I first became acquainted with the work(s) of Alan Lomax at a young age thanks to an elder brother with a seemingly precocious interest in folk music. Events led me to Lomax' Folk Songs of North America a compendious work including narratives, explanations, lyrics and music from earliest colonial times, with some borrowings from Europe, up through modern times. Divided by era, region, themes and categories off multiple types, each segment has an essay and analysis, and so do many of the included songs. Later on, I also glommed on to his Leadbelly Songbook without even noticing who wrote it. He purposefully roamed the country recording material, songs, performances, interviews and visuals, preserving for today and for posterity a great deal that was already getting lost and forgotten and was guaranteed to do so even more as time passed. He brought many artists to a much wider audience and was a definite factor in the folk revival of the forties, fifties and sixties. In this specific work, he was, in effect, the Library of Congress, and when Congress quit funding the work he scrimped and scrounged funds to do it out of his own pocket.
On this day in history:
1606 – Guy Fawkes, and 3 others were executed for treason 1747 – The first venereal diseases clinic opened at London Lock Hospital. 1846 – After the Milwaukee Bridge War, the US towns of Juneautown and Kilbourntown united to create the City of Milwaukee 1862 – Alvan Graham Clark discovered the white dwarf star Sirius B 1865 – The US Congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, abolishing most forms of slavery 1901 – Anton Chekhov's Three sisters premiered 1917 – Kaiser Wilhelm II ordered the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare. 1919 – The Battle of George Square took place in Glasgow between cops and strikers 1928 – Leon Trotsky was exiled to Alma-Ata. 1943 – Friedrich Paulus surrendered to the Soviets at Stalingrad, followed two days later by the remainder of his Sixth Army 1944 – The 1st Ranger Battalion (Darby's Rangers) was destroyed behind enemy lines by a greatly superior force at the Battle of Cisterna 1945 – About 3,000 inmates from the Stutthof concentration camp were executed. 1949 – The first television daytime soap opera, was broadcast 1950 – President Truman ordered the development of thermonuclear weapons. 1951 – UN Security Council Resolution 90 relating to the Korean War was adopted. 1958 – The first successful American satellite detected the Van Allen radiation belt. 1961 – The chimpanzee Ham traveled into outer space on a Mercury-Redstone 2. 1966 – The USSR launched the unmanned Luna 9 spacecraft as part of the Luna program. 1968 – Viet Cong guerrillas launched the Tet Offensive. 1971 – Astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell lifted off for the Fra Mauro Highlands on the Moon , aboard a Saturn V 1971 – The Winter Soldier Investigation, organized by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War to publicize war crimes and atrocities by Americans and allies in Vietnam, begins in Detroit. 2001 – In the Netherlands, a Scottish court convicted Libyan Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and acquits another Libyan citizen for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988. 2020 – The United Kingdom's membership within the European Union ceased in accordance with Article 50
Born this day in:
"Always identify with the art; never identify with the artist."
~~ Betty Parsons 1759 – François Devienne, flute player and composer 1769 – André-Jacques Garnerin, balloonist and the inventor of the frameless parachute 1797 – Franz Schubert, pianist and composer 1799 – Rodolphe Töpffer, teacher, author, painter, cartoonist, and caricaturist 1854 – David Emmanuel, mathematician and academic 1868 – Theodore William Richards, chemist and academic 1872 – Zane Grey, author 1881 – Irving Langmuir, chemist and physicist 1892 – Eddie Cantor, singer, songwriter, actor, and dancer 1894 – Isham Jones, saxophonist, composer, and bandleader 1896 – Sofya Yanovskaya, mathematician and historian 1900 – Betty Parsons, artist, art dealer and collector 1902 – Alva Myrdal, sociologist and politician 1902 – Julian Steward, anthropologist 1905 – John O'Hara, author, playwright, and screenwriter ( 1915 – Bobby Hackett, trumpet player and cornet player 1915 – Alan Lomax, historian, author, ethnomusicologist, and scholar 1917 – Fred Bassetti, architect and academic 1921 – Mario Lanza, tenor and actor 1923 – Norman Mailer, journalist and author 1926 – Chuck Willis, singer, songwriter, 1927 – Norm Prescott, animator, producer, and composer 1928 – Irma Wyman, computer scientist and engineer 1929 – Rudolf Mössbauer, physicist and academic 1937 – Philip Glass, composer 1945 – Joseph Kosuth, sculptor and theorist 1946 – Terry Kath, guitarist, singer, and songwriter 1947 – Matt Minglewood, singer, songwriter, and guitarist 1951 – Harry Wayne Casey, singer, songwriter, pianist, and producer 1954 – Adrian Vandenberg, guitarist and songwriter 1956 – Guido van Rossum, programmer, creator of the Python programming language 1956 – John Lydon, singer and songwriter 1961 – Lloyd Cole, singer, songwriter, and guitarist 1967 – Fat Mike, singer, songwriter, bass player, and producer 1970 – Minnie Driver, singer, songwriter, and actress 1970 – Danny Michel, singer, songwriter, and producer 1981 – Justin Timberlake, singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor
Died this day in:
Little by little, the pimps have taken over the world. They don't do anything, they don't make anything - they just stand there and take their cut.
~~ Jean Giraudoux, 1606 – Guy Fawkes, conspirator, leader of the Gunpowder Plot 1606 – Ambrose Rookwood, Gunpowder Plot conspirator 1606 – Thomas Wintour, Gunpowder Plot conspirator 1632 – Jost Bürgi, clockmaker and mathematician 1665 – Johannes Clauberg, philosopher and theologian 1686 – Jean Mairet, playwright 1736 – Filippo Juvarra, architect and set designer 1836 – John Cheyne, physician and author 1923 – Eligiusz Niewiadomski, painter and critic 1933 – John Galsworthy, novelist and playwright 1944 – Jean Giraudoux, author and playwright 1954 – Edwin Howard Armstrong, engineer, invented FM radio 1955 – John Mott, activist 1956 – A. A. Milne, author, poet, and playwright, created Winnie-the-Pooh 1960 – Auguste Herbin, painter 1976 – Ernesto Miranda, see Miranda v. Arizona, Miranda Warning, Miranda Rights 2001 – Gordon R. Dickson, author 2011 – Mark Ryan, guitarist and playwright 2012 – Dorothea Tanning, painter and sculptor 2014 – Anna Gordy Gaye, songwriter and producer, co-founded Anna Records
Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such: National Hot Chocolate Day Brandy Alexander Day Independence Day (Nauru), celebrates independence from Australia in 1968. Eat Little Green Balls of Death Brussels Sprouts Day
Music goes here, iirc, well, With apologies ;-)