THE WHITE GUY WHO HAD TO STAND

Thank you Miss Rosa, you are the spark,
You started our freedom movement
Thank you Sister Rosa Parks.
The Neville Brothers

No doubt that the late Rosa Parks was a heroine. Last night on CNN when Aaron Brown referred to her as the mother of the Civil Rights Movement, Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia went a step further called her one of the mothers of Modern America.

But when considering heroes, I like to consider villains too.

I'm not talking about the obvious villains of the Civil Rights era -- Wallace, Maddox, Bull Connor, the Ku Klux Kretins who committed bombings and lynchings and midnight terrorism.

I'm talking about someone who has fallen through the cracks of history: The white man on that bus in Montgomery in 1955 who wanted Rosa Parks' seat.

By all the accounts I've read, it was the bus driver, not this anonymous white passenger who caused the uproar -- ordering Parks to stand up or be arrested, then actually calling the police.

But I want to know how that white passenger felt that day.

Was he just another Alabama bigot, angry at the uppity nigger who was sitting in the seat that rightfully belonged to him?

Was he less than a hater, just a passive participant in the Jim Crow laws, quietly accepting segregation as the natural order of things? Did Parks' refusal confuse him? Did he really care about getting a seat all that much? Was he embarassed when the bus driver made a scene? Or was it he who reported Parks to the driver?

Did this guy's views of Civil Rights change through the years? Did he curse the sit-ins and freedom marches? Did he vote for George Wallace? Was he one of those who drove Parks and her husband out of Montgomery by making threatening phone calls?

Did he ever come to feel shame about that day on the bus? Did he ever feel less than manly about trying to oust a middle-aged woman from a seat on a bus?

Did he ever get to know Rosa Parks? Did he ever apologize? Did he ever realize that her act that day actually made him more free?

Is he dead or alive? Who is this guy? I believe the story of Rosa Parks is incomplete until we know.

AS LONG AS THEY DON'T ARREST FAKE OZZIE

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
October 25, 2005

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Elmo, the red and cuddly Muppet from the Sesame Street television series, has learned a new lesson: 'H' is for handcuffs.

A man dressed as the character was one of three impersonators arrested last week for allegedly harassing tourists for tips after posing for photos on Hollywood Boulevard. Booked with him were people impersonating superhero Mr. Incredible and the dark-hooded character from the horror movie "Scream."

The impersonators said they were taken into custody at gunpoint, handcuffed and paraded on the Hollywood Walk of Fame before stunned tourists and other impersonators. They were charged with misdemeanor "aggressive begging," police said.

"With all of the crime in Los Angeles they pick on us?" said Elmo impersonator Donn Harper, 45, who makes up to $400 a day in tips.

Tourists have complained that the costumed characters harass them for not tipping after posing for photos in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater and the Kodak Theater. Merchants say some of the costumed characters are scaring tourists.

(Anton with Ozzie impersonator near Grauman's Chinese Theater last August. Darth Maul, above, hissed at me when I didn't tip him.)

MONEY, POLITICS AND ROCK 'N' ROLL

Remember this 1992 campaign speech by the first President Bush?:

"(Bill Clinton)was in Hollywood, seeking foreign policy advice from the rock group U2. Now, understand, I have nothing against U2. You may not know this, but they tried to call me at the White House every night during their concert. But the next time we face a foreign policy crisis, I will work with John Major and Boris Yeltsin. And Bill Clinton can consult Boy George. I'll stay with the experts."

It looks like the former president's boy, George has a different idea.

And while Bush 43 is lunching with Bono in the White House, some of his fellow Republicans -- as well as some Democrats -- are using U2 concerts as a fund-raising device.

"The Irish rock band U2 is doing its best to disassociate itself from members of Congress’s plans to use the group’s 2005 world tour to raise money, but the band remains a political cash cow.

"Debt AIDs Trade Africa (DATA), an advocacy group founded by U2’s lead singer, Bono, issued a statement last week separating the band from any political activity that might take place at its concerts after some media outlets continued misreporting a story that Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) and U2 had teamed up for a $1,000-a-seat concert in Philadelphia on Sunday. The stories reported that Santorum and others were buying private skyboxes and selling the seats to donors."

I dunno. I kind of liked it better when conservative politicians used to trip all over themselves to denounce the evils of rock 'n' roll.


Oh well, apparently Rush Limbaugh, whose loathing of "long-haired, dope-smoking, maggot-infested rock stars" is well articulated, hasn't jumped on the U2 bandwagon. (Of course my favorite Rush rock criticism was back in 2002. In a fine example of synchronicity, I was driving to work having just written my review of the late Joey Ramone's solo album. I turned on the radio and Rush was in a froth because The Ramones had been inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame and the Moody Blues hadn't.)

All I can say is where have you gone, Frank Zappa? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you!

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, October 23, 2005
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell


OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Headlights On by The Dirtbombs
Communist Moon by The (International) Noise Conspiracy
Little Girl by The Syndicate of Sound
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead by Warren Zevon
The Fox by Sleater-Kinney
Just Can't Please You by Detroit Cobras
Cool. Calm, Collected by The Rolling Stones
Rock and Roll by The Velvet Underground
Don't Touch Me There by The Tubes

Bo Diddley is Crazy by Bo Diddley
TV Eye by Iggy Pop
In This House That I Call Home by X
Dumb All Over by Frank Zappa
Bucket of Juice by BigUglyGuys
Moulty by The Barbarians

Karate King by Kevin Coyne & The Pine Valley Cosmonauts
Deserted Cities of the Heart by Cream
She Is Suffering by Manic Street Preachers
Cheeseburger by Gang of 4
The River of Water by Yo La Tengo
Bold Marauder by Drywall
Voodoo Priestess by Screamin' Jay Hawkins

Summer's Almost Gone by The Doors
Don't Send Me No Flowers, I Ain't Dead Yet by The Reigning Sound
Port of Amsterdam by David Bowie
Just Like Greta by Van Morrison
The Green Fields of France by Dropkick Murphys
What Kind of Fool Am I? by Grandpaboy
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

JOHNSON BREAKS HIS BACK AGAIN

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
October 23, 2004

Former Gov. Gary Johnson, known for his athletic ability and attraction to both traditional and “extreme” sports, is bed bound for the next six months after breaking his back in a paragliding accident.

In a telephone interview Saturday, Johnson said he suffered his injury Oct. 13 on the island of Maui in Hawaii.

“I feel fine and I’m going to be all right,” Johnson said.

This is the second time the 52-year-old governor has broken his back. In January 2001, while still governor, he slipped on a patch of ice during a morning jog.

However, Johnson noted that injury was not as serious as his recent one. “I think I was up running again about six weeks that time,” he said. Now he is expected to be bedridden until April.

Despite his injury, Johnson said he feels lucky. The late actor Christopher Reeve, who was thrown from a horse, was paralyzed from a fall of only six feet, Johnson on noted.

Paragliding involves a free-flying, foot-launched aircraft with a self-inflating wing. The structure is similar to a hang glider, though it’s lighter and larger. Paragliders jump off hillsides to launch.

Johnson said he was with about 10 other paragliders the morning of his accident. He had been paragliding from the same spot for about two weeks, he said.

He was the first in the group to take off. “There was no wind, really,” he said. “There was no lift on take-off.”

Johnson found himself heading toward a tree. “My harnass caught in the tree and the wing, if you can imagine this, acted as a slingshot, hurling me into the ground.”

Johnson said he landed on his tailbone. “The main thing I remember is just how hard the impact was he said.

He tried to stand up but his knee gave out, Johnson said.

As it turned out, he suffered a burst fracture of his T12 vertebrae, a broken rib and a knee injury, which Johnson said, will require minor surgery.

Johnson said a helicopter had to be called to airlift him to the hospital in Maui. He returned to New Mexico on Monday.

Johnson said he’s able to walk. “I can get up and go to the bathroom,” he said. He said he can ride in a car, though he realizes that even a minor accident could be devastating to his back.

It’s been a tough year for the former governor. In September, shortly before leaving for Hawaii, he was involved in a minor car crash on I-25 north of Albuquerque. And earlier in the year he and his wife of 28 years, Dee Johnson, divorced.

“That was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Johnson said Saturday.

During his eight years as governor (1995 -2002), Johnson was known his athletic pursuits and thrill seeking.

At the end of his term he told reporters that his best day in office was a time he got to go hang gliding. He is a frequent competitor in the Iron Man triathlon in Hawaii. He enjoys skiing, motorcycling, bicycling, kayaking and ballooning.

He also has been known to suffer some physical mishaps. Not long after his 2001 back injury from jogging, he took a spill on a motorcycle on N.M. 14. He wasn’t injured.

A month after leaving office, Johnson broke a leg in a ski accident. However that barely slowed him down. Three months later he scaled Mount Everest.

Johnson said Saturday that he will paraglide again. “Oh yeah,” he said. “Life is live and learn.”