Today in Music – Oct 26, 1940 – Jazz Trumpeter, Doctor and Teacher -Eddie Henderson is born!!

Eddie HendersonSo as many of us struggle to find ourselves, we try to do many things in trying to plot our course through life. Some of us succeed, others of us, while we muddle through life, we never find our true calling, and while we have lived a comfortable life, we know that something is missing that true passion. What sometimes makes you feel even worse is when you find someone who excels at several things! One such person celebrates his birthday today! Imagine Louis Armstrong gives you your first few trumpet lesson at the age of nine. At sixteen, Miles Davis is a guest at your home during a Black Hawk Jazz Club gig is impressed with your ability to perform his famous “Sketches of Spain” without a fluff but encourages you to seek his own originality. At around twenty-two you become the  first African-American to compete for the National figure skating Championship, and win the pacific and Midwestern titles!!.You then enroll at the University of California, Berkeley, graduating with a B.S. in Zoology, study medicine at Howard University in Washington D.C., graduate. Undertake  your residency in psychiatry,and practice general medicine[3] from 1975 to 1985 in San Francisco, part-time for about four hours a day working at a small clinic, all because what you really wanted to do was play music!! And when you do get a chance to play music, you excel in that too. and go on to become one of today’s top and most original jazz trumpet players. Boy am I green with envy of the life of Eddie Henderson!! After the skating championships and getting his medical degree here’s how Henderson’s music career started (according to Wikipedia)….. Read More

John Gorka, and thoughts about the first song I ever heard from an artist…..

Sometime in the early 90s I picked up the CD Legacy: A Collection of New Folk Music.  Through that album, I was introduced to two WH_Legacyfolksingers who became favorites from that album on, John Gorka and Bill Morrissey. I was thinking about the album and John Gorka,  because I was listening for the first time to Stu Larson and his album Vagabond, about which you will be reading soon. Anyway, my thoughts revolved around the first songs I ever heard by artists. Read More

This Date in History – Oct 22, 1777 The Battle of Red Bank fought, not far down the Delaware River from us!!

On October 22, 1777  a Revolutionary War battle was fought just a little  way down the Delaware River from our home, in Red Bank – now National Park., NJ. At that time Fort Mercer,named for Brigadier General Hugh Mercer who was killed earlier in the year at the Battle of Princeton, was located at Red Bank. Fort Mercer  and its sister fort, Fort Mifflin were two forts built by Polish engineer Thadddeus Kosciuszko under the command of General George Washington. Fort Mifflin was located on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware. Here’s a map showing the location of the fort and our home…… Read More

This Date in History – October 20, 1941 – The Tragic Kragujevac Massacre (Serbia)

German_Soldierss_arresting_in_1941_people_in_Kragujevac

Germans escorting people from Kragujevac and its surrounding area to be executed.

Saturday October 18th was International Necktie Day, celebrated in Croatia, the home of  the necktie and several cities around the world. As a result, I wrote a little about Croatia. Today is the 73 rd anniversary of a horrific event that occurred in  Serbia, which lies east of Croatia, and like Croatia was part of the old Yugoslavia. The event that is known as the  Kragujevac massacre was according to Wikipedia…. Read More

Exploring the Music of Rodney Whitaker – When We Find Ourselves Alone – “Is He Ever Alone?

Rodney Whitaker’s new release When We Find Ourselves Alone his been in my music rotation for a while now and I am enjoying it more and moreWhen We find Ourselves aAlone2 with each listen. After listening to the album several times, I went to his web page to find out a little more amount the Mack Avenue bass player. What I discovered aside from the fact that he has released seven albums as a leader or co-leader, but he has recorded and recorded with a plethora of artist that include: Read More

“Into the Morning” with New Music from Netherland’s Knight Area – Hyperdrive

HyperdriveSo back in May of 2013, I had a good music listening day that ended with the discovery of Knight Area from the Netherlands. I have patiently been waiting for the release of a new album and that happened on October 14th when they released Hyperdrive. Since the day of the album’s release, it has been in my music rotation, and I have enjoyed it a lot!! I will be writing about it in the next few days, but until then you can read my old post about the band here and let’s go into the morning with the video for the song “Hypnotized” from Hyperdrive! Read More

Exploring The Right Wing and the Ebola Virus – Balderdash!

So I paid a visit to the website Right Wing Watch, where People For the American Way monitors the activities of the right-wing ManWearingTinFoilHatmovement, to see what the Right has to say about the Ebola virus!! Here’s a recap of what I found! John Hagee, televangelist and Christians United For Israel founder says that the Ebola crisis is God’s judgment on America for President Obama’s failure to adequately support Israel! Read More

International Necktie Day October 18th – Leads to Exploration of -Croatia?

Today, October 18th International Necktie Day is celebrated in Croatia and in various cities around the world, e.g. in Dublin, ‘Tübingen, Como, Tokyo, Sydney and other towns! Okay! Now the first question I asked was why? Why is Necktie Day celebrated in Croatia??? I went to Wikipedia and discovered why, and I will tell you in a minute, but first let’s find out about Croatia….. Read More