Decades ago, I bought Art Laboe’s Oldies but Goodies series of records and then rebought them when they appeared in CD format. If you are a 50s Rock & Roll aficionado, the set is worth having. It’s still the gold standard. It is great to read here that a gentleman as important to the early Rock & Roll scene as Mr. Laboe was and continues to hum along. I think you will be as surprised as I was at whom Art’s biggest fans are today.

Over the decades, Laboe has worked as concert promoter, helped produce new artists, and was one of the first people to sell compilation albums with his “Oldies But Goodies” series.

But on one station or another, Laboe has remained on the radio — and stayed with his listeners.

Among LA Latinos, Laboe An ‘Icon’

Somewhat surprisingly, this 88-year-old Armenian-American has his most ardent following among Latinos.

A group called the South El Monte Arts Posse has been gathering oral histories and photos of the city’s early rock ‘n’ roll scene and its connections in Mexican-American life. Laboe is part of that tradition.

Rubén Guevara, a 71-year-old musician, attended a recent event held by the Arts Posse. And he says Laboe has provided the soundtrack to a lot of life in Southern California.

Laboe played “music we fell in love to, got married to, raised kids with,” Guevara says. “And he became, you know, a really constant family member.”

Luie Delgado, 36, says that Laboe has listened, without judgment, to people of all backgrounds, “taking messages and names and names that were familiar, names that were even in Spanish.”

He says what makes Laboe’s show powerful, is “just knowing that you were being heard.”

 

Read more about Art Laboe here:
ArtLaboe.com
Oldies Country
The Hollywood Reporter
Forever Oldies
Hot 923

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Dick and I recently attended another Cato event, this one in Naples, Florida, Ritz Carlton. If you’ve not been to one of these events, you need to. They are extremely well run, entertaining and informative. The featured speaker this year was John Stossel, host of Stossel, Fox Business Network, whose low-key, fireside-chat manner gave the impression that you were sitting in his study discussing our problems in Washington.

Mr. Stossel’s lack of hype was the antithesis of what Patrick J. Michaels, Cato’s director, Center for the Study of Science, explained about what is going on in the scientific community. He spoke to the audience of nearly 500 on the unconscionable overselling of scientific forecasting. In order to get published in prestigious journals, many scientists are leaning toward trendy topics and flashy research, which in turn leads to Armageddon-style headlines. Politicians and universities often make their funding and tenure decisions based on the research published in these journals. Mr. Michaels writes here of his concern that the hyping of global warming and the proliferation of scientific errors will lead to a new scientific Dark Age.

Will the overselling of climate change lead to a new scientific dark age? That’s the question being posed in the latest issue of an Australian literary journal, Quadrant, by Garth Paltridge, one of the world’s most respected atmospheric scientists.

Paltridge was a Chief Research Scientist with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO). The latter is Australia’s equivalent of the National Science Foundation, our massive Federal Laboratory network, and all the governmental agency science branches rolled into one.

Paltridge lays out the well-known uncertainties in climate forecasting. These include our inability to properly simulate clouds that are anything like what we see in the real world, the embarrassing lack of average surface warming now in its 17th year, and the fumbling (and contradictory) attempts to explain it away.

Which location on the globe gives you the most reason to miss a night’s sleep? For me, it’s the Metcalf PG&E station near San Jose. You may not be aware that last April a team of professional sharpshooters attempted to cripple the main electrical generating plant that supplies juice to Silicon Valley. Had there been a successful takedown, the damage to America could have been considerable. After studying and writing about the security of our nationwide electrical grid for a number of years, I am concerned that America is surprisingly vulnerable to the sort professionally coordinated terrorist attack that could leave large swathes of America without electric power for an extended period.

Is your family prepared to get along without municipal water services, gas stations, ATM machines, prescription-filling drug stores, big box supermarkets, elevators or air conditioning for days, weeks or perhaps months? I would give preparation to this scenario your sincere and immediate attention. You can easily start by clicking to the dozens of helpful tips I’ve provided in recent years at richardcyoung.com. For example, how are you set in terms of the personal defense of your family? Did you know that for a while now it has been difficult to obtain .22LR ammunition for the #1 rated survival rifle I’ve been advising for all your family members? A little advance planning comes with no downside risk and a whole lot of lifesaving upside benefits for you and your family.

I am providing two articles on an attack at a San Jose electric power substation that happened almost 10 months ago and is just now making a stir. One is Peggy Noonan’s excellent recap of the near takeout of the Metcalf power plant near San Jose. Many readers might blow past Peggy’s thoughtful essay with little interest, but that would be a mistake. Peggy but scratches the surface on what I believe is America’s most critical national security Achilles’ heel. The other article is by Peter Vincent Pry, executive director of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security. As Mr. Pry writes, “The bad guys are learning that the electric grid is a key societal vulnerability.”

I am a huge fan of former New York police chief Ray Kelly, whom the intelligentsia at Brown University recently treated like a skunk at a garden party. Professionals like Ray Kelly and Blackwater founder Erik Prince understand the elements of risk, security, intelligence, and preparatation.  I would devote your attention to publically available information from sources that put you on a track to preparation for homeland security, rather than to the latest war whoop pronouncements from the likes of John McCain and Lindsey Graham. Finally, with one click here (link), you can order up the Kindle version of the bible on making America safer, The Power Problem, by my Cato Institute friend and scholar Chris Preble.

Young Research’s Retirement Compounders common stock program has a ten year compounded rate of return of 9.8% per year. As you can see in the chart that’s better than the 6.8% by both the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average. In this market I think a ten year historical record is imperative in gaining some perspective. It’s easy for hard charging sales types to promote five year returns without mentioning 2008. The prudent investor looks at both the good and the bad times to set his course. And that most certainly includes looking at 2008.

His Royal Majesty’s (HRM) latest proclamation, this time uttered, jokingly, if you can believe the effrontery, at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. Obama at Monticello? Is there a president who less embodies the Constitutional federal republic spirit of Thomas Jefferson than does Barack Obama? What a slap in the face to Jefferson and all Americans. This guy has no shame or so it would appear. Here, writing at National Review, Charles C. W Cooke revisits a handful of Obama’s most egregious defenses, while outlining that the president has once again taken his executive order pen to Obamacare. “Why do you care: you like the outcome/Well I don’t like Congress/This is too important for the rules.” Then there’s this beauty: “What are you going to do about it any way?” I made all these affronts to our Constitution up right? Perhaps no president in history has circumvented the spirt and intent of the Constitution than has president Barack Obama. So what do Americans intend to do about it? Routing Obama’s disciples at the polls in 2014 and 2016 would appear scant punishment.

No it’s not a list of the 500 most valuable corporations in California. It’s a list of California’s 500 most valuable retired public employee pensions. They all exceed $180,000 a year. The highest one is paid to a Mr. Bruce V. Malkenhorst. He retired from the good city of Vernon, doing what I don’t know. He’s been retired, happily I would guess, since 2005 on $45,073.51–a month. Check out Open the Books for a different type of face book.

Check out the Top 10 here:

Learn what it takes to compete in biathlon.

Debbie and I put in over 5,000 miles on the road each year, either in our truck or on our Harley’s. In some years, we exceed 10,000 miles. That’s a lot of potential exposure to the unexpected and the unknown. As I write to you, we are on the road for what will be a multi-thousand mile run, this trip with our beefed up Navy SEAL survival kits and Henry Survival rifle stowed safely away. Posted here is our link to the Navy Seals Survival Kit. I simply clicked on, cycled over to Amazon and ran down the great list, buying most items in duplicate for our packs. I than added a number of magazines for both the Henry and another rifle that I keep at hand at home. No guns or ammo are in the bags. Guns and ammo are stored separately, whether at home or on the road. DO NOT travel without the book Firearms Laws of the Fifty States . Know each state’s rules prior to crossing state boundaries.

Debbie and I hold Florida concealed weapons permits and have taken the pre-requisite NRA handgun course from our local firearms dealer. It was a first rate course. I completed my assembly mission with a shopping trip to our great local hardware/maritime store, Strunck Hardware. I went through the aisles picking out any items (again in duplicate) that I felt would be complimentary to our Navy SEALs survival kit. The more I saw, the more I added to my cart. In the end, I had accumulated quite a haul. Be sure your kit has adequate first-aid items. Finally I clicked to Cabela’s to check on what Cabela’s had to offer for traveling bags to pack everything in a lightweight, easy-to-handle fashion. Bingo, some great bags on sale. Mission complete.

In coming days I will provide you with a follow up post on some of the more unique items I have stored in our survival road kits. There is zero risk in being 110% prepared and lots of potentially lifesaving upside benefits. Check out my related EMP attack posts if you require a kick in the ass to get you off center and to defeat inertia.