Today is my first day of graduate school and I woke up thinking about this song. Released as a single in 1966, James Brown warns kids of the dangers of dropping out of school. Lesson learned. Do you have a favorite 'school' song?
Happy Tuesday y'all!
“Elvis has transcended the exasperating constrictions of time and place.” The same New York Times that cruelly dismissed Elvis in 1956, now said, “He stood there at the end, his arms stretched out, the great gold cloak giving him wings, a champion, the only one in his class… He looked like a prince from another planet.”
RIP January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977
Abbey Lincoln, 1930 - 2010 RIP
Abbey Lincoln, an acclaimed jazz singer, songwriter and actress who evolved from a supper-club singer into a strong voice for civil rights, has died. She was 80.[..]
Lincoln built a career as an actress and singer in the late 1950s through the turbulent 1960s, then stepped away during the 1970s and, years later, returned to prominence as a singer praised for her songwriting abilities.
"There was a passion to what she did," said jazz critic Don Heckman, who noted that Lincoln's songwriting made her a rarity among jazz singers. "She was not someone who was just singing a song. She had an agenda, and a lot of it had to do with civil rights.... She expressed herself in dramatic and impressive fashion in what she said and how she sang."[..]
She was often compared with Billie Holiday, one of her early influences. Times jazz writer Leonard Feather, writing after a Lincoln performance in 1986, said he could see glimpses of Holiday. "Not so much vocally as visually — a slight toss of the head, a jutting of the jaw," he wrote. "As Lincoln said, 'We all stand on the shoulders of those who preceded us.' "
Man Made Monster
Billy Preston is best known as the "Fifth Beatle" for his keyboard work with the Fab Four on the Abbey Road sessions. His resume also included the Rolling Stones, Ray Charles, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and many more heavy hitters across various genres. Tonight's selection is off of his 1971 record, I Wrote A Simple Song. Thanks to my buddy Keith for reminding me of this.
A reminder that our sister site Newstalgia has for its weekend concert, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers from 1987. Enjoy!
A personal friend of mine for decades, and one helluva drummer. Passed away 8/12, after a long battle with cancer. He will be remembered and missed by many.
See also Rock n' Roll Doctor, embedding disabled.
Here's one of my favorites off of Spoon's stellar Gimme Fiction.
Black Sabbath never seems to get enough credit for their musicianship, especially the rhythm section of Bill Ward and Geezer Butler. I've always felt that what set them apart is their flirtation with jazz, as evidenced in Bill Ward's playfulness with time. Anyway, they flat out rock too, so here's the Hand Of Doom off of 1970's Paranoid.
For anti-road-rage Wednesday, our sister site Newstalgia offers up its Mid-Week Concert - Orquesta Sinfonica de la Region de Murcia play music of de Lara, Poulenc and Tchaikovsky
Jimmy Reed is one of my all-time musical heroes, and this is one of my favorite tunes of his. Who are some of your musical heroes?
