Author: chimesfreedom

Editor-in-chief, New York.

The Sky is Deep Black: RIP Neil Armstrong

first on the moon Neil Armstrong Neil Armstrong, the first human to step on the moon, passed away on August 25, 2012 at the age of 82. After having traveled so far, Armstrong died in the same state where he was born, Ohio.

Armstrong accomplished one of the great feats of the twentieth century with Apollo 11 landing on the moon.  The mission also included Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins.

Choice for Apollo 11 and Famous Words

Although it was not revealed at the time, NASA chose Armstrong for the honor of being the one to take the first human step on the moon that July 20, 1969 because his stoic and ego-less personality would make him a good heroic representative for NASA.

Armstrong later explained that his famous words that accompanied his step off the ladder onto the moon’s surface at 10:56:15 p.m. Eastern time came to him only after he and Aldrin had landed on the moon. To this day there is still some debate about whether he misspoke or whether the transmission omitted a key word.

What the world heard, and what was conveyed by reporters at the time, was, “That’s one small step for man, One giant leap for mankind.” Because “man” can also mean “mankind,” the correct quote would have been “one small step for [a] man.” Subsequent studies of the transmission seem to reveal that the reporters were right that the “a” was missing. Armstrong later explained that he wished history would remember the quote with the “a” in parenthesis.

After Apollo 11

Apollo 11 Insignia For someone with such an achievement, Armstrong lived mostly out of the public eye after the moon landing. After working at NASA for a few more years, he joined the engineering faculty at the University of Cincinnati, later resigning in 1979 to pursue a career in business.

Armstrong did not say much publicly about his thoughts about the historic trip to the moon.  He believed he should not get so much attention when his trip to the moon was such a team effort.

But in this BBC interview from 1970, Armstrong talks about the view from space and from the moon, describing the “deep black” sky.

It this day of modern celebrity where so many people are famous for just being famous, it is amazing that someone with such an accomplishment could walk down the street in his later years without anyone recognizing him or approaching him. Well, unless he happened to be walking down the street next to a Kardashian.

RIP Commander Armstrong.

  • Apollo 11 Lands On the Moon
  • The Scene in “The Right Stuff” That Makes You Love John Glenn
  • Astronauts on Space
  • Mars is Now Streaming Live
  • Hail Atlantis!
  • Carl Sagan on the Pale Blue Dot

    • (Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

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    Eddie Vedder Joins Tom Petty for “The Waiting”

    eddie vedder and tom petty
    We looked back at another Tom Petty song recently, so let us revisit another old Petty classic with a new lead singer. In Amsterdam recently, Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder joined Petty and the Heartbreakers on stage to sing “The Waiting.” Petty focuses on his guitar playing to let Vedder sing the 1981 song. Check it out.

    The performance is from 24 June 2012 at Music Hall.

    Who would you like to hear sing with Tom Petty? Leave your two cents in the comments.

  • “Falling Slowly” by Glen Hansard and . . . Eddie Vedder (Duet of the Day)
  • Jackson Browne Covers Tom Petty’s “The Waiting”
  • Performance of the Day: “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”
  • October 1992: They Were So Much Older Then
  • Springsteen and Vedder Sing “Bobby Jean”
  • “Stay With Me” Because “I Won’t Back Down”

    • (Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

    The Killing of “Two Good Men”

    Sacco and VanzettiOn August 23, 1927, Massachusetts executed Ferdinando Nicola Sacco and Bartolemeo Vanzetti. The two admitted anarchists were Italian immigrants executed for the 1921 murder of a person during an armed robbery of a shoe company paymaster.

    The Trial and Execution of Sacco and Vanzetti

    The fish-peddler and shoemaker had no prior criminal record when they were arrested for the murder.  But they were prosecuted during a period of anti-immigrant and anti-radical sentiment, and many aspects of their trial were unfair.

    The judge overseeing the proceedings saw the two men as “anarchist bastards,” but others rallied in support of the accused. At the time of their execution, protests were held at many places around the U.S.

    Many still believe to this day that the two men were innocent of the crime.  Also, there have been recent arguments that only Vanzetti was innocent. There is a Sacco and Vanzetti Commemoration Society that works to keep the case in the public eye, and there is an exhibit about the case at the courthouse in Massachusetts.

    Woody Guthrie and “Two Good Men”

    Many years after the execution of Sacco and Vanzetti, folk-singer Woody Guthrie found some kinship in the plight of the two men. In the mid-1940s, he worked on a project of several songs about Sacco and Vanzetti to tell their story.

    One of the songs in the cycle is “Two Good Men.”

    Like Guthrie’s song about “Tom Joad,” which we discussed previously, “Two Good Men” is a story song.  “Two Good Men” focuses on the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti. Although the song is not as complete and detailed as “Tom Joad,” it contains many details.

    Some of the details in the song include the names of the judge (Webster Thayer) and the people who prosecuted the two men: “I’ll tell you the prosecutors’ names,/ Katsman, Adams, Williams, Kane.”

    In addition to the details of the case, in “Two God Men” Guthrie also focuses on connecting the execution to the labor movement of his day:

    All you people ought to be like me,
    And work like Sacco and Vanzetti;
    And every day find some ways to fight
    On the union side for workers’ rights.

    Supposedly, Guthrie was unsatisfied with his cycle of songs about Sacco and Vanzetti. Eventually, he gave up on the project.

    Fortunately Guthrie’s songs about Sacco and Vanzetti were not lost.  The founder of Folkway Records Moe Asch, who had commissioned the songs, went ahead and released the unfinished product.

    Guthrie was probably right that “Two Good Men” and the other songs did not live up to his best work. I prefer folksinger Charlie King’s song about Sacco and Vanzetti with a similar name, “Two Good Arms.” But Guthrie also was right that we should continue to remember and fight against injustices.

    {Woody at 100 is our continuing series celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the birth of American singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie on July 14, 1912. Check out our other posts on Guthrie and the Woody Guthrie Centennial too. }

    Photo via public domain.

    What do you think of “Two Good Men”? Leave your two cents in the comments.

  • “Nebraska” and the Death Penalty
  • The Execution of Sacco and Vanzetti: Two Good Arms
  • Dylan’s “Julius & Ethel”
  • The Journey of “Hang Me, Oh Hang Me” From the Scaffold to the Screen
  • The End of Maryland’s Death Penalty and “Green, Green Grass of Home”
  • Bono and Glen Hansard: The Auld Triangle

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    Magnavox Odyssey Video Game Released August 1972

    As a kid, I was lucky to get to play the first commercial home video game console, the Magnavox Odyssey. The game is pretty primitive by today’s standards . . . .

    magnavox odyssey

    Magnavox Odyssey, the world’s first commercial home video game console, was released more than four decades ago in August 1972. The game console preceded Atari’s Pong consoles by three years.

    I remember as a kid getting Magnavox Odyssey for Christmas that year.  My sister and I spent hours playing it.

    It is funny now to think how primitive the game was compared to what we have today.  You had to tape the layout screens to your TV screen, otherwise it just looked like a few white dots on your screen.

    The table tennis and tennis games worked pretty well.  After you hit the “ball,” you then were able to control it. I mean you could control it as much as anything else. The paddles were controlled with one knob for vertical movement and one knob for horizontal movement. And there was a separate knob to control the “ball.”

    Oh, and there was no sound.  And you had to keep score in your head or on paper.

    Some of the other games did not work so well.  We never got the add-on rifle, but the games were fun to play.

    We never advanced to getting an Atari as many of my friends did.  It would be many years before I owned another video game system.  But in 1972, it was fun being on the cutting edge for a short time with the Magnavox Odyssey.

    For you kids out there who do not know how good you have it, check out this commercials for the Magnavox Odyssey.

    For even more details about the game system, including how it was hooked up to your TV in those days, this promotional video goes into more depth.

    Several websites have more detailed information about the history of the Magnavox Odyssey, such as on PongStory.com, GiantBomb, and RalphBaer.com (by the designer of the game).

    Finally, a video by the Angry Video Game Nerd does a good job of illustrating how you played several of the games on the Odyssey (but it is not for those who do not like swearing or poop humor).

    What was your first video game? Leave your two cents in the comments.

    Buy from Amazon

  • Shawshank Redemption, The 8-Bit Video Game

    • Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair

    scott mckenzie san francisco Scott McKenzie, who sang “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair),” passed away on August 18, 2012. McKenzie, who was 73, had been living with Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a disease that affects the nervous system.

    McKenzie’s most famous song as a singer was “San Francisco,” which was released in May 1967 in honor of the upcoming Monterey Pop Festival.  The song and became an instant hit.

    John Phillips of The Mamas & the Papas wrote the song, but McKenzie had inspired him to write it.  Phillips and McKenzie had been childhood friends and played music together.  McKenzie, who was born Philip Wallach Blondheim III on January 10, 1939, got his stage name after John Phillips’ daughter, the future actress Mackenzie Phillips.

    As Monterey was preparing for the festival and concerned about the large crowds, the song was written as a plea to make the event a peaceful one.  Ultimately, the event was both peaceful and successful.

    The song, of course became a song for a generation and went far beyond that festival. Wikipedia notes that the song became an anthem for young people during Czechoslovakia’s 1968 Prague Spring uprising. The song has appeared in movies such as Forrest Gump (1994) and has been covered by a number of artists.

    Note that the song subtitle “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in your Hair)” differs from the line used in the song, “Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair.”

    McKenzie’s Life After “San Francisco”

    McKenzie’s website states that after the song was a hit, “Scott ‘dropped out’ in the late 60’s. In 1970 he moved to Joshua Tree, a California desert town near Palm Springs.”

    He then lived in Virginia Beach, Virginia for a decade before touring as part of The Mamas & the Papas into the 1990s. In 1988, he co-wrote the Beach Boys hit “Kokomo” with John Phillips, Mike Love and Terry Melcher.

    McKenzie performed off and on until recently, and he recorded “Gone to Sea” in 2009. He had been in and out of the hospital since 2010 and he likely had a heart attack earlier this month. He asked to leave the hospital and died at home . . . in another California city, Los Angeles.

    RIP.

  • What Are The Mamas & the Papas Singing About in “Creeque Alley”?
  • Everyone Needs a Little Extra “Love And Mercy” Now
  • “Shannon”: Henry Gross, Sha Na Na, and a Beach Boys Dog
  • Was Kurt Russell’s Voice in “Forrest Gump” as Elvis Presley?
  • How Camera Movement Dramatizes Speech In Cinema
  • Brian Wilson’s Life in “Love & Mercy” (Short Review)

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