May 18 – Mother Whistler Day

Posted on May 18, 2014

Have you ever seen this famous painting, called Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1?

It's by an American artist named James Abbott McNeill Whistler, and he began painting this portrait of his other when the model he had scheduled to paint unexpectedly didn't come.

Most people call the painting Whistler's Mother – although that is not its name.

And...this day is not about the painting, and it is not the birthday of J.A.M. Whistler's mother!

Instead, it celebrates anyone who can whistle.

Whistling is carefully controlling a stream of air flowing through a small hole. People create this “small hole” by pursing their lips and then blowing or sucking air through the small hole created by their lips. Some people can whistle by creating a small hole with their cupped hands in front of their mouths. And of course, people can made a small hole in a blade of grass or can use a small-holed wooden, metal, or plastic whistle!

According to ads, you can whistle to
accept some Android phones without
touching your phone!

There is some whistling in music, and police, sports fans, sailors, dog trainers and others can use whistling to communicate.

Can you whistle? I can – but not all that well! Some people are way, way better than I am. Here are some great examples of whistling:

• Roger Whittaker, the “Mexican Whistler”

• Bing Crosby singing and whistling in “Whistling in the Wildwood”

• John Lennon whistling at the halfway point (2:05) of his song “Jealous Guy” 

• Paul Simon whistling at the halfway point (1:35) of his song "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard"

I found some great examples of whistling in more modern songs – but the lyrics surrounding the whistling were a bit problematic. But, trust me, whistling a happy tune (or a sad tune, etc.) still happens. It's one more way people can use their own bodies as a musical instrument!

Of course, I cannot have a post about whistling without linking to this bit from The Sound of Music, when Captain von Trapp tries to teach the new governess how to whistle for the children!

Also on this date:

Flag and Universities Day in Haiti 

International Museum Day

Philosopher Bertrand Russell's birthday

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

• May holidays 
• May birthdays 
• Historical anniversaries in May

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

• June holidays
• June birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in June

October 9, 2011 - John Lennon's Birthday

He was part of one of the most famous, most critically acclaimed, and most popular music acts in all of history...

...one of the most successful songwriting partnerships in musical history.

...and one of the most famous marriages in modern times. He was a stay-at-home dad to his son Sean, and tragically, he was murdered by a delusional fan.

John Lennon had a truly “bigger-than-life” life.

At age 15, in 1956, British lad John Lennon started his first band, The Quarrymen. He soon met Paul McCartney, who asked to join the band; by 1959, George Harrison (who was just 14 years old at the time) joined the band as well. Along with bassist Stuart Sutcliffe, the four changed the band's name to The Beatles. The guys were on their way when they were offered a residency to play music in Hamburg, Germany. Pete Best went along to play drums. Eventually the group returned to England, without Sutcliffe, and replaced Best with drummer Ringo Starr. Now the stage was set for The Beatles to hit it big – with number-one hit after hit. After hit!

Lennon and McCartney wrote approximately 180 songs together. Most, of course, were recorded by The Beatles.

Many songwriting duos have one person who writes the words and another who creates the music for those words—or, sometimes, one person who thinks up the music and another who writes words that fit the tune. Lennon-McCartney were a little different: they both created music and lyrics. Sometimes they worked closely together on a song, “eyeball-to-eyeball,” but other times they wrote songs on their own but had a bit of input from the other. In the latter case, they shared equal writing credit because they had agreed to do just that before they got famous.

After The Beatles broke up, in 1969, John Lennon continued to write and record songs, either solo or with his second wife, Yoko Ono. He retired from “the biz” to raise their son, but just before his murder John Lennon made a comeback with the 1980 album Double Fantasy.

Did you know...?

John Lennon loved to draw and write, and while in high school he used to collect his satirical, nonsensical writings and bizarre drawings in an exercise book he called The Daily Howl. He later published several books of his short stories, poetry, plays, and drawings.

Lennon may owe his musical career to a bus driver who heard him playing a mouth organ and was impressed. The driver gave Lennon a professional harmonic that someone had left on a bus. Lennon later learned to play the banjo, acoustic and electric guitars, bass guitar, piano, and electronic keyboard.

Last year, on what would have been his 70^th birthday, the John Lennon Peace Monument was unveiled in his hometown of Liverpool, England. Lennon's first wife and son Julian performed the unveiling.