Bill Withers: "Who Is He", and How Is He Still So Ill?

I was supposed to go to Memphis this weekend, but I wasn't able to. Travel plans became a casualty of infinite snow.
No big deal.
What is a big deal is that my favored coffee shop is closed today- some holiday of some sort- and the other one?
Having a birthday party
(a V-day B-day Par-tay)
for children, in the back. I am deeply pleased with myself for bringing headphones...
Now, to the business at hand.

Download a little valedictorian valentine, for all you valetudinarians out there! This one will make you feel tuff and buff!
Bill Withers- Who Is He (And What Is He To You?)
"Valedictorian" means 'highest' in 'class', and this songs does possess class for days.
You, however, are like school in the summer, or school this last week in Philadelphia: NO CLASS.
A "valetudinarian" is a sickly, weakly constituted little pffff of a person.

Even if you are such a pffff, this song has a boss little edge to it. It's about a guy, looking at his girl, who appears to be looking at some other guy. Looking at him like, 'oh hey, I know you and I got a thing, but this guy is my guy, so don't mean-mug him, you knew we were OPP and all that' or somesuch. But Bill is not sure he wants to be caught up in all that, ya know?




Mr. Bill is so slept on! We all know him from that 'Use Me' song from American Beauty, we all know 'Lean on Me', and some of us love "Ain't No Sunshine" (yes, all these are the same gentleman). But what about "Granma's hands", "Harlem", "Kissing", "Another Day to Run", "I Don't Want You On My Mind"?!?!?!
People! Let's get our shit together! Now a movie is out about the guy; we missed the screening in West Philly, but can still catch it in Lower Merion.
ROADTRIP?!!?!?!

(sorry about so many exclamatory question marks- I've been
at home
alone
a lot
lately.)

Still Bill Trailer from B-Side Entertainment on Vimeo.

The trailer has stupid sting in it, boo, but also awesome Cornel West. Sure, s was in The Police, but Cornel West is a philosopher, which according to Ranciere means that he disrupts 'police', and also, Dr. West's album has Prince, Andre 3000, Talib Kweli, Black Thought, and WHYY Philadelphia's own Tavis Smiley.

That's enough for now. One of the Vday Bday children lost a pair of glasses. I should go help them find them.
no, not really

Teddy Pendergrass- To Know Him, is to Love Him

Teddy Pendergrass on Youtube; specifically, Teddy with Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes: "Be Real"

We lost one. Teddy Pendergrass passed yesterday. Rest In Power, Teddy P.
I heard about it on NPR, that trusted source for black entertainment news.

The track above is right thick in the middle of my last (official...) AMX Mix. This one apes the sound of the sounds on the Pulp Fiction sdtk (=soundtrack).
It is called Black Mask McGuffin (I'll explain, next post). Grab it here.
So it is some grownup, sexy, calm before the (quiet) storm business. You know that the Reverend Al Green is on there: just extrapolate, and you have half the mix.

You might know Teddy from R Kelly's "I'm A Flirt", where T Pain references him.
(to know him, is to love him)
T Pain calls himself "Teddy Bend-her-ass", which is vulgar, yes, but shows that Teddy P is known for being zexee.

You might also know Teddy (again, with his earlier group, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, hereafter HMBN) from the "Dead Presidents" soundtrack.
(to know him, is to love him)

Groups on the stellar Dead Prez sdtk include
Sly & The Family Stone, "Walk On By" (best version ever) by Isaac Hayes, HMBN, James Brown, Barry White, Curtis Mayfield, Aretha Franklin , Al Green , The O'Jays , Isaac Hayes , and weirdly, Danny Elfman on the score.

Heavy hitters to a one, am I wrong? And HMBN and Teddy hit just as hard as any of the rest.
(the heavy hitters on "AMX: Black Mask McGuffin" include Al Green, Jerry Butler, James Brown, and HMBN too; but I wasn't copying, swear!)
My buddy/pal/confidant Kyle burnt me this sdtk, a looooong while ago. This sdtk used to be about one of two CDs of soul/RnB that I owned, along with Al Green's great Greatest Hits.
(got a few more now)
The CD is so old that it clips in and out near the end. It doesn't skip- it is not scratched- but rather, the CD is reflecting less light than it needs to, so there is a rhythmic clicking/scuffing near the end of the CD. It makes it sound like a scratched record, but not good like that.
Supposedly, all burnt CDs will do this eventually.
(Armand Van Helden burnt CD- also about 10 years old- suffered the same fate.....)
When they all go kaput, it will basically be like the fucking Apocalypse.

Also, let's have an adult moment, since this is some adult music here.
I'll be honest with you: some of these tracks, some not all, are a bit on the scratchy side.
It stands as indirect proof of the greatness of these particular records. These records were so well-loved (by previous owners) that they got played again and again,
and again,
and eventually picked up a li'l scuff here and there.
But you can handle it, right, you can hang tough? I hope so. Even if you cannot, you will only notice the scuff on the tracks right in the beginning; once those strings/basslines/harmonies/etc drop, there will be enough volume to cover li'l scuff. So nuh be afeared, man.

Even if you don't like the sound of the vinyl, it could be worse.

You could be dead.

Billy Bragg, and Steven Wells: A New England, A New Day, A New Way?

A local journalist died recently, and was lovingly yakked about in the local press. He was Steven Wells, and we wrote loud, short-but-they-feel-longer pieces, about music and general goings-on (like knitting, and how much he despised it).



Sounds like my blog, correct?: but he was, admittedly, better. In part, because he was British, so when he swore (often), it was with words like "SLAG!".

Accident Waiting To Happen - Billy Bragg

[[[ I'm putting a YouTube clip below, because you can maybe only listen to 30 seconds of the above, correct? If you don't have an Imeem.com account at least, correct? Be Honest: has anyone actually got one? (...comments plz...)I do, obv, but do you guys? Or are you all just hearing mini-tiny-itty-bitty clipz? ]]]

So, this qualifies the 'local' aspect, but he'd been here a while and made a life for himself. In fact, he must have deliberately chosen Philly, because he used to be mad famous in England, writing for NME and such. One day he picked up and came here, quite making his mark.
Anyhow, he was famous enough (and impassioned enough, and liked enough) that Billy Bragg wrote about him upon his death.
Now I love Billy Bragg; when I still had a list under the MUSIC section on my Myspace page, he was on there. You understand the relative significance of this, yeah?



(Above is the YouTube version to listen to -IF- you've never heard the song before; if you've heard it a bit, listen to the one at the bottom. It better shows his camaraderie with his audience [funny, because he's a Socialist, get it, Comrade?], his folk and punk roots when he makes them singalong, and how he's funny/charming. These would all be reasons why he and Steven Wells were on friendly terms...)

I won't launch into a grand description of him here, for these reasons:
1) Dude's pretty big- and you are a big girl/boy- so you can figure it out on your own
2) I may write more about him later, maybe vis a vis my "Slept On" series, where I discuss 'really-favorite' music that I never hear my friends talk about

Dig?



Here are some lyrics from that song:

"I was twenty one years when I wrote this song
I'm twenty two now, but I won't be for long
People ask when will you grow up to be a man
But all the girls I loved at school are already pushing prams

I loved you then as I love you still
Tho I put you on a pedestal
They put you on the pill...

I don't want to change the world
I'm not looking for a new England
I'm just looking for another girl

I loved the words you wrote to me
But that was bloody yesterday
I can't survive on what you send
Every time you need a friend

I saw two shooting stars last night
I wished on them but they were only satellites
Is it wrong to wish on space hardware
I wish, I wish, I wish you'd care"

heh

Smack My Bass Up- Larry Graham, his Bass Badassery, and You

I got a new setup for taking records and putting them onto my computer. I won't bore you with technical details, but it will sound even better now.
One of the first albums I ripped using this newfangled high-tech methodology was Larry Graham's band 'Graham Central Station'.

The album I got is called "Now Do U Wanta Dance?" and it's first track is called "happ-e-2-c-u-a-ginn", NJK, which should have clued me in: he used to be in Sly and the Family Stone. Remember, they have that song "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)".



Evidently, this guy Larry Graham invented the slap bass, which is a pretty big deal. If you ain't hearda it, you are decidedly UNFONKY. You can hear some fonk here, where he and his band cover Al Green's "Love and Happiness". The bass, which Larry plays*, is big and right up front. You've already heard it, right?, funkily plunking away.

* Larry plays a bunch of instruments, and other than this (and another) cover, he wrote, produced, and arranged all the songs. He is evidently very proud of this (he should be), because on the back of this album, there is a 'TYPOGRAPHICAL NOTE' that clarifies: "There was a misprint on the last album: all songs WERE NOT WRITTEN by Steve Henderson. ALL songs were WRITTEN BY LARRY GRAHAM".
I'm approximating the note: I didn't bring the record to the cafe with me (regret).


Here are some more things that happened in Portland.


(This didn't happen- read below for details- it's an engraving by Albrecht Dürer- he's famous-like.)

At Stumptown, I drank coffee from $300 beans. I'm approximating again: they were $15 an ounce (you do the math, SQUARE!)! I don't know why they cost so much. I paid regular coffee price for a mug. It tasted good, but then, so do their $12/lb coffees. For $300+/lb, that coffee had better won some tasting awards. No: It better have won the damn Olympics.

I got these reading materials in Portland. (I now feel like I am filling out '15 books 15 minutes' on Facebook again.)

Par Lagerkvist- the sibyl
Never heard of, Nobel Prize winner

Graham Greene- quiet american
Kurt Vonnegut Jr- cat's cradle
Gregory Dicum- Window Seat
Pictures of the landscape, as you see it flying over in a plane. Shows you how to identify things, like former glacier movements, military installations, barrier reefs, etc. The writer and designer of the book had connections at Wired magazine, so the book has all these interesting cool looking diagrams.

BUSTED magazine
Wherein random mugshots of people arrested in your county are posted. You can read it at my house, next time you are there. (Lot of meth-related arrests and DUIs: Go Oregon!)

Candy Bombers - Andrei Cherny
About the Berlin airlift. Haven't heard? When the Russians blockaded Berlin, almost setting off Russia/USA violence in the middle of the Cold War, America airlifted necessary supplies into Berlin. Including (not limited to) candy/raisins for children, and a power plant. Really, all the tools and materials for a WHOLE POWER PLANT. If you ever get bored in life, remember that shit like this goes down all the time. Don't be lazy; read something; bye-bye boredom. Then you'll know that the kids affectionately called the pilots 'RaisinBombers', and extended this later to all Americans.

Technologies of the Self
Papers by Foucault and others who took this course from him.

Wax Poetics
Philly Issue! Philly International records, and such!

I'll share fun details out of this, as I read it! That's Teddy Pendergrass above, looking luxe.

Akira: two random collections of Akira comics.
A small small fraction of the over 1800 pages it eventually came out to.

Albrecht Dürer. Lots of pictures. He is famous for his engravings (but you knew that). A funny medium to be immortal in - good for you, Albrecht: good for you.
Click on them for larger versions, if you're into that sort of thing.

I Made it Good to Myself (but Michael Jackson did not, b/c he's dead)

Got back from Portland, where the weather was about as good as it has been lately in Philadelphia. Surprisingly, I only got two (2) (!) CDs while I was there. I meant to go by Everyday Music, still my favorite ever CD shop, but didn't really have time. (Didn't get to Prineville's Neat Repeat either).
That's okay, for two reasons- 1) saved $40-80; 2) I can go in a few weeks if I go back for the Beer Festival: odds are about even on that.

Make It Good To Yourself - James Brown

BREAKING NEWS: James Butler has reported that E! has reported that Michael Jackson is reportedly dead! Reports are reporting that it was cardiac arrest (aka a BROKEN HEART!).
(not to be selfish, but does this mean that I can finally claim the title of King of Pop?!?!? ALL HAIL the NEW King of Pop!!! Three Cheers for meMeME!!! YEA ME!!!)
Related reports report that Farrah Fawcett also finally succumbed to her long bout of cancer... ANAL cancer!
NJK! Look it up!

(related connection: a famous beer expert is also named Michael Jackson, and is also dead. It's a F A C T ! Also, James Brown is dead- sad but true!)


Got them (them: James Brown "Black Caesar" sdtk.; Jesus & Mary Chain hits/best) at some resale shop near Alberta, or near Mississippi (ask Emily which it was).

You know that James Brown is called "the Godfather of Soul", of course. What you DID NOT KNOW is that he gave himself this nickname via the score/soundtrack he did for "Black Caesar". "Whuh?", you say. Cos' "The Godfather" came out around the same time, and since both movies deal with godfathers/Caesars/gangsters, he piggybacked on the other, already successful, movie. So sayeth the liner notes. IT BE FACTUAL!

While I was there, these things happened:
I almost hit a bear with my parents' car. On a mountain, obviously: my parents don't live (quite) that far out.
Talked firearms etc. with Jeffrey et al ("reasonable people", the lot of them).
I mass-texted a rape joke. It met with laughter (text laughter) (in most cases).
I got a flat on another person's bike. (For consistency's sake, yet retaining a certain air of variety via a clever inversion, I got two flats when I returned, on my own bike while going to a house which is not my own.)
I received a subpoena* for James Brown.**


it says: 'my heart tells me that you will not listen to my words and this is the cause of my tears and my cries'. This sums up my blog.

*subpoena, like Caesar, is hard for me to spell. I'll never get to be the new King of Latinists if I can't get them right!
**this DID IN FACT HAPPEN, although when I lived in Portland before. One of the children who mugged Adriel when I was with her was, evidently, named James Brown. "Godfather of Soulful Muggings"? "Hardest Working Boy in tha Game"? Maybe even "New King of Robbery"?

Sidenote: I am listening to some of the mixes posted earlier on this blog, and man, THEY ARE GOOD! Find the list of blogs with full mixes HERE.

Wise Up: Jerry Butler

I just wised up to the great Jerry Butler. Choice!

I had one of his records, it turns out, but hadn’t listened to it yet. The other day I got about 40 records… for about fifteen bucks.
I bought so many records, that I had to buy a backpack in order to carry them all. It was Heavy!



Including the bag, Zoolander on VHS, 3 books (one about making Aarow brand dress shirts!), and the records, I paid 23 dollars. Bag + VHS + Books >/= $7.
Second Mile, I tell you, is nothing to fuck with.
I got New Edition, Temptations, JERRY BUTLER, The Moments, the Whispers, the shit, etc.

Mr. Butler has a strong, clear and clean voice. Reminds me some of Sam Cooke, but not so mournful. But that way that they can both sort of project a really manly sound, and never seem like they are straining at all: as if it were as easy as talking. That ease with the mic is why he’s called the Iceman.


So, of the three albums that I have, there are three distinctive “Butlers”.



One is full of simple soul songs. (Simple like a circle is simple: it’s perfect, smoothly elegant -- unimpeachable.)

“When a Man Loves a Woman” is on there, you see? Sounds like the early Temptations, with Smokey (think of “My Girl”, for instance). It’s called “Mr. Dream Merchant”.


One is partly Burt Bacharach Songs; more complex, and melodies that are always very bittersweet. More sad. “Moon River”. "Make It Easy On Yourself" (Burt) and even "Yesterday" (Beatles) but punched up with some more sophisticated arrangements.
This album is called “All-Time Greatest Hits”, but they really should have waited before stating “All-Time”, b e c a u s e….:


One is a FULLBLOWN Gamble and Huff Production. They all called it ICE ON ICE (……coooooooool……). Stompers, funky cuts, and NOW we get a little strain in that voice, cos the
S O U L
is getting loose! More like Otis, or even a not-high (and so, more restrained) James Brown. "Moody Woman" is a famous cut off of that album.

By the way, I once received a subpoena for the trial of James Brown. Of course, this particular James Brown was in Juvenile Court (he had mugged Adriel when I was with her months before- but he didn’t technically mug me. From me, he got NOTHING! Nothing, you hear!) in Philadelphia.
And, as I said and as you read, this album happened in Philadelphia too. Gamble and Huff (not humble or gruff) worked out of Philly, on Philly International records.
I really should have kept that subpoena; could've sold it on Ebay or something.