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Thursday, January 12, 2006

Odetta!

Posted by on January 12 at 8:23 AM

I happened to be driving down to Portland yesterday evening just as an amazing show was getting going on KEXP: “Martin Luther King and the Songs of Freedom - How Gospel Music Inspired a Movement.” I listened until, somewhere south of Tacoma, and sometime after The Death of Emmett Till, the signal fizzled out.

My God. Someone give Greg Vandy a raise. Right now. The show isn’t up in podcast format or available for audio streaming yet (as far as I can tell) but as soon as it’s available online it’s your duty as an American to listen.

And can I just say again how much I love Odetta. Maybe this reveals me to be a music naif, but I’d never heard of her until I watched that Bob Dylan documentary on PBS a few months ago. In the documentary she was slapping her guitar with a thick, flat hand and letting out a primal wail in which one could hear the entire spectrum of anger and sadness that folk musicians like Dylan would later try to pick off in manageable chunks. Vandy played Odetta’s version of The Times They Are A-Changin and I felt like that thick hand was grabbing a fistful of my shirt and pulling me right in front of Odetta’s face so she could tell me how the song was supposed to be sung. It was one of those moments when all you can do is curse, it’s so good.

(A note to the gay boys: Odetta was fierce before fierce was fey.) ((And speaking of divas.))

KEXP: I demand a rebroadcast!


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Maybe it's in their hourly archive. What time was it on?

It's likely that it will be posted online. But re-broadcast? Not likely. For some reason this country can only muster it's good intentions to celebrate a modern American hero (MLK) once a year (and for some reason also leaves so many others who fought for the civil rights of everyone out of the discussion as well). Given the attacks on civil rights by our current government, one might think this would be a year round discussion.

"But beyond the freedom songs, we had the music on the radio to see us through that summer. All those hours driving all those miles in all those cars went a little bit easier with the rhythms coming out of those dashboard radios.

Something called soul music had arrived, and a record label out of Detroit called Motown was taking over the airwaves. Martha and the Vandellas 'Dancing in the Street' was all over the radio that summer, as was Mary Wells 'My Guy' and a song called 'Where Did Our Love Go?' by a woman named Diana Ross. Sam Cooke. The Impressions.

Some of th deepest, most delicious moments of my life were getting out of jail in a place like Americus, or Hattiesburg, or Selma—especailly Selma—and finding my way to the nearest Freedom House, taking a good long shower, putting on a pair of fresh blue jeans and a tee shirt and going to some little Dew Drop Inn, some little side-of-the-road juke joint where I'd order a hamburger or cheese sandwich and a cold soda and walk over to that jukebox and stand there with a quarter in my hand, and look over every song on that box because the choice had to be just right...and then I would finally drop that quarter in and punch up Marvin Gaye or Curtis Mayfield or Aretha, and I would sit down with my sandwich. I don't know if I've ever felt anything so sweet."

I heard that show too and damn. Song after song made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Who'd a thunk that radio can still do that?

10:17 am and the show is now available on KEXP's streaming archive at their website.

Greg Vandy is a local treasure. After blowing everyone's mind with last night's "Roadhouse," he then played records with Scott Giampino at the Viceroy. You shoulda been there, it was a blast.

Be on the lookout for Vandy's WWOZ benefits that take place next month, including the annual Mardi Gras party at the Sunset. It's a traditional-styled event and will feature some of the best in New Orleans music.

Agreed. Vandy's depth of knowledge on a variety of music genres blows me away every week on Roadhouse. His lisp is kinda cute too.

I heard this too, accidentally breaking my habit of never listening to KEXP after 6pm, and it was terrific. Hearing Martin Luther King Jr.'s sonorous voice and indisputable words "we want ALL our rights..." over the crackly radio was an unexpected and, frankly, a moving experience. Incidentally, Sherman Alexie made an interesting and unexpectedly pro-American MLK speech yesterday in Everett. Worth reading:

http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/06/01/12/100loc_a1alexie001.cfm

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