Fragility of memory

I was at a Maria Muldaur concert here in Phoenix last night. It was the first time I'd seen her live in performance, even though I'd first encountered her voice in Jim Kweskin Jug Band records in about 1968. For one reason or another, I simply missed her whenever she was doing a show anywhere near where I was living. 

Anyway, last night was lovely, she was in good voice, singing a little lower maybe than in her youth, but still able to provide sinuous frills in her vocals as she did in the days of "Midnight at the Oasis," which was a hit 50 years ago. (Yes, the '70s are turning 50.) My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

I've seen this movie before - Part 2

If  you notice that news commentators are mentioning 1968 a whole lot as they cover the U.S. presidential race, I want to point out that wasn't happening (as far I can tell) back in March when I first mentioned the way that history doesn't quite repeat itself.

I've seen this movie before

I'm old enough to remember 1968. In the United States, it was a presidential election year. A president, Lyndon Johnson, rendered himself unelectable by pursuing an unpopular war policy opposed by a rising youth movement.

Johnson gave a televised policy speech on the Vietnam War on the evening of Sunday, March 31, 1968, and announced that he would not run for re-election. It may have been a coincidence, but on the East Coast, at least, Johson's speech pre-empted a show that was very vocal in its opposition to the war: "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" on CBS. 

Music as a target of (and an imperfect answer to) inhumanity

I am thankful that Harvey Mason Jr. reminded an audience of music makers and their fellows that the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack in Israel brutalized a music festival.

The festival wasn't the only target of attack, and the points I'm trying to make are tangential to the awful trajectory of violence. However, let those who have expertise on the politics and the history of this conflict, which sometimes seems eternal (it's been going on all 71 of my years), debate those larger issues, including whether rape and killing of civilians can be justified as tactics of warfare.

I simply hate the violence and want to talk about the part that I can talk about, the part that's pretty much been ignored and not mentioned enough. The part that Mason, who is the Grammys' CEO, talked about during his speech on the televised primetime Grammy Awards show this past Sunday evening (Feb. 4).

Mason reminded his audience that music events have been attacked by both organized and lone-wolf terrorists.

She Wants To Be An Angel

Copyright © 2024, Salvatore Caputo

I Was 16 Years Old (When Dave Siegel's Father Died)

Copyright © 2024, Salvatore Caputo

Come See Me Again

Copyright © 2024, Salvatore Caputo