The Cubans: The music of Ernesto Lecuona

The Cubans: The music of Ernesto Lecuona .........https://t.co/A04TgmataW

— Silvio Canto, Jr. (@SCantojr) December 12, 2016

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Happy New Year

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We remember Davy Jones (1945-2012)

We remember Davy Jones who was born in Manchester, England, on this day in 1945.  He died in 2012.

Here is Davy Jones and The Monkees.

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2011: We lost a very famous chimp!

As far as I can recall, we have never written a post about a chimp before.  

At the same time, there have not been too many chimps like the one and only "Cheetah":

"A Florida animal sanctuary says Cheetah the chimpanzee sidekick in the Tarzan movies of the early 1930s has died at age 80.  The Suncoast Primate Sanctuary in Palm Harbor announced that Cheetah died Dec. 24 of kidney failure."

Cheetah was Tarzan's only jungle friend until he met Jane and the rest is history.   Tarzan & Jane had a son in the story.   The chimp was always in the middle of every episode.

Some of us are old enough to remember these movies, specially when we were kids and fascinated with stuff like that.

Of course, my dad's generation actually watched these movies at the theatres and enjoyed Cheetah's comic relief. 

Johnny Weissmuller, or Tarzan, died in the 1980's.   He won swimming gold medals in the 1924 Olympics and became Tarzan in the 1930's.  He made movies until the 1950's.

Jane was primarily played by Maureen O'Sullivan who died in the late 1990s.    In retrospect, Jane always looked so nice and feminine.  Wonder if they had a beauty parlor near Tarzan's home in the jungle? 

So long Cheetah and thanks for those laughs.

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December 1957: Pat Boone's "April Love" was # 1

In 1957, Elvis Presley and Pat Boone were the two most popular vocalists.   Elvis was the king of rock and Pat was the king of romantic tunes.    

On this day in 1957, it was Pat's turn to sit in the # 1 spot with "April Love".   He displaced Elvis' "Jailhouse Rock" from the top of the charts.

You can get it here!      It was based on a movie of the same name, although the song was more memorable than the film!

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The midnight mass, one of the great traditions

Over the years, our family went to the 5:30 pm mass and went to bed early to wait for Santa Claus. However, we have been attending the midnight mass now that our boys are older.

It is one of the most beautiful Catholic traditions. My favorite part of the mass is the Gospel Reading from Luke 2:1-14:

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustusthat all the world should be registered.
This was the first registrationand was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.
All went to their own towns to be registered.
Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galileeto Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem,because he was descended from the house and family of David.
He went to be registered with Mary,to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child.
While they were there,the time came for her to deliver her child.
And she gave birth to her firstborn sonand wrapped him in bands of cloth,and laid him in a manger,because there was no place for them in the inn.
In that region there were shepherds living in the fields,keeping watch over their flock by night.
Then an angel of the Lord stood before them,and the glory of the Lord shone around them,and they were terrified.
But the angel said to them,Do not be afraid; for seeI am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people:to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour,who is the Messiah, the Lord.
This will be a sign for you:you will find a child wrapped in bands of clothand lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angela multitude of the heavenly host,praising God and saying,
Glory to God in the highest heaven,and on earth peace among those whom he favours!

Merry Christmas to all. Let's remember to keep Christ in Christmas.

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Remembering a couple of war heroes who died over Christmas

(My new American Thinker post)

We got the news yesterday that two war heroes of the past died over the holidays.

First, we heard about Edwin A. Shuman:

"As Christmas 1970 approached, 43 American prisoners of war in a large holding cell at the North Vietnamese camp known as the Hanoi Hilton sought to hold a brief church service. Their guards stopped them, and so the seeds of rebellion were planted. 
A few days later, Lt. Cmdr. Edwin A. Shuman III, a downed Navy pilot, orchestrated the resistance, knowing he would be the first to face the consequences: a beating in a torture cell. 
"Ned stepped forward and said, 'Are we really committed to having church Sunday? I want to know person by person,' " a fellow prisoner, Leo K. Thorsness, recounted in a memoir. "He went around the cell pointing to each of us individually," Mr. Thorsness continued. "When the 42nd man said yes, it was unanimous. At that instant, Ned knew he would end up in the torture cells."  
The following Sunday, Commander Shuman, who died on Dec. 3 at 82, stepped forward to lead a prayer session and was quickly hustled away by guards. The next four ranking officers did the same, and they, too, were taken away to be beaten. Meanwhile, as Mr. Thorsness told it, "the guards were now hitting P.O.W.s with gun butts and the cell was in chaos."  
And then, he remembered, the sixth-ranking senior officer began, "Gentlemen, the Lord's Prayer."  
"And this time," he added, "we finished it."  
The guards had yielded.  
Everett Alvarez Jr., who was the first American pilot captured in the Vietnam War when his Navy plane was shot down in 1964, said in an interview that the defiance Commander Shuman engineered was emulated by senior officers in other large holding cells.  
"It was contagious," said Mr. Alvarez, who was in another cell during the first prayer service. "By the time it got to the fourth or fifth cell," he said, the guards "gave up." He said the prisoners were also singing patriotic songs.   Commander Shuman remained incarcerated at the Hanoi Hilton for more than two more years. But by then the prisoners' right to collective prayer had been established.  
"From that Sunday on until we came home, we held a church service," Mr. Thorsness, an Air Force pilot and recipient of the Medal of Honor for heroics on a mission in 1967, wrote in his memoir, "Surviving Hell: A POW's Journey" (2008). "We won. They lost. Forty-two men in prison pajamas followed Ned's lead. I know I will never see a better example of pure raw leadership or ever pray with a better sense of the meaning of the words."

The other "war hero" was Rodolfo Hernandez of California:

"Mr. Hernandez was an Army corporal trying to hold a hill in May 1951 when his platoon was overwhelmed by attackers accompanied by heavy mortar, artillery and machine gun fire.   
Corporal Hernandez had already been struck by grenade fragments and was bleeding heavily from a head wound when his commanding officer ordered his platoon to fall back. He continued firing until his rifle malfunctioned, then threw six grenades and charged at the opposing foxholes.  
"I took my rifle and fixed the bayonet," he was quoted as saying in "Beyond Glory: Medal of Honor Heroes in Their Own Words," by Larry Smith, "and then I yelled, 'Here I come!' "  
He managed to kill six attackers before falling unconscious from grenade, bullet and bayonet wounds. His action allowed his unit to retake the hill.   Corporal Hernandez was so badly wounded that his comrades initially took him for dead. They were placing him in a body bag when someone noticed movement in his hands, said his wife, Denzil. His injuries were so extensive that he had to relearn how to walk, how to speak and how to write with his left hand (his right arm was permanently damaged).  
By the time Corporal Hernandez received the Medal of Honor from President Harry S. Truman in the White House Rose Garden on April 12, 1952, he was able to speak a few words."

We say thank you for your service.   Also, we remind the younger readers that Mr Shuman and Mr Hernandez served in unpopular wars. 

Most of the country was back here arguing about Vietnam when Mr Shuman was defying the Hanoi Hilton guards. 

Korea was also very unpopular and most of its heroes largely forgotten, as Clay Blair wrote a few years ago.

Again, thanks for their service and courage.     

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‘Pero muchacho en Cuba no hay blanca Navidad’

Like many of the Cubans who did not grow up in Miami, we used to get our doses of “Cubanismo” by buying Cuban LP’s in the mail.

As I recall, my father subscribed to a Miami-based “Record of the month” club and we got Cuban music that way.

To say the least, it was a moment of upmost emotion when my mom would call my father and say:  “Mi vida hoy llego uno de la Riverside.”   Then they would start talking about the time that they danced to Tito Gomez and that wonderful “orquesta.”

One of my biggest “exilio” memories was our family buying an LP of Christmas songs and hearing Olga Guillot sing “Blanca Navidad” or an adaption of the Bing Crosby classic.     

It was too much for my mom who said:  “Pero muchacho en Cuba no hay blanca Navidad.  Que es eso?” (But son, in Cuba there is no such thing as a white Christmas. What’s that?)

It was quite a day in our home!   Listen here!

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2015 podcast: Christmas books and poetry of the season with Frank Burke

Christmas books and poetry of the season with Frank Burke....

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Pearl Harbor 1941 and World War II with Barry Jacobsen, military historian.

Pearl Harbor 1941 and World War II with Barry Jacobsen, military historian......Listen in now at https://t.co/lSklluDcGE. #BlogTalkRadio

— Silvio Canto, Jr. (@SCantojr) December 7, 2016

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