In October 1965, future Woodstock Music and Art Fair performers the Paul Butterfield Blues Band released their first album: The Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Paul Butterfield was 23; Mike Bloomfield was 22; Elvin Bishop was 23; Mark Naftalin was 21; Jerome Arnold was 28; and Sam Lay was 30. (only Butterfield himself would be in the Woodstock line up.)
Lining two walls in downstairs hallway of the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts are pictures and brief bios of each band and its members who performed at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair. When I watch or listen to guests visiting the Museum, the usual artists they hover over or speak about are Jimi Hendrix, the Band, Janis Joplin, the Who, or other so-called “big names.”
I cannot remember any guest hovering at the Paul Butterfield Blues Band.
They should be.
Paul Butterfield Blues Band album
Paul Butterfield Blues Band
Rock and Rolls’ roots are obviously from rhythm and blues whose roots are simply the blues. Jimi, Robbie, Janis, and Pete would all acknowledge and tip their hats to a Paul Butterfield for so brilliantly playing those blues.
The band’s first album is an excellent example of the style and strength the various band line-ups presented over its time.
All Music’s Mike DeGagne says this about the first album:
“…a wonderfully messy and boisterous display of American-styled blues, with intensity and pure passion derived from every bent note. In front of all these instruments is Butterfield’s harmonica, beautifully dictating a mood and a genuine feel that is no longer existent, even in today’s blues music. Each song captures the essence of Chicago blues in a different way, from the back-alley feel of “Born in Chicago” to the melting ease of Willie Dixon’s “Mellow Down Easy” to the authentic devotion that emanates from Bishop and Butterfield’s “Our Love Is Drifting.” “Shake Your Money Maker,” “Blues With a Feeling,” and “I Got My Mojo Working” (with Lay on vocals) are all equally moving pieces performed with a raw adoration for blues music. Best of all, the music that pours from this album is unfiltered…blared, clamored, and let loose, like blues music is supposed to be released.”
You should give it a listen, again I hope, but if not for the first of what will likely be many times.
October 13, 1892: a large white lynch mob killed Burrell Jones, Moses Jones, Jim Packard, and an unidentified fourth victim – all young black men – outside Monroeville, Alabama. News reports from the time vary greatly in listing the young men’s names and ages, but several reports indicate that the eldest of the four was nineteen years old, and that at least one of the others may have been as young as fifteen.
A couple of days before the lynchings, a white farmer and his daughter were murdered and their home set on fire. In the aftermath, nearly a dozen African American men and boys were arrested, jailed, and accused of committing or being an accomplice to the crime.
After law enforcement officials were able to coerce one of the accused into giving a “confession” that implicated three others, all four young men were declared suspects.
Once news of the “confession” spread, a mob of white men from Monroeville and surrounding communities went to the jail and demanded a lynching. In response, law enforcement officials handed the four young black men over to the mob. The mob took them just outside the city, near a bridge over Flat Creek, and hanged and shot all four young men to death. According to various news reports, the corpses “were cut down as soon as life was extinct and the bodies torn to pieces by the maddened mob,” then piled in “a large heap” and burned. [EJI article] (next BH, see February 1, 1893; see 19th century for expanded lynching chronology)
Poll tax
October 13, 1942: the U.S. House passed legislation abolishing poll taxes in national elections, but in the Senate, Southern senators filibustered, blocking the bill. Over the next several years, the House continued to pass the legislation — only to be blocked again by the Senate.[background] (see Oct 20)
Vivian Malone Jones
October 13, 2005: Vivian Malone Jones died in Atlanta. She was 63. Her husband, Mack Jones, had died in 2004. [Guardian article] (BH, see February 2006; U of A, see Jan 17, 2013)
Timothy Coggins
October 13, 2017: authorities in Georgia reopened a cold case and arrested five people — including two law enforcement officials — in connection with what the local sheriff said was a brutal, racially motivated murder of a Timothy Coggins, a black man 34 years ago on October 9, 1983.
The arrests were made about seven months after new information emerged, said the sheriff, Darrell Dix of Spalding County, in Griffin, Ga., about 40 miles south of Atlanta.
“If the crime happened today, it would be prosecuted as a hate crime,” he said at a news conference.
Frankie Gebhardt, 59, and Bill Moore Sr., 58, [b oth men had “extensive criminal records,”] were each charged with murder, aggravated assault, concealing a death and other crimes
Gregory Huffman, 47, was charged with violation of oath of office and obstruction, officials said. Until this day, Huffman had been a detention officer with the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office, but was fired.
Sandra Bunn, 58, and Lamar Bunn (32) [worked at the Milner Police Department], were charged with obstruction. (BH & Coggins, see Nov 2)
October 13 Peace Love Art Activism
Cold War
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
October 13, 1952: the US Supreme Court announcedthat it had declined to grant certiorari in the appeal of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, condemned to death for conspiracy to commit atomic espionage for the Soviet Union. (RS, see Oct 17; Nuclear, see Nov 1; Rosenbergs, see June 19, 1953)
Nixon/Kennedy debates
October 13, 1960, Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy participated in the third televised debate of the presidential campaign, with Nixon in Hollywood, Calif., and Kennedy in New York.
October 13 Peace Love Art Activism
October 13 Music et al
Beatles
October 13, 1963: although The Beatles’ popularity had been growing steadily and to increasingly frantic heights throughout 1963, their appearance at the London Palladium catapulted them into the attention of the mainstream media.
Sunday Night At The London Palladium was a variety entertainment program that regularly drew huge British TV audiences of up to 15 million people. Competition to appear was fierce, and The Beatles were taking no chances, having spent the previous evening rehearsing.
On the night they appeared briefly at the beginning of the show, before compère Bruce Forsythe told the audience, “If you want to see them again they’ll be back in 42 minutes.” And indeed they were. The Beatles topped the bill that night, closing the hour-long show. They began with From Me To You, followed by I’ll Get You, which was introduced by Paul McCartney with some jovial interjections from John Lennon. Their most recent hit, She Loves You, was next, announced collectively by Lennon, McCartney and George Harrison. Then came the finale. Paul McCartney attempted to announce it, but was drowned out by the screams from the frenzied audience. Lennon told them to “shut up”, a gesture which was applauded by the older members in the audience. McCartney then asked them all to clap and stamp their feet, and they began Twist And Shout.
The Beatles’ appearance featured on the ITN news, complete with footage from the group’s dressing room. The following day, meanwhile, newspaper reporters wrote front-page stories about the screaming fans. (see Oct 17)
Bob Dylan
October 13, 2016: the Nobel Prize committee announced it had awarded Dylan the Nobel Prize in Literature “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”. [NYT article] (see Nov 16)
October 13 Peace Love Art Activism
Vietnam/Oct 13, 1966
DRAFT CARD BURNING
the conviction of David J Miller, the first person arrested in the country for burning his draft card (see previously Oct 15, 1965) was upheld by the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The court held that Congress had the right to enact a law against destroying a draft card so long as it did not infringe on a constitutional right.(DCB, see December 12, 1966)
Robert S. McNamara
Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara declared at a news conference in Saigon that he found that military operations have “progressed very satisfactorily since 1965.” (see Oct 24)
October 13 Peace Love Art Activism
Feminism
October 13, 1967: President Lyndon B. Johnson had issued Executive Order 11246, establishing affirmative action in employment for all federal agencies and contractors on September 24, 1965. He deliberately did not include women in the order, however, despite the fact that sex discrimination was specifically prohibited by Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act (signed on July 2, 1964). Although he was deeply committed to the civil rights movement, LBJ had no similar commitment to the women’s rights movement that emerged in the mid-1960s. Leaders of the reinvigorated women’s rights movement protested Johnson’s omission of women from his first E.O., and on this day, Johnson issued Executive Order 11375 to include women in affirmative action.
The pressure came from the revived feminist movement in the 1960s. See the publication of Betty Friedan’s influential book, The Feminine Mystique (and the critical review by the New York Times on April 7, 1963), and the founding of the National Organization for Women (NOW) on June 30, 1966. [US DoL article] (see Nov 7)
October 13 Peace Love Art Activism
US Labor History
Columbia University strike
October 13, 1985: more than 1,100 office workers strike Columbia University in New York City. The mostly female and minority workers win union recognition and pay increases. [NYT article] (seeJune 19, 1986)
National Basketball Association
October 13, 1998: the National Basketball Association canceled regular season games for the first time in its 51-year history, during a player lockout. Player salaries and pay caps were the primary issue. The lockout lasted 204 days. [CBS News story] (see July 14, 1999)
Health Worker Settlement
October 13, 2023: Kaiser Permanente reached a tentative deal with more than 75,000 of its health care workers. The labor dispute was the latest in a series between health care systems and their employees, many of whom cited exhaustion, burnout, and frustration with severe staffing shortages that have persisted long past the worst of the pandemic’s crushing workload.
The proposed four-year contract would include significant wage increases, setting a new minimum of $25 an hour in California, [NYT article] (next LH, see Oct 30)
October 13 Peace Love Art Activism
LGBTQ
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
October 13, 2010: A federal judge ordered the United States military to stop enforcing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” law that prohibited openly gay men and women from serving.
Judge Virginia A. Phillips of Federal District Court for the Central District of California issued an injunction banning enforcement of the law and ordered the military to immediately “suspend and discontinue” any investigations or proceedings to dismiss service members.
In language much like that in her Sept. 9 ruling declaring the law unconstitutional, Judge Phillips wrote that the 17-year-old policy “infringes the fundamental rights of United States service members and prospective service members” and violates their rights of due process and freedom of speech.
The federal government appealed the ruling. (NYT article) (see Oct 19)
October 13 Peace Love Art Activism
Native Americans
October 13, 2014: Seattle’s Mayor Ed Murray signed a proclamation recognizing Indigenous Peoples’ Day and by so doing the city of Seattle no longer celebrated the “Columbus Day” holiday. (see February 21, 2015)
October 13 Peace Love Art Activism
Nuclear/Chemical News
October 13, 2017: President Trump declared his intention not to certify Iran’s compliance with the nuclear deal agreement of 2015. By doing so, he left it to Congress to decide whether and when to reimpose sanctions on Iran, which would end the agreement.
The Administration made it clear that it wanted to leave the accord intact, for the moment. Instead, it asked Congress to establish “trigger points,” which would prompt the United States to reimpose sanctions on Iran if it crossed thresholds set by Congress. [NYT article] (NCN, see Oct 26; Iran deal, see Nov 7)
October 13 Peace Love Art Activism
FREE SPEECH, US Labor History & & Colin Kaepernick
October 13, 2017: in an unusual and public call to arms, Russell Okung, a Los Angeles Chargers lineman, posted a letter on The Players’ Tribune urging the league’s 1,700 players to take a unified stand against pressure from N.F.L. team owners to curb demonstrations during the national anthem before games.
“We can either wait until we receive our respective marching orders, speak up individually, or find a way to collaborate, and exercise our agency as the lifeblood of the league,” Okung, wrote.
Okung’s nearly 900-word manifesto took N.F.L. owners to task for making decisions on anthem demonstrations, which had typically involved players kneeling or sitting during the anthem, without broadly consulting players. The demonstrations were originally intended to draw attention to racial inequality and police shootings of African-Americans. (FS. CL, & Labor, see Oct 15)
October 13 Peace Love Art Activism
Census 2020
October 13, 2020: the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to halt the 2020 census count ahead of schedule, effectively shutting down what has been the most contentious and litigated census in memory and setting the stage for a bitter fight over how to use its numbers for the apportionment of the next Congress.
The brief unsigned order formally only pauses the population count while the administration and a host of groups advocating a more accurate census battle in a federal appeals court over whether the count could be stopped early.
As a practical matter, however, it almost certainly ensures an early end because the census — one of the largest government activities, involving hundreds of thousands of workers — cannot be easily restarted and little time remains before its current deadline at the end of this month. In fact, some census workers say, the bureau had already begun shutting down some parts of its count despite a court order to continue it. [NYT article] (next Census, see Dec 30)
October 13 Peace Love Art Activism
Cannabis
October 13, 2020: the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it will not hear a case challenging the constitutionality of federal marijuana prohibition.
A coalition of medical cannabis advocates, including former NFL player Marvin Washington, young patient Alexis Bortell and military veteran Jose Belen, initially filed a lawsuit against the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in 2017. But while the case has gradually moved through the judiciary, the decision by the high court represents a sound defeat for the challenge. [MM article] (next Cannabis, see Nov 3, or see CCC for expanded chronology)
October 13 Peace Love Art Activism
Environmental Issues
October 13, 2023: the Biden administration announced plans to award up to $7 billion to create seven regional hubs around the country that would make and use hydrogen, a clean-burning fuel with the potential to power ships or factories without producing any planet-warming emissions. [NYT article] (next EI, see Oct 19)
What's so funny about peace, love, art, and activism?
