Category Archives: History

Festivals, Music et al, Today in history

1969 Toledo Pop Festival

September 14, 2018 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

1969 Toledo Pop Festival

September 14, 1969

Toledo Raceway Park

1969 Festival #43

Four short weeks after Jimi Hendrix closed the generation-defining Woodstock Festival with a soul-stirring, whammy-bar laden performance of the Star Bangled Banner, Toledo fans got a homegrown opportunity to air out their freak flags courtesy of the daylong Toledo Pop Festival.Culled primarily from the S.E. Michigan/N.W. Ohio axis of high-energy rock’n’roll, the day’s slightly disparate line-up featured a virtual who’s who of Rust Belt axe-slingers: Brothers Wayne Kramer and the late-great Fred “Sonic” Smith from the MC5; Ted Nugent from the Amboy Dukes; The Frost’s Dick Wagner, who would later go on to co-write, record, and tour extensively with the likes of Alice Cooper and Lou Reed, among others; Ron Koss of Savage Grace; Gary Quackenbush of SRC; Steve Correll of The Rationals; and, the soon-to-be-known-as “Leather Tuscadero” in the persona of one Miss Suzi Quatro, performing bass, vocal and jail-bait duties for the Pleasure Seekers, a band consisting chiefly of her brothers and sisters.

1969 Toledo Pop Festival

PDGB wonders if the concert promoter’s somewhat curious decision to place feel-good hit-makers The Turtles atop a bill filled largely with outfits known for their aggressive, potentially incendiary histrionics was -at least in part- a conscious decision intended to serve as a musical blow-off valve, The Turtles cheery melodies and infectious lyrics helping to ease the attendees transition from frenzied jam kick-outing to the parking lot slough that awaited them. Then again, maybe they just needed a big name to sell some tickets.

Either way, we’re sure the inevitable twenty minute-plus live rendition of “Happy Together” didn’t go unnoticed, reshuffling the synapses of numerous first-time psychedelic users so completely that even now, some forty-years later, the simple act of hearing said melody errantly whistled by passerby is capable of triggering intense psychotic episodes of such severity that even immediate medical attention followed by years of therapy can’t guarantee the return of normal brain activity. Way to go Boomers!

Held at Toledo Raceway Park (which we assume is the Horse racing facility of approximately the same name that still stands in North Toledo today) the $5.00 admission ($4.25 Advance) was an unbelievable bargain, even adjusted for inflation.

1969 Toledo Pop Festival

Next 1969 festival: Gold Rush Festival

Music et al, Peace Love Art and Activism, Today in history

September 1 Peace Love Art Activism

September 1, 2018 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

September 1 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

September 1, 1884: during the week of September 1, 1884, Joseph and Mary Tape, immigrants from China who had lived in the United States for over a decade, attempted to enroll their eight-year-old, American-born daughter, Mamie Tape, in San Francisco’s Spring Valley School. Principal Jennie Hurley denied the Tapes’ request on the basis of their race, and State Education Superintendent William Welcher supported that decision. Welcher justified the denial in part by noting that even the California Constitution described Chinese-Americans as “dangerous to the well-being of the state.”

In response to the school’s refusal to admit their daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Tape sued. (Chinese American site article) (see January 9, 1885)

September 1 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Separate Car Act

September 1, 1891: in response to the Separate Car Act and increasing violence against people of color in the South, a group made up mostly of “Creoles of color” convened at the offices of The Crusader, a black weekly in New Orleans. The paper’s chief editorial contributor, Rodolphe Desdunes, contended that the “law is unconstitutional. It is like a slap in the face of every member of the black race.” The group, called the Citizens Committee, devised a test case to prove the unconstitutionality of the law. (text from The Way It Was In the South) (see March 9, 1892)

Separate high schools

September 1, 1926: Arizona opened separate high schools for African-American students, separating black and white students. (Arizona State Archives article) (see March 7, 1927)

Josh White

September 1, 1950: Josh White was a noted African-American blues and folk singer who was also outspoken on civil rights and other social issues. On June 22, 1950, he had been named in the notorious report Red Channels as a Communist sympathizer. As a result, he was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) to testify on this day. White did not back down from his political commitments, and in fact turned the tables on HUAC by affirming his support for civil rights and reading the entire lyrics of the famous Billie Holiday song, Strange Fruit, into the Congressional Record. (Green Left Weekly article) (see Dec 10)

Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company

September 1, 1953 : in Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company, Keys became the first African American to challenge “separate but equal” in bus segregation before the Interstate Commerce Commission. The initial reviewing commissioner declined to hear her case, but Keys prevailed in front of the full commission. (Army dot mil article) (see Oct 8)

Emmett Till/fully prosecute

September 1, 1955: Mississippi Governor Hugh White ordered local officials to “fully prosecute” Milam and Bryant in the Till case.

Emmett Till/Roy Bryant

September 1, 1994: Roy Bryant Sr., 63, died at the Baptist Hospital in Jackson, Mississippi of cancer. (BH, see Mar 16; see Till for expanded story)

Huckleberry Finn

September 1, 1955: a CBS television production of Mark Twain’s classic American novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, omitted the character Nigger Jim, who is central to the novel, and also any mention of slavery. (see Sept 2)

School Desegregation

September 1, 1956: Clinton, Tennessee’s Clinton High School began to desegregate in the fall of 1956. The integration of Clinton High School was among the first Tennessee public schools to do so. Anti-integration campaigners from inside and outside Clinton protested the decision to integrate the high school. They were inspired by New Jersey white supremacist John Kasper and Asa Carter both of whom spoke publicly in Clinton on September 1 against the decision to integrate the high school. After violence was narrowly averted on the lawn of the Anderson County Courthouse on September 1, National Guard troops were called into the city for two months to keep order.

The twelve black students who attended Clinton High School that fall became known as the “Clinton 12”. On the morning of each school day they walked together down Broad Street from Foley Hill to Clinton High. (next BH and next SD, see Sept 29)

Race revolts

September 1, 1964: Harlem Riot, A grand jury report cleared Lieutenant Gilligan of any wrongdoing in the shooting death of James Powell. (BH, Sept 9; Harlem Riot, see Dec 20)

Orangeburg Massacre

September 1, 1973: a NYT article reported that “Cleveland L. Sellers Jr., a black activist, declared upon his release from prison this week that he would seek a new investigation into what he termed the “Orangeburg massacre.” “ (BH, see Sept 27; last OM entry)

September 1 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Labor Day

September 1, 1894: Congress declares Labor Day a national holiday. (see Dec 15)

Keating-Owen Child Labor Act

September 1, 1916: the Keating-Owen Child Labor Act, banning articles produced by child labor from being sold in interstate commerce, becomes law. [Our Documents article] (Labor, see Sept 3; Child Labor Act, see June 3, 1918)

César E. Chávez

September 1, 1979: Chavez announced settlement of 8-month lettuce strike against Sun Harvest Inc as a “victory for both the union and the company.” The union continued its strike against five other growers in the Salinas valley. (see September 21, 1983)

September 1 Peace Love Art Activism

TERRORISM

September 1, 1926: Ku Klux Klan members in Virginia kidnapped Father Vincent B. Warren, a Catholic priest, because he had been teaching African-American children in Princess Anne County, VA. They took him to a rural area and threatened Warren with guns and the prospect of being burned alive. The men released Warren several hours later.(altdaily.com article) (see November 25, 1930)

September 1 Peace Love Art Activism

Fair Housing

Housing Act of 1937

September 1, 1937: the Housing Act of 1937, sometimes called the Wagner-Steagall Act, provided for subsidies to be paid from the U.S. government to local public housing agencies (LHAs) to improve living conditions for low-income families. The act created the United States Housing Authority within the United States Department of the Interior. The act built on the National Housing Act of 1934, which created the Federal Housing Administration. (Living New Deal article)

Mutual Ownership Defense

From 1940 – 1942: the Mutual Ownership Defense Housing Division of the Federal Works Agency part of the United States government, operating under the leadership of Colonel Lawrence Westbrook, was an attempt by the federal government to respond to the housing needs facing defense workers and develop housing projects for middle-income families utilizing the cooperative/mutual housing ownership concept. Under pressure by entrenched real estate interests and intense and competing resource needs caused by World War II, the Division lasted for only two years. As stated in the Second Annual Report of the Federal Works Agency: “As a group, defense workers were also poor candidates for individual home ownership because the duration of their employment was uncertain, and because few of them had savings adequate to finance the downpayment on new homes. Recognizing these characteristics, attention was given early to some special form of housing to meet squarely the economic problem of the defense worker and one which, at the same time, might lead to an ultimate solution of the housing problems of millions of other American families of similar economic status.”(howderfamily.com article) (see November 1, 1943)

September 1 Peace Love Art Activism

Japanese Internment Camps

September 1, 1942: in the first specific ruling on the constitutionality of actions by President Roosevelt, by Congress, and by Lieut. Gen. John L. DeWitt in connection with evacuation of Japanese on the Pacific Coast, federal Judge Martin I Welsh of District Court of Northern California held that the Army was within its rights in evacuating, and in keeping in protective custody, all American-born Japanese as well as Japanese nationals. (see Japanese for expanded story)

September 1 Peace Love Art Activism

Cold War

ANZUS

September 1, 1951: Australia, New Zealand, and the United States signed ANZUS, a mutual defense accord similar to NATO in Europe. The alliance between the U.S. and New Zealand, however, has been suspended since 1985, after the institution of New Zealand’s nuclear-free zone prohibited U.S. nuclear warships from entering New Zealand’s ports. (US DoS article) (see Oct 30)

Nuclear/Chemical News

September 1, 1961: the Soviet Union ended a moratorium on atomic bomb testing with an above-ground nuclear explosion in central Asia. The USSR had ended speculation the day before in a TASS broadcast that announced it had resumed atomic testing, and by 5 Sep, had conducted three nuclear weapons tests. President Kennedy ordered the resumption of U.S. underground weapons testing. (CW & Nuclear, see Sept 15; testing, see August 5, 1963)

September 1 Peace Love Art Activism

September 1 Music et al

Jimi Hendrix

September 1, 1957: Jimi Hendrix, 14, attended an Elvis Presley concert at Sicks Stadium in Seattle. (Elvis, see Dec 20; JH, see May 31, 1961)

Sheila

September 1 – 14, 1962: “Sheila” by Tommy Roe #1 Billboard Hot 100.

Brian Epstein

September 1, 1967: the Beatles held a meeting at Paul McCartney’s house in London to decide upon their next course of action following the death of manager Brian Epstein. They decided to postpone their planned trip to India and to begin the already-delayed production of the Magical Mystery Tour movie. They had two songs already recorded for the movie, ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ and ‘Your Mother Should Know’. (see Sept 11)

Roots of Rock

September 1, 1995: in Cleveland, OH, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum ribbon cutting ceremony took place. The museum officially opened the next day. (see March 18, 2017)

September 1 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

September 1, 1966: the Joint Chiefs of Staff granted approval of the Operation Popeye project (next Vietnam, see October; see OP for expanded story)

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

September 1, 1967: the repeal of Tennessee’s Butler Act forbidding the teaching of evolution went into effect. (see Scopes for expanded story)

September 1 Peace Love Art Activism

Stop and Frisk Policy

September 1, 1971: Criminal Procedure Law 140.50 went into effect, which governs Terry-stops, or stop and frisks. (see June 15, 1976)

September 1 Peace Love Art Activism

Consumer Protection

September 1, 1998: the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 went into effect. The law required that all cars and light trucks sold in the United States have air bags on both sides of the front seat. (US DoT article) (see March 30, 1999)

September 1 Peace Love Art Activism

Assisted Suicide

September 1, 1998: Michigan’s second law outlawing physician-assisted suicide goes into effect. (see Kevorkian for expanded story)

September 1 Peace Love Art Activism

Hurricane Katrina

September 1, 2005: President Bush appeared on Good Morning America, and said that he understood the frustration of Katrina victims, many of whom are still waiting for food, water, and other aid. “I fully understand people wanting things to have happened yesterday,” Bush said. “I understand the anxiety of people on the ground. … So there is frustration. But I want people to know there’s a lot of help coming.” (see Sept 2)

September 1 Peace Love Art Activism

McCain/Palin

September 1 – 4, 2008 – Republican National Convention held in St Paul, MN. John McCain and Sarah Palin nominated for President and Vice-President.

September 1 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

September 1, 2014: U.S. District Judge John deGravelles temporarily blocked Louisiana from enforcing its restrictive new abortion law, but lawyers and advocates appeared to disagree about whether the judge’s order affects doctors at all five abortion clinics in the state or only those at three clinics whose lawsuit challenges the measure.

Judge deGravelles wrote that authorities could enforce the law until he held a hearing on whether an order to block it is needed while the case remained in court.

The law required doctors who performed abortions to have admitting privileges to a hospital within 30 miles of their clinics. The lawsuit claimed doctors haven’t had enough time to obtain the privileges and the law likely would close all five clinics. [NPR story] (see Oct 2)

September 1 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

September 1, 2015: Rowan County (Kentucky) Clerk Kim Davis denied licenses to gay couples saying she was acting “under God’s authority,” just hours after the Supreme Court refused to support her position.

In a raucous scene in this little town, two same-sex couples walked into the Rowan County Courthouse, trailed by television cameras and chanting protesters on both sides of the issue, only to be turned away by the county clerk, Kim Davis.

As one couple, David Ermold and David Moore, tried to engage her in an argument, Ms. Davis said several times that her office would not issue any marriage licenses. “Under whose authority?” Mr. Ermold asked.

“Under God’s authority,” she replied. [NYT article] (see Sept 3)

September 1 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

Colin Kaepernick

September 1, 2016: Kaepernick took a knee during the anthem and teammate Eric Reid joined him. This was the first time during his protest, Kaepernick wasn’t alone.

Also, Jeremy Lane of the Seattle Seahawks sits during the national anthem

Lane became the first non-teammate to join Kaepernick in protest. He sat on the bench prior to the national anthem in Oakland, just minutes after Kaepernick and Reid took a knee during the anthem in San Diego.

“I wasn’t trying to say anything. Just standing behind Kaepernick,” Lane said following the game. He added that he would keep doing it until he felt like justice was served. (FS & CK, see Sept 4)

September 1 Peace Love Art Activism

Black history, Environmental Issues, Peace Love Art and Activism

2005 Hurricane Katrina New Orleans

August 23, 2018 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

2005 Hurricane Katrina New Orleans

The tropical depression that became Hurricane Katrina formed over the Bahamas on August 23, 2005. It’s path led it over Florida before moving out into the Gulf of Mexico, regaining strength, and moving onto the Gulf coast again.

When the storm made landfall again, it had a Category 3 rating on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale–it brought sustained winds of 100–140 miles per hour–and stretched some 400 miles across.

And while Katrina affected a huge region, I will limit this blog entry mainly to New Orleans.

2005 Hurricane Katrina New Orleans

First landfall: Florida

August 25, 2005: at 6:30 PM EDT Hurricane Katrina made its first landfall in Florida as a Category 1 hurricane near Hallandale Beach, Florida on the Miami-Dade/Broward county line.

After landfall, instead of travelling as originally forecast, Katrina moved hard left (south/southwest) almost parallel to the coastline in densely-populated metropolitan Miami, Florida. As many as six people were killed, including three people killed by falling trees and two boaters that attempted to ride out the storm in their crafts.

August 26, 2005: Katrina was downgraded to a tropical storm. At 5:00 AM EDT, the eye of Hurricane Katrina was located just offshore of southwestern Florida over the Gulf of Mexico about 50 miles (80 km) north-northeast of Key West, Florida.

2005 Hurricane Katrina New Orleans

Headed toward New Orleans

August 27, 2005: Katrina reached Category 3 intensity. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin announced a state of emergency and a called for a voluntary evacuation.

August 28, 2005: Katrina reached Category 4 intensity with 145 mph winds. By 7:00 AM CDT it was a Category 5 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 175 mph , gusts up to 215 mph.

In a press conference at roughly 10:00 AM CDT, Mayor Ray Nagin declared that “a mandatory evacuation order is hereby called for all of the parish of Orleans.”

2005 Hurricane Katrina New Orleans

Storm surge

August 29, 2005: Katrina’s storm surge caused 53 different levee breaches in greater New Orleans, submerging eighty percent of the city.

August 30, 2005: Louisiana Governor Blanco ordered that all of New Orleans, including the Superdome, be evacuated due to the flooding of the city.

August 31, 2005: New Orleans’s Mayor Ray Nagin announced that the planned sandbagging of the 17th Street Canal levee breach had failed.

At the time, 85% of the city was underwater. President Bush returned early to Washington from vacationing at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. Though he did not stop in Louisiana, Air Force One flies low over the Gulf Coast so that he can view the devastation in Air Force One.

September 1, 2005: President Bush appeared on Good Morning America, and said that he understood the frustration of Katrina victims, many of whom are still waiting for food, water, and other aid.

“I fully understand people wanting things to have happened yesterday,” Bush said. “I understand the anxiety of people on the ground. … So there is frustration. But I want people to know there’s a lot of help coming.”

2005 Hurricane Katrina New Orleans

Heck of a job

September 2, 2005: President George W. Bush told Michael Brown, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job” during a tour of Hurricane Katrina damage in Alabama.

2005 Hurricane Katrina New Orleans

Danziger Bridge

September 4, 2005: in New Orleans, Sgt. Kenneth Bowen and Sgt. Robert Gisevius and Officers Anthony Villavaso and Robert Faulcon jumped in a Budget rental truck with several other officers and raced to the Danziger Bridge in eastern New Orleans, responding to a distress call.

As a result, police killed two civilians, 17-year-old James Brissette and 40-year-old Ronald Madison an wounded four other civilians.

All of the victims were African-American. None were armed or had committed any crime. Madison, a mentally disabled man, was shot in the back. (officers, see January 3, 2007)

2005 Hurricane Katrina New Orleans

Media limitations

September 9, 2005: U.S. Army Lieutenant General Russel L. Honoré and New Orleans Director of Homeland Security Terry Ebbert announced a “zero access” policy with regards to the media, in order to prevent members of the media from reporting on the recovery of dead bodies in New Orleans. CNN filed a lawsuit, then obtained a temporary restraining order to prevent government agencies from interfering with news coverage of recovery efforts.

2005 Hurricane Katrina New Orleans

Brown resigns

September 12, 2005: in the wake of what was widely believed to be incompetent handling of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina by state, local and federal officials, FEMA director, Michael Brown, resigned, saying that it was “in the best interest of the agency and best interest of the president.” His standing had also been damaged when the Boston Herald revealed his meager experience in disaster management before joining FEMA.

September 15, 2005, : President George W. Bush, addressing the nation from storm-ravaged New Orleans, acknowledged the government failed to respond adequately to Hurricane Katrina and urged Congress to approve a massive reconstruction program.

2005 Hurricane Katrina New Orleans

Death toll

September 19, 2005: Louisiana’s official death toll stood at 973.

September 21, 2005: the official death toll was raised to 1,036, with 63 additional deaths recognized in Louisiana. This marked the first time since 1928 that a natural disaster in the U.S. had been officially acknowledged to have killed at least 1,000 people. State-by-state death tolls: Louisiana 799, Mississippi 218, Florida 14, Alabama 2, Georgia 2, Tennessee 1.

2005 Hurricane Katrina New Orleans

Police charged

January 3, 2007: seven New Orleans policemen charged in a deadly shooting in the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina turned themselves in at the city jail. More than 200 supporters met them in a show of solidarity.

Each of the indicted men faced at least one charge of murder or attempted murder in the Sept. 4, 2005, shootings on the Danziger Bridge. Two people died and four were wounded in the shooting.

2005 Hurricane Katrina New Orleans

Indictments dismissed

August 13, 2008: District Judge Raymond Bigelow dismissed the indictments against the New Orleans police officers after his finding that the prosecutors had wrongly instructed the grand jury and that testimony of three of the accused officers had been divulged to other witnesses in the case.

The US Dept of Justice and the FBI will subsequently investigate the case.

2005 Hurricane Katrina New Orleans

Guilty pleas

February 24, 2010: Officer Michael Lohman, who had encouraged the officers to provide false stories in the shooting incident entered a plea of guilty to obstruction of justice in federal court.

March 11, 2010: Officer Jeffrey Lehrmann pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony for failing to report the cover-up.

April 7, 2010: Michael Hunter, one of the seven officers originally charged with attempted murder in 2007, pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony and obstruction of justice.

July 13, 2010: a federal grand jury indicted Kenneth Bowen, Robert Gisevius, Robert Faulcon, and Anthony Villavaso in connection with the shooting and subsequent cover-up.

Additionally, Arthur “Archie” Kaufman (lead investigator on the case) and Gerard Dugue (another investigator) were charged with falsifying reports and false prosecution in the conspiracy to cover-up the shooting. [Times-Picayune article]

2005 Hurricane Katrina New Orleans

More guilty verdicts

August 5, 2011: guilty verdicts were handed down for Bowen, Gisevius, Faulcon, Villavaso and Kaufman. [Times-Picayune article]

2005 Hurricane Katrina New Orleans

Sentencing

April 4, 2012: the four officers directly involved in the shooting were sentenced in federal court to lengthy terms ranging from 38 to 65 years, while a police sergeant who was charged with investigating the shooting, and instead helped lead the efforts to hide and distort what happened, was sentenced to six years.

Three police officers who pleaded guilty and later testified at the trial were involved in the shooting on the bridge and received sentences ranging from five to eight years.

Two others, a detective and a police lieutenant who helped orchestrate the cover-up, were sentenced to three and four years. [FBI report]

2005 Hurricane Katrina New Orleans

Vacated convictions

September 17, 2013, following a year-long probe into the defendants’ claims, U.S. District Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt vacated the convictions of Bowen, Faulcon, Gisevius, Villavaso and Kaufman, and ordered a new trial.

2005 Hurricane Katrina New Orleans

2015

2005 Hurricane Katrina New Orleans

New guilty pleas

April 20, 2016, the five officers pleaded guilty to charges of deprivation of rights under color of law, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy to obstruct justice. In return, they were sentenced to significantly reduced sentences of three to 12 years in prison, with credit for time served.

November 4, 2016, Gerard Dugue pleaded guilty in federal court to “a misdemeanor charge of accessory after the fact to deprivation of rights under the color of law.”

He was sentenced to one year of probation, making him the only NOPD officer who plead guilty in the case but was not sent to prison.

December 19, 2016: New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu apologized and announced a settlement agreement. [NOLA dot com article]

The settlement included payments for the families of victims killed or injured in the shooting of unarmed civilians; for the beating death of Raymond Robair, 48, who was killed before the storm; and for the fatal shooting of Henry Glover, who was killed by a police officer standing guard outside an Algiers shopping center.”