Category Archives: Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) blog
Emil Guillermo: Bowie was the individual, Glenn Frey was the individual behind the group; some thoughts of one of the key Eagles of American boomer pop.
“Take it Easy.”
“Hotel California.”
“Desperado.”
As a Rock DJ in the ‘70s, the Eagles’ music was part of my soundtrack.
And when the British invaded harder, and the best America could offer was disco, it was the Eagles that came up from the West to win the day.
Glenn Frey? Should have been bigger than he was as an individual performer. But he was a vertiable giant as one of the Eagles.
I saw the Eagles a few times live. The best show was 1976. Cotton Bowl. A hot July with the Rolling Stones and the Eagles. That was a show.
Later in the 80s, I was a critic and entertainment reporter on television in San Francisco, and the most important stories were not about the artists’ work.
That stuff lives forever.
The stories that made the beat the newsiest in the newsroom was when the music, the words, the images stopped.
It was when the artist died that became the urgent bulletin.
In less than two weeks, we’ve seen the passing of two creators;
Bowie, the individual.
Frey, the group guy.
Bowie was more rebel and provocateur.
Frey was more troubadour poet.
I remember driving across country with one tape: “Hotel California” on the car stereo.
But it was “Take it Easy” that made me see the road in a new light. Especially when we got to Winslow, Arizona.
There was no girl in a flat-bed Ford who stopped to take a look at me.
I looked.
But that song is about hope, love as salvation, and taking a chance.
“We may lose, or we may win, though we may never be here again.
”So open up, I’m climbin’ in. Take it, easy.”
Between the Summer of Love and Disco, the heyday of British metal and the coming of the New Wave, the Eagles and Glenn Frey were a stabilizing force in American pop. As singer-songwriter, Frey provided the ‘70s anthems that marked the times for the boomer generation.
Emil Guillermo: Have you seen Oscar nominated “Spotlight” yet? Dying breed of movie on a dying breed of journalism.
Just saw “Spotlight,” nominated for six Oscars, including best picture.
It’s about an investigation into the cover-up of Catholic clergy abuse in the Boston area in 2002.
There is no nudity. No sex scenes. No murder. No violence. No car chases or crashes. No catchy music montage scenes.
There are reporters (played by big time stars) asking questions, getting documents, doing research, and going over directories line by line and entering data onto a computer spreadsheet.
And it’s better than “The Martian.”
As a former newspaper journalist, I suppressed a tear when Mark Ruffalo, playing the lead reporter, broke into an emotional speech about the urgency of publishing the expose on Boston’s pedophile priests.
Seeing the whole journalistic process, ending with the printing of the actual newspaper, was also pretty sentimental for me.
Headlines in print aren’t the first to bring us the news these days. Not like an alert in e-mail or twitter.
At the time the Boston Globe’s “Spotlight” team published its story, I had just transitioned from TV and Radio to newspapers.
I didn’t realize I was walking into the part of the industry that was falling apart.
There’s some hope the movie could be a shot in the arm for the biz that inspires a new generation of investigative journalism.
It did make me curious of the current state of pedophilia in the church.
According to the latest survey by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (2014), the total number of new victims was at 330; new allegations, 336; and offending priests and deacons at 245.
All told the costs related to Child Protection Efforts is at $150,747, 387 for the year. It includes $119,079,647 in settlements and payments to victims.
Most of the victims say the experience occurred between 1975-1979 when they were between the ages of 10-14.
The movie may boost future numbers as more victims feel the time is right to end the silence and come forward to expose the church.
It took the Globe’s story for the truth to come out in Boston. And judging from the long list of dioceses that are on the dishonor roll that play in the movie’s credits, there’s still a lot more truth to expose.
The movie “Spotlight” is reported to have cost about $20 million to make.
It just crossed the $31 million mark at the box-office, a little more than 14 years from the day the story first published on Sunday, Jan.6, 2002.
Emil Guillermo: Obama’s final State of the Union could have been great had the nation been ready for Obama
I kept shaking my head. That’s SMH, for those into social media.
President Obama did some great things during his first seven years, but they will always be shortchanged as long as the politics in this country stays as it is.
The president, you’ll recall, was the nation’s first African American president, and has the middle name Hussein.
And that’s why he had to remind the country about the fear of change and the fear of foreigners this week.
It was an appeal to diversity in our democracy before it’s too late.
Read my whole column on the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund blog.
