Chamblee54

This content was published Februray 4, 2022. … How ‘Strange Fruit’ Killed Billie Holiday turned up in a facebook feed yesterday. The article states that Harry Jacob Anslinger “the first commissioner of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Federal Bureau of Narcotics,” ordered Billie Holiday to quit performing “Strange Fruit.” When the chanteuse declined, Mr. Anslinger had her arrested for heroin possession. Later, Mr. Anslinger was allegedly responsible for busting Miss Holiday on her deathbed.
The Hunting of Billie Holiday was the source given for the claim about Mr. Anslinger and “Strange Fruit.” The Politico article does not say that Mr. Anslinger ordered Miss Holiday to quit singing “Strange Fruit .” It does say that Louis McKay, one of the many no-good men in Miss Holiday’s life, narked her out. The bust was in 1947, after she had been performing “Strange Fruit” for several years. (Lady Sings The Blues says that Louis McKay was not in Miss Holiday’s life in 1947.)
Politico had one comment that set off the bs detector. “One day, Harry Anslinger was told that there were also white women, just as famous as Billie, who had drug problems—but he responded to them rather differently. He called Judy Garland, another heroin addict, in to see him.” Frances Gumm was well known for having substance abuse issues. The heroin business was news to a lot of people.
Johann Hari was the author of the politico article. At the time, he was promoting a book, Chasing the Scream, about the war on drugs. Johann Hari has a spotted reputation. “The author used to be the Independent’s star columnist, a prolific polemicist and darling of the left, until his career imploded in disgrace when it emerged in 2011 that many of his articles contained quotes apparently said to him but in fact lifted from his interviewees’ books, or from previous interviews by other journalists.”
The final bust, as Miss Holiday lay dying in the hospital, is part of the legend. A google search does not show what agency was responsible. Harry Anslinger may have been involved, and it may have been someone else. By this time, Elanora Fagan was in bad, bad shape. Years of drinking, and hard drugs, had worn her out. While the hospital bust may have hastened her demise, it is a bit of a stretch to say the Harry Anslinger killed Billie Holiday, because she sang “Strange Fruit.”

Lady Sings The Blues is the autobiography of Billie Holiday. I read it in 1978, and pulled it off the shelf recently. The copy I have is a 1972 paperback, issued in conjunction with the movie. A picture of Diana Ross is on the cover, as well as a price sticker from Woolco. The book sold for $1.25.
William Dufty was the ghost writer. His prose is easy to read, with the story flowing out like a Lester Young solo. The 1956 copyright is assigned to “Eleanora Fagan and William Dufty,” using the birth name of the singer. Mr. Dufty was a newspaper writer. “Dufty had one son, Bevan Dufty, with first wife Maely Bartholomew, who had arrived in New York City during World War II after losing most of her family in the Nazi concentration camps. She settled near Harlem where she met her best friend and Bevan’s godmother, Billie Holiday.”
“Bevan Dufty would agree. He’s one of the childless singer’s two godchildren. … “Holiday said motherf***** all the time, in her gravelly elegant way,” recalled Dufty, sitting in his City Hall office. His mother, Maely, a Czech Jewish immigrant who loved jazz, was close to many musicians and even managed the unmanageable Charlie Parker for a spell, learned to curse from Holiday. But with a European accent. Much of what Dufty knows of Holiday comes from his late mother, who was married to actor Freddie Bartholomew before her brief marriage to William Dufty, one of her seven husbands. Maely, who took her infant son by train to Philadelphia every day to attend yet another of Holiday’s drug trials, was so distraught by the singer’s death that she dedicated herself to helping recovering addicts. A number of musicians lived at the Duftys’ place while kicking the habit (William and Maely Dufty divorced not long after Holiday’s death, and he later married actress Gloria Swanson, who inspired him to write the book “Sugar Blues” about the dangers of processed sugar).”
“Billie Holiday’s bio ‘Lady Sings the Blues,’ may be full of lies, but it gets at jazz great’s core.” Autobiographies are, by their nature, self serving. This one has a great opening line … ” Mom and Pop were just a couple of kids when they got married. He was eighteen, she was sixteen, and I was three.” (“Her parents were never married. When she was born, her mother was 19, her father was 17 and they never lived under the same roof.”) Another source adds: “Some of the material in the book, however, must be taken with a grain of salt. Holiday was in rough shape when she worked with Dufty on the project, and she claimed to have never read the book after it was finished. Around this time, Holiday became involved with Louis McKay. The two were arrested for narcotics in 1956, and they married in Mexico the following year. (March 28, 1957) Like many other men in her life, McKay used Holiday’s name and money to advance himself.”
Louis McKay is at the center of another misunderstanding of facts. “The Hunting of Billie Holiday” claimed that Mr. McKay narked out Miss Holiday in 1947, and set up her first drug bust. LSTB tells a different story. Here, Miss Holiday meets Mr. McKay very briefly in 1931. Someone was trying to rob Mr. McKay. Miss Holiday said “He’s my old man,” and chased off the robber.
Fast forward twenty five years,, and Miss Holiday connects with Mr. McKay. “I hadn’t seen him since I was sixteen and he wasn’t much older and I was singing at the Hotcha in Harlem.” The two were married in 1957. They got busted as LSTB ends. Either Politico is wrong about the 1947 bust, or Miss Holiday did not tell the whole story. Either way, Harry Anslinger is not mentioned in LSTB.
Tallulah Bankhead is another missing piece of the puzzle. Reportedly, Miss Bankhead and Miss Holiday were close friends, and possibly lovers. That was over by the time LSTB was written. “When “Lady Sings the Blues” was being prepared, Miss Bankhead got an advance copy, and was horrified by what she saw. A fierce note was sent to the book’s publisher, and scenes were edited out. Miss Holiday was outraged. The letter that resulted is a poison pen classic. “My maid who was with me at the Strand isn’t dead either. There are plenty of others around who remember how you carried on so you almost got me fired out of the place. And if you want to get shitty, we can make it a big shitty party. We can all get funky together!”
Miss Bankhead does make an appearance in LSTB. On page 117, Miss Holiday is describing playing a maid, in a movie. She was not pleased at the typecasting. “Don’t get me wrong. I’ve got nothing against maids – or whores – whether they’re black or white. My mother was a maid, a good one, one of the greatest. My stepmother is Tallulah Bankhead’s maid right now, and that’s a part I’d even consider when they do her life story.” (Miss Bankhead had her own domestic help problems. In 1951, Evyleen Cronin, Tallulah’s maid and secretary, was accused of stealing $10,000-30,000 from Tallulah during her employment. … The case went to trial (much to Tallulah’s embarrassment) and Cronin was convicted.” Many embarrassing details about Miss Bankhead’s life came to light during this trial. Fanny Holiday, the stepmother, is probably a different person than Evyleen Cronin.)
Whatever it’s factual challenges, Lady Sings the Blues is a powerful book. Miss Holiday had a tough life, to say the least. As the singer for Artie Shaw’s big band, Miss Holiday was an integration pioneer, and every two bit cracker wanted to make trouble. Later, she was addicted to heroin, got busted, served time in prison, only to get out and suffer some more.
Three years after LSTB came out , things went from bad to horrible. “In early 1959 she found out that she had cirrhosis of the liver. The doctor told her to stop drinking, which she did for a short time, but soon returned to heavy drinking. … On May 31, 1959, Holiday was taken to Metropolitan Hospital in New York. … She was arrested for drug possession as she lay dying, and her hospital room was raided by authorities. Police officers were stationed at the door to her room. Holiday remained under police guard at the hospital until she died from pulmonary edema and heart failure caused by cirrhosis of the liver on July 17, 1959.” … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Russell Lee took the social media picture in December 1940. “Lineup of workmen at union headquarters, San Diego, California, after the first batch of men are dispatched in the morning. Those remaining stand in line awaiting subsequent calls during the day” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah

I would rather work on my computer than watch the oscars. This is a choice. It is made less dangerous by facebook, which can alert me to every twitch of the ism police. It seems like some racist, sexist, misogynist, and ableist things were said Sunday night. I would be a terrible person if I were not offended by this behavior. Some people think that way.
One of the players is Quvenzhané Wallis, who is getting scads of career boost at the moment. Some speakers did not want to pronounce her name, and got in trouble as a result.
An observer throws this opinion out there: “Give your daughters difficult names. Give your daughters names that command the full use of tongue. My name makes you want to tell me the truth. My name doesn’t allow me to trust anyone that cannot pronounce it right … Give your children difficult names, so the world may learn how to unfurl its tongue in the direction of our stolen languages.”
I was known for most of his life as Cam. This is short for Campbell, my middle name. Whenever I was introduced to someone, I had to explain this name. Yes, it is just like a car cam, whatever that is. No, it is not Cal or Kim. It is Cam, C A M. After a while, it became a giant pain in the ass.
The parents responsible for this are kind, loving people. People make mistakes. Who knows what they were thinking when they decided to name their firstborn after an automotive part.
So, go ahead and give your baby an “unusual” name. They might like it. It may also be a source of embarrassment. Being a human being is tough business. Giving a kid a weird name just might make it a bit tougher. It might be a very selfish thing to do.
UPDATE This piece was originally posted in 2013. Two messages were received…. Luther, do not post your blog on my page ever again. Many of your viewpoints are racist, sexist, and marginalizing, and I do not want to be associated with them. … Ive already deleted you as a friend months and months ago over the ridiculous racist and sexist twaddle that spills from your mouth and onto Facebook and in person. Do not post on my wall. Do not like anything post of mine and, in fact, do not interact with me in any possible capacity. Thanks. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Samuel H. Gottscho took the social media picture September 18, 1961. “Helena Rubinstein, 655 5th Ave. Hair dryers” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah

An English language expression for caring goes give a ___. An unverified internet source tells one story: “(don’t) give a damn -The above phrase was originally I don’t give a dam (yes, the n is missing on purpose) and seems to have been brought back to England by military men traveling to India in the mid 18th century. A dam was an Indian coin of little value. After spreading to civilian usage, the phrase changed to I don’t give a damn and was first recorded in America in the 1890’s”
DGA__ went in two directions. Less offensive words like hoot, toss, and rip were inserted into the blank space. Others chose use more offensive items, like shit and fuck, in the formula.
No one seems to know what a damn is. It is hard to say what exactly is meant by not giving a shit, or a fuck. Fuck refers to a highly prized animal activity. Shit is a vile, smelly substance that is used for fertilizer. When you give a shit, do you gift wrap it?
A link to The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck recently turned up on facebook. Out of 2496 words, 113 are fuck, or incorporate fuck. The f-word is used as a noun, verb, adverb, adjective, preposition, and interjection. The f-word is not used as a conjunction. This is a curious omission. The literal meaning of the f-word refers to the act of conjunction.
It may seem judgmental to say so, but this attitude is selfish, arrogant, and irresponsible. If you stick around for the fine print, you see that it is not enough to merely not give a hoot. According to “Author. Thinker. Life Enthusiast.” Mark Manson, it is a matter of deciding what you want to hoot about. (The period is used at the end of a complete sentence. You should use one period per sentence.)
Here is a brief biography. “Mark Manson is from Austin, Texas, USA and graduated from Boston University in 2007. He began coaching men informally that same year, taking them out to local bars and helping them approach attractive women. Mark founded Practical Pick Up in 2008 and has since worked with hundreds of men in 12 different countries and four different continents. He’s given over 40 public presentations worldwide and has been interviewed for news shows and magazines. In 2011, he changed his business to PostMasculine.com to change his focus away from simply meeting and attracting women and to help with life’s issues at large.”
In other words, he got started coaching men on how to get women to give them a fuck. Mr. Manson has “evolved” into coaching everyone on fuck-not-giving. What a guy. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Russell Lee took the social media picture in August 1938. “Farmers conversing, Caruthersville, Missouri ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah

This content was posted January 17, 2024. … A popular yard sign begins with “IN THIS HOUSE WE BELIEVE:” There are some opinions expressed in this piece. It should be noted that what follows is merely one person’s opinions. You are free to agree, or disagree, as you see fit.
The ITH yard sign (ITHYS) states: “in this house, we believe: black lives matter, women’s rights are human rights, no human is illegal, science is real, love is love, kindness is everything” The sign is an aesthetic nightmare. You have seven lines of all-caps text. Every sans-serif line is a different size and color. There appear to be multiple fonts used.
ITHYS is annoying. People are too proud of their opinions, and too eager to share them. It does not matter whether you agree or not. Somebody is confronting you with their beliefs. Sometimes, it is worse when you do agree, or partially agree. ITHYS presents bumper sticker arguments, not a respectful discussion of complex issues.
ITHYS is a reminder that we live in a Christian society. This is more than just the widespread acceptance of the Christian doctrines. Christianity is a religion of beliefs and persuation, not practices and contemplation. Even if you move away from the specific doctrines of Christianism, you still accept the primacy of beliefs. It is important to persuade others to accept your beliefs. You see others as a collection of beliefs, rather than a person.
ITHYS begs for satire. Sacred cows need to be ground into hamburgers. I started to write down ideas. Soon, I had In This House Poem. (ITHP) “In this house we are all God’s children, It is not what you say but how you say it, Don’t need to talk more need to listen more, Clever arguments are not always the truth, Science is the questioning not the trust, Beliefs are your thoughts with an attitude, Hate wins when you fight hate with hate, You are entitled to your opinion.”
The first four words are the same. ITHYS starts off “In this house we believe:”, followed by six beliefs. ITHP says “In this house we are all God’s children.” One is rhetoric, one is acceptance. It doesn’t matter how you read the fine print, you are still one of us. The ITHYS beliefs are presented in all-caps. (One of the rejected lines for ITHP was “Writing in all-caps is shouting.”) In ITHP, the doctrine is less important than your basic humanity. “Beliefs are your thoughts with an attitude.”
On May 1, 1992, Rodney King had seen the policeman who beat him acquitted. Cities coast to coast were in violent upheaval. Despite this, at 7:01 pm, Mr. King stood in front of a camera. “People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along? Can we get along? Can we stop making it, making it horrible for the older people and the kids? . . . Please, we can get along here. We all can get along. I mean, we’re all stuck here for a while. Let’s try to work it out. Let’s try to beat it. Let’s try to beat it.”
Part of the religion of beliefs is persuading other people to agree with you. You get into semantics, rhetoric, and using logic as a weapon. People confuse presenting a clever argument with speaking the truth. Ideas become more important than people. Not everyone feels this is the best way to live. “You are entitled to your opinion.”
ITHP is just eight ideas. We do not mention many important issues. Black lives matter. People disagree about the existence of God. And much, much more. Many of those issues are complicated. An alternative yard sign says: “simplistic platitudes, trite tautologies, and semantically overloaded aphorisms are poor substitutes for respectful and rational discussions about complex issues”
An amazon review has the final word today. juleskywalker “Don’t buy! So CHEAP it didn’t last 3 weeks! This sign is so cheap, that after only 3 weeks outside, one side has almost entirely peeled off, and the other side isn’t much better. … For comparison, we’ve had a BLM sign next to it for the same time period, and that one looks brand new.” … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Jack Delano took the social media picture in September 1941. “At the cattle judging at the Rutland Fair. Vermont” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah

This content was postedJanuary 18, 2024. … Episode 878 of Marc David Maron’s WTF podcast features Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates. Chamblee54 once wrote about a video featuring Mr. Coates. This seems like a good day to listen to the show, and take notes.
The show starts with TPC and MDM (Is Ta-Nehisi two words?) discussing the business of writing books. The word black is not heard until 28:33 of the show. At 31 minutes in, TPC is talking about when he moved to New York, and struggled. He mentions that when you lie to other people, you begin to accept yourself as a liar.
At 53 minutes, TPC is talking about sexual harassment, and how he… a man … could never know what a woman experiences. MDM says that he … a white man … could never know what a black man feels, and how books by TPC made MDM realize this. You get the sense that this is what MDM wanted to talk about all along, and that TPC is tired of talking about race. MDM had the prominent black intellectual on the show, and MDM was going to talk about race, whether PBI wanted to, or not.
At 1:02 pm est, the show is over. I have more respect for TPC now. Most of the show was about fatherhood, writing, and the struggle to succeed. The expressions whiteness, and white supremacy, were not heard. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Russell Lee took the social media picture in November 1937. “Children of John Harshenberger [i.e. Harshbarger], Mennonite farmer. Sheridan County, Montana” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah

This content was originally published January 23, 2009. … “23 skiddoo” is said to be the first national slang saying. It’s origin is is bit uncertain, making 23S with mythmakers. One story involves a place on 23rd street in New York, with a lot of wind blowing about. The legend is that men would hang out on 23rd street, near the Flatiron building, to see the wind pick up ladies skirts.
23 is a prime number. The only way to get it through multiplication is 23×1. However, using division, we see that 69/3 is 23. 69 sometimes refers to an act that involves two people. The concept of 69 divided by three is rather gruesome. · UrbanDictionary calls 23 the greatest number of all time. · 23 is an odd number. · Psalm 23 is one of the high points of the Bible. · 2 divided by 3 is .666 · 6+6+6+2+3=23 · The number 23 in the alphabet is W. If you can’t say anything good, say it about him. · Dr. Pepper is the combination of 23 flavors. 10+2+4 =16. If you add lucky 7, you get 23.
Willie Shakespeare was born April 23, 1564. He died April 23, 1616. · Samuel Morse sent the first telegraph message on May 24, 1844. “What hath God wrought” was from the Bible passage Numbers 23:23 · On January 23, 1973, Richard Nixon announced a peace accord for the Vietnam War.
On January 23, 1978, Terry Kath (Guitar player for the band Chicago) came home from a night of partying. He picked up a 9mm pistol, and held it to his head. He said, “ don’t worry, it’s not loaded.” He was mistaken, with fatal consequences. · Human DNA has 23 chromosomes. 23andMe can tell you more about where those 23 chromosomes came from.
23 enigma is one phrase for this vortex of coincidence. William S. Burroughs is credited by some for first noting the 23 enigma. “I first heard of the 23 enigma from William S Burroughs … According to Burroughs, he had known a certain Captain Clark, around 1960 in Tangier, who once bragged that he had been sailing 23 years without an accident. That very day, Clark’s ship had an accident that killed him and everybody else aboard. Furthermore, while Burroughs was thinking about this crude example of the irony of the gods that evening, a bulletin on the radio announced the crash of an airliner in Florida, USA. The pilot was another captain Clark and the flight was Flight 23.”
“Clyde Champion Barrow and Bonnie Parker were shot to death by officers in an ambush near Sailes, Bienville Parish, Louisiana on May 23, 1934.” · Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Russell Lee took the social media picture in May 1942. “San Juan Bautista, California. Schoolchildren collecting scrap metal for war” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah

Yesterday, I reposted a 2013 piece about tiresome conversations. To be fair, most of these are monologs, by people/bots who have no interest in my point of view. On my way to an appointment, I realized that the last 13 years have given us plenty of new conversations to be bored by. As soon as I got to the waiting room, I began to dictate a list.
Israel, religion, bad faith rhetoric, trans issues, personal insults, heterodox, and whataboutism appeared on the screen. Many of them can be lumped under bad faith rhetoric, or the use of logical fallacies to promote an agenda. If you look at these discourses, most of them fall under this umbrella. To be fair, this might be the exact definition of bad faith, but for today’s discussion it will do.
On my way to and from the appointment, I was listening to Blocked and Reported. Host Katie Herzog was talking to guest Jonathan Kay. Mr. Kay is a player at Quillette a “heterodox” journal/podcast. Merriam-Webster defines heterodox thusly, between the inevitable parade of popups: “Heterodox: contrary to or different from an acknowledged standard, a traditional form, or an established religion.” Heterodox would seem to be the opposite of Orthodox.
Quillete might still call itself heterodox, but when it comes to Israel, heterodoxy gives way to tribal orthodoxy. Two articles are on the Quillette home page now: The Genocide Libel · Francesca Albanese’s Campaign Against Israel. The latter article was promoted on X by @jonkay.
The Herzog-Kay discussion had little to say about the tragedy in Gaza. Mostly, they discussed conspiracies, trans issues, and vaccines. The latter issue is driven by big money rhetoric, with “Big Pharma” promoting their products. At one point, Katie Herzog enthusiastically said “I love big pharma”, and called for more and better vaccines.
The discussion of trans issues caused me to pause the show, and dictate a comment. @jonkay was talking about how extreme trans activism is causing problems for many cis queers. Has he ever considered that extreme pro-zionist rhetoric is causing problems for many Jews? Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Marion Post Wolcott took the social media picture in September 1939. “Witnesses and spectators during trial of automobile accident case in Superior Court. Granville County Courthouse, Oxford, North Carolina” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah

This content was originally published January 6, 2013. … There was a post a while back, 10 Conversations On Racism I’m Sick Of Having With White People. The original started at The Chronicle, but LiveJournal is LiveJoural, so a mirror image will have to do.
I got to thinking about “10 Conversations”, and a reply began to take shape. I started a list of conversations I am tired of having, and before you could say toxic masculinity, there were a dozen items. Many of these incidents have involved people of color, or POC. Many others have not. Often, the ethnicity of the other person has little importance to the discussion. Therefore, the title of this feature will not be racially specific. This monolog will probably not go viral, or even bacterial. Washing your hands might be a good idea when you are finished reading.
Meetings where one person does all the talking The word conversation implies that more than one person says something. Often, this does not happen. One person will talk for a while. Before person two finishes a sentence, person one will interrupt them.
This does not work. When the other person is talking, listen. Don’t be thinking of your clever comeback, but pay attention to what the other person is saying. What the other person says is just as important as what you say.
Listening is not valued in our culture. It is seen as a loss of control, a sign of weakness. It is really a sign of strength. If you are weak, you don’t want to allow the other person to say anything. Have you ever heard anyone boast about the clever things that they say to someone? Of course you have, just like you never hear anyone talk highly about himself because he is a good listener.
My question is not an excuse to make a speech. Some people have an agenda. Whatever you say is an obstacle to the message they want to broadcast. When you ask a question, some people think you are handing them the talking stick, to do whatever they want. When your eyes glaze over, they plow on, in total disregard to your discomfort, and lack of comprehension. It is almost as if they are talking to hear the sound of their own voice.
I’m not talking to you. If you are screaming something, anyone with earshot can hear you. Do not get offended if there is a reaction to your words, especially if it is subtly directed at the person you are not talking to. This applies to the internet as well, where all of humanity is *privy* to your innermost thoughts. Keep the farmyard meaning of *privy* in mind when sharing your innermost product.
Conversations should be with people. If you are a business, and you want to tell me something, send me a written message. Please refrain from using robocall machines. I feel very foolish talking to a machine, especially one that doesn’t understand southern english.
You don’t have to shout. The amount of truth in a statement is not increased by the volume of expression. If you are standing next to me, the odds are I can hear you in a normal tone of voice. If you are across the room, come stand next to me, rather than shout across the room. If your normal tone of voice is shouting, then you have a problem.
The same principle goes to controlling your temper. When you choose not to control your temper, you show disrespect to yourself, and the person you are talking to. There is no situation that cannot be made worse by angry speech.
Privilege Racial polemic is getting more subtle these days. We are not quite post racial, although there are rumors of a PostRacial apartment community. The phrase that pays these days is Privilege. This is always something owned by the group you do not belong to.
This is getting longer than the attention span of many readers. It might be continued later. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. John Collier Jr. took the social media picture in December 1941. “Washington Hot Shoppe restaurants. Washington, D.C. ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah