AllenLowe

a few days - I go back to work Wednesday and I'm sure the stress of accumulated work will negate the positive effects of the days off. That's my America.

well, if Dean was speeding, it makes the failure to yield incorrect - because in an intersection one judges the time one has based on reasonable speed of other cars.

if he dies in bed with her from, let us say, too much excitement, you know what they're gonna say? "He who lives by the tit, dies by the tit."

The You and Me that Used to Be is one of the greatest vocal sessions ever; it actually was out, briefly, on CD, in the early '90s, and sounded like crap. Fortunately it disappeared. I own 2 LP copies.

I didn't say "being his own juke box" was a talent. Jim, your arguments are the ones that are old, bad cliches about straw white men.

it's purely a mathematical question - how many times does 84 go into 24?

Crudup got screwed, royally (and btw he was an incredible and important modern blues man) - but, after he died his family, fortunately, got a very large settlement. but none of that was Elvis' fault - though we might go after Colonel Parker on some prime issues.

Elvis, by the way was ALWAYS clear in crediting his influences, from Arthur Crudup to Junior Parker - and, believe or not, he had a HUGE black audience in the '50s which bought his records and crowded him at things like the Midnight Frolic in Memphis. Any claim to his racism or thievery is Crow Jim, pseudo-liberal bullshit. read Guralnick's opus, learn more about the whole Memphis scene; sure, it's not, racially, a level playing field. But re: the very specific issue of Elvis style and ability, there is no doubt, and there is no doubt as to his recognition and creditation of prior sources. Read the interviews. the idea that he was a honkey thief is reflective of the worst kind of mythology and lack of any real time taken other than to consult second and third hand sources.

allright, I'm going to mention one last thing that won't change any minds but which is musically essential - anyone out there who needs a sense of why Elvis was a great singer, check out the Louisiana Hayride performances that I mentioned prior - interesting thing about Elvis is how subtly changeable he was - "his own jukebox" as Francis Davis called him, a guy who soaked up so many influences that, as a singer, he was a multi-personality. The Hayride stuff however (and please take warning that the sound has been screwed up on various reissues) is a revelation - he's light on his feet, the band rocks, and Scotty Moore, not a virtuoso but a great group player, is perfect - here's a link for some short samples on Amazon: sorry - edited as this release is a bootleg - you're on your own -

Randy.....we've been looking for you and that book. Because of you a third-grade bebop fan cried himself to sleep.

we don't have to try. Elvis is bigger than all of us (too much damned peanut butter). Also, he was a drug pioneer (by some accurate reports he was addicted as early as the mid-1950s, to amphetamines, one of the hazards of road life. For that alone I would celebrate the man). But listen to Arthur Crudup and then Elvis, and one realizes what creative use Elvis made of the tradition. so forgive us white folks for using black music. And I'll forgive Marion Anderson for singing arias. btw - love the Hovie Lister.

only shows what poor critics even some of the best musicians make. Not trying to be glib, but to compare Brubeck to the old-time stompers is somewhat.....misleading. Now, on the other hand, if he'd praised Elvis I could understand......

I used to have this, but got rid of it because Brubeck makes me nervous (and not in a good way). Someday I will listen to it again.

give us a break already

nope. see my previous post. we don't need to hear your socio-history, and you shouldn't take it out on Elvis. Spare us the real-man stuff.There is a world of music in every Elvis utterance.

there was nothing like it before, and EVERYBODY afterward had to do it like Elvis. That's the reality. The problem is that rock and roll has had so many amorphous definitions. I see it in more concrete terms, as a very specific, and white, mediation of black forms. And Elvis started it, focused it, put it into real musical terms.

yes, I have listened. Closely and regularly for about 20 years. Refer to my last post. And if nothing else, the guy actually invented rock and roll (see: That's All Right Mama). not rhythm and blues, but actual, true, rock and roll. Elvis is to r&b what Jelly Roll Morton is to ragtime.

I would suggest that anyone hesitant about Elvis should: (though not necessarily in this order) 1) watch the film (and I'm drawing a blank on the title) that was made of one of his later Vegas shows, an amazing communion of performer and audience, basically, as I recall thinking, a religious service. Amazing stuff, Elvis at his later best - great blues singing, btw 2) order the 2 CD set the Memphis Sessions - 3) read Peter Guralnick's 2 volume bio, which certainly helps put him in context, needed or not - 4) listen to the Sun sessions (not a surprise, but a necessary reminder to those who might not have heard 'em) 5) listen to the recordings made of the original Louisiana Hayride Tour (maybe 1955; bootlegged many times; if you can find the good-sound version, jump on it, as it's been butchered sonically more than once, even by BMG, sadly enough) - 6) read Charles Wolf excellent essay on the white gospel quartet tradition and Elvis' connection to it. Clarifies some stylistic questions - 7) listen to Elvis' Sun version of Rogers and Hart's Blue Moon - a work of near-accidental genius (which I covered on a a CD called The American Song Project on which I also, btw, did the first secular version of Blind Willie Johnson's Dark was the Night, Cold was the Ground)

he was the acetate master, and a very nice man.

nice gesture.

wait - you can's ask Sue permission until you get permission to ask Sue permission. In order to do THAT you need permission to ask Sue permission to ask Sue permission - THAT, however, requires a permit, which is available only on February 29 during even years.

well, nothing much about him in the Times, that I could find, but here's some stuff about his wife: http://select.nytime...n%20Shih&st=cse http://select.nytime...n%20Shih&st=cse http://query.nytimes...n%20Shih&st=cse she may be dead by now - she'd be 99 or so - and all that these say is that he disappeared and played on the subways -

huh - someone did tell me about the train, but I'll have to ask John again. And actually- I seem to recall that some years ago there was an article in the NY Times about him, believe it or not - and yes, Szwed is primarily at Columbia these days, but I think he's a prof Emeritus at Yale -

I was told he killed himself by jumping in front of a subway train, years ago - I would call Dan Morgenstern at Rutgers, though I think it was John Szwed who told me this. Probably Hentoff would know as well.

art linkletter his daughter jumped out a window under the influence of LSD I don't care what anybody says LSD (the name of the character who plays Hitler in The Producers)