Davey Jones, lead singer of "The Monkees" - heart attack at 66 years old.

Davey Jones died today, Wednesday, of a heart attack at 66 years old.  The online story from the Associated Press, http://my.earthlink.net/article/top?guid=20120229/0db33b33-eecd-454d-a090-04640de922e3 gives more information on this and on the career of Jones.

The L.A. Times has a shorter announcement that adds the note that Jones was to be at a performance later this month in Cerritos performing songs that the and was known for.  http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2012/02/davy-jones-monkees-died-.html.

It looks like Jones was experiencing breathing problems and died by the time he arrived at the hospital.  Difficulty in breathing is one of the main symptoms of a heart attack. This happened in Florida where Jones lived and I don't have any idea of what level of emergency care or paramedic response is available there.  I have to wonder whether this could have been avoided by better services, but I don't think that this will ever be known.

Overall I am saddened as I see this loss of a personality who was part of a much younger time for me,  mostly high school years and later, and one who, with other artists of the day, brought us entertainment over the years.  When you heard songs then, it was hard to imagine that someday they would someday be called rock and roll "oldies."

We have had the loss of several persons in the last few months from the music scene, some better known than others, but all contributed in some part to the environment surrounding our younger days. 

It always is a reminder to me how we have inevitably grown older, like it or not, when we see there is another death of the artists of our days. It is also another reminder of our mortality, although we don't like to admiti it, when we see the ages are close to our own, or even more an item when it's someone younger than ourselves.

Davey Jones was sort of lost for a long time and then I noticed him again on television in commercials about oldies and he still seemed the same.  That presence was maintained by the commercials, maybe they were the Time-Life infomercials or some of the oldies shows televised on public television, but the death here seemed more like someone I knew about currently instead of just a name from the past. He always seemed as upbeat as he did on the episodes of the show back in the 60s, and that was something I liked about seeing him on t.v.

There should be another longer obituary coming in the L.A. Times published soon, and that will fill in more details for people who are too young to have a first-hand memory of the t.v. show and the craziness of the band that was very talented after all was said and done.   As with most artists, we still will hear the music and it will stay as their legacy in history of music- pop, rock and roll, or whatever label anyone feels like using.

President's Day today- replaces Washington and Lincoln but recognizes neither.

Do you remember when there was a Lincoln's Birthday Holiday on February 12th, and then a few days later, February 22nd, the Washington's Birthday Holiday rolled around?   It was a day off from school back then but now we seem to have too many holidays to separate these, and, besides, who wouldn't want another 3-day holiday weekend?

So now it's President's Day that includes ALL presidents and Lincoln and Washington among them but the recognition and honor really seems to me to go to no one by this all inclusive approach. Would your children feel more honored by having the birthday party for each one on the anniversary date of their birth, OR, would it be a better approach to celebrate the birthday of all your children on ONE day each year, with a big party, of course?

So, I think keeping it individual does the best job of recognizing anything, including presidents.  

LINCOLN HIGH SCHOOL- named after "who'?
I have criticized the alma mater for not making use of the Lincoln's birthday in the past to promote knowledge and that's what scholl should be doing, right?   A "learning" experience here.  When I was there teaching at Lincoln not tht long ago, I was really dissppointed by how many students were unaware of the namesake of their school.    You have one person to learn about as a basic task, I would expect, but that holiday period passed without much special attention from the school.

I think a few times the Alumni Association made efforts to recongnize Lincoln as one of the display cases by the main office was given the Lincoln recognition treatment.

I think that the school has, in the transformations going on from a single school to small learning communities, has forgotten to give attention to simple things as they constantly face evaluation based on test scores used to determine student performance levels.

Well, that's just something I thought would be useful to change but I don't have a current picture of the state of Lincoln's day to day heppenings and maybe I am wrong now.  Since there's no "Brown Act" requirement for school operations like there is for public meetings in government, I have no convenient way to see what's new or what planned, other than the press releases or bulletins that the school or the LAUSD puts forth.

And the other part of the concern here is that learning about President Lincoln is very easy- there are lots of books about this and the times in which Lincoln lived are some of the most crucial years in the history of the United States, the Civil War period.  Combine that with the sadder aspect of Lincoln's term, the assasination in office, we have a very important area for examination.

If we had a different president as our namesake, the features might be less visible and more obscurity in history would still leave us with not much in the way of positive or distinctive elements to learn.  But that's not the case and still, more students might have some pride in the school if they knew a lttle more of what's out there.  It couldn't hurt.

Looking back, January 27 of past times- And Birthdays, from LARadio.com

There have been some good posts in  in Don Barrett's now-occasional  posted "L.A. Radio People" blog the last week of January that relate back to my high school days but all the work in putting this together was on Don's part, not mine.  And with that credit given, check the news of older times and consider where we were and where we are now.  And it seems that time really flies.
From the Friday LARP Rewind:
"January 27. On this day in 2002, Brian Wilson played the first of four sold-out shows at Royal Festival Hall in London. On this day in 1991, Whitney Houston sang the National Anthem at Super Bowl XXV at Tampa Stadium. The Giants beat the Bills, 20-19, in the only Super Bowl to be decided by a single point. On this day in 1984, sparks from pyrotechnics set Michael Jackson's hair on fire while he was filming a Pepsi commercial at the Shrine Auditorium. On this day in 1968, the Bee Gees made their US concert debut at Anaheim Convention Center. On this day in 1961, Mitch Miller's Sing Along With Mitch debuted on NBC/tv. On this day in 1948, the first magnetic tape recorder, the Wireway, went on sale for $149.50. On this day in 1927, New York talent agent Arthur Judson formed a 16-station radio network, United Independent Broadcasters. Near bankruptcy eight months later, the company was purchased by Columbia and renamed Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting Company. In 1928, a group of investors led by William S. Paley bought a controlling interest in the company and renamed it Columbia Broadcasting System. Today CBS owns 14 tv stations and 130 radio stations and operates many more.

Today, January 27, 2012, r&b/blues singer Bobby "Blue" Bland is 82, Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason is 68, Ronettes vocalist Nedra Talley is 66, ballet dancer/choreographer Mikhail Baryshnikov is 64, Thin Lizzy drummer Brian Downey is 61, J. Geils Band lead singer/keyboardist Seth Justman is 61, actress Mimi Rogers is 56, actress Bridget Fonda is 48, country singer Tracy Lawrence is 44, Sister Hazel drummer Mike Trojanowski is 42, Take That keyboardist/guitarist Mark Owen is 40.

On January 27, 1967, 45 years ago today, the Monkees' I'm A Believer/Steppin' Stone was in its eighth week at number one on the KHJ Boss 30. The Rolling Stones' Ruby Tuesday climbed from #8 to #2 and would reach number one the following week. The Blues Magoos' We Ain't Got Nothin' Yet jumped from #26 to #6. Highest debut at #21 was a remake of the Troggs' Wild Thing by "Senator Bobby" (Robert Kennedy impersonator Bill Minkin). The survey touted KHJ's new Boss Jock, Humble Harve, who would start on February 1.

Soul Train's Don Cornelius dies at 75- apparent suicide.

The news this morning brings some sad news for fans of the long running "Soul Train" t.v. show- host Don Cornelius had died by an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound- stated bluntly, a suicide.  His health had deteriorated and was a likely connected motive in some part.

See the LA Times report on this.  http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/02/soul-train-creator-don-cornelius-dead-in-apparent-suicide.html

Sad to see another icon of my younger days leave us.  His show was, as most of you my age or thereabouts, a must-see for the latest artists and songs, not to mention the dancers.  It was much like Dick Clark's "American Bandstand" with, of course, "Soul"- and who can forget that dance line each show that showed individual's talents as they moved on down?  That's often been seen at other social dances like wedding receptions. And there was the Cornelius sign off for each show, "Peace, Love and Soouul."  Cornelius was such a know figure that there were many instances of satire of the icon on comedy shows. 

A more complete story and obitutary should be coming soon in the press and online.