How Duke Ellington crashed the Iron Curtain

In the early 1960s, my family was in Cuba.  We would often hear the news from the Spanish and English editions of The Voice of America.  

I don’t think most Americans ever understood just how significant the VOA was.  It was the only source of clean news in Spanish or English.  For example, my parents listened to President Kennedy’s Missile Crisis speech and later his funeral over the radio.

Duke Ellington was born in 1899 in Washington, D.C.  He became one of the legendary jazz figures of music history.

In the communist world, his version of “Take the A-train” was the closest to a hymn of freedom.

Every night, the opening notes of that wonderful song went over the short wave signals heard in Moscow, in Prague, and down in Cuba.  It was Willis Conover and his jazz show:

For more than 40 years, Willis Conover’s long-running “Jazz Hour” introduced millions of people in Europe and the former Soviet Union to American jazz. 

He produced jazz concerts at the White House, the Newport Jazz Festival, and for movies and television.  He was the voice of jazz around the world. 

Back here, few people knew Conover.  Over the Berlin Wall, beyond the Iron Curtain, and elsewhere, his voice and those jazz tunes brought U.S. music to people hungry for a little freedom.

So we remember Duke Ellington one more time.  He was one of the best.  I cannot help but remember listening to “Take the A-train” and all that jazz in Cuba.  

As my father said many years later, Conover brought down communism all by himself.  Probably not, but he did bring a lot of happiness and Duke Ellington to a lot of people.

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

Everything about President Lincoln reminds me of my great uncle in Cuba

We grew up listening to stories about President Lincoln. My father’s uncle, or Tio Joaquin, loved to talk about the 16th president. He’d impress my brother and I by reciting The Gettysburg Address in English.

Tio Joaquin never left Cuba and died in the 1980’s. I will always remember him for all of those Lincoln stories that he used to tell us.

One of those stories was the assasination of President Lincoln on this day in 1865.

On Friday, April 14, 1865, President and Mrs. Lincoln, accompanied by Clara Harris and Major Henry R. Rathbone, entered Ford’s Theatre for the performance of “Our American Cousin” featuring Laura Keene.   It was a popular comedy of its time.   By all accounts, the President was in good spirits and ready for a night of relaxation.

Otto Eisenschiml wrote that the shots were fired at around 10:15 pm.  (In the Shadow of Lincoln’s Death (New York: Funk, 1940),

Shortly after, the wounded President was moved across the street to the house of William Petersen at 453 10th St. NW.    He was placed in a small room at the rear of hall on the first floor.

Mrs. Lincoln and the surgeons stayed with the President all night.    VP  Johnson dropped in for a visit around 2 am.

Dr. Charles S. Taft observed that the President stopped breathing “at 7:21 and 55 seconds in the morning of April 15th, and 7:22 and 10 seconds his pulse ceased to beat.”  (Eisenschiml)

After some silence, Secretary .Stanton said:   “Now he belongs to the ages“.

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

We remember Bobby Doerr (1918-2017)

We remember Bobby Doerr, who was born in Los Angeles on this day in 1918.    He died in 2017.

Bobby broke with Boston in 1937 and became their second baseman for the next 15 years.   He did miss one year for military service in World War II.

Overall, he hit .288 with 223 HR & 1,247 RBI plus 2.042 hits in 1,867 games.   

Ted Williams called him "the silent captain of the Red Sox".    In other words, he let his bat and play on the field do the talking.   

In 1986, Bobby Doerr and Ernie Lombardi were named to the Hall of Fame by the special veterans committee.   Two years later, the Red Sox retired Bobby's uniform number, #1.

You can read about Bobby and his teammates in "Summer of '49" by David Halberstam.

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

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Let's meet Nilda Cepero, Cuban American author & poet

Let's meet Nilda Cepero, Cuban American author & poet...click to listen... https://t.co/rKmb5sWoVV

— Silvio Canto, Jr. (@SCantojr) March 18, 2017

1934: We remember Bob Hope & Dolores Reade

On this day in 1934, the great Bob Hope married Dolores Reade.    They met in 1933 when Hope was performing in Jerome Kern’s musical "Roberta" and she was at the Vogue Club.

They say that it was love at first sight.   They were married for almost 70 years.   Hope died in 2003 and Dolores in 2011.

A great union!

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

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September 2006: Why are mothers angry with Senator McCain?

In 2004, the "mother vote" was a critical component in Bush's reelection. In fact, Bush carried the married female vote in huge numbers. They were called "security moms"!

Senator McCain needs to clean up his image after the recent terrorist treatment debate.

McCain is still my first choice for 2008. However, I do think that he has to work to get the mothers back on the bus.

July 2006 and a post about the Rangers

A post from July 2006:

The Rangers had a pretty good road trip. They split with the Orioles, and then won 2 of 3 from Toronto and Chicago. Not bad.

Vicente Padilla continues to pitch very well. On Sunday, he lost to Chicago but gave one earned in 7 innings. Padilla has exceeded expectations. He is on his way to winning 15-17 games.

The Rangers are half a game back. I'm still worried about the Angels, who have the best team in the AL West. The division will be settled in September when the four teams go at each other.

Between now and Labor Day, the Rangers need to stay with the A's and Angels. Hopefully, they will add a veteran starter and get Adam Eaton back in the rotation.

Heard a rumor:   Vernon Wells to Texas for Kevin Mench and Joaquin Arias, the great AAA prospect. I like Mench but Wells would be a great addition. Besides, Wells is a local kid who attended Arlington high school.

Question: Why would Toronto trade Wells? Makes no sense to me. The Blue Jays are in the thick of the AL East race. Why would they trade All Star Wells for a couple of young players? Makes no sense to me!

Can the Rangers make a pitch for the Braves' John Smoltz? It may take a young player like Hank Blalock but that may be too much.

What about bringing back Soriano? Not a bad idea. Again, at what cost? Soriano is having a career year just in time to negotiate a free agent contract this winter.

ARod and the Yankees are here for 3 games.

Last week, ARod became the youngest player to reach 450 homers. Yet, the talk in New York is that ARod is making too many errors and leaving runners on base. that ARod's best chance to play in the Series was Seattle.

In Texas, ARod was a misfit from day one. He had 3 super years but the team finished in last place. After 2003, he forced the Rangers to trade him to Boston or New York.

The Rangers did and now ARod is a miserable Yankee or so they say in the New York media.

We remember Donna Reed (1921-86)

We remember Donna Reed who was born in Denison, Iowa, in 1921.   She died in 1986.

She acted in some of the biggest movies in history:   "From here to eternity", "It's a wonderful life" and later on television with "The Donna Reed Show.

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

July 2006: What a Calderon victory means outside of Mexico!

This is a post from July 2006 about the election in Mexico.

As Tip O'Neill once said: All politics is local.

Mexico's election is primarily based on local issues. Like every other country, Mexicans will try to vote on issues that impact them.

However, one cannot deny the impact of what happens in Mexico.

At this point, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela is in a losing streak.

In Peru, Chavez lost.   Alan García beat populist Ollanta Humala.  Chavez was issue # 1. The Peruvian people did not appreciate the comments and intervention from Caracas.  García won by 10 points.

Last month, Colombia returned President Alvaro Uribe to a second term with 62 percent of the vote. Uribe, a U.S. ally, ran on a pro-market, tough-on-narco-terrorism platform.

These two elections rejected Chavez and leftist populism.

This is why the Mexico election matters. Chavez is losing and Mexico could make it 3 in a row!

July 2006: We endorsed Calderon for president of Mexico

This is from July 2006, or our endorsement of Felipe Calderon of the PAN for president of Mexico

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The good news is that PRI won't win.  PRI's domination is over. The bad news is that they will decide who wins.

Calderon and Lopez-Obrador are within the margin of error in most polls. Nevertheless, Calderon can win but two things have to happen:

1) Calderon needs a huge middle class turnout; and,

2) Calderon needs to persuade PRI-istas that they are wasting their vote.

Can he do both? I hope so.

Calderon can not do miracles. However, I think that he understands that Mexico needs more foreign investment, property rights and higher productivity.

On the other hand, the PRD's populism is the wrong prescription for a Mexican economy that can't compete in the new world of China, India, South Korea, Taiwan and Chile.

Good luck to Mexico. This is a very important election. I hope that Calderon can win it.