This category is for artists whom I thought significant enough to write multiple posts about.
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
We all require and want respect, man or woman, black or white. It’s our basic human right.” – Aretha Franklin. Otis Redding wrote and released “Respect” in the summer of 1965. It had some level of success (Top Five on Billboard’s Black Singles Chart, and crossed over … Continue reading Aretha Franklin (Part 3) – Respect
Wikipedia: The now-defunct Regal Theater in Chicago was part of the so-called “chitlin circuit,” that “provided commercial and cultural acceptance for African-American musicians, comedians, and other entertainers during the era of racial segregation in the United States (from at least the early 19th century through the 1960s.) Sometime in … Continue reading Aretha Franklin (Part 2) – The Queen of Soul
Aretha Franklin, the “Queen of Soul,” died on August 16, 2018 at the age of 76. This is her story. If you think know Aretha, you probably don’t. Read on. I think that, to make sense of Aretha – “Ree” to her friends and family … Continue reading Aretha Franklin – (Part 1) The Sacred and the Profane
