By William “Duke” Smither “If the muse were mine to tempt it And my feeble voice was strong, If my tongue were trained to measures, I would sing a stirring song. I would sing a song heroic Of those noble sons of Ham, Of the gallant colored soldiers Who fought for Uncle Sam!…” (From […]
Welcome to "Talking Drum Dialogues" (Formerly Backstreet Djeli's Blog)
The novel, "Backroads to 'Bethlehem': Odysseys of the Maroon Warrior..." is still available on-line. Its sequel, "PASSAGE(S) TO SAINT-DOMINGUE...," is coming soon. Blog activity is temporarily suspended while site is under reconstruction. Thank you for visiting.
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By William “Duke” Smither “Because power corrupts, society’s demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases.” (John Adams, 2nd President of the United States) National Moral Character? Lordy, Lordy! One would have had to have been born “Rip Van Winkle II,” the fictional dude who fell asleep and […]
The “‘First Lady’ of Soul” (March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) “Every time she sang, we were all graced with a glimpse of the divine… Through her compositions and unmatched musicianship, Aretha helped define the American experience. In her voice, we could feel our history, all of it and in every shade — our […]
By William “Duke” Smither “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” Martin Luther King, Jr. While I never met Senator John McCain (08/29/1936 – 08/25/2018), as a U.S. Navy Viet Nam Era Veteran […]
By William “Duke” Smither “When the government violates the people’s rights then insurrection is, for the people and for every section of the people, the most sacred of their rights and the most indispensable of their duties.” – Circa 1790: Marquis de Lafayette, a French military officer who fought in the American Revolutionary War and […]
by William “Duke” Smither “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” George Santayana (from “Reason in Common Sense,” Vol. 1 of The Life of Reason, 1905; also, inscribed, in Polish translation, on a plaque at the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp, built and operated by Nazi Germany in WWII occupied Poland.) […]
By William “Duke” Smither (Backstreet Djeli Blog Reprint from Memorial Day 2014) “I am the Unknown Soldier And maybe I died in vain, But if I were alive and my country called, I’d do it all over again.” (From “The Unknown Soldier,” by Billy Rose) The first thing one notices when visiting the […]
by William “Duke” Smither “My grandfather had a dream that his four little children will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. I have a dream that enough is enough…” Nine-Year-Old Yolanda Renee King (Eldest granddaughter of Martin Luther King Jr. during “March of Our Lives” […]
by William “Duke” Smither ***Note: Preview text below concerns troops preparing for a “Holy War,” as observed by “Phasael,” a Maroon Spy (passage from novel, “BACKROADS TO ‘BETHLEHEM’: Odysseys of the Maroon Warrior, in the Shadows of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade”). Chapter Four (Porto Calvo Rendezvous): January 6, 1694… […]
By William “Duke” Smither “Where I come from we say that rhythm is the soul of life, because the whole universe revolves around rhythm, and when we get out of rhythm, that’s when we get into trouble.” — Babatunde Olatunji (Nigerian Djembefola, 1927-2003, Grammy award-winning, master-drummer, percussionist) Talking Drums African musicians say that […]
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