James Brown, Gerald Ford: Rest in Peace, One week ago today, I was in my old stomping grounds, the Middletown-Red Bank area of Monmouth County, New Jersey, and was struck by the big names scheduled to appear at what had, when I lived there, been the Walter Reade Theater and then became first the Monmouth Arts Center and then the Count Basie Theatre. In addition to the performers noted on the marquee (pix below), Hootie & the Blowfish, David Cassidy, Jackie Mason, Frankie Valli, and Lily Tomlin are scheduled to appear. The biggest name, to me, however, was James Brown. I was impressed that little Red Bank was getting a performance by James Brown.

Sadly, he won't be making his Red Bank appearance, tho he will be appearing (not, alas, "live") at the Apollo Theater in New York tomorrow, where he will lie in state for his fans to pay their respects.
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This is the other side of the marquee that day.

As I was taking pix of the theater, a young black woman and what appeared to be her grandmother were walking by. The young woman saw Ruben Studdard's name on the marquee and was excited. (Studdard won the American Idol TV contest in 2003, over Clay Aiken.) She wondered if she could get tickets. I was so startled by that, that I asked her, "You'd rather see Ruben Studdard than James Brown?" She nodded, and her grandmother smiled knowingly at me and remarked, "She's young."
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I never saw James Brown perform in person, and not all his music suited my tastes, but he was terrific in many memorable songs. My favorite was "I Feel Good", which achieved such wide diffusion that one practically cannot hear that phrase without singing, at least in your mind, DA-da-DA-da-DA-da-DA! His excitable nature got him into trouble with the law, and he was not exactly a role model for youth. But he was a major presence in American popular culture, and will be missed.
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Gerald Ford, a fine, gentle man who served with distinction as the first completely unelected President of the United States, passed away yesterday as the oldest past President, at 93. He masterfully helped the Nation heal after the Watergate scandal brought down his boss, Richard Nixon. Jimmy Carter, who defeated Ford's attempt to win election on his own, paid tribute during his inauguration speech to Ford's perfect touch in that difficult time. He pardoned Nixon because the Nation needed it. It was exactly the right thing to do, and saved us months or years of recriminations and investigations that would have served no worthy good. His wife, Betty Ford, had a dignified and impressive impact upon the Nation, both for being open about her breast cancer during Gerald Ford's Presidency and for openly coping with alcoholism and addiction to painkillers, then opening the Betty Ford Center, which has done yeoman work in helping people break from drug dependence. The Nation has truly been blessed by the Fords. And they're Republicans!
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Did the Nixon pardon cost Ford the election? Impossible to say. But Ford always maintained what every decent person would maintain: it is important to do the right thing, no matter what.
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Ford (who, like Clinton, was born with a different name but took his stepfather's name) was a gentle, amiable, athletic but publicly clumsy fellow the Nation actively liked. His Presidency is distinguished not so much for its few striking achievements — tho he did get back the Mayaguez — but for the unprecedented way in which he had risen to the Presidency. Spiro Agnew, elected Vice President with Nixon, had resigned, and the provisions of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution went into effect. President Nixon nominated Ford to become Vice President in Agnew's place, and both houses of Congress confirmed him by December 1973. That was the first time that had ever happened. When Nixon resigned in August 1974, Ford became a President the electorate had never voted for, but he was fully legitimate.
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There's a lesson here as to how we could easily and quickly change both President and Vice President without impeachment, if the Nation wants Bush and Cheney out. Cheney resigns. Bush nominates someone the Democrats could accept as Vice President, even if another Republican. Then Bush resigns, the new Vice President immediately rises to President, and nominates another new Vice President. It could all be done in a week.
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(The current U.S. military death toll in Iraq, according to the website "Iraq Coalition Casualties", is 2,983 — for Israel.)




- posted by L. Craig Schoonmaker @ 2:54 PM