Anyone wanna shake your groove thang?

[OneGrassRoot]

It's intense all around, and Rick and others are helping to guide us along beautifully.

I have always, always loved this song...lifts my spirits.

I'm embracing this as my new theme song. Maybe some of you will adopt it as yours, too.

Trying to stay positive, stay aware, be free, BE ME.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6ve17gbi6E

:hi:

[mntleo2]

1. I have always loved this song too.

...another is Average White Band's "I've Got Work To do" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w8wEuqhf_8 <---that is not a good recording but you get the idea

...wait a minute I love that whole damn album the whole thing is a heueuege spirit lifter ~ and the music is just as relevant today btw ... "Average White Band" is the name of that album, it was their first ...

Just a little aside about that band ...in Seattle during the '60s and '70s we had a "Black" station that ONLY played music by minorities. I loved their jazz line up at night, the DJ guy knew EVERYTHING about jazz from WAY back to the present. During the day they played Cheech and Chong, Diana Ross, The Marvelettes, etc. Well AWB was the ONLY band, all white players, this station ever played. You'd have to understand the times when things between races were much more separate ~ except for a few of us white youth who were "crossing the line" and hanging out with one another.

Calling themselves "the Average White Band" was a sardonic nod to rhythm and blues, an honoring ~ because whites had stolen so much of African American music but considered it a "bastard" music, the old double standard. But this time the AWB was blatantly stealing the sound. Even though most of the music they wrote themselves, they made a point to sound "Black". Maybe you just have to have "been there" to understand the subtle joke they were stating but ...They were far from "average" and being white and sounding as good as they did, were a hit with my "rhythm and blues" friends.

A funny aside about those times:

As a young 21 year old, I used to go to parties that fans of the station had and I had the best time and met WAY more interesting people than I would in my "white" world. They were highly international and I met people from all over the world there. Most whites that attended these parties were not locals but from Europe and S America, S Africa etc. I often met not only the DJs but some great musicians who had breezed into town to record at what became K Smyth Studios (Where Steve Miller + others used to record).

One party I was at, around 1972 or so (one of the few whites there), I was talking with some friends and a bunch of others I did not know, all of us standing in a big group. The party was heueueuge, the music pumping, people dancing, lots of laughter. Rippling through the crowd came, "Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes are here! Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes are here!" My friend who I had come with turned to one of the guys in the group and said, "Who the HELL is Harold Melvin and the damn Blue Notes????" The guy she said it to smiled and said, "I am Harold Melvin and then he gestured to the other guys standing with him in our group and said, "And these are the Blue Notes!"

The guys were not at all insulted, they thought it was funny because well, they were not well known yet in Seattle and plus they were nice guys ~ ans let's face it, my friend and I were young, pretty stooopid and just knew about the "super famous" people and I am sure HM and his crew sized us up and knew it.

Still, we slunk away in embarrassment. But have laughed about it ever since.

Love
Cat

[OneGrassRoot]

2. That is so cool....

I graduated in '81, so I have similar memories and experiences. LOVED AWB and loved the message in the name. :)

I need to get to Seattle one of these days...

Your story about Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes reminded me of a similar incident.

I was working at the Hyatt Hotel, front desk, during college. It was next to the big stadium/arena, so lots of sports teams, as well as celebrities, performed there.

It was in Pittsburgh, so hockey was big. It was when Mario Lemieux first joined the Penguins (Dear Goddess, he was HOT), and when Wayne Gretsky was becoming a superstar.

BTW, of all the different types of teams that would come in, hockey players were THE most dapper. Dressed to the hilt every time. I would get SO excited when I knew a hockey team was coming, and would stand there -- as calm as possible, smiling -- as dozens of gorgeous men dressed like GQ models would walk into the lobby, all walking toward me (to register :eyes:). Oh my...the fantasies I would have...:rofl:

I was excited when Edmonton FINALLY came. I wanted to see this Wayne Gretsky character -- this bigger-than-life person everyone was making such a fuss about -- but knew it was unlikely he would come to registration; he'd make his lesser-known roommates take care of that, no doubt.

The last room to be checked out was Gretsky's.

The smallest of all the players I'd seen walking through came over to check out. I definitely assumed this gentleman was the other player, 'cause there's no way THIS could be GRETSKY. He was so petite and very unassuming.

So, I took the registration card (this was before everything was completely computerized) and said, "You must be ?"

He said, "Um, no. I'm Wayne Gretsky."

I know I turned beet red; I should have known what Wayne Gretsky looked like by then, for cryin' out loud, but I was too busy shaking my groove thang to that new singer on the scene, Madonna.

I met her, too; and Cindy Lauper and so many others. It was a GREAT job.

:)

[mntleo2]

3. Meeting Famous People Is A Trip ...

...because while later you see the "resemblance" from the millions of photos you've seen of them, they are either shorter. taller, without make-up, or their hair is different and you just don't realize it.

And even if I were to meet someone famous I tried to treat them as "nermol peoples" as my friend Jack Spencer used to say. He was Jamaican and played and teaches steel drums, still does. I loved Jack because he had 2 Masters degrees, one of those in Math and the other (I think) in music. Even in those days, a well educated African American could make a decent wage. But Jack drove a cab for a living. I once asked him why he drove a cab when he could be out there making lots more and he told me, "I drive a cab because that is where The Real People are ..." Jack did not care about money, and I swear everybody knew Jack, famous, infamous and well, people like me who just liked him because he was creative, able to discuss about anything and just plain smart. Oh and he just felt "safe" as a man, just out there lovin' and livin'.

I have seldom met anyone famous or they were on their way up and were just "nermal folks", people Like Robert Cray who hung out with Jimi Hendrix, etc and sort of fell down the ladder for awhile and sometimes did street music at the Market (Pike Place). He would hang out in Pioneer Square and play too, and he was just a nice guy. Man could that guy play ~ did not matter to him if there was a crowd around or not ~ he just possesses the joy of playing this incredible music.

My ex-husband used to work in Pioneer square at a bar of ...how do I put this ...riotous and forward thinking people called Hibble and Hydes. Talking Heads played there before they were famous, a couple years before "Stop Making Sense" launched them into fame, as well as others. One day while waiting for my ex to get off work (he was the cook there), I sat with a lovely woman, we just talked and talked. I immediately liked her because she was so earthy and almost did not seem to belong there. It was late (kitchens closed at 10:00) and I was not feeling well, just sitting at a table in the middle of a busy night waiting for my ex-husband.

This woman took a special interest in me, something that I liked as I often just blended in with the crowd, lord knows I was never cool or that pretty, I just liked hanging around with cool and pretty people, lol. She peered closely at me and then told me I was pregnant! I laughed and said, "Nah, we've been married for 6 years and ...nothing, I don't think so ..." But she said I had "the look" of pregnancy and told me, "You just watch ...in a few weeks you will find out I am right ..." This woman later got up and began to sing on stage and she literally sang/carried on a conversation with the crowd, in an amazing "dialog" almost like she and I had but with 500 people!

Later on driving home my ex said, "Hey I saw you talking with Ernestine, she seemed to like talking with you." I said, "Oh really was that her name? I did not catch it because it was so noisy but ...yeah she is a nice woman." It was Ernestine Anderson, incredible jazz singer and Grammy award winner who later became an owner of a kewl jazz place herself here in Seattle.

1 month later I found out to my amazement that I was expecting our first son (we have three sons).

Do not get me wrong I never knew anyone well, I just tried to pretend I did not know they were famous if I did recognize them, but the best was if I did not know who they were.

P.S. I have never fantasized about famous people as "attractions" but I can relate about fantasies, they often get me through 'cause the real world (if this world IS real) sucks sometimes, lol!

Love
Cat