“We never ever do nothin’ nice and easy.”- Tina Turner Wikipedia: “Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is a singer and actress, originally from the United States and now a Swiss citizen. Turner rose to prominence as part of the Ike & … Continue reading A Six-pack of Tina Turner
Never know how much I love you Never know how much I care When you put your arms around me I get a fever that’s so hard to bear You give me fever (you give me fever) when you kiss me Fever when you hold … Continue reading One Song, Three Versions – Fever
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 onย Billboard’sย 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 forย African-Americanย musicians, comedians, and other entertainers during the era ofย racial segregation in the United Statesย (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.ย 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
So a while back I started reading that the Cabot Theater in Beverly MA – a somewhat artsy town north of Boston – was going to have a night of tribute to Bessie Smith. (We saw Los Lobos here not too long ago.) I looked … Continue reading Bessie Smith – (Part 2) – The Greatest Blues Singer in the World Will Never Stop Singing
