Results for “ted”

To be born blonde might be a good indication of bloodline but not necessarily of character. To dye one’s hair blonde, or to don a blonde wig, on the other hand, can be statement of intent – blonde ambition. To quote Heidi Klum, “Going blonde is like buying yourself a light bulb.” It worked a treat for the some of the former brunettes here, for sure.

Black blondes are not unusual on the music scene of today but it was a different story in the 1950s and 60s. The first was likely Joyce Bryant, the steamy “Black Marilyn”, who, in a bid to stand out above the competition, resorted to upending a tin of silver radiator paint over her head. “Joyce caught all kinds of hell for having blonde hair,” wrote Etta James in her memoir. “I dug her and copied her style.” Other black women singers followed suit, including a number of those in the James Brown Revue.

There again, a change can be as good as a rest. “I felt depressed and had to do something about it,” the newly blonde Dionne Warwick told the press in 1965. “It’s a lovely honey shade. Next time I get depressed I may change to a redhead.” Today they’d call it reinvention.

In any event, the hair colour, natural or otherwise, of the women featured in this article is of no real significance. What is important is they all have recordings available on Ace … because they’re worth it. 

Chris Carter is a Los Angeles-based disc jockey, producer and music consultant. A founding member of beloved powerpoppers Dramarama, Chris moved into management, handling among others the Wondermints, the members of whom now constitute Brian Wilson’s band. As a producer, he supervised the cult rockumentary about influential LA deejay Rodney Bingenheimer, Mayor of The Sunset Strip, which was nominated for Best Documentary in the 2003 Independent Spirit Awards. Currently Chris hosts two weekly radio shows: the long-lived and popular Breakfast With The Beatles, and Chris Carter’s British Invasion on Sirius/XM radio as part of Little Steven’s Underground Garage.

www.breakfastwiththebeatles.com

2014

We continued exploring Bob Thiele’s fascinating Flying Dutchman label, putting out Gil Scott-Heron’s second and third albums on CD and vinyl. Those records were as important as Marvin Gaye’s and Curtis Mayfield’s in the new wave of black awareness and commentary emerged in the US in the early 70s. Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong may not be the names that immediately spring to mind when talking about this surge of black politically inspired music but the albums they made for Flying Dutchman were, in their own way, part of this new movement. Ellington’s album was a live celebration of a century of inspirational black figures. Armstrong’s was a celebration of the jazz pioneer himself, including ‘Give Peace A Chance’ and a re-cut of ‘What A Wonderful World’ - which Thiele co-wrote.

Louisiana uptown, downtown and down in the Swamps – it’s all here and these nine records represent the finest artists of one of the most musically literate and distinctive States in the whole of the US of A. Be it the wheezing squeezeboxes of the Cajuns, the thundering piano and mellifluous voice of Fats Domino or the spooky blues of Slim Harpo, there is plenty of boppin’ and strollin’ to be had on a Saturday night – or any night for that matter – in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette and Anytown, Louisiana. The music knows no colour boundaries in the racial stew that is Louisiana and maybe this goes some way to explaining why so many came, from all over the USA, to record here. Even those who emigrated to Los Angeles, as Joe Lutcher did, took that rumba to the hi falutin’ folks of Hollywood and knocked it to them. So allons maintainent and be prepared to waltz fast, two-step with elegance and have a conspicuous good time with a lot of style.