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Second Change performances by Zamya Theater working with Homeless Actors. August 4th Mill City Museum Ruin Courtyard 7pm. August 10th Target Field Station Amphitheater 7pm. Downtown Minneapolis Street Art Festival 2pm. Music by Carlisle Evans Peck and mick laBriola.
more...In the center is an Astrophotography icon the Dark Horse and the Rho Ophiuchi Molecular Clouds complex with its beautiful colors surrounding antares scorpion star Alpha, just above in the upper right corner we can see the star Zeta Ophiuchi surrounded by the known red nebulosity like Sharpless 2-27, this part of the Milky Way is rich in nebulae such as cat’s paw nebula, lobster, shrimp, Laguna and Trifida, among others.
more...Delfeayo Marsalis; born July 28, 1965) is an American jazz trombonist, record producer and educator. Marsalis was born in New Orleans, the son of Dolores (née Ferdinand) and Ellis Louis Marsalis, Jr., a pianist and music professor. He is also the grandson of Ellis Marsalis, Sr., and the brother of Wynton Marsalis (trumpeter), Branford Marsalis (saxophonist), and Jason Marsalis (drummer). Delfeayo also has two brothers who are not musicians: Ellis Marsalis III (b. 1964) is a poet, photographer and computer networking specialist based in Baltimore, and Mboya Kenyatta (b. 1970) is autistic and was the primary inspiration for Delfeayo’s founding of the New Orleans-based Uptown Music Theatre. Formed in 2000, UMT has trained over 300 youth and staged eight original musicals, all of which are based upon the mission of “community unity”.
more...Michael Bernard Bloomfield (July 28, 1943 – February 15, 1981) was an American guitarist and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois, who became one of the first popular music superstars of the 1960s to earn his reputation almost entirely on his instrumental prowess, as he rarely sang before 1969. Respected for his guitar playing, Bloomfield knew and played with many of Chicago’s blues musicians before achieving his own fame and was instrumental in popularizing blues music in the mid-1960s. In 1965, he played on Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited, including the single “Like a Rolling Stone“, and performed with Dylan at that year’s Newport Folk Festival.
Bloomfield was ranked No. 22 on Rolling Stone‘s list of “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” in 2003 and No. 42 by the same magazine in 2011.[3]He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2012 and, as a member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015.
Bloomfield was born into a wealthy Jewish Chicago family. Bloomfield’s father, Harold Bloomfield, was born in Chicago in 1914. Harold’s father, Samuel Bloomfield, started Bloomfield Industries in the early 1930s. After Samuel passed away, Harold and his brother, Daniel, took over the company. Bloomfield’s mother, Dorothy Klein, was born in Chicago in 1918 and married Harold in 1940. She came from an artistic, musical family, working as an actress and a model before marrying Harold. Bloomfield died in San Francisco on February 15, 1981. He was found seated behind the wheel of his car, with all four doors locked. According to police, an empty Valium bottle was found on the car seat, but no suicide note was found. The medical examiner who performed the autopsy ruled the death accidental overdose, due to cocaine and methamphetamine poisoning.
more...David “Junior” Kimbrough (July 28, 1930 – January 17, 1998) was an American blues musician. His best-known works are “Keep Your Hands off Her” and “All Night Long”.
Kimbrough was born in Hudsonville, Mississippi, and lived in the north Mississippi hill country near Holly Springs. His father, a barber, played the guitar, and Junior picked his guitar as a child. He was apparently influenced by the guitarists Lightnin’ Hopkins, Mississippi Fred McDowell and Eli Green.
more...Ray Ellis (July 28, 1923 – October 27, 2008) was an American record producer, arranger, conductor, and saxophonist. He was responsible for the orchestration in Billie Holiday‘s Lady in Satin (1958).
Raymond Spencer Ellis was born in Philadelphia. He arranged many hit records in the 1950s and 1960s. Included are classics such as “A Certain Smile” and “Wild is the Wind” by Johnny Mathis, “Broken Hearted Melody” by Sarah Vaughan, and “Standing on the Corner” by the Four Lads. In 1970, he produced Emmylou Harris‘ debut LP Gliding Bird.
Ellis’ work encompassed all areas of music, from records to film, commercials, and television. In the early 1960s, Ellis had a contract to produce his own easy listening record albums with RCA Victor, MGM, and Columbia, the most popular probably being Ellis in Wonderland. His television credits include theme music for NBC News At Sunrise with Connie Chung and the background and incidental music for the first season of the original Spider-Man cartoons.
more...N44 is an emission nebula with superbubble structure located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way in the constellation Dorado. Originally catalogued in Karl Henize‘s “Catalogue of H-alpha emission stars and nebulae in the Magellanic Clouds” of 1956, it is approximately 1,000 light-years wide and 160,000-170,000 light-years distant. N44 has a smaller bubble structure inside known as N44F. The superbubble structure of N44 itself is shaped by the radiation pressure of a 40-star group located near its center; the stars are blue-white, very luminous, and incredibly powerful.
more...Jean Toussaint (born July 27, 1960) is an American jazz tenor and soprano saxophonist. Toussaint was born in Aruba, Dutch Antilles, and was raised in Saint Thomas and New York City. He learned to play calypso as a child and attended Berklee College of Music in the late 1970s, studying under Bill Pierce (saxophonist). In 1979 he formed a group with Wallace Roney and from 1982 to 1986 was a member of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers alongside Terence Blanchard, Donald Harrison, Mulgrew Miller and Lonnie Plaxico. With Blakey he recorded three studio albums, including New York Scene, which won a Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance.
more...Andrew McLuckie “Andy” White (27 July 1930 – 9 November 2015) was a Scottish drummer, primarily a session musician. He is best known for temporarily replacing Ringo Starr on drums for the Beatles‘ first single, “Love Me Do“. White was featured on the American 7″ single release of the song, which also appeared on the band’s debut British album, Please Please Me. He also played on “P.S. I Love You“, which was the B-side of “Love Me Do”.
White played with other prominent musicians and groups both in the United Kingdom and the United States, including Chuck Berry, Billy Fury, Herman’s Hermits and Tom Jones. AllMusic called White “one of the busier drummers in England from the late ’50s through the mid-’70s”.
more...Harvey Fuqua (July 27, 1929 – July 6, 2010) was an American rhythm and blues singer, songwriter, record producer, and record label executive. Fuqua founded the seminal R&B/doo-wop group the Moonglows in the 1950s. He is notable as one of the key figures in the development of the Motown label in Detroit, Michigan. His group gave Marvin Gaye a start in his music career. Fuqua and his wife at the time, Gwen Gordy, distributed the first Motown hit single, Barrett Strong‘s “Money (That’s What I Want)“, on their record label, Anna Records. Fuqua later sold Anna Records to Gwen’s brother Berry Gordy and became a songwriter and executive at Motown. He was the nephew of Charlie Fuqua of the Ink Spots and the uncle of the filmmaker Antoine Fuqua.
Fuqua was born in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. He was the nephew of Charlie Fuqua of the Ink Spots. In 1951, with Bobby Lester, Alexander Graves and Prentiss Barnes, he formed a vocal group, the Crazy Sounds, in Louisville, later moving with other members of the group to Cleveland, Ohio. There they were taken under the wing of disc jockey Alan Freed, who renamed them the Moonglows, after his own nickname, Moondog”. The Moonglows’ first releases were for Freed’s Champagne label in 1953. They then recorded for the Chance label in Chicago, before signing with Chess Records in 1954. Their single “Sincerely” reached number 1 on the Billboard R&B chart and number 20 on the Hot 100 in late 1954.
more...Born. July 27, 1917 in Windsor, NC ; Died. March 6, 1994 in Lebanon, PA
Moses Rascoe got his first guitar in North Carolina at the age of 13 and turned professional in Pennsylvania some 50-odd years later. In between, he traveled the roads as a day laborer and truck driver, playing guitar only for “a dollar or a drink,” as he told Jack Roberts in Living Blues. But he’d picked up plenty of songs over the years, from old Brownie McGhee Piedmont blues to Jimmy Reed‘s ’50s jukebox hits, and when he retired from trucking at the age of 65, he gave his music a shot. The local folk-music community took notice, as did blues and folk festivals from Chicago to Europe. Rascoe recorded his first album live at Godfrey Daniels, a Pennsylvania coffeehouse, in 1987.
more...Elmer, or Elbert, “Skippy“ Williams (July 27, 1916 – February 28, 1994) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and musical arranger.
First credited as the arranger for some July 12, 1939 recordings for Earl Hines and His Orchestra, Skippy Williams is best remembered as the substitute for Ben Webster in Duke Ellington‘s orchestra. Replacing Webster in August 1943, Williams appears on Ellington’s Carnegie Hall recordings in December 1943. He left Ellington in May 1944, to start his own band[2] and was replaced by Big Al Sears.
In the mid-1940s, he gave tenor sax classes to Pepper Adams in Rochester, NY, and was working with Thelonious Monk in 1946, credited as bandleader for Monk.
Williams also worked with Art Tatum, Fletcher Henderson, Count Basie, Lucky Millinder, Bob Chester, and, according to some sources, played tenor sax on the original recording of Bill Haley‘s “Rock Around the Clock“, and “Shake, Rattle and Roll” This claim is, however, false.
more...Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Trinidad & Tobago-based artist Nicholas Huggins, celebrates the steelpan, a percussion instrument made of metal, created and influenced by Trinbagonians. It’s the only acoustic instrument invented in the twentieth century, but has origins dating back to the 1700’s. It was a staple during Carnival and Canboulay, the annual harvest festivals celebrated in Trinidad, and is still used in contemporary music. On this day in 1951, the Trinidad All-Steel Pan Percussion Orchestra (TASPO) performed at the Festival of Britain, introducing the steelpan and a new music genre to the world.
When enslaved Africans were brought to Trinidad by colonialists in the 1700’s, they brought over their African heritage and traditions of rhythmic drumming with them. When slavery was abolished between 1834 and 1838, Trinidadians joined in on Carnival festivities with their drums. However in 1877, government officials banned their drumming because they feared that the drumming would be used to send messages that would inspire rebellion. In protest of this ban, musicians started to pound tuned bamboo tubes on the ground as alternatives to mimic the sound of their drums. These ensembles were called Tamboo Bamboo bands.
Another ban came in 1930, when rival Tamboo Bamboo bands would cause disturbances during Carnival and other street festivals. These bands then looked to a new alternative to carry their rhythm: metal objects such as car parts, paint pots, dustbins, biscuit tins and thus the idea of the pan was born.
During World War II, Carnival was forbidden due to security reasons, and musicians began experimenting with the unique instrument to improve the sound quality. Overtime, dents were hammered into the surface of these objects, which played different notes depending on the size, position and shape. In 1948, after the war ended, the musicians switched to using the 55 gallon oil drums discarded by the oil refineries. In addition to changing the shape of the drum surface, they found that changing the length of the drum allowed complete scales from bass to soprano. This formed the basis for the modern version of the pan. The steelpan grew and developed into a legitimate instrument through the likes of pioneers and innovators such as Winston “Spree” Simon, Ellie Mannette, Anthony Williams and Bertie Marshall. Many of their innovations and techniques are still used today.
The steelpan is now the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago, and is a source of great pride and true resilience for its citizens. Steelpans are now enjoyed in concert calls like Royal Albert Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center and more. Whether in the UK or Japan, Senegal or the States, the steelpan is an internationally recognized instrument that reminds listeners of its island origins.
Street festivals began to get rowdy and rough during the 1860s and 1870s. Drums were banned by the ruling class in the 1880s out of fear that they were being used to communicate secret messages. More melodic instruments were introduced to the parades and celebrations by the colonialists, to replace the drumming. As a protest, the Tamboo Bamboo movement evolved — cutting lengths of bamboo and stomping them on the ground. Four distinct instruments — the boom, chandler, fuller and cutter were created by the lower classes as a revolt against the people in power. This art form remained a nucleus of musical and political expression throughout the 1930s.
Suppression and hardship were reflected in the Tamboo Bamboo movement, and eventually an element of violence rose to the surface. Tamboo Bamboo bands were outlawed because rival bands were fighting one another with the bamboo. At the same time, the need for artistic expression through rhythm continued. Gangs started picking up metal dust bins, biscuit tins, garbage lids and beating on them, mixing the sounds of bamboo and metal. Metal eventually replaced bamboo and the idea of pan was born.
During WWI Carnival was suspended in Trinidad and Tobago but the sounds of pan continued to be developed. As metal surfaces were hit repeatedly, musicians realized the pitch changed. By 1948, 55- gallon oil drums were readily available from the oil refineries on the island. People such as Ellie Mannette, Winston “Spree” Simon, and Tony Williams are credited as pioneers of the steel drum, creating the 12 notes of the chromatic scale on a single pan. When Carnival celebrations resumed in Trinidad after World War II, the steel pan became an important part of the street festival.
The steel drums have continued to evolve to this day. They are now the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago, having ascended from the most depressed areas of society to glamorous concert halls around the world. They truly are the voice of a diverse, multi-cultural people.
NGC 2170 is a reflection nebula in the constellation Monoceros. It was discovered on October 16, 1784 by William Herschel.
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Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer, songwriter, actor, and film producer who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnership with Keith Richards is one of the most successful in history. Jagger’s career has spanned over six decades, and he has been widely described as one of the most popular and influential frontmen in the history of rock & roll. His distinctive voice and energetic live performances, along with Richards’ guitar style, have been the Rolling Stones’ trademark throughout the band’s career. Jagger gained press notoriety for his romantic involvements and illicit drug use, and was often portrayed as a countercultural figure.
Jagger was born and grew up in Dartford, England. He studied at the London School of Economics before abandoning his studies to join the Rolling Stones. Jagger has written most of the Rolling Stones’ songs together with Richards, and they continue to collaborate musically. In the late 1960s, Jagger starred in the films Performance (1970) and Ned Kelly (1970), to a mixed reception. In the 2000s, he co-founded a film production company, Jagged Films, and through them has produced feature films, beginning with the 2001 historical drama Enigma. He began a solo recording career in 1985, releasing his first album, She’s the Boss, and joined the electric supergroup SuperHeavy in 2009. Relationships with the Stones’ members, particularly Richards, deteriorated during the 1980s, but Jagger has always found more success with the band than with his solo and side projects. He was married to Bianca Jagger from 1971 to 1978, and has had several other relationships, resulting in eight children with five women.
In 1989, Jagger was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and into the UK Music Hall of Fame with the Rolling Stones in 2004. As a member of the Rolling Stones, and as a solo artist, he reached No. 1 on the UK and US singles charts with 13 singles, the top 10 with 32 singles and the top 40with 70 singles. In 2003, he was knighted for his services to popular music. The genus Jaggermeryx naida and the type species Aegrotocatellus jaggeri are named for him. Jagger is credited with bringing style and sexiness to rock and roll and with being a trailblazer in pop music that subsequent generations of musicians have followed.
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- Kermit Ruffins Day
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