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I hate this creep, but there is a lesson:
Donald Albin Blom (February 5, 1949 – January 10, 2023)[1] was an American convicted of the murder of Katie Poirier in 1999.[2] A registered sex offender involved in five cases of kidnapping and sexual assault prior to Poirier's murder, he was suspected of being a serial killer by case investigators.[3]
Starting in 2021, Blom served his prison sentence at MCF-Oak Park Heights, a maximum-security facility in Stillwater, Minnesota.[4][5] Before that he spent about 4 years at medium-security prison MCF-Faribault after having been transferred there from maximum-security facility SCI Greene in Pennsylvania.
Donald Blom's father abused him from the time Blom was very young until he was around 13 years old. By the time he reached adolescence, Blom was a heavy drinker and exhibited behavioral problems. In the 10th grade, he went to a reform school, where he often skipped classes.[6]
In 1975, Blom kidnapped a 14-year-old girl, gagged her and raped her. He locked her in his car trunk, but she managed to escape and turn him in. Blom was tried and convicted. In 1978, he committed aggravated assault. In 1983, he was arrested for criminal sexual conduct. The same year, he threatened two teenage girls at knifepoint in a remote area, tied them to a tree and put socks in their mouths. He choked and revived one of them several times and said he was going to rape them. The girls were rescued when a police officer saw their car parked the wrong way and investigated. Blom fled into the woods and later changed his appearance by dyeing his hair. He was arrested two months later when one of the girls recognized him. He pleaded guilty to the crime.[6]
During an examination in 1992, a psychologist predicted that if Blom was not closely monitored, he would probably engage in additional antisocial behavior; however, Blom managed to change his name, get a job and get married. By May 1999, he had six felony convictions, five of which involved kidnapping and sexual assault.[2][6]
On May 26, 1999, 19-year-old Katie Elizabeth Poirier went missing from D. J.'s Expressway Conoco convenience store in Moose Lake, Minnesota, where she worked nights as a clerk. A passer-by, who noticed that there was no attendant present in the store, reported the incident. A grainy black-and-white surveillance video showed Poirier being forced out of the store around 11:40 pm by a man wearing jeans, a backwards baseball cap and a New York Yankees baseball jersey with the number 23 on the back. The man's hand was at the back of Poirier's neck, and from the way she touched her throat, there might have been a cord tied around her neck.[6] The video was sent to imaging specialists at NASA who were able to enhance the image so more details of the suspect could be seen. The police estimated that the abductor was 5'10" and weighed around 170 pounds, had long light-colored hair and appeared to be around 25 years old.
Witnesses reported that they had seen a black pick-up truck circling the area around the convenience store that evening. One of the witnesses gave a partial license plate number (three numbers and a letter).[6] Another witness reported seeing a suspicious man leering at female passersby outside a Subway restaurant in the same building as the convenience store earlier that night. The suspect was allegedly driving the same black pick-up truck other witnesses had described. Based on this and three other witness statements, a composite sketch of the abductor was broadcast by local media.
More at Wikipedia.
Sociopaths are often made. Whatever you do, do not abuse children! They can learn the wrong lessons from that abuse!
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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Geoffrey Arnold Beck (24 June 1944 – 10 January 2023) was an English guitarist. He rose to prominence as a member of the rock band The Yardbirds, and afterwards founded and fronted The Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, he switched to an instrumental style with focus on an innovative sound, and his releases spanned genres and styles ranging from blues rock, hard rock, jazz fusion and a blend of guitar-rock and electronica.
Beck was ranked in the top five of Rolling Stone and other magazines' lists rankings of the greatest guitarists.[4][5][6] He was often called a "guitarist's guitarist".[7] Rolling Stone described him as "one of the most influential lead guitarists in rock".[8] Although he recorded two successful albums (in 1975 and 1976) as a solo act, Beck did not establish or maintain commercial success like that of his contemporaries and bandmates.[7][3] He recorded with many artists.[9]
Beck earned wide critical praise and received the Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance six times and Best Pop Instrumental Performance once. In 2014, he received the British Academy's Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music.[10] He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice: first as a member of the Yardbirds (1992) and secondly as a solo artist (2009).
Much more at Wikipedia.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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baseball star Frank Thomas -- not the Hall-of-Famer, but quite good in his day.
Frank Joseph Thomas (June 11, 1929 – January 16, 2023) was an American player in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played for seven National League (NL) teams from 1951 to 1966, starring at multiple positions as both an outfielder and infielder. Beginning his career as a center and left fielder with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Thomas hit 30 home runs with 102 runs batted in (RBI) in his first full season in 1953 before being named to the All-Star team each of the next two seasons. He enjoyed his best season in 1958, with career highs of 35 home runs and 109 RBI, and was named the starting third baseman for the All-Star Game. Thomas was traded after that season, however, in the first of four trades in three years. He continued his productivity, hitting at least 20 home runs in all but one season between 1953 and 1962. After being acquired by the expansion New York Mets, he led the team with 34 home runs and 94 RBI in their first season in 1962, becoming one of the few bright spots in an awful season which saw the club lose three-quarters of their games. His hitting went into decline after that year, and he ended his career playing for five clubs in his last three seasons. By the end of his career, Thomas had played every infield and outfield position except shortstop, and his 163 home runs with the Pirates placed him second in team history at the time behind Ralph Kiner. His 34 home runs with the 1962 Mets remained the team record until 1975, and his 94 RBI that year were the team's top mark until 1970.
Thomas signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates as an amateur free agent in 1947. He debuted with the Pirates in 1951. With the Pirates, he made three All-Star Games, and finished fourth in the voting for Most Valuable Player in 1958,[3] when he batted .281, finished second in the National League to Ernie Banks with 35 home runs, and had 109 runs batted in (RBIs). Thomas appeared on the cover of the July 28, 1958, issue of Sports Illustrated.[4] He also won his only NL Player of the Month award in June, batting .275 with 9 home runs and 29 RBI. On August 16, 1958, Thomas hit three home runs in a 13–4 rout of the Cincinnati Reds.
Before the 1959 season, the Pirates traded Thomas, Whammy Douglas, Jim Pendleton, and John Powers to the Cincinnati Redlegs for Smoky Burgess, Harvey Haddix, and Don Hoak.[5] Due to a shattered nerve in the thumb of his right hand, Thomas home run output fell from 35 to 12 in 1959.[6] Following the season, he was traded by the Redlegs to the Chicago Cubs for Bill Henry, Lou Jackson and Lee Walls.[7] In 1961, he was traded by Cubs to the Milwaukee Braves for Mel Roach.[8]
Thomas was traded by the Braves with a player to be named later (Rick Herrscher) to the New York Mets for a player to be named later (Gus Bell) and cash. Despite the team's historically poor inaugural season, Thomas led the expansion Mets with 34 home runs and 94 RBIs. His home run mark was a Mets' team record until broken by Dave Kingman in 1975.[9]
In 1964, Thomas was traded by the New York Mets to the Philadelphia Phillies for Wayne Graham, Gary Kroll and cash. He was purchased by the Houston Astros from the Phillies in July 1965 shortly after hitting Richie Allen with a bat,[10] but was traded to Braves for a player to be named later (Mickey Sinnerud) in September 1965. In an hour-long interview aired December 15, 2009, on the MLB Network's Studio 42 with Bob Costas, Allen asserted that he and Thomas had become good friends.
On April 5, 1966, Thomas was released by the Braves.[11] He signed with the Cubs on May 14, 1966, and after recording five plate appearances without a hit, he was released on June 4, 1966.
In a 16-season career, Thomas posted a .266 batting average with 286 home runs and 962 RBIs in 1766 games. He was larger than the average player of his time, and known for his opinionated nature.[1] One of his nicknames as a player was "The Big Donkey."[12]
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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Luigia "Gina" Lollobrigida[a] OMRI[1] (4 July 1927 – 16 January 2023) was an Italian actress, photojournalist, and politician. She was one of the highest-profile European actresses of the 1950s and early 1960s, a period in which she was an international sex symbol. At the time of Lollobrigida’s death, she was among the last living high-profile international actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema.
As her film career slowed, Lollobrigida established a second career as a photojournalist. In the 1970s she achieved a scoop by gaining access to Fidel Castro for an exclusive interview.
Lollobrigida continued on as an active supporter of Italian and Italian-American causes, particularly the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF). In 2008, she received the NIAF Lifetime Achievement Award at the Foundation's Anniversary Gala.[2][3] In 2013 she sold her jewelry collection and donated the nearly US$5 million from the sale to benefit stem-cell therapy research.[4] She won the Henrietta Award at 18th Golden Globe Awards.
In 1950, Howard Hughes signed Lollobrigida on a preliminary seven-year contract to make three pictures a year.[7] She refused the final terms of the contract, preferring to remain in Europe, and Hughes suspended her.[7] Despite selling RKO Pictures in 1955, Hughes retained Lollobrigida's contract.[7] The dispute prevented her from working in American movies filmed in the U.S. until 1959, but not from working in American productions shot in Europe, although Hughes often threatened legal action against the producers.[7]
Her performance in Bread, Love and Dreams (Pane, amore e fantasia, 1953) led to it becoming a box-office success[7] and her receiving a BAFTA nomination. Further she won a Nastro d'Argento award from the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists for her role in the picture. Lollobrigida appeared in The Wayward Wife (1953) and in Woman of Rome (1954). These were three of her most renowned Italian films, but she worked also in the French industry on such films as Fearless Little Soldier (Fanfan la Tulipe, 1952), Beauties of the Night (Les Belles de nuit, also 1952), and Le Grand Jeu (1954).
Her first widely seen English-language film, Beat the Devil (1953), was shot in Italy, directed by John Huston. In this film she played the wife of Humphrey Bogart, with Jennifer Jones and Robert Morley as her costars. She then took part in the Italian-American production Crossed Swords (1954), co-starring with Errol Flynn. Her appearance in The World's Most Beautiful Woman (also known as Beautiful But Dangerous, 1955) led to her receiving the first David di Donatello for Best Actress award. In this film, she interpreted Italian soprano Lina Cavalieri, singing some arias from Tosca with her own voice. She had the principal female lead in the circus drama Trapeze (1956)[5] directed by Carol Reed co-starring with Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis and in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1956), appeared as Esmeralda with Anthony Quinn as Quasimodo.[5] The film was directed by Jean Delannoy.
![[Image: 220px-Solomon_and_Sheba-Gina_Lollobrigida4.JPG]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e2/Solomon_and_Sheba-Gina_Lollobrigida4.JPG/220px-Solomon_and_Sheba-Gina_Lollobrigida4.JPG)
![[Image: 170px-Gina_Lollobrigida_1991.jpg]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/83/Gina_Lollobrigida_1991.jpg/170px-Gina_Lollobrigida_1991.jpg)
Gina Lollobrigida at the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Cannes_Film_Festival]1991 Cannes Film Festival
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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Mursal Nabizada (Pashto: مرسل نبی زادہ; 1993 – 15 January 2023) was an Afghan politician, lawmaker and critic of the Taliban[1] who served as a Member of the National Assembly of Afghanistan for Kabul.[2]
Nabizada was elected to the National Assembly to represent Kabul in 2019. She sat on the parliamentary defence commission. She served in the National Assembly until the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021 and was one of the few female members of parliament who stayed in Kabul after the takeover.[2][3][4]
Outside parliament, she worked for the Institute for Human Resources Development and Research.[2]
Nabizada was born in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan, in 1993.[5][6]
At around 3 am on 15 January 2023, Nabizada was shot dead on the first floor of her home in Kabul,[7][3] along with one of her personal bodyguards,[8] by unknown assailants.[9] She was 32.[2] Her brother and a security guard were injured.[10] Another security guard fled with money and jewelry.[3] Her murder was the first of a Member of Parliament since the 2021 Taliban takeover.[11][12]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mursal_Nabizada
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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David Van Cortlandt Crosby (August 14, 1941-January 19, 2023) was an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of both the Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash.
Crosby joined the Byrds in 1964. They got their first number-one hit in April 1965 with a cover of "Mr. Tambourine Man" by Bob Dylan. Crosby appeared on the Byrds' first five albums and produced the original lineup's 1973 reunion album. In 1967 he joined Buffalo Springfield on stage at the Monterey Pop Festival, which contributed to his dismissal from the Byrds. He subsequently formed Crosby, Stills & Nash in 1968 with Stephen Stills (of Buffalo Springfield) and Graham Nash of the Hollies. After the release of their debut album CSN won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist of 1969. Neil Young joined the group for live appearances, their second concert being Woodstock, before recording their second album Déjà Vu. Meant to be a group that could collaborate freely, Crosby and Nash recorded three gold albums in the 1970s, while the core trio of CSN remained active from 1976 until 2016. CSNY reunions took place in each decade from the 1970s through the 2000s.
Songs Crosby wrote or co-wrote include "Lady Friend", "Everybody's Been Burned", "Why", and "Eight Miles High" with the Byrds and "Guinnevere", "Wooden Ships", "Shadow Captain", and "In My Dreams" with Crosby, Stills & Nash. He wrote "Almost Cut My Hair" and the title track "Déjà Vu" for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's 1970 album of the same name. He is known for his use of alternative guitar tunings and jazz influences. He has released six solo albums, five of which have charted. Additionally, he formed a jazz-influenced trio with his son James Raymond and guitarist Jeff Pevar in CPR. Crosby's work with the Byrds and CSNY has sold over 35 million albums.[2]
Crosby has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice: once for his work in the Byrds and again for his work with CSN. Five albums to which he contributed are included in Rolling Stone's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, three with the Byrds and two with CSN(Y). He is outspoken politically and has been depicted as emblematic of the 1960s' counterculture.[3][4][5]
Crosby is the subject of the 2019 documentary David Crosby: Remember My Name, which was produced by Cameron Crowe.[6]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Crosby
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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Salvatore Leonard Bando (February 13, 1944 – January 20, 2023) was an American third baseman and general manager in Major League Baseball[1] best known for his eleven seasons with the Kansas City & Oakland Athletics, where he earned prominence as the captain for the dynasty that won three consecutive World Series championships between 1972 and 1974. Bando was runner-up for the 1971 American League (AL) Most Valuable Player Award, won by teammate Vida Blue, after helping lead the team to the first of five straight division titles.
A four-time All-Star, Bando averaged 23 home runs and 90 runs batted in (RBI) in his last eight years in Oakland. [2] Although he was often overshadowed by his contemporary, Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson, [2] Bando remained a strong MVP candidate through Oakland's championship run, finishing third and fourth in the voting in 1973 and 1974. [1] In 1973 he led the AL with 32 doubles and 295 total bases. After years of combative relations with team owner Charlie Finley, [2] Bando signed as a free agent with the Milwaukee Brewers, spending his last five seasons with that club.
At the end of his career, Bando ranked third in AL history with 1,896 career games at third base, and also ranked fourth in league history in assists (3,720), tied for fourth in double plays (345), and tenth in putouts (1,647). His 789 RBI as an Oakland player were a record until Mark McGwire passed him in 1996, and his 192 home runs with the team were a record for a right-handed hitter in Oakland until Jose Canseco passed him in 1991. After his playing career, he became a special assistant with the Brewers before serving as the team's general manager from October 1991 until August 1999. [2] He was inducted into the National College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2013 and the Oakland Athletics Hall of Fame in 2022. [2][3]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sal_Bando
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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George William Crabtree (November 28, 1944 – January 23, 2023) was an American physicist known for his highly cited research on superconducting materials and, since 2012, for his directorship of the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR) at Argonne National Laboratory.
George Crabtree was born on November 28, 1944, in Little Rock, Arkansas, and moved with his family to Hillside, Illinois, at age 2. His father was a mechanical engineer for International Harvester, and his mother was a homemaker and community service volunteer.
Crabtree attended Proviso West High School in Hillside, Illinois, followed by Northwestern University, where he received a B.S. in science engineering in 1967. For graduate school, he first attended the University of Washington in Seattle, where he received an M.S. in physics in 1968, then the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he attained his Ph.D. in condensed matter physics in 1974.
Crabtree was the Director of the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR) at Argonne National Laboratory, and Director of the UIC Energy Initiative and Distinguished Professor of Physics, Electrical, and Mechanical Engineering at University of Illinois at Chicago.
Most of Crabtree’s long scientific career had been spent at Argonne National Laboratory, which he joined as an undergraduate in 1964 then staff assistant in 1969 and then, upon receiving his Ph.D., was promoted to assistant physicist in the Materials Science Division in 1974. He was appointed an Argonne Distinguished Fellow in 1990. Subsequently, he assumed managerial roles for the Materials Science Division, where he served as Associate Director from 1993 to 2001, Director from 2001 to 2008, and then Associate Director again from 2008 to 2012.
In addition to his work at Argonne, Crabtree was a professor of physics at Northern Illinois University from 1990 to 2003 and had been a professor of physics at the University of Illinois at Chicago since 2010.
During his time in the Materials Science Division, Crabtree’s central research focus was the electromagnetic properties of superconducting materials, in particular, their behavior in high magnetic fields. These fields are dominated by the presence and behavior of vortices, whirlpools of electrons circulating around tubes of magnetic flux. These vortices are of considerable practical significance since their statics and dynamics determine the maximum current that a given superconductor can carry without electrical resistance. Especially notable among Crabtree’s publications on the topic are his studies of a new state of vortex matter, the vortex liquid, that appears only in high-temperature superconductors.[2] Crabtree was an early pioneer of research in high-temperature superconducting materials,[3] first discovered in 1986, including studies of their crystal structures, thermodynamic properties, behavior in magnetic fields, and maximum resistance-less current.
In a wide-ranging research career, Crabtree published more than 440 scientific papers on such topics as next-generation battery materials, sustainable energy, energy policy, materials science, nanoscale superconductors and magnets, and highly correlated electrons in metals. T His most highly cited papers treat the hydrogen economy,[4] solar energy,[5] and high-temperature superconductivity.[3][6]
In 2012, Crabtree was appointed the Director of Argonne's newly formed Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR). Under his leadership, the center's researchers have reported advances in four types of next-generation batteries beyond current lithium-ion technology:
In 2018, Crabtree’s Scientific and Operational Leadership team in JCESR received the Secretary of Energy’s Achievement Award from the Department of Energy for “changing the formula for developing next-generation batteries.”
Crabtree was a Fellow of the American Physical Society,[31] a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences,[32] and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[33] In 2003, Crabtree was awarded the Kamerlingh Onnes Prize (granted once every three years) for his experimental research with others on vortices in high-temperature superconductors. Crabtree received the University of Chicago Award for Distinguished Performance at Argonne twice, and the Department of Energy’s Award for Outstanding Scientific Accomplishment in Solid State Physics four times. He received an R&D 100 Award for his pioneering development of a Magnetic Flux Imaging System. He was also a charter member of ISI’s Highly Cited Researchers in Physics.
Crabtree was an expert witness for the US Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Hearing to Examine Expanded Deployment of Grid-Scale Energy Storage[34] in 2019.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Crabtree
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Bobby Hull, hockey superstar
Robert Marvin Hull OC (born January 3, 1939 - January 30, 2023[1])[2] was a Canadian former ice hockey player who is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. His blonde hair, skating speed, end-to-end rushes, and ability to shoot the puck at very high velocity all earned him the name "The Golden Jet". His talents were such that one or two opposing players were often assigned just to shadow him.
In his 23 years in the National Hockey League (NHL) and World Hockey Association (WHA), Hull played for the Chicago Black Hawks, Winnipeg Jets, and Hartford Whalers. He won the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player twice and the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's leading point scorer three times, while helping the Black Hawks win the Stanley Cup in 1961. He also led the WHA's Winnipeg Jets to Avco Cup championships in 1976 and 1978. He led the NHL in goals seven times, the second most of any player in history, and led the WHA in goals one additional time while being the WHA's most valuable player two times. He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983, the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 1997, and received the Wayne Gretzky International Award in 2003.[3][4] In 2017 Hull was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.[5]
![[Image: 170px-Hastings_County_Archives_HC01957A_...474%29.jpg]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0b/Hastings_County_Archives_HC01957A_%2838140064474%29.jpg/170px-Hastings_County_Archives_HC01957A_%2838140064474%29.jpg)
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If more people that write articles really concerned themselves with writing great content like you, more readers would be interested in their writings.Thank you for caring about your content. Best Mahazine in Bangladesh
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Thank you. In the case of the obituaries, these are mostly cut-and-pasted from Wikipedia. Choosing whom to add can be tricky, though.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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02-03-2023, 12:03 AM
(This post was last modified: 02-03-2023, 12:13 AM by pbrower2a.)
Former US Senator David Durenberger (R-MN).
On November 7, 1978, Durenberger was elected to the United States Senate in a special election to complete the unexpired term of Senator Hubert Humphrey, who died earlier in the year; Humphrey's wife Muriel held the seat until Durenberger's election.[9][10] Durenberger was re-elected in 1982 and again in 1988, defeating Mark Dayton and Minnesota Attorney General Skip Humphrey, respectively.[11][12]
Durenberger was chair of the Select Committee on Intelligence in the 99th Congress,[5] and the Health Subcommittee of the Senate Finance Committee, giving him a leadership role in national health reform. He also chaired the Intergovernmental Relations Subcommittee, led President Ronald Reagan's New Federalism effort in 1982, and was a 14-year member of the Advisory Committee on Intergovernmental Relations. He was a member of the Senate Environment Committee, the Government Affairs Committee, and the committee now known as the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and served as vice chair of the Pepper Commission in 1989–90.[5]
Durenberger was Senate sponsor of the Medicare Catastrophic act, the AHCPR (now AHRQ) on voting rights for the disabled, the Americans with Disabilities Act, George H. W. Bush's 1000 Points of Light, and Bill Clinton's National and Community Service Act, National Service Learning, the Consumer Choice Education Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Direct Lending Act, and the Women's Economic Equity Act. Durenberger voted for the bill establishing Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday and the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 (as well as to override President Reagan's veto).[13][14][15] He voted to confirm Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court.[16][17]
In 1990, the senate voted 96–0 to censure Durenberger for ethics violations related to evading limits on $100,000 in speaking fees and using his own condo in Minneapolis to collect $40,000 in travel reimbursements.[18] He remains the most recent United States senator to be censured. The Minnesota Supreme Court indefinitely suspended Durenberger's Minnesota law license on January 11, 1991, pursuant to a stipulation.[19] The Court reinstated his license on March 22, 2000.[20]
Durenberger did not run for reelection in 1994 and was succeeded by Rod Grams.[21] In 1995, he pleaded guilty to charges of misuse of public funds while in office and was sentenced to one year of probation.[22][23][24]
In 2005, Durenberger gave an interview on the Inside Minnesota Politics Podcast in which he said that he is no longer a supporter of the Republican Party but is not a supporter of the Democratic Party either. In an interview, he said that Democrats are better equipped to handle health care and that President George W. Bush was wrong about the Iraq War.[25] In 2010, Durenberger endorsed his former chief of staff, Independence Party member Tom Horner, for governor.[26]
Durenberger chaired the National Institute of Health Policy (NIHP) and was a Senior Health Policy Fellow at the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul. He served on the board of National Coalition on HealthCare. He has also served on national health commissions and boards, including the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission and Board of the National Commission on Quality Assurance (NCQA), and the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured.[27][28]
Durenberger endorsed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for president in 2016[1] and endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden for president in 2020.[2] He was a member of the ReFormers Caucus of Issue One.[2]
More at Wikipedia.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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"Firsts" elsewhere among those of African descent (in this case Brazil) deserve attention here, and this one did not slip my attention.
Glória Maria Matta da Silva (15 August 1949 – 2 February 2023) was a Brazilian journalist, reporter, and television host. With a career that spanned since the 60's, she is widely considered the first television reporter and TV host of African descent to achieve national success in Brazil.
Maria grew up in a low-income household in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro; her father worked as a tailor and her mother as a housewife.[1] She was taught values of cleanliness and accountability.
Maria lived with her grandmother after her parents divorced and was told her stories about her great-grandfather, who was hanged in the mountains of Minas Gerais state.[citation needed] Daughter of a slave mother, her grandmother was also a beneficiary of the 1871 Law of Free Birth and was thus born free. Her grandmother taught her that she needed to work to be free and Glória decided to focus on combatting racial prejudice, however she never saw herself as a victim of racism and never advocated for any of the black movements.[citation needed]
In January 1970, Maria met with the news directors of Globo TV, and shortly after became the special reporter for Globo Repórter, sometimes co-presenting alongside Sergio Chapelin. Glória Maria was the first black television reporter in Brazil, the first to present the seven o’clock news, and the first to command Fantástico.[2] She had to face many barriers and obstacles to become a successful journalist and reporter.[citation needed]
For one year,[when?] Glória Maria worked two jobs, including weekends, before she acquired a position at Globo. She would start her shift at Globo at 8:00 a.m. and would leave at 8:00 p.m. Afterwards, she would attend pre-college prep courses and then go home to sleep for an hour. Glória would wake up in the morning to go to her job at a telephone company.[1]
Maria received her degree in journalism from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro. After graduating, she went on to presenting news on several Globo TV programs such as RJTV, Jornal Nacional, and Fantàstico. Soon after, she became known for reports that she would do while traveling to exotic places such as the Sahara Desert, and even covering events like the Falklands War in 1982.[2] She hosted Fantastico for ten years and took a two year sabbatical to travel to places such as the Himalayas before returning and taking the second position as a Globo reporter.[citation needed] She accumulated more than ten complete passports throughout her life and interviewed several famous people such as Michael Jackson,[3]Madonna,[4] and Freddie Mercury.[5]
Maria was married but later separated[when?] because she and her spouse did not want to live together.[citation needed] She did not consider having children[citation needed] but later became a single mother to her daughters Laura and Maria whom she adopted as sisters from Salvador, Bahia in 2009.[6]
Maria died on 2 February 2023, in Rio de Janeiro as a consequence of a metastatic cancer that started in her lungs and spread to her brain. She was 73.[7][8]
Maria saw children in need during many of her travels and decided to dedicate her time to travel around the world helping others.[citation needed] She spent time in India volunteering to help care for and feed children and beggars in the country's poorest cities. She also served children in poor areas of Nigeria. She continued her efforts when returning to Brazil and met her daughters.[9][10][11][12]
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's ex-president, dies aged 79
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Pervez Musharraf: Pakistan's coup leader who died in exile
By Alys Davies
BBC News
Pakistan's former president General Pervez Musharraf, who seized power in a coup in 1999, has died aged 79.
The former leader - who was president between 2001 and 2008 - died in Dubai after a long illness, a statement from the country's army said.
He had survived numerous assassination attempts, and found himself on the front line of the struggle between militant Islamists and the West.
He supported the US "war on terror" after 9/11 despite domestic opposition.
In 2008 he suffered defeat in the polls and left the country six months later.
When he returned in 2013 to try to contest the election, he was arrested and barred from standing. He was charged with high treason and was sentenced to death in absentia only for the decision to be overturned less than a month later.
He left Pakistan for Dubai in 2016 to seek medical treatment and had been living in exile in the country ever since.
Obituary: Pervez Musharraf
Musharraf's love-hate relationship with India
Musharraf died in hospital on Sunday morning. His body will be flown back from the United Arab Emirates to Pakistan on a special flight after his family submitted an application to do so, local TV channel Geo News reports.
In the statement Pakistan's military expressed its "heartfelt condolences" and added: "May Allah bless the departed soul and give strength to bereaved family."
Pakistan's President Arif Alvi prayed "for eternal rest of the departed soul and courage to the bereaved family to bear this loss."
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also expressed his condolences, as did the country's military leaders.
A career marred by controversy
Musharraf's rule was characterised by extremes. He was credited by some with turning around the economic fortunes of the country while leader.
He was embroiled in a number of court cases following his loss of power, including accusations of failing to provide adequate security for former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, whose assassination by the Taliban in 2007 shocked Pakistan and the world.
And his career ultimately ended in disgrace and arrest, when he was sentenced to death in absentia for treason in 2019. Though that sentencing was later reversed, he never returned to Pakistan.
Despite these events, Fawad Chaudhury, a former aide of Musharraf and currently a senior leader of former Prime Minister Imran Khan's party, praised Musharraf and the influence he had on Pakistan.
"He is called a military dictator, but there has never been a stronger democratic system than that under him... Pervez Musharraf led Pakistan at a very difficult time, and Pakistanis believe the era of his reign was one of the best in Pakistan's history," Mr Chaudhury said in comments cited by Reuters.
However, the CEO of Islamabad-based think tank Tabadlab, Mosharraf Zaidi, said Musharraf was responsible for the "destruction of Pakistan" during his rule.
His time in power also divided opinion in India.
Musharraf's involvement while serving as the leader of the country's army in the Kargil conflict in May 1999 - when Pakistani generals secretly ordered an operation to occupy heights in Kargil on the Indian side - caused many in India to view him as an adversary.
But in one Indian politician's eyes, Musharraf redeemed himself during his presidency. "Once an implacable foe of India, he became a real force for peace 2002-2007," Shashi Tharoor, a former UN diplomat, said.
Mr Tharoor said he met Musharraf annually in those years at the UN, and described him as "smart, engaging and clear in his strategic thinking".
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-64528348
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Charles Silverstein (April 23, 1935 – January 30, 2023) was an American writer, therapist, and LGBTQ rights advocate. He was best known for his presentation before the American Psychiatric Association in 1973 that led to the removal of homosexuality as a mental illness from the organization's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual.[1]
Silverstein was born in Brooklyn, New York on April 23, 1935.[2][3] He was born to Jewish parents.[4] He was a frequent lecturer at conventions on both the state and national levels, author of eight books and many professional papers, and has received many awards from the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Foundation Gold Medal Award for Life Achievement in the Practice of Psychology receiving it "for his 40-year career challenging the criteria of social morality as the basis for diagnosing sexual disorders. For his presentation before the American Psychiatric Association to eliminate homosexuality as a mental disorder. For his founding two counseling centers for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in order to deliver unbiased treatment, and for his founding of the Journal of Homosexuality."[5]
Silverstein earned his Ph.D. from Rutgers University in 1974.[6]
[/url]
His essays and professional papers have been published widely in journals and anthologies.[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Silverstein#cite_note-:0-7][7] In 1977, Silverstein and Edmund White co-authored The Joy of Gay Sex, described by The Advocate as a "landmark" book that has "educated generations of gay men".[8] In one of his last interviews, Silverstein told the LGBTQ&A podcast in 2021, "When Ed and I first sat down to talk about the book and we made a list of the entries, it was quite clear that a majority of the entries were not about sex, it was about community and it was about relating to each other. While most people think of all the dirty pictures, what we always thought our greatest contribution was, is trying to write something that we would've wanted when we were kids, and that would be something more than just sex. That would be about community."[9]
Silverstein was the founding director of the Institute for Human Identity and Identity House in New York City.[7] He was the founding editor of the Journal of Homosexuality.[7] He was a member of American Psychological Association and was made a Fellow in 1987.[10] He was also a member of Division 44 of the APA (Society for the Psychological Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues), the New York State Psychological Association (NYSPA), and the Committee on Ethical Practices of NYSPA.[10]
Silverstein died on January 30, 2023, at the age of 87.[11][12][13][14]
Works
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Silverstein
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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Burt Freeman Bacharach (/ˈbækəræk/ BAK-ə-rak; May 12, 1928 – February 8, 2023) was an American composer, songwriter, record producer, and pianist who composed hundreds of pop songs from the late 1950s through the 1980s, many in collaboration with lyricist Hal David. A six-time Grammy Award winner and three-time Academy Award winner, Bacharach's songs have been recorded by more than 1,000 different artists.[4] As of 2014, he had written 73 US and 52 UK Top 40 hits.[5] He was one of the most important composers of 20th-century popular music.[6]
Bacharach's music is characterized by unusual chord progressions, influenced by his background in jazz harmony, and uncommon selections of instruments for small orchestras. Most of Bacharach and David's hits were written specifically for and performed by Dionne Warwick, but earlier associations (from 1957 to 1963) saw the composing duo work with Marty Robbins, Perry Como, Gene McDaniels, and Jerry Butler. Following the initial success of these collaborations, Bacharach went on to write hits for Gene Pitney, Cilla Black, Dusty Springfield, Jackie DeShannon, Bobbie Gentry, Tom Jones, Herb Alpert, B. J. Thomas, and the Carpenters, among numerous other artists. He arranged, conducted, and produced much of his recorded output.
Songs that he co-wrote which have topped the Billboard Hot 100 include "This Guy's in Love with You" (1968), "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" (1969), "(They Long to Be) Close to You" (1970), "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" (1981), and "That's What Friends Are For" (1986).
A significant figure in easy listening music,[2] Bacharach is described by writer William Farina as "a composer whose venerable name can be linked with just about every other prominent musical artist of his era". In later years, his songs were newly appropriated for the soundtracks of major feature films, by which time "tributes, compilations, and revivals were to be found everywhere".[7] He influenced later musical movements such as chamber pop[8] and Shibuya-kei.[9][3] In 2015, Rolling Stone ranked Bacharach and David at number 32 for their list of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time.[10] In 2012, the duo received the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, the first time the honor has been given to a songwriting team.[11]
Bacharach was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and grew up in Kew Gardens[12][13], Queens, New York City, graduating from Forest Hills High School in 1946. He was the son of Irma M. (née Freeman) and Mark Bertram "Bert" Bacharach, a well-known syndicated newspaper columnist.[14][15] His mother was an amateur painter and songwriter who was responsible for making Bacharach learn piano during his childhood.[4] His family was Jewish, but he said that they did not practice or give much attention to their religion. "But the kids I knew were Catholic", he added. "I was Jewish but I didn't want anybody to know about it."[16]
Bacharach showed a keen interest in jazz as a teenager, disliking his classical piano lessons, and often used a fake ID to gain admission into 52nd Street nightclubs.[4] He got to hear bebop musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie and Count Basie, whose style influenced his songwriting.[17]
Bacharach studied music (Bachelor of Music, 1948) at Montreal's McGill University, under Helmut Blume, at the Mannes School of Music, and at the Music Academy of the West in Montecito, California. During this period he studied a range of music, including jazz harmony, which became important to his songs, which are generally considered pop music. His composition teachers included Darius Milhaud, Henry Cowell,[18] and Bohuslav Martinů. Bacharach cited Milhaud, under whose guidance he wrote a "Sonatina for Violin, Oboe and Piano", as his greatest influence.[17]
Bacharach was drafted into the United States Army in 1950 and served for two years. He was stationed in Germany and played piano in officers' clubs there, and at Fort Dix, and Governors Island.[19][20][21] During this time, he arranged and played music for dance bands.[22][23]
Bacharach met the popular singer Vic Damone while they were both serving in the army in Germany.[19] Following his discharge, Bacharach spent the next three years as a pianist and conductor for Damone. Damone recalls, "Burt was clearly bound to go out on his own. He was an exceptionally talented, classically trained pianist, with very clear ideas on the musicality of songs, how they should be played, and what they should sound like. I appreciated his musical gifts."[24] He later worked in a similar capacity for various other singers, including Polly Bergen, Steve Lawrence, the Ames Brothers, and Paula Stewart (who became his first wife). When he was unable to find better jobs, Bacharach worked at resorts in the Catskill Mountains of New York, where he accompanied singers such as Joel Grey.[25]
In 1956, at the age of 28, Bacharach's productivity increased when composer Peter Matz recommended him to Marlene Dietrich, who needed an arranger and conductor for her nightclub shows.[26] He then became part-time music director for Dietrich, the actress and singer who had been an international screen star in the 1930s.[27] They toured worldwide off and on until the early 1960s. When they were not touring, he wrote songs.[28] As a result of his collaboration with Dietrich, he gained his first major recognition as a conductor and arranger.[29][30]
In her autobiography, Dietrich wrote that Bacharach loved touring in Russia and Poland because the violinists were extraordinary and musicians were greatly appreciated by the public. He liked Edinburgh and Paris, along with the Scandinavian countries, and "he also felt at home in Israel", she wrote, "where music was similarly "much revered".[31] In the early 1960s, after about five years with Dietrich, their working relationship ceased, with Bacharach telling Dietrich that he wanted to devote himself full-time to songwriting. She thought of her time with him as "seventh heaven ... As a man, he embodied everything a woman could wish for ... How many such men are there? For me he was the only one."[31]
In 1957, Bacharach and lyricist Hal David met while at the Brill Building in New York City, and began their writing partnership.[32] They received a career breakthrough when their song "The Story of My Life" was recorded by Marty Robbins, becoming a No. 1 hit on the U.S. Country Chart in 1957.[33][18] Soon afterward, "Magic Moments" was recorded by Perry Como for RCA Records, and reached No. 4 in the U.S. These two songs were the first back-to-back No. 1 singles by a songwriting duo in the UK (the British chart-topping "The Story of My Life" version was sung by Michael Holliday).[34]
Despite Bacharach's early success with Hal David, he spent several years in the early 1960s writing songs with other lyricists, primarily Bob Hilliard. Some of the more successful Bacharach-Hilliard songs include "Please Stay" (The Drifters, 1961), "Tower of Strength" (Gene McDaniels, 1961), "Any Day Now (My Wild Beautiful Bird)" (Chuck Jackson, 1962), and "Mexican Divorce" (The Drifters, 1962).[35] In 1961 Bacharach was credited as arranger and producer, for the first time on both label and sleeve, for the song "Three Wheels on My Wagon" written jointly with Hilliard for Dick Van Dyke.[36][37]
Bacharach and David formed a writing partnership in 1963. Bacharach's career received a boost when singer Jerry Butler asked to record "Make It Easy on Yourself" and also wanted him to direct the recording sessions. It became the first time Bacharach managed the entire recording process for one of his own songs.[38]
In the early and mid-1960s, Bacharach wrote well over a hundred songs with David. In 1961 Bacharach discovered singer Dionne Warwick while she was a session accompanist. That year the two, along with Dionne's sister Dee Dee Warwick, released a single "Move It on the Backbeat" under the name Burt and the Backbeats.[39] The lyrics for this Bacharach composition were provided by Hal David's brother Mack David.[40] Dionne made her professional recording debut the following year with her first hit, "Don't Make Me Over".[41]
Bacharach and David then wrote more songs to make use of Warwick's singing talents, which led to one of the most successful teams in popular music history.[42] Over the next 20 years, Warwick's recordings of his songs sold over 12 million copies,[43]: 23 with 38 singles making the charts and 22 in the Top 40. Among the hits were "Walk On By", "Anyone Who Had a Heart", "Alfie", "I Say a Little Prayer", "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" and "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" She had more hits during her career than any other female vocalist except Aretha Franklin.[41]
Bacharach released his first solo album in 1965 on the Kapp Records label. Hit Maker! Burt Bacharach Plays His Hits was largely ignored in the US but rose to No. 3 on the UK album charts, where his version of "Trains and Boats and Planes" had become a top five single. In 1967, he signed as an artist with A&M Records, recording a mix of new material and rearrangements of his best-known songs until 1978.
Although Bacharach's compositions are typically more complex than the average pop song, he has expressed surprise in the fact that many jazz musicians have sought inspiration from his works, saying "I've sometimes felt that my songs are restrictive for a jazz artist. I was excited when [Stan] Getz did a whole album of my music" (What The World Needs Now: Stan Getz Plays The Burt Bacharach Songbook, Verve, 1968).[17]
His songs were adapted by a few jazz artists of the time, such as Stan Getz, Cal Tjader, Grant Green, and Wes Montgomery. The Bacharach/David composition "My Little Red Book", originally recorded by Manfred Mann for the film What's New Pussycat?, has become a rock standard.[44]
Bacharach composed and arranged the soundtrack of the 1967 film Casino Royale, which included "The Look of Love", performed by Dusty Springfield, and the title song, an instrumental Top 40 single for Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. The resulting soundtrack album is widely considered to be one of the finest engineered vinyl recordings of all time, and is much sought after by audiophile collectors.[45]
Bacharach and David also collaborated with Broadway producer David Merrick on the 1968 musical Promises, Promises, which yielded two hits, including the title tune and "I'll Never Fall in Love Again". Bacharach and David wrote the song when the producer realized the play urgently needed another before its opening the next evening. Bacharach, who had just been released from the hospital after contracting pneumonia, was still sick, but worked with David's lyrics to write the song which was performed for the show's opening. It was later recorded by Dionne Warwick and was on the charts for several weeks.[43]: 28
The year 1969 marked, perhaps, the most successful Bacharach-David collaboration, the Oscar-winning "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head", written for and prominently featured in the acclaimed film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The two were awarded a Grammy for Best Cast album of the year for "Promises, Promises" and the score was also nominated for a Tony award.[citation needed]
Other Oscar nominations for Best Song in the latter half of the 1960s were for "The Look of Love", "What's New Pussycat?" and "Alfie".[46]
Quote:He swings. He jumps. He socks imaginary tennis balls from his conductor's podium. He's a hurricane that knows where it's heading.
—Rex Reed, American film critic[47]
Throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, Bacharach continued to write and produce for artists, compose for stage, TV, and film, and release his own albums. He enjoyed a great deal of visibility in the public spotlight, appearing frequently on TV and performing live in concert. He starred in two televised musical extravaganzas: "An Evening with Burt Bacharach" and "Another Evening with Burt Bacharach", both broadcast nationally on NBC.[43]: 24 Newsweek magazine gave him a lengthy cover story entitled "The Music Man 1970".[48]
In 1971, Barbra Streisand appeared on The Burt Bacharach Special (aka Singer Presents Burt Bacharach), where they discussed their careers and favorite songs and performed songs together.[49][50] The other guests on the television special were dancer Rudolph Nureyev and singer Tom Jones.[citation needed]
In 1973, Bacharach and David wrote the score for Lost Horizon, a musical version of the 1937 film. The remake was a critical and commercial disaster; a flurry of lawsuits resulted between the composer and the lyricist, as well as from Warwick. She reportedly felt abandoned when Bacharach and David refused to work together further.[51][52]
Bacharach tried several solo projects, including the 1977 album Futures, but the projects failed to yield hits. He and David reunited briefly in 1975 to write and produce Stephanie Mills' second album, For The First Time, for Motown.[53]
By the early 1980s, Bacharach's marriage to Angie Dickinson had ended, but a new partnership with lyricist Carole Bayer Sager proved rewarding, both commercially and personally. The two married and collaborated on several major hits during the decade, including "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" (Christopher Cross), co-written with Cross and Peter Allen, which won an Academy Award for Best Song;[46] "Heartlight" (Neil Diamond);[54] "Making Love" (Roberta Flack); "On My Own" (Patti LaBelle with Michael McDonald).
Another of their hits, "That's What Friends Are For" in 1985, reunited Bacharach and Warwick. When asked about their coming together again, she explained:
Quote:We realized we were more than just friends. We were family. Time has a way of giving people the opportunity to grow and understand ... Working with Burt is not a bit different from how it used to be. He expects me to deliver and I can. He knows what I'm going to do before I do it, and the same with me. That's how intertwined we've been.[55]
Other artists continued to revive Bacharach's earlier hits in the 1980s and 1990s. Examples included Luther Vandross's recording of "A House Is Not a Home", Naked Eyes' 1983 pop hit version of "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me", and Ronnie Milsap's 1982 country version of "Any Day Now". Bacharach continued a concert career, appearing at auditoriums throughout the world, often with large orchestras. He occasionally joined Warwick for sold-out concerts in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and New York, where they performed at the Rainbow Room in 1996.[56]
In 1998, Bacharach co-wrote and recorded a Grammy-winning album with Elvis Costello, Painted from Memory, on which the compositions began to take on the sound of his earlier work. The duo later reunited for Costello's 2018 album, Look Now, working on several tracks together.[57]
In 2003, he teamed with singer Ronald Isley to release the album Here I Am, which revisited a number of his 1960s compositions in Isley's signature R&B style. Bacharach's 2005 solo album At This Time was a departure from past works in that Bacharach penned his own lyrics, some of which dealt with political themes. Guest stars on the album included Elvis Costello, Rufus Wainwright, and hip-hop producer Dr. Dre.[58]
In 2008, Bacharach opened the BBC Electric Proms at The Roundhouse in London, performing with the BBC Concert Orchestra accompanied by guest vocalists Adele, Beth Rowley, and Jamie Cullum.[59][60] The concert was a retrospective look back at his six-decade career. In early 2009, Bacharach worked with Italian soul singer Karima Ammar and produced her debut single "Come In Ogni Ora".[61]
Bacharach's autobiography, Anyone Who Had a Heart, was published in 2013.[62]
In June 2015, Bacharach performed in the UK at the Glastonbury Festival,[63] and a few weeks later appeared on stage at the Menier Chocolate Factory in Southwark, south London, to launch What's It All About? Bacharach Reimagined, a 90-minute live arrangement of his hits.
In 2016, Bacharach, at 88 years old, composed and arranged his first original score in 16 years for the film A Boy Called Po (along with composer Joseph Bauer[64]). The score was released on September 1, 2017. The entire 30-minute score was recorded in just two days at Capitol Studios.[65] The theme song, "Dancing with Your Shadow", was composed by Bacharach, with lyrics by Billy Mann, and performed by Sheryl Crow.[66] After seeing the film, a true story about a child with autism, Bacharach decided he wanted to write a score for it, as well as a theme song, in tribute to his daughter Nikki — who had gone undiagnosed with Asperger syndrome, and who committed suicide at the age of 40.[67][68] "It touched me very much", the composer said. "I had gone through this with Nikki. Sometimes you do things that make you feel. It's not about money or rewards."[65]
Though Bacharach was not known for political songs, "Live to See Another Day", dedicated to survivors of school gun violence, was released in 2018. Proceeds from the release went to the charity Sandy Hook Promise, a non-profit organization founded and led by several family members whose loved ones were killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Co-written with Rudy Pérez, it also featured the Miami Symphony Orchestra.[69][70]
In July 2020, Bacharach collaborated with songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Daniel Tashian on the EP Blue Umbrella, Bacharach's first new material in 15 years.[71] It earned Bacharach and Tashian a Grammy Award nomination for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards.
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Bacharach was featured in a dozen television musical and variety specials videotaped in the UK for ITC; several were nominated for Emmy Awards for direction (by Dwight Hemion).[72] The guests included artists such as Joel Grey, Dusty Springfield,[73] Dionne Warwick, and Barbra Streisand.[74] Bacharach and David did the score for an original musical for ABC-TV titled On the Flip Side, broadcast on ABC Stage 67, starring Ricky Nelson as a faded pop star trying for a comeback.[75]
In 1969, Harry Betts arranged Bacharach's instrumental composition "Nikki" (named for Bacharach's daughter) into a new theme for the ABC Movie of the Week, a television series that ran on the US network until 1976.[citation needed]
During the 1970s, Bacharach and then-wife Angie Dickinson appeared in several television commercials for Martini & Rossi beverages, and Bacharach even penned a short jingle ("Say Yes") for the spots.[76] He also occasionally appeared on television/variety shows such as The Merv Griffin Show, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and others.[77]
In the 1990s and 2000s Bacharach had cameo roles in Hollywood movies, including all three Austin Powers movies,[78] inspired by his score for the 1967 James Bond parody film Casino Royale.[79]
Bacharach appeared as a celebrity performer and guest vocal coach for contestants on the television show American Idol during its 2006 season, during which an entire episode was dedicated to his music.[74] In 2008, Bacharach was featured in the BBC Electric Proms at The Roundhouse with the BBC Concert Orchestra.[80] He performed similar shows the same year at the Walt Disney Concert Hall[81] and with the Sydney Symphony.[82]
Quote:The whole room would come to life with his conducting — the way he would look over at the drummer and with just a flick of his finger, things could happen. Once the groove was happening in the room, forget it; there was nothing like it. And everything, including the strings, responded to the kind of body movement that Burt had. He brings an incredible amount of life to the studio. He's probably one of the most amazing musicians in the world.
—Record producer Phil Ramone[83]
Bacharach's music is characterized by unusual chord progressions, influenced by jazz harmony, with striking syncopated rhythmic patterns, irregular phrasing, frequent modulation, and odd, changing meters. He arranged, conducted, and produced much of his recorded output.[84] Though his style is sometimes called easy listening, he has expressed apprehension regarding that label. According to NJ.com contributor Mark Voger, "It may be easy on the ears, but it's anything but easy. The precise arrangements, the on-a-dime shifts in meter, and the mouthfuls of lyrics required to service all those notes have, over the years, proven challenging to singers and musicians."[85] Bacharach's selection of instruments included flugelhorns, bossa nova sidesticks, breezy flutes, tack piano, molto fortissimo strings and cooing female voices.[83] According to editors of The Mojo Collection, it led to what became known as the "Bacharach Sound".[83] Bacharach explains:
Quote:I didn't want to make the songs the same way as they'd been done, so I'd split vocals and instrumentals and try to make it interesting ... For me, it's about the peaks and valleys of where a record can take you. You can tell a story and be able to be explosive one minute, then get quiet as kind of a satisfying resolution.[83]
While he did not mind singing during live performances, he sought mostly to avoid it on records. When he did sing, he explains, "I [tried] to sing the songs not as a singer, but just interpreting it as a composer and interpreting a great lyric that Hal [David] wrote."[83] When performing in front of live audiences, he often conducted while playing piano,[86] as he did during a televised performance on The Hollywood Palace.[87]
Bacharach married four times. The first time was to [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paula_Stewart]Paula Stewart for five years (1953–1958). His second marriage, to actress Angie Dickinson, lasted 15 years (1965–1980).[14] They had a daughter named Nikki Bacharach (born 1966), who suffocated herself with helium on January 4, 2007, after struggling with Asperger syndrome for many years.[88]
Bacharach's third marriage, to lyricist Carole Bayer Sager, spanned nine years (1982–1991).[89] The duo collaborated on a number of musical pieces and adopted a son named Cristopher Elton Bacharach.[90][89]
Bacharach married his fourth wife, Jane Hansen, in 1993. They had two children, a son named Oliver and a daughter named Raleigh.[28]
Bacharach died of natural causes at his home in Los Angeles on February 8, 2023, at the age of 94.[91][92][93]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burt_Bacharach
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Hans Modrow (German pronunciation: [ˈhans ˈmoːdʁo]; 27 January 1928 – 11 February 2023) was a German politician best known as the last communist premier of East Germany.
Taking office in the middle of the Peaceful Revolution, he was the de facto leader of the country for much of the winter of 1989 and 1990. He was a transitional figure, paving the way to the first and only free elections in East Germany and including many opposition politicians in his cabinet.
After the end of Communist rule and reunification of Germany, he was convicted of electoral fraud and perjury by the Dresden District Court in 1995, on the basis that he had been the SED official nominally in charge of the electoral process. He was later convicted of abuse of office[citation needed] and was given a nine-month suspended sentence. One of the few high-ranking former SED officials to not have been expelled, he was the honorary chairman of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS)[1] and was the president of the "council of elders" of the Left Party from 2007.[2]
Modrow was born on 27 January 1928 in Jasenitz, Province of Pomerania, Germany, now Jasienica part of the town of Police in Poland.[3][4] As a child he was a Hitler Youth leader and attended a Volksschule. He trained as a machinist from 1942 to 1945 when he was filled with intense hatred of the Bolsheviks, whom he deemed as subhumans, inferior to Germans physically and morally.[5][6] For six months during the Allied bombing of Stettin he served as a volunteer firefighter.[6] He later served briefly in the Volkssturm in January 1945,[6][4] and was subsequently captured as a prisoner of war by the Soviet Red Army in Stralsund in May 1945. He and other German prisoners were sent to a farm in Hinterpommern to work. Upon arrival, his backpack was stolen, making him begin to rethink the Germans' so called camaraderie. Days later, he was appointed a driver to a Soviet captain, who asked him about Heinrich Heine, a German poet. Modrow had never heard of him and felt embarrassed that the people he thought of as "subhumans" knew more about German culture than he. Transported to a POW camp near Moscow, he joined a National Committee for a Free Germany anti-fascist school run by future SED Politburo member Alfred Neumann for Wehrmacht members and received training in Marxism-Leninism, which he embraced.[5][6] Upon release in 1949 he worked as a machinist for LEW Hennigsdorf.[4] That same year he joined the Socialist Unity Party (SED).[4]
From 1949 to 1961, Modrow worked in various functions for the Free German Youth (FDJ) in Brandenburg, Mecklenburg, and Berlin and in 1952 and 1953 studied at the Komsomol college in Moscow.[4] In 1953, he attended the state funeral of Joseph Stalin. After Nikita Khrushchev's Secret Speech at the 20th Party Congress condemning Stalin and beginning de-Stalinization, Modrow claimed to have complained to his former teacher Neumann "Comrade, this is unacceptable — you are accusing us of having learned Stalin off by heart, but I never had the inclination to do this myself, you asked us to!"[6] From 1953 to 1961, he served as an FDJ functionary in East Berlin.[4] From 1954 to 1957, he studied at the SED's Karl Marx school in Berlin, graduating as a social scientist.[4] In 1959 to 1961 he studied at the University of Economics in Berlin-Karlshorst and obtained the degree of graduate economist.[4] He gained his doctorate at the Humboldt University of Berlin in 1966.[4] West Germany's Federal Intelligence Service (BND) kept Modrow under observation from 1958 to 2013.[7][8]
Modrow had a long political career in East Germany, serving as a member of the Volkskammer from 1957 to 1990 and in the SED's Central Committee (ZK) from 1967 to 1989, having previously been a candidate for the ZK from 1958 to 1967.[4] From 1961 to 1967 he was first secretary of the district administration of the SED in Berlin-Köpenick and secretary for agitation and propaganda from 1967 to 1971 in the SED's district leadership in Berlin.[4] From 1971 to 1973 he worked as the head of the SED's department of agitation.[4] In 1975 he was awarded the GDR's Patriotic Order of Merit in gold[9] and received the award of the Order of Karl Marx in 1978.[10]
From 1973 onward, he was the SED's first secretary in Dresden, East Germany's third-largest city.[4] He was prevented from rising any further than a local party boss, largely because he was one of the few SED leaders who dared to publicly criticise longtime SED chief Erich Honecker. He developed some important contacts with the Soviet Union, including eventual Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Modrow initially supported Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika reforms.[6] In early 1987, Gorbachev and the KGB explored the possibility of installing Modrow as Honecker's successor.[11] From 1988 to 1989, the Stasi, under the orders of Honecker and Erich Mielke, conducted a massive surveillance operation against Modrow with the intention of gathering enough evidence to convict him of high treason.[12]
During the Peaceful Revolution of 1989, Modrow ordered thousands of Volkspolizei, Stasi, Combat Groups of the Working Class, and National People's Army troops to crush a demonstration at the Dresden Hauptbahnhof on 4–5 October. Some 1,300 people were arrested. In a top secret and encrypted telex to Honecker on 9 October, Modrow reported: "With the determined commitment of the comrades of the security organs, anti-state terrorist riots were suppressed".[13]
When Honecker was toppled on 18 October, Gorbachev hoped that Modrow would become the new leader of the SED. Egon Krenz was selected instead.[14] According to Modrow, Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev asked Krenz to bring Modrow into the government. He became premier following the resignation of Willi Stoph on 13 November, four days after the Berlin Wall fell. The SED formally abandoned power on 1 December. Krenz resigned two days later, on 3 December. Since the premiership was the highest state post in East Germany, Modrow became the de facto leader of the country.[citation needed]
To defeat the opposition's demand for the complete dissolution of the Stasi, it was renamed as the "Office for National Security" (Amt für Nationale Sicherheit – AfNS) on 17 November 1989. Modrow's attempt to re-brand it further as the "Office for the Protection of the Constitution of the GDR" (Verfassungsschutz der DDR) failed due to pressure from the public and the opposition parties and the AfNS was dissolved on 13 January 1990.[15] The Modrow government gave orders to destroy incriminating Stasi files.[13]
On 7 December 1989, Modrow accepted the proposal of the East German Round Table opposition groups to hold free elections within six months. Modrow and the Round table agreed on 28 January to bring the elections forward to 18 March. By this time, the SED had added "Party of Democratic Socialism" to its name; the SED portion was dropped altogether in February. Some of the Round Table parties strove for a "third way" model of democratic socialism and therefore agreed with Modrow to slow down or block a reunification with capitalist West Germany. As the SED-PDS regime grew weaker, Modrow on 1 February 1990 proposed a slow, three-stage process that would create a neutral German confederation and continued to oppose "rapid" reunification. The collapse of the East German state and economy in early 1990 and the approaching East German free elections allowed Helmut Kohl's government in Bonn to disregard Modrow's demand for neutrality.[16]
From 5 February 1990 on, Modrow included eight representatives of opposition parties and civil liberties groups as ministers without portfolio in his cabinet. On 13 February 1990, Modrow met with West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, asking for an accommodation loan of 15 billion DM, which was rejected by Kohl.[17] Modrow remained premier until the 18 March 1990 elections.[4] The PDS expelled Honecker, Krenz, and other Communist-era leaders in February 1990.[citation needed]
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The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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Conrad Francis Dobler (October 1, 1950 – February 13, 2023) was an American professional football player who was a guard in the National Football League (NFL) for ten seasons, primarily with the St. Louis Cardinals. He was selected in the fifth round of the 1972 NFL Draft by the Cardinals, of whom he was a member for six seasons, and later spent two seasons each with the New Orleans Saints and Buffalo Bills. A three-time Pro Bowl selection during his Cardinals tenure, Dobler also achieved notoriety for frequently utilizing unsportsmanlike tactics against opponents, which he openly acknowledged.
After playing college football at the University of Wyoming, Dobler was selected in the fifth round of the 1972 NFL Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals. He played right offensive guard for the Cardinals from 1972 to 1977, next to hall-of-famer Dan Dierdorf at right tackle. In those years, the Cardinals had solid offensive lines, especially for pass blocking; they allowed just eight sacks in 1975, then a record (though helped by quick releases from quarterback Jim Hart). Dobler was an important cog of this success, making three consecutive Pro Bowl appearances from 1975 to 1977.
Dobler quickly developed a reputation as a nasty player, and he did little to tone down that image. On the contrary, he seemed to revel in it, probably believing that this would intimidate some defensive players, as indicated by the following quote: "I see defensive linemen jump to knock a pass down. When that happened near me, I'd smack 'em in the solar plexus, and that got their hands down real quick." [1] As sportswriter Paul Zimmerman said: "Conrad Dobler was mean dirty. He tried to hurt people in a bad way...he made teams that he played on better. He played hurt, didn't complain, but he was a filthy, filthy player." He made the cover of Sports Illustrated, who heralded Dobler as "Pro Football's Dirtiest Player". [2]
In 1978, the Cardinals traded Dobler to the New Orleans Saints, where he played for two seasons. His final two seasons were with the Buffalo Bills, retiring after the 1981 campaign.
Dobler, known for such transgressions as punching Joe Greene, spitting on a downed and injured opponent Bill Bergey, and kicking Merlin Olsen in the head, [1] parodied his image in a Miller Lite beer commercial by getting a section of fans to argue about why they drank the beer. Olsen got a measure of symbolic revenge by placing Dobler's name on a headstone in a scene from Olsen's TV series Father Murphy. NFL Films placed Dobler's conflicts with Bergey as #9 on the NFL Top 10 list of feuds. [3]
Dobler paid a high price for his NFL career, having suffered through numerous operations to repair his battered body. Disabled, Dobler has had nine knee replacements. Still in need of further surgeries, Dobler, like many other disabled pro football veterans, has been unable to gain disability assistance from the NFL. [4]
On April 5, 2007, The Buffalo News reported that as a result of falling out of a hammock in 2001, Dobler's wife Joy became a paraplegic. Substantial medical bills for Joy's care put the Dobler family in such financial hardship that they could no longer pay for their daughter Holli or their son Stephen to attend college. Champion golfer and philanthropist Phil Mickelson heard of the situation on ESPN and volunteered to pay for Holli's education at Miami University and Stephen's at the University of Kansas. [5] On June 21, 2018, Dobler was enshrined into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame in Troy, Michigan.
Dobler died on February 13, 2023, aged 72. [6]
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[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_Dobler]Dirty play may have kept him out of the NFL Hall of fame.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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Roger Bobo (June 8, 1938 – February 12, 2023) was an American tuba virtuoso and brass pedagogue. He retired from active tuba performance in 2001 in order to devote his time to conducting and teaching. He gave what is reputed to be the first solo tuba recital in the history of Carnegie Recital Hall. His solo and ensemble discography is extensive. He was the author of "Mastering the Tuba" published by Editions Bim (CH). While living in the US, he was the resident conductor of the Topanga Philharmonic Orchestra. He has been a guest conductor with numerous orchestras and chamber ensembles in North America, Europe and Asia.
As of 2023 Bobo lived in Oaxaca, Mexico, from which he conducted numerous virtual masterclasses and lessons. As of 2018, Bobo resided in Tokyo, Japan and teaching at Musashino Academy of Music in Tokyo. Before moving to Tokyo he served as faculty at the Fiesole School of Music near Florence, Italy, at the Lausanne Conservatory in Switzerland, at the Rotterdams Konservatorium in the Netherlands, and at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England. Roger held a bachelor's degree from the Eastman School of Music.
Major orchestral appointments include:
Bobo was the subject of the John Updike poem "Recital". [1]
Alexander Arutiunian dedicated his Concerto for tuba and symphony orchestra (1992) in 3 movements to Bobo.
Bob died on February 12, 2023, at the age of 84. [2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Bobo
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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Shoichiro Toyoda (豊田 章一郞, Toyoda Shōichirō, February 27, 1925 – February 14, 2023) was a Japanese business executive who served as chairman of Toyota Motor Corporation from 1992 to 1999, [1] as well as chairman of the influential Japan Business Federation (日本経済団体連合会, [i]Nippon Keidanren[/i]) [2] from 1994 to 1998. [3] Under Toyoda's supervision, Toyota approved the development of the Lexus brand and the Prius hybrid. [4] He was the grandson of the Toyoda Automatic Loom Works founder Sakichi Toyoda and the son of the Toyota Motors founder Kiichiro Toyoda. His son Akio Toyoda is the current president of the Toyota Motor Corporation.
Shoichiro Toyoda was born in Nagoya on February 27, 1925, [5][6] to Kiichiro Toyoda, the founder of the Toyota Motors, and Hatako Toyoda (née Shinshichi), the daughter of the Takashimaya department store chain co-founder, Iida Shinshichi. He was the grandson of Sakichi Toyoda, the founder of the Toyoda Automatic Loom Works.
Toyoda attended the Tokyo First Middle School (currently Hibiya High School) and First High School (currently Tokyo University), and graduated from Nagoya Imperial University (currently Nagoya University) in 1947 with a degree in Engineering BS. He would be awarded a PhD, by Tohoku University, in 1955. At the height of the pacific theater of World War II, the Toyoda family was affected on both family business and home fronts. Shoichiro's education would be delayed by his own conscription into civil service, and his father's business warrant to manufacture trucks for the Imperial Japanese Army, of which his family's firm was spared destruction in the days before the Japanese government's surrender.
Son to the company founder, Toyoda, in 1952, joined his father's business at Toyota Motors. In ten years, he had risen to the position of managing director. He was promoted to senior managing director in 1967, executive vice president in 1972, and president of the company's marketing organization in 1981. [7]
The merger of the sales and production organizations in 1982 produced Toyota Motor Corporation. Toyoda became the new entity's first president. The disparate nature of the two distinct corporate cultures required his attention, and the extent to which the "oil and water" of these two Toyota groups were merged successfully was attributed in large part to his leadership. [8] He served as chairman from 1992 to 1999; and he became honorary chairman in 1999. [7]
Toyoda's leadership would be integral to the global introduction into popular culture of the Lexus brand of luxury automobiles and environmentally focused Prius engine electric hybrids.
Toyoda died on February 14, 2023, at the age of 97. [9]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoichiro_Toyoda
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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