George W. and Cheaney created "history" (his story) by munipulating the public through fear, and now the GOP vicepresidential nominee Sarah Palin is stretching the truth to creast "herstory" (her story). Is it me or are Republicans dishonest spin doctors that will stop at nothing to win? Here is Jim Kuhnhenn of the Associated Press's analysis of Sarah's growing nose from misrepresenting the truth and misleading GOP viewers.
By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer Wed Sep 3, 11:48 PM ET
ST. PAUL, Minn. - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her Republican supporters held back little Wednesday as they issued dismissive attacks on Barack Obama and flattering praise on her credentials to be vice president. In some cases, the reproach and the praise stretched the truth.
Some examples:
PALIN: "I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending ... and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress 'thanks but no thanks' for that Bridge to Nowhere."
THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a "bridge to nowhere."
PALIN: "There is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform — not even in the state senate."
THE FACTS: Compared to McCain and his two decades in the Senate, Obama does have a more meager record. But he has worked with Republicans to pass legislation that expanded efforts to intercept illegal shipments of weapons of mass destruction and to help destroy conventional weapons stockpiles. The legislation became law last year. To demean that accomplishment would be to also demean the work of Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a respected foreign policy voice in the Senate. In Illinois, he was the leader on two big, contentious measures in Illinois: studying racial profiling by police and requiring recordings of interrogations in potential death penalty cases. He also successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform legislation.
PALIN: "The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, raise payroll taxes, raise investment income taxes, raise the death tax, raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars."
THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded.
Obama would provide $80 billion in tax breaks, mainly for poor workers and the elderly, including tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage workers and higher credits for larger families. He also would raise income taxes, capital gains and dividend taxes on the wealthiest. He would raise payroll taxes on taxpayers with incomes above $250,000, and he would raise corporate taxes. Small businesses that make more than $250,000 a year would see taxes rise.
MCCAIN: "She's been governor of our largest state, in charge of 20 percent of America's energy supply ... She's responsible for 20 percent of the nation's energy supply. I'm entertained by the comparison and I hope we can keep making that comparison that running a political campaign is somehow comparable to being the executive of the largest state in America," he said in an interview with ABC News' Charles Gibson.
THE FACTS: McCain's phrasing exaggerates both claims. Palin is governor of a state that ranks second nationally in crude oil production, but she's no more "responsible" for that resource than President Bush was when he was governor of Texas, another oil-producing state. In fact, her primary power is the ability to tax oil, which she did in concert with the Alaska Legislature. And where Alaska is the largest state in America, McCain could as easily have called it the 47th largest state — by population.
MCCAIN: "She's the commander of the Alaska National Guard. ... She has been in charge, and she has had national security as one of her primary responsibilities," he said on ABC.
THE FACTS: While governors are in charge of their state guard units, that authority ends whenever those units are called to actual military service. When guard units are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, for example, they assume those duties under "federal status," which means they report to the Defense Department, not their governors. Alaska's national guard units have a total of about 4,200 personnel, among the smallest of state guard organizations.
FORMER ARKANSAS GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE: Palin "got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska than Joe Biden got running for president of the United States."
THE FACTS: A whopper. Palin got 616 votes in the 1996 mayor's election, and got 909 in her 1999 re-election race, for a total of 1,525. Biden dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucuses, but he still got 76,165 votes in 23 states and the District of Columbia where he was on the ballot during the 2008 presidential primaries.
FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOV. MITT ROMNEY: "We need change, all right — change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington! We have a prescription for every American who wants change in Washington — throw out the big-government liberals, and elect John McCain and Sarah Palin."
THE FACTS: A Back-to-the-Future moment. George W. Bush, a conservative Republican, has been president for nearly eight years. And until last year, Republicans controlled Congress. Only since January 2007 have Democrats have been in charge of the House and Senate.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
A Companion To Tantra
I am often asked about tantric devotion and other yoga sutras. I am still learning the principles and discipline of yoga sutras myself. Hence,the book A companion to tantra is a great guide to trantic sutras. It breaks down the principles and methodologies simply. It is a great read for beginnings and for those interested in Tatric Devotion. The following is an explaination to Tantric according to A.C. Banarji.
From The Jacket
Tantra is a distinct philosophical system. Many feel eager to know about it, but few love the time and energy to understand. The intricacies of Tantra. So, a short-cut is necessary.
In the present work, an attempt has been made to set forth the highlights of the Tantra works and their authors. A bibliography, intended to help further reading, has been added.
The author, a lifelong researcher in Sanskrit, has been a teacher of the subject. He has some 60 works to his credit. His only aim is to propogate Sanskrit learning.
Preface
The elements of Tantra are found in the Atharvaveda and, in a lesser degree, in the Rgveda. These relate to the mundane life of the people, and reflect their aspirations for material well-being. We see, in them, how people wanted to have long life, keep off diseases and thwart the activities of ghosts, supposed to cause harm to them. Magic, both beneficial to themselves and harmful to their enemies, figures prominently.
In course of time, side by side with the elitist works, Tantras having a populist appeal came to be composed. It seems that Tantras arose as a protest against the traditional scriptures which insisted on self-mortification and austerities, etc. as means to the attainment of emancipation of the soul from the bondage of rebirths. In doing so, they prescribed rituals which were denied to women and the Sudras who were in the lowest rung of the social ladder.
Tantra had a different approach to life and salvation. It sought to show the way to liberation here in life not by denial of worldly pleasures. For the followers of Tantra, the body was the microcosm and was to be kept fit for Tantric devotion. Women and Sudras were given by Tantra many facilities for religious practices. The rigours of caste-system were considerably relaxed. The acquisition of virtues was considered more important than the accident of birth.
In the modern society of India, the traditional scriptural injunctions are yielding place to rational thinking. Those, who do not know much of Tantra, are vociferously decrying ancient Indian values categorically. For reforming the society in keeping with modern ideas, the Tantra-sastra should be cultivated. But, in the busy life of today, with tension and turmoil, it is not possible for one to delve deep into Tantra.
The present work is designed to give, in a succinct form, the reader an idea about the highlights of Tantra. In the introduction, we have briefly dealt with the important matters relating to this literature. It is followed by short accounts of the important authors and works on Tantra. In a glossary, the difficult words and technical terms have been explained. A separate glossary of scientific terms has also been added. The bibliography is fairly exhaustive.
The labours of the author will be rewarded if the work goes some way in familiarizing the readers with the contents of Tantra, both Hindu and Buddhist.
Contents
Preface 7
Abbreviations 9
Important Dates 10
I Introduction 11
II Tantric Elements in Post-Vedic Sanskrit Literature 33
III Tantric Saivism of Kashmir 39
IV Tantric Lexicons 61
V Science in Tantra 65
VI Society Reflected in Tantra 81
VII Authors of Tantras and Commentaries 89
IX Hindu Tantras 117
X Buddhist Tantras 233
Appendix I: Phthasthanas 247
Appendix II: Miscellaneous Tantric Works and Commentaries 248
Glossary (General) 251
Glossary of Scientific Terms 298
Select Bibliography 307
Index 341
From The Jacket
Tantra is a distinct philosophical system. Many feel eager to know about it, but few love the time and energy to understand. The intricacies of Tantra. So, a short-cut is necessary.
In the present work, an attempt has been made to set forth the highlights of the Tantra works and their authors. A bibliography, intended to help further reading, has been added.
The author, a lifelong researcher in Sanskrit, has been a teacher of the subject. He has some 60 works to his credit. His only aim is to propogate Sanskrit learning.
Preface
The elements of Tantra are found in the Atharvaveda and, in a lesser degree, in the Rgveda. These relate to the mundane life of the people, and reflect their aspirations for material well-being. We see, in them, how people wanted to have long life, keep off diseases and thwart the activities of ghosts, supposed to cause harm to them. Magic, both beneficial to themselves and harmful to their enemies, figures prominently.
In course of time, side by side with the elitist works, Tantras having a populist appeal came to be composed. It seems that Tantras arose as a protest against the traditional scriptures which insisted on self-mortification and austerities, etc. as means to the attainment of emancipation of the soul from the bondage of rebirths. In doing so, they prescribed rituals which were denied to women and the Sudras who were in the lowest rung of the social ladder.
Tantra had a different approach to life and salvation. It sought to show the way to liberation here in life not by denial of worldly pleasures. For the followers of Tantra, the body was the microcosm and was to be kept fit for Tantric devotion. Women and Sudras were given by Tantra many facilities for religious practices. The rigours of caste-system were considerably relaxed. The acquisition of virtues was considered more important than the accident of birth.
In the modern society of India, the traditional scriptural injunctions are yielding place to rational thinking. Those, who do not know much of Tantra, are vociferously decrying ancient Indian values categorically. For reforming the society in keeping with modern ideas, the Tantra-sastra should be cultivated. But, in the busy life of today, with tension and turmoil, it is not possible for one to delve deep into Tantra.
The present work is designed to give, in a succinct form, the reader an idea about the highlights of Tantra. In the introduction, we have briefly dealt with the important matters relating to this literature. It is followed by short accounts of the important authors and works on Tantra. In a glossary, the difficult words and technical terms have been explained. A separate glossary of scientific terms has also been added. The bibliography is fairly exhaustive.
The labours of the author will be rewarded if the work goes some way in familiarizing the readers with the contents of Tantra, both Hindu and Buddhist.
Contents
Preface 7
Abbreviations 9
Important Dates 10
I Introduction 11
II Tantric Elements in Post-Vedic Sanskrit Literature 33
III Tantric Saivism of Kashmir 39
IV Tantric Lexicons 61
V Science in Tantra 65
VI Society Reflected in Tantra 81
VII Authors of Tantras and Commentaries 89
IX Hindu Tantras 117
X Buddhist Tantras 233
Appendix I: Phthasthanas 247
Appendix II: Miscellaneous Tantric Works and Commentaries 248
Glossary (General) 251
Glossary of Scientific Terms 298
Select Bibliography 307
Index 341
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Smith takes rightful place among top actors with 'Hancock'
This is my take on Ryan Kathman’s review of the Will Smith’s movie Hancock.
First, I must say that I completely, unequivocally, and absolutely LOVED the movie. The dramatic twists and turns in the movie made it even more enjoyable, as life is full of surprises. Hence, after more than twenty years of acting, (Jason) Batman got his do. Hancock appears to be a defining moment for Jason Batman as a movie star; finally. The consummate professional and movie star Mr. Smith has brought creditability to the superhero genre for us 30Somethings in the way Robert Downey, jr. brought it to the 40Somethings in Iron man. I’ve posted the review because Ryan expressed my sentiments about the movie exactly. Surprisingly, the critics were split. However, with $107 million at the box office, it’s clear the public loved it. It appears…the people have spoken.
Ryan Kathman wrote in the DailyNabraskan.com news:
Now that Tom Cruise has officially become irrelevant, Tom Hanks has settled nicely into middle age, Johnny Depp continues to explore only quirky territory (thankfully) and Brad Pitt's love life seems more important than his screen life, is there truly any bigger marquee actor than Will Smith?
Sure, George Clooney is a "movie star" in the classic sense, and Steve Carell or Jim Carrey definitely have the comedy genre locked down, but when it comes to the summer blockbuster, popcorn movie-you've-been-waiting-for, Hollywood's been telling us for years that Smith is the hot ticket and we seem happy to agree.
But unlike the Cruises and Keanu Reeveses whose stars have ultimately faded due to a lack of range and/or appeal, Smith proves again in his latest July 4 tent-pole flick "Hancock" why he actually deserves to be the undisputed king of the box office.
First of all, Smith turns a potentially one-note concept cooked up by two TV writers (Vincent Ngo and Vince Gilligan) into a flesh-and-blood character.
Instead of just a misanthropic superhero who makes all of L.A. angry with him because of the damage he causes while saving the day, in Smith's hands, Hancock is a hilariously bitter and reluctant hero who turns to liquor not as an amusing plot device, but as a refuge to numb his confusion over his own identity (if you mixed Jason Bourne with Superman - minus the tights - and TV's House, you'd have Hancock). The reason all those previews seem a bit stilted is because the caustic Hancock is generous with the expletives and the likable Smith delivers his most "colorful" lines with verve.
Secondly, the star knows how to pick good projects with pedigreed collaborators. Peter Berg - the brilliant actor-turned-auteur behind both film and television versions of "Friday Night Lights" as well as last year's excellent Iraq War pic "The Kingdom" - has joined fellow thesp John Favreau (who helmed "Iron Man," the new superhero standard) as a new crop of filmmakers who will hopefully dethrone Michael Bay and Brett Ratner so our future blockbusters will actually have substance as well as style.
Berg's hand-held, overlapping dialogue technique lends an authenticity to the film that helps it stand apart in the superhero genre by giving us a recognizable world instead of Metropolis or Gotham.
Berg and Smith have some help, of course, from great supporting turns by the reliably hilarious Jason Bateman as a PR consultant who offers to help clean up Hancock's image, and the unfairly beautiful and talented Charlize Theron as Bateman's wife. It's nice to see Bateman really start to carve out a niche on the big screen in his largest film role yet and Theron holds her own against Smith while letting her beauty be secondary to her acting.
The team manages to highlight the mediocre script's strengths - Smith and Bateman's scenes as well as Hancock's early verbal sparring with ungrateful citizens - while downplaying its weaknesses such as the occasionally corny theme about trying to change the world. As for those who might complain about a plot twist that seems a bit telegraphed, I would argue that the reveal is all the more rewarding for its expertly placed foreshadowing.
Ultimately, the movie works because of Smith's unique blend of the everyman qualities he's had on display since 1994's "Independence Day" (his first blockbuster), the colorful comic timing that made "Men In Black" and "Bad Boys" great rides, and the dramatic chops he flashed way back in "Six Degrees of Separation" only to fully realize in "Ali" and "The Pursuit of Happyness."
In last year's grossly underappreciated "I Am Legend," Smith was the movie, delivering a powerhouse performance that made Hanks' "Cast Away" look like a day at the beach. There's a stoic sadness that bridges his "Legend" character to "Hancock," making it even harder to remember that this is the same cocky young kid who introduced rap music to the mainstream and sometimes looked wide-eyed and awkward in his cheesy early 1990s sitcom.
But because he transcends racial barriers while never failing to embrace his own roots, because he actually shares his scenes with other actors instead of demanding the spotlight, and because he hasn't yet had a meltdown on Oprah or got into a screaming match with Matt Lauer, Smith has earned his place atop the list of marquee male stars.
Let's just hope all those Scientology rumors aren't true.
Source: Reviewed by Ryan Kathman’s in the Dailynabaskan.com
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
AP tally: Obama effectively clinches nomination
By DAVID ESPO and STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press Writers
WASHINGTON - Barack Obama effectively clinched the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday, becoming the first black candidate to lead a major party into a campaign for the White House. Vanquished rival Hillary Rodham Clinton swiftly signaled an interest in joining the ticket as running mate.
Obama arranged a victory celebration at the site of this summer's Republican National Convention — an in-your-face gesture to Sen. John McCain, who will be his opponent in the race to become the nation's 44th president.
The 46-year-old Obama built a grass roots campain that outlasted and outcampaigned Clinton in a historic campaign that sparked record turnouts in primary after primary, yet exposed deep racial and gender divisions within the party.
In a campaign of surprises, Clinton's comments about joining the ticket rated high.
According to one participant in an afternoon conference call among Clinton and members of the New York congressional delegation, Rep. Lydia Velasquez said she believed the best way for Obama to win over Hispanics and members of other key voting blocs would be to take the former first lady as his running mate.
"I am open to it," Clinton replied, if it would help the party's prospects in November, said the participant, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the call was a private matter.
Obama sealed his victory based on public declarations from delegates as well as from an additional 18 who had confirmed their intentions to the AP. The count also included five delegates Obama was guaranteed as long as he gained 15 percent of the vote in South Dakota and Montana later in the day. It takes 2,118 delegates to clinch the nomination.
Clinton stood ready to concede that her rival had amassed the delegates needed to triumph, according to officials in her campaign. They stressed that the New York senator did not intend to suspend or end her candidacy in a speech Tuesday night in New York. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they had not been authorized to divulge her plans.
Obama's triumph was fashioned on prodigious fundraising, meticulous organizing and his theme of change aimed at an electorate opposed to the Iraq war and worried about the economy — all harnessed to his own innate gifts as a campaigner.
With her husband's two-White House terms as a backdrop, Clinton campaigned for months as the candidate of experience, a former first lady and second-term senator ready, she said, to take over on Day One.
But after a year on the campaign trail, Obama won the kickoff Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3, and the freshman senator became something of an overnight political phenomenon.
"We came together as Democrats, as Republicans and independents, to stand up and say we are one nation, we are one people and our time for change has come," he said that night in Des Moines.
A video produced by Will I. Am and built around Obama's "Yes, we can" rallying cry quickly went viral. It drew its one millionth hit within a few days of being posted.
As the strongest female presidential candidate in history, Clinton drew large, enthusiastic audiences. Yet Obama's were bigger still. One audience, in Dallas, famously cheered when he blew his nose on stage; a crowd of 75,000 turned out in Portland, Ore., the weekend before the state's May 20 primary.
The former first lady countered Obama's Iowa victory with an upset five days later in New Hampshire that set the stage for a campaign marathon as competitive as any in the last generation.
"Over the last week I listened to you, and in the process I found my own voice," she told supporters who had saved her candidacy from an early demise.
In defeat, Obama's aides concluded they had committed a cardinal sin of New Hampshire politics, forsaking small, intimate events in favor of speeches to large audiences inviting them to ratify Iowa's choice.
It was not a mistake they made again — which helped explain Obama's later outings to bowling alleys, backyard basketball hoops and American Legion halls in the heartland.
Clinton conceded nothing, memorably knocking back a shot of Crown Royal whiskey at a bar in Indiana, recalling that her grandfather had taught her to use a shotgun, and driving in a pickup to a gas station in South Bend, Ind., to emphasize her support for a summertime suspension of the federal gasoline tax.
As other rivals quickly fell away in winter, the strongest black candidate in history and the strongest female White House contender traded victories on Super Tuesday, the Feb. 5 series of primaries and caucuses across 21 states and American Samoa that once seemed likely to settle the nomination.
But Clinton had a problem that Obama exploited, and he scored a coup she could not answer.
Pressed for cash, the former first lady ran noncompetitive campaigns in several Super Tuesday caucus states, allowing her rival to run up his delegate totals.
At the same time, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., endorsed the young senator in terms that summoned memories of his slain brothers while seeking to turn the page on the Clinton era.
In a reference that likened former President Clinton to Harry Truman: "There was another time, when another young candidate was running for president and challenging America to cross a new frontier. He faced criticism from the preceding Democratic president, who was widely respected in the party."
Merely by surviving Super Tuesday, Obama exceeded expectations.
But he did more than survive, emerging with a lead in delegates that he never relinquished, and proceeded to run off a string of 11 straight victories.
Clinton saved her candidacy once more with primary victories in Ohio and Texas on March 4, beginning a stretch in which she won primaries in six of the final nine states on the calendar, as well as in Puerto Rico.
It was a strong run, providing glimpses of what might have been for the one-time front-runner.
But by then Obama was well on his way to victory, Clinton and her allies stressed the popular vote instead of delegates. Yet he seemed to emerge from each loss with residual strength.
Obama's bigger-than-expected victory in North Carolina on May 6 offset his narrow defeat in Indiana the same day. Four days later, he overtook Clinton's lead among superdelegates, the party leaders she had hoped would award her the nomination on the basis of a strong showing in swing states.
Obama lost West Virginia by a whopping 67 percent to 26 percent on May 13. Yet he won an endorsement the following day from former presidential rival and one-time North Carolina Sen. John Edwards.
Clinton administered another drubbing in Kentucky a week later. This time, Obama countered with a victory in Oregon, and turned up that night in Iowa to say he had won a majority of all the delegates available in 56 primaries and caucuses on the calendar.
There were moments of anger, notably in a finger-wagging debate in South Carolina on Jan. 21.
Obama told the former first lady he was helping unemployed workers on the streets of Chicago when "you were a corporate lawyer sitting on the board at Wal-Mart."
Moments later, Clinton said that she was fighting against misguided Republican policies "when you were practicing law and representing your contributor ... in his slum landlord business in inner city Chicago."
And Bill Clinton was a constant presence and an occasional irritant for Obama. The former president angered several black politicians when he seemed to diminish Obama's South Carolina triumph by noting that Jesse Jackson had also won the state.
Obama's frustration showed at the Jan. 21 debate, when he accused the former president in absentia of uttering a series of distortions.
"I'm here. He's not," the former first lady snapped.
"Well, I can't tell who I'm running against sometimes," Obama countered.
There were relatively few policy differences. Clinton accused Obama of backing a health care plan that would leave millions out, and the two clashed repeatedly over trade.
Yet race, religion, region and gender became political fault lines as the two campaigned from coast to coast.
Along the way, Obama showed an ability to weather the inevitable controversies, most notably one caused by the incendiary rhetoric of his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
At first, Obama said he could not break with his longtime spiritual adviser. Then, when Wright spoke out anew, Obama reversed course and denounced him strongly.
Clinton struggled with self-inflicted wounds. Most prominently, she claimed to have come under sniper fire as first lady more than a decade earlier while paying a visit to Bosnia.
Instead, videotapes showed her receiving a gift of flowers from a young girl who greeted her plane
WASHINGTON - Barack Obama effectively clinched the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday, becoming the first black candidate to lead a major party into a campaign for the White House. Vanquished rival Hillary Rodham Clinton swiftly signaled an interest in joining the ticket as running mate.
Obama arranged a victory celebration at the site of this summer's Republican National Convention — an in-your-face gesture to Sen. John McCain, who will be his opponent in the race to become the nation's 44th president.
The 46-year-old Obama built a grass roots campain that outlasted and outcampaigned Clinton in a historic campaign that sparked record turnouts in primary after primary, yet exposed deep racial and gender divisions within the party.
In a campaign of surprises, Clinton's comments about joining the ticket rated high.
According to one participant in an afternoon conference call among Clinton and members of the New York congressional delegation, Rep. Lydia Velasquez said she believed the best way for Obama to win over Hispanics and members of other key voting blocs would be to take the former first lady as his running mate.
"I am open to it," Clinton replied, if it would help the party's prospects in November, said the participant, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the call was a private matter.
Obama sealed his victory based on public declarations from delegates as well as from an additional 18 who had confirmed their intentions to the AP. The count also included five delegates Obama was guaranteed as long as he gained 15 percent of the vote in South Dakota and Montana later in the day. It takes 2,118 delegates to clinch the nomination.
Clinton stood ready to concede that her rival had amassed the delegates needed to triumph, according to officials in her campaign. They stressed that the New York senator did not intend to suspend or end her candidacy in a speech Tuesday night in New York. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they had not been authorized to divulge her plans.
Obama's triumph was fashioned on prodigious fundraising, meticulous organizing and his theme of change aimed at an electorate opposed to the Iraq war and worried about the economy — all harnessed to his own innate gifts as a campaigner.
With her husband's two-White House terms as a backdrop, Clinton campaigned for months as the candidate of experience, a former first lady and second-term senator ready, she said, to take over on Day One.
But after a year on the campaign trail, Obama won the kickoff Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3, and the freshman senator became something of an overnight political phenomenon.
"We came together as Democrats, as Republicans and independents, to stand up and say we are one nation, we are one people and our time for change has come," he said that night in Des Moines.
A video produced by Will I. Am and built around Obama's "Yes, we can" rallying cry quickly went viral. It drew its one millionth hit within a few days of being posted.
As the strongest female presidential candidate in history, Clinton drew large, enthusiastic audiences. Yet Obama's were bigger still. One audience, in Dallas, famously cheered when he blew his nose on stage; a crowd of 75,000 turned out in Portland, Ore., the weekend before the state's May 20 primary.
The former first lady countered Obama's Iowa victory with an upset five days later in New Hampshire that set the stage for a campaign marathon as competitive as any in the last generation.
"Over the last week I listened to you, and in the process I found my own voice," she told supporters who had saved her candidacy from an early demise.
In defeat, Obama's aides concluded they had committed a cardinal sin of New Hampshire politics, forsaking small, intimate events in favor of speeches to large audiences inviting them to ratify Iowa's choice.
It was not a mistake they made again — which helped explain Obama's later outings to bowling alleys, backyard basketball hoops and American Legion halls in the heartland.
Clinton conceded nothing, memorably knocking back a shot of Crown Royal whiskey at a bar in Indiana, recalling that her grandfather had taught her to use a shotgun, and driving in a pickup to a gas station in South Bend, Ind., to emphasize her support for a summertime suspension of the federal gasoline tax.
As other rivals quickly fell away in winter, the strongest black candidate in history and the strongest female White House contender traded victories on Super Tuesday, the Feb. 5 series of primaries and caucuses across 21 states and American Samoa that once seemed likely to settle the nomination.
But Clinton had a problem that Obama exploited, and he scored a coup she could not answer.
Pressed for cash, the former first lady ran noncompetitive campaigns in several Super Tuesday caucus states, allowing her rival to run up his delegate totals.
At the same time, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., endorsed the young senator in terms that summoned memories of his slain brothers while seeking to turn the page on the Clinton era.
In a reference that likened former President Clinton to Harry Truman: "There was another time, when another young candidate was running for president and challenging America to cross a new frontier. He faced criticism from the preceding Democratic president, who was widely respected in the party."
Merely by surviving Super Tuesday, Obama exceeded expectations.
But he did more than survive, emerging with a lead in delegates that he never relinquished, and proceeded to run off a string of 11 straight victories.
Clinton saved her candidacy once more with primary victories in Ohio and Texas on March 4, beginning a stretch in which she won primaries in six of the final nine states on the calendar, as well as in Puerto Rico.
It was a strong run, providing glimpses of what might have been for the one-time front-runner.
But by then Obama was well on his way to victory, Clinton and her allies stressed the popular vote instead of delegates. Yet he seemed to emerge from each loss with residual strength.
Obama's bigger-than-expected victory in North Carolina on May 6 offset his narrow defeat in Indiana the same day. Four days later, he overtook Clinton's lead among superdelegates, the party leaders she had hoped would award her the nomination on the basis of a strong showing in swing states.
Obama lost West Virginia by a whopping 67 percent to 26 percent on May 13. Yet he won an endorsement the following day from former presidential rival and one-time North Carolina Sen. John Edwards.
Clinton administered another drubbing in Kentucky a week later. This time, Obama countered with a victory in Oregon, and turned up that night in Iowa to say he had won a majority of all the delegates available in 56 primaries and caucuses on the calendar.
There were moments of anger, notably in a finger-wagging debate in South Carolina on Jan. 21.
Obama told the former first lady he was helping unemployed workers on the streets of Chicago when "you were a corporate lawyer sitting on the board at Wal-Mart."
Moments later, Clinton said that she was fighting against misguided Republican policies "when you were practicing law and representing your contributor ... in his slum landlord business in inner city Chicago."
And Bill Clinton was a constant presence and an occasional irritant for Obama. The former president angered several black politicians when he seemed to diminish Obama's South Carolina triumph by noting that Jesse Jackson had also won the state.
Obama's frustration showed at the Jan. 21 debate, when he accused the former president in absentia of uttering a series of distortions.
"I'm here. He's not," the former first lady snapped.
"Well, I can't tell who I'm running against sometimes," Obama countered.
There were relatively few policy differences. Clinton accused Obama of backing a health care plan that would leave millions out, and the two clashed repeatedly over trade.
Yet race, religion, region and gender became political fault lines as the two campaigned from coast to coast.
Along the way, Obama showed an ability to weather the inevitable controversies, most notably one caused by the incendiary rhetoric of his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
At first, Obama said he could not break with his longtime spiritual adviser. Then, when Wright spoke out anew, Obama reversed course and denounced him strongly.
Clinton struggled with self-inflicted wounds. Most prominently, she claimed to have come under sniper fire as first lady more than a decade earlier while paying a visit to Bosnia.
Instead, videotapes showed her receiving a gift of flowers from a young girl who greeted her plane
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Obama's political team out-organized Clinton
By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Call them Kool-Aid drinkers. Political romantics. Starry-eyed dreamers.
But as the marathon Democratic primary campaign nears an end, Barack Obama's staff is on the verge of vindicating its belief that the eloquent black freshman senator from Illinois was a unique candidate who could win the Democratic nomination in one of the biggest upsets in presidential politics.
The band of Obama loyalists who imagined that could happen have stunned even themselves with their success against Hillary Rodham Clinton, who appeared to have wrapped up the nomination last year, before any votes were cast. Now, they face a new challenge with the impending nomination and campaign against Republican John McCain.
If they succeed, many team members could be helping run the country eight months from now. Presidents often appoint campaign advisers to top administration jobs.
The team was led by calm and focused campaign manager David Plouffe; their strategy was inspired by the candidate's experience as a community organizer. They built a campaign designed to accomplish what other political sensations like Gary Hart and Howard Dean failed to do — turn the energy and excitement of the Obama phenomenon into long-term results.
"I think everyone knew realistically that he was starting as an underdog," said longtime friend and adviser Valerie Jarrett. "But I don't think he would have started down this path with a team that didn't think he would win. It was going to be an uphill battle, but in the end I think we were all confident that it could be done and that he could do it."
Matching Obama's organizing background, the team has roots in conducting on-the-ground congressional campaigns across the country. Many top aides were groomed by former House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt and former Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle instead of by the Clinton wing of the party. Clinton's team was built with Washington and New York operatives.
From its experience in congressional races, the Obama team understood firsthand the extent of Clinton fatigue in the heartland and the lesson of the 2006 midterm elections: America wants change.
Obama's chief directive for hiring the more than 700 staff members who eventually came to work for him was: No Drama Allowed. Obama's even demeanor is reflected in the advisers closest to him. While Clinton's campaign divided into conflicting power centers whose emotional disputes leaked publicly, any fights in the Obama campaign were kept in the family.
Plouffe embodies Obama's vision — a steady and unemotional number cruncher averse to the limelight, able to tune out noise and focus on the moves needed to reach the end game. Plouffe was the mastermind of Obama's long-range campaign plan that looked beyond the Feb. 5 Super Tuesday primaries that Clinton had predicted would deliver the nomination to her. He dispatched staff to states that Clinton's campaign overlooked, particularly small caucus states where intensive organization produced wins that swelled Obama's delegate lead.
A Gephardt guy, Plouffe had worked on campaigns that went broke, so he was notoriously cheap. Obama attracted a talented staff willing to work for much less than they could have made with Clinton. Plouffe carefully minded the bank account to preserve enough money to keep running after the wildly expensive Super Tuesday contests while Clinton's campaign went broke. She had to lend it $11.4 million to stay afloat.
In the month after Super Tuesday, Obama won 11 straight contests and took a delegate lead that Clinton has not been able to erase.
That's not to say Obama's campaign plan worked flawlessly. The initial plan was to turn a win in Iowa into a win in New Hampshire that would make his nomination unstoppable, but Clinton defeated him in New Hampshire and the campaign dragged on for months.
Now the team must reunite the fractured party and introduce Obama to a whole new swath of voters as he takes on a well-known war hero with bipartisan appeal. The campaign is rapidly adding new people, like experienced communications strategist Anita Dunn, who is married to campaign general counsel Bob Bauer and recently joined Obama's inner circle.
Obama's other closest advisers:
• David Axelrod, a former newspaper columnist who shares Obama's talent with words, is the most experienced and visible political strategist. An idealist who exudes enthusiasm for his candidate, Axelrod helps buck Obama up on the road. Also from Chicago, he can play down-and-dirty politics with a Midwestern smile.
• Jarrett, who has helped guide Obama's entire political career, brings blunt assessments only a longtime friend can provide. Jarrett has known the Obamas since before they were married, when she hired Michelle to work for Chicago Mayor Richard Daley. Known to be cool under pressure, she stepped up her campaign role last fall when Obama was a distant second to Clinton. Bringing a fresh outsider perspective, she held staff accountable.
• Pete Rouse, who has run Obama's Senate office, is known for loyalty and a self-effacing manner. Rouse brings expert knowledge of Washington to a team based in Chicago. He protects Obama's standing in the capital city and has brought in other D.C. operatives, particularly from the Daschle fold where he used to run things.
• Robert Gibbs, who has been at Obama's side since his Senate campaign, is communications director. A Southerner and tough fighter, Gibbs is a passionate defender and can channel the candidate's thoughts. He's also among a few who can frankly tell Obama what needs to improve.
• Michelle Obama, the candidate's wife, is his closest confidant. She often says, "I'm not his senior adviser, I'm his wife." But she also talks about how dinner conversations about their family are what's in his mind when he's crafting policy. She's the ultimate truth teller to the candidate; he calls her for feedback after debates. She has led the campaign's outreach to female voters: As a lawyer and hospital executive, she provides evidence that Obama respects strong women even as he's campaigning against one.
Another crucial adviser is Steve Hildebrand, who oversaw state-by-state efforts to run up Obama wins. Other key team members are finance chairwoman Penny Pritzker, finance director Julianna Smoot, policy director Heather Higginbottom, scheduling director Alyssa Mastromonaco, deputy communications director Dan Pfeiffer, national press secretary Bill Burton, economics adviser Austan Goolsbee and foreign policy aides Anthony Lake and Susan Rice.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Gagosian has become a work of Art in Love
Shala Monroque and Larry Gagosian at the Brooklyn Ball. They honored developer Bruce Ratner at the Brooklyn Museum’s annual Brooklyn Ball this past Thursday night and marked it with the opening of the Takashi Murakami retrospective. 
Left: Shala Monroque and Larry Gagosian. (Photo: Stefanie Keenan for Patrick McMullan) Right: Artist Ellsworth Kelly. (Photo: Brian Lindensmith for Patrick McMullan They honored developer Bruce Ratner at the Brooklyn Museum’s annual Brooklyn Ball this past Thursday night and the marked it with the opening of the Takashi Murakami retrospective.
Shala Monroque, Larry Gagosian, and Andy Valmorbida front row at "Warhol Factory X LEVI'S X Damien Hirst" Spring 2008 Collection at Gagosian Gallery. Fashion Week. The entertainment/social budgets get bigger every year. After the runway shows which are ostensibly in the Bryant Park tents, but are actually all over town, there are the parties--------
Gagosian the great
Aug 18th 2007
From Economist.com
Master of all he surveys (then sells)
THE king of the art world—a superlative title, perhaps, but Larry Gagosian just may deserve it. Each year ArtReview, an art journal, publishes a list of the industry’s top 100 movers and shakers in an attempt to assess who has the greatest impact on art’s value and reputation. Museum directors, auction-house owners, private collectors, dealers and even, occasionally, artists jostle for the top position. Mr Gagosian topped the list in 2004, and has lingered near the peak since.
In that triumphant year Mr Gagosian, New York’s leading dealer, had just opened his fifth gallery, in London’s Britannia Street, to balance his three in New York City, the one in Beverly Hills and his smaller space in London’s Mayfair. At 1,400 square metres, it is the largest and most splendid commercial gallery space in London. Its opening—Cy Twombly, a distinguished American artist, had been persuaded to create new work specially, and even Charles Saatchi predicted it would transform London’s art world—firmly established Mr Gagosian’s transatlantic dominion.
So what makes a successful dealer, and what is the nature of his power? Mr Gagosian is famous for his bold business dealings and glamorous lifestyle. He has a penchant for fast cars and beautiful women, and a vast home in East Hampton called Toad Hall.
Yet beneath this predictable exterior lies a true entrepreneurial instinct for the buying and selling of art. Mr Gagosian started his career, in Los Angeles, by buying posters for $2, framing them and selling them for $15. His energy in exploiting the possibilities of the secondary fine-art market in the early 1980s—buying and then reselling work by blue-chip modern and contemporary artists for a considerable profit—established his reputation, earning him the nickname “Go-Go”. Starting out in downtown New York in the mid-1980s doing historical shows, it was the lull in the art market in the early 1990s that offered Mr Gagosian his next opportunity. He began to represent living artists.
Driven and a workaholic, unafraid to bid aggressively at auction, he has a legendary capacity to drive up prices: fellow dealers enviously explain that he is consistently ahead of the game, always thinking about the next deal. Cristina Ruiz, editor of the Art Newspaper, has a judicious summation: “He loves the art—but he is one of those dealers who absolutely loves to sell, and he is very successful at it. Yes, he employs aggressive selling techniques, but that’s how dealers get stuff done.”
Todd Eberle
Cultural revolutionaryPerhaps his greatest achievement has been to win the trust of both artists and collectors. He represents the cream of contemporary American and many British artists. His arsenal of big names includes Richard Serra, Walter De Maria, Jeff Koons, Ed Ruscha, Howard Hodgkin and Rachel Whiteread. In New York he shows Damien Hirst, Douglas Gordon and Jenny Saville. Mr Gagosian also represents the estates of Andy Warhol, Willem de Kooning, Roy Lichtenstein and David Smith. Alongside these stars, he continues to show the work of lesser known artists, fostering the next generation.
As Mr Gagosian admitted in a rare public speech, one steady priority has been “to find or create a great space, a beautiful space, in which to show the art. You have to draw attention to yourself, to the gallery and to your artists.” Three of his galleries are by world-class architects—Richard Meier in Beverly Hills, Richard Gluckman in Chelsea and Caruso St John in Britannia Street—and the shows he creates in these remarkable spaces are knowledgably curated, equal in quality to fine museum exhibitions.
Another key priority has been the establishment of long-term relationships with serious collectors. As he has described it, he is averse to “transactional sales”, the one-off arrangement, and prefers “working steadily, over time, with collectors, and helping create or expand their collections.” He works closely with big-name collectors such as Charles Saatchi, Eli Broad, Si Newhouse and David Geffen.
Mr Gagosian is a master not just at selling, but, even more importantly, at selling to the right collector at the right price; for it is not just the deal that is at stake but the global market perception of that artist. For this reason Mr Gagosian avoids what he calls “impatient money”, which sees art only as a quick investment. It is this ability to understand art as a matter of love as well as money that has given Mr Gagosian so much power—not just to make himself a fortune but to shape the taste of a generation.
http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=9673257&fsrc=RSS
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Artmosphere Cafe
Meet Friends, Have meetings, See live Entertainment, Eat good and more, at our café in Metropolitan Washington DC. Come join us at 3311 Rhode Island Avenue Mount Rainier, Maryland 20712. Mount Rainier’s Atmosphere Café is a great place for Artist and community to merge coffee with creativity. Music and poetry is a delight to my ears. To Artists, by Artists for the community; it’s like bringing a taste of Brooklyn to Maryland.
DIFFA Dining by Design
David Patrick reported, DIFFA: Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS, launched its 2008 dining by Design National Tour at Skylight on 275 Hudson Street in NYC. This is the 11th National Tour of Dining by Design. Conde’ Nast Media Group has joined the 2008 tour as national media partner. DIFFA brought together a talented and intriguing cast of designers, artists and personalities to put a spotlight on stylish and outlandish trends in design. Following New York, Dining by Design will tour seven cities nationwide including Kansas City, Los Angeles, Dallas, Atlanta, San Francisco, Chicago, and Boston. Apparently, the designers were not impressed with décor and presentation. The dinner party had all the makings of frump, if not for the company at hand. I am sure it was a wonderful dinner party, however, Conde' Nast has a reputation of being associated with only the best design presentations. The dinner party looks as if it were put together by a child. It certainly doesn’t appear that the designers and artists sitting around that table were pleased. Although, a dinner party is about connecting with friends through good conversation, good food, good wine and good humor, the culinary experience has a visual and esthetic aspect which artists have particular sensitivity. Not to worry, they will get over it; maybe the dinner parties in Chicago or San Francisco will meet their standards, and possibly warrant a picture in a Conde’ Nast publication.
Friday, April 4, 2008
On April 4, 1968 Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis TN
Double click bottom arrow to remember Dr. King's humanity & sacrifice.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Whopper Bars could be the Starbucks of Burgers
Burger King has re-invented itself, with the Whopper Bars. Oh Dear, what is this world coming too? This presents a really serious problem for me, because I already should attend cheeseburgers anonymous. This will only further feed my addiction to cheeseburgers. For years, I have tried to kick the habit, but keep relapsing. There are 36 addictive carcinogenics in beef, I am almost positive that must be the reason I keep going back to cheeseburgers. I am now on a diet. After a year of being cheeseburger free, as a result of stress, six months ago I begrudgingly but eagerly picked up a double cheeseburger at McDonalds. Hence, 20+ lbs later, those burgers are still calling my name. Therefore, I am trying to reduce my intake, detox and exercise. Frankly, it’s incredibly frustrating. The BK is changing its décor and adding a new experience. If I’m walking through the airport I may not be able to resist the Whopper Bar. Thankfully, they won’t be in malls or open urban venues like a Cosi’s where one could pop in to check email and pick up a burger, because I would be doomed. The Wallstreet Journal announced Burger King Holdings Inc. plans to start building a new version of its restaurants this year called the Whopper Bar that will sell a wider variety of its signature hamburger in a hipper setting. See Wallstreet Journal for complete article.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Playing the Changes, Milt Hinton's Life in Stories and Photophraphs
Remarkable! I saw the award winning documentary of Keeping Time: The Life, Music and Photographs of Milt Hinton, on PBS. I absolutely must get this new book, Playing the Changes. I will sit it on my coffee table next to my Gordon Parks book "Half Past Autum". I think both books are great coffe books because they capture american culture in in it's actuality; which evokes moving conversation. Jazz is the only American art form originating in the United States. As a cultural tradition, I collect jazz prints, jazz music and am trying to learn more about the history and tradition of Jazz. Milt Hinton is the most accomplished and influential base player in the history Jazz, and has become the historian of traditional Jazz. Thankfully his documentation of the artform exists for the Museums, as it is a pivotal part of American history. Thankfully David Berger helped put Milt's massive collection of pictures together and published the work. As it might be the only historical document of the history of jazz, candidly, as it really was. Interestingly, after viewing the documentary, Keeping Time, I realized I have one of Milts pieces; Billy Holiday; the Last recording session. I bought the print in New Orleans 14 years ago. It's framed on my living room wall, but I didn't know the story behind the picture. If you can hear me heaven, thanks Mr. Hinton for describing the story behind that powerful picture; it now has even more meaning to me. I can not waite to get Playing the Changes.
The Words, Images, and Music of One of the Greats In American Jazz New book and cd chronicle the artistic and personal journey of extraordinary bassist Milt Hinton
The life story of Milt Hinton is rooted in hard times, rising from segregated backwater clubs to elegant concert halls, offering a perspective on the African American experience that is unique in its mix of humor and wisdom.
The publication of PLAYING THE CHANGES: Milt Hinton's Life in Stories and Photographs (Vanderbilt University Press, January 2008) not only tells Milt's compelling story, in his own inimitable style, but also exquisitely reproduces 260 of his incredible photographs. He began taking pictures in the 1920s and continued documenting the world that he knew, in and away from the spotlight, up to his death in 2000 at age 90.
These photographs, more than 140 of which are published here for the first time, burst with life--and some would swear sound--revealing candid and often intimate moments of both the famous (Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Duke Ellington) and the not so famous who played alongside them, such as 400-pound arranger/bandleader/organist “Tiny" Parham.
Included with the book is a CD of music and interviews with Milt Hinton, along with a discography and a filmography.
This remarkable book reveals as well that Hinton possessed a gift of narrative. Blessed with a storyteller's facility, he leads the reader back to his first memories as a child in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and even beyond, to his father's African birth and elements of that legacy that lingered in his grandmother's cooking. Through his recollections we feel these times and places, down to the lynching he witnessed at age seven and, nearly as horrible, the surreal stillness of the town the morning after.
Interweaving photos and prose, the book traces Milt's path from Mississippi to Chicago, where he polished his music through the famous Wendell Phillips High School program and earned money running errands for the Al Capone organization. Committing full time to music, Hinton crossed paths with people who seem cut from a mold that was broken long ago. Many have left vivid marks on history, from the legendary boxer Jack Johnson to the incomparable Cab Calloway, with whose band Hinton traveled for many years. Others have been forgotten or died too young, like the tough-talking and brilliantly gifted singer Ann Robinson, whose rise toward fame ended suddenly one night in a Harlem alley.
Combining an acute observational eye with an ear sensitive to music and conversation, Hinton casts these characters in revealing light. He was there to witness a legendary and nearly fatal encounter between Calloway and a knife-wielding Dizzy Gillespie, to help remove the great Charlie Parker, passed out on heroin, from under a table in a bar, and to see the King of Swing, Benny Goodman, playing pinball alone in a Broadway arcade. Whether huddling in the basement of a backwater club as a race riot raged overhead or shaking hands with President John F. Kennedy at a swank soiree, Hinton registers these moments and summons them back to life on every page of Playing the Changes - and in so doing, preserves an important part of America's culture and history for posterity.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS: In 1955, when he was 14, David G. Berger asked Milt Hinton for bass lessons -- thus beginning a friendship and professional partnership that would last more than 40 years. Berger, though, did not follow in his friend's footsteps to become a professional musician; instead he completed a doctorate in sociology and taught at Temple University for 30 years. In 1979, Holly Maxson began organizing Milt's photographs for Hinton and Berger's first book, Bass Line. Maxson and Berger co-direct the Milton J. Hinton Photographic Collection, and in 2002 they completed their award-winning documentary about Milt's life, Keeping Time: The Life, Music and Photographs of Milt Hinton. (Photograph courtesy of The Milton J. Hinton Photographic Collection)
BOOK INFORMATION
PLAYING THE CHANGES: Milt Hinton's Life in Stories and Photographs
By Milt Hinton, David G. Berger, and Holly Maxson
Foreword by Clint Eastwood; Preface by Dan Morgenstern
384 pages, 11 x 9.5 inches, 260 black & white photos, with a CD of interviews and music, discography, filmography
Trade cloth w/CD $75.00 (ISBN 978-0-8265-1574-2)
To be published January 2008 by VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY PRESS
Visit the Milt Hiton website
Milt Hinton at All About Jazz.
The Words, Images, and Music of One of the Greats In American Jazz New book and cd chronicle the artistic and personal journey of extraordinary bassist Milt Hinton
The life story of Milt Hinton is rooted in hard times, rising from segregated backwater clubs to elegant concert halls, offering a perspective on the African American experience that is unique in its mix of humor and wisdom.
The publication of PLAYING THE CHANGES: Milt Hinton's Life in Stories and Photographs (Vanderbilt University Press, January 2008) not only tells Milt's compelling story, in his own inimitable style, but also exquisitely reproduces 260 of his incredible photographs. He began taking pictures in the 1920s and continued documenting the world that he knew, in and away from the spotlight, up to his death in 2000 at age 90.
These photographs, more than 140 of which are published here for the first time, burst with life--and some would swear sound--revealing candid and often intimate moments of both the famous (Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Duke Ellington) and the not so famous who played alongside them, such as 400-pound arranger/bandleader/organist “Tiny" Parham.
Included with the book is a CD of music and interviews with Milt Hinton, along with a discography and a filmography.
This remarkable book reveals as well that Hinton possessed a gift of narrative. Blessed with a storyteller's facility, he leads the reader back to his first memories as a child in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and even beyond, to his father's African birth and elements of that legacy that lingered in his grandmother's cooking. Through his recollections we feel these times and places, down to the lynching he witnessed at age seven and, nearly as horrible, the surreal stillness of the town the morning after.
Interweaving photos and prose, the book traces Milt's path from Mississippi to Chicago, where he polished his music through the famous Wendell Phillips High School program and earned money running errands for the Al Capone organization. Committing full time to music, Hinton crossed paths with people who seem cut from a mold that was broken long ago. Many have left vivid marks on history, from the legendary boxer Jack Johnson to the incomparable Cab Calloway, with whose band Hinton traveled for many years. Others have been forgotten or died too young, like the tough-talking and brilliantly gifted singer Ann Robinson, whose rise toward fame ended suddenly one night in a Harlem alley.
Combining an acute observational eye with an ear sensitive to music and conversation, Hinton casts these characters in revealing light. He was there to witness a legendary and nearly fatal encounter between Calloway and a knife-wielding Dizzy Gillespie, to help remove the great Charlie Parker, passed out on heroin, from under a table in a bar, and to see the King of Swing, Benny Goodman, playing pinball alone in a Broadway arcade. Whether huddling in the basement of a backwater club as a race riot raged overhead or shaking hands with President John F. Kennedy at a swank soiree, Hinton registers these moments and summons them back to life on every page of Playing the Changes - and in so doing, preserves an important part of America's culture and history for posterity.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS: In 1955, when he was 14, David G. Berger asked Milt Hinton for bass lessons -- thus beginning a friendship and professional partnership that would last more than 40 years. Berger, though, did not follow in his friend's footsteps to become a professional musician; instead he completed a doctorate in sociology and taught at Temple University for 30 years. In 1979, Holly Maxson began organizing Milt's photographs for Hinton and Berger's first book, Bass Line. Maxson and Berger co-direct the Milton J. Hinton Photographic Collection, and in 2002 they completed their award-winning documentary about Milt's life, Keeping Time: The Life, Music and Photographs of Milt Hinton. (Photograph courtesy of The Milton J. Hinton Photographic Collection)
BOOK INFORMATION
PLAYING THE CHANGES: Milt Hinton's Life in Stories and Photographs
By Milt Hinton, David G. Berger, and Holly Maxson
Foreword by Clint Eastwood; Preface by Dan Morgenstern
384 pages, 11 x 9.5 inches, 260 black & white photos, with a CD of interviews and music, discography, filmography
Trade cloth w/CD $75.00 (ISBN 978-0-8265-1574-2)
To be published January 2008 by VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY PRESS
Visit the Milt Hiton website
Milt Hinton at All About Jazz.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings on Letterman
Etta James, Patti Labelle, James Brown, Mahalia Jackson and Sharon Brown!
Thank you Sharon Brown for keeping that Funking Soulful fealing in music that moves spirit and touches the depths of our hearts.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Starbucks to Buy Clover
Wow, such synergy. I just read on Conde Nasts Portfolio.com that Starbucks reported in their Annual Shareholders meeting that Starbucks plans to buy the company that makes the Clover. The clover is the rose royce of coffee machines at a price of $11,000. I guess that justifies Starbucks $6 per cut cup of coffee.
Here is what Liz Gunnison reported on Portfolio.com:
Live-Blogging the Starbucks Annual Meeting: Starbucks Buys the Clover
We should have seen it coming with the Pike Place Roast announcement . Not only is Starbucks directing its attentions towards a super-premium coffee blend, but the newest super-premium way to brew it.
Starbucks closed the annual meeting by announcing it would be acquiring The Coffee Equipment Company, the makers of the Clover Brewing System.
What is the Clover? It's a coffee machine - for lack of a more sophisticated term - that is all the rage in the coffee community these days (check out the New York Times article from earlier this year).
Up until now the astronomically expensive machines - which provide a commercial way to produce coffee akin to what's made at home in a french press - have only been in use in only a handful of coffee shops, which charge a large premium for the brew that they make.
Coffee wonks go nuts over this machine, as the brewed coffee it creates is supposedly leaps and bounds above all else in terms of flavor. No specifics out of Starbucks in terms of when and how widely these babies will be rolled out in stores.
Here is what Liz Gunnison reported on Portfolio.com:
Live-Blogging the Starbucks Annual Meeting: Starbucks Buys the Clover
We should have seen it coming with the Pike Place Roast announcement . Not only is Starbucks directing its attentions towards a super-premium coffee blend, but the newest super-premium way to brew it.
Starbucks closed the annual meeting by announcing it would be acquiring The Coffee Equipment Company, the makers of the Clover Brewing System.
What is the Clover? It's a coffee machine - for lack of a more sophisticated term - that is all the rage in the coffee community these days (check out the New York Times article from earlier this year).
Up until now the astronomically expensive machines - which provide a commercial way to produce coffee akin to what's made at home in a french press - have only been in use in only a handful of coffee shops, which charge a large premium for the brew that they make.
Coffee wonks go nuts over this machine, as the brewed coffee it creates is supposedly leaps and bounds above all else in terms of flavor. No specifics out of Starbucks in terms of when and how widely these babies will be rolled out in stores.
Monday, March 10, 2008
The DC Metro Urbanistas Have Claimed The Cork Wine Bar in Logan Circle
Would one be considered a “wino” if one preferred wine to mixed drinks or liquor all the time. If so then call me “willie the wino”, because I prefer Kendall Jackson chardonnay over an apple martini any day. A new wine bar popped up in Logan circle; the Cork Wine Bar. Interestingly, it is very much like the Cork Wine Bar in Ohio. Nevertheless, the DC urbanotic scene seems to love it.
The food is delicious, small plates only, simple foods, and lots of flavor. The wine list is extensive, more than 100 wines by the bottle, focusing on Old World selections, including many organic and sustainable produced wines. Prices range from $6 to $14 by the glass. Tasting wines by the glass can add up, flights are more economical and the bottle could be an even better value. The service is great as well, and staff is well versed in the very wide range of French and Spanish wines available.
The Cork Wine Bar’s crowd consists of the laid back 30something urban dwellers packing in the place with a New York/East Village ambiance. . Hence, Cork wine bar is a cool place to chill out with friends and catch up. It’s extremely crowded which makes it more fun to have “sex in the city” moments with friends. Like Arnold says, “I’ll be back”. Absolutely.
The food is delicious, small plates only, simple foods, and lots of flavor. The wine list is extensive, more than 100 wines by the bottle, focusing on Old World selections, including many organic and sustainable produced wines. Prices range from $6 to $14 by the glass. Tasting wines by the glass can add up, flights are more economical and the bottle could be an even better value. The service is great as well, and staff is well versed in the very wide range of French and Spanish wines available.
The Cork Wine Bar’s crowd consists of the laid back 30something urban dwellers packing in the place with a New York/East Village ambiance. . Hence, Cork wine bar is a cool place to chill out with friends and catch up. It’s extremely crowded which makes it more fun to have “sex in the city” moments with friends. Like Arnold says, “I’ll be back”. Absolutely.
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