Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Friday, July 26, 2013
Thursday, July 25, 2013
VIDEO: "Ruby Tuesday" by Melanie Safka
by SixtiesMusicLover
Melanie does a great cover of The Rolling Stones song Ruby Tuesday. Released it 1970, off the album "Candles In The Rain".
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
VIDEO: Santana - "Stone Flower"
by LamontCJ
Another gem off Santana's treasured 1972 LP "Caravanserai" Tom Rutley's acoustic bass line is wicked and compliments this "march" superbly.
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Dar Williams: Why the Music of Protest Is Still Worth Defending
 |
| Photo from Razor and Tie Media |
Madeline Ostrander wrote this article for YES! Magazine, a national, nonprofit media organization that fuses powerful ideas with practical actions. Madeline is YES! Magazine's senior editor.
It’s become fashionable to say that political music is either dead or irrelevant.
“Because of the ’60s, part and parcel of being a ‘serious music fan’ is lamenting that music isn’t political enough,” wrote communications scholar Michael Barthel in Salon last year, in an article called “Protest Songs Are Pointless.”
The pop sound that’s churned out these days by top-grossing industry producers, even when it’s edgy or raging, is rarely political.
But some of us secretly long for the solidarity that comes from belting out an old anthem together, without embarrassment. We wish it were possible for such a small act to foment revolutions.
It’s never been quite that simple. Protest songs tend to grow from existing social movements, not the other way around. They nourish and reinforce the emotional strength necessary to confront political problems.
And they remind us that we aren’t alone in our convictions - this is how I felt when I first heard Dar Williams’ music in 1998, when I was still a student. She reached into my Gen X angst, not with a political rant but with something far more personal.
“I’m so glad that you finally made it here. You thought nobody cared, but I did; I could tell,” she sang in “You’re Aging Well,” a song that seems to call, much in the way Gloria Steinem did, for a revolution based on self-esteem.
Today, Dar Williams is the torchbearer for a set of musical sensibilities that have deep roots in America’s history of dissent - from the abolition songs of the 19th century and the labor anthems of the early and mid-20th to the folk revival of the 1960s.
The small-framed, 46-year-old guitar player, vocalist, and mother of two has, for the past two decades, established herself as “one of America’s very best singer-songwriters,” in the words of the New Yorker’s Hendrik Hertzberg.
I recently talked to Williams, several hours before she performed at a show in downtown Seattle, about the shape of today’s folk music and how her political life intersects with her songwriting.
In conversation, she is warm and unpretentious - her blond hair was swept up casually on top of her head, and she wore purple fleece and blue jeans. And also probing - she asked me about cycling, vegetarianism, renewable energy, and Seattle transportation politics.
Williams notes there’s a “direct line” of influence from the 1960s folk revival to her own music, and this isn’t just theoretical. Legendary folk singer Joan Baez got her start playing at the famous Club 47 in Cambridge, Mass., where she performed with other stars of the era, including Pete Seeger.
Beginning in the 1980s, a second, albeit smaller, folk revival produced stars like Tracy Chapman, John Gorka, Suzanne Vega, and Ani DiFranco in New York and Cambridge.
“In the early 1990s … the re-emergence of the singer-songwriter movement coming out of Cambridge was my scene. It was open-mikes; it was late nights; it was song circles and tip jar gigs,” says Williams - all against the backdrop of third-wave feminism and the gender movement.
“In the ’80s, it was come out … be open about your sexual orientation. In the ’90s, so many people are out; that’s when we discover this huge spectrum of ways of being sexual - the flexibility of orientation and, by extension, many ways of being a woman and ways of being a man.”
Williams became known for several songs that were subtly gender-bending, including “When I Was a Boy” (“I was a kid that you would like, just a small boy on her bike. Riding topless, yeah, I never cared who saw”) and “Iowa,” which leads with the line, “I’ve never had a way with women,” though it’s never clear whether the narrator is male or female.
Williams’ career hit a turning point when her record label convinced Joan Baez to include “You’re Aging Well” on the 1995 album Ring Them Bells, a collection of songs Baez performed live with other artists, including the Indigo Girls and Mary Chapin Carpenter.
By comparison, Williams says, she was a relatively unknown “new kid,” but Baez “took me under her wing and … took me on tour.”
They went on the road together in Europe and the United States. Baez was a role model and inspiration to Williams: “She was very modest about her achievements … but she had been a part of [so] many flashpoints in history".
"[Former Czechoslovakian President] Vaclav Havel said she was one of the handful of reasons why they had a non-violent revolution.” But she also “represents an ideal in time,” Williams says.
Political folk singers no longer have as much star power in the United States as Baez did in the 1960s - or such a major national audience or market.
The nation is no longer gripped by collective angst over discrete causes (such as civil rights or the Vietnam War), and as the mainstream music industry grows more consolidated and constrained, it supports few of the unique, thoughtful, or fiercely independent voices that define political folk and other genres of protest music.
Political folk has shifted to reflect the types of activism whose power resides in the community - the diffuse energy of farmers markets, town squares, small record labels, and local festivals. And this is where you find Dar Williams.
Barns, festivals, and hootenannies
I first saw Williams perform in 1999 at the Barrymore, an iconic neighborhood theater in Madison, Wisc. Built in the late 1920s as a space to screen the earliest “talkies,” the theater was restored in the late 1980s and helped bring the surrounding neighborhood back to life.
Nearly everyone I knew in Madison was at the show. One of my friends, who had worked as a cook on Pete Seeger’s sloop and floating Hudson River activist hub, the Clearwater, gave Williams a jar of homemade applesauce after waiting in the autograph line.
This is typical of a Williams performance, which is sometimes as much a neighborhood social gathering as a show.
Her songs have the feeling of an exhilarant and intellectual coffee shop conversation among friends - she sings about everything from Stanley Milgram’s psychological experiments and activist-priest Daniel Berrigan to heartache, parenting, and her experiences with depression and psychotherapy.
The lyrics are not propaganda or a rallying cry; they are songs that wrestle with human morality, emotion, and politics.
“Neil Young wrote a song about his car. I wrote a song about a bar. We all have whimsical things that we write about,” she said. “At the same time in some songs, there are issues of life or death. Poetry begets poetry. I think that is its greatest political contribution at the end of the day.”
In the early years of her career, it was sometimes hard for Williams to name the community-based creativity and organizing she witnessed while touring at community theaters, renovated opera houses, barns, festivals, and hootenannies full of “eccentrics, crazy people, people who think outside the box,” as she said affectionately.
“I travel so much that I didn’t have a community for a long time,” she said. “So I was seeing it from the outside, and it was this mystery to me.”
She performed at a vast range of community venues and politically oriented music festivals across the country - including the inaugural Lilith Fair tour with pop star Sarah McLachlan and the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, a “radical, clothing-optional, women-only festival in Western Michigan … that really looks at the core of who has the power,” as she told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Such experiences on the road led Williams to a theory of how political music, art, communities, and activism work together.
She calls it “positive proximity” - the organic and spontaneous acts of cultural change that happen through public art and gathering spaces - and she is hoping to write a book on the subject.
“There’s something that happens when there’s some ability to congregate and see each other. … Out of these places come unbelievable renovated theaters and ambitious community garden programs and sophisticated hotlines for caring for seniors. … And of course those are the towns I get to see, because [they] have it together enough to put on a concert.”
In 2003, she moved with her husband to Cold Spring in the Hudson Highlands north of New York City, 30 miles from her hometown of Chappaqua.
She put down roots in an iconic place - in the shadow of Storm King Mountain, the site of a successful 17-year legal battle against a power company that helped launch the modern environmental movement and redefine conservation law.
And she’s a few miles down the road from Pete Seeger, who has become a friend and mentor. “Pete [has] a certain regal presence in the Hudson Valley. His spirit is there.”
Here, while raising her two children, Williams wrote the songs on the album Promised Land and her most recent record, In the Time of Gods, a concept album about Greek mythology. The newer record touches on environmental issues, with metaphors drawn from the landscape around her.
One song imagines Pete Seeger as a mythological river sentinel. It is, Williams says, an album about the work of building civilization, “this beautiful hammering-away.” This is also an apt description of Williams’ politics.
She is now putting the ideas of “positive proximity” into regular practice in her own life. She speaks with a near-frenetic energy about transforming Cold Spring into a model of sustainability - a center of car-free tourism and hiking.
She and her husband recently held a meeting at their house over a pasta dinner to talk about the town board. It was another act of making space for creativity: “Out of those dinner parties and hanging out with friends, that’s how [change] is going to happen … not just because our ideals led us there.”
“We need to sing side by side”
Williams is now an established veteran of folk, and her music part of the canon of political songwriting.
It’s hard to say who, among the millennial generation, is following most closely in her footsteps - folk is an ever more independent and local genre, and there are hundreds of songwriters who list Williams as an influence.
This past fall, Williams decided to step more actively into the role of mentor and music scholar. She taught a course at her alma mater, Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn.
She called it “Music Movements in a Capitalist Democracy” - although, in Williams’ view, the latter does not support the former well.
“I’m not saying we shouldn’t have capitalism. I’m just saying when you put music through this machinery, with no human society, no soil, no actual democratic community around it, it’s not a pretty thing. And performers, audiences, genres get mangled in it.”
The students received lectures about capitalism in silence, and Williams wondered if she had made them uncomfortable. But a chief lesson was about restoring a sense of community to music and vice versa.
In the end, her students’ creativity astounded her: “The last assignment was for students to design their own festivals. One person wants to create more commerce for a beautiful town in New Jersey and [strengthen] its connection to the Delaware River. She called it the Delawareness Festival.
Another kid wanted a celebration of Alabama’s music to heighten [awareness of] the issues of coal being dumped into the drinking water in Birmingham. My mind was blown - the dreams they have for what music can do are all there.”
But Williams admits that political music has lost some of its idealism. She invited Peter Yarrow, of the 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul, and Mary, to visit one of her lectures. “I didn’t realize how cynical I was until I saw the contrast between my approach to getting people to sing along and [his],” she said.
“He made the class sing with him every five minutes. He’s a believer … that when people come together and sing, mountains can be moved. [His] attitude is, if we don’t find that ability to sing together then we lose something very important.”
I asked her if that experience had changed her performance style. “Yes, I’ve been trying to do one sing-along song a night, and it’s the high point of the evening. At the end of the night, I get so much feedback from people about it.”
Sure enough, that night I found myself in a crowd of people at my local symphony hall singing “If I Had a Hammer.” “We need to sing side by side, and I know you can, because it’s Seattle,” Williams announced to the audience.
And at first, admittedly, I felt silly, and the song seemed old and sentimental. But it energized the crowd and drew the attention of the room away from the sole performer and the single guitar on stage to a swell of voices across the auditorium.
It wasn’t anything like a revolution - but a reminder that it’s possible for several hundred people to un-self-consciously hit the same notes, and that’s a start.
Friday, July 19, 2013
My First Guitar Hero: Dickey Betts
by Chris L Clifton
It was 1972, and a teenager who had just started playing guitar sat down to watch a new live TV/Music format called a "simulcast". It was a Monday night, the ABC show was called "In Concert".
It was the first of a series where the concert was broadcast both on TV and a local FM radio station at the same time. Today, it would be no big deal, but then it was special, MTV didn't come along until years later.
My Dad had reluctantly agreed to let me have control of his TV and stereo for one hour, and I sat impatiently on the carpet in our living room waiting for the show to start.
The Allman Brothers walked on to the stage. I did not know at the time who Duane Allman was, or that he had just died months before. They were originally a two guitar band and hadn't replaced him, so the remaining guitar player had to just wing it and play both parts by himself as best he could.
I sat with eyes and ears wide open as Dickey Betts started clicking off the opening riff for "One Way Out". I had never heard the song before, and it would be years later before I would come to know that it was actually an old blues song.
There was just something about the rhythm and the structure of it that grabbed me by the insides, and has never let go. His solo playing seemed as if he were making it up as he went along, but it was also clear that he knew exactly where he was going and how he wanted it to sound.
And that rhythm! It was like nothing I had ever heard before. It was only recently that a drummer friend of mine explained to me just why their percussion sound was so unique.
There was something new and something old about the whole thing. I had been listening to the Beatles, Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, etc. for years, but had never heard anybody do anything like what this guy was doing on guitar.
It was blues, rock, and melodic all at the same time. Dickey Betts instantly became my first guitar hero, and they way he played this song became my first "Vision quest". I went out the next day and bought the LP "Eat a Peach" with my allowance.
I must have played "One Way Out" dozens of times that afternoon, over and over. Today, when I play this song live, the first guitar solo is as close as I can get to note for note with what Dickey did on the "Eat a Peach" album. My personal homage to my first guitar hero.
Although Dickey is best known for writing and singing the song "Ramblin Man", and the instrumental "Jessica", my favorite of his work is on an early Allman Brothers instrumental called "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed".
This song features he and Duane Allman playing twin lead guitar, and with Duane actually playing without his signature slide. It sounds, to me, like a perfect union of blues, jazz, and rock-jam all in the same tune.
One of the most significant contributions the pair of Betts and Allman made is in the way they rewrote the roles of a two guitar line up.
Up to that point, traditionally, any time there were two guitars in a band, one played rhythm and the other played lead. Think of the Beatles with John on rhythm and George playing lead.
But, in the case of Dickey and Duane, although each would play rhythm behind the other at times, for the most part their signature sound was when both of them coordinated their lead parts together.
They were famous for playing dual parts simultaneously, many times with harmony or octave intervals coordinated between the two.
Two of the most talented guitarists who ever lived, each with his own unique style, playing together as one unit. Although they only played together for a short time, their legacy only grows stronger as the decades pass.
If you want to hear what many have termed "Blues Rock" at its finest, check out the early recordings of the Allman Brothers Band, you will not be disappointed.
Next time ... just how and why Dickey's sound is so different from other guitar players of the same era. Later ... how an aspirin bottle made music history!
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chris_L_Clifton
http://EzineArticles.com/?My-First-Guitar-Hero&id=7867858
It was 1972, and a teenager who had just started playing guitar sat down to watch a new live TV/Music format called a "simulcast". It was a Monday night, the ABC show was called "In Concert".
It was the first of a series where the concert was broadcast both on TV and a local FM radio station at the same time. Today, it would be no big deal, but then it was special, MTV didn't come along until years later.
My Dad had reluctantly agreed to let me have control of his TV and stereo for one hour, and I sat impatiently on the carpet in our living room waiting for the show to start.
The Allman Brothers walked on to the stage. I did not know at the time who Duane Allman was, or that he had just died months before. They were originally a two guitar band and hadn't replaced him, so the remaining guitar player had to just wing it and play both parts by himself as best he could.
I sat with eyes and ears wide open as Dickey Betts started clicking off the opening riff for "One Way Out". I had never heard the song before, and it would be years later before I would come to know that it was actually an old blues song.
There was just something about the rhythm and the structure of it that grabbed me by the insides, and has never let go. His solo playing seemed as if he were making it up as he went along, but it was also clear that he knew exactly where he was going and how he wanted it to sound.
And that rhythm! It was like nothing I had ever heard before. It was only recently that a drummer friend of mine explained to me just why their percussion sound was so unique.
There was something new and something old about the whole thing. I had been listening to the Beatles, Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, etc. for years, but had never heard anybody do anything like what this guy was doing on guitar.
It was blues, rock, and melodic all at the same time. Dickey Betts instantly became my first guitar hero, and they way he played this song became my first "Vision quest". I went out the next day and bought the LP "Eat a Peach" with my allowance.
I must have played "One Way Out" dozens of times that afternoon, over and over. Today, when I play this song live, the first guitar solo is as close as I can get to note for note with what Dickey did on the "Eat a Peach" album. My personal homage to my first guitar hero.
Although Dickey is best known for writing and singing the song "Ramblin Man", and the instrumental "Jessica", my favorite of his work is on an early Allman Brothers instrumental called "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed".
This song features he and Duane Allman playing twin lead guitar, and with Duane actually playing without his signature slide. It sounds, to me, like a perfect union of blues, jazz, and rock-jam all in the same tune.
One of the most significant contributions the pair of Betts and Allman made is in the way they rewrote the roles of a two guitar line up.
Up to that point, traditionally, any time there were two guitars in a band, one played rhythm and the other played lead. Think of the Beatles with John on rhythm and George playing lead.
But, in the case of Dickey and Duane, although each would play rhythm behind the other at times, for the most part their signature sound was when both of them coordinated their lead parts together.
They were famous for playing dual parts simultaneously, many times with harmony or octave intervals coordinated between the two.
Two of the most talented guitarists who ever lived, each with his own unique style, playing together as one unit. Although they only played together for a short time, their legacy only grows stronger as the decades pass.
If you want to hear what many have termed "Blues Rock" at its finest, check out the early recordings of the Allman Brothers Band, you will not be disappointed.
Next time ... just how and why Dickey's sound is so different from other guitar players of the same era. Later ... how an aspirin bottle made music history!
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chris_L_Clifton
http://EzineArticles.com/?My-First-Guitar-Hero&id=7867858
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Will There Be a Return of Bob Dylan's Drawn Blank Series in 2013?
by Robert Harry Smith
Although Bob Dylan originally made his professional debut 52 years ago as a singer and songwriter, he is also a talented artist.
Dylan has become more renowned for his artwork which originally retailed for about 1250 British Pounds. In later collections, his pieces are more likely to fetch for 3000 British Pounds, showing the expanding market for Bob Dylan's work.
Reports suggest that some pieces from the original collection of the Drawn Blank series have not yet been published, therefore leading to speculation that there may be a 2013 series. Could this also be the last chapter?
The Drawn Blank Series is a collection of artwork that was created by Bob Dylan between 1989 and 1992.
It is characterised for its expressive and vibrant quality which captures the artist's encounters and observations in his day to day life. The creation of portraits, interiors, landscapes, still life's and street scenes were done to "relax and refocus the mind".
Dylan transferred digital scans of pencil sketches onto large deckle edge sheets of paper, and often created different variations of each piece.
He would alter the original pencil sketching's by using different brush strokes and colours which has resulted in a dynamic variety of impressions, feelings and emotions.
This type of art prior to the 17th Century also known as printmaking or Graphics was known as a preparatory technique. It wasn't until Rembrandt van Rijin - a dutch artist (1606-1669) - that printmaking became an art form in its own right.
During the 1930's, Picasso was aspired to be as skilled in this medium, and created many fine arts graphics. This was followed by Andy Warhol who used the technique after the form of art moved from Europe to America subsequent to World War Two.
During a visit to New York in 2006, Ingrid Massinger - the curator of the Kunstsammlungen museum in Germany- came across the Drawn Blank series and became very excited about the works. Dylan agreed to have an art exhibition in public for the first time.
The Drawn Blank Series opened in October 2007 which coincided with the publication of 'Bob Dylan: The Drawn Blank Series' including 170 reproductions of his work.
Critics have often found parallels between the Drawn Blank series collections and Dylan's musical back catalogue. This is because it has been noted that his products reflect an 'extraordinary, inventive imagination.' For this reason a defining quality of Bob Dylan art is the ability of reinvention.
With some pieces of the original collection left unpublished, surely there will be a Drawn Blank series 2013? And if so, with only limited pieces left to go when will it be the end of an era?
Art Market is a contemporary art gallery voted best dressed independent art gallery by WASHINGTON GREEN fine art. Bob Dylan art is available.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robert_Harry_Smith
http://EzineArticles.com/?Will-There-Be-a-Return-of-Bob-Dylans-Drawn-Blank-Series-in-2013?&id=7859144
Although Bob Dylan originally made his professional debut 52 years ago as a singer and songwriter, he is also a talented artist.
Dylan has become more renowned for his artwork which originally retailed for about 1250 British Pounds. In later collections, his pieces are more likely to fetch for 3000 British Pounds, showing the expanding market for Bob Dylan's work.
Reports suggest that some pieces from the original collection of the Drawn Blank series have not yet been published, therefore leading to speculation that there may be a 2013 series. Could this also be the last chapter?
The Drawn Blank Series is a collection of artwork that was created by Bob Dylan between 1989 and 1992.
It is characterised for its expressive and vibrant quality which captures the artist's encounters and observations in his day to day life. The creation of portraits, interiors, landscapes, still life's and street scenes were done to "relax and refocus the mind".
Dylan transferred digital scans of pencil sketches onto large deckle edge sheets of paper, and often created different variations of each piece.
He would alter the original pencil sketching's by using different brush strokes and colours which has resulted in a dynamic variety of impressions, feelings and emotions.
This type of art prior to the 17th Century also known as printmaking or Graphics was known as a preparatory technique. It wasn't until Rembrandt van Rijin - a dutch artist (1606-1669) - that printmaking became an art form in its own right.
During the 1930's, Picasso was aspired to be as skilled in this medium, and created many fine arts graphics. This was followed by Andy Warhol who used the technique after the form of art moved from Europe to America subsequent to World War Two.
During a visit to New York in 2006, Ingrid Massinger - the curator of the Kunstsammlungen museum in Germany- came across the Drawn Blank series and became very excited about the works. Dylan agreed to have an art exhibition in public for the first time.
The Drawn Blank Series opened in October 2007 which coincided with the publication of 'Bob Dylan: The Drawn Blank Series' including 170 reproductions of his work.
Critics have often found parallels between the Drawn Blank series collections and Dylan's musical back catalogue. This is because it has been noted that his products reflect an 'extraordinary, inventive imagination.' For this reason a defining quality of Bob Dylan art is the ability of reinvention.
With some pieces of the original collection left unpublished, surely there will be a Drawn Blank series 2013? And if so, with only limited pieces left to go when will it be the end of an era?
Art Market is a contemporary art gallery voted best dressed independent art gallery by WASHINGTON GREEN fine art. Bob Dylan art is available.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robert_Harry_Smith
http://EzineArticles.com/?Will-There-Be-a-Return-of-Bob-Dylans-Drawn-Blank-Series-in-2013?&id=7859144
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Remembering Jacqueline Kennedy
by Madan G Singh
John F Kennedy was shot dead by a lone marksman on 1963. That is almost 50 years back, but the image of his wife Jacqueline Kennedy still lingers.
She was young, attractive and had set the fashion charts alive as the wife of the president. The death of Kennedy was a traumatic moment for her, but she charted a separate life later, which was not liked by many of her admirers.
Jackie was born in 1929. He father was a stock broker. Within a decade her parents separated and she had the misfortune of shuttling between the homes of her mother and father (now separated).
But she was a woman of character and did not allow this aspect of her parent's life to traumatize her as she finished college and obtained a degree from George Washington University in Washington.
There along with girls of her age she met a few of the younger senators and she dated John F Kennedy at that time. It was a whirlwind romance as they soon married in 1953. She was an ambitious lady and fully supported John Kennedy's bid for nomination for the US president.
He won the nomination and Jackie was by his side and his strongest supporter. But the extra marital affairs of John did put her off, but they had 2 children. It was rumored that John also had a fling with the famous actress Marilyn Monroe.
As the President's wife she charmed the American masses who loved her style in dress and fashion.
In fact she became a trend setter so much so that when John met Nikita Khrushchev at Vienna in 1961, it was she who was in the limelight. Kennedy's death jolted her and after her brother in law Robert was shot dead.
She was swayed by dread. She wanted to leave America and took a decision to marry the Greek tycoon Aristotle Onassis. This was not liked by the US masses who felt it to be a betrayal of John's legacy.
Jackie settled in Greece but Onassis died of heart complications in 1975. Earlier he was heartbroken after the death of his son in 1973. By then the two had drifted apart.
Jackie was a non Greek citizen and getting a share of the wealth of Onassis was difficult. She eventually settled for $26 million from the daughter of Onassis and migrated back to the USA. She died in 1994 of extreme cancer that had spread all over her body.
Where do we place Jackie now? It's not an easy answer though I for one can never fathom why she had to marry Onassis.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Madan_G_Singh
http://EzineArticles.com/?Remembering-Jacqueline-Kennedy&id=7865341
John F Kennedy was shot dead by a lone marksman on 1963. That is almost 50 years back, but the image of his wife Jacqueline Kennedy still lingers.
She was young, attractive and had set the fashion charts alive as the wife of the president. The death of Kennedy was a traumatic moment for her, but she charted a separate life later, which was not liked by many of her admirers.
Jackie was born in 1929. He father was a stock broker. Within a decade her parents separated and she had the misfortune of shuttling between the homes of her mother and father (now separated).
But she was a woman of character and did not allow this aspect of her parent's life to traumatize her as she finished college and obtained a degree from George Washington University in Washington.
There along with girls of her age she met a few of the younger senators and she dated John F Kennedy at that time. It was a whirlwind romance as they soon married in 1953. She was an ambitious lady and fully supported John Kennedy's bid for nomination for the US president.
He won the nomination and Jackie was by his side and his strongest supporter. But the extra marital affairs of John did put her off, but they had 2 children. It was rumored that John also had a fling with the famous actress Marilyn Monroe.
As the President's wife she charmed the American masses who loved her style in dress and fashion.
In fact she became a trend setter so much so that when John met Nikita Khrushchev at Vienna in 1961, it was she who was in the limelight. Kennedy's death jolted her and after her brother in law Robert was shot dead.
She was swayed by dread. She wanted to leave America and took a decision to marry the Greek tycoon Aristotle Onassis. This was not liked by the US masses who felt it to be a betrayal of John's legacy.
Jackie settled in Greece but Onassis died of heart complications in 1975. Earlier he was heartbroken after the death of his son in 1973. By then the two had drifted apart.
Jackie was a non Greek citizen and getting a share of the wealth of Onassis was difficult. She eventually settled for $26 million from the daughter of Onassis and migrated back to the USA. She died in 1994 of extreme cancer that had spread all over her body.
Where do we place Jackie now? It's not an easy answer though I for one can never fathom why she had to marry Onassis.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Madan_G_Singh
http://EzineArticles.com/?Remembering-Jacqueline-Kennedy&id=7865341
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Monday, July 15, 2013
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Chuck Foley: Inventor of the Game "Twister" Died
by RetroKimmer: http://www.retrokimmer.com/2013/07/chuck-foley-inventor-of-game-twister.html
Charles "Chuck" Foley, the father of nine who invented the game that became a naughty sensation in living rooms across America in the 1960s and 1970s because of the way it put men and women in compromising positions, has died. He was 82.
Foley died July 1 at a care facility in the Minneapolis suburb of St. Louis Park. His son, Mark Foley, said Thursday that his father had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
Charles "Chuck" Foley, the father of nine who invented the game that became a naughty sensation in living rooms across America in the 1960s and 1970s because of the way it put men and women in compromising positions, has died. He was 82.
Foley died July 1 at a care facility in the Minneapolis suburb of St. Louis Park. His son, Mark Foley, said Thursday that his father had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
Foley and a collaborator, Neil Rabens, were hired in the mid-1960s by a
St. Paul manufacturing firm that wanted to expand into games and toys.
They came up with a game to be played on a mat on the floor, using a spinner to direct players to place their hands and feet on different colored circles. FULL STORY HERE.
They came up with a game to be played on a mat on the floor, using a spinner to direct players to place their hands and feet on different colored circles. FULL STORY HERE.
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Friday, July 12, 2013
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
VIDEO: The Mamas & the Papas - California Dreamin'
by PeaceFrogMan1
(Lyrics)
All the leaves are brown and the sky is grey I've been for a walk on a winters day I'd be safe and warm if I was in L.A. California dreamin', on such a winters day.
Stepped into a church I passed along the way Well, I get down on my knees and I pretend to pray. You know the preacher likes the cold He knows I'm gonna stay. California, California dreamin', on such a winters day.
All the leaves are brown and the sky is grey I've been for a walk on a winters day I I didn't tell her I could love today California, California dreamin', on such a winters day.
All the leaves are brown ...
Monday, July 8, 2013
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Friday, July 5, 2013
Thursday, July 4, 2013
VIDEO: Santana: No One To Depend On (1973)
Hi all,
Great track from a great album - No One to Depend on from Santana III in 1973. Enjoy!
by XicanoHA
Great track from a great album - No One to Depend on from Santana III in 1973. Enjoy!
by XicanoHA
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
VIDEO: Eric Burdon and The Animals - When I Was Young (1967)
Hi readers,
Here's a 1967 classic from Eric Burdon and The Animals.
Eric Burdon (vocals)
Barry Jenkins (drums)
John Weider (guitar/violin)
Vic Briggs (guitar)
Danny McCulloch (bass)
by magusmagic4
Here's a 1967 classic from Eric Burdon and The Animals.
Eric Burdon (vocals)
Barry Jenkins (drums)
John Weider (guitar/violin)
Vic Briggs (guitar)
Danny McCulloch (bass)
by magusmagic4
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Classic Rock: The Roar of the Electric Guitar
by Michael Pickett
From the first overdriven guitar sounds of Chuck Berry to the slabs of golden tone from Eddie Van Halen, classic rock guitars are a study unto themselves in the evolution of popular music through the decades.
Naturally, amplification and technology have something to say about the sounds that unfolded from the 60s through the 90s, but cataloging the elements virtuoso players like Jimi Hendrix, Alex Lifeson and the aforementioned Van Halen brought to the party is equally important.
While Scotty Moore fueled Elvis' recordings and Chuck Berry gave us some of the first riff-rock, the Beatles and The Who carved out a niche for themselves with Rickenbacker electrics and 100 watt stacks of Hiwatt amplifiers, respectively.
The Beatles led bands like the Byrds, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and others to mine the Ricky-based sound they initially pioneered (before finding their own way to early overdriven sounds in the studio).
The Who continued to ramp up their guitar sounds with Pete Townsend cranking his Les Paul through stacks of amps live and in the studio.
Bands like Cream would find Eric Clapton and solo artists like Jimi Hendrix, Zeppelin's Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck firing up hyper-amplified rigs of their own to create signature sounds on pieces like 'Sunshine of Your Love', 'Won't Get Fooled Again' and 'Communication Breakdown'.
From there, the metal thunder of Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Rush were just a step away.
As the 70s saw effects pedals (stomp-boxes) powering the rock and metal sounds of Deep Purple's Ritchie Blackmore, the wah-inflected tone of Michael Schenker and the hot-rodded, insanely great sound of Edward Van Halen, guitarists began to redefine what it meant to have golden tone and achieve the elusive status of 'guitar god'.
But the 80s, while rich with effects boxes and achievable sounds, proved that songwriting and sound were still key, as a thousand bands began to tastelessly imitate the pioneers that had gone before, but without the tone, taste or compositional ability that had made bands like Zeppelin and Van Halen great.
As with all eras, there were still standout artists with superb sounds like U2's The Edge, Def Leppard's Phil Collen and Steve Clark, Journey's Neal Schon and, of course, Alex Lifeson and Eddie Van Halen.
The sounds of guitar would continue to evolve over time, and if you spend even half-an-hour on a classic rock radio station, you'll hear an incredible cross-section of guitar sounds and styles that illustrate a growth in technology and ability over the course of decades.
Love the sound of classic rock? ... check out Pickett's free music at: http://www.m-overdrive.com/pickett.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Pickett
http://EzineArticles.com/?Classic-Rock:-The-Roar-of-the-Electric-Guitar&id=7622888
From the first overdriven guitar sounds of Chuck Berry to the slabs of golden tone from Eddie Van Halen, classic rock guitars are a study unto themselves in the evolution of popular music through the decades.
Naturally, amplification and technology have something to say about the sounds that unfolded from the 60s through the 90s, but cataloging the elements virtuoso players like Jimi Hendrix, Alex Lifeson and the aforementioned Van Halen brought to the party is equally important.
While Scotty Moore fueled Elvis' recordings and Chuck Berry gave us some of the first riff-rock, the Beatles and The Who carved out a niche for themselves with Rickenbacker electrics and 100 watt stacks of Hiwatt amplifiers, respectively.
The Beatles led bands like the Byrds, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and others to mine the Ricky-based sound they initially pioneered (before finding their own way to early overdriven sounds in the studio).
The Who continued to ramp up their guitar sounds with Pete Townsend cranking his Les Paul through stacks of amps live and in the studio.
Bands like Cream would find Eric Clapton and solo artists like Jimi Hendrix, Zeppelin's Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck firing up hyper-amplified rigs of their own to create signature sounds on pieces like 'Sunshine of Your Love', 'Won't Get Fooled Again' and 'Communication Breakdown'.
From there, the metal thunder of Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Rush were just a step away.
As the 70s saw effects pedals (stomp-boxes) powering the rock and metal sounds of Deep Purple's Ritchie Blackmore, the wah-inflected tone of Michael Schenker and the hot-rodded, insanely great sound of Edward Van Halen, guitarists began to redefine what it meant to have golden tone and achieve the elusive status of 'guitar god'.
But the 80s, while rich with effects boxes and achievable sounds, proved that songwriting and sound were still key, as a thousand bands began to tastelessly imitate the pioneers that had gone before, but without the tone, taste or compositional ability that had made bands like Zeppelin and Van Halen great.
As with all eras, there were still standout artists with superb sounds like U2's The Edge, Def Leppard's Phil Collen and Steve Clark, Journey's Neal Schon and, of course, Alex Lifeson and Eddie Van Halen.
The sounds of guitar would continue to evolve over time, and if you spend even half-an-hour on a classic rock radio station, you'll hear an incredible cross-section of guitar sounds and styles that illustrate a growth in technology and ability over the course of decades.
Love the sound of classic rock? ... check out Pickett's free music at: http://www.m-overdrive.com/pickett.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Pickett
http://EzineArticles.com/?Classic-Rock:-The-Roar-of-the-Electric-Guitar&id=7622888
Monday, July 1, 2013
Top Five Best Quiet Songs by the Lou Reed / The Velvet Underground
by Johnathan McGee
When people think the Velvets / Lou Reed, they often think noise and craziness. Some of their best known works, or most infamous works, are scrawled masterpieces, loud and in your face: Sister Ray, Waiting For My Man, Metal Music ...
However, the Lou and the Velvets also pushed envelopes on the other end of the spectrum, penning some of the greatest subdued songs ever recorded. Here is my top list of soft works of genius:
5) Vanishing Act - Lou Reed
The Raven
This song is really beautiful, arguably the softest song that Lou ever did. It starts out with just single, sustained piano notes. Then, Lou starts singing a repetitive melody very softly in his gruff voice. The effect is incredibly intimate, possibly too much so. I'm not a huge fan of all the spit-y sounds, it sounds like we're hearing Lou Reed sing from inside his mouth. Also, it really builds at the end, and I'm not really hugely into the sweeping strings at the end. But the meat of this song is incredibly beautiful, fragile, moving.
4) Candy Says - The Velvet Underground
Eponymous
This song is just a gorgeous song with a lilting melody. What needs to be appreciated is that the Velvets blazed their own sound in so many different spectrums. They also blazed their own sound with soft songs, featuring instantly recognizable aspects like the softly chiming clean guitars in high registers, repetitive rhythms and subdued drums. See other great soft velvets songs like 'Sunday Morning' and 'Pale Blue Eyes'.
3) Turning Time Around - Lou Reed
Ecstasy
This song is some late period brilliance with a very intimate feel. It has a really pillow-talk vibe, which is surprisingly not a bad thing! It features some of Lou's most interesting lyrics, at once tender and poetic, philosophical and personal. And the feeling is gorgeous, it messes with your perception of time, slowing the world down a bit, as befits the title.
2) The Gift - The Velvet Underground
White Light White Heat
This is a strange, captivating and unsettling story about an obsessive romance that ends very badly. It stands out from the Velvets other soft tracks in that the music is supplying jagged and angular ambiance to the weird story happening. Really a singular piece of the Velvet's canon.
1) Sunday Morning - The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground and Nico
This song, the first off of the Velvet's first album, is a gorgeous swoon through and through, replete with Baroque instrumentation, beautiful pop melody ... simply irresistible, an amazing starting point to one of the most influential albums ever made.
If you are partial to the quiet genius (or the louder genius) of Lou Reed, you might also enjoy my band The Namaquas. Click here to download your free copy of their new single, "Shooting Star" to check them out!
Download your free mp3 at: http://www.TheNamaquas.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Johnathan_McGee
http://EzineArticles.com/?Top-Five-Best-Quiet-Songs-by-the-Lou-Reed-/-The-Velvet-Underground&id=7628948
When people think the Velvets / Lou Reed, they often think noise and craziness. Some of their best known works, or most infamous works, are scrawled masterpieces, loud and in your face: Sister Ray, Waiting For My Man, Metal Music ...
However, the Lou and the Velvets also pushed envelopes on the other end of the spectrum, penning some of the greatest subdued songs ever recorded. Here is my top list of soft works of genius:
5) Vanishing Act - Lou Reed
The Raven
This song is really beautiful, arguably the softest song that Lou ever did. It starts out with just single, sustained piano notes. Then, Lou starts singing a repetitive melody very softly in his gruff voice. The effect is incredibly intimate, possibly too much so. I'm not a huge fan of all the spit-y sounds, it sounds like we're hearing Lou Reed sing from inside his mouth. Also, it really builds at the end, and I'm not really hugely into the sweeping strings at the end. But the meat of this song is incredibly beautiful, fragile, moving.
4) Candy Says - The Velvet Underground
Eponymous
This song is just a gorgeous song with a lilting melody. What needs to be appreciated is that the Velvets blazed their own sound in so many different spectrums. They also blazed their own sound with soft songs, featuring instantly recognizable aspects like the softly chiming clean guitars in high registers, repetitive rhythms and subdued drums. See other great soft velvets songs like 'Sunday Morning' and 'Pale Blue Eyes'.
3) Turning Time Around - Lou Reed
Ecstasy
This song is some late period brilliance with a very intimate feel. It has a really pillow-talk vibe, which is surprisingly not a bad thing! It features some of Lou's most interesting lyrics, at once tender and poetic, philosophical and personal. And the feeling is gorgeous, it messes with your perception of time, slowing the world down a bit, as befits the title.
2) The Gift - The Velvet Underground
White Light White Heat
This is a strange, captivating and unsettling story about an obsessive romance that ends very badly. It stands out from the Velvets other soft tracks in that the music is supplying jagged and angular ambiance to the weird story happening. Really a singular piece of the Velvet's canon.
1) Sunday Morning - The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground and Nico
This song, the first off of the Velvet's first album, is a gorgeous swoon through and through, replete with Baroque instrumentation, beautiful pop melody ... simply irresistible, an amazing starting point to one of the most influential albums ever made.
If you are partial to the quiet genius (or the louder genius) of Lou Reed, you might also enjoy my band The Namaquas. Click here to download your free copy of their new single, "Shooting Star" to check them out!
Download your free mp3 at: http://www.TheNamaquas.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Johnathan_McGee
http://EzineArticles.com/?Top-Five-Best-Quiet-Songs-by-the-Lou-Reed-/-The-Velvet-Underground&id=7628948
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