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alrighty then...POSTHUMOUS birthdays...


whitefang

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:freak:

At risk of provoking the usual defensiveness some exhibit, I find it funny (well, almost) that someone who's insisted repeatedly & vociferously on the "right" to post whatever they want, related or otherwise, wherever & whenever they want, would get uptight abt anyone tryna put a little context behind this endless list of names which, for the most part, delivers nothing concerning why anyone should care abt or honor those mentioned.

:facepalm:

Otherwise, what really is the point ?

:idk

 

d=halfnote
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@ Fang, I don't think people need to be standing by to post their comments on the day of. A week later is not so bad. Hell, I've seen many posts that I call tales from the crypt years later resurrecting old threads LOL! :cool:

 

@ d, I would concur that this thread and the living birthday thread are basically just and endless list of names (hopfully of guitar players). Most of the artists listed are unknown to me but I wish them a Happy Birthday anyway on the living ones. And the same is true on this thread, most of the artists are unknown to me. It's good to stay on topic when possible but I am also in the freedom crowd to go OT now and then or pursue other thoughts. We usually fall back in line sooner or later LOL! The point for me, is it's better to corral them all on one or two threads as opposed to starting endless threads just to say Happy Birthday. Anyone can start a special thread on any artist at any time birthday or not and go into greater detail especially on RIP threads. :cool:

 

@ et al, When I do see someone like Scotty Moore on this thread or on January 8th when Elvis' BD comes up, I'm sure I will say a few words or maybe even post a YouTube clip. The same is true on the Birthday thread. I hope others will do likewise when they see someone they admire... :cool:

Take care, Larryz
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I'll admit I haven't heard of some of the people I post posthumous birthday notices of. And I can't figure out why someone who usually drones on about how this forum should be about "learning new things" and discovery of what's never been heard by any of us can't see this too, as a way of discovering a seemingly "new" name AND also hear something they've then obviously never heard before. I've actually uncovered some pretty fantastic stuff by guys that were long dead, but unheard of by me.

 

And I'd say that probably ALL of the unheard of dead guys might well have had some bearing of influence on those still living, which does make their mention worthwhile as contributors to some level of advancement. And THAT'S the point. :poke:

Whitefang

I started out with NOTHING...and I still have most of it left!
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1st, the backslap...

[told ya it was coming...]

I'll admit I haven't heard of some of the people I post posthumous birthday notices of. And I can't figure out why someone who usually drones on about how this forum should be about "learning new things" and discovery of what's never been heard by any of us can't see this too, as a way of discovering a seemingly "new" name AND also hear something they've then obviously never heard before. I've actually uncovered some pretty fantastic stuff by guys that were long dead, but unheard of by me.

 

And I'd say that probably ALL of the unheard of dead guys might well have had some bearing of influence on those still living, which does make their mention worthwhile as contributors to some level of advancement. And THAT'S the point.

So, I guess, the thing I do in offering context or background or simple celebration to this list of names, is, while you criticize it, what might be a good thing ?

:freak:

 

 

Then the voice of reason...

@ Fang, I don't think people need to be standing by to post their comments on the day of. A week later is not so bad. Hell, I've seen many posts that I call tales from the crypt years later resurrecting old threads LOL! :cool:

I, for one, am not here every day.

@ d, I would concur that this thread and the living birthday thread are basically just and endless list of names (hopfully of guitar players). Most of the artists listed are unknown to me but I wish them a Happy Birthday anyway on the living ones. And the same is true on this thread, most of the artists are unknown to me....[/qoute]

That's the crux of this is.

None of this, even when mentioning living, breathing player, is actually reaching them.

So the idea might be to celebrate what they did for us.

Some times that might seem obvious but, as is pointed out, sometimes even some of us don't know who the designated honoree is.

That's where the idea of putting context behind comes in, eh ?

As I mentioned recently I met a young player who, while a skilled player & a fan of Prince, had only the sketchiest idea of who Hendrix was. :freak:

I imagine that many even at a site such as this may wonder, "Who's Tal Farlow, Nick Lucas or Eddie Lang ?"

Same thing might apply to various new/young players or those working in a less popular genre.

 

@ et al, When I do see someone like Scotty Moore on this thread or on January 8th when Elvis' BD comes up, I'm sure I will say a few words or maybe even post a YouTube clip. The same is true on the Birthday thread. I hope others will do likewise when they see someone they admire... :cool:

:thu:

Plus maybe even go to a site where one can actually communicate appreciation to those we hope to honor (take a hint abt Jerry Donahue, for ex)

d=halfnote
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Not long ago I went to a local venue and saw Merle Haggard. He passed away a few months later. The moral of the story is to go see these artists before pass away...I'm going to see another country star, Marty Stuart this week that use to record with Merle and many others. He's a classic Telemaster! We had a thread not long ago that was a game of listing all of our guitar heroes using the 1st initial of the last name or some sort of rule. It died out and didn't accomplish much and like this thread, there were tons of famous guitar players that I had never heard of. Just another endless list of names...I agree that commentary and YT clips can be valuable on this thread when you see someone you admire make the list. :cool:
Take care, Larryz
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So, when you get back from lighting a candle at church Larry, we can all pay a posthumous birthday wish to ELVIS PRESLEY, who'd be 83 today! :)

 

Ya gotta wonder what he'd be doing these days had it all gone right.

 

Also, rock promoter BILL GRAHAM would be 87;

 

And DAVID BOWIE would have been 71.

 

Cripes, all I stated was that I thought it made better sense to offer "context" or background and celebration of the people mentioned in this thread on the day their birthdate is mentioned. (OP note:) I WAS going to start an RIP thread for RAY THOMAS, a co-founder of The Moody Blues who is dead at 76, but I only learned( on another forum) that this morning. But also found out later this morn that he died FOUR DAYS ago. I figured that was too little too late, so scrapped the idea.

 

So, back to "basics", although not a super fan like Larry, I DID like a lot of Elvis tunes. Among my favorites, is this one, and I like this performance of it from his '68 "comeback" TV special. ;)

 

[video:youtube]

 

I started out with NOTHING...and I still have most of it left!
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Gee, so relieved I was able to be here today & avoid the "deadline" !

:D:facepalm:

... a posthumous birthday wish to ELVIS PRESLEY, who'd be 83 today!

Ya gotta wonder what he'd be doing these days had it all gone right.

He'd likely be tryna get any current president to update his fake Double-Secret-Undercover-Anti-Drug Agent/Rock-Division badge...

...if he hadn't died from apoplexy when Lisa Marie married Mikey Jackson.

 

Elvis's greatest & worst musical moments (plus a palate cleanser):

 

[video:youtube]

 

Thanks, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller !

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58z-eRUFt_E

[video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58z-eRUFt_E

 

Much as I'd like to leave it there w/ the evidence of EAP's inability to discern good from bad in plain sight, I also recognize that, kinda like America's other great EAP (Eddie Allan Poe), he was a mashed-up bundle of contradictions.

So...here's a clip that "explains" the mystery of EAP as much as may be done.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-VSn-NHK2Q

[video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-VSn-NHK2Q

d=halfnote
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Yeah, that clam movie with the slicing sand clam song was not a very good one for Elvis but not as bad as some of them others. That clam song is from all of our old Army cadence while marching songs (probably due to Elvis' Army marching days with him faking the electric lead on an acoustic guitar)...Now that I'm back from lighting a candle Fang, I used to sing One Night With You on stage in my Country Rock band days (One of my favorite Elvis songs when he was great and that really is him plying the guitar in that clip even though Scotty is standing by!). Here's a movie clip that came from one of his best movies King Creole...if you watch closely you'll see over Elvis' right shoulder Scotty Moore playing all the guitar parts on the big ole Gibson while Elvis fakes it out front on an acoustic. I really get a kick out of replaying it every January 8th as I remember both he and Scotty in the clip (along with the Jordanaires singing the backup vocals faking it as the band!). So Happy Belated Birthday to the King from one of your biggest fans!

 

[video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CobCUGFUik

 

:2thu:

Take care, Larryz
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Wasn't belated at all though. ;)

 

But I also think it isn't fair to judge any Presley tune that comes from one of his films. It's my understanding that he wasn't really all that happy with most of the movies he really had not much choice in, both script wise and musically. I mean, if you want to judge the SONGS on their musical merit( or lack thereof) go ahead. But leave Elvis OUT of it.

 

And oh yeah, KING CREOLE is #1 of my favorite THREE Presley flicks. JAILHOUSE ROCK and WILD IN THE COUNTRY being the other two. ;) But as hormone ravaged adolescents, we liked going to see any Elvis movie, mostly for the BABES he had in 'em. :D

Whitefang

I started out with NOTHING...and I still have most of it left!
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I think it isn't fair to judge any Presley tune that comes from one of his films. It's my understanding that he wasn't really all that happy with most of the movies he really had not much choice in, both script wise and musically. I mean, if you want to judge the SONGS on their musical merit( or lack thereof) go ahead. But leave Elvis OUT of it.

Why ?

He agreed to do them, profited from them, most of his real fan base came from them.

To pretend he was somehow not part of their often lameness is to ignore the nature of his attitude toward music & his art.

On top of that there's his well-documented personal attitudes toward others.

To give him a free pass on his poor choices is to paint a false picture of him.

 

Of course, he's not the only entertainer who was/is a mix of such contradictions (one of my personal heroes, John Lennon, was also a bit offtrack at times & let's not even start on Bob Dyl) but he's the one under discussion here.

As has been discussed before & I demonstrated in the post above, I find great value in some of what he did but EAP was a very curious mix of great skill/talent + stunning, bewildering lack of concern with musical value.

 

That's why I chose the "Edge of Reality" clip above.

d=halfnote
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King Creole is a great movie with a great album to go with it. It's not about judging songs from the movie Fang. The clip I played is a classic with Scotty in the background. Most of the early Elvis movies were based upon his music as the main attraction and he loved doing them. It was his later films where he was under contract, not allowed to do his thing, and not allowed to be doing concerts, recordings, etc. His life sucked and he had little to say about how his music was being used in the films whether he liked it or not, he still honored his contracts.

 

@ d, The Beatles movies were pretty goofy but don't try telling the girls that LOL! I enjoyed them and the music that went with them. I think the movie moguls knew there was a lot of money to be made by putting Elvis and the Beatles on the big screen. But in those early days I truly enjoyed their music and didn't mind the corny stuff. I think GI Blues, Blue Hawaii were about the last movies he made with almost decent music. Elvis' early stuff was much more to my liking. I like all of the Beatles years to include their early stuff as well. Lyrics were kind of bubble gummy with I Want To Hold Your Hand, but I still love it! :cool:

 

 

Take care, Larryz
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I wasn't really referring to personal impressions, but general. As in the public impression.

 

As many abandoned Dylan when he "went electric" so did a lot of Presley fans when he(or rather the Colonel) started slicing singles from the lame sounding(in comparison to his early work) tunes on the movie soundtrack LPs. And the more lame and goofy the music and movies got, the more singles were cut from them. And lest we forget, PARKER signed the movie deals and Elvis, to avoid any legal hassles, reluctantly went along with them. He WANTED to do more substantial filmwork, more serious roles and all, but Parker insisted that would irreparably damage his "image" (and of course, mean less money for Parker) and ordered him to forget about it. In other words d, he didn't really choose those tunes and movies, but was GIVEN no choice.

 

Parker to me, seemed to be two sided. One side, he was the best thing to happen to Elvis, and on the other, probably also the worst.

Whitefang

I started out with NOTHING...and I still have most of it left!
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It was his later films where he was under contract, not allowed to do his thing, and not allowed to be doing concerts, recordings, etc. His life sucked and he had little to say about how his music was being used in the films whether he liked it or not, he still honored his contracts.

 

EAP didn't sign an endless contract to act in those films.

He periodically had the option to get out of that situation but opted to keep at it.

One can only presume he was happy to do so.

I'm not aware that any of his film contracts precluded him performing live & they definitely didn't interrupt his recording career.

I'm not a hater of his films, per se, but the musical material he accepted for them was often execrable & a demonstration of his lack of concern for either basic quality or for his fans.

@ d, The Beatles movies were pretty goofy but don't try telling the girls that LOL! I enjoyed them and the music that went with them. I think the movie moguls knew there was a lot of money to be made by putting Elvis and the Beatles on the big screen.

 

Big diff there is that when the Beatles realized they didn't have anything to contribute by continuing their films, they stopped, except for McCartney.

d=halfnote
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He WANTED to do more substantial filmwork, more serious roles and all, but Parker insisted that would irreparably damage his "image" (and of course, mean less money for Parker) and ordered him to forget about it. In other words d, he didn't really choose those tunes and movies, but was GIVEN no choice.

 

Parker to me, seemed to be two sided. One side, he was the best thing to happen to Elvis, and on the other, probably also the worst.

EAP had the option to do what he wanted to at almost any time.

His contracts w/Parker or rec co.s or film co.s weren't life-long.

They were periodically renewed.

He chose to continue as he did.

Most fans of the early Elvis, I suspect, unequivocally consider Parker the worst thing that happened to him professionally.

Presley didn't even benefit financially as much as many think.

Like several other major music figures he naively signed over 50% of his gross income to his manager.

Parker actually made more than EAP did !

 

 

d=halfnote
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Like d indicated, I think Elvis could have got out of his movie contracts simply by not signing on to them at any time. They did limit his live performances and until they expired Elvis honored them. However, Elvis made a ton of money from his film contracts and the Colonel negotiated them in his best interest (and in his own LOL!). Here's the list showing how much Elvis made for each of his film contracts while Parker was his manager. Parker had managed to get Elvis 50% of the movie profits for his films which was unheard of in the movie industry:

 

https://theelvisexpert.com/tag/elvis-presley-movie-contracts/

 

I don't think Parker was the worst thing to happen to Elvis...:cool:

Take care, Larryz
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OK, "whatevs".....and moving along:

 

"50's R&B guy BYRON "Wild Child" GIPSON would be 88 today;

 

With this day being JIM CROCE's 76th birthday.

 

For those unfamiliar with Gipson (like me too ;) ) Here's a sample:

 

[video:youtube]

 

 

I started out with NOTHING...and I still have most of it left!
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JIM, I wondered that often myself.

 

Larry: Some say that one should be MY favorite too, since I've worked at several car washes since I was about 14 or so. ;)

 

Well, sure, I CAN relate to it, but I can relate as well to this one recalling several times in my life too. ;)

 

[video:youtube]

 

Whitefang

 

I started out with NOTHING...and I still have most of it left!
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Heh! And I'll bet WINTER time car wash work was FAR better there than here! ;)

 

SLIM HARPO( James Isaac Moore) would be 94 if still with us today. STILL like his only "big" hit:

[video:youtube]https://youtu.be/vtvL5_6BFd8

 

Whitefang

 

 

 

I started out with NOTHING...and I still have most of it left!
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RAY PRICE missed his 92nd birthday;

"folkster" GLEN YARBOROUGH would have been 88;

and LARRY HOPPEN(Orleans) would have been 67 today.

So would CHRIS BELL of the short-lived band Big Star. Too bad. He was only 27 when he passed 40 years ago. :o

 

Not a GREAT band, but not all that bad IMHO:

 

[video:youtube]

 

Whitefang

 

 

I started out with NOTHING...and I still have most of it left!
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Ray Price strikes a special chord with me as he was my Dad's favorite country singer. He crossed over from die hard country of his early days and into the pop charts in later years with this tune written by Kris Kristofferson:

 

[video:youtube]

 

:cool:

Take care, Larryz
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Quite the breadth today----

 

Long gone jazzman DANNY BARKER's 109th is today,

 

And JOE PASS would have been 89.

 

TIM KELLY of Slaughter though, would have been 55 but died 20 years ago next month.

Whitefang

PS: MY Dad's favorite singer was Vaughn Monroe, but we won't go THERE. :/

I started out with NOTHING...and I still have most of it left!
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And I'm guessing one of these will be of interest to you Larry----

ROY LANHAM once with The Sons Of The Pioneers woud have been 95 if longevity was in his cards, and...

 

BOB BOGLE--co-founder of The Ventures would have been 81.

 

Seems both he AND we were and are older than we thought. ;) Or LIKE to anyway. :D

Whitefang

I started out with NOTHING...and I still have most of it left!
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