This day, 35 years ago, marks the passing of English singer
and songwriter and former member of The Beatles, John Lennon.
(Born John Winston Lennon; Oct. 9, 1940 – 8 Dec.19, 80)
John Lennon was an English musician who gained worldwide fame as one of the members of the Beatles, for his subsequent solo career, and for his political activism and pacifism.
He was shot by “a deranged American gunman” (I refuse to use his name) in the archway of the building where he lived, The Dakota, in New York City on 8 December 1980.
Lennon had just returned from Record Plant Studio with his wife, Yoko Ono.
After sustaining four fatal gunshot wounds, Lennon was pronounced dead on arrival at Roosevelt Hospital. He was 40 years old.
At the hospital, it was stated that nobody could have lived for more than a few minutes after sustaining such injuries. Shortly after local news stations reported Lennon’s death, crowds gathered at Roosevelt Hospital and in front of the Dakota.
Lennon was cremated on 10 December 1980 at the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York. The ashes were given to Ono, who chose not to hold a funeral for him.
I’ve followed this family since their early days in Miami.
I know their story and how Gloria came to be the main singer of Miami Sound Machine. The band became a huge hit in the Latin community. Then Gloria “crossed over” into the American mainstream music scene.
It was all then about Gloria.
I remember their hits, I have all the CD and concert videos. I couldn’t forget the harrowing time of the bus crash, her fractured back, her rescue, her recovery, her rehab and her comeback … that blue dress singing “Coming Out of the Dark”.
And the rest is history!
In their personal lives, they had Nayib and finally a daughter, Emily. Her name honors her dad Emilio.
I’ve seen Emily dab here and there in music. She has it in her genes, her internal makeup and her talent has grown.
She has released an awesome video with an absolutely on target message.
If you ask Gloria Estefan, it feels like yesterday when her daughter Emily was a baby backstage at her sold-out concerts. Fast-forward to today and the 21-year-old college sophomore is totally grown up and ready to rock out on her own.
“I always think about it as a double-edge sword,” Emily shared on Today’s show when asked about following the same career as her mom. “I don’t even understand that saying because doesn’t a sword have one edge?”
She continued, “But the reality is they’re amazing golden footsteps to follow in so my biggest fear now is just being able to do the past justice.”
“I know that must people I know believe in me for my talent and for what I stand for but there’s always a doubt in my mind because there is no way of knowing when you are a descendant of the Conga Queen.”
As her parents focus on their Broadway musical appropriately titled “On Your Feet,” Emily is ready to prove she herself can turn the beat around. And yes, she’ll do it while wearing mama’s clothes.
“When I want to go shopping, I just go to the warehouse and grab her clothes,” Emily admitted while wearing Gloria’s retro pants and T-shirt. As they like to say, like mother, like daughter.
Singer Emily Estefan, the Miami Beach daughter of Gloria and Emilio, on Thursday released a music video in which she expresses her point of view to a ‘sterile and ominous’ world: F#ck To Be.
F#ck To Be prominently focuses on male and female gender roles and stereotypes.
On November 3, Emily Estefan released her brand new video F#ck To Be. The concept behind the video shows Emily discovering and noticing a world that it is not what she expected instead it is very sterile and ominous.
“There are two POVs in the video, it is either what I see or what the mirror sees. It is me against the mirror. The mirror being expectations that I carry of myself, or what people expect me to be. I’m combatting the mirror, “ says Estefan.
F#ck to Be will be the first single from her forthcoming full length CD, Take Whatever You Want. Emily wrote, recorded, produced and performed her full album at Fairy Light Studios (her own studio in her college apartment in Boston, MA).
“Many people think I am saying “F” everything or everything sucks, but that is not true. I go in and out of these very different looks in the video that I don’t necessarily like for myself, but that doesn’t mean that I frown upon them, it just means that it is not me” said Estefan.
“later that night
i held an atlas in my lap
ran my fingers across the whole world
and whispered
where does it hurt?
it answered
everywhere
everywhere
everywhere.”
~Warsan Shire~
Warsan Shire (born 1988) is a Somali–British writer, poet, editor and teacher. Shire was born in 1988 in Kenya to Somali parents. She immigrated to the United Kingdom aged 1. Shire has a . As of 2015, she primarily resides in London.
A Muslim, sometimes spelled Moslem, relates to a person who follows the religion of Islam, a monotheistic and Abrahamic religion based on the Quran. Muslims consider the Quran to be the verbatim word of God as revealed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad. They also follow the teachings and practices of Muhammad as recorded in traditional accounts called hadith. “Muslim” is an Arabic word meaning “one who submits (to God)”.
~BUDDHIST~
A person who followed Buddhism. This is a nontheistic religion or philosophy that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and spiritual practices largely based on teachings attributed to Gautama Buddha, commonly known as the Buddha (“the awakened one“). According to Buddhist tradition, the Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern part of the Indian subcontinent sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BC.
~SIKH~
A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism, a monotheistic dharma which originated during the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term “Sikh” has its origin in the Sanskrit words for disciple, student or instruction. A Sikh, according to Article I of the Sikh Rehat Maryada (the Sikh code of conduct), is “any human being who faithfully believes in One Immortal Being; ten Gurus, from Guru Nanak to Guru Gobind Singh; Guru Granth Sahib; the teachings of the ten Gurus and the baptism bequeathed by the tenth Guru”.
~HINDU~
Hindu has historically been used as a geographical, cultural or religious identifier for people indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. In contemporary use, Hindu refers to anyone who regards himself or herself as culturally, ethnically or religiously adhering with aspects of Hinduism.
The historical meaning of the term Hindu has evolved with time. Starting with the Persian and Greek references to India in the 1st millennium BC through the texts of the medieval era, the term Hindu implied a geographic, ethnic or cultural identifier for people living in Indian subcontinent around or beyond Sindhu river.
~CHRISTIAN~
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. “Christian” derives from the Koine Greek word Christós, a translation of the Biblical Hebrew term mashiach.
There are diverse interpretations of Christianity which sometimes conflict. However, “Whatever else they might disagree about, Christians are at least united in believing that Jesus has a unique significance”.
~TERRORIST~
A terrorist is a person who engages in terrorism. In its broadest sense, terrorism is any act designed to cause terror. In a narrower sense, terrorism can be understood to feature a political objective. The word terrorism is politically loaded and emotionally charged.
The Tenors Become Vampires for ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’ Video With Lindsey Stirling
The Tenors released the new music video for “Who Wants to Live Forever” on October 28, 2015, exclusively via Billoard.com. The video – which features Lindsey Stirling – dropped just in time for Halloween.
“Who Wants to Live Forever” is featured on The Tenors’ most recent release Under One Sky.
~LYRICS~
(Instrumental Intro featuring Lindsey Stirling)
(Fraser)
There’s no time for us.
There’s no place for us.
What is this thing that builds our dreams, yet slips away from us?
(Remi)
Who wants to live forever?
Who wants to live forever? Oh,
(Clifton)
There’s no chance for us.
It’s all decided for us.
This world has only one sweet moment set aside for us.
(Victor)
Who wants to live forever?
Who dares to love forever?
Oooh, Ahh,
(Clifton)
Who dares to live forever? Woah,
When love must die.
(Instrumental break featuring Lindsey Stirling)
(Fraser/Remi)
But touch my tears with your lips
Touch my world with your fingertips
(All)
And we can have forever,
And we can love forever.
(Victor)
Forever is our today.
(All)
Who wants to live forever?
Who wants to live forever?
Forever is ours,
(Fraser)
Who wants forever anyway?
(Instrumental close featuring Lindsey Stirling)
~~GRAPHICS SOURCE~~
Google Images
The Tenors (formerly known as The Canadian Tenors) are a vocal quartet consisting of Remigio Pereira, Victor Micallef, Fraser Walters and Clifton Murray. They perform operatic pop music that is a mixture of classical and pop, featuring songs such as “The Prayer” and Panis Angelicus from the former genre, and Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah from the latter.
Originating from Canada, Pereira from Ottawa/Gatineau, Micallef from Toronto, Walters from Vancouver and Murray from Port McNeil, the Tenors have performed on more than 60 international television programs. They appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show with Celine Dion in 2010, at the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards, at the opening ceremonies of 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and on ITV (TV network) Diamond Jubilee Show at Windsor Castle for HM Queen Elizabeth II. The venues they have performed in include the Tel Aviv Opera House, and the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. They also appeared on the 2009 Grey Cupbroadcast and on CBC Television’s Holiday Festival of Ice.
They have shared the stage with Sarah McLachlan, Neil Young, Paul Anka, Justin Bieber, Paul McCartney, Brian McKnight, David Foster and Natalie Cole.
Who doesn’t love a good vampire scene set in a haunted castle?
In The Tenors’ video for their cover of Queen’s “Who Wants To Live Forever,” from their latest album Under One Sky, the quartet are vampires lamenting their immortality. The clip also features violinist Lindsey Stirling who contributed to the song.
Directed by Matěj Pichler, the video was shot in a historic castle in Prague, which locals have rumored is haunted by a previous family who inhabited the space 300 years ago.
SUPREME COURT’s landmark ruling legalizes gay marriage NATIONWIDE
WASHINGTON, June 26, 2015
(Reuters)
The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the U.S. Constitution provides same-sex couples the right to marry, handing a historic triumph to the American gay rights movement.
The court ruled 5-4 that the Constitution’s guarantees of due process and equal protection under the law mean that states cannot ban same-sex marriages. With the landmark ruling, gay marriage becomes legal in all 50 states.
Immediately after the decision, same-sex couples in many of states where gay marriage had been banned headed to county clerks’ offices for marriage licenses as state officials issued statements saying they would respect the ruling.
~~GALLERY~~
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President Barack Obama, appearing in the White House Rose Garden, hailed the ruling as a milestone in American justice that arrived “like a thunderbolt.”
“This ruling is a victory for America,” said Obama, the first sitting president to support gay marriage. “This decision affirms what millions of Americans already believe in their hearts. When all Americans are treated as equal, we are all more free.”
Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing on behalf of the court, said the hope of gay people intending to marry “is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.”
Kennedy, a conservative who often casts the deciding vote in close cases, was joined in the majority by the court’s four liberal justices.
Kennedy, appointed by Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1988, has now authored all four of the court’s major gay rights rulings, with the first coming in 1996. As with his 2013 opinion when the court struck down a federal law that denied benefits to same-sex couples, Kennedy stressed the dignity of marriage.
“Without the recognition, stability and predictability marriage offers, their children suffer the stigma of knowing their families are somehow lesser,” Kennedy wrote.
~The President Speaks on the Supreme Court’s Decision on Marriage Equality~
~~Published on Jun 26, 2015~~
President Obama delivers remarks in the Rose Garden heralding the Supreme Court’s ruling that gay and lesbian couples have the right to marry in America.
Congratulate the plaintiffs and legal teams who have fought so hard to end the marriage ban in Guam, soon to be the first U.S. territory with the freedom to marry!
By Lily Hiott-Millis
Jun 05, 2015 at 08:40 am
On June 5, a federal judge in Guam struck down the U.S. territory’s ban on marriage between same-sex couples
George W. Bush-appointed U.S. District Court Judge Frances M. Tydingco-Gatewood ruled from the bench last night, after hearing oral arguments in a case. The case, Aguero et. al. v Calvo et. al., was brought by Loretta M. Pangelinan and Kathleen M. Aguero in April after they tried to get a marriage license and were denied.
The ruling is stayed until Tuesday, June 9, 8 am local time, which is when Judge Tydingco-Gatewood will also release her written opinion. The judge ruled in line with the 9th Circuit’s previous decision in favor of the freedom to marry in Latta v. Otter, which ended the marriage ban in Idaho, and Sevcik v. Sandoval, which ended the marriage ban in Nevada:
Guam’s marriage laws are unconstitutional because they violate the plaintiffs’ rights under the 14th amendment of the United States Constitution. Accordingly, the court shall permanently enjoin the territory of Guam and its officers … from enforcing … any laws or regulations to the extent they prohibit otherwise qualified same-sex couples from marrying in Guam.
Evan Wolfson, founder and president of Freedom to Marry, emphasized the momentum for marriage ahead of a decision from the United States Supreme Court on the question of the freedom to marry:
Guam’s same-sex couples and their loved ones want and deserve the freedom to marry and all that marriage can bring — protections, security, and respect. We can now add Guam’s voice to the momentum across America, and hope the Supreme Court will this month ensure that no other families, and no state, are left behind.
Last May, attorneys for the government of Guam wrote that they would respect a ruling to strike down the territory’s marriage ban.
Freedom to Marry congratulates Kathleen and Loretta, as well as other same-sex couples who are finally respected in Guam, on this decision, and applauds Judge Tydingco-Gatwood for ruling on the right side of history.
Slovenia became the first Central European country to pass marriage equality
On March 3, HRC commended the government of Slovenia for passing legislation that will make it the 21st nation to grant full marriage rights to all of its citizens.
“We commend the elected representatives of Slovenia for passing such historic legislation ensuring the nation’s LGBT citizens receive the rights they deserve, and we congratulate the LGBT activists and advocates who helped make this momentous day possible,”
said Ty Cobb, Director of HRC Global.
Slovenia’s national parliament approved the bill by a vote of 51 to 28. The bill will be sent to President Borut Pahor to sign into law.
Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark,France, Iceland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Uruguay, as well as England and Wales in the United Kingdom, have marriage equality laws that have gone into effect. In addition, Finland is set to extend full marriage rights to their LGBT citizens in the coming year.
The situation for LGBT people around the world varies widely, as some countries embrace equality, while in others, LGBT people continue to suffer from discrimination, persecution and violence.
Same-sex conduct is criminalized in 76 countries
In 10 countries same-sex conduct is punishable by death
So-called anti-LGBT “propaganda” laws inhibit LGBT advocacy in three countries
Same-sex marriage licenses are issued nationwide in 21 countries
In 2014 there were over 200 documented reports of transgender people murdered in 28 countries.
There continue to be countless undocumented cases of violence against transgender people throughout the world.
Disclaimer …. I’m not promoting donations of any kind. I use this graphic because if explicitly says what this “man of the law” is promoting in the state of Alabama.
I few days ago I posted about the fact that marriage equality was a go in Alabama. A very dear friend mentioned something about Roy Moore … I ask who he was. Now I know. I’m sure glad I don’t live in that state.
Blatantly ignoring the law — that’s what Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore is doing. He’s not only refusing to honor same-sex marriages in Alabama, he’s ignoring the law and going on national television to encourage others to do the same.
We need to show this officer of the law that there is a resounding, overwhelming support for marriage equality.
~THIS MAN NEEDS TO GO~
Freedom to Marry launches video celebrating Alabama marriages
By Lily Hiott-Millis
Feb 13, 2015
Today, Freedom to Marry launched a new video celebrating the week marriages between same-sex couples began in Alabama. The video depicts the joy that same-sex couples and their families experienced when the stay on a previous ruling in Alabama was lifted and same-sex couples were able to get married.
The stay was lifted on Monday, February 9. Despite attempts to delay the freedom to marry coming to the state by Alabama Chief Justive Roy Moore, a federal judge issued an injuction on Thursday ordering the county of Mobile to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, signalling to the rest of the counties in Alabama that the state is ready for marriage.
The counties that are issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couple is growing, bringing the number of counties issuing licenses to same-sex couples up to over half of the counties in Alabama — and 75% of the population of Alabama.
~~GALLERY~~
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Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore
~The Freedom to Marry Comes to Alabama~
~Published on Feb 13, 2015~
On February 9, the freedom to marry came to Alabama and hundreds of same-sex couples got married. Roy Moore, Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, ordered local probate judges to defy a federal court order that overturned the state’s ban on marriage for gay couples. This is the story of that amazing day.
It Is What It Is 