Having a day off …

Well sort of! I am spending the day in meetings, then writing textbook material before a long flight later today for meetings tomorrow. But in relative terms …

… I am going to have a holiday today. Unless, of-course the Eurozone collapses and some analysis is required!

Thanks to all the best wishes I received today and earlier by E-mail, Skype and telephone from friends.

It must be my birthday.

Thanks to all for being so kind and thoughtful.

And now some music …

Here’s Snowy White and White Flames playing the fabulous Peter Green composition – Slabo Day – live at De Bosuil, Weert in the Netherlands on Friday, September 11, 2011. I was actually at the venue that night and it was one of Snowy’s last live gigs. Beautiful playing on an (old) Gibson LP.

As a matter of history, the original version (which is better than this live version) appeared on Peter Green’s 1979 album – In the Skies. By then Peter Green was going trough hell with his mental illness and had spent a long period in obscurity after leaving Fleetwood Mac (the real version of the band) in the early 1970s.

Somehow he managed to produce a brilliant studio album and Snowy was invited to join him. What is often not known is that Snowy played the lead on Slabo Day with Peter playing the chords. Peter Green was also playing Fender stratocasters by this stage having sold his magnificent LP to Gary Moore for a “song”. Here is a link to the – original version.

And while we are partying, here is an anthem for progressives. On August 8, 2012, Time Magazine (yes, really) voted this song (poem) one of the – Top 10 British Riot Songs of the Early ’80s.

Written in 1979 by the Jamaican-born dub-reggae poet – Linton Kwesi Johnson – it was a bold statement to racial minorities in the poorest neighbourhoods of Britain that the National Front racist attacks were not only mindless but would be met with resistance.

As the Time Magazine said:

… if the fascists wanted war on the streets, LKJ and his peers were ready to dish out some righteous licks and “fite dem back”.

LKJ also wrote that:

Writing is a political act and poetry is a cultural weapon.

While – Fite Dem Back – was written about racial prejudice against the migrants in Britain, it is also applicable to “employment with equity” haters who oppose government deficits to help reduce poverty while pocketing public largesse for themselves. We call these “haters” – neo-liberals.

Turn the volume up – and sing along:

We gonna smash their brains in
‘Cause they ain’t got nufink in ’em
We gonna smash their brains in
‘Cause they ain´t got nufink in ’em

Some a dem say dem a niggah haytah
An’ some a dem say dem a black beatah
Some a dem say dem a black stabbah
An’ some a dem say dem a paki bashah

Fascist an di attack
No boddah worry ’bout dat
Fascist an di attack
We wi´ fite dem back
Fascist an di attack
Den wi countah-attack
Fascist an di attack
Den wi drive dem back

We gonna smash their brains in
‘Cause they ain’t got nufink in ’em
We gonna smash their brains in
‘Cause they ain’t got nufink in ’em

That is enough for today!