poet, interviewer, musician, traveler
Poet Gerald Schwartz sent me his thoughts this morning:
For times, then,
All through our lives
We delight in a unity,
The great union,
Of our ventured selves
With what sustains
All possibility. We ride
The swell and are
The surf and with
Changed belief
Inner and outer
We find our talk
Turned to hope:
Our hope into truth:
For a time, early,
We become at home
In you, World.
–Gerald Schwartz
Leave a CommentMy good friend Otto Bruno, host of the Sunday Music Festa on Jazz90.1 in Rochester, NY, sent out this message on Obama’s win:
Leave a CommentDear Nation:
Two quick observations: 1.) The grace and class of John McCain’s Concession Speech. It’s interesting and sad that many of the commentators remarked that the speech we heard Sen. McCain give tonight was the real John McCain. The John McCain who puts his country, and his service to that country, first. I wrote in a few of my e-mails over the past few months that John McCain was definitely a man deserving of our respect. Unfortunately for his campaign, I believe he did himself in through his choice of running mate, his pandering to the conservative-religious right, and his desperation in the final weeks of the campaign to lower the level of discourse to outrageous attacks. I don’t blame him because usually negative campaigning works. Tonight it did not.
I believe John McCain is sincere in his desire to help President-Elect Obama move the country forward. I also believe President-Elect Obama is sincere in his desire to have Sen. McCain help him do that. These guys understand the game, they both know better than anyone else how hard the last 20 months have been on themselves and their families. If anything, I imagine the shared experience of a grueling, Presidential campaign may make them even closer.
2.) The grace and class of Barack Obama’s Victory Speech. I remember seeing Obama four years ago and thinking, “Wow, this guy is good!” I never, EVER, thought he could be President – certainly not by 2008. He is, without doubt, the greatest speaker we’ve had as a President since FDR. He is the greatest speaker we’ve had in America since Martin Luther King who I think is the greatest speaker in our history. He was unbelievably gracious tonight. He went out of his way to praise John McCain, to tell the people who voted against him that he cares about their ideas and concerns. . . that he’s their President too. He acknowledged that he knew he hadn’t yet “earned their support.”
For the people who expect everything to be all right by January 21, 2009 put that idea aside right now. As our new President-Elect said this evening, this is just our chance, our opportunity to make those changes. There’s lots of hard work ahead.
I don’t think I’ve ever been prouder to be an American than I am tonight. As always, I’m cautious. My Uncle Bob will feel somewhat vindicated to see me write that when you’re as pessimistic and cynical as I’ve been for so many years it’s hard to really let yourself be happy. Pessimism is a habit and habits are hard to break. I know that. But that’s OK because I’m not ready to become Ollie Optimism all of a sudden anyway. That would not only be unrealistic but disingenuous. I’m well aware of those 49 million Americans who voted today to keep our country on the same nightmarish ride we’ve been on for the last eight years. But there is hope tonight. There is hope.
The most emotional moments of the night for me we’re those moments when the media talked to people like Roger Wilkins, Andrew Young, and John Lewis – these were all men who walked with Martin Luther King throughout the Civil Rights struggles of the 1950s and ’60s. I can’t imagine how they must all feel tonight.
And yet, the most amazing thing is that when all is said and done, I think race played a smaller part in this than many of us expected. I will not lie – I was certain that the racism of America would win out in the end. I never thought Barack Obama could be elected President in these United States. However, thanks to George Bush, and what will go down as one of the most disastrous Presidencies in the history of our country, the country really did vote for change. We, as a nation, our desperate to move our country in a different direction. Let’s hope we can all go forward together to make our country a nation we can be proud of again.
Good night, Nation.
Peace & Love to you all,
Otto
Jason Crane interviews saxophonist Sonny Rollins. He’s just released Road Shows Vol. 1 (Doxy Records, 2008), a compilation of live performances spanning 20 years. Gary Giddins calls it “one of the finest Sonny Rollins albums ever released.” In this interview, recorded on Election Day 2008, Sonny talks about everything from the prospect of an Obama presidency and the crisis of global warming to the mystery and beauty of jazz improvisation.
Leave a CommentFrom The Island Packet in my former home of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina:
Jake Vrabel: I’ve got your voter registration card right here, buddy.
Latest voting wait stats:
About 45 minutes wait at Sun City’s Pinckney Hall this morning, which was fairly well-organized and smooth, reports Jeff Vrabel, intrepid Island Packet Guide editor and supporter of Democracy. (side note – have you seen the new Guide web site? It’s finally some change we can believe in).
Vrabel let his 4-year-old son push the important buttons. That means unregistered, unqualified voters have infiltrated Sun City in the worst case of voter fraud since Mickey Mouse voted four times for Sanjaya in 2006. Someone get ACORN on the phone immediately.
Jason says: Jeff Vrabel is the guru of jeffvrabel.com and the editor of the Guide at The Island Packet newspaper, for which I occasionally write. He also designed the logo for today’s Obama/Rollins show at The Jazz Session.
Leave a CommentSenator Barack Obama voted with his wife, Michelle, on Tuesday morning in Chicago:
Doug Mills/The New York Times
Our Election Day slideshow
My very good friend Otto Bruno hosts the Sunday Music Festa on Jazz90.1 in Rochester, NY. Here’s his take on tomorrow’s election:
Leave a CommentOkay Nation:
We’ve got one more chance. We screwed this up royally the past two Presidential elections. Tomorrow may be, in more ways than one, our last, best chance to “right the ship” as they say.
I’ve said before that I think the nightmare we’re currently living through began on January 20, 1981, when Ronald Reagan took over as President. He was elected by ” a mandate” of the people. His administration ushered in an era of greed, deregulation, selfishness, and a perversion of corporate power unlike this country had ever seen. The following 27 years have been a spiraling ever deeper into this economically disparate abyss as the rich have gotten richer, the poor have gotten poorer, and the “middle class” is now all but extinct.
Officially, and in theory, we’ve had three Republican Presidents in the last 28 years and one Democratic President. In reality, we’ve had 28 years of Republican Presidencies. I’ve always thought of Bill Clinton as much more of a Republican than Democrat. First of all, he was a huge hawk. While we were in no major wars during his Presidency, he nevertheless kept our military very busy all over the globe. Unlike Ronald Reagan who vowed to decrease the size of government and then did just the opposite, Clinton really did reduce the size of the government, cutting government jobs, closing military bases, and abolishing social programs for the needy. I will give him credit for one thing, he didn’t strip us of a myriad number of constitutional rights the way the Bush Administration has done.
So tomorrow the choice is a pretty simple one. If you’ve been happy with the direction our country has gone in the last 28 years than you should vote for the Republican ticket. If you make more than 250,000 dollars a year or you have a net worth of more than one or two million dollars, than you should, by all means, vote for the Republican ticket. And I say that with no sarcasm or disrespect intended. I truly believe if you fit into those categories, particularly the economic ones, than it’s probably in your best interests to vote Republican tomorrow.
However, if you are unhappy, distressed, concerned, or fearful of the direction our country’s gone in the last 28 years than I think your only choice is Obama/Biden. If you are sitting at the kitchen table on a weekly or monthly basis trying to figure out how you’re going to pay your bills and which you should pay first and who’ll be willing to wait a little longer for their money, I can’t imagine how or why you’d vote for anyone besides Obama/Biden. If you’re angry that we’re continuing to pour over one hundred billion dollars a year into Iraq while we have people here in our own country who can’t afford to pay for medicine or schooling or decent housing, than perhaps you need to think about voting for Barack Obama and Joe Biden tomorrow.
I really don’t expect the Obama/Biden ticket to solve all our problems. I don’t, for a minute, think they’re the saviors who will bring the country right back to it’s place of prominence in the world but I do know a few things. In 2000, many people thought it would make little difference if George Bush was president or Al Gore was President. Without a doubt, one of the monumental mistakes in our nation’s history. I didn’t think it was possible for us to fall so far and so fast as a country as we’ve done under George Bush and Dick Cheney. So the choice tomorrow is really a simple one. With Obama and Biden we have a chance to begin the long climb out of the pit we’re currently in as a nation. They’re intelligent, articulate, dedicated public servants. Without them – I think we’re screwed.
Get out and vote!
I posted this today at The Jazz Session:
Hi friends,
One of the beautiful things about having an online show is that I’m not bound by the restrictions that accompanied the radio version of my show. And so, I’m going to use this forum just this once to ask you to help get out the vote for Barack Obama. THERE IS STILL TIME for you to make a difference.
The easiest thing to do is to make calls from your own home. To get started, visit the Obama training page.
You can watch some short training videos there, or just click the GET STARTED link to start making calls. You’ll get a simple script that’s very easy to use. I just made 40 calls to supporters in the Philadelphia area to give them their polling locations and to remind them to vote.
Most of you know my politics, and you know that I’m a progressive. I don’t think Barack Obama is the perfect candidate. But I DO think he’s the far better choice — not simply the lesser of two evils, but actually someone I can support with enthusiasm and a clear conscience. And given that the next president is likely to appoint as many as three Supreme Court justices, we can’t afford to be complacent.
So please, take 30 minutes or an hour TODAY and make some calls for the Obama campaign.
And then CELEBRATE ON ELECTION DAY by listening to my interview with saxophone legend SONNY ROLLINS. I’ll be talking with Sonny at 5 p.m. on Election Day, and I’ll post the show that same evening at The Jazz Session site.
That’s right: OBAMA/ROLLINS in ’08! (The Obama/Rollins logo is courtesy of my good friend Jeff Vrabel.)
Make some calls, enjoy some jazz, and take back our country!
Thank you very much.
Peace and love,
Jason
p.s. — If you need a little boost of inspiration, here it is:
Leave a Comment
Thanks to the wonderful blog BAGNews Notes for the link
