Enjoy the photos, you should be able to click on to open them up and even pinch open further.
I am making more use of links, music and visual. Click on them and then you might have a second link to search. Some locations, such as YouTube generate revenue for your "free" viewing by running ads, so be patient. On occasion there is a "skip ad" button. Sometimes it will load and start when you go there, sometimes you need to click on the white arrow in the red box.
I hope you enjoy the updates to my art and life as presented in this blog. IF you don't like the political stuff and don't want to receive future blogs just say so, no hard feelings. So far, only three have taken me up on the offer. With that in mind, remember:
Below the Fold below is where lies controversial stuff, if you don't want to go there, stay above.
And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, I present:
New Art:
Larger format, 16 x 20" oil on canvas board, photo kind of washed out. From my photo years ago in Bandelier National Monument.
And you call this art?:
Actully, just part of an advertisement, but kind of neat...
Florida:
An unsourced photo:
Reading:
Persistence and a common story...
Ray Charles birthplace 
Pinch open to read, and then...
A couple of blogs ago I reported that I read the biography of
Willie Mays. Then, recently, The WSJ ran a piece on what would be the 90th birthday of Ray Charles. I just finished what, unknown to me would be a wonderful trilogy when I read Nat King Cole's biography.
All three guys were fortunate to know what they wanted to do in life at a very early age and then went after it. It was a difficult time for three Black men to reach that level of success. WM benefited from the trials of Jackie Robinson, NKC from other performers that loved him, such as Sinatra and his Rat Pack, Jack Benny, and on and on. A common theme is that they did it with grace, most of the time, and dealt with discrimination from individuals, or certain groups.
Over time, their lives intersected, NKC loved baseball. He and WM worked on the same charity to raise funds for Black children, RC spent part of his youth emulating the style of NKC; fortunately he found his own style.
Nathaniel Coles dropped the S and his fans added "King". He left high school to tour, over the next 30 years he toured for months on end, all over the world, in front of a whole spectrum of fans. For years he was known as the best jazz pianist, then found his voice, developed an "easy" style and could connect with fans that felt like it was one-on-one just like the best of politicians. He tried different styles, not caring what the critics said. He pushed through being paid minimum wages and staying in $15 per night Negro hotels, worrying about how to entertain in segregated cities. His weakness? Cigarettes, from waking till turning off the light at night, and women. Both caused a lot of pain, for him and his wives. I didn't know he had five children with Maria, including an adopted son. Lots of battles with Capital Records - like most entertainers. It took forever, but he was the first Black to have his own TV show. In one scene, before going out to perform before a hostile white crowd he, like most guys, fist bumped his associate's shoulder, winked and then said" Let's go out and win them over", which he did. In a sign of the times, he was performing in his native Birmingham, AL in 1956 were there were 5 KKK members intent on stopping the show, if not worse. They charged the stage and...
'Someone screamed as the men dashed past the rows of seated patrons...Nat was sent reeling back against the piano bench...The (white) police ran in from the wings and fought the assailants. As the men tussled onstage and one policeman's glasses got smashed and another policeman's nose was broken, bleeding. Eight policemen held the five men in armlocks and pushed them out of the hall.' After it was announce that Nat was injured and could not continue the show, the crowd called out "Ask him to come back so we can apologize!" And the audience began applauding. He came out "I knew they were trying to show me that they didn't sanction what had happened. So I thanked them for coming to the show and told them I knew they didn't hold with what had just occurred. I noticed some people were even crying." Yes, some of the policemen didn't like NKC performing before a white audience but they (all) did their job. Frank Sinatra "took care" of getting him out of Birmingham. Either he or Vice President Nixon got him on an unscheduled flight to Chicago the next morning. At the airport, more than 50 white fans shouted that they didn't agree with the hoodlums, and apologizing, apologizing..."Those people, segregated or not, white or black, are still record fans. They can't overpower the law of the South, and I can't come in on a one-night stand and overpower the law"
"I still have many friends and fans down here despite this affair." But he would never again set foot in the state where he was born.
This is me, but if you read about these three men and their life's achievements, I don't think they would agree with the current trend that America, which gave them so much, has a systemic race problem.
From there, I would encourage you to read about Tyler Perry's story, from nothing in the New Orleans area to (according to Forbes Magazine): The 51-year-old entertainer owns the entirety of his creative output including more than 1,200 episodes of television, 22 feature films, and at least two dozen stage plays (that's how he got started), as well as a 330-acre studio lot at the edge of Atlanta's southern limits. He used that control to leverage a deal with ViacomCBS that pays him $150 million a year for new content and gives him an equity stake in BET+...Forbes estimates that Perry has earned more than $1.4 billion in pretax income since 2005 which he used to buy homes in Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles, and Jackson Hole, as well as two planes. They estimate his net worth at $1 billion. Doing his own stage productions, and I mean everything, lighting, sound, set up, etc., and before his first film or TV show he hauled in more than $100 million from their ticket sales, moved $20 million worth of merchandise, and collected another $30 million selling videos of the stage performances. Oh, and he hasn't started to syndicate his work outside of the US. You can do it if you try. If you really want to. It should be noted, however, and it is especially true for WM, NKC, and RC, the cost to your personal life is enormous. It might even kill you.
Back to persistence, from this month's edition of Forbes...
- The best way out is always through - Robert Frost
- Long live the rose that grew from concrete when no one else even cared - Tupac Shakur
- Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent-Calvin Coolidge
- Claude notes for you artists...Keep a little fire burning, however small, however hidden-Cormac McCarthy
Listening:
The Rough Guide to the Roots of the Blues. Includes Saint Louis Blues by Bessie Smith, who some think was the best of the best singer of the blues.
For those who aren't aware of NKC: (remember, you might have to work through or "skip" ads on the YouTube station
Through the miracle of editing. He died in 1965, his little girl at 65.
Marty will know:
and, a different version of one of my favorite Paul Simon's songs. In the attached clip, he let his grade school friend, Art Garfunkel sing his song, aka Kathy's Song while he accompanied on the distinct guitar accompaniment: Link to Live performance
Do you know Sarah Jarosz? I just discovered her...
Scary (and sad...and dangerous):
Humor:
But not so funny slanted headlines
Back to funny
I have said it before, I love Babylon Bee satire site:
Not humor, but RBG...
For thought:
Sent to me by a friend...
As I had my morning coffee, I realized that everything is about to change. No matter how I vote, no matter what I say, something evil has invaded our nation since “9/11”, and our lives are never going to be the same.
I have been confused by the hostility of family and friends. I look at people I have known all my life--so hate-filled that they agree with opinions they would never express as their own. I think that I may well have entered the Twilight Zone.
You can't justify this insanity. We have become a nation that has lost its collective mind!
• If a guy pretends to be a woman, you are required to pretend with him.
• Somehow it’s un-American for the census to count how many Americans are in America.
• Russians influencing our elections are bad, but illegals voting in our elections are good.
• It was cool for Joe Biden to "blackmail" the President of Ukraine, but it’s an impeachable offense if Donald Trump inquires about it
• Twenty is too young to drink a beer, but eighteen is old enough to vote.
• People who have never owned slaves should pay slavery reparations to people who have never been slaves.
• People who have never been to college should pay the debts of college students who took out huge loans for their degrees.
• Immigrants with tuberculosis and polio are welcome, but you’d better be able to prove your dog is vaccinated.
• Irish doctors and German engineers who want to immigrate to the US must go through a rigorous vetting process, but any illiterate gang-bangers who jump the southern fence are welcome.
• If you cheat to get into college you go to prison, but if you cheat to get into the country you go to college for free.
• People who say there is no such thing as gender are demanding a female President.
I have been confused by the hostility of family and friends. I look at people I have known all my life--so hate-filled that they agree with opinions they would never express as their own. I think that I may well have entered the Twilight Zone.
You can't justify this insanity. We have become a nation that has lost its collective mind!
• If a guy pretends to be a woman, you are required to pretend with him.
• Somehow it’s un-American for the census to count how many Americans are in America.
• Russians influencing our elections are bad, but illegals voting in our elections are good.
• It was cool for Joe Biden to "blackmail" the President of Ukraine, but it’s an impeachable offense if Donald Trump inquires about it
• Twenty is too young to drink a beer, but eighteen is old enough to vote.
• People who have never owned slaves should pay slavery reparations to people who have never been slaves.
• People who have never been to college should pay the debts of college students who took out huge loans for their degrees.
• Immigrants with tuberculosis and polio are welcome, but you’d better be able to prove your dog is vaccinated.
• Irish doctors and German engineers who want to immigrate to the US must go through a rigorous vetting process, but any illiterate gang-bangers who jump the southern fence are welcome.
• If you cheat to get into college you go to prison, but if you cheat to get into the country you go to college for free.
• People who say there is no such thing as gender are demanding a female President.
How much time? must see video link if you care about the life of our policemen and women. Six minutes. It will almost surely change your opinion.
Below The Fold---------------------------------------
Or, as I have learned from your input, Preaching To The Choir vs Unbelievers
Or, as I have learned from your input, Preaching To The Choir vs Unbelievers
Enter at your own risk:
The hi-lighted links will take you to the rest of the story.
That should read more, not mo...even the editor makes mistakes.Still Sad Updates on the mental deterioration of Hidin' Biden...
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What do YOU think?
And finally
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