‘Something I Said’ Archives
FREE LEONARD PELTIER
from the series Something I Said... By DWIGHT HOBBES Dwight Hobbes Leonard Peltier was railroaded for FBI agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams’ 1975 murder at the historic Pine Ridge Indian Reservation gunfight in South Dakota. Don’t take my word, look it up. You’ll find some interesting information. Peltier’s attorney, former Tennessee U.S. District Judge Kevin Sharp, told Native News Online in June, “Leonard did not shoot the agents, and the FBI knew this but withheld evidence. The court of appeals acknowledged this but couldn’t overturn the conviction due to legal standards”. During his trial, Darlene Nichols said Peltier told her about committing the crime. She later acknowledged receiving $42,000 from the FBI in connection with her cooperation on the case. No investigation looked into whether the testimony was perjured. FYI. She’s now married to a former FBI Chief Agent. At the trial, FBI agents changed their statements that they’d searched for a [...]
Deeper Blues
from the series Something I Said... Review by DWIGHT HOBBES Dwight Hobbes A longer version of this Deeper Blues review first appeared in the June issue of Blue Monday Monthly Entertainment Magazine. Andrea Swensson’s Deeper Blues: The Life, Songs and Salvation of Cornbread Harris (University of Minnesota Press) is a must-read. She brings acumen, insight and passion to bear on a beloved Twin Cities icon while Harris, crowding 100, is still around to enjoy it. Calling Cornbread Harris a living legend understates the case. At the dawn of Minnesota Rock & Roll, he co-wrote The Augie Garcia Quintet’s trash-talking hit “Hi Ho Silver”, a humorous take off on TV’s “The Lone Ranger”. And enjoys the distinction of that band upstaging Elvis Presley’s Twin Cities debut. Swensson documents, “Cornbread and Augie wore this incident like a badge of honor. Speaking to the Star Tribune in 1993, Augie recalled that ‘pulled me off stage by my jacket. There [...]
Juneteenth
from the series Something I Said By DWIGHT HOBBES Dwight Hobbes Rabble rouser cum activist Al Flowers will be on hand for a good, old-fashioned Juneteenth joint over north at Bethune/Phyllis Wheatley on the 15th. Bet money mainstream notables, stylin’ and profilin’ to see and be seen, will swing by for a foto-opp, maybe sign some autographs. Then, get back to living the boozhie life. Flowers, though, didn’t trade the Civil Rights Era clarion call, “We Shall Overcome” in for “I Have Overcome”. Still grounded in the grassroot, he’ll be there not for show but for grow – as in helping the community honor our past, while putting a foot down about the future.Juneteenth celebrates how Texas slaves, after being hoodwinked for two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, learned they were free and had a real good time! Albeit belatedly - baseball games, fishing, rodeos, street fairs and, of course, tradition that stands to this day. Cookouts.You’ll have the [...]
