Thursday, June 06, 2019

HOODOO, VOODOO, YOU DO, I DO, NO HE DOES ITS THE THING HE DOES 
MAY LEGBA MEET HIM AT THE CROSSROADS BEFORE THE DEVIL DOES

Dr. John,' funky New Orleans 'night-tripper' musician, dies

Dr. John
In this picture taken July 9, 2012, American musician Dr John performs on the
 Miles Davis Hall stage during the 46th Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux,
Switzerland, Late Monday, July 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Keystone/Jean-Christophe Bott)

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    Kevin McGill and Cain Burdeau, The Associated Press
    Published Thursday, June 6, 2019 6:22PM EDT 
    Last Updated Thursday, June 6, 2019 6:39PM EDT
    NEW ORLEANS -- Dr. John, the New Orleans musician who blended black and white musical styles with a hoodoo-infused stage persona and gravelly bayou drawl, died Thursday, his family said. He was 77.
    In a statement released through his publicist, the family said Dr. John, who was born Mac Rebennack, died "toward the break of day" of a heart attack. They did not say where he died or give other details. He had not been seen in public much since late 2017, when he cancelled several gigs. He had been resting at his New Orleans area home, publicist Karen Beninato said last year in an interview.
    Memorial arrangements were being planned. "The family thanks all whom have shared his unique musical journey, and requests privacy at this time," the statement said.
    His spooky 1968 debut "Gris-Gris" combined rhythm 'n blues with psychedelic rock and startled listeners with its sinister implications of other-worldly magic. He later had a Top 10 hit with "Right Place, Wrong Time," collaborated with numerous top-tier rockers, won multiple Grammy awards and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
    A white man who found a home among black New Orleans musicians, he first entered the music scene when he accompanied his father, who ran a record shop and also fixed the P.A. systems at New Orleans bars.
    As a teenager in the 1950s, he played guitar and keyboards in a string of bands and made the legendary studio of Cosimo Matassa his second home, Rebennack said in his 1994 memoir, "Under a Hoodoo Moon." He got into music full-time after dropping out of high school, became acquainted with drugs and petty crime and lived a fast-paced life. His gigs ranged from strip clubs to auditoriums, roadhouses and chicken shacks. The ring finger of Rebennack's left hand was blown off in a shooting incident in 1961 in Jacksonville, Florida.
    He blamed Jim Garrison, the JFK conspiracy theorist and a tough-on-crime New Orleans district attorney, for driving him out of his beloved city in the early 1960s. Garrison went after prostitutes, bars and all-night music venues.
    The underworld sweep put Rebennack in prison. At that time, he was a respected session musician who had played on classic recordings by R&B mainstays like Professor Longhair and Irma Thomas, but he was also a heroin addict. After his release from federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas, at age 24, Rebennack joined friend and mentor Harold Battiste who had left New Orleans to make music in Los Angeles.
    Rebennack, who'd long had a fascination with occult mysticism and voodoo, told Battiste about creating a musical personality out of Dr. John, a male version of Marie Laveau, the voodoo queen.
    In his memoir, Rebennack said, he drew inspiration from New Orleans folklore about a root doctor who flourished in the mid-1800s.
    Battiste, in a 2005 interview, recalled, "It was really done sort of tongue-in-cheek."
    But Dr. John was born and Rebennack got his first personal recordings done in what became "Gris-Gris," a 1967 classic of underground American music.
    In the years that followed, he played with The Grateful Dead, appeared with The Band in director Martin Scorsese's "The Last Waltz" documentary, jammed on The Rolling Stones' "Exile on Main Street" album and collaborated with countless others -- among them Earl King, Van Morrison and James Booker.


    In Memoriam: Dr. John, The Night Tripper (1941-2019)



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    Legendary New Orleans musician Dr. John, born Mac Rebennack, dies at 77
    Legendary New Orleans musician Dr. John, born Mac Rebennack, dies at 77
    Mac Rebennack, aka Dr. John the Night Tripper, brought the bayou to the bandstand and the funk to the masses. He died at age 77 of a heart attack.

    Mac Rebennack, aka Dr. John the Night Tripper, brought the bayou to the bandstand and the funk to the masses. He died at age 77 of a heart attack.
    USA TODAY6 hours ago

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    more_vePianist, singer Mac 'Dr. John' Rebennack, an icon of New Orleans music, has died at 77
    Malcolm John Rebennack Jr., known around the world as Dr. John, initially aspired to be a professional songwriter, producer and sideman, like the utilitarian ...
    The Advocate7 hours ago

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    Pianist, singer Mac 'Dr. John' Rebennack, an icon of New Orleans music, has died at 77
    Malcolm John Rebennack Jr., known around the world as Dr. John, initially aspired to be a professional songwriter, producer and sideman, like the utilitarian ...

    Dr John - Gumbo (1972) full album






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    LGBTQ RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS 

    Dozens rally against conversion therapy

    Edmonton
    Dozens attended a conversion therapy rally in Edmonton Thursday, June 6, 2019.


    Published Thursday, June 6, 2019  
      One day before the Alberta health minister was expected to announce the fate of group working towards a possible ban on conversion therapy, there were calls to let the group continue its work.
      About 200 people gathered in front of the Alberta Legislature over the noon hour Thursday to rally against the practice and to urge the government to continue to study policy options on a ban.
      “This is indicative of why the working group was created in the first place,” Dr. Glynnis Lieb, co-chair of the Conversion Therapy Working Group, said of the turnout.

      RELATED STORIES

      Lieb said the rally was organized by a Lethbridge-based group which started a petition last fall to ban conversion therapy across Canada.
      On Tuesday, some working group members were present in the legislature during question period, during which Health Minister Tyler Shandro invited working group members to meet with him if they had questions or concerns.
      Shandro was expected to inform members on Friday whether the working group will continue its work under the UCP government.

      Group disbanding report denied

      Last month, Shandro denied a media report that the group, formed in February under his NDP predecessor Sarah Hoffman, had been disbanded.
      The 12-person group consisting of LGBTQ advocates, academics and religious leaders had a five-month mandate to provide recommendations to the government about how to ban the practice in Alberta. It met twice before the provincial election.
      “Let me be clear, we oppose conversion therapy,” Shandro told CTV News in a May 27 statement. “After not acting on this issue for 4 years, the NDP formed a time limited ad hoc group in the weeks before the election.”
      On May 27, Shandro’s press secretary, Steve Buick, told CTV News there were no plans to pay working group members to continue meeting.
      According to the government website, conversion therapy “can include any treatment, counselling, or behaviour modification that aims to change someone’s sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.”
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      CLASS WAR IN ALBERTA 

       Edmonton·Updated

      All-night filibuster against labour bill expected to end Thursday evening

      Vote expected to bring longest Wednesday sitting in Alberta history to an end Thursday night

      Michelle Bellefontaine, Wallis Snowdon · CBC News · 



      The UCP's Bill 2 allows companies to pay a wage of $13 an hour to employees who are under age 18, down from the current $15. (Elaine Thompson/Associated Press)

      An overnight filibuster by the NDP Official Opposition against proposed changes to labour legislation is expected to end Thursday evening, completing one of the longest days in Alberta legislature history. 
      The debate over Bill 2 began in the legislature at around 7 p.m. Wednesday and continued all day Thursday.
      Speaker Nathan Cooper told the house around 5:30 p.m. that this was the longest Wednesday sitting in Alberta legislative assembly history and one of the five longest sitting days. Even though debate continued all day Thursday, it is still considered a Wednesday by the assembly because house business kept going without an adjournment. 

      MLAs are expected to vote around 7:30 p.m. Thursday on a hoist motion introduced by the NDP.  If passed, Bill 2 would not be read a second time, in effect delaying it for three or six months. 
      However, that's not expected to happen. The opposition expects the bill will pass second reading thanks to the United Conservative Party's majority in the house. The government will move to adjourn for the weekend around 8 p.m. 
      Bill 2 would roll back the previous NDP government's changes to banked overtime, holiday pay and union certification votes.
      The government has also enacted a new $13-an-hour minimum wage for youth, which will take effect on June 26.
      The changes were introduced in the Alberta legislature on May 27. The minimum wage change was made by cabinet through an order-in-council. 
      The NDP is opposed to all those measures and vowed to dig in to get the government to change its mind. 
      The use of referral motions and other procedural tactics allowed each member of the 24-member caucus to speak four times in second reading, which is the first stage of debate.
      The Opposition can make an unlimited number of motions in the bill's next stage of committee of the whole, until the government side invokes closure. 
      "We have a very, very energetic caucus and we'll go as long as it takes," Bilous said.
      Earlier on Tuesday, Government House leader Jason Nixon reminded the NDP that his party had the proposed changes in its election platform and Albertans voted the UCP into government. 
      "If the opposition wants to filibuster, they're welcome to use the chamber to do that, to get their thoughts on the record, it's a process," Nixon said. "I respect that process. I used to do it when I was in opposition."
      He said the government will get its agenda through the House, even it if takes all summer.

      NDP urges more consultation

      Thomas Dang, the MLA for Edmonton-South West, said the discrimination against young workers is "shameful."
      He said approval of the bill should be delayed to allow more consultation with Albertans. 
      "Four hundred thousand Albertans will be affected by this bill and the government needs to understand how this will impact people's lives," Dang said Thursday morning during the filibuster.
      "This is something that we certainly need to have a longer conversation about.
      "We're going to be forcing families to go to food banks instead of letting them bank their overtime. We're going to be forcing students to go to food banks while they're trying to save up for their education."
      At one point, Dang's comments against the bill were interrupted by the relentless chime of a cellphone.
      He paused and suggested the guilty party should be fined under the legislature rules for chamber decorum.
      "It that somebody's alarm, Mr. Speaker? I thought there were fines for something like that."
      In response, Cooper acknowledged it had been a long night and asked for patience.
      "With respect to fines and cellphones, a little grace may be able to be displayed," Cooper said. "I can only imagine it was someone's alarm to be encouraged to come to the chamber on this wonderful day."
      Under Bill 2, the lower minimum wage would apply to students under age 18 who work up to 28 hours a week. It would also apply for all hours worked during summer holidays, Christmas and other school breaks.
      The legislation would make changes to the Employment Standards Code so that employees must work 30 days before being entitled to holiday pay.
      Workers would only receive holiday pay for days they would normally be scheduled to work — for example, a restaurant that is normally closed on Mondays wouldn't have to pay staff holiday pay for Thanksgiving if they aren't working.
      The previous NDP government changed the rules to banked overtime so that workers who bank an hour of overtime can take an hour and a half of time off.
      Bill 2 proposes changing that back to a straight hour-for-hour exchange. If the banked time isn't used within six months, it would be paid out in cash at time-and-a-half.
      Edmonton-North West NDP MLA David Eggen said the changes are reminiscent of a Dickensian novel.
      "Here we are in 2019, rolling back to the 19th century, that's not the way to open for business. I think that's a way to show mean-spiritedness and regression," Eggen said.
      "To not read this for a second time is an imminently reasonable approach and I think we have exercised to the fullness, to this legislature's capacity, to shine a light on Bill 2. People are not happy about this."
      Kenney has said the regulations, tax increases and "radical changes to Alberta labour law" passed by the NDP government were hard on businesses.
      The NDP called the UCP's proposed legislation the "Pick Your Pockets Bill."
      "Look.Thirteen bucks an hour. That's a heck of a lot more than zero bucks an hour. And that's the option here," Kenney told reporters after the Open for Business Act was tabled in the legislature.
      "We've got 30,000 young Albertans here out of work. We want to get them their first job experience. We're talking about part-time, teenagers who are typically in high school, working typically 20 hours a week or less."
      Under the former NDP government, Alberta's minimum wage increased to $15 an hour from $10.20.



      Some previous Alberta filibusters

      May 2000: The opposition Liberal party, led by Nancy MacBeth, protested Bill 11, the private health-care bill launched by the Conservative government of then-premier Ralph Klein. The bill had undergone 34 hours of discussion in the legislature when the government announced it would cut off debate.
      November 2010: Opposition MLAs filibustered through the night to support an amendment from Raj Sherman, then an independent MLA, to Bill 17, a Conservative government initiative to establish a health charter for Albertans. The amendment would have enshrined emergency room wait times into law. Bill 17 was passed in December 2010, without Sherman's amendment.
      May 2014: Alberta's Wildrose, Liberal and New Democrat parties joined forces to protest Bill 9, a proposed amendment to the Public Sector Pension Plans Act, launched by then-premier Dave Hancock's Conservative government. As a result of the filibuster, the bill — which would have affected the pension plans of more than 200,000 public sector workers — was sent back for further review.
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      CLASS WAR IN ALBERTA 

      Some Alberta businesses vow to keep paying all workers $15/hr


      By Radio Anchor/Reporter  Global NewsThe UCP introduced Bill 2 on Tuesday, which included several changes to Alberta labour laws. It takes effect June 26.r
      LISTEN ABOVE: Northern Chicken co-owner Andrew Cowan in Edmonton and Red Bison Brewery owner/founder Steve Carlton in Calgary on the Ryan Jespersen Show.
       A A 

      While the minimum wage for liquor servers and minors is set to be rolled back to $13 an hour this summer, a few Alberta businesses are vowing not to cut their workers’ pay — and they’re making their pledge public at Alberta15.ca.


      One of the first to sign up was Red Bison Brewery in Calgary. Co-owner Steve Carlton told The Ryan Jespersen Show on 630 CHED that when he started his business, he decided to pay his workers $15 an hour even before the wage hike.
      Over the four years Rachel Notley’s NDP government was in power, it gradually increased the minimum wage to $15 an hour — the highest in Canada — from $10.20 hourly.
      “I think that was kind of the way to go, so we didn’t get the shock later on.” said Carlton.
      “We kind of knew what our costs were from the get-go.”
      Edmonton restaurant Northern Chicken also signed the pledge. Co-owner Andrew Cowan admitted when the base wage went up, it did mean an adjustment for his business on 124 Street.
      “Everybody — front and back of house for us, cooks, servers — all get paid the same wage and they all split tips across the board.
      “The idea was that everybody made the same amount of money, we all worked hard to get to the same point in time and nobody deserved more or less than the other person,” Cowan said.
      “So we kind of designed our business this way, which the minimum wage wasn’t going to be as big a factor for us at the end. We hope at least.”
      Cowan said while he doesn’t have any underage employees, he used to.
      “A gentleman who actually works for us — he started when he was under 18 and now he’s over 18,” he said.
      “I don’t think that would have changed our minds, regardless. Even if we had three, four, six guys under the age of 18 — we still would have been $15 or more.”
      WATCH BELOW: In the Global Edmonton kitchen with Northern Chicken




















      Besides Northern Chicken and Red Bison, other businesses that had signed up as of 1 p.m. Wednesday include Earth’s General Store, Variant Edition Comics + Culture, and West Grow Farms, and Meuwly’s.
      But Carlton said he believes they’re just the start.
      “I would actually expect more breweries to be signing up,” he said. “I don’t think there’s a whole lot that would just roll back wages because they can.”
      He thinks it’s the larger businesses who’ll be taking advantage of this rollback.
      “I think you see that the huge corporations here that have, you know, hundreds or thousands of employees.” said Carlson.
      “They lobbied for this for a long time, and they’re already making hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars in profits. I don’t know why they can’t share all that revenue.”

      SEE


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