July 16, 2011 archive

Cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette



Harry Forster Chapin (December 7, 1942 – July 16, 1981) was an American singer-songwriter best known in particular for his folk rock songs including “Taxi”, “W*O*L*D”, and the number-one hit “Cat’s in the Cradle”. Chapin was also a dedicated humanitarian who fought to end world hunger; he was a key player in the creation of the Presidential Commission on World Hunger in 1977. In 1987, Chapin was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his humanitarian work.

WhyHunger.org is the organization that Harry co-founded with Bill Ayres in 1975.

Rare Harry Chapin concert on WFUV

To mark the 30th anniversary of his friend Harry Chapin’s passing, WFUV-FM (90.7) host Pete Fornatale will air a rare concert by the folk singer on “Mixed Bag” at 4 p.m. Saturday.

The concert, recorded live at Fordham University on Nov. 27, 1977, has not been broadcast in more than three decades; it airs 30 years to the day of Chapin’s death. It was recorded as part of the 1977 Hungerthon to benefit World Hunger Year, the organization co-founded by Chapin and Bill Ayres.

Sometimes there are so many small stories swirling around that I feel the need to gather them together in one larger compendium.  In the present case, some of them are updates to previous stories and some of them just don’t seem to fit anywhere else.

Item:

Irish Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton will publish legislation in the next year to provide for recognition of the acquired gender of transgender people.  The long-awaited report on legal recognition of transsexual people in Ireland was presented to the Cabinet on Wednesday.  Irish transgender rights law…or rather, the lack of same…was found to be in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights some time ago.