Last night I sat on the couch, reading Elvis in Vegas by Richard Zoglin while my beautiful wife, a classically trained musician, tortured herself, as she does every week, by watching The Voice. Aside from John Legend, the show sucks. Singers strutted their stuff and sang covers, poorly, typically off key/just plain out of tune/flat. …
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Not too long ago I wrote about North Park College’s 1985, senior-laden men’s basketball team’s journey to the school’s FOURTH national championship. Coach Bosko led that team in his first year after working as the top assistant coach for many years. Preparing for the 1985-86 season, Bosko now faced fielding his first recruiting class as …
In March 2014, Russia illegally annexed Crimea and the city of Sevastopol – a violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine – in order to have access to the Black Sea. The USA and Europe did nothing to stop the invasion. The former was still mired in Iraq and Afghanistan and Ukraine did not have …
My alma mater, North Park College (now University), completely dominated NCAA Division III Mens Basketball just prior to my arrival on campus. With a cumulative record of 86-10, in 1978, 1979, and 1980, NPC won the national championship three times in a row. Growing up in Minnesota, I never saw any of those early championship …
I stumbled upon a rabbit hole known as archive.org. What a trove of information! If you are a Grateful Dead head (I am not), the website has 15,778 Dead audio files. https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead Are you an Apple geek? https://archive.org/details/manuals-apple Peruse 969 Apple computer manuals. There is a Swedish folk instrument called the nyckelharpa. ‘Tis a strange instrument that …
“Fossil fuel combustion has increased at an exponential rate over the last 100 years” reads the first line of a report with the subject line, “Release of Fossil CO2 and the Possibility of Catastrophic Climate Change.” This was known in the Carter administration. Governmental reports have existed in every administration since then with compelling warnings …
In the early 1980s, George Clinton experienced legal problems with his massive body of musical output after a record label merger. As such, he had stopped his musical career and the P-Funk juggernaut. He did, however, produce Freaky Styley, the second release of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Then rap discovered P-Funk and sampled quite …
Last night I read on www.theguardian.com about a new music documentary, Bitchin: The Sound and Fury of Rick James, will be released soon, but ONLY (WHY???) on Showtime. James Ambrose Johnson Jr, aka, Rick James, rocked my world as an upperclassman at North Park College. Aerosmith, step aside, and let me funk to Street Songs, which included …
“The United States is the greatest purveyor of violence in the world.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Why is the U.S. government so reliant on the use of threats, coercion, and military force around the globe, and why can’t our “policymakers” admit it is not working? The latest death and destruction in Afghanistan, with …
Visited the George Floyd Memorial and Prince’s home/recording studios today. In the first pic (above), the blue chalk locates the exact spot where George was murdered.
I have never seen Jello Biafra perform, witnessed one fantastic performance by The Melvins years ago, and have communed with Ministry at least nine times. Mr. Biafra and The Melvins once collaborated on Never Breathe What You Can’t See, released by Alternative Tentacles, which is Mr. Biafra’s recording label. On this recording, the musicians used …
Al Nakba, 1948 Like the loss of a child, I cannot fathom the emotions and turmoil that Palestinians share while being ruled by military order. In “Is Israel An Apartheid State?,” a summary legal study funded and coordinated by the Government of South Africa, apartheid regimes rely on three pillars to maintain domination. The state codifies into law …
Jim Steinman had “IT.” Writing a musical at 18? His German musical version of “Bat Out of Hell” starred Franziska Schuster. Bat Out of Hell (musical) | Jim Steinman Wiki | Fandom Ms. Schuster is the vocalist in a band called The Huggee Swing Band. It’s song, “Peel Me a Grape, has THREE Youtube (YT) views. …
Remember the hype and saga surrounding the Jackie Robinson West Little League team from Chicago that competed for the Little League championship game in summer 2014? https://www.eastportlandblog.com/2015/02/21/champion-cheaters-by-mark-erickson/ Earlier this week the two lawsuits have been settled/dismissed. The decision by Little League International to strip JRW of its title remains, and the suit against two coaches …
Five years ago today, Prince boarded the Mothership. Yesterday, he sprinkled some Purple Dust on Minnesota. (Chauvin verdict) Live music is returning to Chicago! Less than four miles from my house, https://northshorecenter.org/event/fareed-haque/ Fareed Haque has collaborated with Billy Cobham who is the favorite drummer of my son’s long-time (age 5-16ish) drum instructor. The warmup band, The …
SMHSMHSMH. “I woke up this morning and I got myself a [rude awakening].” George Floyd Part II. WTF! I wrote in August 2020 about George Floyd and my familiarity with the site of the civil unrest in Minneapolis: https://www.eastportlandblog.com/2020/08/24/bola-wrap-non-lethal-police-tool-for-use-in-mental-health-crisis-interventions-by-mark-erickson/ This morning greeted me with the murder of Daunte Wright, another unarmed Black Male being murdered …
https://www.blackagendareport.com/biden-harris-look-ready-keep-us-afghanistan-say-no https://twitter.com/search?q=maydayafghanistan&src=typeahead_click Remember when people lauded the “brave” Afghans for their resolve to beat back the Russkies out of the country during the 1980s occupation? You may not have learned that Russia sent geologists and engineers to survey – not for oil – for mineral wealth. Afghanistan has rich deposits of gold, silver, platinum, copper, …
In the impeachment homestretch, with apologies to AC/DC and one of the greatest rock and roll albums of all time… Hells Bells I’m a rolling ass clown, a pouring rainI’m comin’ on like a hurricaneFake news flashing across the scrollYou’re only young but you’re gonna troll I’ll give you black sedition up and down your …
On Saturday, I heard an interview on my favorite radio show, This Is Hell, hosted by Chuck Mertz on WNUR (89.3 FM in Chicago), with Flint Taylor and Jeffrey Haas. These two guys founded the People’s Law Center. Go to episode 1288 to listen to the interview. https://www.thisishell.com/Haas wrote a book about the Fred Hampton murder. The …
I planned to visit a cemetery this morning on the north side of Chicago, situated less than six miles from my house. On Thursday I called the office to obtain lot information. However, as I drove amidst the works of art, aka grave markers, I realized my incomplete coordinate was no reason to search endlessly. …
2020 needs to go to a corner and think about what it did this past year. What ill would next befall the land? Well, on December 37th, which was the first day of Epiphany where we pray for a shining light to guide us through the darkness, a rabid, repulsive, and revolting mob of insurgents …
A couple months ago I wrote about volunteering at a food pantry on Friday or Saturday morning. In this connection, the Greater Chicago Food Depository distributes food supplies to more than 700 pantries and soup kitchens. Even though I live in the richest nation on the planet, food pantries exist to partially fill a gap in the …
Twenty-four days ago my Dad died after a grueling three-year stay in a nursing home that he called his “jail cell.” Dad succumbed to a rare, progressive and irreversible neurological disease of unknown origin that is not hereditary. I wrote his obituary, and wanted to include Dad’s humble origins, which is why I wrote “born in a …
My wife and I left Illinois for the first time in 2020 to take a much needed break. Earlier this year we canceled trips to Utah (to see several national parks) and to Barcelona. Last week we drove into Michigan to visit the Sleeping Bear dunes and Mackinac Island in lieu of Barcelona to celebrate …
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a pioneer in the women’s rights movement and the second woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, died Friday at age 87 due to complications of pancreatic cancer. She was a survivor of previous battles with cancer. I have read that Justice Ginsburg could not get a job with a law firm …
A couple of weeks ago the local “alternative” radio station, WKQX aka Q101, announced it would devote the entire weekend to playing the “greatest alternative music from the last 50 years”. So all the way back to 1970, I guess! Now, I do sometimes listen to this station for one or two songs, but only …
This past weekend, three months after a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd, which sparked national protests, and protests which are continuing in Portland, a white police officer in Kenosha , WI overreacted and shot Jacob Blake, a Black man, in the back multiple times as he walked from the officer to get into his car with his children inside. …
In 2019, Iceland’s Hatari (meaning “hater” in the native tongue) qualified for the Eurovision music contest, which was created in 1956 in the aftermath of WWII. Tel Aviv, Israel, hosted the event that year, a year that also included the non-violent Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement to support Palestinians trapped in the Israeli apartheid state. …
The new postmaster general, Republican megadonor Louis DeJoy, has been handed the baton to end what I believe is a fantastic program with socialistic ideology (like community colleges). Everybody in the United States can receive mail for the same price. Live in rural America or tribal country or Key West? I can send you a letter for …
I coordinated volunteers and drove a long van (now deemed unsafe due to being prone to tip on its side) and a short bus to the Greater Chicago Food Depository, which is located near Chicago’s Midway airport. The present facility’s size will boggle your mind! Philanthropist Ann Lurie donated money to help construct the building, …