Sister Rosetta Tharpe—often called the Godmother of Rock and Roll—performing in Manchester, England in 1964, as part of The British Tours of “The American Folk Blues Festival”. This video showcases her rendition of Didn’t It Rain as well as Trouble in Mind.

This year Sister Rosetta Tharpe will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Class of 2018 on April 14th, in the category of Early Influences. BBC reporter Chris Long relates that University of Salford’s Dr. Chris Lee says of the 1963 performance in Manchester “that a minibus came from London to that show and in it were Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Keith Richards and Brian Jones. They came all that way just to watch the concert.”   [Read more…]

“Lift Every Voice and Sing” (often called the Black National Anthem) is a song written as a poem by James Weldon Johnson in 1900 and set to music by his brother John Rosamond Johnson in 1905. Here it is sung by Wintley Phipps.   [Read more…]

Ra Ra Rasputin, Lover of the Russian Queen
There was a cat that really was gone.

With the announcement of indictments against 13 Russian nationals (and a separate indictment for a Californian!) Russia is back in the news again. Here’s a musical nod to one (in)famous Russian—Rasputin—that was composed and performed by the German disco group Boney M. back in the late 70s. Here it is re-imagined by Alexey Rom for a mechanical organ built in 1905—the 81-key Marenghi Organ. We can only speculate whether Russia’s contemporary (Ras)Putin is exerting some kind of mysterious exotic power over Donald Trump, but Trump’s actions certainly fuel that speculation.   [Read more…]

What is it with Americans and gun culture? It even had David Bowie skivvied out. As Garry Wills passionately portrays, guns truly are our Moloch.   [Read more…]

Almost let Valentine’s Day slip by without a little sumpin’ special. Can’t let that happen! Here’s a version of ‘Simply Beautiful’ featuring Queen Latifah and Al Green to help set the mood.   [Read more…]

This year’s Ash Wednesday, or the beginning of Lent, is February 14th. The day before is thus the last day to enjoy food without fasting, hence “Fat Tuesday” or in French, “Mardi Gras”. Here are a couple of videos to celebrate the event. The first is from “Orfeu Negro” (Black Orpheus), a 1959 movie directed by Marcel Camus set in Rio de Janeiro at Carnaval time. The story is a re-imagining of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice and this excerpt is a scene where Orfeu meets Eurydice during his samba school’s preparations for the Carnaval festivities.   [Read more…]

Ruthie Foster is joined by The Blind Boys of Alabama in a version of the spiritual “Lord Remember Me”.   [Read more…]

A hearing impaired dance troupe performs a routine representing the Thousand Hand Bodhisattva (Guan Yin).   [Read more…]

I’m in the mood for a bit of squeeze box sound and the L.A.-based group Santa Cecilia fits the bill.   [Read more…]

What do marbles and magnets have to do with music? YouTuber DoodleChaos created a synchronized chain reaction marble contraption that had me mesmerized.   [Read more…]

Hugh Ramapolo Masekela (4 April 1939 – 23 January 2018; R.I.P.) – Strawberries (from the 1998 album Black to the Future).

Strawberries, love tastes like strawberries …

The berries are gone and spring is here
but I know my love is always there
The rain has come with sun and haze
Love for the fresh strawberry taste

And when they’ve had the last ripe strawberries
Thats when my heart replies:
Strawberries, love tastes like strawberries …   [Read more…]