Summer begins in Hollywood, Ca 34°08′02.56″N 118°19′18.00″W

June 20, 2009, 10:45 PM PDT.

 

The longest day of the year is here.

At the Summer Solstice, Earth is positioned in its orbit so that the North Pole is leaning 23.44° toward the sun. As seen from Earth, the sun is directly overhead at noon 23.44° north of the equator, at the Tropic of Cancer.

A solstice occurs twice each year, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is most inclined toward or away from the Sun, causing the Sun's apparent position in the sky to reach its northernmost or southernmost extreme. Solstice means the “sun standing still;" at the solstices the Sun stands still in declination; that is, the apparent movement of the Sun's path north or south comes to a stop before reversing direction.

Juggling the thing of a thing of a thing ... the physical skill of shaking up gravity and moving a couple or more objects through the air with care, in a continual motion as balls roll or bowling pins fly or a chainsaw and lit torches flutter in ways light and weightless clinging to their paths here and there and there and here.

 

Or as T.S. Eliot put it: "Twit twit twit / Jug jug jug jug jug jug / So rudely forc'd. /Tere"

 

Yes, today is June 20, 2009, World Juggling Day (or just WJD for those in the know), and jugglers everywhere are tossing or bouncing their balls or rings or cantaloupes into the air, simply because they’ve solved that great mystery …

 

Here’s a bit of trivia: The earliest known graphic depiction of jugglers was found in the Beni-Hassan tombs situated on the east bank of the river Nile and dated back to around 2000 BC. The drawings show several Egyptians figures standing sideways tossing balls into the air.

Here are some events around the world:

 

Canterbury - The University of Canterbury Unicycling and Juggling Society (Unisoc) will be holding an event meeting at 2pm in Cathedral Square, Christchurch.

 

Bucharest - The Juggling Culture community is organizing a juggling Flashmob at Piata Universitatii, at the fountain at 3pm and will juggle for a total of ten minutes. Don’t be late.

 

Singapore - Jugglers will be gathering at Esplanade Underpass, and will be giving free lessons on how to juggle from about 1pm - 6pm.

 

Miami - somewhere near the south end of Kennedy Park, by the Coconut Grove Juggling Exchange Banner, people will be gathering with an odd assortment of objects. 

 

Dublin – Emerald Circus Live '09 will host Ireland's official juggling event for WJD and will be included as part of the festivities at the Street Performance World Championships '09, which will take place in Merrion Square.

 

Santa Cruz - In honor of World Juggling Day, the UCSC juggling club held a day long juggling mini-festival on Thursday, promoting next year's Santa Cruz First Annual Juggling Festival.

 

Sacramento - Drop in juggling lessons are taking place between 11am - 1pm at the McKinley Library, 601 Alhambra Blvd.

Now, I’m not sure my six year old wants these Legos, unless some clone troopers are included, but …

The Danish plastic toy-brick maker, the Lego Group, has joined with Brickstructures Inc. to launch a model version of Frank Lloyd Wright's iconic architectural design, the Guggenheim Museum, to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the New York museum, which opened six months after Wright's death. In late June, both companies will once again combine their talents on another model to commemorate the up coming 75th anniversary of Wright’s famous Fallingwater house located in rural southwestern Pennsylvania, 50 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

 

The mini-Guggenheim has a suggested retail price of $39.99 and contains 208 pieces, including dish-shaped pieces that attempt to evoke the building's inverted ziggurat. The model of the Fallingwater house will consist of 811 pieces and is listed at $99.99. Among the elements, there is a clear plastic version of the waterfall from which the house takes its name. By the way, if anyone is interested, my birthday is in just a couple of weeks.

The name Lego is from the Danish “leg godt,” which means “play well” and was coined by Lego founder Ole Kirk Christiansen, who began making wooden toys in 1932. By 1940 Lego expanded to producing plastic toys. In 1949 Lego began producing the now famous colorful interlocking plastic bricks. Based largely on a design by the UK company Kiddicraft Self-Locking Bricks, Lego slightly modified the design and by the late 1950’s had settled on the overall design most kids are familiar with today.

 

When I was about 13 years old I became a regular customer at Platypus Records on Hollywood Blvd about a half a block east of Vermont in Hollywood. It was all about their inexpensive used records. I still spent a small fortune from money I earned the old fashioned way; recycling cans and bottles, mowing lawns and stealing money from my mom’s purse. I found great records for pennies. And one that left an indelible mark on my rookie ears was the Soft Machine album, Volume Two, released in 1969 and featuring Robert Wyatt on drums and vocals, Mike Ratledge on piano and Hammond organ, Brian Hopper on saxophone and Hugh Hopper on bass and guitars. I think I paid 99 cents for the album.

 

When I bought that record all I knew about Soft Machine was that they were part of some mysterious and legendary English Canterbury music scene, they hung out with Syd Barrett’s Pink Floyd and once toured the US as an opening act for Jimi Hendrix. Volume Two is still one of my all time favorite records. Over the years I’ve worn out more than a few copies.

 

This past Monday, idiosyncratic composer, art-rock bassist extraordinaire, veteran of some two dozen diverse solo albums and Soft Machine member, Hugh Hopper, succumbed to his year long battle with leukemia. He was 64.

 

In his years before Soft Machine, Hugh Colin Hopper, born April 29, 1945 in Canterbury, Kent, found himself immersed in the burgeoning Canterbury scene and emerging bands like Gong, Hatfield and the North and Henry Cow. In the mid sixties he was working with Daevid Allen and Robert Wyatt in the Daevid Allen Trio. That band evolved into the Wilde Flowers, an almost mythic pop and soul band consisting of his brother Brian, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers and Richard Sinclair that spun off into two influential progressive rock groups, Caravan and Soft Machine.

 

Hopper joined Soft Machine in 1968 after their tour with Hendrix, contributed two compositions to their first self titled album, recorded in New York. Their sophomore release saw Hopper not only adding his virtuoso bass work to the mix but also composing half the tracks. He would remain with Soft Machine through 1973 and the album entitled 6. About the time Soft Machine was moving from a psychedelic, progressive rock sound into more of a jazz/fusion outfit, Hopper departed, recording his classic solo record 1984 at about the same time. His first effort was a decidedly non-commercial adventure filled with avant-garde soundscapes, tape loops, and free improvisation.

 

After his stint with Soft Machine, and in between his own solo projects, Hopper worked with some of the most original musicians of the last thirty years; Carla Bley, Keith Tippett, Robert Wyatt, Elton Dean, Pip Pyle, Stomu Yamashta, Phil Miller, Lol Coxhill, Allan Holdsworth, Chris Cutler, Yumi Hara Cawkwell and bands like Gilgamesh, Isotope and Soft Heap. In 2002 Hopper began a new association with several former Soft Machine members. Originally named Soft Works, they later renamed the reunion Soft Machine Legacy; besides touring extensively throughout Europe and Asia, they’ve also released four CD’s, two studio and two live recordings.

 

After his diagnoses last summer with leukemia, a benefit concert was held for him at London's 100 Club in December, featuring friends and many of his legendary musical collaborators from all phases of his career.

 

Just two days before his death he married his longtime companion Christine.

Rock and roll has a long and ridiculous history of tragedy. And it probably all started with the accidental shooting death of R&B star Johnny Ace who would have, should have, been 80 years old today.

 

Born John Marshall Alexander, Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee in 1929, Ace was a pianist and balladeer and the first postwar solo black male rhythm and blues star signed to an independent label, Duke Records, to attract a white audience. His first of many hits, "My Song," was released in 1952; other hits followed including "Cross My Heart," "Please Forgive Me," "The Clock," "Yes, Baby" and the classic "Pledging My Love," which was on its way to the top of the R&B charts when he died. Johnny Ace's career lasted barely eighteen months. He only recorded 21 songs.

 

On Christmas Eve in 1954, Ace was performing at the City Auditorium in Houston. Also on the bill was Big Mama Thornton. They had been on a long, grueling promotional concert tour for most of a year. Ace had put on a lot of weight and was exhausted by the schedule of performing more than 300 shows, playing successive one-night stands sometimes hundreds of miles apart. Ace had become fond of playing with his .22 caliber revolver. Members of his band said he often would point or even unload the gun in their direction or at roadside signs from their car.

 

In Houston during a break between sets, Ace was, as usual, playing with his gun. First he pointed the gun at his girlfriend and then at another woman who was sitting nearby. He then pointed the gun toward himself, said, "I'll show you how it works." The gun went off into the side of his head.

 

According to legend Johnny Ace was playing Russian roulette. But witnesses gave a different account. Big Mama Thornton's bass player Curtis Tillman was there: “I will tell you exactly what happened! Johnny Ace had been drinking and he had this little pistol he was waving around the table and someone said ‘Be careful with that thing…’ and he said ‘It’s o.k.! Gun’s not loaded…see?’ and pointed it at himself with a smile on his face and ‘Bang!’; sad, sad thing. Big Mama ran out of that dressing room yelling ‘Johnny Ace just killed his self; Johnny Ace just killed his self!”

 

Johnny Ace died several hours later on Christmas Day. He was 25 years old.