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UPDATED Monday with events for today! Most recent update: April 6, 5:05 pm.
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NEWS FEATURES and feature stories are up-front. Daily events follow, starting with what's on tap for April 2nd.
Welcome to this edition, your latest Guide to Cyberian musicality!
Someday soon...
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Our two previous HUGE editions, packed with info on help, financial assistance and resources for musicians and people in the arts, and all kinds of tuneful "ways-to-Stay-Sane" features and online links for music and arts lovers, are still there and still very relevant.
So if you need all that coverage we have painstakingly assembled for you... or hell, if you just need alternatives to your Netflix binge-watching, go to those resource-packed editions, HERE (the most recent giant one) and HERE (the giant one before that) -- each has different resources & content.
And if you want to see how The Guide was on top of the coming pandemic back in February, our feature story is in the archived in that edition, HERE.
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And dammit, times are serious but we all REALLY need to laugh.
So, IF YOU WANT TO LOOK BACK AT AN APRIL 1st when it was okay to indulge in April Fool's hilarity and parody, you'll enjoy this one from way back in 2014, a classic from the archive, from when the world was normal.
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NEWS SHORTS... Thursday, April 2nd, 2020.
Pandemic...
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases surpassed one million today, after doubling in less than a week.
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More musicians lost to the Pandemic...
Ellis Marsalis, Jr., New Orleans music icon and father of four famous musicians, is dead at age 85.
Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne, 10-time Grammy nom who had endless credits from Oscar music noms to producing the last MONKEES album, has died.
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Asymptomatic transmission...
There are now:
216,000+ cases of COVID-19 in the US
5,100+ deaths from the virus in the US
253 million Americans now live in places with stay-at-home orders in place.
20%+ of people who contract COVID-19 never have any symptoms, but ARE contagious during some period, spreading the disease without knowing it.
More men die than women, and that's been the case worldwide. Factors in that have brought many things under scrutiny, including lifestyle ddifferences like drinking, all the way through factors like use of blood pressure medications.
JUST REMEMBER: the Coronavirus can be spread by talking and breathing, hence the paradigm of maintaining a minimum six-foot physical distance, and using whatever simple kind of face mask you can improvise. (Let the health care people have the "real" ones. The people not on the front line have always used unsharpened spears and wooden rifles so the ones in the fight can have the real weapons.)
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Unsafe app?
ZOOM, the video conferencing app being used by musicians to teach online music lessons, collaborate with other musicians, and present live performances to interactive audiences, has come under fire for allegedly making its users' devices porous to exploitation.
The app has gone from ten million to hundreds of millions of users since the worldwide stay-at-home paradigm took hold.
The company was unprepared for an influx of novice users, and admits it.
Most common is an infestation of hackers who "zoom bomb" with pornographic and racist images and scribbled lewd tripe in the midst of some online event.
Ostensibly it's caused by users who do not invoke privacy settings for their events, but that doesn't explain all that's going wrong.
It's a fast-developing story that is changing as we hit our morning deadline, so here's what we advise: use a safe browser (Startpage or DuckDuckGo) and check it out before punching-up a ZOOM event.
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Who's paying, when so many have no health care?
That field hospital in the white tents in New York City's Central Park? It's not an emergency government effort. It is 100% paid for by the charity, "Samaritans Purse." No bill is being sent to the city. The emergency response charity is doing it all there -- in the first field hospital in the famous park since the Civil War.
New York City’s public hospital system plans to convert all of its facilities to intensive care units. Patients who do not have the virus will be sent to temporary hospitals or improvised medical facilities.
1,157 new COVID-19 patients were hospitalized in NYC in the past 24 hours. They are putting 350 patients per night on ventilators, and desperately trying to shift the machines from places where someone has died to where a new patient needs one to live. Fortunately, the number of daily discharged patients in NYC -- those who have recovered -- is increasing, but not at the same rate.
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Unemployment in America...
The numbers are out today for new unemployment claims in America. Last week (ending March 28th) another 6.6 million claims were filed, added to the 3.3 million filed the previous week.
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Grounded planes vs ground beef...
British Airways is expected, this week, to furlough 36,000 employees. That's 80% of its work force.
There are calls in the UK and the US for still more extraordinary bailouts of the tin-bird industry. But keep in mind that the entire US airline industry employs fewer people than the number who work in the restaurant and food service industry. The restaurant sector alone stands to lose 7 million jobs in the next month. So watch for preferential treatment of fat cats vs. economic fairness.
* Addendum: across America, closed restaurants have donated food stocks to:
• feed the homeless
• feed unemployed restaurant workers
• feed beleaguered health care workers during breaks and at the end of shifts
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Buying food...
Two-dozen farmers markets reopen today throughout Los Angeles, after satisfying the City with physical distancing protocols. Mayor Eric Garcetti had implemented a blanket closure order on Monday.
The mayor also urged city residents to use face coverings in public. (There are easy-to-find videos of how to fold a bandana into a good face mask.)
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Austerity kills...
Thousands of ventilators in a government stockpile are unusable, after a maintenance contract lapsed last year. Federal officials said on Wednesday that their reserves of medical gear were nearly depleted.
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Insane inconsistency...
Twelve US states have governors who still refuse to issue stay-home orders.
Florida's idiot governor finally succumbed to intense public pressure -- in the state with the largest proportion on old people -- to issue a statewide stay-at-home order. He was previously defending the state's counties whose beaches were crowded with drunken college students, with shoulder-to-shoulder crowds right up to the line of neighboring counties that had issued beach closure orders.
But the same governor refuses to include "churches and religious gatherings," which can pack 'em in despite the risk to the rest of us after they dusburse back into the grocery stores. (Even the Shrina at Lourdes, France, closed its miracle healing waters weeks ago out of concern of transmission.)
He's the same idiot governor who will not allow two cruise ships to dock at their Florida home ports to offload their passengers, despite at least four dead on-board and pressing need for urgent treatment that exists on both ships. The gov says he is willing to allow "only Floridians" to come ashore. (The Orange Imbecile's "foreign virus" mentality still persists... like the wall-builder advocates who have built themselves toilet paper fortresses.)
How many will die because of these science-deniers? Make that, these insane science-deniers.
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Real press conferences vs fake news...
America has embraced (from a safe physical distance) the informatiom-packed daily press conferences presented by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. That's in stark contrast to the BS-and-baloney, dog-and-pony, everything-but-the-plate-spinners, My-Pillow-guy-guest, fake daily "Corona Virus Task Force" briefings that are primarily a platform for the Commander-in-Tweet to pull stuff out of his anal orifice and contradict the scientists, epidemiologists, demographers, and medical and logistic supply authorities.
There is no online petition to the media to get Cuomo's briefings banned from live coverage. There are numerous online petitions to discontinue live coverage of Trump's daily harangues, on the grounds they are (a) not just uninformative, but dangerously misinformative, and (b) unpaid campaign commercials aimed at getting the MAGA-hatters fired-up for his re-election campaign.
Whether or not you like Cuomo's politics, it is the clearest contrast you'll ever see between focused leadership and self-focused exploitation of disaster.
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It ain't just the Orange two-face...
With the coronavirus pandemic bearing down on a nation in dire need of urgent congressional action, what did Senate boss and chief obstructor Mitch McConnell do? He sent the Senate home. Not only that, he went on vacation for a long weekend in Kentucky -- accompanied by none other than Trump Supreme Court appointee Brett Kavanaugh.
While McConnell dallied — remember, it took him five days to pass the House’s first coronavirus bill — the number of sick and dead grew, and the nation's ability to "flatten the curve" to protect our medical capacity shrank. As for McConnell? He was busy swearing-in another unqualified Trump federal judge appointee.
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One victim...
Hilda Churchill is one of the more than 500 killed by COVID-19 in the previous 24 hours in Britain. She had survived the first pandemic of her life -- in 1918. But not this one. She was 108.
Meanwhile, the Pandemic's youngest victim in the US died last night, at age 7 months. (Young people are NOT immune, folks, despite social media BS.)
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Now, on to the feature stories
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"The UnCancelled Music Festival" & Hotel Cafe collaborate, April 2nd-9th
Daily performances benefit music folks in need.
The best of Hollywood's music venues, The Hotel Cafe, is taking its idled stages online by partnering with "The UnCancelled Music Festival," which is bringing together musicians, fans and venues affected by the Covid-19 crisis for a virtual concert experience. And this has an eight-day reach.
From April 2 through April 9, they’ll host more than 85 artists via StageIt, all while raising funds for the venue’s staff, their community of artists, and the Recording Academy’s "MusiCares" program.
Tune in each day to the Hotel Cafe Stage where you can tip individual artists or pay what you want for “admission.”
The first show starts TODAY at Noon PST.
Hotel Cafe says, "Thank you to each and every artist who helped us make this a reality, and to 'UnCancelled Music Festival,' Ari’s Take, Fender and StageIt. Stay tuned for additions to the lineup, set times and future Hotel Cafe streaming show info. Please stay healthy, stay safe, stay strong, and let’s get through this together. We will see you all on the other side!"
Here are the links you need:
www.uncancelledmusicfestival.com
And for more info, www.hotelcafe.com
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"Stay At Home Music Festival 2," this weekend
Their first festival was sheer delight. Happily, Theeeey'reee Baaaack!
"Buckle your couch-belts and stock up on snacks, this weekend's going to be a doozy!" They proclaim, with #stayathomefestival2 happening this Friday through Sunday, April 3-5. Final lineup and festival schedule are below.
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"First Friday" film series goes online:
"The 5G Trojan Horse" is April 3
Goes out over ZOOM at 7:15 pm Pacific, and archives, on-demand
The Topanga Peace Alliance (TPA) keeps its continuity and commitment, presenting its 179th consecutive First Friday Film Night by going online.
The film is “The 5G Trojan Horse,” with guest speakers Julie Levine, Director of "5G Free Topanga & Beyond," and Dafna Tachover Esq., Director of "Stop 5G."
Since their usual venue is not accessible for in-person meetings, this happens online, Friday, April 3rd, streaming over Zoom.
The Zoom "Meeting" opens at 7:15 pm, the movie starts at 7:30 pm.
Zoom Meeting ID is 403-936-741.
PW Meeting Password is 557654
TPA says, "Grab your popcorn and find a cozy spot in your home this Friday evening! For April, the Topanga Peace Alliance is hosting a VIRTUAL First Friday Film Night, presenting 'The 5G Trojan Horse.' This brand new 96 minute documentary exposes the facts behind the global “Race to 5G”, the health, privacy, and local power concerns, and the corruption between the Big Wireless industry and the U.S. government. After the movie we will have brief presentations by Julie Levine, Director of 5G Free Topanga & Beyond, and Dafna Tachover, Esq. a leading expert and Director of Stop 5G and then a discussion / Q&A over Zoom."
TPA continues, "We encourage you to join us to watch the film, which we will show over Zoom.com starting this Friday at 7:30."
You will need an internet connection and a Zoom account. You can download the ZOOM app on any Android or Apple device or go to Zoom.com and follow the instructions to sign up.
TPA continues, "We encourage you to join us to watch the film, which we will show over Zoom.com starting this Friday at 7:30."
You will need an internet connection and a Zoom account. You can download the ZOOM app on any Android or Apple device or go to Zoom.com and follow the instructions to sign up.
Zoom is free, but they require a valid email address.
BE SURE TO MUTE YOUR MICROPHONE AFTER YOU JOIN THE MEETING UNLESS YOU ARE TALKING TO THE GROUP.
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Watch later, on-demand
If you can't make it at 7:30 or have trouble with the Zoom connection, you can watch the film online at youtube.com/watch?v=Id28GCZe-UQ
(copy and paste into your browser) or go to YouTube and search for the documentary "5G Trojan Horse."___
TPA's promo continues, "Before the film, we will have announcements regarding upcoming events and actions for peace and social justice. After the movie we will have brief presentations followed by a group discussion with the presenters starting at about 9:10 pm.
"If you have seen the film and want to join the meeting from a phone without Zoom or internet, you can call in to 408 638 0968 and enter the meeting number: 403-936-741.
"After the film, we hope to enable video so that we can optionally see each other if you choose to enable your camera You can also elect to just speak or just listen during the discussion. We ask everyone to keep their line muted during the presentation to limit background noise (dogs barking, traffic noise, sirens, etc.) To ask a question during the Q&A time, unmute yourself, then mute again when you are finished speaking. On a computer, tablet, or smartphone, the mute button looks like a microphone. Just tap or click on the microphone to toggle the mute on and off. On a telephone, pressing *6 will mute and unmute your line."
Watch later, on-demand
If you can't make it at 7:30 or have trouble with the Zoom connection, you can watch the film online at youtube.com/watch?v=Id28GCZe-UQ
(copy and paste into your browser) or go to YouTube and search for the documentary "5G Trojan Horse."___
TPA's promo continues, "Before the film, we will have announcements regarding upcoming events and actions for peace and social justice. After the movie we will have brief presentations followed by a group discussion with the presenters starting at about 9:10 pm.
"If you have seen the film and want to join the meeting from a phone without Zoom or internet, you can call in to 408 638 0968 and enter the meeting number: 403-936-741.
"After the film, we hope to enable video so that we can optionally see each other if you choose to enable your camera You can also elect to just speak or just listen during the discussion. We ask everyone to keep their line muted during the presentation to limit background noise (dogs barking, traffic noise, sirens, etc.) To ask a question during the Q&A time, unmute yourself, then mute again when you are finished speaking. On a computer, tablet, or smartphone, the mute button looks like a microphone. Just tap or click on the microphone to toggle the mute on and off. On a telephone, pressing *6 will mute and unmute your line."
They also provide some helpful tech info:
If you're completely new to using Zoom meetings this basic tutorial would be helpful like this beginners guide on using Zoom meeting
software:youtu.be/kh50kVaIdAY
If you're completely new to using Zoom meetings this basic tutorial would be helpful like this beginners guide on using Zoom meeting
software:youtu.be/kh50kVaIdAY
The details of the meeting from Zoom are provided below
Topic: Topanga Peace Alliance First Friday Film Night
Time: Apr 3, 2020 07:15 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting (single click link)
Meeting ID: 403 936 741
Password: 557654
One tap mobile
+16699006833,,403936741#
+14086380968,,403936741#
Dial by your location
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 646 876 9923 US (New York)
+1 253 215 8782 US
+1 301 715 8592 US
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
Meeting ID: 403 936 741
Find your local number: https://us04web.zoom.us/u/fyDikpVFi
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Musician and Kentucky Native J.D. Shelburne goes cover boy
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- In time to promote his guest shot on Kentucky Tourism's "Sound Travels" documentary series, airing April 6th, country music singer-songwriter J.D. Shelburne is featured on the cover of "Kentucky Living" magazine’s April Edition.
Things are happening fast for J.D. At the close of 2019, he joined international stars including Lewis Capaldi and Billie Eilish on BandsInTown’s year-end fan favorites list — for playing more shows in 2019 than any other artist on their social networking platform. A global accomplishment for a country boy from rural Kentucky, before the hometown state magazine put him on the cover.
The well-known magazine is sent out to 460,000 homes where it will instill Shelburne’s admirable sense of state pride in the hearts of many. Known for his unwavering work ethic, undeniable talent and strong Kentucky roots, Shelburne embodies the "Unbridled Spirit" of the thoroughbred horse-raising Bluegrass State in an all-new digital & social media series called "Sound Travels."
Like the similar "Bluegrass Underground" tv show that promotes music in neighboring Tennessee, "Sound Travels" will promote Kentucky’s 2020 year of music.
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Other accomplished Kentucky artists in the documentary include Grand Ole Opry member John Conlee, Billie Renee Johnson, and Billy Goat Strut Revue.
The series, premiering April 6th, takes a genuine, unfiltered look at the emotional stories that define Kentucky music by profiling musicians for behind-the-scenes interviews and spontaneous jam sessions.
Shelburne discusses growing-up in Kentucky and how his upbringing inspired his present passions.
"As a native Kentuckian, words can’t describe how honored I am to be featured as one of the four artists a part of the 'Sound Travels' video series. Born and raised in Taylorsville, Ky. on my family's tobacco farm, my love of this land stems from the values they instilled in me: a strong work ethic, a love of family, and having a passion for what you do. Music has been a staple in my life since I discovered the guitar and I am so thankful for how it has impacted my career. I am thrilled to know that my fellow Kentuckians will be able to hear my story and know how proud I am of our rich musical heritage and our state’s history,” says Shelburne.
From that tobacco farm childhood, J.D. found a guitar after the death of his grandmother when he was 19. He quickly learned to play it and began writing and singing songs on his own. By his sophomore year of college, J.D. had found a few gigs at some local bars in Louisville and Lexington, Kentucky area venues, quickly developing a large base of fans along the way.
Fast forward to today. J.D.’s latest album, "Two Lane Town," is building on his blossoming career as a modern country singer, songwriter and performer. His debut single and video for “One Less Girl” world premiered on CMT in 2018, and then went on to become a "Top 30 Music Row" charted song on country radio. CMT world-premiered his second song and video for “She Keeps Me Up Nights” in April of 2019. It peaked at #3 on their "12 Pack Countdown" series.
In addition to being part of the "Sound Travels" series and his "Kentucky Living" Magazine cover, Shelburne recently won "Kentucky Lifestyle" magazine / TOPS Louisville’s “Behind the Screen” online contest. He received the most votes among six local celebrities from the online fan-voted poll. That generated a donation of $1,000 to feed hungry kids in the Louisville community through his chosen charity, "Blessings in a Backpack."
To hear more from J.D Shelburne in the Sound Travels special, click here.
Upcoming J.D. Shelburne Live Streaming:
• Nightly, 6 pm Pacific on Facebook
• April 2nd, 6 pm Pacific #TwoLaneTown full album performance, including "One Less Girl" and "She Keeps Me Up Nights" (#3 on CMT 12 Pack)
• April 10th 10 am Pacific on TheBoot.com "Takeover"
To keep up with new music and upcoming show announcements follow J.D’s socials linked below.
YouTube | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
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From our friends at USC's "Visions and Voices"
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The Autry Online: "Is This a Western?" & more
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"Gibson Gives" and Sweetwater team-up
Offer FREE 3-month Premium Memberships to "Amped Guitar," the #1 guitar learning tool, created by Guitar Teachers, built on Audio Augmented Reality
Download Amped Guitar, Available Worldwide (Here)
NASHVILLE, TN (April 2, 2020) In an effort to share the power of music around the world, Gibson has formed a partnership with Gibson Gives, Sweetwater.com and Amped Guitar Learning--the #1 guitar learning experience tool--to offer new users three months of Premium Access Membership for free. Now is a great time to learn guitar or continue to sharpen your playing skills with Amped Guitar which is created by guitar teachers and built on Audio Augmented Reality. A limited quantity of subscriptions are available now on the Apple APP store worldwide; register your profile and begin playing today; Here.
“In these unprecedented and uncertain times, we all could use a little inspiration for each other and for ourselves,” says James ‘JC’ Curleigh’, CEO of Gibson. “With Gibson Gives, Sweetwater, and Amped, we are literally providing that inspiration and opportunity for anyone who loves music and has always wanted to learn to play guitar.”
Amped Guitar is a unique and engaging two-way, online learning experience that listens to your playing and instinctively adapts the lesson vs. a one-way instructional video. It interacts with the player and creates an additional guitar layer in real-time that turns boring old guitar lessons into an empowering and immersive experience. Amped Guitar takes players from Beginners to Pros covering everything from basic skills to advanced techniques using Audio Augmented Reality; players can learn at their own pace, follow a curriculum or jam to their favorite songs. The Amped Guitar app is available on iOS globally, and will be launched on Android in Q2 2020. Amped Guitar is developed by Zoundio, a music tech company based in Stockholm, Sweden. Download Amped Guitar: Here and watch the trailer Here.
“Sweetwater was founded more than 40 years ago with one goal in mind: to help our friends make music. It remains our number one priority. This partnership will allow even more people to harness the power that music has to unite, heal, and inspire. That’s especially important during these trying times,” said Sweetwater Founder and CEO Chuck Surack.
With a three-month Premium Membership to Amped Guitar, players will receive:
- Full learning curriculum with multiple genres, hundreds of guided lessons teaching you chords, soloing and songs
- Immersive playing experience keeping you motivated to play and develop real skills
- Step-by-step guidance based on AR
- Play songs from some of the greatest guitarists in history including Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Santana, Aerosmith, Tom Petty, Dolly Parton, The Beatles, Bon Jovi, Thin Lizzy, Brian Adams and many more
- Guided learning path from basic skills to advanced guitar techniques
- Real-time feedback
- Amped animations and videos to teach you new skills and guide you in your learning
- Track your progress
- All lessons developed by expert guitar teachers
- Flexibility - play anywhere and anytime you want
- No cables or amps are needed
- Plug in iRig to perform for friends
Playing and learning guitar has been proven to positively benefit the mind and the body with effects that endure even after the playing has ended. A neuroscientific study from McGill University in Montreal discovered that playing guitar and listening to the music you are creating alters brain chemistry triggering the release of dopamine--the feel-good chemical. Reducing stress and anxiety, mastering a new skill, increased focus and confidence, and even raising your base IQ level (University of Zurich study) are just a handful of the many benefits that can result from learning to play music.
“For us, this is like one giant love letter to anyone wanting to learn and we're proud to team up with Gibson and Sweetwater to help people learn guitar. Amped Guitar allows anyone to pick up a guitar and get an energized experience in their first lesson. We teach beginners without making them feel like beginners, which is a very powerful thing” says Daniel Katzenellenbogen, Amped Guitar CEO.
As previously announced, GibsonHomemade (#HomeMadeMusic) launched to immediately support our musicians and their current projects. The worldwide program unites legendary and new artists, music brands and industry partners together to entertain music lovers everywhere and spread hope through tough times. Artist performances, intimate interviews and conversations from all over the world can be watched and shared from anywhere via all Gibson and Epiphone digital platforms on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and the “Gibson Homemade Sessions” feature exclusive, full-length performances of original content on Gibson TV. Tune in to see appearances, performances and messages of support and love from Gibson, Epiphone and Kramer artists.
Gibson is working in solidarity with our network of retailers and distributors around the world to donate, promote and support all musicians and invites other music industry partners to join the Gibson Gives effort, and together we can widen the Amped Guitar Premium Membership subscription giveaway.
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Thursday, April 2, 2020.
THOUGHT FOR TODAY from one born on this date...
"You see, war is not the answer / For only love can conquer hate. / You know we've got to find a way / To bring some lovin' here today."
~ Marvin Gaye, singer and songwriter (born April 2, 1939, died 1984)
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On this day... April 2nd...
Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León first sights land in what is now the United States state of Florida, today in 1513. There was no incident of a governor who wouldn't let him land because he had foreigners on board.
Ludwig van Beethoven led the premiere of his First Symphony today in 1800 in Vienna.
"Electric Theatre", the first full-time movie theater in the United States, opens in Los Angeles today in 1902.
Today in 1917, US President Woodrow Wilson asks the U.S. Congress for a declaration of war on Germany, bringing America into World War I on the side of the British-French-Imperial Russian-Belgian-Italian-Japanese alliance against the German-Austrian-Ottoman Turks.
Today in 1956, "As the World Turns" and "The Edge of Night" premiere on CBS to become the first daytime tv dramas in a 30-minute format.
Actor Charlie Chaplin returns to the United States today in 1972, for the first time since being labeled a communist during the Red Scare of the early 1950s.
LexisNexis launched today in 1973 as a computerized legal research service.
A Soviet bio-warfare laboratory at Sverdlovsk accidentally releases airborne anthrax spores today in 1979, killing 66 plus an unknown amount of livestock.
US President Jimmy Carter signed the Crude Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act today in 1980 as part of a comprehensive energy program to end US dependency on Middle East Oil. Alas, the upcoming Reagan administration would remove the solar panels from the White House roof, undo all the green and alternative energy initiatives, and put Big Oil back in the driver's seat.
The Falklands War began today in 1982 as Argentina invades the British-held Falkland Islands, off the coast of South America.
Today in 2006, over 60 tornadoes break out in the US; Tennessee is hardest hit with 29 people killed. Most climate-change deniers continue to live in the American South.
Mass shootings...
Today in 2012, a mass shooting at Oikos University in California leaves seven people dead and three wounded.
Today in 2014, a mass shooting spree occurs at the Fort Hood army base in Texas, leaving four dead, including the gunman, and 16 others wounded.
Today in 2015, gunmen attack Garissa University College in Kenya, killing at least 148 people and wounding 79 others.
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Happy Birthday today, April 2nd, to...
Emmylou Harris, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
Dr. Demento, American radio host
Billy Dean, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
Greg Camp, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
Sonny Throckmorton, American country singer-songwriter
Gregory Abbott, American singer-songwriter and producer
Buddy Jewell, American singer-songwriter
Phil Demmel, American guitarist and songwriter
Jesse Carmichael, American keyboard player
Lee DeWyze, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
Keren Woodward, English singer-songwriter
Paquita la del Barrio, Mexican singer-songwriter
Avi Benedi, Israeli singer and songwriter
Jürgen Drews, German singer-songwriter
David Robinson, American drummer
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In memorium to musicians and influencers born on April 2nd...
Leon Russell, American singer-songwriter and pianist (1942-2016)
Marvin Gaye, American singer-songwriter (1939-1984), author of today's quote
Buddy Ebsen, American actor and dancer (1908-2003), remembered as Jed Clampett, the tv character in the Flatt & Scruggs banjo classic
Alec Guinness, English actor (1914-2000), capped a distinguished career by playing Obi Wan Kenobi, "Our only hope," in the original "Star Wars" (back when it was entertaining)
Larry Coryell, American jazz guitarist (1943-2017)
Richard Portman, American sound engineer (1934-2017)
Dimitris Mitropanos, Greek singer (1948-2012)
Caterina Bueno, Italian singer (1943-2007)
Leon Wilkeson, American bass player and songwriter (1952-2001)
Kurt Winter, Canadian guitarist and songwriter (1946-1997)
Serge Gainsbourg, French singer-songwriter, actor, and director (1928-1991)
Jack Webb, American actor, director, producer, screenwriter, and jazz musician (1920-1982), best remembered as Sgt Joe Friday in "Dragnet"
Anis Fuleihan, Cypriot-American pianist, composer, and conductor (1900-1970)
Booker Little, American trumpet player and composer (1938-1961)
Walter Chrysler, American businessman, founded Chrysler (1875-1940)
Émile Zola, French novelist, playwright, journalist (1840-1902)
Hans Christian Andersen, Danish novelist, short story writer, and poet (1805-1875)
Francesca Cuzzoni, Italian operatic soprano (1696-1778)
Charlemagne, Frankish king (742-814)
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Events today, Thursday, April 2nd...
Thu, Apr 2:
"The UnCancelled Music Festival" starts today. See the feature story.
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Thu, Apr 2, all day:
☆ DONATE: HELPING L.A.'S MOST-IN-NEED STUDENTS is an effort with several charities, the L.A. CBS affiliate, iHeartRadio, and more. Info / donate at:
www.cbsla.com/give or LAstudentsmostinneed.org
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Daily online concerts / events...
DAILY...
9 am Pacific - "LIVE AT 5 WITH MICHAUT/PERKINS" from Denmark, where our 9 am is their 5 pm.
* It's the international acoustic duo of BRETT PERKINS, who launched his music career in Southern Cal, and MAGALI MICHAUT, a singer-songwriter from France.
* This is a new live performance series available daily on the Magali Michaut Music page on Facebook at: https://m.facebook.com/MagaliMichautMusic/
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DAILY...
11:30 am Pacific - Daily livestream: "BRIGHT MINDED: LIVE WITH MILEY CYRUS," connecting with special guests, discussing, she says, "how to stay 'lit' in dark times."
* Wednesday's guests: Reese Witherspoon, Hilary Duff, Bebe Rexha, Dua Lipa.
* Probably not where you'll find us, but somebody might wanna know.
* At: https://www.instagram.com/mileycyrus/
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DAILY...
(Time varies) - NEW ORLEANS MUSIC VENUES offering online / live streams, via the "OffBeat" magazine live stream page. Times and venues vary, as shows are arranged in empty houses just for webcast, at: http://www.offbeat.com/livestreams/
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DAILY...
The Broad Stage in Santa Monica, CA, has new digital platforms to bring their original content to you wherever you are, including The Broad Stage Learning Hub and The Broad Stage at Home.
For families with school-age children, The Broad Stage Learning Hub is rich with Learning Guides they have developed over years of work in schools throughout Los Angeles and Santa Monica. They are easy to use, enriching and align with existing K-12 curricula you are now managing at home. They offer those resources with an encouraging, "Go parents!"
For all of us missing the artists who grace the stages, The Broad Stage at Home brings new, livestreamed content and archival concert footage.
It kicked-off Saturday, March 28, at 8 pm, when they presented the Red Hen Press Poetry Hour, where, says Rob Bailis, the Broad's Artistic and Executive Director, "from our respective living rooms, award-winning writers Sandra Tsing Loh and Dana Gioia, Red Hen Press Executive Director Kate Gale, and I will host an evening of poets from all over the country responding to our current situation. Join us!"
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DAILY...
Some unique to today (on any given day), some on-demand...
How about a "Watch/Listen Quarantine Edition" of an interactive newsletter -- with live events?
Escape with us to the SYMPHONY. Watch highlights from past performances, join Pacific Symphony musicians from their homes, directly through Cyberia to your living room. Or catch up on your reading of things classical on the Symphony's blog. It's all at:
https://www.pacificsymphony.org/enhance_your_experience/watch-listen
Some unique to today (on any given day), some on-demand...
How about a "Watch/Listen Quarantine Edition" of an interactive newsletter -- with live events?
Escape with us to the SYMPHONY. Watch highlights from past performances, join Pacific Symphony musicians from their homes, directly through Cyberia to your living room. Or catch up on your reading of things classical on the Symphony's blog. It's all at:
https://www.pacificsymphony.org/enhance_your_experience/watch-listen
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Friday, April 3, 2020.
Okay, we planned to spend hours sorting through our daily avalanche and combing the web so we could bring you word of more that happens today. (In addition to the events in our feature stories and listings of web-daily events.)
But this'll pull-up short. Why? Because we got a CHANCE TO GET OUT and do a little exploring in a trail-less wilderness. And we're taking it!
So we leave you today with just the following additions. Enjoy!
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THOUGHT FOR TODAY from one born on this date...
"Never bear more than one trouble at a time. Some people bear three kinds -- all they have had, all they have now, and all they expect to have."
~ Edward Everett Hale, author (born April 3, 1822, died 1909)
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Great song parodies:
Beatles parody -- "I Wanna Wash My Hands" by Alfreton
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fRoLM8ukhLs
- & -
"Sweet Caroline" parody by Neil Diamond -- "Hands... Washing Hands"
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sPLgsV_Ms3Q
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Delightful miscellania of YouTubery...
"Pillars of Smoke In The Sky" -- 1957 Original, Unedited (39:05)
Note: entire first minute is a black screen with distorted piano. Do not allow that to scare you off.
This is one of those rare "I-had-no-idea-it-existed" finds.
It's a time machine ride to 1957, and steam is still in command on the mighty N&W -- the Norfolk & Western Railway -- over the Blue Ridge Mountains. And on both freight AND passenger trains. 16mm film, most w/ sound, by Edwin Carrington Eddy, whose narration will remind you of one of Garrison Keillor's Minnesota Lutherans.
He has a bit, at the opening, from the dutch doors at the rear of a passenger train, and that part is okay. But then, it becomes a bunch of wows. The footage riding the tops of the locomotive's tenders is amazing. The never-seen interaction of the bib-overall-clad train crew members is in here, at the controls of giant portable volcanoes commanding the head end, pushing as midtrain and rear-end helpers, and even the giant machines working together as doubleheaders. There's mainline and yard action, and scenes of the green out on the road, on the mountain grades, with no-stop running meets and faster trains passing slower trains out there on the winding double-track main. And of course, these are those magnificent machines where all the big moving parts were on the outside where you could see them. This was steam at its apex.
It isn't all fast-paced. The shot of a helper engine crew on the ground behind the tender of their Y-6 conveys just how massive those engines were. There are dozens of cameos in here, visual and auditory. The whistles at 34:30 and 36:00 (just after passing Blue Ridge station) are as beautifully melodious as any ever were. Earlier on, you'll even spot a cameo of a noble failed experiment, the huge steam-electric "Jawn Henry," if you watch for it. So there's a lot in here.
Norfolk & Western wasn't just the last big railroad using steam locomotives. It was masterful at it. They had standardized on just three types -- the sleek, bullet-nosed 4-8-4 "J" for passenger trains; the 2-6-6-4 "A" for fast freights; and the 2-8-8-2 Y-6 (a & b) for moving their #1 commodity, the coal that still powered American industry in the 1950s. All three are in here, proving why they were remarkable.
When steam finally succumbed to growling diesels on the N&W, a lot of the reason why was not obvious: the makers of all the vital subsystems were gone; they couldn't stay in business when the rest of the industry had dieselized. A steam locomotive is an assemblage of many mechanical subsystems: cross-compound air compressors to operate the train's brakes. Feedwater heaters to get the water hot on the way from the tender to the boiler where it makes the steam that makes it go. Turbogenerators to run the headlights and electrical systems. Mechanical stokers to move the coal from the tender to the firebox to make the heat to make the steam. Mechanical lubricators to keep all the moving parts safe. On and on -- and, gone.
So immerse yourself in a lost world. In a time when "going to work" meant getting off your ass and not just sitting in your underwear and typing on a plastic keyboard. In a time when a portable earthquake occasioned commerce and big things went somewhere. All aboard!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hRIawOr8G_Y
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More?
Norfolk and Western Railway Modern Coal Burning Steam Locomotive (24:05)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9w48Bqq1JmE
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Santa Fe Railroad Loaded For War (23:06)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FHGdBNuBCAU
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Ogden: Junction City of the West Documentary (1:19:46)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=osL3t-0Zl0E
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And for something still on steel rails, but completely different...
TOP 5 Old Abandoned Steam Trains & Locomotives Graveyards in USA & Germany
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-imlRjsXnE4
- & -
Abandoned Trains Engines in America
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s9CQKJAhzXs
- & -
12 Most Amazing Abandoned Trains
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zdIFraV6Tqk
- & -
12 Most Amazing Abandoned And Forgotten Trains
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LM9Y5eriAuw
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Check the feature stories for LIVE La Musica!
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Sunday, April 5, 2020.
quickie update...
First, check the feature stories above for the TWO online music festivals continuing today. Plus, you can enjoy the following...
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Sun, Apr 5:
1 pm Pacific - EMMA'S REVOLUTION goes live with you to learn to play a song.
* The duo of Pat Humphries and Sandy O telks us, "Last week, you filled the 100-device-capacity room, so thanks to Moria M's helpful emails, we've bumped our Zoom capacity up to the next level . . . now there's room for 500 of you all! And, we'll be livestreaming to Facebook so you can watch it on our page or stream it anytime afterwards. We'll post it to our YouTube channel, afterwards, too."
* Listen to "Sing People Sing" and download lyrics (with chords) or a chord chart.
* "If you can make a donation, that's great too."
* Also, Zoom has changed its policies to ensure more secure connections; updated Zoom info is below:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/727437517?pwd=QlNuV3prbVNWd2RqUGc4QkpBVE5wUT09
Meeting ID: 727 437 517
Password: 877185
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Sun, Apr 5:
2 pm Pacific - ANDY & RENEE, leaders of the award-winning band HARD RAIN and performing hosts of the annual "DYLANFEST" will do their live "At Home Concert" concert today on Facebook Live.
* It is NOT on YouTube as originally announced.
* Renee says, "We hope you will be able to tune in and take your mind off the current situation for a while with us."
* GO TO: https://www.facebook.com/reneesafier to watch the show -- you do not need to have an FB account.
* She tells us, "We were supposed to do the show on Youtube, but we ran into some technical difficulties. We are working on it!"
* She adds, "If you are so inclined, you can tip us by sending funds to reneesafier@hotmail.com via PayPal or Venmo. You can also go to http://www.andyandrenee.com/store.php to donate."
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Sun, Apr 5:
CAJUN-ZYDECO live online performances today, for listening & dancing-where-you-are...
■ COURTNEY GRANGER, member of the Cajun group PINE LEAF BOYS and zydeco band BALFA TOUJOURS, does a concert today on Facebook Live. Thing is, without having subjected yourself to FB spyware, you can watch it. But you can't find out WHEN unless your device is infested with FB spyware. The link is:
https://www.facebook.com/Courtchy82
■ CEDRIC WATSON does a concert today on Facebook Live, but this one is ONLY available to those infested with FB spyware. The basic link is:
https://www.facebook.com/cedric.watson.140
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Tonight on tv:
Sun, Apr 5:
8 pm - "ACM PRESENTS 'OUR COUNTRY'" produced by the Academy of Country Music, this follows the model of the two indie "Stay at Home Festivals" to present performances by many of the biggest stars in today's Country Music, plus (thankfully) some trad country and roots music artists -- each performing from wherever they're in quasi-quarantine. On CBS.
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Free streaming, satellite radio...
.jpg?width=1000&upscale=true&name=Rock%20and%20roll%20HOF%20Stream%20Free%20(1).jpg)
SiriusXM is opening STREAMING FOR FREE until May 15.
* This is your chance to hear their Bluegrass and Blues and Americana channels, their Springsteen channel, and dozens more, including "Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Radio" (the folks who made sure we knew about this). All that and so much more, FREE right now while at home. Click to start listening:
https://player.siriusxm.com/deepLink.html
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Celebrate the legacy of the late Bill Withers
* We lost him early Saturday morning. A Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductee, he wrote many songs that are acoustic and Folk-Americana standards.
* His classics include "Lean on Me," "Ain’t No Sunshine," & "Grandma’s Hands."
* Bill Withers was a leading figure in the black singer-songwriter movement.
* He crafted quintessential ballads and groove-based tracks that endure.
* A masterful lyricist and brilliant vocalist, Withers made emotional connections with listeners on friendship, family, and vulnerability.
* His timeless songs have been covered and sampled by hundreds of artists, from Aretha Franklin and Michael Jackson to Mary J. Blige and Willie Nelson.
* The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is celebrating the legacy of Bill Withers with these resources:
■ His Hall of Fame bio: https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/bill-withers
* His "career-defining playlist." As music writer Rob Bowman says, "Withers wrote, sang, and in many cases produced some of our most enduring classics, including 'Ain’t No Sunshine,' 'Lean on Me,' 'Use Me,' 'Lovely Day,' 'Grandma’s Hands,' and 'Who Is He (and What Is He to You).'" It's in the introduction of Withers' official Hall of Fame essay. Dive into the hits and deep tracks that defined Withers' career:
■ https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5qvTXrqbs8ogJ9ksmf6ovS?nd=1
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More, new today, from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...
From Mick Jagger's 1988 induction of the Fab Four to the Hall of Fame, to Ringo and Paul's 2015 performances, the Hall is featuring all Beatles and Rolling Stones videos in their collection, here.
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Sound immersion...
■ Stones:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3kHMakwT254DoucGKtnZ5s?nd=1
■ Beatles:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3kHMakwT254DoucGKtnZ5s?nd=1
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Rock Hall EDU
2014 Inductee MAX WEINBERG of the E STREET BAND talks about the role of the drummer in the rock band and demonstrates on the drum set. The Hall says, "Get inspired by Weinberg and show us how you're playing at home - Use #RockHallGarage and we’ll share select fan recordings on our social channels."
■ Watch Weinberg's interview: https://edu.rockhall.com/templink/5e8651b2b70c9
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Not tuning-out. Here's why.
We may all be at home in our own lil' world's, but we really do need to pay attention to the tramps and thieves...
Yellowstone National Park was the world's first national park, and pioneered "America's Best Idea." It is one of America’s national treasures. But US Presidents have the power to wreck even that. Donald Trump FORCED the head of Yellowstone NP into resignation, after that model public servant had dedicated 43 years to protecting and preserving the park.
Of course that meant we were waiting for the other shoe to drop. It just did. Trump ordered that Yellowstone be opened-up for hunting, including trophy hunting, and hot on the heels of that, he responded to the shocked complaints by opening it for even MORE hunting.
Yellowstone is owned by all of us. It is illegal for you or me to pick up a twig, a pine cone, a rock, or anything else in a National Park and take it home with us. Yet now, a select type of human visitors can not only take "something" from the park, they can kill living wildlife and take their remains to decorate the walls of their game rooms. Leading environmental organizations all expect Yellowstone is the first domino.
See why you need to pay attention?
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Today's birthdays / in memoriam...
We're devoting this to two bio items from Garrison Keillor:
(1) Today is the birthday of the father of antiseptic medicine: Joseph Lister, born in Upton, England (1827). He was a surgeon, and in 1861 he was appointed to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary. The hospital’s managers had just had a new surgical wing built, in the hope that the postsurgical mortality rate would be lower in the pristine new facility. Lister, who was in charge of the surgical block, was disappointed to report that the mortality rate didn’t drop in the new building: 45 to 50 percent of the patients still died of “ward fever.”
At that time, doctors didn’t really understand what caused infection or how diseases were spread. The prevailing medical theory about infection was that it was caused by miasma, or bad air. Hospital wards would be aired out from time to time, to dispel the miasma. But Lister doubted this theory, and thought that infection might actually be caused by an invisible dust, like pollen, which was getting in patients’ wounds. So he became determined to erect a barrier between the patient’s body and the surrounding air. He knew that carbolic acid was used to clean the sewers, and some doctors were suggesting it could also be used to clean wounds. Lister experimented with a diluted form of the acid, spraying a fine mist into the air of the operating room, cleaning surgical tools with it, and covering wounds with lint pads soaked in carbolic acid. He also required his surgeons to wash their hands before and after surgery, which was a completely new medical practice. The mortality rate in Lister’s ward dropped to 15 percent, and a couple of years later it was down to 5 percent.
Unfortunately, doctors in England and the United States didn’t believe his method had merit. They didn’t object to his use of carbolic acid, but rather to his theory that wound infections were caused by invisible germs. Lister was vindicated when he performed surgery to repair a broken kneecap. The surgery, which was a complicated type that often resulted in the patient’s death from infection, was a complete success. Lister lived to see the entire medical community accept and adopt his methods.
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(2) It’s the birthday of American pediatrician and microbiologist Hattie Alexander who was born in Baltimore (1901). Alexander would go on to develop a new serum to effectively treat the deadly childhood illness influenzal meningitis, also known as Hib.
Alexander attended medical school at Johns Hopkins University in her hometown. In 1932, she was appointed lifelong instructor and researcher in pediatrics at Columbia University in New York.
Her work focused on developing a better serum for curing influenzal meningitis, which killed virtually all the infants and young children that it infected. She experimented with rabbit-based serums to great success, and by the mid-1940s, she had virtually erased infant mortality from the disease. She was also one of the first microbiologists to study antibiotic resistance, which remains a major problem today. In 1964, she became one of the first women selected to lead a national medical organization as president of the American Pediatric Society.
Her Columbia colleagues characterized her as a brilliant scientist who always demanded high standard of proof from her students and residents, constantly challenging, “How do you know that?” “What makes you think so?” and “Where is your evidence?”
Alexander died in 1968 of breast cancer, at 67 years old. After her death, scientists developed an Hib vaccine — bringing cases of influenzal meningitis down to only two in every 100,000 children.
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Monday, April 6, 2020
Events today...
All this week (M-F) at Noon Pacific:
"Let's DEW Lunch with OMM, Wonder, Facebook, LiveXLive"
Monday 4/6 - The Business of Streaming
Explore current trends in streaming video and the creator economy with Ben Grubbs, former Head of Global Creator Partnerships for YouTube and founder of Next 10 Ventures, and Dave Lazar, founder and CEO of Stage TEN, a web app for creating professional, live and interactive content. Moderated by Hale Boggs, Chair of the MediaTech Group at O’Melveny.- Benjamin Grubbs, Founder and CEO, Next 10 Ventures
- Dave Lazar, CEO, STAGE TEN
- Hale Boggs, Partner & Chair of O’Melveny MediaTech, O'Melveny & Myers
https://digitalmediawire.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_D0weHf9MQdSXRDXi5-LQWA
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6 pm-7:30 pm Pacific - ALBERT & GAGE with Chris Gage and/or Christine Albert in concert in their " Monday Night Not at Donn's Depot" series, from the grand piano in the safety and comfort of their Austin, TX, home.
* Streaming live at either:
■ www.albertandgage.com/facebooklive
■ or on Facebook at chrisgageaustin
* They're doing a live stream every Monday from the studio, throughout the crisis.
* The duo is sharing donations with the Monday bartenders at Donn's Depot and the boys in their band:
□ PayPal: mail@chrisgage.biz
□ Venmo: @Chris-Gage-10
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Mon, Apr 6:
BERKLEE ONLINE Spring Semester starts today, for the web-based programs from Boston's Berklee College of Music. Today is the final day to sign-up for this term.
April semester begins today, but you still have a few hours left to enroll in that Berklee Online course you’ve been thinking about. This is your last opportunity to join us this semester and spend the next 12 weeks studying with Berklee’s expert instructors and vibrant musical community from the comfort of your own space. Don’t wait! Register now for courses such as:
|
See all courses at:
http://info.berkleemusic.com/ep3UYH02000EG60LtUb4r05
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News that's fresh today, and birthdays, and why April 6th is special...
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Today we remember Merle Haggard (1937-2016) on his birthday. The country songwriter and singer was born in Bakersfield, California, and the first song he wrote was "Branded Man," about the life of an ex-con. He was still on parole when he wrote it. He died in 2016 after releasing more than 600 songs, 40 of which were No. 1 hits.
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THOUGHT FOR TODAY from one born on April 6th..
"Conscience is a dog that does not stop us from passing but that we cannot prevent from barking."
~ Nicolas de Chamfort, writer (born April 6, 1741, died 1794)
(our thanks to A.Word.A.Day)
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Thought for these times...
"Anybody interested in a hundred-pound husky with behavioral issues who likes gin?"
That was the closing question in a piece on "Spectrum News" with an L.A. Times journalist. It was the closing of the tv piece about his Times' story on getting a companion during the Corona Crisis -- by going through pet adoption. Thought that was going to be about sumpin' else, didn't ya?
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Fresh news, #1:
An invitation to sign on...
Stop the conflicts, stop the killing, in the midst of the pandemic
Today, UN Secretary General António Guterres called for an immediate global ceasefire in all corners of the world.
The head of the UN just sent us this urgent call for a global ceasefire. Let's all sign and share now:
https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/global_ceasefire_loc/
Here's his message:
"Our world faces a common enemy: COVID-19. The virus does not care about nationality or ethnicity, faction or faith. It attacks all, relentlessly.
"Meanwhile, armed conflict rages on around the world.
"The most vulnerable — women and children, people with disabilities, the marginalized and the displaced — pay the highest price. They are also at the highest risk of suffering devastating losses from COVID-19.
"Let’s not forget that in war-ravaged countries, health systems have collapsed.
"Health professionals, already few in number, have often been targeted. Refugees and others displaced by violent conflict are doubly vulnerable. The fury of the virus illustrates the folly of war.
"That is why today, I am calling for an immediate global ceasefire in all corners of the world."
- António Guterres,
UN Secretary General
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Fresh news, #2:
Help the 3rd World: Billboards for Iowa
An entire US state as the new Typhoid Mary? Yes, and that state is Iowa, whose governor has refused to enact the basic quasi-quarantine, keep-your-distance protocols being practiced in common by state governments where more than 95% of Americans live. One national organization, "The Committee to Protect Medicare," takes it so seriously that they are putting up this billboard in Iowa to reach the people and have them lead their state's leaders.
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On this day, April 6th...
Music...
The first performance of Arthur Sullivan's debut success, his suite of incidental music for "The Tempest," was today in 1861. It would lead to a career that included the famous Gilbert and Sullivan operas.
The first Tony Awards are presented for theatrical achievement today in 1947.
ABBA wins the "Eurovision Song Contest" with the song "Waterloo", launching the international career of the Swedish pop band today in 1974.
Movies...
Celluloid is patented today in 1869, making possible the era of "celluloid heroes" ...aka, the movies.
Literature turned libel...
Oscar Wilde is arrested today in 1895 in the Cadogan Hotel, London, after losing a libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry. Yes, they used to be able to lock you up when you suddenly owed somebody money.
Sport...
In Athens, the opening of the first modern Olympic Games is celebrated today in 1896 -- 1,500 years after the original games were banned by Roman emperor Theodosius I. The Olympics have been every four years since, except during two World Wars, and this year's postponement until 2021 due to global pandemic.
The American League of Major League Baseball begins using the designated hitter, the "DH," today in 1973. Back when there was baseball...
Their reach exceeded their grasp...
This is the day that Robert Peary and Matthew Henson supposedly became the first people to reach the North Pole in 1909. Peary's claim has been disputed, supposedly "because of failings in his navigational ability." The other claimant to have been first was Frederic Cook, who Perry spent years discrediting. It's likely that neither of these polar explorer's parties reached the pole, and both knew they had not, as concluded by the exhaustive book, "Cook and Peary." Though the National Geographic Magazine has always championed the man it sponsored: Peary.
WW I...
Today is the day in 1917 that the the United States entered World War I, by declaring war on Germany, following German submarines' sinking of passenger liners (which were probably illegally carrying munitions to Britain) and revelation of German Foreign Minister Zimmermann's secret messages to Mexico, promising restoration to the latter of the American Southwest, if Mexico would attack the US to keep it busy and out of Europe.
Aviation irony...
Today is the birthday of two aircraft titans who craft would fight on opposite sides in WW II.
Anthony Fokker (1890-1939), Dutch engineer and businessman, founded Fokker Aircraft Manufacturer, whose planes would comprise the heart of Germany's WW I Luftwaffe, and play important roles in WW II for the Nazi Luftwaffe.
Donald Douglas, Sr. (1892-1981), American businessman, founded the Douglas Aircraft Company, whose C-47's (adapted from DC-3 airliners) would deliver the paratroopers in the Normandy Invasion to liberate Europe from the Nazis. (Also, Douglas' SBD carrier-launched dive bombers would win the pivotal Battle of Midway against the Japanese.)
India & Pakistan...
Hugely important in civil rights, and the rights of indigenous people to claim self-determination against colonialism (and therefore completely unknown to Americans), today in 1930, at the end of the "Salt March," Gandhi raises a lump of mud and salt and declares, "With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire."
He did. But freedom for India would not come until after WW II, and not the way Gandhi envisioned. The subcontinent would be partitioned into two separated parts of Pakistan (one is now Bangla Desh), with India in the center. And India and Pakistan have been at each other's throats ever since.
To wit, on this very same day in 1998, the state of nuclear weapons tensions escalated when Pakistan tested medium-range missiles capable of reaching India.
Natural disaster...
Today in 1936, in the Tupelo–Gainesville tornado outbreak, a tornado from the same storm system as the Tupelo tornado hits Gainesville, Georgia, killing 203. Such incidents are cited by climate change deniers. Difference is, then it was freakish and tragic. Now it is common and tragic.
Subjugation to liberation to genocide...
Today in 1941, Nazi Germany launched "Operation 25," the invasion of Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and "Operation Marita," the invasion of Greece.
Today in 1945, 75 years ago today, Sarajevo is liberated from German and Croatian forces by the Yugoslav Partisans.
A bridge in Sarajevo was where World War I began. The city hosted the Olympics in the 1980s. It would bleed and nearly be destroyed in the genocide of "Ethnic Cleansing" after the fall of communism that had maintained peace in a contrived state -- Yugoslavia -- that is now "Balkanized" and fragmented into several nations.
And in fact, it was this same day in the Balkans in 1992 that the Bosnian War began.
The '90s other genocide...
Two years to the day after the start of the genocidal Balkans wars (above), today in 1994 in Africa, the Rwandan genocide began when the aircraft carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira was shot-down.
Banksters...
Today in 1998, Travelers Group announces an agreement to undertake the $76 billion merger between Travelers and Citicorp, and the merger is completed on October 8, of that year, forming Citibank. It would not have been possible after Teddy Roosevelt's great anti-corporatocracy crusades of "trust-busting" -- until Ronald Reagan reversed all that in the 1980s with greed-based deregulation, continued under both the GOP Bush 41 AND Dem Bill Clinton administrations.
Spaciness...
Early Bird, the first commercial communications satellite to be placed in geosynchronous orbit, was launched today in 1965. The concept of orbiting at the correct height to remain above the exact same place on the ground -- i.e., geosynchronous orbit -- is why we have instant global communications and tv today, from so many satellites that space is crowded 40,000 miles up. And the concept? It came from sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke, who did the math and saw the possibility.
Today in 1973 the 9.5-foot, 570-pound Pioneer 11 spacecraft was launched to study the asteroid belt, the environment around Jupiter and Saturn, solar wind and cosmic rays. After leaving Saturn, it became an interstellar object, headed out of the solar system in a direction opposite to that of Pioneer 10, toward the center of the galaxy in the general direction of Sagittarius. (Pioneer 11 crossed the orbit of Neptune on Feb 23, 1990, becoming the fourth spacecraft — after Pioneer 10, Voyager 1 and 2 — to do so.)
Walk loudly and throw Trumpertantrums...
Today in 2017, the Trump administration used the US military in place of diplomacy. It launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at an air base in Syria. Russia -- Syria's ally -- described the strikes as "aggression... that significantly damage US-Russia ties."
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Happy Birthday today, April 6th, to...
Billy Dee Williams, American actor, singer, and writer
Gheorghe Zamfir, Romanian flute player and composer
Warren Haynes, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
Carey Appel, American singer-songwriter
Melinda Marquez, American Flamenco dancer, choreographer, teacher at the Joffrey
John Pizzarelli, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
Roy Mayorga, American drummer, songwriter, and producer
Max Bemis, American singer-songwriter
Black Francis, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
Imani Coppola, Italian/African-American singer-songwriter and violinist
Robert Glasper, African-American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
Alex Suarez, American bass player
Kathleen Barr, Canadian voice actress and singer
Felicity Palmer, English operatic soprano
Julian Anderson, English composer and educator
Remi Nicole, English singer-songwriter and actress
James Fox, Welsh singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
Patrick Doyle, Scottish actor and composer
Patrick Hernandez, French singer-songwriter
Pascal Rogé, French pianist
Georg Hólm, Icelandic bass player
Myleene Klass, Austrian/Filipino-English singer, pianist, and model
Phil Schaap, American jazz disc jockey and historian
Jaroslava Maxová, Czech soprano and educator
Udo Dirkschneider, German singer-songwriter
Christopher Franke, German-American drummer and songwriter
Ken, South Korean singer
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In memorium to musicians and influencers born April 6th...
Merle Haggard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (1937-2016)
André Previn, American pianist, composer, and conductor (1929-2019)
Randy Weston, American jazz pianist and composer (1926-2018)
Sacajawea (circa 1789-1812), Native American Shoshone woman guide and interpreter on the Lewis and Clark "Corps of Discovery" expedition across the Louisiana purchase to the Pacific and back. Today is believed to be her birthday, though there is uncertainty.
Normand Corbeil, Canadian composer (1956-2013)
Jack Cover, American pilot and physicist, invented the Taser gun (1920-2009)
Gerry Mulligan, American saxophonist, clarinet player, and composer (1927-1996)
Sergio Franchi, Italian-American singer and actor (1926-1990)
Leo Robin, American composer and songwriter (1900-1984)
Lowell Thomas, American journalist and author (1892-1981)
Joi Lansing, American model, actress and nightclub singer (1929-1972)
Robert Volkmann, German organist, composer, and conductor (1815-1883)
Johann Georg Reutter, Austrian organist and composer (1708-1772)
Louis de Cahusac, French playwright and composer (1706-1759)
André Cardinal Destouches, French composer (1672-1749)
Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, French poet and playwright (1671-1741)
Johann Kuhnau, German organist and composer (1660-1722)
Raphael, Italian painter and architect (1483-1520)
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Tuesday, April 7, 2020
Noon (Pacific) webinar series continues:
Tuesday 4/7 - The Future of Entertainment
Podcasting is one of the most exciting areas in entertainment and media. Join a conversation with the co-founders of an independent, audio-first media company that launched less than two years ago, focused on storytelling around underrepresented voices, partnering with other companies aligned with this mission, and - particularly in light of today's new remote working/distance learning environment - finding creative ways to adapt and expand their business.- Shira Atkins, Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer, Wonder Media Network
- Jenny Kaplan, Co-Founder and CEO, Wonder Media Network
- Ned Sherman, Partner, Manatt Phelps & Phillips
https://digitalmediawire.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_8NZGpBUMQ2uzJNcUORgvTA
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Coming up Tuesday & Thursday: free webinars
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ADDITIONAL DAYS will be added, chronologically, in this space -- until it's time for a new edition.
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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.
In 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.
In 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...
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LEGALESE, CONTACTING US, 'N SUCH...
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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
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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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