tagged w/ Bonnie Raitt
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Axl Rose booed at Rock Hall of Fame induction
Tom Petty offers $7,500 reward for stolen guitars
CD Review | Raitt returns with message for the middle-agedAxl Rose booed at Rock Hall of Fame induction
Tom Petty offers $7,500 reward for... more
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Jerry Ragovoy dies at 80; songwriter had hits with Rolling Stones, Janis Joplin
Jerry Ragovoy wrote or co-wrote hits including 'Time Is On My Side,' 'Piece of My Heart,' 'Cry Baby,' 'Get It While You Can' and 'Stay With Me.'
By Valerie J. Nelson, Los Angeles Times
July 19, 2011
Soul songwriter Jerry Ragovoy wrote one of his more famous tunes – "Time Is On My Side," which turned into a massive hit for the Rolling Stones — under the pseudonym of Norman Meade.
He was saving his own name for the works he planned to write one day for Broadway.
Instead, Ragovoy found his metier in the 1960s as a pop music producer and writer or co-writer of now-classic records that also included "Cry Baby" and "Piece of My Heart." Both were covered by Janis Joplin, who heavily relied on him to forge her style.
Ragovoy died Wednesday at a New York City hospital of complications from a stroke, said his wife, Bev. He was 80.
"Jerry was a giant of soul, R&B and rock songwriting and record production," Jim Steinblatt, a spokesman for the performance rights group ASCAP, told The Times in an email. "His songs were far better known than he was."
"Cry Baby" is considered by some to be "the first true soul song, marking the place where black church first bleeds over into pop music," Robert Meyerowitz wrote in the Phoenix New Times in 1997 when a Ragovoy-heavy Joplin collection was released.
The song was originally penned by Ragovoy and one of his writing partners, Bert Berns, for Garnet Mimms, who had the biggest hit of his career with "Cry Baby," which topped the R&B charts in 1963.
The Ragovoy-Berns team also wrote "Piece of My Heart" for Erma Franklin, Aretha Franklin's older sister. Erma broke into the top 10 R&B charts with it in 1967 before Joplin made it one of her signature songs. (Berns died in late 1967 of a heart attack at 38.)
Self-taught as a composer, Ragovoy once said he came up with "Time Is On My Side" in an hour after an arranger friend inquired if he had written any songs that jazz trombonist Kai Winding might record.
After New Orleans singer Irma Thomas' version charted, Ragovoy fielded a call from a representative for the Rolling Stones, a band he said he'd never heard of.
"Next thing I know, it's out and it's their first hit in this country," he told New Times in 1997. "I was amazed 'cause … I listened to it and thought, 'What on Earth is this?"
Other notable songs that Ragovoy co-wrote include "Get It While You Can," one of many he composed for singer Howard Tate; and the ballad "Stay With Me" for Lorraine Ellison. She also originally recorded "Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)," which he wrote with Chip Taylor. Joplin covered all three.
"Stay With Me" was a classic example of his style, according to the All Music online database, "a slow, emotionally wrenching number which could almost be a gospel song but for the symphonic orchestral production, vocalized passionately and played with faint echoes of Broadway and opera."
He was born Jordan Ragovoy on Sept. 4, 1930, in Philadelphia but since childhood had preferred to be called Jerry. His father was an optometrist who also practiced alternative medicine.
Growing up, Ragovoy was steeped in classical music, but after graduating from high school he was exposed to — and became transfixed by — gospel and rhythm and blues while working in an appliance store in an African American neighborhood in Philadelphia.
Outside the store in 1953, he heard a group of kids singing and decided to produce a record with them. The resulting "My Girl Awaits Me" by the Castelles sold more than 100,000 copies, and Ragovoy realized he had discovered a career.
In 1969, he founded the Hit Factory, a recording studio in New York City that he sold in 1975. He was considered a first-class producer and arranger, with a roster that included Bonnie Raitt and Dionne Warwick.
"Jerry was humble and self-effacing," said Jeff Jampol, who manages the estate of Joplin, who died in 1970. "Once he said, 'I used to talk to Janis Joplin a lot. I was working on a couple of songs for her, but then she passed away and I never got a chance to record them.'"
Soon after the new musical "One Night With Janis Joplin" premiered in May in Portland, Ore., Ragovoy was in the audience. The show closes with one of the previously unproduced songs he wrote for her. It is called "I'm Gonna Rock My Way to Heaven."
Ragovoy had lived in Stamford, Conn., with his wife, Bev. He is also survived by twin daughters, Melissa Ragovoy of Houston and Gillian Ragovoy Ferguson of New York City; a sister, Loretta Margulies of Philadelphia; and a granddaughter.Jerry Ragovoy dies at 80; songwriter had hits with Rolling Stones, Janis Joplin
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Cornell Dupree, Famed Session Guitarist, Dead at 69
Posted on May 10th 2011 11:00AM by Cameron Matthews
Redferns / Getty Images
Cornell Dupree, a famed guitarist who played alongside Aretha Franklin, King Curtis, Jimi Hendrix and Joe Cocker, died on May 8 in Fort Worth, Texas. According to Variety, Dupree was 69 years old and suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Also known as "Uncle Funky" and "Mr. 2500" -– a name derived from his involvement in that number of studio sessions –- Dupree was a seasoned blues musician that detoured into R&B and soul after joining King Curtis and the Kingpins, a band that also featured a young Hendrix.
The guitarist was known as one of the best session musicians that Atlantic records had to offer, playing alongside drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie and keyboard player Richard Tee. He was a member of Aretha Franklin's touring band from 1967-1976 and can be heard playing the opening riff on the singer's 'Respect,' as well as on Joe Cocker's 'Stingray' and 'Luxury You Can Afford.'
Dupree's impressive resume also includes work with jazz-funk stalwarts Stuff and drummer Steve Gadd. Besides cutting 10 solo albums from 1974's 'Teasin'' to a yet unreleased record for Dialtone Records, Dupree also published an instructional guitar book called 'Rhythm & Blues Guitar' in 2000. Dupree is survived by his wife Erma.Spinner...
Cornell Dupree, Famed Session Guitarist, Dead at 69
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I share this review with you because it was one of my favorite reviews I’ve read this year. And when I finished reading the review I thought about something very important that happened to me when our friend sent me the link.
My life changed.
I was transported straight to the heart of Raitt’s palpable concert atmosphere.
I read the review and I felt rushes of joy, sadness, hope and an overwhelming sense of cathartic connectedness with the fans at the concert that captured the essence of live blues so beautifully. And this review represented one of the aspects of live music I love the most...I share this review with you because it was one of my favorite reviews I’ve read... more
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Urge Your Two U.S. Senators: Block $166 Billion Money Grab by Nuclear Power Industry!
U.S. Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121
Background: In response to high gasoline prices, an energy bill is on the floor of the U.S. House of Represenatives today. To the best of our knowledge, it does not contain subsidies to promote nuclear power. However, legislation to allow offshore oil drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf could hit the U.S. Senate floor later this week. Not being reported in the media is the fact that this Senate bill also contains massive taxpayer subsidies for the nuclear power industry.
Introduced by the “Gang of 10” Senators in August -- which has now grown to the "Gang of 20" -- the “New Energy Reform Act of 2008” has not yet been put in legislative form and still lacks a bill number. The plan is sponsored by such bipartisan pro-nuclear Senators as Republicans Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson of Georgia, and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, as well as Democrats Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor of Arkansas, and Ben Nelson of Nebraska.
It contains from $87 to $166 billion in nuclear power subsidies of various sorts. These include increasing the number of Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff to expedite new reactor licensing, and authorizing “risk insurance” for nuclear utilities if the start up of their new reactors is delayed for any reason. Other proposed giveaways include funding for training nuclear workers, supporting the re-establishment of a U.S. industrial infrastructure for manufacturing large nuclear components such as reactor pressure vessels, and building a demonstration radioactive waste reprocessing facility. The plan would also massively expand the federal loan guarantees for new reactors, leaving taxpayers on the hook for up to $160 billion if nuclear utilities default on loan repayments. In 2003, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that over half of new reactor construction projects would default on their loans.
Urge Your Two U.S. Senators: Block $166 Billion Money Grab by Nuclear Power Industry!... more
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Jackson Browne says that Democrat John Edwards is the most progressive candidate with a chance at winning the White House, and that he would do the most for working-class Americans.
Edwards frequently says he wants to expand safe, renewable fuels opportunities and would oppose the construction of more nuclear power plants.
He said Edwards is "certainly the most progressive of the candidates that have a chance" at winning the presidency. He said that Edwards had the best solutions for the Iraq war, health care and nuclear power, and that he would faithfully represent working Americans.
I agree John Edwards is a solid choice and I'm considering him carefully.Jackson Browne says that Democrat John Edwards is the most progressive candidate with... more
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Very soon, Congress may approve legislation allowing the Department of Energy to approve $50 billion and more in federal loan guarantees to build new nuclear power plants. Make sure this does not happen. Very soon, Congress may approve legislation allowing the Department of Energy to... more
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2 historic music spaces (Village Music and The Sweetwater) in Mill Valley will be shuttering their doors next month. Bonnie Raitt, Elvis Costello and MV resident DJ Shadow (who gets many of his records at Village Music) are rumored to be playing shows before they close. Bummer dood.2 historic music spaces (Village Music and The Sweetwater) in Mill Valley will be... more
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