Thursday, March 13, 2014

Smedley D. Butler Brigade of Veterans For Peace

Monday, March 3, 2014

Carlos Arredondo -- Grand Marshal of St. Patrick's Peace Parade



Veterans For Peace

For Immediate Release

Contact: Pat Scanlon, Office: 978-475-1776, Cell: 978-590-4248, email:Vets4PeaceChapter9@gmail.com 
Attached: Press Release, Parade Flyer, Open Letter to Residents of Boston

CARLOS ARREDONDO – GRAND MARSHAL OF
SAINT PATRICK’S PEACE PARADE

Boston, Mass. – March 3, 2014 – Carlos Arredondo and his wife Melida will be the Grand Marshals for the Saint Patrick Peace Parade, the alternative parade, in South Boston on Sunday, March 16. Carlos is well known as one of the heroes of the Boston Marathon bombing. He was captured in a now famous AP photo wearing his white cowboy hat as he rushed bombing victim Jeff Bauman to a waiting ambulance.  Carlos and Melida have been long time members of Veterans For Peace, having
"Camp Alex", created by the Arredondos to honor their fallen son
joined the organization shortly after Carlos’ son Alex was killed in Najaf Iraq by a sniper in 2004. Their only other son Brian, who never recovered from the loss of his beloved big brother, committed suicide in 2011 at age 24. Carlos and Melida have committed themselves to helping veterans families and working for peace as members of the Boston chapter of Veterans For Peace.

Carlos is honored to be the Grand Marshal of the Saint Patrick’s Peace Parade with his wife Melida. “Boston Strong means all of us uniting together whether at a tragedy or against bigotry and exclusion, or the need for peace”, stated Carlos. “There is a lot of controversy surrounding these parades,” Carlos said. “We should all come together, combine the two parades into one big parade and allow everyone, straight, gay, peace, old and young to all participate together celebrating Saint Patrick.”

Melida Arrendondo, Carlo’s wife, also a Grand Marshal of the parade added,  “After this year where a bombing took place in Boston, inclusion of the LGBT community and Veterans For Peace is an important part of keeping Boston Strong.  We are a diverse community,” added Melida, “and we should be proud to march together as one. Our diversity is what makes us different and is our strength as a city and a nation.”

Veterans For Peace will once again march one mile behind the traditional parade. There are eight separate divisions in the Peace Parade, each division is essentially their own parade with very distinct messages. The eight division are: Veterans For Peace, Peace, Religious, LGBT, Environmental Stewardship, Political, Labor, Social and Economic Justice. Last year the parade had six bands, floats, vehicles, Bread and Puppet Theatre and 2,500 participants.

“Some have called the Saint Patrick’s Peace Parade a protest parade,” said Pat Scanlon, Coordinator of Veterans For Peace and the lead organizer for the Peace Parade. “It is not! It is an alternative parade brought about because of the discriminatory and exclusionary practices of the organizers of the first parade.” Some people refer to the second parade as the gay parade. Scanlon emphasizes, “It is a Peace Parade, in fact the only Peace Parade in the entire country. Our parade is welcoming and inclusive. The LGBT community is free to celebrate who they are as people and as gay members of our community. There is an LGBT Division where all are welcome to carry rainbow flags, signs, and banners and wear T-shirts with such messages as “I’m Irish, Gay and Proud”.

The parade organizers invite individuals and groups to join their parade. “People and groups are welcome to come and join one of the eight divisions,” added Scanlon. The Saint Patrick’s Peace Parade will assemble at 1:00 pm on D Street, just off West Broadway in South Boston. Look for the black and white Veterans For Peace Flags. Erin Go Bragh.

Web: smedleyvfp.org    Twitter: @smedleyVFP            Facebook: facebook.com/smedleyvfp

Monday, March 10, 2014

Massachusetts Peace Communities Statement of Support for VFP Inclusion in St. Patrick's Day Parade



Massachusetts Peace Communities Statement of Support
for Veterans for Peace inclusion in St. Patrick’s Day Parade


We the undersigned represent a number of peace organizations across the religious spectrum, interfaith and ecumenical, who wish to express our deep concern about the grave injustice, disrespect and clear discrimination against veterans who are voices of peace, through their exclusion from Veterans for Peace from Boston’s Annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade.  

It is our conviction that the history of such exclusion in Boston is based on secular and political maneuvering.  Such posturing prevents our veterans from expressing the ravages and trauma of war and their collective statement about their experiences and wounds, both physical and mental, in a public forum such as the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, meant, ironically, to honor veterans.  Visible reminders of the scourge of war such as members of Veterans for Peace bring to the public forum are consistent with our work as peacemakers in our war-addicted society.

We are aware that The Saint Patrick’s Peace Parade is currently mired in a debate about the exclusion of LGBT sisters and brothers from the main St. Patrick’s Day Parade. 

As communities of peace, we wish to make a clear and consistent statement of support of our veterans, across the gender spectrum, as peacemakers whose civil rights are violated, and who by turning from war, characterize a conversion from killing, to peacemaking, honored by all faith traditions. 

We note that St. Patrick, the Irish Catholic saint, after whom this parade is named, renounced war emphatically when he said in his writings:  “Killing Cannot Be of Christ.”

The Boston Chapter of Veterans for Peace, known as the Smedley D. Butler Brigade, is part of a national veterans’ organization of the same name with 140 chapters around the country, members from WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan.

For the past ten years, members of Veterans for Peace have attempted to walk in the St. Partrick’s Day Parade, and in 2011, they were denied participation by the parade organizers, one of whom stated:  “We do not want to have the word peace associated with the word veteran.”

We echo and support the words of Veteran for Peace, Tony Flaherty, LT, USN, Ret. of WWII, a member of the Boston Chapter, and one of its most eloquent spokespersons as an Irish Catholic who has renounced war, spent his entire life in South Boston, and who recently penned the following words to Mayor Walsh of Boston:

“Vets for Peace has been banned, simply for advocating peace and a dedication to offering our children a message that war is not the answer at spectacles glorifying militarism since 2003 (invasion of Iraq) and since initiating the Peace Parade in 2011, have been subjected to insult and calculated obstruction in which City Hall has been complicit.…”

Peace Parade key organizer, Pat Scanlon, a decorated Vietnam Veteran, comments that veterans experience this obstruction as an insult, especially, “to those of us who have experienced the horrors of war and know the real cost of war.” 

Veterans, some in their eighties, have waited for hours in the blazing sun, to march after street cleaners and other public employees finish their post-parade obfuscating and deliberate degradation of impact—under the guise of cleanup.  They are greeted, sometimes with applause, often with jeers and sullen stares, by the handful of dwindling numbers of parade participants.   A court order has altered these delay tactics, but the exclusion remains.

Veterans for Peace have clearly stated their desire: “One parade, welcoming and inclusive of any group.”

We representatives of Peacemaking Communities in Massachusetts want to make clear our support of the Veterans for Peace and our desire:

It is our desire to make visible to the wider community, the black and white flags carried by the Veterans for Peace, heralding their rejection of war. 

We wish to make visible the nobility of the nonviolent tradition through the centuries, carried by great American peacemakers: Lucretia Mott, George Fox, John Woolman, Martin Luther King Jr., Dorothy Day, Daniel and Philip Berrigan, Sr. Megan Rice, Howard Zinn and the countless numbers of the great cloud of witnesses who live on nationally and internationally, across the faith spectrum.

We the undersigned peace communities and individual peacemakers represent the voices of hundreds, if not thousands of our peacemaking brothers and sisters, who are appalled by the blatant disregard for the movement of conscience, the display of courage and nonviolence embodied in the lives of our brother and sister Veterans for Peace.



Signees for Mass Peace Communities Statement of Support for:


Veterans for Peace inclusion in St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Sunday March 16th at 1:00pm in Boston, MA

  1. Patrick Tracy, Director of Campus Ministry, St. Joseph’s College, Patehogue, NY
  2. David O’Brien, Worcester, MA
  3. Jeanne O’Brien, Worcester, MA
  4. Walter Cuenin, Chaplain, Brandeis University
  5. St. Susanna Parish Peace & Justice Committee (Pastor: Fr. Steve Josoma, Chairs: Pat Ferrone, Maureen Hearn, Sally Gould, Fr. Bin Kremmell)
  6. Patricia McSweeney, Taunton, MA
  7. John & Carrie Schuchardt, House of Peace, Ipswich, MA
  8. Peace & Social Concerns Committee, Friends Meeting at Cambridge
  9. Patricia Kirkpatrick
  10. Justin Duffy
  11. Maureen Hearn, Needham, MA
  12. Rev. Molly Buskette, Lead Pastor, First Church, Somerville
  13. Bill Gural
  14. Rev. Anne Bancroft, Consulting Minister, Universalist Church of Weymouth
  15. Marie Ebacher, Worcester, MA
  16. Rev. Maddie Sifantus, Unitarian Universalist Church of Wakefield, First Unitarian Universalist Church of Milford
  17. Rev. Kim K. Crawford-Harvie, Senior Minister, Arlington Street Church, Unitarian Universalist, Boston
  18. Dick & Deborah Kirk
  19. David & Erica Kay-Webster
  20. Severyn Bruyn
  21. Rev. David M. Bryce, Senior Minister, The First Church in Belmont, Unitarian Universalist
  22. Rev. Wendy von Zirpolo
  23. Maryellen Kurkulos, Bridget for All Southcoast, Fall River, MA
  24. Agape Community Mission Council, Hardwick, MA (See below)
  25. Teresa Wheeler, Worcester, MA
  26. John Paul Marosy,Worcester, MA
  27. Bob Wegener, Quincy, MA
  28. Alden Poole, Quincy, MA
  29. Janet Poole, Quincy, MA
  30. Catholic Deacon Bill Toller
  31. Rev. Dr. Dorothy May Emerson
  32. Arthur Roberts
  33. Barbara Roberts
  34. Rev. Susan A. Moran, Unitarian Universalist Society of Rockport
  35. Rev. Bruce Taylor, Minister of First Parish Billerica
  36. Hazel Dardano
  37. Skip Schiel
  38. Paul McNeil
  39. Rich Bachtold
  40. Suzanne Shanley
  41. Brayton Shanley
  42. Rev. Diane Miller, Unitarian Universalist Minister, Carlisle, MA
  43. Edmund K. Summersby, Cambridge, MA
  44. Professor Judith Phaqun, Saint Joseph College, Long Island
  45. Catie Scudera, Intern Minister, Arlington St. Church, Unitarian Universalist, Boston, MA
  46. Rev. Dr. Victoria Weinstein, Lynn, MA
  47. Kevin & Joyce Lucey, Proud parents of Cpl. Jeffrey Michael Lucey, Forever 23 years old. Succumbed to the Hidden Wounds of War, March 18th, 1981 – June 22nd, 2004
  48. Debbie Lucey, Proud sister of Cpl. Jeffrey Michael Lucey, a 23 year old forever, Succumbed to the Hidden Wounds of War, March 18th, 1981 – June 22nd, 2004
  49. Joseph Miller
  50. Beryl
  51. Dr. Robert Emmet Morris, USN/USMC Vietnam 1969-1970, International Health Consultant, South Boston Residents for Peace
  52. Howard Hayward
  53. Rev. Meg Soens
  54. Rev. John Gibbons, First Parish, Bedford, MA
  55. Rev. Art McDonald, PhD., Minister, Unitarian Universalist Church of Essex
  56. Bobbie Goldman, Merrimack Valley People for Peace
  57. Barbara Corbett-Flavin
  58. Pat Ferrone, Regional Coordinator of Pax Christi MA
  59. Nancy C. Arthur
  60. Justin Rocha, Occupy Fall River
  61. Rev. Rebecca Froom, Assistant Minister, First Universalist Society, Franklin, MA
  62. Caroline Cole, Merrimack Valley People for Peace
  63. Boryana A. Tacconi, Merrimack Valley People for Peace
  64. Sr. Katie Flaherty, South Boston Residents for  Peace
  65. Rev. Amy Freedman, Consulting Minister, Unitarian Universalist First Church in Boston
  66. Jeff Klein, Dorchester People for Peace
  67. Linda Jacobs
  68. James Roy
  69. Dee Halzack, Lowell, MA
  70. Jane Cadarette, Merrimack Valley People for Peace
  71. Rev. Ralph Galen, Transformative Justice and Violence Prevention Ministry
  72. JA Canonico, N. Chelmsford, MA
  73. Dr. Thomas Lee, Goffstown, NH
  74. Eileen Lee, Goffstown, NH
  75. Beth Elliott, Gilbertville, MA
  76. Rev. Dr. Judith Wright, Unitarian Universalist Minister, Northborough, MA
  77. Lou Bernieri, Merrimack Valley People for Peace
  78. Dudley Hartung, Veterans for Peace
  79. Chris Astephen, Stonehill College
  80. Rev. M. Lara Hoke, Consulting Minister, Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Andover, MA
  81. Rev. Wendy L. Bell, Harvard Unitarian Universalist Church
  82. Dan Philip
  83. Diana E Philip
  84. Rev. Harold H. Babcock, First Religious Society Unitarian Universalist, Newburyport, MA
  85. Jean Doran, Clarksville, TN
  86. Rev. Judy Deutsch
  87. Faye George, Bridgewater, MA
  88. Rev. Dr. Michelle Walsh, Tuckerman Creative Ministries for Justice & Healing
  89. Brenda McCarthy, N. Andover, MA
  90. Randy Kehler, New England War Tax Resistors, Colrain, MA
  91. Betsy Corner, New England War Tax Resistors, Colrain, MA
  92. Eleanor Maclellan RSCJ, Agape Mission Council
  93. Gayle Aroian, Barre, MA
  94. Bob Aroian, Barre, MA
  95. Brian Quirk, Merrimack Valley People for Peace
  96. Rachel Ravina, Boston University Graduate School
  97. Rev. Clyde Grubbs, Tuckerman Creative Ministries for Justice & Healing
  98. Teresa Shanley, Seabrook, NH
  99. Patricia Hynes, Traprock Center for Peace and Education at Greenfield Community College
  100. Annie Wuelfing, Spencer, MA
  101. Michael True, Professor Emeritus. Assumption College, Worcester, MA
  102. David Gill SJ, Jesuit School of Theology, Berkeley, CA
  103. Claire Schaeffer Duffy, Saint Therese and Saint Francis Catholic Worker House, Worcester, MA
  104. Scott Schaeffer Duffy, Saint Therese and Saint Francis Catholic Worker House, Worcester, MA
  105. Philip L Milgrom, The Centered Place, Warren, MA
  106. Nancy A. Nowak
  107. Deacon Kevin McCarthy, Blessed Sacrament/All Souls Parish
    Springfield, MA
  108. Donna Marosy, Worcester, MA
  109. Pax Christi, Boston, MA
  110. Beth Ingham, Noonday Farm, Winchendon, MA
  111. Bob Jennings, Noonday Farm, Winchendon, MA
  112. Carolyn Whiting, Merrimack Valley People for Peace, Reading People for Peace
  113. Ann Grady, St. Mary of the Angels Parish, Roxbury, MA
  114. Fr. John Patrick Sullivan, LaSalette Pax Christi National Shrine, Our Lady of LaSallette
  115. Rev. Katie Lee Crane, Interim Minister, First Parish Unitarian Universalist in Needham, MA
  116. Karen Hinchen, St. Mary of the Angels Parish, Roxbury
  117. David Hinchen, St. Mary of the Angels Parish, Roxbury
  118. Courtney Schlosser, Barre, MA
  119. Sue Coles, Barre MA
  120. Merrimack Valley People for Peace
  121. Pax Christi MA Board (Pat Ferrone, Chair, Mike Moran, Sally Markey, Jeanne Allen, Sue Malone, Brian Ashmankas, Irene Desharnais, Nancy Carapezza, Ron Holman, Jeanelle Wheeler)
  122. Swanna Champlin, L’Arche Irenicon, Haverhill, MA
  123. Larry & Leah Shea, Quincy, MA
  124. Kitty Vallely and Joe Vallely, St. Mary of the Angels Parish, Roxbury
  125. Eileen Gorman, St. Susanna's Peace and Justice Committee
  126. Judith Rich, Pax Christi MA
  127. Cole Harrison, Mass Peace Action
  128. Rev. MaryHelen Gunn, Spiritual Advisor, Unitarian Universalist, Center for Spirituality, Dialogue, and Service, Northeastern University, Boston, MA
  129. Nanette Eckert
  130. Rabbi Joseph Berman, Jewish Voice for Peace Boston Co-Chair
  131. Edward Downes, PhD, Agape Community
  132. Eileen Reilly, MD, Agape Community
  133. Jeff Brummer, Jamaica Plain
  134. Alan O’Hare, Life Story Theatre
  135. Kay Walsh, Dorchester, MA  Neponset
  136. Melida Arredondo, Military Families Speak Out
  137. Carlos Arredondo, Military Families Speak Out
  138. Jeff Merrick, Military Families Speak Out
  139. Pat Alviso, Military Families Speak Out
  140. Pax Christi MetroWest (Charles Gobron, Fr. Rocco Puopolo, Nancy Carapezza, Louise Bolles, Faith Madzar)
  141. Yvette Bellerose
  142. Peter Wuelfing, Spencer, MA
  143. Fr. Robert D. Bruso, Pastor, St. Anthony Parish, Fitchburg, MA
  144. Dave Ascher, Newton Dialogues on Peace and War
  145. Carol Proietti
  146. Shirley H. Young
  147. Rev. David J. Miller, Unitarian Universalist, Holden MA
  148. Octavia Taylor. New Braintree, MA
  149. Christina Abbey, Pax Christi Boston
  150. Louis Abbey, Pax Christi Boston
  151. Alice Kast, Pax Christi Boston
  152. Cornelia Sullivan, Pax Christi Boston
  153. Susan Harden, Pax Christi Boston
  154. George Payne, Gandhi Institute Rochester, NY 
  155. Suzanne Ewing, Pax Christi USA  
  156. Burke Oppeneheim, Stonehill College 
  157. Prithak Chowdhony, Stonehill College 
  158. Lauren Ireland, Stonehill College 
  159. Katherine Bryer, Stonehill College 
  160. Peter Croke, Stonehill College 
  161. Matthew Crawford, Stonehill College 
  162. Meghan DeCarvalho, Stonehill College 
  163. Melissa Mardo, Stonehill College 
  164. Micah James, Case Western Reserve University 
  165. Hayden Abene, Case Western Reserve University 
  166. Joseph Swanson, Case Western   Reserve University 
  167. Newton Dialogues on Peace and War 
  168. Rev. Edwin A. Lane, Minister Emeritus, First Parish in Waltham  
  169. Linda Davis, Needham 
  170. Andrew Larkin, MD, Northampton, MA
Smedley D. Butler Brigade of Veterans For Peace

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Mayor Walsh and Rep. Lynch Officially Invited to Walk in St. Patrick's Peace Parade

Veterans For Peace
For Immediate Release
Contact: Pat Scanlon, Office: 978-475-1776, Cell: 978-590-4248, email:Vets4PeaceChapter9@gmail.com 
Attached: Press Release, Parade Flyer, Open Letter to Residents of Boston

Mayor Walsh and Representative Steven Lynch
Officially Invited to Walk in the
Saint Patrick’s Peace Parade

Boston, Mass. – March 12, 2014 – Organizers of the Saint Patrick’s Peace Parade announced today that Mayor Marty Walsh and Representative Steven Lynch have been cordially invited to walk in the only parade on the streets of Boston on March 16 that is open, welcoming and inclusive of all groups whether they are veterans or non-veterans, gay or straight, black or white.

Mayor Walsh attempted to negotiate a suitable agreement with the Allied War Veterans Council to allow MassEquality to openly walk in the traditional parade. As has been widely reported those negotiations have fallen apart because of the intransience and continued exclusionary and discriminatory practices of the organizers of the traditional parade. The Mayor has publicly stated that he will not walk in the first parade if MassEquality does not walk. MassEquality is not walking.

 “One's sexual orientation simply does not matter” stated Pat Scanlon, Coordinator of Veterans For Peace and the lead organizer for the second parade. “Our parade has eight divisions. One is the LGBT Division”. The other divisions are: Veterans For Peace, Peace, Religious, Environmental Stewardship, Political, Labor, Social and Economic Justice. “We welcome diversity”, stated Scanlon, “and invite all members of the LGBT community to come and join the second parade.  Both Mayor Walsh and Representative Lynch are welcome to join that division and truly show support for the LGBT community. It would be a significant statement for both of these politicians to walk under the rainbow flag”.

Since the breakdown of negotiations it appears as if both politicians are attempting to solicit one or more gay veterans to walk with them, crashing the party so to speak. “This appears to be more a desire to be in the first parade rather than actually supporting the LGBT community,” stated Reverend Lara Hoke, a Navy veteran, a lesbian and member of Veterans For Peace. “We understand the desire of both Mayor Walsh and Representative Lynch, who have walked in this parade for many years, to want to walk in the first parade” said Rev. Hoke. “If MassEquality is not walking openly with banners, signs, posters, songs and or clothing proclaiming who they are while celebrating Saint Patrick then Mayor Walsh should not walk either. The Mayor instead should join the inclusive and welcoming second parade, the Saint Patrick’s Peace Parade. If Mayor de Blasio can walk in the alternative parade in New York City, Mayor Walsh can do the same in Boston”.

Participants in the Saint Patrick’s Peace Parade will assemble at 2:00 pm on West Broadway and D streets in South Boston on Sunday, March 16.
***The Roots Is The Toots-The Music That Got The Generation Of ’68 Through The 1950s Red Scare Cold War Night -Billy’s, Billy From The Old Neighborood, View-Jody Reynolds’ Endless Sleep

 

From The Pen Of Peter Paul Markin

This is another tongue-in-cheek commentary, the back story if you like, in the occasional sketches under this headline going back to the primordial youth time of the 1950s with its bags full of classic rock songs for the ages. Of course, any such efforts have to include the views of one Billy, William James Bradley, the mad-hatter of the 1950s rock jailbreak out in our “the projects” neighborhood. In those days, unlike during his later fateful wrong turn trajectory days when he lost his moorings, every kid, including best friend Markin, me, lived to hear what he had to say about any song that came trumpeting over the radio, at least every song that we would recognize as our own. This song, Endless Sleep, came out at a time when my family at the beginning of the process of moving out of the projects, and, more importantly, I had begun to move away from Billy orbit, his new found orbit as king hell gangster wannabe. I was then in my 24/7 reading at the local public library branch phase unlike previously being Billy’s accomplice on various, well, let’s call them capers just in case the statute of limitations has not run out. Still Billy, king hell rock and roll king of the old neighborhood, knew how to call a lyric, and make us laugh to boot. Wherever you are Billy I’m still pulling for you. Got it.

*****

Billy back again, William James Bradley, if you didn’t know. Markin’s pal, Peter Paul Markin’s pal, from over at Snug Harbor Elementary School and the pope of rock lyrics down here in “the projects.” The Germantown projects, if you don’t know. Markin, who I hadn’t seen for a while since he told me his family was going to move out of the projects and who has developed this big thing for the local library and books lately, came by the other day to breathe in the fresh air of my rock universe-adorned bedroom when we got to talking about this latest record, Endless Sleep, by Jody Reynolds. All the parents around here, at least the parents that care anyway, or those who have heard the lyrics screaming from their kid’s plug-in blaring radio (that’s why they invented transistor radios-so parents wouldn’t, or couldn’t, catch on to what we are listening to- smarten up is what I say to those kids still listening on the family radio, for Christ’s sake) about the not so subtle suicide pact theme. (See lyrics below.) Yah, like that silly pact is what every kid is going to do when the going gets a little tough in the love department. Take a jump in the ocean, and call one and all to join them. Come on, will you. It's only a song. Besides what is really good about this one is that great back beat on the guitar and Jody Reynolds’ cool clothes and sideburns. I wish to high heaven I had both.

But see the pope of rock lyrics, me, can’t just leave this song like that. I have to decode it for the teeny-boppers around here or they will be clueless, including big-time book guy Markin. And that is really what is going to make the difference between us here. We had a battle royal over this one. See, Markin always wants to give big play to the “social” meaning of a song, whatever that is, you know where the thing sticks in society, where it speaks to some teen concern, at least in teeny-bopper society. Yah, and Markin is also the “sensitive” guy, usually. Like, for example, pulling for the girl to get her guy back, or at least go back to her old boyfriend for some back-up love, in Eddie My Love. Or Markin had a kind thing to say about the dumb cluck of a bimbo who went back to the railroad track-stuck car to get some cheapjack class ring in Teen Angel (although he agreed, agreed fully, that the dame was a dumb cluck on other grounds).

Here though I am the sensitive guy, if you can believe that. Here’s why. It seems that Markin has some kind of exception to the “social” rule when it comes to the ocean, to the sea, christ, probably to some scum pond for all I know as the scene for suicide attempts. Apparently he is in the throes of some King Neptune frenzy and took umbrage (his word, not mind, I don’t go to the library much) at the idea that someone would desecrate the sea that way, our homeland the sea the way he put it. Like old Neptune hasn’t brought seventy-three types of hell on us with his hurricane tidal waves, his overflowing the seawalls, his flooding everything within three miles of the coast, or when he just throws his flotsam and jetsam (my words, from school, I like them) on the projects beaches whenever he gets fed up. So I have to defend this frail’s action, and gladly.

You know it really is unbelievable once you start to think about it how many of these songs don’t have people in them with names, real names, nicknames, anything to tag on them. Here it’s the same old thing. Markin would just blithely go on and makes up names but I’ll just give you the “skinny” without the Markin literary touches, okay. Rather than calling the girl every name in the book for disturbing the fishes or the plankton like Markin I am trying to see what happened here to drive her to such a rash action. Obviously they, the unnamed boy and girl, had an argument, alright a big argument if that satisfies you. What could it have been about? Markin, wise guy Markin, wants to make it some little thing like a missed date, or the guy didn't call or something. Maybe it was, but I think the poor girl was heartbroken about something bigger. Maybe boyfriend didn’t want to “go steady” or maybe he wasn’t ready to be her ever lovin’ one and only. Let me put it this way it was big, not Markin’s b.s. stuff.

Okay she went over the edge, no question, running down to the sea and jumping in. On a rainy night to boot. Hey she had it bad, whatever it was. But see old Neptune, Markin’s friend, maybe father for all I know, was taunting said boyfriend, saying he was going to take boyfriend’s baby away. Well, frankly, and old wimpy Markin dismissed this out of hand, those are fighting words in the projects, and not just the projects either, when one guy tries to horn in on another guy’s baby when he is not done with her, maybe even after too. Like I say those are fighting words around here.

And the girl, given the cold and what that does to you when you have been in the ocean too long was forced to taunt her lover boy, trying to bring him down too so no other frail could be with him. Just like a girl. This is the part I like though, although Markin would probably take umbrage (again), the boyfriend was ready to reclaim his honey, come hell or high water. He wasn’t done with her and so old man Neptune took a beating that night. Yah, he’s taking his baby, and taking her no questions asked, back from that nasty relentless sea. A little justice in this wicked old world. Chalk one up for our side. Yes, Billy, William James Bradley, is happy, pleased, delighted and any other words you can find in the library that this story has a happy ending. Markin’s homeland sea mush be damned.

 

 JODY REYNOLDS
"Endless Sleep"
(Jody Reynolds and Dolores Nance)

The night was black, rain fallin' down

Looked for my baby, she's nowhere around

Traced her footsteps down to the shore

‘fraid she's gone forever more

I looked at the sea and it seemed to say

“I took your baby from you away.

I heard a voice cryin' in the deep

“Come join me, baby, in my endless sleep.

Why did we quarrel, why did we fight?

Why did I leave her alone tonight?

That's why her footsteps ran into the sea

That's why my baby has gone from me.

I looked at the sea and it seemed to say

“I took your baby from you away.

I heard a voice cryin' in the deep

“Come join me, baby, in my endless sleep.

Ran in the water, heart full of fear

There in the breakers I saw her near

Reached for my darlin', held her to me

Stole her away from the angry sea

I looked at the sea and it seemed to say

“You took your baby from me away.

My heart cried out “she's mine to keep

I saved my baby from an endless sleep.

[Fade]

Endless sleep, endless sleep