Six Years

My brother died six years ago today. I never have sufficient — or original — words for this anniversary, so I’ll leave it to John Ford. Alan was a big fan of Ford’s films (as am I), and Ford was fond of one hymn in particular. Enjoy these scenes from Tobacco Road, My Darling Clemetine, Wagon Master, Seven Women, Stagecoach, The Searchers and Three Godfathers.

Alan adored The Searchers, in particular.

Seventy-Five Years Ago Today

The round-up and deportation of the Jews of Rome to death camps happened on this day in 1943. Three plaques from my recent visit to the city.
The first is a street named after the date, with ‘the deportation of the Jews of Rome’ written underneath.
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Here, a commemoration of all who were taken away and murdered.
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And this is in memory of the very young – newborns killed before they had a chance to live.
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Marty Balin

Marty Balin died. My regular readers know the contempt in which I hold hippies, but I can forgive certain hippies a lot if they write and sing songs like this. Marty Balin, Signe Anderson and Paul Kantner are all singing on this track – and all three of them are gone. RIP.