Charles Farley
  • Home
  • About
  • Books
  • Contact
  • Order
  • Blog

Summer of Soul

7/19/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
While my wife and I were busy being lousy counselors at a big Baptist retreat on Green Lake, Wisconsin, two of the most important musical celebrations of that era were exploding in the state of New York:  the much-heralded rock extravaganza in upstate Woodstock and the lesser-known Harlem Cultural Festival over six weekends 100 miles south in Harlem's Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park).  We've all seen the popular films and heard the live albums chronicling Woodstock, but the Harlem event has been all but forgotten, its film by Hal Tulchin stored safely away with no commercial takers--until now!
First-time director Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson has somehow taken the many hours of Tulchin's films and turned them into what will surely become the documentary star of the summer of 2021, if not the entire year:  "Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)." Now in theaters and streaming on Hulu, see it at the biggest theater you can find, so you can not only enjoy the ecstatic sounds of some of the best soul, R&B, jazz, and gospel music of the time, at the decibel level it deserves, but also so you can again experience the live community of theater-goers and music-lovers that we have been sorely missing for the past fifteen months.
Exit the theater and listen to everyone exclaiming about their favorite parts of this extraordinary film.  Mine were Mississippi's Chambers Brothers who I saw at Fillmore East sometime around 1970.  A very young and vibrant Gladys Knight & the Pips, who I caught some years later at more advanced ages in Reno and Myrtle Beach.  Nineteen year-old Stevie Wonder pounding out exuberant drum and organ solos.  And Sly and the Family Stone doing what they so joyfully do and in the process truly stealing the show.
So many others:  B.B. King, the Staple Singers, Mahalia Jackson, David Ruffin, Abbey Lincoln, the 5th Dimension, Nina Simone, and on and on.
So do yourself a favor.  If you want to smile again--after what we've all been through--vaccinate up and go see "Summer of Soul!"  You owe it to yourself.
0 Comments

Happy Birthday, Pinetop Perkins (7 July, 1913--21 March, 2011)

7/7/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
Back on August 9, 2003, on a steamy Delta Saturday night, the Bob Margolin Blues Allstars closed out the Sunflower Blues & Gospel Festival in Clarksdale, Mississippi.  The band featured an elite combo of former Muddy Waters band members:  Margolin (guitar and vocals), Hubert Sumlin (guitar), Carey Bell (harmonica), Willie "Big Eyes" Smith (drums), and Pinetop Perkins (piano).
As the band gathered on the stage for the festival finale, the piano bench remained conspicuously empty. 
"Where's Pinetop?" echoed over the sound system.
And there, in front of the stage, standing next to me in his patented black flannel suit stood the 90 year-old virtuoso, slowly sipping the bottle of water I had just brought him.
"Pinetop," I said, "you're on."
"Really?" he said, surveying the stage.
"Let's go," I said and led him up onto the stage and the waiting keyboard.
Then...drowning out the hum of the cicadas and the applause of the audience, all-out blues nirvana
broke out!


Picture
Picture
0 Comments

    Author

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

    Archive

    January 2023
    December 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    January 2018
    March 2016
    October 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    October 2014
    August 2014
    September 2013
    July 2013
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photo from Kitty Terwolbeck