Sanity Sunday - The Music of Al Stewart

 by Nomad

Scottish singer-songwriter and folk-rock musician Al Stewart will always hold a special place for me. He is best known for one song which topped the charts in the late 1970s, "Year of the Cat." 
Released in 1976 in the album of the same name, the song tells the story of a Western tourist who loses his soul in the bazaar.

On a morning from a Bogart movie
In a country where they turn back time
You go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre
Contemplating a crime
She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running
Like a watercolor in the rain
Don't bother asking for explanations
She'll just tell you that she came
In the Year of the Cat.

Except for that one song, his music never quite reached the wider audience in the US. That's a pity on two counts. Firstly, Stewart had an earlier career in the 1960s as a folk singer that deserved more attention.

Sanity Sunday - The Music of Los Tabaleros

by Nomad

Well, I can't really tell you too much about the featured band for this week's Sanity Sunday. The name of the group is Los Tabaleros, which, if Google Translate can be trusted, seems to mean "The cigar makers."

Originating from Buenos Aires, Argentina, the band released their first album, "Crimson" in 2009. According to their bio, in their early years, they dedicated themselves to interpret and understand the traditional folklore. Over time, they developed their own unique voice.
Even though I am not able to tell you much about the meaning of the songs, I was really captivated by their sense of harmony. Tell me what you think.

On This Day - August 28

by Nomad

The date of August 28 has special significance to all Americans, but particularly to African Americans.

1833 - First Steps to Freedom

With the passage of the Slavery Abolition Act, slavery was abolished in the United Kingdom and most of its colonies on this date in 1833. Historians point out, however, that the new law was not quite what it seemed.

What Happens When Young People Lose Their Faith in Democracy

by Nomad

The Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), José Ángel Gurría, has thought a lot about a disturbing global trend: the crisis of public faith in democracy. 
What are the causes? What are the effects and what are the long-term implications? And, perhaps most importantly, after the recent rise of right-wing populism, how can trust in liberal democracies be restored?

Can the US Ever Recover from the Trump Era?

by Nomad

There's no question that Trump has left his mark on America. Nobody could argue with that.
As we steel ourselves for horror show election of 2020, it is not too early to reflect on what Trump has already done to America.

The Symptom and the Cause

In terms of US foreign policy alone, this administration has been an utter disaster. Take foreign policy, as Professor of Strategic Studies at Johns Hopkins University, Eliot A. Cohen, observes:

[The] surface-level calm of the last two years should not distract from a building crisis of U.S. foreign policy, of which Trump is both a symptom and a cause. The president has outlined a deeply misguided foreign policy vision that is distrustful of U.S. allies, scornful of international institutions, and indifferent, if not downright hostile, to the liberal international order that the United States has sustained for nearly eight decades.

It goes deeper than upending the world order.