The Week in Birthdays: June 30 to July 6
The Sweet Inspirations, Florence Ballard, Syl Johnson, Fontella Bass, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Johnnie Wilder, Jr., X-Ray Spex, Shirley Collins, Jeannie Seely, Ruthann Friedman
I have a question. How does it happen? Do you wake up one day and know that you’re living under authoritarian rule? Or is it all hindsight? I know from reading history and fiction that the descent itself is gradual.
But do you wake up one day and think, “Ah, now we are here.”
If you do, I think that day was Friday for me. You might be surprised to hear though that it wasn’t the flurry of Supreme Kourt decisions. I REALLY want to see some smart analysis of that, because what I am seeing borders on hysterical, and I think it’s more complicated than that. I know that nationwide injunctions can be helpful, but I know they can also be hurtful. The mifepristone case (Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA) is a good example of this, where a nationwide injunction stemming from a case in Texas basically attempted to undo the FDA’s approval of the most widely-used abortion drug. Weaponizing the law, which has now replaced baseball as America’s pastime, has many impacts.
This is the story that chills me to the bone.
If you unpack the reporting, this provides an ominous roadmap to a murder plot against intellectual freedom. Again, based on reporting, it sounds to me like alumni with personal grievances against the state university became employees of the fucking DOJ, and were appointed to investigate Civil Rights claims against it. Think about that for a minute. (Fun fact: one of them is actually a woman of color.) It also sounds like the president lacked the support of the university board, which consists of members appointed by the governor of the state – you remember him. He’s the guy who set up a tipline for people to report “divisive practices” in the state’s schools. It took me three minutes to find the large PAC contribution from the incoming board chair to the lieutenant governor. (Although – here’s a little intrigue – the vice chair is the daughter of this guy, who is surely on the shit list of the regime. Wonder if she will get reappointed.)
Anyway, I am trying to have a nice summer, but HeWho and the Boston Red Sox are really doing their best (worst?) to thwart me. So, let’s have some music by women and people of color who we celebrate this week. I have no board of directors to which I answer. Here are Ten For Today: The Week in Birthdays, June 30 to July 6.
Sylvia Shemwell was born June 30, 1941. I don’t know where she was born, but her sister was the soul singer Judy Clay, and SHE was born in North Carolina, so we will assume. Sylvia was in The Sweet Inspirations, probably best known for being Elvis Presley’s sometime back up singers. Founding members of the group included Dionne Warwick and Cissy Houston. They were gone by the time this was recorded in 1973, and it poses a very valid question. She died in 2010.
Florence Ballard was born June 30, 1943 in Detroit. She is best known as a member of The Supremes until 1967, and hers is a tragic story of poverty, depression, and substance use. She released a couple of singles after The Supremes, but they didn’t do very well. This is from 1968. She was attempting to stage a comeback in 1975/76 when she died of a heart attack at the age of 32.
Soul singer Syl Johnson was born July 1, 1936 in Mississippi. He had a minor hit in 1967 with this corker, which has found new life being sampled by some big name rappers. He died in 2022 of congestive heart failure.
Soul singer Fontella Bass (her real name!) was born July 3, 1940 in St. Louis. She co-wrote the lyrics to her #1 hit “Rescue Me,” but wasn’t credited and it took years of litigation before she made any real money from it. She married trumpeter Lester Bowie and made some records with him in France, but contends that her mainstream music careeer was tanked because the power brokers thought she was difficult. This came out in 1965, right after that one big hit. She died in 2012.
Hammond organ master Dr. Lonnie Smith, who wasn’t actually a doctor, was born July 3, 1942 in New York. In an interview in Downbeat he said, “I’m a doctor of music. I’ve been playing long enough to operate on it, and I do have a degree, and I will operate on you. I’m a neurosurgeon.” I can’t argue with that after listening to this, which is from 1975. He died in 2021.
U.S. Army Vietnam War veteran Johnnie Wilder, Jr. was born July 3, 1949 in Dayton, Ohio. He was the co-founder of Heatwave, formed in London, who had big, big hits with “Boogie Nights” and “Groove Line.” In 1979, he became a paraplegic after a car crash in which his car was broadsided. He kept recording with the band after that, but did not perform. He wrote this one in 1977, which is really freakin’ weird. He died in 2006.
Poly Styrene was born July 3, 1957 in England to a Scottish secretary and a Somali dock worker. She saw the Sex Pistols on her 19th birthday and decided to start the band X-Ray Spex. She died of breast cancer in 2011.
Shirley Collins was born July 5, 1935. She played a big role in the English folk revival of the 60’s and 70’s, and of interest to Bostonians perhaps — Christopher Hogwood plays harpsicord on this, from 1969. He was of course the music director of the Handel & Haydn Society here in Boston for many years.
Jeannie Seely was born July 6, 1940 in Pennsylviania. Her biggest hit is “Don’t Touch Me,” which is one of my all-time favorite songs. This, however, is a fascinating artifact from 1977, about long-suffering Nashville wives and their resilience. I also want to mention that the thing on her head is very distracting.
Ruthann Friedman was born July 6, 1944 in The Bronx. She wrote this one, with which The Association had a huge worldwide hit. This is a demo, and I don’t know which year it was recorded, though it would have to be before 1967.
That’s it! Be kind. Stay alert. Call it out. Arm yourself with facts. Follow the money. Listen to music. Hydrate. Hydration is resistance.
Joyce
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Boston folks might be interested in this performance/discussion series I am working on with James Sullivan and other smart, talented and generous friends. This is the first in a series.
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