John Edwin Mason: Documentary, Motorsports, Photo History

Happy Birthday, Dear John, Dear Coltrane

Anyone who's serious about music has pieces, composers, and musicians that he or she couldn't live without. I've got a short list. Handel's Messiah, Brahms' symphonies, Dvorak's Slavonic Dances, and Miles' births, blues, smiles, and brews are one it. So is everything that Duke, Strayhorn, and Beethoven ever wrote. John... Read more →

FSA Color Photos: Jack Delano in the Virgin Islands, 1941

In early December 1941, Jack Delano, sitting in the back seat of a "single-engine, cloth-covered biplane," landed at San Juan airport, in the United States Virgin Islands, ready to begin an assignment for the federal government's Farm Security Administration [FSA]. The Japanese had just bombed Pearl Harbor, and the nation... Read more →

Ernest C. Withers: Civil Rights Icon Maker & (perhaps) FBI Informer

Ernest C. Withers, one of the most important photographers of the Civil Rights era, was very likely a paid FBI informant. Ernest C. Withers, who made some of the most iconic photographs of the twentieth century, was probably a snitch. Ernest C. Withers, who counted Martin Luther King, Jr., and... Read more →

Motorsports, Back on the Blog (Sorta): ADRL Dragstock VII, 10-11 September 2010

Well, that wasn't very satisfying. For the first time since May, I spent the weekend at a track, covering a race. Friday, the 10th, was great. But, on Saturday, rain forced officials to postpone the event before we even finished the qualifying rounds. I was really looking forward to this... Read more →

Vincent Kolbe, Musician, Librarian, Activist, & Sage: 1933-2010

Vincent Kolbe passed away late Friday night, in Cape Town, South Africa, finally losing a long and frankly heroic battle with cancer. He touched many people during his 77 years on earth -- as a jazz pianist, librarian, political activist, grassroots historian, wise man, wise guy, and, of course, as... Read more →

Bheki Mseleku's "Mamelodi," with Feya Faku & Ezra Ngcukana

Over the last few days, I've spent many blissful hours listening to the late Bheki Mseleku's 2003 album "Home at Last." It's quickly become one of my favorite CDs. On this occasion, Bheki, who was one of South Africa's best known composers and pianists, assembled a genuinely all-star band --... Read more →