Tidbits - January 29, 2015 - Boehner, Bibi, Israel, Iran; SYRIZA & Podemos Inspire Us; Civil Rights Lessons-Selma & King; and more...

Portside
Reader Comments - Boehner, Netanyahu, Israel and Iran; Labor in the 21st Century; Public School Poverty; Billie Holiday; Pete Seeger; The New Europe - SYRIZA and Podemos; 'American Sniper'; Social Security; Agent Orange; Ukraine; Martin Luther - Militant Radical for Our Times; more... Resource: Energy Democracy in Greece; Announcements (New York)- Sri Lanka Killing Fields documentary; Anniversary of Malcolm X Assassination

Friday Nite Videos -- January 23, 2015

Portside
Rhiannon Giddens -- She's Got You. Love Letters to Richard Dawkins. 'Alabama' John Coltrane and Martin Luther King. The History of Vaccines. Majority Retort.

'Alabama' John Coltrane and Martin Luther King

The composition "Alabama" was released in 1963 shortly after the horrific murder of four little girls in a church in Birmingham, AL. Some jazz writers claim that the tune is not about these four girls. Steve Rowland disagrees and thinks that Coltrane might have based his composition on Martin Luther King's moving eulogy. See what you think!

The Hunting of Billie Holiday - How Lady Day found herself in the middle of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics' early fight for survival

Johann Hari Politico Magazine
Billie Holiday had been effectively murdered by a conspiracy to break her, orchestrated by the narcotics police - but what could she do? At Billie's funeral, there were swarms of police cars, because they feared their actions against her would trigger a riot. In his eulogy for her, the Reverend Eugene Callender said: 'We should not be here. This young lady was gifted by her creator with tremendous talent . . . She should have lived to be at least eighty years old.'

"Café Society Swing" is Glorious Jazz and Troubling History

Lucy Komisar The Komisar Scoop
1948, the tenth birthday of Café Society, where great jazz and cabaret in a corner of Greenwich Village clashed with the worst know-nothings of the McCarthy era. But we're over that now, so come to this musical memoir to enjoy the delicious sounds of the 30s and 40s. And recall how evil the thought police of that era were...the vicious House Un-American Activities Committee (the ironically well-named HUAC) goes after the entertainers. Some get scared.(Closes Jan. 4)

Tidbits - December 18, 2014

Portside
Reader Comments: Congress Plots to Undermine Retiree Pensions; Is It Bad Enough Yet?; Angela Davis: the unbroken line of police violence; James Baldwin on Racism; LAWCHA's Teacher/Public Sector Initiative; #BlackLivesMatter Takes the Field; They Fear and The Kill; Thousands March to Protest Police Brutality; Torture - Senate Report, Lessons from Latin America; Trade; Chanukah 2014; CELEBRATING CHARLIE HADEN memorial and celebration of his life - New York - Jan. 13

Tidbits - July 31, 2014

Portside
Reader Comments - Gaza, Israel, Palestine and the Jewish Community; Water Privatization; Charlie Haden; McDonald's and Low-wage Workers; Portside Book Reviews; Koch Bros.; Universal Soldier; Argentina; HIV; NSA, spying and Saudi Arabia; Public Education; Market Basket Revolt; Immigration Reform Infographic; new poems by Tom Karlson and Alan Gilbert; Afro-American Artists to Present Works in Cuba; Sinéad O'Connor: 'I Won't Play in Israel'

Remembrances of Charlie Haden

Maurice Jackson Portside
Remarks by Georgetown University professor Maurice Jackson at memorial for Charlie Haden, Los Angeles, July 20, 2014. Jackson spoke at the memorial for jazz legend Charlie Haden at the request of his widow, Ruth Cameron.

Friday Nite Videos -- May 30, 2014

Portside
On a cool note, Miles Davis gets a NYC street. Neil deGrasse Tyson on Weather vs Climate Change. What's So Scary About Smart Girls? Maya Angelou - I Am Human. Documentary: 'Daddy I Do'.

Miles Davis Way

On May 24, a crowd of hundreds gathered to mark the renaming of a stretch of West 77th Street in New York City as Miles Davis Way. The remarkable jazz musician Davis, who would have been 88 this week, was a long-time resident of the block now being renamed in his honor. Here is a video of Davis performing So What? 

Subscribe to Jazz