
"THE JUST ASK Q&A FOR WRITERS" with DYLAN BRODY, KPCC radio personality, storyteller, author.
* At: https://zoom.us/j/4290511445
* That's ZOOM room # 429-051-1445
* Dylan says, "If you need a password (I don't think you will) it will be: Imagine"
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Thursday, May 7th
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THOUGHTS FOR TODAY from two born on this date...
"On each race is laid the duty to keep alight its own lamp of mind as its part in the illumination of the world. To break the lamp of any people is to deprive it of its rightful place in the world festival."
~ Rabindranath Tagore, poet, philosopher, author, songwriter, painter, educator, composer, Nobel laureate (born May 7, 1861, died 1941)
(our thanks to A.Word.A.Day)
AND,
Now
by Robert Browning
Out of your whole life give but a moment!
All of your life that has gone before,
All to come after it,—so you ignore,
So you make perfect the present, —condense,
In a rapture of rage, for perfection’s endowment,
Thought and feeling and soul and sense—
Merged in a moment which gives me at last
You around me for once, you beneath me, above me—
Me—sure that despite of time future, time past, —
This tick of our life-time’s one moment you love me!
How long such suspension may linger? Ah, Sweet—
The moment eternal—just that and no more—
When ecstasy’s utmost we clutch at the core
While cheeks burn, arms open, eyes shut and lips meet!
~ Robert Browning, English poet (born May 7, 1812, died 1889)
(our thanks to Garrison Keillor's daily "Writer's Almanac.")
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Today is...
"Essential Worker Bill of Rights Day of Action"
to push for protections for essential workers across the country
* All-day Thursday, May 7, through 6:30 pm Pacific.
* Virtually, across the U.S.
Health and home care workers, grocery and drug store employees, domestic workers, food service workers, government employees, janitorial staff, farm workers, delivery drivers, warehouse workers, transit workers, and child care workers are making sure families have access to basic necessities in a most uncertain time.
As elected officials return to D.C., join us in ensuring they know we demand they #ProtectEssentialWorkers by supporting an Essential Worker Bill of Rights!
As Congress continues to debate more relief efforts, the coronavirus pandemic throws us deeper into health and economic crisis. Essential workers cannot afford to wait any longer. The impacts of this COVID-19 crisis on low-wage frontline workers and Black, Brown, Asian-American, Pacific Islander, Indigenous, and migrant communities run deep. We need Congress to provide relief for the duration of the crisis and recovery for all workers and communities.
In a time characterized by extreme suffering and loss, our country has a moral responsibility to protect essential workers’ health, no matter their immigration status.
While the COVID-19 pandemic may keep us from gathering in the streets, it cannot stop us from pushing our lawmakers to save lives by supporting an
In a time characterized by extreme suffering and loss, our country has a moral responsibility to protect essential workers’ health, no matter their immigration status.
While the COVID-19 pandemic may keep us from gathering in the streets, it cannot stop us from pushing our lawmakers to save lives by supporting an
"Essential Worker Bill of Rights."
Those essential workers are AT WORK, so you can be safe at home.
Finally, YOU can help protect THEM.
Finally, YOU can help protect THEM.
CLICK HERE for a page where you can donate to any or all of these organizations (info on each organization is at the link):
Feeding America
Meals on Wheels America
CDC Foundation
One Fair Wage Emergency Fund
The National Domestic Workers Alliance
Farmworkers Pandemic Relief Fund
National Diaper Bank Network COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund
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FOR THOSE ON FACEBOOK: Click this link for info about the "Essential Worker Bill of Rights" and /or to RSVP for the "Day of Action" on Thursday.
If your device is infested with Facebook spyware, the link takes you to an FB page where you can choose to participate in the May 7 Day of Action by tweeting at, calling, and/or writing to, your elected officials to support frontline essential workers.
Sadly, the event organizers provide no option for those of us who refuse to allow Facebook to infest our devices -- BUT
If your device is infested with Facebook spyware, the link takes you to an FB page where you can choose to participate in the May 7 Day of Action by tweeting at, calling, and/or writing to, your elected officials to support frontline essential workers.
Sadly, the event organizers provide no option for those of us who refuse to allow Facebook to infest our devices -- BUT
YOU CAN CLICK THE OTHER LINK and donate directly to organizations run-by, or directly supporting, ESSENTIAL WORKERS.
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Thursday's Cyberian & teevee concerts, etc...
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Thu, May 7: what was supposed to be...
* The wonderful little South Bay newspaper "Easy Reader" has a report on where things go now, in today's edition:
"Today is the day that would mark BeachLife becoming a second year phenomenon, defining what a boutique curated festival could be. BeachLife Festival, and Redondo Beach would be known nationally after today for being a city filled with music and culture." Read their feature story here.
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Thu, May 7:
1 pm Pacific --
Bill Frisell* via the New York Guitar Festival’s Facebook channel, exploring the music of Reverent Gary Davis, the start of a 12-day series with various artists benefitting MusiCares
* click here
* click here
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Thu, May 7:
5 pm Pacific --
Robbie Fulks
* via Mercury Lounge Tulsa’s Facebook, Instagram and YouTube
click here
* via Mercury Lounge Tulsa’s Facebook, Instagram and YouTube
click here
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5 pm-5:30 pm Pacific --
ZAC BROWN BAND plays a LIVE benefit, broadcast on AXS TV.
Zac Brown Band's Live-Stream Charity Concert Tonight
LIVE at 8 Eastern, 7 Central, 5 pm Pacific.
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5 pm-7 pm Pacific --
REPEATS 9 pm-11 pm Pacific --
"CORONAVIRUS TOWN HALL" on CNN.
AL GORE, SPIKE LEE, LAURIE GARRETT, and DR. DEBORAH BIRX join ANDERSON COOPER and DR. SANJAY GUPTA' s weekly town hall tonight.
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Friday, May 8th
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THOUGHT FOR TODAY from one born on this date...
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers."
~ Thomas Pynchon, novelist (born May 8, 1937)
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers."
~ Thomas Pynchon, novelist (born May 8, 1937)
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On this day...
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| The front page of the American soldier's newspaper, "Stars and Stripes," on this day 75 years ago. It was the news every "dogface" G.I. had dreamed would come. |
Seventy-five years ago today in 1945, World War II in Europe finally ended with "VE Day" (Victory in Europe Day) when the German Instrument of Surrender signed at Reims came into effect.
The unprecedented genocide that was part of fascist intolerance was ended. Nazism was gone -- until it re-emerged in America allied with a pseudo-Ku Klux Klan movement.
Numerous celebrations had been planned today in 2020, throughout the world, to honor World War II's U.S. and allied veterans. All those events were cancelled due to the pandemic. The survivors who freed the world from Axis dictators include those of the U.S., Soviet, British, French, Dutch, Polish, Belgian, Chinese, and Southeast Asian allies, 27 nations in all. The youngest of those in uniform then are now at least 93 years old, and even those in underground resistance movements are not much younger.
Those who fought to end Nazi tyranny came to be known as "The Greatest Generation," and archives and museums around the world began diligent efforts to record their stories beginning in earnest in the 1990s. There are some among us, still quite lucid, who can enlighten us about what war really is.
Which raises an interesting point about certain heads of state today, calling themselves "wartime leaders" while failing to effectively safeguard public safety in this pandemic. That extends to something as simple as refusing to wear a mask, monopolizing forums where citizens needed useful information that their ignorant monopolization circumvented. And continuing to make close contact with other people while fomenting self-congratulatory and pathetically dysfunctional rah-rah opportunities that dispensed advice so stupid it can kill those who follow it. Which seems an awful lot like collaborating with the enemy in wartime.
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More WW II anniversaries today
Interesting trivia: VE Day coincides with the birthday today of US President for less than a month at the time, Harry Truman.
There are things that eventually ended well, but did not get off to a good start on this date...
"The Prague Uprising" comes to a bloody end today in 1945. The date is celebrated now as a national holiday in the Czech Republic.
The Battle of the Coral Sea comes to an end with an Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attacking and sinking one of the few U.S. Navy aircraft carriers, USS Lexington, today in 1942 -- in a World War II that Japan was still winning.
On this same day in the same 1942, the German 11th Army begins Operation Trappenjagd ("Bustard Hunt") and destroys the bridgehead of the three Soviet armies defending the Kerch Peninsula -- in a World War II that the Germans were still winning.
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More "on this date"...
and eerily, especially, resonant in our times
Today is "World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day"
The annual day celebrates of the principles of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement on the birthday of Jean Henry Dunant, founder of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the recipient of the first Nobel Peace Prize.
It serves as a poignant reminder that we are all in this together and must all support the needs of the world -- despite the lunacy of immunity through nationalism -- even as the US has 5% of the world's population, generates 90% of the world's garbage (99% of the stuff we buy is trashed within 6 months), is number-one among nations in holding global wealth with $98 trillion of the world's total of $317 trillion, and number-one among nations in COVID-19 infections and deaths, with 1/3 of the world's cases and nearly 1/4 of the world's deaths.
Ending disease plague...
The World Health Organization (W.H.O.) confirms the eradication of smallpox today -- in 1980.
Just one year ago, today in 2019, British 17-year-old Isabelle Holdaway is reported to be the first patient ever to receive a genetically modified phage therapy to treat a drug-resistant infection.
Economic bailouts during catastrophe...
An edict providing tax relief for the Italian provinces Tuscia, Campania, Picenum, Samnium, Apulia, Lucania and Calabria, after they were put in economic dire straits from being plundered by the Visigoths, was proclaimed by Emperor Honorius, 1,607 years ago today in the year 413.
He knew science, but political demands for absolute adherence did him in...
French chemist Antoine Lavoisier, who was also a tax collector with the Ferme générale, is branded a traitor, tried, convicted and guillotined in one day in Paris today during the Reign of Terror in 1794.
American cure-all pharmacology...
Pharmacist John Pemberton first sells a cure-all, patent medicine, a carbonated beverage named "Coca-Cola" to reflect its content of cocaine, today in 1886.
Building a border wall to f'ing keep 'em out...
General Zachary Taylor defeats a Mexican force that had intruded north of the Rio Grande in the first major battle of the Mexican–American War, today -- in 1846.
And those Spanish-speakers are threatenening our view of 'Muruca everywhere: Hernando de Soto stops near present-day Walls, Mississippi, and sees the Mississippi River -- then known by the Spanish as "Río de Espíritu Santo," the name given to it in 1519 by Alonso Álvarez de Pineda -- which is the Spanish name we Soto used today in 1541.
Idled now, after getting off to good starts...
The rollercoaster The New Revolution, the first steel coaster with a vertical loop, opens at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia California today in 1976.
Paramount Pictures is founded today in 1912.
The Irish Literary Theatre in Dublin produced its first play today in 1899.
The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show opens for the first time, at Gilmore's Gardens in New York City, today in 1877.
The first games of the Italian football league system are played today in 1898.
Hope that things CAN change...
Pedro Lascuráin (born today in 1856, died in 1952), a Mexican politician, became president of his country for 45 minutes on February 13, 1913.
Great human achievement...
The first ascent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen was completed by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler today in 1978.
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Happy Birthday today, May 8th, to
David Attenborough, English environmentalist and television host
Joe Bonamassa, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
Martha Wainwright, Canadian-American singer-songwriter and guitarist
Corinne West, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
Toni Tennille, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player
Billy Burnette, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
John Michael Talbot, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
Keith Jarrett, American pianist and composer
Philip Bailey, American singer-songwriter, drummer, and actor
Chris Frantz, American drummer and producer
Eric Brittingham, American bass player
Candice Night, American singer-songwriter
Pam Arciero, American puppeteer and voice actress
Alex Van Halen, Dutch-American drummer
Sylvain Cossette, Canadian singer-songwriter
Jon Mark, English-New Zealand singer-songwriter and guitarist
Gary Glitter, English singer-songwriter
Paul Samwell-Smith, English bass player and producer
Dave Rowntree, English drummer and animator
Bill Legend, English drummer
Felicity Lott, English soprano
Michelle McManus, Scottish singer-songwriter and actress
Anthony Field, Australian guitarist, songwriter, producer, and actor
Darren Hayes, Australian singer-songwriter
Benny Yau, Hong Kong-Canadian actor and singer
Enrique Iglesias, Spanish-American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
Simone Kleinsma, Dutch actress and singer
Ole Morten Vågan, Norwegian bassist
Björn Dixgård, Swedish singer-songwriter and guitarist
Ikue Sakakibara, Japanese actress and singer
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In memoriam to these musicians and influential others born May 8
Robert Johnson, legendary bluesman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (1911-1938)
Harry S. Truman, American colonel and politician, 33rd President of the United States (1884-1972)
Henry Dunant, Swiss businessman and activist, co-founded the Red Cross, Nobel Prize laureate (1828-1910)
Oscar Hammerstein I, American businessman and composer (1846-1919)
Heather Harper, Northern Irish soprano (1930-2019)
Don Rickles, American comedian and actor (1926-2017)
Girija Devi, Indian classical singer (1929-2017)
Miyoshi Umeki, Japanese-American actress and singer (1929-2007)
Peter Benchley, American author and screenwriter who wrote "Jaws" (1940-2006)
John Fred, American singer-songwriter (1941-2005)
Gordon McClymont, Australian ecologist and academic (1920-2000)
Lepo Sumera, Estonian composer and educator (1950-2000)
Mary Q. Steele, American naturalist and author (1922-1992)
Ricky Nelson, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (1940-1985)
Bob Clampett, American animator, director, and producer (1913-1984)
Mary Lou Williams, American pianist and composer (1910-1981)
Roberto Rossellini, Italian director and screenwriter (1906-1977)
Sid James, South African-English actor and singer (1913-1976)
Danny Whitten, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (1943-1972)
Fernandel, French actor and singer (1903-1971)
Red Nichols, American cornet player, composer, and bandleader (1905-1965)
Arthur Q. Bryan, American actor, voice actor, comedian and radio personality (1899-1959)
Heinrich Berté, Slovak-Austrian composer (1858-1924)
Adolphe-Basile Routhier, Canadian judge, author, and songwriter (1839-1920)
Louis Moreau Gottschalk, American pianist and composer (1829-1869)
Carl Stamitz, German violinist and composer (1745-1801)
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CURRENT NEWS
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Dylanology
For the third time in a month, Bob Dylan dropped a new original song, the bluesy "False Prophet." But this one came with an extra treat: an announcement that he will release a new album, Rough and Rowdy Ways, on June 19.
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More musicians hit with COVID-19...
Lisa Respers France writes, "I looked into how Covid-19 is hitting the blues music community especially hard. Not only are many blues artists black, senior adults -- two populations that have been disproportionately dying from the virus -- but the majority of them were already making very little money at gigs that have now completely dried up..." (thanks to Brian Stelter).
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With oases of music on TV, new network programming is jumping to "sick," corona-isolated "reality" shows
Brian Lowry, who reported that, also writes, after CBS' dramatic experiment with a remotely produced "All Rise" episode, and Netflix's announcement of the anthology series "Social Distance," we should "look for more coronavirus-themed scripted fare."
Brian Stelter adds, "Expect more acquisitions, too, especially on the cheap, as networks and services gobble up pandemic-related themes, a la 'Contagion.'" To wit, Crackle Plus announced plans to offer the 2016 Australian romantic comedy "Cooped Up," described as follows:
"After coming into contact with a potentially fatal coronavirus, Jake is forced to isolate himself in his childhood home for 21 days, with his only connection to the outside world being the female medic who checks on his symptoms daily."
Okay, so the latter was an Aussie fiction series in 2016. The Guide thinks it's damned risky to resurrect it for an ethnocentric 'Murican audience that equates Aussie accents to raucous party-goers and koala and kangaroo refugees from continental wildfires -- while the American human death toll, exacerbated by maskless Branch Covidians in the non-fiction 2020 pandemic has passed 1.3 million cases with 70,000 dead, and goes past 100,000 deaths before the "Cooped Up" comedy series airs. After all, America is the place where people are most apt to express "outrage" over being "offended."
Nonetheless, networks will gamble that ratings for quasi-corona-comedy will surpass playing-from-home concerts / performance-interviews with musicians.
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Record screen time, and where it's going...
"Screen time is way, way up," writes Brian Stelter in "The web's new records." But web servers haven't buckled under the digital weight. Charles Fishman writes, "The simplest explanation for why the pandemic hasn't broken the internet is that the internet was designed to be unbreakable, at the very beginning," in this wonderful story for The Atlantic.
He has detailed numbers from AT&T, one of America's largest internet providers, recording a 25% spike in network traffic during what has been the five days of the workweek.
"The data show Americans' intense desire to keep communicating. On AT&T’s network, customers are spending 33 percent more time talking on their cellphones, and they’re sending 40 percent more text messages, compared with January and February. Twice during the pandemic customers set a record for text messages -- once in mid-March as it started to build, and again on Easter weekend, sending more than 23,000 in a single second, besting the old record of 15,000, set on New Year's Eve," says Fishman. "Even landline usage is up!" says Stelter. Read on...
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Friday's music, etc on the web & TV...
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We'll add more events today / tonight... so check what's here now and look again later for additions.
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Fri, May 8:
1 pm Pacific --
Don Flemons* via the New York Guitar Festival’s Facebook channel, exploring the music of Reverent Gary Davis, the start of a 12-day series with various artists benefitting MusiCares
* click here
* click here
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Fri, May 8:
1 pm Pacific --
Hayes Carll and Tommy Emmanuel
* via Paste’s YouTube
* click here
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3 pm-4 pm Pacific --
"WOODSONGS" with Grammy winner DOM FLEMONS andNorth Carolina bluegrassers THE BURNETT SISTERS. New episode, 5/8/20. On RFD TV.
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Fri, May 8, on tv:
4 pm-4:30 pm Pacific --
"THE JIMMY STURR SHOW" from 2012 with LENNY GOMULKA performing. On RFD TV.
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Fri, May 8, on tv:
4:30 pm-5 pm Pacific --
" THE DUTTONS THROUGH THE YEARS" brings a new 5/8/20 edition with the uber musical family from Branson, MO. On RFD TV.
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5 pm Pacific --
Celso Piña (Cumbia) in an archived show of the artist's last perfirmance before his death in 2018. From Levitt Pavilion Denver in the "Levitt In Your Living Room" series on Facebook Live:
https://m.facebook.com/LevittPavilionDenver/
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5 pm Pacific --
"OPRY REPLAY: DUSTIN LYNCH's OPRY MEMBER INDUCTION" on WSM from Nashville.
* Everything broadcast on world-famous 650 AM is simulcast at www.WSMonline.com
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Fri, May 8, on tv:
5 pm-6 pm Pacific --
"COUNTRY'S FAMILY REUNION" in an episode from January with "The Very Best of CFR." Repeats 9-10 pm. On RFD TV.
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5:30 pm Pacific --
CHARLIE WOOD, the Memphis Jazz legend, in a twofer with THE RHODES COLLEGE JAZZ BAND, is an archived show from Levitt Shell Memphis, in the "Orion Virtual Concert Series" series on Facebook Live: https://m.facebook.com/TheLevittShell/
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Fri, May 8:
Time tba
Monthly "NORTHWEST SEAPORT CHANTEY SING"
* The long-running monthly chantey sing at Seattle's maritime museum has successfully gone online.
* There were 75 participants in April, hailing from as far afield as Alaska, Maryland, and Denmark.
* The next online chantey sing is May 8. Get an invite by registering for their maritime music emails here.
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6:30 pm Pacific --
"THE GOLDEN ERA OF THE GRAND OLE OPRY"
* Tonight features Loretta Lynn, Grandpa Jones, The Willis Brothers, Mother Maybelle Carter, and more on the airwaves of 650 AM, simulcast at www.WSMonline.com
___
Fri, May 8, BENEFIT:
7 pm Pacific --
TRACY GRAMMER & JIM HENRY play a live one-hour online concert on the "Portland Music Stream" for the Alberta Rose Theatre in Portland, Oregon:
https://albertarosetheatre.com/
* The show benefits both the Alberta Rose Theatre and the Jeremy Wilson Foundation which helps local musicians secure emergency healthcare.
* Cost is $20 for live stream and includes unlimited access to the archived show.
* Tracy tells us, "This is a monthly subscription series and I'm honored to be part of it. Check out this week's offerings" at the link.
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Fri, May 8, on tv:
7:30 pm-8 pm Pacific --
"THE STATLER BROTHERS" in a show from Feb 1, 2020. On RFD TV.
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8 pm-8:30 pm Pacific --
"BLUEGRASS UNDERGROUND" from 9/14/19, brings 2017 "Emerging Artist of the Year" AMANDA SHIRES on the concert show from a Tennessee limestone cavern concert hall. On KLCS.
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Fri, May 8, on tv:
8 pm-8:30 pm Pacific --
"COUNTRY LEGENDS: GRAND OLE OPRY STARS OF THE '50S" is a modern compilation of old footage, dated 05/02/20. On RFD TV.
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Fri, May 8, on tv:
8 pm-10 pm Pacific --
"THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY" (1978) is the biopic starring Gary Busey as the Lubbock, Texas, rock and roll pioneer. On KCET.
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Fri, May 8, on tv:
8:30 pm-9 pm Pacific --
"SUN STUDIO SESSIONS" from 4/15/20 brings THE BO-KEYS to the Memphis studio where Elvis started. On KLCS.
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Fri, May 8, on tv:
8:30 pm-10 pm Pacific --
"GREAT PERFORMANCES" brings a new 5/8/20 edition, "L.A. PHIL 100" recorded last fall celebrating the Los Angeles Philharmonic's centennial, with Gustavo Dudamel, Zubin Mehta, and Esa-Pekka Solonen. Repeats 10-11:30 pm tonight. On KOCE, aka PBS SoCal.
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Fri, May 8, on tv:
9 pm-10 pm Pacific --
"AUSTIN CITY LIMITS" brings bluesman GARY CLARK, JR. in an episode from 2019. On KLCS.
___
Fri, May 8, on tv:
9 pm-10 pm Pacific --
"COUNTRY'S FAMILY REUNION" in an episode from January with "The Very Best of CFR." On RFD TV.
___
Fri, May 8, on tv:
10 pm-11 pm Pacific --
"FRONT AND CENTER" from 2017 brings ACM Awards nominee CARKY PEARCE. On KLCS.
___
Fri, May 8, on tv:
10 pm-11:30 pm Pacific --
"GREAT PERFORMANCES" brings a new 5/8/20 edition, "L.A. PHIL 100" recorded last fall celebrating the Los Angeles Philharmonic's centennial, with Gustavo Dudamel, Zubin Mehta, and Esa-Pekka Solonen. On KOCE, aka PBS SoCal.
___
Fri, May 8, on tv:
10 pm-11:30 pm Pacific --
"THE PRODUCERS" (1968) is the Mel Brooks farce musical that, revived in the 21st century, had a record Broadway run. On KCET.
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Saturday, May 9th
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Choosing the best "lead line" isn't obvious, either. So here's the wheelbarrow version. it is all I want to say, and it's a short gestaltic stream of consciousness.
Yes, I am going with first-person for this.
The deciding point was just one email this morning. It's below. That email came after more than 400 other emails in the previous two days, all vying for some placement or mention in The Guide.
Numbers like that aren't unusual, except... things since the quasi-quarantine and shutdown of live gigs are impossible. Notices arrive with an impossible immediency. Artists -- and even publicists and labels and recipients of support from benefit shows -- are telling me the same day, or just the day before, about their hot live cyber performance.
Mixed with all that are the notices of all the things that are being released "today(!)" on any given day. That's CDs, download-only albums, specially-packaged commemorative albums, new singles, new EPs, new videos, limited-release stuff, special release stuff, BOGO stuff, record label special offers, and on and on. Most of it would be great to share with you, like we (including me) always try to do if it passes the listening test. I still would be -- if wading through all the urgently-upcoming online and tv performances wasn't already consuming more than all of my available time.
I am acutely aware that EVERYBODY else is saying how bored they've been through the stay-home-isolation to keep everyone else safe.
I have not had the time to be bored.
I haven't had nearly enough time to myself to use for something else I might enjoy doing. As a researcher, writer and journalist, I can always write constantly when the world is active and polluting itself to death. With the new paradigm of necessity, all this combing-out of information about same-day cyber music performances -- which is enough to drive any sane person crazy given the urgency and volume of incoming information -- mixed-in with too much of everything else -- leaves an impossible amount of "everything else" still waiting to be done at the end of the day.
Well-over 2/3 of the cyber gigs sent to us (me) are over before I can get to them. Without intending to do it, yesterday went into doing Friday's add-in coverage. No time remained to add anything else for Saturday or Sunday, and there are better than 40 gigs I could list for this weekend, if I did nothing else but do that.
Away from music, I've got a great scoop right now on a big story in Africa. For three days, I've wanted time from everything else to start asking questions, to read-up on the background, to get phone interviews and follow the story. By now, I can bet others have discovered it and are on it. The BBCs and CNNs of the world have deep pockets and abundant resources. An award-winning indie does not.
Reporting responsibly, for me, has involved both encouraging diligence and patience, for everyone, with adhering to safe practices during a pandemic, and regularly bringing focused awareness to the empire of cyber security. The latter involves meaningfully reporting to inform about insidious, evermore ubiquitous spyware being implanted in all our devices. The subtle forms of psychological warfare that co-opt the populace in the name of "safety" is more blatant and damaging to our civil rights and freedom of privacy now than at anytime since the revelations of Ed Snowden and Chelsea Manning enabled it to be slightly reined-in. And it plays perfectly into the hands of the Cybersecurity Complex every time maskless bonehead Branch Covidians are loudly evoking "rights," because it circumvents dialog about real issues. It's a perfect distraction when people get sucked into the vortex of tattoo parlors and nail salons.
Meanwhile, there's the reality of all this. A friend in Southern California has lost three family members to the virus -- one each in Oregon, Northern California, And Texas.
My own musician cousin in New York City is battling COVID-19, and he has been fighting it continuously since early March. He doesn't smoke and is not in any risk group. But he wonders if he will ever breathe well enough to return to making his living by playing his horn, and if his senses of taste and smell will ever return, and if he will ever be able to climb his stairs, and if the headache will ever go away. And that's not all. His best friend -- who is also one of his bandmates -- played the same crowded gig around March 1st, and also caught the virus, but that reference must change to past tense: it killed that musician, his best friend.
Some experiences can be communicated and easily understood. Others are too esoteric, or too personal, and will forever be inscrutable to others.
But for each of us, one thing holds true. Time is what we make of it, while we can. The universe fairly screams that at each of us.
For now, I am heeding that message.
Will The Guide go on hiatus? I honestly don't know. Check back in the coming week.
Meanwhile, only the weekend gigs we listed early appear below. And of course we leave you with a very formidable archive of recent and long-past information, from reviews to musings on the arts to advocacy for music and arts education to taking a stand for Mother Earth, and for science rather than superstition, and for myriad issues of economic and social justice, and notes and quotes on musicians' birthdays and relevantly resonant moments in human experience. All those things await you in the troves of The Guide's cyber pages.
Oh, and things are sometimes obtuse. Influences can come from unexpected quarters. Here's that email that pushed us into saying "see ya later..."
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___
5 pm Pacific --
Allison Moorer
* via Facebook
* click here
* click here
___
5 pm Pacific --
" GRAND OLE OPRY" LIVE, this week with BLAKE SHELTON & GWEN STEFANI, TRACE ADKINS and DUSTIN LYNCH
* via Circle Media’s Facebook
* click here
* via Circle Media’s Facebook
* click here
___
Sat, May 9th:
6 pm Pacific --
Brandy Clark
* via Martin Guitars’ Facebook
* click here
* via Martin Guitars’ Facebook
* click here
___
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Sunday, May 10th
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(our thanks to Garrison Keillor and the May 10 edition of his "Writers Almanac" for the following four items.)
The motherhood festivities have historically been in spring, the season of fertility. In ancient Egypt, there were celebrations to honor Isis, the loving mother-goddess, who is often shown in Egyptian art with the baby Horus at her breast, much like Mary and Jesus in later Christian iconography. The cult of the great mother-goddess Cybele began in Turkey and soon moved to Greece and Rome, and she was worshipped in some form for more than a thousand years. Her priestesses led wild celebrations, full of drinking, dancing, music, and all kinds of debauchery.
As the Roman Empire and Europe transitioned to Christianity, the Church set aside the fourth Sunday of Lent as a day to honor motherhood. It was a day to celebrate the Virgin Mary, and for people to honor their "mother church."
In the 1600s, England declared an official Mothering Day for that fourth Sunday of Lent. It was a time when families were encouraged to get together, and servants or workers were allowed one day off work to go see their mothers, since many working-class families in England worked as servants on separate estates and rarely got to see each other. Mothering Day was also declared an exception to the fasting and penance of Lent, so that families could have a feast together.
When the pilgrims came to America, they stopped celebrating Mothering Day, just as they stopped celebrating most holidays that they thought had become too secular.
Mother's Day was reintroduced to America in 1870 by Julia Ward Howe, who wanted to set aside a day of protest after the Civil War, in which mothers could come together and protest their sons killing other mothers' sons.
But the woman who really created Mother's Day as we know it was Anna Jarvis. Her mother had held Mother's Friendship Days to reunite families and neighbors separated during the war, and when she died, her daughter, Anna Jarvis, worked to proclaim an official Mother's Day to honor her mother and celebrate peace. And so on May 10, 1908, the first official Mother's Day celebrations took place in Grafton, West Virginia, and at a church in Philadelphia. In 1914, Woodrow Wilson designated the second Sunday of May as Mother's Day.
But Mother's Day became commercialized very quickly, especially in the floral industry, and Anna Jarvis was furious. She said, "What will you do to route charlatans, bandits, pirates, racketeers, kidnappers, and other termites that would undermine with their greed one of the finest, noblest, and truest movements and celebrations?" But flower sales and card sales continued to grow, and Anna Jarvis died in poverty and without any children of her own.
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790
by Emily Dickinson
— the Gentlest Mother is,
Impatient of no Child —
The feeblest — or the waywardest —
Her Admonition mild —
In Forest — and the Hill —
By Traveller — be heard —
Restraining Rampant Squirrel —
Or too impetuous Bird —
How fair Her Conversation —
A Summer Afternoon —
Her Household — Her Assembly —
And when the Sun go down —
Her Voice among the Aisles
Incite the timid prayer
Of the minutest Cricket —
The most unworthy Flower —
When all the Children sleep —
She turns as long away
As will suffice to light Her lamps —
Then bending from the Sky —
With infinite Affection —
And infiniter Care —
Her Golden finger on Her lip —
Wills Silence — Everywhere —
"790" by Emily Dickinson.
(Public domain.)
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Two notable birthdays...
It's the birthday of musician and composer "Mother" Maybelle Carter born in Copper Creek, Virginia (1909). When she was 18, she and her cousin Sara and brother-in-law A.P. Carter. Through the years, The Carter Family recorded many traditional songs, including "Wabash Cannonball," "Wildwood Flower," and "Will the Circle be Unbroken."
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(again, our thanks to Garrison Keillor and the May 10 edition of his "Writers Almanac" for the foregoing four items.)
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The feat of the age, the 19th century's equivalent of going to the Moon
On this day, just one year ago...
We were there, and covered it for you
The music, the historic trains, the re-enactors, and the world's largest locomotive -- restored for the event
Today, on the 151st anniversary, all are now idled by the pandemic. But the 150th was the kind of chaotic hoop-la we all dream about.
(from Doug Foxley, in Utah)
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Now, for our own original "Guide" content...
On this day, today in 2020...
On this day, today in 2020...
"Trump is a pinball game presidency played with bowling balls in a china shop."
~ give our editor some time off -- and the possibility of a real hiatus -- and he comes-up with things like that.
He says he's just had it with BS. So he wrote the following, too, and asked us to publish it.
___
___
This morning, Brian Stelter looked at the cable "news" channel OAN, short for "One America Network." We already knew, prior to seeing his report, that OAN has rapidly become the obvious source of Trump's craziest assertions, as well as his go-to channel to justify what he says and vilify anyone who questions him about which side of his ample ass he pulled something from THIS time. The channel currently has its conspiracy feature stories on YouTube, including:
• Coronavirus is a plot for population control.
• Vaccinations are as dangerous as the anti-vaxers have said.
• Global economic takeover plots are behind virus shutdowns.
Stelter and his expert media-analyst panel on Sunday's "Reliable Sources" looked at how this stuff influences people, beyond those who believe anything Trump says. Turns out there is quite a pipeline of content creators who are paid by OAN. In addition to OAN's rather tiny reach, they use YouTube to post what they produce to an exponentially larger audience. Their YouTube presence, in turn, feeds the stuff to myriad social media channels and groups -- chiefly, many on Facebook. Then, even if FB eventually finds it (which isn't all that likely) and decides that something in particular is so egregiously untrue that it violates even their halfassed policy about spreading lies that are dangerous, it isn't over. The pipeline then leads the story to the enormous audience of Fox News, where it is framed as "Look what the conspiracy took down to keep you from seeing it!"
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Sunday music performance on TV...
As we said Saturday, only the weekend gigs we listed early appear below.
___
Sun, May 10, on tv:
8 pm-9 pm Pacific --
"SATURDAY NIGHT OPRY" is a re-run of last night's "Grand Ole Opry LIVE," this week with BLAKE SHELTON & GWEN STEFANI, TRACE ADKINS and DUSTIN LYNCH
* via Circle TV entertainment network, broadcast in L.A. on KDOC tv.
___
* via Circle TV entertainment network, broadcast in L.A. on KDOC tv.
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Today is Monday, May 11th
___
The big music news today is
"RISE UP NEW YORK" BENEFIT CONCERT
4 pm-5 pm Pacific --
Live on TV on MTVLD, CNBC, DLIF, & CHEDDAR, and on radio on "I ♡ Radio" stations nationwide, and findable on the web. Many top stars are jammed into the hour, playing from home to raise money for the "Robin Hood Relief Fund."
___
THOUGHT FOR TODAY from one born on this date...
"You are the sky. Everything else -- it's just the weather."
~ Pema Chodron, Buddhist nun and author (born May 11, 1936)
___
Garrison Keillor starts something. I get to finish it
"Irving Berlin"-?! Are you KIDDING?
"It’s the birthday of Irving Berlin (1888). Berlin was born Israel Isidore Baline in Imperial Russia. Berlin’s family settled in New York City, renting a basement apartment on Cherry Street that had no windows and no hot water.
"Berlin only had two years of schooling; his father died when he was young and he had to hawk newspapers to help his family. It was while selling the Evening Journal that he began memorizing the songs drifting from saloons and restaurants. He discovered that when he sang, people tossed coins in appreciation. He began plunking out his own tunes on the piano at night, one of which became 'Alexander’s Ragtime Band' (1911). Berlin recorded the song and it became a hit, sparking a national dance craze.
"He went on to write 19 Broadway shows, and a great many shows that stuck around after the shows had closed, including, 'There’s No Business Like Show Business,' 'White Christmas,' and 'God Bless America.'
Thanks, Garrison. That's very inspiring. But...
...seeing the title of that last composition brings us to a story.
...seeing the title of that last composition brings us to a story.
When Woody Guthrie heard Kate Smith singing Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" during the darkest days of the Great Depression, Woody didn't feel inspired. He felt alienated.
It bothered ol' Woody. To the point it prompted him to write a sarcastic comeback, a song that he titled, "God Blessed America for Me." Which was sarcastic because, well, he looked around at America's natural beauty and ample means of creating abundance that should be sufficient for no one to be shoeless and hungry. But what he saw was the few controlling much, as the bankers seized even the ruined farms in the Dust Bowl. The few got more and more, while growing numbers had nothing -- not even the land they had worked for generations with their blood and sweat and toil, their heart and soul.
Woody's response was remarkable. He didn't write something overtly bitter or angry. He went for, and achieved, irony. That made people think, and even gave them hope, and helped them find pride in their hope that the nation could yet prove its promise.
His song outlasted that time. You know it. As soon as you make the change he made, of just one line. It's just one little line -- the key line in the chorus. "God Blessed America for Me" became, "This Land Was Made for You and Me."
Many of us think it should be our National Anthem -- from the redwood forests to the Gulf Stream waters -- instead of a song about bombs bursting in air and warfare. Might even reorient the way Americans look at things, if we could make that happen.
And to think, if not for Irving Berlin and Kate Smith getting under Woody's skin, we never would have had that song to have that conversation now.
~ Larry Wines
Hope your week gets off to a good start. Stay safe!
___
The editor checked in early Monday morning with what appears above. Still no word whether he's taking things into that hiatus he wrote about on Saturday.
We do know that if he does, that new record number of readers in Turkmenistan will probably be disappointed: 3,076 there on Sunday, alone (It's up to 4,855 early Monday morning), and another 2,059 in one day in the United Arab Emirates. No, we are not kidding.
Plus sizeable weekend readership numbers in India, Hong Kong, France, Belgium, Canada, Ireland, Pakistan, the UK, Russia, the Ukraine, and of course the good ol' USA.
So, if hiatus does happen, we'll take the opportunity now to say "Thank You" to our readers everywhere for coming by to see us!
Will the editor be back? As they say in broadcast news, "Film at eleven."
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Thanks for joining us here
at the Acoustic Americana Music Guide!
at the Acoustic Americana Music Guide!
CHECK BACK HERE, at the BOTTOM OF THE CURRENT CHRONOLOGY, for more events, added until a new edition takes over. The basic site url always takes you to our latest word.
With a few fine exceptions... most artists are not giving much notice (hint-hint, swift kick in the ass!) before they suddenly decide to do a cyber show. For the present, we keep up the best we can.
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_________________________________________________
We have lots of MUSIC NEWS
features in the works, and they'll
be along as we get them dressed,
shoes tied, cowlicks combed down,
bowties cranked straight,
and strings tuned.
Find a comfortable spot by the
wood stove -- you'll prob'ly need to
grab the cards for solitaire, since you
can't have somebody over for a round
of checkers. But we'll be along...
directly, from a safe social distance.
Direct from Cyberia.
features in the works, and they'll
be along as we get them dressed,
shoes tied, cowlicks combed down,
bowties cranked straight,
and strings tuned.
Find a comfortable spot by the
wood stove -- you'll prob'ly need to
grab the cards for solitaire, since you
can't have somebody over for a round
of checkers. But we'll be along...
directly, from a safe social distance.
Direct from Cyberia.
_________________________________________________
On to the necessary boilerplate...
Boilerplate? What "boilerplate"? Where's the main pressure gauge? And the firebox? How do you add water so it won't blow-up?
Who came up with that goofy term for the basic essential informational stuff? ...obviously some dumbass...
Alright already, it's right down there...
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
LEGALESE, CONTACTING US, 'N SUCH...
________________________________
Direct to the Guide's current editions /
MOBILE-DEVICE-FRIENDLY
editions load quickly at
Or at
.
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CONTACT US -- Post Comments / Send Questions / say Howdy at:
Tiedtothetracks (at) Hotmail (dot) com
.
OR USE THE COMMENTS FUNCTION on the Blogspot site.
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Entire contents copyright © 2020,
Lawrence Wines & Tied to the Tracks.
All rights reserved.
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♪ The ACOUSTIC AMERICANA MUSIC GUIDE endeavors to bring you NEWS – and views of interest to artists everywhere – more specifically to musicians and the creative community and music makers -- and fans of acoustic and Folk-Americana music. That includes both traditional and innovative forms. From the deepest roots to today’s acoustic renaissance, that’s our beat. We provide a wealth of resources, including a HUGE catalog of acoustic-friendly venues (now undergoing a major update), and inside info on FESTIVALS and select performances in Southern California in venues from the monumentally large to the intimately small and cozy. We cover workshops, conferences, and other events for artists and folks in the music industry, and all kinds o’ things in the world of acoustic and Americana and accessible classical music. From washtub bass to musical spoons to oboe to viola to banjo to squeezebox, from Djangostyle to new-fangled-old-time string band music, from sweet Cajun fiddle to bluegrass and pre-bluegrass Appalachian mountain music to all the swamp water roots of the blues and the bright lights of where the music is headed now.
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The Acoustic Americana Music Guide. Thanks for sittin' a spell. The cyber porch'll be here anytime you come back from the road.
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We'll be back again soon with music news and more "News of the Non-Trumpcentric Universe." (c)
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Til we catch ya again on the flip side
in this new decade...
in this new decade...
as Buford the Wonder Dog looks on
and in our best Kathy Baker
"Hee Haw" voice: "THAT's all!"
"Hee Haw" voice: "THAT's all!"
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Here's a reprint of important info from one of our February editions:
COVID-19 Coronavirus PRACTICAL PRECAUTIONS
(good for avoiding the "regular" flu & colds, too)
• Coronavirus lives on inorganic surfaces anywhere from two hours to NINE DAYS; it all seems dependent on temperature, unless it is killed by disinfectant. When tests revealed that, even health care workers were surprised. It brings more emphasis to many of the following points.
• Get the flu vaccine -- ordinary flu will likely mimic Coronavirus, so avoid being ostracized and quarantined.
• Wash your hands, a lot: scrub for 20 seconds and wash them often.
• Stop shaking hands. Don't do "fist bumps" because that's still hand-to-hand contact. And don't become a mad elbow-bumper, because of the next point.
• Cough into the inside of your elbow, ANY TIME you cough.
• Stop shaking hands. Don't do "fist bumps" because that's still hand-to-hand contact. And don't become a mad elbow-bumper, because of the next point.
• Cough into the inside of your elbow, ANY TIME you cough.
• Keep your hands away from your face -- touching your nostrils, eyes, or mouth brings-in every germ your hands picked-up.
• Get a little bottle of hand sanitizer on a miniature carabiner. Clip it to your belt loop or purse strap and use it frequently. (Be sure you snap the lid shut, or it'll drain all over your clothes.) You can refill it from the pump bottle by the sink.
• Make your own hand sanitizer if the stores are out. Formula, from a doctor who makes it with her kids: two parts isopropyl alcohol (drugstore alcohol, at least 70% alcohol), one part aloe vera gel, a dash of any essential oil. Works just ss well as store bought stuff.
• Make your own hand sanitizer if the stores are out. Formula, from a doctor who makes it with her kids: two parts isopropyl alcohol (drugstore alcohol, at least 70% alcohol), one part aloe vera gel, a dash of any essential oil. Works just ss well as store bought stuff.
• Stay home if you're sick -- even if you don't get paid, DON'T be the "Typhoid Mary" that brings a pandemic of this or ANYTHING contagious. If you're "taking one for the team," make it the big team -- ALL of us.
• Don't be a transporter. Immediately remove shoes inside your front door and change clothes when you get home. Don't plunk-down on the couch until you shed what you were wearing at work or in the store or on the bus or in the coffee bar. Stop tracking everything from the sidewalk onto your kitchen and bathroom floors and your rug.
• Be mindful of your car. Everything you touch, everywhere, is on your steering wheel. Everywhere you sit is on your car seat. Keep 'em disinfected -- Clorox wipe the wheel, Lysol spray the seats, often.
• Don't be a transporter. Immediately remove shoes inside your front door and change clothes when you get home. Don't plunk-down on the couch until you shed what you were wearing at work or in the store or on the bus or in the coffee bar. Stop tracking everything from the sidewalk onto your kitchen and bathroom floors and your rug.
• Be mindful of your car. Everything you touch, everywhere, is on your steering wheel. Everywhere you sit is on your car seat. Keep 'em disinfected -- Clorox wipe the wheel, Lysol spray the seats, often.
• Everything you wear goes in the hamper. No multi-day wearings between washings.
• Keep track of where Coronavirus and other flus are headed, the latest ways to avoid contagion, and what symptoms go with what disease, by putting the CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL in your favorites: www.cdc.gov
• Call your doctor or public health officials if you become symptomatic, and DON'T "just go" to the doctor or urgent care or ER; everybody else in the waiting room does not have what you have, and vice-versa.
• Don't buy-up all tbe masks that medical responders need. Nearly all the masks in the stores are Dust Masks, made to keep carpenters and other tradesmen from inhaling sawdust. Expecting those to protect you from tiny viruses is like trying to filter water with a tennis racket. Plus, wearing masks everywhere is not a good idea -- without training and lots of practice, you'll contaminate the thing and then breathe a stewpot of microorganisms up-close and personal.
• Get proper nutrition and plenty of sleep to support your immune system. THAT is THE best way to stay healthy.
• REALLY IMPORTANT: Think about what you routinely ignore:
~ your phone or tablet, which you constantly handle while you're touching everything else in the big, wide world, then keep handling when you're eating (keep your devices disinfected).
~ the Kleenex or cloth hankie you pull out of your pocket -- this time your nose or eye gets the side your dirty finger got last time (yeah, duh!)
~ door handles & knobs, especially "pull-to-exit" on the restroom door, and all door handles you grab or push.
~ gas pump handles -- whatever was deposited on them is now on your steering wheel, and marinading on your hands as you snack while driving.
~ gas pump handles -- whatever was deposited on them is now on your steering wheel, and marinading on your hands as you snack while driving.
~ restaurant menus, salt and pepper shakers, ketchup and mustard and hot sauce bottles that every unwashed hand touches. Same goes for bins of packaged condiments at fast foodies or convenience store / gas stations (Use 'em, then use your hand sanitizer.)
~ lunch buffet serving spoons, spatulas, tongs that every unwashed hand uses in the food bins (your freshly-washed hands just got contaminated). And if sneeze guard glass panes aren't at the right height or aren't clean, demand a refund and leave.
~ coins in change and money, in general -- coins and folding money are germ transit systems. (Back to your little bottle of hand sanitizer.)
~ airline & train tray tables -- who knows when they were last cleaned and to what extent? When we saw a baby being changed on one... (bring a little plastic box of Clorox wipes when you travel).
~ bring your own food on the airplane -- you're probably doing that, anyway, since they stopped feeding you back when they started charging for carry-on luggage and made you ride with your knees in your armpits. Flight attendants have tested positive -- their hands pour drinks, dispense snacks, and pick-up everybody's garbage.
~ airline & train tray tables -- who knows when they were last cleaned and to what extent? When we saw a baby being changed on one... (bring a little plastic box of Clorox wipes when you travel).
~ bring your own food on the airplane -- you're probably doing that, anyway, since they stopped feeding you back when they started charging for carry-on luggage and made you ride with your knees in your armpits. Flight attendants have tested positive -- their hands pour drinks, dispense snacks, and pick-up everybody's garbage.
~ remember to think and act consciously. There is an acute need to be mindful of others, so neither be paranoid reactive nor obliviously ignorant. There was great advice in the old cop show at the end of every briefing: "Be careful out there."
Read AND SHARE The Guide's complete feature story on the COVID-19 Coronavirus in the edition at: https://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2020/02/leap-day-weekend-leaping-into.html
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