December 2022 - Page 4 of 7 - Ramblin' with Roger

Another STAX Christmas

Booker T. and The MG’s

Some of my favorite sources for holiday music are the various STAX Christmas and compilation albums. Do you know STAX/VOLT of Memphis, TN? The OTHER major source of soul music in the 1960s besides Motown in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Black Christmas – The Emotions. The female vocal trio had its best commercial years after leaving the label with Best Of My Love. This is a black empowerment track.

All I Want For Christmas Is You – Carla Thomas. One of the first names I think of on the label. From 1966, when it got to #11 on Billboard’s special Xmas list, the same year her B-A-B-Y was #3 RB, #14 pop.

Silver Bells (Ray Evans, Jay Livingston) – Booker T. and The MG’s. Released as a 1967 season single. Booker T. Jones was born in 1944 in Memphis, TN.

Who Took The Merry Out Of Christmas – Staple Singers; a downer, social justice song. But I love Pops’ and Mavis’ voices here.

Jingle Bells (James Lord Pierpont) – Booker T. and The MG’s, #20 on the Xmas list in 1966

Gee Whiz It’s Christmas – Carla Thomas. written by Thomas, Steve Cropper, and trumpeter Vinny Trauth. #23 on the Christmas charts in 1963. It was inspired by Carla’s #10 pop/#5 RB hit Gee Whiz (Look In His Eyes)

Sort of a hit

Every Day Will Be Like A Holiday – William Bell. Written by Bell and Booker T. Jones. This went #33 RB in 1968 and was a regional pop hit in the DC area. Born in 1939 in Memphis, he was a prolific songwriter.

The Mistletoe And Me – Isaac Hayes. A keyboard player/songwriter for STAX, the singer died in 2008. This non-album invokes Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Jingle Bells, and We Three Kings, among other songs. I contend that this is a GREAT Christmas song. But I’ve never heard it on the radio

Winter Snow (Isaac Hayes) – Booker T. and The MG’s. Yes, it is a melancholy instrumental. Sometimes the season is like that.

Dec. rambling: Guiding Principles

Christine Perfect

Forbes’ list of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women

Two Glimpses into the Future

Trump fiscal legacy

Final House Covid Panel Report Exposes ‘Reckless’ Trump Pandemic Response

“F*** Biden,” “Don’t Tread on Me,” and a Wisconsin Death Trip for Our Times by Jeff Sharlet

Virginia’s “Guiding Principles” are a Right-Wing Fantasy of History

Sean Spicer Makes Pearl Harbor Blunder Which Will Live In Infamy

Heritage Under Fire: Native Americans fight for culture, history, survival

Bill protecting same-sex, interracial unions clears Congress

I’ve come to the same conclusion. Save Your Brain: Don’t Watch TV on Election Night

‘Our mission is crucial’: meet the warrior librarians of Ukraine

North Korea tells parents to give kids patriotic names like ‘bomb,’ ‘gun’, and ‘satellite’

Bob McGrath, Original, Longtime Resident of ‘Sesame Street,’ Dies at 90

Grant Wahl, American Journalist Covering World Cup in Qatar, Dies at 48

Kirstie Alley, Actress on ‘Cheers’ and ‘Veronica’s Closet,’ Dies at 71

Carl Kleinschmitt, Writer on ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’ and ‘MAS*H,’ Dies at 85

The U.S. Census Bureau recently announced the release of Census Business Builder version 5.0, which combines the Regional Analyst Edition and the Small Business Edition into a single, convenient tool.

Librarian and author earns a following after venting about a book signing

DeMane Davis on How Ava DuVernay’s Decision to Hire All Female Directors Offered “Life-Transforming Opportunity

Trevor Noah Urges Viewers to Remember the “World Is a Friendlier Place” Than It Seems in Emotional ‘Daily Show’ Farewell

A U.S. Track Star and the 30-Foot Long Jump That Didn’t Count

The State — and Future — of Free Ad-Supported Streaming

ME

On December 11-12, Albany, NY, received about 6.5 inches of snow, the biggest snowfall of the 2022-23 season. It’s only about six feet (1.8 meters) less than what fell in western New York during last month’s storm.

J. Eric Smith put me on his Best Of My Web 2022 list. I’m fairly blushing.

Arthur answers my questions about Congress

JEOPARDY

Most of the JEOPARDY “controversies” I see online aren’t all that. But this question in Final Jeopardy, during the Tournament of Champions, no less, did irritate me. In the category The New Testament:
Paul’s letter to them is the New Testament epistle with the most Old Testament quotations

From here: “The internal evidence presented by the book of Hebrews itself indicates an author other than Paul.” So Amy’s answer of Hebrews is suspect, and Sam’s choice of Romans – my first answer upon reading the question – is more likely correct. The question cost Sam the game. If the question read: This letter to them… would have been acceptable.

Now I Know

The Zoo That Made Itself Look Like a Donkey
Why The Government Hid Billion of Dollars Worth of $2 Bills
How an Oddball Saved an Island of Little Penguins
He’s The Type That Likes Numbers?
The Best Medicine is… A Room With A View?

MUSIC

Homeward Bound: Christine McVie (July 12, 1943 — November 30, 2022); 5 Great Fleetwood Mac Songs Written by Christine McVie

Coverville 1422: Joe Walsh Cover Story and Christine McVie Tribute and 1423: Covers, Actually

A suite of Max Steiner’s music from Casablanca

Look at Miss Ohio – Welch, Rawlings, Isbell, and Shires

How Ticketmaster Is Destroying Live Music

Ten years since Sandy Hook

Know The Signs

Ten years since Sandy Hook. A decade since a 20-year-old shot and killed 26 people, 20 of them six- and seven-year-olds in Newtown, CT. It was the deadliest mass shooting at an elementary school in US history.

It would be understandable to believe that nothing has been achieved in its wake. While it initiated the debate about gun control, the immediate federal government response was disappointing.

“Five days after the shooting… President Obama announced that Vice President Biden would lead an effort to develop a set of concrete policy proposals for reducing gun violence, due no later than January [2013].”

Some semiautomatic assault rifles had been prohibited by a law passed by Congress in 1994, but the law was not renewed in 2004.

Polls constantly show public support for greater gun control, but such legislation was defeated in 2013. Another bill would have required background checks for firearm sales online or at gun shows. Though most Senators supported it, that item required 60 affirmative votes, which didn’t happen. Some states did pass similar bills.

Uvalde

It took another mass tragedy to prove the lie of a National Rifle Association strategy promulgated after Sandy Hook. The NRA advocated for armed guards in all American schools. About a fifth of public and private schools in the U.S. already employ police or other armed security personnel.

When the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX, took place on May 24, 2022, it took hundreds of armed officers 75 minutes to confront the gunman and end the tragedy. 19 children and two adults were murdered. The notion that teachers in large numbers should be packing heat when trained responders took so long was shocking and revealing.

Less than a month later, the Safer Community Act was signed. The bill includes money to help states implement and operate crisis intervention programs. The legislation encourages states to include juvenile records in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. More individuals selling guns as primary income sources must register as Federally Licensed Firearm Dealers.

Promise

Meanwhile, Sandy Hook Promise, a “national nonprofit organization founded and led by several family members whose loved ones were killed” at the school, “is developing policies that protect children from gun violence. It is working with “experts in the fields of child psychology, education, and social-emotional learning to create the Know the Signs violence prevention programs.”

Prevention is sometimes difficult to measure, Still, within “the first two weeks of the new 2022-2023 school year, at least two credible planned school shooting attacks were averted by the Say Something program in Florida and North Carolina. We see students continuing to be Upstanders in prevention rather than bystanders to tragedy by following three simple steps of the program: (1) recognize the warning signs, (2) take the warning signs seriously, and act immediately to (3) tell a Trusted Adult. Investigations confirmed the threats were real, and arrests were made.”

The group also supports policies for the safe storage of guns, and

policies to “allow family members or law enforcement to seek the court’s help to separate people in crisis from firearms” temporarily.

Some justice

A landmark $73 million settlement between the families of nine of those killed at Sandy Hook and the Remington Arms company took place on February 15, 2022. This may have been the best outcome the plaintiffs could have gotten.

And this autumn, the truly reprehensible conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was ordered to pay nearly $1.5 billion to Sandy Hook families. The plaintiffs showed that Jones not only did substantial harm to the families but that he made hundreds of millions of dollars doing so. He’s now filing for bankruptcy.

Boston Globe editorial, November 2022: Assault weapons bans work. More states should try them. Only a handful of states have assault weapons bans despite evidence that such a policy could reduce mass shooting fatalities.

WaPo opinion piece, June 2022: 6 solutions to gun violence that could work

The anticipation of Christmas

getting ready

There’s a body of work that reflects the anticipation of Christmas. Some are more overtly religious, while others are secular.

The Dream Isaiah Saw – Washington Chorus, Here’s a post from 2009 that describes the effect on the writer. It also contains the lyrics. I’ve sung this, and it’s powerful.

Gabriel’s Message – Sting. This song, from the original A Very Special Christmas collection (1987), is either in a Methodist or Presbyterian hymnal, possibly both.

E’en So, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come by Paul Manz – The National Lutheran Choir. I’ve sung this probably two dozen times. Interestingly, though, the scripture is from Revelation, suggesting anticipation of a second coming, not the first.

The secular

River – Joni Mitchell. I will always associate this with my late friend Donna George, who was a big Joni fan.

Christmas Is A-Comin’ – Leadbelly. My father had this song on an album that I now own.

Getting Ready for Christmas Day – Paul Simon. Simon, b. 1941, samples. The sermon is from 1941, which can’t be a coincidence, can it?

This Christmas – Donny Hathaway. I miss Donny, who was a great singing partner with Roberta Flack.

Christmas Wrapping – the Waitresses. An MTV favorite. I have this buried in my vinyl collection somewhere.

We Need A Little Christmas – Angela Lansbury. Per Wikipedia: “Lansbury finally gained stardom for playing the leading role in the Broadway musical Mame (1966), which earned her her first Tony Award and established her as a gay icon.”

Please Come Home For Christmas – Charles Brown. The man from Texas City, TX (1922-1999) was thrice nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album in the 1990s.

I’ll Be Home For Christmas – Bing Crosby. Wikipedia notes: “Despite the song’s popularity with Americans at the front and at home, in the UK, the BBC banned the song from broadcast, as the Corporation’s management felt the lyrics might lower morale among British troops.” Twenty or twenty-five years ago, I heard Kim and Reggie Harris, possibly with others, perform this at the College of Saint Rose, very close to where we live. One felt the melancholy the song deserves.

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas – MonaLisa Twins. They really are twins, Mona and Lisa Wagner.

2022 Kennedy Center Honors

George Clooney, Amy Grant, Amy Grant, Tania León, U2

As is my tradition, I note the honorees for the 2022 Kennedy Center Honors. Once again, I am very familiar with four of the five selected in this 45th class and the fifth, not at all.

I vaguely remember George Clooney from shows like Roseanne and Sisters, though I seldom saw The Facts of Life.

Nor did I see him on another show. Nevertheless, he won me $1,200 on JEOPARDY in 1998. A VIDEO DAILY DOUBLE: “Hi, I’m Jason Alexander. This actor co-starred with me on a sitcom called E/R before starring in the medical series ER.” Something I must have read in People magazine or Entertainment Weekly got stuck in my head when Clooney first started playing Dr. Doug Ross.

Subsequently, I saw or heard him in several movies, such as Up In The Air, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Descendants, Gravity, and Tomorrowland. He directed and appeared in Good Night and Good Luck and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.

He was the executive producer of Far From Heaven and producer of Argo and August: Osage County.

When I saw Alison Krauss and Union Station in Albany in 2003, Dan Tyminski noted how his wife enjoyed hearing his voice come out of George Clooney’s mouth when the actor “sang” Man Of Constant Sorrow in the 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou? I have had the soundtrack for two decades, though I saw the film during the COVID lockdown.

“George Clooney is co-founder and co-President, along with his wife Amal, of the Clooney Foundation for Justice.”

Contemporary Christian and pop singer-songwriter

I may have only one Amy Grant album, a vinyl recording of The Animals’ Christmas with Art Garfunkel. It was written by Jimmy Webb.

She was the first self-identified singer of Contemporary Christian Music to go to #1 on the pop charts. There were “Christians” who were HORRIFIED that Amy was doing pop music, such as Baby, Baby. Oh, please.

Amy married musician Vince Gill in 2000. She’s been active in philanthropy for her entire career.

A legendary singer of soul, Gospel, R and B, and pop

I must have learned that Gladys Knight won Ted Mack’s The Original Amateur Hour TV show from reading Ebony or Jet when I was growing up. She was eight in 1952.

Gladys Knight and the Pips had minor hits on minor labels, most notably Every Beat Of My Heart in 1961 (#6 pop, #1 RB). She left the group in 1962 to start a family but rejoined in 1964.

The group signed with Motown in 1966. It always felt that the label didn’t know what to do with the act. Berry Gordy wouldn’t let the Miracles release I Heard It Through The Grapevine, but was OK with the Pips doing so. It became a big hit for the Pips (#2 pop for three weeks, #1 RB for six weeks); it is my favorite version of the song.

Gladys Knight and the Pips did have other hits on Motown, notably If I Were Your Woman (#9 pop, #1 RB) and Neither One Of Us (#2 pop for two weeks, #4 RB). But they also were recording the same songs that The Temptations were also getting.

Their move to Buddah generated their first #1 pop hit (for two weeks), Midnight Train To Georgia. More Top 5 hits followed. She had an active solo career and acted as well.

Cuban-born American composer, conductor, and educator

Alas, Tania León is the honoree I do not know beyond what’s in the KCH bio.

Iconic Irish rock band

In 1988, I told a friend of mine that The Joshua Tree by the band U2 was one of my desert albums. My friend said one couldn’t put a one-year-old album on such a list. Maybe not, but I still like it quite a lot.

Lead singer Bono and his wife of 40 years Ali Hewson, were recently interviewed by Norah O’Donnell for CBS News’ Person To Person with U2’s Bono. He talked about his new book “Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story.” He shares how the band – he, The Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen Jr. – stayed together for decades and much more.

Here are some songs: Beautiful Day, One, When Love Comes To Town with B.B. King, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (Rattle and Hum version), Where the Streets Have No Name, and Sunday Bloody Sunday.

Watch the show!

The Kennedy Center Honors took place Sunday, December 4th, at 6:30 p.m. in the Kennedy Center Opera House. It will be televised Wednesday, December 28th, on CBS. We watch it every year.