Republic -- "If you can keep it" [Democracy]
Accountability for Jan. 6 insurrection
U.S. Select House Committee on January 6th Hearings will continue in the fall.
U.S. Dept. of Justice and F.B.I. deserving of respect for doing their jobs.
Stars / Feelings (Medley / Live at Montreux, 1976)
NINA SIMONE
"Stars lives come and go ... they all have a story." Perhaps this is Nina's story, too, as she also refers to Billie Holiday and Janis Joplin. This talented artist left our world in 2003 at age 70 years. In her mid-twenties she aspired to being a classical concert pianist.
Composer Janis Ian commented on YouTube: "I wrote the song [Stars] when I was 21, and already a 9 year veteran of the music industry. Nina's version is brilliant. She re-writes it some here and there, and I've never known whether the ad libbed sections at the end were because she forgot, was overwhelmed, or what - but brilliant nonetheless. One of the most underrated arrangers and pianists ever, too. The heat must be getting to me. I'm lacking enthusiasm of thought to focus on writing here. There are so many issues hanging fire, so to speak, all of which are on my mind from the local to the national level as well as what's occurring around the world. I'm sure you are as aware of them as I am, so I'll not bring up the matters. I'm trying to patiently wait for many of them to move forward toward some resolution. Frankly, it doesn't look like that will occur anytime soon. Also, I need to focus attention on some personal things here that require more of my time which I'll be doing in the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, I've resumed some occasional pleasure reading but nothing of any consequence for my reviewing here. They're autobiographies of a couple of now deceased women, each a decade or so older than me. One woman had a career in D.C. legitimate news journalism to which I had paid some attention. The other out of NYC focused on show biz gossip and facts to which I've never paid much attention. I like to think about what I was doing when some events they note were occurring in their life. I was glancing through some notes I've written from time to time for possible blog topic elaboration in the future, but I'm presently not motivated to further develop them. What I'm relating now reminds me of how our perspective in life evolves with experience over the years. I guess I could say in this instance I would be generous to myself by saying I simply mis-spoke. This is a regretted utterance I've never forgotten from the moment I heard the words coming out of my mouth. I was a teen describing to a life-long year-older dear friend when she asked, the names of several Florida cities on the Gulf she might want to visit. They had been included on my high school senior class trip itinerary after we departed New Orleans, heading to the Atlantic east coast. After one Gulf city I mentioned, I hastily added, "Oh, you don't want to go there! There's nothing but a bunch of old people." I instantly realized, as her mother listened, that her grandmother who I knew and loved had moved to Florida. I thought of my own dearly loved grandmother and felt chagrined at my utterance stimulating heart-sick feelings I've never forgotten. Now that I'm one of those "old people" I can't believe I was so insensitive as to say those words. After all, if we're fortunate enough to avoid the alternative, we all become "old".
