Continuing the jazz theme, with my 9th round selection, in the category of Composer/Musician, team Five-hole selects Bill Evans.
Bill's the artist that really got me into jazz. My parents never listened to it, it was never taught in school, and I'd never really heard it save for the odd background music in restaurants or elevators. When I heard Bill and his trio play "When I Fall In Love" I was completely mesmerized. There's been thousands of excellent jazz pianists but nobody can touch the piano like Bill.
If you've heard Miles Davis' Kind of Blue, Bill's the pianist on every song but one (Freddie Freeloader). It's also conjectured that Bill wrote "Blue In Green" from that album but writing credit is given to Miles. (With Miles that may have been somewhat common.) While Bill's playing on that album is great, it's his first trio album "Portrait In Jazz" that really stands out. In terms of the historical impact, both Bill's playing and the improvisation between him and his trio are enormous. Bill's left-hand voice-leading became "just how you do it" -- that is, it became the sound of jazz and it still is in large part today. The trio on that album, with Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian played in almost a "conversational" style with one another rather than just "soloist and rhythm section", which was unconventional at the time and again became the sound of jazz.
Like Billie, Bill fell into the usual trap that claimed many of jazz's best musicians. From wiki: "Evans' drug addiction most likely began during his stint with Miles Davis in the late 1950s. A heroin addict for much of his career, his health was generally poor, and his financial situation worse, for most of the 1960s. By the end of that decade, he appeared to have succeeded in overcoming heroin, but during the 1970s, cocaine became a serious and eventually fatal issue for Evans. His body finally gave out in September 1980, when—ravaged by psychoactive drugs, a perforated liver, and a lifelong battle with hepatitis—he died in New York City of a bleeding ulcer, cirrhosis of the liver, and bronchial pneumonia. Evans' friend Gene Lees bleakly summarized Evans' struggle with drugs to Peter Pettinger: "the longest suicide in history"."
Hammurabi (Akkadian from Amorite ˤAmmurāpi, "the kinsman is a healer," from ˤAmmu, "paternal kinsman," and Rāpi, "healer"; (ca. 1728 – 1686 BC middle chronology) was the sixth king of Babylon. He became the first king of the Babylonian Empire, extending Babylon's control over Mesopotamia by winning a series of wars against neighboring kingdoms.[1] Although his empire controlled all of Mesopotamia at the time of his death, his successors were unable to maintain his empire.
Hammurabi is known for the set of laws called Hammurabi's Code, one of the first written codes of law in recorded history. These laws were written on a stone tablet standing over eight feet tall (2.4 meters) that was found in 1901. Owing to his reputation in modern times as an ancient law-giver, Hammurabi's portrait is in many government buildings throughout the world.
Hammurabi is best known for the promulgation of a new code of Babylonian law: the Code of Hammurabi. This was written on a stele, a large stone monument, and placed in a public place so that all could see it, although it is thought that few were literate. The stele was later plundered by the Elamites and removed to their capital, Susa; it was rediscovered there in 1901 and is now in the Louvre Museum in Paris. The code of Hammurabi contained 282 laws, written by scribes on 12 tablets. Unlike earlier laws, it was written in Akkadian, the daily language of Babylon, and could therefore be read by any literate person in the city.[20]
The structure of the code is very specific, with each offense receiving a specified punishment. The punishments tended to be harsh by modern standards, with many offenses resulting in death, disfigurement, or the use of the "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth" (Lex Talionis "Law of Retaliation") philosophy. Putting the laws into writing was important in itself because it suggested that the laws were immutable and above the power of any earthly king to change.[citation needed] The code is also one of the earliest examples of the idea of presumption of innocence, and it also suggests that the accused and accuser have the opportunity to provide evidence. However, there is no provision for extenuating circumstances to alter the prescribed punishment.
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I coose to fill the Eastern section with the Chinese poet, Li Po.
I like him because he writes about pretty common things, nature, friendship, wine. He spent most of his life wandering about experiencing those three things in plenty!
Not wiki, but stolen from some other site:
Li Po (about 701-762 CE) was a native of Sezchaun, China. While still in his teens, he retired to mountains in the north of the province to live with a religious recluse by the name of Tunyen-tzu. The two of them were said to keep strange birds as pets. Li Po later traveled down the Yangtze to Yun-meng, a town north of the river and Tung-ting Lake, where he married.
From then on his occupation became that of a wandering poet. Throughout his life he produced an abundance of poems on many different subjects—particularly nature, wine, friendship, solitude, and the passage of time. He has since become recognized by many as the greatest of a highly talented array of Tang poets. He stayed for a few years in various places, traveled extensively, and became for a time one of the Six Idlers of the Bamboo Valley, who celebrated wine and song in the mountains of Chu-lai
I would love to have been one of the "Idlers of the Bamboo Valley!"
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In the category of Soldier team Historyectomy is proud to select Geronimo.
Well, I had a nice long write up and lost it when I hit submit post, so you will now get the condensed-wikilinki version.
Geronimo was one tough Apache. When he was a young man Mexican soldiers attacked his camp and killed his wife, three kids and mother. That pissed him off evidently because he spent the rest of his life killing Mexican soldiers.
__________________ I am in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection, but with Montana it is love." - John Steinbeck
In the Eastern category, Strange Things Afoot at the Circle K selects Qin Shi Huang.
A controversial figure in Chinese history, he was by all accounts a brutal tyrant, but he also united many regions of modern china in a single empire for the first time. He also initiated a lot of public works projects such as the first great wall, and the ling canal, and the terra cotta army that would guard his tomb. He brought an end to feudalism, and instituted standardized measurement systems, and a single chinese script. On the other end of the spectrum, he unified the empire through ruthless military campaigns, and cracked down on intellectuals and scholars, burning many books and disbanding schools. Regardless, he paved the way for China to move forward as a unified state, and in doing so, had a huge impact on our world.
[B]In the Eastern category, Strange Things Afoot at the Circle K selects Qin Shi Huang.
I have heard it was common practice for ruling nobles to bury themselves with their entire courts -- servants, consorts, guards, army, etc. That Qin chose to build a terra cotta army rather than be buried with the real bodies of his court was very noble. If true.
With the 10th round selection, team Five-hole selects, in the category of soldier, Gary Gordon.
A Medal of Honor recipient, Gordon's battle in Somalia became the movie Black Hawk Down.
There's a really great account of the battle on wikipedia that's worth checking out (clicky). Here is his Medal of Honor citation:
Quote:
Master Sergeant Gordon, United States Army, distinguished himself by actions above and beyond the call of duty on 3 October 1993, while serving as Sniper Team Leader, United States Army Special Operations Command with Task Force Ranger in Mogadishu, Somalia. Master Sergeant Gordon's sniper team provided precision fire from the lead helicopter during an assault and at two helicopter crash sites, while subjected to intense automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenade fires. When Master Sergeant Gordon learned that ground forces were not immediately available to secure the second crash site, he and another sniper unhesitatingly volunteered to be inserted to protect the four critically wounded personnel, despite being well aware of the growing number of enemy personnel closing in on the site. After his third request to be inserted, Master Sergeant Gordon received permission to perform his volunteer mission. When debris and enemy ground fires at the site caused them to abort the first attempt, Master Sergeant Gordon was inserted one hundred meters south of the crash site. Equipped with only his sniper rifle and a pistol, Master Sergeant Gordon and his fellow sniper, while under intense small arms fire from the enemy, fought their way through a dense maze of shanties and shacks to reach the critically injured crew members. Master Sergeant Gordon immediately pulled the pilot and the other crew members from the aircraft, establishing a perimeter which placed him and his fellow sniper in the most vulnerable position. Master Sergeant Gordon used his long range rifle and side arm to kill an undetermined number of attackers until he depleted his ammunition. Master Sergeant Gordon then went back to the wreckage, recovering some of the crew's weapons and ammunition. Despite the fact that he was critically low on ammunition, he provided some of it to the dazed pilot and then radioed for help. Master Sergeant Gordon continued to travel the perimeter, protecting the downed crew. After his team member was fatally wounded and his own rifle ammunition exhausted, Master Sergeant Gordon returned to the wreckage, recovering a rifle with the last five rounds of ammunition and gave it to the pilot with the words, "good luck." Then, armed only with his pistol, Master Sergeant Gordon continued to fight until he was fatally wounded. His actions saved the pilot's life. Master Sergeant Gordon's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest standards of military service and reflect great credit upon him, his unit and the United States Army.
In the category that includes Rebel, I choose Oliver Cromwell.
In the English civil war in the 1600's Cromwell rebelled against the monarchy and fought the loyalists. He helped create the New Model Army (that would be a great name for a band (insert wink here, I refuse to use those graphic smiley things)) and led them to several important victories over the crown.
Cromwell was instrumental in the execution of the king. Later on, Cromwell rejected an offer of the crown for himself. He ruled England as Lord Protector.
Interestingly, well after his death when the monarchy was restored to power, Cromwell's body was de-interred (is that a word) and hanged/hung.
There are claims that Persian stories of Sinbad the Sailor are based on the voyages of Zheng He
Between 1405 and 1433, the Ming government sponsored a series of seven naval expeditions. Emperor Yongle designed them to establish a Chinese presence, impose imperial control over trade, and impress foreign peoples in the Indian Ocean basin. He also might have wanted to extend the tributary system.
Zheng He was placed as the admiral in control of the huge fleet and armed forces that undertook these expeditions. Zheng He's first voyage consisted of a fleet of around 300 ships[9][10] (other sources say 200)[11] holding almost 28,000 crewmen.
There are speculations that some of Zheng's ships may have traveled beyond the Cape of Good Hope.
Amateur historian Gavin Menzies claims in his book 1421: The Year China Discovered the World that several parts of Zheng's fleet explored virtually the entire globe, discovering West Africa, North and South America, Greenland, Iceland, the Falklands, Antarctica, and Australia, passing the Arctic Ocean in the process. His thesis has been discounted "as nonsense"[18] by professional historians.
In what round I take this guy I don't know, but the guy is Salvador Dali. He was a visual artist from Spain.
(that's not him, that's a painting called "Persistence of Time")
I don't claim to know much about art or really much about Dali but I always thought he was cool. When I was a kid a buddy of mine's parents had a print of that painting on the wall. I thought it was an original. Like they bought it from the artist, or someone they knew painted it or something like that. I thought it was the craziest thing. I was told who painted it and I didn't have a clue who that was. I'll tell you, I was sure confused when he died and they showed that painting on the news. I said "hey, Buddy's parents have a painting by that guy on the wall. It must have cost a lot of money, if he's famous enough to be on the news". It was then explained to me that friend's parents most likely didn't have the original on the wall. I said "I don't know, Buddy's dad drives a pretty nice car" but that didn't get me anywhere.
Now that's not very informative, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
There's a Dali museum in Figueres, Spain. I've never been there but it sure looks spiffy in the pictures. There are a lot of eggs on the roof.
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