The co-founder of the Jigsaw Seen 25 years ago (alongside ace guitarist Jonathan Lea), former all-Maryland high-school soccer player Dennis Davison gets his exercise these days as a professional dog-walker. Strolling L.A.’s concrete canyons gives him ample time to do what he does best: write distinctively original lyrics and melodies that give off the mere whiff of former heroes such as the Bee Gees, Who and Love. Unlike previous albums, Old Man Reverb, Jigsaw’s fourth set of originals in the past four years, has a unified sound running throughout. Davison and Lea will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new feature on the Jigsaw Seen.
Davison: Madalyn Murray O’Hair was born in Pittsburgh in 1919. She was the founder of American Atheists and was its president from 1963-1986. Her 1963 lawsuit, Murray v. Curlett, ended official bible reading in public schools. In 1964, Life magazine referred to her as “The Most Hated Woman in America.”
She was murdered in 1995 under bizarre circumstances. Madalyn Murray O’Hair had bigger balls than just about anyone who I can think of, and I regard her as highly as any of the civil-rights leaders throughout American history.
If you believe in the separation of church and state, Madalyn is your poster girl. Atheists are still feared and despised by a large percentage of Americans. In polls concerning what Presidential characteristics would cause people to refuse to vote for them, being an atheist is consistently the least favorable. If you’re gay, Muslim, black or Jewish, congratulations! You have a much better chance of sitting in the oval office than an atheist.
As a member of this self-defined minority, I salute Madalyn Murray O’Hair, an unsung American hero.
Video after the jump.
