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January 18, 2017

Unfairness In Public News

Norman Lear offered a terrific take on fake news in The Hollywood Reporter magazine.

Among the points he made:

False stories were more likely than real news articles to go viral on social media
We’re more likely to pay attention to the final source of an article — the person who calls it to our attention — than to the original source.

The answer, Lear claims: “There is an urgent need for more and better civics education in our schools, and that must be joined by efforts to foster media literacy and critical thinking.”

There in lies the rub — to quote a source whose authenticity is still in doubt.

People are not all rational human beings like Mr. Lear is. Humans are selfish, greedy and needy. We believe what we want to believe, what makes us comfortable and what is believed by the

Read more on Unfairness In Public News…

Filed under Media by WadeB on Jan 18th, 2017. Comment.

January 20, 2017

Mississippi Goddam

Why do we celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. with a national holiday?

Because it took a century after the Civil War was over to finally officially address the lack of equality that was promised to the descendents of Africa slaves. Dr. King was a leader of the people and even while living became a symbol of all that was wrong with racial relations in America. His death became a rallying point for social and political change.

The turbulent decade of the 60s saw racial tensions boiling over. NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers was shot by a Ku Klux Klan member. Another white supremacist killed four young black girls by bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.

And a classically trained pianist named Nina Simone wrote and performed and recorded a song with a dirty word in the title and inflamatory lyrics.

Mississippi Goddam.

“Alabama’s gotten me so upset / Tennessee made me lose my rest / And everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam…”

Was she cursing the state of Mississippi? Or was she just so exasperated with the events that she

Fight or Flight

Some people learn from mistakes, some don’t and repeat the errors over and over.

And some don’t survive mistakes long enough to learn.

Take the old story about “Boiling A Frog.”

We are told that if a frog is in a pan of cool water and the temperature is raised very slowly, the frog adjusts and bears the warmer water. Supposedly (the story goes), he will just keep tolerating hotter and hotter water until he boils to death.

Of course, if you know your frogs (and you DO know frogs, don’t you?), they will eventually jump out. After all, even a frog can only put up with so much.

The lesson is figuring out the point when the frog decides to jump out.

The philosophers will ask “What killed the frog?” Was it the boiling water or the frog’s decision

Birth Of A Bunny (Star)

Joe Hardaway had a long career in the movies — specifically cartoons. He did everything over time — voices, script and gag writer, and director. By the time he died in 1957, he had contributed great things to the so-called Golden Age of Hollywood Animation.

Joe was known to his friend as Bugs — like gangster Bugsy Siegel, who was hitting all the headlines at that time. The name meant “Crazy as a bedbug” in the slang of that era.

Hardaway was working with all the biggies of that time, including Walter Lantz (Woody Woodpecker creator) and Friz Freleng and Chuck Jones at Warner Brothers. The story

Let’s Get Lost

“Let’s Get Lost” is an intriguing title for a movie, taken from a popular song by trumpet legend Chet Baker. Baker crossed that big divide between pop music stardom and jazz obscurity with his song selection, trumpet-playing and his distinctive vocals. It didn’t hurt that he was matinee-idol handsome either.

Film director Bruce Weber made the documentary a year before Baker died and released it right about the time of his death in 1988. I’m not sure if it came out before or after the event. I’m

A Little Guitar

I learned to play the guitar when I was about 13 –8th grade. My family had a 3rd or 4th hand acoustic guitar originally bought for my older brother, but since he was left-handed, it just laid around unused for a couple of years.

I had a Beatles song book and I had all the Beatles records (and loved them) so that was my stimulus to learn to play. The guitar wasn’t easy to play, but I was determined. I even persevered when I broke the high E string and didn’t have any means to get a replacement (I was just a kid in a small town and had no idea how to go about getting a replacement). I just adjusted my chords so they didn’t use the high string.

After learning the basics, and being determined to stick with it, I really longed for an electric guitar. Eric Clapton had one. Carlos Santana had one. Jimi Hendrix had one. I really needed one!

Then I saw it — the perfect guitar.

On the inside back page of most comic books were lots of novelty items for sale. X-ray Specs

The Songwriter Behind The Mary Tyler Moore Theme

As usual, most of the comments on losing our treasured Mary Tyler Moore were delivered by tweet. Quite a few celebrities said nothing more than quoting her theme song from the legendary 70’s TV Series.

“Love is All Around” was written and sung by Sonny Curtis, who started out as a good ole boy from Texas who happened into an historic gig as the lead guitarist for Buddy Holly.

In case you think he was a one-shot-wonder, he also wrote “Walk Right Back”, for the Everly Brothers (and played in their band) and “More Than I Can Say”for the Crickets’ and later covered by Bobby Vee in the 60s and Leo Sayer in the 70s.

His biggest hit “I Fought the Law (and the law won” was covered by numerous artists. My favorite among his tunes is “I’m No Stranger to the Rain” which became a country hit for Keith Whitley.

Yeah, Sonny has done pretty good for himself, including induction into both the Musicians Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

It’s great to see him get recognition again (and probably a big boost in his royalty checks) from the beloved Mary Tyler Moore theme.

It’s a pity about the circumstances, though.

Tags: "I Fought the Law (and the law won", "I'm No Stranger to the Rain", "Love is All Around", "More Than I Can Say", "Walk Right Back", Bobby Vee, Buddy Holly, Crickets, Everly Brothers, Keith Whitley, Leo Sayer, Mary Tyler Moore, Musicians Hall of Fame, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Sonny Curtis.

Filed under Songwriting by WadeB on Jan 26th, 2017. Comment.

2011 »

January 2017 Archives

Mississippi Goddam

Fight or Flight

Birth Of A Bunny (Star)

Let’s Get Lost

A Little Guitar

The Songwriter Behind The Mary Tyler Moore Theme

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