CHEERS to Bill and Michael in PWM, our Laramie, Wyoming-based friend Irish Patti and ...... well, each of you at Cheers and Jeers. Have a fabulous St. Patrick’s Day .... and week ahead.
ART NOTES — an exhibition entitled Artists Respond: American Art and the Vietnam War, 1965-1975— opens today at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC. (through August 18th).
Opens Friday, March 11th in D.C.AFTER BEING IN HIDING for fifteen years, the Carabinieri arrested one of Italy’s longest-standing fugitives from justice, Marco Di Lauro— from the Neapolitan crime gang La Camorra — yet when arrested while having a meal, the Carabinieri commander said that he “seemed most concerned …. about his two cats”.
PROGRAMMING NOTE — I will be travelling next weekend, and thus there will neither be a Friday post on Cheers & Jeers, nor an Odds & Ends diary next weekend. Will return for the end of the month.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Bella the Hero Cat— who awoke a Florida couple (who had left their automobile running) to the rising carbon monoxide poison in their home just in the nick-of-time.
Bella the Hero CatA NOTE about the story of college admissions that I find troubling. There is a mastermind of this scandal (who has, in fact, already pleaded guilty), plus several associates, plus several college coaches (many of whom run either niche sports teams, or non-powerhouse larger sports, which is why their claims were not detected unlike, say: a major football/basketball program). Plus, of the other clients — who, unlike the mastermind, have not yet had their day-in-court — many are wealthy male CEO’s. Not 1 person in 100 could name the mastermind.
Yet the only two clients who are mentioned in headlines, having their photos posted and their marriages scrutinized are … the two female TV stars. And Don Jr. is trying to turn this into a “Hollywood” scandal — blunting the need for a discussion on inequality. He will probably fail in that effort, but not due to a lack-of-trying ... thanks to the traditional media practices.
They’ll have to face the music like the others; just seems unfair to focus on them alone.
FRIDAY's CHILD is a Minnesota kitteh who was found unresponsive inside a burning house …. before being revived by firefighters.
Minnesota kitteh revived by oxygenAMERICA’s DUMBEST CONGRESSMAN ….. strikes again, as Louie Gohmert attempts to “explain” how the New Zealand white supremacist killer should have used “Courts, dispute resolutions, and legislatures to resolve controversies”.
HAIL and FAREWELL to the king of surf guitar, Dick Dale— a Boston native who came to synthesize the California surf sound with his Lebanese heritage, yet who had health problems for many years — who has died at the age of 81.
BRAIN TEASER - try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC.
xSt. Patrick’s Day in America is all about celebrating multi-culturalism. All are welcome here. Happy #StPatricksDaypic.twitter.com/XQlPgYpmXW
— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) March 17, 2019FATHER-SON? — Fisk Johnson, the CEO of SC Johnson (the wax firm) and Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) ... who waxes enthusiastically often on MSNBC these days.
Fisk Johnson (born 1958) Rep. Eric Swallwell (b. 1980)...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… someone who ran a pioneering R&B label at the dawn of the 1950’s — which became part of the foundation of rock music — is Art Rupe, whose Specialty Records from 1946-1960 had an amazing run on the R&B charts, breaking several music stars. He was more than a figurehead record company owner, whose story needs wider recognition.
Born Arthur Goldberg in suburban Pittsburgh to Hungarian immigrant parents, he was enchanted with the Gospel music he heard from a nearby black Baptist church. He attended UCLA, intending to break into the film business .. yet finding it difficult, he decided to enter the music business (with fewer barriers to entry). He adopted his family’s ancestral name of Rupe as his professional name.
After an unsuccessful partnership at Atlas Records in 1944, he resolved to learn what was the key to successful R&B recordings. He spent $200 (at 1944 price levels) on records from stores on Central Avenue in Los Angeles. His findings? Fast tempos, a big band sound with church overtones, the word “boogie” … and the importance of jukebox operators — so he next co-founded Juke Box Records.
The company’s first hit was, appropriately enough, “Boogie #1” by the Sepia Tones, followed by Roy Milton’s“R.M. Blues”. Differences with his partners led to his leaving Juke Box and founding Specialty Records— referring to the “specialty market” of black performers.
In addition to scouting talent, he also resolved to be a full hands-on label owner: researching hydraulics at the library (in order to oversee construction of a pressing plant) and setting-up a distribution chain that enabled him to compete with the major labels. He also assembled a top-flight staff at his 311 Venice Boulevard office, including Robert “Bumps” Blackwell, Harold Battiste and someone named …. Sonny Bono.
From the late 40’s into the 50’s, he had Gospel recordings by the Soul Stirrers and others that included Lou Rawls and Sam Cooke. His secular R&B line-up had Percy Mayfield (Please Send Me Someone to Love), Joe Liggins (whose “Pink Champagne” was the #1 R&B song for 1950), Don & Dewey ….. and his holdover star Roy Milton had several more hits.
In 1952, he visited New Orleans to find a performer in the vein of Fats Domino, and was rewarded when he found a nineteen year-old Lloyd Price (aged 86 as of this writing) who hit #1 with Lawdy Miss Clawdy— one of the first R&B records that had notable sales among white kids. This connection led him to signing other Crescent City performers, such as Art Neville (of the Neville Brothers), Ernie K-Doe, Clifton Chenier (the King of Zydeco), Larry Williams (whose Bony Moronie became a staple for many rock bands) and guitarist Earl King (whose Come On was covered eight years later, on Jimi Hendrix’s landmark Electric Ladyland album).
Yet if Art Rupe never did anything else: it was his recording Little Richard that would ensure his fame. His 1955 Tutti Frutti was one of the most significant records that helped launch the rock era, and his 1958 Good Golly Miss Molly was one of Specialty Records’ last big hits. Art Rupe was, along with many other record label owners, a ruthless financial negotiator, with Little Richard only earning a fraction of what he might have (eventually settling a lawsuit for royalties).
In the first half of the 1960’s, the Specialty Records stars either departed for other labels or left the music business (during the British Invasion) and Art Rupe largely turned his attention to oil and gas interests. He was the last independent record label owner of note — as he did not sell Specialty Records until 1990.
His legacy is set, with inductions into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2007 and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2011 (when he was unable to attend due to health reasons; and being introduced by Lloyd Price). And as of this writing ….. Art Rupe is still alive at age 101 (and will turn 102 in September).
Art Rupe - dawn of the 50’s …. and in more recent yearsOne other performer who recorded for Specialty was Eddie “Guitar Slim” Jones, who experimented with distorted overtones on the electric guitar a full decade before Jimi Hendrix. The Things That I Used to Do was released in 1954, was #1 in the R&B charts for six weeks and features Ray Charles on piano (sadly, Guitar Slim died just six years later at the age of only thirty-two).
It has been covered by everyone from Stevie Ray Vaughn, Ike & Tina Turner, Jimi Hendrix, Chuck Berry, James Brown and (in more recent years) Van Morrison and John Mayer … which made the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll. And below you can hear Guitar Slim’s original version.
The things that I used to do Lord, I won't do no more I used to sit and hold your hand darling And cry "Baby, do not go"
I used to search all night for you darling And my search would always end in vain But I knew all along That you was hid out with your other man
I'm going to send you back to your mother, baby And I'm going back to my family, too There's nothing I do that pleases you, baby I just can't get along with you
x xYouTube Video