Jack Lawrence Granatstein, OC, FRSC (born May 21, 1939) is a Canadian historian who specializes in political and military history.

Education[link]

Born in Toronto, Ontario, Granatstein received a graduation diploma from Le College militaire royal de Saint-Jean in 1959, his BA from the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) in 1961, his MA from the University of Toronto in 1962 and his Ph.D from Duke University in 1966.

Career[link]

Granatstein served in the Canadian Army from 1956 to 1966. After which, he taught at York University until 1996 where he is Distinguished Research Professor of History Emeritus.

Granatstein is an outspoken defender of traditional narrative history in lectures, books, print, and broadcast media. Perhaps his best known work is Who Killed Canadian History? but he is the author of over sixty other books, including Yankee Go Home?, Who Killed The Canadian Military?, and Victory 1945 (with Desmond Morton). The Generals won the J.W. Dafoe Prize and the UBC Medal for Canadian Biography. The Last Good War was awarded the Canadian Authors Association's 2005 Lela Common Award for Canadian History.

He was a member of the RMC Board of Governors and is Chair of the Council for Canadian Security in the 21st Century.

Granatstein has also been involved in television coverage of political and military events. On June 6, 1994, he was part of the CBC's coverage of the 50th anniversary of D-Day, as the network's chief correspondent, Peter Mansbridge got expert help in the commentary from Granatstein. Granatstein helped Mansbridge again on May 8, 1995, during the CBC's coverage of the 50th anniversary of VE Day. He reprised the same role on the 60th and 65th anniversaries of D-Day and V-E Day.

In recent years, Granatstein shifted towards the political right. In 2003, he supported Canada's involvement in the Iraq War. He defended his position in Whose War Is It?, a book published in 2007. In this book, Granatstein criticized Lloyd Axworthy's foreign policy while praising positions adopted by Stephen Harper. He also expressed serious reservations about multiculturalism and a disdain for Quebec independence, accusing Lucien Bouchard of being a demagogue and a liar.^{[citation needed]}

Jack Granatstein served as the head of the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa from 1998 to 2001 and was a driving force behind the building of the museum's new home that opened in 2005.

Honours[link]

The Royal Society of Canada awarded him the J.B. Tyrrell Historical Medal (1992) for "outstanding work in the history of Canada". In 1996, the Conference of Defence Associations Institute named him winner of the Vimy Award.

In 1996, he became an Officer of the Order of Canada, and he won the National History Society's Pierre Berton Prize in 2004 and the Organization for the History of Canada's National History Award in 2006. He has received honorary degrees from the University of Western Ontario, the University of Calgary, as well as Memorial University of Newfoundland, McMaster University, Niagara University, and Ryerson University.

Bibliography[link]

• "Who Killed Canadian History?", a book arguing that national history has become too splintered for the nation's good, published in 1998
• Whose War Is It?, a book critiquing Canadian foreign policy and defense published in 2007
• Who Killed the Canadian Military?, a book critiquing the Canadian military published in 2004
• Canada's War: The Politics of the Mackenzie King Government, 1939-1945, a book that discussed the political maneuvers of the King government during World War II

See also[link]

• List of Canadian historians
• Military history of Canada

References[link]

Books[link]

• 4237 Dr. Adrian Preston & Peter Dennis (Edited) "Swords and Covenants" Rowman And Littlefield, London. Croom Helm. 1976.
• H16511 Dr. Richard Arthur Preston "To Serve Canada: A History of the Royal Military College of Canada" 1997 Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1969.
• H16511 Dr. Richard Arthur Preston "Canada's RMC - A History of Royal Military College" Second Edition 1982
• H16511 Dr. Richard Preston "R.M.C. and Kingston: The effect of imperial and military influences on a Canadian community" 1968 Kingston, Ontario.
• H1877 R. Guy C. Smith (editor) "As You Were! Ex-Cadets Remember". In 2 Volumes. Volume I: 1876-1918. Volume II: 1919-1984. RMC. Kingston, Ontario. The R.M.C. Club of Canada. 1984

External links[link]

• Order of Canada citation
• Jack Lawrence Granastein

Rudyard Griffiths (born 1970) is a TV co-anchor, author, and social entrepreneur. He is the co-host of the daily current affairs television show National Affairs on the CTV News Channel. He has edited twelve collections of essays on Canadian and international political and historical themes and is the author of Who We Are: A Citizen's Manifesto (2009). He has also been a columnist with the National Post and The Toronto Star. He is the co-founder of the Salon Speakers Series in [1] in Toronto, Montreal and Calgary. Presenters at the Series include Christopher Hitchens, David Gergen, James Carville, Gore Vidal and Paul Volcker. He is also the moderator and organiser of the semi-annual Munk Debates. [2] Recent Munk Debates participants include Tony Blair, Henry Kissinger, Christopher Hitchens, Fareed Zakaria, Paul Krugman and Lawrence Summers.

Rudyard Griffiths is the co-founder of the Dominion Institute; a national charity founded in 1997 to promote history and civics education in Canadian high schools. He stepped down as executive director in July 2008. In September 2009, the Dominion Institute merged with the Historica Foundation to create Canada’s largest history and citizenship NGO. He was a founding board member of the combined organization until 2012. He currently sits on the boards of the Global Centre for Pluralism; an international initiative of His Highness the Aga Khan and the non-partisan Meridian International Center in Washington, D.C. He is a member of the Canadian advisory board of the U.K. based Ditchley Foundation.

In 2006, Rudyard Griffiths was recognised by The Globe and Mail as one of Canada's Top 40 under 40. In September 2008, he was appointed Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel of the Canadian Forces College. He studied history and political science at Trinity College, University of Toronto and completed a master's degree in political theory at Cambridge University.

Bibliography[link]

• Editor, Great Questions of Canada, Stoddart, 2000
• Contributor, Passages to Canada, Doubleday, 2001
• Contributor, Story of a Nation, Doubleday, 2002
• Editor, Lafontaine-Baldwin Lectures, Vol. I, Penguin, 2002
• Contributor, Our Story, Doubleday, 2004
• Co-author, Rare Courage, McClelland & Stewart, 2005
• Editor, Lafontaine-Baldwin Lectures, Vol II, Penguin, 2006
• Editor, Great Questions of Canada, 2nd Edition, Key Porter Books, 2007
• Co-Editor, American Power: Potential and Limits in the 21st Century, Key Porter Books, 2007
• Co-Editor, The Race to the White House, Key Porter Books, 2008
• Editor, American Myths: What Canadians Think They Know About the U.S., Key Porter Books, 2008
• Editor, Canada 2020: Twenty Leading Voices Imagine Canada's Future, Key Porter Books, 2008
• Editor, 101 Things Canadians Should Know About Canada, Key Porter Books, 2008
• Author, Who We Are: A Citizen's Manifesto, Douglas & McIntyre, 2009
• Editor, The Munk Debates: Volume I, Anansi Books, 2010
• Editor, Hitchens vs. Blair: The Munk Debate on Religion, Anansi Books, 2011
• Co-Editor, The Munk Debate on China, Anansi Books, 2011
• Co-Editor, The Munk Debate on The North American Economy, Anansi Books, 2012

External links[link]

• The publishers homepage of Rudyard Griffiths' Who We Are
• Dominion Institute website
• Salon Speakers Series website
• Munk Debates website

Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker with Tommy Potter, Max Roach and Miles Davis at Three Deuces, New York, NY
Background information
Birth name	Charles Parker, Jr.
Also known as	Bird, Yardbird, Zoizeau (in France)[1]
Born	(1920-08-29)August 29, 1920 Kansas City, Kansas, U.S.
Died	March 12, 1955(1955-03-12) (aged 34) New York City, New York, U.S.
Genres	Jazz, bebop
Occupations	Saxophonist, composer
Instruments	Alto saxophone, tenor saxophone
Years active	1937–1955
Labels	Savoy, Dial, Verve
Website	www.cmgww.com/music/parker/
Notable instruments
Buescher, Conn, King and Grafton alto saxophones

Charles Parker, Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), also known as Yardbird and Bird,^[2] was an American jazz saxophonist and composer.

Parker acquired the nickname "Yardbird" early in his career^[3] and the shortened form, "Bird", which continued to be used for the rest of his life, inspiring the titles of a number of Parker compositions, such as "Yardbird Suite", "Ornithology", "Bird Gets the Worm", and "Bird of Paradise."

Parker was a highly influential jazz soloist and a leading figure in the development of bebop^[4], a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos, virtuosic technique, and improvisation. Parker introduced revolutionary harmonic ideas, including rapidly passing chords, new variants of altered chords, and chord substitutions. His tone ranged from clean and penetrating to sweet and somber. Many Parker recordings demonstrate virtuosic technique and complex melodic lines, combining jazz with other musical genres, including blues, Latin, and classical.

Parker was an icon for the hipster subculture and later the Beat Generation, personifying the jazz musician as an uncompromising artist and intellectual, rather than an entertainer.

Biography[link]

Childhood[link]

Charlie Parker was born in Kansas City, Kansas, and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, the only child of Charles and Addie Parker. Parker attended Lincoln High School.^[5] He enrolled in September 1934 and withdrew in December 1935, just before joining the local Musicians Union.

Parker began playing the saxophone at age 11, and at age 14 joined his school's band using a rented school instrument. His father, Charles, was often absent but provided some musical influence; he was a pianist, dancer and singer on the T.O.B.A. circuit. He later became a Pullman waiter or chef on the railways. Parker's mother Addie worked nights at the local Western Union office. His biggest influence at that time was a young trombone player who taught him the basics of improvisation^{[citation needed]}.

Early career[link]

In the late thirties Parker began to practice diligently. During this period he mastered improvisation and developed some of the ideas that led to bebop. In an interview with Paul Desmond, he said that he spent 3–4 years practicing up to 15 hours a day.^[6]

Bands led by Count Basie and Bennie Moten undoubtedly influenced Parker. He played with local bands in jazz clubs around Kansas City, Missouri, where he perfected his technique, with the assistance of Buster Smith, whose dynamic transitions to double and triple time influenced Parker's developing style.

In 1938, Parker joined pianist Jay McShann's territory band.^[7] The band toured nightclubs and other venues of the southwest, as well as Chicago and New York City.^[8][9] Parker made his professional recording debut with McShann's band.

As a teenager, Parker developed a morphine addiction while in the hospital, after an automobile accident, and subsequently became addicted to heroin. He continued using heroin throughout his life, which ultimately contributed to his death.

New York City[link]

In 1939 Parker moved to New York City, to pursue a career in music. He held several other jobs as well. He worked for nine dollars a week as a dishwasher at Jimmie's Chicken Shack, where pianist Art Tatum performed^{[citation needed]}

In 1942 Parker left McShann's band and played with Earl Hines for one year, whose band included Dizzy Gillespie, who later played with Parker as a duo. Unfortunately, this period is virtually undocumented, due to the strike of 1942–1943 by the American Federation of Musicians, during which time few recordings were made. Parker joined a group of young musicians, and played in after-hours clubs in Harlem, such as Clark Monroe's Uptown House and Minton's Playhouse. These young iconoclasts included Gillespie, pianist Thelonious Monk, guitarist Charlie Christian, and drummer Kenny Clarke. The beboppers' attitude was summed up in a famous quotation attributed to Monk by Mary Lou Williams: "We wanted a music that they couldn't play"^[10] – "they" being the white bandleaders who had usurped and profited from swing music. The group played in venues on 52nd Street, including Three Deuces and The Onyx. While in New York City, Parker studied with his music teacher, Maury Deutsch.

Bebop[link]

According to an interview Parker gave in the 1950s, one night in 1939, he was playing "Cherokee" in a jam session with guitarist William "Biddy" Fleet when he hit upon a method for developing his solos that enabled one of his main musical innovations. He realized that the twelve tones of the chromatic scale can lead melodically to any key, breaking some of the confines of simpler jazz soloing.

Early in its development, this new type of jazz was rejected by many of the established, traditional jazz musicians who disdained their younger counterparts. The beboppers responded by calling these traditionalists "moldy figs". However, some musicians, such as Coleman Hawkins and Benny Goodman, were more positive about its development, and participated in jam sessions and recording dates in the new approach with its adherents.

Because of the two-year Musicians' Union ban of all commercial recordings from 1942 to 1944, much of bebop's early development was not captured for posterity. As a result, it gained limited radio exposure. Bebop musicians had a difficult time gaining widespread recognition. It was not until 1945, when the recording ban was lifted, that Parker's collaborations with Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Bud Powell and others had a substantial effect on the jazz world. One of their first (and greatest) small-group performances together was rediscovered and issued in 2005: a concert in New York's Town Hall on June 22, 1945. Bebop soon gained wider appeal among musicians and fans alike.

On November 26, 1945, Parker led a record date for the Savoy label, marketed as the "greatest Jazz session ever." The tracks recorded during this session include "Ko-Ko" and "Now's the Time".

Shortly afterwards, the Parker/Gillespie band traveled to an unsuccessful engagement at Billy Berg's club in Los Angeles. Most of the group returned to New York, but Parker remained in California, cashing in his return ticket to buy heroin. He experienced great hardship in California, eventually being committed to Camarillo State Mental Hospital for a six-month period.

Addiction[link]

Parker's chronic addiction to heroin caused him to miss gigs and lose work. He frequently resorted to busking on the streets, receiving loans from fellow musicians and admirers, and pawning his saxophones, for drug money. Heroin use was rampant in the jazz scene and the drug could be acquired easily.

Although he produced many brilliant recordings during this period, Parker's behavior became increasingly erratic. Heroin was difficult to obtain when he moved to California, where the drug was less abundant, and Parker began to drink heavily to compensate for it. A recording for the Dial label from July 29, 1946, provides evidence of his condition. Prior to this session, Parker drank a quart of whiskey. According to the liner notes of Charlie Parker on Dial Volume 1, Parker missed most of the first two bars of his first chorus on the track, "Max Making Wax." When he finally did come in, he swayed wildly and once spun all the way around, away from his microphone. On the next tune, "Lover Man", producer Ross Russell physically supported Parker. On "Bebop" (the final track Parker recorded that evening) he begins a solo with a solid first eight bars. On his second eight bars, however, Parker begins to struggle, and a desperate Howard McGhee, the trumpeter on this session, shouts, "Blow!" at Parker. Charles Mingus considered this version of "Lover Man" to be among Parker's greatest recordings, despite its flaws.^[11] Nevertheless, Parker hated the recording and never forgave Ross Russell for releasing it. He re-recorded the tune in 1951 for Verve.

When Parker was released from the hospital, he was clean and healthy, and proceeded to do some of the best playing and recording of his career. He converted to Islam in the manner of the Ahmadiyya movement in the US.^[12] Before leaving California, he recorded "Relaxin' at Camarillo", in reference to his hospital stay. He returned to New York, resumed his addiction to heroin and recorded dozens of sides for the Savoy and Dial labels, which remain some of the high points of his recorded output. Many of these were with his so-called "classic quintet" including trumpeter Miles Davis and drummer Max Roach.

Charlie Parker with Strings[link]

A longstanding desire of Parker's was to perform with a string section. He was a keen student of classical music, and contemporaries reported he was most interested in the music and formal innovations of Igor Stravinsky, and longed to engage in a project akin to what later became known as Third Stream Music, a new kind of music, incorporating both jazz and classical elements as opposed to merely incorporating a string section into performance of jazz standards. On November 30, 1949, Norman Granz arranged for Parker to record an album of ballads with a mixed group of jazz and chamber orchestra musicians.^[13] Six master takes from this session comprised the album Charlie Parker with Strings: "Just Friends", "Everything Happens to Me", "April in Paris", "Summertime", "I Didn't Know What Time It Was", and "If I Should Lose You". The sound of these recordings is rare in Parker's catalog. Parker's improvisations are, in comparison to his usual work, more distilled and economical. His tone is darker and softer than on his small-group recordings, and the majority of his lines are beautiful embellishments on the original melodies rather than harmonically based improvisations. These are among the few recordings Parker made during a brief period when he was able to control his heroin habit, and his sobriety and clarity of mind are evident in his playing. Parker stated that, of his own records, Bird With Strings was his favorite. Although using classical music instrumentation with jazz musicians was not entirely original, this was the first major work where a composer of bebop was matched with a string orchestra.

Jazz at Massey Hall[link]

In 1953, Parker performed at Massey Hall in Toronto, Canada, joined by Gillespie, Mingus, Bud Powell and Max Roach. Unfortunately, the concert clashed with a televised heavyweight boxing match between Rocky Marciano and Jersey Joe Walcott, so was poorly attended. Mingus recorded the concert, resulting in the album Jazz at Massey Hall. At this concert, he played a plastic Grafton saxophone^{[citation needed]}. At this point in his career he was experimenting with new sounds and materials. Parker himself explained the purpose of the plastic saxophone in a May 9, 1953 broadcast from Birdland and does so again in subsequent May 1953 broadcast.^{[citation needed]}

Parker is known to have played several saxophones, including the Conn 6M, The Martin Handicraft and Selmer Model 22. Parker is also known to have performed with a King "Super 20" saxophone. Parker's King Super 20 saxophone was made specially for him in 1947.

Death[link]

Parker died in the suite of his friend and patron Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter at the Stanhope Hotel in New York City while watching The Dorsey Brothers' Stage Show on television. The official causes of death were lobar pneumonia and a bleeding ulcer but Parker also had an advanced case of cirrhosis and had suffered a heart attack. The coroner who performed his autopsy mistakenly estimated Parker's 34-year-old body to be between 50 and 60 years of age.^[14]

Parker had been living since 1950 with Chan Richardson, the mother of his son Baird and his daughter Pree (who died as an infant of cystic fibrosis). He considered Chan his wife; however he never formally married her, nor did he divorce his previous wife, Doris (whom he had married in 1948). This complicated the settling of Parker's inheritance and would ultimately serve to frustrate his wish to be quietly interred in New York City.

It was well known that Parker never wanted to return to Kansas City, even in death.^{[citation needed]} Parker had told Chan that he did not want to be buried in the city of his birth; that New York was his home. Dizzy Gillespie paid for the funeral arrangements^[15] and organized a lying-in-state, a Harlem procession officiated by Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., as well as a memorial concert, before Parker's body was flown back to Missouri, in accordance with his mother's wishes. Parker was buried at Lincoln Cemetery in Missouri, in a hamlet known as Blue Summit.

Parker's estate is managed by CMG Worldwide.

Music[link]

Parker's style of composition involved interpolation of original melodies over pre-existing jazz forms and standards, a practice still common in jazz today. Examples include "Ornithology" ("How High The Moon") and "Yardbird Suite", the vocal version of which is called "What Price Love", with lyrics by Parker. The practice was not uncommon prior to bebop; however, it became a signature of the movement as artists began to move away from arranging popular standards and compose their own material.

While tunes such as "Now's The Time", "Billie's Bounce", and "Cool Blues" were based on conventional twelve-bar blues changes, Parker also created a unique version of the 12-bar blues for his tune "Blues for Alice". These unique chords are known popularly as "Bird Changes".^{[citation needed]} Like his solos, some of his compositions are characterized by long, complex melodic lines and a minimum of repetition although he did employ the use of repetition in some tunes, most notably "Now's The Time".

Parker contributed greatly to the modern jazz solo, one in which triplets and pick-up notes were used in unorthodox ways to lead into chord tones, affording the soloist with more freedom to use passing tones, which soloists previously avoided. Parker was admired for his unique style of phrasing and innovative use of rhythm. Via his recordings and the popularity of the posthumously published Charlie Parker Omnibook, Parker's uniquely identifiable style dominated jazz for many years to come.

Discography[link]

Awards and recognitions[link]

Grammy Award

Grammy Hall of Fame

Recordings of Charlie Parker were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance."

Inductions

National Recording Registry

In 2002, the Library of Congress honored his recording "Ko-Ko" (1945) by adding it to the National Recording Registry.

U.S. Postage Stamp

Musical tributes[link]

• Lennie Tristano's overdubbed solo piano piece "Requiem" was recorded in tribute to Parker shortly after his death.
• Street musician Moondog wrote his famous "Bird's Lament" in his memory.
• The Californian ensemble Supersax harmonized many of Parker's improvisations for a five-piece saxophone section
• Saxophonist Phil Woods recorded a tribute concert for Parker
• Weather Report's jazz fusion track and highly acclaimed big band standard "Birdland", from the Heavy Weather album (1977), was a dedication by bandleader Joe Zawinul to both Charlie Parker and the New York 52nd Street club itself
• In 2003 various artists including Serj Tankian and Dan the Automator put out Bird Up: The Charlie Parker Remix Project. This album created new songs by remixing Charlie Parker's originals.
• The biographical song "Parker's Band" was recorded by Steely Dan on its 1974 album Pretzel Logic.
• The avant-garde trombonist George Lewis recorded Homage to Charles Parker (1979)
• Sparks released the song "(When I Kiss You) I Hear Charlie Parker Playing" on their 1994 album Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins
• Duane Allman devised a unique slide guitar technique that enabled him to mimic the sounds of chirping birds, stating in at least one interview that this was his tribute to Parker.
• The Only World by poet Lynda Hull includes the poem "Ornithology" about Charlie Parker.
• Refused included live recordings of Parker at the end of the song "Liberation Frequency" and transitioned it into "The Deadly Rhythm" on the album The Shape of Punk to Come.

Charlie Parker Residence
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
NYC Landmark
(2011)
Location:	151 Avenue B Manhattan, New York City
Coordinates:	40°43′36″N 73°58′50″W / 40.72667°N 73.98056°W / 40.72667; -73.98056Coordinates: 40°43′36″N 73°58′50″W / 40.72667°N 73.98056°W / 40.72667; -73.98056
Built:	c.1849
Architectural style:	Gothic Revival
Governing body:	private
NRHP Reference#:	94000262
Significant dates
Added to NRHP:	April 7, 1994[20]
Designated NRHP:	April 7, 1994
Designated NYCL:	May 18, 1999[19]

Charlie Parker Residence[link]

From 1950 to 1954, Parker and his common-law wife, Chan Richardson, lived in the ground floor of the townhouse at 151 Avenue B, across from Tompkins Square Park in Manhattan's East Village. The Gothic Revival building, which was built c.1849,^[21] was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994,^[22] and was designated a New York City landmark in 1999. Avenue B, between East 7th and 10th Streets, was renamed Charlie Parker Place in 1992.

Other tributes[link]

• The 1957 story "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin features a jazz/blues playing virtuoso who names Bird as the "greatest" jazz musician, whose style he hopes to emulate.
• In 1949, the New York night club Birdland was named in his honor. Three years later, George Shearing wrote "Lullaby of Birdland", named for both Parker and the nightclub.
• A memorial to Parker was dedicated in 1999 in Kansas City at 17th Terrace and The Paseo, near the American Jazz Museum located at 18th and Vine, featuring a 10-foot (3 m) tall bronze head sculpted by Robert Graham.
• The Charlie Parker Jazz Festival is a free two-day music festival that takes place every summer on the last weekend of August in Manhattan, New York City, at Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem and Tompkins Square Park in the Lower East Side, sponsored by the non-profit organization City Parks Foundation. The festival marked its 17th anniversary in 2009.
• In one of his most famous short story collections, Las armas secretas (The Secret Weapons), Julio Cortázar dedicated "El perseguidor" ("The Pursuer") to the memory of Charlie Parker. This piece examines the last days of Johnny, a drug-addict saxophonist, through the eyes of Bruno, his biographer. Some qualify this story as one of Cortazar's masterpieces in the genre.
• A biographical film called Bird, starring Forest Whitaker as Parker and directed by Clint Eastwood, was released in 1988.^[23]
• In 1984, legendary modern dance choreographer Alvin Ailey created the piece For Bird – With Love in honor of Parker. The piece chronicles his life, from his early career to his failing health.
• In 2005, the Selmer Paris saxophone manufacturer commissioned a special "Tribute to Bird" alto saxophone, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the death of Charlie Parker (1955–2005).
• Parker's performances of "I Remember You" and "Parker's Mood" (recorded for the Savoy label in 1948, with the Charlie Parker All Stars, comprising Parker on alto sax, Miles Davis on trumpet, John Lewis on piano, Curley Russell on bass, and Max Roach on drums) were selected by Harold Bloom for inclusion on his shortlist of the "twentieth-century American Sublime", the greatest works of American art produced in the 20th century. A vocalese version of "Parker's Mood" was a popular success for King Pleasure.
• The Oris Watch Company created a limited edition timepiece in Charlie Parker's name. The watch features the word "bird" at the 4 o'clock hour, in honor of Parker's nickname and signifying "Jazz, until 4 in the morning".
• Jean-Michel Basquiat created many pieces to honour Charlie Parker, including Charles the First, CPRKR and Discography I.
• In 1995, Live Bird, a one-man play about Charlie Parker, written and performed by actor/saxophonist Jeff Robinson, made its premier at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, Massachusetts.
• Charlie Watts, drummer for the Rolling Stones, wrote a children's book entitled Ode to a High Flying Bird as a tribute to Parker. Watts has cited Parker as a major influence in his life as a young man learning to play jazz.

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Aebersold, Jamey, editor (1978). Charlie Parker Omnibook. New York: Michael H. Goldsen.
• Giddins, Gary (1987). Celebrating Bird: The Triumph of Charlie Parker. New York: Beech Tree Books, William Morrow. ISBN 0-688-05950-3
• Koch, Lawrence (1999). Yardbird Suite: A Compendium of the Music and Life of Charlie Parker. Boston, Northeastern University Press. ISBN 1-55555-384-1
• Parker, Chan (1999). My Life In E-Flat. University Of South Carolina Press. ISBN 1-57003-245-9
• Reisner, George (1962). Bird: The Legend of Charlie Parker. New York, Bonanza Books.
• Russell, Ross (1973). Bird Lives! The High Life & Hard Times of Charlie (Yardbird) Parker. New York:Charterhouse. ISBN 0-306-80679-7
• Woideck, Carl (1998). Charlie Parker: His Music and Life. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-08555-7
• Woideck, Carl, editor (1998). The Charlie Parker Companion: Six Decades of Commentary. New York: Schirmer Books. ISBN 0-02-864714-9
• Yamaguchi, Masaya, editor (1955). Yardbird Originals. New York: Charles Colin, reprinted 2005.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Charlie Parker

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Charlie Parker Residence

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Charlie Parker

• The Official Site of Charlie "Yardbird" Parker
• Charlie Parker discography at Discogs
• Charlie Parker discography
• Charlie Parker on Find A Grave
• Charlie Parker Sessionography
• Clips and notes about Parker

Pamela Geller
Pamela Geller
Born	(1958-06-14) June 14, 1958 (age 54)[1] Long Island, New York, U.S.[2]
Residence	Upper East Side, New York, New York, U.S.[1]
Other names	Pamela Oshry
Citizenship	United States
Alma mater	Hofstra University; left before completing degree[1]
Occupation	Blogger, author, political activist, commentator, former newspaper editor
Organization	Co-founder of Freedom Defense Initiative, and Stop Islamization of America
Known for	Opposition to Park51 community center and mosque
Notable work(s)	The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration's War on America, with Robert Spencer[3]
Influenced by	Ayn Rand, Bat Ye'or, and Ibn Warraq[1]
Home town	Hewlett Harbor, Long Island, New York[1]
Board member of	Executive Director of the Freedom Defense Initiative (FDI) and Stop Islamization of America (SIOA)[4]
Religion	Jewish
Spouse	Michael Oshry (divorced)[1]
Children	4
Parents	Reuben ("Ruby") and Lillian Geller[1]
Website
Atlas Shrugs

Pamela Geller (born June 14, 1958)^[5] is an American blogger, author, political activist, and commentator.^[1] She is known primarily for her criticisms of Islam and opposition to Muslim activities and causes, such as the proposed construction of an Islamic community center near the former site of the World Trade Center. She has described her blogging and campaigns in the United States as being against what she terms "creeping Sharia" in the country.

Geller and Robert Spencer co-founded the Freedom Defense Initiative and Stop Islamization of America,^[6] an organization which is labeled as a hate group by the Anti-Defamation League^[7] and the Southern Poverty Law Center.^[8][9] Geller and Spencer also co-authored the book The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration's War on America.^[3]

Personal life[link]

Early life[link]

Geller, born to Jewish parents Reuben ("Ruby") and Lillian Geller, is the third of four sisters.^[1][10][11] Growing up in Hewlett Harbor, Long Island, New York, she assisted in her father's business, where she learned to speak fluent Spanish.^[1][10] Two of her sisters became doctors, and the third became a teacher.^[1]

Geller attended Lynbrook High School and Hofstra University, though she left before completing her degree.^[1]

Marriage[link]

She was married to Michael Oshry from 1990 until the couple divorced in 2007, and is the single mother of four children.^[1]

Career[link]

Geller spent most of the 1980s working at the New York Daily News, first as a financial analyst and then in the advertising and marketing areas.^[12] She then became the associate publisher and top-ranking business executive of The New York Observer for five years, from 1989 through 1994, when she quit to stay home with her four daughters.^[1][13][14]

In January 2010 she co-founded the Freedom Defense Initiative organization (FDI) with Robert Spencer.^[15][16][17] Spencer is a blogger and author of articles and books relating to Islam and Islamic terrorism, and the founder of Jihad Watch.^[1]

Geller denies accusations of being anti-Muslim, saying that it is "a slanderous slur and it's unfair".^[18][19][20] She said:

the ground zero mosque ... To me it was an outrage, to me it was deeply offensive, to me it was indicative that interfaith dialogue and mutual respect and mutual understanding is a one-way street with Islamic supremacists, not Muslims. I believe that Muslims are more victimized by Islamic supremacists than even non-Muslims.^[21]

In an interview, Geller said "I have no problem with Islam. I have a problem with political Islam."^[21]

Geller has also lent her support to a number of other political causes. She has strongly defended former Serbian president Slobodan Milošević,^[18] denied the existence of Serbian concentration camps in the 1990s,^[22] said that black South Africans are engaging in a "genocide" against whites,^[23] and expressed support for the far right English Defence League.^[18][24]

In 2008, Geller co-wrote an editorial for Arutz Sheva expressing her distaste for fellow Jews who are not politically conservative:

It galls me that the Jews I fight for are self-destructive, suicidal even. Here in America (and the world over), Israel's real friends are in the Republican Party and yet over 80% of American Jews are Democrats. I don't get it. The conventional wisdom on the Left is that Israel is an oppressor and her actions are worse than the world's most depraved and dangerous regimes. Chomsky, Finkelstein, Soros – these men are the killers.^[25]

She encouraged Israel to "stand loud and proud. Give up nothing. Turn over not a pebble. For every rocket fired, drop a MOAB. Take back Gaza. Secure Judea and Samaria. Stop buying Haaretz. Throw leftists bums out."^[25]

She was an official blogger at the Republican National Convention of 2008.^[26]

She co-authored a book with Spencer, The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration's War on America, with a foreword by former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John R. Bolton, which was published in July 2010.^[3] The book criticizes the Obama administration's treatment of the free-market system, freedom of speech, and foreign policy.

She is also a contributor to the conservative magazine, Human Events.^[27]

Stop Islamization of America and Park51[link]

Geller and Robert Spencer co-founded Stop Islamization of America.^[6] In May 2010, they began a strong campaign against the proposed Park51 Islamic community center and mosque, which Geller has referred to as the "Ground Zero Mega Mosque".^[28][29] She says that Park51 is viewed by Muslims as a "triumphal" monument built on "conquered land". She also appeared on a number of cable news shows speaking out against the proposed Islamic community center and mosque.^[12]

Geller has also advocated against Islam elsewhere. She argued that the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, one of Islam's holiest sites, should be removed because it was built on the same site as Judaism's former First and Second Temples.^[30] Geller also published an article defending Radovan Karadžic, indicted for genocide and other war crimes against Bosnian Muslims and Croats during the Siege of Sarajevo and Srebrenica Massacre; the article argued that the Muslims were not murdered but committed suicide to embarrass their enemies.^[31] In addition, Stop Islamization of America has sponsored ads which carry messages such as "Fatwa on Your Head?" and "Leaving Islam?" in several cities including New York City and Miami, pointing readers to a website called RefugefromIslam.com.^[12][32] Geller said the ads were meant to provide resources for Muslims who were afraid to leave the religion.^[32]

Geller first blogged in Atlas Shrugs about the proposed New York mosque in reaction to coverage in The New York Times on December 8, 2009.^[33][34] On December 21, she again blogged on the subject, referring to it as "Mosque at Ground Zero" and calling it "a stab in the eye".^[35] Geller next blogged about the building on May 24, 2010, when she reported on a self-selected reader poll connected with a report in the New York Daily News, urging her readers to vote in it. This is when she first used the phrase "Mega Mosque at Ground Zero".^[36][37]

Commenting on the controversy, Geller said,

I'm not leading the charge against the Islamic center near Ground Zero. The majority of Americans – 70% – find this deeply insulting, offensive. To call it anti-Muslim is a gross misrepresentation and to say that I'm responsible for all this emotion, again a gross misrepresentation.^[18]

When asked in an August 17, 2010, interview on CNN whether she agreed "that the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 were practicing a perverted form of Islam, and that is not what is going to be practiced at this mosque", she responded "I will say that the Muslim terrorists were practicing pure Islam, original Islam."^[38]

Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, criticized Geller, stating:

People say don't give her too much credit, she's a fringe character, but she is a fringe character who every day is on CNN, Fox, The Washington Post, and The New York Times. She is the driving force behind the Islamic center campaign. I would say that she is the queen of the Muslim bashers, I see her rise and the rise of these anti-Islam hate groups going hand in hand.^[12]

Eric Boehlert, a senior fellow at liberal watchdog group Media Matters for America, concurred with Hooper, remarking that "she's been instrumental, she has whipped up hatred in the right-wing blogosphere and now that's spilled out into the wider community"^[12] while Andrew C. McCarthy, writing in the conservative^[39] magazine the National Review criticized Hooper's opinion on the matter, citing his controversial comments about Islamism and the United States.^[40] Media Matters further suggested that "Geller's history of outrageous, inflammatory and false claims, particularly when it comes to issues related to Islam, demonstrate that she cannot be expected to make accurate statements and should not be rewarded with a platform on national television."^[41]

Both SIOA and FDI have been designated as hate groups by the Anti-defamation league^[42] and the Southern Poverty Law Center^[43]. Geller dismissed the SPLC as an "uber left" organization.^[44]

[edit] Atlas Shrugs blog

The name of Geller's website and blog Atlas Shrugs is a reference to novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged.^[1][18] Geller calls Rand "the greatest philosopher in human history". She says her blog and its purpose are "clearly defined by Rand's philosophy".^[45] The blog concentrates on what Geller perceives to be a violent threat to the United States by Islamist extremists and liberal politicians.^[46]

As of October 2010, the blog was receiving 150,000 unique visitors a month.^[1]

In 2006, when thousands of Muslims worldwide protested – sometimes violently – over cartoons of the prophet Muhammad printed in a Danish newspaper,^{[1][47][48][49][50]} Geller posted the cartoons on her blog,^[1][51] and its hits increased dramatically to tens of thousands.^[1]

NPR reported that in 2008, for Atlas Shrugs, she examined lists of contributions given to Barack Obama's campaign. Others, including The New York Times and The Washington Post, then did the same.^[52] Contributors with the names "Es Ech", "Doodad Pro", and similar names turned up, and a conservative activist said he donated to Barack Obama using the name Osama bin Laden.^[52]

In November 2008, she captured a conversation by Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) on video, and posted it on YouTube.^[53] In it, after prefacing his remarks by saying he had "no personal knowledge" of the matter and his statement was merely his "guess", he went on to say that Obama "didn’t have the political courage to want to make the statement of walking out" of Trinity United Church of Christ when he realized that Rev. Jeremiah Wright was "a nut" and "lunatic," because "you don’t walk out of a church with 8,000 members in your district."^[53][54][55] After Geller released the video, Nadler said: "I made a thoughtless comment yesterday which does not reflect the way I feel about Barack Obama."^[54][55]

The blog was among the first on November 5, 2009, to declare the belief that the Fort Hood shooting was a "Muslim terror attack."^[46] Geller later noted that the recent Pentagon report into the Fort Hood shooting did not mention possible religious motivations behind the attack, and argued that self-imposed censorship is hurting U.S. understanding of the wars it is engaged in.^[56] She said: "When nowhere in that document was Islam or Jihad mentioned, then Houston, we have a problem. People need to understand what is the motivation."^[56]

Controversial postings on Atlas Shrugs include:^[57][58] accusations that Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan cited German socialists who supported Nazi ideology in her Princeton thesis (accompanied by a mock-up photograph of her in a Nazi uniform),^[1][59] a video suggesting that some Muslims have sex with goats, a doctored photo showing President Obama urinating on an American flag^[12] and false claims that Obama's mother was involved in pornography and that Obama "was involved with a crack whore in his youth".^[60][61]

During an RT Television News interview, reporter Lauren Lister repeatedly questioned Geller's statement that she is not anti-Muslim, at one point calling attention to Geller's having posted a drawing of Muhammad on her blog with the face of a pig superimposed over his own. Geller responded by saying "I don't know where it is in America that you can't make jokes or make fun."^[62]

Geller has written "that Islam is the most antisemitic, genocidal ideology in the world".^[63]

The blog has been criticized by progressive Media Matters for America,^[41][64] and called "extreme" by Chris McGreal of The Guardian.^[18] Conversely, it has been praised by Caroline Glick, managing editor of The Jerusalem Post, who hailed the blog's coverage of Muslim "honor killings" and called her "an intrepid blogger".^[65][66]

Claims[link]

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Birther views[link]

Geller has made multiple postings on her blog promoting birtherism, the belief that Barack Obama is not a natural-born citizen of the United States, and that his birth certificate is a forgery.^[67] Even after the president released his long form birth certificate, she continued to post that it was a forgery, despite objections from some of her own readers.^[68] She then opined that, because his father was not divorced from his first wife when he married Stanley Ann Dunham, Obama is disqualified for the presidency, stating that "illegitimate children had different rights ... in 1789" and the Framers would not have intended for one to become president.^[69] Geller's blog has also featured a post which, inter alia, suggested that the president is the "love child" of Malcolm X, though Geller later said this was by another author and that she herself does not believe that Obama is Malcolm X's love child, and never did.^[12][70]

Other views[link]

Geller was described by The Observer as the "darling of the Tea Party's growing anti-Islamic wing". She has advocated an alliance between the Tea Party Movement and the English Defence League (EDL), saying: "I share the EDL's goals ... We need to encourage rational, reasonable groups that oppose the Islamisation of the west."^[71] In June 2011, Geller wrote that she was withdrawing her support for the EDL, citing "neo-fascists that had infiltrated the administration of the group" and the resignation of its Jewish Division leader, Roberta Moore.^[72]

American journalist Jeffrey Goldberg, who frequently writes about topics relating to Israel and the Middle East, has described Geller as a "bigoted blogger" and said she supported South African white supremacist Eugène Terre'Blanche.^[73] Geller describes Terreblanche as the "leader of the noxious and hateful neo-Nazi Afrikaner Resistance Movement". She maintains there is a genocide underway in South Africa that includes innocent whites that are not "racist monsters like Eugene Terreblanche". ^[74]

Geller has also stated her belief that the Muslim Brotherhood has "corrupted and compromised" the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).^[75]

Works[link]

Books[link]

• The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration's War on America, Pamela Geller with Robert Spencer, foreword by (former) Ambassador John R. Bolton, (Simon & Schuster, July 2010) ISBN 978-1-4391-8930-6
• Stop the Islamization of America: A Practical Guide to the Resistance, Pamela Geller, (WND Books, September 6, 2011) ISBN 978-1-936488-36-0

Articles[link]

• "Why There Shouldn’t Be a Mosque at Ground Zero", Pamela Geller, Human Events, September 4, 2010
• "Ground Zero Imam is No Moderate", Pamela Geller, Human Events, August 24, 2010
• "Free Speech Wins A Narrow Victory In New York", Pamela Geller, Fox News, August 12, 2010

See also[link]

• Rifqa Bary
• Stop Islamisation of Europe
• Geert Wilders

References[link]