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Joe Wilder: Gentleman of Jazz

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Joe Wilder was not only a magnificent trumpet player but a gentleman according to all who knew him. I had the privilege of presenting him and saxophonist Marshal Royal along with a local rhythm section composed of Mike Wofford, Bob Magnusson and Roy McCurdy at the Lyceum Theatre in 1990 under the auspices of the San Diego Jazz Society. A CD was made of the performance which, unfortunately, is out of print. Joe helped to break down racial barriers on Broadway, radio, television and in classical music.

Wilder’s sense of propriety was legendary. When Wilder was in Lionel Hampton’s orchestra in the early 1940s, fellow band members used to offer him a $10 bill if he would simply utter one four-letter word. Wilder never collected! A soft-spoken and stately man, he never appeared in public without a tie. He was a non-smoker and non-drinker. He was as impeccable in his playing as he was in his personal life. Classically trained, he had to face the reality that no African-Americans were being hired for symphony jobs in the 1930s and 40s. After auditions for symphony jobs, they were told, “Don’t call us; we’ll call you.”   [Read more…]

The March for People’s Park – Memorial Day 1969

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From the San Diego Free Press 1969 /Transcribed by John Lawrence

As noon approached, people prepared to march. There was a hint of danger in the air. People prepared themselves accordingly. Some had moist rags in plastic bags. Others had gas masks on. No one seemed prepared to withstand the buckshot Madigan had promised.

Brothers and sisters were there from all over the U.S. and abroad. San Diego was well represented with people from San Diego State, Mesa College and UCSD. People gathered under placards representing the places they were from to show their solidarity with Berkeley.   [Read more…]

Hedge Fund Billionaire Paul Singer Makes Argentina Cry For Itself

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Argentina is the latest country to suffer at the hands of US vultures. Paul Singer of the Elliott Management hedge fund will reap a huge sum based on his purchase of Argentinian bonds in 2001. His firm has about 300 employees, yet it has managed to force Argentina, a nation of 41 million people, to its knees.

Hedge funds like Singer’s play a big part in the financialization of the global economy, making money off of money with no productive labor involved. They are making the inequality gap between the wealthy, the 1%, and the rest of us, the 99%, even bigger. Singer’s money will be deposited into the account of one of his subsidiaries in the Cayman Islands, a tax-free jurisdiction, which means he will pay no US taxes on his windfall.   [Read more…]

Extreme Weather Watch: February 2016 – Tornadoes Devastate South, West Sets Heat Records

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At least seven people died when more than 50 tornadoes swept across parts of the south and eastern United States in late February. The extreme weather destroyed hundreds of homes and forced the closure of schools and government offices. At least four people died in Virginia, including a two-year-old boy. One witness said that the destruction in the small town of Waverly was “completely devastating.” Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency. Scientists have linked an increase in the intensity and deadliness of tornadoes to climate change.   [Read more…]

Americans Are Being Screwed by Drug Companies

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And It’s Not Obamacare’s Fault

You can blame lobbyists from the health insurance and pharmaceutical industry in conjunction with Republican lawmakers who lobbied the Affordable Care Act to death making it in the long run unaffordable and probably untenable. Why? Because there are no cost containment features in the Act. None. Nada. Zippo.

What that means is that the drug companies can raise the prices of drugs 5000% like Martin Shkreli of Turing Pharmaceuticals did for Daraprim without breaking the law. Shkreli’s arrogance, the latest example of which is calling the Congressmen who interrogated him “imbeciles”, has gotten him into much trouble but not for raising the price of a life-saving drug 5000%.   [Read more…]

I Don’t Mourn Scalia’s Passing

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The man who gave us Citizens United and Bush vs Gore is gone from the face of the earth. I for one do not mourn his passing. His decisions have not only contributed to the destruction of the US, but major portions of the world as well, and he was set to destroy the world consensus on climate change which would have destroyed the entire planet.

It was Scalia who said that unlimited corporate campaign spending is something “we should celebrate rather than condemn,” (Citizens United), that vote-counting should be halted for causing “irreparable harm” to the candidate who might lose as a result (Bush v. Gore), that protecting the right to vote is an odious example of “racial entitlements” (comments related to Shelby County v. Holder), and that allowing local anti-discrimination laws to protect gays and lesbians amounts to “special treatment of homosexuals” (Romer v. Evans), the 5-4 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, which held for the first time that the Second Amendment protected an individual’s right to bear arms just to name a few of the highlights of his ignominious career.   [Read more…]

Fray Serra o Capitan Frémont

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Part Six of Six*, with translation. Source: History of San Diego by William E Smythe. All quotes are from this book.

Transcribed by John Lawrence / From the original San Diego Free Press, circa 1969.

Las festividades del se gundo centenario de California se iniciaron en la ciudad de San Diego con toda la pompa y alboroto disponibles. El proposito de dichas festividades se supone que es el de con memorar la fundacion de California en San Diego. Aquel historico evento fue efectuado por Fray Junípero en 1769.   [Read more…]

The Face of Homelessness in San Diego – Part 2

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I met Suzie at Panera Bread in Liberty Station. She is homeless but not vehicle-less. She used to have a nice home in Point Loma, had lived in the Point Loma – Ocean Beach area for years. She has been homeless since last April when her boyfriend kicked her out of his apartment. When that happened, she got on Craigslist and bought an RV. There are many levels and degrees of homelessness, and Suzie is on one of the better off levels. Some homeless persons live on boats in the harbor. So for some, homelessness verges on an alternative lifestyle, the key being whether or not they are forced into the situation or whether their situation is freely chosen.

Suzie grew up in Tennessee in a fairly affluent home. Her father and mother were both college graduates – he an electrical engineer, she a nurse. Her grandmothers were both nurses. Suzie is the second oldest of 5 siblings; she’s 59.She went to college in Dalton, Georgia and became a nurse graduating in 1984. Although she hasn’t worked in 5 years due to health problems, she still considers herself a nurse, keeping her registration current, taking classes, reading articles and helping people when she can.   [Read more…]

Paradise Relost

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Part Five of Seven. Source: History of San Diego by William E Smythe. All quotes are from this book.

By John Lawrence / From the original San Diego Free Press, circa 1969.

After the first Indian uprising in 1775, the Spanish priests and soldiers rebuilt the mission and settled down to long decades of virtually unchallenged power. For approximately the next 75 years, San Diego was under Mission rule. The Spanish imperialists seemed to have found the solution to the “Indian problem” as we would say today.

The missionaries were so intent on “saving” the Indians that they would stop at nothing to further this goal. We quote Smythe: “Neither is there any doubt of the earnestness of the missionaries in bringing souls to Christ. They were so deeply in earnest that they did not hesitate to employ the military arm as a means of forcible conversion. There is reason to believe that whole villages were sometimes surrounded and their inhabitants driven to missions.”   [Read more…]

Chargers Dilemma: After Screwing the Fans, Now They Want Them Back

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(At Least For a Year)

The Romans used to provide Bread and Circuses for their populace to keep them pacified. Nothing much has changed in 2000 years. The San Diego Chargers want taxpayers to spend $350 million to buy them a new Colosseum. And they’re not really even the San Diego Chargers. They are the Dean Spanos Chargers. He owns them. The players should all be wearing “Dean Spanos Chargers” on their shirts. The Chargers merchandise should all bear his name. As we’ve seen recently, the Chargers would think nothing of “Bolt”ing to Los Angeles if the grass were greener there. But their quest for a shiny new stadium in another locale has been stymied at least temporarily.

The only team that can rightfully be called by a city’s name is the Green Bay Packers. Although not exactly owned by the City of Green Bay, the Packers have been a publicly owned, non-profit corporation since August 18, 1923. Close enough. If the Mayor wants the Chargers to stay in San Diego (that’s questionable after Spanos’ quasi-betrayal), why doesn’t he offer to have the city buy the team? Oops. That’s not possible because NFL rules forbid it. They even made an exception for Green Bay.

But seriously, folks, wouldn’t it warm the cockles of your collective hearts more if San Diego made the decision to forego professional, concussion-inducing (look what happened to hometown hero Junior Seau) NFL football whose goal is to pad the pockets of billionaires and instead spend that money solving the homeless problem and repairing infrastructure in order to indeed become a world class city? Or would it diminish your civic pride to not be able to tune into the “Dean Spanos Chargers” on TV and brag about what a great place San Diego is to live although you have to step over the homeless on your way to the game. Would you be crestfallen if you could not rent or own a skybox in a brand new multibillion-dollar Colosseum?   [Read more…]

Reds Liberate Mission

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Part Four of Seven. Source: History of San Diego by William E. Smythe. All quotes are from this book.

By John Lawrence / From the original San Diego Free Press, circa 1969.

During the years 1770- 1775 the San Diego Mission, newly transplanted from Old Town to its present location in Mission Valley, managed to survive. The priests even managed to convert a few Indians.

Of course the techniques of conversion were not always the most “Christian.” Whereas Christ fed the multitudes and advocated no-strings-attached giving to the needy, the Spanish priests modified that scheme as the following quote from Smythe shows: “Those who had accepted the new faith had been clothed and fed, while those who rejected the faith had been let alone.” Nice guys, the priests: bribery was for them an acceptable method of religious inducement.

After 5 Years of this treatment, the Indians had had enough. They decided to revolt against the Spanish settlement which had imposed itself on their homeland. The first Indian uprising was on November 4, 1775, a date that should be celebrated by the people of San Diego as it marked the initiation of the people’s struggle for liberation which is still being waged today, 200 years later.   [Read more…]

The Face of Homelessness in San Diego

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I met a homeless woman at a coffee shop in downtown San Diego. She had emailed me to correct a few points in a previous article I had written about the homeless. Her name is Jingles, not her real name, of course. That’s the name she goes by downtown. She’s tough, savvy, intelligent, resourceful, wise to the ways of the street. She is 55 years old with several health related problems and three small dogs. One of them is 20 years old and won’t be with her much longer. The three dogs prevent her from being taken in by a shelter, but she won’t give them up, and I don’t blame her. They are the best friends she has.

Her cell phone is her lifeline to the outside world and is what lets her know what’s going on out there. That’s how she was able to read the San Diego Free Press and then email me. It’s also a lifeline to 911 in case of a heart attack or other severe medical problems. Several of her cell phones have been stolen; then she has to start all over again spending money she doesn’t have.

She suffers from a variety of ailments including fibromyalgia, arthritis, manic depression, COPD, anxiety disorders and PTSD from living on the streets. She had a heart attack three years ago. She gets General Relief (GR). She has three GR workers who deal with various aspects of her case.   [Read more…]

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