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(L-R: Donald Rumsfeld, Pres. Ford, Rumsfeld's Trusty Assistant Dick Cheney)

Back in 1969, Donald Rumsfeld went from being a member of Congress to becoming a political appointment of Nixon's to head the rather Orwellian sounding Office Of Economic Opportunity. It would seem to be reasonably harmless, but in 1970 Rumsfeld added Dick Cheney to the mix his assistant. Several different versions emerge as to what exactly Cheney's role was and how he got there. Like everything, it's shrouded in shadows and mystery. But suffice to say, things started changing shortly after.

Here is an interview with Rumsfeld on Face The Nation from December 7, 1969, a few months before the entrance of Cheney, but noteworthy for the fact that Rumsfeld never lost the gift for mangling a perfectly good sentence.

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(Having the distinction of being "L.A.'s Own")

In the mid to late 60's in Los Angeles, I don't recall a single week going by where The Yellow Payges weren't either playing one of the clubs or an opening act at a concert. They were probably one of the most visible bands on the local scene for years.

The trouble was, nobody seemed to know who they were outside of Southern California. And it wasn't for trying. They issued albums and singles and toured almost constantly, but nothing charted with great success.

In retrospect two things come to mind. A: they were primarily a club band and most of their material were covers of other bands (case in point - this concert features, among others, a cover of "Lady Jane" by The Rolling Stones and "Sunshine Of Your Love" by Cream) and because of that they had more of a "garage band" appeal. And B: Their recorded efforts just didn't represent who they were live. This was a problem with a lot of bands in the 60's (Grateful Dead certainly was one) where, as great as they were live, just couldn't quite get in the groove in the studio. The opposite was also true with a lot of bands who were great in the studio but very disappointing live.

With all that said though, this concert from August 13, 1968 features The Yellow Payges as opening act for The Rascals (heard over the past few weeks), and it captures probably best who they were - a raw, spontaneous, tight band that had a large and loyal following from 1966 to their breakup in 1970. There is a really nice piece on the Yellow Payges you might want to check out here: http://www.60sgaragebands.com/bandbios.html

I'm not sure if this is the only representation of Yellow Payges live, but I haven't seen anything to suggest otherwise. As with all these performances, the recording technology wasn't as forgiving as it is now and mixing multiple mics was still flying by the seat of your pants. So forgive the distortions and the odd bursts.

As always, it's history.

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PLAYS: 96

(Overheard singing "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" as they sailed off)

From April 2 to June 13, 1982 Britain and Argentina had something of a face-off over a tiny group of islands off the Argentine coast. Argentina, under the recently installed Military government of Leopoldo Galtieri, claimed it belonged to them, while Britain maintained it was part of the British Empire for the past 149 years. On the morning of April 2nd, Argentine troops invaded the islands and overran the 84 British Marines stationed there. The political storm that followed saw the resignation of Thatcher's Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington and an effort on the part of the U.S. to broker some peace settlement. In the end, Thatcher rejected a peace initiative and sent troops to force a confrontation. As of April 24th, the British fleet was 1,000 miles away from The Falklands and in a matter of days a full-on shooting war would break out.

Here is a BBC World Service news report on the days activities. Before the advent of streaming audio and 24 hour satellite broadcasts, most overseas radio came by way of Shortwave - distant voices that faded in and out and sounded ominous.

Maybe it added to the drama, but it kept a lot of fingers glued to the dial during that month.

DOWNLOADS: 418

PLAYS: 161

(E. Howard Hunt. Murky pasts and clandestine motives)

Shadowy figures from our deep-dark past. The name E. Howard Hunt will always be synonymous with Watergate and Nixon, but his ties to the CIA and clandestine activities go back further. It's interesting how, with all the revelations and allegations regarding the Bush Administration, there had to be some model established, some precedent set for a White House run amok. It's been said that Karl Rove looks like a rank amateur compared to the likes of Hunt. Between this interview and the deathbed confession, that assessment would seem to be spot-on.

Here is an interview, in its entirety from the Firing Line series hosted by Hunt's long time friend, Godfather of his children and executor of his wife's estate, William F. Buckley from May 12, 1974.

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PLAYS: 41

(A new word entered our lexicon of shame: "Ethnic Cleansing")

Seems there's no such thing as an Average April day in history, unless its one draped in conflict and upheaval. April 22, 1994 - a ten minute capsule via The CBS World News Roundup. The stepped up violence in Bosnia, former President Nixon on his deathbed, ousters of Prime Ministers in Japan amid corruption charges and the full horror of genocide in Rwanda only starting to be realized. Just a normal day in April.

(Some people still don't know what happened, or even where Rwanda is)

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No end of drama for the month of April. The 51 day standoff between the FBI, ATF and the Branch Davidians lead by David Koresh came to a flaming end the morning of the 19th when Government agents fired tear gas into the cult compound. The result was chaos and the controversy over whether the fire was set by the FBI and ATF or by the Davidians has fueled a lot of conspiracy and anti-government sentiment over the years. The most infamous upshot was the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 - two years to the day Waco went from being a sleepy Texas town to the center of a vengeful universe.

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(the terrible reality of the senseless act)

Further evidence April is the Saddest Month, to paraphrase the poet William Carlos Williams. No one could have possibly imagined something this sinister and this brutal coming out of a high school, let alone one in a bucolic suburb of Denver. Before this happened, if someone had pitched this idea as a teen exploitation movie, it would have been laughed out of the office as too insane even for deranged kids.

But no. It seems the seeds of hate are planted deep and they spring everywhere, and they are just as apparent today as they were ten years ago. Perhaps awareness has made them more obvious. The seeds nonetheless are still being planted - the hate, it would seem, may never end.

(No . . .not the work of some prank-filled kids)

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PLAYS: 110

(The inimitable Mr. B and associates)

Somebody asked me who I thought my favorite Jazz singer was. I admit that was a really tough question because there are so many - the list is pretty endless. And to be honest, I would have to declare a six or seven way tie because, for my money to leave out Billy Eckstine would mean leaving out Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington and Billie Holiday and Johnny Hartman and Anita O'Day and Chris Connor - the list just doesn't stop.

But I remembered one of my favorite versions of "In The Still Of The Night" with Eckstine when he led an orchestra that was probably the single most amazing grouping of musicians ever assembled just post World War 2. But then I remembered the pairing of Johnny Hartman and John Coltrane. See my problem?

And then there's Bud Powell. You just can't have one single favorite when it comes to music - certainly Jazz where an artists individual point of view is probably more critical than other musical forms, because it is possible to hear the same song a thousand different ways and they all sound different. That's probably why I've never been bored with Jazz.

I ran across this live club date featuring a double bill of Bud Powell on the first half and Billy Eckstine with a small group on the second half. It all comes from the Birdland on 52nd Street in New York one July night in 1953.

Very nice stuff and a nice way to mellow out the weekend.

(Bud Powell in 1953)

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PLAYS: 5583

With the renewed interest in Cuba and the possibility of talks a potential reality, not to mention we're coming up on the 50th anniversary of the Cuban revolution and the rise to power of Fidel Castro, I thought it would be interesting to present a Sunday Talk Show from 1964 featuring a rare interview with Che Guevara. ABC's Issues and Answers, in pretty much the same mold as Meet The Press and Face The Nation, this interview, conducted in Havana pulled no punches.

Guevara is heard through an interpreter and now that we have the Crooks and Liars Media player, you get to hear the whole thing, uncut, exactly as presented on March 24, 1964.

(Had he lived, he'd be 80 this year

(So infamous, they even wrote songs about him)

The name J.Edgar Hoover has been fading from Americas collective memory the past few decades. He died in 1972. But from 1924 up until his death he ran the FBI, taking it from a somewhat bumbling government agency into a monolith that was synonymous with eavesdropping, wiretaps, file keeping, political power plays, espionage and dirty tricks. He was the reason all subsequent FBI Directors had term limits. He made the FBI his life and his kingdom and was in charge right up to the last. He was the guy with all the secrets and he made a lot of innocent lives uncomfortable as the result.

Here he is from September 23, 1940 giving an address to the America Legion Convention in Boston, talking about one of his favorite subjects, The Communist Threat and "Foreignism".

With all that paranoia floating around, it's a wonder anybody slept at night.