obit Archives - Ramblin' with Roger

Guitar virtuoso Steve Cropper (1941-2025)

STAX Records songwriter, composer, producer

FILE – Guitarist, songwriter and record producer Steve Cropper poses Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)

Because I’ve known about Steve Cropper for decades, I forget that others weren’t so fortunate. It’s partially due to STAX Records having a less prominent profile in popular music in the 1960s than Motown.

Rob Bowman wrote the detailed Soulsville, U.S.A.: The Story of STAX Records, published in 1997. Steve Cropper is mentioned no fewer than 100 times. There was also a four-part HBO documentary in 2024 of the same name, with Bowman as a consultant.

Cropper was a founding member of the Mar-Keys and Booker T. and the MGs. He, among many others, worked at the Satellite Record Store, which STAX co-founder Estelle Axton ran; it became a “conduit for talent.” Estelle’s brother, STAX co-founder Jim Stewart, recognizing Steve’s acute ear, picked Cropper to be the STAX A&R man in 1965.

Waren Haymes noted, “It is quite another thing entirely to be part of creating a sound or a ‘movement.’ Steve Cropper… helped invent a genre- ‘the Memphis sound’ [with the other MGs] (among others) was an integral part of the bigger movement at that time, which came to be known as Soul Music, which changed the lives of millions of hungry music lovers- myself included.

“As a gifted songwriter and producer, his rhythms laid the foundation for the groove in Booker T. & The M.G.’s and The Mar-Keys. Known for his riveting guitar licks and prolific songwriting, his sound became a defining voice of the Stax era on classics like Eddie Floyd’s ‘Knock On Wood, Otis Redding’s ‘(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay,’ and Wilson Pickett’s ‘In the Midnight Hour.'”

Post-STAX

After leaving STAX in 1970, he kept busy. From the Songwriters Hall of Fame page: “Producing soon became second nature as ‘The Colonel’ turned out timeless tracks by such renowned artists as Wilson Pickett, Tower of Power, John Mellencamp, Jose Feliciano, Poco, John Prine, and Otis Redding. Cropper’s exemplary guitar work can be heard on the albums of Rod Stewart, Peter Frampton, Art Garfunkel, Booker T. and the MG’s, Ringo Starr, and Wynonna, to name a few. He has toured with such greats as Neil Young and Jimmy Buffett.

“In the late ’70s, Steve began his now-famous work as an original member of the Blues Brothers Band, appearing in both major motion pictures and numerous TV shows.”

From an interview in Uncut Take 331 (November 2024), “You might wanna write this,” says Steve Cropper, handily summarising his myriad musical achievements. “There are only three people in history who are in all three halls of fame – the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, the Musicians’ Hall of Fame, and the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame: Keith Richards, Roy Orbison, and Steve Cropper. Pretty good company!”

Jim Peterik of Ides of March wrote what many others shared: “Perhaps the best part of this was getting to ‘hang’ with him and hear his stories, all of which were of definitive moments in music history. He was a true Southern Gentleman, humble and warm.” And, as others noted, a hockey fan.

Wikipedia

New York Times (gift link)

NPR, including part of a 1990 interview with Terry Gross

Here’s Play It, Steve, 30 videos celebrating his legacy, and a narrative

Chinese Checkers -Booker T & The MG’s (Stax S-137, 1963)

Soul Man – the Blues Brothers (SNL)

Robert Redford

He made helping others seem cool.

From the NYT (gift link): Robert Redford, Screen Idol Turned Director and Activist, Dies at 89. “He made serious topics like grief and political corruption resonate with the masses, in no small part because of his own star power.”

From 1440: Born Charles Robert Redford Jr. on Aug. 18, 1936, in Santa Monica, California, he became one of Hollywood’s defining figures over a career spanning six decades. [Famously, some records note his birth year as 1937 because his parents were married only three months before his birth.]

I probably saw Redford in early 1960s dramas such as Maverick, Perry Mason, Dr. Kildare, and The Defenders. I definitely saw the “Nothing in the Dark” episode of The Twilight Zone, in which Redford played Death personified.

The first film I saw with him was Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) followed by The Way We Were (filmed partly in Schenectady’s Union College), The Sting, All The President’s Men, The Natural, Out Of Africa, A River Runs Through It (the narrator; he also directed), The Horse Whisperer (also directed), and Avengers: Endgame, all in the cinemas..

I also saw Barefoot In The Park, The Candidate, Sneakers, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier on television/video/DVD. Kelly wrote about Sneakers and linked to some James Horner soundtrack music.

PARADE: 10 Best Performances Ranked

But his most striking film was Ordinary People, his directorial debut, for which he earned an Oscar. He also directed the fine Quiz Show.

Sundance

THR: “From the filmmakers’ labs to its marquee Sundance Film Festival, the Redford-founded Sundance Institute has helped launch hundreds of careers, including Steven Soderbergh, Ryan Coogler, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Paul Thomas Anderson, Chloé Zhao, and Quentin Tarantino.” He was always was described as generous with his time and advice.

Variety: “In his ’70s heyday, few actors possessed Redford’s star wattage, aided considerably by his tousled blond locks, granite jaw and million-dollar smile,” writes Steve Chagollan in his obituary. “With his environmental activism, anti-establishment approach to filmmaking, and pioneering efforts in providing a platform for indie filmmakers, Redford was able to use his celebrity to subvert the status quo while advancing his own creative agenda.”

THR: Robert Redford’s Biggest Hollywood Innovation Was to Make Helping Others Seem Cool. “We seldom stop to think how, long before all of them [Angelina Jolie, George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio], Redford was casually embracing causes, leveraging his power to help creatures and ecosystems via the NRDC and the Redford Center; protecting Native American rights; and, with his son James, helping to raise awareness for organ transplants.”

Watch three CBS “Sunday Morning” interviews with actor, director, and activist Robert Redford (from 1994, 2006, and 2018) about movies, Sundance, and his legacy.

Redford received the National Medal of Arts in 1996, an honorary Oscar in 2002, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2005, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016.

Pain and melancholy

Rita O’Leary, Jean Easton, John Earl Lewis, Rick Lacey

ITEM: Pain. On Thursday, August 21st, I went to an oral surgeon and had three teeth removed. One of them will be replaced with a device. I am less concerned about the aesthetics than that, over a week later, I’m still experiencing a great deal of discomfort.

I had been taking hydrocodone-acetamin. The maximum daily dose is six tablets, but they only gave me 12, so it took me about a week before I used them all up. Of course, the trick is that there’s no refill because they don’t want me to become addicted. I’m also taking amoxicillin three times a day for an infection.

Even when I wasn’t eating at all, a degree of discomfort would wake me up every two hours for the first four days. I would take hydrocodone right before going to bed, and then about four hours later, I’d get up and take some Advil.

This made me so tired that I was feeling very emotionally fragile. I’d see stories on the news that would make me weepy. It wasn’t just the latest mass shootings and the fruitless discussions that followed. I’d see a Note To Self about former World Champion pool player Jeanette Lee reflecting on her career journey amid a health battle and get all emotional about not just her scoliosis but the racism and sexism she endured. Usually, that story would make me feel inspired and probably a little ticked off, but no. I’m a puddle. And other stories had the same effect.

Family gathering

ITEM: On Saturday, August 23rd, my wife, daughter, and I were supposed to go to my mother-in-law’s place. My wife’s brother and his wife and their two daughters, living about an hour away, except for the one daughter in NYC, would do the same, except they got there earlier for lunch. My family arrived late, around 2 p.m., because my wife had to work in the morning.

It’s tough to get all these people in the same place simultaneously. We brought the fixings for ice cream sundaes. But less than an hour later, my BIL’s wife got a phone call that her mother was dying, and their family rushed back. Shortly after they arrived, we got word that Rita had died.

I liked Rita O’Leary, who was 87. Until the last couple of years, I would see her a few times a year, including several Mother’s Day dinners at a local restaurant. Her obituary noted: “She leaves behind a legacy of love, acceptance, and kindness that will continue to inspire her family and community.” True enough. Rita is survived by a sister, two daughters, 15 grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren.

Unexpected connection

ITEM: Jean Easton was a woman I was friends with during the early 1980s. She was described as a “lifelong educator, teaching poetry and writing in universities, schools, prisons, and mental health facilities.” I knew her best from the poetry scene. She was brilliant, passionate, and sometimes intense. “You could recognize her regal, determined gait.” Since I worked at a comic book store then, I sometimes talked about comic books with her daughter, Delia. As one sometimes does, I lost track of them.

It wasn’t until Susan Easton from my church choir died in 2022, and Delia attended the funeral, that I figured out that Sue and Al Easton (d. 2024), whom I met in 2000, were Delia’s grandparents and Jean’s former parents-in-law. Though I hadn’t seen Jean in a very long time, her passing made me sad.

ITEM: My father’s first cousin, Ruth Lewis, is the eldest of his first cousins. In August 2024, I saw her and her daughter, Jean, at a concert where my niece Rebecca Jade sang. Ruth’s son and Jean’s twin brother, John, whom I really didn’t know, died on August 19. The funeral was on Friday, August 29, at Trinity AME Zion in Binghamton, the church I grew up in. My condolences to my Walker family relatives.

ITEM: My friend Carla notified me of Rick Lacey’s passing. I knew and liked him at Binghamton Central High School, where he was in my sister Leslie’s graduating class.

Roberta Flack (1937-2025)

with Donny Hathaway

The first Roberta Flack album I ever heard was Chapter Two (1970). It belonged to my sister Leslie. The opening track was Reverend Lee (Gene McDaniels), a PG-13 song about a “sexy Southern Baptist minister.” My all-time favorite Roberta song is Gone Away (Donny Hathaway, Leroy Hutson, Curtis Mayfield), which I’ve used in my depressing quartet of songs when I broke up with someone. A song I didn’t appreciate as much at the time as I did subsequently is Business Goes On As Usual, a song by Fred Hellerman and Fran Minkoff, which is a stark reflection of consumerism and war. I eventually purchased it and every other album mentioned here.

I bought Quiet Fire (1971), her third album, which starts with the anthemic Go Up Moses (Roberta Flack, Jesse Jackson, Joel Dorn). There are some lovely covers, but my favorite is To Love Somebody (Barry and Robin Gibb), especially the second half.

Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway (1972) paired two Atlantic Records artists to great commercial success, reaching #3 pop and #2 RB. The first single was You’ve Got A Friend (Carole King), #29 pop, #8 RB, #36 AC. Be Real Black For Me (Charles Mann, Donny Hathaway, Roberta Flack) would appear on the six-CD anthology 100 Years of Black Music. But the hit was Where Is The Love (Ralph MacDonald, William Salter), which got to #5 pop and #1 RB and AC.

Finally

I finally purchased First Take (1969), which reached #1 on the pop and RB album charts. It was propelled by The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (Ewan MacColl) after Clint Eastwood included it in his 1971 film Play Misty for Me. The single went #1 pop and AC for 6 weeks, and #4 RB. The first song on the album was Compared To What (Gene McDaniels).

The Killing Me Softly album (1973) went to #3 pop and #2 RB. It featured Killing Me Softly With His Song (Charles Fox, Norman Gimbel) that went to #1 pop, #2 AC.

Rubina Flake

Feel Like Makin’ Love (1975) is the singer’s first album, under the pseudonym Rubina Flake, to be produced by Flack herself. I Can See The Sun In Late December (Stevie Wonder), at nearly 13 minutes, is about 6 minutes too long, but interesting. She’s Not Blind (Stuart Scharf) is my favorite song on the album. The title track (Gene McDaniels) went to #1 on pop, RB (5 weeks) and AC (2 weeks) charts.

Blue Lights in the Basement (1977) starts with the song Why Don’t You Move In With Me (Gene McDaniels); the intro is grand. When I saw Roberta at First Night in Albany, NY, in the late 1990s, she could not replicate the great piano line. The Closer I Get To You (Reggie Lucas, James Mtume) is a duet with Donny Hathaway that went to #2 pop, #1 RB for 2 weeks, #3 AC

Roberta Flack (1978) was a contractual obligation album. If I Ever See You Again did go #1 AC for 3 weeks, #24 pop, #37 RB

Dakota

Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway (1980) featured only two pieces with her old singing partner. You Are My Heaven (Eric Mercury, Stevie Wonder) #8 RB, #46 AC, #47 pop, is the last song Hathaway would ever record. “After having dinner with Flack at her residence in the Dakota, Hathaway had then returned to his suite on the fifteenth floor of Essex House, later fatally falling from the window of his suite.”

I missed buying a couple of her albums before Oasis (1988). The title track (Marcus Miller, Mark Stephens) went to #1 RB, # 13 AC

The last album of hers I bought was Let It Be Roberta: Roberta Flack Sings the Beatles (2012). Roberta lived across the hall from John and Yoko in the Dakota building in New York City. Here, There, and Everywhere is the only live track.

My post from 2012. Obits from Variety, Rolling Stone, and THR. From the latter: “In November 2022, it was revealed that she had been diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and could no longer sing. In 2016, she suffered a stroke, and she retired from performing two years later.”

Roberta Flack Performs “Killing Me Softly” and “Just Like a Woman” | Carson Tonight Show. Air date: July 13th, 1973

Coverville 1524: Roberta Flack Tribute and Mitch Ryder Cover Story

What would Joyce Bascom do?

feed the hungry

My wife and I attended the funeral of Joyce Bascom on Saturday, October 12. She had died two months earlier. Her life epitomized the Christian life in the best way possible. One might ask, “What would Joyce do?” in a given situation.

When we first attended our church, she was among the first people to welcome us, not just to say hi but to show genuine interest in who we were, where we came from, and how we started attending there. She was a very engaging person.

She was married to Paul, who she had known since grade school, for over 60 years until he died in 2015.

As noted in her obituary, she was actively involved in numerous causes, “including volunteering with the Red Cross, Traveler’s Aid, and Planned Parenthood. She worked tirelessly for the rights of all people, with a special focus on equality for the LGBTQ+ community.” Specifically, she was “chair of the More Light Committee, working to build inclusion in the Presbyterian church.”

What I learned at her funeral was that after her grandson Christopher was killed in an accident involving a drunk driver, she would meticulously clip articles about similar incidents and send them to an association dealing with driving while intoxicated. The organization created storyboards they could share with the media, creating a narrative that helped turn the tide.

In 2008, “Joyce was awarded the James and Pearl Campbell Peace and Justice Award by The Capital Area Council of Churches.”

Joyce “has always been a horse-girl since her father got her that first pony as a child… At the age of 84, many years after her last horse had passed away, Joyce got ‘back on the horse’ – taking riding lessons once a week.”

Action

After her funeral on Saturday, my wife and I were walking back to our car. A woman was walking up in the middle of State Street, holding the top of her head and limping. I could see even from a distance that the top of her head looked red.

She was walking by us and then decided to walk over to us. Apologetically, she shared how she had been mugged and hit on the head, with her wallet, her money, and her identification gone. She had been to hospitals, and spoke about the extraordinary wait for care at Albany Med (notoriously true, unfortunately).

Social services told her she couldn’t receive help in Albany because she was receiving aid in her hometown in western Massachusetts. So she reluctantly asked for some money, and we gave her a twenty, which was all we had before we went to the bank.

We offered her a ride, but she demurred. My wife remembered that she had had some sandwiches in the refrigerator at church from a meeting five days earlier. They were probably a little bit underwhelming in taste, but they were still okay to eat. So my wife put them in a plastic bag we had in the car, offered them to this woman with the caveat as mentioned earlier, and she happily took them.

Afterward, I realized this was what Joyce Bascom would do, if not more. That’s why I enjoyed knowing her.