esrosedotblog

Bob Dylan has been both in and out of favor with me.

I think there is a reason for that. He has swung all along the road from one lane to another and down another road again during his career.

Here, he breaks it down for us. I truly believe all the words he is saying here.

Grammys 2015: Transcript of Bob Dylan's MusiCares Person of Year speech

It is long but it is a virtual history of his work and the times he did that work in.

He has endured. He did not go out on drugs or alcohol. He has not killed himself for real or symbolically. He has just writ the songs and sung them.

I commend to you: Bob Dylan.

Labels: heroes, music

Today's hero is a guy who was gay "before his time" and did some amazing things over the years.

Jose Sarria Gay Advocate and Performer Dies at 90.

It doesn't take too much to be a hero here. Just live to 90 or more and be admired by me during your life.

Jose Serra was a drag queen and he reigned over the Imperial Court which is a society of drag queens.

He was a perennial performer where he worked, The Black Cat, and he ran for Supervisor of San Francisco. The first gay man to run as a gay man. He got over 5000 votes and Sarria said that after that there was no politician who ran who could ignore the gay vote.

I have not always been comfortable around drag queens. It took me some years to see that they and I are the same. I just am not into wearing a dress. There is no way that I could be a member of the Imperial Court.

But I know that, perhaps because they were the most obvious of "the gays", it was the dragsters that gave us Stonewall and many many other breakthroughs.

They would not pass.

And, neither will I.

Today, I have personal friends who are into the dress up and I find they are a lot of fun and take life in a way that I wish I could more of the time.

Labels: gay heroes, heroes

I cried when I heard this.Elmore Loenard Dies at 87

This guy gets honorary status as a hero. This thing I have about people that I admire who hold on to 90 or plus years of life.

He didn't make 90 but his life was double the output of "normal".

I read everything. Everything.

The westerns, the short stories, the movie scripts the wonderful crime novels.

Master of the short sentence. He said he cut all the unimportant stuff out.

I tried to learn from his model.

I met him once in Chicago. He was doing a book signing down the street from where I was working.

I made sure to be there.

And I took the recent book he was signing for. I was half way through.

The early crowd was sparse so I got a shot at saying a few words.

He and I shared a life experience, the victory over alcohol. Transforming. We are in the same fellowship.

I told him I would be happy to buy another book, he laughed and made some comment about our tendency to excess.

He wanted to see where I had read to. Opened it there and checked it out. Laughed.

He said there was a lot to read yet. He wrote that he hoped I liked the way it turned out. To him, it was certainly the trip that counted but the destination was important too.

I remember he had on a crappy looking blue blazer and needed a shave in a way that is now fashionable. A mile wide smile and generous with his time and, I felt, laser attention.

His later work got a little thin around the edges but it was always an example of how much could be said with so little time. He had a genius for the ways you could kill someone.

You have to admire that.

Labels: books, heroes

I had forgotten the heroic proportions of Gary Davis' contribution to my thinking.

Gary Davis Man of No Nation Dies at 91

Here is how he made it into my pantheon.

First, he lived to be 90.

Second, he contributed to my thinking as a young boy, man. He was a born rebel.

I did not know he was the son of Meyer Davis, the "society" band leader. Another story. A fame of time and place. The swing orchestra for dancing affairs which became obsolete.

He was also, I knew this, a musical actor who had risen high. I did not know he had stood in for Danny Kaye. Another famed, forgotten personality. Multi talented and star of stage and screen. No television. I think it killed him, too hot for a vivid performer. Also too late.

Back to Gary Davis. I am evading the point which is that he was the first anti-establishment guy who took my attention in a visceral way.

I could not comprehend his actions. Renouncing his citizenship. My god.

But he had a story and he was consistent and he had a highly focused well ordered argument which he repeated over and over. He was the first guy like this that I admired who "stayed on message".

And he was an action hero. He walked the talk. He had the capacity to really piss people off.

And somehow, the neanderthals were able to see his point. They did not kill him. They hardly captured him. They gave him a stage, inadvertently, by really taking him seriously.

He made me think.

On one hand, he helped me see the fallibility of our nation and our leaders and the idea of nationality. Patriotism. On the other, he created an argument in my head which found its own answer in a kind of tolerant patriotism. One which saw the freedoms expressed in his daily acts. A nation that forgave and forgave and forgave what in another country would have had him killed early in his advocacy.

He was an extremist.

I really liked that.

You might remember that all this was against a backdrop of internationalism. The formation of the UN and other international bodies were, at that time, in the air. He was with his time only way way over there in the outlier column.

I like that he ended his days in Vermont. A citizen of the world, sure. But home was here. Vermont was made for him. Liberal politics and the cold clear weather of reason.

Some said he was crazy. Maybe. But not "that" way.

He was a pacifist too. He had to be once he adopted the international ism. or no nationalism. Different.

I paid a lot of attention to this guy. And then he was gone. Off the stage. The show closed.

They said he could throw his voice to the furthest point in a theater. Here, his voice carried much further than that.

Gary Davis. Hero. He made the cut.

Check this out. Lucid and brave until the end. Well, 2009, which given his life span is a small incremental difference from now to then.

Labels: heroes

Helen Thomas, the infamous White House reporter, died yesterday at 92.

Helen Thomas Who Broke Down Barriers at the White House.

There hardly seems a time when Helen Thomas was not reporting the news from the White House.

An indefatigable prober, Ms. Thomas forged a reputation for the sharp question and even sharper aside.

She was an objective reporter through and through but she had a killer instinct as a bullshit detector. A good skill to have in all of DC.

You would think that with so much bullshit it would be easy to point out but it took courage and resourcefulness to get by the wiliest of politicians.

No one remembers much about Lyndon Baines Johnson the uber-bullshitter of all recent time, but he was a master and Helen Thomas could take him down. In public. In a press conference held to sooth the public's mind.

And that goes for every other President as well.

She used to piss me off some. Lack of respect. Abandoning context. But she was right more often than not and what Helen Thomas saw, we eventually all saw clearly.

Other journalist/reporters followed her lead. She was a mentor at many levels.

Towards the end, she got a little funny here and there. We all do. But she was a vehement detractor from the Iraq wars and she was right.

She was rude and she was memorable.

“How would you define the difference between a probing question and a rude one?” she was asked.

“I don’t think there are any rude questions,” she said.

She would not be pushed around.

*esrosedotblog heroes and heroines qualify by being 90 or older and have my admiration. I don't know which is more difficult, actually. When I am someone's hero, I will let you know.

I do know that a weird combination of humility and curmudgeonship is a good start.

Labels: heroes

SILVER HAIRED HERO

Today's hero, a guy I admire who lived through to and beyond 90 years of age, is an improbable choice.

I haven't thought of him in, maybe, 30 years. More.

Slim Whitman Yodeling Country Singer With a Regular Guy Image Dies at 90.

Who? You may ask. A yodeler? A CW veteran.

I grew up with Slim Whitman, well, one of his biggest fans, my Dad.

There are a number of favorites, which even I in my sophisticated musical tastes, come to memory like an iconic moment. In my heart, I am a shitkicker and, because of my Dad, I particularly liked the shit that Whitman kicked.

One of my Dad's favorite songs was Silver Haired Daddy of Mine.

I always wondered about this as my Dad's father died when he was 8. Then, I realize that he had a step dad, Wes King, who was distinguished by very white hair.

I never knew "Wes", he was never by any other name. Well, I saw him. In the store. Around. He never came to the house. My Dad would go see him from time to time. He was a mystery. By then, he lived with Mrs. Van Dyne who had a small boarding house, a good view and a little money. I know now that he was an alcoholic. We are everywhere.

Anyway, there it is. He was my Dad's "daddy" but never my Granddad. In fact, I never had one. All were gone by the time I came around.

Back to Slim Whitman.

He wrote 500 songs and made 100 albums. One Hundred. We are supposed to use numerals for figures over ten but here I will make an exception.

In my time, Whitman was also a joke. Read the obituary here. They make the most of it in a very loving way. I love that

In the 1996 movie comedy “Mars Attacks!” Slim Whitman’s yodeling, high-octave rendition of “Indian Love Call” causes the heads of the invading Martians to explode, saving Planet Earth.

He had many firsts. Elvis opened his show as his first job. He "taught" McCartney how to play with his left hand. He had other big hits. “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You,” “Red River Valley,” “Danny Boy” and “I’ll Take You Home Again, Kathleen.

Kathleen was another favorite for my Father. I have no idea whether there was any "Kathleen" in his history.

Mr. Whitman told The A.P. in 1991 that he wanted to be thought of as “a nice guy” and a good father. “I’d like people to remember me,” he said, “as having a good voice and a clean suit.”

Labels: country, heroes, history, music

SWIMMER

I nominate Esther Williams as this week's heroine.

Technicolor Star Esther Williams Dead at 91

When I was a kid, I went to all the Esther Williams movies because she was in a lot of MGM musicals and I saw all of those.

She was special. Kind of wholesome.

She did the necessary romantic stuff but she seemed a breed apart. A bit distant from the other gals who, while interesting in their own way, were not somehow as "serious".

She was a champion swimmer and, as I look back, I don't think she compromised any aspect of that for the film she was in.

She may not have invented synchronized swimming but she could have.

I always worried that she was getting water in her nose. I got over that. Maybe she was a good role model. I can swim upside down under the water now and not get any in there.

There was a rumor that she had owned a house in our neighborhood. It is possible. It had shells and blue glass and stuff embedded in the walls around it. Nice.

Now, it is all covered over with one of those desert re-dos that rob a neighborhood of any individuality. Painted some shit brown color.

Esther was great. I liked her. And the best thing about her was that she always, always, had latin lovers like Ricardo Montalban. Fernando Lamas. That set me up to be a latino lover myself. Just today, I was able to flirt with a gardener working next door on some project or other.

Esther and me. We like the latin boys.

Labels: heroes, heroines

HEROINE

At last, someone I knew has achieved hero/ine status

Jean Stapleton Who Played Archie's Better Angel Dies at 90

When I was a kid, I played organ in the Mountainhome Methodist Church. Assistant, usually in the summer.

In the process, I got to accompany various singers who came past the gate and got recruited, I don't think paid, into singing during the service.

One of these was a young actress at the summer theater, The Pocono Playhouse. She was Jean Stapleton.

We got to know each other and were friendly to the point that when she got cast in the musical Damn Yankees, I got in touch with her and we met for dinner and a personal back stage tour when she toured Boston, the tryout.

I was stage struck at the time and not doing very well in school, I don't know what year, and I got the idea that somehow, some way, Jean could help me go to New York and try to break into show business.

Insane.

She was very kind to me. She wrote to say that it was tough there and she suggested waiting the year out to see if I was really serious and not jump ship.

By that time, the ardor for the stage had cooled and, probably, I actually passed my courses that term, so I cooled off, stayed with the MIT plan and forgot the greasepaint.

I am so thankful she was straight with me about this at the time. An example of tough love.

Later on, I was in New York and met her outside her next show which was Funny Girl. No tour. Just a hello, how are you?

She was doing fine.

By that time, I had a job, I was doing OK and she was happy to hear it.

I thought she wouldn't remember me but she did and was very willing to hang out a bit. I did get to tell her I was grateful for her help in stopping me from running away with the "circus".

We laughed.

She had also been in Bells Are Ringing with Judy Holiday.

Next thing I know, she was Edith Bunker and that was that. No more shows. No more paths crossing.

She was older than me, I knew that. But I didn't get that it was 13 years. She had been working all that time in the theater and was just getting her first show at about 30 years old. She was a trouper.

She invented the character that became Edith Bunker for the Damn Yankees show. She played the sister in law (named Sister) to Joe Hardy who runs off to be a baseball star! So much running away.

She sang the signature number or one of them "You Gotta Have Heart". The other number was "Whatever Lola Wants", Gwen Verdon.

It was a great show and they are all in the movie which is very faithful. Only Tab Hunter is the young Joe Hardy. It is very good. One of the few successful screen transfers.

I might rent it again. Just to see Jean playing Sister.

I tired of the Edith Bunker thing but Sister is all Jean all the time.

Labels: heroes, heroines

HERO-INE

Risé Stevens has died at 99.

Rise Stevens Opera Singer Dies at 99

You can't be expected to know who this is.

When I was a kid, she was all over radio, films. Then television.

She was a Bronx girl and her last name was Steenberg. Improbably her birth first name was Rise, Norwegian. A perfect name for an opera singer.

Stevens was notoriously not temperamental. Anything but a diva.

When it was time to retire, she did so with dispatch and became the president of a music school.

Her story is a lot like Beverly Sills.

She is a hero because she got to be 99 but also because she was one of those people who made a bridge for kids like me from pop music to "serious" stuff. There was no distinction for her. And she didn't hype the pop up like a lot of the sopranos. She just piped down and did it straight.

She was famous for doing Carmen and she owned the role for decades. It had to be a pain in the ass to sing all those arias all those years. The same ones over and over but she was a generous performer and also knew where the bread was buttered.

Over time, Ms. Stevens forsook the traditional interpretation of Carmen as a saucy temptress, playing her instead as “hard, calculating, tough and one step away from a prostitute,” as The International Dictionary of Opera said in 1993.

One more time, honey. The card scene.

Labels: heroes, music

NOT A HERO

Ed Koch is dead at 88.

That means that, technically, he is not a hero.

Remember my hero thing? Live to be 90 and be a power of example.

Ed fails on both counts.

When I was young, Ed Koch was a fiery liberal. He stood at the edge of the 60s and ranted and he was able to get elected as a congressman.

He even played the fucking guitar.

A lot of people thought and still think that Ed Koch is/was gay. OK. You don't have to say if you are or not.

But if you are the mayor and there is an epidemic among gay men in your city, a firestorm, then you cannot, you must not, refuse to help them whether it is because you fear your own outing or because your internalized homophobia is so fierce that you simply are immobilized.

Or worse, you decide that helping the plague's victims is not good politics. It might get in the way of your power and your re-election.

I have read few defenses of Koch in this area. It is indefensible. The facts are clear. He ignored dying gay men.

In my book that is a pretty deep chasm to cross to become a hero.

But forget about that for a moment.

He was a shit to people. He was an arrogant bastard who stepped on many people on his way to the top including shedding all his liberal postures.

Was he a complicated man? Yes. Did he do some good things? Sure.

But dicks don't figure in my pantheon.

Rest in peace Ed, if you can. You left a lot of unfinished business here.

There is a new documentary just out as he took his last breaths. A big break for the producers.

Labels: heroes, politics

MORE STAN

I just found this.

Stan Musial played in 24 All Star games, tied with Willy Mays for the record.

He was one of the greatest hitters in baseball history -- long before the game had been permanently trashed with the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

Labels: baseball, heroes

HEROINE

Dear Abby died today.

Pauline Phillips, Flinty Adviser to Millions as Dear Abby, Dies at 94

I remember when she came on the scene. A new voice in manners but also in social affairs and politics.

I do believe that "Abby" added to the momentum toward gay rights. I think that she provided a ballast through the stormy sailing of the 60s and 70s.

She was a strong liberal heart. Sensible and kind.

I might not always agree with her but just in her choice of questions to answer, she was a significant voice toward growth and change.

Her lights dimmed a while ago with the onset of Alzheimers so there is a good chance that she ended by not knowing who she was.

But when the lights were on, she knew and was willing to stand up for her beliefs no matter what. Straight from the shoulder.

Labels: heroes, heroines

RAVI SHANKAR, HERO?

OK. I will write this.

Ravi Shankar, the renown sitarist, has died at 92. Go look it up.

I was not going to put him on my hero list because, frankly, whenever Ravi was tuning up the sitar, I headed for another room.

I cannot stand the stuff.

But Ravi did do a few things, by the way, other than live past 90 which is the minimal requirement for esrose "hero".

He brought indian music to the west which opened the door for a lot of so called "third world" music which I am grateful for.

I don't mean that he brought it but his popularity fostered by the Beatles, of course, led the music moguls to go out and find alternatives.

If I were in the music business, I would do almost anything to find an alternative to sitar. Second only to the accordion in annoyance.

The other thing about Shankar is that he was a very sweet man. I have seen him in many interviews and he had this charisma that shown through the most intense application of the tabla and the sitar and all those other things that went along with it.

I would gladly sit and watch him and listen to his words then shut off the music part.

I know. I am running this into the ground, really.

I will tell you what. I will do this. I will put up a bit of Ravi and his gang and you can decide whether to play it or not.

Me? No. I will just let it be a silent tribute to the man and his efforts over the years. He made a lot of people happy. Especially George Harrison and anyone who did that is OK in my book.

Labels: heroes, music

IT WAS TIME

Time for recognition. Time as a major component of the music. Time for celebration.

Now, it was time to go.

Labels: heroes, jazz, music

MORE ABOUT BRUBECK

Listening to Dave Brubeck

Labels: heroes, jazz, music

MUSICAL HERO

Dave Brubeck Dies at 91

A true hero to me.

I first heard Brubeck live at the old Boston Jazz Festival in maybe 1955.

He transcended the venue. There he was on the stage, a few hundred feet away, but his playing went straight to my heart.

After that, I was able to see/hear him many times and later in life was able to share my fanship of his work with my son Dave.

Brubeck toured until virtually the end. He was indomitable. A power.

The Trio was the most sustained jazz act of all time.

I still play a CD with their "favorites" on it. It is in the CD rack and always on rotation.

Labels: heroes, jazz, music

MODERN MUSICAL HERO

Elliot Carter made it to 90 and way beyond.

Elliott Carter, Composer Who Decisively Snapped Tradition, Dies at 103

Never lacked for work, Carter won many  prizes including the Pulitzer which is an achievement in itself for a modernist. Carter's work is the kind that you hear a lot and don't really know it is his. I have listened to him for decades of my own life and will continue to do so. Now to honor him as well as the work.

Labels: heroes, music

HEROES

I name as a hero, anyone I admire who makes it to 90 years.

I started this some time ago when I decided that I was going to make the runup to 90 and I needed some role models.

Since that time, there have been about a dozen who have made it.

You can't just be a 90 year old. You have to be someone who I also admire.

There are some real assholes who have made it that far. They are not in the category for me. Maybe someone else.

Today's hero is George McGovern. See his post below.

Labels: heroes

HERO

George McGovern is Dead: A Liberal Stalwart and Democratic Presidential Nominee

McGovern is a hero because he made it to 90, just barely, and because he was a power of example in his life for people like me.

For those of us who sniff around the margins of liberalism, the progressive ideal, and then retreat to some level of accommodation with the other side, people like George McGovern are essential. I am a progressive with an instinct for pragmatism which means that I would never become an idealist.

McGovern had no such limitation on his dreams and beliefs. He was a stalwart champion of the downtrodden and disadvantaged. He was suspicious of all forms of big business. Of war machines. Of forces that pushed people down.

He was a champion of the working class and all racial minorities.

As far as I know, he led a blameless life. He was incorruptible.

He was a populist on the other extreme side from someone like Sara Palin and the Tea people. He was a man of the people who believed in freedom for all in actual dollars and cents terms. His was not a spiteful and nasty form of race baiting and divisive rhetoric.

McGovern was a peacemaker. He did not believe that was, particularly the Viet Nam War would solve anything and, what is more, would make "things" worse.

He seemed fearless to me. He was outspoken and let the chips fall where they may.

Did I like him? Not very much. I get annoyed with people like him. But I needed him to be there for me.

George McGovern made it to ninety and had a pretty good ride after his prime. I don't think he went simple. He still spoke out.

Today he would be jeered from the stands by the yahoos and rubes who sit there. Talk about being a socialist! My God. They would have McGovern hung in effigy for his beliefs.

But he was our leader who took the Democratic Party to the left when it needed to be there. His legacy is still there today.

Labels: heroes

REMEMBERING AMBASSADOR CHRIS STEVENS

He addresses the people of Libya who he is about to serve as American Ambassador.

A special kind of hero.

Labels: heroes