Less than five years after John F. Kennedy was killed on November 22, 1963, the country lost Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy to the bullets of assassins in 1968. Later that year, in tribute to the fallen men, Dion released the song, “Abraham, Martin, and John,” which became a hit in a country in shock and mourning.
The song, written by Dick Holler, has been performed by a number of artists, but nobody has matched Dion’s moving version. In the video below, he performs the song on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. [June 2014
A number of television shows and movies have commemorated the anniversary of the death of President John F. Kennedy. PBS recently broadcast a new documentary in its American Experienceseries, JFK. The two-part examination of Kennedy’s life featured some new footage and it brought new understanding about Kennedy’s health problems. CNN’s The Assassination of President Kennedy is a fascinating portrayal of the events around the killing using a lot of archival footage I had never seen before (see video below). Meanwhile, the National Geographic Channel presented a dramatization of the period leading up to the assassination with its TV-movie version of Bill O’Reilly’s book, Killing Kennedy, which one might find superficial but still entertaining. While some have wondered if popular culture is overdoing the commemoration of the national tragedy of our president’s death, I found a quiet way to contemplate the anniversary by reading a novel related to the event: Stephen King‘s 11/22/63.
The novel explores a famous what-if question about “what if you could go back and time and prevent a horrible event from happening?” In 11/22/63, the narrator is Jake Epping, a high school English teacher in Maine who learns from his friend Al about a time portal that will take him back to 1958. With some experimentation, Jake and Al discuss whether one may change the past and how the world might have been different had Lee Harvey Oswald not killed Kennedy. What happens if history is changed? Can it be changed? And what if Oswald was not the person who killed Kennedy?
As King explains in his “Afterword,” he did a significant amount of research about Oswald, and the book is informative about the main players we associate with the events leading up to the assassination. But the book is more than a novel about a killing. King provides an interesting portrayal of life in America in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The protagonist of the novel is not Oswald or Kennedy but Jake Epping, and it is his life that fascinates us. Epping becomes the focal point in the context of major world events while King meditates on the fragility of both life and history. The book is long, but it is fast reading, and it is Jake’s story that makes it a page-turner that you cannot put down.
Conclusion?11/22/63 is a fun read that also asks some big questions. And while enjoying the book you might learn a little bit along the way. Earlier this year it was reported that the novel may be made into a TV series or miniseries, but the book is so fun you should read it. In the meantime, below you may check out part one and part two of CNN’s The Assassination of President Kennedy.
This new movie montage compiles clips of Robert De Niro seeking understanding.
Got it? The montage was presented by Chris Wade, Forrest Wickman, Emma Goss, and David Haglund. For a list of the films in the montage, head over to Slate.
What is your favorite Robert De Niro film? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Lisa Marie Presley recently performed for the first time in her childhood home, Graceland. As part of an exclusive for Ram Country on Yahoo Music, Presley performed in Elvis Presley’s famous Jungle Room, where Elvis recorded music for some of his last albums.
In this video, Lisa Marie Presley sings “Weary” from her 2012 album Storm & Grace in the Jungle Room while her husband, Michael Lockwood plays the oldest guitar from Elvis Presley Enterprises’ collection. Elvis used the guitar several times in the movies, including in Loving You (1957), King Creole (1958), and Jailhouse Rock (1957). [July 2014 Update: Unfortunately, the videos of Lisa Marie Presley recording in the Jungle Room are no longer available. So we have replaced the missing video with a video of her discussing her return to Memphis and playing in the Jungle Room, followed by a video of her performing “Weary” at WFUV.]
Below is Lisa Marie Presley performing “Weary” at the studios of radio station WFUV in New York.
What song would you like to hear Lisa Marie Presley sing at Graceland? Leave your two cents in the comments.
On November 16 in 1907, Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory joined the United States. The area became the country’s 46th state of Oklahoma, a state that appears often in popular culture.
Much of Oklahoma’s pre-state history includes significant events that have been portrayed on film. Such incidents include the arrival of Native Americans forcibly moved to the territory along the Trail of Tears and the big land rush with its early arrivals that provide the name of the University of Oklahoma football team, the Sooners.
The Oklahoma Land Rush & Far and Away
Regarding the 1889 land rush, one sees it famously portrayed in movies such as Cimarron (1931) and Far and Away (1992). Check out the scene from Far and Away below.
Oklahoma!
While there are plenty of songs relating to the United States becoming a country, one is challenged to think of a memorable song about a territory becoming a state, with one exception. Oklahoma not only has an entire musical set in its final days as a territory, the play and movie versions end with a salute to the territory’s impending statehood.
Even if you are not a fan of musicals, you probably know and can sing along with the song “Oklahoma!” from the Broadway play and movie Oklahoma! The play was the first musical written by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. It is more than OK.
The classic movie Oklahoma! (1955) starred Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones. A 1999 version of the musical starred Hugh Jackman and Josefina Gabrielle. You may compare the 1999 version of the same scene as above.
Finally, the 1955 movie has the honor of featuring a rare song about a territory becoming a state, but it is also a rare movie musical that itself is mentioned in a popular song. The 1971 album Muswell Hillbillies by The Kinks features the song “Oklahoma USA,” written by Ray Davies. In the song, a young woman reflects on her boring working-class life: “But in her dreams she is far away/ In Oklahoma U.S.A./ With Shirley Jones and Gordon MacRae.”
In honor of the anniversary of Oklahoma’s statehood, we hope that at least for a day you can escape work and can get out in the open and breathe some fresh air. And we hope you’re doing fine.
What is your favorite movie or song about a state’s early days? Leave your two cents in the comments.
in the Jungle Room while her husband, Michael Lockwood plays the oldest guitar from Elvis Presley Enterprises’ collection. Elvis used the guitar several times in the movies, including in Loving You (1957), King Creole (1958), and Jailhouse Rock (1957). [July 2014 Update: Unfortunately, the videos of Lisa Marie Presley recording in the Jungle Room are no longer available. So we have replaced the missing video with a video of her discussing her return to Memphis and playing in the Jungle Room, followed by a video of her performing “Weary” at WFUV.]