Strange Fruit

LISTEN TO THE WORDS AND NEVER FORGET THE TERROR!!!

 ”Southern trees bear a strange fruit, Blood on the leaves and blood at the root, Black body swinging in the Southern breeze, strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees. Pastoral scene of the gallant South, The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth, Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh, And the sudden smell of burning flesh! Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck, for the rain to gather, for the wind to suck, for the sun to rot, for a tree to drop, here is a strange and bitter crop.”

The video attached to one of my shortest posts is straightforward yet nuanced. The song “Strange Fruit” tells a story that must be told to our youth and we must never forget. Because when you forget history it is destined to repeat itself. We know the importance of Billie Holiday’s recording. But this indispensable video vivid imagery the history of the struggle against lynching, something that was very real, and for Black rights with a wealth of common history of African Americans, Jewish Americans, and the American Left. It is part of our history, part of our heritage. Teach your children and learn this chapter in our past.

The song “Strange Fruit” creates immediate controversy. Call it a grim reminder of an unnecessarily painful and ugly chapter in American history. The song retains its force, because the issues it raises about the legacy of racial terrorism in American society still resonate. The story tells a song that compelled its listeners to confront the past, which was genuinely disturbing then and it is no less disturbing today.

While many people assume Strange Fruit was written by Billie Holiday herself, it actually began as a poem by a Jewish schoolteacher and union activist from the Bronx who later set it to music. Disturbed by a photograph of a lynching, the teacher wrote the stark verse and brooding melody about the horror of lynching under the pseudonym Lewis Allan in 1938. It was first performed at a New York teachers union rally and was brought to the attention of the manager of Cafe Society, a popular Greenwich Village nightclub, who introduced Billy Holiday to the writer.

The version of the song you hear was sung by the great Nina Simone. And that’s my THOUGHT PROVOKING PERSPECTIVE

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His-Story Will Change Facts

If you are not aware, we have entered into five years of untruths, unreal assessments, and in some cases out and outright lies, as 2011 will mark the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. I am beginning to see the Civil War story revised by those still oppose to the outcome. With that said, I agree with the prolific French writer, historian, and philosopher Voltaire who said, “History is a pack of tricks we play upon the dead”. This statement could not be more profound!

I am one who believes that if history that I have witnessed and know to be true has been changed to sanitize it – how can I believe anything history ever told. With respect to the Civil War it was a critical point in time because a divided nation faced a crisis. It started in the early morning hours of April 12, 1861, when Confederate batteries fired upon federal troops occupying Fort Sumter. Union forces surrendered the next day after 34 hours of shelling and the bloodiest war in the nation’s history had begun.

There is no question this major event in the country’s history is significant. However, we should be candid about its causes and not allow the distortions of contemporary politics or long-standing myths to cloud our understanding of why the nation fell apart. There will be a lot of misinformation that will surely come, as both sides of the debate relive this chapter of American history. So be prepared for the revisionists to create many illusions pertaining to the facts as they relate to the realities of Civil War history.

It’s already begun with a surge of activity, especially among conservatives, to adjust the story to reflect contemporary political positions. One recent effort occurred in Texas when the state school board revised social studies standards to increase study of Confederate leaders and reduce emphasis on the Founding Fathers’ commitment to separation of church and state. Some wanted to stop referring to the slave trade and substitute a euphemistic phrase, the “Atlantic triangular trade.” Thankfully, after opposition, that idea was dropped.

Another attempt occurred when the Virginia Department of Education conceded its error in allowing a misleading textbook to be used in classrooms. But, they will allow the history book to continue to be used and the offending passage will remain. Even after admitting that the inaccurate passage was “outside of accepted Civil War scholarship.” The disputed passage was a gross falsehood that says two battalions of African American soldiers fought for the Confederacy under famed Gen. Stonewall Jackson. The department would go on to say that it anticipates teachers “will have no difficulty working around one objectionable sentence”.

Also, not long ago in Virginia the new Governor signed a proclamation honoring the Civil War and made no mention of slavery, which again after considerable controversy he revised the proclamation. Let me add that Richmond, Virginia was the home of the Confederate capital. These are just a few examples. Sure the First Amendment protects the Confederate sympathizers’ right to write this nonsense but it is up to us to do our due diligence and understand that although we were never taught the truth – much of it is untrue.

Before I go any further, let’s be clear, the war was NOT fought to free the slaves. That narrative came much later when the north was not winning and needed a reason to allow colored solders to fight. Abraham Lincoln, Honest Abe, although not a proponent of slavery, had no desire to end slavery at the onset of the war. He was for the free-labor ideology of equal opportunity and upward mobility. The issue of slavery, as he stated, “was the morality and future of the slaves and of slavery”. He believed if the nation remained divided on the issue of slavery, the nation would not last. If you recall he borrowed a statement made by Jesus to support this position; “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

Actually, Honest Abe was considering the option of sending the slaves back to Africa or somewhere outside of America to solve the problem. IN FACT, as an experiment, he sent thousands to Haiti and the Dominican Republic. This experiment was not successful because many became ill and died causing him to reevaluate the decision. He also had another plan, which was to acquire land in South America to host this unwanted population to include other locations as well.

On the other side, the south, secessionist, saw it this way. Their leader Confederate President Jefferson Davis, a major slaveholder, justified secession in 1861 as an act of self-defense against the incoming Lincoln administration. Abraham Lincoln’s policy of excluding slavery from the territories, Davis said, would make “property in slaves so insecure as to be comparatively worthless . . . thereby annihilating in effect property worth thousands of millions of dollars.”

The Confederate vice president, Alexander Stephens said, “Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea… Its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the Negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical and moral truth.” These guys were very straightforward in their belief that the proper status of the Negro in America’s form of civilization, if free, would be the immediate cause of the rupture.

Views such as this continue today, from various quarters, because there remains enormous denial over the fact that the central cause of the war was our national disagreement about race, slavery, or more specific states’ rights. The historian Douglas Egerton says, “The South split the Democratic Party and later the country not in the name of states’ rights but because it sought federal government guarantees that slavery would prevail… routinely shifted their ideological ground in the name of protecting unfree labor.” I believe it was all about states’ rights similar to today’s conservative perspective.

Let’s understand slavery was about one thing – economics. The institution and the economics derived from it built America and that wealth made America a powerful force in the world as a result. Therefore, those who try to rewrite or obscure the reality of this evil do so wishing the greatest crime ever inflected upon a people never ended or that it would return. I suggest that you listen carefully to those who use the code word “States Rights” and hear what they are not saying.

The Confederacy broken up the United States and launched a war that killed 620,000 Americans in a vain attempt to keep 4 million people in slavery does not confer honor upon their lost cause. It’s been 150 years of folks, like back then and now, trying to change the narrative to justify why the war was fought. Some say slavery. Some say tariffs. Others say the Constitution. I found this quote where one captured Confederate soldier, as he was being marched off to prison, was asked, “Why are you fighting?” He is said to have grunted, “Because you’re here.”

In these trying times of today and a still divided nation some say if our current president gets reelected there will be more talk of secession by the “right-wing” and dare I say history might repeat itself. And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

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We heard you, and we’re on our way back to the internet airwaves! On Wednesday, September 5^th at 8:00 PM (EST), The Book Tree Radio Show is pleased to announce its re-launch on BlogTalkRadio. Stay tune!!!

 

 

Back When We Were Negroes

There was a time until the early 1960s when the terms to describe those of African descent, like me — African-American or Black or Afro-American — were almost unheard of. I remember a distinct conversation with a friend discussing descriptive terms for ourselves in 1963 or ’64. The term “black” was just coming into vogue and he didn’t like it one bit. Call me a Negro,” he said, “but don’t call me black”.

Now, the word “Negro” (publications used a lower case “n”)  has almost become a pejorative, so I was a little surprised when my pastor, the Rev. Willie Reid, used it during Thursday’s revival. “Back when we were Negroes,” he said, and listed several things that were different about black life in America back then.

That got me to thinking. Back when we were Negroes in the 1950s, “only 9 percent of black families with children were headed by a single parent,” according to “The Black Family: 40 Years of Lies” by Kay Hymowitz. “Black children had a 52 percent chance of living with both their biological parents until age 17. In 1959, “only 2 percent of black children were reared in households in which the mother never married.”

But now that we’re African-Americans, according to Hymowitz, those odds of living with both parents had “dwindled to a mere 6 percent” by the mid-1980s. And check this, in Bibb County (GEORGIA), more than 70 percent of the births in the African-American community are to single mothers.

Back when we were Negroes and still fighting in many parts of the country for the right to vote, we couldn’t wait for the polls to open. We knew our friends, family and acquaintances had died getting us the ballot. Dogs and fire hoses were used to keep us away and still we came. But now that we’re African-Americans, in a city of 47,000 registered — predominately black voters — more than 30,000 didn’t show up at the polls July 19.

Back when we were Negroes, we had names like Joshua, Aaron, Paul, Esther, Melba, Cynthia and Ida. Now that we are African Americans, our names are bastardized versions of alcohol from Chivas to Tequila to C(S)hardonney. And chances the names have an unusual spelling.

Back when we were Negroes, according to the Trust For America’s Health’s “F as in Fat,” report, “only four states had diabetes rates above 6 percent. … The hypertension rates in 37 states about 20 years ago were more than 20 percent.” Now that we’re African-Americans, that report shows, “every state has a hypertension rate of more than 20 percent, with nine more than 30 percent. Forty-three states have diabetes rates of more than 7 percent, and 32 have rates above 8 percent. Adult obesity rates for blacks topped 40 percent in 15 states, 35 percent in 35 states and 30 percent in 42 states and Washington, D.C.

Back when we were Negroes, the one-room church was the community center that everyone used. Now that we’re African-Americans, our churches have lavish — compared to back-in-the-day churches — community centers that usually sit empty because the last thing the new church wants to do is invite the community in.

Back when we were Negroes, we didn’t have to be convinced that education was the key that opened the lock of success, but now that we’re African-Americans, more than 50 percent of our children fail to graduate high school. In Bibb County last year, the system had a dropout rate of 53.4 percent.

Back when we were Negroes, the last thing a young woman wanted to look like was a harlot and a young man a thug, but now that we’re African Americans, many of our young girls dress like hootchie manas and our young boys imitate penitentiary custom and wear their pants below the butt line. If I could reverse all of the above by trading the term “African-American” for “Negro,” what do you think I’d do?

Charles E. Richardson – The Telegraph’s editorial page editor.

All I can say to this is Amen thank you Mr. Richardson and that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

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We heard you, and we’re on our way back to the internet airwaves! On Wednesday, September 5^th at 8:00 PM (EST), The Book Tree Radio Show is pleased to announce its re-launch on BlogTalkRadio!

Just Saying!

Well the stage is set! Mittman and Robber the conservatives dynamic dual, different from Batman and Robin, will destroy America as appose to saving it. We thought the last republican candidates for president was scary – these two appear to be the nightmare on our street. Maybe I’ll put it this way – these two will make the last republican president look like a girl scout. If they win the election in November – we should be very afraid!!!

This pair of impractical ideologues with excessive confidence in their own moral righteousness could do what the George Wallace and Bull Connor types could only imagine. I am not one to get into the business of giving Godly advice but I think it’s time to pray to your higher power. Since the Boy Wonder is now on the scene, let me just touch on this guy who could be a heartbeat from the throne. I have a feeling a lot more material is coming.

First, Ryan is not a “fiscal conservative.” A fiscal conservative pays for the government he wants. Ryan never has. His early “Roadmap for America’s Future” didn’t balance the budget until the 2060s and added $60 trillion to the national debt. Ryan’s revised plan, passed by the House in 2011, wouldn’t reach balance until the 2030s while adding $14 trillion in debt. It adds $6 trillion in debt over the next decade alone — yet Republicans had the chutzpah to say they wouldn’t raise the debt limit! I remain mystified why President Obama never hammered home this reckless contradiction by insisting that the GOP “raise the debt ceiling just by the amount it would take to accommodate the debt in Paul Ryan’s budget.”

Ryan is an extreme “small government conservative.” Ronald Reagan ran government at 22 percent of gross domestic product when our population was much younger. Ryan and Romney want to run government at 20 percent of GDP even as the number of Americans on Social Security and Medicare doubles.

Even if we slow these programs’ growth, it’s impossible to shrink the federal role in an aging society this sharply without eliminating vast swaths of what Americans have come to expect from government — not to mention shortchanging already lagging investments in research and development and infrastructure. Over time, Ryan’s “vision” would decimate most federal activities beyond Social Security, Medicare and defense.

As an African American who knows what America was like not too long ago. It was the liberals agenda that created the enduring achievements of civil rights to environmental laws to Medicare out of boldness and compassion. Ask yourself a few questions and carefully consider the consequences.

How can Ryan justify his Medicaid cuts when, as the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation found, they would likely leave 14 million to 19 million poor people without health coverage? How can he justify tax proposals that, as The New Republic’s Alec MacGillis pointed out, would reduce the rate on Mitt Romney’s rather substantial income to less than 1 percent? How can he claim his budgets are anti-deficit measures when, as The Post’s Matt Miller has noted, his tax cuts would add trillions to the debt and we wouldn’t be in balance until somewhere around 2030?

Finally, the Boy Wonder wants to cut Social Security, yet he was raised on it. Ironic isn’t it that you have paid your money into it and he wants to take it away or hope you die before you can use it. There’s a belief in some quarters that the world will end, as the Mayan’s predict, on December 21, 2012. I predict that if these two win in November – the world might just as well have ended for millions of middle class Americans. And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

THE INTERVIEW

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We’re getting ready!

The Book Tree Radio Show Returns!

We heard you, and we’re on our way back to the internet airwaves! On Wednesday, September 5^th at 8:00 PM (EST), The Book Tree Radio Show is pleased to announce its re-launch on BlogTalkRadio!

Listen to John T. Wills, author of “Just a Season” and newly released “Legacy – A New Season”, interview with Silver Rae Fox. Silver Rae was The Book Tree Radio Show’s original co-host who has a insightful conversation with John T. Wills founder and host of the Book Tree Radio Show.

THE INTERVIEW

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We’re getting ready!

WNL Virtual Blog Tours

I am proud to invite and share the great news about WNL Virtual Blog Tours. WNL is a place that loves helping author’s promote their books. Over the years they’ve built great relationships with media, bloggers, and literary people who love books. They will help you connect with your audience through radio interviews, guest blogging, and book reviews.

WNL offers virtual event packages to meet your needs. WNL ONLY coordinate blog tours for authors, both fiction and nonfiction.

FICTION: Our niche is the Christian or Inspirational Fiction market, but we are open to other genres since we work with a wide range of bloggers. WNL prefers to ONLY promote books that are considered “clean” fiction (PG-13).

NONFICTION: Nonfiction authors must have a solid platform.

Guidelines:

Attn: Because I want this website and its authors to be taken seriously, I must make sure that the novels that come though WNL are edited and they are a novel I would be proud to put my website’s name behind. Therefore, I or one of my reviewers must read your novel before I agree to accept your novel for a blog tour. The ones I most prefer to promote are Christian Romance, YA, Children, Christian Fiction and Non-Fiction.

WNL is now accepting paperbacks, e-books and PDF for review.

Visit: http://pauletteharper.blogspot.com/

We will not accept any book that has profanity, erotic poetry or any book that goes against our morals and values.

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The Book Tree Radio Show Returns September 5th!

John T. Wills’ interview with co-host Silver Rae Fox

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Twenty First Century Slavery

I suppose everyone has an opinion on the prison system and incarceration. Some view it as the New Jim Crow and of course there are others who see nothing is wrong with the system at all. My view is that it makes you wonder about the fairness received by some, namely minorities, whether it works for those unable to afford justice and I think everyone will agree that it is a cash cow.

As it is report in news reports daily people are released after spending years incarcerated for crimes they did not commit. Then, there is the sad irony of people being put to death who may fall into this category and more shameful; executions of the mentally disabled and life sentences for minors. In addition, there is the fact that once released the convicts voting rights are taken away forever – in most cases.

There is a long history of lynching’s, chain gangs, and the free labor derived from this system in this country. It was not until recently that the disproportionate sentencing in crimes such as cocaine and crack clearly was unfair! Let me say again that it is not my position that laws and punishment is not necessary. What is disparaging is that it disproportionately affects the minority population of the citizenry.

I read an article recently where a Vermont man is suing the state under the 13^th Amendment for the labor he was forced to perform while awaiting trial. A one-time grad student, Finbar McGarry, was arrested for allegedly firing a gun in his home and threatening to kill his family and an official at the university. In a lawsuit McGrarry alleges that the state violated his rights under the 13th Amendment — which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude after the Civil War — when he was forced to work in the laundry for minimal pay as an inmate.

In his $11-million lawsuit pro se, said he was forced to work three days a week for six weeks washing other inmates’ laundry. He was paid a wage of 25 cents per hour and developed a bacterial infection on his neck because he was not provided sanitation in the laundry room. He says, prison officials threatened to put him “in the hole,” where inmates are shackled and locked up for 23 hours per day in solitary confinement, if he refused to work.

Portions of the following was reported by Alon Harish and Alexis Shaw for ABC.

It is important to note that McGarry was released in June 2009, and all charges against him were dropped. McGarry’s anti-slavery case was thrown out in November 2009 by a federal court in Brattleboro, Vt. In his opinion, U.S. Magistrate Judge John Conroy wrote that McGarry’s 13th Amendment claim was without merit because his laundry work “was nothing like the slavery that gave rise to the enactment of that amendment.”

But on Friday, a panel of judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit overruled the lower court’s dismissal of the case, arguing that McGarry did not have to prove that his experience was akin those of African slaves before abolition.

“Contrary to the district court’s conclusion, it is well-settled that the term ‘involuntary servitude’ is not limited to chattel slavery-like conditions,” appellate judge Barrington Parker wrote in the court’s opinion. “The amendment was intended to prohibit all forms of involuntary labor, not solely to abolish chattel slavery.”

Supreme Court precedent has established that the constitutional rights of pretrial detainees are distinct from those of convicted inmates, because criminal convictions can justify certain punishments, Parker argued.

The appellate panel remanded McGarry’s case to the district court, where he will get a new trial. The state has 90 days to appeal the panel’s ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“If you haven’t been convicted at all, your pretrial detention is not a form of punishment,” said Columbia Law School professor Jamal Greene. “The degree to which his liberty can be restricted is directly tied to the needs that required him to be detained. So if he was detained only to secure himself for trial, he can’t be detained for punishment.”

McGarry pointed to a 1986 policy under which the department developed employment programs designed to help inmates gain employable skills and reduce the cost of incarceration. The policy did not distinguish between convicts and pretrial detainees.

“At that facility, that’s what was happening. It was a ‘rehabilitative’ labor policy, and all inmates were expected to participate in it,” he said. “It was a practice that affected a lot of pretrial detainees.”

In a separate lawsuit he filed while he was in jail, McGarry’s chief concern was not the Constitution; it was getting injunctive relief to prevent the state from forcing him to do more labor. During his 14-hour shifts, he said, he was unable to contact his public defender, causing him to fear that his case would not be handled properly.

While all inmates may be expected to clean up their cells or wipe down tables in the mess hall, Greene said, the poorly paid, unsafe work McGarry alleged he was forced to do may have crossed a legal boundary.

Did you know the clothing worn by our soldiers are made by the cheap labor of the incarcerated? In closing, let me suggest that you read Michelle Alexander’s book “The New Jim Crow”. And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

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On Wednesday, September 5^th at 8:00 PM (EST), The Book Tree Radio Show is pleased to announce its re-launch on BlogTalkRadio!

The Chess Records Story

I woke up this morning feeling the blues and ironically when I turned on my radio the DJ was talking about the ghost of the greats, which gave me the idea to bring the founders of Rock and Roll in to remembrance. History is long and only marks a period of time but this story is the beginning of the music we enjoy today. This is the story of the legendary Chess Records Family. Lest we never forget!

                                                                 

                            Leonard Chess                                                Phil Chess

Leonard and Phil Chess, two Polish born immigrants, founded Chess Records the pre-eminent Blues label of the 50s and 60s.Eventually they created a monopoly of Chicago music recording, doing sessions and releasing recordings by every major blues performer from John Lee Hooker, Elmore James, “King of the Slide Guitar”, to Bo Diddley through Jimmy Reed, Chuck Berry and everyone in between.

Brothers Phil and Leonard Chess owned the upscale Macamba nightclub on Chicago’s Southside. Chess Records “Home of the Electric Blues” was started by brothers Leonard and Phil Chess in the late forties. Leonard and Phil Chess – two enterprising immigrant brothers from Poland – bought into fledgling Aristocrat Records, a label that had been formed a short time before by Evelyn Aron and her husband.

By the time they got involved with Aristocrat, Leonard and Phil were already aware of what sort of music might sell in the Black community that of a young Delta-born-and-bred slide guitarist: Muddy Waters. Waters had previously recorded for Columbia, the company but none of his work was released. When he recorded “Gypsy Woman” and “Little Anna Mae” for Aristocrat the Chess brothers found in him the means to distinguish their little company from the hundreds of other independent R&B labels springing up across the country.

At the beginning, Leonard and Phil focused their recording and publishing ventures primarily in the area of popular jazz, but soon expanded into blues, receiving their first Billboard recognition in 1947. By 1949 Aristocratic Records which became Chess Records in 1950, was a fixture in the world of music and its recordings and the songs published by Arc Music remain the most impressive collection of blues music in the world.

From their experiences in the nightclub business on the South side of Chicago, the Chess brothers understood the popular preferences of their predominantly African-American audiences, but also saw the marketability of blues music to a broader audience. In the beginning Chess Records was ran as a two man business, with Phil overseeing the nightclub and the offices of Aristocrat/Chess and Arc, while Leonard alternately scouted talent, produced the sessions, and hand delivered fresh recordings to radio stations in the Chicago area.

Willie Dixon

Slide guitarist Robert Nighthawk’s pre-war popularity made him a nice acquisition, and the 1948 session that produced his “My Sweet Lovin’ Woman” was doubly important because it introduced bassist Willie Dixon, an artist whose talent as a producer/songwriter/ session player during the 1950s and 1960s vastly contributed to the label’s long-term success.

McKinley Morganfield aka Muddy Waters and sideman Little Walter

In 1950, the Chess brothers launched Chess Records with Gene Ammons’  “My Foolish Heart,” followed by Waters’ “Rollin’ Stone.” Guitarist Jimmy Rogers made his Chess debut August of 1950, with t “That’s All Right” and “Luedella.” Little Walter who revolutionized the role of the harmonica in Chicago blues with his astonishing flights of amplified fancy. Walter’s legacy is punctuated by his slew of hits during the ’50s: “Mean Old World,” “Off The Wall,” “You’re So Fine,” and the 1955 Dixon-penned R&B chart-topper, “My Babe.”

Chester Burnett aka Howlin’ Wolf

Despite his  success with  local talent, Leonard Chess, aided by Sam Phillips, began to look outside Chicago for talent. Phillips supervised Memphis pianist Roscoe Gordon’s smash “Booted” (1952) and shipped Chess masters by Rufus Thomas, Dr. Isaiah Ross, Joe Hill Louis, and Bobby Bland, but his top contribution to the label’s legacy was Chester Arthur Burnett, a.k.a.  Howlin’ Wolf. With Ike Turner playing the piano both sides of Wolf’s first Phillips-produced Chess 78, “How Many More Years” and “Moanin’ At Midnight,” proved major sellers in 1951. By 1953, Wolf had left Memphis for Chicago, recording more hits including “Who Will Be Next” and “Smokestack Lightnin’.”

Eddie Boyd 

Willie Mabon

                                                  Memphis Slim 

A host of other blues legends recorded for Chess during the early and mid-1950s. Memphis Slim, Eddie Boyd and Willie Mabon, assuredly did. Boyd’s 1953  “24 Hours” and “Third Degree” both sold very well, as did Mabon’s “I Don’t Know” (1952) and “I’m Mad” (1953), both number one R&B smashes.

John Lee Hooker

John Lee Hooker first recorded for Chess in 1950. Joe Williams made the charts that same year with “Every Day I Have The Blues.” Big Bill Broonzy and Washboard Sam recorded  material in ’53 that straddled the fence between pre-war Chicago blues and the brasher new style.Memphis Minnie likewise attempted to resuscitate her career with a 1952 Checker single, “Me And My Chauffeur.” On the jazzier side of the tracks, saxmen Leo Parker, Tab Smith, Lynn Hope, and Eddie Johnson kept things swinging. By the early-1950s, Water’s group added pianist Otis Spann. Though he was now a star in his own right, Little Walter still recorded behind his ex-boss on Waters’ immortal “I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man” and “I’m Ready.”

Rice Miller a/k/a Sonny Boy Williamson II

In 1955  new talent was added to the Chess stable. Sonny Boy Williamson, a blues legend across the Mississippi Delta thanks to his King Biscuit Time radio broadcasts, joined Checker, a Chess subsidiary label.  For his first recording “Don’t Start Me Talkin’” Chess paired him with most of Water’s band. Bo Diddley was signed in 1955 too. His first two-sided smash for Checker, the self-titled “Bo Diddley” and “I’m A Man.

But no one at Chess had the impact on the future of popular music that Chuck Berry did. Berry accepted Water’s advice regarding the advantages of working with Leonard Chess, signing with the label in May of 1955 and his first unforgettable hit, “Maybellene.”

There were also vocal at Chess. Harvey Fuqua’s the Moonglows from Louisville had a 1954 hit with  “Sincerely,” and The Flamingos, a Chicago quintet fronted by Nate Nelson, scored big for Checker in 1956 with their dreamy “I’ll Be Home” and “A Kiss From Your Lips.”

As Berry, Bo, and the vocal groups sold platters by the crates, some of the blues greats that had epitomized Chess during its early years of operation began to recede into the background. But mainstays Muddy, Sonny Boy, and Wolf hung tough, Wolf doing some of his best work during the early ’60s when Dixon wrote “Back Door Man,” “The Red Rooster,” and “Hidden Charms” for him (the latter manically energized by Hubert Sumlin’s elastic guitar work).

In 1960, Dixon recruited younger Chicago blues talent, signing guitarists Buddy Guy (“First Time I Met The Blues” and “Broken Hearted Blues”) and Otis Rush (1960′s “So Many Roads, So Many Trains”)

Etta James

Etta James also made her Chess debut in 1960, scoring no less than four hits for the imprint that year alone. Etta’s magnificent work for Argo (and later Cadet and Chess) over the next 16 years uncovered depths of passion and pain barely
hinted at on her previous waxings. She waxed the torch ballads “At Last” and “Trust In Me” (both major hits in 1961) surrounded by sumptuous strings, rocked the house with a gospel-rooted “Something’s Got A Hold On Me” the next year, and set Muscle Shoals ablaze in ’67 with her strutting “Tell Mama,” sounding equally confident in all three diverse settings.

Fontella Bass

In addition to James had many female artists during the mid-1960s that Jan Bradley (“Mama Didn’t Lie”), Sugar Pie De Santo (“Slip-In Mules”), (“I Had A Talk With My Man”), Fontella Bass (“Rescue Me”), Jackie Ross (“Selfish One”), Jo Ann Garrett (“Stay By My Side”), Laura Lee (“Dirty Man”), and the Gems, whose precocious membership included Minnie Riperton. Even Irma Thomas joined the Chess in 1967, recording in Muscle Shoals. protégé Koko Taylor scored the last Chicago blues hit for Checker in 1966 with her growling “Wang Dang Doodle.”

As rhythm and blues merged with gospel influences to form the basis of soul, Chess was right on top of the trend. Little Milton Campbell who had hits with “We’re Gonna Make It,” “Who’s Cheating Who?” and “Grits Ain’t Groceries.”

The Dells

Along with Little Milton, were the Dells, (“There Is” and “Stay In My Corner”) the Radiants (“Voice Your Choice”), Billy Stewart (“Summertime,” “Sitting In The Park”), Bobby Moore & the Rhythm Aces (“Searching For My Love”), Tony Clarke, James Phelps, and Bobby McClure.

Tommy Tucker’s “Hi-Heel Sneakers,” a huge ’64 hit on Checker, traveled bluesier terrain, while the Ramsey Lewis Trio, with Eldee Young on bass and Red Holt on drums, turned out to be a crossover sensation when their grooving instrumental remakes of “The In Crowd” and “Hang On Sloopy” vaulted up the R&B and pop charts in 1965. Nor was the Chess combine deficient in humor – albums by veteran comics Moms Mabley and Pigmeat “Here Comes The Judge” Markham made sure of that.

Chuck Berry remained at Chess into 1966, seemingly rejuvenated after serving a prison term (his 1964 hits included “No Particular Place To Go” and “You Never Can Tell”). After unwisely switching to Mercury Records for a few lean years, he returned home to Chess and scored his biggest pop hit of all in 1972 with “My Ding-A-Ling.” Bo Diddley recorded a slew of Checker LPs throughout the decade, his trademark beat never faltering.

2120 South Michigan Avenue

So inspired by the magnificent output of Chess were the Rolling Stones that they immortalized the label’s famous address, 2120 S. Michigan Avenue, in song on one of their early LPs.

During this time, Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf tried their best to cope with ’60s trends. “Muddy Waters Twist” was admittedly nothing to write home about, but his ’63 Folk Singer LP was a heartening return to his Delta roots, and 1969′s Fathers and Sons set united Muddy with adoring disciples Mike Bloomfield and Paul Butterfield. Though at the tail end of the decade producer Marshall Chess submerged Waters and Wolf in a quagmire of psychedelia, each legend emerged with his vaunted reputation intact.

In 1969, Leonard Chess died, stilling the heart and soul of Chess Records. Earlier that year, he and Phil had sold the company to GRT where producers Ralph Bass and Gene Barge tried their best to hold things together. Sadly, though, the momentum that Chess had long enjoyed quickly began to erode. In 1975, GRT closed down the logo, selling it to All Platinum Records of Englewood, New Jersey.

Finally, in 1985, MCA acquired the rights to the massive Chess catalog. At the start of 1987, MCA Vice President of Catalog Development & Special Markets A&R, Andy McKaie began to mount an ambitious long-term reissue campaign of the invaluable Chess masters – an ongoing program that rages full steam ahead all year long in 1997 with the 50th anniversary celebration.

“The impact of Chess was far wider and greater than any of the others, ranging from the impact of the Chicago blues sound, the Chuck Berry/Bo Diddley School of rock & roll, and the vocal group sounds,” he continues. “The range of that impact was so great that it’s still being felt today.

Now this is a Thought Provoking Perspective…

http://johntwills.com

Courtesy of DK Peneny, Published 3/98 – Last update 10/15/2009

The Book Tree Radio Show Returns  

September 5^th at 8:00 PM. Don’t miss it!

The Book Tree Radio Show Returns!

We heard you, and we’re on our way back to the internet airwaves! On Wednesday, September 5^th at 8:00 PM (EST), The Book Tree Radio Show is pleased to announce its re-launch on BlogTalkRadio! Thousands and thousands of you listened every week as we showcased an illustrious array of authors and their extraordinary and diverse stories, tales, biographies, histories and inspirations.

You’ve made it known how much you’ve missed listening and the great opportunities that were given many of you to shine in our spotlight. I would like to extend a great promotional opportunity on the night of our return for all authors, poets, writers, and friends to call in to the show to welcome us back and to tell our audience what you’re currently doing.

Prior to taking a hiatus to complete several projects my guests on the “Book Tree” have included Iyanla Vansant, Janks Morton, Michelle Alexander, Brenda Lee Eager of Jerry Butler fame (to name a few) to which guests such as these bring a huge audience. However, I want to provide exposure to the new, unknown and aspirating authors to introduce and promote your work.

We have a new waiting list of hundreds who have sent requests for guest interviews as we return to the airwaves in a few weeks! We’re excited, and it’s great to know that you are so excited, too! We’ll be bringing you the best and most interesting features possible, so tell all of your friends to tune in with you!

John T. Wills, author of “Just a Season” and his new release “Legacy – A New Season” is the founder and host of the show. Silver Rae Fox, The Book Tree Radio Show’s original co-host, is joining John for this momentous launch of the Book Tree Radio Show’s return. Again, I am personally inviting you to call in and let us know what you’re doing, tell us what you’re writing about and where our audience can get your projects.

If you are as passionate about literacy as I am; join Silver and I for what is going to be an exciting evening on the night that The Book Tree Radio Show returns to the airwaves… Stay tuned – you don’t want to miss it!

http://johntwills.com

Listen to John T. Wills’ interview with Silver Rae Fox on the Book Tree Radio Show

The Right is Wrong

I was an early supporter of Barrack Obama long before anyone would outwardly conceive the notion that he could possibly be president of these United States. I was not behind him because he would be the first Black President rather because I am an American and from the choices available – he was the best and only choice. After living though about a dozen presidents this man was then and is now the only hope to address the issues concerning my life.

I said, on November 4th, when Mr. Obama won the election and again on that amazing day in January when he was inaugurated that “he was going to have a Columbus Experience”. What I meant by that was he was going to discover America. Having a black man as president of America was the most significant event to happen since the resurrection of “Jesus”. No one living or dead ever thought America (with its horrible racial history) would EVER elect a black man President.

Now, for all of you who want or wanted to believe we are now living in a post-racial society and all is right racially with the world, you can now see that as much as things change – they stay the same. I can speak from what I have witnessed in my life. I attended segregated schools and it inspired me to want to be an American, even when I was being degraded and humiliated by America as a “Colored Boy”.

I then did what my hero Muhammad Ali advocated against by joining the military and served in Vietnam. Ali made a famous quote at the time that spoke volumes. He said, “I have no quarrel with the Viet Cong”. Just as African Americans have done during every war I was part of a cause that I really had nothing to do with or anything to gain from it. Because the reality is that war is about money not freedom but I was conditioned like so many before me to be patriotic.

When I think about how America tries to impose their will upon others there are war monger ready to see young people die. I asked myself why these hawks, the Grand Ol Party (GOP), who are fervently Christian and believe in the right to life so strongly support wars. Some talk about secession, calling for a new Civil War, waking a sleeping giant, questioning the president’s birth and citizenship, people bringing guns to his rallies while knowing this countries horrible history of assignations, calling the president a Nazi, a Socialist, and frankly everything but the “N-word”. The answer might be because an elephant has a brain the size of a peanut.

Frankly, it is hard to find fault in what this president has done during his term. He brought the country back from the abyss unless and one could say saved the Republic. Could it be that those who oppose him have a brain the size of a peanut? I don’t speak for the African American community or anyone – but me. I have lived through and witnessed bigotry via segregation and Jim Crow. And what I see today is not too different!

I have witnessed the appalling darker angels of America’s past and when “THEY” speak of the party of ideals and degrade America’s Commander in Chief – there is nothing ideal about it. We have a long history to demonstrate what their ideals are but if we stand strong behind and with our best hope, our President, by lighting a candle rather than cursing the darkness – we, he will overcome. I say, reelect him to another term. And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

The Book Tree Radio Show is Back!

We heard you, and we’re on our way back to the internet airwaves! On Wednesday, September 5^th at 8:00 PM (EST), The Book Tree Radio Show is pleased to announce its re-launch on BlogTalkRadio!

http://johntwills.com