And Farewell Elvis
A short time ago my fellow blogger SR sent me a message:
SA had a ticket to see "The king" on 8/20/77, but he died four days before! She has the ticket, a stub from a previous concert, and a photo of the marquee of the theater before (welcome!) and after (we mourn). LH, JG and others contributed to the "memorial" on S's cubicle exterior! Check it out!"
Intrepid reporter that I am, I did. And I immediately noted that a ticket to the concert was $15. $20 with tax. Wow.
The shrine also included flowers and, appropriately, a hound dog. Nice job ladies.
So, in the interest of acknowledging the passing of Elivs (30 years ago today! How could I have forgotten that! That is why one station I listen to was playing Paul Simon's "Graceland" over and over.) I present the following photos taken a short time ago. Where were you 30 years ago today? Wait, you don't have to answer that if you don't want to :-) If you do, leave a comment.
And now, back to our regularly scheduled program.
Happy Thursday Y'all,
Do you like to listen to music at work? Silly me. Forgot who was I talking to for a moment. Listening to music definitely puts a bounce in my day, smooths out the rough spots. On days when I don't have interviews for stories, (and I had a couple of good ones this week. Thanks, Janet and Susan :-) I listen to where ever my mood takes me. When I am writing or laying out pages, some days it's the soundtrack from O Brother Where Art Thou. "Man of Constant Sorrow?" "Big Rock Candy Mountain?" "He's in the Jailhouse Now?"Anyone? Whenever I listen to the soundtrack and I can just see George Clooney, his hair slicked down, bellowing into that microphone at the radio station and Holly Hunter, what a perfect role for her...but I digress.
Other days it's the Pointer Sisters or Ray Charles or Harry Connick Jr. Anyway, this week was I reunited with an old friend, Louis Armstrong and some his fans.
When I was a kid, I remember seeing Armstrong on television variety shows. He'd play a little trumpet or sing in that strange raspy voice of his. For me Pops was ok. A benign presence, a curiosity and little more. Oh, and I liked his "Hello Dolly," one of the best thing about the Barbara Streisand version of the movie musical.
For me, all that changed in Ken Burns Jazz debuted on PBS in 2001. I know some people didn't include this or that, or had the wrong perspective. Me, I loved it. I watched every night it aired and taped it so I could watch it later. I couldn't get enough of the music. I learned to love and now have a fairly extensive jazz collection that includes Ella Fitzgerald, Fletcher Henderson, Django Reinhardt, John Coltrane, Duke Ellington and, especially Louis Armstrong.
The documentary taught me what a genius Armstrong was, how he revolutionized trumpet playing as well as vocals. I liked the talking heads on the show, too. Stanley Crouch, Gary Giddens, Wynton Marsalis, who discussed Satchmo and put his contributions in perspective.
So, this week I was pleased to find a new radio documentary on Armstrong on the NPR series,
Jazz Profiles.
The third episode in the Armstrong series, "Louis Armstrong, The Trumpeter," details his virtuosity and includes lots of Armstrong music. The first two episodes are more biographical, but all include commentaries by Giddens and Law. The series celebrates the 100th anniversary of Armstrong's birth. And old pals like Crouch and Giddens and Marsalis offer commentaries.
If you are interested in using information on Armstrong in the classroom, visit Smithsonian Jazz
The Web site includes educational materials for grades 5-12. You can download lesson plans and other information as PDF files and you can also listen to Armstrong's music there.
Well, I better get back to the October Teaching Music news pages. Hope you are wrapping up the summer with work and/or fun. Or maybe those are same thing? When you listen to music during the day, they can be.
Til Next Thursday
RF
