Orange Inflections

Breaking Bad good .. - Pic courtesy of Wikipedia

by Trebor Snillor
It’s been a while since my last entry -- lots to cover. I actually have 3 topics but probably not enough imagination to do a full article on any one of these. I will land on each thing, hummingbird style, and see what I can add to the topic.

IRAQ

Iraq is having a highly predictable meltdown as I write this. A Sunni-Al Qaeda offshoot called ISIS is rolling across northern Iraq. It’s already taken Tikrit and Mosul as well as several smaller towns. President Al Maliki’s army outnumbers ISIS 30 to 1 and it has state-of-the-art weapons donated by the USA. Such a defeat would be surprising if not for a few background details...

MOSQUE/STATE -- The Middle East has no concept of Mosque-state separation. Whatever mainstream religion is in the catbird seat will play its advantage and suppress other strains of Islam. The Iraq government is a patched together group of Shi’ite leaders who have given no acknowledgement to the Sunnis. The Sunnis are a majority in the recently conquered areas and have no allegiance to Al Maliki.

DEMOCRACY -- Jeffersonian Democracy is a hard sell throughout the Third World. It calls for an educated, involved public and one that is uncowed by any particular organized religion. The US cannot side with any religion in that region without alienating large groups of people. Obama probably has a good idea to send military advisors and request that Al Maliki be more inclusive.

HILLARY’S HARD CHOICES

I’m listening to Hillary Clinton’s latest book, Hard Choices. I have to say that it comes across like a campaign commercial -- lots of unabashed bragging about her accomplishments as Secretary of State and a “Team of Rivals”. Her first book, Living History, seemed more genuine and modest. In Hard Choices, she scolds previous Secretaries of State and Defense for taking their eyes off the ball and losing long term focus. Her book was published a couple of weeks before ISIS swept through Iraq -- the irony abounds. I’m only on Chapter 3 of a 35 chapter book so I may have more to say. Overall, I like Hillary but this book is more like a geography lesson from Doris Kearns Goodwin. It tends towards boring when it’s not bragging. Maybe it’ll pick up in the chapters to follow.

ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK

Orange is the New Black is a break-out hit on Netflix. The comedy-drama about a women’s prison has garnered a slew of awards and is a top-rated show nationally. I have a new expression -- “Breaking Bad good”. Orange is Breaking Bad good. Like Breaking Bad, it shows complicated, flawed, basically decent people who’ve made some bad choices. The show compels the viewer to sit in and binge watch a whole season in one day.

The main character, Piper, is serving a one year sentence for working as a drug mule. Pretty blonde Piper is challenged immediately in a world which is ruled by gang politics and race-based maneuvering for influence. The threats of violence and sexual aggression are very real -- the women’s universe is very much a mirror of what happens in men’s prisons. The performances are so perfect I wonder if some of these actresses might have served time.

CONCLUSION

Today we had an entire day of gentle, soaking rain. Dallas desperately needed it, but I’m surprised the channel 5 News Team completely missed this in their forecast. I’ll probably relax at home and take in another two episodes of Orange, Season 2.

Hillary’s book is a bit of a chore -- I’ll listen to it on my iPod while I work out, when I work out. The 20 minute segments will be about right for that.

Iraq is a nasty quicksand pit as anyone might’ve predicted. The country is an ill-defined hodge-podge from British Empire days .. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it fracture completely apart along geo-religious lines.

© 2014 Snillor Productions

The Singing Kid

The Hillbilly Shakespeare - Pic courtesy of Wikipedia

by Trebor Snillor
When I listen to classic American country music, there is hardly anything more exemplary than the tunes of Hank Williams Sr.. The “Hillbilly Shakespeare” of Alabama made a huge impact in his highly abbreviated life.

Williams was born Hiram Williams in 1923, in Butler County, Alabama. He was named after a famous Mason. His father was a railroad engineer who became disabled by a brain aneurism while Hiram was still a young boy. Hiram’s mother Lillie took over at this point and provided for the family. She alternately worked as a night nurse and managed boarding houses to make ends meet. “Harm” (as he was called) received his first guitar from his Mother – a gift famously purchased from selling peanuts. He took his new guitar and finagled lessons from Rufus Payne, a well-known local street performer. Young Hiram was gifted despite lacking the ability to read music. He could play well by ear -- Roy Acuff and Jimmie Rodgers were his inspirations in these early preteen years.

At age 14, Hiram won a local Montgomery talent contest and then got himself a small radio gig at WSFA. From here he formed a group called the Drifting Cowboys. At this point, the teen wunderkind changed his name to Hank and his group started touring theaters and honky-tonks throughout the South. Hank’s band mates were drafted away into WWII in the next few years -- while he kept a civilian status. Williams was ranked 4F due to childhood spina bifada, a condition which caused him chronic pain throughout his entire life.

In his 20’s, Hank was incredibly prolific and successful. He published a song book, got a contract with Sterling Records, then MGM records and finally landed a coveted spot on the Grand Ole Opry. During this period he rolled out hit after hit… Move It On Over, Honky Tonkin’, Your Cheatin Heart. His songs were national hits and his status became legend. Unfortunately Williams grappled with alcoholism and “sister morphine” -- very possibly as self-medications for his chronic spinal pain. He was evicted from Grand Ole Opry for drunken behavior. After this setback, he had to return to concert tours and radio gigs. One such gig was Louisiana Hayride -- a radio show with a huge listening audience at the time.

Williams was married twice although his second marriage was very brief. He had a close girlfriend between the wives -- he did not ever lack for female companionship. He fathered Hank Jr. with his first wife, Audrey and he fathered a daughter out-of-wedlock with a girlfriend named Bobbie Jett. Audrey actually succeeded mother Lillie as Williams’ manager – strong women played a prominent role in his music success. Audrey and Lillie both stayed involved in Williams' career through his adulthood and even after his divorce from Audrey.

Williams died at age 29 and the circumstances of his death were a bit strange. He was en route to a concert in Charleston, West Virginia in 1952. He was being driven in his Cadillac by a college student hired as his driver. Williams was medicating himself with chloral hydrate and liquor in the back seat, nursing what might have been a bad cold. When asked if he wanted to stop for a bite he said, “No, not hungry”. When stopping for gas in Oak Hill, the driver saw that Williams in fact had expired. The doctor who performed the autopsy said that Williams had received punches and kicks fairly recently though there was no record of him being in a fight.

Williams had a “Dr. Feel good” who prescribed many sedatives and morphine (paralleling the Elvis story in some ways). It may be that Hank over-medicated himself in that Cadillac – the end story is murky and gauzy like an alcoholic blur. We probably will never get a complete or clear account. What we will get instead are the wonderful songs of this Alabama cowboy story teller .. we'll have his honky-tonk songs for every country jukebox, and for every generation to come.

© 2014 Snillor Productions