— BILLBOARD: Peaked #43 December 11, 1965 —
MCRFB Note: In releasing this single, note the authors credited having wrote the music under the song title. The Packers were none other than Booker T. Jones and the M.G.’s having assumed a different name — one time only — for this label’s release late-1965.
“DON’T ANSWER THE DOOR” * B. B. King * 1966
By Randy Lewis | LA TIMES Staff Writer | May 15, 2015, 12:04 AM
B.B. King, the singer and guitarist who put the blues in a three-piece suit and took the musical genre from the barrooms and back porches of the Mississippi Delta to Carnegie Hall and the world’s toniest concert stages with a signature style emulated by generations of blues and rock musicians, has died. He was 89..
The 15-time Grammy Award winner died Thursday night in his Las Vegas home, said Angela Moore, representative for his youngest daughter, Claudette. He had struggled in recent years with diabetes.
King died peacefully in his sleep, Claudette King told The Times.
Early on, King transcended his musical shortcomings — an inability to play guitar leads while he sang and a failure to master the use of a bottleneck or slide favored by many of his guitar-playing peers — and created a unique style that made him one of the most respected and influential blues musicians ever.
“B.B. King taps into something universal,” Eric Clapton told The Times in 2005. “He can’t be confined to any one genre. That’s why I’ve called him a ‘global musician.'”
Because King couldn’t figure out how to play and sing simultaneously, he separated the two functions, laying the blueprint for the sung verse followed by the extended solo passage that would become a crucial element in blues as well as in rock music rooted in the blues. That template was exploited by subsequent generations of players, from Clapton and Jimi Hendrix on through to John Mayer and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Finding that he couldn’t make his elegantly long but thick fingers work the beer bottlenecks and metal slides used by so many other blues guitarists, he discovered that he could emulate that effect by rocking the fingers of his left hand rapidly on the guitar’s frets similar to the way a classical violinist creates vibrato, establishing a ringing tremolo that became his hallmark.
MCRFB Note: For the rest of this Los Angeles Times B. B. King Obituary article (May 15, 2015) please GO HERE.
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Randy Lewis | Copyright © 2015 Los Angeles Times
A MCRFB news brief: 1970
DETROIT — Quadrasonic sound will be heard here for the first time in the Motor City, Sunday November 1, as WABX-FM and WDET-FM combine to present a show programmed by Tim Powell, WABX music director, and Bud Spangler, music director of WDET. The program will consist of all types of music including folk, jazz, rock, classical and some adult-oriented instrumentals and contemporary music. The technical end will be handled by Vince Capizzo of WABX and Paul Grezibik of WDET-FM.
(Information and news source: Billboard; November 7, 1970).
PONTIAC MOTOR DIVISION. GM CORP. * “The Tiger Scores Again!” * 1966
THE DEFINITION OF BASEBALL * Ernie Harwell * Ernie Harwell’s Audio Scrapbook (2009)
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DETROIT (May 14, 2015) — Ernie Harwell. Five years having passed. Since the summer voice of Tigers baseball went silent, Tuesday, May 4, 2010.
In wake of his passing, I was compelled I pay my final respects for Ernie Harwell that day, as he lay in repose in an open casket, a cold morning that was Comerica Park, May 6, 2010.
As most of you already know, this was Ernie’s expressed desire.
Sometime in 2009, after having been diagnosed with incurable cancer, Ernie had asked this of his friend, Mike Illitch. Of course! Mike said, whatever you want, Ernie!
It would be, somewhere I had read, in a sense, Ernie’s way of saying goodbye to us all for the last time. (Ernie’s funeral was private. It was held for members of his family only, as he had wished).
I arrived at Comerica Park, before 8:30 AM. The line was, to my surprise, very sparse that morning. In gazing upon the very reason why I were there, I reflected upon this gracious man who laid there in peaceful solemnity before us all.
Dave Dombrowski, the Detroit Tigers General Manager, stood waiting at aisle’s end. I extended my hand over to him. I took a moment to express my personal condolences. Dave listened. We shook hands. He personally thanked me for being there on behalf of Ernie Harwell, and the entire Harwell family. Likewise, just as he thanked and shook hands with everyone who came to the ballpark throughout the day, in saying their final goodbyes.
While many there held cameras, I asked a Tigers’ attendant permission — if I may be allowed to use my camera. I was assured the Tigers organization, on behalf of the Harwell family, had okayed use of personal cameras that day as well.
I left for my camera in my vehicle. Having returned, the attendants at the gates were kind enough allowing me back inside, with my camera, for a second time.
These were my moments I captured. With the exception of the very last one, I took these photographs in the forty-fifty minutes while there early that morning. I will share several of them with you today.
Ernie Harwell.
I knew the name from as far back as I can remember. When I first heard that distinct, Georgia-accented voice while listening to Tiger baseball at a very young age, along with my dad, on the radio. Was that 1960? Now that. That was a long, long time ago.
Ernie, thanks for the memories. May your soul find rest in God’s Eternal Mercy and Grace now and forevermore.
— Jim Feliciano
