Reuters reports that, 70 years after the fact, the Mitsubishi company of Japan has “formally” apologized for using American POWs as slave labor during World War II, putting them 80 years ahead of the American South. Afterwords Will the South ever catch up? Well, that depends on which part of the South you look at.
Stan Getz, Gary Burton, Steve Swallow, Roy Haynes—“Scrapple from the Apple”
Stan on tenor, of course, channeling Charlie Parker, with Gary on vibes, Swallow on bass, and Haynes on drums. Getz was “really” a swing player, but he came up in the bop years, and he definitely had the chops to handle anything the boppers could come up with. In 1966, even though he was making…
Pseudo New Yorker
Legal humor here “Frankly, today’s umpire—and I very much consider myself an umpire of today—finds that calling balls and strikes is the least of his responsibilities. Our real function is to keep baseball vibrant and au courant by reinterpreting its traditions in light of contemporary trends—the zeitgeist of the horsehide, one might say.” “Okay, that…
The Pentagon’s Short- and Long-Term Memory Loss
In a story appearing in Politico, “Obama team split over next steps with Iran”, Michael Crowley writes that a “senior administration official” denied that there was any possibility of a presidential visit to Iran—“we continue to have very serious differences with Iran.” Crowley remarks that “That sentiment will be appreciated by military officials who hold…
Terumasa Hino & Toshiko Akiyoshi—“Straight, No Chaser”
Edward Gibbon, Part VI
In Part I of this near-random collection of jottings, I remarked that Edward Gibbon, despite his near-obsessive concern with politeness and polish, tells you more about the sex lives of historical figures than virtually any modern historian. I also remarked that his modern-day fans, despite their frequently amazing levels of erudition and enthusiasm, studiously avoid…
Less than Zero
This shot of Ronnie and William F. Buckley, taken in 1988, Reagan’s last year in office, fascinates me. Ronnie looks pretty much stuffed, ready for Madame Tussaud’s. But even though he may not remember what he had for breakfast, or the name of the dude in the cheap suit who keeps talking his ear off,…
Is the South finally going to look in the mirror? Well, which South do you mean?
Back in the day—way, way back in the day—in 1953, the day of McCarthy, as a matter of fact—southern historian C. Vann Woodword published a famous article, “The Irony of Southern History,” which began as follows: “In a time when nationalism sweeps everything else before it, as it does at present, the regional historian is…
New Book!
I have a new book out (obviously). James Thurber A Reader’s Guide consists of a long (30,000+ words) essay treating Thurber’s work in some detail, plus a handful of short, Thurber-related pieces discussing Thurber compatriots Harold Ross, E. B. White, and Wolcott Gibbs, and/or dithering over words. It’s available, along with my other books, via Amazon as…
Joshua Redman Quartet @ Visioninmusica 2014
Joshua Redman, saxophone; Aaron Goldberg, piano; Reuben Rogers, bass; Greg Hutchinson, drums. Tunes performed: I’ll Go Mine (Redman), Barracudas (Gil Evans), Posted by Visioninmusica