On May 25, 2013, I attended the "Save The 2nd" Second Amendment Rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. My view is very simple and succinct ... American Citizens have the Right "To Keep And Bear Arms". This is why I drove over from New Jersey to attend this Demonstration. Peaceful and law-abiding gun owners should not be punished due to the actions of dregs and criminals. If the Second Amendment is dismantled, all of the other Amendments will follow. Without question, our Freedoms and our Liberty are at stake.
Here is a video of the Rally [First I give an introduction and then there are clips of speeches by Stephani Scruggs (of 912 PAC), Sarah Merkle, Kris Ford (of Sons Of Guns) and Stephanie Hayden (of Sons Of Guns) and the end features an interruption by an anti-gun protester. Independence Hall can be seen at various times during this video.]:
Here I am with Independence Hall in the background (it was extremely windy out there ... I was lucky to get this photograph with the Tricorn Hat!!):
Here is a photograph of Sarah Merkle as she is speaking and Alan Keyes can be seen in the foreground:
Here are Kris Ford and Stephanie Hayden (of Sons Of Guns) :
Here is Pastor George Cook:
Here is Talk Show Host Melody Burns:
Melody called for all of the ladies in attendance to come forward ...
The headliner!! The final speaker of the day ... former Presidential Candidate Alan Keyes:
Alan Keyes attained his Doctorate from Harvard University in 1979, became a United Nations Diplomat in 1979 and was appointed Ambassador to the United Nations Economic And Social Council in 1983. He and I had a very important and a very worthwhile discussion. Here we are:
This video features parts of Alan Keyes' Speech at the "Save The 2nd" Second Amendment Rally that was held in Philadelphia, PA on May 25, 2013. I combined four different parts so you will see some edits. This is because my memory card kept running out of space and I had to delete files before resuming. I am sure a video of his entire unedited speech is somewhere on the world wide web. Plus, as usual, my camera work is shaky ... even more so because it was cold at that point in the day. It was a great speech and I did my best to record most of it.
Once again, and for the third year in a row, I attended the South 9th Street Italian Market Festival in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I showed up on day two, Sunday, May 19, 2013. As usual, there were many people in attendance, street musicians and plenty of souvenirs to purchase. Here are shots of the large crowd ... I saw a guy dancing around and I, and a number of other people, took photographs and video footage of him ... Here are Tomato Pie slices of pizza. Toward the end of the event, I heard a vendor announce that all food is $1 each. I asked if the Tomato Pie is made with eggs or milk and a co-worker told me no, it is totally vegan so I said, "I'll take three!". The business' card is included in the photo ...
Michael Mike was bringin' the Italian Swag to the South 9th Street Italian Market Festival: Here are some items I bought (the CD is a bootleg or an incredibly low-budget disc by a supposed company called Roma): Information about the Market can be found at this url: http://www.italianmarketfestival.com
On Sunday night, May 12, 2013, Hershey Park hosted the Legendary Ladies Of Rock N Roll concert featuring Shirley Alston Reeves of The Shirelles, The Crystals, Merrilee Rush and very special guest ... Jon Bauman aka BOWZER of Sha Na Na! I arrived at Hershey Park at around 6:20 PM so I had ten minutes to find the Music Box Theater ... the specific venue where the acts were performing. It was a fairly long walk from the parking lot to the park and it took a while to purchase a ticket and find the theater.
I walked into the theater during Merrilee's set. I must have missed a song or two or three. I heard her and the back-up band, Rocky And The Rollers, perform a medley including "Girl Can't Help It" and "Long Tall Sally". After that, I saw Bowzer walk on stage. He said "I always wanted to play this", and jumped in front of a keyboard. All of them then played her 1968 hit "Angel Of The Morning". I hope to see a full set by Merrilee soon.
"Angel Of The Morning":
The Crystals featuring original member Dee Dee Kinniebrew was the second act of the evening. They opened with "Da Doo Run Run (When He Walked Me Home)" from 1963 and followed with "Then He Kissed Me", another song from that year. They continued on with "He's Sure The Boy I Love". The fourth song in the set was a fine cover of "Chapel Of Love" and the fifth song was "Rescue Me", a song available on their latest compact disk. The girls went way back in time with "Uptown", the second single in The Crystal's discography. The chart-topper "He's A Rebel" was the final song in set. Throughout the performance, Dee Dee shared lead vocals with the other members Patricia Pritchett-Lewis and Melissa Antoinette. There were some funny skits on stage too ... I will not spoil the surprise of seeing and experiencing The Crystals live in concert so I will keep those skits a secret.
After Bowzer ushered The Crystals off of the stage, he talked to the crowd for a bit and then took to the keyboard. He played a Classical piece and then, since it was Mother's Day, dedicated a Chopin composition (in E Major) to his mother. Rocky And The Rollers joined him on a faster number.
Bowzer performing Chopin:
After Bowzer's brief set, he introduced the next act featuring Shirley Alston Reeves. The first song was a medley that included "Johnny B. Goode", "Rock And Roll Music" and "Sweet Little Sixteen". The next song was "Mama Said" followed by "Baby It's You", a song Shirley herself had a hand in writing. The fourth song was "Tonight's The Night" and after a brief theatrical introduction, "Foolish Little Girl" followed. An Orlons track was performed next. This lead to the big Billboard number one single from 1960, "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow". They closed with another Billboard number one single, "Soldier Boy". The final song in their set was another medley featuring "Twist", "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On", "Blue Suede Shoes", "Hound Dog" and, once again, "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On". Shirley was really moving out there! It was a great set!
"Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow":
After the concert, I stood near the stage and saw Bowzer come out to speak to some friends of his. He signed a Sha Na Na LP and a Sha Na Na 8-Track Tape for me!!! I told him that I support his Truth In Music campaign (Links: http://www.bowzerparty.com/truth_in_music.htm & http://truthinmusic.org) and that I would be seeing Charlie Thomas' Drifters in concert next week. He said that is the version of the band to see. Some classic Bowzer here ...
I then saw The Crystals and Merrilee Rush at a table on the side of the venue. I spoke to Merilee for a little while and she signed her album for me. She loved seeing this LP!! Here we are together ...
I spoke to the ladies in The Crystals too. They asked me if I was in a band or if I played music (I frequently get those kinds of questions due to my long hair). Dee Dee signed my Twist Uptown album! Here I am with the group ...
A security guard let Shirley Reeves know that I was in the venue with a Shirelles record and she came out shortly after. I told her I would be seeing her several times again this year. Here we are (I like the image of the empty chairs in the background) ...
The promotional sign that Hershey Park used to promote the event was still standing when I finally left the theater: It was a fantastic evening and I am glad I made the trek to Hershey. The Music Box Theater is a cool place to see a concert and I am looking forward to attending future events there (Bowzer will be back with another line-up on July 28. The details are at this url: http://www.hersheypark.com/general_info/event_calendar/details.php?id=13315).
Posts
