(“You Ain’t Nothin’ But a) Hound Dog” first became a hit 6o years ago.
“The song was born in the famed Brill Building of New York, written by two Jewish teenagers named Mike Stoller and Jerry Leiber. They had intended it, Leiber later recalled, for a female blues singer, and though they had several candidates in mind, it was Willie Mae Thornton who first took it into the studio on August 13, 1952. Big Mama, as she was known, growled that the songwriters were ‘a couple of kids,’ but the great bandleader Johnny Otis put her through her paces with several takes even as she tinkered with the lyrics, threw in a few suggestive howls, and changed the accent to make ‘Hound Dog’ wholly her own.”
– “‘Hound Dog’: An Old Dog That Keeps on Running,” Gregory McNamee, Britannica blog
Related:
“Mama’s Voice: The lasting influence of Willie Mae ‘Big Mama’ Thornton,” Maureen Mahon, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The digital polls close September 30, 2012, so Vote Now! (one robot per category, please). The election is powered by Carnegie Mellon University so absolutely nothing cangowrongcangowrongcangowrongcangowrongcangowrongcangowrongcangowrong
26-year-old Aline Westphal from Hildesheim in Lower Saxony has won the 2011 Air Guitar World Championship in the annual competition in Oulu, Finland. The young German, also known as die Nichte des Teufels (“The Devil’s Niece”), is not just another pretty face. A university drama student, she’s writing a dissertation on “Air Guitar.”
Ms. Westphal is the first woman to win the world air guitar title in the global competition’s 16 year history. Rock on, Aline.
Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length. Yes, we know about the Wanda Jackson–Jack White performance on Letterman.
Cute Aimi Eguchi (above) is a member of the Japanese girl group AKB48. She’s also a computer product, completely digital. The cybersongstress was created by sampling the attributes and actions of other singers in the group, synthesizing “Aimi,” then uploaded the result to the adoring public, who regarded her as another aidoru (アイドル), a pop idol. Now they know she’s a digital diva, but they dig it.
Psst … Actually, Dolby® noise reduction removes some of that “psst.” Good to know since audio cassettes are back. More precisely, the concept of cassettes is back:
”Cassette tapes make a comeback,” Caitlin Curran, Washington Post.
“Best of DC 2011, Best Medium: Cassette,” Jonathan L. Fischer, Washington City Paper
Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.
“Rolling Stone Readers Pick the Top Ten Bassists of All Time.” See it here, with video clips.
Rolling Stone asked readers to vote on the top ten bass players of all time, and the results demonstrate the weakness of the “crowdsourcing” concept. Even limiting the selection to Rock/Pop/R&B players of the electric bass, a list without James Jamerson, Bootsy Collins, Leland Sklar, or Bob Babbitt simply cannot be taken seriously.
Image (“Sir Nicholas Carew Plays Reverse Thunderbird Goth Bass, after Hans Holbein the Younger”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.
More: “Photos: What D.C. Looked Like at SXSW,” Erica Bruce, ArtsDesk, Washington City Paper.
Image (“Washington Band Crossing Lake Austin, after Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.
