SECTION THIRTEEN
EMAIL PAGE THREE

sm
COLUMN NINETY-FOUR, JULY 1, 2003
(Copyright © 2003 The Blacklisted Journalist)

FROM RON MARTINETTI

Subject: Re: Jim Morrison
Date: Fri, 4 Jul 2003 17:15:03 EDT
From: Amlegends@aol.com 
To: info@blacklistedjournalist.com 

I think Jim died over the July 4th weekend in Paris 1971. there is this professor at Duke, Wallace Fowlie---Jim wrote to him before Jim was famous and was just a singer and asked him about Rimbaud---Fowlie did not write back---then after Jim became an icon Fowlie wrote a book on Jim trading in on that one letter---this is why I say we have a societyof shits---occasionally you have someone sincere---
Henry Miller---no actually they say he was a selfish shit too---I give up---
my Happy Fourth Message

* * *

FROM DAVID AMRAM

Subject: Re: [AGALIST] COLUMN NINETY-FOUR
Date: Sat, 5 Jul 2003 03:22:35 EDT
From: Amramdavid@aol.com 
To: AGALIST-owner@yahoogroups.com 

Dear Al:
Your article about Ted Joans , which I just received was beautiful, and you gave a fine reading at the memorial.
l just returned home after an incredible two weeks on the road, from Chicago, San Francisco, Texas and then eight days in Paris. Wish you could have been there with us to read your classic work. You would have really dug it, and they would have loved your writing, as we all do here in USA!!!

After 48 years, this was my first time back in France since I left there in 1955 to return to the USA, after a year of living and working there in Paris as a musician. Obviously, a half century later, Paris has changed
enormously, and some of the places where I lived and worked at for the year I was there, are totally 
unrecognizable, but the ésprit Parisian and the burning energy and sense of joie de vivre are still as strong as they were when I left Paris so long ago. The warmth and craziness, the high energy and individualism of Parisians seems almost unchanged, in spite of all the physical changes which the city has undergone, the enormous amount of traffic, and the clothing, which is now more American, especially among the young people.

Shakespeare's Book Store, (they were the presenters of the first annual Festival of the Arts, and invited me as a featured performer and speaker) is the same four story jumble of books, papers, and endless hordes of people filling the store, quietly reading in all the dark rooms, while others who comprise a group who have spent a night or two as temporary guests of the bookstore over the past 52 years move in and out of the famous guest rooms above the store---still replete with bedbugs, flying insects, which during the warm 
weather, soar in and out of the grimy open windows, where you hear the sounds of klaxon horns (like the ones Gershwin used in American in Paris, from the endless traffic,) overlooking the Seine River, where people sit in outdoor cafes as well as in front of the bookstore for hours, eating, drinking, smoking, talking, and people watching.

The Bookstore was the command headquarters for the whole festival, which had many of the events held in a tent in a nearby park, as well as in theaters, cafes, jazz clubs and concert halls around the city. The organizer of the festival was Sylvia Whitman, who is only 22 years old!!! 

(Sylvia Whitman is the daughter of Shakespeare Books owner George Whitman, and George is now 90.) Sylvia spent months planning the entire eight days of nonstop events, (concerts, plays, readings, panel
discussions, tours, etc.) with two other young women her own age (!!!) who ran the whole show. 
The three of them were extraordinary, and people came from all over Europe, the USA and Canada, to attend the eight day event.

I had a bunch of programs of my own, and was able to involve a lot of musicians, poets, actors and readers to participate with me, just from people I bumped into. As you know. I always love to get people to participate with me, whenever possible, wherever I go. I also played and spoke at a memorial for Ted Joans, 
where many of his old friends from Paris gave warm accounts of him and his work. This particular time, while in Paris, I also had chance to sit down between nonstop activities, (at least once a day) and eat a meal, at any of the hundreds of outdoor cafes, RELAX for at least a few minutes and enjoy life!! Something I guess we all forget to do in our hectic way of living here.

And I got to hang out with all kinds of people, speaking French and other languages with from all around the world who live in or were visiting the city. There seemed to be no political bad feelings or anti-Americanism of any kind towards any of us from the USA, contrary to what you would expect. 

The French don't really like any politicians, and don't seem to confuse politics with people. I already have received requests to come back to Paris for concerts, literary events with music, readings from my two books and to conduct performances of my classical works. 

I feel, after a 48 years interlude, that I have never left Paris, and had a chance, the day before I left, to visit my old building where I lived in 1955, (which is now part of a bustling upscale tourist's area) and the jazz club, 
the Camelion, which I wrote about in Vibrations, where I led my own group, and which is still at the same location. even though jazz hasn't been played there for decades.

The present owner, Pierre, knew of the history of the cave in the  basement, now temporarily closed down, and he took me down a dark set of stairs into the dungeon-like cellar to see where I played with my
quartet for several months in 1955. It was like visiting a tomb!!!

I had a copy of Vibrations with me, and read him the part of the book where I described playing there, and the musicians who played with me at the time,  as well as those who came and jammed with me there, like
Lionel Hampton, with whom I recorded in Paris during that year. 

It was an amazing kind of reunion, and the owner's 16-year-old son, a rock guitarist, joined us when we climbed back upstairs to the bar from the cave and spent time talking about the influence of jazz from 50
years ago on his generation of young French musicians today, who play rock inspired in part from 
the music we played a half a century ago.

It was a wild feeling for me, as the returning kid musician of the 1955 Paris scene, finally coming to the place I played at nearly fifty years ago, and now speaking as some kind of an elder statesman to all the people in the bar about what it was like there before they were born!!

Paris is still an inspiring place and I feel blessed to finally have gotten back there again. It makes me appreciate America more than ever, and makes me proud of all of our artists, poets, painters, sculptors, musicians,
composers, actors and others, our true ambassadors whom the French appreciate and love sometimes more 
than we do. 

I hope to go back every year from now on.

As they say in French, Toujours votre protégé, Boulevardier et serviteur manqué

David

* * *

FROM ALEX  ZOLA

Subject: Fwd: Fw: Important Notice Concerning The Arabs
Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2003 04:32:18 EDT
From: AZola22@aol.com 
To: info@blacklistedjournalist.com  

We have been informed that the Arabs do not like to be called "towel heads" or "rag heads". The item they wear on their heads is actually a small sheet. So from now on please call them "little sheet heads."  ##

* * *

WE CAN'T READ PORTUGUESE

Subject: Izquierdas y anti-americanismo irracional
Date: Mon, 30 Jun 2003 03:03:17 -0400
From: "Actualidad" hidrobertgonzalez2004@mail.com 
To: info@blacklistedjournalist.com 

iom EmPortugues InEnglish 

Jun. 25, 2003: Editorial, Destaque Internacional

Izquierdas: la verdad oculta detrás de la ola "anti-estadounidense" 

Por detrás de la reciente ola anti-estadounidense, insuflada por las izquierdas del mundo entero y amplificada por importantes medios de comunicación, subyacen dos motivos sobre los cuales casi nadie habla:

Primero, el sordo resentimiento comuno-progresista contra los países libres, en particular, contra Estados Unidos, provocado por el derrumbe del imperio soviético en 1990. Derrumbe que dejó al colectivismo marxista como una experiencia fracasada y superada, que se pierde en la Historia con un triste saldo de miseria, opresión y sangre, enterrando los propios mitos con los cuales engañó a tantos, durante décadas. 

Segundo, la tendencia conservadora de sectores importantes de la opinión pública norteamericana, que se fue consolidando en los últimos años, influenciando los rumbos del país y constituyendo un incómodo obstáculo al
avance revolucionario. 

Para ocultar estas verdaderas motivaciones, e intentar llevar atrás de sí a la opinión mundial, las izquierdas impulsaron esa onda anti-estadounidense emocional e irracional, que parece condenar indiscriminadamente todo lo que provenga de los Estados Unidos. En realidad, en el seno de ese país-continente existe una enorme diversidad de ideas y de culturas, muchas de ellas, antagónicas. Dentro del propio gobierno norteamericano, presentado por el anti-norteamericanismo irracional como monolítico, coexisten tendencias diferentes y hasta contradictorias, un tema que se torna indispensable abordar en un momento oportuno.

En esta diversidad norteamericana, todo aquello que ha sido y es contrario a los principios de la civilización cristiana en los planos social, cultural, político y religioso, resulta censurable. Pero no es esto lo que incomoda e irrita al comuno-izquierdismo y sí aquello que los Estados Unidos han hecho de bueno, en particular, en defensa de la libertad.

En política, lo que se presenta de manera exagerada, sin los indispensables matices, corre el riesgo de caer en el descrédito y terminar en la insignificancia. La actual ola izquierdista anti-estadounidense, aún contando
con las cajas de resonancia de grandes medios de comunicación, es sumamente vulnerable por sus parcialidades, exageraciones y omisiones, que agreden el sentido común. 

La causa de la civilización cristiana exige de cada uno de nosotros un esfuerzo para contribuir a dejar en evidencia la artificialidad de dicha maniobra de envergadura mundial. De esta manera, podremos exclamar, parafraseando al escritor Hans Christian Andersen: "�El anti-norteamericanismo irracional está
desnudo!"

Referencias: 

* Jamie Glazov (coord.), Paul Hollander, Stanley Kurtz, Dan Flynn & Victor Davis Hanson, "Anti-Americanism", Front Page Magazine.

* Roger Kimball, "The New Anti-Americanism", The New Criterion. 

* Centro de Estudios sobre la Información, "Medios de comunicación y parcialidad izquierdista: grave problema".

* Ambito Iberoamericano, "Verdad silenciada: 'pacifistas' protegen tiranos e incentivan guerras.

* CubDest, "Foro Social Mundial: las 'redes", sus metas y estrategias.

* Henri Carrières, "O anti-americanismo na mídia brasileira", Mídia Sem Mascara.

Para recibir gratuitamente las Referencias (7 artículos), por favor, haga clic en:

Referencias

Para enviar su valiosa opinión, que será leída con toda atención, escoja el link que le parezca más adecuado y haga clic en él:

Concuerdo 

Discrepo

Depende

Para ser retirado de nuestro Address Book: Unsubscribe

* * *

IF YOU CAN  STAND LOOKING AT ASSHOLES

Subject: FW: Web Site of the Day
Date: Tue, 24 Jun 2003 22:45:33 -0700
From: "venire" <venire@znet.com>
To: info@blacklistedjournalist.com

Look closely. For a more in depth explanation click on the picture.

http://www.artofresistance.org/index.html 

* * *

AMERICA'S KING AND HIS PAWN

Subject: Machiavellis running amok
Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2003 22:58:47 -0700
From: "venire" venire@znet.com 
To: info@blacklistedjournalist.com 

Subject: Fwd: Scheer: No, Newt, the Ends Don't Justify the Means

Whatever happens in Iraq, lying to Americans and the world about the reasons for war is not acceptable

URL: http://www.robertscheer.com/ 

BY ROBERT SCHEER 

Machiavellis running amok

June 24, 2003 There was a time when the sickness of the political  far left could best be defined by the rationale that the ends justified the means. Happily, support for revolutionary regimes claiming to advance the interests of their people through atrocious acts is now seen as an evil dead end by most on the left.Immoral and 
undemocratic means lead inevitably to immoral and undemocratic ends.

Unfortunately, junior Machiavellis claiming to wear the white hat still are running amok among us. This time, however, they are on the right, apologists for the Bush administration arguing that noble ends justify deceitful means.

With the administration's core rationale for invading Iraq saving the world from Saddam Hussein's deadly arsenal almost wholly discredited, the Republicans now want us to believe that any distortions of the truth should have been forgotten once we took Baghdad.

As Newt Gingrich put it last week: "Does even the most left-wing Democrat want to defend the proposition that the world would be better off with Saddam in power?"

The quick answer is that we don't know what the future holds for Iraq. Our track record of military interventions in the Middle East and elsewhere would lead any competent historian or Vegas bookie to 
conclude that a stable secular dictatorship is about the best outcome we can predict. But the larger, more frightening meaning of Gingrich's statement is that in order to rid the world of a tinhorn dictator who posed no credible threat to the United States, it was just dandy to lie to the people.

It was OK to lie about the nonexistent evidence of ties between Hussein and Al Qaeda. It was OK to lie about the U.N. weapons inspectors, claiming they were suckered by Hussein. It was OK to lie, not only to Americans but to our allies in this war, about "intelligence" alleging that Iraq's military had chemical and 
biological weapons deployed in the field. Only it's not OK. Washington's verbal attack on the U.N. inspectors, for example, is of no small consequence, undermining global efforts to prevent nuclear weapons proliferation.

Meanwhile, to justify a political faction's blunder we ignore core values upon which this country was built. The New York Times on Friday blithely referred to the use of "coercive" measures in interrogating former Iraqi scientists and officials.Apparently, protections in international treaties for political prisoners do not apply to us.

Similarly, the indefensible gambit of preemptive war has seriously damaged two of this nation's most precious commodities our democracy and the reputation of our form of government. By giving Congress distorted and incomplete intelligence on Iraq, the Bush administration mocks what is most significant in the U.S. model: the 
notion of separation of powers and the spirit of the Constitution's mandate that only Congress has the power to declare war.

Is this an exaggeration? Consider that on Oct. 7, 2002, four days before Congress authorized the Iraq war, President Bush asserted that intelligence data proved Iraq had trained Al Qaeda "in bomb making and poisons and deadly gases." Yet no such proof existed. Never in modern times have we beheld a Congress so easily
manipulated by the Executive branch. Last week, the Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee caved in and dropped their opposition to closed hearings on whether Congress was lied to. How can they not be open to the public, which is expected under our system to hold the president and Congress accountable?

To be sure, many Americans were never fooled, and many more have become upset at seeing continuing casualties and chaos in Iraq after Bush's pricey aircraft carrier photo op signaled that the war was over. But much of our public has been too easily conned. For contrast, consider that in Britain the citizens, Parliament and media have been far more seriously engaged in questioning the premises of their government's participation in the invasion of Iraq.

This administration's behavior is an affront to the nation's founders and the system of governance they crafted. It is sad that we now have a president who acts like a king and a Congress that is his pawn.  ##

* * *

ABOUT GEORGE HARRISON AND
RAVI SHANKAR

Subject: On George Harrison
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2003 11:54:06 -0400
From: "GV" gv@interlog.com 
To: info@blacklistedjournalist.com 

I just wanted to thank you for putting up (stealing!) the interview with Ravi Shankar about George Harrison.

Although I am a fanatical Beatles freak, and play guitar, and came to R.S. and Indian Classical Music through George, and despite having many books, interviews, videos and interviews in which Ravi talks lovingly of George the man, this is the first interview in which he actually talks about George having had musical potential on sitar. And I really appreciated reading that.

Thanks,

Geert, in Toronto.  ##

* * *

CLICK HERE TO GET TO INDEX OF COLUMN NINETY-FIVE


CLICK HERE TO GET TO INDEX OF COLUMNS

The Blacklisted Journalist can be contacted at P.O.Box 964, Elizabeth, NJ 07208-0964
The Blacklisted Journalist's E-Mail Address:
info@blacklistedjournalist.com
 
 

THE BLACKLISTED JOURNALIST IS A SERVICE MARK OF AL ARONOWITZ