Catch a birthday wave
Electromagnetically
Google salutes Hertz
Hertz was first to prove
Electromagnetic waves
Really existed
Showed radio waves,
Light had same velocity
Could be transmitted
Thought his findings were
“Of no use whatsoever”
Boy, he got that wrong
Led to radio
And wireless telegraph,
Rent-a-cars (kidding)
They named the unit
Of radio frequency
The hertz after him
And that’s Heinrich Hertz
Not Heinrich’s uncle Hertz Hertz
Then we’d have hertz squared
Which did life break first?
Wings, spirit, body, voice? Now
Silence, songbird. Rest.
Feb. 11 — Thomas Edison born, 1847. Nelson Mandela freed, 1990.
Imagination,
Inspiration incarnate
Magic, in the flesh
27 years
No chains could break his spirit
Nelson Mandela
Poverty, deafness,
Rules — no match for his genius
Thomas Edison
And some from back in October, the anniversary of one of Edison’s many inventions.
Thomas Edison
In 1879
A light bulb came on
Electric moment
Banished darkness forever
With incandescence
Edison, who said,
“There are no rules here,” made light
Of his glowing feat
Before his light bulb
What popped up over folks’ heads
When ideas came?
More efficient lights
Taking their place — Edison
Would want it that way
Carole King, Feb. 9, 1942
Carole King, such gifts
“You’ve Got a Friend,” “Sweet Seasons”
No one wrote more hits
It’s true. They counted.
Last half of last century
No one wrote more hits
“Will You Still Love Me
“Tomorrow” first of more than
100 to chart
They weren’t just jingles,
Either, but pieces of heart
Life in 3 minutes
Shirelles to Winehouse
Seems everyone’s sung your songs
Been better for it
Aretha, Dusty
The Byrds, Everly Brothers
Beatles, Rod Stewart
Even the Monkees
With “Sometime in the Morning”
Channeled your romance
“Tapestry” showed you
Could sing them, too, masterpiece
Of rich, royal hue
“I Feel the Earth Move,”
“It’s Too Late” — every affair’s
Alpha, Omega
But my favorite’s still
One I hope, somehow, is true:
“Only Love Is Real”
Seven decades, lived
In the magic of music
Lady, take a bow
Beatles land at JFK — Feb. 7, 1964
Charles Dickens, Feb. 7, 1812 — June 9, 1870
British invasion
Fixed bayonets? No, moptops
Armed with 45’s
A Friday landing
New York’s Kennedy Airport
Started their conquest
They’d topped U.S. charts
With “I Want to Hold Your Hand”
More where that came from
Thousands screamed non-stop
Lost voices, inhibitions
Beautiful release
Sunday on his show
Sullivan announced the charge
“Right here on our stage”
40% watched
That first TV appearance
Millions all tune in
Then D.C. triumph
Occupied Carnegie Hall
Sullivan again
Left us wanting more
Like Oliver with his bowl
Loved them, yeah yeah yeah
Here’s another twist
That first U.S. landing came
On Dickens’ birthday
Google Doodle says
Great British author was born
Two centuries past
Crusader with pen
Captured boarding school horrors
The courts’ injustice
Railed at his country’s
Poverty amid plenty
With fiction quite real
Brought London to life
Upper class privileged, stifled
Poor scrabbling to live
Serialized work
Gave his stories a rhythm
Cliff-hangers galore
And the characters!
Nicholas Nickleby, Pip
David Copperfield
The Artful Dodger
Uriah Heep, Wackford Squeers
Mr. Micawber
Samuel Pickwick
Abel Magwitch, Tiny Tim
Ebenezer Scrooge
Dickens visited
U.S. twice, reading his works
Exploring New York
For second visit
Departed England, where else
But from Liverpool
Wined and dined, he made
Dozens of appearances
Dickensmania
Dickens on death bed
Said “be natural,” fulfill
“All the rules of art”
Years later, Fab Four
Would do just that, bring U.S.
One more manic gift
Nesta Robert Marley, Feb. 6, 1945 — May 11, 1981
I say “Bob Marley”
Play word association
Bet you say “reggae”
Or maybe “Legend”
His “best of” album became
Reggae’s best seller
The people’s heartbeat
The downbeat of oppression
Upbeat of freedom
Reggae superstar
But he told his son Ziggy
“Money can’t buy life”
Oppression goes on
Freedom cries out so long as
Marley’s music wails
Feb. 1 birthdays: Don Everly (1937), Rick James (1948), Mike Campbell (1954), Exene Cervenka (1956), Lisa Marie Presley (1968)
Don Everly, half
Of a national treasure
Vocal dream, come true
Hammer stole his riff
But James freakin’ outfunked all
MC? Can’t touch Rick
Rick Campbell breaks hearts
With killer writing, guitars
Tom Petty’s main man
LA punk power
“Desperate, get used to it”
Exene marked the spot
Only Elvis child
Soft heart for good causes, used
Fame to help others
February 1st
A hot start for this cold month
Music to warm us
Philip Glass, Jan. 31, 1956
Happy Philip Glass
Happy Philip Glass happy
Philip Glass happy
Birthday Philip Glass
Birthday Philip Glass birthday
Philip Glass birthday
To you Philip Glass
To you Philip Glass to you
Philip Glass to you
Repeat till next year
Repeat till next year repeat
Till next year repeat
Guy Fawkes, April 13, 1570 — Jan. 31, 1606
John Lydon, Jan. 31, 1956
Catholic monarchy
“Anarchy in the U.K.”
Dynamite notions
Revolution rocks
When freedom’s fire lights the fuse
But punks fizzle out
So Guy Fawkes’ plot failed
Johnny Rotten in vain wailed
And God saved the Queen
Pirates prove no match
For well-trained Seals’ derring-do
The real swashbucklers
Two aid workers saved
From Somalians’ hell hole
The latest triumph
Get Osama? Check
Free some Iranians? Check
All in a day’s work
Now let’s have the Seals
Occupy Wall Street, rescue
The economy
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