Post tag: Castle Air Force Base
Veterans Day and The Draft

Marlowsphere Blog (#141)

Marlow Receives AwardThere are two reasons why I am focused on Veterans Day.

The first is the Vietnam War. I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English from what is now known as Herbert Lehman College in the Bronx, NY in 1966. Two weeks later I received a draft letter from the United States Army. This led to one of the most important decisions of my young life. Instead of being drafted into the Army, I decided to voluntarily join the United States Air Force in June 1966. It meant four years of my life, rather than two, but I perceived I would have more control over my life in an Air Force uniform than in the Army. I was right as it turned out.

This decision leads to the second reason: The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, also known as the G.I. Bill—signed into law by Franklin D. Roosevelt—a law that provided a range of benefits for returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The bill has been updated several times by the United States Congress and is still providing benefits to ex-servicemen and women.

As a direct result of this bill, FDR, and the Vietnam War I was able to complete an MBA for almost no expense, and then several years later a Ph.D. for almost no expense. That Ph.D., plus extensive experience in print and electronic media helped me land a position as a professor in the then journalism program at Baruch College, CUNY. This position further gave me the opportunity to garner two more degrees: in music composition. I have now completed 30 years of teaching courses in media and culture at Baruch College.

In effect, a man by the name of FDR, together with the GI Bill of 1944—a year after I was born—plus the advent of the Vietnam War and the attendant draft had a direct impact on my personal and professional life over several decades that I could not have imagined when I was in high school or starting an academic pursuit in 1961.

Talk about unintended consequences!

I’d like to point to another unintended consequence that is directly related to the draft. The nation’s first military draft began in 1940, when President Roosevelt signed the Selective Training and Service Act. The draft continued through war and peacetime until 1973. More than 10 million men entered The Military Needs to Reflect All Strata of Societymilitary service through the Selective Service System during World War II alone.

One of the consequences of the draft and military service is that it creates a universal and immediate bond among those men and women who serve and have served in the military, regardless of branch of service. Whether in wartime or peace time, whether in combat or behind the lines, so to speak, putting on a uniform immediately creates a universal experience that can be shared with those who have also worn a uniform. This shared experience cannot be easily explained or even described to those who have never worn a uniform. And even though in today’s time the expression “Thank you for your service” is much more in vogue and prevalent than when I returned from active military service in 1970, when I hear it from someone who is too young to understand, it does not have the ring of authenticity in the saying of it.

In my opinion, the end of the active military draft in 1973 has resulted in the unintended consequence of at least two generations of Americans who do not share the universal military experience. And it is the absence of this shared experience that has contributed and does contribute to the economic and social divide in the United States.  As the most recent national election showed the United States of America is not united: it is two countries. One country on the east and west coasts, together with a smattering of states in the north Midwest, and the rest of the country, essentially the middle of the country—those sections of the country that either don’t directly experience the influx of immigrants from all over the world or are perceptually threatened by so-called illegal immigrants taking away job from those who are already here. Campaign rhetoric to the contrary, it’s been a while since this country was a manufacturing dominant country; this is primarily a service-oriented economy requiring higher levels of education and inter-personal and technical skills.

A Maturing ExperienceDuring the draft, young men from many walks of life, from different parts of the country, with varying levels of education, with a spread of ethnic backgrounds came together for basic training, further training, and living, working, and fighting together. It was a melting pot environment and surviving it, dealing with it, and profiting from the experience was an opportunity for personal and professional growth.

Further, in the 2001 book The Millionaire Mind by Dr. Thomas J. Stanley, among the many lessons presented there I was struck time and time again by how many of the multimillionaires described in the book had military experience. It came up as part of their backgrounds over and over again.

The Selective Service is actually in force today and men up to the age of 30 are required to register with it, but it is not an active draft. The question is: should it be? There are many reasons for and against. But I think there is a strong argument to be made for this country to institute some kind of national service, whether military or not. I perceive this kind of service would re-kindle the experiential homogeneity brought home by the GIs after WWII, and more recently the regional conflicts in the Middle East. Over 70 countries out of 196 countries in the world have some kind of mandatory military or national service. Perhaps we should take their lead.

© Eugene Marlow November 11, 2017

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Marlow Has Music & Journalism in His DNA

The article Marlow Has Music & Journalism in His DNA is drawn from a podcast interview Dr. Eugene Marlow gave on “College Talk”—a weekly video program exploring the lives and work of the people of The Weissman School of Arts & Sciences at Baruch College. Marlow has been a professor at Baruch since 1988.

The Marlow podcast interview is entitled Jazz and the Evolution of Media in the 21st. Century. The program is hosted by Dr. Aldemaro Romero Jr., Dean, Weissman School of Arts & Sciences, Baruch College (CUNY).

 

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“Under the Influence of. . . Frank and Butch and Sonny and Rudy: Part II”

Gene Marlow Trio c. 1968 with Sonny Jay on bass and Rudy Merino on drums The Marlowsphere Blog (#127)

There’s an old saying: “When the student is ready, the teacher appears.”

For a short time in 1967 I took a few lessons with a British-born jazz musician in Fresno, California, about an hour south of Merced and Castle AFB. He made me write out all the inversions of triads, 6th, 7th, 9th, and 13th chords in all major and minor keys—a workbook I still have. This teacher suggested I frequent a Sunday night jam session at a club on the outskirts of Fresno. It was there that I met bassist Sonny Jay.

Actually, I watched him play before I met him on the bandstand. His intonation was clear and specific. He could improvise on anything. One night I dared to get up on the bandstand. A tune was called that I had heard of but didn’t know how to play—at that time my playing and improvising skills were slightly better than meagre. Sonny recognized my predicament and he said to me (and I paraphrase): “Listen to the movement of my bass notes. I’ll lead you around the chords.” And he did. I was only slightly embarrassed, but not devastated by my paltry comping. I also knew I wanted to play with him on a more regular basis.

Castle Air Force Base, Merced, CAMy instincts were on target. Several months later I made the painful step to disband the We Three Trio—Frank (LaGorce) was not a happy camper; Butch (Degener) didn’t seem to mind—and form a new one with Sonny on bass and drummer Rudy Merino whom Sonny had suggested. I also managed to arrange a gig at the Castle Air Force Base Officers Club where we played almost every Friday and Saturday night for over a year. We also played private parties up and down the San Joaquin Valley.

From the first moment we played together I knew I had landed in jazz Nirvana. Sonny was a virtuoso bassist—he could have improvised for half a set and no one would have said “boo”. Rudy was born with brushes in his hands and he played bossa nova rhythms—this was, after all, the mid-late sixties; “Girl From Ipanema” was de rigueur—with great taste and consistency. These two laid down a carpet of solid bass lines and rhythms that gave me room to play almost anything and it would have sounded right.

These two musicians were the best rhythm section in the San Joaquin Valley and they were playing with me! Edmundo Ros and Bobby Sanabria They gave me playing confidence. They put a sound in my musical memory bank that I resonate to still. They are on a continuum of my relationship to jazz ballads and swing and Latin jazz that reaches back to my listening to Latin music in London, England in the late 1940s when I heard the Edmundo Ros sextet perform—probably on early British television—to my current association with Latin jazz great Maestro Bobby Sanabria. At the same time—in the late 1940s—I listened constantly to my father’s 78 rpm recording of The Louis Jordan Band performing “Caldonia.” Both threads are linked.

Louis Jordan "Caldonia" PosterOnce, during a gig break, Rudy mentioned to me that Sonny had played with the renowned Louis Jordan, the same Louis Jordan who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, who has been called the “Father of Rhythm & Blues” and “the Grandfather of Rock n’ Roll,” according to Jordan’s biography on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum website. Jordan and his Tympany Five launched 57 singles onto the R&B  charts in the forties, including 18 songs that went to #1. “Caldonia” was one of those #1 songs. It is perhaps fateful that 17 years after listening to “Caldonia” in London, England as a boy I would be playing as a young man with one of the musicians who had recorded with Jordan in the early-mid-1950s.

There’s very little on the public record about Sonny, except a mention of him in Bob Eagle and Eric S. LeBlanc’s book Blues: A Regional Experience (Praeger 2013, p. 538). Sonny was born Thurber Daniel Jay in Texas on July 25, 1917. He died in Fresno, California (where I met him) on April 12, 1993. He’s buried at Belmont Memorial Park in Fresno as Sonny Jay. This brief citation confirmsBlues: A Regional Experience by Bob Eagle and Eric S. LeBlanc that he recorded with Louis Jordan for labels Decca, Aladdin and “X” from 1953-1955. It also mentions he was a pioneer electric bassist, although he always performed on an acoustic bass when he played in our trio. According to Fresno-based pianist Leonard M. Heifetz (no apparent relation to violin virtuoso Jascha Heifetz) Sonny had a son, Joaquin Jay, who became a lead homicide detective in Fresno. Sonny’s wife, LaFaye Jay, was an executive assistant to then California State Assemblyman, then Senator George Zenovich. Heifetz played in Fresno with Sonny in the late 1960s-early 1970s.

Sonny was in his early fifties when I knew him (I was in my early-mid-twenties). He was a sweet, mostly laid back man who apparently experienced a difficult marriage to a woman whose eyes for glamour and status were larger than his ability to provide it. He had a quiet manner, but when speaking of other bass players of lesser ability and skill he would say “Well, he has a bass.” I think of him often.

Sonny was African-American. South Merced-born Rudy Merino was a Chicano, or Mexican-American. Together with my British-Russian-Polish-German ancestry we were a pretty ethnically diverse small ensemble. It never occurred to me—it was still the 1960s—that we would ever experience any racism or ethnic bias—and we never did. The quality of our ensemble playing transcended any potential problems.

When I met Rudy he was in his early thirties. He was an ex-Marine. He once told me he always wanted to be a Marine after graduating from high school, but “. . .after a couple of days in the Marines, I knew I didn’t want to be in the Marines.” Rudy recently recounted one experience while in the Marines. Sometime in 1958 (he enlisted in 1956) he and other Marines were shipped out to Red Rock, Nevada. There they became, in effect, guinea pigs for an atomic bomb test. They were placed in a trench about three miles from ground zero. Rudy said he could hear the bomb blast coming: “It sounded like a train.” They all wore dark glasses and ponchos that covered their bodies. He was most concerned about becoming sterile. Fortunately, it didn’t happen.

After his stint in the Marines he went to work for Bank of America: “They heard I was a good typist,” says Merino.  Rudy Merino has run a Drum Circle for several yearsThereafter, he went to work for Pacific Gas & Electric: a career as an associate gas engineer, according to one local newspaper article, that lasted 35 years. He married and had three sons, although, he and his first wife divorced. His second wife tragically died from brain cancer. He is happily married to his third wife, Cindy, who is a private investigator.

Rudy’s love of jazz extended to his one-time ownership of Rudy’s Blues and Jazz Club located on Merced’s Main Street which he and wife Cindy opened in early 2004. He gave it up, though, after 10 years. A restaurant, currently under renovation, now sits in its place. According to a 2010 article in the Merced Sun-Star in 2005 “Merino was recognized by the Merced County Arts Center for his contributions to the Merced music scene and was granted a lifetime achievement award. At the same time, then-Mayor Ellie Wooten declared June 18 Rudy Merino Day.”

At one time Rudy owned 13 drums sets. Today he has four. Even at age 77 he still gets calls for gigs. One of the major reasons: his expertise with brushes, the same musical skill I enjoyed listening to and playing with when he and Sonny enveloped me with their tasteful sounds that I can still feel to this day.

Eugene Marlow, Ph.D.
July 27, 2015

© Eugene Marlow 2015

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“Under the Influence of. . . Frank and Butch and Sonny and Rudy: Part I”

USAF InsigniaThe Marlowsphere Blog (#126)

It is a truism that those you encounter early in one’s career or artistic development who put you on the right path can be important influencers in the short and long-term. Four such people in my early evolution as a musician in the mid-late 1960s are bassist Frank LaGorce and drummer Butch Degener, and later bassist Sonny Jay and drummer Rudy Merino.

Even though I was born into a family with strong classical music roots on both my mother and father’s side, I did not begin to take music study seriously until I was in my early twenties. For me the context was the military, more specifically, I enlisted in the United States Air Force on June 20, 1966 in response to a draft notice from the United States Army earlier in the year. Little did I know that this decision would result in the awakening of semi-dormant musical genes.

Following basic training at Lackland Air Force Base (San Antonio, Texas) in the summer of 1966—where my then meager pianistic skills were put  Castle Air Force Base, Merced, CAto work playing in a dance band for a retiring general—and a short stint at Chanute Air Force base in Illinois (now closed), where I received some training in B-52 and KC-135 tanker aircraft personal equipment, I ended up at Castle Air Force Base (AFB) (closed in 1996) in Merced, California, right in the middle of the San Joaquin Valley. This was ultimately an interesting assignment. Castle AFB at the time was the training base for all of Strategic Air Command, one of the key military elements of the War in Vietnam.

When I arrived in fall 1966 Merced was a town of 16,000 people (not counting military personnel). When I left in fall 1971 (after almost completing an MBA in General Management from Golden Gate University) the population was closer to 25,000. As of 2014 its population was slightly under 82,000, consisting of mostly Mexicans and several South-Asian cultures.

Almost immediately upon unpacking my duffle bag, I made my way to the base Silver Wings Community Center where I discovered two fairly soundproof piano rooms each hosting a spinet piano. While playing through the nine or ten jazz standards I knew at the time, there was a knock on the door. It was Frank LaGorce, a staff sergeant assigned to one of Castle AFB’s mechanical squadrons who also played jazz bass. He was a “cat” in the jazz sense. Much of his conversation was sprinkled with “jive talk.” How he survived in the military is still a mystery to me, but he played an upright base and (at the time) knew more than I did about chords and changes. And we got along.

We put together a trio with an ex-rock drummer—Butch Degener. Teaching him how to play ballads with brushes—as opposed to sticks—was a challenge. But he ultimately got the idea. I began to play around with some arrangements, including “Sunrise, Sunset” from the Broadway Show “Fiddler on the Roof.” We entered the December 1966 base talent show and, “Miracle of Miracles,” won first place. A few weeks later we landed an off-base gig at the local San Joaquin Club in Merced CAFB Talent Showplaying there Friday and Saturday nights, four hours a night, 9 p.m.-1 a.m., for $25 a night. We were there for over a year continuous.

We survived in the early going by playing all 10 of the tunes I knew several different ways: ballad, bossa nova, swing, rock, whatever worked. Almost immediately upon getting the gig I visited the local music store on Merced’s main street and bought a set of Hanon exercises—books I still have. I started practicing at least two-three hours every night after my regular military duties (which is another story) and even more hours on weekends. I worked on expanding my repertoire. At one point I knew over 100 tunes without need of a lead sheet (not much by some standards; there are some pianists who know a 1,000 tunes off the top of their heads). Tony Bennett’s “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” was a sure-fire tune to bring everyone to the dance floor. Just playing the first few notes was like magic.

We Three Trio + 1For a time the trio expanded to a quartet with the addition of Bobby Meyers—a vibraphonist, also an airman at the base—and we became “The We Trio +1.” Ultimately, though, as my pianistic skill improved and my chordal knowledge and repertoire expanded I felt a strong urge to seek greener musical pastures. Before Frank’s fateful knock on the piano room door I had not taken piano study or any music study for that matter very seriously. I had composed perhaps a few dozen jazz pieces, but didn’t have the chops to write them down. In many, many ways, I was musically clueless as a performer. Yet my serendipitous encounter with Frank LaGorce put me on a path that I still walk on to this day. But sometimes there comes a time when you need to cut ties with first teachers.

This is where bassist Sonny Jay and drummer Rudy Merino came into the picture.
More in my next blog.

Eugene Marlow, Ph.D.
July 20, 2015

© Eugene Marlow 2015

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ROTC Or Not to ROTC?

ROTC EmblemsThe Marlowsphere Blog (#81)

In a recent feature-length viewpoint article in the Clarion, the house organ of the Professional Staff Congress  (the union representing professors in the City University of New York system) Baruch College colleague Glenn Petersen, Ph.D. strongly rebuffed the Pentagon’s push to establish Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) programs on CUNY’s campuses. The Pentagon’s motivation: a disproportion of the military’s leadership come from the southern states, not enough from the northern states. It argues CUNY’s student population and demographics are, therefore, ripe for an ROTC program.

Dr. Petersen’s perspective is guided in part by the fact that he served (as a teenager) in Vietnam. That “war”—from which the United States emerged not the winner, to put it somewhat euphemistically—left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth.

I know this from direct experience. I served four years in the United States Air Force (1966-1970) during the Vietnam era in Texas, Illinois, California, and Guam (in the South Pacific). I was in my early twenties, having already completed my first undergraduate degree at what is now Herbert Lehman College (CUNY). When I returned to New York City in 1971 to seek my fortune, no one, and I mean no one, wanted to know about my four years in uniform due to the strong anti-Vietnam war sentiment that permeated the nation. It was a depressing experience for a young man with a BA and an MBA under his belt (the graduate degree thanks to the GI Bill). That feeling has never really left me.

My experience of the war, therefore, is somewhat different from Professor Petersen’s and my reaction to the ROTC issue is also different. I think the presence of ROTC is a good thing.

It’s A Maturing Experience

A Maturing ExperienceTwo weeks after graduating from Lehman College in the Bronx in 1966, I received a draft notice. In June 1966 I chose to volunteer for the United States Air Force, a hitch that lasted four years, as opposed to the two years I would have served in the United States Army. Frankly, it was a survival strategy. I gave two more years of my life to the United States military rather than possibly risking losing my life in the jungles of Vietnam. Looking back on this strategic decision I have mixed emotions and I still wrestle with the moral consequence of this decision.

On the other hand, I traveled half way around the world to Guam in the South Pacific  courtesy of the U.S. government. Guam’s Anderson Air Force Base is not Hawaii or Bali, but while there I experienced another part of the planet and grew as a writer—I was on temporary assignment from my position as a wing historian at Castle Air Force Base in Merced, California. Castle was the training base for all of Strategic Air Command. I was assigned to the historian section on Guam. There I was supervised by a civilian, Dr. Kritt, who taught me a thing or two about historical writing.

The four year experience—that took me from New York City, to Texas, Illinois, California, and Guam and back to California again—was a maturing period. I was honorably discharged in June 1970 and remained on inactive reserves until June 1972.

It’s A Unique Educational Experience

While I was in the Air Force I met people from all over the country and some from other parts of the world—the government didn’t care if you were not born in the U.S.; if you were in this country and of the proper age, regardless of citizenship, you were eligible for the draft. These folks were of varying degrees of ethnicity, cultural and religious background, and educational attainment—from high school diplomas to doctoral degrees. The variety of human beings—from slick sleeve airmen to four star generals—was reflective of the American melting pot. In effect, the draft brought unlikely young men and The Military Needs to Reflect All Strata of Societywomen together in one place at one time, and the mixing up of these cultures provided a healthy shot in the arm to the usually perceived military credo of rank and file, hierarchy, and “groupness.” It was an education in itself. I learned more about organizational communications–both effective and ineffective–and structure from my four years in the military than at any time.

The Military Needs to Reflect All Strata of the Society

I keep wondering if the elimination of the draft and the creation of an all-volunteer military has  damaged what used to be a healthy heterogeneous experience into one that promotes homogeneity to the military’s own detriment. Is there a danger in the loss of a demographically heterogeneous military? To put this in biological terms, the elimination of the draft limits the gene pool that was richer personnel-wise prior to 1973.

Shared Bonds Tie the Nation

There’s another unintended consequence: the elimination of the draft diminished the concept of community service on a national scale. When veterans returned from World War II there was a strong sense of community and civic engagement among veterans that could not be duplicated artificially. The shared military experience created a bond even among the many who did not serve in the same place or time. The shared military experience creates a unique sense of community and understanding.

Better Understanding of Returning Vets

Hire our troopsTo reiterate, when I returned to New York City after having completed my four-year commitment followed by 18 months of graduate work in business administration, the reception I received was no reception at all. No employer wanted to know or cared about the military experience I had successfully completed. Today, returning veterans from the Iraqi and Afghanistan wars get much better treatment, but the governmental support for these veterans in terms of easing them back into civilian society is nominal when it should be a much higher priority.   The larger the pool of people who go through the military experience and then assimilate back into civilian life will produce a society with greater understanding and appreciation for the military’s role and the contributions of the individual.

Educational Benefits That Pay Dividends for Generations to Come

My four years of military service gave me the GI Bill. Those funds gave me the opportunity to earn an MBA (general management), then a Ph.D. (media studies). Those degrees gave me the credentials to become a college professor and much more.

Having ROTC programs on CUNY campuses offers potential students the opportunity to have the government pay for their undergraduate education and after service the GI Bill to pay for even higher learning. ROTC programs on CUNY campuses offer the government the prospect of a future military leadership that is more evenly distributed among regions of the country and ethnicities. Down the road, when these newly tapped leaders emerge from the military, the community benefits from a larger pool of people who have shared the military experience. These same people will have also had the opportunity to experience other parts of the world. They will be more mature and more exposed to world cultures. This, too, can benefit the larger community.

21st Century Military needs a strategic world viewAs faculty we are supposed to be open to new ideas and paradigms. While an ROTC program is an old concept, in today’s “no draft world” it is new again. The anti-war attitudes of the 1960s and 1970s were appropriate then. But in the early 21st century it is clear that a military with a strategic world view is essential. When the military’s leadership reflects a narrow demographic, it could, in turn, reflect a narrow strategic view. Just as faculty and PSC members we officially encourage an inclusive attitude towards academic decision-making, as citizens we also need to encourage a more inclusive attitude towards the military that, whether we appreciate it or not, has a strong hand in keeping us warm and safe in our beds at night.

Let us welcome the ROTC with open minds, not only at CUNY, but at universities and colleges all over the United States.

Please write to me at meiienterprises@aol.com if you have any comments on this or any other of my blogs.

Eugene Marlow, Ph.D.
October 14, 2013

© Eugene Marlow 2013

 

 

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