 |
|
|
06/10/04 Gather around, children, and I will tell you about a great wonder upon the earth. In the glorious days of my youth, when I was just a lad abornin', I was vastly privileged to hear the song of the downtrodden, 'buked and scorned...but undefeated. My parents were quiet rebels, who transgressed the bounds of the pure Methodist life in their little town of Ocean Grove, New Jersey. "God's Square Mile of Health and Happiness", or so the sign at the town gates said...oh, yes, we had town gates. The only black folk allowed in were the...ahem..."help". 'Twas a scandal d'estime back then when a fella sold a house to a...gasp!...Catholic Family!!!! Ah, the wonderful, bucolic, serene, beavercleaver 50's. Everyone was happy! Everyone was content! Well, except fer them agitators down south who were stirrin' up the peaceful, happy, contented colored folk. Then comes the dawn. Big Joe Turner, Little Richard, Wynonie Harris, the Moonglows....ROCK AND ROLL!!!!! And R and B and Blues. And Jazz...well, first Jazz. But, but, but....white folks were listening. And grooving. And admiring. My father was an early lover of all things rhythmic and bluesy. He loved Louis Armstrong and Count Basie and Billie Holiday. But he was not to hidebound to ignore the "new" stuff. And one of the "new" 78s he had (that my mother made him play every night for a time) was by a guy named Ray Charles. "I gambled on your love, baby; and I got a losing hand". And "Greenback... greenback a'dollar bill. Jes' a little piece of paper coated with chlorophyll." I was a mere slip of a lad, sitting on the upstairs staircase, listening and watching them dig the living shit out of that music, never thinking that it had anything to do with me. Then, in the fullness of time, I ended up at the Asbury Park Convention Hall with a coupla buddies, sneaking in to see Ray Charles. Mind blown?...yes. Sights shifted?...definitely. Happy?...damn straight! I won't go in to a long threnody about Brother Ray's contribution to music and culture and race relations and the birth of soul. But I will ask all Jukasites to: Put the man on the player: Close your eyes, Whisper a prayer of thanks, and RAISE A GLASS! Sez I, We are blessed when beauty is given to us, but never more so then when it comes from suffering. SOUTHSIDE Jive Archive: Jive #1 | Jive #2 | Jive #3 | Jive #4 | Jive #5 | Jive #6 | Jive #7: 06/02/01 | Jive #8: Christmas Jive | Jive #9: 11/15/01 | Jive #10: 02/10/02 | Jive #11: 03/27/02 | Jive #12: 06/25/02 | Jive #13: 08/27/02 | Jive #14: 12/01/02 | Jive #15: 03/07/03 | Jive #16: 06/07/03 | Jive #17: 11/27/03 | Jive #18: 01/16/04 | Jive #19: 06/01/04 | Jive #20: Ray Charles | Jive #21: 09/16/04 | Jive #22: 12/25/04 | Jive #23: 08/01/05 | Jive #24: 11/07/05 | Jive #25: 12/22/05 | Jive #26: 07/25/06 | Jive #27: 03/13/07
|
|
