See http://kakoluri.com/2009/03/01/hunter-hancock-apr-21-1916-aug-4-2004/ for more information.

Here is another good source Remembering Hunter Hancock

Posted by Gypsy Chief

Monarchs Logo

You probably know by now that I am a huge fan of the Sacramento Monarchs WNBA team. The Monarchs are not having a great year this season.

A bright spot for the Monarchs was the performance of forward Nichole Powell in the WNBA All Star game, July 25 which was carried live on ABC Television.

Powell, playing in her first all star game and a late pick, was selected as an alternate. She got to play when Lisa Leslie got hurt. Nichole proceeded to rain three pointers as the West team led for the majority of the game.

Sue Bird of Seattle wound up as the point leader and MVP with 22. Powell scored 21 points and was a huge help as the West team won 130-118.

Nice going, Nichole Powell.

Posted by Gypsy Chief

Justice For All

This week’s Book of the Week is “Justice For All: Earl Warren and The Nation He Made”. The author is Jim Newton. This book was featured on Book TV on C-Span2 on Saturday, April 25, 2009.

Ask anyone what are the three most lasting achievements of the Eisenhower Administration. The Interstate Highway System is one, another is Eisenhower’s farewell address, the most memorable since George Washington. Eisenhower warned about the power of a military-industrial complex. The third, though President Eisenhower didn’t think so, was his appointment of Earl Warren as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

Earl Warren was the longest serving governor of California. He was, as Governor, a moderate centrist Republican in the tradition of Hiram Johnson. Warren won reelection as governor one time by winning both Republican and Democratic party nominations.

On the Supreme Court, Warren used his considerable political skills to build consensus. In the larger society the Warren Court was characterized by some on the right as a liberal activist court intent on legislating from the bench. Gideon vs. Wainwright (372 U.S. 335) for example extended Sixth Amendment right to counsel to states under the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Then Miranda vs. Arizona (384 U.S. 436) required notifications regarding right to silence, right to an attorney, etc. in cases involving police interrogations and confessions.

As a demonstration of Warren’s consensus building skill Newton cites the 9-0 decision in Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka (347 U.S. 483). Warren got Justice Reed to concur in the opinion.

Was the Warren Court liberal, activist, intent on legislating from the bench? Newton says no. He says that Earl Warren believed in conservative reform not liberal activism.

Gradual, conservative constitutional reform has a long tradion in thought. See, for example, Edmund Burke’s “Reflections on the Revolution in France”.

The subject is timely for today because President Obama may have more than one Supreme Court nomination to make. Warren believed that the Court exists to strike a balance between the weak and powerless versus the rich and powerful.

Posted by Gypsy Chief

Hunter Hancock

A legendary R&B disk jockey who played rythm and blues before rock and roll came along. At one time this was called ‘race music’. Hunter had a wide following among the students at Van Nuys High. The white kids at VNHS would race out to their cars the minute school was out so they could listen to Hunter Hancock.
In 1953
Hank Ballard and The Midnighters released a song called “Work With Me, Annie” which caused a huge uproar. Hunter played it every chance he got. This was a song with raunchy lyrics which left little to the imagination. Some radio stations banned the song. Mothers got their daughters to pledge not to listen. About ten years later Congressman James Utt [R-CA] proclaimed that rock and roll was a Communist plot to weaken the moral fabric of America. Could it be that “Work With Me Annie” was a song he was thinking about? Another song Hunter played a lot was “Your Cash Ain’t Nothin But Trash” by The Clovers. Who could forget “Money Honey” by Clyde McPhatter and The Drifters? The best selling record of 1954, the year we graduated, was “The Things I Used To Do” by Eddie Jones [Guitar Slim].

Posted by Gypsy Chief

Markleeville Death Ride

I had an awful time deciding what to add first in our continuing best of California series. The Monterey Jazz Festival qualifies. Yosemite National Park, Lake Tahoe, Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, Griffith Park Zoo in L. A. and then there is Death Valley as well as Bass Lake (made famous by Hunter S. Thompson in his book “Hells Angels”). Something has to be first and truly the Markleeville Death Ride (now just called the Death Ride) is my choice. Stay tuned for the others.

Posted by Gypsy Chief