60 MINUTES
As Allmusic puts it, Ron Franklin.has become a vital presence in the Memphis music scene. It is hard for me to think of Memphis anymore without seeing it as being just outside Mississippi. I knew that long ago, but I was reminded of it again last year when the city right on the Tennessee State Line, Southaven (where we had a sizable appraisal job several years ago) became the state’s fourth largest city; and when 60 Minutes did an extended piece on the adjoining city of Olive Branch. (January 2012) * * * Opposition to the unfair imprisonment of two women in Pussy Riot became a cause célèbre of many Western celebrities plus musicians from every genre imaginable: Bryan Adams, Beastie Boys, the Black Keys, John Cale, Peter Gabriel, Green Day, Nina Hagen, Kathleen Hanna, Paul McCartney, Moby, Yoko Ono, Pet Shop Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Patti Smith, Sting, Pete Townshend, etc. Pussy Riot was featured on 60 Minutes as well.
For their part, the bandmembers in Pussy Riot that were not in prison distanced themselves from all of this attention and were quoted as saying: “We’re flattered, of course, that Madonna and Björk have offered to perform with us. But the only performances we’ll participate in are illegal ones. We refuse to perform as part of the capitalist system, at concerts where they sell tickets.”
(December 2013) * * * Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters have been traveling to music meccas across the country, making short films of their stays there and writing and performing a song to mark the occasion. They are now playing on HBO, and 60 Minutes also had a piece on their efforts a week or so back. Their sojourn to New Orleans is particularly enjoyable; they tell the history of Preservation Hall and how it is now fulfilling its mission of preserving jazz in the city. Highly recommended.
(June 2015)
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Previously, Alexander Hamilton had become an aide-de-camp of General George Washington and had a key military role in winning the Revolutionary War. Succeeding administrations were from the Democratic-Republican Party, in opposition to the Federalist Party. I think it was on 60 Minutes when I heard that those who sought to downplay Hamilton’s legacy included John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe; these men were the second through fifth Presidents. (September 2016) |