Pussy Riot: Now that Putin’s in charge again, the gulags aren’t all that bad!

People everywhere cry for freedom.

Oppression of political speech?

Or something else?

Putin asked the courts to go easy on them.

And yet, cries of ‘six more years’ was not heard after the verdict was rendered.

Either way, Putin‘s gotta’ go.

Reckon Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is turning over in his grave?

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Russia: Pussy Riot and the investor

August 17, 2012 5:28 pm by Stefan Wagstyl

Members of the all-girl punk rock band Pussy Riot have been recently convicted in Russian court of “hooliganism,” for performing an impromptu song in a Russian Orthodox Church which was critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

On the face of it, there would appear to be little reason why foreign investors should worry much about Russia’s Pussy Riot court case.

So what if three young female punks have been jailed for two years, as they were on Friday, for hooliganism after a noisy performance in Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral? After all, there are many western countries where such a provocative public display would also result in prosecution.

But that is to misunderstand Russia. In fact, the case should give even the most hard-headed international business people pause for thought.

First,  it’s a reminder – not that we need one – of the heavy-handed arbitrariness of the Russian courts. The three women could have been

More music dies…

Change is inevitable.

Will things change for the better?

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Doug Dillard, Bluegrass Banjo Virtuoso, Dies at 75

Doug Dillard, left, with Gene Clark, one of the founders of the Byrds. The men formed their own duo, Dillard and Clark. (A&M Records)

By PETER KEEPNEWS
Published: May 27, 2012

Doug Dillard, a banjo virtuoso who began the 1960s by helping to introduce a generation of listeners to bluegrass and ended the decade as an early advocate of country-rock, died on May 16 in Nashville. He was 75.

The cause was a lung infection, said Lynne Robin Green, the president of LWBH Music Publishers, which publishes his music.

Mr. Dillard rose to fame with the Dillards, a bluegrass band that also included his younger brother, Rodney, on guitar; Dean Webb on mandolin; and Mitch Jayne on bass. The Dillards’ instrumentation was traditional (except for the absence of a fiddle player) and so was much of their repertory, but they occasionally played electrified instruments and sometimes used a drummer. This approach alienated some purists, but it also helped interest young listeners in a style that the country-music establishment had come to consider passé.

Mr. Dillard’s skillful banjo work, which has been cited as

Legendary Finger Picker Guitarist “Doc” Watson dead at 89

“Doc” Watson was proof that no matter the difficulties, trials or tribulations that life throws your way, if you put your heart and soul to whatever your hand finds to do, you can excel.

May his memory be blessed.

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Doc Watson, Blind Guitar Wizard Who Influenced Generations, Dies at 89

May 29, 2012
By WILLIAM GRIMES

Doc Watson, the guitarist and folk singer whose flat-picking style elevated the acoustic guitar to solo status in bluegrass and country music, and whose interpretations of traditional American music profoundly influenced generations of folk and rock guitarists, died on Tuesday in Winston-Salem, N.C. He was 89.

Doc Watson performing in New York in 2005. (Jack Vartoogian/FrontRowPhotos)

Mr. Watson, who had been blind since he was a baby, died in a hospital after recently undergoing abdominal surgery, The Associated Press quoted a hospital spokesman as saying. On Thursday his daughter, Nancy Ellen Watson, said he had been hospitalized after falling at his home in Deep Gap, N.C., adding that he did not break any bones but was very ill.

Mr. Watson, who came to national attention during the folk music revival of the early 1960s, injected a note of authenticity into a movement awash in protest songs and bland renditions of traditional tunes. In a sweetly resonant, slightly husky baritone, he sang old hymns, ballads and country blues he had learned growing up in the northwestern corner of North Carolina, which has produced fiddlers, banjo pickers and folk singers for generations.

His mountain music came as a

Satchmo! New vinyl of previously unreleased recordings to be pressed & sold.

Fans everywhere of the “Ambassador of Goodwill” should rejoice!

Now, years after his death, his performance at the National Press Club will be released, AND on vinyl!

But… there’s a caveat.

It’s limited.

VERY limited.

How limited?

Only 300 pressings will be made.

But, if you’re into digital, you won’t be left out.

It’ll be available on CD & iTunes.

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Louis Armstrong’s memorable National Press Club performance to be rereleased

By Matt Schudel, Tuesday, April 24, 7:53 PM

Beginning in the 1920s, Louis Armstrong was the undisputed fountainhead of American jazz. With his bright, clear trumpet and his ebullient, gravelly voice, he more or less defined how jazz is meant to be played and sung.

Everything he did is of interest to musicians and scholars, and few American lives have been better documented. But until this week, little was known about a performance he recorded in Washington five months before he died in 1971.

On Friday, at a news conference at the site of Armstrong’s original recording at the National Press Club, the music he

Alabama: I love my state, and despise her corrupt officials.

This entry starts out in a wee bit different tenor, then points directly at the problem.

Read on to see what I mean.

Not many folks may recall Alabama‘s state song, which lyric reads, “Alabama, Alabama, I will aye be true to thee. From thy Southern shore where groweth, by the sea the orange tree.”

As a kid, I kinda’ thought it was

Why don’t we do it in the road? Beatles’ photo site now historically protected

2 December 2010 Last updated at 13:09 ET

Beatles‘ Abbey Road zebra crossing given listed status

The crossing is described as a Mecca for Beatles fans

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-12059385

Related stories

• Abbey Road studios ‘not for sale’
• Lloyd Webber considers Abbey bid
• National Trust may buy Abbey Road

The Abbey Road zebra crossing in north London – made famous after appearing on a Beatles album cover – has been given Grade II listed status.

The crossing – the first of its kind to be listed – is being recognised for its “cultural and historical importance” following advice from English Heritage.

The Beatles were photographed on Abbey Road in Ian Macmillan‘s iconic cover shot for the 1969 album Abbey Road.

Steve Earle, Steve Earle, please write a song for me.

Steve Earle
CCKMP

Cocaine cannot kill my pain
Like a freight train through my vein
Cocaine cannot kill my pain

Whiskey got no hold on me
Left them chains in

Who are You?

The Eastern Shore of Lake Tahoe, also known as Galilee Image via Wikipedia

 

Some years ago, a good friend of mine had encouraged me to begin a blog.

“Why do I want or need a blog?,” I asked him.

“You write very well, and a blog would seem to be a natural outlet for your thoughts,” he said.

Never being one whom chronicled or maintained a “dear diary” in my youth, I was quite amazed to hear his words. I had, however, been periodically sharing thoughts with my kindred and friends via e-mail. Alan was kind enough to host my writing for quite some time, gently guiding me through the technical process.

As things go – at least according to the Law of Entropy – things tend toward deterioration, decay and chaos. In other words, they move from order to disorder. And in time, because of the age of his servers, the bulk of traffic and the increasing complexity of software, he began migrating his servers to another resource, at which point he also began encouraging me to move my blog, which I have, and which you are now reading.

I had purposed to republish my original writings – and inspired by a recent status update posting I’d made to FaceBook – piqued my desire to republish this one post immediately.

Some background: I was in Lake Tahoe, NV at the time of the writing, staying with an extended family member, having traveled West in response to a spiritual urging I sensed. The events surrounding the same are another story in themselves, which I shall reserve.

Without further ado, I give you…

“So Into You,” by Atlanta Rhythm Section

From the Summer of ’77, the “Boys of Doraville” brought us this easy-going Southern Rock genre tune that made it to the Top Ten, and which catapulted the band to fame.

The South’s gonna’ do it again!

Music lifts our souls and spirits, innervates and energizes us, soothes our weary souls, troubled minds and hearts. It is the veritable soundtrack of our lives, sometimes reinvigorating and re-energizing us to press on, to continue, to bear up under duress, and for a brief moment, forget about our troubles, to leave them all behind in an ecstatic abandonment of rapturous joy.

Every generation has their own music, those seminal and prophetic voices of the era. To some, it’s hated, while to others, beloved, and yet to others still, misunderstood and frequently mischaracterized, even demonized.

And through it all, we every one acknowledge our own depence upon music to be there for us, albeit if unconsciously.

And so, with a nod of the hat, I give you the following. I only wish you could hear it. And if you’re of that era, I’m certain you will.