Happy birthday to all friends who were born on September 27! You share the date with the great genius of Jazz piano music – both as a composer and player. Earl Rudolph “Bud” Powell was born on September 27, 1924. By the time of his premature death on July 31, 1966, Bud Powell, had firmly […]
Michelle Obama’s classy act of resistance against bigotry
I have another good reason to visit Washington DC, a city I never seem to have enough of. The National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), which was formally dedicated on September 24 by President Barack Obama, promises to be one of the best attractions among the Smithsonian Institution’s already impressive offerings. Whereas the […]
John Coltrane at 90
John Coltrane would have been 90 years old today. Whereas there have been many great Jazz Saxophone players, to my ears Coltrane is one of the top 5 (the others being Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Lester Young and Hank Mobley.) His playing was so uniquely his that it is difficult to mistake his muscular “sheets […]
Ugandan MPs and their demand for VIP funerals
Ugandan MPs continue to shock us with their shamefully unquenchable thirst for public cash. In a country where 67 per cent of the population is “vulnerable to poverty”, the legislators are awarding themselves nearly Sh. 68 million ($20,000) each to pay for their funerals. The peasant is expected to pay for this luxury of […]
Legacy of a man of obscure birth and no connections
Are Ugandan MPs’ junkets to Diaspora gatherings worth the taxpayer’s money?
A very large delegation of Ugandan MPs and other government officials spent this past weekend attending the Ugandan North American Association (UNAA) meeting in Boston, Massachusetts. The speaker of parliament and her deputy were the leaders of the delegation. Another group, including the leader of the opposition in parliament and the mayor of Kampala was […]
