April 2020 - Page 3 of 6 - Ramblin' with Roger

Singing parts; cream of tartar

the Pips

lemon merengue pie Carla, who I’ve known since high school choir – was she an alto? – decided she needed to know stuff:

Ok… when you sing alone… do you mostly sing the melody, or do you sing your “part?”

Almost always, in four-part music that I’m familiar with, it’s the bass line. In pop music, it’s usually the Pips response, not the Gladys Knight lead. On Lola (Kinks) or The Boxer (S&G), it’d be the high harmony, not the melody. I just hear them better.

To that end, I can sing a higher pitch in harmony than in melody. This makes no physical sense, so it must be mental. We had a church play in March, Once On This Island. I hated singing the high parts in my solo; it made me anxious. But the harmony, I absolutely LOVED doing. Harmony almost always I find relaxing.

No lemon merengue pie?

She also wants to know – those people from Binghamton, NY always inquisitive, especially when the extended family runs the Little Venice restaurant:
OK here is another question…. why are you unfamiliar with cream of tartar? You never make lemon merengue pie? Or soufflés?

I think I’ve made lemon merengue pie exactly once in my life. To the best of my recollection, I’ve NEVER made a soufflé. Or snickerdoodle cookies, which also can use cream of tartar.

But that’s about it. WHY have cream of tartar when it has such limited use? It’s not like cinnamon or nutmeg or any number of other spices I’ve used regularly. AND there are reasonable substitutes.

Now, there was a period in the 1980s, I was into making pumpkin pies, and even baking cookies. And it wasn’t always in the autumn. But it wasn’t for my own consumption. It was either for a food pantry or some benefit auction. I don’t even like eating pumpkin pie as much as I like apple. Or lemon merengue. But they were easier to make; no top crust.

Since I got married, I almost never make pies or cookies. My wife is WAY better at it. I’m not all that interested in doing things only so-so. And frankly, if I were to make them, I’d want to eat them, and I don’t need to do that.

“You’re just like me,” he said

vitiligo

On the bus recently, I saw a young woman with a “People Are People” handbag. On the surface, a reasonable sentiment. Part of me, though, is instinctually wary. Does this mean that we’re all alike?

And that is, of course, not accurate. We come with varied experiences in geography, different types of abilities, demographic characteristics, et al. I think we’re necessarily a bit schizophrenic about these things.

On the one hand, we hawk our individuality. On the other, at least some of us embrace our oneness. And, I suspect, both are true.

I was at the grocery store a couple months ago. The young man ringing out my purchase, even before scanning one item or saying hello, proclaimed, “You’re just like me!” And I looked at him, a young black man in his early twenties, and I knew exactly what he meant.

He had vitiligo, an autoimmune disease, on his face and hands. I have vitiligo. I told him I didn’t always have it. He said, “Me too. I didn’t have it when I was younger.” I meant I didn’t have it until I was 50. This common experience meant we’re alike, at least in that particular way. We had that connective tissue.

It’s like when I’m riding my bicycle in town. When I see other riders, they give me that head nod acknowledgment. Naturally, I return the signal.

This pic, BTW, is, unusually for me, a selfie, from about three years ago. This is about the time of the year I start wearing sunscreen religiously, if not earlier. I don’t wait for the summer. Also, I almost always wear hats. After the church play, there were a few unused white hats left over, and I took them all, mostly because I’m always misplacing headwear.

The Depression of #1 hits: 1930

Sir Duke

There was a recent JEOPARDY question about the first full year of the Great Depression. That would of course be 1930. There were a series of bank failures. By 1932, the nation’s income was cut in half. That could never happen now, right?

And the music business took a real hit. According to A Century of Music, the record industry went through almnost a total collapse. In 1927, there were 140 million discs sold. Five years later, it was down to six million.

Still, there were a couple of songs that you will know.

Stein Song (University of Maine) – Rudy Vallee. Ten weeks at #1. I saw Vallee in the 1968 movie The Night They Raided Minsky’s in a Binghamton cinema.

Dancing with Tears in My Eyes – Nat Shilkret with Frank Munn, vocals. Seven weeks at #1.

Body and Soul – Paul Whiteman; Jack Fulton, vocals. Six weeks at #1. Libby Holman went to #3 with this song in 1930.

Little White Lies – Waring’s Pennsylvanians. Vocal refrain by Clare Hanlon & the Three Girl Friends. Six weeks at #1. When I was in glee club in high school, a lot of the arrangements were by Fred Waring. This song went to #3 in 1930 by Shilkret/Munn.

You’re Driving Me Crazy (What Did I Do?) – Guy Lombardo, with Carmen Lombardo on vocals. Four weeks at #1. Gaetano Alberto “Guy” Lombardo (1902-1077) was a Canadian bandleader who was Mr. New Years Eve from 1956 on TV, and going back to 1929 on the radio.

Three Little Words – Duke Ellington and the Rhythm Boys. Three weeks at #1. Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington (1899 – 1974) was “an American composer, pianist, and leader of a jazz orchestra, which he led from 1923 until his death over a career spanning more than six decades.”

Again?

When It’s Springtime in the Rockies – Ben Selvin. Three weeks at #1.

Chant of the Jungle – Roy Ingraham. Three weeks at #1.

Happy Days Are Here Again – Benny Meroff, with Dusty Rhodes on vocals. Three weeks at #1. In the same year, Leo Reisman/Larry Levin’s version went to #3.

When It’s Springtime in the Rockies – Hilo Hawaiian Orchestra, with Frank Luther and Carson Robison, vocals. Two weeks at #1.

If I Could Be With You One Hour To-night – McKinney’s Cotton Pickers, George Thomas, vocals. Two weeks at #1.

Happy Days Are Here Again -Ben Selvin. Two weeks at #1, yet I can’t find a recording. This song also went to #3 in 1930 by Leo Reisman/Larry Levin.

Puttin’ On the Ritz – Harry Richman. One week at #1. This also went to #4 in 1983 by Taco.

The Man from the South (with a Big Cigar in His Mouth) – Ted Weems with Art Jarrett, vocal.

COVID While Black, naturally

Not everybody can work from home

To add to the pantheon of Driving While Black, Shopping While Black, and the general Existing While Black, is COVID While Black.

ITEM: Black people have faced racial discrimination on Zoom meetings through Zoombombing. K’Andre Miller was making an appearance to talk to New York Rangers fans when he was subject to a vile racist outburst. The hacker posted the N-word hundreds of times during the online chat. A virtual meeting with black University of Texas students was cut short by racist ‘Zoom bombing’.

A friend of mine has posted about his personal experience of being targeted with the N-word and the F-word. while in a Zoom meeting. The hacker even called him by name because his name was under his picture. He was the only black person in that session. It appears that Zoom has fixed the problem with added steps of security passwords. Still, it was quite disturbing.

Who IS that masked man?

ITEM: You know how we’re all supposed to wear those face coverings to help stem the tide of the virus. But, in particular, black men fear homemade coronavirus masks could exacerbate racial profiling. “The CDC’s guidance on wearing masks outside comes with an added burden for minorities. ‘If you’re a person of color, you can’t just wear a mask.’”

I’ll admit to feeling a tad nervous wearing them myself, as though someone thought I might steal the toilet paper. I may be wrong, but I swear I’ve felt the negative reaction myself. And my masks are really nifty items, made from my daughter’s scarves.

Related, there are stores that have banned the use of masks, which makes no public safety sense.

ITEM: African-Americans may be especially vulnerable to COVID-19. Why IS that?

African-Americans are more likely to be exposed to COVID-19. Not everybody can work from home. Black and Hispanic workers are much less likely to be able to telework.

African-Americans have a higher incidence of underlying health conditions. And yet…

African-Americans have less access to medical care. “Inequities in access to health care, including inadequate health insurance, discrimination fears, and distance from clinics and hospitals, make it harder for many African-Americans to access the sort of preventive care that keeps chronic diseases in check.”

Paul Robeson, Negro singer

“Golden Age”?

On page 13 of the Binghamton (NY) Press from Wednesday, May 5, 1926 is this headline: BASS-BARITONE TO SING SPIRITUALS. But it’s the subhead that caught my attention. “Paul Robeson, Negro, Will Be Hear In Concert Friday Night.”

He was to appear at Binghamton Central High School, my alma mater. The article extensively quotes the March 3 New Republic. “A sort of sublimation of what the negro may be in the Golden Age hangs about him and imparts to his appearances an atmosphere of affection and delight that is seldom felt in an American audience.”

This is hardly the first I’ve read about the “Negro” X recently. The “Negro girl,” the “Negro pastor” show up in articles about Raymond Cone and my grandmother, Agatha Walker, e.g. It is a reflection of a time when being white was normative. Anyone not described as a “Negro” or whatever they called Native Americans (likely Indians) and Asians (Oriental?) were assumed to be white.

But what the heck was the New Republic alluding to in terms of the “Golden Age”? Is it a reference to the Harlem Renaissance? Or perhaps the Golden Age of Black Business, when “leading black capitalists . . . reflected their success within a black economy, which developed in response to the nation’s rise of two worlds of race.”

Red Summer

This in spite of the white-on-black violence of 1919’s Red Summer, which most people, a century later never heard about. Black WWI Vets Fought Back Against Racist Mobs. So “Golden age”… hmmm.

Incidentally, I was not looking for the Paul Robeson article. It sits just above a piece I was interested in. “A.M.E. Church Seeking $2,000 for Parsonage.” It described the three-day bazaar to be held to raise funds for the dwelling of one Rev. Raymond Cone. “Mayor Clarence J. Cook will the opening address.”

I have learned a great deal this past year about cultural norms by reading old newspapers. The listing of almost every church service, wedding and funeral, with the name of the preacher and often performers of special music. It would be as easy to fall down the rabbit hole on Newspapers.com as it would to overdo on Instagram or Facebook.