ABC Wednesday Archives - Page 23 of 91

X is for excellence: Kennedy Center Honors

Betty Lavette singing Love Reign O’er Me, from the Who’s Quadrophenia album, practically a religious experience

As anyone who has read this blog often enough knows, I watch the Kennedy Center Honors, a designation of excellence, every December just after Christmas.

It is “an annual honor given to those in the performing arts for their lifetime of contributions to American culture (though recipients do not need to be U.S. citizens). The Honors have been presented annually since 1978, culminating each December in a star-studded gala celebrating the Honorees in the Kennedy Center Opera House.”

I’m wondering who will host this year. Stephen Colbert has done so since 2014, but given the unkind things the comedian has said about the current White House regime, I can’t imagine that would continue. “The first host was Leonard Bernstein in 1978, followed by Eric Sevareid in 1979 and Beverly Sills in 1980. Walter Cronkite hosted from 1981 to 2002 and Caroline Kennedy hosted from 2003 until 2012. Glenn Close was host in 2013.”

At the gala, the Honors find performers who highlight the work of the recipients, with the recipients, and usually the President and First Lady looking on.

Some particular performances stick in my mind:

2007: Brian Wilson
Libera, boys choir from London, singing Love and Mercy, the debut song from his first solo album
Listen here at 6:20 or here at 13:04

2008 The Who (Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey)
Betty Lavette singing Love Reign O’er Me, from the band’s Quadrophenia album, practically a religious experience
Listen here or here

2012: Led Zeppelin (John Paul Jones, Robert Plant, and Jimmy Page, pictured L-R)
Heart’s Ann and Nancy Wilson perform Stairway to Heaven, from LZ’s fourth album, with the late John Bonham’s son Jason playing the drums
Listen here or here at 13:50

2013: Billy Joel
Garth Brooks and friends singing Goodnight Saigon, from Joel’s Nylon Curtain album
Listen here at 12:33 or here at 12:34

2015: Carole King
Aretha Franklin sings the Goffin-King classic (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, and Carole is SO excited!
Listen here or here

W is for Junior Walker and the All-Stars

Among the wealth of artists that performed on the Motown labels in 1960s, I probably know about Junior Walker the least. He was born Autry DeWalt-Mixom, Jr. in Blythesville, Arkansas on 14 June 1931. He grew up in South Bend, Indiana.

He started his band, the Jumping Jacks, and his good friend, drummer Billy Nicks, had a group, the Rhythm Rockers, but the two would play on each other’s gigs. Since Nicks had a local TV show in South Bend, he asked Walker to join his band.

When Nicks got drafted, Walker convinced the group to move to Battle Creek, Michigan. After some personnel and name changes, the All Stars were signed by Harvey Fuqua to his Harvey records. “Fuqua’s labels were taken over by Motown’s Berry Gordy, and Jr. Walker & the All Stars [the usual spelling] became members of the Motown family, recording for their Soul imprint in 1964.”

The group’s first big hit was “Shotgun” in 1965, which “uses only one chord throughout the entire song — A-flat seventh. Other songs featuring this same structure (or non-structure) are Chain of Fools and Land of 1000 Dances.” The song is in the Grammy and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame. The All Stars were in a particular groove. The song appeared in several movies, including Malcolm X.

I have this Motown LP box set that explains that there was a songwriter – it doesn’t identify who, but it was either Johnny Bristol, who discovered the group; Fuqua, who took Bristol’s suggestion; or a guy named Vernon Bullock. The songwriter pitched the song to Junior, but he said it wasn’t his thing.

The next year, the songwriter said he still had that song, and Walker reluctantly agreed to record “What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)” in 1969. “A Motown quality control meeting rejected this song for single release, but radio station DJs made the track popular, resulting in Motown releasing it as a single.”

Junior Walker died of cancer on 23 November 1995 at the age of 64 in Battle Creek.

Listen to:

Shotgun, #4 pop, #1 rhythm & blues for four weeks in 1965 here or here

(I’m A) Road Runner, #20 pop, #4 r&b in 1966 here or here

How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You), #18 pop, #3 r&b in 1966 here or here

What Does It Take (To Win Your Love), #4 pop, #1 r&b for two weeks in 1969 here or here

These Eyes, #16 pop, # r&b for two weeks in 1969 here or here

Urgent (Foreigner, with Jr. Walker on sax solo), #3 pop in 1981, here or here

Urgent, 1983, appears in 1985 movie Desperately Seeking Susan, here or here

Round 20 of ABC Wednesday.

U is for unsub (ABC Wednesday)

Unsub is an American television series that aired on NBC from February 3 to April 14, 1989.

My friend Dan wrote:

The word is “unsub.” Spellcheck doesn’t like it.

1) Google: Unsubscribe, as in cancel a subscription.

2) Everyone else: Unknown subject of an investigation. Used mainly by US TV crime shows.

Hmm, I don’t watch the crime shows, but let’s check it out.

Oxford Living Dictionary

1. Unsubscribe.
‘you won’t be spammed and you can unsub if you change your mind’

Origin
1990s: abbreviation.

2. US, informal
(in police use) a person of unknown identity who is the subject of a criminal investigation.
‘putting together these insights will help police come up with a composite picture of the unsub’

Origin
1970s: abbreviation of unknown subject or unidentified subject.

So the crime reference is EARLIER than the opt out reference

Urban Dictionary:
“Our unsub is most likely a white male in his mid 30s, with a penchant for Star Wars action figures, and chocolate milk-type beverages.”

Criminal Minds Glossary

(Unknown Subject) The term used by Profilers in lieu of a suspect’s name.

Quora:
Yes, the FBI uses this term in real life, every single day. In fact, it is one of the bureau’s official terms used in FBI reports of investigations (FD-302’s).

Wikipedia:
“Unsub is an American television series that aired on NBC from February 3 to April 14, 1989. The series revolves around an elite FBI forensic team that investigates serial murderers and other violent crimes. Unsub is an abbreviation for the unknown subject of an investigation.

No, I had never heard of this show, which starred David Soul from Starsky & Hutch. It was on Friday nights at 10 p.m.

Amazon:

UNSUB: A Novel Hardcover – June 27, 2017
by Meg Gardiner (Author)

Caitlin Hendrix has been a Narcotics detective for six months when the killer at the heart of all her childhood nightmares reemerges: the Prophet. An UNSUB—what the FBI calls an unknown subject—the Prophet terrorized the Bay Area in the 1990s and nearly destroyed her father, the lead investigator on the case.

So, Dan, you are correct, sir. I had no idea.

ABC Wednesday – Round 20

S is for Sikhism (ABC Wednesday)

There are roughly 700,000 Sikhs in the U.S. today

Everyone at my place of employment received this email message this past winter:

Special Reports: Sikhism

The word Sikh (pronounced “sickh”) means ‘disciple’ or ‘learner.’ The Sikh religion was founded in Northern India in the fifteenth century by Guru Nanak Dev Ji and is distinct from Islam and Hinduism. Sikhism is monotheistic and stresses the equality of all men and women. Sikhs believe in three basic principles; meditating on the name of God (praying), earning a living by honest means, as well as sharing the fruits of one’s labor with others. Sikhism rejects caste and class systems and emphasizes service to humanity.

Sikhs at a Glance

Sikhs have been in the U.S. for over 100 years
There are roughly 700,000 Sikhs in the U.S. today
Sikhism is the world’s fifth largest religion with 25 million adherents worldwide
Sikhs believe in one God, equality, freedom of religion, community service and nonviolence
Sikhism is a distinct religion, separate from Hinduism and Islam
99% of people wearing turbans in the U.S. are Sikhs from India
The Sikh turban represents a commitment to equality and justice
Sikhs cover their uncut hair with a turban

For more information:

Who are Sikhs

About Sikhism

System Administration Police recently had the opportunity to engage in an open conversation about Sikhism with a fellow SUNY colleague. Anyone interested in discussing an important topic can email SUNY University Police to set up a meeting.
***
This, of course, begs the question: what the heck happened to prompt the Special Report?

While not comparable on most terms, I had heard people compare how they felt after 9/11 to how they felt after November 8, 2016. Right after 9/11, a Sikh man was killed, and in subsequent years, other Sikhs have been victimized. In early 2017, Sikhs were again targeted.

Perhaps that’s why Valerie Kaur offered A Sikh Prayer for America on November 9th, 2016.

Sikh Americans
Sikhism

R is for the Rheingold Beer Jingle (ABC W)

My beer is Rheingold the dry beer.
Think of Rheingold whenever you buy beer.

I was listening to our classical music station early one morning, and I hear the Rheingold beer jingle. OK, it wasn’t, really. But it certainly REMINDED me of it.

I discovered here that the melody I heard was in fact the Estudiantina Valse, Opus 191, No. 4 (The Students’ Waltz), a title I had never heard of.

“The tune was composed by a pair of obscure French composers, the tune itself by Paul Lacome (1838 – 1920); But ironically it is often incorrectly attributed to the man who arranged it in a rollicking Strauss-like arrangement for two pianos — named Emile (“Emil”) Waldteufel (1837 – 1915).

“Waldteufel included it in a set of tunes arranged for 2 pianos, published under his own Opus number, which blurred the issue of authorship right down to the present day.” In fact, I have found almost NO one to attribute this to Lacome, only to Waldteufel.

“The Beer jingle with a lyric by an unknown ad agent, used the melody of this famous light-classical waltz tune.”

The lyric was:
My beer is Rheingold the dry beer.
Think of Rheingold whenever you buy beer.
It’s not bitter, not sweet, it’s the extra dry treat
Won’t you try extra dry Rheingold beer?

I remember the third lyric as “it’s refreshing, not sweet…”, but there are a lot of variations.

“Ironic that this melody, which some may remember as the quintessential German Beer Hall tune (images of people with swaying cups all singing in unison) is actually of FRENCH, rather than German, origin.

The beer sponsored Rheingold Theater, a dramatic anthology series, on NBC Primetime in 1955 – 1956. Rheingold Beer, “despite its Wagnerian opera name, was brewed in a little brewery located in Brooklyn, NY; and which tried to use the early medium of TV to get a little respect — or “brand recognition” at least.

Still, Rheingold Beer, “introduced in 1883, is a New York beer that held 35 percent of the state’s beer market from 1950 to 1960. The company was sold by the founding German American Liebmann family in 1963… Rheingold shut down operations in 1976, when they were unable to compete with the large national breweries… The label was revived in 1998…” but it’s not the same, or so I am told.

WHY do I remember the lyrics to a song for a product I have NEVER consumed? Herwitz Associates suggests “a dozen principles for improving memory, but the concepts can just as easily be applied to making a message memorable.”

Listen to Estudiantina Valse here or here or here or here, featuring a 26-tone Violinopan (thanks, Jaquandor!)

Listen to the Rheingold beer jingle here or here or here or here (modern)