Billie Holiday

Today is the 75th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition. Roosevelt allowed the sale of beer at a alcohol content of 3.2% in advance of the full repeal which happened on December 5, 1933. Sounds like Billie is having a good time, why don't you? Cheers.

Some books are familiar to us even though we have never read them. Such is "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde." Then there are songs which resonate with us seemingly since time immemorial (to ourself.) Such is "Solitude."

But belief of knowledge is far from being bona fide knowledge. Does any one here really remember "a very odd story" connected with a door? Can any one really recall the muted trumpet introducing the strangely husky vocals?
We all know Lady Day with... MORE

"If the moon turns green and shadows get up and walk aroundAnd clouds come tumbling to the groundI wouldn't be surprisedCause didn't you fall in love with meIf the stars turn blueAnd willows that weep begin to singAnd winter changes into springI wouldn't raise my eyesCause didn't you fall in love with meI thought I was foolish to think of romanceWith someone so charming as youThought I was hoping without any chanceBut ev'ry hope came trueIf the moon turns green and rivers ... MORE

I know this wasn't necessarily what my friend I am had in mind, with his brilliant suggestion for Jazzturdays, but this is a song that haunts me. Even before I understood the words of the song, it was one I'd hear from time to time. Remember vividly the feeling in my gut the first time I _heard_ the song though. I must have been around 12 or so, before that, I loved songs on more of a surface level. This was the one song that took me from the surface to hitting all le... MORE

crash and my first real bonding moment was on a multiply post of mine with nothing but billie and nina. i never looked back :) crash, this is my favorite billie holiday tune, and now i'm giving it to you...

to listen to the blues she is a must for everybody

couldn't resist...here's a little smokey taste of billie holiday singing "easy livin'"

she was such an original talent too bad it ended so quickly

such a wonderful & soulful voice that has yet to be heard once again, some have come close but can never be duplicated

rant of the moment: i heard on the news last night that the mega-turtlesque Internet connectivity due to the Taiwan tsunami will not be fixed until the last week of February (which i am taking to mean as mid-March or so). i promised to be level-headed about it but ...aaarrrggghhhhhh. 70% of my job relies upon the Internet. boooooo. i am on page 144 of Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, which so far appears to be the well-told* story of a hermaphrodite borne out of an inbred... MORE

Just one of my favourite great traks by Lady Day, a contempary tragic beautiful soul, Lady sings the blues.

looks like the hawk on the first solo, and gerry mulligan, lester young, and ben webster.

Amazing song about racism and the photos she saw of black men hanging off trees in the South Music can help people express a range of feelings and topics. Many early African-American songs, such as "The Drinking Gourd," were used to pass secret messages during the period of slavery. As Reconstruction passed into the Jim Crow Era, predominately African-American music such as jazz and blues evolved. This music explored the feelings of frustration, poverty, and depr... MORE