Time Wounds All Heels. Did somebody famous say that? TO BE CONTINUED - I NEED COFFEE.

Graphic by Favianna Rodriguez

Fannie Brice: “Time heals all wounds and wounds all heels.”

I have killed people. God saved me from succeeding. I would tell the story, but in our current civil condition, it would seem more like braggadocio than confession. Lady Shrink and I are talking about rage, mine specifically and otherwise.

I have not been able to write more so I have not come back for awhile. While I was trying to figure out wtf I am doing here, I came across the best depiction of bipolar rage and working class pain I know about. And I discovered that Nina Simone is also bipolar. So I am sharing it to compensate you for this literary interruptus. It is embarrassing but I do not want to tell lies...

If you want or need Attitude Adjustment on Turkey Day...

...this is what you take PRN. 

Illegitimi non carborundum. 

Joy to the World!

I think the Revolution might be all my Sister's fault.

Graphic by Buddy McCue. If you go to the subject panel on the left panel and click on his name, you can see more of his work. 

My Sister Margie is a righteous all hymning no sinning Bible believing Black Woman. Margie calls me her "Italian Sister." We canvased for Obama together. 

I wanted a house. Margie and I prayed about it. I got a house. I needed money for a new roof. We prayed about it. New roof. I do not invoke our little prayer circle lightly. Be sure you want whatever it is you trying to get from Universe. Hang with Margie and you might get it. 

About 6 years ago, Margie and I started praying for a Revolution. We were of the opinion that we needed one bigtime. Ta da! Shazam! One appeared.

I am a terrible Christian. Terrible. Lapsed Catholic. Angry Quaker. Margie is one of the best people I know. So, our current upheaval must all be Margie's fault. I know God loves me absolutely. I think God does not take me seriously. 

I know I am not the only one who takes Gil Scott Heron seriously.

Java Sweet and Hot

Coffee is good and good for you. Hallelujah! I am celebrating with a cup of Poor Richard's blend coffee from Reading Terminal Market. Life is good.

I was so happy to read this article today. How much do we love coffee? We love coffee so much that we write songs about coffee. Coffee songs below.

Good to know that our love for that first cup in the morning is not in vain. And that drinking another two or three cups may have health benefits.

The illustration is a vintage tin sign. You can find more signs of this type HERE.

Why Coffee Is Good for You
Kris Gunnars, Authority Nutrition

It is more than just dark-colored liquid with caffeine. Coffee actually contains hundreds of different compounds, some of which have important health benefits.

Several massive studies have now shown that the people who drink the most coffee live longer and have a reduced risk of diseases like Alzheimer’s and diabetes. Read more ...

My Dad's Long Drive in the Country Car Songs

My Mom and Dad loved to take long car trips. We all sang on long car drives. Sometimes we had a radio and sometimes we did not. We sang these songs anyway. Con brio.

We always stopped at an ice cream stand that looked like an ice cream cone. Roadside attractions in the 50s tended to look like what they were selling.

We would drive down the Delaware River sometimes and at one bridge you could get charcoal broiled hot dogs and real root beer from the window of an old frame house. 

Everytime I hear one of these songs, I am transported to happy. Love you, Dad. Miss you every day.

ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE ~ Johnny Mercer & The Pied Pipers (1945) (live recording). Words by: Johnny Mercer - Music by: Harold Arlen - copyright: 1944

Minnie the Moocher is a jazz song first recorded in 1931 by Cab Calloway and His Orchestra, selling over a million copies. He sings it in this Betty Boop cartoon disguised as a dancing walrus.

Louis Prima (December 7, 1910 – August 24, 1978) was an Italian-American singer, actor, songwriter, and trumpeter. Prima rode the musical trends of his time, starting with his seven-piece New Orleans style jazz band in the late 1920s, then leading a swing combo in the 1930s, a big band in the 1940s, a Vegas lounge act in the 1950s, and a pop-rock band in the 1960s.

On Not Writing

I do not know what to say. I have had a lot to say for years now. Nothing. I feel suspended in goo just waiting for the other shoe to drop. I hope I will improve. I hope our Democracy survives. Mostly I am taking Buddha's advice. "Think about other things."

It is also true that what does come from my fingers on social media is scary to type and feel and think. Yes, this is me the nonviolent conscientious objector snowflake saying, if a man with a gun and no formal insignia frightens and puts you in fear of injury or death, you kill him. That is your right and responsibility to yourself and fellow citizens IMO.

In the meantime, have some Dave Brubeck. I had the pleasure of listening to the Quartet on a June evening, under a tent, as the Delaware River flowed on by. Anybody else remember The Music Circus? "Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast." - The Mourning Bride, by William Congreve.

April Showers - It is Raining Gardens in Philadelphia

I do not tire of old standards especially when they are mine. Repeating this as a public service. The PWD is moving its content. I have written to them and when I get new information, I will correct the links in this article.

The Philadelphia Water Department has some excellent information about Rain Gardens. You can make that boggy place in your front yard a thing of beauty and help clean and conserve water. Once planted, such a garden is maintained with little to no effort.

The photograph is a rain garden in Philadelphia, designed by Edgar David. Rainwater that flows from the house roof to the stone cistern is used to irrigate an intimate collection of woodland plants. You can read more HERE. 

Spring is here. I am ordering Herb Seeds. It is raining gently outside. I am getting that Happy Green Feeling. Now for some Velvet Fog. I repost this every April because I am a fan of Mel Torme, gardens, soft April rain and elegant jazz.

Musical Interlude for Attitude Adjustment - Ode to Joy

There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats. - Albert Schweitzer

"Over the years, Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" has remained a protest anthem and a celebration of music. From demonstrators in Chile singing during demonstration against the Pinochet dictatorship, Chinese student broadcast at Tiananmen Square, the concert conducted by Leonard Bernstein after the fall of the Berlin Wall and Daiku concerts in Japan every December and one after the 2011 tsunami.

It has recently inspired flashmob performances at public spaces by musicians in many countries worldwide, including Choir Without Borders's 2009 performance at a train station in Leipzig, Germany, to mark the 20th and 25th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, Hong Kong Festival Orchestra's 2013 performance at a Hong Kong mall, and performance at Sabodell, Spain." - wikipedia

October Cat with Music

Click Me to Learn Halloween Animal MakeUp

 

Smutty Smut - Asshats on Parade

Utah is the state that consumes the most pornography.

This post has musical accompaniment below.

The sponsor of a recently passed Utah resolution declaring that “pornography is creating a public health crisis” appeared on the Family Research Council’s “Washington Watch” program yesterday to defend the measure, which the governor signed on Tuesday, and allege that the availability of pornography is violating his “First Amendment right to not view it.” - See more...

Dude, stay away from the computer. Or put out your eyes. Problem solved. 

And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell. Matthew 18:9

Ya think Hillz is enjoying Trump's Mess. Or doing Confused Mourning?

From Jonathan “Song a Day Man” Mann. He writes a song every day. Good Mann.

Hillz is the Dancing Queen. No dance more American than the Shimmy. See below:

IT IS IMPEACHMENT. HOT TIME IN THE OLD TOWN TONIGHT.

Popping the popcorn. Pouring myself some Krupnik. Let the good times roll! American Songs of riot, celebration and pure unadulterated lust are what we need.

 

\\

Tits Galore in Colorado with Music!

Fort Collins, Colorado government removed a public ordinance that banned women from going topless in public in a win for the ‘Free the Nipple’ movement. A Fort Collins spokesperson said, after spending more than $300,000 defending the ordinance in court, “The money was just better spent on other city priorities." Good decision. Jennifer Aniston was determined to fight this to the death, although she wears a bra. Nipples may go to the Supreme Court. 

I feel ambivalent about this decision. Pasties itch. And you have to use nail polish remover or alcohol to get the glue off. I mean, pasties with what you can now see on the net? Something so sweet and innocent about classic Burlesque in retrospect.

However, this may lessen the impact of civil disobedience of the militant kind. Life is strange. You win some, you lose some.

About a dozen topless protesters stopped traffic on Market Street this morning, as part of a National Day of Action for Black Women and Girls. Using the hashtag #SayHerName, protesters sought to draw attention to black women victims of police violence, such as Rekia Boyd and Kayla Moore.

“You don't know the women's names in the same way you know Michael Brown and Tamir Rice,” said Kharyshi Wiginton, 40, who took part in the protest. While the founders of the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag and many of the leaders of the movement are women, much of the national conversation around police brutality has focused on black men, including Eric Garner and Freddie Grey.

I say every woman has that one song that releases her inner Stripper. This is my song. It has been covered over and again. Pick the one you want to hear it from. What is your song?

Kim Davis Moans and Pules. I Enjoy Her Tears.

I am republishing this rant due to recent developments in the case:

A federal appeals court ruled on Friday that the Kentucky county clerk who gained notoriety for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in 2015 can be sued, Reuters reported.

The 3-0 decision by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati upheld a previous ruling by U.S. District Judge David Bunning in Kentucky that Kim Davis can be sued in her individual capacity for the denial of licenses to same-sex couples after the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage in 2015. The decision will toss the lawsuits from two couples pursuing a lawsuit against Davis back into his court.

The Bible and Jesus tell Christians to obey the civil law. Kim Davis is an Epic Fail as a Christian, if being a Christian means doing what Jesus told you to do. Further, Jesus told us not to afflict people with the 'letter of the law.' I read the Bible.

Kim Davis is also an insult to the concept of nonviolent (religious) civil disobedience; this concept many people were jailed, maimed or incarcerated for honoring and employing. Nonviolent conscientious religious civil disobedience takes courage to employ. Gandhi tells us what nonviolent religious civil disobedience is:

"I have also called it love-force or soul-force. . . I discovered in the earliest stages that pursuit of truth did not admit of violence being inflicted on one’s opponent but that he must be weaned from error by patience and compassion. For what appears to be truth to the one may appear to be error to the other. And patience means self-suffering. So the doctrine came to mean vindication of truth, not by infliction of suffering on the opponent, but on oneself." - Mohandas Gandhi.

What Kim Davis practices is not nonviolent civil disobedience. It is assault and humiliation under color of law. As she sowed, so she now reaps. It is biblical.  Cry me a river. Cake Patrol Christianity is stupid and rude.

The Boy from Mar A Lago

A Duet of Comedy Cabaret and Political Satire. Sandy and Richard Riccardi. 

Laughing. These guys are so good. Listen to more good stuff here:

Laughter is mightier than the pen and the sword.

The song below is US COPYRIGHT FAIR USE. "Garota de Ipanema" ("The Girl from Ipanema") is a Brazilian bossa nova jazz song. It was a worldwide hit in the mid-1960s and won a Grammy for Record of the Year in 1965. It was written in 1962, with music by Antônio Carlos Jobim and Portuguese lyrics by Vinicius de Moraes. English lyrics were written later by Norman Gimbel.

I am having trouble finding attribution for the fine cartoon above. I cannot read the signature. Cher Reader, please help if you recognize the artist.

Happy Easter! Happy Spring! We Shall Be Redeemed.

The Surrender of General R. E. Lee to General U.S. Grant

Note: Repeating because of increased interest in the era. Published April 9, 2010

April 9 is the anniversary of the surrender of General Robert E. Lee to General Ulysses S. Grant which ended the military phase of the American Civil War.

To mark the occasion, Bede's Beat brings you a sample of Kurt Weill's settings of four of Walt Whitman Civil War poems.



Shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the German declaration of war against the U.S., Kurt Weill -- who had fled Nazi Germany in 1933 and moved to the U.S. in 1935 -- began to set three of Walt Whitman's Civil War poems to music.

The poems Weill chose form a cycle which was completed by the addition of the setting of a fourth poem in 1947.

The first poem, Beat! Beat! Drums!, begins the cycle with an enthusiastic martial call to arms. The middle part of the cycle is devoted to the inevitable result of war: death.

The second, O Captain! My Captain!, about death of a leader in time of war, proved prophetic.

The third poem, Come Up from the Fields Father uses the imagery of autumn and the harvest to presage the grief of a mother upon learning of her son’s death -- a reminder of the toll of war on the home front.

The cycle concludes with Dirge for Two Veterans, and the contrast of Whitman's lament with the first poem in the cycle is reflected in music for each: while the first movement is sprightly, martial and optimistic, the final poem is set to a funeral march. 

"Simply put, you can be a massive prick, despite what is in your pants." now with Music

Ha ha ha ha ha. Bwah ha ha ha ha. Gasp. Ha ha ha... 

And the Artist just keeps posting it to her Facebook page. 

And Facebook keeps banning and reinstating her thereby making the image viral.

This is the best election ever. The pastel portrait is, of course, for sale. And Trump, of course, is threatening suit thereby making the image viral. 

Illma Gore with her Portrait

Bede's Beat - Happy Birthday John Coltrane

UPDATE: The Church of St. John Coltrane may shortly no longer exist. If you can help, through skill or money or passion, please get to work. Send lawyers and money. The merde is about to hit le ventilateur.

UPDATE 2: New Coltrane music has been found. Huzzah! This may solve the money issue?
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/both-directions-at-once-reviewed-the-thrillsand-limitsof-a-rediscovered-john-coltrane-recording

***
September 23 marks the 89th anniversary of the birth of John Coltrane. While most people recognize Coltrane's name as that of one of the most important and influential musicians of the 20th century, few know that Coltrane is also a canonized saint of the African Orthodox Church.

There is a Church of St. John Coltrane in San Francisco, which anyone who lives in or near or travels to San Francisco should definitely visit -- no matter what your religious proclivities or lack thereof. The Church of St. John Coltrane is famous for its Sunday Jazz Services, based upon variations upon Coltrane's 1964 landmark recording A Love Supreme, with McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass and Elvin Jones on drums. The work is divided into 4 parts:


Part 1 - Acknowledgement [7:47]
Part 2 - Resolution [7:22]
Part 3 - Pursuance / Part 4 - Psalm [17:50]

The following BBC documentary, Saint John Coltrane, was produced to mark the 50th anniversary of the recording of A Love Supreme, and which examines its origins and influence, and the development of the Church of John Coltrane.

Trump Music to my Ears

I am just going to drop this music here. First video is excellent. Second video is the young unknown rappers.

I think I like the second clip the best. Not as professional but big points for energy, balls and enthusiasm. Both right on time in subject matter. Rhymes are good. Real good. Love the Black and White. Both are from Youtube so go there for artistic particulars.