Through a New Gate

President Ford 1913-2006

Soul....Gone

James Brown 1933-2006

Oh Holy Night

All Will Be Well

The Gabe Dixon Band is the backdrop for this tribute a man who is both a great singer and advocate for children.

Dick Hoyt

[From Sports Illustrated, By Rick Reilly]

I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay For their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots.

But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.

Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in Marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a Wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and Pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars--all in the same day.

Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back Mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. On a bike. Makes Taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much--except save his life. This love story began in Winchester , Mass. , 43 years ago, when Rick Was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him Brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.

"He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life;'' Dick says doctors told him And his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. ``Put him in an Institution.''

But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes Followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the Engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was Anything to help the boy communicate. ``No way,'' Dick says he was told. ``There's nothing going on in his brain.''

"Tell him a joke,'' Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a Lot was going on in his brain. Rigged up with a computer that allowed Him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his Head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? ``Go Bruins!'' And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the School organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, ``Dad, I want to do that.''

Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described ``porker'' who never ran More than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he Tried. ``Then it was me who was handicapped,'' Dick says. ``I was sore for two weeks.''

That day changed Rick's life. ``Dad,'' he typed, ``When we were running, it felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!''

And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.

``No way,'' Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren't quite a single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then they found a way to get into the race officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the Qualifying time for Boston the following year.

Then somebody said, ``Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?''

How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since he Was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick tried.

Now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii . It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don't you think?

Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? ``No way,'' he says. Dick does it purely for ``the awesome feeling'' he gets seeing Rick with a cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.

This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best time? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992--only 35 minutes off the world record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens to Be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the time.

``No question about it,'' Rick types. ``My dad is the Father of the Century.''

And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries was 95% clogged. ``If you hadn't been in such great shape,'' One doctor told him, ``you probably would've died 15 years ago.'' So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life.

Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass. , always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father's Day.

That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy.
``The thing I'd most like,'' Rick types, ``is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once.''
Video:

Can World's Strongest Dad

Father and Son

James Reese Europe

This article from Sheet Music Magazine combines two of my interests: music and early 20th century American history.

Although I have read several historical accounts of the life of George (and Ira) Gershwin and thus know the story of Europe's accidental influence on the young Gershwin, I believe Europe is often relegated to a footnote in the study of music history as a result of his untimely death. (Is there a musician's curse? So many of the greats died young....) But to scratch the surface, the man helped launch a new dance* and was a highly successful agent for so many musicians. Unions and agents are second nature today, but at the time, it was groundbreaking. If only all of struggling musicians and actors today of various unions could be so lucky as to be booked through a "Clef Club."

In addition to his influence on Gershwin and his impact on the development of the foxtrot, Europe is also known for his groundbreaking popular music performance at Carnegie Hall. The instrumentation of his band is legendary, although not all of the members actually played an instrument, what is most noteworthy is that Europe brought the saxophone out from the fringes as a novelty instrument and gave it street cred as a jazz instrument. Can you imagine JAZZ without a SAXOPHONE?

The Sheet Music Magazine article neatly sums up the origins of the foxtrot, illuminates the creativity of Europe's orchestral instrumentation, highlights the character of the man through his voluntary military service, as well as amplifies how Europe was a role model for the community.


Jazz.com also does an excellent article about the life and music of James Europe. About his death Thomas Morgan writes:

Europe and his band returned triumphantly to New York on February 12, 1919, and soon began a tour of American cities. The final concert on the tour was at Mechanic's Hall in Boston on May 9, 1919. That evening, when one of the "Percussion Twins," Herbert Wright, became angered by Europe's strict direction, he attacked the band leader with a knife during intermission.

Noble Sissle recalled:

"Jim wrestled Herbert to the ground, I shook Herbert and he seemed like a crazed child, trembling with excitement. Although Jim's wound seemed superficial, they couldn't stop the bleeding, and as he was being rushed to the hospital he said to me: "Sissle, don't forget to have the band down at the State House at nine in the morning. I am going to the hospital and I will have my wound dressed....I leave everything for you to carry on."

Europe's jugular vein had been severed.

The next day the papers carried the headlines:

"The Jazz King Is Dead."

Sissle's partner Eubie Blake later said of Europe,

"He was our benefactor and inspiration. Even more, he was the Martin Luther King of music."

Sissle remarked:
There was only one Jim Europe, and he had not just been "made" with that band of his. There was years of experience behind that sweep of his arms, and anyone who tried to follow him would just be out of his mind....I was sure that conducting was not the field in which I was to carry on his life's dreams. In my mind his band should remain in the memory of those who heard it led by Lieutenant James Reese Europe, and that's how it ended.

Europe was buried with military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.

I can't help but admire Jim Europe. If only I could have heard his band "live and in concert". Can you imagine? Witnessing the transition from ragtime to jazz? IF I had a time machine, that's where I'd make my first stop.

Ah. I'm such a throwback. Was I was born too late? Nah, I just really like imagining life in the early 20th century. Plenty of great things here in 2006 too.

Okay, I'm off to You Tube.

Note:

* History of Dance article makes no mention of Europe with relation to the foxtrot. Wait. Hmmmm. "Harry Fox was doing trotting steps to ragtime music." Unfortunately, that's as close as it gets...

Say What You Want About American Idol

The "Because of You" video brings me to tears. It's a song I've heard on the radio many times. There is no doubt it is a brilliant song. But tonight I stumbled across the video and its effect on me surprised me so much. The video really adds to a song that I thought needed no visual--sort of like reading a good book, then going to see the movie adaptation and it's never as good as the book. No. This video strengthens an already powerful song.

The lyrics evoke in your mind's eye a series of painful images. You know you're facing what is sure to be a tough few minutes. But in the video Clarkson breathes life into that image, and not in an overly dramatic way; she just sings the song and it makes you want to openly weep for her. Clarkson is not just sad, she in anguish; she feels every syllable of the story and the emotion in her face and her voice breaks your heart. Around these images of her are several actors and directors that again, do not detract from the song with overtures; just simply illuminate the story.

So, if you haven't heard the song, click on the link then listen with your eyes closed. Then listen again and watch the video. So painful. Clarkson delivers the most genuine performance I have ever seen in a pop video.

Kelly Clarkson