Category Archives: Music et al

January 7 Peace Love Art Activism

January 7 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestones

Jean-Pierre Blanchard & John Jeffries

January 7, 1785:  Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries traveled in a gas balloon from Dover, England, to Calais, France becoming the first to cross the English Channel by air. The two men nearly crashed into the Channel along the way, however, as their balloon was weighed down by extraneous supplies such as anchors, a nonfunctional hand-operated propeller, and silk-covered oars with which they hoped they could row their way through the air. Just before reaching the French coast, the two balloonists were forced to throw nearly everything out of the balloon. Blanchard even threw his trousers over the side in a desperate, but apparently successful, attempt to lighten the ship. (see December 21, 1790)

Transatlantic telephone service

January 7, 1927: commercial transatlantic telephone service inaugurated between New York and London. (see Sept 7)

January 7 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Mine explosion

January 7, 1892: when an untrained worker accidentally set off  explosives the resulting explosion at Osage Coal and Mining Company’s Mine Number 11 near Krebs, Okla., killed 100 and injured 150 (see July 6)

Tear gas used again strikers and their families

On January 6, 1916 eight thousand workers went on at Youngstown Sheet & Tube. 

On January 7, 1916 wives and other family members of the Youngstown Sheet & Tube strikers join in the protest. Company guards use tear gas bombs and fired into the crowd; three strikers are killed, 25 wounded. (see Apr 15)

Tom Mooney

January 7, 1939: radical labor activist Tom Mooney, accused of a murder by bombing in San Francisco, was pardoned and freed after 22 years in San Quentin. During his time in prison, labor, socialist, communist, and other activists campaigned worldwide to free him. (NYT article) (see Feb 27)

Unions try to re-organize

January 7, 2009: the presidents of 12 of the nation’s largest unions met and called for reuniting the American labor movement, which split into two factions in 2005 when seven unions left the AFL-CIO and formed a rival federation. The meeting followed signals from President-elect Barack Obama that he would prefer dealing with a united movement, rather than a fractured one that often had two competing voices. Unions from both sides of the split participated in the meeting. The reunification effort failed, but by mid-2013 four of the unions had rejoined the AFL-CIO.  (see Jan 29)

January 7 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear and Chemical Weapons

H-bomb

January 7 Peace Love Art Activism

January 7, 1953: in his final State of the Union address before Congress, President Harry S. Truman announced that the United States had developed a hydrogen bomb. (see June 19)

NY Indian Point nuclear plant

January 7, 2017: it was announced that the Indian Point nuclear plant would shut down by April 2021 under an agreement New York State reached with Entergy, the utility company that owned the facility in Westchester County.

Under the terms of the agreement, one of the two nuclear reactors at Indian Point would permanently cease operations by April 2020, while the other must be closed by April 2021. The shutdown had long been a priority for Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who — though supportive of upstate nuclear plants — had repeatedly called for shutting down Indian Point, which he says posed too great a risk to New York City, less than 30 miles to the south. (see Jan 28)

January 7 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Feminism

January 7, 1955:  Marian Anderson became the first African American singer to perform at the Metropolitan Opera. (NYT article) (BH, see March 2; Feminism; see March 9, 1959)

 Tuskegee protest

January 7, 1966: 250 black students staged a march through downtown Tuskegee to protest the January 3 murder of Samuel “Sammy” Younge Jr. The march ended with a rally on the steps of the local jail where Younge’s accused killer, Martin Segrest, was being held. The shooting brought to a head growing tensions in Tuskegee between African Americans and pro-segregation whites. The day following the shooting, Tuskegee University students launched protests that would last for weeks. Segrest was indicted and tried on second degree murder charges later that year, but acquitted by an all-white jury on December 8, 1966.  (BH, see Jan 10; Younge, see Dec 8)

Maynard Jackson

January 7, 1974:  Maynard Jackson became the 1st African-American mayor of Atlanta. He served three terms, two consecutive terms from 1974 until 1982 and a third term from 1990 to 1994. [Black Then article] (next BH, see Jan 19)

Marco Proano

January 7, 2019: the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the conviction of a Chicago police officer Marco Proano who was serving a five-year prison sentence for shooting into a car full of teenagers in December 2013, wounding two.

The Court concluded in a 23-page opinion that the “brazenness” of Marco Proano’s actions that night was enough to support the conclusion that, “despite the car not threatening anyone’s safety, Proano fired 16 shots at it, including several after the car began idling.” [CST article] (next B & S, see Jan 11)

BLACK & SHOT/Tyre Nichols

January 7, 2023: Memphis police officers attacked Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old black man, He died on January 10.

The officers, all members of the Memphis Police Department (MPD) SCORPION unit, pulled Nichols from his car before pepper spraying and tasering him. Nichols broke free and ran toward his mother’s house, which was less than a mile (1.6 km) away. Five black officers caught up with Nichols near the house, where they punched, kicked and pepper sprayed him, and struck him with a baton. Medics on the scene failed to administer care for 16 minutes after arriving. Nichols was admitted to the hospital in critical condition. [NYT article] (next B & S, see Jan 24; next Nichols, see Sept 12)

January 7 Peace Love Art Activism

Cold War

January 7, 1959: U.S. recognized Cuba’s new provisional government. Despite fears that Fidel Castro might have communist leanings, the U.S. government believed that it could work with the new regime and protect American interests in Cuba.(see Feb 16)

January 7 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

January 7 Peace Love Art Activism

January 7, 1966: Time Magazine chose General William Westmoreland as 1965’s ‘Man of the Year.’ (see Jan 8)

January 7 Peace Love Art Activism

January 7 Music et al

Phil Ochs

January 7 Peace Love Art Activism

January 7, 1968,: the “Stop The Draft” benefit with Phil Ochs, The Loading Zone, Blue Cheer, Mad River, Mt Rushmore and The Committee at The Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco. (Vietnam, see Jan 16; DCB, see May 27, 1968)

Max Yasgur sued

January 7, 1970: Max Yasgur’s neighbors  sued him for $35,000 for property damage caused by the August 1969 Woodstock Festival. (NYT article) (see March 26, 1970)

Dead in the Garden

January 7, 1979: the Grateful Dead played for the first time at NYD’s Madison Square Garden. It was the first of 52 shows they would play there between 1979 and 1994. (see Grateful Dead Play Madison Square Garden) (see July 10, 1986)

January 7 Peace Love Art Activism

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

January 7, 1974: a federal court on this day acquitted an Army soldier, Pfc. Walter McNair, charged with wearing a turban while on military duty, citing the Free Exercise clause of the First Amendment. McNair and another soldier had converted to the Sikh religion while serving in Germany. The two were also charged with wearing long hair and beards. The Army had convicted them, sentenced them to three months at hard labor, and given them general discharges. (NYT article) (see September 8, 1981)

January 7 Peace Love Art Activism

AIDS

January 7, 1983: CDC reported cases of AIDS in female sexual partners of males with AIDS. (see Mar 4)

January 7 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

Monica  Lewinsky

January 7, 1998: Monica  Lewinsky filed an affidavit in the Jones case in which she denied ever having a sexual relationship with President Clinton.

Impeachment begins

January 7, 1999: with ceremonial flourishes, the perjury and obstruction of justice trial of President Bill Clinton began in the Senate, with the swearing in of Chief Justice William Rehnquist to preside and the senators as jurors. (see Clinton for expanded chronology)

January 7 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

January 7, 2013: the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review a challenge to federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research brought by two researchers who said the U.S. National Institutes of Health rules on such studies violated federal law. (see Feb 11)

January 7 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

January 7, 2013: after a court settlement reached between the federal government and the American Civil Liberties Union, gay and lesbian veterans discharged from the military under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” would get full separation pay. (see Jan 28)

January 7 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

January 7 Peace Love Art Activism

January 7, 2015: a study, published in The Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, indicated that hydraulic fracturing built up subterranean pressures that repeatedly caused slippage in an existing fault as close as a half-mile beneath wells near Youngstown, Ohio. The study concluded that the earthquakes were not isolated events, but merely the largest of scores of quakes that rattled the area around the wells for more than a week. (see Jan 17)

January 7 Peace Love Art Activism

Crime and Punishment

January 7, 2020: after a 10-day period in which five inmates died, two inmates escaped, and videos and photos of fires and blood-smeared walls shot by inmates on smuggled cellphones had spread across social media, Representative Bennie G. Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi, and a roster of state civil rights groups asked the Justice Department to open a civil rights investigation into the state’s prison system.

In a 23-page letter, they described “extreme” staff vacancies despite the third-highest incarceration rate in the country. The letter also described a long record of violence, escapes, uprisings, inadequate health care and institutions where criminal gangs were tolerated. At one prison, the letter noted, gang members who dominate the kitchen withhold food to punish disfavored prisoners, and control who gets a mattress or blanket. [NYT article] (next C &P, see Apr 3)

January 7 Peace Love Art Activism

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Slaves petition for freedom

January 6, 1773: Massachusetts slaves petitioned legislature for freedom. There were 8 such petitions during the Revolutionary War period. (Slave Revolts, see August 22, 1791; BH, see April 14, 1775)

Mildred and Richard Loving

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

January 6, 1959: Mildred and Richard Loving  pleaded guilty to violating a Virginia law against interracial marriage. They had been rousted out of bed by sheriff’s deputies on July 11, 1958, and arrested for their “crime” of being married. A judge sentenced them to one year in prison.  He suspended the sentence on the condition that they leave the state — they moved to Washington, D.C. Mildred later wrote to Attorney General Robert Kennedy, asking for legal assistance. Kennedy felt there was nothing he could do, but he referred the case to the local ACLU chapter, which took the case, eventually to the Supreme Court. (next BH, see Jan 12; Loving, see June 12, 1967)

Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter

January 6, 1961: a federal judge ordered the University of Georgia to admit Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter. They will become the first Black graduates of U of G. (see Jan 10)

Mamie Till Mobley

January 6, 2003: Emmett Till’s mother, Mamie Till Mobley, died of heart failure, at age 81. Her death came just two weeks before The Murder of Emmett Till was to premiere nationally on PBS. [NYT obit] (BH, see Feb 28; ET, see February 13, 2013)

1964 Murders of Three Civil Rights Workers

January 6, 2005: 41 years later, the State of Mississippi charged 79-year-old former Klan preacher Edgar Ray Killen with murder in connection with the slayings of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner.  Police arrested Killen at his home following a grand jury session, according to Neshoba County Sheriff Larry Myers.  Convicted Klan conspirator Billy Wayne Posey expressed anger at Killen’s arrest: “After 40 years to come back and do something like this is ridiculous…like a nightmare.”  Carolyn Goodman, the 89-year-old mother of victim Andrew Goodman was pleased with the news.  She hoped the killers would someday be “behind bars and think about what they’ve done.” (NYT article) (BH, see Jan 8; see Murders for expanded chronology)

Johnnie Mae Chappell

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

January 6, 2006: Florida Gov Jeb Bush issued an executive order appointing a special prosecutor to investigate the 1964 murder of Johnnie Mae Chappell, a woman slain in a drive-by shooting in northwest Jacksonville in 1964. JW Rich, the shooter, was convicted of manslaughter and served three years in prison.

In his order, Bush wrote: “… I have determined that the ends of justice will be best served if the honorable William Cervone, State Attorney for the 8th Judicial Circuit of Florida, reviews the findings of this investigation.” Cervone’s 8th Circuit serves the Gainesville area. He was given one year to investigate and prosecute the case. Cervone said he was just beginning to learn about the case, saying that calling a grand jury in the case is one possibility.

“I would assume that the investigative techniques used many, many years ago would not be nearly as sophisticated as might be available now,” Cervone told Channel 4. “Not only do you have that kind of problem the age of the case creates, but you also have the problem inherent with people of people and/or tangible objects disappearing, losing memories, all those kinds of issues.”

Fourth Circuit State Attorney Harry Shorstein, released a statement saying it was highly unusual that the governor removed the case that he [Shorstein] had be involved with for several years from his jurisdiction.

“… It is outrageous to relieve someone who has as strong a record of civil rights prosecution and trial advocacy … as I have exhibited in my career,” Shorstein wrote. “It is wrong for the governor, without any justification, to assign the decision-making authority in this case to another state attorney.”

On May 9 that criminal investigation ended.

William Cervone, who’s 8th Circuit served the Gainesville area, was given one year to investigate and prosecute the case, but reported his findings after a five-month revision of the Investigation

Cervone released a statement saying after “reviewing the investigation into the murder of Johnnie Mae Chappell in Duval County in 1964 … my conclusions … are that no additional investigation is warranted and that no prosecution is legally possible.”

Cervone went on to state that the statute of limitations has run out on anything but first degree murder, and that there was not enough evidence to prosecute the three co-defendants on that charge simply because they were in the car when JW Rich shot and killed Chappell.

In addition, Cervone said Florida law prevents them from being recharged due to speedy trial constraints.

State Attorney Harry Shorstein issued a statement: “This was a tragic chapter in the history of our city and I understand the Chappell family’s desire to find justice. I regret that a few have used the Chappell family’s great suffering for personal, professional, or political gain.” Shorstein also commended Cervone for a comprehensive, thorough and professional investigation.(BH, see February”; Chappell, see May 9)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestone

January 6

January 6, 1838: Samuel Morse first publicly demonstrated his telegraph, in Morristown, N.J. (see January 2, 1839)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Anarchism

January 6, 1907: Emma Goldman arrested while speaking on “The Misconceptions of Anarchism” at an afternoon meeting of 600 people in New York City. (see Goldman for her expanded chronology)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Youngstown Sheet & Tube

January 6, 1916: eight thousand workers went on strike at Youngstown Sheet & Tube. The next day  wives and other family members joined in the protest. Company guards used tear gas bombs and fire into the crowd killing three strikers and wounding 25. (see Jan 7)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

New York Times v. Sullivan

January 6, 1964: the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the free speech/free press case of New York Times v. Sullivan. (FS, see Jan 23; NYT, see Mar 9)

Howl

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

January 6, 1988: for the third time in its controversial history, Allen Ginsberg’s poem Howl ran into censorship issues. On this day, a number of radio stations planned to broadcast a reading of the poem as part of an Open Ears/Open Minds series. The Pacifica stations, a group of independent, nonprofit stations, refused to broadcast the reading, however, because of the Supreme Court’s decision in FCC v. Pacifica Foundation (July 3, 1978). In that case, the Court held that the FCC could ban the “seven dirty words” that were a part of a monologue by comedian George Carlin. (NYT article) (see Feb 24)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

January 6 Music et al

Beatles

January 6, 1967: UK release of soundtrack to The Family Way movie with music written by Paul McCartney and George Martin.  (Beatles, see Jan 31; Family Way, see June 12; solo Beatle album, see November 1, 1968 )

Magical Mystery Tour

January 6 Peace Love Activism

January 6 – March 1, 1968: Magical Mystery Tour the Billboard #1 album. (see Feb 16)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Religion and Public Education

 

January 6, 1983: protests from parents followed the enactment of a New Jersey law that required all public school classes to begin the day with a “moment of silence.” The New Jersey ACLU announced that it would challenge the law in court on the grounds that it violated the separation of church and state. Several states adopted similar laws in an effort to evade the Supreme Court ruling that a mandatory prayer in public schools violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The Supreme Court declared an Alabama moment-of-silence law unconstitutional in Wallace v. Jaffree on June 4, 1985, thereby invalidating the New Jersey law.(Separation, see Feb 3; Religion, see June 9; Moment of silence, see March 1, 1984)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Iran–Contra Affair

January 6, 1987: the U.S. Senate voted 88-4 to establish an eleven-member panel to hold public hearings on the Iran-Contra affair. (see Jan 9)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

TERRORISM

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

January 6, 2010: a federal grand jury in Michigan charged the Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, with attempted murder on a plane, attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and related offenses. (Terrorism, see Jan 29; Abdulmutallab, see Sept 14)

January 6 Insurrection

January 6, 2021: President Trump had declared a “Save America March” for January 6, 2021, the day that Congress would formally count the electoral votes and officially declare the next President.

On that day, President Trump, Donald Trump, Jr, and Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani spoke to the crowd. Trump continued to prevaricate and repeat debunked claims of widespread election fraud. He incited the crowd with statements like, “We will never give up, we will never concede.

Only seven minutes into the 75 minute speech, the crowd chanted: Fight for Trump! Fight for Trump! Fight for Trump!

His inflammatory words pushed an already embittered and combative crowd to their successful, if temporary, violent takeover of the Capitol building forcing the members of Congress into hiding within. Five  people died, including a Capitol police officer. [Moyers timeline article] (next T, see Jan 27)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

Utah same-sex marriage

January 6, 2013: the Supreme Court blocked further same-sex marriages in Utah while state officials appeal a decision allowing such unions. (see Jan 10)

Roy Moore

January 6, 2016: Alabama Supreme Court’s Chief Justice Roy Moore issued an administrative order (NYT article) barring state judges from issuing same-sex marriage licenses, in contravention of the broadly accepted meaning of the June 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

Moore forbade probate judges in the state from issuing marriage licenses that violate the state’s laws prohibiting same-sex marriage, “until further decision by the Alabama Supreme Court.”

Moore argued that the U.S. Supreme Court had only explicitly struck down same-sex marriage bans in Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee in its landmark decision Obergefell v. Hodges, though the ruling may be interpreted to apply to other states’ bans based on precedent. (see Mar 4)

Hubert Edward Spires

January 6, 2017: the Air Force Board for the Correction of Military Records agreed to change the status of 91-year-old Hubert Edward Spires from “undesirable” on his  1940s discharge records to “honorable.” The Air Force had kicked out Spires because he was gay. (see Jan 24)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

January 6 Peace Love Activism

January 6, 2015: Summit Midstream Partners announced that almost 3 million gallons of saltwater drilling waste spilled from a North Dakota pipeline earlier, a spill that was called the state’s largest since the North Dakota oil boom began. The brine, which leaked from a ruptured pipeline about 15 miles from the city of Williston, affected two creeks, but it doesn’t currently pose a threat to drinking water or public health. (see Jan 7)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear/Chemical News

January 6, 2016: North Korea declared that it had detonated its first hydrogen bomb. [NYT report] (see Feb – Aug)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

January 6, 2019: with the partial government shutdown continuing, President Trump tweeted, “”We are now planning a Steel Barrier rather than concrete. It is both stronger & less obtrusive. Good solution, and made in the U.S.A.”  (IH & TW, see Jan 8)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Mogwai Atomic Mark Cousins

Mogwai Atomic Mark Cousins

Mogwai Atomic Mark Cousins

Mogwai

Mogwai Atomic Mark Cousins

I discovered the Scottish band Mogwai several years ago.  They formed in 1995 and their music falls under a category called “Post Rock.” Though that is the term, it does little to describe the typically instrumental sound that Mogwai and other so-called Post Rock bands play.

The music is soft. It is loud. The music is comfortable. It is excruciating. Dreamlike. Nightmarish. And because it is typically instrumental, it lends itself to one’s imagination and the cinematic.

Currently they are a 4-member band, though a fifth person occasionally becomes part of the band in the studio or in concert.

  • Stuart Braithwaite – guitar, bass, vocals
  • Dominic Aitchison – bass, guitar
  • Martin Bulloch – drums 
  • Barry Burns – guitar, bass, keyboards, synthesizer, flute, vocals 

Discography

The band has released several studio albums and live albums, as well as many EPs and singles. (Wikipedia discography)

Mark Cousins

It is a vast simplification to describe Mark Cousins as a filmmaker, just as it oversimplifies to say Mogwai plays instrumentals. Cousins does make films, but he also shows films in unique ways. For example, in 2009 he and actress/director Tilda Swinton created a project where they mounted a 33.5-tonne portable cinema on a large truck and hauled it manually through the Scottish Highlands. Their aim: a traveling film festival.  That project became part of 2011 documentary called Cinema is Everywhere.

Cousins also interviewed famous filmmakers such as David Lynch, Martin Scorsese and Roman Polanski in the TV series Scene by Scene.

Atomic

With music by Mogwai, Mark Cousins released Atomic: Living in Dread and Promise in 2015. It is an experimental documentary that looks at the Hiroshima nuclear bomb and its legacy. The movie’s site ( no longer up) stated that…”the bombing of Hiroshima showed the appalling destructive power of the atomic bomb.  Mark Cousins’ bold new documentary looks at death in the atomic age, but life too.  Using only archive film and a new musical score by the band Mogwai,  Atomic shows us an impressionistic kaleidoscope of our nuclear times: protest marches, Cold War sabre rattling, Chernobyl and Fukishima, but also the sublime beauty of the atomic world, and how X Rays and MRI scans have improved human lives.  The nuclear age has been a nightmare, but dreamlike too.”

Mogwai Atomic Mark Cousins

Atomic Trump

Mogwai Atomic Mark Cousins

At the time of the movie’s release,  President Trump continued tweeting that implied the use of atomic weapons was good strategy and that more nations (other than North Korea) needed to have atomic weapons. Perhaps it is time to get back under our school room desks, built bomb shelters, purchase freeze-dried foods, put on Mogwai, and cross our fingers.

NPR Review of Mogwai album.

Here is a link to an excellent Audience recording of Mogwai from 2016 in Berlin: Internet Archive

Mogwai Atomic Mark Cousins

Here is a YouTube link to a Q & A about the film.

Mogwai Atomic Mark Cousins