Charles Farley
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March Madness

3/25/2021

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It's that time of year, when the best 64 men's college basketball teams vie for the NCAA Tournament Championship.  So this weekend will be filled with eight games, matching the remaining 16 teams at the single-game elimination midpoint.  It's usually the most interesting weekend of the tournament, as several low-seed Cinderella teams find themselves matched with higher-seed glamour squads.  Like 11-seed UCLA versus 3-seed Alabama.  And 3-seed Arkansas against the surprising 15-seed Oral Roberts.  As well as my favorite 11-seed Syracuse versus 2-seed Houston.
My other favorite was Kansas, but they were eliminated early, as usual in recent years, in their second game by USC.
I have been fortunate over the years to live in several places where good basketball teams reside.  I grew up in Kansas, where my mother and son attended K.U., where basketball was originally played under Coach James Naismith, the inventor of the game, and then under Coach Phog Allen (as in Allen Field House, where K.U. still plays) when my mom was studying in Lawrence.
Later, in the 80s, I lived in Boston, home of the champion Celtics that I enjoyed watching:  Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, Dennis Johnson, M.L. Carr, and Tiny Archibald (formerly of UTEP).
I moved from Boston to Syracuse, where Hall-of-Famer Jim Boeheim coached some tough teams and exciting players like Derrick Coleman, Sherman Douglas, Danny Schayes, Rony Seikaly, and Pearl Washington.
After that I relocated to El Paso where UTEP's legendary coach, Don Haskins, was still basking in the adoration of local fans for his miraculous victory (when the school was named Texas Western) over Adolph Rupp's Kentucky contingent in the 1966 NCAA Championship, considered to this day to be one of the best coached college games ever played.
Next came Charleston, where John Kresse, in white shirt sleeves, was the coach at the College of Charleston and where, at tiny John Kresse Arena, he somehow put together a winning team year after winning year (560-143).  The local joke in Charleston was even if you gave Kresse five one-legged midgets he would somehow find a way to win.
But, alas, I finally ended up in Alabama, where football is king and basketball, a mere measly serf.  Until this year, when new coach Nate Oats has led the Crimson Tide round-ballers to SEC regular season and tournament championships, with a solid 26-6 record.
As a result, I'm gonna go way far out on the proverbial limb and predict Gonzaga, Alabama, Oral Roberts, and Syracuse in the Final Four.  But I'm not betting a single penny on that.  Just hoping...against all hope, as they say down here in Alabama.


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The Godmother of Rock 'n' Roll

3/19/2021

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Today, March 20, is Sister Rosetta Tharpe's birthday (1915-1973), fitting for this month's celebration of Women's History.  I can think of few other women (or men for that matter) who have had a greater impact on modern music of most genres--gospel, blues, rock 'n' roll, R&B, and jazz--than this Sister's inspired singing and electric guitar playing.  When the Scriptures admonished us "to make a joyful noise unto the Lord," she surely did.
From the age of six, she was regularly performing with her mother at Chicago's 40th Street Church of God in Christ, where, unlike some other sanctified denominations, a variety of instruments, including guitars, brass, and drums, as well as women musicians were welcomed.
Throughout Tharpe's teenage years, she traveled extensively with her evangelist mother, singing and playing at revivals throughout the country. She was soon discovered by New York talent scouts and moved to the big city to work with the Count Basie Band, the Cab Calloway Revue, Louis Jordan's Band, the Lucky Millinder Orchestra, among others, at exclusive clubs and nightspots in the Big Apple, like the Cotton Club, the Savoy, Cafe Society, and the Apollo.
She signed a record contract with Decca that resulted in several big hits, including "Strange Things Happening Every Day" with Sammy Price, in 1944, that many consider to be a direct precursor to rock 'n' roll, with its strong, steady beat and spare instrumentation.  And, while I never did get to see Tharpe in person, I did spend many a happy hour at the Copley Plaza Hotel Bar in Boston during the 1980s, listening to Sammy Price play superb boogie-woogie piano. 
It is no exaggeration to site Tharpe as the first real superstar of gospel.  She was everywhere during the 1940s and 50s.  At the marriage to her third husband in 1951 she filled Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C., with more than twenty thousand fans for a sensational "wedding concert" to end all weddings.  She continued to tour throughout the 1960s and 70s, thrilling audiences, often
 in Europe, until her death in 1973. 

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Damage Control

3/10/2021

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I've been listening to Curtis Salgado's new album this week.  It's his eleventh and it's a beauty!
I first caught Salgado at Jonathan's Swift's in Cambridge some time in the 80s when he was fronting an early Roomful of Blues crew.  I was hosting a bunch of visiting Swedish librarians on a cold, snowy, New England night, and, after a few instrumentals, a young Salgado, in a trim, black tux, bounded onto the stage to join the band and energetically warm up the cavernous club in no time at all.   I don't know who was more impressed:  me or the somber Swedes.  If you want a taste, listen to Roomful of Blues' 1987 "Live at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel."
Salgado started his career in Eugene, Oregon, where for six years he was lead singer for Robert Cray's band.  You can hear him on Cray's first album, "Who's Been Talkin'," recorded in 1980, singing a rollicking duet with Cray on O.V. Wright's "I'm Gonna Forget About You."
While filming "Animal House" in Eugene, John Belushi saw Salgado perform and patterned his role in the Blues Brothers after him.  There is still no doubt that Salgado is the coolest white blues singer around, with the possible exception of Pittsburgh's Billy Price.
I've seen Salgado several times in the intervening years, and his voice remains as strong and soulful as ever, despite several bouts of lung and liver cancer and quadruple bypass surgery.  One of the most memorable times was on the patio at Humphrey's here in Huntsville, not long after the release of his 2012 album "Soul Shot."  He was gracious enough to join us at our table during a break and chat about his career and the state of the blues in America, where he continues to tour regularly, appearing in clubs, concerts, and festivals everywhere. 
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Vaccination Time

3/3/2021

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    Charles Farley is an author who lives and writes in Huntsville, Alabama.

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