Author Archive

Free to Be You and Me, baby -- one of the best shows EVER!!! Rosey Grier is a true Brooklyn Boy, and a true Stud Breed!!!

Wiki-History: Roosevelt “Rosey” Grier (born July 14, 1932 in Cuthbert, Georgia) is an American actor, Christian minister, and former professional American football player. He was a noteworthy college football player for Pennsylvania State University who earned a retrospective place in the National Collegiate Athletic Association 100th anniversary list of 100 most influential student athletes. As a professional player, Grier was a member of the original Fearsome Foursome of the Los Angeles Rams and played in the Pro Bowl twice.

After Grier’s professional sports career he worked as a bodyguard for Robert Kennedy during the 1968 presidential campaign and was guarding the senator’s wife, Ethel Kennedy, during the Robert F. Kennedy assassination. Although unable to prevent that killing, Grier took control of the gun and subdued the shooter, Sirhan Sirhan.

Grier’s other activities have been colorful and varied. He hosted his own Los Angeles television show and made approximately 70 guest appearances on various shows during the 1960s and 1970s. Grier is known for his serious pursuit of nontraditional hobbies such as macrame and needlepoint. He has authored several books, including Rosey Grier’s Needlepoint for Men in 1973. Grier became an ordained Christian minister in 1983 and travels as an inspirational speaker. He founded American Neighborhood Enterprises, a nonprofit organization that serves inner city youth.

If you have ten minutes to spare, this will blow your mind -- pure improvisation at its finest!!!

Wiki-History: McFerrin switches rapidly and fluidly between normal and falsetto registers to create polyphonic effects, effectively performing both the main melody and the accompanying parts of songs. He makes use of vocal percussion created both with his mouth and by tapping on his chest. McFerrin is also capable of throat singing^{[citation needed]} — as used in his song “Drive” from the 2005 DVD Live in Montreal — a practice common in central Asian regions such as Tuva and Tibet in which the singer excites the natural overtones from the fundamental vocal pitch, producing a two-or three-part chord of notes from one voice.

A notable document of McFerrin’s approach to singing is his 1984 album The Voice, the first solo vocal jazz album recorded with no accompaniment or overdubbing.^[3]

This video takes the concept of an audience “sing along” to a whole new level! The only reason Bobby can do this is because he has a well educated audience of singers/musicians. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Bobby McFerrin, in solo voice concerts twice; once at NJPAC and again at Lincoln Center in NYC. Mr. McFerrin called for 12 SINGERS to join him on stage during the concert. At Lincoln Center I was lucky to be in the front row, and I jumped up at the opportunity!!! Bobby assigned us all a part, then improvised over it…one of the most amazing musical experiences in my life, foe shizzle. I had to laugh when VH1 featured Bobby McFerrin on a Where are They Now? program, as if he had vanished…as if after “Don’t Worry Be Happy” (an amazing vocal performance) he hadn’t done a thing?!?!?!? Then there was the urban myth that he had committed suicide.

Friends…Bobby McFerrin is alive and well. Go hear him live if you ever get the opportunity!!!

Wiki-History: Robert “Bobby” McFerrin, Jr. (born March 11, 1950) is a ten-time Grammy Award-winning jazz-influenced a cappella vocal performer and conductor. He is best known for his 1988 hit song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy“.

I can remember hearing this song come across the New York City radio airwaves…95.5 WPLJ-FM. Pat St. John, Carol Miller…Pete Townshend said that Ray Davies is the Poet Laureate of Rock & Roll! Leave it to an Englishman to write the greatest song about Hollywood ever composed!!!

“Those who are successful, be always on your guard. Success walks hand in hand with failure, along Hollywood Boulevard…”

Wiki-History: “Celluloid Heroes” is a song performed by The Kinks and featured on their 1972 album Everybody’s in Show-Biz. Written by their lead vocalist, Ray Davies, the song mentions many famous actors of 20th century film by name and also mentions Los Angeles‘s Hollywood Boulevard. Actors mentioned in the song include Greta Garbo, Rudolph Valentino, Bela Lugosi, Bette Davis, Marilyn Monroe, George Sanders, and Mickey Rooney. The central theme of the song is the inhumane manner in which the Hollywood industry drains and exploits its stars, while their film images endure.

Although not a hit single, the track received consistent airplay on AOR radio stations in the US through the 1970s and into the 1980s. Airplay in recent years has been scarce with classic rock stations favouring only the bands’ top-40 hits.

James Taylor performing “Shower the People” at the Colonial Theater in Boston, MA in 1988. This is from a VHS that was released in 1991 entitled James Taylor in Concert. “Shower the People”, written by James Taylor, from In the Pocket, released in 1976.

And before the loopstation there was the Reel To Reel tape machine! Its pretty hard to believe JT was a deeply depressed heroin addict at one point…

Wiki-History: “Shower the People” is the opening track on James Taylor‘s 1976 album In the Pocket. The song reached #22 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the fall of that year, remaining in the Top 40 for eight weeks. It also topped the adult contemporary chart for one week, Taylor’s third song to do so, following 1971′s “You’ve Got a Friend” and 1975′s “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)“.^[1]

This is a great performance of Joni’s LEGENDARY hit, “Woodstock.” It’s pretty amazing how Joni can make a rather out-of-tune piano sound sooooo damn great!!! Stardust!!!

Wiki-History: “Woodstock” is a song about the Woodstock Music and Art Festival of 1969.

Joni Mitchell wrote the song from what she had heard from then-boyfriend, Graham Nash, about the festival. She had not been there herself, since she was told it would be more advantageous to appear on The Dick Cavett Show by a manager. She wrote this song crying at home watching the show on television. It was later released on her third album, Ladies of the Canyon in 1970, on her Shadows and Light album, and again in 1996 on her Hits album.

Mitchell’s original version featured a stark and haunting arrangement -- solo vocal, multi-tracked backing vocals and tremoloed Wurlitzer electric piano all performed by Mitchell herself. All subsequent recordings featured a fuller backing band sound.

Prior to release on any album, Mitchell performed “Woodstock” at the 1969 Big Sur Folk Festival, one month after Woodstock. The solo performance can be seen in the festival concert film Celebration at Big Sur (released in 1971). Ironically, Mitchell later developed a well-known distaste for festival gigs.

And one more…

“Somewhere Along the Line” -- Billy Joel

Billy was such a dirt bag and rocked as hard as anyone!!!

Wiki-History: William Martin “Billy” Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American rock musician, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. He released his first hit song, “Piano Man“, in 1973. According to the RIAA, Billy Joel is the sixth best-selling recording artist in the United States.^[3]

Joel had Top 10 hits in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s and has 33 Top 40 hits in the United States overall. He is also a five-time Grammy Award winner, a 23-time Grammy nominee and has sold in excess of 150 million albums worldwide.^[4] He was inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame (1992), the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1999), and the Long Island Music Hall of Fame (2006). Joel “retired” from recording pop music in 1993 but continued to tour (sometimes with Elton John). In 2001, he released Fantasies & Delusions, a CD of classical compositions for piano. In 2007, he briefly returned to pop songwriting and recording with a single entitled “All My Life” — written for his third wife Katie Lee Joel. Joel returned to touring in 2006 after a three-year hiatus from the road and has toured extensively ever since, covering many of the major world cities. In March 2009, Joel resumed his popular Face to Face tour with fellow piano man Elton John. The tour is expected to go on and off for two years and travel around the world. The two artists first paired up in 1994 but hadn’t toured together since May 2003.

“Woodstock” -- Joni Mitchell (Big Sur)

This is a great performance of Joni’s LEGENDARY hit, “Woodstock.” It’s pretty amazing how Joni can make a rather out-of-tune piano sound sooooo damn great!!! Stardust!!!

And one more…

“Somewhere Along the Line” -- Billy Joel (1978)

Billy was such a dirt bag and rocked as hard as anyone!!!