Remembering S.I. Hayakawa (July 18, 1906 – February 27, 1992) and the San Francisco State College Strike!

SIHayakawaWhen I started reading Subversives by Seth Rosenfeld, I read that Clark Kerr was the president of the University of California, which started me thinking where did S.I. Hayakawa fit into the picture. I remembered him being involved in student demonstrations in California.  I even went to the index of the book to look for his name. Well today on 108th anniversary of Mr Hayakawa’s birthday I found out that I was in the right church (California) and the wrong pew (Berkeley). What I didn’t remember was that Mr Hayakawa was the President of  San Francisco State University during those turbulent years from 1968 to 1973. Some background on S.I. Hayakawa…. Read More

Night and Evening Thoughts about Yodeling??? An Art best forgotten?? Never! Well, maybe?

We'll Sing in the SunshineLast night after I came home from a run, I sat down at the computer and was trying to get back to normal, when my wife asked if I had watched the new parody video from Weird Al “Word Crimes”yet. I said that I hadn’t,  she made me come out and watch the video. The video is very funny and probably funnier if you know the Robin Thicke song, which I don’t and never will, because I can not stand Robin Thicke. Shortly after that, my wife said,  she now had the song stuck in her head. That set my mind to wondering about songs that get stuck in my head. The one that popped up was Gale  Garnett’s “We’ll Sing in the Sunshine”. So I went to Youtube to find a video of the song, which I did, from the 1964 Grammy Awards, but I didn’t like the video so I didn’t post it. But if you want you can watch it here.  Read More

A Captured Joan of Arc-handed over to Pierre Cauchon, the Bishop of Beauvais. July 14, 1430!

On this date in the year 1430,  a peasant girl, the daughter of Jacques d’Arc and Jona of ArcIsabelle Romée, known as Joan of Arc, was handed over by the English-allied Burgundian faction to the English and the pro-English Bishop of Beauvais Pierre Cauchon. She would be held prisoner and then put on trial and eventually burned at the stake. From Wikipedia. Joan of Arc Read More

Blues with New Orleans Flavor from the Royal Southern Brotherhood – HeartSoulBlood

HeartSoulBloodOne of the albums that has been in my music rotation this week is the new album HeartSoulBlood from the Royal Southern Brotherhood. This is the second release from the Brotherhood following their 2012 self-titled debut album. The Royal Southern Brotherhood is composed of Devon Allman, Cyril Neville, Mike Zito, Charlie Wooten,and Yonrico Scott. Of the five both Devon Allman and Mike Zito’s solo work, appear in my music library.Both of these albums and their 2013 release a live album titled Songs from the Road have been released on Ruf Records with the legendary Jim Gaines serving as the producer. Read More