Starting off the Month of June with a bang in 1980.

First, it was the economy - with reports that the Recession had come back with a vengence on top of double-digit inflation. Still, no tax cuts in the foreseeable future.

The GOP Presidential race was now down to one with George Bush dropping out and leaving the field open for Ronald Reagan. This ahead of Super Tuesday.

Fears of racial unrest surfaced when news of the assassination attempt on Urban League President Vernon Jordan, shot in the back by a sniper's bullet came to light. The fears were allayed when it was learned Jordan survived the attack and was doing well, but a stepped up investigation and search for the sniper was underway.

Some in South Korea were blaming the U.S. for being behind the recent violent crackdown on dissidents there. The U.S. vehemently denied any role or influence on the moves, even though the U.S. Ambassador and Military Adviser were not held in high esteem with the people of South Korea.

The hostage situation continued in Iran with a shift in political power signified by the opening of Parliament and a majority of members aligned with the Khomeni regime. The fate of the hostages was now in Parliament's hands.

And despite faded hopes for finding some 50 missing people in the wake of the eruption of the Mt. St. Helens volcano, 75 year old Ray Jennings and his four dogs surfaced relatively unscathed.

And that's how this month got started, June 1st 1980 as reported on The World This Week from CBS Radio News.

By the time the 1970's rolled around, a new and experimental phase of Rock that began life as a hybrid between Psychedelia, Classical and Free-form Jazz in the 60's, burst on the scene and took Europe by storm. In the States, it took a while. Shrugged off in the American press as pretentious, sterile and overly-intellectual, the genre had to find its audience by almost by word-of-mouth.

With such bands as Yes, The Nice (in the later 60's) and Emerson, Lake and Palmer, inroads were made that bridged the gap between a skeptical press and an eager audience. But still, the overwhelming majority of bands in the Prog-Rock genre were the exclusive property of "that" side of the Atlantic.

Genesis had been around since the late 1960's. With one early album (From Genesis To Revelation) showing promise, but lacking that winning spark. They eventually signed with Charisma Records, founded by former Manager-turned Label owner Tony Stratton-Smith and their fortunes soon changed. Getting a word of mouth and popularity in England and all over Europe (especially in Italy), they secured a license deal with Dunhill Records in the U.S. - they had made one or two brief tours of the U.S., primarily in the Northeast and, almost unbeknownst to the U.S. record industry, Genesis were gaining a huge popularity. When Charisma struck a label deal with Atlantic, and their maiden album with the new arrangement, Selling England By The Pound was released in 1973, Genesis took the record industry big-wigs completely by surprise and sold out every venue they were booked in during their first cross-country U.S. tour. Word-of-mouth paid off with dividends.

Tonight it's the opening track from that milestone album, Dancing With The Moonlit Knight.

Maybe you remember it - and maybe you've never heard it before.

Pull up a chair and have a listen for the next seven minutes.

Realizing just how much the world changes in a period of fifteen years, the world of 1957 was considerably different than the world of 1942 on this day. In 1942 Russia was an ally against Germany and the Axis plague eager to dominate Europe. In 1957 a divided Germany was now our ally against the "evil empire" of Russia and the Soviet Union.

So in 1957, West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer visited Washington in an effort of seek continued support from the Eisenhower administration and to bolster Adenauer's position with the West during the upcoming elections in West Germany. Facing a bitter election fight at home, Adenauer was keen on receiving assurances from Washington that support, economically as well as militarily would continue and increase. And also some sign, however small, that the possibility of reunification of the two Germany's would become a possibility.

Commenting on the meeting as well as an observation over the upcoming British Elections was Cedric Foster, a regular newscaster/commentator for the Mutual Broadcasting System on May 31st, 1957.

News on May 31, 1942 may not have seemed like it at the time, but it marked a decided change in how the war would be waged from the air.

News reports on this day told of the first massive RAF bomber raid on the German city of Cologne the night before. Some 1,000 planes, the most of any air raid, and the first of what would become a new policy of mass bombing of cities throughout Germany, left the city almost totally destroyed. Fires could be seen some 150 miles away. RAF losses were reported at 44, which was a surprisingly small number in lieu of the damage inflicted on Germany.

In other news - From Moscow came reports the Germans had claimed to retake the industrial city Kharkov and that the much anticipated Spring Offensive was underway.

Fighting around Libya was continuing with German Field Marshall Rommel aiming to take Tobruk and staging an attempt to cut off British supply lines at the Suez Canal.

From Belfast came reports that U.S. troops, isolated from news of the war were starting to pass rumors, allegedly supplied by "Lord Haw-Haw", that the war was going badly for the allies and that the need arose for some method of supplying the American troops with useful information on news of the war, rather than propaganda.

From Washington came word that the former War Production Chief during World War One, Bernard Baruch, had been tapped to repeat his performance in this war. News also came of Chinese reports that the Pearl Harbor attack was originally intended to be one of two major attacks on U.S. targets. The other being The Panama Canal. But the Japanese aircraft carrier reportedly heading to the area was sunk somewhere in the Eastern Pacific, and the raid was thwarted.

News also came of an Allied Oil Tanker was sunk in Tampico Harbor in Mexico, under suspicious circumstances. Since Mexico had declared War on the Axis a day earlier, it was widely believed this was the work of sabotage.

And that's what was going on this May 31st in 1942, as broadcast by The NBC World News Roundup.

In case Anti-Road Rage Wednesday isn't quite up your street tonight, and the charming-soothing sounds of Chabrier just aren't you - here's a taste of the 80's tonight, by way of Siouxsie & The Banshees from 1983.

Their version of the Lennon-McCartney classic, Dear Prudence.

You can play it loud. Honest.

Over to Paris this week for a concert by Orchestre de Paris, conducted by Alain Altinoglu and featuring Pianist Romain Descharmes in a program of music by Chabrier, Saint-Saens and Florent Schmitt.

The venerable war-horse Espana by Emmanuel Chabrier opens the concert, followed by a wildly well-received Saint-Saens Piano concerto Number 2, with Pianist Romain Descharmes, who follows with two encores. The concert concludes with the seldom heard (at least here in the U.S.) La Tragèdie de Salomè by the early 20th century composer Florent Schmitt.

A good concert of mostly familiar music done as only a French orchestra can.

The concert is broken up between two players - the Chabrier and the Saint-Saens (and encores) are on the top player and the Schmitt is on the bottom player.

For you note takers:

16 mai 2012
En direct de la Cité de la Musique : Chabrier, Saint-Saëns, Schmitt

Emmanuel Chabrier
España (1883)

Camille Saint-Saëns
Concerto N°2 en sol mineur Op.22 (1868)

Florent Schmitt
La Tragédie de Salomé Op.50 (1907)

Romain Descharmes, Piano
Orchestre de Paris
Alain Altinoglu, Direction
Coproduction Cité de la musique, Orchestre de Paris.

Enjoy.

We tend to forget what a crucial role railroads played in our society during the 20th century. It was the main source of transportation over long distances for passengers (or medium distances for commuters) and for freight and raw materials. Air travel was still considered a luxury and our highway system was still evolving.

In 1946 the country was crippled from a strike by Railroad workers. Essentially, the entire nation was stranded, and the strike quickly escalated to crisis stage where President Truman addressed the country to declare a national emergency in an effort to bring the warring parties back to the bargaining table.

On May 24th he made a radio address and on May 25th he addressed an emergency session of Congress.

Here is that May 24th address by President Truman from the White House as broadcast over all networks.

Ironically, the strike was settled the next day as Truman addressed Congress. But until then, it was a nail-biter.

Ironically, today, May 30th was Memorial Day in 1942. Anything but a holiday where war was concerned.

Word from London was the arrival and settling in of U.S. troops in Northern Ireland; the first leg of the journey that would eventually lead to Invasion of Europe. Reports as of this day claimed the troops were well behaved and everyone in Belfast seemed to like them. Not so much with the IRA though. As it was also reported those elements of the organization, sympathetic to Germany, were routinely reporting troop arrivals to the German Embassy in Dublin, causing a security concern.

Meanwhile, RAF bombers were busy striking at munitions factories outside Paris, as well as raids on Cherbourg and Dieppe, in addition to air strikes at industrial centers in Germany. Fighting in the Libyan desert was escalating with news of British advances in the region.

Reports from Moscow told of the first shipments of U.S. tanks being put to work almost immediately on the Eastern Front.

From the Pacific. Reports out of Australia concerned recent air attacks on Japanese ships outside Port Moresby and talk about a drastic change in priorities of supply shipping.

And it was disclosed that recent British cargo shipments, dodging enemy submarine and air attacks, were carrying such "essentials" as costume jewelry, golf balls and party favors. The Americans didn't fare much better as it was revealed one shipment arrived in Australia carrying some 70 tons of nothing but bottled soft-drinks. The heavily censored report went on to say that one General, dismayed over the soft-drink fiasco, said it would have been much better had the 70 tons been of ammunition instead. Priorities were still skewed at this still-early stage of the War.

In Washington - since it was a holiday, there was little Capitol Hill news to report, aside from reports that it was no holiday for Defense Plant workers and that production was going at full-speed. It was also noted that Congress was anticipated to be getting closer to abandoning draft deferments for Married men and that they would be in the mix along with everyone else of draftable age shortly.

And that was the story on this Memorial Day (May 30) in 1942, as reported on the Blue Networks World News Roundup.

A track I heard almost non-stop when it was first released in 1981. Robert Williams' Buy My Record was an instant anthem on a lot of the free-form/New Wave Radio stations around the country at the time.

Trouble was, it came and went in a flash and not much has been heard from him since. Well, not if you're concentrating on the mainstream. Williams, a former drummer with Captain Beefheart and an experimental musician in his own right, has been issuing material since that 1981 release - just not on A&M.

But tonight it's that signature track. And since it's off the original A&M EP, it slides effortlessly right into the next track, Black Yard, which may or may not be familiar with you.

The 80's.

We forget how often President's used to hold news conferences. During the JFK years is was almost every week. This Press Conference, from June 7, 1962 covers a wide range of topics. The budget, the recession, inflation, taxes and of course Medicare, which was foremost on JFK's agenda in 1962.

He opens the Press Conference with a statement:

President Kennedy: "Good afternoon. I have a brief preliminary statement. I would like to say a few words about our economic outlook and program.
I think most financial experts have realized for some time that an overpriced market could not hold up once investors recognized that inflation was ending. Price-earning ratios which averaged on Dow-Jones 23 to 1 could not be justified unless there was heavy inflation in prospect. And we have been working to prevent inflation, which gives a very misleading and spurious picture of economic health. We must not permit the effects of this adjustment, however, to hamper the growth rate of our economy, with which we have, as you know, not been fully satisfied. While our recovery from last year's recession has been a good one, production, profits, and employment are at alltime highs, and the prospects for continued economic expansion remain favorable. In view of corporate and consumer cash on hand, we should take every appropriate step to make certain that recovery is stronger and longer than before and is not cut short by a new recession.

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