We remember Maurice White (1941-2016)

We remember Maurice White who was born on this day in 1941.  He died in 2016.

Back in the 1970's, Maurice White founded "Earth wind & fire", a great band that sold 90 million records.    They had a great sound!

The band recorded so many great songs:

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RIP: Maurice White founder of Earth Wind & Fire........... https://t.co/m8QNx8pE2N via @amazon

— Silvio Canto, Jr. (@SCantojr) February 5, 2016

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2000: Bush v Gore was finally over

Back this week in 2000, The Supreme Court finally ended the election recounts after several weeks of partisan politics and marches here there and everywhere.  It  ended with VP Gore conceding the election.  We remember that The Supreme Court decided Bush v Gore:

“In the end, seven of the nine U.S. Supreme Court justices (and three of the seven Florida justices) agreed on this: The standardless recount ordered by the Florida court - different rules in different counties regarding different kinds of chads and different ways of discerning voter intent - violated the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection of the laws.”  

The US Supreme Court correctly stopped VP Gore’s plan, or selective recounts in some counties.

By the way, Bush won every recount in Florida.  (In May 2001, or almost 6 months after, he won again: Newspapers’ recount shows Bush prevailed)   How many recounts was Bush supposed to win?

The 2000 election, and the bloody recount, set the stage for “Bush Derangement Syndrome” and the left’s irrational war on the duly elected president of the US.   

The syndrome originated with the late Charles Krauthammer who wrote an article about in 2003:   "The acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal people in reaction to the policies, the presidency — nay — the very existence of George W. Bush."

Little did we realize that the era de "illegitimate" presidencies and irrational syndromes was born.  We went from Bush to Trump Derangement Syndrome.  Who remembers Democrats calling for recounts in 2000, 2004 and 2016?   I’m convinced that they would have done the same thing if Trump had won a close reelection in 2020.  They will do it again in 2024 just you wait.

Our politics was poisoned 23 years ago.  The Democrats never accepted Bush just like they never accepted Trump.   Remember that the next time that they say Trump is a sore loser.

P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.

We remember Paul Weyrich (1942-2008)

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We remember Paul Weyrich, co-founder of the Heritage Foundation, founder of the Free Congress Foundation and other organizations.  

Paul was born on this day in 1942.  He passed away in 2008.

Weyrich was an important voice back in the late 1970's. He was a critical player in the Republican comeback of 1980.

We also remember Paul for starting The Heritage Foundation.  

  P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

October 1962: "Love me do" was released today!

(You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.    If you like our posts, drop a dime here.)

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It started many years ago in October 1962. 

John, Paul, George & newcomer Ringo released their first single in the UK.  It made it to the Top 20 and opened the way for bigger songs later. 

In 1963, The Beatles made it to #1 with "Please please me" & "She loves you".  In early 1964, they were performing on The Ed Sullivan Show in New York and Beatlemania was going strong in the US.

In the US, these two songs were included in an LP "The Early Beatles".   In the UK, both songs were in the first LP.

You can hear them here:    "Love me do" & "P.S. I love you".  This is a great book about all of their songs:

We remember Beny More (1919-63)

Bartolomé Maximiliano Moré Gutiérrez was born in Santa Isabel de Las Lajas on August 23, 1919 and died February 19, 1963. We were still living in Cuba and his death hit my parents very hard. I learned later that my parents had attended several of his performances.

More’s music is found in every Cuban household in the US.  I remember that my parents ordered some Beny More LP’s when we finally got a record player in Wisconsin.  More’s music was exactly what my parents needed to survive those cold Wisconsin winters.

He started singing as a young man and eventually joined Perez Prado, the big Cuban orchestra of the 1950’s.  More eventually started his own band and enjoyed tremendous success until his death.

The bad news is that he died young.  The good news is that he left a huge archive of music and much of it is available in the US. Click here for “Santa Isabel de las Lajas“, a song that he wrote about his hometown!

P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos. If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

We remember Rev. Jerry Falwell (1933-2007)

We remember Rev. Jerry Falwell who was born on this day in Virginia on this day in 1933.

In 1985, Rev. Falwell came to Dallas for an anti-abortion rally. He spoke for about 10 minutes and shook many hands later. I was lucky enough to meet him and chat for a bit. I was impressed with his sincerity and willingness to chat with anyone.

Jerry Falwell started preaching in 1956 in Lynchburgh, VA.   Later, Dr. Falwell founded Liberty University in 1971.  Today, there are 15,000 students on campus and over 90,000 taking courses on line.    

In 1979, Dr. Falwell founded "The Moral Majority" and became a huge player in the politics of the 1980's.    

Falwell died in 2007 but his influence continues.   He lived a wonderful life and we miss him.

P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

We remember Pat Woodell (1944-2015)

For my money, those shows from the 1960's and into the 1970's were a lot more fun.   Thanks to the reruns we've had a chance to catch up with many of them.

"Petticoat Junction" was one of those shows.   Every week we tuned in to catch up with the 3 sisters and their hilarious romantic stories.   No bad language.  No pornography.   Just clean fun and lots of it!

Pat Woodell was born on this day in 1944 and died in 2015.   She played Bobbie Jo, the pretty brunette in the family.  She is the one to the right in the picture.

Again, great show.

P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

We remember E B White (1899-1985)

We remember E B White, the author of many children's books, such as Stuart Little (1945), Charlotte's Web (1952), and The Trumpet of the Swan (1970).    

He was born in New York on this day in 1899.

A great life and a man who left us some wonderful books that will be read for centuries.

P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

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Happy # "2,000 something" to the city of Roma

They tell us that this is the day that the city of Rome was founded:  

According to tradition, on April 21, 753 B.C., Romulus and his twin brother, Remus, found Rome on the site where they were suckled by a she-wolf as orphaned infants. Actually, the Romulus and Remus myth originated sometime in the fourth century B.C., and the exact date of Rome’s founding was set by the Roman scholar Marcus Terentius Varro in the first century B.C.

OK.   We won't argue details.    Nevertheless, happy birthday to Roma.     It gives us a good excuse to listen to Dean Martin's "On an evening in Roma".

P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

We remember President Nixon and Cuba

Between trials and border issues, Cuba was in the news this week.  We also remember former President Nixon who was a key figure in those early days of the Castro regime.

First, it was the 60th anniversary of The Bay of Pigs and I remember looking out the window that morning and telling my brother that a plane was in the area.  "The plane, the plane" and it was not Fantasy Island.  It was a real plane dropping leaflets.  My parents in the living room were listening to short wave radio and getting phone calls that something was happening in a place called Giron or where the men eventually landed.

Second, there are stories that Raul Castro is dying of cancer.  He will be 90 soon and stories about alcoholism and bad health have been around for a while.   In other words, his deteriorating health is probably driving him out.  I hear from friends in Cuba that Raul's medical condition makes it impossible to be in public view for any period of time.

Third, we remember President Nixon died on this day in 1994.  Our family was on the way to a baseball game when we heard the news on the radio.  You may remember that Mr. Nixon suffered a stroke earlier in the week and Mrs. Nixon died the year before.  He was never the same after she died or so I hear from those around him.

Cuba, the Castro brothers and Nixon will always be a part of my childhood, from leaving Cuba to growing up in the US.

In 1959, then VP Nixon met the recently appointed Prime Minister Fidel Castro in Washington DC.  It did not take VP Nixon long to figure out the Cuban visitor.

This is an account of the visit from Andrew Glass:

During his stay, Castro placed a wreath on George Washington’s grave, toured the Bronx Zoo, ate hot dogs and hamburgers at Yankee Stadium and generally made a big media splash. Wherever he went, the 33-year-old bearded Cuban leader invariably wore his trademark rumpled green fatigues.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower snubbed him, although the Cuban leader did meet with Vice President Richard Nixon and acting Secretary of State Christian Herter. Nixon later said he came away from the meeting with the conclusion that Castro was “either incredibly naive about communism or under communist discipline — my guess is the former.” On the other hand, after meeting with Castro, former Secretary of State Dean Acheson called him “the first democrat of Latin America.”

With all due respect to the late Secretary Acheson, it was VP Nixon who got it right that day.

In 1968, Mr. Nixon was elected and then re-elected in 1972.  As we know, he resigned in 1974 over the Watergate scandal.

On the subject of Cuba, Nixon was right.  I think that The Bay of Pigs would have turned out differently with Mr. Nixon in The Oval Office.  

P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

 

We remember Tito Puente (1923-2000)

Like many of you, I’ve spent a few hours of my life listening to the music of Tito Puente.   

Ernesto Antonio "Tito" Puente was born in New York City, the son of Puerto Rican immigrants and already playing music by age 13.  

He was quite a musical pioneer, mixing musical styles with Latin sounds and experimenting in fusing Latin music with jazz.

Tito Puente won 5 Grammys, including “Homenaje a Beny“, a tribute to Beny More.

P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

Ernie Pyle: The man who wrote about the soldiers rather than the war

(My new American Thinker post)

Before Skype or internet chats, soldiers used to write letters to their parents, sweethearts, or families back home.

Furthermore, families had very little information about their sons at war.  The news reports were about battles and soldier movements.  Often, families would hear about the boys at war when a neighbor would be burying his son.

Enter Ernie Pyle, who was killed in 1945:

Pyle, born in Dana, Indiana, first began writing a column for the Scripps-Howard newspaper chain in 1935. Eventually syndicated to some 200 U.S. newspapers, Pyle’s column, which related the lives and hopes of typical citizens, captured America’s affection.

In 1942, after the United States entered World War II, Pyle went overseas as a war correspondent. He covered the North Africa campaign, the invasions of Sicily and Italy, and on June 7, 1944, went ashore at Normandy the day after Allied forces landed.  Pyle, who always wrote about the experiences of enlisted men rather than the battles they participated in, described the D-Day scene: “It was a lovely day for strolling along the seashore. Men were sleeping on the sand, some of them sleeping forever. Men were floating in the water, but they didn’t know they were in the water, for they were dead.” The same year, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished correspondence and in 1945 traveled to the Pacific to cover the war against Japan.

On April 18, 1945, Ernie Pyle was killed by enemy fire on the island of Ie Shima. After his death, President Harry S. Truman spoke of how Pyle “told the story of the American fighting man as the American fighting men wanted it told.”

Pyle is buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.

About 20 years ago, or on the 50^th anniversary of his death, I took the time to read some of his columns.

One of my favorite columns was “Digging and Grousing” from Africa 1943.  It related the story of some GIs talking about a letter:

To get to the point, it was written by a soldier, and it said: “The greatest Christmas present that can be given to us this year is not smoking jackets, ties, pipes or games. If people will only take the money and buy war bonds … they will be helping themselves and helping us to be home next Christmas. Being home next Christmas is something which would be appreciated by all of us boys in service!”

Ernie Pyle had an amazing gift.  He understood that his war reports would be read by soldiers at war, a wounded GI at a hospital, and a mother back home desperate to know what her son was going through.

I hope that our kids in school are learning about men like Ernie Pyle.

P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

We remember Don Ciccone (1946-2016)

We remember Don Ciccone who was born in New Jersey on this day in 1946 and died in 2016.

Don founded The Critters in the 1960's and then worked with The Four Seasons and Tommy James & The Shondells.

The Critters had a big hit in 1966 called "Mr. Dieingly Sad".   It was a great pop song, nice lyrics & melody.   

In the 1970's he worked with The Four Seasons in songs like "Who loves you" & "December 1963 Oh what a night", a couple of their big hits.

Don was also the musical director for Tommy James & The Shondells, another very successful group.

 P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

1962: Brian Epstein started to manage The Beatles

 

January 24, 1962: Brian Epstein and The Beatles began the relationship that would see the group enjoy big hits in the UK in 1963 and then conquer the world in 1964. 

Epstein cleaned up their image and put them together with George Martin. Epstein died in July 1967.

P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

We remember Jean Stapleton (1923-2013)

We remember Jean Stapleton who was born on this in 1923.  She died in 2013,

In the early 1970s, or the first Nixon term, we use to hear about "the silent majority".  It was one of President Nixon's favorite lines, or a reference to millions of Americans who paid their taxes, lived by the rules and did not expect much from government.

Archie & Edith Bunker were the prototypical members of the silent majority.  They lived in a small home in the New York area.  Archie worked and Edith stayed home.  They had one cute daughter who was married to a liberal, or the "meathead".

Let's just say that "All in the family" was perfect for its time.  A show for the early 1970s!  Millions tuned in because they were watching themselves!

P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.