DownBeat: In Memoriam: Ellis Marsalis (1934–2020)

DownBeat Magazine:

Pianist Ellis Marsalis, the head of a New Orleans family that significantly impacted how jazz is seen and heard across the world, died Wednesday. He was 85.

The elder Marsalis reportedly suffered COVID-19 symptoms and was awaiting test results.

“Ellis Marsalis was a legend. He was the prototype of what we mean when we talk about New Orleans jazz,” New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said in a statement.

This has been a tough day, a tough week, a tough few weeks, and a tough year for music fans. Just from what I can recall: Neil Peart, Harold Beane, Paul English, Danny Ray Thompson, Kenny Rogers, Bill Rieflin, Joe Diffie, and Adam Schlesinger come to mind. I’m sure there are plenty I’m missing, but damn.

by Paul on April 2, 2020 at 7:01pm | Permalink
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Bill Gates: There’s no Question

by Paul on April 2, 2020 at 1:57pm | Permalink
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Vice President Mike Pence is a Fucking Lying Lier

I don’t believe the President has ever belittled the threat of the coronavirus

—Vice President Mike Pence, 1 April 2020 on CNN.

I know that Mike Pence is a politician, and that you can tell when a politician is lying because you can see his or her lips moving. I also know that Pence, as a so-called conservative1, practices willful ignorance, but no one — no one — is that fucking ignorant.

I won’t waste time reiterating all the ways that the President has, in fact, repeatedly belitted the threat posed by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), especially when a many others have already done so.

Politics and carrying water for your boss is one thing — being a fucking lying lier is another. This is not a man of character.

yeah, in a minute…
1 I use the term, “so-called conservative,” because neither Ronald Reagan — supposed hero of the modern-day so-called conservatives — nor his hero, Barry Goldwater, the father of American Conservatism and author of the seminal work on American Conservatism, The Conscience of a Conservative (a book that should be required reading) would recognize present-day Republicans, nor those who presently call themselves “non-Republican conservatives,” as members of their Republican party nor practitioners of their traditional American conservatism. I used to attempt to distinguish between the two by using the terms “traditional American Conservatism” and “modern American conservatism” but this is wrong, as present-day American “conservatives” are not practicing actual American Conservatism, and thus are not Conservatives at all.
by Paul on April 2, 2020 at 1:03pm | Permalink
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Snopes: Everyone is searching for an easy “cure”

Snopes Digest, #7, 31 March 2020:

As the world deals with an ever-more-frightening pandemic, we at Snopes are seeing the resurgence of a classic form of misinformation: Rumors of snake-oil cures and junk medicine have roared into public consciousness, crossing social media feeds and even the White House podium, around the COVID-19 coronavirus disease.

If you’d like to receive the Snopes Digest, or just support the work that Snopes has been doing since 1994, consider becoming a founding member, or maybe just throw them a few bucks.

by Paul on April 1, 2020 at 6:37am | Permalink
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A Hard Days Night Quarantine Edition

by Paul on March 27, 2020 at 11:48am | Permalink
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Everything looks fine, until it isn’t fine.

Well, as Dr. Phil Plaitt (aka The Bad Astronomer) states below, this video is very, very good at explaining why we don’t see this stuff until it’s too late, and why early action gets called overreaction. Dr. Joe Hanson (of It’s Okay to Be Smart) explains in very easy to understand terms.

by Paul on March 26, 2020 at 6:50pm | Permalink
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Know Your Rights!

“Meet Gilvin Daughtry. He Knows His Rights.”

W/ BOB & DAVID, Netflix

by Paul on March 26, 2020 at 5:14pm | Permalink
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Snopes: Is This Timeline of Trump’s Coronavirus Responses Accurate?

What’s True
The statements on this list are all correctly attributed to President Trump.

by Paul on March 26, 2020 at 10:13am | Permalink
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And now for something just a bit lighter…

by Paul on March 26, 2020 at 9:11am | Permalink
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Real Crises Demand Real Leadership

Not a Democrat. Not a fan of Biden. This is a strong political ad.

by Paul on March 26, 2020 at 8:35am | Permalink
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