Trini Lopez, R. I. P.

Lopez had a long and successful career,  singing in both English and Spanish.   Filmmaker P. David Ebersole,  who just finished shooting a documentary on Lopez with Todd Hughes,  confirmed that Lopez  died from  complications of COVID-19 at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs,  California.   Yes,  I’m old enough to remember the man and his music,  and he will be missed.

If you are a child of the 1960’s,  you will remember his versions of “Lemon Tree” and “If I Had a Hammer”.    You might also recall him as one of the actors in film classic “The Dirty Dozen” .    Unlike other entertainers of Mexican heritage,   he resisted entreaties to change his name to avoid limiting his career.   Buddy Holly and Frank Sinatra were both mentors,  so his talents were certainly respected.

 

 

 

 

 

Charlie Daniels, R.I.P.

You need not be an ardent fan of country music to  know that   Charlie Daniels was an instrumentalist,  singer and songwriter who enjoyed over 40 years as a multifaceted entertainer.   As a session musician he played for a wide range of talents,  including Bob Dylan.  He was a fierce advocate for servicemen and women,  and one of country music’s most outspoken conservative voices.   He would certainly have earned his position as a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame without recording  “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,”  but with it he had to be a shoo-in.

This is the  last piece  Charlie Daniels published before his death.   How fitting that it shows his patriotism and love for America.  There must be some extraordinarily beautiful music in Heaven these days…

UPDATE:   And here is  a thoughtful  commentary by Terence Jeffrey,  who knew him well and admired him greatly.

UPDATE:   And  here is  another,  which displays his last two tweets,  and a series of his album covers.

 

 

 

Happy 4th – add-on 1

Some people love the  “Star-Spangled Banner”,  some hate it.   Everyone thinks it is difficult to sing because the melody has a range of an octave and a fifth,  which is a larger range than most amateur singers can manage.   Today’s pop music is nearly always in 4/4 time,  but our anthem is in 3/4 time  –  if you sing it in 4/4 the cadence of the words is ruined.   It might bother some that the tune is an old English drinking song called “To Anacreon in Heaven.”   The war imagery doesn’t bother me either,  nor does the fact that it is lousy poetry.   It has been performed in the style of gospel,  jazz,  pop,  rock and opera.  I’m not sure many even remember the original tune,  if indeed they ever knew.

Like the author  of this,  I learned to sing it in school as a child.  I doubt many schools do such things these days,  and they certainly wouldn’t trouble teens to push themselves to master such a song.  A friend of mine who has long been a singer and has a four-octave range, has always said that if you don’t understand a song,  you can’t sing it well.   I believe she is absolutely right.

England’s Gloucester Cathedral this year  chimed the  song on July 4th for American NATO troops.   The Kentucky State Choir conference gathers at the Louisville, Kentucky Hyatt hotel each year. This  video shows  hundreds of high school students standing on different levels of an 18-story hotel singing the Star-Spangled Banner.  An Army guy has created a montage of  action illustrating  the song’s militaristic aspects.

Sing your own version, even if it means changing the key.

Classical boosters…

My late mother was fond of opera and classical music.    The only opera she ever dragged me to that I truly enjoyed was a full-stage outdoor production of “Aida”,  complete with horses, camels and elephants.   It was massively  impressive.    I have played many classical pieces on the piano,  but found Beethoven and Bach’s dissonant chords a bit difficult to deal with.   Still,  Barbara Hoffman’s  guide to  classical music to get you through self-isolation is actually helpful,  even if you’re not a big fan.

I may play the odd selection or two,  but I’m afraid I will mostly crank up my Mannheim Steamroller albums — yes, even the Christmas ones!   Happy listening to whatever you choose.    Music does help a plethora of troubles.

 

 

Kenny Rogers, R.I.P.

Country music star Kenny Rogers  has died  at age 81.   It’s a shame ill health forced cancellation of the last shows of his 2018 farewell tour.   He was a guy who began with absolutely nothing but a voice and steely determination.   That earned him not only hit records,  but also Grammy and CMA Awards and worldwide recognition.   He developed his hit song “The Gambler” into a series of television movies.   And who can forget his duet with Dolly Parton, “Islands in the Stream”,  which he didn’t especially like until  Parton came into the studio.   She gave an  emotional tribute  upon hearing the news.

I always liked his voice,  which was soft and easy with an underlying layer of gravel —  you hear the latter on “the chorus of Ruby”.   There was no “Texas twang”  but there was  just a gentle touch of the South.   He was also quite  an accomplished  photographer.  Rogers was a multi-talented man who worked hard doing what he was good at,  had a rather messy personal life —  five wives and five children,  I believe —   and probably achieved more than he had ever dreamed possible.

 

 

Ginger Baker, R.I.P.

Unless you’re a fan of British musicians,  and drummers in particular,  you’ve never  heard of  Ginger Baker, but you have heard of nearly all the groups and individual musicians he partnered with over a very long career.   He had the hot temper often associated with redheads,  and was notoriously difficult to get along with,  but he could wring emotion as well as temp and beat out of a drum set,  and do so within most genres. He was,  indeed  the ultimate  rock wildman.

Gibson comeback…

Gibson Guitars is  set to emerge  from bankruptcy,  and I wish the company well.  Its stellar instruments have been  played by practically every rock star in the world.  I own a very old one myself and it is still a pleasure to play it.

Competency of management still matters in the corporate world,   doesn’t it…

 

 

10 most overrated…

You’ll realize I am not a huge music aficionado when I confess I have never even heard of a few of  these songs.   Unfortunately a couple of them I heard so often on the radio that their lyrics are bouncing round in my brain as I write this.  Do you agree with Chris Queen’s assessments?  I think he’s right on some of them, but other tunes  may have had good lyrics and terrible music, or vice versa.  Now I have to go listen to something to clear my head…

 

 

Ed King, R.I.P.

You didn’t have to be a Lynyrd Skynyrd fan to like  “Sweet Home Alabama”.   You didn’t even need to be a rock ‘n roll fan, strictly speaking,  to be grabbed by the chorus and rough edges.   The co-writer of that hit tune  was Ed  King,  who was with other well-known bands before joining the group in 1972.

 

 

Aretha Franklin, R.I.P.

Like so many of the Motown artists,  she led a rather chaotic life and made a host of very bad choices,  but the woman  was a  fantastic performer.