What's Going on in the News Today: A News Rap-up

August 8, 2008. Posted by David Tallacksen.

Add new comment | Filed under: Baba Israel, beat, hopster, jazz musician, News, news rap

Beatboxer, hip-hopper and jazz musician Baba Israel takes a look at what's going in the world today with this news rap-up.
Listen now!

Obama heads on the road
Will he be embraced by the globe?
A world stage debut, full of risk and debate
Obama reacts by draining a 3-point swish with soldiers in Kuwait
I guess he can’t miss
In France, Sarkozy greets him with a kiss
Proclaims himself a “citizen of the world” in Berlin
200,000 gather to observe him
Flags waving instead of burning
Iraq, Israel, Afghanistan, West bank, and Britain, he’s on a roll
Back in the US a nine point climb on the poll
In this race, he’s got a head start
While McCain rolls slow with Bush senior in a golf cart
Obama's a rock star
McCain in a new add calls him a pop star
Comparing him to Paris Hilton and Brittany Spears
Iraq who will step up whose got the upper hand
Oops, white house employee emails, Malaki backs Obama’s exit plan
16 months fact or fable?
Now Bush and McCain move closer to the timetable
Obama’s Iran policy
Bigger carrots and bigger sticks?
Or sweet bread and whips?
Summer Olympics in Beijing
Mongolia locusts potentially plaguing
Leading to mass exterminating 550 square miles
Of infestation their spraying
Pollution curbs on cars, factories closing
Athletes in masks prepare for air exposing
Phelps controlling media moguling
Selling super Speedo swimwear on prime time showing
In Colombia hostages held by Farc
Rescue mission how did the plan go?
In a helicopter a team of elite commandos
Landed undercover would it work?
Commandos decked out in Che shirts and jeans
Subdued the guards and rescued fifteen
Politicians and American contractors
Looks like there’ll be a movie deal
With Hollywood backers
Back in the US the place we call home
Are you worried about the safety of your loan?
the government got your back
and the back of Freddie Mac
Big brother with the biggest credit card
14 digit limit time to start spending yall!
What’s money in when it’s the trillions
Lets just raise the debt ceiling
You know make it a little higher
This is America but what happened to Budweiser?
Bailed out by the Belgians lets get it clear
Now Stella is American for beer

produced by Simon Rentner

© 2008 WBGO

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A TRIP TO LOST JERSEY AND ELLIS ISLAND'S FORGOTTEN SIDE

July 31, 2008. Posted by Andrew Meyer.

Add new comment | Filed under: Ellis Island, hospital, immigration, News, Places and Spaces, Real Life Stories

When you hop on the ferry to visit Ellis Island, you get a taste of America's immigrant roots.

However, only a fraction of the island is open to the public.

The vast hospital complex which covers the south side of Ellis Island has been abandonned for about 50 years and is off-limits to the public, but that's going to be changing.

Efforts are underway to stabilize and restore these buildings.

After an initial trip with a group of Jersey lawmakers six years ago, I had a chance to go back recently to check on the progress that's been made in preserving not only the buildings but the history that goes with them. What I found can be heard in the next feature in WBGO News' Lost Jersey series, which airs on our next WBGO Journal, Friday, August 1 at 7:30pm.

Andrew Meyer

© 2008 WBGO

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Johnny Griffin: April 24, 1928 - July 25, 2008

July 25, 2008. Posted by Joshua Jackson.

Add new comment | Filed under: arts music, blank title, coleman hawkins, hard bop, injustice, jazz musician, johnny griffin, little giant, Masters, muscular sound, News, no doubt, Notes, ny times, nytimes, obit, rhythm and blues, rough and tumble, saxophone, saxophonist, stature, target, wails

WBGO bids farewell to Johnny Griffin, a master jazz musician. Many jazz people referred to Griffin as "The Little Giant," no doubt because of his dimunitive stature (he was a shade below 5 and a half feet tall). The consensus, however, was that Griffin's true stature loomed large in the music. Johnny Griffin could easily fall under the category of "hard bop saxophonist," but to do so would be an injustice. When you listen to the raw muscular sound of early Johnny Griffin records, you can hear a combination of saxophone legend Coleman Hawkins, the rough-and-tumble rhythm and blues of Griffin's Chicago hometown, and some definitive gospel wails. It was a big, combustible sound. One that will be missed.

Read the New York Times obit.

If you're looking for good music from Griffin, you have plenty of options.
Some suggestions after the jump.
Read more

© 2008 WBGO

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