Greg Mitchell's Blog, page 253

Ali and the Army

At NYT today, Bill Rhoden recalled that 46 years ago this week one of my heroes back then, and now, Muhammad Ali, explained why he didn't take that step forward and go along with getting drafted into the Army.  Of course, being in college at the time and facing the draft myself, I cheered on Ali as I had in all of his fights going back to his very first.   But I forgot what happened next: a group of leading black athletes flew off to meet Ali to decide for themselves if he was sincere about avoiding service due to religious beliefs. And they concluded he was.  And what a group (greatest ever?): another one of my childhood hereoes, Jim Brown; b-ballers Bill Russell, Elgin Baylor and (then named) Lew Alcindor; and more.  Here's a little newsreel on the meeting that I found.

Below that, in contrast, a little ditty from the two coolest dudes on the planet (and mothers, lock up up daughters):  Ali and Sam Cooke. 

Like a Slow-Rolling Stone

Exactly 48 years ago this week, in mid-June 1965, Bob Dylan recorded in New York City, with Mike Bloomfield, Al Kooper and the gang, what some (not just me) call the greatest single in rock 'n roll history, "Like a Rolling Stone."  It was released one month later, on July 20, reaching #2 on the Billboard chart.  Among other breakthroughs: It was the first six-minute single and DJs played the whole thing for weeks, before breaking off after two verses near the end of its run.   Here's the rarely heard version of the first take in the studio--slow, almost a waltz, and Bob  on piano.  The Wikipedia entry describes it this way:  "The lack of sheet music meant the song was played by ear. However the essence of the song was discovered in the course of the chaotic session."  Greil Marcus has a whole book on the song.   Always amusing is tale of Al Kooper talking his way into the session, then taking over organ part just with chutzpah.

And then, also below, two years later, Jimi Hendrix's amazing version at Monterey.  I saw Bob do it himself in November 1965, in Buffalo, with The Hawks.

Today's Tragic Tale from Gun Nutty USA

From Tennessee, of course:  couple fighting over handgun,  baby at their feet, gun goes off, hits six-month-old in head, causing death. Mom charged with reckless homicide.  Read about this fun couple and then determine if they should have been allowed anywhere near a gun.

Bernstein, Beethoven, Berlin, Bruce!

UPDATE:   New book just published this weekcharts 1988 incident when Bruce Springsteen played to 300,000 East Germans, gave speech against The Wall, supposedly putting the final nail in the Communists' coffin.  I don't know about that, but sounds interesting.  Author is American who has lived in Germany for 25 years. 

Earlier:  My new piece at The Nation--an excerpt from updated edition of my Journeys With Beethoven book with Kerry Candaele on Leonard Bernstein conducting the Ninth Symphony in 1989 to mark the fall of the Berlin Wall.   Reminder: Kerry's great film Following the Ninth, which I helped with a bit, gets world premiere Tuesday night in Santa Barbara, then 20 other cities, including NYC in early October.

FBI: No Probe of Hastings

We noted a couple days back that the WikiLeaks twitter feed carried a report that journalist Michael Hastings had been in touch with them just days before his death this week complaining that the FBI was probing him.  No details have followed since--and the attorney he allegedly contacted, Jen Robinson, has not tweeted a thing--and now the FBI tells a Burlington, VT. newspaper (Hastings went to school in the area) that this is hogwash.  Of course, it's possible that Hastings merely thought he was being investigated.

The article also reveals:  police have ruled out "foul play" in the Hastings car crash (amid the usual conspiracy theories), have not decided on cause of crash (beyond likely speeding), and that a Vermont memorial for Sunday is now planned.

Claims on Syria's Chems--Another 'Slam Dunk' Stuffed

I've warned for weeks that the claims of use of chemical agents by the Assad side in Syria were incredibly sketchy but would be used as an excuse for stepping up U.S. intervention.   Of course, this happened last week with the statements from the White House.  For too long, our friends at McClatchy were virtually alone in the U.S media in seriously questioning the claims (repeating their role in the run-up to Iraq war).  Now the Wash Post is belatedly joining them.  As David Kay says, “You’d be an idiot if you didn’t approach this thing with a bit of caution.” 

Despite months of laboratory testing and scrutiny by top U.S. scientists, the Obama administration’s case for arming Syria’s rebels rests on unverifiable claims that the Syrian government used chemical weapons against its own people, according to diplomats and experts.

The United States, Britain and France have supplied the United Nations with a trove of evidence, including multiple blood, tissue and soil samples, that U.S. officials say proves that Syrian troops used the nerve agent sarin on the battlefield. But the nature of the physical evidence — as well as the secrecy over how it was collected and analyzed — has opened the administration to criticism by independent experts, who say there is no reliable way to assess its authenticity.

Now Imagine Who Elected Her

A state legislator in New Hampshire--yes, she was elected--has resigned a day after she sent an email blast claiming that the Boston marathon bombing was a govenrment plot.  Stella!  I love the part about the bombing showing what happens if you try to reveal the truth.  Yes, the Chechen brothers--or someone else--whistleblowers, all of them!  Apparently she had said some of the same things awhile back but the crazy meter in parts of NH set pretty far to the right.

Pro-Nuclear Film: "Hoax"?

Happy to post video here of recent debate at the Jacob Burns, the  tremendous film center north of NYC,  in Pleasantville, where I'm a member (and even was guest speaker for a Kurosawa film)--between environmental activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and "Pandora Promise" director Robert Stone.   RFK Jr. calls the film "dishonest" and "an elaborate hoax"--"almost every fact in it wrong or misleadning"--and goes on from there..."Big lies....propaganda." 

How She Gave Them 'Gimme Shelter."

Amazing piece, much of it new to (even) me, as Merry Clayton, and the Stones, describe/reveal all that happened on that late night when she recorded one of the most famous brief vocal solos in rock 'n roll history, for "Gimme Shelter" (vocal isolated below).  We learn:  She was in bed, and pregnant, near midnight when she got the call to come to the studio, she resisted, but told no one tell would do it; arrived in curlers;  only did three takes; had a miscarriage soon after, sometimes blamed on stress of that night, so she could not listen to the song for years; and more.

Woke Up This Morning, Found This 'Simpsons' Parody

Sixty-second parody of opening of The Sopranos, aired quite awhile back, with Gandolfini and tune.   Below that a tribute video with similar idea.