Good morning, it’s Monday. Unavoidable, but true. Another workweek has begun.
I am not one of those people who listens to music while I work. I have never been able to divide my attention in that way.
I find it wholly incomprehensible when I meet someone who tells me that they need music – or, stranger yet, IMHO, the TV – on to concentrate or in order to fall asleep. I need silence for sleeping, and also darkness, which requires both earplugs and a sleep mask. And maybe – MAYBE – a little white noise, but it has to be the right kind.
Some fans drive me bananas, for example, while others I find incredibly soothing. I really don’t like those supposedly calming soundtracks that massage therapists play – like with crashing waves and whale sounds or tinkling sitars or what have you. If I didn’t think it would be too awkward, I would ask for the music to be turned off. Because I really do prefer silence.
Don’t get me wrong, I do like and appreciate music, though when driving or working out I’m more apt to listen to news or podcasts. I’m particularly enjoying this right now. Yes, I’m a nerd for all things related to New York political history. Don’t judge.
I took piano lessons as a child, though I was never able to progress very far – mostly because I hated practicing. I like classical music well enough, and find it relaxing – to a degree. My parents didn’t, as a rule, play a lot of music in the house or the car. So, while I enjoy music, I don’t have a terribly in-depth knowledge about it.
I do, however, know who Duke Ellington was. Doesn’t everyone? He is an iconic figure in American jazz. If are even remotely familiar with big band, then you probably have heard Ellington’s work – even if you didn’t know you were listening to him.
You’re definitely familiar with the well-known song “It Don’t Mean a Thing (if It Ain’t Got That Swing)“, which was composed by Ellington, with lyrics by Irving Mills.
But Ellington is probably best known for “Take the A Train“, immediately identifiable within just a few notes of its opening, as it became the theme song for his band in 1941. (It turns out there are a lot of other jazz standards that I know – and you probably do, too – associated with Ellington, even though they were perhaps made famous by other performers).
Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was born on this day in 1899 in Washington, D.C. Both of his parents were pianists, so music was, quite literally, in his blood.
He started taking piano lessons himself when he was just 7 years old. He was nicknamed “Duke” at an early age because of his manners, elegance and dapper way of dressing – all of which he learned from his parents, especially his mother – and the name stuck throughout his life.
Ellington wrote his first song ” Soda Fountain Rag” (sometimes also referred to as the “Poodle Dog Rag”) when he was 14 and working as a soda jerk at a place called the Poodle Dog Cafe. Because he didn’t yet read or write music, he wrote the piece entirely by ear.
Though he wasn’t a New York City native, Ellington came to be closely associated with the city and its music scene – most notable the Cotton Club in Harlem, leading the house band for a time and then returning for several repeat engagements over the years.
In 1927, the Cotton Club started broadcasting on the radio, giving Ellington the opportunity to be the first Black band leader with national reach and turning him into a household name. He left the Cotton Club in 1931 and embarked on a series of tours across the nation that continued throughout the rest of his life. Ellington died in May of 1974 from lung cancer.
April 29 was declared “Duke Ellington Day” in New York City by then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2009.
Over the more than 50 years that Ellington worked as a professional musician he had too many accomplishments and accolades to even start to list our here.
He was, for example, considered for a Pulitzer Prize, (which was finally awarded posthumously); elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters, given a doctor of music degree by Yale University, and awarded the Medal of Freedom by then-President Richard Nixon.
His legacy continues to influence musicians to this day.
Happy Birthday, Duke!
We’ll have partly cloudy skies today with temperatures in the mid-60s.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden pressured the Israeli government against a full invasion of Rafah during a phone call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the weekend, the White House announced.
World Central Kitchen will be resuming operations in the Gaza Strip after an Israeli strike killed seven of its workers earlier this month, the nonprofit organization announced.
The Washington-based aid group said that it was still calling for an independent, international investigation into the April 1 attack and that it had received “no concrete assurances” that the Israeli military’s operational procedures had changed.
Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) took aim at Netanyahu for weighing in on the pro-Palestinian protests that have broken out on college campuses across the country.
Israeli officials increasingly believe that the International Criminal Court is preparing to issue arrest warrants for senior government officials on charges related to the conflict with Hamas, according to five Israeli and foreign officials.
Grief and rage over the war and Israel have led to demonstrations across the Arab world. Arrests suggest governments fear the outrage could boomerang.
Biden won the Democratic presidential primary yesterday in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico’s Democrats also chose 36 of the 65 delegates they hope to send to the Democratic Convention that will be held in Chicago in August.
Puerto Rico was authorized to open only a dozen voting centers this year compared with more than 100 in previous years given recent austerity measures imposed by a federal control board that oversees the island’s finances.
The president addressed potential debates with former President Donald Trump, changes in the Republican Party and personal perseverance in an unexpected interview on the “Howard Stern Show.”
Biden took the stage at the annual White House Correspondents Dinner on Saturday and cracked jokes about his old age, but also mocked Trump after journalists reported that the former president appeared to fall asleep during the criminal trial against him.
“The 2024 election’s in full swing and yes, age is an issue,” Biden said in a roughly 10-minute speech. “I’m a grown man running against a 6-year-old.”
Biden spoke before a crowd of nearly 3,000 journalists, celebrities and Washington insiders at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C., as hundreds of anti-Israel protesters rallied outside.
Trump trashed the White House Correspondents’ Dinner after being mocked by Biden and “Saturday Night Live” star Colin Jost at the annual event.
Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis met yesterday morning, according to three people briefed on the meeting, the first time they’ve done so since the end of a bruising Republican presidential primary that Trump won while relentlessly attacking DeSantis.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., at a rally on Long Island, suggested that Biden and Trump didn’t differ on the issues that he said mattered, including the national debt and chronic disease.
Kennedy Jr. sought to make the case that he can do something no third-party or independent candidate has come close to doing in modern U.S. history: win a presidential election.
Trump continues to hold an advantage over Biden as the campaign – and the former president’s criminal trial – move forward, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS.
Forty-nine percent of those polled say they are expecting to vote for Trump in 2024, compared to Biden’s 43%. Trump’s support remains basically unmoved from CNN’s last poll in January, while Biden’s has dropped two percentage points, down from 45%.
Biden’s reelection campaign faces the difficult task of appealing to moderate Republicans who may feel like they don’t have a place to go this election with Trump on the ballot.
Nearly seven months after the Israel-Hamas war began, the college campus demonstrations are exposing fresh tensions in the Democratic Party over how to balance free speech and support for Gazans with concerns that some Jews have about antisemitism.
Hundreds of anti-Israel protesters were arrested at college campuses across the nation Saturday after fed-up administrators said “enough is enough.”
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein was arrested during an anti-Israel protest at Washington University in St. Louis on Saturday — a day after she was confronted outside of Columbia University.
With pro-Palestinian protests spreading across campuses nationwide, university leaders have had to confront a central question: When does a demonstration cross the line?
Former Gov. David Paterson — a Columbia University graduate — said he is supporting the Jewish community amid anti-Israel protests at his alma mater — not least because Jewish people supported Martin Luther King Jr.’s fight for civil rights.
Red hands painted on a tree at Pratt Institute’s Brooklyn campus are being used to “terrorize” Jewish students in a bloody reminder of a lynching of two Israelis, critics claim.
A pro-Palestinian group has filed a federal lawsuit against Columbia University — saying anti-Israel protesters with the extremist group Students for Justice in Palestine are the ones being harassed on campus.
Columbia University announced on Friday that it had barred from its campus a leader in the pro-Palestinian student protest encampment who declared on video in January that “Zionists don’t deserve to live.”
Campus protesters roiling colleges across the nation are part of a generation shaped by the pandemic, who grew up isolated and angered by school shut-downs and social distancing and are desperate to find a connection, community and a voice, experts said.
New York City Eric Adams joined MSNBC’s the Rev. Al Sharpton to discuss recent pro-Palestinian student protests at Columbia University and the university’s move last week to direct NYPD to remove demonstrating students.
Gov. Kathy Hochul referred Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley to the state Commission on Prosecutorial Conduct in connection with a controversial traffic stop last week, saying Doorley has “undermined her ability to hold others accountable.”
Hochul called Doorley’s behavior unprofessional and accused her of trying to claim she was above the law. “District Attorneys are responsible for prosecuting criminal and traffic offenses, and must perform their duties with the highest ethical standards.”
Doorley has been lambasted since police bodycam footage nabbed her throwing her privilege around and ignoring a Webster, New York, cop who tried to do his duty and pull her over after spotting her speeding.
Dooley, under fire for calling a cop “an a–hole” after getting pulled over for speeding, has yanked her social media accounts amid the looming controversy.
The Rochester City Council wants a state inquiry into Doorley’s conduct, and sent a letter to Attorney General Letitia James Saturday asking her to investigate the situation.
Crafting New York’s $237 billion state budget this year came with a purpose for Hochul: Don’t hurt House Democrats in a pivotal election year.
Hochul’s proposed $500,000 for the Commission on Judicial Conduct was erased in the final budget and it instead received the $770,000 increase in funding that commission Administrator Robert Tembeckjian had originally asked for.
Hochul on Friday highlighted changes in New York’s reading curriculum that were approved as part of the state budget and said she hopes it will improve low reading scores among elementary school children.
With Adams and his top aides facing several investigations, he is amassing a team of high-powered lawyers paid by his donors and city taxpayers.
The director of Adams’ hate crimes prevention unit was fired from his post last week without being given a reason for his dismissal — and is now reportedly planning to take legal action claiming discrimination.
Another City Council caucus came out against Adams’ pick to lead the city Law Department — the latest sign his controversial selection is in trouble. The six-member LGBTQIA+ Caucus released a statement opposing Randy Mastro.
A hotel in one of New York City’s trendiest neighborhoods has been quietly converted by the Adams administration into emergency housing for migrants for the past several months.
The pro-Palestinian flyer who recorded herself brazenly confronting Adams moments after boarding a New York-bound airplane last weekend said she had no qualms about giving the mayor several pieces of her mind — and would do it again in a heartbeat.
The MTA plans to institute new fare discounts on Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North trips that start and end within the five boroughs — and the deal will come online as the agency rolls out its congestion pricing program in Manhattan.
A top Sands Casino official ripped state gaming regulators for a “confusing” years-long review process that means licenses in the Big Apple region are still months away.
One year after Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman signed a tentative agreement giving Las Vegas Sands control of the Coliseum property for a $6 billion casino resort, county officials will redo the approvals process after a judge’s November order.
The city of Albany and multiple Hudson Valley municipalities are poised under new state regulations to begin adopting a new form of “good-cause” eviction, a tenant protection policy that stipulates why a landlord could terminate a tenant’s lease.
Southwest Airline’s decision to pull out of Hancock International Airport in Syracuse isn’t expected to have any impact on the roughly 11 flights a day Southwest makes out of Albany, where one in three passengers fly the popular, no-frills airline.
Robbi Mecus, a state forest ranger and admired Adirondack community member, died while climbing in Alaska’s Denali National Park last week. Mecus led search-and-rescue missions and became a prominent voice within the L.G.B.T.Q. climbing community.
Forty-eight communities and organizations in the Catskill and Adirondack parks will receive $5.4 million in grant funding from New York for housing, energy, infrastructure and recreation projects, Hochul announced last week.
A moose was wandering through parts of East Greenbush Sunday and town police urged residents not to interfere with its morning stroll.
City of Albany police were called to the University at Albany campus yesterday afternoon to help clear a crowd at a concert.
The 18-year-old woman who was struck and severely injured by a man weaving through crowds on a dirt bike in Pine Hills early Saturday morning is a student at the University at Albany, the school confirmed.
Rensselaer and Rockland counties have each sued New York in an effort to throw out the state law moving local elections to even years.
Lakeside Road in Washington Park — the scene of “dangerous situations” caused by speeding drivers — was ordered permanently closed by Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan on Friday.
If you want to dine in or around the Spa City from June 6 to 9 during the Belmont Festival, make reservations now.
The company that owns the defunct Indian Point nuclear facility in Westchester County is suing New York in federal court over its ban on dumping radioactive wastewater into the Hudson River.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
