Despite all endeavor
California caught up to me
I chose to leave
To go abroad
I did not grieve
No longer bored
Is California home?
I do not know
To this land I came
In this land I grow
—Chuck James
My life is a product of so many people
and they did not know
they infused me with their spirit
with their encouragement
with their love
Without knowing the consequence
of their gift I would be nothing
I would dedicate it all to them:
some famous, some poor,
some literate, some not so...
But they all gave
They gave to me
All gone, but not in my heart
They live with me in my heart
Their spirit is with me
Their minds and hearts are with me
In my heart they are alive
and will always be
until I die...
—Chuck James
I just wrote a letter to a friend I’ve not seen in 50 years (his wife had died), and I had to tell him how important he was to me. Otha Goldberg changed my life. It was Jan. 9, 1943, at the Great Lakes Training Station. We were in it together, we were separated and reunited a year later in Hawaii, at a base which was a true horror. We were rebels, our letters were censored, I nearly got court-martialed. So I decided to be proactive but they threw me out, and threatened court-martial again.
Then they promoted me twice. I was the worst officer in naval history, I had nothing to do. It was so boring, I planned out my water breaks. We decided to finish school. Otha went to Middlebury, Vermont. I applied to UCLA, what I thought of as God’s little piece of heaven (I’ve since come to my senses) I turned down Mddlebury offer but I had this boring job with absolutely nothing to do. Middlebury suddenly looked good. I didn’t know it, but that decision changed my entire life: because I met my wife, because I went to Yale Law School. That decision changed the rest of my life. I owe my friend my life and my career.
—Chuck James
Dear Maureen,
This is Chuck James of Country Inn in Fremont where you conducted a very interesting session a few weeks ago. You asked me to send you the short piece that I did with your guidance.
My apologies for having taken so long but Alex Chan, the recreation director refusccd to give me your email address at first.
I knew absolutely nothing about my deceased grandmother until I discovered a certificate dated 1889 from Spelman Seminary, Atlanta, Ga while cleaning out the house of a deceased aunt.
Here is what I wrote:
Grandma uncovered
From her eternal grave
It was I who discovered
Oh precious memory to save
No longer dead
She jumped from the a page
With achievement unsaid
Now she is alive
I know in my heart
Her spirit survives
All the best,
Chuck
Can you believe I forgot Ray Charles and Louis Armstrongf? I have included them in this revision.
Chuck
If I COULD BE
If I could be
another me
A redesign
Would be my plea
Not a history shaper
Nor a headline maker
But a music genes caper
Not an LA Laker
I would harvest genes
Of musical giants
Wherever seen
Of talent compliant
Let history unfurl
My search is wide
Throughout the world
Genius can’t hide
I will take from Mozart
Ellington too
I will tear apart
The human zoo
I would harvest them all
Beethoven and Basie
Tchaikovsky will fall
Find them in Macy
I’ll take them all
I want to feel good
Like the Master of Soul
Have a mellow mood
With Nat King Cole
Give me Ray
Of All musical styles
Any genre, he’ll play
With each he beguiles
Lord yes Bach
And his B-minor Mass
A musical plaque
For a heavenly class
Give me Gershwin
And his Porgy and Bess
Rhapsody in Blue
A genius no less
Find B.B. King
Let his Lucille sing
Wagner I’ll pass
Doesn’t have the ring
In this ethereal class
I'll take Satchmo
His heavenly horn
Makes the universe glow
As music is born
I want a redesign
The Black can stay
Just recombine
In a musical way
I would be reborn
With all these genes
No way forlorn
Got a musical gene!
—Charles A James, June 2004
Thailand story is missing
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