Remembering the Good Doctor

Today would have been DeForest Kelley's 92nd birthday. He passed away in 1999 and is remembered most for his iconic character, Dr. "Bones" McCoy, on Star Trek.

Dee, to his friends and Trekkies everywhere, was of course awesome on Star Trek playing foil to Spock, but he was well known in Hollywood before that role.

His filmography is intense. He has over 129 acting credits, the vast majority coming from the 1950's and '60's when he was the bad guy in Western movies. He acted with Burt Lancaster, Anthony Quinn and Henry Fonda among a few. He was also in television acting for a young Gene Roddenberry who then cast the veteran actor as the lovable snarky doctor in Star Trek.

He was also a poet, publishing 2 books.

His cameo in the pilot ep of Star Trek: The Next Generation as a grizzled very old Dr. McCoy who comments to Data about the Enterprise, "Treat her like a lady and she'll always get you home", still brings a tear to our eye.

R.I.P! We still miss you and the thought of Mint Juleps.

Dee's IMDB.com page

R.I.P Ben Breedlove

This amazing 18 year old teenager died on Christmas Day but the 2 videos he left us are priceless.

Turn off the sound, it's awful, and read fast but do watch and read what he has to say because it's inspiring and amazing.

PART ONE:





PART TWO:

What Really Happend to Natalie Wood - UPDATED

We originally posted this on 7/20/11 and in light of the breaking news today that the LA County Sheriff's Department is re-opening the case it's super relevant!

Actress Natalie Wood was born this day in 1938. She died November 29, 1981.

How beloved was Natalie Wood by her Hollywood peers? Well, her pall bearers were: Rock Hudson, Frank Sinatra, Laurence Olivier, Gregory Peck, David Niven, Fred Astaire and movie director Elia Kazan.

Her funeral was attended by over 1,000 people and included Elizabeth Taylor and Gene Kelly.

In life she starred in over 50 major motion pictures including some of the best and biggest of all time: Miracle on 34th Street, The Searchers, West Side Story, Splendor in the Grass, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, Rebel Without a Cause and one of our all time personal favorites, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.

She was nominated 3 times for an Academy Award and nominated multiple times for Golden Globes, winning twice.

Her death at age 43, remains an open mystery. Natalie was married a few times in her life and like Elizabeth Taylor two of those marriages were to the same man, Robert Wagner (Of recent Austin Powers movie fame.)

On the night in question, November 29, 1981, she was on her and Robert's yacht with fellow actor Christopher Walken and the boat Captain. She was found drowned the next morning, clad in a nightgown, jacket and socks. The official story is that she went outside late that night/early that morning to secure a dingy that kept banging against the boat, slipped, fell in the water and accidentally drowned.

Her sister, actress Lana, insists that Natalie would never go out at night like that and secure a boat. Besides, she had THREE other men on board that could have done that for her, including one (the Captain) that was on the payroll to specifically take care of that kind of thing.

The Captain insists to this day he saw and heard Natalie and Robert having a terrible fight on deck early that morning and that all of sudden Robert was alone saying, "she's gone." The implication here is that he threw her overboard or accidentally/inadvertently caused her to fall overboard.

The police ruled that because of the level of alcohol in her bloodstream (super high)and because they believed Wagner's story that is was an accident.

Christopher Walken has NEVER ONCE spoken publicly about that night. Wagner never said much either. His autobiography from a few years ago basically just says this:

According to Wagner, tensions came to the boil during a late dinner on the couple's yacht Splendor, which was moored off the island of Santa Catalina, near Los Angeles, after Walken suggested that Wood should star in more films instead of caring for two young children.

Wagner admits he lost his temper over the remark and smashed a wine bottle on the table, prompting Wood to go below to their cabin. He and Walken then went up on deck to cool down. At about midnight he returned to the cabin and discovered that his wife was missing. Then he realised that the yacht's dinghy had gone too. That's when he remarked to the Captain, "She's gone."

This implies that he thought maybe she had just taken the smaller boat to shore and left him. He was so drunk he might not have even known she was dead.

Her body was found by authorities later that day.

Her sister, Lana, as of March 2010, asked the LA police to re-open this "case" and reinvestigate. No word on that, but considering the LA police face thousands of homicides a year and this incident happened 30 years ago this November, we'd say it's over.

WRONG! Case re-opened 11/18/11

Sheriff's Office has "new information"

Lana's story is conveyed through this news article from a couple of years ago.

We'll never know what really happened that night unless Christoper Walken or Robert Wagner give some sort of tell all.

Until then, it's still up in the air...Lover's squabble that led to accidental death, drunken accident or deliberate murder...?

CNN News Article - 11/17/11

The Edmund Fitzgerald

On this day in 1975, one of the United States' most tragic maritime disasters occurred on Lake Superior.

The Supertanker Edmund Fitzgerald was lost at sea with all hands. 29 men died in what would be one of the most mysterious Great Lake shipwrecks of all time.

Lake Superior, known for its rough seas and terrible winter storms, claimed the Edmund Fitzgerald in 80 mile an hour winds and 25-foot high waves. The supertanker was not unlike the Titanic as far as the notion of "it's too big to be lost at sea". It sank fast, without sending out a single distress call. This wasn't 1875 but 1975 and the suddenness of the tragedy surprised everyone. The ship was equipped with state of the art everything...radar, sonar, communications. To this day not one body has been recovered.

The ship, discovered at the bottom of the lake a few days later, sits a silent tomb. Home forever for the crew of 29 that perished so suddenly and horribly that November night. The Son of the Late Great Jacques Cousteau, Jean-Michel, brought The Calypso to Lake Superior and were the first crew to use a submersible to dive to the ship, in 1980.

What made the wreck so mysterious was the circumstances of how it sank so fast without sending a distress call. Not one SOS. It was so weird that people came up with every theory under the Sun including Alien Abduction.

It has been determined in the intervening years that the hatches were insufficiently closed and that water poured through them, compromising the ship. One thing led to another and within minutes, all were gone. The Captain, Ernest M McSorley, was a veteran seaman. It probably surprised the hell out of him, too.

In 1995 the beautiful golden Bell, engraved with the ships name, was brought to the surface. It is now housed reverently at The Great Lakes Shipwreck museum.

The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum is home to an entire exhibit for the Fitz. Be forewarned - "The Wreck of Edmund Fitzgerald" is on a loop. (God Bless Gordon Lightfoot!) If you can't handle the song...wear earplugs. But go. Whitefish Point, Michigan is as beautiful and wild a place in all of North America and it's AWESOME. We don't even have words to describe accurately the majestic views of Lake Superior.

The museum is hosting it's annual Edmund Fitzgerald tribute later today that always concludes with a prayer and a ringing of the original Bell 29 times, once for each man lost.

For those of you old enough to have FINALLY gotten the Gordon Lightfoot tribute song out of you head...sorry... Here it comes again. It's a friggin classic!

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy.

With a load of iron ore - 26,000 tons more
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
When the gales of November came early

The ship was the pride of the American side
Coming back from some mill in Wisconsin
As the big freighters go it was bigger than most
With a crew and the Captain well seasoned.

Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
When they left fully loaded for Cleveland
And later that night when the ships bell rang
Could it be the North Wind they'd been feeling.

The wind in the wires made a tattletale sound
And a wave broke over the railing
And every man knew, as the Captain did, too,
T'was the witch of November come stealing.

The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
When the gales of November came slashing
When afternoon came it was freezing rain
In the face of a hurricane West Wind

When supper time came the old cook came on deck
Saying fellows it's too rough to feed ya
At 7PM a main hatchway caved in
He said fellas it's been good to know ya.

The Captain wired in he had water coming in
And the good ship and crew was in peril
And later that night when his lights went out of sight
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Does anyone know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours
The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay
If they'd put fifteen more miles behind her.

They might have split up or they might have capsized
They may have broke deep and took water
And all that remains is the faces and the names
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters.

Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
In the ruins of her ice water mansion
Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams,
The islands and bays are for sportsmen.

And farther below Lake Ontario
Takes in what Lake Erie can send her
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
With the gales of November remembered.

In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed
In the Maritime Sailors' Cathedral
The church bell chimed, 'til it rang 29 times
For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
Superior, they say, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early.
© 1976 Moose Music, Inc.

Wiki article on the Edmund Fitzgerald

We Remember Matthew Shepard

13 years ago today, the world lost Matthew Shepard, a young college student...and gay man. Only we didn't lose him, he was brutally taken from us.

Matthew was murdered by homophobic men in one of the most vicious anti-gay hate mongering ways possible. He was brutally beaten and left for dead in a Wyoming field tied to a fence post.

Matthew's legacy is one of hope. We hope that one day, young men like Matthew aren't beaten, tortured and killed for just being what they are. We also hope that the LGBT youth stop killing themselves for being bullied.

If you are a religious person who feels that being gay is evil, then you have to realize it is YOUR problem. Work on your on soul and leave others to their own. Keep it to yourself, your web blog, your little world. Do not go forth and try to purposefully ruin other people's lives because you don't believe in it.

We need to stop the hate.

Matthew's mother, Judy, wrote something beautiful to remember her son. Please read it. We are posting it in entirety and including a link to the original.

"October is very hard for me.

It's not that the early autumn in Wyoming isn't beautiful. If you haven't experienced the crisp air as the nights come earlier each day, or the last few cricket chirps of the season that follow the brilliant orange sunsets, you can't really know the peaceful, quiet contemplation this time of year brings those few of us fortunate to make our homes here.

But it's those cues, these turns of the calendar pages, that remind me of the tragedy that autumn brought us 13 years ago, and start us reflecting on what our family, and our society, have learned from it.

Thirteen years ago this week his father, brother and I were at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colo., with our firstborn son, Matthew Shepard. He was 21, and dying. Just days before, he had been just like millions of American college students whose names are not known to the world -- getting the hang of his new classes, adapting to a new campus, making friends. His father and I thought his biggest challenges were keeping money in his checking account and getting his homework in on time.

But here he was in intensive care, the victim of a terrible, senseless attack at the hands of two other young men who, at some point in their lives, learned it was OK to hate others for being different, to victimize them, to disregard their humanity.

Matt passed away quietly in the early morning hours of Oct. 12, 1998, with his family at his bedside. He died because of violence fueled by anti-gay hatred. For a lot of reasons, some of which we will probably never quite understand, the world had been watching, praying for him, and voicing their outrage.

October cannot go by anymore, and never will again, without us wondering what might have been, for us and for so many other families, if hatred of gay, and lesbian, and bisexual, and transgendered people, and all those whom others simply think might be, had been rooted out long ago.

In the painful months that followed Matt's death, we came to understand a lot of things we never knew before: about hate crimes, and how shockingly many there were every year; how they are characterized by obvious signs, like excessive violence, and the denial that surrounds them; and how hard they were to prove, and prosecute, and appropriately punish, with sensitivity to the victim's loved ones and the wider community.

We learned about the LGBT community and its long struggle for acceptance and equality. We learned how easily LGBT people could be fired from their jobs just for being themselves, how they couldn't serve their country openly, couldn't marry, couldn't adopt kids in some states. And most of all, we learned about the fear so many otherwise good people had in their hearts about their gay neighbors, coworkers and family members.

We set about creating a legacy for Matt. He had always been interested in politics, human rights and LGBT equality -- he had in fact been at a Coming Out Week meeting at the University of Wyoming on his last night. With the support and sympathy of the thousands who wrote us and the millions who were touched by his death, we decided to try to make a difference in his name.

Thirteen years later, the Matthew Shepard Foundation stands up for the LGBT community and its straight allies, in Matt's memory. We are a modest organization, but we do our part and persuade others to do theirs, as well. We pushed -- for a long, long time -- for federal hate crime legislation that includes LGBT people. That finally happened in another chilly October two years ago -- one more step forward. We go to schools and companies and community groups to implore everyone there to embrace diversity. We try to give young people hope, despite their parents' or peers' rejection of them, that they have a bright future. We keep Matt's story alive and look to turn bystanders into activists.

It's been such a long, sometimes tiring journey, but a rewarding one, as well. The coming out stories that young people tell me, slowly, almost imperceptibly, got better. More and more, the story ends not with a young person being turned out of the house, but affirmed, and accepted, lovingly. Every time I speak at a college somewhere in America, I am hoping I will hear another one like that.

Marriage equality is coming slowly, state by state, and military service has finally been opened to all, regardless of sexual orientation. This is progress. But we have a lot of work left to do, in employment discrimination, in family law and, most of all, in people's individual lives.

We all have a role to play. We all have our story to tell. When we all finally stand up and demand equality, the scourge of hatred will wither and disappear. And maybe we can all have our Octobers back to enjoy for what they're meant to be -- a season to see, celebrate, change."

Judy's letter

Matthew Shepard.org

Happy 65th Freddie! We Miss you...

Rock God Freddie Mercury would have turned 65 years old yesterday had he not been taken from us so soon.

Freddie, lead singer/song writer for Queen, died in November of 1991. It doesn't seem possible that it's been so long.

Freddie Mercury was a legend in his day and now almost 20 years after his untimely death his legend and legacy glows brighter than ever. As recently as 2005 he was voted the BEST male singer of ALL TIME. In 2008, Rolling Stone editors ranked him number 18 on their list of the 100 greatest singers of all time and in 2009, a Classic Rock poll saw him voted the greatest rock singer of all time. Allmusic has characterised Mercury as "one of rock's greatest all-time entertainers", who possessed "one of the greatest voices in all of music".

Amen, brother. Freddie fucking ruled.

Freddie is universally loved and hailed as the musical genius he was. He wrote "We are the Champions" the greatest rock and roll sports ballad of all time. Do you know how many drunken people have sung that song after their team won everything from Little League playoffs to The Stanley Cup to The Superbowl? Millions.

Freddie was born in Zanzibar in 1946. He grew up there and in India until his teen years when his family moved to England.

In April of 1970 he met Brian May and Roger Taylor and Queen was born. Queen's music is incomparable for their fans. Singularly unique, Queen knows how to rock out. Brian May is one of the best guitarists in history and BONUS, he's a BONA FIDE astrophysicist with an honorary PhD from Imperial College. (Jimi Hendrix, Tom Morello and Brian May - our top three)

The Queen performance at Live Aid in 1983 is considered to be one of the best live performances of anything from anyone anywhere. They rocked. They kicked ass and took names. They were THE BEST.

Freddie was diagnosed HIV Positive in 1987. AIDS was "new" and Freddie was mortified. Although it was said he was open in his sexual orientation, he did not publicly disclose his illness until the day before he died.

Fans were inconsolable. And still are to this day.

We will always miss Freddie. One of the true rock gods. RIP Freddie. Your music speaks for itself and lives forever.


Here's some of our favorite Queen songs:

"I'm Going Slightly Mad"




"One Year of Love"



Anything from the Highlander soundtrack:



and of course FLASH!

Remembering "Baby Girl"

It's impossible to believe that today is the TEN year anniversary of the death of singer Aaliyah. She and other passengers in her entourage had just finished filming a video on a boat in the Bahamas when the plane they chartered to return in crashed killing everyone on board on August 25, 2001. She was 22 years old.

It feels like it was just yesterday. Someone wrote "if Aayliah was still alive then Beyounce would still be with Destiny's Child and Rihanna would still be in Barbados." We like that and couldn't agree more!

Aayliah was just on the cusp of worldwide never-forget-you fame - although she achieved it a little. Her movie with Stuart Townsend "Queen of the Damned", from the vampire books by Anne Rice, had to be released posthumously. It was a major blow to the studio and was a dud at the box office. No one could watch it knowing she had died before even seeing it herself. It was to be her springboard into the mainstream.

Here are a few of her great songs:

Try Again



Yes, that's Jet Li the the video for "Try Again" with her. They had just filmed the movie "Romeo Must Die" together and we're friends.

Here's another fave, "Are You That Somebody"



And our personal favorite, "More Than a Woman"
"Because no scale can measure the secret pleasure that keeps on getting better..we can be like Bonnie and Clyde, I'll be be your side..."



From Aaliyah's Wiki Page:
"Legacy

Aaliyah has been credited for helping redefine R&B and hip hop in the 1990's, "leaving an indelible imprint on the music industry as a whole."

Steve Huey of Allmusic wrote Aaliyah ranks among the "elite" artists of the R&B genre, as she "played a major role in popularizing the stuttering, futuristic production style that consumed hip-hop and urban soul in the late '90s."

Described as one of "R&B's most important artists" during the 1990s, her second studio album, One in a Million, became one of the most influential R&B albums of the decade.

According to Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine, Aaliyah provided a "missing link" between hip hop and electronica.

With sales of 8.1 million albums in the United States and an estimated 24 to 32 million albums worldwide, Aaliyah has been named the "Princess of R&B" and "Queen Of Urban Pop" and "proved she was a muse in her own right".

Aaliyah was honored at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards by Janet Jackson, Missy Elliott, Timbaland, Ginuwine and her brother, Rashad, who all paid tribute to her.

In the same year, the United States Social Security Administration ranked the name Aaliyah one of the 100 most popular names for newborn girls.

Aaliyah was ranked as one of "The Top 40 Women of the Video Era" and "100 Sexiest Artists" in VH1's 2003 The Greatest series. She was also ranked at number 18 on BET's "Top 25 Dancers of All Time". Aaliyah has also appeared on both 2000 and 2001 list of Maxim Hot 100 in position 41 and the latter at 14.

In memory of Aaliyah, the Entertainment Industry Foundation created the Aaliyah Memorial Fund to donate money raised to charities she supported.

In December 2009, Billboard magazine ranked Aaliyah at number 70 on its Top Artists of the Decade, while her eponymous album was ranked at number 181 on the magazine's Top 200 Albums of the Decade."

Missy Elliot, her friend and collaborator, had this to say this morning:
"“It doesn’t feel like it’s been 10 years because Aaliyah’s leaving is still fresh in our minds and always will be. What I will miss the most about Aaliyah is her laugh and smile. She could light up any room. I miss that from her. I’ll also miss recording with her because she wasn’t ever scared to push boundaries as an artist.”

“If Aaliyah was still with us she would be setting trends as she always did and breaking down barriers. Her music and acting career would have been exploding out the roof because she was already on her way to that place.”


We still really miss her, too..
RIP Aaliyah "Baby Girl"

Jon Benet's 21st Birthday

Murdered beauty queen Jon Benet Ramsey would have turned 21 today.

She was killed, 15 years ago, in her family's Boulder, CO, home and to this day the killer remains at large, unknown and unprosecuted.

Her mother died of cancer in 2006 and just 2 weeks ago her father remarried and is still trying to rebuild his shattered life. Jon Ramsey not only lost Jon Benet at 6 years of age, but he lost his first wife to cancer and his 22 year old daughter in a car accident in 1992. And to top it off, the media portrayed him and his late wife, Patsy as a couple of psychos that killed their own daughter.

It took years and years plus a public apology from the Boulder Sheriff's department to stop all of that.

DNA from the scene is conclusive that NO ONE IN THE IMMEDIATE FAMILY was the killer.

Jon Benet's murder remains an open cold case.

What Really Happened to Natalie Wood?

Actress Natalie Wood was born this day in 1938. She died November 29, 1981.

How beloved was Natalie Wood by her Hollywood peers? Well, her pall bearers were: Rock Hudson, Frank Sinatra, Laurence Olivier, Gregory Peck, David Niven, Fred Astaire and movie director Elia Kazan.

Her funeral was attended by over 1,000 people and included Elizabeth Taylor and Gene Kelly.

In life she starred in over 50 major motion pictures including some of the best and biggest of all time: Miracle on 34th Street, The Searchers, West Side Story, Splendor in the Grass, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, Rebel Without a Cause and one of our all time personal favorites, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.

She was nominated 3 times for an Academy Award and nominated multiple times for Golden Globes, winning twice.

Her death at age 43, remains an open mystery. Natalie was married a few times in her life and like Elizabeth Taylor two of those marriages were to the same man, Robert Wagner (Of recent Austin Powers movie fame.)

On the night in question, November 29, 1981, she was on her and Robert's yacht with fellow actor Christopher Walken and the boat Captain. She was found drowned the next morning, clad in a nightgown, jacket and socks. The official story is that she went outside late that night/early that morning to secure a dingy that kept banging against the boat, slipped, fell in the water and accidentally drowned.

Her sister, actress Lana, insists that Natalie would never go out at night like that and secure a boat. Besides, she had THREE other men on board that could have done that for her, including one (the Captain) that was on the payroll to specifically take care of that kind of thing.

The Captain insists to this day he saw and heard Natalie and Robert having a terrible fight on deck early that morning and that all of sudden Robert was alone saying, "she's gone." The implication here is that he threw her overboard or accidentally/inadvertently caused her to fall overboard.

The police ruled that because of the level of alcohol in her bloodstream (super high)and because they believed Wagner's story that is was an accident.

Christopher Walken has NEVER ONCE spoken publicly about that night. Wagner never said much either. His autobiography from a few years ago basically just says this:

According to Wagner, tensions came to the boil during a late dinner on the couple's yacht Splendor, which was moored off the island of Santa Catalina, near Los Angeles, after Walken suggested that Wood should star in more films instead of caring for two young children.

Wagner admits he lost his temper over the remark and smashed a wine bottle on the table, prompting Wood to go below to their cabin. He and Walken then went up on deck to cool down. At about midnight he returned to the cabin and discovered that his wife was missing. Then he realised that the yacht's dinghy had gone too. That's when he remarked to the Captain, "She's gone."

This implies that he thought maybe she had just taken the smaller boat to shore and left him. He was so drunk he might not have even known she was dead.

Her body was found by authorities later that day.

Her sister, Lana, as of March 2010, asked the LA police to re-open this "case" and reinvestigate. No word on that, but considering the LA police face thousands of homicides a year and this incident happened 30 years ago this November, we'd say it's over.

Lana's story is conveyed through this news article from a couple of years ago.

We'll never know what really happened that night unless Christoper Walken or Robert Wagner give some sort of tell all.

Until then, it's still up in the air...Lover's squabble that led to accidental death, drunken accident or deliberate murder...?

The Great Ronnie James Dio's Birthday

Today would have been Dio's 69th birthday. One of the greatest heavy metal artists of all time he has been greatly missed since his passing on May 16, 2010.

He was the nicest guy and the best singer ever. We will always miss him.

Turn it up and rock out!
As always we suggest you let it spool first then listen again and enjoy...

Tupac's 40th

Legendary rapper, Tupac Shakur, would have turned 40 today had his life not been cut short by his still unsolved murder in 1996.

2Pac has sold over 75 million records to date, being one of the most posthumously lucrative artists in history.

His shooting outside of a Manhattan nightclub sparked the infamous East Coast-West Coast gansta wars of the 90's as both sides assigned blame and retribution. Just 2 years later both Tupac and Biggie Smalls would be killed in that war.

Yesterday, Dexter Isaac, a 46 year old convicted murderer, still in prison for his other crimes, confessed to shooting Tupac, the first time, in 1994. Isaac, claimes he was a paid hitman that night for some other creepy record industry guy and that as Tupac lay shot he and his co-horts robbed Tupac of all his jewelery, then divided it amongst themselves. He also claims he still has Tupac's necklace which is proof he did it.

After languishing in prison for murdering other people, he says he wants to give closure to Tupac's and Biggie's mothers.

Either way, the murders of both Notorious B.I.G and Tupac Shakur cemented them into rap history and made martyrs and stars out of both.

Walt Whitman

Today is the 192nd anniversary of the Great Walt Whitman's birth.

One of our favorite poets, EVER, 'ole Walt lives on through his tremendous body of work.

In Honor, today we will post some of our faves. Alas, it is hard to just pick a few.

Black Cat Poems.com has an extensive list of Walt Whitman's poems online.

From Leaves of Grass, our favorite poetry book of all time.

O Captain! My Captain!

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up -- for you the flag is flung -- for you the bugle trills,
For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths -- for you the shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck,
You've fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,
The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
But I with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.


And a poem in honor of Memorial Day. Whitman lived through the Civil War and much of his poetry is about this time. His book "Memoranda of the War" contains much of this work.

Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night

Vigil strange I kept on the field one night;
When you my son and my comrade dropt at my side that day,
One look I but gave which your dear eyes return'd with a look I shall never forget,
One touch of your hand to mine O boy, reach'd up as you lay on the ground,
Then onward I sped in the battle, the even-contested battle,
Till late in the night reliev'd to the place at last again I made my way,
Found you in death so cold dear comrade, found your body son of responding kisses, (never again on earth responding,)
Bared your face in the starlight, curious the scene, cool blew the moderate night-wind,
Long there and then in vigil I stood, dimly around me the battle-field spreading,
Vigil wondrous and vigil sweet there in the fragrant silent night,
But not a tear fell, not even a long-drawn sigh, long, long I gazed,
Then on the earth partially reclining sat by your side leaning my chin in my hands,
Passing sweet hours, immortal and mystic hours with you dearest comrade -- not a tear, not a word,
Vigil of silence, love and death, vigil for you my son and my soldier,
As onward silently stars aloft, eastward new ones upward stole,
Vigil final for you brave boy, (I could not save you, swift was your death,
I faithfully loved you and cared for you living, I think we shall surely meet again,)
Till at latest lingering of the night, indeed just as the dawn appear'd,
My comrade I wrapt in his blanket, envelop'd well his form,
Folded the blanket well, tucking it carefully over head and carefully under feet,
And there and then and bathed by the rising sun, my son in his grave, in his rude-dug grave I deposited,
Ending my vigil strange with that, vigil of night and battle-field dim,
Vigil for boy of responding kisses, (never again on earth responding,)
Vigil for comrade swiftly slain, vigil I never forget, how as day brighten'd,
I rose from the chill ground and folded my soldier well in his blanket,
And buried him where he fell.


The last stanza of "Song of the Open Road"

Camerado, I give you my hand!
I give you my love more precious than money,
I give you myself before preaching or law;
Will you give me yourself? will you come travel with me?
Shall we stick by each other as long as we live?


And the first stanza of "To think of time

To think of time--of all that retrospection,
To think of to-day, and the ages continued henceforward.

Have you guess'd you yourself would not continue?
Have you dreaded these earth-beetles?
Have you fear'd the future would be nothing to you?

Is to-day nothing? is the beginningless past nothing?
If the future is nothing they are just as surely nothing.

To think that the sun rose in the east--that men and women were
flexible, real, alive--that every thing was alive,
To think that you and I did not see, feel, think, nor bear our part,
To think that we are now here and bear our part.


To our Delaware Valley Friends: Walt Whitman is buried in Camden, NJ. His cemetery is BEAUTIFUL and his final resting place is just amazing. Yes, it's in Camden. We've been there and it's worth the trip to go and recite a few poems to the old man in "person".

Bob Marley

We lost this incredible talent 30 years ago today...

Here he is in 1979 in California, at the Santa Barbara County Bowl.

Get Up Stand Up, one of the greatest songs ever.



Stand up for your rights and don't give up the fight!