Jazz great Billie Holiday was born this month-on Wednesday, April 7th, 1915 in Philadelphia's General Hospital. Her mother, Sarah Julia Harris, was a maid. The presumed father was banjo player Clarence Holiday. Yet the baby, named Eleanor, was registered as the child of Frank DeViese, a waiter who disappeared shortly after.
If this sounds unorthodox, her whole life was, as chronicled in "With Billie," Julia Blackburn's 2005 Holiday bio. Toni Morrison says of the book, "Nowhere else is the context of her life and work so vividly captured." "With Billie" is a gritty and engrossing book with individual chapters respectively focused on reminiscences by those who knew Billie Holiday well. Each chapter reveals a side of her as experienced by that friend. The end result is a kaleidoscope of views of the complexity of Billie's personality, her talent and influences, her art, her body of work, and finally her legacy.
"With Billie" is great reading, and probably the best bio yet of this American blues jazz legend.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Lowell Thomas' Birthday
Today is Lowell Thomas' birthday!
Born on Wednesday, April 6th, 1892 in Woodington, Ohio in the Greenville area in Darke County, Lowell Jackson Thomas' family moved west when he was six months old. They moved to Victor, Colorado in the Cripple Creek Mining District, then the most prosperous gold mining camp in America. High in the Rockies, he enjoyed an adventurous and studious childhood among the most colorful characters a child could ask for. Soaking up tales from prospectors, miners, actors, financiers, royalty, gamblers, and prize fighters, he absorbed his father's enormous knowledge, especially about history. The young Lowell developed a special feeling for the mountains that never left him. Living in that environment taught him all sorts of outside sports and activities from riding horses to skiing, which he indulged in for the rest of his life.
And he had enormous curiosity, which led him into journalism, first as a newsboy delivering newspapers when he was still a child. After completing college, Lowell spent World War One as a war correspondent in Palestine, where he was the sole Western reporter to cover an obscure British archeologist named T. E. Lawrence and his military campaign in what was then called Arabia. The military campaign was an enormous success. Thomas' news scoup launched his career, and he went on a lecture tour with his story, followed by a book in 1923-1924. Both were hugely successful. This led to his hosting his own radio news commentary series for Sarnoff's NBC, then Bill Paley at CBS.
Lowell Thomas got into the neophyte medium of television by hosting the first TV news broadcast in 1930. Then he became NBC-TV's first regularly scheduled broadcaster in 1940, all the while continuing his radio show for CBS, which he would stay at for forty-six years until 1976. He broadcast most of his shows on remote while traveling all over the world. Thomas also did a travel TV series during the 1950s called "High Road to Adventure" and a 1970s TV series called "Lowell Thomas Remembers".
He also wrote fifty to sixty books of his adventures, history, biography, and geography(because he was a globe trotter). He climbed the Himalayas twice-when he was 57 and 84. He married a 49 year old woman at 84. When he was 86 on Dick Cavett's TV talk show, Thomas told Cavett he wanted to try out for the space program when they started sending civilians, and wanted to be the first man on Mars.
Lowell Thomas stayed active until he passed away from a sudden heart attack as he was awakening Saturday morning, August 29th, 1981. That week he was recording some radio broadcasts about World War Two, so he was active and enjoyed a full life.
Lowell Thomas, in spite of his public life, was a private man who never allowed his religious nor political views to become public, and not allowing either to influence his journalism. This professional objectivity is why there is an organization now called The Society of Professional Journalists which started a Lowell Thomas Award in 2009. Given annually, it honors excellence in international journalism.
Born on Wednesday, April 6th, 1892 in Woodington, Ohio in the Greenville area in Darke County, Lowell Jackson Thomas' family moved west when he was six months old. They moved to Victor, Colorado in the Cripple Creek Mining District, then the most prosperous gold mining camp in America. High in the Rockies, he enjoyed an adventurous and studious childhood among the most colorful characters a child could ask for. Soaking up tales from prospectors, miners, actors, financiers, royalty, gamblers, and prize fighters, he absorbed his father's enormous knowledge, especially about history. The young Lowell developed a special feeling for the mountains that never left him. Living in that environment taught him all sorts of outside sports and activities from riding horses to skiing, which he indulged in for the rest of his life.
And he had enormous curiosity, which led him into journalism, first as a newsboy delivering newspapers when he was still a child. After completing college, Lowell spent World War One as a war correspondent in Palestine, where he was the sole Western reporter to cover an obscure British archeologist named T. E. Lawrence and his military campaign in what was then called Arabia. The military campaign was an enormous success. Thomas' news scoup launched his career, and he went on a lecture tour with his story, followed by a book in 1923-1924. Both were hugely successful. This led to his hosting his own radio news commentary series for Sarnoff's NBC, then Bill Paley at CBS.
Lowell Thomas got into the neophyte medium of television by hosting the first TV news broadcast in 1930. Then he became NBC-TV's first regularly scheduled broadcaster in 1940, all the while continuing his radio show for CBS, which he would stay at for forty-six years until 1976. He broadcast most of his shows on remote while traveling all over the world. Thomas also did a travel TV series during the 1950s called "High Road to Adventure" and a 1970s TV series called "Lowell Thomas Remembers".
He also wrote fifty to sixty books of his adventures, history, biography, and geography(because he was a globe trotter). He climbed the Himalayas twice-when he was 57 and 84. He married a 49 year old woman at 84. When he was 86 on Dick Cavett's TV talk show, Thomas told Cavett he wanted to try out for the space program when they started sending civilians, and wanted to be the first man on Mars.
Lowell Thomas stayed active until he passed away from a sudden heart attack as he was awakening Saturday morning, August 29th, 1981. That week he was recording some radio broadcasts about World War Two, so he was active and enjoyed a full life.
Lowell Thomas, in spite of his public life, was a private man who never allowed his religious nor political views to become public, and not allowing either to influence his journalism. This professional objectivity is why there is an organization now called The Society of Professional Journalists which started a Lowell Thomas Award in 2009. Given annually, it honors excellence in international journalism.
Friday, April 1, 2011
April Fools' Day
April Fools' Day goes back to 1582 when Pope Gregory XIII ordered a new calendar named after himself-the Gregorian calendar-to replace the Julian calendar.
Why the change? Because the old calendar celebrated the start of the year on April 1st, shortly after the March 21st spring equinox celebrated by Pagan cultures. Starting the new year on January 1st, shortly after the birth of Jesus Christ, naturally made more sense to the Christian Pope in an increasingly Christian world. So Pope Gregory XIII, in recognition of the beginning of the life of Jesus Christ, mandated the new calendar.
The new calendar spread, but not as fast as today because they had no Internet. So, many people didn't hear of the calendar for awhile. Some simply wanted to keep the old calendar, either because they were used to it, or for cultural reasons. Some countries and cultures today still don't recognize January 1st as New Year's Day, but instead recognize the Spring Equinox, the beginning of spring, as the start of the new year.
As the new Gregorian calendar spread, Julian calendar traditionalists were made fun of and sent on fools' errands. This grew into a holiday of pranks and lightheartedness we celebrate today as April Fools' Day.
Why the change? Because the old calendar celebrated the start of the year on April 1st, shortly after the March 21st spring equinox celebrated by Pagan cultures. Starting the new year on January 1st, shortly after the birth of Jesus Christ, naturally made more sense to the Christian Pope in an increasingly Christian world. So Pope Gregory XIII, in recognition of the beginning of the life of Jesus Christ, mandated the new calendar.
The new calendar spread, but not as fast as today because they had no Internet. So, many people didn't hear of the calendar for awhile. Some simply wanted to keep the old calendar, either because they were used to it, or for cultural reasons. Some countries and cultures today still don't recognize January 1st as New Year's Day, but instead recognize the Spring Equinox, the beginning of spring, as the start of the new year.
As the new Gregorian calendar spread, Julian calendar traditionalists were made fun of and sent on fools' errands. This grew into a holiday of pranks and lightheartedness we celebrate today as April Fools' Day.
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