4/15 Open Thread: Bessie Smith's Birthday
~~ Bessie Smith
Today is also, among other things, Universal Day of Culture and World Art Day. Now, culture, aka Kulcha, is many things to many people, some of them are addressed by implication and reference by today's featured artist, Bessie Smith:
Up in Harlem every Saturday night
When the high-browns get together it's just too tight
They all congregate at an all night strut
And what they do is tut-tut-tutOh Hannah Brown from way cross town
Gets full of corn and starts breaking 'em down
Yes at the break of day
You can hear old Hannah say'Gimme a pigfoot and a bottle of beer
Send me again, I don't care, I feel just like I wanna clown
Give the piano player a drink because he's bringing me down
Art, however, is what it is. If it could be defined, then it would not be art. Picasso famously noted that it is a lie which shows us the (way to the) truth.
On this day in history:
1755 – Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language was published.
1817 – Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc founded the American School for the Deaf.
1865 – President Abraham Lincoln died.
1892 – The General Electric Company was formed.
1912 – The RMS Titanic sank
1923 – Insulin became generally available for use by people with diabetes.
1924 – Rand McNally published its first road atlas.
1936 – The Arab revolt in occupied, misnamed "Mandatory" Palestine began.
1945 – Bergen-Belsen was liberated.
1947 – Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color line with the Dodgers.
1952 – First flight of the Boeing B-52
1960 – Ella Baker led a conference that led to the creation of SNCC.
1989 – the Tiananmen Square protests began
1994 – The Marrakesh Agreement creating the WTO was adopted, further empowering corporations and corporatists.
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2013 – Two bombs exploded near the finish line at the Boston Marathon
2019 – The cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris was seriously damaged by a fire.
Some people who were born on this day:
eiπ+1=0
~~ Leonhard Euler
1452 – Leonardo da Vinci, painter, sculptor, architect
1707 – Leonhard Euler, mathematician and physicist
1793 – Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve, astronomer
1800 – James Clark Ross, captain and explorer
1841 – Joseph E. Seagram, whisky baron, founded the Seagram Company Ltd
1843 – Henry James, author
1858 – Émile Durkheim, sociologist, psychologist and philosopher
1877 – William David Ross, philosopher
1889 – A. Philip Randolph, activist and unionist
1894 – Bessie Smith, singer and actor
1904 – Arshile Gorky, painter and illustrator
1907 – Nikolaas Tinbergen, ethologist and ornithologist
1915 – Elizabeth Catlett, sculptor and illustrator
1924 – Neville Marriner, violinist and conductor
1930 – Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, educator, politician, first elected female head of state
1933 – Roy Clark, musician and television personality
1965 – Linda Perry, singer and songwriter, non-blond musician and record producer
Some people who died on this day:
“Three o'clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do.”
~~ Jean-Paul Sartre
1927 – Gaston Leroux, journalist and author
1980 – Jean-Paul Sartre, philisopher
1986 – Jean Genet, novelist, poet and playwright
2000 – Edward Gorey, poet and illustrator
2001 – Joey Ramone, singer and songwriter
2002 – Damon Knight, author
Some Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such:
Jackie Robinson Day (United States)
Tax Day, (United States, Philippines)
Universal Day of Culture
World Art Day
Today's Tunes
Universal Day of Culture, eh?
Bessie Smith
The Titanic
Joseph Seagram
Neville Marriner
Linda Parry
Ok, it's an open thread, so it's up to you folks now. So what's on your mind?
Cross posted from http://caucus99percent.com
Open Thread, Bessie Smith, Art, Culture, Sartre, Genet, Linda Parry
Comments
Bon dia
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thanks for the Bessie, great blues lady
today is a state holiday next door in MA
they call it "Patriots Day" and run the
Boston Marathon. Not me tho (gasp).
Last little bit on the taxes takes precedence.
Funny headline from the Ukies .. blackmailing
US to either pay-up or they bomb more RUS
refineries. Another iron-clad Biden demand melts.
Enjoy the Monday all!
Good morning QMS, good luck and smooth sailing
with the tax finale. "Patriots Day" is such a horseshit name for anything that it is simply crazy making, and that is not a new thing, though greatly exacerbated in the US by all the numbnutz ideology involved.
Somebody else noted that it is the essentially irrational belief that your country is wonderful and very special simply because you happen to have been born (or to reside) there.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Heh, I just saw a headline in some fishwrap I grabbed
that "Fraud is now more prevalent than ever before" which made me start pondering the extent to which that was simply definitional. Throughout my life various no good regulators and atty's gen'l have, at odd intervals, declared various previously normal and even standard buswax practices to be fraudulent or otherwise illegal and demanded that businesses stop perpetrating them. My readings of history included the likes of robber barons such as boss tweed and the laws and regs passed to try to rein them in.
As I mused this general theme opr idea over, my mind harkened back to a business law text that enumerated categories of fraud, including, oddly enough, "fraud in the inducement". The giggle here is that that has been one of the most common ordinary business practices since day one. In fact, business majors take classes in it and even major in it under the name of "Marketing".
Capitalism is a down and dirty practice of thievery by whatever means works, and the classification of some specific narrowly defined tricks as "fraud" is simply putting lipstick on a pig. That shit is what capitalism is all about. I am reminded of all those who whine about "gouging" when the underlying premise of capitalism is that all parties charge what the market will bear.
/Rant
be well and have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
That is almost comical
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was that in the funny papers? The cartoon would be hilarious.
Fraud is what our system runs on. No definitions needed.
Isn't it fraudulent inducement
to market homemade soup or pasta sauce that is produced by Campbell's Inc in their factories?
Anybody sued them for it yet?
I think imprisoning Trump would swing over gobs of voters to him.
Meanwhile, it is Monday. Two of my divorce cases settled by agreement the parties made with no input by their attorneys. I am glad for those people. Clears the decks for the next two.
Pretty day here, lots of wildflowers. Tomatoes are popping out.
I can't remember if I commented about this already, but expect any aribica bean coffee to be expensive in the near future. Some cheaper type bean for SE Asia had a major crop failure, so aribica has no competition.
A client's walking in the door. More later...
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
I'm sure that there must be a loophole, like maybe
some little noted decision of some court or regulatory agency that says "homemade" is a style and does not denote a source or some such bullshit. Glad for those who settled must mean that you have more work than you can handle. Both good and bad news.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
An excellent suggestion but the chances of that actually
happening are extremely remote.
We need an American Worker's Party.
Who's with me?
"there's something so especially sadistic about waving the flag of a country that you're actively destroying" -- Aaron Mate
Most workers are for certain
behind you. As well as I.
Takes awhile to build, but a
worthy endeavor nonetheless.
It was happening previously and people were coalescing
around Bernie. Unfortunately he became
or always wasa sheep dog for establishment Democrats.Also Too!
There was also Occupy Wall Street that was spreading nationwide until Obama decided to break it up.
Even on a Monday!
"there's something so especially sadistic about waving the flag of a country that you're actively destroying" -- Aaron Mate
What a day, el
Jackie Robinson and Bessie Smith, could it get any better?
I had to look into who the photographer of Bessie Smith was, and found in my exploration much to appreciate and consider ...
https://www.popmatters.com/181897-carl-van-vechten-americas-first-white-...
Your playlist is great, as always. Thank you.
Van Vechten was also a Crazy Cat Lover
His "The Tiger In The House" is considered an early classic of cat lore.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
Thanks for ther link, Janis, fun reading.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --