The Dog Days Are Here

DUKES FANS: THE RETURN OF THE DOG DAYS! A couple of weeks ago I wrote a newsletter talking about the joys of summer outdoor music. Festivals, summer park concerts, and street parties have long been a part of my musical inspiration and playing career. I got to see some of my favorite musicians of all genres at the Philly Folk Festival, Be-Ins in Fairmount Park and summer park concerts in the 1960’s and 70’s. As a working musician I have been privileged to have played The Philly Folk Festival, Chestnut Hill Spring and Fall concerts, Narberth street concerts, Bryan Mawr’s Twilight Series, Kahn Park concerts, and many, many more. I love playing these gigs because the crowds are very diverse in age and music interest, and there is a special sense of unity that outdoor music seems to bring to people. There is a special sense of being together that inspires us musicians, and we reflect that back to the crowd. It is magical and powerful. This year it has been challenging for outdoor gigs. The unpredictability and intensity of this summer’s weather has made it hard for concert planners, audiences, and musicians. There have been several postponements of shows and several cancellations. This got me thinking about a newsletter piece I wrote way back in 2020 on “The Dog Days’, and I thought I would reprint part of it, slightly modified, again: THE DOG DAYS AT HOME It is hot and rainy again, and the weather has been a big part of our lives these last few weeks. There were most notably downpours, thunderstorms, and tornadoes, and floods of the last few weeks. Power was knocked out, roads, farmlands, and basements were flooded, and trees were felled throughout much of the country-indeed, much of the world. Those events were both preceded by, and then followed by, intense heat and humidity. We are spending a lot of time inside these days in front of fans, in air-conditioned environments, or trying to grab a little shade and a stray breeze on our porches or in our backyards. This can often be a time of two-three showers a day. The “Dog Days” of summer are definitely here, and they have announced their presence in very dramatic fashion. The Dog Days are traditionally cited as falling between July 3 and August 17th-18th. In the Southern and mid-Atlantic regions of the US it is a time of intense heat, high humidity, torrential downpours, thunderstorms and windstorms, and increasingly, floods. When I was young, I thought this time was called the “Dog Days’ because so often dogs would be seen on the streets with their tongues hanging out and panting, as if struggling to breathe. I had friends who said, “No, it is because dogs get driven mad by the heat in this weather, and they go around biting and attacking you.” I did not grow up in a house that had a dog, so this made me a little wary and afraid of dogs for a good long while. I did not want to be seen as a potential meal for a canine. Neither of those stories are true; “The Dog Days” refer to the period of time when there is the visible appearance of a super-bright star in the morning sky in a southeastern position. That star is now called, Sirius,” and its sunrise appearance was first noted and recorded yearly by the Egyptians thousands of years ago. They noted that when that star appeared, the Nile River would begin its period of flooding, and that was vital information. The Egyptians needed to know that for their agricultural output depended on the regular flooding of the Nile. The height and length of time of the flood season was the key to knowing when to plant crops, and when to trade items up and down the Nile. Knowing that was, therefore, the key to Egypt’s success as a civilization. Sirius was literally a watchdog for that event. Greece and Rome got a lot of their celestial knowledge from the Egyptians, and they eventually put Sirius into a constellation-Camus Majoris or Great Dog. The name of the constellation shows how important the star’s arrival was to them. And like so much of Egyptian, Greek and Roman cultures, that knowledge made its way to us. So we are in the Dog Days and trying to do that human thing; accept, adjust and apply. The Dukes and Brother John both have several outdoor gigs this summer, and my hope is that the weather pauses to allow those gigs to happen: as I said before, these gigs are very special to me. And if you are planning to come to any of them, I do hope you contact concert organizers before the scheduled event, particularly if there is rain in the forecast the day or night before to see if there is a postponement, cancellation, or change of venue. And if you come to these concerts, please bring plenty of water and insect repellent. The Dog Days are here, but we can still have the joy and connectedness of outdoor music in a crowd. Looking forward to sharing those joys with many of you this summer. Dukes of Destiny gigs (www.dukesofdestiny.com ) 1) Friday, July 18; CANCELED!! Mermaid Inn-corner of Germantown Ave and Mermaid Lane;8-11PM; THIS SHOW HAS BEEN CANCELED! 2)Saturday, August 9; Kennett Square Blues Fest: Anson Nixon Park; 405 N. Walnut St; Kennett Square PA; fest starts at noon; 3:45- 5PM is Brother John then The Dukes; $27.50; featured acts include Brother John, The Dukes of Destiny, Mikey Jr, Stevie and The Bluescasters, and more https://www.eventbrite.com/e/anson-b-nixon-park-roots-blues-festival-tickets-1450774318039 3)Tuesday, August 19: Seger Playground 1002 Lombard St; Phila. PA; 5:30PM-7:30PM; https://segerpark.org/ 4)Wednesday August 20 Kahn Park 11th and Pine Sts. Phila PA (rain date August 21st);7:30-9PM; https://kahnpark.org/events Outdoor fun for the Dukes for the month of August. This is our first time at the Kennett Roots and Blues Fest, and readers of this newsletter know tat I love Chester County and Kennett Square in particular. This is a wonderfully shaded park with a couple of great stages, good food vendors, and a great lineup of performers. A wonderful afternoon of blues fun in a great place. Seger Playground and Kahn Park have become regular gigs for the Dukes in my old neighborhood. These are beautiful urban parks-Seger has pickleball courts, dog runs, basketball courts and climbing things for kids. Kahn Park has lovely plantings, easy access to good restaurants, comfortable seats, and like Seger, great crowds of all ages. We love both of these places and look forward to seeing you there. BROTHER JOHN-JOHNNY NEVER & JOHN COLGAN-DAVIS Brother John gigs; www.johnnynver.com 1)Wednesday, July 16 Pastorius Park Summer Concert Series; Pastorious Park, Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia PA. https://www.chestnuthill.org/pastorius_park_summer_concerts.php 2) July 19. Black Crow CD pre-release party; Steel City Coffeehouse and Brewery; 203 Bridge Street, Phoenixville PA 19460; 484-925-8425 TICKETS $20 in advance $25 at the Door. Tickets available at www.steelcitybrews.com The Pastorious Park Summer Concert Series is one of the longest running summer concert series in Philadelphia. It is in a big, beautiful park with fountains, and nice sloping grass and trees. Bring a picnic, lawn chair and/or blanket, and bring the whole family. Beverages and snacks are available for sale. Steel City is a great listening room with good views of the stage, a great sound system and a great coffeehouse vibe. We love playing here, and we are happy to be having our CD release party in the wonderful town of Phoenixville. In recognition of the similarities of our first name and our tightness and intimate interaction of our music we are taking the occasion of the release of our New CD, Black Crow, to change our name and officially become Brother John. We are excited about this as it marks the continued evolution of our music and our sound. Advanced tickets are on sale now, and there is a link above to that gig. A gentle reminder: We are proud of the CD, but it is and was an expensive process. We had to pay for studio time, mastering the CD, making the actual physical copies of the CD, distributing it, and promoting it. To that end, we have established a Go Fund Me campaign to help cover the production costs. Following the link below will take you to the donation page where you can see a video that allows you to hear some clips from the CD and see a breakdown of our costs. And if you listen to Jonny Meister’s Blues show on WXPN, you can also hear cuts from Black Crow most Saturday nights. Anything you can give will be greatly appreciated. Welcome to the unveiling of Brother John. Thanks https://gofund.me/c62805b7 The Sunday Blues Jam at Jamey’s House of Music; 32 S. Landsdowne, Ave; Lansdowne, PA; jamey@jameyshouseofmusic.com Blues lovers and players have made Jamey's Sunday Blues Jam the place for great blues jamming, inexpensive and tasty eats, craft brews on tap, fresh brewed coffee, a great waitstaff, and friendly people who love the blues.  Each Sunday features an hour long set by a different house band, and then there is an open jam until 3PM. This month the jam features The Philly Blues Kings with various guitarists and singers. The 2nd Sunday of each month features The Roger Girke-John Colgan-Davis Project as the house band, and our next gig there is Sunday, August 10th. Got an instrument? Sing? Just want to listen to some exciting blues and have some good food? Come on out and take part in this great blues jam with great food and liquid refreshments. $5 minimum to be spent.

Outdoor Summer Music

John Colgan-Davis From:j.colgan-davis@att.net To:blackjayduke!1200@yahoo.com Wed, Jul 2 at 2:49 PM DUKES FANS: “Hot Fun in the Summertime" Sly Stone Somehow, we slipped right from May into August. Hot, humid, rainy August in Philadelphia is far from my favorite month. I generally like the first part of summer, but August gets tough and uncomfortable. When my wife was alive, we would always take the last two weeks of that month for our extended camping trips. We would head north and would camp in NY state, go up to Canada, and generally enjoy cooler weather. But it is here early, and we just have to face it. Accept, adapt, and apply; that is the human condition. One of the good things about summer, though, is the outdoor park and street concert series that abound. I love playing outdoor concerts. I love seeing families together, folks who don’t come to hear us in clubs, and visiting different city and suburban neighborhoods and areas. I have played each of the three parks we are playing this summer before, and I love them all. Bring picnics, lawn chairs, family and friends to each of them. And at Seger, you can bring your dog. These are all wonderful gigs. Of course, with the heat and humidity being what it is, it is important to remember to stay hydrated, hydrated, hydrated. If you are coming to hear us at any of our outdoor gigs this August, please remember this. And don’t forget-you can stay cool with The Dukes indoors this month at the Mermaid as well. Have a Happy Summer. Hope to see you at some of our gigs.

DUKES FANS: Sunday June 15 was father's Day, and it was an important day for many of us fathers. Some of us were taken to brunch or dinner, were presented with gifts ranging from tools to ties, and others got to spend time with our children either in person and/or through face-timing. My son and I had a good dinner together at my house and watched a movie together-something my family had done for years when my wife was alive. My son and I still do it periodically, but it felt especially right and special on Sunday. I like being a father, and I love the relationship my son and I have. I am also a history guy, so I am always interested in where something came from-how it originated, caught on somewhere, and then spread. Mother’s Day, I knew, grew out of a post-Civil War attempt to unite a town in West Virginia that had been divided by that war. A day was held to honor the mothers of fallen Union and Confederate soldiers. Started by Ann Jarvis in 1868, it became an annual event to honor the work and sacrifices of mothers. Eventually Ann’s daughter, Anna, started a large nationwide campaign to have it become a national holiday. She got hundreds of people to write letters to Congressmen in support of the idea and had a huge Mother’s Day celebration at Wanamaker’s Department store in Philadelphia. The campaign took off, and Mother’s Day became a national holiday signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914. In some ways, Father’s Day can also trace its roots to the Civil War. William Jackson Smart was a Civil War veteran living in Spokane, Washington. He was a single father to six children who loved and adored him. One of those children, Sonora Smart Dodd, heard a sermon in 1909 about Ana Jarvis and the start of Mother’s Day. She went to her pastor asking for a day to honor and to celebrate fathers in the way Mother’s Day honored mothers. He agreed, and after the initial service, she started going to other churches, YMCA’s, and government officials trying to sell the idea. iI tworked. Washington State had the first statewide celebration of Father’s Day in 1910. But It didn’t become a national holiday for quite a while. President Wilson was in favor of it, and President Calvin Cooledge urged states to celebrate it in 1924. But it was slow going. Many men, apparently, thought the idea of a day like Mother’s Day was too effeminate; not manly enough. While there were states that observed it and it was routinely debated in Congress, the idea of a national day for fathers did not catch on at first. Retailers, though, looked at it as an opportunity, so they started advertising ties and tools and cars as ways to “give dads a Christmas in the summer.” The constant push by retailers led to a steadily growing interest in celebrating the day. It became an unofficial holiday celebrated throughout the counrtny. In 1996 President Lyndon Baines Johnson issued a proclamation declaring the third Sunday in June as a day to honor fathers. Finally, President Richard Nixon made it an official national holiday in 1972. Father’s Day was officially recognized. I love the day; I think about my father and his life and all he went through to establish a family and help keep it together. And when I see little kids in the neighborhood walking and playing with their dads, I am reminded of the joy doing such a simple thing brought me. No, not every father knows or knew how to parent well. Not every one was good to be around. But most of them are and recognizing it and celebrating it makes sense to me. And if you did not have such a person in your birth family life, I hope you found someone who could fill that role. (In 2023 Americans spent some $34 billion dollars on Mother’s Day, and some 23 Billion dollars on Father’s Day)

The Genius of Sylvester Stewart

DUKES FANS: “Before there was Prince, there was Sly. Before there was Parliament-Funkadelic, there was Sly.” Questlove of the Roots I was planning to write today about the origins of Father’s Day as many of us will observe and celebrate it this Sunday. But yesterday a friend sent me an e-mail letting me know that a musical hero of mine had died. Sylvester Stewart, better known as Sly Stone, died at age 82 yesterday. Leader and founder of Sly and The Family Stone, he and that band have long been one of my favorite musical ensembles. With their strong, exuberant singing, unique blend of voices and powerful bass and horn lines, they were a joyous combination of gospel, soul, what would be called funk, and psychedelia. They set the groundwork for much of popular music in the 80’s and 90’s. I loved them. Dance to The Music was the first song of theirs that I heard, and I was immediately hooked. I loved the gospel-tinged group harmonies and shouting, the bright horns, the bass lines, the “take no prisoners” drum beats, and the strong alternating lead voices.’ It was bright and bold, and their follow up songs, “Stand, "Hot Fun in the Summertime" and " Thank you (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again) all had that same intoxicating combination. And they were all high-energy and joyous. You just had to move, sing along, and dance when you heard Sly’s music. And there was the band itself: garishly dressed and seemingly on a mission to lighten everyone’s load. They were one of the very few integrated bands at that time, and they had females as full members of the band, not just back-up singers. That was unusual also. Of course, they had their demons. Success came fast and sudden, and drugs and alcohol became an issue for several of them, including Sly. There were also personality problems that developed and financial troubles. By the mid-70’s the group had essentially broken up. There were occasional performances and TV things with Sly, and on occasion the band would get together for a one time thing. But it was never to be a touring or full time performing band”again. Sly and the Family Stone was essentially done by 1975. They slipped out of view,heard occasionally on oldies stations. But there has been a lot more interest in Sly recently. Sly wrote a memoir, and it won an award. He also did some appearances with several pop and funk performers such as George Clinton and Bootsy Collins. There have also been a couple of films released recently featuring Sly. Questlove produced and released the film, Summer of Soul, about the amazing 1969 concert in Harlem that featured all types of Black music and was a grand celebration of both the people and the place. Sly and The Family Stone have a set that is super-hot and catches them at their best. Questlove also released a documentary on Sly’s life called Sly Lives, (aka the Burden of Black Genius), which is available on Hulu and Disney streaming channels. I haven’t seen it yet, but I definitely will. He also has been inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and much of his work is getting serious analysis. His amazing contributions to soul, rock, and pop are finally being recognized. Sly’s music was ahead of its time. It combined facets from various musical styles, and he somehow made it all work. It was all celebratory and joyous. Thank you, Sylvester Stewart. Your work has enriched my life and given me many smiles and joyous moments. Thank you. (The films Summer of Soul and Sly Lives are both available for streaming on Hulu) Sly’s website is https://www.slystonemusic.com/ There is also an excellent Wikipedia article on him: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sly_Stone

Hot Fun in the Summertime

DUKES FANS: We are at the halfway point in the year now. Somehow, 2025 has been moving along and we are just about through two seasons and on our way to the start of a third. We have had a lot of rain recently, but the sun’s brightness and the increased temperatures have been present for a longer period of time now; sunsets are now happening after 8PM, and evenings are lovely. June is here. June has always been a special month for me. As a kid it meant the end of the school year and the start of summer vacation. This meant free time, some new adventures and surprises, great summer foods, and some travel. As a young kid it meant regular trips to Coatesville, PA to stay with some of my father’s family. We would stay for a few weeks and often go to sleep to the sound of the trains coming into or going away from Lukens Steel Mill. We would stay at Aunt Janey’s and run through the woods at the back of the property. I also enjoyed sitting on the porch with some of the neighbors and my uncles and cousins. It felt as if I was being let in on some of the adult world, and I loved it. And I also loved the magic of being in a different place. As I grew older June still meant the start of seeing some new things, and travel was still a big part of that. I worked for one summer as a custodial aide through the Neighborhood Youth Corps program, and I served as a roadie with The Central High School Orchestra. I got to hear and to appreciate classical music, and I also got to go to several places outside my normal neighborhood. That led me to become curious about nearby suburbs, and I would travel to places such as Narberth, Paoli, and Ardmore, just walking around, hanging out, spending time in libraries, trying restaurants, and occasionally hearing some music. In my latte teens and twenties downtown Philadelphia became an important destination for me. Center City Philly had become a hotbed of political, social, and cultural activity in the late 60’s and 70’s, and I began to spend a lot of time downtown experiencing it and drinking it all in. I was jamming with folks in Rittenhouse Square, going to hear music at The Second Fret, The Magic Theater, Artemis, The Trauma, JC Dobbs, and Bacchanal, and attending be-ins in Fairmount Park. I was also going out to the suburbs to such music venues as The Main Point and the Philadelphia Folk Festival. Going to museums and theaters in Bucks and Chester County also became things that a bunch of friends and I would do. My world was expanding. It was also a time of protests marches and music festivals. I spent time at civil rights and anti-Vietnam War demonstrations and protests in Philly, but also in Washington, DC and New York City. And music still mattered. In 1969 a friend and I hitchhiked from Philadelphia out to Michigan for the 2nd Annual Ann Arbor Blues Festival, where I got to see and to hang out with some of my all-time musical heroes. It was totally in me now: summer travel, adventure and music. I was lucky to have been married for 37 years to a partner who loved traveling, birding, camping, “musicing” and “museuming” as much as I did. We camped in several places in New York State, West Virginia, upstate PA, and more and took non-camping trips to Ohio, Arizona, New Mexico, Connecticut, New York City, the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Baltimore and more. We ended most of our summer travels in Kingston, Ontario camping at Ivy Lea Provincial Park and enjoying the Limestone City Blues Festival. We had some incredible summer adventures. Summer means travel and explore. Yes, I am a bit older now, but I know I will do some more of that this summer. Wishing you all a summer of discovery, new adventures, and the building of great memories. Happy June!

Poetry and The Library

DUKES FANS: Last week’s newsletter contained a poem about Spring by e.e. cummings that I absolutely love. Some of you were moved by that too; I got a number of responses to that newsletter that featured quotes from other cummings poems or bits from other poems and poets. Those responses reminded me of the power and beauty of poetry and reminded me of a newsletter I had written way back in 2016. Poetry and the Library Americans love observances. We have special days and months to celebrate everything from the divine to the historical to the esoteric to the downright silly. There is Black History Month, Women's History Month, Take Sons and Daughters to Work Day, Senior Citizens Day, Tartan Day, Wear Red Day, Pretzel Day, Apple Day, and too many religious holidays and observances to mention. In fact, the word holiday itself is derived from “holy day’-days set aside by various religions for special rituals and practices. And due to our wonderful diversity, the United States is simply awash in special days and times, April is among my favorite months for these special times because April is National Poetry Month, and it also features National Librarians Day and National Library Week. These three observances recognize things that have been and are very important and wondrous to me; words, knowledge, curiosity, creativity, and helpfulness. Together these have all played a vital role in my life and in me becoming the person I am. I am grateful that these three things have been a part of my life for quite a while. I do not know exactly how I got into poetry. Yes, there were all the rhymes we used to say as kids and the poems we had to memorize in elementary school. But I think that reading “Childcraft’, the literary and educational set of books my mother got for us that went along with the World Book Encyclopedia, was where poetry really settled into me. “The Highwayman” by Alfred Noyes with its magical and evocative, “The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas”, and its rhythmic and exciting, “The Highwayman came ridin’; the highway man came ridin’; up to the old inn door” just caught me. I remember lines from that poem today, over a half century later. That set of books also had memorable poems by Edgar Allan Poe and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that sometimes sent me to the dictionary to find out what some of the words meant, thus enlarging my vocabulary and furthering my sense of wonder at all the things words could mean and do. I am still fascinated by the uses, subtleties, meanings and origins of words. And I trace it back to those early experiences. I am also a child of the 60’s, and in the energy of the Civil Rights Movement I discovered the works of earlier Black poets such as Langston Hughes, Fenton Johnson, and Gwendolyn Brooks and new ones such as Le Roi Jones, Lucille Clifton, and Ishmael Reed. Through that I saw how poems could touch on both the eternal and metaphorical as well as the here and now. It was also a time of great cultural change in the whole of US society, and the anthology, The New American Poetry and friends of mine such as Steve A. and Dave F. introduced me to great wordsmiths such as William Carlos Williams, Charles Olson, Ed Dorn, and my all time favorite poet, Kenneth Patchen. Popular songs by artists such as Bob Dylan and Smokey Robinson and Simon and Garfunkel has similes and metaphors and allusions. Poetic works were all around, and my love for poetry was fed and took off. Even now I browse books of poetry in book stores and subscribe to the Poetry Foundation’s daily e-mail service. ( Poetry Foundation ) It is a life long love story that will only end when I do. Librarians helped with that and so much more in my life. When I had read a poem that interested me, I could ask a librarian where I could find more works by that poet or by poets who wrote in the same way. And I had the same experience whether I was researching a historical question, looking for something about music, following up some odd, weird idea, looking for how to copyright a song, or any of the thousands of things I asked librarians about over the years. Libraries and librarians have always been there for me, willing and able to help. Libraries themselves have been so many things to me; places to gain refuge from the outside world, a source to unlock new knowledge, a place to answer questions and feed my insatiable curiosity, or in the case of some of the turn of the 20th century ones, places to go to be amazed at the architecture. It still amazes me that we have public free libraries and have had them for such a long time. I used to do some classes on US law and life for foreign students and professionals. Some of them were from developing or recently independent countries, and the openness and ease of access of our libraries was one thing that always intrigued and amazed them. Public schools have them. Just about every neighborhood has them. Colleges and universities have them. And they are open to anyone at all. That was definitely not their experience, and they marveled at it. I got my first library card to take home and hold onto when I was in second grade. I have had one ever since then; well over half a century. The 3 public libraries in West Philadelphia were places where I spent tons of time regularly, and as I got older the main library at 19th and the Parkway became a haven. I could find books on things I was curious about and take them home with me-for free! I could listen to music I could not afford to buy repeatedly. For free! I could ask for help with a vexing research question or process and receive one on one help. For free! It is both wondrous and ordinary; we rarely think about how special it actually is. I was a high school and middle school teacher for almost 40 years, and I always had the good fortune to work with excellent librarians. I have long said to my students that if there is a heaven, I may not get in, but librarians are automatically guaranteed entrance. They go through all of that college training and professional development work, not for themselves, but just so they can help other people. Repeatedly. And for free. Wow. That is simply incredible. Libraries are in tough financial times now. School districts, cities, and towns have been cutting funding for them even as the needs for the many services they provide have been increasing. They have also become targets of politicians and special interest groups that want to limit our thinking and our looking. I encourage people to donate whatever they can to their local public library; they are an indispensable part of the intellectual infrastructure of this country, and they represent us at our best. Think about all of the students, perhaps even you, who learned to do research, finished a school project and/or had their curiosity sparked by a librarian or at a library. Think of all of the immigrants who learned and are learning about being in this country through library programs over the decades. Think of all the parents for whom libraries are safe and free after school programs. April is a great time to remember what libraries and librarians do for all of us and focus on what we can do for them. National Library Week, April 6-12, and National Library Worker’s Day, April 8, offer us a chance to reflect on the vital role these workers and these institutions play. As the historian Barbara Tuckman said, “Nothing saddens me more than the closed and locked door of a library.” That is so true. (To see a great film about what libraries do on any given day go to http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/05/libraries-now-new-york-video.html

ee cummings and spring

DUKES FANS: In Just – Spring in Just- spring when the world is mud- luscious the little lame balloonman whistles far and wee and eddieandbill come running from marbles and piracies and it's spring when the world is puddle-wonderful the queer old balloonman whistles far and wee and bettyandisbel come dancing from hop-scotch and jump-rope and it's spring and the goat-footed balloonMan whistles far and wee ee cummings I was having coffee with a good friend of mine Monday, and we were enjoying the real spring-feel weather, and sitting outside the coffee shop and enjoying a day that really felt like spring. He mentioned the above poem by ee cummings, and I realized I had not read any cummings in quite some time. It is spring, magnolias and cheery trees are popping, and April is National Poetry Month. Enjoy (For more on ee cummings, go to https://poets.org/poem/spring-perhaps-hand