RonP01's Open Salon Blog

Me, The Piano, and Pianists

Tue, 3 Apr 2012 18:04:57 -0400

I took lessons between the ages of five and thirteen.

However, I didn't really begin to learn until I began to learn to listen.....to everybody and everything.

The listening and learning continues......

In Re Trayvon Martin: "What Is the End Game?"

Tue, 3 Apr 2012 17:04:03 -0400

The woman with whom I shared quarters with for a number of years, rececntly sent me an email in response to some commentary I sent her regarding the Trayvon Martin Matter.

(See, Involuntary Emergency Flounce,

http://open.salon.com/blog/ronp01/2009/10/30/involuntary emergency_flounce)

In her email she posited some questions which she knew would get my juices flowing and cause me to wax philosophical, if not poetic, on the issues she raised as follows:

"....White conservatives in demonizing Trayvon, are trying to distract from the heart of the matter. What is this game that they are playing? Why does the NRA and ALEC want the whites in this country armed and dangerous. Why is it so important that the powers that be engage the country in racial strife? What is the end game?"

This was my reply:

The cruel hoax played by the power elite on the common white person in this country is that the source of all political, social, and economic woes and ills lies in the "otherness" of people of different colors and cultures.

The very diversity that is the heart and strength of our democratic society and system is the weapon and wedge that is used to frighten and intimidate white people into believing that they must procure a firearm and "stand their ground" or succumb to the encroachment of the "others"

on their perceived American birthright of privelege and primacy, and while they're at it, vote Republican (conservative)......

The sad reality is that the George Zimmermans of the world continue to buy into, react, and respond to this, all too often, deadly lie....

Since the end of the "cold war", global thermo-nuclear warfare is no longer perceived as a necessary evil or a viable option to acheive world domination. "The powers that be" are engaged in a quest for, not military but, economic world domination. Their goal is to establish and maintain an amoral, non-sectarian, global tyranny of the super-rich and powerful and their well connected cronies. The end result being the universal economic and financial oppression and/or outright enslavement of the masses of common folk, the George Zimmermans of the world included...

The initial/early stages of the creation of this "not so new" world order is to put into place governments of the super rich, by the super rich, and for the super rich here in the US and other countries, most notably, those traditionally identified or characterized as "Western Europe".

The installation of the oligarchic-plutacracies needed to achieve this will be done by legal and pseudo-legal means through political trickery, deceit and outright and wholesale fraud. That's why arguments and bickering about race and religion, World Cup Soccer, the Super Bowl, reality TV, mega-jackpots, and the price of a gallon of gasoline are important as distractions.

We are living in a watershed period, on the cusp of what may be described as one of the greatest transformational periods in the entire history of the human experience.....

Barack Obama represents the possibility of a shift away from the inhuman and inhumane future the global power seekers envision.

The incredibly forceful, yet elegantly simple, statement he made in regard to the Trayvon Martin matter is precisely why he must be re-elected...

The United States and, yes, the entire world needs another four years of: "If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon Martin."

"What have you been up to?" She asked....

Tue, 6 Mar 2012 17:03:25 -0500

Atlantic City Weekly

Pianist Ron Powell Plays at

Capriccio Sunday Brunch

By Jeff Schwachter, Aug. 5, 2011

Ron Powell at Capriccio: Photo by Craig Billow

ATLANTIC CITY — Atlantic City’s Resorts Casino Hotel has had many firsts this year — the roll-out of its new property-wide Roaring ’20s theme, three new nightlife venues (Club Piscopo, featuring sets by Joe Piscopo, live music and guest comics, including Victoria Jackson this weekend - through Aug. 7; Torch, the city’s first casino whiskey bar and lounge with live music on weekends and Prohibition, the first full-time gay casino nightclub in the country) and not one, but three circuses running through the summer.

One new attraction that may have slipped under the radar is the elegant entertainment at the popular Sunday Brunch (10am-2pm; $44.95) at the property’s highly acclaimed restaurant Capriccio.

Pianist Ron Powell, pictured, has been warming the hearts of Sunday brunchers and filling the fine-dining room with a gorgeous mix of jazz standards, pop and show tunes, and even some R&B classics this summer.

“I try to play for the audience,” says Powell, who is a retired teaching lawyer and hails from Connecticut.

Earlier this year, Powell could be found just outside Capriccio on the casino’s Dining Level, playing an under utilized piano for his own enjoyment and others, including Resorts’ head Dennis Gomes.

Gomes then invited Powell to play inside the restaurant for the weekly Sunday brunch. It’s been a smash success ever since with Powell gaining a name for himself as a stellar musician throughout the resort town.

Check him out any Sunday. Call 344-6000 for reservations.

__________________________________________________

When the season ended, I focused my energy and attention on returning to the classroom. I'm currently teaching Media Law and Ethics at Stockton College in Galloway, New Jersey. A 20 minute drive from Atlantic City.

And, oh yes, I'm still playing poker both in Atlantic City and in my own back yard at Foxwoods.

On Being Sixty

Thu, 1 Mar 2012 16:03:06 -0500

A close friend of mine turned sixty last month. She seemed a bit melancholy , introspective, and apprehensive as she reflected on reaching this personal milestone. Having reached that milestone myself several years ago, I thought it appropriate that I offer some words of wisdom and encouragement. What follows is a letter that I emailed to her:

Sixty is the age where you realize that you've been here longer than you have time left....It's that time of life when you come to understand that you can't win, you can't break even, and you can't get out of the game...All you can do is try to put some more points on the board before the clock runs out....

What you do for yourself in life leaves when you do...What you do for others lives on after you're gone...What you do for the children and young people is immortal....Just remember that you're scoring points every day that you wake up caring for and about others, especially and in particular, the children in your life who will be your legacy to the world and the future....

You may not see it now, but there will be a good deal of "Grand Ma's" or "Nanna's" principles and values in generations of your descendents yet to come....So, when they look at you like you're from another universe, just smile to yourself knowing that you'll be there in spirit when it's their turn to make the rough places smooth and the crooked places straight for some little people who refuse to act like they can appreciate anything at all....

And, by the way, there's absolutely nothing wrong with taking time to yourself, for yourself....It's the only real way to keep fuel in the lamp that you carry which lights the way for the young ones who still need to have the path of righteousness lit up and marked for them until they become mature enough, and strong enough, to walk that path and carry that lamp on their own....

Meantime, for your sake, and the sake of the children you care for and about, your primary job is to stay well and healthy of body, mind, and spirit....

Remember this also, I love you at least as much as you love me....

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. January 15, 1929 - April 4, 1968

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:01:36 -0500

Martin Luther King, Jr., was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on January 15, 1929. He was the oldest son of the Reverend and Mrs. Martin Luther King. He was named Michael Luther after his father, but later the Reverend King changed both their names to Martin Luther in honor of the great church leader.

Unhappily racial experiences made a deep and lasting impression on young Martin. One day his father took him to buy new shoes. When they sat down in the store, the clerk asked them to move to the back of the store. Dr. King took Martin by the hand and left the store rather than take that kind of treatment. Another time, the parents of boys Martin played with told him that they could no longer come out to play with him because they were white and he was black. Martin's feelings were hurt. His mother tried to explain about prejudice. She told him that blacks were no longer slaves, but they were not really free.

Martin liked sports. He played baseball, basketball and wrestling. But he especially liked reading. He liked reading about famous people in black history. He found out what it took for them to overcome difficulties and become successful. He liked to learn new words and use them.

He was fascinated by watching his father, Martin Luther King, Sr., Pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, and other ministers control audiences with skillfully chosen words. He longed to follow in their footsteps.

He made words central to his life--weapons of defense and offense. His mother said that she could not recall a time when he was not intrigued by the sound and power of words. He once told her, "I'm going to get me some big words like that." . When he got to high school, his ability to use words enabled him to win an oratorical contest.

In September 1944, when he was only 15 years old, King entered Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. It was a black college, and his father and grandfather had gone there. He knew that his father would like him to become a minister, but at first Martin was not sure that was what he wanted to do. At first, he was undecided as to his course of study. However, his experiences at Morehouse shaped his direction for life. After meeting and talking with Dr. Benjamin E. Mays, the college president, and Professor George Kelsey, head of the religion department, he made up his mind. King was enormously impressed. He saw in Mays what he wanted "a real minister to be"--a rational man whose sermons were both spiritually and intellectually stimulating, a moral man who was socially involved. Thanks largely to Mays, King realized that the ministry could be a respectable force for ideas, even for social protest. And so at seventeen King elected to become a Baptist minister, like his father and grandfather. At eighteen he was ordained a minister. The next year he graduated from Morehouse College with a degree in sociology.

Martin was an excellent student and was the class valedictorian when he graduated in 1951 with a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Crozer. While at Crozer, King attended a lecture by Dr. Mordecai W. Johnson, who was the president of Howard University in Washington, DC. Dr. Johnson "explained how Gandhi had forged Soul Force--the power of love or truth--into a mighty vehicle for social change." He "argued that the moral power of Gandhian nonviolence could improve race relations in America, too." King was mesmerized by Gandhi's concepts, and began reading profusely about his life and philosophy.

In 1951, King graduated from Crozer as valedictorian. He also received the Peral Plafkner Award for scholarship, $1,200, and the Lewis Crozer Fellowship to continue his studies. While at Boston University, Martin met Coretta Scott. Coretta, a beautiful young lady from Marion, Alabama, a graduate of Antioch College in Ohio, was studying voice at the New England Conservatory of Music. She and Martin were married in June, 1953. His father performed the ceremony at her home in Alabama.

Coretta had grown up with segregation too. She shared Martin's dream of a time when everyone everywhere could enjoy equal rights. On June 5, 1955, when he had completed his Ph.D. in Systematic Theology, the couple decided that they could make the greatest contribution by going back down South to work. Martin was installed by his father as pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, in October of 1954. Just a little more that a year later, Yolanda, the first of the Kings' four children was born.

In December of 1955, Mrs. Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus. Mrs. Parks was later tried in Montgomery City Court, charged with and found guilty of violating a state law mandating segregation. She was fined $10. Her attorney appealed the conviction. Coincident with Mrs. Parks' trial a one-day boycott of the buses by many members of Montgomery's Black community, was planned. Dr. King was asked to help, as was his friend, the Reverend Ralph Abernathy. As a result of this, an organization was established, the "Montgomery Improvement Association," (MIA) to orchestrate a complete and ongoing response to Montgomery's segregation. Dr. King was chosen president. Blacks walked to work or took cars or taxis, but they did not ride the buses. The one-day boycott stretched out to 382 days. Finally, after more than a year of protest, on November 13, 1956, the United States Supreme Court ruled that segregation on buses was against the law.

Martin Luther King, Jr., knew that even though that battle against bus discrimination had been won in Montgomery, there was more that needed doing. As a result, on January 10-11, 1957, 60 Black leaders from 10 Southern states met at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta and founded the Southern Conference on Transportation and Non-violent Integration. Its original agenda concerned "segregation in transportation facilities and voter registration."

In February 1957, the organization elected Dr. King as President and changed its name to the Southern Leadership Conference (SLC), organized to fight "Jim Crow" laws that discrimination against blacks. Offices for the new group were in Atlanta, and the Kings moved there. Martin became assistant pastor at his father's church, the Ebenezer Baptist Church. He spent much time traveling. He spoke all over the country, urging nonviolent ways of gaining civil rights. He and Mrs. King visited Europe and Africa. They went to India to study Mahatma Gandhi's nonviolent ways of fighting for freedom.

King spoke of how a Pilgrimage would be an appeal to the nation, and the Congress, to pass a civil rights bill that would give the Justice Department the power to file law suits against discriminatory registration and voting practices anywhere in the South. On August 28, 1963, at least 250,000 people descended on Washington in the "largest single demonstration in movement history." Dr. King captured the day. Following the march, the organizers were invited to a reception at the White House, where President John F. Kennedy "was bubbling over the success of the event."

Perhaps the ultimate recognition of Dr. King's crusade to secure equal rights for all came on December 10, 1964, when, at age 35, he was the youngest person ever to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

In 1966, he and his family moved to Chicago. People in the slums of big cities had problems that were as serious as the discrimination they faced in the South. King planned a Poor People's March on Washington, D.C. Shortly before the march, Dr. King went to Memphis, Tennessee, where garbage workers were on strike for better working conditions. He led marchers through the streets in support of the strike. Violence broke out, and a young man was killed.

On April 4, King stood on the balcony of his hotel in Memphis, talking with men who had been with him in his many civil rights efforts....