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08/15 - Happy Chanson de Roland [1]

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Date: 2022-08-15

Roland at Roncesvalles

The Chanson de Roland is a tale long in the telling and vastly longer in the explication and discussion. Allegedly the first and hence oldest chanson de geste, it is about the battle of Roncesvalle Pass in the Pyrrenees, or the battle of Roncevaux Pass for the purists among you. There are numerous versions this tale of the ambush and defeat of a detachment of Charlemagne's forces by a bunch of Basques that can run up to about 4,000 lines of verse. For more discussion I suggest either a comp. lit. degree or, of course, da wiki: ((https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Song_of_Roland) The wiki cite, while discussing France's National Epic, obfuscates the history for which the easiest approach is a differing wiki (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Roncevaux_Pass) While a model of chivalry and all that jazz, Roland's actions are boneheaded, leading to the annihilation of his entire troop, while merely blowing his damn horn early on might have brought succor and victory, but it seems that there werr silly French kniggits as well as English ones.

We also have 2 endpoints of the Macbeth saga, Kublai Khan and the divine wind, Woodstock, and the vowelMac.

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On this day in history:

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0778 -- The Battle of Roncevaux Pass, at which Roland was killed.

0927 -- The Saracens conquered and destroyed Taranto, home of the tarantella.

1040 -- King Duncan I died in battle against Macbeth. Who succeeded him as King of Scotland.

1057 -- King Macbeth was killed at the Battle of Lumphanan.

1281 -- The Mongolian fleet of Kublai Khan was destroyed by a "divine wind"

1914 -- The Panama Canal opened to traffic

1947 -- India gained Independence from Britain

1960 -- Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville) became independent from France.

1965 -- The Beatles played at Shea Stadium -- the birth of stadium rock.

1969 -- The Woodstock Music & Art Fair opened in upstate New York

1970 -- Patricia Palinkas was the first woman to play US pro football.

1971 -- President Richard Nixon completed the break from the gold standard

1971 -- Bahrain gained independence from Britain

1973 -- The US stopped bombing Cambodia

1977 -- The Big Ear, received the "Wow! signal" from space

1998 –- iApple iintroduced the iMac icomputer, istarting an iugly itrend

2013 –- The Smithsonian announced the discovery of the olinguito, the first new carnivorous species found in the Americas in 35 years. (Not sure if that counts Jimmy Buffet)

2020 –- Russia began production of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine.

Was it the brown acid or the blue?

x YouTube Video

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Some people who were born on this day:

The race of mankind would perish did they cease to aid each other. We cannot exist without mutual help. All therefore that need aid have a right to ask it from their fellow-men; and no one who has the power of granting can refuse it without guilt.

~~ Sir Walter Scott

1613 -- Gilles Ménage, lawyer, philologist, and scholar; one of 3

1702 -- Francesco Zuccarelli, painter and academic

1769 -- Napoleon Bonaparte, general, emperor & exile

1771 -- Walter Scott, author, poet, and playwright

1798 –- Sangolli Rayanna, Revolutionary and warrior

1824 -- John Chisum, cattle baron, come a ki yi yippie yippie yi yippie yay

1875 –- Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, pianist, violinist, and composer

1882 –- Marion Bauer, composer and critic

1885 -- Edna Ferber, author and playwright

1892 -- Louis de Broglie, physicist and academic,

1909 –- Hugo Winterhalter, composer and bandleader

1912 -- Julia Child, chef and author

1924 -- Phyllis Schlafly, Eagle shit

1925 –- Rose Maddox, singer, songwriter, and fiddle player

1925 -- Oscar Peterson, pianist and composer

1925 -- Bill Pinkney, singer (The Drifters)

1933 -- Bobby Helms, singer and guitarist

1933 –- Stanley Milgram, social psychologist

1934 -- Bobby Byrd, singer, songwriter, and producer (The Famous Flames) 1

1935 -- Vernon Jordan, lawyer, businessman, and activist

1938 -- Stephen Breyer, lawyer and judge

1938 –- Stix Hooper, jazz drummer 1

1938 -- Maxine Waters, educator and politician

1940 -- Gudrun Ensslin, militant leader, founded Red Army Faction

1942 –- Pete York, rock drummer

1946 -- Jimmy Webb, singer, songwriter, and pianist

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Some people who died on this day:

As regards the artists themselves, most of them gave up their freedom quite lightly, placing their art at the service of someone or something. As a rule, their concerns and their ambitions are those of any old careerist. I thus acquired a total distrust of art and artists, whether they were officially recognised or were endeavouring to become so, and I felt that I had nothing in common with this guild. I had a point of reference which held me elsewhere, namely that magic within art which I had encountered as a child.

~~ René Magritte

1040 -- King Duncan I of Scotland (supra).

1057 -- King Macbeth (ditto)

1274 -- Robert de Sorbon, theologian and educator, founded the College of Sorbonne

1967 -- René Magritte, painter

1982 -- Ernie Bushmiller, cartoonist

1995 -- John Cameron Swayze, journalist and actor

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Some Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such:

Hey! Celebrate yourself for a change!





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Today's Tunes



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Destruction of Taranto



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x YouTube Video

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Napoleon Bonaparte

x YouTube Video

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John Chisum

x YouTube Video

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The Olinguito

x YouTube Video

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Hugo Winterhalter

x YouTube Video

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Oscar Peterson

x YouTube Video

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x YouTube Video

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The Very Tall Band (Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown and Milt Jackson)

x YouTube Video

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x YouTube Video

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Oscar Peterson Trio with Milt Jackson

x YouTube Video

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Oscar Peterson Solo (Ja Da)

x YouTube Video

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Bill Pinkney

x YouTube Video

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Bobby Byrd

x YouTube Video

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Stix Hooper

x YouTube Video

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Pete York

x YouTube Video

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Jimmy Webb

x YouTube Video

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Renee (and Georgette) Magritte

x YouTube Video

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Ok, it's an open thread, so it's up to you folks now. So what's on your mind?

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Cross posted from http://caucus99percent.com



Open thread, Chanson de Roland, Roncesvaux, Macbeth, divine wind, Taranro, Napoleon, Woodstock, olinguito, Oscar Peterson, Rene Magritte

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