NOTABLOG MONTHLY ARCHIVES: 2002 - 2020

JULY 17, 2008

Song of the Day: Teach Me Tonight features the music of Gene de Paul and the lyrics of Sammy Cahn. Listen to a trio of audio clips by Count Basie ... with Joe Williams, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Joe Williams and Sarah Vaughan (Sassy also did a version with Oscar Peterson and Joe Pass). Then, check out clips by Al Jarreau, Amy Winehouse, Dinah Washington, Nat King Cole, and Chaka Khan. And, finally, listen to an audio clip of the 1954 chart hit by Jo Stafford, who, sadly, passed away yesterday at the age of 90.

JULY 16, 2008

Thank goodness for DVR... 'cause some of us just keep fighting to stay awake for some of these events that seem to go on and on all night!

Nevertheless, it was an event worth watching, if only because the 2008 All-Star Game took place at Yankee Stadium, the last time any All Star Game will have ever been played on that particular field of dreams. The ol' ballpark in Da Bronx is being replaced in 2009 by a new retro stadium across the street.

It was certainly odd to see Red Sox and Yankees players on the same side, the American League, which happened to win the game in the 15th inning, 4-3. Seeing 49 Hall of Fame ballplayers and all those current stars on the same field was a thrill for sure. Heck, even seeing Yankee Boss George Steinbrenner was poignant.

But, in reality, it was the Stadium itself, that Cathedral of Baseball, that was the biggest All Star on this night. I've not been out to the ballpark in the Bronx for quite a while, but I will always hold dear its history, and my memories of it.

There's still another half of a season to go, and while it looks improbable that the Yankees will give New York another October... I'm still root, root, rooting for the home team.

Go Yanks!

JULY 13, 2008

I was very deeply saddened by the loss of Bobby Murcer, a long-time Yankees player and broadcaster, and all-around-good-guy. Murcer had been battling cancer for quite a while, and his fans, and I count myself among them, were rooting for his return to the broadcast booth. He'd made a brief return after cancer treatments, but he eventually had to leave the YES network; Yankees fans had hoped to see him back at the stadium in time for this week's All-Star Game, which is the last All-Star Game to be played in the old Yankee Stadium. Next year, the new Yankee Stadium opens across the street; after this season, the House that Ruth Built will be no more.

Alas, now Bobby has joined the field of dreams of baseball eternity.

In the New York Daily News, Bill Madden had this to say, reminiscing about how Murcer, who had been traded from the Yanks late in his baseball career, made his way back to the Bronx:

It wasn't until late June of 1979 that [Yankees owner, George] Steinbrenner reunited the 33-year-old Murcer with the Yankees, as the Cubs, who were just looking to dump his $320,000 contract, sent him back to the Bronx for a non-prospect minor-league pitcher named Paul Semall. At the time of the deal, the Yankees, who had lost their closer, [Rich "Goose"] Gossage, to a thumb injury (the result of a shower room fight with teammate Cliff Johnson) were already falling out of the AL East pennant race. Then, on Aug. 2, an off-day, the Yankees and the rest of baseball were shocked by the news that [Yankees catcher and team captain, Thurman] Munson had been killed in the crash of his single-engine private jet as he was practicing landings at the Canton, Ohio, airport.

No one in baseball was closer to Munson than Murcer, who, only the night before, had watched from his car at the end of the runway of a small Chicago airport as Munson took off on his solo flight home to Canton. Four days later, after delivering the eulogy at the Munson funeral in Canton, Murcer, despite having gotten no sleep, implored Yankee manager Billy Martin to let him play in the game that night at the Stadium against the Baltimore Orioles. It would be his finest hour as a Yankee as he honored Munson's memory by driving in all five runs, with a three-run homer and two-run single, in their emotional 5-4 win.

"He loved the game, his fans, his friends, and most of all his family," Murcer had said in the eulogy for Munson. "He is lost, but not gone. He will be missed, but not forgotten."

Now they are both lost.

Mike Lupica tells us of this "prince of the city": "There will be a moment of silence for him Tuesday night, at the All-Star Game. Then one last time they will cheer Bobby Murcer big at Yankee Stadium, the biggest place the kid from Oklahoma ever saw, this time to the heavens."

JULY 08, 2008

"But I thought this was summer, Sciabarra!" Yeah, well. Welcome to the New Spring! That is, the new Spring 2008 issue of The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies! This issue completes the ninth volume of JARS, a precursor to our Tenth Anniversary Year!

The Table of Contents is as follows:

Completing the American Revolution: The Significance of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged at its Fiftieth Anniversary - David N. Mayer

Rand and MacIntyre on Moral Agency - Ron Beadle

Rand on Hume's Moral Skepticism - Tibor R. Machan

Toward the Development of a Paradigm of Human Flourishing in a Free Society - Edward W. Younkins

Missing the Mark: Salsman's Review of the Great Depression - Larry Sechrest

Reviews and Discussions

Defending Advertising (review of Jerry Kirkpatrick's book, In Defense of Advertising) - Juliusz Jablecki

Reply to Juliusz Jablecki: The Connection between Advertising and Objectivist Epistemology - Jerry Kirkpatrick

Rejoinder to Jerry Kirkpatrick: Advertising, Capitalism, and Christianity - Juliusz Jablecki

Reply to Stephen E. Parrish, "God and Objectivism: A Critique of Objectivist Philosophy of Religion" (Spring 2007) and Patrick Toner, "Objectivist Atheology" (Spring 2007):
Not Even False: A Commentary on Parrish and Toner - Adam Reed

Rejoinder to Adam Reed: What's Good for the Goose and Related Matters - Stephen E. Parrish

Rejoinder to Adam Reed: God-Talk and the Arbitrary - Patrick Toner

You can read abstracts of the above articles here, and mini-biographies of our contributors here. And don't forget that in due course, EBSCO will offer our newest issue through their databases! Check out your institutional and local libraries!

Noted at L&P.

Comments

It looks interesting! Congrats, Chris.

Posted by: Natasha | July 9, 2008 09:23 AM

Hope you'll like it! The discussions especially are quite provcative.

Posted by: Chris Matthew Sciabarra | July 14, 2008 05:49 PM

I'll look it up in some of the libraries around here.

Posted by: Natasha | July 17, 2008 09:51 AM

Fortunately, the journal is available through any libraries that have a contract with EBSCO.

Posted by: Chris Matthew Sciabarra | August 16, 2008 04:44 PM

Chris,

I am not able to access the site for JARS. Is this a problem with my computer, or has something happened with the journal's website?

Posted by: Luke Morris | December 5, 2008 02:19 PM

Hey Luke... our web service providers have been switching us over to a new server, and somebody over there made a BIG boo boo. So we're now awaiting a fix. Hopefully in the next couple of days.

Keep checking back periodically.

On a more positive note... the Fall 2008 issue of JARS, the first of our Tenth Anniversary Issues, should be going to the printer later this month. It will most likely be out in January.

Posted by: Chris Matthew Sciabarra | December 5, 2008 06:01 PM

JULY 05, 2008

Song of the Day: Your Face, music and lyrics by Peter Murphy, is from his elegant, exotic solo album, "Dust." To have seen Peter perform this live on stage in a mesmerizing encore at the Blender Theater was a transcendent experience; I'm so glad it was with you. Happy anniversary, sweetie! Check out a full-length clip at YouTube.

JULY 04, 2008

Aeon Skoble just let me know that Larry Harmon, the gent who played and franchised Bozo the Clown for decades, passed away at the age of 83. Having watched Bozo as a kid when it was produced by Larry Harmon Pictures Inc. (and played here locally by Bill Britten on WPIX, and then Gordon Ramsey on WOR), I have nothing but fond memories of the character.

Thanks to David Beito and Roderick Long, I just discovered that both Liberty and Power Group Blog (in history) and Notablog (in political science) were picked among the Top 100 blogs by liberal arts professors. You can check out the full list, divided into subject and alphabetized, here. (And congrats to Roderick, as well, who made the list!)

The description of my blog made me chuckle:

It may look like a blog, but the site contends that it is not. Still, it is an interesting place to read about politics and philosophy from an NYU professor.

Well, okay. A is Not-A. Then again, the evolution of "Notablog" can be found here. It started out as "Not A Blog," but gradually became "Notablog." As I write in that entry:

Some readers have wondered why I continue to call this site "Not a Blog," even though it seems to become more blog-like with each passing week. Well, it's going to stay "Not a Blog"�though from now on it will appear with closed spaces between the words: "Notablog." That phrase can just as easily be viewed as an acronym for "None Of The Above Blog" (as suggested here) or "Nota Blog" (as suggested here), recalling the Latin phrase "Nota Bene," featuring entries on topics of which one might take particular notice.

Well, in any event, however this place is viewed, remember it can be reached at notablog.net.

Now, I know I have not been writing as much as I used to. There are, after all, only so many hours in a day, and we just put to bed the Spring 2008 issue of The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies (information on that issue to follow next week). But Election season is upon us. And I'm sure I'll have a few things to say about that, and many other subjects. Coming up this summer, my series, "SITL" will also continue. And don't forget "Song of the Day," which, today, reaches the 900 milestone. Will I reach 1000 before the year is out? I've Notaclue! Stay tuned...

Comments

How do you feel about McCain? I can assume that you do not feel too much love for Obama, now an Evangelical socialist.

Posted by: Ira Zornberg | July 8, 2008 04:58 PM

I have no great love for either of the major party candidates, and at this point, I'm not too fond of the minor party candidates either. Indeed, we're being offered variations on a theme, but more significantly---and I will have a lot more to say about this in the coming weeks and months---there is no candidate that can even begin to offer the kind of fundamental change that is required today. Indeed, "change" is the key word... but change is what is least likely to result from the 2008 election.

I suspect, however, that Obama's success has been fed at least partially by some voters' real desires for real change. The rude awakening will come, if it hasn't begun to sink in... but at least the desire is real. More to follow soon on this here at Notablog.

Posted by: Chris Matthew Sciabarra | July 14, 2008 05:58 PM

Song of the Day: (Get Your Kicks On) Route 66, words and music by Bobby Troup, is one of those songs that gives us a classic tour of (part of) America in song. Listen to audio clips of renditions by Perry Como, Mel Torme, The Manhattan Transfer, with pianist Oscar Peterson and guitarist Herb Ellis, Natalie Cole, and, her dad, my favorite, Nat King Cole. Happy Independence Day!

Comments

What a surprise I had when a friend sent me that video list with the 10 best songs in history http://www.weshow.com/top10/en/ for us who like music!

Posted by: Silvana | July 4, 2008 01:29 PM

Thanks for the link!

Posted by: Chris Matthew Sciabarra | July 14, 2008 05:47 PM

Wont you get hip to this timely tip:
When you make that california trip
Get your kicks on route sixty-six.

soo kool :)

---------
http://www.dissertation-help.co.uk/

Posted by: martha | July 15, 2008 01:16 AM

A fun song, and fine Americana.

You may enjoy my father's memoir of driving Route 66 in the 1930s and 1940s, sleeping in "Hotel Oldsmobile". Find it at http://www.Troynovant.com/ under Memoirs.

Posted by: Robert W. Franson | August 8, 2008 05:39 AM

Hey, thanks for the link!

Posted by: Chris Matthew Sciabarra | August 16, 2008 04:46 PM

If you ever plan to motor west,
Travel my way, take the highway that is best.
Get your kicks on route sixty-six.
Oh I love it ....
-------------
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