April 12 Peace Love Art Activism

April 12 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Puddlers

April 12, 1858: a group of “puddlers”—craftsmen who manipulated pig iron to create steel—met in a Pittsburgh bar and formed The Iron City Forge of the Sons of Vulcan. It was the strongest union in the U.S. in the 1870s, later merging with two other unions to form what was to be the forerunner of the United Steel Workers. (merthyr-history.com article) (see January 10, 1860)

Auto-Lite strike

April 12, 1934: the Toledo (Ohio) Auto-Lite strike begins with 6,000 workers demanding union recognition and higher pay. The strike was notable for a 5-day running battle in late May between the strikers and 1,300 members of the Ohio National Guard. Known as the “Battle of Toledo,” the clash left two strikers dead and more than 200 injured. The 2-month strike, a win for the workers’ union, is regarded by many labor historians as one of the nation’s three most important strikes. (parallelnarratives dot com article) (LH, see May 9;  see Toledo for expanded chronology)

DNAinfo and Gothamist

April 12, 2017: reporters and editors at the New York news organizations DNAinfo and Gothamist agreed to unionize after combining their operations in March.

An “overwhelming” majority of the 26 members of the newsroom staffs of the two websites signed cards agreeing to be represented by the Writers Guild of America East, according to organizers and staff members, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about their workplace.

The owners challenged the vote to the National Labor Relations Board. (subsequent shut down by owners NYT article) (Labor see Apr 26; DNA/Goth, see Oct 27)

Oklahoma teachers

April 12, 2018: Oklahoma’s largest teachers’ union called for educators to return to the classroom and to shift their efforts to supporting candidates in the fall elections who favor increased education spending.

At a news conference, Alicia Priest, president of the Oklahoma Education Association, characterized the nine-day walkout as “a victory for teachers,” even as it fell short of its goals. (see Apr 26)

April 12 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Fort Pillow Massacre

April 12, 1864: Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest led around 1,500 troops on a raid to recapture Fort Pillow on the Mississippi in Tennessee. Far outnumbered, the less that 600 Union soldiers (made up of the 13th United States Cavalry) fought, but overrun, many eventually laid down their arms to surrender, but the Confederate troops continued to shoot the unarmed men.

Many of the soldiers belonged to the United States Colored Troops and the Confederate soldiers particulalry targeted those surrendered troops. While around 20 percent of the white Union soldiers died as a result of the battle, approximately 70 percent of the USCT soldiers at Fort Pillow were killed. [Smithsonian article] (next BH, see October 4, 1894)

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR
The rare documents, which include four numbered pages of text and dozens of signatures from King and his close friend and fellow activist Ralph D. Abernathy, recently sold at Hake’s Auctions for $130,909, reports Rikki Klaus for ““PBS NewsHour.”

April 12, 1963: police arrested King, Reverend Abernathy and Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth for leading a demonstration in defiance of an injunction obtained by Bull Connor. Dr. King was placed in solitary confinement and refused access to counsel. During his incarceration, he penned his “Letter from the Birmingham Jail,” a response to a statement by eight leading local white clergymen — Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish — who had denounced him as an outside agitator and urged blacks to withdraw their support for his crusade. In this eloquent statement, Dr. King set forth his philosophy of nonviolence and enumerated the steps that preceded the Gandhian civil disobedience in Birmingham. Specifically citing Southern segregation laws, he wrote that any law that degraded people was unjust and must be resisted. Nonviolent direct action, Dr. King explained, sought to foster tension and dramatize an issue “so it can no longer be ignored.” (see Apr 16)

Malcolm X

April 12, 1964: in Detroit, Michigan, Malcolm X delivered the “The Ballot or the Bullet.” speech. (BH, see Apr 14; MX, see June 28)

George Whitmore, Jr

April 12, 1965: Whitmore’s trial for the  Minnie Edmonds slaying opened before an all-male blue-ribbon jury and Kings County Supreme Court Justice Dominic S. Rinaldi. (Blue-ribbon juries — criticized by liberal groups as self-righteous and conviction-prone — are composed of persons from high educational and economic levels and permitted in counties with more than a million population under a New York statute enacted in the 1930s.) (see Whitmore for expanded story)

Rainey Pool

April 12 Peace Love Art Activism

April 12, 1970: a group of white men beat Rainey Pool, 54, a one-armed sharecropper, outside a Mississippi Delta Nightclub. They dumped his body in the Sunflower River. Two days later police found Pool’s body. Police arrested four men and charged them with assault and murder. One man confessed. (1999 Journal Times article on trial) (BH, see May 11; Poole, see July 1970)

137 SHOTS

April 12, 2018: supervisors Michael Donegan, 44, of Cleveland; Patricia Coleman, 50, of Brooklyn; Jason Edens, 44, of Avon; Paul Wilson, 51, of Cleveland; and Randolph Dailey, 46, of North Ridgeville pleaded not guilty when they appeared at arraignments in East Cleveland Municipal Court. (see 137 for expanded chronology)

Starbucks

April 12, 2018: a Starbucks employee in Philadelphia called police after  Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson, two black men, waited for a third person to have a business meeting at the Starbucks. Police took both men from the cafe in handcuffs. (BH & Starbuck see May 2)

 

April 12 Peace Love Art Activism

April 12 Music et al

Roots of Rock

April 12, 1954: Bill Haley and the Comets recorded “(We’re Gonna) Rock Around The Clock.” It was included as the B-side of “Thirteen Women” also recorded that day. The record—with “Thirteen Women” as the A-side, will only be a moderate success. (see May 7)

“Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie”

April 12, 1963: at New York’s Town Hall Bob Dylan recited “Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie,” a long evocation of old memories, a youth searching for himself by the railroad tracks, down the road, in fields and meadows, on the banks of streams, in the “trash can alleys.” And, he says, somehow during that search Woody was his companion. There’s this book comin’ out, an’ they asked me to write something about Woody…Sort of like “What does Woody Guthrie mean to you?” in twenty-five words…

And I couldn’t do it — I wrote out five pages and… I have it here, it’s…Have it here by accident, actually… but I’d like to say this out loud…So… if you can sort of roll along with this thing here, this is called… (see Bob Dylan Woody Guthrie Last Thoughts for audio and lyrics) (see May 12)

The Byrds

April 12, 1965: The Byrds released their first single, Bob Dylan’s Mr Tambourine Man. It will become the Billboard #1 on June 26. (see May 8)

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

April 12, 1968:  after nearly two months in Rishikesh, India, studying Transcendental Meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, John Lennon and George Harrison left the camp. Also with them were Cynthia Lennon, Pattie Harrison and their friend ‘Magic’ Alex Mardas. They had decided to leave after Mardas convinced the others that Maharishi had attempted to gain sexual favours from female meditators at the camp. The accusation was likely unfounded. (next Beatles, see May 19; see Rishikesh for expanded story)

Fifth Dimension

April 12 – May 23, 1969: “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” by the Fifth Dimension #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Road to Bethel

April 12, 1969: Mel Lawrence and Tom Rounds arrived in NY. They had organized rock concerts in Hawaii, the Fantasy Fair, and had organized Miami Pop in 1968. (see Road for expanded story)

April 12 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestone

Polio vaccine

April 12 Peace Love Art Activism

April 12, 1955: researchers announced the polio vaccine was safe and effective and it quickly became a standard part of childhood immunizations in America. In the ensuing decades, polio vaccines would all but wipe out the highly contagious disease in the Western Hemisphere. (Jonas Salk NYT obit) (see June 29, 1956)

April 12 Peace Love Art Activism

Space Race

Yuri Gagarin

April 12, 1961: the first human in space. Vostok 1 carried Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into orbit. The Soviets refer to Gagarin as a “cosmonaut.” The Americans had considered “cosmonaut” as a title but had already settled on “astronaut.”  (NASA article on Gagarin) (see May 2)

April 12 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

April 12, 1966: NY Stock Exchange hit with anti-war leaflets. (see Apr 13)

April 12 Peace Love Art Activism

Watergate Scandal

April 12, 1996: historian, Stanley I. Kutler won a legal victory that would lead to the slow but steady release of more than 3,000 hours of secretly recorded Nixon White House tapes. In a deal struck with the estate of former President Richard M. Nixon and the National Archives, the first set of the tapes — more than 200 hours chronicling the abuses of power known collectively as the Watergate scandals – were to be released by November, 1996. The agreement came 21 years after Congress ordered that the tapes be made public.

Kutler his lawyer, Alan Morrison of the advocacy group Public Citizen, and the National Archivist, John Carlin, said that the rest of the tapes, which cover almost everything of importance that Mr. Nixon and his aides said at the White House, at the Old Executive Office Building next door and at Camp David, Md., from February 1971 to July 1973, when their existence was disclosed, will gradually be released in the coming years. (see Watergate for expanded story)

April 12 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

April 12, 1999: U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright found President Bill Clinton in civil contempt of court for his “willful failure” to obey her repeated orders to testify truthfully in the Paula Jones case. Wright also orders Clinton to pay Jones “any reasonable expenses including attorneys’ fees caused by his willful failure to obey this court’s discovery orders,” directing Jones’ lawyers to submit an accounting of their expenses and fees. She also rules Clinton must reimburse the court $1,202 for the judge’s travel expenses. Wright traveled to Washington at Clinton’s request to preside over what she now calls “his tainted deposition.” (see Clinton for expanded story)

April 12 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

April 12, 2012: a U.S. federal grand jury issued the first-ever indictment to charge a violation of the sexual orientation section of the federal hate crimes law. According to the indictment, David Jason Jenkins and Anthony Ray Jenkins enlisted two women to trick Kevin Pennington into getting into a truck with the defendants, so that the defendants could drive Pennington to a state park and assault him. According to the indictment, the defendants then drove Pennington a secluded area of the Kingdom Come State Park in Kentucky and assaulted him.

The indictment charged the men with committing a hate crime in violation of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act,  (2013 DOJ article on case) (see April 25, 2012)

April 12 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

April 12, 2019: Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed the “Human Rights Protection Act,” SB 23 which outlawed abortions as early as five or six weeks into a pregnancy, before many women would know they were pregnant. It is one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country.

The bill included an exception to save the life of the woman, but no exceptions for cases of rape or incest. (see Apr 19)

April 12 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

Reunification

April 12, 2019: a federal court settlement announced that it would allow almost 2,700 children living in Central America to safely reunite with their parents, who are living in the United States under protected status.

The settlement between the families and the Trump administration affected children who had been conditionally approved by the government to join their parents before the White House canceled the Central American Minors program in August 2017.

The program began under the Obama administration in 2014. It allowed the children of parents who are lawfully in the United States to apply for permanent residency as refugees. [NYT article]

Asylum seekers

April 12, 2019: a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said that the Trump administration could temporarily continue to force migrants seeking asylum in the United States to wait in Mexico while their cases are decided.

The panel issued a stay of an April 8 lower court ruling that had blocked the administration’s protocol. The appeals court would consider whether to extend that stay  and allowed the Trump administration policy to remain in effect for until another ruling. [NYT article] (see Apr 16)

April 12 Peace Love Art Activism

Right to Die

April 12, 2019: New Jersey’s Medical Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act (P.L. 2019, c.59) was approved, with an effective date of August 1, 2019. Known as the “Medical Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act,” this law permitted terminally ill, adult patients residing in New Jersey to obtain and self-administer medication to end their lives peacefully and humanely. (next RtD, see September 22, 2020)

April 12 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

April 12, 2021: New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) signed a bill to legalize marijuana in the state, as well as a separate measure to expunge records for people with prior, low-level cannabis convictions.

Grisham gave final approval to the legislation, a key accomplishment for her administration after she listed legalization as a 2021 priority. Although lawmakers failed to pass a legalization bill before the regular session’s end last month, the governor convened a special session to ensure they got the job done.

“The legalization of adult-use cannabis paves the way for the creation of a new economic driver in our state with the promise of creating thousands of good paying jobs for years to come,” the governor said in a press release. “We are going to increase consumer safety by creating a bona fide industry. We’re going to start righting past wrongs of this country’s failed war on drugs. And we’re going to break new ground in an industry that may well transform New Mexico’s economic future for the better.” [MM article] (next Cannabis, see  Apr 29, or see CAC for expanded chronology)

April 12 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

Electric Vehicles

April 12, 2023:  the Biden administration proposed the nation’s most ambitious climate regulations to date, two plans designed to ensure two-thirds of new passenger cars and a quarter of new heavy trucks sold in the United States were all-electric by 2032.

The new rules would require nothing short of a revolution in the U.S. auto industry, a moment in some ways as significant as the June morning in 1896 when Henry Ford took his “horseless carriage” for a test run and changed American life and industry.

The government’s challenge to automakers was monumental; In 2922, all-electric vehicles were just 5.8 percent of new cars sold in the United States. All-electric trucks were even more rare, making up fewer than 2 percent of new heavy trucks sold. [NYT article] (next EI, see Apr 26)

Public Land Use

April 12, 2024: the Biden administration made it more expensive for fossil fuel companies to pull oil, gas and coal from public lands, raising royalty rates for the first time in 100 years in a bid to end bargain basement fees enjoyed by one of the country’s most profitable industries.

The government also increased more than tenfold the amount of the bonds that companies must secure before they start drilling. [NYT article] (next EI, see Apr 19)

April 12 Peace Love Art Activism

Dylan Guthrie Last Thoughts

Dylan Guthrie Last Thoughts

Dylan Guthrie Last Thoughts

April 12, 1963: at New York’s Town Hall Bob Dylan recited “Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie,” a long evocation of old memories, a youth searching for himself by the railroad tracks, down the road, in fields and meadows, on the banks of streams, in the “trash can alleys.” And, he says, somehow during that search Woody was his companion. 

Dylan Guthrie Last Thoughts

Here’s Dylan’s recitation

Dylan Guthrie Last Thoughts

There’s this book…

“There’s this book comin’ out, an’ they asked me to write something about Woody…Sort of like “What does Woody Guthrie mean to you?” in twenty-five words…

And…ah…I couldn’t do it — I wrote out five pages and… I have it here, it’s…Have it here by accident, actually… but I’d like to say this out loud…So… if you can sort of roll along with this thing here, this is called…

Dylan Guthrie Last Thoughts
“Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie”
When yer head gets twisted and yer mind grows numb
When you think you’re too old, too young, too smart or too dumb
When yer laggin’ behind an’ losin’ yer pace
In a slow-motion crawl of life’s busy race
No matter what yer doing if you start givin’ up
If the wine don’t come to the top of yer cup
If the wind’s got you sideways with with one hand holdin’ on
And the other starts slipping and the feeling is gone
And yer train engine fire needs a new spark to catch it
And the wood’s easy findin’ but yer lazy to fetch it
And yer sidewalk starts curlin’ and the street gets too long
And you start walkin’ backwards though you know its wrong
And lonesome comes up as down goes the day
And tomorrow’s mornin’ seems so far away
And you feel the reins from yer pony are slippin’
And yer rope is a-slidin’ ’cause yer hands are a-drippin’
And yer sun-decked desert and evergreen valleys
Turn to broken down slums and trash-can alleys
And yer sky cries water and yer drain pipe’s a-pourin’
And the lightnin’s a-flashing and the thunder’s a-crashin’
And the windows are rattlin’ and breakin’ and the roof tops a-shakin’
And yer whole world’s a-slammin’ and bangin’
And yer minutes of sun turn to hours of storm
And to yourself you sometimes say
“I never knew it was gonna be this way
Why didn’t they tell me the day I was born”
And you start gettin’ chills and yer jumping from sweat
And you’re lookin’ for somethin’ you ain’t quite found yet
And yer knee-deep in the dark water with yer hands in the air
And the whole world’s a-watchin’ with a window peek stare
And yer good gal leaves and she’s long gone a-flying
And yer heart feels sick like fish when they’re fryin’
And yer jackhammer falls from yer hand to yer feet
And you need it badly but it lays on the street
And yer bell’s bangin’ loudly but you can’t hear its beat
And you think yer ears might a been hurt
Or yer eyes’ve turned filthy from the sight-blindin’ dirt
And you figured you failed in yesterdays rush
When you were faked out an’ fooled white facing a four flush
And all the time you were holdin’ three queens
And it’s makin you mad, it’s makin’ you mean
Like in the middle of Life magazine
Bouncin’ around a pinball machine
And there’s something on yer mind you wanna be saying
That somebody someplace oughta be hearin’
But it’s trapped on yer tongue and sealed in yer head
And it bothers you badly when your layin’ in bed
And no matter how you try you just can’t say it
And yer scared to yer soul you just might forget it
And yer eyes get swimmy from the tears in yer head
And yer pillows of feathers turn to blankets of lead
And the lion’s mouth opens and yer staring at his teeth
And his jaws start closin with you underneath
And yer flat on your belly with yer hands tied behind
And you wish you’d never taken that last detour sign
And you say to yourself just what am I doin’
On this road I’m walkin’, on this trail I’m turnin’
On this curve I’m hanging
On this pathway I’m strolling, in the space I’m taking
In this air I’m inhaling
Am I mixed up too much, am I mixed up too hard
Why am I walking, where am I running
What am I saying, what am I knowing
On this guitar I’m playing, on this banjo I’m frailin’
On this mandolin I’m strummin’, in the song I’m singin’
In the tune I’m hummin’, in the words I’m writin’
In the words that I’m thinkin’
In this ocean of hours I’m all the time drinkin’
Who am I helping, what am I breaking
What am I giving, what am I taking
But you try with your whole soul best
Never to think these thoughts and never to let
Them kind of thoughts gain ground
Or make yer heart pound
But then again you know why they’re around
Just waiting for a chance to slip and drop down
“Cause sometimes you hear’em when the night times comes creeping
And you fear that they might catch you a-sleeping
And you jump from yer bed, from yer last chapter of dreamin’
And you can’t remember for the best of yer thinking
If that was you in the dream that was screaming
And you know that it’s something special you’re needin’
And you know that there’s no drug that’ll do for the healin’
And no liquor in the land to stop yer brain from bleeding
And you need something special
Yeah, you need something special all right
You need a fast flyin’ train on a tornado track
To shoot you someplace and shoot you back
You need a cyclone wind on a stream engine howler
That’s been banging and booming and blowing forever
That knows yer troubles a hundred times over
You need a Greyhound bus that don’t bar no race
That won’t laugh at yer looks
Your voice or your face
And by any number of bets in the book
Will be rollin’ long after the bubblegum craze
You need something to open up a new door
To show you something you seen before
But overlooked a hundred times or more
You need something to open your eyes
You need something to make it known
That it’s you and no one else that owns
That spot that yer standing, that space that you’re sitting
That the world ain’t got you beat
That it ain’t got you licked
It can’t get you crazy no matter how many
Times you might get kicked
You need something special all right
You need something special to give you hope
But hope’s just a word
That maybe you said or maybe you heard
On some windy corner ’round a wide-angled curve
But that’s what you need man, and you need it bad
And yer trouble is you know it too good
“Cause you look an’ you start getting the chills
“Cause you can’t find it on a dollar bill
And it ain’t on Macy’s window sill
And it ain’t on no rich kid’s road map
And it ain’t in no fat kid’s fraternity house
And it ain’t made in no Hollywood wheat germ
And it ain’t on that dimlit stage
With that half-wit comedian on it
Ranting and raving and taking yer money
And you thinks it’s funny
No you can’t find it in no night club or no yacht club
And it ain’t in the seats of a supper club
And sure as hell you’re bound to tell
That no matter how hard you rub
You just ain’t a-gonna find it on yer ticket stub
No, and it ain’t in the rumors people’re tellin’ you
And it ain’t in the pimple-lotion people are sellin’ you
And it ain’t in no cardboard-box house
Or down any movie star’s blouse
And you can’t find it on the golf course
And Uncle Remus can’t tell you and neither can Santa Claus
And it ain’t in the cream puff hair-do or cotton candy clothes
And it ain’t in the dime store dummies or bubblegum goons
And it ain’t in the marshmallow noises of the chocolate cake voices
That come knockin’ and tappin’ in Christmas wrappin’
Sayin’ ain’t I pretty and ain’t I cute and look at my skin
Look at my skin shine, look at my skin glow
Look at my skin laugh, look at my skin cry
When you can’t even sense if they got any insides
These people so pretty in their ribbons and bows
No you’ll not now or no other day
Find it on the doorsteps made out-a paper mache¥
And inside it the people made of molasses
That every other day buy a new pair of sunglasses
And it ain’t in the fifty-star generals and flipped-out phonies
Who’d turn yuh in for a tenth of a penny
Who breathe and burp and bend and crack
And before you can count from one to ten
Do it all over again but this time behind yer back
My friend
The ones that wheel and deal and whirl and twirl
And play games with each other in their sand-box world
And you can’t find it either in the no-talent fools
That run around gallant
And make all rules for the ones that got talent
And it ain’t in the ones that ain’t got any talent but think they do
And think they’re foolin’ you
The ones who jump on the wagon
Just for a while ’cause they know it’s in style
To get their kicks, get out of it quick
And make all kinds of money and chicks
And you yell to yourself and you throw down yer hat
Sayin’, “Christ do I gotta be like that
Ain’t there no one here that knows where I’m at
Ain’t there no one here that knows how I feel
Good God Almighty
THAT STUFF AIN’T REAL”
No but that ain’t yer game, it ain’t even yer race
You can’t hear yer name, you can’t see yer face
You gotta look some other place
And where do you look for this hope that yer seekin’
Where do you look for this lamp that’s a-burnin’
Where do you look for this oil well gushin’
Where do you look for this candle that’s glowin’
Where do you look for this hope that you know is there
And out there somewhere
And your feet can only walk down two kinds of roads
Your eyes can only look through two kinds of windows
Your nose can only smell two kinds of hallways
You can touch and twist
And turn two kinds of doorknobs
You can either go to the church of your choice
Or you can go to Brooklyn State Hospital
You’ll find God in the church of your choice
You’ll find Woody Guthrie in Brooklyn State Hospital
And though it’s only my opinion
I may be right or wrong
You’ll find them both
In the Grand Canyon
At sundown
Link to Dylan site

Dylan Guthrie Last Thoughts

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April 12 Music et al

April 12 Music et al

Woodstock birthday

Miller Anderson, guitarist for the Keef Hartley Band, was born on April 12, 1945.

Roots of Rock

Bill Haley and the Comets

April 12, 1954: Bill Haley and the Comets recorded “(We’re Gonna) Rock Around The Clock.” It was included as the B-side of “Thirteen Women” also recorded that day. The record—with “Thirteen Women” as the A-side, will only be a moderate success. (see May 7)


April 12 Music et al

Bob Dylan

Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie

April 12, 1963: at New York’s Town Hall Bob Dylan recited “Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie,” a long evocation of old memories, a youth searching for himself by the railroad tracks, down the road, in fields and meadows, on the banks of streams, in the “trash can alleys.” And, he says, somehow during that search Woody was his companion. There’s this book comin’ out, an’ they asked me to write something about Woody…Sort of like “What does Woody Guthrie mean to you?” in twenty-five words…

And I couldn’t do it — I wrote out five pages and… I have it here, it’s…Have it here by accident, actually… but I’d like to say this out loud…So… if you can sort of roll along with this thing here, this is called… (see Bob Dylan Woody Guthrie Last Thoughts for audio and lyrics) (see May 12)

April 12 Music et al
Mr Tambourine Man

April 12, 1965: The Byrds released their first single, Mr Tambourine Man. It will become the Billboard #1 on June 26. (see May 8) (see also Mr Tambourine Man)

April 12 Music et al

The Beatles

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

April 12, 1968:  after nearly two months in Rishikesh, India, studying Transcendental Meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, John Lennon and George Harrison left the camp. Also with them were Cynthia Lennon, Pattie Harrison and their friend ‘Magic’ Alex Mardas. They had decided to leave after Mardas convinced the others that Maharishi had attempted to gain sexual favours from female meditators at the camp. (2008 Daily Mail article) (see May 31)

Billboard #1

Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In

April 12 – May 23, 1969: “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” by the Fifth Dimension #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It is a medley of two songs written for the 1967 musical Hair by James Rado & Gerome Ragni (lyrics), and Galt MacDermot (music).

They based the lyrics on the astrological belief that the world would soon be entering the “Age of Aquarius”, an age of love, light, and humanity.

April 12 Music et al

Road to Bethel

April 12 Music et al
Mel Lawrence

April 12, 1969: Mel Lawrence and Tom Rounds arrived in NY. They had organized rock concerts in Hawaii, the Fantasy Fair, and had organized Miami Pop in 1968. (from Joel Makower’s book, Woodstock, The Oral History) (see Chronology for expanded story)

April 12 Music et al