Happy Mother's Day

DUKES FANS: Happy Mother’s Day (reprint from 2018) Next Sunday is Mother’s Day, one of the most widely observed and celebrated holidays in our culture. People of all ethnic groups, colors, and even religious denominations observe it. Among Christians, in fact, it is the day with the 3rd highest church attendance after only Christmas and Easter. As a major holiday it is all over our popular culture. TV shows have plots that revolve around it. There are songs about both the day and the person known as “Mother” in just about every genre, and radio stations play many of them in the week leading up to the holiday. Comedians tell endless “mom” jokes. And as it is a major holiday, it is very commercialized, and it has a huge economic impact. It is one of the biggest days in any given year for the sales of flowers, candy, and greeting cards. More long-distance calls are made on Mother’s Day than on any other day. Restaurants make a lot of money on the day, especially on breakfasts and brunches. It is truly a big deal in our culture. But where did this day come from? How did it come to be? Why does it exist? The idea of honoring “mothers” is not just an American idea, and it is not really recent. Ancient peoples in many parts of the world had a variety of observances that paid tribute to the idea of fertility, birth, and mothering. The ancient Greeks and Romans had festivals that celebrated Mother Goddesses such as Rhea and Cybele, who gave birth to various gods and represented the power of divine fertility. These were important, powerful ideas, and the celebrations of these holidays lasted for days in the ancient world. Roman, Greek and many other polytheistic religions were eventually eclipsed by monotheistic ones. But many of the most important ideas in “pagan” religions found ways of being expressed in monotheistic beliefs. While there is no “Mother’s Day” in Islam, children are regularly instructed to pay honor to their mothers. Some Jews honor Rachel, Jacob’s most beloved wife, on the eleventh day of Cheshvan as the symbolic “mother” of the Israeli household and nation. Some early Christians took to celebrating the Virgin Mary during Lent as a way of honoring a divine mother-the mother of Jesus. The idea of “divine birth” and “mother,” then, are important and universal human concerns. These need to be accounted for and recognized in every religion. In 16th century England that recognition turned into something called, “Mothering Sunday.” Initially a day to honor the Mother Church and the Virgin Mary, it eventually came to include children being told to pick wild flowers to give to and pay tribute to their own earthly mothers. This represented an expansion of focus; not only divine mothers were looked at with honor. Earthly mothers came to be seen as representatives of the divine order, and they could be acknowledged also. The American idea of Mother’s Day draws most directly from this. Two women, Julia Ward Howe and Anna Jarvis, are considered the "mothers" of our present celebration of Mother’s Day. Howe, an activist on many social issues and the composer of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, wanted a day for women to be listened to as a way to establish peace. Women gave birth to all the men who died in wars on either side, she argued, so they had a special need to both be active and be listened to as a way of ending war. In her famous “Mother’s Day Proclamation” (1870) she argued for and later established a “Mother’s Peace Day” to be celebrated each year. The idea caught on and was observed in several parts of the United States. But it did not grow to be a national holiday. Perhaps it was too political. Anna Jarvis, born in West Virginia, had a beloved mother who was deeply religious and involved in social issues via her church. Ann Reeves Jarvis had worked as a nurse during the Civil War, and like Howe, she believed in peace. And she once spoke about wishing for a day when the work and contributions of mothers to humanity would be recognized and celebrated. Anna remembered this, and it inspired her. In 1908, 3 years after her mother’s death, she sponsored a memorial service in the town of Grafton, West Virginia for her mom and all the moms who attended the service. She also provided white carnations, now the symbol of Mother’s Day, for all the mothers who attended the service. Her mother’s words had become a mission for Anna; mothers needed to be recognized. After the memorial service she began to organize nationally. She called on people to write legislators and influential people to encourage them to lobby for a day to honor all mothers. And somehow, state by state, it began to happen. By 1911 most states in the country had some type of yearly holiday recognizing mothers. She and her supporters then turned their attention to the national stage. Again, it worked. In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson signed the proclamation that established the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day throughout the nation. Anne Reeve Jarvis’ wish had become reality. Mother’s Day is a major part of US culture now, and it is firmly established. Ironically, Jarvis came to dislike Mother’s Day, or more specifically, the way it came to be celebrated. The outright commercialization of the day, first by the greeting card industry and then florists and candy manufacturers, angered her. She spoke out against this regularly and even considered trying to rescind the holiday. A further irony was that as she aged, Jarvis needed hospital care. It was the people connected to the greeting card and florist industries who paid for her hospital stays in West Chester, PA. Anna Jarvis died in 1948, and she is buried locally in West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd. Regardless of what one thinks about how the day is observed these days, Mother’s Day has become an important day in our culture and in the lives of many people. And it resonates with people now for the same reasons the ancients had to celebrate birth and mothering all those centuries ago. We all begin with a birth; that is how we all start. Yes, sperm and egg need to unite to bring that birth about. And there are many ways the uniting of those two can happen. But when you come down to it, we are all ultimately the result of a mother carrying and delivering us. It has been that way for centuries and centuries. While we may understand a lot about the mechanics of how it happens, it is nonetheless wondrous. It is both ordinary and worthy of being honored. I hope Mother’s Day, however you observe it, is good for you and important to you. And thanks to all of you who are mothers.

Ageing and Accepatance

DUKES FANS: As most of you know by now, last week was a crazy week for me. There were a lot of surprising happenings and developments that, in part, led to the cancellation of our gig at Jamey’s last Friday. You all know how I love that place, so things had to be pretty crazy for me to cancel that gig. It started with a bad case of food poisoning on Sunday morning. Vomiting, diarrhea, stomach cramps and pain eventually led me to the hospital emergency room. There a series of examinations and tests led to me being admitted as it turned out there were various other things that may have been going on inside my body. I ended up being in the hospital for several days as things were looked at, considered, and diagnosed. Things were figured out, but it was clear by Wednesday I would be in no shape to play a gig on Friday. Hence the cancellation. I am out of the hospital, back home, and recovering. Thanks to all of you who sent e-mails, texts, and otherwise reached out and checked in. I appreciate that. I have a friend who is a little bit older than I am, and he says that ageing is a constant process of acceptance and adjustment. I am adjusting, moving forward, and looking forward to what is next. Let‘s go!

Black History Month

Telling Our Stories: Black History Month DUKES FANS: Someone will have to tell my story; I guess it will have to be me.” poet Langston Hughes I have been a history freak since, well, since forever. I can recall being a young child, looking through the World Book Encyclopedias that my mother sold, and being fascinated by people, times and events that had happened a long time ago. In elementary school I was likewise fascinated by what had happened years ago and by famous historical people. I memorized a lot of names and dates, was captured and intrigued by time lines, and fell in love with the 300 and 900 stacks in the Free Library-the stacks that by Dewey’s system contained most of the historical material. I knew that if I was interested in subject “A” and the book I was looking for wasn’t in, I could look to the right or to the left of where that book should be and there would be something as interesting as what I had been looking for originally. All this fed my insatiable curiosity, made me hungry for knowledge, and turned me into someone who looked for connections between ideas, times and people. That interest continues to this very day. Whenever we travel somewhere new and are walking around my wife can often be heard to say, “You never met an historical marker you didn’t love!” It is no surprise that for some 40 years I taught history and English in middle and high school. The ideas about history that I encountered in my official education were initially cursory and spotty. We were taught the names of famous people, largely white, and we looked at events through the lens of great accomplishments; things that made the United States great. But from all the reading I was doing before I even started school, I knew I wanted more. The Philadelphia Free Library was a place where I could satisfy part of that desire. I grew up during the 1950’s and 1960’s, and there was an explosion of new ways of looking at history happening then. New sources were being found and explored. New interpretations of time periods and events abounded. New theories about history were being put forth, and different people’s stories were now being included. The library was an important gateway to all of that for me; I was able to find out things I had little knowledge about due to the wealth of information in those stacks. What I found in one book led me to still others. The more I found, the more I wanted to find out. For an insatiably curious kid, it was an information smorgasbord. We also had the wonders of Negro History Week when I was growing up-a week during which special emphasis was given to studying the stories and history of Negro people, as we were then called. My church and my school provided some books, told us some stories, and put on some plays that got me exposed and interested in the lives of men and women who were generally not in the school's history books. Negro History Week was an endless source of discoveries; it was a joy to uncover so much that had been missing or hidden. The joy of that "uncovering" has stayed with me. I still love finding out “new” information and new ways of looking at the past. Part of the beauty and power of that week for me was that it had been started by us-we were starting to tell our own stories publicly and officially. Negro History Week was started by a Black historian in the mid-1920’s. Carter G. Woodson, the son of slaves, had received a doctorate from Harvard in 1912, and he realized that in most history books Blacks were either depicted in stereotypical and inaccurate ways or not mentioned at all. To counter this he founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life in 1915, and he started publishing The Journal of Negro History, a publication that featured historical research about Blacks and their lives. The Journal published research articles by and about Blacks and was distributed to schools and people who educated Blacks. Interest in the publication and topic soared, and it became a central repository for historical research about Blacks. In 1926 the Association established Negro History Week, a time for black churches, students, communities, colleges, and more to focus on the history of Blacks in this country and the world. He set it in the second week of February because that was between the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln (February 12th) and Frederick Douglass (believed to be February 18th). For decades it was something that Blacks observed on their own with essay contests, plays, research projects, special sermons, articles in the Black press, and more. Eventually some cities began to issue proclamations recognizing the celebration, and it came more into public view. The Civil Rights Movement and the rise of Black Power in the 1960’s and 1970’s gave it a new emphasis, and it became more of a regular part in many school curricula, especially Black colleges. By then it had been renamed and had expanded to Black History Month, and it was much more visible. President Gerald Ford officially recognized Black History Month nationally in 1976 to coordinate with the bi-centennial of the country. It has been officially recognized by most schools and communities since then. Newspapers, TV networks, and radio stations do special programming, and cities host special breakfasts, award ceremonies, essay contests, and more. It is pretty much in the mainstream now. To me one of the things this month can do is allow us to pause, slow down and take a deeper look at a lot of our assumptions and collective knowledge about who we are as a country. Yes, we have many renditions of the, "I Have a Dream" speech,and we talk often in generalities about different parts of the African-American experience. But if the month can be seen as an opportunity to expand our knowledge and better understand where we as an entire culture have been, the month can give us ways to deepen our understandings about this place and ways the past influences the present. We know some things about slavery, for example, but for most of us slavery was something that happened on plantations and in the South-it was about picking things and working in the fields and the “Big House.” The reality is far more complicated than that; there was slavery in each and every colony before the American Revolution and in each and every state after the Revolution. And all the activities and structures needed and developed to support slavery were at the very heart of US economic growth throughout the 18th and 19th century-shipping, banking, the stock market, trade, and more. Slavery fueled much of the growth of the country. In fact 12 of our Presidents owned slaves at some point in their lives, and eight of them held slaves while they were Presidents.The New York Historical Society had a monumental exhibit in 2005 and 2006 on Slavery in New York City, and the history it revealed blew people's minds. It totally changed many people’s ideas about what the 19th century was about and the role of the Big Apple in slavery during that time. People had not realized that New York had been a slave state, and that its role in banking, shipping, and trade made it the actual center of the entire United States slave system. No NYC at that time, little or no slavery in the country.(http://www.slaveryinnewyork.org/ ) Likewise, there is a website developed in 2003 by historian Douglas Harper called, “Slavery in the North” that examines how each colony and state north of the Mason-Dixon line carried out their involvement with the “peculiar institution.” (http://slavenorth.com/index.html) Looking at these sites and other books, films, etc. deepened my knowledge and unearthed moving and amazing stories about which I had known little. And it can do that for all of us. That is one of the wonderful things about history-there is usually so much more beneath the surface of any one thing than we see at first glance. There is always much to be uncovered and brought forth, but we must be willing to look, see and to dig. I love that digging. I hope this Black History Month finds you looking in new places for new things and discovering and uncovering new facts and new people. There is a universe of largely unknown, people whose lives have amazing stories to tell and whose accomplishments are astonishing. If I may jump start that for you, let me toss out some names with whom you may not be familiar: Benjamin Banneker, Bass Reaves, Miriam Benjamin, Daniel Hale Williams, and Valerie Thomas. If you are curious, look them up and see who they were and what they did, and how they are connected to so many things we take for granted. Dig, uncover, and enjoy

January and Snow

DUKES FANS: In my last newsletter I talked about the quiet mornings and the wonderful skies of January. This week we see the other side of January, and it is not so pleasant. It has been about a decade since this area has had a doble digit snowfall, and we are generally freaking out in trying to prepare for the 10-12 inches of snow forecasters are expecting. There have been long lines at hardware stores, grocery stores, and mall stores all week There have been shortages of snow salt, shovels, and other winter gear. Milk and eggs are also in short supply. This has been a multi-day attempt to prepare for the coming storm. In my West Mt Airy neighborhood people have been working together to meet the threat. Folks have compiled lists of young folks who would be willing to shovel sidewalks and clean off cars. There are dozens of folks with dogs in the area, and people have been sharing info about where to get pet safe snow salt and ice melt to meet the anticipated snow amounts we will get. Two neighbors who saw me getting the paper today checked to see if I have someone to shovel (I do) and if I needed them to run to the store for me (I didn’t). I love the way we look out for each other here. We, of course, have no way of knowing exactly how big this storm will be. But accept that it will most probably be a big one. Be prepared; have batteries, fully charged phones, flashlights, and at least two days of food. And check in with elderly neighbors and relatives. I hope we can all get through fairly well through these next few days.

From Black Friday to Giving Tuesday: Commerce and Thanks

Folks: People on the Dukes e-mail list have not gotten anything from me in a while due to problems with my att.net e-mail server. For the past three weeks I have been unable to send e-mails from that account. I can receive them and read them, but I cannot send any e-mails whether they are individual e-mails group e-mails ot just a return email. So I have transferred my Dukes' Mailing lists to a different account and will try to send them. There are no Dukes gigs listed in this e-mail; I am trying to see if this works. I hope it does. I have been busy doing some video work with Johnny and addressing some other things, so I am re-printing an earlier blog about the history of Black Friday and the meaning and importance of Giving Tuesday. Thanks. John FROM BLACK FRIDAY TO GIVING TUESDAY: THANKSGIVING, AND COMMERCE There have always been links between seasonal changes and commerce. Early human groups traveled across different places at different times in the year and found different things available for both consuming and trading. In the ancient world, spring meant hunting and trading for more plants and seeds, and going to where the herds of animals and schools of fish were plentiful in order to get more. Autumn meant increased hunting, trading, gathering and traveling to harvest plants and to get supplies and shelter for winter. Most hunting-gathering people already saw religious and mythological links between changes in seasons and their lives, so the special importance of different products at different times became natural. The original autumnal “thanksgivings” were literally the “giving of “Thanks” to the gods for a good harvest and/or hunt, and also a hope for surviving the winter. As cities and the lifestyle known as civilization developed, more extensive trading and conquering happened, and many more things became available. New products came from different parts of the world, and the having of lots of products became associated with everything from class level to social wealth to religious worth to personal worth, to political power and more. Civilizations keep producing and developing more products at an ever-increasing rate. And when civilizations developed into empires, the importance of having, trading, giving, and owning products exploded exponentially. Commerce became more and more of a driving force in cultures. Over time we have developed systems for coming up with new products to keep the commerce flowing: Research and Development, planned obsolescence, and upgrades. We have come up with more ways of putting products in front of people-signs, advertising campaigns, product placement, pop-up ads embedded in websites, celebrity endorsements, and more. The bazaars and marketplaces of the old days have been replaced by shopping malls, warehouse outlets and now online giants such as Amazon are replacing many brick and mortar stores. And there is no end in sight to this growth and expansion. After the 1924 debut of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, this post-Thanksgiving weekend quickly became the start of our “winter shopping season.” The gift-giving associated with the Christmas story became more and more the focus of Christmas, and the Friday after Thanksgiving was the time to get it started. Stores and shops ran special sales and campaigns to get people into the stores and opening up the wallets and pocketbooks. And this year it even started before Halloween. The term for that time is, of course, “Black Friday”, and the origin of that term has a dark side to it. In the 1950s, police in Philadelphia used the term to describe the chaos that ensued on the day after Thanksgiving. Hordes of shoppers and tourists flooded into the city to take advantage of the sales and in advance of the big Army-Navy football game that used to be held here every year on the Saturday following Thanksgiving. Suburbs were relatively new and expanding, and the new highways and freeways made it easier for suburbanites to get into the city to shop as well as go to sporting events. Philly cops had to work extra-long shifts dealing with the increasing mess of huge crowds and miles of traffic problems. Shoplifters also took advantage of the bedlam in stores to make off with merchandise, and pickpockets endlessly worked the crowds. To police, then, the Friday after Thanksgiving was not joyous at all. Instead, it was “black.” By 1961, “Black Friday” had become the local term for that day in Philadelphia. Retailers tried unsuccessfully to change it to “Big Friday” in order to remove the negative connotations of the term, but that term didn’t take off. “Black Friday” was what it was called, and Black Friday it remained. So retailers did the next best thing: they changed the meaning and explanation for the term. They turned it into a story about businesses on that day suddenly making a profit-going into the black. This new story of what Black Friday meant caught on, and the term’s true origin was forgotten. Not only did the phrase catch on across the nation. And what was originally a one-day event slowly morphed into a four-day event that spawned other “retail holidays” such as Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday. Cyber Monday” came into being in 2005 as an idea to encourage people to shop online and build this new thing known as online businesses. With the amount of online shopping increasing over time and really jumping due to COVID, it is estimated that Cyber Monday this year will bring in some 20 billion dollars. Clearly this seasonal urge to spend is quite powerful in our culture. It even applies to charities and non-profits. A 2023 survey found the some 50% of charities and non-profits reported that most of their individual contributions came in between October and December. The ideas of holiday gifting, seasonal calls for thinking of others, and tax deductions combined to drive more charitable fundraising these last three months of the year. And this has resulted in the development of “Giving Tuesday.” Giving Tuesday is a day for making donations to fund good causes following Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The founders wanted people to focus on giving after their weekend shopping spree, and to see a seamless link between spending for family and self and giving to help others. The idea quickly took off, and it is now an international movement. It even has its own website- https://www.givingtuesday.org/about which serves as a conduit connecting groups, causes, organizations and individuals. The website has history, tools to get organized, and connections to local movements from around the world. Given the widespread challenges presented by the effects of the COVID pandemic, increased natural disasters and increases in worldwide poverty rates, support for charitable institutions is even more critical. Giving Tuesday is one way of making that support possible. So the “Black Friday” phenomenon can, and in many ways, has definitely overwhelmed the intended sense of the original autumnal thanksgivings. It often seems to be about things and about consumption above all else. But with a true focus on gratitude, it can be about the simple joys of family and friends get-togethers. And it can also lead to a “Giving Tuesday” if we allow ourselves to get beyond consumption and the products and onto to something more meaningful. We can find another way to extend the notion of gratitude by giving back and giving to. I hope more of us can move to that this year. If you are so moved, please go to: https://www.givingtuesday.org/about

Participating

DUKES FANS: “Democracy is not a spectator sport. It a participatory event” Credited to George Shultz and Lotte Scharfman “You have to vote in every election. People struggled and died so you could have this right, and if you don’t vote, then you are spitting on their graves.” Ruth Edna Davis It will be election day in a little less than a month in Pennsylvania. As it will not be a gubernatorial or Presidential election, there will probably not be long lines at the polls, or many absentee ballots sent in. “After all” many folks will say,” it is an “off year” election. It’s no big deal.” Actually, the fact that it is an “off-year election” is a VERY big deal. While we may focus on the Presidential and gubernatorial elections as the important ones, many of the ways those elections are run are decided by people who are in power as a result of off year elections. This year Pennsylvania is asking Its citizens to decide if they want to retain the current Justices of our state’s Supreme Court, and that is the court that will probably have final say on many things leading up to and after the gubernatorial and Presidential elections: voting maps, election procedures, lawsuits against prominent people and the interpretation and application of many laws. What citizens do on November 4th may well determine how those later elections turn out. That is a HUGE deal. In Philadelphia, a lot of the people that govern and oversee things that affect our regular, normal, day-to-day lives are also elected at this time. There are several types of judicial elections on this year’s ballot, and if you are involved in legal matters, you or someone you know may well be in one of their courts and/or subject to some of their decisions. This election will also determine the City Controller-the person who oversees Philadelphia’s use of much of our tax money. And Philadelphia will also elect its District Attorney, the person who oversees much of our criminal justice system. That, too, is a HUGE deal. And of course, there are many other people who affect day-to-day life in our suburbs and other towns and cities who will also be elected. I would urge you to find out about elections in your community and state as well. New Jersey has a gubernatorial election, and as you have probably seen in the media, it is hotly contested and being nationally observed. If you are over 18 and a resident of New Jersey, you can have your say over who sets much of the priorities and direction of the state for at least the next four years. So there are multiple opportunities for most of us over the age of 18 to be participants this year in this important event-to not just be spectators, but to be participants! To be a participant is to honor our right to vote: to own it. But in order to own it, you must be registered. The deadline for registration in Pennsylvania is October 20th, and in New Jersey it is October 14.th. If you have not yet registered, I urge you to do so. And when you are, and if you already are, I strongly urge you to show up and vote. The voting age used to be 21 when I turned 18, and I was one of those people standing on street corners in the late 60’s and early 70’s trying to get people to sign petitions, pledging to work to lower the voting age to 18. And it happened! I think we need to honor that, and registering and voting is how we can do that. I have voted in every election since I was legally able to, and I know I will vote November 4th. My mother’s words still ring in my ear: I am not spitting on any graves. (Some info on this November’s election Philadelphia: https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/pa-election-guide/ Pennsylvania:https://whyy.org/articles/pennsylvania-philadelphia-election-2025-voter-guide-deadlines/ New Jersey https://www.njspotlightnews.org/special-report/nj-2025-voter-guide-nj-governor-nj-assembly-races/ ) DUKES OF DESTINY: 40th Anniversary www.dukesofdestiny.com

The Maggic of Ffall

DUKES FANS: Monday was the first day of Autumn, and it was a beautiful, mixed day that started out a little on the dreary side but grew into a day of great clouds, bright sunshine, people on the streets, and a general feeling of joy and pleasantness. I love living in the mid-Atlantic; the cycle of seasons and the changes of seasons never fails to amaze and delight me. After the blistering and humid months of June and July, the weather of the last few weeks has made me even more appreciative of fall weather. So I am re-running a tribute to fall I published some 3 years ago. THE MAGIC OF FALL “The leaves fall, the wind blows, and the farm country slowly changes from the summer cottons into its winter wools.” Henry Beston “Autumn carries more gold in its pocket than all the other seasons.” Jim Bishop Fall returned this week, and as regular readers of this newsletter know, I am a big fan of seasonal transitions. Spring and Fall are my absolute favorite seasons of the year. I am blessed that in this region of the country we get them for approximately the same length of time each year. It is a repeat treat year after year. Each spring I find myself thinking, “Ahhh..this is my favorite season of the year!” And each fall I find myself saying the exact same thing. As I was walking in the neighborhood this morning and feeling the coming fall in the air, I asked myself, “How can two seasons both be my “favorite”? How can that be?” And then, while looking around at the trees, bushes, and sky while standing in the Allen Lane train station, it hit me. They both do the same soul-warming thing that pleasures me. They just do it in different ways. Both seasons bring changes in yards and lawns and trees and woods and sky and the weather. And all of those changes come at you in ways that are hard to ignore. All you have to do is slow down, open your eyes, take a deep breath or two, and look around. What both seasons do is reward you for paying attention; for noticing the wonder and miracle of nature at work. They make it so you almost have to pay attention and notice. But they work at that in different ways. Spring is the more dramatic one. Snow and ice melt. There are longer days and therefore more sun. There is more “day "so more light. In the springtime, things literally spring into being-colors suddenly appear all over the place, and a block or a garden or a tree or a path you didn’t much notice a week ago is suddenly one which totally captivates you a week later. You come back to it again and again as it sprouts and grows and blooms and bursts forth. Spring is showy; it struts onto the stage, marches around, beasts its chest, and almost dares you to ignore it. And you can’t. Fall Is more quiet and more subtle. That has its own appeal and charm as well. I begin to notice the fall when the weather gets a little cooler, and I have several days in a row when I have to decide whether to wear shorts and/or to put on a jacket. Then, as the days turn into weeks, I become aware of the subtle changes in colors that are quietly happening. The goldfinches are less brightly yellow. The plants in the garden start to lose their brightness and become duller. Some lean over as they slowly fade away. The leaves on the trees slowly begin to change. Some of them start browning and falling; walking seems to gradually be happening more and more on a blanket of leaves. Some change their colors-the oranges and yellows and reds on the maples especially add a different mix of deep color that makes looking up quietly more exciting. The night comes a little earlier, and you can see stars and the moon and a little sunlight simultaneously. The clincher for me is the way fall weather outside the house starts to affect the weather inside the house. The AC and desk fans are used much less. And then not at all. The ceiling fan speed is slower and slower until it is also no longer needed. And quietly and subtly, snuggling into and being covered by that extra blanket makes sleeping at night extra special and extra comforting. It gets harder to get up in the morning. That is when fall is fully here for me, regardless of what the calendar says. Oatmeal and chicken soup will soon follow. So they are both truly my favorite season. They both put me deeply in touch with what that cycle of nature is doing, and they both help me notice it, feel it deeply, and take comfort in it. I have slept with windows open and under that extra blanket for the last few days. I think I will do those same things again tonight. Happy Fall! DUKES OF DESTINY: 40th Anniversary www.dukesofdestiny.com Saturday, November 15th-John's 75th Birthday Party; The Mermaid Inn: 7673 Winston Road; Philadelphia PA 19118 215-247-9797 http://themermaidinn.net/home.html This is the Dukes' 40th anniversary, and it will be my 75th year on the planet. WOW! 3/4 of a century. As usual we will celebrate our home away from home, The Mermaid, and we will again have a friend or two show up and sit in, a new song, and everyone will get a free slice of delicious Night Kitchen cake. Come on out and be part of the fun as John welcomes another year.. Private Gigs: The Dukes have had a number of private gigs this year, and I want to remind folks that we can and do a variety private affairs. Birthday parties, retirement parties, corporate affairs, fundraisers, etc. If interested, please reach out and contact me. Thanks Brother John: Johnny Never and John Colgan-Davis; acoustic blues duo. https://www.johnnynever.com 1) Friday, September 26th- 9PM - Midnight; Hummingbird to Mars;W 16th St, Wilmington, DE 19806 (1930 Speakeasy ring the bell-it's around back!) Reservations recommended http://catherinerooneys.com/hummingbird 2)Saturday, September 27th -7-10PM Letty’s Tavern - 201 State Street Kennett Square PA 19348 https://www.lettystavern.com This weekend finds Johnny and I at two of our favorite eateries: The Hummingbird and Letty's. Both places feature great pub food, as well as some unique and signature dishes. Both places also have great vibes, a great and friendly crowd, wonderful waitstaff, and bartenders who can shake their mixed drinks in time with the music. Come and catch us at either or both places. 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, October 12.th 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 (Don’t want to receive any more of these e-mails? Simply reply with “Unsubscribe “in the Subject Line)

The Magic of The Sky

DUKES FANS: “The Sky is the Daily Bread of the Eyes” Ralph Waldo Emerson Inline image Highway of Combes le ville-Giovanni Boldinni The weather this past week has been just spectacular. Cool temperatures, low humidity bright sun, some comfortable breezes, and most importantly of all, magnificent and majestic skies. Different shades of blues and grays, and in the beginning or at the end of days, some deep oranges, reds, and some grays. And the clouds-sometimes bright and white and with shadows, bunched together, or spread out and thinly elongated. Fat and billowy or sparse and lonely. Seeming so close that you can reach out and touch them, and at other times seeming far, far away and connected to another world. It has been wonderful riding the trains across bridges this week and just looking up. When the sky is like this, I want to spend a lot of time under it, looking up at it, and being entranced. The painting at the start of this piece is my favorite painting in the world. It is the painting that in junior high school introduced me to the wonders of the sky. I wanted to go to the Art Museum this Saturday to see it for the umpteenth time and say, “Thanks” to it once again, but alas, it is not on display. It has been moved yet again from the galleries for a while. So, I will leave it here for us to look at and become immersed in it. Then I will go out back, sit, and look up as I eat my lunch and have my daily bread. (I wrote a piece about my connection to this painting last year. If you want to read it, go to https://dukesofdestiny.blogspot.com/2024/03/sky-joy.html ) DUKES OF DESTINY GIGS www.dukesofdestiny.com 1)Friday, September 5, The Royal Glenside; 1 South Easton Rd; Glenside, PA 19038; Doors 7:30PM; show 8PM; $20 adv-$25 door; https://www.theroyalglenside.com/ This Friday has us back at The Royal, a wonderful listening and dancing room in Glenside. We love this place for its ambiance, its mission, and its staff. Great sound system, space to dance, space to sit and listen, and a great vibe. We are super happy to be back. For info on how to do food and drink go to https://www.theroyalglenside.com/faq BROTHER JOHN-JOHNNY NEVER & JOHN COLGAN-DAVIS ; www.BrotherJohnBlues.com 1)Thursday, September 4 7PM - 10PM Hummingbird to Mars 1930 Speakeasy (ring the bell--it's around back!) W 16th St, Wilmington, DE 9806 http://catherinerooneys.com/hummingbird Reservations recommended 2)Saturday, September 6 8PM Brother John opening for Mikey Junior The Fallser Club 3721 Midvale Ave Philadelphia PA 19129 tickets $20adv; $ 25 door https://thefallserclub.com/ Brother John has two gigs this week. Thursday finds us back at Hummingbird to Mars, one of our favorite spots with great food, wonderful waitstaff, and bartenders who somehow know how to shake the mixed drinks glasses in time to the music. We are regulars here, and we always have a great time. Saturday finds us at the Fallser Club in East Falls opening up for the remarkable Mikey Jr. Again, a new place for Brother John, although I have caught some great shows there. It is a comfortable place with great seats and a great sound system. So we are att wo wonderful places to feed your palette, wet your whistle, and catch some great acoustic blues. Come on out and enjoy. 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, September 14th . 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 (Don’t want to receive any more of these e-mails? Simply reply with “Unsubscribe “in the Subject Line)

School Days Coimnng Sooner

DUKES FANS: “Up in the morning and off to school” Chuck Berry Tuesday I was in town and taking the train home from Center City when I became aware of schoolkids…tons of schoolkids. At 11th and Market Streets there were dozens of kids from the charter schools in that area, and they were laughing, shouting, and being silly. When the 2:52 Chestnut Hill West train pulled into Suburban Station dozens more students piled in, probably from the Masterman School. I was suddenly aware that Philadelphia public schools had started on Tuesday. It is a week before Labor Day, and that start date for school still feels strange to me. I’m an oldster, and I vividly remember when Summer started on Memorial Day and ended on Labor Day. Of course, that wasn’t correct by the calendar, and school was still in session after Memorial Day. But there would be a week of exams or such, moving up days, and graduation. Labor Day BBQ’s and parties meant it was time to get ready to go back to the “real” world, and that is when school would start. But the word has changed, and I need to get used to the new public school calendar. When they first announced changes to the school year, I was upset. I thought it may have been a reaction to and a response to President George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind policies which mandated standardized tests and, to me, led to an over-reliance on teaching to the tests. Bush also advocated longer school years, even asking educators to think about establishing year-round school. However, when I looked into it I found out that I was wrong. There were several factors that figured into the decision, and the most important of them were wonderfully surprising Stakeholders-parents, teachers, custodial staff and more- were consulted in several meetings and surveys, and most of them felt that starting before Labor Day would allow for extended winter breaks and fewer snow days. They also thought it would allow for more recognition of cultural and religious holidays that more truly reflect the diversity of the district’s students and staff. So not only Christian but some Jewish and Muslim holidays are now built into the calendar. Finally, they wanted a full week available at the end of the year to prep for the mandated state tests that have come to matter so much in both student and school lives. The District agreed, and that is the calendar we will have at least for the next two years. The most amazing thing about this for me is that this seems to be an example of an actual government organization working the way we would hope they would. Before instituting a change, they actually consulted all of the people who would be affected by the change, and they actually listened to them. Wow! While I do not approve of everything the School District of Philadelphia does, by any means, this is something that worked the way it should; an agency actually listening to the people involved and affected by a possible change and responding affirmatively to them. This should be a great model for all agencies; our government taking us into consideration and listening to us. What a refreshing happening! And I will get used to seeing more schoolkids on the train the rest of this week. DUKES OF DESTINY GIGS www.dukesofdestiny.com 1)Friday, September 5, The Royal Glenside; 1 South Easton Rd; Glenside, PA 19038; Doors 7:30PM; show 8PM; $20 adv-$25 door; https://www.theroyalglenside.com/ Our September gig has us back at The Royal, a wonderful listening and dancing room in Glenside. We love this place for its ambiance, its mission, and its staff. Great sound system, space to dance, space to sit and listen, and a great vibe. We are super happy to be back. For info on food and drink go to https://www.theroyalglenside.com/faq BROTHER JOHN-JOHNNY NEVER & JOHN COLGAN-DAVIS ; www.BrotherJohnBlues.com 1) Sunday, August 31 1-4PM Lock 29 127 Bridge Street Mont Claire PA 19453 https://www.lock29montclare.com/ 2)Thursday, September 4 7PM - 10PM Hummingbird to Mars 1930 Speakeasy (ring the bell--it's around back!) W 16th St, Wilmington, DE 9806 http://catherinerooneys.com/hummingbird Reservations recommended 3)Saturday, September 6 8PM Brother John opening for Mikey Junior The Fallser Club 3721 Midvale Ave Philadelphia PA 19129 tickets $20adv; $ 25 door https://thefallserclub.com/ Next week finds us in two new places wrapped around an old favorite. Sunday we are making our debut at Lock 29 in Mount Clare, Pa. for a Sunday brunch. We have not played here before, and we are looking forward to it. So come on out and welcome Brother John to this new venue. Saturday finds us at the Fallser Club in East Falls opening up for the remarkable Mikey Jr. Again, a new place for Brother John, although I have caught some great shows there. And Thursday finds us back at Hummingbird to Mars, one of our favorite spots with great food, wonderful waitstaff, and bartenders who somehow know how to shake the mixed drinks glasses in time to the music. Three places to feed your palette, wet your whistle, and catch some great acoustic blues. Come on out. 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, September 14th . 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

H.O.P.E.

DUKES FANS: “HOPE is How One Perceives Everything”- Susan Allenbacak “Hope attracts chances.” —Toba Beta “Music is the Healing Force of The Universe” Saxophonist Albert Ayler “We must accept finite disappointment but never lose infinite hope.” Martin Luther King, Jr. Thinking about Hope I think about “hope” and what it can mean a great deal. To me, it is one of the greatest and most powerful forces in human lives: it allows us to dream, to experience tough times and survive, to leave important legacies, to inspire others, and so much more. I got word recently that one of my favorite musicians, whose whole career is a true embodiment of hope, will be playing Philadelphia in a little over a month, and that reminded me of a piece I wrote about her, the notion of hope, and an exhibit at the Museum of American Visionary Arts in Baltimore way back in 2016. I decided to re-run some of it in an edited form. I hope you do not mind: Wednesday, July 13 my wife and I went to a concert at World Café Live featuring Sharon Katz and the Peace Train. Katz is an amazing guitarist, singer and organizer who is a white South African woman who, in the early 1990’s in apartheid South Africa, put together a 500 member interracial and inter-cultural performance group and did performances of a show called, When Voices Meet. She then became an ambassador for Nelson Mandela, chartering a train and performing When Voices Meet at dozens of places around South Africa, risking jail and possibly death. It was a movement that tied in with the anti-apartheid movement and played an active role in getting people to vote, spread news about health and child welfare, and more. After Mandela’s election Sharon became even more involved in what we would call humanitarian and social justice work, starting music therapy groups, raising money for children displaced by warfare, HIV/AIDS, and bringing stories and songs of peoples’ struggles to places around the world. Over the years this work that has taken her on tours to just about every continent. Her concert last Wednesday featured Peace Train 2016-a multi-cultural group of children from schools across the country singing and dancing to South African tunes and Sharon’s own rhythm-heavy and inspirational compositions. The concert attracted people of all ages, all nationalities and colors. It was a veritable United Nations of joy, happiness, commitment and unity as Sharon and the kids moved together, hand clapped, sang, shouted, and danced their commitment to a world of inclusion and peace. It was also a moving reminder of the central and powerful role music has played throughout history as a unifier and inspiration in movements for social change. We stood, cheered, clapped, cried and left the World Café with a heart full of energy, love, and most importantly, hope. Friday July 15 saw us at one of our favorite spaces, The American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, MD. A museum dedicated to the work of outside artists, this museum is one of the most joyous spaces we have ever visited, filled with color, unique sculptures, vivid drawings and paintings, and thought provoking exhibits organized around wide ranging themes. The current major exhibition is ‘The Big HOPE Show,” a multi-media examination and presentation of thoughts, experiences, and ideas about what hope is, does, can be and enables us to do. From one man’s cartoons and colorful post card illustrations of his years- long medical issues, to paintings and drawings re-examining the myth of Pandora’s Box, this exhibit challenges and involves one directly, calling for honest, emotional responses. There is a video speech by Kevin Briggs, a San Francisco Bay Bridge officer who has talked down some 200 potential suicides from the bridge. He talks about how he tries to listen to the would-be suicides, trying to find places where some little bit of hope still lies within. He then tries to speak to that bit of hope, and for the most part, that has prevented them from taking their own lives. There is also a wonderful video examination of Philadelphia artist Lily Yeh and the work she did in transforming a neighborhood in North Philadelphia with her Village of Arts and Humanities, and how she has since carried that work to places around the world. There is a scrapbook table and exhibit that calls for us to look at our positive memories as a scrapbook of a trip through our lives. And there are paintings that look at the near universal human tendency to look at birds and butterflies as images of hope and prayer. The exhibit was inspiring, and it reminded me of who I am and how much hope is a part of that. As a child of the 1960’s, a son of African-American Southerners who came north and established a household in a Jim Crow world, and as a musician, teacher, and birdwatcher, I am constantly and deeply involved with hope. All of those activities point to a person who engages the world, believes in looking for the positive, imagines what can be, is working in some small way to make what can be possible possible, and who delights in being a human being in this world; the world that is here right now with all of its challenges. And over these past few years, I have needed to take actions that reassert that hope lives deeply within me and that it is one of the things that motivates me; that it is an essential part of who I am. Last week the concert and the museum did that for me in real ways, and I am so grateful. While it may appear to be "hip" and "cool" to be cynical, hope is what provides the fuel for important change. Just look at the Civil Rights Movement, the Gay Rights Movement, and more. We live in a world where hope, joined with persistent and consistent action, has provided important change in the face of incredible odds. We need to remember that and continue to take those actions For many of us these past few weeks have been a hard time. Our screens, TV’s, papers and more have regularly been filled with images, words, and actions reflecting fear, hatred, and anger. Our new technology brought us face to face with some unpleasant things. I have heard many friends and acquaintances mention how scared they are and how unsure they are of where we as a nation are headed. For those of us who are committed to a world of peace, tolerance and diversity, it may seem as if we are farther away from that vision than ever before. Those powerful positive motivators, vision and hope, may seem very, very distant. But experiences such as Sharon’s concert and the Visionary Art Museum’s exhibit are strong reminders that there are plenty of reasons to be positive and plenty of examples of the transformative and positive power of hope being lived and demonstrated all around us. And as Lily Yeh’s life illustrates, there are many people, groups and efforts in the world that are building on that hope and working to bring aspects of it into existence. Fear, despair and conflict drive our media-it is flashy, it delivers viewers for advertisers, and it can even ignite a political movement or two. But it has never produced a way of life or a society that has delivered peace, stability, beauty and tolerance. Never. We need to remember that and to focus instead on hope and to find ways, even small ways, we can be a part of building the world in which we say we want to live. Using that hope to motivate us and then putting effort into manifesting it are the only things that can defeat our fears and help us envision, engage with and build toward the world we want. For I agree with the words of Holocaust survivor, psychologist and philosopher Victor Frankl: “The last of human freedoms is to choose one’s attitude.” I say look up, do not despair. Choose hope, and then work in some small way to make what you are hoping for happen in our world. We must be the world we wish to see and to live in. It starts with us. I say, choose hope. 1) Here is a link to Sharon Katz’s music and work:http://sharonkatz.com/ 2) Kevin Briggs Ted Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/kevin_briggs_the_bridge_between_suicide_and_life/transcript 3)Here is a link to the American Visionary Art Museum. The exhibit, The Big Hope Show, is no longer on the site, but there are other wonderful and inspiring exhibits here: http://www.avam.org/ And if you are ever in Baltimore, visit that museum! 4) If you are interested in getting a list of some organizations that I support and think are doing some important work in building positive things in the face of adversity, please write me.

Unplanned Interactions

DUKES FANS: “ When we live a good life, we are capable of the joys of surprise. But surprise is not going to come up to your door, knock, and ask to be let in. You have to be out in the world and open to it”…. Anonymous This past week has been like an oasis in the desert. The weather has been much more moderate and bearable. The temperatures have been in the 70’s and low 80’s for the most part, and the humidity has been much lower than it had been during the previous weeks. I have been able to breathe, and most enjoyably, been able to enjoy being outdoors in my neighborhood. I have not been out in a leisurely fashion for much of this summer due to the weather, and I have missed the casual joys of neighborhood life. I have lived in my neighborhood for 35 years-almost half of my life. I consider myself extremely lucky to live here in West Mt Airy as there are so many things that I love about this area. For one, I love the houses. There are a lot of rowhouses, but they are wider than the stereotypical narrow ones that fill many Philly neighborhoods, and most of them have porches. They also have some patch of land both in front of and behind them. That means there are plenty of opportunities to see and have interactions with neighbors in unplanned ways. Folks are sitting on their porches and/or working on that plot of land as I walk by, and unplanned interactions take place. Little check-in conversations, talks about trips and activities, what the kids are up to, and more have taken place on just about every street I have been traveling this week. We have two coffeehouses in the neighborhood, and more folks have been sitting outside the shops, enjoying their beverages, sitting with friends and family, and greeting me as I walk by. People have just been out walking-with friends, with kids, and with dogs. And so there have been more chance for unplanned interactions. The hot, humid weather kept a lot of us indoors for a while, as being outdoors was largely miserable. But this week we are all out and about, and the unplanned interactions are plentiful and joyous. So here’s to the possibility of surprise and the unplanned. Indeed, some of the best times in our lives are things we neither plan nor envision. And in this weather, it is much easier to encounter those surprises. Enjoy being out and about.

The Parkway and Memory

DUKES FANS: “If you stay in one place for a long time and don’t die, your past will come back to visit you in different ways” John C-D As folks who have read the last of these missives know, I do not like hot and humid weather. The heat just saps my energy, and the humidity makes it hard to breathe and move around. Add in the thunderstorms, the flash floods, and the tornado warnings, the past few weeks have been weeks I definitely have not enjoyed. That is why this week has been so special. Cooler temps, much lower humidity, gentle breezes, and gorgeous clouds in the sky-Ahhhhh. I welcomed it and decided to do one of my favorite things; spend some time in Center City and visit the Ben Franklin Parkway. The Parkway is one of my favorite things in Philly design and architecture. It is a glorious diagonal that starts at City Hall and cuts its way down to the Art Museum. I used to love when my parents drove us on it when I was a kid. Looking from side to side out the car window and seeing the hotels, the Free Library, The Franklin Institute, and the statues was exciting to me. And when I went to Masterman Jr High School at 17th and Spring Garden, I regularly spent time going to the main branch of the Free Library just off the Parkway, and then walking along it up to City Hall. I visited the library again on Monday, and as I was walking towards it, I realized it had been months since I had last traveled that road. So I walked steadily, looking at the people on the benches and all of the buildings, including my long-time place of employment at 17th Street. And I loved viewing the gorgeous skies over the trees and over the Art Museum as I walked. It was a walk both in the present and back into my past. The Main Branch of the Philadelphia Free Library at 19th and Vine is one of my all-time sacred places. I love the design of the building; it is grand and built to look like a mythic temple. And to me it is a temple, one dedicated to learning, information, questioning, and thinking. I spent time in the main lending room on the first floor, of course, as I wanted to borrow a couple of books by two of my favorite authors. But I also wanted to revisit some of the places that have been so important to me over the years as bota curious person and teacher. I revisited the map room, the Social Science and History room, the music room, the walls outside the Children’s section filled with art by children, and the first floor special exhibition cases which houses changing displays of work by various authors and artists The current exhibit features works by Ellen Powell Tiberino, an incredible and intense local artist whose work I have always loved. Her pencil works and portraits are incredibly moving. The past coming back again, she and her husband, Joe, used to run Bacchanal, a great funky nightspot at 13th and South where I first heard and met many musicians with whom I am still friendly. The past coming back, indeed. Finally, I left the library and headed to Sister Cities Café at 18th and the Parkway. Sister Cities is a mini-park area with mini-sculptures, geyser fountains, and a wading pool for kids, and it was wonderful drinking coffee and eating a croissant at the café and watching parents and kids playing in the pool and using the Discovery Garden. It was a perfect end to a great day of re-discovery. I know we are in for another heat wave this weekend into next week, so I won’t be getting back downtown for a while. But I would love to return and re-visit the Rittenhouse Square area, site of so much of my early musical experiences, and the Franklin Square area, where I explored so much of early American history both as a learner and as a teacher. I love all that there is to see and experience in Philly, and I am glad I can still get to so much of it. And if you are interested, here is some info on the main branch of the Free Library and Sister Cities Park .I hope you can get to visit both places. (https://libwww.freelibrary.org/locations/parkway-central-library) (https://www.visitphilly.com/things-to-do/attractions/sister-cities-park/ ) Dukes of Destiny gigs (www.dukesofdestiny.com ) 1) 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 2)Tuesday, August 19: Seger Playground 1002 Lombard St; Phila. PA; 5:30PM-7:30PM; https://segerpark.org/ 3)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 that 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.BrotherJohnBlues.com 1)Friday, July 25; 7-10PM Letty’sTavern; 201 State Street; Kennett Square PA 19348 https://www.lettystavern.com 2)Saturday, July 26; 7--10:00PM Braeloch Brewing; 225 Birch Street; Kennett Square PA https://braelochbrewing.beer 3)Saturday, August 2 7PM - 10PM Hummingbird to Mars-a 1930 Speakeasy (ring the bell); W 16th St, Wilmington, DE 19806 http://catherinerooneys.com/hummingbird Reservations recommended 4)Friday, August 8; 8-11PM;Triple Sun Distiller;126 South State Street;Newtown, PA 18940; Phone: (215) 944-3057 5)Saturday, August 9; 3:45 PM; Kennett Square Roots and Blues Festival; Anson B Nixon Memorial Park405 N. Walnut Street; Kennett Square PA;tickets $27.50-$150 https://www.ansonbnixonpark.org/events/2024-roots-blues-festival The end of July into August is a time for some great return gigs for Brother John. This weekend finds us at two places in Kennett Square that we have been playing for a while. like. Letty’s is a great casual restaurant with a friendly staff and bartenders and a good unique menu. Braeloch is a brewery/sports bar with craft brews, good pub food, and a lovely outdoor space with a little playground for kids. Next week we return to the Hummingbird, a unique place with great period décor, a great staff and bartender, and wonderful food. The week after that we return to Triple Sun, a craft distillery in the beautiful town of Newtown with a variety of handcrafted drinks and delicious French and Cajun inspired food. Last but not least, we are happy to be back at The Kennett Roots and Blues Fest in Anson Nixon Park on a bill that includes James Day, Stevie and The Bluescasters, Mikey Jr, The Dukes, and more. So it is a busy next three weeks for Brother John. We do hope to see you at at least one of our upcoming gigs. BTW: Thank you for all of you who made it out to our CD release party last week at Steel City. It was a great crowd, we sold a number of CD’s, and we had a ball. we are proud of the Black Crow CD, but it is and was an expensive process. We have set up a Go Fund Me page to help cover the cost. Anything you can give will be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much. 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

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

George Carlin's Thoughts On The United States

DUKES FANS: One of the things I love about doing these newsletters is the responses and conversations some of them lead to from Dukes fans from various places. This week’s newsletter features a piece by one of my favorite comedians and social observers, George Carlin. It was sent to me by Kim, a longtime Dukes fan. Thanks, Kim, for allowing me to send this out to everyone on the mailing list. A Message by George Carlin. The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways , but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses, smaller families and more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness. We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom. We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things. We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less. These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships.. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete... Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever. Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side. Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent. Remember, to say, 'I love you' to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you. Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment, for someday that person will not be there again. Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind. AND ALWAYS REMEMBER: Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. If you don't send this to at least 8 people....Who cares? George Carlin (Apologies for the length-I think)