we saw the passing of...
Gerald Ford, Former US President. and Vice President, without having been elected.
Sapamurat Niyazov, also known as turkmenbashi, the President-for-Life of Turkmenistan.
James Brown, the President of funk, the Godfather of Soul. Hardest working man in showbusiness.
Say what you will about the lives they have led, but let them rest now.
The links above are to wikipedia. In case you're wondering.
Sorry about the lazy post. I've had no sleep.
GrapeKoolaid posted on Dec 27, 2006
| views: 175
Comments
-
silverwhisper said on Dec 27, 2006....
i don't know anything about niyazov, but the other two, wow.
thank you for posting this, grape.
ed -
MissMimi said on Dec 27, 2006....
It's sad that the vultures are already circling. James Brown's widow has already been locked out of her own home by his family, I presume. -
GrapeKoolaid said on Dec 27, 2006....
Niyazov is an interesting character. He's also known as Turkmenbashi(leader of the Turkmen) like Mustafa Kemal Pasha, or Ataturk(father of Turks). One of the last examples of oriental despotism. Hist cult of personality and style of despotism rivaled that of Kim Il Sung. He managed to stay relatively quiet in the global stage, due to him arriving at a later part of history(after the fall of Soviet Union), but as far as despots go, he's great. Named cities after him, renamed Turkmen days and months, renamed the Turkmen word for "bread" after his mother, wrote a book that's required reading for all Turkmens, etc...
You'd think when "the president-for-life" of a country dies without an apparent heir, that country would be thrown in political turmoil, but Turkmenistan's been doing alright. They're going to have elections soon. Best of wishes for the Turkmen people.
James Brown... What can be said about that man?
I'll start with this: Any musician that's been making music for 30+ years, they can't all be bad. They can't all be good, either, but they can't all be bad. Statistically speaking, Given a finite set of notes, and producing various combinations of notes in a given amount of time, some of them have to be good, even if by chance. Good here is a qualitative statement. Purely opinion. Mine, yours, it matters not. Don't bother me with numbers. I'm going somwhere with this.
What constitutes a good musician is the frequency in which he/she(in this case James Brown) produces good music. But James Brown goes beyond musicianship. He was a pivotal figure in the history of recent music. He inspired the creation of whole genres of music. Funk, disco, hip hop to name a few(and yes of course rock and roll). Many musicians in these genres owe much to this man.
As to Gerald Ford passing, it was a little before my time, so I don't know much about him, except for what I stated above.
-
mom said on Dec 27, 2006....
I am really sorry that his kids have to grow up without him in their lives. I think that James Browns widow should not be left out in the cold. That is so cruel. First she has to deal with the loss of someone she loves, and her kids loss of their father, but having her home taken from her. I hope she fights it. -
dailyachesandpains said on Dec 27, 2006....
In talking today, and hearing bits and piecs on the news, I heard that James Browns wife was locked out of the mansion by his lawyers. There was some chatter about her being married to another man when she married Brown, therefore, the marriage to Brown wasn't legal. How true, I don't know...I think Ford lived a nice long life. At that age, 93, how could you be shocked about his passing? My FIL died at 58...that's young these days!Thanks for the post, Grape!Daily