Joshua Chamberlain--American Hero

100 years ago today, in  Portland, Maine, a great American Hero died. His name was Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, and his service to the United States as a soldier, and educator, and a politician spanned more than 50 years. In 1862, Chamberlain, a brilliant young linguist and scholar was on the faculty at Bowdoin College.  He was already in his 30's and already had a wife and small children. But he felt compelled to enlist and serve in the Civil War.  Initially he was second in command of the Twentieth Maine, but was promoted to Colonel just before the battle of Gettysburg, where he led the defense of Little Round Top against Confederates trying to flank the Union lines. He would later receive the Medal of Honor for Little Round Top.

A few months after Gettysburg, he was seriously wounded during the siege of  Petersburg.  It left him with chronic health problems for the rest of his life. Once again, he could have retired, gone home.  But he went back into battle, again and again. He would eventually be promoted to General, and  would be one of the heroes of the battle of Five Forks, which finally forced the confederates to retreat from Petersburg.  He would be chosen by General Grant to receive the surrender of the union army.

The war over, he could have retired back to academia, nursed his wounds, and enjoy his well earned rest, but he didn't.

He served 4 terms as Governor of Maine, and then later as the head of the Maine Militia. During the course of that service he helped put down a conflict over elections. He blocked the doorway to the state capitol, wearing his old uniform, told the mob that they weren't the first group of people to try to kill him, and they were not getting in. Several Civil War veterans in the mob came forward to join him and the mob was dispersed.

Later he returned to Bowdoin College as its president. He did much to broaden the curriculum at the college, and Chamberlain, the classic Renaissance man, would teach every subject except Mathematics and Science. He was one of the founders of the Maine Institute for the Blind. He would write several books about his experience, and because he was a passionate and eloquent writer in the manner of the Late Victorian era, they are still quite readable today, if occasionally a bit flowery by our standards.
He would also be actively involved in veterans affairs, one of the organizers of  the 50th Gettysburg reunion, although he himself would be too ill to attend it. When he died a few months later, it was from complications related to his Petersburg wounds. He is in fact believed to be the last Civil War veteran to die of a battlefield injury.

For the first hundred years after the War,  Chamberlain was mostly overlooked by historians. Then a writer named Michael Shaara chose him as the example of the citizen soldier for his book The Killer Angels. Several generations of American college students (Including both myself and my son) have had the book as required reading in history class. The book inspired Ken Burns to create his documentary The Civil War  and director Ron Maxwell to make the films Gettysburg  and Gods and Generals in which Jeff Daniels would portray Chamberlain.

In his honor the Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain Society has created a wounded warrior project. They hope to sponsor injured veterans and their families.

I have said before that to me the measure of a hero is not only the acts that make them famous, but also what they do with the rest of their lives. Joshua Chamberlain is a perfect example of lifelong heroism.

In 1888, at the 25th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, Chamberlain was one of the speakers at the dedication of the Maine memorials. In his speech he tried to sum up the significance of the battle to those who fought there and those who would come after them. 

 

Twisted Mix Tape:Long Songs--or the DJ Takes a Break

Its been a running joke since I was  a kid--an extra long song would come on the air and we would make "Oh  the DJ needs to go to the bathroom" or "Time for the DJ to eat lunch."  Long songs were almost unheard of in the early days of rock and roll, and even today many websites recommend fledgling performers keep it between three and four minutes.  But every once in a while an artist has more to say, and music is all the better for it. I must apologize as well for the length of the list itself, I couldn't get it below six songs.  Here are a few of my favorite long songs.

Love it or hate it, this is one long song about what? According to composer Jimmy Webb, narcotics were not involved, though it's often including in lists of psychedelic songs.  At right around seven minutes, it is one of the first long songs to really chart well. Moreover it gives me a chance to work one of my favorite actors, Richard Harris, into a twisted mix tape. Unless I do one some day on Films of Broadway Musicals I don't know any other way to do that.

Meatloaf and long songs just go hand in hand. He seems incapable of writing a good short song. This one happens to be my favorite, though I seriously considered the epic "Paradise by the Dash Board Light". Some sources I have read say this is the longest song ever to chart at Number One, but that title is often given to several other songs  as well.

Of course, when a DJ really needs a bathroom break, he can play the live versions of an already long song.  It would be cheating to include the concert versions of most songs on the list, but I think in the case of "Free Bird" the concert version, which was released as a single, is considered to be the definitive version of the song. Certainly its the version I knew best as a teenager.

With the possible exception of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, this has got to be the most successful song that was never released as a single. It often finishes at the top of lists of most requested songs, and barely a day goes by that my local oldies station doesn't play it.

Now didn't you know this song would make the list? How often do I pass up the chance to use a Beatles song on a mix tape? But in the case of Hey Jude, once again the Beatles broke the mold, this time in the case of song length. Nobody cut the Beatles short on the air. Hey Jude was also one half of the what I think was the best 45 of all time, because when you flipped the single over the B side was "Revolution." Music just doesn't get better than that.

But this is, in my opinion, the best of all long songs. I actually owned one of the 45's when I was in high school, with half the song on one side and the rest on the other side. I have fond memories of a college party at which we listened to the darn thing over and over while we debated all the symbolism.  Don McLean, to his great credit, has left the interpreting to us. 



This post is part of Twisted Mix Tape, a blog hop that builds playlists around a theme. This week was a pick it yourself theme so there probably isn't anyone else with a playlist that would take an hour to listen to. If you click on the link below, you can see what other bloggers have chosen.

Twisted Mix Tape--Not So Silly Love Songs

When you have been married for 25 years, as I have you may find yourself listening to different love songs than you once did. Its not so much that you don't like them anymore, more that you have moved from "Silly Love Songs" to something a little more realistic. `

 

 Having said that, you can understand why this is one of my favorites.  Most people are more familiar with the Captain and Tenille's recording, but the Melissa Manchester album it first appeared on was one of the first 8tracks I ever owned (yes kids, she said 8track) and I have always loved her version.

This song by the Moody Blues is another one of my favorites. It says a lot of the same things as the last one, but from the opposite point of view.

 

 

My all time favorite song and it's a love song, go figure.  I love this son because it takes all the pieces of a life, and then says "In my life, I love you more."  To me its an ironic touch that  at the time Lennon wrote this song, he didn't have that person in his life, as he wouldn't meet Yoko Ono for another year or so.

 

 

 

Here is another favorite song. Love is no only about being there, but about always being there to catch your loved ones when  they fall, however many times it happens.

And one more for the road. Because we need to support those we love, but we also need to know there's someone there for us no matter what.  This is the version of this song I first fell in love with.

 

So Happy Valentine's Day to those who still care about that sort of thing.  I'll be waiting for the chocolate to go on sale on the 15th. But I'll share it with the ones I love.

 

This post is part of Twisted Mix Tape. Click on the link to  hear other mix tapes on this time. 

It was Fifty Years Ago Today...

Well 50 years ago this week anyway, that the Beatles first arrived in America. Last night marked the anniversary of their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan show. It was celebrated on CBS in a huge overblown extravaganza, taped after this year's Grammy Awards,  featuring a few great moments (Imagine Dragons' "Revolution",  the Eurythmics reunited over "The Fool on the Hill", and Dave Grohl and Jeff Lynne sang the often overlooked "Hey Bulldog." On the other hand there was a bizare performance of "Yesterday" by Katy Perry in a mu mu (However, since Yesterday is one of the most covered songs in history, she couldn't do much more to it than had already been done).  All in all it was a long march to the only thing anyone wanted to see (other than more video of the original performances) and that was Paul and Ringo together on stage.

I watched the whole thing with my daughter, a fledgling Beatles fan, who says Ringo is her favorite Beatle, but likes John Lennon's solo music. Last week the Girl and I had attended Akron's Rubber City Beatlesfest at the  Civic Theatre, a lovely old movie palace. We had excellent seats about 15 rows back to see several cover bands perform the best of the Fab Four, including the original Ed Sullivan set. (I might add, I was not quite 4 that night in 1964. I almost certainly witnessed it, as we always watched Ed Sullivan, but I don't remember it.) There were also vendors with all sorts of things to look at and the Girl and I had a grand time.

Sociologists have written long treatises on why the Beatles happened when and where they did.  They point to the depression that swept America after the assassination of John F Kennedy the previous fall, and how the Beatles brought clean cut fun and joy back. (The Beatles, it was said, wanted to hold your hand, while the Stones wanted to pillage your town.)

Musicologist point out that the Beatles were restoring in America Rock and Roll roots that had spread in England while falling  out of favor here. They were heavily influenced by Chuck Berry and Little Richard and Buddy Holly and others from the 50's.

I myself didn't really start getting into the music till the 70's,  when I was in high school.  The Beatles no longer existed as a unit, but all four were actively recording and performing then, so I learned first to like their solo music, before I listened much to the group recordings.  The first Beatles record I ever owned was a 45 of Hey Jude/Revolution, perhaps the best A&B sides ever (unless its Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane).  Eventually I acquired them all.

What made the Beatles great? To me there are several things.  One is the sheer density of the music, so many albums in a few brief years, each of them packed with enough classics to make another band's career.   Another as many others have pointed out is the chemistry of the band, 4 performers who would all do well on their own, but created an extraordinary magic together, the classic example of a sum being greater than the parts.

In the end though, the greatest quality may be the sheer joy and pleasure of the music. The early recordings are full of fun. The boys are having a grand time and they are taking us along for the ride. Even in the later, often drama filled years, the music they produced is still uplifting, not depressing. For Boomers there's an aspect of nostalgia of course, but I think even for the kids of today there is still that joy, that sense of fun, that passion waiting to be tapped.

Because there is something timeless about the Beatles and their music. Pull Sgt Pepper up on the IPod, slide A Hard Day's Night into the DVD play--the medium doesn't matter. They are waiting, like old friends, when we need a boost.

Cause in the end, all your really do need is love.

This post is part of the I Don't Like Mondays Bloghop hosted by Elleroywashere.com.

Let the Games Begin

I freely confess to being a huge Olympics junkie.  I know, the Games have gone far from their roots, they are overly commercialized and politicized but I can't help it.  My love of history, sports, trivia and schmaltz all collide at the Olympics.

I watched the opening ceremonies of the Winter Games on my own "tape delay" which means I DVR'd NBC's tape delay and watched it the next morning.  This was partly due to my daughter's preference to watch this week's episode of Under the Gunn (Clearly she is unaware of the awesome fashion fails available at the Opening Ceremonies). It was even more my desire to skip the 2 hours of commercials that would be scattered thru the 4 hours of broadcast.

I sort of skimmed through the early portion, the young lady acrobat was impressive, the floating islands bizarre, the inflatable history of
Russia left me speechless.

The head of the IOC told the world that the Olympics were about inclusion and not raising walls between people, as polite a way of dissing Russia for some of what has been going on during the run up as can be imagined.

  Basically there are 2 things I most want to see at any Olympics--the lighting of the torch, and the parade of the nations.

I love the parade. The first team to enter is always the Greeks. They have been at every Summer Olympics and all but one Winter Games. They may not always medal, but hey it was their idea, they re not going to miss it, and they get to come in first.  The rest of the Olympics will be taken up with the privileged few who will contend for medals, the parade is the only chance we get to see speed skaters from Hong Kong and skiers from Africa. Little countries like Andorra and Bermuda get their due. (The sole Bermudan athlete gets props for wearing Bermuda shorts, even though the event took place in a gigantic hockey rink) Most of these athletes have no chance of medaling. They are there to be part of the big party, to represent their countries, to perhaps achieve a personal best.  It was said of  Kyrgyzstan's sole representative, a skier, that if he finished in the top 50 it would be a huge accomplishment. No doubt his country will be thrilled too, a reminder to us jaded Americans who think that anyone who doesn't medal is a failure.

Without a doubt the best sight though, are the tiny delegations of only a few members. Jamaica once again has a bobsled team. Sometimes the only athlete is carrying the flag. We have never heard of most of them, but in their own countries they are heroes. They are there and that's what its all about.

Its also a reminder that small countries can be great powers in winter sports. Lichtenstein has 9 medals, all in skiing. All of South America is still trying to win one Winter Olympic medal. Norway has 50 more gold medals than the next closest county.

It is a awesome sight to see the US team enter the stadium, even if the team uniforms look like tailored afghans. Seeing an injured athlete on crutches, unable to compete but unwilling to miss the ceremony at least is a prideful moment. (Another prideful moment for me is to see the Americans who compete for other countries, because they or their parents were born in those nations. Some Xenophobes don't like to see "our people" competing for other countries, but to me its just a little reminder of the many cultures whose achievements are a part of this country.)

That's not to say there weren't a few enjoyable glitches. The malfunctioning Olympic ring was so iconic it was on tshirts the next day. One of the final torchbearers, a well known gymnast is also known in the gossip columns to be Vladimir Putin's very good friend. After all the concern about anti gay laws, and the Sochi mayor's claims his city had no gay people, the Russian Olympic team entered to the song that "Not Gonna Get Us" mixed with (wait for it) "We Will Rock You" by Queen. (Somewhere Freddie Mercury is laughing.) The bizarre Russian Bear mascot will replace Teddy Ruxpin in the nightmares of many. Despite the round up and execution of stray dogs, at least one snuck into the stadium and onto many Twitter feeds. 

The climax is of course the lighting of the torch.  The classicist in me loves it that original torch is lit for each Olympics on Mount Olympus and then conveyed by a relay of torchbearers to the host country.  In 2002  the Salt Lake City torch relay come through our town, and I took the kids to see it. For many people its the closest they will ever come to an Olympic event.  It is the most potent reminder that there is still an ideal at the heart of it all, for all the misuse of that ideal for selfish purposes. It is highly unlikely that anyone will soon surpass either the poignancy of Muhammad Ali lighting the torch in Atlanta, or the spectacle of the Spanish Olympian lighting it with a flaming arrow in Barcelona, so they wisely didn't try   Fine Russian Olympians carried it in, and lit the torch, and the games were on again.

     So for all the drama and off screen maneuvering, its now time for athletes to do what athletes do. Hopefully there will be no major incidents or catastrophes during these Games. (I am old enough to remember the Munich Games in 1972, as well as the bombing at Atlanta in 1996, so I know Olympic catastrophes.)

For the next two weeks, let it be about them.

Days the Music Died

Every February 3 is (unofficially) National "The Day the Music Died".  Commemorating the deaths 55 years ago of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper. 

The great website Poets on the Page suggested writing about this or one of the other unofficial holidays of February 3rd. Here is what I wrote:

 

National day the music died

That was the day the music died
55 years ago this day
In a field in Iowa.
I was not born yet but

I'm sure many believed
The music was over and done
But it wasn't.

I myself have known
Many days the music died
In a field in Louisiana
In 1973,
A hot august night in 77,
That dreadful December of 1980
And many more as well.

Last week
The music "died" again
A voice was stilled
But not its  song
The music never dies.

This poem is part of the Poets on the Page link up.

Please click on the link and check it out.

Compassion Is Lacking

    This week presented the more intolerant members of the American Public (especially those on social media) a number of opportunities to shoot their mouths off.  From the racist and homophobic responses to Coke's "America the Beautiful" to the self righteous responses to the heroin overdose death of Phillip Seymour Hoffman, it's been the sort of week that would drive Kuan Yin, the Buddhist  Goddess of  Mercy and Compassion, to tears.

     The Coke commercial response was ugly, yet somewhat predictable: there is always a subset of American Society that forgets what language their ancestors were speaking when they got here (even if they spoke English  they were probably mocked for their accent) or who are convinced that there is some way to reconcile "Equal Protection" with "Only the people I think are Americans." They can't stop the rising tide of acceptance (Coke wouldn't go out on a limb with such a commercial on Super Bowl Sunday  without being pretty sure they were on the right side of history), so they take their complaints out on Coke for spelling it out,

    But the self righteous response of many to Mr. Hoffman's death has been even more bizarre.  The idea that a performer's by drug overdose completely invalidates their entire life work is ridiculous. Of course when a public figure dies, the cause shouldn't be swept under the rug either. At one time when a celebrity died publicists from their studio or record label would have "cleaned house" removing signs of drug and alcohol use, extramarital sex and potentially criminal activity even before the police were called.  That wasn't right either.

   I didn't hear too many negative responses in my own circles reference the Coke ads, but Mr. Hoffman's death was another story. Yesterday morning a coworker asked "Why is there a tribute to Phillip Seymour Hoffman on the front page of the paper if he died of a heroin overdose."   I, and others pointed out that the cause of death made things even more of a tragedy, that we might hopefully use the event to educate people about the scourge heroin has become, and so forth. I also made reference to "hating the sin but loving the sinner".  Later in the day when the amount of heroin found was made public, she made another similar statement to the effect that no one dying under such circumstances should be celebrated in any way.

     What is missing from such responses to both media stories is of course compassion, one of the qualities that is supposed to make us a higher species.  I don't think these people are incapable of compassion, they are simply so afraid  that they refuse to open themselves to it.  They are threatened by the death of a celebrity by drug overdose because it compels them to acknowledge that drug abuse is a problem everywhere, even in their town and circles, and not just homeless junkies. They are threatened by the Coke commercial because it depicts persons different than themselves as fellow Americans. Compassion would require them to identify with such people, and they can't permit that if they wish to judge and discriminate.

    The Goddess of Compassion, who is said to hear the cries of all the world, probably shed a few herself this week .
    

Twisted Mix Tape-- Lets Get Motivated

On my MP3 player I have a play list that is labeled "Wake Up".  Its the music I usually listen to on my way into work, when I need a lot of high energy and optimism to get me going.

This weeks mix tape is Lets Get Motivated, so I thought I'd feature some of the songs from my play list. If it can get me into the right frame of mind for 10 hours in 911 in could work for you too.

 

Hey I got up and my name isn't in the obits, so lets make a day of it.

 

I get up a good walking pace on this one.

 

This is for when I need my cheerful folkie root optimism reawakened so I can face another day.

 

 

The Beatles with a guitar riff that could wake the dead.

 

For pure energy raising, it's hard to beat Chuck Berry. I had a hard time deciding on which Chuck Berry song, they are all so full of infectious high energy--but this won.

 

This post is part of Twisted Mix Tape. To see what motivates, activates, or exercises other bloggers please click on the icon.