• Commonplaces
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sergneri

Commonplaces

Aide-Memoire

Faits Divers

Things that happen

Milford Graves, Singular Drummer and Polymath, Dies at 79

February 20, 2021 by sergneri Leave a Comment

From the New York Times on 02/19/2021, Milford Graves, Singular Drummer and Polymath, Dies at 79. His free-jazz drumming style was unlike anything heard before, but his explorations and inventions went far beyond music. By Giovanni Russonello Lest we forget, or discover somthing new …

Posted in: Ethical and green living, Faits Divers, Modern Music, Obituaries, Science, Thinking about Tagged: acupuncturist, Afro-Latin, botanist, college professor, drummer, human heartbeat, impresario, inventor., jazz, martial artist, polyrhythms, student, visual artist

Johnny Pacheco Dies at 85

February 15, 2021 by sergneri Leave a Comment

From the New York Times: Johnny Pacheco, Who Helped Bring Salsa to the World, Dies at 85 A Dominican-born bandleader and songwriter, he co-founded Fania Records, known as the Motown of Salsa.

Posted in: Faits Divers, Obituaries, Racism, Sea Stories, Thinking about Tagged: Afro-Cuban, Afro-Cuban music, blues, Celia Cruz, Cuban son, Cuqui, Emusica, Fania Records, funk, Hector Lavoe, jazz, Johnny Pacheco, Latin music, Maria Elena Pacheco, music, rhythm, Rubén Blades, salsa, son Cubano, Willie Colón

S. Clay Wilson, Taboo-Breaking Underground Cartoonist, Dies at 79

February 11, 2021 by sergneri Leave a Comment

His drawings were so outrageous that, on first encountering them, his fellow cartoonist R. Crumb recalled feeling that “suddenly my own work seemed insipid.” . A NYT obituary of S. Clay Wilson . . Hucklecatt Hawaii 1h ago Sitting in the upstairs rooms of Peter Rich’s “Velo Sport” shop in Berkeley doing windowpane and reading … [Read more…]

Posted in: California History, Faits Divers, Obituaries, Politics, Racism, Sea Stories, Thinking about Tagged: Arcade, Art Spiegelman, Bent, Bill Griffith, Captain Pissgums and his Pervert Pirates, Jack Kirby, Jay Kinney, Ruby the Dyke, S. Clay Wilson, The Berkeley Barb, the Checkered Demon, the Hog Riding Fools, The Realist, underground cartoonist, Victor Moscoso, Wally Wood, William S. Burroughs, Zap Comix

A Century Ago, White Protestant Extremism Marched on Washington

February 7, 2021 by sergneri Leave a Comment

From the Feb. 7, 2021 New York Times: Kelly J. Baker is a writer and scholar of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s. She sees frightening similarities between that culture and the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6. A most interesting essay showing how things have not changed in ~100 years, the rhetoric … [Read more…]

Posted in: Faits Divers, Politics, Racism, Thinking about, Trump Tagged: 1920, American history, anti-immigrant, Catholic immigrants, evangelical movement, extremism, immigrants, Jewish immigrants, Klansmen, misogynistic, Protestant Christianity, The Klan, Trump, White Christianity, white supremacist

What if … A Perfect CME Hit Earth?

January 27, 2021 by sergneri Leave a Comment

On spaceweather.com, a summary of a new paper answering the question: What if … A Perfect CME Hit Earth? is discussed. coronal mass ejection (CME):

Posted in: Ethical and green living, Faits Divers, Future of Work, IT Failures, Politics, Science, Thinking about Tagged: Carrington Event, CME, coronal mass ejection, GPS, Hydro-Quebec power grid, May 1921 railroad storm, Power grid, SOHO, Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, solar storm, Space Weather

Sharon Begley

January 24, 2021 by sergneri 1 Comment

From the New York Times obits: Sharon Begley, a Top Science Journalist, Is Dead at 64 Long at Newsweek, she was regarded as one of her generation’s pre-eminent science writers. An “Enlightenment-era figure,” Jon Meacham said. … Dr. Francis S. Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, wrote on Twitter that Ms. Begley would … [Read more…]

Posted in: Climate Change, Ethical and green living, Faits Divers, Feminism, Future of Work, IT Failures, Obituaries, Pandemic, Politics, Racism, Science, Sea Stories, Thinking about Tagged: Journalism, Journalist, New York Times, Newsweek, STAT, Wall Street Journal

“…the worst thing that an American president could ever do.”

January 22, 2021 by sergneri Leave a Comment

The Atlantic’s Peter Nicholas writes in “What I Saw at the White House on Trump’s Last Day” “This is the only president in American history who incited an insurrection against Congress that could have resulted in assassinations and hostage-taking and, conceivably, the cancellation of a free presidential election and the fracturing of a democracy,” Michael … [Read more…]

Posted in: Faits Divers, Politics, Thinking about, This Day in History, Trump Tagged: Donald Trump, insurrection

‘Destructive madness’ – SWISSINFO on 01/06/2021

January 8, 2021 by sergneri Leave a Comment

Over at SWISSINFO is a telling summary of the Swiss newspaper editorials concerning the mob at the US Capitol on 01/06/2021: Swiss Perspectives The Tages-Anzeiger said: “If there’s one positive aspect to the storming of Congress, it’s that whoever still goes along with Trump’s insanity will now go down with him. In that respect, the … [Read more…]

Posted in: Faits Divers, Pandemic, Politics, Thinking about, This Day in History, Trump Tagged: Blick, democracy, Donald Trump, Le Temps, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, NZZ, Swiss papers, Tages-Anzeiger, US Capitol riot

Migrant Farm workers, 1940 California

January 1, 2021 by sergneri 1 Comment

Geyserville Press 5 January 1940 The FARMERS CORNER by RALPH H TAYLOR – Sec. Agricultural Legislative Committee of California California’s battle to escape being known the world over as the promised land of the migrant worker is still far from won. Wheezing relics of the nation’s second-hand car lots—the drab “covered wagons” of the victims … [Read more…]

Posted in: California History, California Newspaper Archive, Faits Divers, Politics, Thinking about Tagged: Arkansas, California, cotton picker, depression, drought, hoping for work, labor, migrants, Oklahoma, Texas

John Outterbridge, Who Turned Castoffs Into Sculpture, Dies at 87

January 1, 2021 by sergneri Leave a Comment

An obituary from the New York Times. LOS ANGELES — John Outterbridge, a Los Angeles cultural leader and artist who made powerful sculptures from what is usually dismissed as junk or castoffs — a means of exploring loaded social issues as well as celebrating a history of African-American resourcefulness — died here on Nov. 12. … [Read more…]

Posted in: Faits Divers, Obituaries, Racism, Thinking about Tagged: African-American, arts educator, assemblage, Compton, Compton Communicative Arts Academy, Containment, John Outterbridge, Los Angeles, Mark di Suvero, Pasadena Art Museum, rags, rusted metal, Sculpture, Simon Rodia, Watts Towers, Watts Towers Arts Center, wood
« Previous 1 … 13 14 15 … 42 Next »

Copyright © 2026 Commonplaces.

Omega WordPress Theme by ThemeHall