This is the grave of Jerry Capehart. Born in 1928 in Goodman, Missouri, Capehart entered the music industry as a young man, though that was interrupted a bit by being drafted into the Korean War. By t
This is the grave of Eubie Blake. Born in 1887 in Baltimore, Blake grew up poor. I know that his gravestone says 1883 and in fact Blake had long claimed this, but the record shows it as 1887. His pare
I don’t even need to explain why to watch this. Just turn it up and get your funk on.
One last point about the Newport Folk Festival, which is its forward looking vision of younger artists. When Randy Newman played, he got great amusement about being old. He played “I’m Dea
Last night, I watched Julien Temple’s 2009 documentary Oil City Confidential. Temple’s documentary on Joe Strummer was so good that I figured I’d check this out. It’s about the
This is the grave of Kate Smith. Born in 1907 in Greenville, Virginia, Smith grew up pretty well off. Her father was a newspaper and magazine distributor in the DC area. The family was very big into s
When I was a kid, I spent a fair amount of time visiting my cousin, who lived in Cambridge, MA. He’s a few years older than me, and I thought he was just the coolest. He built large, complex Spa
The big news this week is sad. The great bluegrass guitarist and, at one time, vocalist, Tony Rice died at the age of 69. Seems to have been sudden and at home, so probably a heart attack. I saw Rice