After the Mustang Forest… we got the Mustang Ranch, and it can be yours for $700.000 (well if it ain’t sold already that is).

It’s a shame to see such a collection of fine cars rot away, anyway here’s the story on how it was discovered by a reader of Jalopnik:

“I have just returned from a vacation somewhere tropical. On the way back form a day excursion I chose an alternate way back to the highway. Ok, I made wrong turn somewhere and rolled with it. This "scenic route" brought us upon what was recorded by these images. It was my wife who first saw them. "Oh look, Mustangs!" I turned my head in time to see a metric shitload of vintage ponies. I immediately turned around and pulled into the driveway. There was a gentleman in the yard who turned out to be the caretaker for the owner of the house/treasure trove. It turns out that the guy who collected all these cars recently succumbed to cancer and his wife wants all these pretty ponies sold en masse for what is by local standards the princely sum of $700 large (I think there plenty of room for negotiation here).”

More images on Jalopnik.

I always had a thing for people born in that year. Since ever! I don’t know why, but my history of crushes, relationships and conquests had a good number of people born in that year. Something rings in me whenever i learn that a certain somebody got born in 1967. Some 7 years older than me. Strange.

Melomanos en la onda de cantantes argentinos como LEONARDO FAVIO, SANDRO, LEO DAN, JAIRO, PALITO ORTEGA Y OTROS, les coloco un long play de JULIO CESAR EUGENIO, conocido artísticamente como YACO MONTI y con su primer larga duración donde esta el tema ganador del FESTIVAL DE LA CANCION LATINOAMERICANA DEL URUGUAY, SIEMPRE TE RECORDARE. Los temas que escucharan son:

1. SIEMPRE TE RECORDARE- DE YACO MONTI Y DINO RAMOS EL MISMO DE LA NAVE DEL OLVIDO
2. SI ALGUIEN ME ESPERA
3. JUDITH
4. DETRÁS DE MI SONRISA
5. LAGRIMAS PARA UN RECUERDO
6. AMOR DESESPERADO
7. MI ESPERA
8. VOLVERE A SAN LUIS- SAN LUIS QUEDA EN ARGENTINA Y ES DONDE NACIO  ESTE CANTANTE
9. LO QUE TE QUEDA
10. LAS HOJAS MUERTAS- EL TEMA FRANCES VERSIONADO POR MONTI
11. LA CARTITA
12. UN DOLOR DE ADIOS

Como dato curioso, tuvo la oportunidad de viajar a Paris y grabar un  disco con el gran FRANCK POURCEL y tanto gusto que le dieron la oportunidad de cantar en francés.

Disfrútenlo…

Create a playlist at MixPod.com

The Shaya family in their Jaffa home

Despite this blog’s title, this post is on something you can read about in Haaretz. I do add some analysis and access to additional materials, but the primary reason for the divergence is emotional. Not only is this a story of extraordinary injustice, it is also about the family of a friend and colleague, Mary Koussa.

You can read the entire saga of the Shaya family in this Haaretz article, but the gist is fairly simple. In the 1920’s, Salim Khoury Shaya, head of Jaffa’s once prosperous Greek Orthodox Palestinian community, built a house for his family. He had seven children. In 1948, a census was taken of the remnants of Jaffa’s Palestinian community. Empty houses were taken over by the State of Israel, according to the Absentee Property Law (more about that at the bottom of this post). The Shaya house was a unique case. Three of the siblings were absent (in Lebanon), but four were present. So the State proclaimed itself “partner” and legally took over 40% of the house.

Decades passed and, except for a number of failed attempts in the 50’s and 60’s, to sue for full property rights, the Shaya family didn’t hear much from the government. Their area of Jaffa (near Ajami) was a slum no one was really interested in. That all changed about four years ago. The Jaffa coast went through accelerated gentrification and property prices skyrocketed. Amidar, the government owned housing company that administrates most Absentee Properties, saw an opportunity for a windfall. Contrary to popular perception, most of the Palestinians living in the area are not descendants of the pre-1948 residents, but descendants of refugees displaced during the war from other parts of the country, and are now tenants of Amidar. Therefore, their eviction, on a variety of pretexts, was relatively simple. In 2007-2008 alone, Amidar issued at least 400 eviction notices in the Ajami neighborhood.

The few Palestinian owners were more of a problem. But in 2007, some bureaucrat looking through old case files discovered the Shaya family’s vulnerability and hatched a plan — slap them with an exorbitant demand for years of back rent for the 40% of the house “owned” by the government and then demand that the “partnership” be dissolved through sale of the house to a third party. The Shayas don’t want to leave their ancestral home, but their attempts to buy out the State were rebuffed, and now Amidar and the Israel Lands Administration (ILA) have taken them to court. They want them out.

Even from the perspective of Lieberman’s Jewish-Nationalist school of thought there is much that is wrong with this story.  As a devil’s advocate, I would ask his disciples in the government, why persecute “good Arabs?”  The Shaya’s are fully integrated in Israeli society. One of the second generation siblings worked at the Tel-Aviv municipality for his entire life. An uncle was the first Palestinian policeman recruited in Jaffa by the Israeli government in 1949. A visitor at the Sunday family gatherings hears a mix of Arabic and Hebrew. Why is Israel taking them back to the Nakba that it wants to force them to forget through legislation?

For Israelis who still believe in a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and for genuinely “pro-Israel” Jews abroad, this kind of reopening of 1948, which is also happening in Jerusalem and Haifa, is no less than suicidal. It severely undermines the premise of 1967 as the starting point for a diplomatic solution, with its implications regarding the 1948 refugees.

For all Jews, or at least those that see Judaism as a culture and a moral code, rather than an ethnic filter, the story of the persecution of the Shaya family presents a grave injustice for which we, as a collective, are responsible. It often seems to me that the apparatus of our government has lost any sense of justice and morality. Indeed it took a Palestinian citizen of Israel, the family’s lawyer, Adv. Hicham Chabaita of Tel-Aviv University’s Human Rights Clinic, to point out the immorality of suit.

This is how Chabaita opens his defense (Hebrew original here):

Adv. Hicham Chabaita

As in the story of the ‘Pauper’s Lamb,’ the plaintiff, a government authority, is cynically requesting, with no shame whatsoever, to dispossess the defendants of the home that has been their property since it was built by their grandfather decades before the State was founded, and thus to expel them…This case is not a regular civil suit, despite attempts of the State to present it as such…We are speaking about hard, uncommon facts, an outcome of the unique context of the 1948 War.”

Right above is  an excerpt from Samuel II, chapter 12, verses 1-4. Here it is, English translation alongside Hebrew original.

So the Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to David, Nathan said, “There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a great many flocks and herds. But the pauper had nothing except for a little lamb he had acquired. He raised it, and it grew up alongside him and his children. It used to eat his food, drink from his cup, and sleep in his arms. It was just like a daughter to him. When a traveler arrived at the rich man’s home, he did not want to use one of his own sheep or cattle to feed the traveler who had come to visit him. Instead, he took the pauper’s lamb and cooked it for the man who had come to visit him.”

Chabaita also reminds the court that the Israeli Supreme Court described the Absentee Property Law as “meant to fill a temporary role: to preserve absentee properties lest they become abandoned and open to looting.”  He also dug up the protocols of the Knesset debate around the enactment of the law and quotes the Members of the First Knesset, keenly aware of the circumstances of their own people, so recently displaced and dispossessed, describing its purpose in the same way.

The Tel-Aviv Magistrate will hear the case in January.

[You can write the Shaya family at shaya.house@gmail.com]

From/De: EA

Need for Speed SHIFT Revs up with All-New Team Racing Mode and Legendary Cars

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced an all-new Team Racing pack for the critically-acclaimedNeed for Speed SHIFT™. The content pack takes online racing to the next level with an action-packed new race mode and five renowned racing cars – all for free (Need for Speed SHIFT and Xbox LIVE® or PlayStation®Network account required). The Team Racing pack is the first downloadable content for Need for Speed SHIFT and will be available worldwide on December 1^st on the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system. The pack will be released for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system on December 3^rd in Europe and on December 10^th in North America.

The Team Racing mode brings a fresh new challenge to SHIFT by completely redefining online racing. In this mode, two teams of up to six racers will battle against each other for online supremacy. Individual driving strategy and playing it safe won’t work as team tactics and 200 mph split-second decisions are required to push your team to the podium.

As part of the new content, players will also get access to these legendary racers:

• 1967 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 427
• 1967 Shelby GT-500
• 1969 Dodge Charger R/T
• 1971 Dodge Challenger R/T
• 1998 Toyota Supra Mark IV

The Team Racing content pack is custom-made for Need for Speed SHIFT, a spectacular racing game originally released in September 2009. The game introduces a brutal first-person crash dynamic and a signature cockpit view that delivers a true driver’s experience. The game further personalizes the experience through the all-new driver profile — a unique persona based on the driving skill and style of each player. With a perfect ‘10’ score from GameSpy.com and G4TV.com, and 90+ scores from IGN.com, Official Xbox Magazine, PlayStation: The Official Magazine, Team Xbox.com, Game Daily.com, Gametrailers.com and more, Need for Speed SHIFT is the highest rated Need for Speed game in years.

Need for Speed SHIFT is now available on the PlayStation3, Xbox 360, PC, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, mobile and coming soon on the iPhone™. More information can be found at www.needforspeed.com or follow us on Twitter at NeedforSpeed.

Press can download assets at http://info.ea.com.

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is a leading global interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, wireless devices and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTS^TM, EA^TM, EA Mobile ^TM and POGO^TM. In fiscal 2009, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $4.2 billion and had 31 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA’s homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA’s products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.

EA, EA SPORTS, EA Mobile, POGO and Need for Speed are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. The names, designs, and logos of all products are the property of their respective owners and used by permission. Microsoft, Xbox and Xbox 360 are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. “PlayStation” and “PSP” are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

(Wow. Time flies when you’re not feeling well. Too much time has passed since my last entry.)

I’m not entirely sure in what order some of these next memories occurred. I’ll just jot them down as they come to me.

I have an ancient love for little pink umbrellas made of paper. You see, we had a carnival in our backyard in San Jose benefitting the Muscular Dystrophy Foundation. I recall the festive atmosphere, watching my brothers and my father set up games (there was a dunk tank, I think), but mostly I remember the huge bags of little pink umbrellas being given out as prizes. I can still see their bright pink color that so delighted me, and the tiny little shiny wooden caps on top. To this day I’m tempted to ask for a pink umbrella in my diet Cokes. Bartenders look at me strangely.

I’m sure there were much better prizes but these…well they might be responsible for my lifelong love of the color fuchsia.

San Jose, CA: 1967

Released in 1967.

Short (less than 30 minutes) but brilliant LP full of 12-string guitars (of course) and melodies. Features the obligatory Dylan cover (‘My Back Pages’) and ‘So You Want to Be a Rock’n'Roll Star’, with a trumpet solo by Hugh Masekela.

My favorite song is the David Crosby-penned ‘Everybody’s Been Burned’:

Brian May von der Band Queen

benutzt anstelle eines Plektrums eine Sixpence Münze .

Die englische 6 Pence Münze ist eine Münze, die  mit verschiedenen Abbildungen bis zur Einführung des Dezimalsysthems 1967  im Umlauf war. Für mich besonders interessant sind die späten Sixpence bis 67:

Das vordezimale Währungssysthem war etwas kompliziert. Es gab :

• 1.den halben Farthing (1/8 Penny) bis 1856
• 2.den Farthing (1/4 Penny) bis 1956
• den halben Penny
• den Penny
• die  Threepence – Münze 
• die Sixpence Münze
• den Shilling (12 Pence)
• den Florin (2 Shillinge)
• die half Crown (2 Shillinge und sixpence)
• die Crown (5 Schillinge) 

 Alle o.g. Münzen gab es in verschiedenen (Königs)-Epochen mit den unterschiedlichsten Abbildungen. Alle in gesägter Form bei www.geldsaegen.de

Heute habe ich einige der schönen Sixpence für den Schlachtezauber in Bremen (ab Do. 26.11.09) gesägt:

4 verschiedene Pflanzen stehen für 4 Landesteile:

1. Nach oben das Kleeblatt für Nordirland
2. Nach rechts Winterlauch für Wales
3. Nach unten die englische Rose
4. Nach links die schottische Diestel

I have seen many mujra songs in Bollywood movies, and this song is a mujra song, but with a difference. Mujra songs tend to be depressing because the female dancer performing mujra tends to be wallowing in self pity. But this song is different.

Asha Bhonsle has sung some very well known fast cabarat songs. Here she sings a fast mujra song. Yes, a fast mujra number is what it is. And who is the dancer ? It is Helen ! Yes, Helen, who danced so many cabarat dances on songs typically sung by Asha Bhonsle, dances on this mujra song.

As all Helen watchers know, she is not one to wallow in self pity while dancing. She would enjoy her dances and convey that enjoy to her watchers. Typical mujra dances depict the dancer as if she was forced into this dancing. Here Helen looks like she is enjoying the dance, and that makes it such a refreshing change from the usual mujra songs.

The song is written by Sahir Ludhianvi, and he has excelled himself. What wonderful poetry he has come up with ! And music is composed by Roshan.

With such an assembly of talent, this song should be a treat to the senses, and indeed that is the case.

For all that, I was not aware of this song till today. It just goes on to show how many gems are lying forgotten with time. And this song from “Bahu Begam” (1967) is certainly a gem.

Song-Nikle the kahaan jaane ke liye (Bahu Begam) (1967) Singer-Asha Bhonsle, Lyrics-Sahir Ludhianvi,MD-Roshan

Lyrics

nikle the kahaan jaane ke liye, pahunche hain kahaan maaloom nahin
pahunche hain kahaan maaloom nahin

nikle the kahaan jaane ke liye, pahunche hain kahaan maaloom nahin
pahunche hain kahaan maaloom nahin
ab apne bhatakte qadmon ko, manzil kaa nishaan maaloom nahin
manzil kaa nishaan maaloom nahin

hamne bhi kabhi ho
hamne bhi kabhi is gulshan mein, ek khwaab-e-bahaara dekhaa thaa
ek khwaab-e-bahaara dekhaa thaa
kab phool jhade
kab phool jhade, kab gard udi, kab aayi khizaan maaloom nahin
kab aayi khizaan maaloom nahin
ab apne bhatakte qadmon ko, manzil kaa nishaan maaloom nahin
manzil kaa nishaan maaloom nahin

dil sholaa-e-gham se ho
dil sholaa-e-gham se khaak huaa, yaa aag lagi armaanon mein
yaa aag lagi armaanon mein
kyaa cheez jali
kyaa cheez jali kyun seene se uthaa hai dhuaan maaloom nahin
uthaa hai dhuaan maaloom nahin
ab apne bhatakte qadmon ko, manzil kaa nishaan maaloom nahin
manzil kaa nishaan maaloom nahin

barbaad wafaa
ho
barbaad wafaa kaa afsaanaa ham kisase kahen aur kaise kahen
ham kisase kahen aur kaise kahen
khaamosh hain lab
khaamosh hain lab aur duniyaa ko ashkon ki zubaan maaloom nahin
ashkon ki zubaan maaloom nahin
nikle the kahaan jaane ke liye, pahunche hain kahaan maaloom nahin
pahunche hain kahaan maaloom nahin
ab apne bhatakte qadmon ko, manzil kaa nishaan maaloom nahin
manzil kaa nishaan maaloom nahin

The top-30 movies from the swinging sixties. This was a tough one, but like always, I think I nailed it. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the top movies from 1960-1969!

1. Psycho (1960) Director: Alfred Hitchcock
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Director: Stanley Kubrick
3. Midnight Cowboy (1969) Director: John Schlesinger
4. Repulsion (1965) Director: Roman Polanski
5. Bonnie and Clyde (1967) Director: Arthur Penn
6. The Graduate (1967) Director: Mike Nichols
7. Dr. Strangelove (1964) Director: Stanley Kubrick
8. Cool Hand Luke (1967) Director: Stuart Rosenberg
9. Rosemary’s Baby (1968) Director: Roman Polanski
10. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) Director: George Roy Hill
11. Lolita (1962) Director: Stanley Kubrick
12. The Great Escape (1963) Director: John Sturges
13. The Hustler (1961) Director: Robert Rossen
14. The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967) Director: Roman Polanski
15. The Umbrellas of Cherbourgh (1964) Director: Jacques Demy
16. The Sound of Music (1965) Director: Robert Wise
17. Goldfinger (1964) Director: Guy Hamilton
18. Planet of the Apes (1968) Director: Franklin J. Schaffner
19. Breakfast at Tiffany´s (1961) Director: Blake Edwards
20. Man’s Favorite Sport? (1964) Director: Howard Hawks
21. My Fair Lady (1964) Director: George Cukor
22. The Birds (1963) Director: Alfred Hitchcock
23. Breathless (1960) Director: Jean-Luc Godard
24. The Dirty Dozen (1967) Director: Robert Aldrich
25. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) Director: Sergio Leone
26. Bullit (1968) Director: Peter Yates
27. Easy Rider (1969) Director: Dennis Hopper
28. Spartacus (1960) Director: Stanley Kubrick
29. The Apartment (1960) Director: Billy Wilder
30. The Party (1968) Director: Blake Edwards

THE TRAILERS FOR THE TOP 3 BEST MOVIES OF 1960-1969

Όμως η ζημιά είχε γίνει.

Εισβολή,νεκροί,αγνοούμενοι,επ’ αόριστο παραβίαση των δικαιωμάτων ολόκληρου του κυπριακού λαού.

Σήμερα υποτίθεται δεν υπάρχει χούντα.

Υποτίθεται υπάρχει δημοκρατία.

Όμως οι πολιτικοί μας ελέγχονται όλοι από τα κόμματα που ελέγχονται όλα από το μεγάλο κεφάλαιο που τα επιχορηγά,τα ΜΜΕ που επίσης ελέγχονται από το μεγάλο κεφάλαιο μέσω των διαφημίσεων κοκ και τις τράπεζες,που βρίσκονται πίσω από όλους.

Μέσω της προπαγάνδας των ΜΜΕ και της εξασφάλισης με το “κράτος πρόνοιας” ενός επίπεδου διαβίωσης στους οικονομικά ασθενέστερους μόλις πάνω από το όριο της εξαθλίωσης-όσο για να έχουν κάτι να χάσουν-δηλαδή με την ρωμαική τεχνική του “άρτον και θεάματα” αυτή η καπιταλιστική-κομματική-κρατική ολιγαρχία προσπαθεί να αποφύγει την λαική οργή και τον ξεσηκωμό,να αποσβέσει την επιθυμία του λαού για ΠΡΑΓΜΑΤΙΚΗ ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΙΑ,όπου θα είμαστε με ΑΛΛΗΛΕΓΓΥΗ,ΙΣΟΤΗΤΑ,ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΙΑ πραγματικά οι μόνοι υπεύθυνοι της μοίρας μας,κύριοι του εαυτού μας,παίρνοντας ότι μας αξίζει.Χωρίς να πληρώνουμε άλλους για να αποφασίζουν για μας χωρίς εμάς.

Όμως-δυστυχώς στην Κύπρο όχι ακόμη,εδώ κοιμόμαστε-ο κόσμος άρχισε να ξυπνά.

Εξέγερση στα γκέτο της Γαλλίας,Δεκεμβριανά του 2008 στην Ελλάδα,αποτελούν δυο από πάρα πολλά απτά παραδείγματα του αγώνα για μια καλύτερη κοινωνία,ελεύθερη,δίκαιη.

Τότε,όταν το σύστημα βλέπει ότι η προπαγάνδα του δεν δουλεύει,αναγκάζεται να δείχνει το πραγματικό του πρόσωπο και να καταστέλλει ανοικτά,ακόμη και με δολοφονίες.Οι χουντικές τακτικές και νοοτροπίες επιστρέφουν.

Φαίνεται η “μεταπολίτευση” δεν ήρθε ποτέ…

Γι’αυτό χρειαζόμαστε νέα Πολυτεχνεία.

Η σημερινή μέρα δείχνει τον δρόμο.

Written by: John Lennon, Paul McCartney
Produced by: George Martin
Released: June ‘67 on Capitol
Chart info: U.S. (N/A), UK (N/A)
Available on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

The Beatles had attempted ambitious mosaics before (“She Said She Said”, “Tomorrow Never Knows”), but Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’s epic finale catalogues every explosive element of the Fab Four. George Martin’s production revolutionized pop music with its avant-garde opulence. Lennon and McCartney’s aural bricolage elevates and parodies itself, and their lyrics distance the group from naiveté and Summer-of-Love idealism. Lest we forget, the opening line notes how someone “blew his mind out in a car” and finds Lennon cackling at corpses, media saturation, and humanity’s natural disposition toward violence.

When paired with hailing folk and piano, Lennon’s portion is as wry and poignant as rock is ever likely to get. In fact, “A Day in the Life” is pretty much the archetype for the Lennon/McCartney duality, firmly distinguishing John as a nightmarish narcophilosopher and Paul as a pragmatic businessman with a schedule to keep. But with its startling juxtaposition of pop melodies and flowery experimentalism, “A Day in the Life” consolidates all of the group’s audiences. Here is a song for preteens and acidheads, surrealists and Sinatra fans, the Monkees and the Manson family. That final crescendo, with all its disembodied screams and orchestral terrorism, is surely the most famous– and strident– ending of any song in the last 50 years: a caterwauling assemblage of Zen humming, instrumental flairs, and three monolithic pianos stacked on top of one another. Somehow the world’s greatest musical icons closed their most famous album with a solid 30 seconds of morbid textural sculpture. By the time the dust settled, Paul was dead, atonalism had gone pop, and four Liverpudlian rockers became high-art heroes.

listen them and touch the heaven, man!

I`m back. I now: nobody is here with me. I`m alone, very alone. But doesn´t matter because i have The Holy`s. They were a peruvian sicodelic band, they made all his music against the mainstream, they wanted break down the system, amd they almost do it. So here you have all their music, but, listen carefuly because its full of hope! Enjoy man! Los Holy`s

1967 Columbia 9418

Gene Clark – Elevator Operator - I was out last night and heard this randy number spun over the P.A. System, and it made the scene. Thank you Pretty Goes Pretty for sorting me out with the Mp3. Tap in.

In today’s world of the internet and mp3 downloads it’s hard to imagine a time when pop music was not available to the listening masses.  Well, that was the case back in the United Kingdom in the 1960’s when there were no pop radio stations on the BBC airwaves, instead most of the stations were bland and full of news and radio dramas, with little to no pop at all.   This all changed in 1964 when rouge radio disc jockey’s from the United States decided to set out on the high seas to bring pop to the people of the UK.  Pirate Radio, (starring the uber-talented Phillip Seymour Hoffman) which opens this Friday,  is the wild and entertaining story a wild bunch of Americans who brought pop music to the airwaves and changed the way an entire country listened to their music. The combination of great acting, a true life story, and a totally rocking  soundtrack make this film a must see to any music lover.

After 3 years of broadcasts the pirates became such a nuisance to the conservative British government, that they passed the 1967 Marine Broadcast Offences Act, effectively banning all pirate radio broadcasts and ending this short but no doubt very influential act of musical rebellion.  This led in turn to the BBC to create their first fully dedicated pop music station, BBC Radio 1.

Flowers In The Rain, by The Move was the first song played on the inaugural BBC Radio 1 broadcast in September of 1967

Dear Reader:  In celebration of the World Series (and in spite of the fact that the Red Sox are not in it), I give you this story.   What you will read happened, but it isn’t necessarily true.   The names of the players are real.

Russ Gibson “Gibby” – The Catcher

By the day of that game in April 1967, I had been catching for Billy Rohr in Toronto for two years.  Like most guys, I had been playing baseball my whole life.  I was a catcher in the minors for 10 years and was a 28-year old rookie for the Boston Red Sox that opening day at Yankee Stadium.  Star Spangled Banner.  Gave me the shivers.  Billy on the mound.  I was at the plate, face mask, navy cap with red “B” that I wear backwards, chest protector, shin guards, squatted down, mitt up.  Umpire Cal Drummond wearing all black with his own protective gear hunched over my back.  Soldiers in a medieval army.  “Play ball.”  Billy was nervous the first inning, but he shook it off.  We got in a rhythm, just like in Toronto.  Nothing existed but the two of us and the guy with the bat.  Billy delivered strikes, one after another.  In the fourth inning, he walked two, but the Yankees left them on the bases.   We marched through the innings.  Fuck, I knew I was catching a no-hitter.  Bottom of the ninth inning.  Two out.  Elston Howard was the next batter.  The count got to one ball and two strikes.  One more strike would be the end of the game and a no hitter. Next pitch:  a fastball, outside corner at the knees.  A perfect strike.

Billy Rohr – The Pitcher

Billy Rohr was born during baseball season and started throwing a ball with his dad when he was two.  He never stopped.  In 1967 he pitched Triple A ball in Toronto for the Boston Red Sox and was brought to “The Show,” the big leagues, in April.  On April 14, 1967 the 21-year-old left-handed rookie was scheduled to pitch at the Yankee’s opener.  The rivalry between the New York and Boston crowds was like enmity between Arab tribes.   Billy and his catcher Russ Gibson communicated 60’6” apart through finger signals and head shrugs.  Billy threw strikes, putting away the Yankee batters, and by the fourth inning the fans sensed he was throwing a no-hitter.   No rookie pitcher had ever in the history of major league baseball pitched a no-hitter in his first major league game. 

 By the end of the sixth inning, he sat on the end of the wooden dugout bench by himself.  None of his teammates talked to him.  It’s a baseball superstition:  no player talks to a pitcher throwing a no-hitter, lest he jinx it.   Bottom of the ninth inning.  One out.  Next batter, hit to left field.  It looked impossible to catch, to everyone except the left fielder Carl Yastrzemski.  The Yankee fans were on their feet, screaming for him to catch the ball.   They wanted to keep the no-hitter alive.  Yaz caught it.  Two out. 

Elston Howard – The Batter

 I’ve been playing with the Yankees for 12 years–first black guy on the team–been in nine World Series, and I’ve never seen anything like this game.  This skinny white kid is pitching a no-hitter.  It’s the bottom of the ninth, two out.  I’m at the plate, Gibson is squatting behind me.  He isn’t saying a word to me.  No idle chatter.  Rohr throws a strike, and the Yankee fans are cheering for him.  For him, not me.  He throws a ball, and they boo.  What the fuck!  First time I’ve been booed by my own fans.  Another strike.  Everyone on their feet, screaming.  If Rohr throws one more strike, he makes baseball history.  He throws again.  Fastball.  Drummond calls “ball.”   Rohr knows it’s a strike.  I know it’s a strike.  Everyone in this god-damned stadium knows it’s a strike.  The fans throw the rented seat cushions onto the field.  I whip my body around, bat still at my shoulder.  Gibson is not expecting this and goes down on both knees onto the brick red dirt.  I make eye contact with Drummond.  “That was a fucking strike,” I say.  “Are you out of your mind, Howard?  You’re out of here,” he screams, pointing toward the Yankee dugout.  No matter how this ends the sportswriters must be going nuts.

Dear Reader:  In celebration of the World Series (and in spite of the fact that the Red Sox are not in it), I give you this story.   What you will read happened, but it isn’t necessarily true.   The names of the players are real.

Russ Gibson “Gibby” – The Catcher

By the day of that game in April 1967, I had been catching for Billy Rohr in Toronto for two years.  Like most guys, I had been playing baseball my whole life.  I was a catcher in the minors for 10 years and was a 28-year old rookie for the Boston Red Sox that opening day at Yankee Stadium.  Star Spangled Banner.  Gave me the shivers.  Billy on the mound.  I was at the plate, face mask, navy cap with red “B” that I wear backwards, chest protector, shin guards, squatted down, mitt up.  Umpire Cal Drummond wearing all black with his own protective gear hunched over my back.  Soldiers in a medieval army.  “Play ball.”  Billy was nervous the first inning, but he shook it off.  We got in a rhythm, just like in Toronto.  Nothing existed but the two of us and the guy with the bat.  Billy delivered strikes, one after another.  In the fourth inning, he walked two, but the Yankees left them on the bases.   We marched through the innings.  Fuck, I knew I was catching a no-hitter.  Bottom of the ninth inning.  Two out.  Elston Howard was the next batter.  The count got to one ball and two strikes.  One more strike would be the end of the game and a no hitter. Next pitch:  a fastball, outside corner at the knees.  A perfect strike.

Billy Rohr – The Pitcher

Billy Rohr was born during baseball season and started throwing a ball with his dad when he was two.  He never stopped.  In 1967 he pitched Triple A ball in Toronto for the Boston Red Sox and was brought to “The Show,” the big leagues, in April.  On April 14, 1967 the 21-year-old left-handed rookie was scheduled to pitch at the Yankee’s opener.  The rivalry between the New York and Boston crowds was like enmity between Arab tribes.   Billy and his catcher Russ Gibson communicated 60’6” apart through finger signals and head shrugs.  Billy threw strikes, putting away the Yankee batters, and by the fourth inning the fans sensed he was throwing a no-hitter.   No rookie pitcher had ever in the history of major league baseball pitched a no-hitter in his first major league game. 

 By the end of the sixth inning, he sat on the end of the wooden dugout bench by himself.  None of his teammates talked to him.  It’s a baseball superstition:  no player talks to a pitcher throwing a no-hitter, lest he jinx it.   Bottom of the ninth inning.  One out.  Next batter, hit to left field.  It looked impossible to catch, to everyone except the left fielder Carl Yastrzemski.  The Yankee fans were on their feet, screaming for him to catch the ball.   They wanted to keep the no-hitter alive.  Yaz caught it.  Two out. 

Elston Howard – The Batter

I’ve been playing with the Yankees for 12 years–first black guy on the team–been in nine World Series, and I’ve never seen anything like this game.  This skinny white kid is pitching a no-hitter.  It’s the bottom of the ninth, two out.  I’m at the plate, Gibson is squatting behind me.  He isn’t saying a word to me.  No idle chatter.  Rohr throws a strike, and the Yankee fans are cheering for him.  For him, not me.  He throws a ball, and they boo.  What the fuck!  First time I’ve been booed by my own fans.  Another strike.  Everyone on their feet, screaming.  If Rohr throws one more strike, he makes baseball history.  He throws again.  Fastball.  Drummond calls “ball.”   Rohr knows it’s a strike.  I know it’s a strike.  Everyone in this god-damned stadium knows it’s a strike.  The fans throw the rented seat cushions onto the field.  I whip my body around, bat still at my shoulder.  Gibson is not expecting this and goes down on both knees onto the brick red dirt.  I make eye contact with Drummond.  “That was a fucking strike,” I say.  “Are you out of your mind, Howard?  You’re out of here,” he screams, pointing toward the Yankee dugout.  No matter how this ends the sportswriters must be going nuts.

Here is another song which I thought I had posted already, but I had not.

Listening to this song and watching the picturisation, I can not help but feel that this has to be one of the most moving sentimental songs that I have come across. There is this happy family with parents and their two kids (one son and one daughter). The father (Bharat Bhushan) sings this song (part 1) on a grand piano late at night, heard by his wife (Shalini) and the two kids. This song would be remembered by the kids and it would serve as the theme song for the family members later.

Then the family separates. Or rather, the father gets separated from the family and goes into amnesia. Part 2 of the song sees the daughter (now grown up by a few years and going to school) singing this song on a grand piano in her school . The father , separated from the family,hears the song which sound familiar to him but he is unable to make out where he had heard this song earlier.

The two kids grow up to become Farida Jalal and Kamal Kapoor. They sing this song (part 3) is a family get together. The father, still amnesiac, again turns up on listening to the song and tries to recall where he had heard this song before.

I find this song a very moving song, and my heart goes out to the father.

I have not watched the movie, and so I am not able to understand how and why the father gets separated from his family. May be the two kids were two young to identify him, but how come his wife does not recognise it, even when he stands directly up there, in her line of vision. I hope someone can clarify this matter to me.

The song , as mentioned above, is in three parts. Anand Bakshi is the lyricist and Laxmikant Pyarelal composed the music. The singers are Rafi, Lata, Usha Mangeshkar, Usha Timothy and Mahendra Kapoor.

Here is this song from “Taqdeer” (1967). I found this song one of the most moving songs of its genre. Kudos to the creators of this song.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Song-Jab jab bahaar aayi aur phool muskuraaye (Taqdeer) (1967) Singers-Rafi,Lata, Usha Mangeshkar, Usha Timothy, Mahendra Kapoor, Lyrics-Anand Bakshi, MD-Laxmikant Pyarelal

Lyrics
————————-
Part 1
————————–

jab jab bahaar aayi aur phool muskuraaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye
jab jab bahaar aayi aur phool muskuraaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye
jab jab bhi chaand nikla aur taare jagmagaaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye

ho ho
aa hmm
apna koyi taraana maine nahin banaaya
apna koyi taraana maine nahin banaaya
tumne mere labon pe har ek sur sajaaya
ho ho o
jab jab mere taraane
duniya ne gungunaaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye

ek pyaar aur wafa ki
tasweer maanta hoon
ek pyaar aur wafa ki
tasweer maanta hoon
tasweer kyaa tumhen main
taqdeer maantaa hoon
ho ho
dekhi nazar ne khushiyaan
ya dekhe gham ke saaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye

———————————-
part 2
———————————

hmm hmm hmm hmm
hmm hmm hmm hmm

aaa aaa aaa aaa
aaa aaa aaa aaa
aaa aaa aaa aaa

jab jab bahaar aayi aur phool muskuraaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye
jab jab bahaar aayi aur phool muskuraaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye
jab jab bhi chaand nikla aur taare jagmagaaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye
aaa aaa aaa aaa
aaa aaa aaa aaa

apna koyi taraana maine nahin banaaya
apna koyi taraana maine nahin banaaya
tumne mere labon pe har ek sur sajaaya
ho ho o
jab jab mere taraane
duniya ne gungunaaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye

aaa aaa aaa aaa
aaa aaa aaa aaa

—————————-
part 3
—————————
jab jab bahaar aayi aur phool muskuraaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye
jab jab bahaar aayi aur phool muskuraaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye
jab jab bhi chaand nikla aur taare jagmagaaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye

aaa aaa aaa
ho ho aa aa
aa aa aa
apna koyi taraana maine nahin banaaya
apna koyi taraana maine nahin banaaya
tumne mere labon pe har ek sur sajaaya
ho ho o
jab jab mere taraane
duniya ne gungunaaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye

ik pyaar aur wafa ki
tasweer maanta hoon
ik pyaar aur wafa ki
tasweer maanta hoon
tasweer kyaa tumhen main
taqdeer maantaa hoon
ho ho
dekhi nazar ne khushiyaan
ya dekhe gham ke saaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye

mumkin hai zindgaani kar jaaye bewafaayi
mumkin hai zindgaani kar jaaye bewafaayi
lekin ye pyaar wo hai
jisme nahin judaayi
ho ho
is pyaar ki fasaane
jab jab jubaan pe aaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye
jab jab bahaar aayi aur phool muskuraaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye
mujhe tum yaad aaye

Bright, splashy film musical about an ambitious young window washer who rises through the ranks of a large corporation following the advice of a self-help book. Textbook example of how to do everything right in translating a musical from stage to film. Features a wonderful Frank Loesser score including the songs, “I Believe In You” and “The Brotherhood of Man”. Robert Morse and Rudy Vallee reprise their original Broadway roles. Film debut of Michele Lee.