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
“He’s the last African-American Everyman,” says Questlove of his hero Bill Withers. “Jordan’s vertical jump has to be higher than everyone. Michael Jackson has to defy gravity. On the other side of the coin, we’re often viewed as primitive animals. We rarely land in the … Continue reading Bill Withers
Anyone who has read this blog before knows of my love of ‘50’s/early /60’s rock and roll and especially, doo-wop. By the time the early ’70’s rolled around, we were a long way away from the Fifties, whose music was largely represented by Sha Na … Continue reading The Persuasions
If you’re under a certain age, I don’t know, say 45, the name Sade (Shah-DAY) may be fairly well unknown to you. But in her heyday, essentially the Eighties/early Nineties. she was every bit as big as Adele is today. Her story…. Helen Folasade Adu … Continue reading Sade
“Into the ’60s, I was still not of a frame of mind that we were not only making music, we were making history. But I did recognize the impact because acts were going all over the world at that time. I recognized the bridges that … Continue reading Motown – Part 2 – Hitsville USA
NOTE: Given that I’ve been hearing from people outside the US that certain YouTube songs won’t play, from this post forward I’m going to both embed a YouTube version of a given song as well as provide a Spotify link. Not sure how well that … Continue reading Motown – Part 1 – The Boxer
Junior Walker (born Autry deWalt Mixon) was a Midwestern kid who picked up the saxophone in high school. He got the “Junior” part from his stepfather whose name was Walker. His first band, in the mid-50’s was called the Jumping Jacks. Junior moved from Indiana to … Continue reading Jr. Walker & The All Stars
Music Enthusiast - At the junction of rock, blues, R&B, jazz, pop,and soul 