Update: Just about an hour ago we hit the 2/3 mark. It is unbelievable, and truly humbling, the outpouring of support and donations that have come in today in my effort to save Newstalgia and the Archive it depends so heavily on. To you who have donated, you are an incredible gift and further evidence all angels don't have wings. To those of you on the fence, or afraid that what you can give isn't much - no matter how small or large your donation is, it is all desperately important and it is all chipping away at an enormous weight. No matter what you give, every penny makes a huge difference. I am grateful beyond words to those of you who have donated so far. We're almost there, and that's the opposite of where we were this time yesterday. I still need your help. We're getting close. You are making a difference. With your help, we're going to make it.

Staying in the early 20th Century today. Here is an address by the legendary William Jennings Bryan, who may probably be best known for his role in the Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925; teaching Evolution in public Schools. Bryan died within hours of the trials end. Although Bryan came to epitomize the Liberal Wing of the Democratic Party, he was a staunch prohibitionist and staunchly anti-Darwin, whose theory of Evolution was the basis for the famous trial. He unsuccessfully ran for President in 1896, 1900 and 1908 and was appointed Secretary of State in the Wilson Administration in 1913.

Here is the last portion of his address to the 1908 Democratic Convention, recorded several days later, on July 21, 1908 for posterity and also to be used for the Bryan campaign.

Later known as the "Ideal Republic" Address, here is the transcript of that speech since, being recorded in 1908, is a little hard to decipher in places:

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(Sonny Rollins - the real Saxophone Colossus)

There has certainly been no dearth of influential saxophone players throughout the history of Jazz. I can name at least a dozen off the top of my head. But one of my favorites and one whom I consider a true giant of the instrument has got to be Sonny Rollins. His evolution as a musician has been legendary, his innovations have been milestones of the form. I can't really think of any sax players currently on the scene who don't owe some aspect of their style to Sonny Rollins.

I thought I would play some of his earlier material, when he was actively exploring bop and a couple years away from his first transformation.

This is from an album he recorded for Prestige Records with The Modern Jazz Quartet. The Stopper is from a session cut on October 7, 1953.

Glimpses of things to come.

(For the Princely sum of 50k and your choice of shrinks)

In the mid-1950s a movement sprang up around the country - a mass exodus West and a mass exodus from the cities. The lure of sprawl, unobstructed views and tranquility screamed loudly everywhere. This was all part of the evolution of modern day America.

So much so, that it became the subject of books. One such book was The Exurbanites by AC Spectorsky.

The book was wildly popular in the 1950's as were its sentiments. So CBS Radio, as part of their "CBS Radio Workshop" did a quasi documentary/dramatic presentation on the book.

Narrated by Eric Sevareid and broadcast on March 30, 1956, The Exurbanites sought to answer the questions about the great trek west, the great exodus from the cities.

In retrospect, it's interesting listening - a distant point in our culture when things evolved and changed.

And one day we woke up and it was all different.