The Band

Aug

2024

First FRIDAY in August!

The Day of Our Lady of the Angels (Virgen de los Angeles) is a public holiday in Costa Rica observed on August 2nd each year. This important religious holiday honors the patron saint of Costa Rica, the Virgin Mary. It is not unusual for a country to venerate Mary, what is different in Costa Rica is that the holiday specifically honors a small statue of Mary.

The ‘La Negrita’ is a small statue of the Virgin Mary carved from dark wood, that was found on August 2nd 1635 by a native woman called Juana Pereira.

When Juana naturally picked up this statue to take it home. It then vanished, only to reappear at the same spot she originally found it. This happened again before the townspeople saw this as a sign of divine intervention and built a shrine around it.

The Basilica Virgen de Los Angeles in Cartago was built over the shrine in 1639, but this was partially destroyed in an earthquake. A restored structure was completed in 1722.

In 1824, the Virgin was declared Costa Rica’s patron saint.

La Negrita is kept in the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles in Cartago. Each year, the anniversary of the statue’s discovery is a popular pilgrimage, with thousands making the 22 km journey from San José to the basilica. Some will make the walk barefoot and many will complete the last few hundred meters to see La Negrita on their knees.

When you skip anatomy class but still go to marketing class…

Today is the birthday, in 1937, of Canadian multi-instrumentalist and a master of the Lowrey organ, Garth Hudson, The The Hawks (Ronnie Hawkins’s backing group), who then became known as The Band and also backed Bob Dylan on his US tour in 1965 and world tour in 1966. The Band had the 1969 US No.25 single ‘Up On Cripple Creek’, 1970 UK No.16 single ‘Rag Mama Rag’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-w9OclUnns

Jul

2024

from across the sea, FRIDAY arrives

Today is Independence Day, a public holiday in Cape Verde. This is the National Day of Cape Verde and commemorates the country’s independence from Portugal on this day in 1975.

Cape Verde is an island country consisting of 10 volcanic islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Northwest Africa. The islands were uninhabited when they were discovered by Portuguese navigators in the middle of the 15th century. Portuguese settlers arrived in 1462, establishing the first permanent European settlement in the tropics. The islands benefited from their position, first as a stopping off point for the Atlantic slave trade and then as a location for re-supplying ships bound for the Americas.

Cape Verdeans are descendants of Africans (free or enslaved) and Europeans of various origins. There are also Cape Verdeans who have Jewish ancestors from North Africa, mainly on the islands of Boa Vista, Santiago and Santo Antão. A large part of Cape Verdeans emigrated abroad, mainly to the United States, Portugal and France, so that there are more Cape Verdeans residing abroad than at home.

The call for nationalism had grown louder after the end of the second world war. So much so that in 1951, Portugal changed Cape Verde’s status from a colony to an overseas province to try and reduce the increasing disenfranchisement with colonial rule.

The nationalist movement in Cape Verde was entwined with the other Portuguese territory in the area, Portuguese Guinea. In 1956, Amílcar Cabral, a Guinean organised the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC). The aims of the PAIGC were to improve the economic, social and political conditions in Cape Verde and Portuguese Guinea and formed the basis of the two nations’ independence movements. These demands erupted into a war on the African mainland, with Portuguese Guinea declaring independence in 1973.

The April 1974 revolution in Portugal led to change of approach to its overseas territories, and in 1974 the PAIGC and Portugal signed an agreement providing for a transitional government composed of Portuguese and Cape Verdeans. On June 30th 1975, Cape Verdeans elected a National Assembly which received the instruments of independence from Portugal on July 5th 1975.

Today is the birthday, in 1943, of Canadian musician, songwriter, film composer, producer, actor, Robbie Robertson. He joined The Hawks in 1962 who became known as The Band. Bob Dylan and the Hawks toured the United States throughout 1965 and a world tour the following year. As a songwriter, Robertson is credited for writing ‘The Weight’, ‘The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down’, ‘Up on Cripple Creek’, ‘Broken Arrow’ and ‘Somewhere Down the Crazy River’. Robertson died in Los Angeles on 9 August 2023, at the age of 80, after a year-long battle with prostate cancer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jREUrbGGrgM

Apr

2023

First MONDAY in April!

Today is Second Republic Day, a public holiday in Guinea. This public holiday commemorates the 1984 bloodless coup that established the so-called Second Republic.

Following the collapse of the French Fourth Republic, Guinea proclaimed its independence in 1958. The country was ruled by Ahmed Sékou Touré, the leader of the Democratic Party of Guinea (PDG). Touré’s regime was authoritarian: PDG was the only legal party in Guinea, and Touré was reelected unopposed to four consecutive presidential terms.

On March 26, 1984, Touré died after a heart surgery. Colonels Lansana Conté and Diarra Traoré seized the opportunity and staged a coup that took place on April 3, 1984. Conté became the new president, while Traoré assumed the role of prime minister.

adding a live smile to old paintings…

Today is the birthday, in 1943 of Richard Manuel, Canadian composer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist, best known as a pianist, lead singer, and occasional drummer of the Band. He joined Ronnie Hawkins’s backing group, the Hawks when he was 18. The Band had the 1969 US No.25 single ‘Up On Cripple Creek’, and the 1970 UK No.16 single ‘Rag Mama Rag’. Manuel committed suicide on March 1986 after a gig at the Cheek to Cheek Lounge in Winter Park, Florida. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKu0OTDvQ-w

Aug

2021

MUNDAI

Whale Watching Fail

How to ask for money

Today is the birthday, in 1937, of Garth Hudson, multi-instrumentalist (Lowrey organ, piano, accordion, saxophone). He played with The Band and was the principal architect of their sound. He was, in addition, a much in demand session musician recording with Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Van Morrison, Leonard Cohen and others. Here he is playing with The Band.