RIP for December 27

All you Texicans will be mourning today, as it's the death date of Stephen Austin.  He and Sam Houston made Texas what it is today- arrogant, independent, cranky, etc.  He was the civilian leader, since he arranged for many of the settlers to move into that part of Texas, and then Houston became the military leader.  It worked, so what the hey.  Didn't make him rich, but it made him famous.  Was the trade-off worth it?  You'd have to ask Austin, but he died in 1836.

A couple weeks ago we gave a nod to Gustave Eiffel on his birthday.  At least I think we did.  At any rate, we'll give him a nod on his death date, which happened in 1923.  If you have any sense, you can guess what his biggest claim to fame would be. 

I guess the biggest name on the list today will probably have to be Hoagy Carmichael, who died in 1981.  He was a composer, and did some wonderful songs which have become standards.  How about "Stardust" and "Georgia on my Mind" for starters?  I'm guessing he never got ripped off the way a lot of early composers did, since he moonlighted for a while as a lawyer.  He's listed in the Guinness book of Records for longest song title with "I'm a Cranky Old Yank in a Clanky Old Tank on the Streets of Yokohama with me Honolulu Mama Doin' Those Beat-o, Beat-o-Flat-On-My-Seato-o, Hirohito Blues".  Thank God, it was a joke.

It was on this date in 2007 that Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in Pakistan.  Given her gender and the disaster that Pakistan has become since then, it might be a good thing.  I'd say there would be a chance she'd have been stoned for something if she'd lived.  At any rate, she was a voice of some sanity in a part of the world where that is now almost completely lacking.  And it's only been 4 years.  Amazing how badly things can change in a short time. 

And finally, in 2008 Delaney Bramlett died.  Don't know him?  In the day, he and his wife Bonnie were performers together as Delaney & Bonnie & Friends.  But he also wrote the song "Superstar" which was a hit for the Carpenters, and co-wrote "Let it rain"  for his friend Clapton.  Oh, and he taught another friend, George Harrison to play the slide guitar, which led into the latter writing a great song called "My Sweet Lord".  Methinks maybe I should look him up and learn a bit more...

Later days.