Hi bloggers,

Got snow? We have gotten a little snow, but by no means did we get slammed, however it is supposed to continue...

Enjoy these slow and easy...classics from the piano bar.

and just for fun, bloggers...aren't you curious to know who or what you were in your last life?

haha! in all probability this means I could come back as a duck?!

I will be glad when this week is over. One small victory in court today for my daughter. YAY! However, a setback too on another issue. Trying to pay her bills and those coming back up to haunt her is resulting in a major financial bent here.

Its been a most stressful day on many levels. Work is a pain in the ass lately, having to take on more responsibility when I have high personal family stress is beating me down a little. My relaxation time seems to have come to an end here lately with all the worry and aggravation.



In my next life, I'd just as soon come back as a frickin' duck and wade in shit high water and muck instead of having to deal with all this drama shit. When grown kids are not managing their lives, its a big stress, one I don't care to deal with. However, my daughter has absolutely no one else she can count on. I am not carrying her too much longer. She supposedly got a job at a local chain grocery store here today, so I can only pray she gets on her feet and soon. Next fight is to family court this next Tuesday.

*playlist removed*

"The moment you saw and heard Odetta, there was no way you could forget her. She stood on the stage, back in her prime, like a lioness. Strong body. Strong stance. Short, short hair. Big earrings jangling like swords. One moment she’d grimace like something was hurting. Then suddenly Odetta would smile. And you’d melt."

Odetta Holmes was born in Birmingham, Ala., on Dec. 31, 1930, in the depths of the Depression. The music of that time and place — particularly prison songs and work songs recorded in the fields of the Deep South — shaped her life.

“They were liberation songs,” she said in the interview with The Times. She added: “You’re walking down life’s road, society’s foot is on your throat, every which way you turn you can’t get from under that foot. And you reach a fork in the road and you can either lie down and die or insist upon your life.”

Her father, Reuben Holmes, died when she was young, and in 1937 she and her mother, Flora Sanders, moved to Los Angeles. Three years later Odetta discovered that she could sing. “A teacher told my mother that I had a voice, that maybe I should study,” she recalled. “But I myself didn’t have anything to measure it by.”

She found her own voice by listening to blues, jazz and folk music from the African-American and Anglo-American traditions. She earned a music degree from Los Angeles City College. Her training in classical music and musical theater was “a nice exercise, but it had nothing to do with my life,” she said. “The folk songs were — the anger,” she emphasized.

In a career of almost 60 years, Odetta sang at coffeehouses and at Carnegie Hall. Odetta became a force of the folk music revival in the 1950s. In the 1960s her renditions of spirituals and blues became part of the soundtrack of the civil rights movement. She was influential both musically and ideologically to many of the key figures of the folk-revival of that time, including Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Mavis Staples, and Janis Joplin.

Odetta’s blues and spirituals led directly to her work for the civil rights movement. They were two rivers running together, she said in her interview with The Times. The words and music captured “the fury and frustration that I had growing up.” Odetta’s voice was an accompaniment to the black-and-white images of the freedom marchers who walked the roads of Alabama and Mississippi and the boulevards of Washington to end racial discrimination.



Once described as the queen of American folk music by Martin Luther King Jr., Odetta's monumental voice rang out in August 1963 when she sang "I'm on My Way" at the historic March on Washington, where Martin Luther King gave his "I Have a Dream" speech. She had hoped to perform in Washington when Barack Obama was inaugurated as the nation's first African American president. However the legendary folk singer, who influenced generations of musicians and was an icon in the civil rights movement, sadly passed away before his inauguration ceremony.

If you'd like to read more about the life and times of Odetta, click here.



I believe she was in her 75 when singing in the video above. She has an incredible voice, and there are tons of videos out there spanning her career, so go explore some, I did! Her rendition of Amazing Grace and What A Friend We Have In Jesus is just beyond words, hope you guys watch a few more videos of her. If you don't watch this linked video interview with the NY Times, shame on you!

In this 2007 interview with The Times, Odetta spoke of the long-dead singers who first gave voice to the old blues and ballads and slavery songs she sang. “Those people who made up the songs were the ones who insisted upon life and living, who reaffirmed themselves,” she said. “They didn’t just fall down into the cracks or the holes...and that was an incredible example for me.” To see this video, click here.

When that chariot came down to deliver Odetta from these earthly shackles, I know that she was picked up in a brand new Lincoln Zephyr which delivered her to stand at the right hand of Jesus, who only talks to those who have lived good lives and gone on to their heavenly reward, whatever that may be. Gone but not forgotten, at the age of 77 on December 2, 2008, Odetta is one of my favorite folk musicians. Her voice is a treasure and so was her message. May she live on forever in the memories of those who treasured her music and her many friends, relatives and those who were closest to her.

and on that high note, I'm over and out! See yuns later.