Friday, March 04, 2011

Soul Salute March 4th: Bobby Womack

Happy Birthday to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Womack, born March 4, 1944
Here are three of my favorites.

"Harry Hippie"


"I Can Understand it"


"Inherit The Wind" by Wilton Felder with Bobby Womack on vocals.

Thursday, March 03, 2011

Phreedom of Speech even for the Phelps Phreaks

March 2nd. The United States Supreme Count ruled in favor of the Westboro Baptist Church cult from Kansas and their vile habit of protesting funerals as their way of spreading hate against the gay community.

This family of church cultists travels around the country desecrating the honor of our military personnel by using the funerals of our military deceased as their forum to protest any acceptance of Gays, Lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people in the United States. They assemble across the street or near funerals of INNOCENT people insulting/disrespecting the mourning families all around the country.

One family in Maryland fought back and sued the Westboro Baptist cult and won. But the verdict was overturned on appeal. Today the Supreme Court upheld the appeal.

What this means is the Westboro Baptist cult remains protected by the first amendment. They have the freedom of speech and the right to continue protesting military funerals.

While the actions of the Westboro Baptist cult are reprehensible it would go against the so-called freedoms we have in the United States to speak our minds. Even if the minds of the Westboro Baptist Cult are in their asses, they should have the right to express themselves.

And it goes both ways. We should continue to speak out against these religious parasites and eventually the day will come that even Fred Phelps will have croaked and there will be no shortage of people damming him to hell with protest signs displayed near HIS funeral.

Freedom of speech goes both ways. If we want it, they should have it too. But the smarter side of the issue is in how you choose to express your opinion.

Westboro expresses themselves in a way that makes them look like idiots and they become more irrelevant every time they go out.

Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Soul Salutes: March 2nd Lawrence Payton and Dusty Springfield

Soul salute for one born on this day and one who died on this day in Soul music history.

Remembering Lawrence Payton, of The Four Tops, (March 2, 1938-June 20, 1997) An original member of the Four Tops, Mr. Payton was the first to pass away breaking the original lineup of over 44 years. Since the passing of Lawrence Payton, two other original members Reynoldo "Obie" Benson and leader Levi Stubbs died in recent years leaving only Duke Fakir as the original surviving member of the legendary Motown group.



Mr. Payton was also a songwriter and producer of some of the Four Tops material.

"Feel Free" from the Four Tops 1976 album "Catfish" is a Lawrence Payton song where he performs the vocals.



This tribute to The Four Tops produced by Mr. Colton Thomas





Remembering Dusty Springfield (April 16, 1939-March 2, 1999)

A Pride and Soul Salute, her classic "Son Of A Preacher Man" was one of her biggest hits and came out of the legendary Memphis sound.


And a personal favorite of this blogger is "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself"


Which was covered by Memphis soul legend Isaac Hayes on his 1970 album "The Isaac Hayes Movement"

March 2nd birthdays in music....

Lawrence Payton of The Four Tops (March 2, 1938-June 20, 1997)



Lou Reed, born March 2, 1942



Larry Carlton, born March 2, 1948



Karen Carpenter (March 2, 1950-February 4, 1983)



Jay Osmond, born March 2, 1955



John Cowsil, born March 2, 1956



And Jon Bon Jovi, born John Francis Bongiovi, Jr.; March 2, 1962

Acting as a singing star

Over the decades there have been mega stars in film and television who's fame reached such a peak that someone felt these stars should have a music recording career on the side. And the results have often been jokes and/or embarassments that have left their fans and future generations shaking their heads in disbelief. And a few devoted fans in awe. And we should watch those fans very carefully.

So here are the fine examples of great actors who were not so fine recording artists. You would think they could act as a singer but......not really.

Listen at your own risk!


Pamela Suzette Grier, better known by the name "Pam Grier" and for me the first person I ever saw NEKKID in a movie. (DAMN!) An actress of great beauty and who whopped some serious ass as the queen of the Blaxploitation movie genre of the 1970s and grew into a beautiful woman in film and television from Miami Vice to Jackie Brown to "The L Word" where Pam Grier's character "Kit" was a singer. And Pam Grier actually can sing. But I don't think it was her singing talent that got her the chance to record this from one of her earliest films some 40 years ago.

"Long Time Woman" by Pam Grier



Pam Grier had a brief role at the love interest of "Ricardo Tubbs" on "Miami Vice" back in the 1980's. And while Crockett and Tubbs were out catching the drug dealers on the famous police show, real life law enforcement failed to stop the drug dealers that supplied music companies their fix because the music industry thought that the success of Miami Vice as a television show should require that its stars also put out their own albums.

Most famous of the Miami Vice stars on record was Don Johnson but I'll save the best..I mean worst for last. Phillip Michael Thomas didn't get as much attention for his 80's style R&B album called "Death Drug". A title better suited for an episode of "Miami Vice", the quick to the bargain bin album included the song "Just The Way I planned it".



If they didn't plan to have a hit song, then it really was just the way they planned it.

But just a "Heartbeat" away from Phillip Michael Thomas was his Miami Vice partner Don Johnson. And just like his "Sonny Crockett" got to drive the nicer sports car and seemed to be the bigger star than "Ricardo Tubbs", Don Johnson's song was quite the big hit song for a few months.



Lets be honest, the best music related to "Miami Vice" was its own soundtrack that didn't include any of its stars attempting to sing, and the music legends who were singers that dabbled in acting as guests on the show.

But back to actors who cursed us...I mean graced us with their singing efforts.

Kim Fields was a cute little girl when they cast her on the TV show "The Facts Of Life". And she was almost a typical teenager when someone allowed her to sing this tribute to Michael Jackson during the mega success of his "Thriller" album. And people were so serious about this that Don Cornelius had Kim Fields lip sync her song on Soul Train.

When I first heard "Dear Michael" my reaction was "Dear God"



Twenty years before Kim Fields ode to Michael Jackson, the star of Bonanza Lorne Greene recorded music. And to capitalize on the country theme of his television show, here is the country song "Ringo".




Can we call this an early country RAP?

What can we call William Shatner, perhaps the most successful TV star of the 1960's that recorded music we knew was horrible but we loved him anyway? So much that we laugh with him 40 plus years later as he parodies his own "singing career" and laughing all the way to the bank. He can afford Lucy, the sky and the diamonds.



And there are many more TV and movie actors who tried to sing. We will save those for future posts.

Thanks for reading and please don't give up your day job!

"Pride and Soul": It's a new day.

The blog formerly known as The Rainbow Soul Journal is no more. The Archives are there but March 1st represents a NEW DAY and a NEW BLOG. Welcome to "Pride And Soul" by Edric Floyd.

The "pride" represents a pride in the LGBT community that I am a part of and I will post my opinion on issues of interest to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered community.

The "Soul" represents my deep love for Soul music. I will post and share information on the "Old School" in Soul, Rhythm & Blues and some Jazz and classic rock music. There will be a celebration of music daily here at Pride and Soul and often a post will include a song that I will relate to a topic.

The new blog format is a new direction and hopefully I will finally get into a habit of frequently posting on many issues and music. It's a new direction and I hope a new commitment and a new attitude. Perhaps a better attitude. I can't guarantee that but I will do my best.

The new blog also has a new address. You can reach the new "Pride And Soul" by Edric Floyd with the URL prideandsoul.blogspot.com. The old URL is history.

So welcome to the new blog and thank you for reading my rants.

It's a "New Day" and I am doing this blog MY way. The first "Pride And Soul" blog song comes from the great Patti Labelle from her "Timeless Journey" CD.