MARCH 24
Nike Lowe - 1949
Today is the birthday of the multi-faceted musician, Nick Lowe (1949). He’s a singer, a band leader, a record producer, a sideman and a song-writer. And he’s great in all those roles. As a bit of an aside, he’s also aged more gracefully that most rock/pop artists of the 70s and 80s. And what a head of hair…
Lowe was born in Surrey, England and musically evolved through the British music scenes of pub rock, new wave and power pop. Along the way he wrote such songs as ‘(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace Love and Understanding,’ ‘Cruel To Be Kind’ and ‘I Love The Sound of Breaking Glass,’ He also produced Elvis Costello’s first five albums.
He recorded his first solo album in 1978. He titled it ‘Jesus Of Cool,’ which was fine with his British label, but when Columbia Records got ahold of it for American release, it was retitled ‘Pure Pop For Now People.’ Whatever it’s called, it’s very good.
Now in the 3rd act of his wide-ranging career, Nick Lowe is now something of a Grand Old Man and a musician’s musician. So, from earlier in act 3, here are a couple of Nick Lowe songs I particularly enjoy—‘Homewrecker’ and ‘Indian Queens.’
March for Our Lives - 2018
After the mass murder of seventeen students and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, surviving students organized the March for Our Lives rally in Washington DC, demanding stronger gun control measures. Although the DC protest was focal, there were March for Our Lives events in towns and cities across America. In total the number of participants was between 1.2 and 2 million citizens.
On the 24th, 2018, March for Our Lives events took place all across Washington State. The largest was in Seattle where thousands marched from Cal Anderson Park on Capitol Hill, through downtown Seattle to Seattle Center.
At that time, the hopeful among us thought that we must have finally reached a tipping point in favor of gun control. It soon became clear that more would be needed. More is still needed. And now that all the high-school students who participated in the marches in 2018 can now vote, we continue to live and act in hope.
