Wednesday's video: RFK out, 800,000 jobs gone plus more stories....

The week in review with Bill Katz the editor of Urgent Agenda

The week in review with Bill Katz the editor of Urgent Agenda

Let the Midnight Special, shine its everlovin’ light on me

 

Let the Midnight Special, shine its everlovin’ light on me - American Thinker https://t.co/9wVT5GfK3T

— Silvio Canto. Jr. (@silvio_canto) August 21, 2024

We remember Kenny Rogers (1938-2020)

Kenny Rogers was born in Houston, Texas on this day in 1938 and died in March 2020.    Kenny became one of the biggest recording starts of the last 50 years.    His songs are heard daily on pop and country radio.   

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.

Hawaii made it 50 in 1959

We remember that Hawaii made it 50 on this day in 1959.   Alaska became a state in January 1959 and it was followed by Hawaii months later.

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.

2013 post: A word about Eydie Gorme

(My new American Thinker post)

Let's take a break from politics today and remember Eydie Gorme, who passed away at 84

"Ms. Gorme, who was born in New York City to Sephardic Jewish parents, grew up speaking English and Spanish. When she and her husband were at the height of their career as a team in 1964, the president of Columbia Records, Goddard Lieberson, suggested she put that Spanish to use in the recording studio.

The result was "Amor," recorded with the Mexican combo Trio Los Panchos."

And this is where my parents and thousands of other Cuban parents came in!   She recorded music that was heard from here to Argentina.

In those early days in the US, my parents found tropical relief in cold Wisconsin winters by listening to all of those Spanish ballads that Eydie Gorme recorded. 

I can remember listening to her LP (that's what we had before CD or MP3 files) over and over again. My mom really loved them.  It was the romantic music that she and my dad dance to in a little town in central Cuba.

Frankly, I learned to love it too, especially as I got a little older and could not find anything exciting in pop music. I found myself doing what a lot of friends did; I got the CD version of the old LPs that we used to listen to. One of those CDs was Eydie Gorme singing in Spanish.

My friend Bill Katz  (of Urgent Agenda) discussed her career and musical elegance:

"Eydie Gorme's career reminds us that we once had truly great popular music in America, sung by singers who actually could sing, and who could engage the audience.  We had real composers and lyricists.  Our music entertained, but didn't degrade.  I have to believe there's still an audience for that music.  And I know there are young people who still love it.  I've met them."

RIP to Eydie Gorme.  I hope that the young people check out some of her Spanish songs.  They will love them as much as I do. The words are romantic, the arrangements are great and you won't cover your kids' ears when her songs come on the radio.

 

P.S.  You can listen to my show (Canto Talk).  If you like our posts, click send, and drop a dime here.

Prague 1968 and memories of the old USSR

(My new American Thinker post)

We read about Putin and Russian troops threatening neighbors.   It's enough to remind us of another time when the then USSR invaded the then country of Czechoslovakia.   It happened this weekend in 1968: 

On the night of August 20, 1968, approximately 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops and 5,000 tanks invade Czechoslovakia to crush the “Prague Spring”–a brief period of liberalization in the communist country. Czechoslovakians protested the invasion with public demonstrations and other non-violent tactics, but they were no match for the Soviet tanks. The liberal reforms of First Secretary Alexander Dubcek were repealed and “normalization” began under his successor Gustav Husak. 

It was the second time that USSR tanks under the banner of The Warsaw Pact had crushed democratic impulses in Eastern Europe.    It also happened in Hungary in 1956 when Soviet tanks actually fought with people in the streets.

As a kid, we heard the stories of Cuban political prisoners.  Our family dinner table was a classroom with my parents telling us about communism or reading the latest letter from Cuba.

I grew up admiring the men and women who risked their lives to fight for freedom. Some of these men were Cardinal Mindszenty of Hungary, those who tried to cross the Berlin Wall, the guerrillas who fought Castro in The Escambray Mountains and those who tried reforms inside the Soviet bloc.

On August 21, 1968, the Rascals were riding high with a song called "People got to be free". 

It was a pop hit in the US.  It was reality in the streets of Prague.

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.

August 1968: Tanks in Prague & "People got to be free" # 1 on Billboard

We remember that Warsaw Pact tanks were crushing the people of Prague this week in 1968.    Like Hungary 1956, the USSR did not tolerate dissent in any of its satellite states.   

Over here, “People got to be free” by The Rascals was #1 on Billboard USA. It spent much of the month of August as the most popular song of that summer.    

We don't know if the Rascals were inspired by The Prague Spring but it was a timely message.

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.