People like Stevie Ray Vaughan, SRV, send healing through the universe, (NYT).
This song of SRVmarks Mother's Day, 2017.
As our man, Stevie wrote, "It's a very strong day, today."
Music for my mother:
... the guy that's standing on the ground, that needs some help.
You don't walk up and kick him, if you gonna do that
You better wear his shoes for awhile.
Because you know what?
Trade places with him and he'll pick you up.
It's the truth.
Never met Stevie Ray Vaughan, but I know him well through his art.
People like SRV send healing though the world.
This song of SRV's is for Anita. As our man, Stevie wrote, "It's a very strong day, today."
Life Without You- SRV
... And the guy that's standing on the ground, that needs some help.
You don't walk up and kick him, if you gonna do that
You better wear his shoes for awhile.
Because you know what? Trade places with him and he'll pick you up.
It's the truth.
You better pass around as much love as you can in your lifetime.
It's all we really have to give or accept.
Are you with me?
---
... Life without you, all the love you passed my way
The angels have waited for so long, now they have their way
Take your place
SRV and Wisconsin-brewed beer this weekend ... then back to work.
Life Without You
... And the guy that's standing on the ground, that needs some help. You don't walk up and kick him, if you goona do this You better wear his shoes for awhile. Because you know what? Trade places with him and he'll pick you up. It's the truth.
You better pass around as much love as you can in your lifetime. It's all we really have to give or accept. Are you with me?
Just Music for a while ... cool song; was eight when this hit Number one in 1973.
The Night the Lights Went Out In Georgia
Vicki Lawrence (Words and Music by her husband, Bobby Russell)
(Billboard position # 1 in 1973)
He was on his way home from Candletop Been two weeks gone and he thought he'd stop At William's and have him a drink 'fore he went home to her Andy Wolloe said "Hello" And he said "Hi, what's doin', Wo?" "Seth, sit down, I got some bad news, it's gonna hurt"
He said "I'm your best friend and you know that's right" "But your young bride ain't home tonight" "Since you been gone she's been seein' that Amos boy, Seth " Well, he got mad 'n' he saw red and Andy said "Boy, don'tcha lose your head" " 'Cause to tell ya the truth, I been with her myself"
That's the night that the lights went out in Georgia That's the night that they hung an innocent man Well, don't trust your soul to no backwoods Southern lawyer 'cause the judge in the town's got bloodstains on his hands
Well, Andy got scared and left the bar Walkin' on home 'cause he didn't live far See, Andy didn't have many friends and he'd just lost him one Brother thought his wife musta left town So he went home and finally found The only thing Papa had left him, that was a gun
And he went off to Andy's house A'skippin' through the backwoods quiet as a mouse Came upon some tracks too small for Andy to make He looked through the screen at the back-porch door And he saw Andy lyin' on the floor In a puddle of blood, and he started to shake
Well, the Georgia Patrol was a'makin' their rounds So he fired a shot just to flag 'em down And a big-bellied sheriff got his gun and said "why'dya do it?" And the judge said "Guilty" in a make-believe trial And slapped the sheriff on the back with a smile Said' supper's waitin' at home and I gotta get to it"
That's the night that the lights went out in Georgia That's the night that they hung an innocent man Well, don't trust your soul to no backwoods Southern lawyer 'Cause the judge in the town's got bloodstains on his hands
Well, they hung my brother before I could say The tracks he saw while on his way To Andy's house and back that night were mine And his cheatin' wife had never left town And that's one body that'll never be found See, you, little sister don't miss when she aims her gun
That's the night that the lights went out in Georgia, oh-oh-aah That's the night that they hung an innocent man, ah-huh-unh Well, don't trust your soul to no backwoods Southern lawyer
FADE 'Cause the judge in the town's got bloodstains on his hands
... And the guy that's standing on the ground, that needs some help. You don't walk up and kick him, if you goona do that You better wear his shoes for awhile. Because you know what? Trade places with him and he'll pick you up. It's the truth.
You better pass around as much love as you can in your lifetime. It's all we really have to give or accept. Are you with me? ---
Oh oh now baby, tell me how have you been We all have missed you, and the way you grin The day is necessary, every now and then For souls to move on, givin' life back again, and again Fly on fly on, fly on my friend Go on, live again love again
Day after day, night after night Sittin' here singin' every minute,as the years go passing by, by, by, by Long look in the mirror, we've come face to face Wishin' all the love we took for granted,love we have today
Life without you, all the love you passed my way The angels have waited for so long, now they have their way Take your place
Bob Johnson, a high school physics teacher in Fond du Lac, used to end his Friday, last-period physics classes with Carl Sagan's Cosmos, prominently scored by Vangelis. Beautiful stuff. Great teacher.
‘Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land where justice is a game.’ - Hurricane, Bob, 1975
The statement by Sen. Obama’s wife, Michelle, that “for the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country,” has been invoked by Republicans in an effort to portray Mr. Obama as culturally unlike the people he is asking to vote for him—a historically potent line of attack.
This will continue, no matter if the Rev. Wright controversy dissipates.
“What pathetic, little, delicate flowers Americans and political pundits are," wrote the Liberal Street Fighter.
Amen.
Obama, an American success story if there ever were one, gets skewered for being associated in any way with anyone who ever said anything critical of American society.
But Obama need not apologize for anyone, or be on the defensive.
Obama needs to get on the offensive and challenge every moronic pundit that unity, rights, equality, liberty and freedom from economic want comprise the foundation upon which American society has progressed the last 75 years.
And fighting for this foundation ought be the basis of his campaign for the presidency.
A major address laying out a vision is called for as the corporate media remains obsessed with trivia, but not in front of a staid audience, but rather a loud, lively crowd of 1,000s of Americans to whom Obama presents his ideas for approval.
Like most of you, I've been following the campaign and I have now seen and heard enough to know where I stand. Senator Obama, in my view, is head and shoulders above the rest.
He has the depth, the reflectiveness, and the resilience to be our next President. He speaks to the America I've envisioned in my music for the past 35 years, a generous nation with a citizenry willing to tackle nuanced and complex problems, a country that's interested in its collective destiny and in the potential of its gathered spirit. A place where "...nobody crowds you, and nobody goes it alone."
At the moment, critics have tried to diminish Senator Obama through the exaggeration of certain of his comments and relationships. While these matters are worthy of some discussion, they have been ripped out of the context and fabric of the man's life and vision, so well described in his excellent book, Dreams of My Father, often in order to distract us from discussing the real issues: war and peace, the fight for economic and racial justice, reaffirming our Constitution, and the protection and enhancement of our environment.
After the terrible damage done over the past eight years, a great American reclamation project needs to be undertaken. I believe that Senator Obama is the best candidate to lead that project and to lead us into the 21st Century with a renewed sense of moral purpose and of ourselves as Americans.
Over here on E Street, we're proud to support Obama for President.
Cameron Crowe, Contributing Editor, Rolling Stone:
It can be said very simply. On stage Lynyrd Skynyrd are as white-hot as a band can get.
This is the first album to record them exactly that way. The result is not surprising. One More For From The Road (1976) may well be the most excitingly authentic Lynyrd Skynyrd album yet.
It's only right that the band should come of age with a live album. Under such other names as The Wild Things, The Noble Five and One Per Cent, Skynyrd have been playing together since high school. That was ten years ago.
I first met them in '73, when they had only just escaped the Southern bar and club grind to release their debut album, Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd. Suddenly, it was all coming at them fast and hard. Skynyrd's first major road trip was as opening act on The Who's entire North American tour.
In their cramped dressing room at the Omni, Atlanta's vacuous rock and roll arena, the group was too pale and nervous to reflect their already-considerable experience. Shaking, they headed out on stage in front of 18,000 Who fans.
From the first moment of Lynyrd Skynyrd's set, there was no mistaking them for amateurs. Brandishing three lead guitarists (Allen Collins, Gary Rossington and Ed King) and a refreshingly uncultured, barefoot lead singer (Ronnie VanZant), the band ripped through their repertoire with the vengeance of a champion.
Their final song, a powerful guitar opus called "Free Bird," earned them a standing ovation.
Backstage, Pete Townshend stopped himself in mid-conversation, "They're really quite good, aren't they?" ...
Lynyrd Skynyrd - from Wikipedia
On Thursday, October 20, 1977, just three days after the release of Street Survivors, Lynyrd Skynyrd's chartered Convair 240 [N55VM] airplane, with 26 people aboard (24 passengers and two crew members), ran out of fuel while traveling from Greenville, South Carolina to LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and crashed near Gillsburg, Mississippi. Those killed instantly included singer/songwriter Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist/vocalist Steve Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary, and co-pilot William Gray. Backup vocalist Cassie Gaines bled to death before help arrived. ... Their music lives.
The power of music presents in the capacity to reach into another's experience and manifast itself in a manner that linguistic communication fails to fully describe.
"What music does is reach down into parts of our brain, it opens networks and pathways that you can't get to via language," said University of Wisconsin-Madison scholar Craig Werner, who is studying the music of the Vietnam War (with Doug Bradley) and its prominance in veterans' memories and experience.
The McGill University scientist Robert Zatorre, Washington Post writer Shankar Vedantam notes (in the piece linked above), concludes that music activates evolutionally ancient parts of the brain.
Music breaks through human separation, inspiring such activity as love, peace, and a powerful feeling to create and share. You know, the bad things Republicans hate and guard us against.
