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 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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May 1964: Louis Armstrong & The Beatles met in the pop charts

On this day in 1964, Louis Armstrong's "Hello Dolly" ended The Beatles' historic domination of the US pop charts.  

The band from Liverpool had the # 1 song on Billboard for 100 days.  It was truly amazing!

The Beatles came back with more hits in 1964 and a movie that summer.  

We remember today that it was Louis Armstrong himself who ended the streak, one of the most amazing streaks in music history.

 Click here for "Hello Dolly", a great song!

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.

 

Cinco de Mayo and nachos in Mexico? No, in Texas!

(My new American Thinker post)  

Today we celebrate “Cinco de Mayo” in Dallas, Los Angeles and elsewhere.   Your favorite Mexican restaurant will be all dressed up and ready to serve a delicious round of nachos, enchiladas and beer.    "It sells a lot  of beer" as my Filipino friend who owns a Mexican restaurant likes to boast.  He doesn't really know anything about "Cinco de Mayo" but the sound of the register makes him happy.  

So what’s the big deal about “Cinco de Mayo”?  Why is everyone so happy and festive?

Allan Wall, who lived in Mexico, wrote a good summary for those of us who are not Mexican or studied Mexican history in school.   

Here it is so read it before your beer & nachos:     

Cinco de Mayo, Spanish for “May the 5th,” is the holiday celebrating the Mexican victory over the French army on May the 5th, 1862, at Puebla, east of Mexico City.

The city of Puebla holds a big annual celebration on the anniversary of the battle. But in most of Mexico, Cinco de Mayo is not really an important holiday. It’s mostly a bank holiday and a day off from school. But this year it’s on a Saturday so my students don’t even get a break for it!

In the United States however, Cinco de Mayo has become, in recent years, the major Mexican – American celebration. Throughout the Southwest, and in other parts of the U.S., there are various Cinco de Mayo celebrations – parades, mariachi music performances, and exhibitions of Mexican dancing, etc.

Washington D.C. has an annual Cinco de Mayo Festival and President Bush is known for Cinco de Mayo celebrations in the White House. Cinco de Mayo is also a big beer-drinking day, with Mexican beer brands doing 5-10% of their U.S. sales for the occasion.

“Cinco de Mayo” means "Fifth of May".

In the U.S., especially in the Southwest, “Cinco de Mayo” has turned into a day of celebrating Mexican heritage.  

Down in Mexico, “Cinco de Mayo” is about a battle around Puebla, or south of Mexico City.  Up here,  it is one big excuse for taking a longer lunch.

So another "Cinco de Mayo" is here.  Up here, we will eat some good Mexican food.  

Down in Mexico, they will ask again:  "Why are those gringos suddenly so crazy about Mexican food"?

Enjoy your Mexican food.  We all need an hour off from inflation, gas prices and leaks.

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.

Pass ‘la cerveza’ and here is a little history of ‘Cinco de Mayo’

(My new American Thinker post)

You probably saw a lot of celebrations around the theme of “Cinco de Mayo” in Dallas and elsewhere. Count me in. I love the day because there is Mexican food all over town as well as those little girls dancing in their traditional dresses.     

This is what real diversity is. In other words, Americans celebrating their ethnic origins.   

So what’s the big deal about “Cinco de Mayo”? What do we have these parties?

Allan Wall has a good summary for those of us who are not Mexican or studied Mexican history in school:

“Cinco de Mayo, literally “May the 5th,” is the holiday celebrating the Mexican victory over the French army on May the 5th, 1862, at Puebla, east of Mexico City.”

In the U.S., specially in the Southwest, “Cinco de Mayo” has turned into a Mexican version of St. Patrick’s Day in Boston, Columbus Day in New York or Polish Day in Chicago.     

“Cinco de Mayo” is a Mexican-American celebration. Every year, our parades have gotten bigger and bigger. 

As Mr. Wall writes, “Cinco de Mayo” is a very good day for local retail merchants :

“Cinco de Mayo is also a big beer-drinking day, with Mexican beer brands doing 5-10 percent of their U.S. sales for the occasion.”

So pass the beer, the chips and those wonderful enchiladas. I’ll catch the Rangers in Toronto and tell my friends again that “Cinco de Mayo” is not Mexico’s July 4th! “Cinco de Mayo” is just a fun day to eat Mexican food!

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.

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.