Song of the Day: Diana Ross and the Supremes Medley [YouTube link] ends our 2021 Summer Music Festival (Dance Medley Edition) with a trip to Classic Motown. The Autumnal Equinox arrives in the Northern Hemisphere at 3:21 p.m. (ET) today. So we’re going way back to this classic Motown group as this festival concludes. This medley includes such hits as “Stop! In the Name of Love“, “Back in My Arms Again“, “Come See About Me“, “Love is Like an Itching in My Heart“, “Where Did Our Love Go?“, and “Baby Love“. Till next summer … keep on dancin‘ [YouTube link to a “spotlight” on Diana Ross, produced by Bobby “DJ” Guttadaro, among those DJs to whom I dedicated this year’s Summer Music Festival].
Taking out the Trash on Social Media
At one point, only a couple of months ago, I was nearing 5000 Facebook “friends”, whom I was adding throughout the years without giving much thought to it. But the increasing toxicity over the last few years has been palpable. It led me to “trim” my FB “friend” list by over 4000 people.* I’ve even invited some folks to unfriend me if they didn’t like what I had to say, and lo and behold, my wish was granted! THANK GOODNESS! I have had it with the toxicity and the nastiness in social media. I’ve seen it up close and personal for all too many years. Life is too short.
___
* And for the record, I still have over 940 FB “friends”. We don’t all agree! But there is a difference between having a disagreement and being disagreeable. (Actually, it’s now below 940… so clearly, the approach is working!)
But more importantly, it’s not just about taking toxicity out of the airspace; at root, it’s about self-care, indeed. Nobody should have to devote one moment of their time to something that is as corrosive as that kind of interaction. It erodes us and it diminishes us. All the more reason to take the intiative and do what’s right for yourself.
Happy Anniversary, Bro and Wan!
Just wanted to give a shout-out to my brother, Carl Barry and my sister-in-law, Joanne Barry—they are children of the stage, after all, as wonderful jazz musicians—for a Happy Anniversary. Yes, I call my brother “Bro” and my sister-in-law “Wan”, and it’s their $#-th wedding anniversary, and I would have put up this as a “Song of the Day”, except I did so on this date back in 2005! “Do you remember the 21st night of September?” I sure do! Many more happy and healthy returns, with much love, always!
“September” also happens to be one of my all-time favorite Earth, Wind & Fire hits, with a wonderful lead vocal by the late, great Maurice White. Below is the group performing the song, but also check out an all-star performance of it at the 2019 Kennedy Center Honors [YouTube link].
Facebook: Trust, but Verify!
Earlier today, I was invited by Facebook to complete a process of authentication that would secure my profile with a “verified badge,” such that people who read my posts on my Timeline can trust that the words come from me! A check mark now appears to the right of my name on my profile page and to the right of my name anywhere that I make a comment. Hovering over that check mark, you’ll see that “Facebook confirmed that this is the authentic profile for this public figure.” Public figure! Wow!
The verified badge appears next to a Facebook Page or profile. It means Facebook has confirmed that the Page or profile is the authentic presence of the public figure or global brand it represents. We don’t use the verified badge to endorse or recognize public figures or brands. The verified badge is a tool to help people find public figures and brands’ real Pages and profiles. If a Page or profile has the verified badge, we’ve confirmed that it represents who it says it does. If the badge isn’t there, it may not be the real Page or profile. Posts, stories and other content from verified Pages and profiles aren’t verified by Facebook.
So rest assured, my Facebook account is not a sock account (or, more properly, a “sock puppet account“), and my page represents an “authentic,” “unique,” “complete,” and “notable” profile. Given all that’s happened on Facebook over the last few years, I don’t know if this is a plus or a minus. But there aren’t many other folks who would want to “own” the dialectical libertarian “brand” I represent. I knew who I was before this verification process. I know who I am today. And, now, apparently, so do you!
smh 🙂
Song of the Day #1886
Song of the Day: 1987 Disconet Top Tune Medley [YouTube link], mixed by Tuta Aquino and Dennis Muyet, was one of two medleys that Disconet produced that year, the last annual “Top Tune” medley offered by the subscription service. This particular one includes such hits as “I Want Your Sex“, “Looking for a New Love“, “Silent Morning“, “Catch Me (I’m Falling)“, “Fascinated“, “No Lies“, and a sizzling dash of “The Pleasure Principle” (by Janet Jackson).
WTC Remembrance: Tribute in Light Continues …
This week I published my essay, “Twenty Years Later: Remembrance and Rebirth“, which marks the twentieth anniversary, today, of the events of September 11, 2001.
In 2012, I published photos I had taken on the tenth anniversary of the tragedy, including the one below. The Tribute in Light has always been a poignant reminder of what happened on that date, “two beams, symbolic of Twin Towers, that have shown up every September 11th. In cloud cover, it appears like … a ghostly glow beamed upward toward the heavens from what was once called Ground Zero, a dual-apparition of the Twin Towers of memory, powered by the nearly 3,000 souls who lost their lives on that horrific day.”
The Tribute in Light continues tonight, to mark the twentieth anniversary. If you’re in or near NYC, it’s worth a look …
The World Trade Center Site: A Tribute in Light. At Night, 9-11-11.
And this year (courtesy of EarthCam):
Never forget. ❤
Song of the Day #1885
Song of the Day: Stevie Wonder 80s Medley [YouTube link], mixed by Chris Matthew Sciabarra (yes, me!), includes some of Stevie’s best music from the 1980s (with one throwback added at the end!). The medley features “That Girl“, “Love Light in Flight“, “I Love You Too Much“, “Do I Do“, “The Woman in Red“, “Go Home“, “Get It” (a duet with Michael Jackson), “Dark ‘n’ Lovely“, and “Another Star“—from Stevie’s 1976 Grammy-winning masterpiece, “Songs in the Key of Life“. (H/T to Ryan Neugebauer, again, for the YouTube tech tips!)
Derek Jeter: Baseball Hall of Famer
2020 inductee to the Baseball Hall of Fame, Derek Jeter, finally gets his moment in the spotlight on Wednesday, September 8th in Cooperstown, where the ceremony, postponed from last year, will take place at 1:30 p.m.
Jeter spent his entire 20-year baseball career with the New York Yankees as their All-Star shortstop. Readers of this blog know of my long-held esteem for the man; I wrote a tribute to him back in 2017, when the Yankees retired his #2 in Monument Park at The Stadium. As I stated back then:
Jeter holds many all-time franchise records for the New York Yankees, including most all-time hits (3,465), doubles (544), games played (2,747), stolen bases (358), times on base (4,716), plate appearances (12,602) and at bats (11,195). He was the 1996 Rookie of the Year, a 14-time All-Star (including a Most Valuable Player All-Star Game award the same year he was named World Series MVP). He won 5 Gold Glove Awards, 5 Silver Slugger Awards, 2 Hank Aaron Awards, and a Roberto Clemente Award. He was the 28th player in Major League Baseball History to pass the 3,000 hit mark. Always a teammate with a “flair for the dramatic,” his 3000th hit was a home-run on a day in which he went 5 for 5, driving in the winning run. He is, in fact, the only Yankee player with more than 3,000 lifetime hits (which ranks sixth all-time among Major League Baseball players, and the most all-time hits by a shortstop).
A tip of the baseball cap to The Captain. It’s about time!
WTC Remembrance: Twenty Years Later
This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the tragic events of September 11, 2001. Since 2001, I have been writing annual installments to a series that came to be known as “Remembering the World Trade Center.”
My 2021 installment encapsulates all of the previous entries in the series, revisiting my own personal reflections, pictorials, and interviews of people who were deeply affected by the events of that day. Folks can read the newest essay here:
“Twenty Years Later: Remembrance and Rebirth“
As I state in the conclusion of my essay:
I have always touted the importance of a dialectical method of understanding the world—a method that requires us to look at each issue, social problem, or event by situating it in the larger context of which it is a part.
In this series, however, I made a conscious decision not to focus on the “big picture” in which the events of 9/11 took place or their historical background. I have not examined the wider political, social, and cultural context that made 9/11—and its aftermath—possible. I have done that elsewhere. I was less interested in those larger questions and more interested in understanding the personal tragedies of that day, because all too often, it is the personal that gets lost when one looks at the sheer scope of the catastrophe that was 9/11, with its monstrous loss of human life. Over these last two decades, I was persuaded that something unique was to be gained by piecing together a tapestry of tragedy—and of hope—not only through my own reflections and pictorials, but through the voices of individual human beings, each of whom had their own contexts, their own lives, their own futures altered so fundamentally by the events that unfolded on that late summer morning.
I have long believed that a future of more humane possibilities can only emerge when one does not disown memories, no matter how painful, sad, or tragic these might be. In the context of September 11, 2001, remembrance and rebirth entail one another. Remembrance has its therapeutic value, but it is also cathartic insofar as it makes possible our own ability to rise above the tragedy. Rebirth is itself an act of catharsis, of cleansing, almost by definition. It is my hope that this series of twenty-one installments has contributed to that project of remembrance and rebirth. It has been a tribute to those we have lost, and a paean—a song of praise, indeed—to those who survived, who demonstrated the life-affirming power of a community of individuals coming together to aid one another in the face of unimaginable horror. It is the power of life over death. It is the power of love over hate.
Though each of the previous installments is noted in the current piece, I provide below a convenient index to the entire series:
2001: As It Happened . . .
2002: New York, New York
2003: Remembering the World Trade Center: A Tribute
2004: My Friend Ray
2005: Patrick Burke, Educator
2006: Cousin Scott
2007: Charlie: To Build and Rebuild
2008: Eddie Mecner, Firefighter
2009: Lenny: Losses and Loves
2010: Tim Drinan, Student
2011: Ten Years Later
2012: A Memorial for the Ages: A Pictorial
2013: My Friend Matthew: A 9/11 Baby of a Different Stripe
2014: A Museum for the Ages: A Pictorial
2015: A New One World Trade Center Rises From the Ashes: A Pictorial
2016: Fifteen Years Ago: Through the Looking Glass of a Video Time Machine
2017: Sue Mayham: Not Business as Usual
2018: Anthony Schirripa, Architect
2019: Zack Fletcher: Twin Towers, Twin Memories
2020: Firefighter Gerard Gorman: Ultimate Survivor
2021: Twenty Years Later: Remembrance and Rebirth
Never forget. ❤
The Twin Towers, from the Staten Island Ferry, May 12, 2001
Photograph by Chris Matthew Sciabarra
