Baby Washington-You Never Could Be Mine b/w The Time

I just checked the Google and yes, Ms. Washington is still alive and still working.  I'll bet that she still puts on a great show.

What a voice!  Justine "Baby" Washington.  I love the bands on these records too, and the arrangements.  Check out the call and response between the horns and the guitar on "You Never Could Be Mine."

It's always funny to me that people say that there was a dead spot in Rock n' Roll between like 1959 and 1963, that it was all these saccharin, corporate white guys like Fabian and Neil Sedaka or something. The pitch is that the Beatles came along and saved Rock n' Roll.  Not true at all.  '59 to '63 was the period of Baby Washington's greatest output, for one thing, not to mention Ike and Tina Turner, the great girl-groups like the Shirelles and the Marvelettes, and Phil Spector.  There was a ton of great stuff in the R & B charts off in that parallel universe.  Del Shannon was pretty hot stuff, and even Freddie Cannon and Bobby Rydell had their moments.  After 1962 there was Surf Music, I was in high school in New York at the time and I loved Surf Music, and the related Hot Rod Music.  There was a lot of great black music that made the "white" charts too, like Gary U.S. Bonds, "New Orleans" and "Quarter to Three," and Hank Ballard, "Let's Go" and, dare I say it, "The Twist."  Not a dead spot at all.

There are good CD's around of all of Baby Washington's stuff, and it's all great. You can type "baby washington" in the upper left-hand corner to go to earlier posts of mine about her. 

Travels In Thailand: Trang

Earlier this month I had a teaching gig in Trang.  That's in the southern part of Thailand, the peninsula on the way to Malaysia.  If you know where Phuket island is, move your finger east to the coast, then south, and you get first to Krabi and then to Trang.

It's a nice place, with good weather.  It's not quite as hot as the main body of Thailand, because of the peninsula effect, large bodies of water on both sides of a narrowish strip of land.  It's a beautiful place, with pleasantly shaped green mountains (not very tall) and very nice beaches.  Not many tourists, for some reason.  All of the tourists go to Krabi, right next door.  There are a lot of snakes, bad ones, but you're not likely to run into one unless you are staying way out in the woods. 

There's a sign at the airport that says:

"A warm welcome
with a hospitality
and friendly smile"

Those articles are always trouble for English learners whose native language has no articles.

Dim Sum is breakfast choice number one in the peninsula provinces.  One of my students picked me up to take me to school on the day of my class, and on the way we stopped for breakfast at a good place.  It was a big restaurant, with fifteen tables inside and another fifteen outside, and the Dim Sum was great.  Every table was full.  All of the wait-staff wore uniform t-shirts that said on the back:

"I am server
we served fresh!"

Another case of English, served Thai style.

I stayed in a nice hotel in town, about thirty dollars.  There was hot water not only in the tub, but also in the sink.  The sink part is rare.  The TV was good, about forty channels, but very light on the English.  There was the Universal Channel (the "Law and Order Channel"), SyFy, and two sports channels.  The sports channels were a bust, one seemed to feature only rugby and the other one was showing the Wimbledon Tennis Tournament from the year 2000.  I'm always happy to find SyFy, but really there's almost never anything on SyFy that's worth watching.  A lot of those low-light ghost search shows, "there's something on the other side of the door!"  I got lucky and there was a good movie on the night that I was there to see it.  Most SyFy movies are unspeakable, but this one was pretty good.  Lucky.

Did I say, "not many tourists?"  Really, I've never seen any.  I talked to the only foreigner that I saw, at the 7-11.  She was English, and she was on a one year English teaching contract.  It's strange to me, because Krabi is literally crawling with foreigners.  I stayed there for one night a couple of years ago and the six dollar room had about twenty channels of foreign TV.  Lots of English, CNN, good sports, the Voice of America military/propaganda channel, plus channels in Dutch, Russian, Indian, Chinese, Italian and French.  It was a lot of fun listening to various young foreigners, all European, trying to talk to the manager in English.  The manager could speak English very well, but the tourists only thought that they could speak English.  Pure comedy gold.  That room had no hot water at all, but it was air-conditioned.  They kept the prices down by making the rooms so small that if you got off the bed in any direction you smacked your knees into something.  The TV was hanging on a wall.

I like Trang, the absence of Farang tourists is a big plus for me.  The more Thais know about foreign tourists, the less then like them.  I feel the same, most of these European tourists are young, have little money, and are very impolite.  (Americans can't afford the time or the money to travel.)  It was a good trip. 

My Music Posting

I got a lovely comment today from a reader who enjoys my musical offerings.  Thanks for the validation, gentle reader. 

(I suppose that I should also thank YouTube.  I'm just the agent, they are the principal.) 

This sharing of music is almost a missionary activity with me.  I love this music with an almost religious intensity. 

I actually had a radio show one time, for about a year.  It was in Thailand, I was in the Peace Corps at the time.  The show was "English by Songs."  I picked songs that told straightforward stories in clear English, and I introduced the songs very . . . slowly . . . and . . . clearly.  I only played songs that I thought were great songs. I never played songs just because they were popular at the time, although I got a lot of pressure to do so.  It was a challenge for the listeners, but they rose to it. 

I played stuff that, like Sara Lee cheesecake, everybody has to like.  Like "Higher and Higher" by Jackie Wilson.  I played stuff that required a little more effort, like Ray Charles, "Unchain My Heart," for instance.  It's a straightforward story in plain English, plus I explained to them what it's like for a black man in America to use the term "chains."  I also played personal favorites just because they were so much fun, like "Sick and Tired," by Chris Kenner. 

At first I got a lot of "I don't understand the music," or even "I don't like the music."  I got requests for Brittany Spears, which I greeted with a smile and an insincere "maybe!"  By the end of the year most of the comments were more like, "at first I thought the music was terrible, but now I like it." 

So for me, with this blog, I almost see it as a part-time, back-door "Radio Fritz."  A chance to share some music that I value highly, but that some people may not be familiar with.  I'm sure that the big problem with music today is not that it sucks, although a lot of it sucks big time.  The problem is that there's too much out there.  Too much new stuff, on top of all of recorded history.  I want to be something like a museum tour guide, helping people find the good stuff. 

The stuff that I think is good anyway.  Thanks, everybody, for your patience. 

Marshall Crenshaw / "Walk Away Renee"

And then, if you're patient, you find something really . . . dare I say . . . amazing?  Keep digging on the YouTube, there are hidden depths.

It looks as though Marshall Crenshaw has backed away from his policy of fighting to keep everything of his off of the 'Tube.  That's good news.  The guy is great.  It's thirty years since his best known albums and they all still sound fresh as daisies.  This here video is a first class cover of an slightly eccentric Sixties hit. 

Nina Simone - Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

I've been so busy writing challenging, informative, substantive "blog-posts" that I've been neglecting the music side. 

So, there's this. 

I watched "American Hustle" today, and it was "G to VG."  Lots of interesting cuts on the soundtrack, including "Dirty Work" by Steely Dan.  I almost posted that, but Steely Dan get too much play already. 

The Current Situation In Thailand

First let me make clear that I will not complain about anything that is occurring now in Thailand, nor criticize anyone’s actions, nor offer suggestions.   It is not my place.

I’ve been here for ten years now, but that doesn’t give me any rights to have an opinion.  I stay resolutely out of Thai politics.  Let’s face it, foreigners should just shut up.  Talking to other Americans, I may complain bitterly about America.  But let a Frenchman complain about America and I bristle with anger.  Taking my own advice, I let Thai people talk about Thailand. 

Regarding the recent events in Thai politics, I would only offer two points of clarification for American (or foreign) readers.  One is general, and the other is specific. 

The general point is that democracy has never appeared in any country fully formed in its inception, perfect from the get-go.  Consider America’s experience.  Our founding constitution was a wonderful document, and it has stood the test of time.  Note, however, that it allowed only men to vote, and only men with property at that.  And of course there was the matter of slavery.  It was almost one hundred years before institutionalized slavery was washed out of our constitution, and it was well over one hundred years before women were allowed to vote.  My point is that the achievement of democracy is an ongoing enterprise for any country that seeks to go there.  Proceeding in fits and starts is normal, and the important thing is the desire to get there at all. 

My second point is specific to Thailand.  Thailand’s experience of itself is vastly different from America’s.  In America, I think that we tend to conflate culture and politics, because they arose at approximately the same time, and only a couple of hundred years ago.

Thailand, on the other hand, has been the home of the Thai people and Thai culture for over 3,000 years.  Thai politics has seen many changes over that time, while the progress of Thai culture has remained constant. 

 

That Thais value personal freedom and the rights of others cannot be questioned.  Democracy here is only a recent manifestation of this cultural priority.  The very name of the country, chosen when they were formalizing their desire to have a representative democracy, is “Thailand,” or “Brataet Thai,” which literally means, “the Land of the Free.” 

So I trust Thai people to take this as an opportunity to get closer to their goals as a nation.  It’s up to them, and they don’t need me or John Kerry telling them what is right or wrong.  It’s up to them, they themselves.  I could say that Thailand is blessed with many people who are well educated and well informed, but that could be turned into a political football.  Let me say instead that my experience of Thai people ranges from the upper limits of achievement to those who live and work way out in the rice fields, or up in the mountains, without two coins to rub together.  I find that Thai people across all demographics are friendly, cooperative, intelligent and very, very sensible. 

I trust them all to do the right thing. 

Curtis Mayfield - Diamond in the Back

This is not Curtis Mayfield.  I mean, the guy in the picture is Curtis Mayfield, but the song is "Be Thankful for What You've Got," by William de Vaughn.  Isn't it great? 

The guitar does sound like Curtis to me, but that's not surprising.  Soul Music at the time was crowded with guys who played like Curtis.  I don't think the vocal sounds like Curtis at all.  Close enough for confusion I guess. 

So watch out for this whole Internet, knowledge at your fingertips thing.  Look at that hit count!  Three million people, many of whom had the wool pulled over their eyes.  Poor Mr. de Vaughn, one hit and they try to take it away from him.  This vid is even the lead in the Curtis Mayfield mix, Fifty Plus Videos!  Many of which are probably by Curtis.

The confusion spreads like oil on water.  There's at least one other version of this song posted as a Curtis Mayfield song.  Plus one or two that have a picture of Curtis but say NOT Curtis Mayfield.  And over on the Google, there's a mix of discussions of who does the song and did Curtis do a version and did he produce it and did he actually sing it, all kinds of shit.

And the discussion on some kind of Prince site, don't go there under any circumstances!  That site froze up my iMac like ice cream packed in dry ice!  It's still slow after a restart! 

Interneters, beware.