Jazz Great George Shearing

George Shearing was a prolific musical talent composing literally dozens of songs. Two cuts from Shearing below, most folks would probably reference  his classic “Lullaby of Birdland”, – but I’ve chosen a piece that really shows his artistry, “Conception”, done with the George Shearing Qintet — and a second from a joint album with Nat King Cole. George Shearing played with many of the greats from Cal Tjader and Toots Thielman (On the original Birdland piece), to Billy Taylor, and of course as musical accompaniment to some of the great jazz singers. Check out how light Shearing’s fingers are dancing across the ivories in the “Conception” video. Pure genius.

George Shearing, Jazz Pianist and ‘Lullaby of Birdland’ Writer, Dead at 91

George Shearing, the prolific pianist and composer who penned ‘Lullaby of Birdland,’ died Monday at 91 in New York City. The case of death was heart failure, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Shearing was born in London in 1919 and was blind from birth. He began playing the piano almost as soon as he could stand, and when he entered a school for the blind as a teen, he studied everything from Mozart to Glenn Miller. He began playing professionally at 16 at a local bar and just four years later his career took off when he met the pianist and music writer Leonard Feather.

The Earth Moved! Senate Finally Passes Small Business Bill!

On a vote of 61-38, with all 38 opposing votes being Republicans – the Senate finally passed the Small Business Bill!

If you are a small businessman, and you are still stupid enough to vote Republican this fall…

You deserve to go out of business.

Senate passes small business aid, in victory for Obama

The US Senate Thursday passed a bill providing billions of dollars in aid and tax benefits to small businesses, handing a victory to President Barack Obama in his bid to rekindle economic growth.

The bill, which had been held up for weeks by Republicans using procedural tactics, passed by a vote of 61 to 38.

Two Republican senators, George Voinovich and George LeMieux, joined the Democratic majority in voting for the bill, which most Republicans argued was yet another government-sponsored bailout.

Obama thanked the Senate for “finally passing” a bill held up by months of “partisan delay.”

“It’s going to make a difference in millions of small business owners across the country, who are going to benefit from tax breaks and additional lending, so companies have capital to grow and hire, and this is really welcome news.”

The measure would provide 30 billion dollars in loans for small businesses and another 12 billion in tax breaks including investment credits.

The president and Democrats argued that the measure could help spur up to 500,000 jobs.

Arizona senator Harry Reid, the Senate’s top Democrat, said the bill would help the economy by offering “tax relief and greater access to capital” for small businesses.

“This timely support for small businesses, which is fully paid-for and won’t add one dime to the deficit, should create hundreds of thousands of jobs,” he said.

The House of Representatives, which adopted a similar measure in June, is expected to pass the Senate version of the bill to send to the president.

Obama this week welcomed the end of the stalemate on the bill, although he took a dig at Republicans, accusing them of staging a “months-long partisan blockade.”

Robert Byrd, Longest Serving Member of Congress

Briefly met Robert Byrd what seems like 1 million years ago when I was a technician servicing computer equipment on the Hill in my first job in the computer industry. Was working on some equipment in his office when he walked in, and unlike a lot of pols, said hello. This was the 70′s, and the country was still in a turmoil, told him my Dad was from West Virginia coal mining country, and remember asking him if he was related to the Virginia Byrds, a political dynasty which held sway in Virginia for near 60 years. He said something to the extent of “no, they don’t claim us – we’re the poor hillbilly coal miner Byrds”.

Robert Byrd, longest-serving member of Congress, dead at 92

West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd, the self-educated son of a coal miner who became the longest-serving member of Congress, died early Monday at age 92, the senator’s office said.

Byrd, a nine-term Democrat, was known as a master of the chamber’s often-arcane rules and as the self-proclaimed “champion of the Constitution,” a jealous guardian of congressional power.

His speeches were laced with references to poetry and the Greek and Roman classics, often punctuated by the brandishing of his pocket copy of the national charter.

He was also known as the “King of Pork,” using top positions on the Senate Appropriations Committee to steer federal spending to his home state — one of the nation’s poorest.

Byrd relished the title.

“Pork, to the critic, is service to the people who enjoy some of the good things in life, and I’ve been happy to bring to West Virginia the projects to which they refer. I have no apology for it,” he said.

He was an outspoken opponent of the war in Iraq, calling his 2002 vote against a “blind and improvident” authorization of military action the proudest moment of his career…

Robert Carlyle Byrd was born Cornelius Calvin Sale Jr. on November 20, 1917, in the North Carolina town of North Wilkesboro. His mother died when he was a year old, and he was adopted and renamed by his aunt and uncle, Titus and Vlurma Byrd.

He started his political career by running for the state House of Delegates in 1946, while working as a butcher and welder. He won a seat in the House of Representatives six years later, was elected to his first Senate term in 1958 and won his ninth in 2006, three weeks shy of his 89th birthday.

“If it’s the Lord’s will, the people will send me there. Why? This Constitution needs a champion,” he said before the 2006 vote.

As the senior senator of the majority party, Byrd served as the Senate’s president pro tempore — third in line of presidential succession, behind the vice president and speaker of the House.

While he set two endurance records in Congress, he was only proud of one in the end. The other was for his 1964 filibuster against the Civil Rights Act, when he spoke for 14 hours and 13 minutes in an effort to derail the law.

He opposed civil rights when he first ran for office, a stance he came to regret later in life. He blamed “that Southern atmosphere in which I grew up, with all of its prejudices and its feelings,” for his opposition to equal rights, which included joining the Ku Klux Klan in the 1940s.

He called the move “the greatest mistake of my life,” an “albatross” that would always shadow his career.

“It’s a lesson to the young people of today, that once a major mistake has been made in one’s life,” he said, “it will always be there, and it will be in my obituary.”