This category is for artists whom I thought significant enough to write multiple posts about.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law – Aleister Crowley All I know is that [with Crowley] it’s a system that works. If you put all your energies into it there’s no doubt you’ll succeed. Because that’s your true will. – Jimmy … Continue reading Led Zeppelin (Part 4) – Houses of the Unholy
Stop the presses – In the last post, I mentioned that Zep had done an early gig in Denmark. What I did not know is that it had been filmed for TV. So I went back and inserted it in that post. I’m inserting it … Continue reading Led Zeppelin (Part 3) – A Couple of Shrieking Monkeys
“I wasn’t particularly interested in the blues. I was more interested in Stax, Motown, that sort of thing. But Jimmy promised something a little different from a regular, one-style blues band. – John Paul Jones. “John Bonham played the drums like someone who didn’t know … Continue reading Led Zeppelin – (Part 2) What Goes Up …
This series will be in five parts, not because I think Zep is THE band but largely because there’s so much to say about them as well as the British blues/rock scene and that era that it warrants that kind of coverage. “When I grew … Continue reading Led Zeppelin – (Part 1) Hammer of the Gods
I grew up singing Mexican music, and that’s based on indigenous Mexican rhythms. Mexican music also has an overlay of West African music, based on huapango drums, and it’s kind of like a 6/8 time signature, but it really is a very syncopated 6/8. And that’s … Continue reading Linda Ronstadt (final of 2 posts)
Linda Ronstadt has said that “all girl singers” eventually “have to curtsy to Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday.” Of Maria Callas, Ronstadt says, “There’s no one in her league. That’s it. Period. I learn more … about singing rock n roll from listening to Maria Callas records than I ever … Continue reading Linda Ronstadt (1st of 2 posts)
Pictured: Aretha singing at Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration. Her hat got about as much press as her performance. Aretha, like her father, was a die-hard Democrat and like a lot of us who were hopelessly naive, saw Obama’s inauguration as the possible beginning of a … Continue reading Aretha Franklin (final of 4) – Amazing Grace
