Hello!
Today in 1913, Jesse Owens was born. The African-American man who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics had a great quote about being snubbed by Hitler. “It was all right with me,” he said later. “I didn’t go to Berlin to shake hands with him, anyway. All I know is that I’m here now, and Hitler isn’t.” More from his New York Times obituary here.
Here’s another quote for the day. “You can hear other people’s wisdom, but you’ve got to re-evaluate the world for yourself.” That’s from Dr. Mae Jemison, who became the first African-American woman in space today in 1992. More on her life and career from Space.com here.
Lots of music news to go over with you today. For starters, it’s the birthday of Barry White, leader of the Love Unlimited Orchestra. He was the voice of hits like “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love” as well as the anti-Whacking Day movement.
It’s also the birthday of The Possum, George Jones. Here’s the country music hitmaker and occasional lawnmower driver in a duet with Tammy Wynette on what to me is one of the great and truly devastating country story-songs, “Golden Ring”:
And today marks the TV debut in 1966 of The Monkees. Here’s one of the wildest and greatest Monkees tracks, “Love Is Only Sleeping.” Not many bands with their backstory would’ve put out a single with a 7/4 time signature!
And don’t forget to check out “Stranglehold,” the new podcast on the first-in-the-nation presidential primary by my pals at New Hampshire Public Radio!