Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King, Jr. He would have been 83 yesterday. I am about to use up my dram of Vetivert, mail-ordered from Hové Parfumerie. Last spring when I went to their shop in the Quarter it was a Sunday morning, so they were closed and I was so sad that I wandered around the Quarter looking for a coffee and brioche--and wasn't sure where to go. My favorite spot (Croissant D'or) had a line around the block and I could see through the window that the pastry shelf had been picked bare. The gentleman in front of me informed me that my second favorite spot (La Madeleine) had been closed for years. So, responding as I always did to the gravitational pull of the Mississippi, I ended up there--watched the boats for a while, saw an old man fishing, wondered what he was gonna catch, and then left again in search of coffee and whatever, walking away to the off-pitch sobbing sounds of the Natchez calliope. Then I found the market that had coffee and french bread, so I was happy. This music also makes me happy and I hope it does the same for you. JJ Cale and Leon Russell, proud sons of Tulsa, Oklahoma--in a video crafted in the days before the evil reign of MTV-- and let's all take note of Christine Lakeland (JJ's wife) on guitar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm-euFpRLMg This poem comes from a recent issue of the New Yorker. OR NOT...um, so, the poet bothered to contact me and asked me to remove his poem since it is copyrighted. Holy crap. It was a good poem but the guy must think I am making a huge profit from pirating his precious poetry. WHATEVER...so it's as gone as a wild goose in winter. "America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values. There is nothing, except a tragic death wish, to prevent us from reordering our priorities, so that the pursuit of peace will take precedence over the pursuit of war." ~ Dr. Martin Luther King (from the April 4, 1967 speech at Riverside Church. You can find it online.)