Monthly Archives: February 2016

Black history, Peace Love Art and Activism, Today in history

Jimmie Lee Jackson Murdered

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Jimmie Lee Jackson Murdered

December 16, 1938 – February 26, 1965
 on February 18, 1965…
Jimmie Lee Jackson Murdered
Jimmie Lee Jackson

Jimmie Lee Jackson was born in Marion, Alabama, a small town near Selma. He fought in the Vietnam war and eventually returned to Marion where he worked as a laborer.

He became a church deacon. He tried to register to vote several times, but Alabama’s legal roadblocks prevented him.

James Orange was a field secretary for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In February 1965, authorities arrested and jailed Orange on charges of disorderly conduct and contributing to the delinquency of minors for enlisting students to aid in voting rights drives.

Fearful that Orange would be lynched, a group of civil rights activists gathered marched in support of him the evening of February 18, 1965. Shortly after the peaceful march began, Alabama State Troopers ordered the protesters to disperse and simultaneously attacked them. Authorities had also turned off street lights.

Jimmie Lee Jackson, his mother, Viola Jackson, and his eighty-two-year-old grandfather, Cager Lee, were among those who tried to get away. The three escaped into a nearby cafe, but police followed them into the cafe and physically assaulted them. When Jimmie Lee Jackson came to the aid of his mother and grandfather, he was shot twice in the abdomen by trooper James Fowler.

Jackson managed to escape before collapsing. He died eight days later at a local hospital.

Jimmie Lee Jackson Murdered
John Lewis, the Rev. Ralph Abernathy, Dr. Martin Luther King, and the Rev. Andrew Young marched in the funeral of Jimmie Lee Jackson, whose shooting death inspired the first of the Selma marches in Alabama in 1965. Credit Associated Press

In his eulogy, Martin Luther King, Jr. described Jimmie Lee Jackson as a “martyred hero.” The murder was the seed that began the famous March on Selma because when civil rights organizer, James Bevel, heard of Jackson’s death he called for a march from Selma to Montgomery to talk to Governor George Wallace about the attack in which Jackson was shot.

Jimmie Lee Jackson murdered

Jimmie Lee Jackson Murdered
Jimmie Lee Jackson plaque

James Fowler was the trooper who shot Jackson. That September 29, a grand jury declined to indict Fowler. 

42 years later, on May 10, 2007 an Alabama grand jury indicted Fowler for the Jackson’s murder. Fowler pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree manslaughter on November 15,  2010. He apologized for the shooting but insisted that he had acted in self-defense, believing that Mr. Jackson was trying to grab his gun. (NYT article)

Fowler was sentenced to six months in prison and was released early after serving 5 months due to health problems. (NYT article)

Fowler died on July 5, 2015. (Washington Post story)

Jimmie Lee Jackson murdered
Beatles, Music et al, Music of the 60s

Sullivan Repeats Beatles

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Sullivan Repeats Beatles

February 16, 1964

A week ago I noted the anniversary of the Beatles on Ed Sullivan Show, the first time that the Beatles appeared live on American television.

The Beatles had endured a snow storm after their first Sullivan appearance and had to take a train to Washington, DC for their first American concert (The Beatles Meet Washington) on February 11. They flew back to NYC the next day to appear at Carnegie Hall.

The next day, they flew down to Miami. After the miserable weather of New York and Washington, Florida’s weather was a welcome respite.

There, they appeared on Ed Sullivan again. Again live, but this time at the Deauville Hotel where they were staying.

Sullivan Repeats Beatles

Second Sullivan

From the Beatles Bible site: One week after their record-breaking debut on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Beatles made their second live appearance.

A rehearsal took place at 2 pm, which was filmed but not broadcast.

The performance took place at The Beatles’ Miami hotel, the Deauville, from 8pm-9pm, in front of an audience of 2,600. CBS had given out 3,500, and police had to calm angry ticket holders who were denied entry.

Sullivan Repeats Beatles

Tech-ups

There were some tech hiccups at the start. Paul’s mic isn’t turned up enough and John’s was set too low, but all recover and the Beatles, who’ve likely had to deal with far more serious issues, completed the three songs.

Remarkably, given the ratings success of their appearance on 9 February, The Beatles did not top the bill this time; Mitzi Gaynor was the headliner. Also on the bill was Myron Cohen, and boxers Joe Louis and Sonny Liston  were both in the audience at the Deauville.

Sullivan Repeats Beatles

Set-list

The Beatles performed six songs: She Loves You, This Boy, All My Loving, I Saw Her Standing There, From Me To You and I Want To Hold Your Hand.

The show was watched by an estimated 70 million people in 22,445,000 homes, and was repeated on 20 September 1964 at 8 pm. After filming the hotel’s owner, Maurice Lansberg, gave a party for the performers and crew who worked on the show; the food included lobster, beef, chicken and fish.

Sullivan Repeats Beatles
Birthdays, Music et al, Woodstock Music and Art Fair

Santana Bassist David Brown

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Santana Bassist David Brown

Remembering and appreciating
February 15, 1947 – September 4, 2000
Bassist for Santana band: 1967 – 71 and 1974 – 76

Santana Bassist David Brown

Santana Bassist David Brown

Daly City, California

David grew up in Daly City, California.

According to a Ben Fong-Torres piece in Rolling Stone magazine from December 7, 1972,  David Brown, who’d gone to public and private school in San Francisco and played bass at night with Latin jazz bands and at clubs behind touring groups like the Four Tops, was walking up Grant Ave., in North Beach, when he heard some music from a small club. He stepped in, sat in, and was approached by Stan Marcum, who would become Santana’s manager. 

From that same article, David Brown is quoted that early in the band’s development they found that “We didn’t like the music too repetitious, the way Butterfield or other blues bands were playing…so we got into improvisation and we’d find the drums in there more of the time. Eventually, we just sat back and said let them do their thing.

Woodstock

Brown played with  Santana at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair in 1969 and on several other dates and albums.

While most of us listen enthralled to Carlos Santana’s lead guitar on Soul Sacrifice (and deservedly so), for David Brown’s birthday celebration, let’s listen to the bass. Pretty good!

Though best known as part of Santana, David Brown also played in Boz Scaggs band on three of Scaggs’s albums: Moments, Boz Scaggs and Band, and My Time.

Here is his credit listing from AllMusic.com

David Brown

Santana Bassist David BrownIn 1998, he was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Santana. All the members of the band speak, except Brown.

David Brown died in 2000 due to liver and kidney failure. Be sure to read the several comments below, especially  Beachdog67’s. A wonderful and personal memory.

Santana Bassist David Brown