Ramblin' with Roger

STAX Obsession

I got me a major league Stax Records jones lately, and it’s all based on some sort of cosmic convergence.

Fifty years ago, in 1957, Satellite Records the predecessor to Stax Records, was opened, ushering in an era of soul. The label changed its name when the founders discovered another company called Satellite Records.

I’ve been listening to Stax music heavily since at least July 29, which is the birthday of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Jim Stewart, who co-started the label with his sister Estelle Axton; STewart-AXton. I played The Complete Stax-Volt Singles 1959-1968, the nine-disc box set that came out in 1991, and The Complete Stax-Volt Soul Singles, Vol. 2: 1968-1971, the nine-CD 1993 followup. I haven’t bought The Complete Stax-Volt Soul Singles, Vol. 3: 1972-1975, the TEN-disc completion, but after reading the Amazon reviews and listening to 100+ minutes of 30-second snippets on Amazon, I may.

Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding, the Staple Singers, Wilson Pickett, Luther Ingram, Albert King, the Bar-Kays, Booker T. & the MG’s, Johnnie Taylor, Rufus and Carla Thomas, and dozens of other artists whose influence remains vital in the music of today. On its many and varied labels, Stax Records also recorded such legends as Big Star, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Bill Cosby, Moms Mabley, and the Grammy-winning comedic genius Richard Pryor.

I’ve also been reading Soulsville U.S.A.: The Story Of Stax Records by Rob Bowman, which came out in 1997 during the 40th anniversary of the label; the book was 12 years in the making. It is stunningly detailed, with footnotes indicating, among other things, differing memories of the participants. It also makes me wonder why Estelle Axton isn’t in the Rock Hall, for it was her Satellite Record Shop where the sound of early Stax was developed.

On PBS this month, I got to watch Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story, which, not so incidentally, will be available on DVD on October 2, 2007; I believe it’s available through PBS now. Let me put it this way: if you claim to care about American popular music, you should either read the Bowman book or watch the video. Preferably both, although the last third of each, showing the final decline, is a bit tough.

You’ll find out about a problematic deal with Atlantic Records that, along with the deaths of Otis Redding (on a plane in the Midwest) and Martin Luther King, Jr. (assassinated in Memphis), nearly killed the label by 1968, but you’ll also learn about how Stax managed to have a racially integrated house band that rivaled Motown’s The Funk Brothers in segregated Memphis, including Steve Cropper and “Duck” Dunn, names you might recognize from the Blues Brothers band.

Thanks to the hard work of Al Bell, the record producer who had become president of Stax, the label not only survived but thrived. According to the Wikipedia piece: “On August 20, 1972, the Stax label presented a major concert, Wattstax, featured performances by Stax recording artists and humor from rising young comedian Richard Pryor. Known as the “Black Woodstock,” Wattstax was hosted by Reverend Jesse Jackson and drew a crowd of over 100,000 attendees, most of them African-American. Wattstax was filmed by motion picture director Mel Stuart (Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory), and a concert film of the event was released to theaters by Columbia Pictures in February 1973.” Thus, today is the 35th anniversary of that seminal event.

Some bank dealings, plus an unfortunate arrangement with CBS Records, helped lead to the label’s unfortunate first ending in 1975, although it’s been recently revived.

The final piece is that today is the 65th birthday of “Black Moses”, Isaac Hayes. Long before he started recording as a featured performer, he was a session musician. He also wrote a number of songs, many for Sam (Moore) and Dave (Prater); his songwriting partner was often David Porter. Then he became a star, putting out an 18-minute version of Jim Webb’s “By the Time I Get To Phoenix” on “Hot Buttered Soul”; a 6:45 single was also released. Of course, he is probably best known, at least in my generation, as the writer/performer of the Oscar-winning theme for the movie Shaft. “That man Shaft is a bad mother—.” “Shut your mouth.”

Here’s a section from the Bowman book:
…by the time Hayes was eighteen months old his mother had passed away in a mental institution; because his father had disappeared sometime before her death, Isaac was raised by his [sharecropper] grandparents…After his grandfather died, when he was eleven, Isaac, his sister and grandmother, together and separately, lived all over North Memphis…When they were cut off from welfare…they used the wood from their outhouse to burn for heat…The next year, the family ran out of food and Isaac’s grandmother and sister got sick from hunger.
Yet, Hayes survived, and once he discovered music, thrived.

So read about Stax. More importantly, Respect Yourself and LISTEN to some Stax.
***
Steve Gerber Knows His Stax. Gordon’s July’s Record You Should Own is a Stax album. Julie Hembeck, for your birthday, listen to some Stax.
ROG

The Timeshare

When Carol, Lydia and I prepared for going to the timeshare in the Berkshires (Hancock, MA) in late June, it was exhausting. We really didn’t know much to expect. We had visited other venues, and the accommodations varied widely. So we packed so much that I had to slam the trunk closed a few times. You may have heard of the preparations for D-Day, June 6, 1944; Ike was a piker compared with my wife.

I got the Mapquest directions which read, after getting on I-90, to:
Merge onto TROY RD / US-4 S via EXIT 9 toward EAST GREENBUSH. 0.6 miles
Turn LEFT onto LUTHER RD / NY-151. Continue to follow NY-151. 5.0 miles
Turn LEFT onto NY-150. 1.8 miles
Turn RIGHT onto BIITTIG RD. 1.1 miles
BIITTIG RD becomes SHEER RD / CR-52. 0.8 miles
Turn SLIGHT RIGHT onto FIRST DYKE RD. 0.9 miles
FIRST DYKE RD becomes METHODIST FARM RD. 1.7 miles
Turn RIGHT onto NY-43 / NY-66. Continue to follow NY-43.
before we even got to Massachusetts. (It was only later that we figure we could just take Route 43 from I-90 all the way.)

Anyway, we get to this place near Jiminy Peak that looks like:

Of course, this being a timeshare, you don’t just check in, as you might in a hotel. You need to get an in-service about their amenities and make an appointment for later in the week to see if we might want to buy a place ourselves. Oh, boy, can’t wait until Wednesday.

The place had a full kitchen, a little washer-drier, a TV in both bedrooms, and a TV with a DVD player in the living room.

There wasn’t a lot of kid-friendly stuff, especially 3-year-old kid-friendly, actually at the place. There were kids’ movies every night at 6 pm. Monday night, Carol took Lydia to see Charlotte’s Web. Lydia had never been to the movies, and the room was VERY dark when the lights were out, so they left in 10 minutes. There was an inside/outside swimming pool that Carol and Lydia used almost daily. There WAS a playground a couple miles away, but it was fairly barren.

(Which one is our car? I really don’t know, but it’s not one of the SUVs.)

Wednesday morning, the saleslady shows up, bringing us gifts (an oatmeal-scented candle, a magnet, a deck of cards, and most interesting to me, a hat that actually fit my head). She asked how we got there, and we explained that we were offered the space by my parents-in-law 18 to 30 months previous, that we had only now taken advantage of it, and that we hadn’t been on a real vacation since 2003. We were so pathetic that she didn’t even TRY to sell us.

Later that morning, I did go to one of those free demonstrations of facial, hand and other products. It was me and nine women; see, I DO have a sensitive side.

In the evening, we could see that a massive thunderstorm was hitting Albany. In fact, the timeshare was close enough that we could watch Albany stations. On Western Avenue, not far from our house, I could see there was localized flooding; our home, I learned only the next day, was fine. Still, I was glad that I watched that Paul Simon: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song thing, because the storm had knocked out our DVD recordings for the remainder of the week.

On Saturday, Carol expressed frustration that she hadn’t gotten to do a lot of things on her own (like my facial, and a movie I saw – to be described), so she went off to Williams College and saw art while Lydia and I hung out. Later, Carol and I, in turn, used the hot tub, finally. Sunday, we went home. Lydia said Saturday, that she was tired of “vacation”, and wanted to be around her own stuff; I was with her. I think when she’s older, it’ll be a better experience for all of us.

I mean, it WAS a lovely place to be, especially in the morning, when I would go for a walk and play license plate tag. I found 31 states, and 4 Canadian provinces. I took a picture of this one with GayProf, who loves Texas, in mind. Imagine: a Texas liberal – you can’t see it in the picture, but the vehicle had as bunch of environmental and open-government stickers.
ROG

Second Chapter QUESTION

As you’ve probably heard, Phil Rizzuto died this week. The Yankee shortstop had seven World Series rings, then became a colorful broadcaster for the team. But those of you outside the New York metro area probably didn’t know about his years as pitchman for The Money Store. In fact, if you didn’t follow sports, you may have known him ONLY as a spokesman.

Which got me to thinking: who can I (and I’m hoping YOU) name where the person had considerable success in one field, but a new generation would know that person only as a performer in another field?

I’m thinking of Rizzuto’s teammate, Joe DiMaggio, who was a great centerfielder. But all I really know about him in my direct awareness, besides him being the ex of Marilyn Monroe, was Joltin’ Joe as the Mr. Coffee spokesman. (Oh, yeah, and that Simon & Garfunkel reference.)

George Foreman went from angry young heavyweight boxer to jovial grillmeister.

Jim Bunning went from Hall of Fame pitcher to U.S. Senator.

My favorite example may be Orson Welles. The movie writer/director/producer/actor who scared America with his War of the Worlds radio broadcast was this behemoth of a man in those late 1970s TV ads for Paul Masson wines: “We will sell no wine before its time”.

What are your favorite examples?
***
Someone testing my knowledge of trivia – a regular happenstance – asked me this question: what was the only white artist to have a Number One record on Motown Records? I gave some guesses: Rare Earth, Bobby Darin, Chris Clark, Soupy Sales. The answer I was given: Captain & Tenille! This didn’t sound right at all. So I got out my trusty Billboard books and discovered that the duo had hits on A&M and on Casablanca Records. No Motown.

BUT, according to the Wikipedia post: “In 2004, the name [Casablanca Records] was revived for a joint venture between Universal Music Group and Tommy Mottola. In a Billboard article, Mottola said that he chose the name as an homage to the original label, but that there was no direct connection between the old and new labels. Casablanca is now a part of Universal Motown Records Group.” My guess is that my inquisitor, who was working off partial info – he couldn’t even name the hit song – was attributing “Do That to Me One More Time” that was on the original Casablanca Records to the new Universal Motown-related label. Or so I surmise.

ROG

Steamboat Bobby

Today is the 200th anniversary of the first successful commercial steamboat use. In 1807, the North River Steamboat, built by Robert Fulton, began a regular passenger boat service between New York City and Albany, 150 miles away.

Here’s a somewhat bizarre 3-minute history lesson:
Of course, Fulton, like many others was mocked, notes Ysabella in this 1937 classic tune:
Here’s faux steamboat launch:

A music video by a band called Steamboat; the song is called Curtains Tale.

“Steamboat G’wine ‘Round the Bend”, a ‘visual’ music piece written by John Fahey, played by Josh Lane.

And finally, probably the obvious choice, Mickey Mouse in Steamboat Willie. I wonder if this 1928 piece is in the public domain yet. By the laws that were in effect at the time, or even a change or two later, it should be:

ROG

Elvis Is Dead

My father hated Elvis. He resented this white artist stealing/exploiting/ profiting from performing black music. (But then half of the musicians in the ’50s and ’60s from Pat Boone to Led Zeppelin “borrowed” from black music). So I never owned any Elvis music as a child or teenager.

Still, I did like some of his songs (Jailhouse Rock, Little Sister). So I watched the ’68 “comeback special” and became grudgingly, a mild fan.

When Elvis died, I thought, “Oh, that’s too bad.” The Elvis cult that’s developed since 1977 I view with fascination and utter bemusement.

I swiped the above from REMEMBERING ELVIS RECOLLECTIONS OF THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF THE KING ARE SWEETENED THROUGH THE AGES FOR LOYAL FANS by Mark McGuire, Times Union, The (Albany, NY), August 16, 1997. But since I was stealing what I wrote at the time, I guess it’s OK. I’m sure I wrote more, but it was edited down. I probably wrote about feeling as though I were sneaking behind my father’s back listening to the music, and how I never actually owned any Elvis until Elvis died.

I remember being on a city bus a year or two ago listening to some kids dissing Elvis as old news. I wanted to cut in and tell them that Elvis made $37 million the year before, but chose not to. In 2006, Elvis was only the Second to the Top-Earning Dead Celebrity with $42 million, after being #1 for 2001 through 2005. He was supplanted at the top by Kurt Cobain with $50 million.

Anyway, here are the lyrics to the appropriate Living Colour song and the video.
***
Passing last month, Allan Pottasch, the creative guru of this:

Also passing last month, the jinglemeister in this video, Jerry Ringlien:

ROG