Up and Away

I’ve never been a big fan of the saying that “God gives you just the right amount of trouble that you can handle,” but it is true that She gave me exactly the number of things I could check off my list before taking off for six weeks of travel. With a flight at 8:00 pm at night, I woke up and got to work on laundry, packing, sending out invoices, paying all bills, whittling e-mail to zero, packing up a box and two envelopes of books and sending them off at the Post Office, eating all the perishables in the refrigerator, calling my two daughters and sister, booking a flight to China, voting by mail, buying a plug adaptor and yet more. The one snafu was my haircutter being closed (on a Tuesday? Why?) and having to scramble to find another, which I did. 

 

So off we arrived at the airport and I had some creeping sense that something was going to go wrong and sure enough, suddenly the U.K, demands an ETA before you can enter. With no line ahead or behind us, two helpful travel agents walked us through the application on our phone and we were able to board the plane, some $56 poorer. But then the guardian angels made up for it by giving my wife and I a whole row of three seats each and the rare luxury of a horizontal flight, without having to pay the $10,000 or so (I kid you not!) that first-class people had to pay. 

 

A few first impressions upon arriving in London: 

• Dickens and Conan Doyle wrote of London as cold, bleak, grey and foggy. Coming off the Heathrow Express train and out into the air at Paddington Station, it was a hot 90 degrees and sunny.

 

• Cobblestones are charming until you have to wheel a suitcase over them for several hundred yards. 

 

• E-sim is an easy way to keep access to your phone while traveling— up until the moment (after you’ve paid for it) you try to install it. 

 

• We are exactly in the place where we met our Australian friends Margie and Paul last year and wandered around the charming (and surprising) neighborhood of Little Venice.

 

• The waiter at our dinner pizza place asked if we were from Canada. When we told him U.S., he said with a smile, “Well, I just wanted to give you a chance to pretend.”

 

• That restaurant had a first for this “half-a-bottle-of-beer-and -then cork-it- until-tomorrow guy" (me)— you could get a pint, 1/2  pint or 1/3 pint! The latter was perfect for me and cost a mere 2.8 pounds. 

 

• The bill at the end had a Table Service charge, so no need to leave a tip. And the charge was 12%. Yeah!

 

So back in the land of Mind the Gap and Look Right (for cars when crossing the street that could hit you). Both metaphors for our Canadian I mean, American, experience. Having to daily mind the gap between our American promise and our dismal reality and to look to the Right to avoid their dangerous careening vehicles. 

 

Happy to say, we’re in the U.K.!

 

Homage to a Colossus

Raise high the roof beam, carpenters—another giant has passed from our midst. Yesterday, Jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins ascended to the world of the Ancestors at 95-years-young.  Back when he was 26, he recorded one of his best-known albums Saxophone Colossus, a title that suggests he was somehow aware that he was indeed destined to become a “colossus,” an old Greek word referring to “any extraordinarily large, towering statue, or metaphorically, a person or entity of immense size, power, or influence.” That well describes Sonny’s long and varied career. I suggest listening to that album—or any of his albums —to properly honor and pay homage to this American genius. 

 

For my own tribute, I changed slightly the words to Bobby Hebb’s hit song Sunny and they seemed to fit well. Sing it out loud if you will. 

 

“Sonny, yesterday our life was filled with rain, 

Sonny, you played for us the jazz that eased the pain,

Now the dark days are done and the bright days are here
My Sonny one shines so sincere
Sonny one so true we love you. 

[Verse 1]
Sonny, thank you for the sunshine bouquet. 

Sonny, thank you for the love you've brought our way
You gave to us your all and all

And helped us feel ten feet tall,

Sonny one so true we love you. 

[Verse 2]
Sonny, thank you for the truth you let us see
Sonny, thank you for the facts from A to Z
Our life was torn like wind-blown sand
A rock was formed when you joined the band.  

Sonny one so true we love you. 

[Verse 3]
Sonny, thank you for that smile upon your face

Sonny, thank you, thank you, for those notes that flowed with grace.

You're the spark of nature's fire,
You're our sweet, complete desire,
Sonny one so true, yes, we love you.”

 

R.I.P., Sonny Rollins. 

Double Dutch

Amidst all the reasons paraded daily in the news to confirm that human beings are the most pitiful species on the planet— worse than mosquitos, cockroaches, venomous snakes, who simply have no choice in who they are and how they act— almost daily I’m reminded that the opposite is equally true. From the delight of children to the kindness of strangers to the music of Sonny Rollins (may he R.I.P, having ascended to the heavens yesterday at 95 years old), we mortal beings are capable of such extraordinary grace and eloquent expression and deep connection. For every encounter with the worst amongst us, real or virtual, we should remember or seek out the best amongst us. 

 

For example, Double Dutch jump rope. This came up casually in a conversation the other day and though it’s been a long time since I’ve seen any examples of it live, the thought struck: Youtube!!! Ah, there it was, in all its glory and even more glorious that I ever could have imagined. Check out these two examples and be properly amazed!

 

https://youtu.be/jYIFsKfYSs4

 

https://youtu.be/2JtIQJsjJWs

 

Just witnessing these miraculous coordinated breathtaking physical feats is more than enough. But of course, I have to make it do double duty as a metaphor for human possibility. My first thought is that that level of intensity, concentration, rhythmic prowess and endurance feels a little like life under this insane government. Every day, throwing more at us and we have to hop and jump and duck and fall just to keep going. Not only running twice as fast to stay in the same place but dodging and flipping and dancing so as to not get tangled up in the ropes. 

 

But that metaphor doesn’t hold in real Double Dutch, where the turners are not trying to trip us up but are in the game to make it all work, to turn the ropes with our best interest in mind, to be reliable and trustworthy and do their job well. 

 

Ever a teacher, I can’t sign off without giving some background and illuminate how the term Double Dutch came to be. Here I’ll defer to Wikipedia:

 

It is widely acknowledged that modern Double Dutch originated in the United States among girls in predominantly Black urban communities during the 1940s and 1950s, who congregated on street corners to display new tricks and repurposed clotheslines as ropes. While it had long been a popular street activity for African American girls in New York City,  the rules of the sport were formalized in the early 1970s by NYPD officers Ulysses Williams and David Walker. The first official competition was held in 1974. Competitions in Double Dutch range from block parties to the world level. During the spring of 2009, Double Dutch became a varsity sport in New York City public high school.

 

Although it is popularly claimed the activity was brought to America by Dutch settlers, the term "double Dutch" itself has long existed in English slang, where it originally referred to incomprehensible speech or nonsense, reflecting historical English views of the Dutch language as confusing or strange. Phrases such as "in Dutch", meaning to be in trouble, further illustrate this pejorative connotation. The use of the term "double Dutch" for the game reflects the visual complexity and perceived challenge of the jump-roping, similar to the confusion implied by the idiom.

 

My new fantasy is to find a Double Dutch “teacher” to come to the next Orff Afrique course in Ghana and teach it to the kids there. I predict spectacular results. Meanwhile, I’m stepping gingerly between the fast-turning ropes of everything that I have to get done before taking off for a walking trip in England. Wish me luck!

 

Sing, Floss and Don't Forget the Sunscreen

It’s graduation time. Out in the city, young people are dressed up and out and about on their way to or from their big moment. I just helped a friend write a speech for a graduating 8^th grade class and between that and the recent Colbert thing I wrote and reading a commencement address Anne Lamott gave, such speeches are on my mind. I’ve only given one— many years back to my school’s 8^th grade about the lessons of Jazz. (Maybe I can dig it up.) And of course, would love to give more. But along with that elusive Honorary Doctorate, ain’t no University in the country that will ever invite me to speak. Oh, well.

 

But there is something appealing about trying to condense in one short speech everything you would like a future generation to consider. My friend found this one from Kurt Vonnegut in 1997 to fold into his 8^thgrade speech and truth be told, this would be hard to top. (Particularly love number 7 in light of my recent Facebook flaming). 

 

Enjoy!

 

1.    Wear sunscreen.

 

2.    Do one thing every day that scares you.

 

3.    Sing.

 

4.    Floss.

 

5.    Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.

 

6.    Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.

 

7.    Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

 

8.    Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

 

9.    Stretch.

 

10.  Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good. 

 

11. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

 

12. Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. 

 

13. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

 

14. Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble, and children respected their elders.

 

15. Respect your elders.

 

16.   And trust me on the sunscreen.

Out of the Echo Chamber

One of the valid criticisms of social media is the way we choose our friends there and have our thoughts and feelings validated by people we know and like, even as they might occasionally respectfully disagree. It’s a lovely place to be, but also creates an Echo Chamber that potentially steps to the side of the kind of engagement that considers diverse points of view. 

 

However, to engage in civil discourse requires that people stick with ideas separate from personality and avoid personal insult. That they back up their point of view with genuine quality research rather than mere opinion. That they’re open to considering another perspective. In short, that there’s an atmosphere of mutual respect and willingness to listen. 

 

In general, the comments on my Facebook posts are exactly that. In my recent one, a version of the last Blogpost about Stephen Colbert, I enjoyed the dopamine rush of “Perfect! Sharing!,” “Yes!”, “Bravo!” and the best kind of comment, “Thanks for saying what many of us feel.” Some people respectfully disagreed with my suggestion and felt that his way of leaving the show worked well for them and was just what it need to be. A good example of mutually sharing different points of view with calm and respect. 

 

But then came the surprising comments from people I didn’t know, ranging from somewhat snarky to maliciously mean-spirited:

“Well, when you get your OWN TV show, you can give your own speech!!!”

 

“Too bad it’s all a lie. SC is simply not funny. He first played a conservative dunce and in real life he morphed into the libtard version of that character in real life. He is done, not funny, not relatable, not employed.”

 

“You’re a phkn idiot. His shit show of a how was losing 40 million per year. That’s why his dumbass got cancelled.”

 

Well, that wasn’t a fun way to start my day. Get me back to the echo chamber!

 

Of course, not the slightest reason to take it personally or defend myself or try to reason with these lovely people. But the way our hearts and brains are wired, of course, we feel threatened and go into defense mode. I can only imagine what kind of hate mail Stephen Colbert gets and the sheer volume of it. Not to mention any public figure who dares to expose themselves to the masses through writing, acting, performing. Especially those who tell uncomfortable truths, whose inboxes are not only filled with the vitriol and venom of scorn and contempt, but death threats as well. I imagine you need to grow a pretty thick skin to armor yourself against such attacks. Or develop a Buddhist transparency that lets the arrows pass through without drawing blood. 

 

But why does it need to be this way? For those who feel the need to attack anything that makes them think harder or consider something, it is revealing more about their knee-jerk reactions and low emotional and intellectual intelligence than anything else. But between the ease of social-media flaming without any face-to-face conversation, the permission of the Twitter-hate speech President gives to say whatever you want without a moment’s pause, the whole tone of national discourse has gone straight to the bottom of the barrel. And amidst the other toxic symptoms of a misogynist mansplaining and man-spreading culture, men seem particularly vulnerable to reveal their deep insecurities by spewing their venomous anger whenever and however and to whomever they want. In a recent Youtube summary of eight pianists that Chick Corea admired, it said that Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea both played in Miles Davis’ band, but never together. So someone commented:

 

“Wrong. Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea played together in Miles Davis Isle of Wight concert. Do your research, pal.”

 

The correction was appropriate, the tone unnecessary. And this and other comments like that were written by theoretically spiritually elevated jazz enthusiasts! 

 

My Echo Chamber is filled with the overtones of beautiful music, created by and appreciated by the people I would wish us all to be. Outside, the people I know exist (those 70 million voters!)but rarely meet are throwing their stones at the walls, but thankfully, the thuds are cushioned by the music of genuine civil discourse. 

 

Thanks for indulging me in this little vent so I can get on with my day and work on my Buddhist transparency.  

Hello Goodbye

And so the day I dreaded arrived. My wife and I shared so many years of watching the opening monologue of Stephen Colbert and we both feel indebted to the way he cushioned the blows of the fiasco of the 2016 election and the four difficult years that followed with humor married to his deep caring and sincerity. It was the only way I could stomach trying to keep abreast of the news, in small doses and with Colbert’s classic comedic wit. 

He also helped us through the pandemic, continuing to broadcast from his home and keeping our spirits up during a different kind of darkness.

 

When the unfathomable happened again in November of 2024, I had to take a break. There simply was nothing funny in a nation dedicated to an unhinged soulless psychopath and determined to keep shooting ourselves in the foot until we could barely walk. I was tired of genuine evil being the fodder for entertainment, even as satire continued to be one of the weapons of resistance. I just didn’t want to see the guy’s face or hear about his next outrage, even as Colbert kept trying to put it into a bearable context. 

 

Off we went into the even-worse-second term (hard to believe!), where the four things that had kept things somewhat in check— a somewhat-reliable judicial court system, term limits, free elections and free speech— were starting to crumble. A 42-count felon still walking free and threatening a third term, the out-in-the-open gerrymandering and attempt to curtail voting or simply abandon the mid-terms and demands that critics like Colbert shut-up, with acquiescence from the CBS suits. Alongside the enormity of the No Kings Rallies and the extraordinary inspiration of Minnesota is a population so beaten-down by the relentless assault from every corner— the war in Iran, the non-reaction to the Epstein files, the Supreme Courts’ latest antics, the freakin’ ballroom and beyond. And now the end of the Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

 

Here I confess great disappointment in the last show. There were some beautiful things— particularly having Sir Paul McCartney on the show, bringing Jon Batiste back and the stirring final musical number of Hello Goodbye. But I believe Colbert missed the moment here. It was a time that I hoped for him to put aside the entertainment mask and speak from the depth of his heart about what this means to him, to us and to the future of our country. And so imagining that I could have been his speechwriter, I would have written something like this.

 

My friends, here we are at a moment I never thought would happen. It is one thing had I come to the end of my time doing what I love doing but knowing that the moment has come for me to do other things and step down. That is the natural order of the world and worthy of some bittersweet sadness and farewell. The kind we saw on the last episode of Cheers or Seinfeld or Prairie Home Companion Show.

 

But this is something different. This decision was made for me by cowards unwilling to face down the man who I have spoken out against almost every episode of my 11 years here. I had so looked forward to the moment when I could stand before you announcing that the monster had finally been held accountable and marched to jail. Or had died from the sheer weight of his evil heart finally exploding. I pictured us all rising to our feet in thunderous applause for 10 minutes straight, followed by Louis Cato leading us in a rousing chorus of “Ding, Dong, the Witch Is Dead.” And as a Christian, I know I shouldn’t rejoice in someone’s death, but if anyone deserves it, is this pitiful excuse for a human being who himself has unleashed so much death, destruction and suffering. I have spent so much time on this show reacting to his next atrocity and how sweet that would have been to celebrate with you a moment when justice might finally prevail.

 

Instead, I’m walking off this stage because he wanted me off and his supporters who care nothing about human morality or decency agreed. I’m sure he’s gloating with pleasure, a schadenfreude beyond imagining, his small mind and heart thinking he won. But friends, I’m here to tell you he didn’t win and won’t win. 

 

Here in the Ed Sullivan Theater, the place where Ed Sullivan shook Nat King Cole’s hand, put his arm around Bill Robinson, kissed Pearl Bailey on the cheek and told his complaining network advertisers to go bleep themselves, we did what we could to carry on the legacy of both resistance and joyful celebration of the beautiful Americans who walk among us. I mean, just look at this band, this Great Big Joy Machine with black and white, women and men, playing together, and my friend Jon Batiste’s band before that reminding us to Stay Human. That’s what we stand for and will keep standing for long after the CBS suits and their ilk—all the enablers, all the compliant silent people, all the people who profit from unearned power and privilege—are long gone. They will not win. I may not be here to see it and celebrate it with you all, but our time is coming, is already here amongst us and despite their best efforts, they will not stop us. 

 

When I walk off this stage with a reluctant goodbye, I’m heading to the next Hello and I hope you’ll be there to join me. So come on out Jon and Louis and Sir Paul McCartney and all for the appropriately named final song, appropriately performed in this theater again by Paul, Hello Goodbye. 

 

How much more powerful that song would have been after a speech like that. 

 

So this my goodbye to Stephen Colbert, deep thanks for all the years and hopes to see him again down the road. 

Ed, Steve, Jon and Paul

The year was 1964. I was 12 years old and had just crossed that line when suddenly girls were more interesting than before. I was playing Bach on the organ and Beethoven on the piano and listening to Tchaikovsky, Debussy and the like. But as the body changed, the ear discovered Cousin Brucie on AM Radio and found a whole new crowd of musicians speaking a new language to me— the Four Seasons, Martha and the Vandellas, Rickie Nelson, the Beach Boys and a group called—the Beatles. 

 

I remember walking over to my friend Bruce’s house to watch them on the Ed Sullivan show. Though it wasn’t easy to hear the actual music over the screams of the girls and Bruce’s mother’s constant commentary—“Their hair is so long!!”—I believe I liked what I heard, never dreaming what an iconic moment this was to become in the history of popular music. I followed them for the next six years and felt us growing up together—from the innocent I Want to Hold Your Hand through the zany movie Hard Day’s Night to the ever-evolving styles in each new recording —from Rubber Soul to Revolver to the mind-expanding Sgt Peppers’ Lonely Hearts Club Band and beyond. They were at the center of the soundtrack to the late 60’s consciousness, complete with sitars and Maharishi Yogi, LSD, revolution and pleas to “give peace a chance.” The kick-off to it all was that appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show.

 

Ed Sullivan hosted the longest running variety show in TV history. It ran from 1948 to 1971. The first seven years it was called the Toast of the Town before changing to The Ed Sullivan Show. He was infamous for his lack of flamboyant personality, called by one reviewer, “a cigar-store Indian, the Cardiff Giant  and a stone-faced monument just off the boat from Easter Island. He moves like a sleepwalker; his smile is that of a man sucking a lemon; his speech is frequently lost in a thicket of syntax; his eyes pop from their sockets or sink so deep in their bags that they seem to be peering up at the camera from the bottom of twin wells." And yet, his show both reflected and helped shape American culture.

 

And he was courageous. He once said, "In the conduct of my own show, I've never asked a performer his religion, his race or his politics. Performers are engaged on the basis of their abilities.” and indeed, he featured many black performing groups that were not given chances in other mainstream culture venues. Performers and groups like Bo Diddley, the Platters, Jackie Wilson, Fats Domino, the Supremes, the Jackson Five and more. He got flak from his advertisers for shaking Nat King Cole’s hand, kissing Pearl Bailey on the cheek on camera, putting his arm around dancer Bill Bojangles Robinson and stood up to it all. He gave visibility to an impressive list of black jazz musicians, including Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Lionel Hampton, Sarah Vaughan, Errol Garner, Nina Simone and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. 

 

The theater where all this magic happened was on 1697 Broadway in New York, built in 1927 by Richard Hammerstein in honor of his father, Oscar Hammerstein 1 (grandfather of the jazz song lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II) and appropriately named the Hammerstein Theater. Over the years, it hd many different names—The Manhattan Theater, Billy Rose’s Music Hall, the WPA Theater, Studio 50 and finally, in 1967, it became The Ed Sullivan Theater. In 1993, David Letterman took over the theater to house his Late Show and in 2009, Paul Macartney performed on his show, some 45 years after the Beatles’ first appearance. Stephen Colbert took over the Late Show in 2015 and continued the legacy of both reflecting and shaping the zeitgeist —the moral, intellectual and cultural climate of our times and our nation. 

 

Until last night. When the suits at CBS capitulated to the fascist bully-in-chief in a shameful display of spineless decision-making and made good on their promise to cancel the show. Yet another sad marker of the dying gasps of a struggling democracy. How did Colbert’s last show reflect this critical moment in our struggle to resist the evil and preserve the good? 

 

Read on.