Bon Les Feuilles Mortes

Or, Happy Autumn Leaves!


Yes, Summer is officially over, and we move into Autumn, with today's Autumnal Equinox


The First Day of Fall.





It seemed like we had a terribly short Summer, and a rain-soaked one as well, so, here's hoping we have a nice, mild (perhaps, occasionally, crisp) Fall season.


And, who better to take us into this, but the great Mile Davis


Autumn leaves - Miles Davis





And, we have a vocal, from the man who introduced the song;


Yves Montand - Les Feuilles Mortes





And, one of our personal favorites, from the late, great Eva Cassidy


Eva Cassidy - Autumn Leaves





Bonus Riffs


Autumnal Equinox 2011: Sky Show Caps First Day of Fall


The September Equinox Explained


Autumnal Equinox




 

Autumn Leaves

Happy Autumn!



We didn't need the calendar to know the season is changing, based on the cooler weather sweeping in (especially, at night), and having to slosh through fallen leaves, and crunch the squirrels discarded acorn shells, as we walk down the street.

Wikipedia tell us that;

Autumn (also known as Fall in North American English) is one of the four temperate seasons. Autumn marks the transition from summer into winter, usually in late March (southern hemisphere) or late September (northern hemisphere) when the arrival of night becomes noticeably earlier.

n theory, astronomically, the equinoxes ought to be the middle of the respective seasons, but temperature lag (caused by the thermal latency of the ground and sea) means that seasons appear later than dates calculated from a purely astronomical perspective. The actual lag varies with region, so some cultures regard the autumnal equinox as "mid-autumn" whilst others treat it as the start of autumn (as shown in the above table).

Autumn starts on or around 15 September and ends on about 20 December in solar term.

And of course, darkness comes much earlier (not quite as bad as Monty Python had it - ""I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night, half an hour before I went to bed")

You can also check thing out with Equinox

Or Joan Morris, at Mercury News, and her "Autumn bliss: 10 things we love about the fall"

So, as you tool around on this First Day of Autumn, here's a soundtrack to rustle some leaves with;

Miles Davis and Cannonball Adderley - Autumn Leaves



For a little international flair;

Edith Piaf - Autumn Leaves (Les Feuilles Mortes)

And two favorite artists we could listen to all day;

Eva Cassidy - Autumn Leaves

Barney Kessel - Autumn Leaves (1979)

New Ignorant Dolt: Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins

Or, better yet, Congress's "Great White Dope".

That being Kansas Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins, for bursting through to grab the Ignorant Dolt Crown and Sceptre.



We go to the local Kansas paper for the call;

Jenkins' remark raises eyebrows

"Republicans are struggling right now to find the great white hope," Jenkins said to the crowd. "I suggest to any of you who are concerned about that, who are Republican, there are some great young Republican minds in Washington."

[snip]

The phrase "great white hope" is frequently tied to racist attitudes permeating the United States when heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson fought in the early 1900s. Reaction to the first black man to reign as champion was intense enough to build support for a campaign to find a white fighter capable of reclaiming the title from Johnson.

[snip]

Mary Geiger, a spokeswoman for Jenkins, said the reference to a great white hope wasn't meant to denote a preference by Jenkins for politicians of a particular "race, creed or any background." Jenkins was expressing faith fellow GOP representatives in the House would be key players in returning Republicans to a leadership role in Washington, Geiger said.

"There may be some misunderstanding there when she talked about the great white hope," Geiger said. "What she meant by it is they have a bright future. They're bright lights within the party."

Sorry, there Representative Jenkins (and Mary Geiger).

If you meant to reference the young, "bright lights" PartyofNoicans, then you would have said something like "we have some young bright lights in the PartyofNoicans"

There is no other context to "Great White Hope";

The phrase "great white hope" is frequently tied to racist attitudes permeating the United States when heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson fought in the early 1900s. Reaction to the first black man to reign as champion was intense enough to build support for a campaign to find a white fighter capable of reclaiming the title from Johnson.

If you don't want to go back to Jack Johnson, just go back to the early 1980's, and the Larry Holmes - Gerry Cooney fight;

Holmes successfully defended the WBC belt 17 times until December 11, 1983, when he voluntarily relinquished that title for the championship of the new International Boxing Federation. In 1982, Holmes gained some measure of notoriety when he fought Gerry Cooney, a white boxer who many thought had a chance to unseat Holmes. A lot of racial tension was involved with this fight, with Cooney considered "the great white hope" and the best white heavyweight since Rocky Marciano. During the prefight introductions, Holmes was announced first and Cooney second. Although champions are traditionally announced second Holmes himself had been introduced second when he won the title from Ken Norton. Despite bitterness and racial tension among fans of both fighters, the two became friends. In the 1990s, a movie called The Great White Hype starring Damon Wayans and Peter Berg was loosely based on the Holmes-Cooney fight. Holmes defeated Cooney by TKO in the 13th round.

We're fairly confident, that in referring to Gerry Cooney as the "great white hope", the boxing world wasn't articulating they thought Cooney was one of boxing's "young bright lights".

Ignorant Doltness of this level, the stupidity to say it, and then, the extra dollop of stupidity, to try to spin a different meaning on it ...

This should disqualify Jenkins for any elected office, at any level, including grade school government.

Let it be known, with our growing roster of Ignorant Dolts, Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins is one of our young, bright lights of Ignorant Dolts.

We can only look forward to more incredible denseness coming from her.



Bonus Ignorant Dolt Lynn Jenkins Riffs

Logan Murphy: KS Republican Lynn Jenkins Says GOP Struggling To Find "Great White Hope" To Take On Obama

Ta-Nehisi Coates: GOP In Search Of A "Great White Hope"

Colby Hall: Health Care Debate Gets Racial With “Great White Hope” Comment

Matthew Yglesias: GOP Member of Congress Looking for “Great White Hope” to Tackle Obama


Bonus Bonus

Hmmm ...

Wonder if Ignorant Dolt Jenkins will be putting this on her iPod?

Miles Davis - A Tribute to Jack Johnson(Remix)

Flamenco Sketches

Well, it was Sunday, and another hot, humid day, so we didn't spend a great deal of time at the computer.

Rather then force anything, we found a pretty good tune to close down the weekend with (or, for that matter, anytime you need to chill out).

Back tomorrow, with, hopefully, a few posts.

Meanwhile, enjoy!

Flamenco Sketches-Miles Davis