This is probably (although I can't swear to it) the only recording in existence of a concert given by the Marian McPartland Trio at St. Anselm College, on November 1956.

The tapes have been sitting on a shelf in the archive for years and they are a mess. They appear to have been recorded by a student who was also in charge of the PA system (just a hunch). It's one microphone and it distorts from time to time, especially during crescendos. The tapes are brittle and splices pop every twenty or so feet. The tape wasn't erased properly so there were bits of sermons and cooking shows to contend with and a choir managed to bleed briefly through on one song which I managed to isolate on another pass using the old "hold thumb at strange angle to playback head" method.

The description sounds worse than the actual hearing. And even though it is far from perfect, it's a great concert by a trio who individually are legends in Jazz and collectively offer a seamless reason why.

A little less than an hour and only the introduction is missing from the tape and the first ten or so seconds of the first song. Otherwise, it's the whole concert. Never released, never broadcast - probably never knew existed.

Enjoy.

Continuing the occasional series about elections past, I ran across this address by Paul Tsongas from March 19, 1992 in which he announced dropping (or suspending his campaign as they politely call it) his bid for the Presidential nomination for 1992.

After a hopeful start as one of the first to declare his desire to run, Tsongas' campaign gained momentum during the early stages when Bill Clinton's campaign was seen as faltering and was seen as a front runner in the race. But, in what became Clinton Adviser James Carville's memorable phrase "the comeback kid", Bill Clinton won a surprising victory in the New Hampshire primaries and Tsongas' campaign never got back on track and on March 19th Tsongas called it quits.

Here is that address via NPR.

Continuing the look at Politics and Elections past, here is a portion of an NPR All Things Considered Special election broadcast on the occasion of Pat Buchanan winning the 1996 New Hampshire Republican primary.

Winning by one percentage point over Bob Dole, who refused to concede, the victory of Pat Buchanan signaled a further shift to the Right for the Republican Party. Buchanan, a staunch Social Conservative, advocated a kind of "lock and load" policy where Foreign Policy was concerned. Also was vehemently opposed to Roe V. Wade and was determined to overturn it. He was also anti-gay, anti-government and favoring an isolationist view of our place in the rest of the world.

Interesting and eerie parallels between the Buchanan of 1996 and the current crop of hopefuls.

Here is the broadcast from February 22, 1996 from All Things Considered.

Continuing the backward look at Presidential elections past, we're taking a stop at the 1984 Democratic Primaries and this interview by Leslie Stahl with Democratic Presidential hopefuls Alan Cranston and Gary Hart on the eve of the New Hampshire Primary.

This broadcast of Face The Nation from February 27, 1984 covers a number of subjects, among them; Cranston's age (69 at the time), Jesse Jackson's slips-of-tongue, Gary Hart's 16% showing in Iowa and his surge in the polls before New Hampshire, Foreign Policy, Republicans in general - who will be left standing after Tuesday in particular.

Politics in 1984. 28 years and another planet later . . .

February 22nd in 1984 had a lot to do with uncomfortable situations everywhere. From the Middle East, the attempts at brokering a peace settlement in Lebanon fell on Saudi Arabia and Syria in an attempt to hammer something out in what became known as The Damascus Peace Plan. Unfortunately, it left Lebanon President Amin Gemayal in one of those "damned if you do - damned if you don't" situations. In the meanwhile, U.S. Marines, stationed in Beirut since 1982 were pulling out and turning over responsibilities to a UN Peacekeeping force. Enough of this getting shot at from both sides.

Elsewhere in the Middle East - the Iran-Iraq War was still raging on, with Iran now threatening to close the Straits of Hormuz, effectively cutting off oil shipments. That wasn't going to fly with oil interests at all.

In Europe, an uproar over austerity measures in France, Spain and Italy were causing most services to be shut down over strikes in protest.

Back home - President Reagan was set to go before microphones and cameras with his first Press Conference of 1984. The Press had a lot of questions over our Foreign Policy and that age-old malady, our Economy.

The Supreme Court ruled companies on the verge of bankruptcy could cancel union contracts at the discretion of a Federal Bankruptcy judge. And the Miranda Law did not apply to Probation Officers.

The New Hampshire primaries were set to go in a week with one last debate to go before heading to the polls. Democratic hopefuls Walter Mondale and Gary Hart were in the number one and two spot while John Glenn was seeking a change in his campaign after dropping to fifth in the polls.

And U.S.-Vietnam talks were ready to resume after hitting a few bumpy spots over MIA's, causing the negotiations to be put on hold.

All this and lots more via the CBS World News Roundup and 9:00 am (PST) network news for this Wednesday February 22, 1984.