Big Leather Couch: Four Tops

Showing posts with label Four Tops. Show all posts

A Request and Five On Friday - Shuffle

Sparks Of Insanity By Vinny "Bond" Marini Friday, October 22, 2010 11 Of Your Sparks

This is a request, nay a plea for y'all to extend some love. "Blind Mississippi Morris" Cummings is a staple here in Memphis and around the globe in the blues world.A smiling, joyous talented man indeed.

Sunday evening, he and his wife partook in an evening meal at the local Cracker Barrel. When they returned to their car they were stunned to find it had been broken into and a number of items stolen.

The lowlifes who perpetrated this heinous act took a .44-caliber Magnum Ruger and a .45-caliber Springfield; a laptop, with all of its calendar listings, bookings, accounting and music files; and a vintage 1949 microphone Morris had just bought for $1,200. They also took the handicap sticker from the car!

Scary that these two guns, owned and registered by responsible adults are now in the hands of people who exist lower than whale sperm at the bottom of the ocean.

The calendar is the lifeblood of a musician...his accounting records, very important of course; maybe the thieves can be found if they use the parking sticker and an observant officer notices (that is if they even send that information out to the beat cops).

Oh worst of all, ALL 50 of Morris' harps were stolen. He bought a microphone out of pawn for $200.00 and was going to pawn a guitar until his son lent him $100 to buy 4 harmonicas for a booking he had on Tuesday at B.B. Kings here on Beale. Morris played...there were songs he could not perform because he did not have the correct keyed harp.

But he played...and I have talked about this before...the gig netted him $100.00!

So, now a builder of harps has offered to make Morris 8 harps for a deeply discounted price of $640.00 He has a paypal account. Any funds raised will cover the cost of those 8 and any additional funds raised over the $640.00 will result in additional harps being made. Deak is contributing all his labor for free. A generously kind act by a fellow musician...That is what makes these folks so special and why I have so enjoyed spending time and getting to know them better.

The paypal account is deakharp@hughes.net. On your receipt it will have a woman's name (not putting it here - if you want it send me an email please)

Karma is a B**CH and these guys will get theirs...we are hoping Morris is covered in good karma.

Thanks

OH, Morris is one of my guests Monday on Music On The Couch. Come on by and show him some love.

And remember, if you can't be there live, then check out the archives at Music On The Couch Blog. The Monday show is normally up there by Tuesday at noon central. I said normally! You can also subscribe at ITunes and have the show automatically downloaded to your computer. Though I don't get stats for those! So go to one of the two links above and that should do it.

I have to stop rambling now...thank you for your kind attention...

BUT...Not until I tell you that as I was putting this up for posting, we found out that $200.00 was donated by the generous Bobby Joe Owens and Retro Deluxe. Bobby Joe was a guest on Music On The Couch on September 28th. He saw my postings on Facebook and stepped up.

SPECTACULAR!

The news article is HERE

Each week TRAVIS from "Trav's Thoughts" hosts Five On Friday where we get to select five songs of any mix we care....

Check out the other participants by clicking on his link above...and join in!

You can register for free at playlist.com and type in a band name and BAM the song will be there to assist in building your playlist.

Travis lays out some guidelines for this meme and they go like this:

1. Grab the banner, make your post title Five on Friday, and be sure to link back here.

2. Go to Playlist.com to make your play list of five songs. Choose a particular theme to share with us. You can simply post the play list, or you can add a little summary about what you are sharing.

3. I don't know how to make a specific linky, so be sure to leave me a comment to let me know that you participated.

4. No tags, but feel free to invite your friends to play along if they need a post topic on a Friday.

So, this week I did a variation of the iPod Shuffle. Instead of putting the iTouch on shuffle and letting it pick five songs, I flicked my finger on the window and let the artists rotate by and then - without looking - I stopped it and whatever artist was there, I then selected a song from them.

Now, I actually tried to select songs that were not their most popular song, to give a different feel...

So, here they are - ENJOY AND HAVE A GRAND WEEKEND

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Sky and Rant...

Sparks Of Insanity By Vinny "Bond" Marini Friday, July 24, 2009 18 Of Your Sparks

Check out "Looking At The Sky Friday" participants by clicking on the banner above and heading over to Crazy Working Mom's site.

Outside my apartment, near the dumpster, they have some wild grass growing. I guess this is to take away from the not-well maintained dumpster.

The other day the sky was just a brilliant blue with big puffy clouds lazily making their way across the sky and I walked out and snapped some shots.

This is one of them. I liked the composition of the single stalk of wild gras framed by the white cloud and rich blues.

I call it "Blowing In The Wind" - as always clickie to biggie

Talking to one of my fraternity brothers yesterday and he is telling me of a couple of guys who are coming down for the day in September...I say "Well, I have not gotten their RSVPs yet"...his response was perfect "Hell, these are TKEs, do you expect them to send them in?"

And we laughed...except in so many ways it is not funny. I get it for parties and stuff, but when you have to give counts to caterers and make sure there is enough seating and booze...well...

When you receive an invitation if there is an RSVP, do you wait until the last moment or do you send in immediately?

If there is no RSVP, do you still call the host to say yes or no to your attendance?

I have always been anal in that I want to respond within two days. Now, of course that is not always possible. HECK-A-DOODLE, Nancy and I did not decide to go to ConFab 09 until the day we left, but I had also been talking to the hosts all along discussing the dilemma we had with that weekend.

Sorry for the rant...

I will make it up by leaving you with a medley of Four Tops songs....

ENJOY...

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Weekend Review...

Sparks Of Insanity By Vinny "Bond" Marini Tuesday, May 27, 2008 20 Of Your Sparks

Sure hope you had a wonderful weekend. Mine was as good as it gets and because of that, you get to relive it!

OH LUCKY THEM...IS HE KIDDING?
WELL HE DID HAVE A GREAT TIME AND SO DID I.
YEAH YEAH...WELL..ACTUALLY IT WAS PRETTY GOOD.
WHAT? SOMETHING POSITIVE FROM YOU?
YOU TELL A SOUL AND I WILL KICK YOUR A**

ARE YOU TWO DONE NOW?

So anyway...Friday afternoon I left work early and made a batch of Southern Fried Chicken Tenders and red potato salad with minced green peppers and red onions and a dressing of red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard and mayo. I packaged it all up put it in a cooler and headed to Peter's baseball game. His team did not do well. It was probably their worst game of the season.

After the game darlin' Nancy and I headed to the store and bought a watermelon, a cantaloupe, some grapes and some strawberries. We also picked up some Amstel Light and some Dos Equis. When we got back to her home we made a fruit salad. Then we packaged everything into the big cooler. Nancy called a friend and we borrowed her son's wagon.

Saturday morning they had a second game and they lost again. After the game Nancy and I headed downtown to the Sunset Symphony. The cooler fit perfectly into the wagon, like they were made for each other. We got a perfect parking spot one block from the entrance, strapped the two folding canvas chairs to the wagon and we get into the park and find a perfect spot, house right on a rise. We set up the chairs and left the cooler in the wagon, a perfect height for a table and placed it between us and laid out a blanket in front to sit on also.

Then we grabbed the lawn size plastic bag we had brought, folded up the chairs, put them and the blanket and the backpack we had for some extra clothes and grabbed the umbrella (grabbed at the last second by Nancy), and got ready because a storm was coming in from the Arkansas side of the river. The skies were getting blacker and you could see the rain line.

From the stage came an announcement to seek shelter in one of the tents the sponsors had around the park. Problem was none of them had sides and the people closest to them had scurried, so Nancy sat on the cooler with her feet on it and held the umbrella as the rain came in on an angle. I stood on the side opposite the umbrella holding it in place.

And the rains came and the wind came and it was kind of fun drinking our beers behind this big (could have been bigger) umbrella. A couple near us packed up except for one of their oversized canvas chairs and she sat in his lap with a HUGE golf umbrella as their buffer to the rain. She looked over and since I had an angled view of the storm, told me I was on funnel cloud watch.

If I had seen one there would have been no permanent structures to head for, so we rode it out for 57 minutes and then it stopped. People began to return to dry off tarps and chairs left behind. One group near us had a beach umbrella that snapped in two.

They canceled the Navy Band - HUGE bummer - and the second act of the day took the stage. The band was called Mashaa. The lead vocalist is a Memphis girl and they were good. Nothing special, both of us would have preferred to have seen the Navy Band.

By this time, the clouds were gone and the sun had returned hot as before, but with a cooling breeze coming off the river, which is to our right looking at the stage.

Next came the air show performed by the Commemorative Air Force. A number of the fliers were from the Memphis area. The highlight of the show was Skip Stewart and his souped-up Pitts S-2S, the 1,100-pound biplane he modified in his two-car garage in Cordova, a town on the outskirts of Memphis.

He is a Fed Ex pilot by day but on Saturday he had his plane making roll after roll and loop after loop and sending it straight up in the sky and making it stand still for what seemed an eternity.

I might have some pictures...I had another camera malfunction...I could not believe it.

Then it was time for the Symphony to take the stage and they are very good. It is my first time hearing them and except for an annoying buzz that came and went in the sound system, they were great. At one point ex-Governor, now Senator Lamar Alexander joined them on stage playing a medley of songs about Memphis or written in Memphis with a large helping of Elvis spread in. He had joked before beginning that he just hoped "he and the Symphony would end at the same time." They almost accomplished it...he ended a few bars before the Symphony.

Throughout the evening Nancy and I enjoyed the picnic we had packed with the beers and a nice bottle of Chateau St. Michelle Merlot to top it off. The crowds thickened around us but we had a perfect view of the stage the entire evening, comfortably lounging in our seats. You are allowed to bring in food and drink as long as it is contained in a cooler or backpack. Families and groups of friends gather and set up tables and blankets and chairs.

They also have the section in front of the stage fenced off and tables of 10 set up. You also bring in food or there is an organization caterer who will supply your party with food. The tables of 10 go for $450.00.

Nancy and I agree we liked the set-up we had and are planning on doing it next year with some other people.

Finally, the stage was ready and the conductor for the Four Tops took the stage with the Memphis Symphony. The current line-up of the Four Tops took the stage in purple suits.

Original member Abdul "Duke" Fakir is now joined by Ronnie McNeir (who joined after Levi Stubbs retired following his stroke), Theo Peoples (who joined when original member Lawrence Peyton died in 1977) and Lawrence "Roquel" Payton, Jr. (who joined when founding member Renaldo "Obie" Benson died in 2005 and is the son of Lawrence Payton ).

The did all the hits, "Baby, I Need Your Lovin'," "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)", "Reach Out, I'll Be There" "Ain't No Woman" and more.

I guess the Air Show took longer than they expected and since the park is in the airspace used by the airport, the window for fireworks granted must have been coming up. It seemed the Four Tops were on stage for too short a time.

Maestro David Loebel, in his last season with the Symphony, came back out and informed us that it "has nothing to do with the War of 1812, nor does it have anything to do with America, but we are playing it anyway" as they began the "1812 Overture"

We waited for the fireworks to begin and we were really close so we had a spectacular view. The music and the fireworks continued into a second piece by the Symphony, and then they ended and left the stage as the fireworks continued. At one point they cranked up the sound system with some David Bowie and the Pink Floyd, but honestly Nancy and I thought it detracted from the fireworks. Not sure why the Symphony did not play for the entire time. The fireworks seemed to start late, but they also seemed to be in sync with the music.

Once it was over we headed home having found out that the game Peter's team was to play at 7:30 had been rescheduled, due to the rain, to Sunday morning at 8:00 AM!!!!

We made it to the game, a nice win with Peter pitching for the last two innings, and then took a nap for an hour and headed back to watch his next game. They won to take first place in their seeding after losing two games earlier. But they played a nice game, Peter pitched again shutting down a rally by the other team and proved something to himself and his coaches.

Monday, Nancy and I took the Ernie and Peter to the zoo for the afternoon, coming full circle in a way. For those who do not know, that was where Nancy and I had our first date last November.

We had a lot of fun, a ton of laughs and took a bunch of pictures. We will share when we get them all together.

Additionally, Matt was in Atlantic City this weekend with one of the teams he plays with for a tournament. They started slow losing their first two, but winning the last two. Matt told me he did not have a good game behind the plate on Saturday, but on Sunday came in as a reliever and got a save with three innings of one run ball.

Here is a four-minute video with highlights of the Sunset Symphony all mashed together and then....of course, some Four Tops!

ENJOY...

Oh, the mix from this weekend..."Lady Is A Tramp" Frank Sinatra, "Spinning Wheel" Blood Sweat & Tears, "Crossroads" Elmore James, "Ain't That A Kick In The Head" Dean Martin, "When The Whip Comes Down" Rolling Stones, "This Ain't No Rag, It's A Flag" Charlie Daniels Band, "Fly Like An Eagle" Steve Miller Band.

Coming up this week on DR. BLOGSTEIN’S RADIO HAPPY HOUR:
(Live on Tuesday May 27th at 9PM ET and forever archived at BlogTalkRadio.)

Dr. B and Dangerous Lee welcome Judge Alex E. Ferrer of TV’s Judge Alex.

Judge Alex is the only television judge with extensive police, legal and judicial experience, presiding over a wide array of cases, resolving complicated issues with his straight forward approach and cogent rulings. He’s also a Cuban refugee, fleeing Fidel Castro’s Communist regime at when he was one year old.

Then, Dr. B’s buddy Frank “franQ” Anthony

Polito will stop by to discuss his new book “Band Fags“. The book, which is a semi-autobiographic coming-of-age while coming-out story, includes a chapter that takes place at a Judy Tenuta show.

We’ll find out just how semi-autobiographic the book is, whether franQ has plans to get gay married in California and we’ll play a round of “Are You Gayer Than a franQ Grader“\

Also, musician Celeste Lear, known to her friends as “One-Ear Lear” because she is deaf in one ear, will stop by to play some tunes and to talk about her famous grandfather, inventor of the Lear Jet and the 8-Track.

All that, plus Vinny Bond drags his Big Leather Couch into the Radio Happy Hour Lounge to chat live with the listeners, Justin the Weatherman and we’ll take your calls at 646-652-4804.

Join us live every Tuesday night at 9PM ET. The Radio Happy Hour Lounge-a live chat room during show time-is a whole new reason to make sure you listen live! It’s the show within the show!

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