#03-18

[csacskamacskamocska]

Szedjetek D vitamint!

Egyre gyanúsabb ez a dolog, hogy a táplálkozás befolyásolja a gondolkodást, a gondolkodás a cselekedeteinket, amik aztán behúzzák az embert egy spirálba.

Valamiket hallgattam mostanában ezzel kapcsolatban, de amúgy evolúciósan is teljesen megmagyarázható. Ha hiány van a szervezetben, egyes biokémiai dolgok nem fognak megfelelően működni. Ha valami hiány miatt fáradt vagy és életunt, akkor mondhatja bárki, hogy menj és szerezz örömöket és jobban fogod magad érezni. Ha nincs üzemanyag, az agy összehúzza a test működését – képletesen – és az üzemanyag nem csak a kalória.

És az elhízás! Egyszer régen, minden tudományos képzettség nélkül azon gondolkodtam, hogy miért elhízottak sokszor azok, akiknek nincs pénzük. Néztem valami TV riportot (olyan iszonyatosan rég volt, hogy még volt tévém és pazaroltam rá időt) amiben rettenetesen szegény emberek beszéltek arról, hogy nincs pénzük ételre. A nő, aki beszélt jelentősen elhízott volt. A kisfiú, aki beszélt arról, hogy csak zsíros kenyeret esznek, ő nem volt elhízva, de sovány sem volt. Hogy lehet elhízott valaki, akinek nincs pénze ételre? Akkor az a gondolatom támadt, hogy folyton éhes lehet. Folyton eszik. Zsíroskenyeret, mert az van, kólát iszik, mert akkor az olcsó volt, cukros teát, cukros zsíroskenyeret, szalonnát (az is olcsó volt mint a szemét), és a teste elraktározza és sóvárog, hogy nem ezt akarta, hol a hús, a gyömölcs, a zöldség? Éhes, éhes, éhes! Adj ennem! Nem érted? Adj ennem! Éhes, éhes!

Mostanában olvastam, hogy az 'íz" érzékelés az egész bélrendszerben működik, nem a szájra korlátozódik. Nyilván ez is egy elvont fogalom, mert a vékonybelemmel nem fogom érzékelni, hogy milyen jó kis brassóit ettem, de a bélrendszerünk nem csak a baktériumflóránk miatt élő dolog, hanem maga a bél is érzékszerv. Érzékeli, hogy megkapja-e a megfelelő tápanyagot és tiltakozik az ellen, ami neki nem ízlik. És amíg nem kapja meg amire szüksége van, addig jelez és az aggyal együtt küldi a jeleket, hogy „Éhes! Éhes!” Na, így megelőztem a koromat. Szóval az életmódváltás valószínűleg ezért is fontos a fogyáshoz. Elkezdesz magadra figyelni, hogy mit kívánsz valójában. És persze leteszed azokat, amikről amúgy is tudod, hogy nem tesz neked jót, úgy általában véve rohadtul egészségtelen. Nem a kajára kell figyelni, előírt diéta szerint étkezni, hanem arra, hogy a szervezet mit szeretne. Ő jobban tudja. Ki vagyunk ebből vezetve, és nem igazán ismerjük az arany középutat mert egyik oldalon a mindenben cukros, minden műanyag, minden moslék étkezés van, a másik oldalon meg a táplálkozási guruk a maguk képzetlenségével és téveszméivel és egyetlen, mindenkire alkalmazott megoldásukkal. Akinek meg nincs pénze, az nyilván nem tud életmódot váltani mert a másik életmódra sincs pénze. :(

Az elgondolásomat amúgy alátámasztja az a kísérlet is, hogy ahol a gyerekeknek megengedték, hogy szabadon döntsenek arról, hogy mit esznek, az első hét a teljes édességdömpingben telt, majd ezután elkezdtek a gyerekek kiegyensúlyozottan enni mindenfélét. Magyarországon nemrég vezették be több iskolában, hogy a gyerekek szabadon választhatnak többféle ételből. Állítólag sikeres, sokkal kevesebb a maradék és a gyerekek is elégedettebbek.

Egyszer beszélgettem erről egy tudóssal is, aki azt mondta, hogy azért nem tudjuk abbahagyni az evést akkor amikor elég, mert egyrészt az evés élvezetet okoz, amire az ember rá is van állva, hogy minél bonyolultabb íz-illat és látvány gyönyöröket hozzon létre, másrészt társas kapcsolatainknak a része a közös étkezés, ami nem mindig arra az időpontra esik, amikor éhesek vagyunk, és még akkor nem is beszéltünk a jutalmazásról amit gyerekkortól kezdve építgetünk – ha jó voltál, nesze egy kis csoki –, és a pszichés terrorról, – ha nem eszed meg, nem szeretsz/pazarló vagy/finnyás/bezzeg...!

Az evéssel gyakran helyettesítünk dolgokat. Főleg az alvást, pihenést. Mert a pihenést nem engedjük meg magunknak, de addig nyugtunk van, amíg eszünk, akkor szabad szünetet tartani. Az evés letompít, elálmosít, plusz a teltségérzet akár kényelmetlen is lehet, ami tompítja az érzelmi fájdalmakat. A vásárlás-ételkészítés-evés-ürítés kitölti az időt, amikor aludhatnánk, vagy ne adj isten szórakozhatnánk, kiteljesedhetnénk valamiben. Pótcselekvés.

Az ember bonyolult lény, ahogy minden élőlény az, csakhát elefánt még sosem voltam. :) Mindenkinek a biokémiája/biofizikája is egyedi, akkor is, ha vannak benne általánosságok. A kalóriabázis legnagyobb csodája nem a kalóriaszámolgatás, hanem az, hogy ha számolod a kalóriákat, akkor rá vagy kényszerülve arra, hogy tudatosabban fogyassz. Semmi sincs kizárva, csak mégis át kell gondolni, hogy kell-e az neked, ha mást meg nem ehetsz miatta.

A D vitamin amúgy úgy jön ide, hogy a hajam miatt kezdtem el szedni, de a következménye az lett, hogy energikusabb lettem és kisimultabb lelkileg. Hozzáteszem, a fodrászom azt mondta, akármit is csinálok, folytassam mert szerinte jó. Hát, jó. :)

[blackkudos]

Chuck Berry

Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter and is one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll Over Beethoven" (1956), "Rock and Roll Music" (1957) and "Johnny B. Goode" (1958), Berry refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive, with lyrics focusing on teen life and consumerism and music featuring guitar solos and showmanship that were a major influence on subsequent rock music.

Born into a middle-class African-American family in St. Louis, Missouri, Berry had an interest in music from an early age and gave his first public performance at Sumner High School. While still a high school student he was convicted of armed robbery and was sent to a reformatory, where he was held from 1944 to 1947. After his release, Berry settled into married life and worked at an automobile assembly plant. Berry claimed on The Tonight Show he was influenced primarily by 1940s swing artist Louis Jordan. "The main guy was Louis Jordan. I wanted to sing like Nat Cole, with lyrics like Louis Jordan with the swing of Bennie Goodman with Charlie Christian on guitar, playing Carl Hogan's riffs, with the soul of Muddy Waters." By early 1953, influenced by the guitar riffs and showmanship techniques of the blues musician T-Bone Walker, Berry began performing with the Johnnie Johnson Trio. His break came when he traveled to Chicago in May 1955 and met Muddy Waters, who suggested he contact Leonard Chess, of Chess Records. With Chess he recorded "Maybellene"—Berry's adaptation of the country song "Ida Red"—which sold over a million copies, reaching number one on Billboard magazine's rhythm and blues chart. By the end of the 1950s, Berry was an established star with several hit records and film appearances and a lucrative touring career. He had also established his own St. Louis nightclub, Berry's Club Bandstand. But in January 1962, he was sentenced to three years in prison for offenses under the Mann Act—he had transported a 14-year-old girl across state lines.

After his release in 1963, Berry had more hits in the mid-1960s, including "No Particular Place to Go," "You Never Can Tell," and "Nadine." By the mid-1970s, he was more in demand as a live performer, playing his past hits with local backup bands of variable quality. In 1979 he served 120 days in prison for tax evasion.

Berry was among the first musicians to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on its opening in 1986; he was cited for having "laid the groundwork for not only a rock and roll sound but a rock and roll stance." Berry is included in several of Rolling Stone magazine's "greatest of all time" lists; he was ranked fifth on its 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll includes three of Berry's: "Johnny B. Goode," "Maybellene," and "Rock and Roll Music." Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" is the only rock-and-roll song included on the Voyager Golden Record.

Biography and career

Early life and apprenticeship with Johnnie Johnson (1926–1954)

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Berry was the fourth child in a family of six. He grew up in the north St. Louis neighborhood known as The Ville, an area where many middle-class people lived at the time. His father, Henry, was a contractor and deacon of a nearby Baptist church; his mother, Martha, was a certified public school principal. His middle-class upbringing allowed him to pursue his interest in music from an early age. He gave his first public performance in 1941 while still a student at Sumner High School.

In 1944, while still a student at Sumner High School, he was arrested for armed robbery after robbing three shops in Kansas City, Missouri, and then stealing a car at gunpoint with some friends. Berry's account in his autobiography is that his car broke down and he flagged down a passing car and stole it at gunpoint with a nonfunctional pistol. He was convicted and sent to the Intermediate Reformatory for Young Men at Algoa, near Jefferson City, Missouri, where he formed a singing quartet and did some boxing. The singing group became competent enough that the authorities allowed it to perform outside the detention facility. Berry was released from the reformatory on his 21st birthday in 1947.

Berry married Themetta "Toddy" Suggs on October 28, 1948, who gave birth to Darlin Ingrid Berry on October 3, 1950. Berry supported his family by taking various jobs in St. Louis, working briefly as a factory worker at two automobile assembly plants and as a janitor in the apartment building where he and his wife lived. Afterwards he trained as a beautician at the Poro College of Cosmetology, founded by Annie Turnbo Malone. He was doing well enough by 1950 to buy a "small three room brick cottage with a bath" on Whittier Street, which is now listed as the Chuck Berry House on the National Register of Historic Places.

By the early 1950s, Berry was working with local bands in clubs in St. Louis as an extra source of income. He had been playing blues since his teens, and he borrowed both guitar riffs and showmanship techniques from the blues musician T-Bone Walker. He also took guitar lessons from his friend Ira Harris, which laid the foundation for his guitar style.

By early 1953 Berry was performing with Johnnie Johnson's trio, starting a long-time collaboration with the pianist. The band played mostly blues and ballads, but the most popular music among whites in the area was country. Berry wrote, "Curiosity provoked me to lay a lot of our country stuff on our predominantly black audience and some of our black audience began whispering 'who is that black hillbilly at the Cosmo?' After they laughed at me a few times they began requesting the hillbilly stuff and enjoyed dancing to it."

Berry's calculated showmanship, along with a mix of country tunes and R&B tunes, sung in the style of Nat King Cole set to the music of Muddy Waters, brought in a wider audience, particularly affluent white people.

Signing with Chess: "Maybellene" to "Come On" (1955–1962)

In May 1955, Berry traveled to Chicago, where he met Muddy Waters, who suggested he contact Leonard Chess, of Chess Records. Berry thought his blues music would be of more interest to Chess, but to his surprise it was a traditional country fiddle tune, "Ida Red", as recorded by Bob Wills, that got Chess's attention. Chess had seen the rhythm and blues market shrink and was looking to move beyond it, and he thought Berry might be the artist for that purpose. On May 21, 1955, Berry recorded an adaptation of the "Ida Red", under the title "Maybellene", with Johnnie Johnson on the piano, Jerome Green (from Bo Diddley's band) on the maracas, Jasper Thomas on the drums and Willie Dixon on the bass. "Maybellene" sold over a million copies, reaching number one on Billboard magazine's rhythm and blues chart and number five on its Best Sellers in Stores chart for September 10, 1955.

At the end of June 1956, his song "Roll Over Beethoven" reached number 29 on the Billboard's Top 100 chart, and Berry toured as one of the "Top Acts of '56". He and Carl Perkins became friends. Perkins said that "I knew when I first heard Chuck that he'd been affected by country music. I respected his writing; his records were very, very great." As they toured, Perkins discovered that Berry not only liked country music but also knew about as many songs as he did. Jimmie Rodgers was one of his favorites. "Chuck knew every Blue Yodel and most of Bill Monroe's songs as well," Perkins remembered. "He told me about how he was raised very poor, very tough. He had a hard life. He was a good guy. I really liked him."

In late 1957, Berry took part in Alan Freed's "Biggest Show of Stars for 1957", touring the United States with the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, and others. He was a guest on ABC's Guy Mitchell Show, singing his hit song "Rock 'n' Roll Music". The hits continued from 1957 to 1959, with Berry scoring over a dozen chart singles during this period, including the US Top 10 hits "School Days," "Rock and Roll Music," "Sweet Little Sixteen," and "Johnny B. Goode." He appeared in two early rock-and-roll movies: Rock Rock Rock (1956), in which he sang "You Can't Catch Me", and Go, Johnny, Go! (1959), in which he had a speaking role as himself and performed "Johnny B. Goode", "Memphis, Tennessee", and "Little Queenie". His performance of "Sweet Little Sixteen" at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1958 was captured in the motion picture Jazz on a Summer's Day.

By the end of the 1950s, Berry was a high-profile established star with several hit records and film appearances and a lucrative touring career. He had opened a racially integrated St. Louis nightclub, Berry's Club Bandstand, and invested in real estate. But in December 1959, he was arrested under the Mann Act after allegations that he had sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old Apache waitress, Janice Escalante, whom he had transported across state lines to work as a hatcheck girl at his club. After a two-week trial in March 1960, he was convicted, fined $5,000, and sentenced to five years in prison. He appealed the decision, arguing that the judge's comments and attitude were racist and prejudiced the jury against him. The appeal was upheld, and a second trial was heard in May and June 1961, resulting in another conviction and a three-year prison sentence. After another appeal failed, Berry served one and one-half years in prison, from February 1962 to October 1963. He had continued recording and performing during the trials, but his output had slowed as his popularity declined; his final single released before he was imprisoned was "Come On."

"Nadine" and move to Mercury (1963–1969)

When Berry was released from prison in 1963, his return to recording and performing was made easier because British invasion bands—notably the Beatles and the Rolling Stones—had sustained interest in his music by releasing cover versions of his songs, and other bands had reworked some of them, such as the Beach Boys' 1963 hit "Surfin' U.S.A.", which used the melody of Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen". In 1964 and 1965 Berry released eight singles, including three that were commercially successful, reaching the top 20 of the Billboard 100: "No Particular Place to Go" (a humorous reworking of "School Days", concerning the introduction of seat belts in cars), "You Never Can Tell", and the rocking "Nadine". Between 1966 and 1969 Berry released five albums for Mercury Records, including his first live album, Live at Fillmore Auditorium, in which he was backed by the Steve Miller Band.

While this was not a successful period for studio work, Berry was still a top concert draw. In May 1964, he had made a successful tour of the UK, but when he returned in January 1965 his behavior was erratic and moody, and his touring style of using unrehearsed local backing bands and a strict nonnegotiable contract was earning him a reputation as a difficult and unexciting performer. He also played at large events in North America, such as the Schaefer Music Festival, in New York City's Central Park in July 1969, and the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival festival in October.

Back to Chess: "My Ding-a-Ling" to White House concert (1970–1979)

Berry returned to Chess from 1970 to 1973. There were no hit singles from the 1970 album Back Home, but in 1972 Chess released a live recording of "My Ding-a-Ling", a novelty song which he had recorded in a different version as "My Tambourine" on his 1968 LP From St. Louie to Frisco. The track became his only number-one single. A live recording of "Reelin' and Rockin'", issued as a followup single in the same year, was his last Top 40 hit in both the US and the UK. Both singles were included on the part-live, part-studio album The London Chuck Berry Sessions (other albums of London sessions were recorded by Chess's mainstay artists Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf). Berry's second tenure with Chess ended with the 1975 album Chuck Berry, after which he did not make a studio record until Rock It for Atco Records in 1979, which would be his last studio album for 38 years.

In the 1970s Berry toured on the strength of his earlier successes. He was on the road for many years, carrying only his Gibson guitar, confident that he could hire a band that already knew his music no matter where he went. AllMusic said that in this period his "live performances became increasingly erratic, ... working with terrible backup bands and turning in sloppy, out-of-tune performances" which "tarnished his reputation with younger fans and oldtimers" alike. Among the many bandleaders performing a backup role with Berry were Bruce Springsteen and Steve Miller when each was just starting his career. Springsteen related in the documentary film Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll that Berry did not give the band a set list and expected the musicians to follow his lead after each guitar intro. Berry neither spoke to nor thanked the band after the show. Nevertheless, Springsteen backed Berry again when he appeared at the concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. At the request of Jimmy Carter, Berry performed at the White House on June 1, 1979.

Berry's touring style, traveling the "oldies" circuit in the 1970s (often being paid in cash by local promoters) added ammunition to the Internal Revenue Service's accusations that Berry had evaded paying income taxes. Facing criminal sanction for the third time, Berry pled guilty to tax evasion and was sentenced to four months in prison and 1,000 hours of community service—performing benefit concerts—in 1979.

Last years on the road (1980–2017)

Berry continued to play 70 to 100 one-nighters per year in the 1980s, still traveling solo and requiring a local band to back him at each stop. In 1986, Taylor Hackford made a documentary film, Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll, of a celebration concert for Berry's sixtieth birthday, organized by Keith Richards. Eric Clapton, Etta James, Julian Lennon, Robert Cray and Linda Ronstadt, among others, appeared with Berry on stage and in the film. During the concert, Berry played a Gibson ES-355, the luxury version of the ES-335 that he favored on his 1970s tours. Richards played a black Fender Telecaster Custom, Cray a Fender Stratocaster and Clapton a Gibson ES 350T, the same model that Berry used on his early recordings.

In the late 1980s, Berry bought The Southern Air, a restaurant in Wentzville, Missouri. In 1990 he was sued by several women who claimed that he had installed a video camera in the ladies' bathroom. Berry claimed that he had the camera installed to catch red-handed a worker who was suspected of stealing from the restaurant. Though his guilt was never proved in court, Berry opted for a class action settlement with 59 women. His biographer, Bruce Pegg, estimated that it cost Berry over $1.2 million plus legal fees. During this time Berry began using Wayne T. Schoeneberg as his legal counsel. Reportedly, a police raid on his house found videotapes of women using the restroom, and one of the women was a minor. Also found in the raid were 62 grams of marijuana. Felony drug and child-abuse charges were filed. In order to avoid the child-abuse charges, Berry agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor possession of marijuana. He was given a six-month suspended jail sentence and two years' unsupervised probation and was ordered to donate $5,000 to a local hospital.

In November 2000, Berry faced legal issues when he was sued by his former pianist Johnnie Johnson, who claimed that he co-wrote over 50 songs, including "No Particular Place to Go", "Sweet Little Sixteen" and "Roll Over Beethoven", that credit Berry alone. The case was dismissed when the judge ruled that too much time had passed since the songs were written.

In 2008, Berry toured Europe, with stops in Sweden, Norway, Finland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Ireland, Switzerland, Poland and Spain. In mid-2008, he played at the Virgin Festival in Baltimore, Maryland. During a concert on New Year's Day 2011 in Chicago, Berry, suffering from exhaustion, passed out and had to be helped off stage.

Berry lives in Ladue, Missouri, approximately 10 miles (16 km) west of St. Louis. He regularly performed one Wednesday each month at Blueberry Hill, a restaurant and bar located in the Delmar Loop neighborhood of St. Louis, from 1996 to 2014.

Berry announced on his 90th birthday that his first new studio album since Rock It in 1979, entitled Chuck, would be released in 2017. His first new record in 38 years, it also features his children, Charles Berry Jr. and Ingrid, whom Chuck calls "the Blueberry Band", on guitar and harmonica, with songs "covering the spectrum from hard-driving rockers to soulful thought-provoking time capsules of a life's work" and dedicated to his wife of 68 years, Themetta Berry.

Death

Police in St. Charles County, Missouri, were called to Berry's house on March 18, 2017, where he was unresponsive. Berry was pronounced dead at the scene; he was 90.

Legacy

A pioneer of rock and roll, Berry was a significant influence on the development of both the music and the attitude associated with the rock music lifestyle. With songs such as "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll Over Beethoven" (1956), "Rock and Roll Music" (1957) and "Johnny B. Goode" (1958), Berry refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive, with lyrics successfully aimed to appeal to the early teenage market by using graphic and humorous descriptions of teen dances, fast cars, high school life, and consumer culture, and utilizing guitar solos and showmanship that would be a major influence on subsequent rock music. His records are a rich storehouse of the essential lyrical, showmanship and musical components of rock and roll. In addition to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, a large number of significant popular-music performers have recorded Berry's songs. Though not technically accomplished, his guitar style is distinctive—he incorporated electronic effects to mimic the sound of bottleneck blues guitarists and drew on the influence of guitar players such as Carl Hogan, and T-Bone Walker to produce a clear and exciting sound that many later guitarists would acknowledge as an influence in their own style. Berry's showmanship has been influential on other rock guitarists, particularly his one-legged hop routine, and the "duck walk", which he first used as a child when he walked "stooping with full-bended knees, but with my back and head vertical" under a table to retrieve a ball and his family found it entertaining; he used it when "performing in New York for the first time and some journalist branded it the duck walk."

The rock critic Robert Christgau considers Berry "the greatest of the rock and rollers," while John Lennon said, "if you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it 'Chuck Berry'." Ted Nugent said, "If you don't know every Chuck Berry lick, you can't play rock guitar."

When asked what caused the explosion of the popularity of rock 'n roll that took place in the 1950s, with him and a handful of others, mainly him, Berry said, "Well, actually they begin to listen to it, you see, because certain stations played certain music. The music that we, the blacks, played, the cultures were so far apart, we would have to have a play station in order to play it. The cultures begin to come together, and you begin to see one another's vein of life, then the music came together."

Among the honors Berry has received are the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1984 and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2000. He was ranked seventh on Time magazine's 2009 list of the 10 best electric guitar players of all time. On May 14, 2002, Berry was honored as one of the first BMI Icons at the 50th annual BMI Pop Awards. He was presented the award along with BMI affiliates Bo Diddley and Little Richard. In August 2014, Berry was made a laureate of the Polar Music Prize.

Berry is included in several of Rolling Stone magazine's "Greatest of All Time" lists. In September 2003, the magazine ranked him number 6 in its list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". In November his compilation album The Great Twenty-Eight was ranked 21st in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In March 2004, Berry was ranked fifth on the list of "The Immortals – The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time". In December 2004, six of his songs were included in "Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time": "Johnny B. Goode" (#7), "Maybellene" (#18), "Roll Over Beethoven" (#97), "Rock and Roll Music" (#128), "Sweet Little Sixteen" (#272) and "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" (#374). In June 2008, his song "Johnny B. Goode" ranked first in the "100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time".

The journalist Chuck Klosterman has argued that in 300 years Berry will still be remembered as the rock musician who most closely captured the essence of rock and roll.

Wikipedia

[csacskamacskamocska]

Nem lettem jobban

csak máshol fáj és máshogyan. Éjjel viszont nem fáj egyáltalán. Ebből arra következtetek, hogy feküdni kéne. Volt egy ilyen fantáziám, hogy fekszem egyedül egy kórteremben, minden hófehér, az ágynemű hipóillatú vászon, összekucorodok és alszom, közben a világ megoldja a problémáit nélkülem. Néha jönnek, elvégeznek valami vizsgálatot, és egy hét múlva hazaengednek, hogy semmi bajom, nyugodjak meg. És addigra tényleg semmi bajom. Régen ugye a hisztérikus hülgyek elmentek szanatóriumba meg gyógyfürdőbe (ahol felcsinálták őket a fiatal fürdőmesterek és mindenki megtapasztalhatta milyen hatásos a gyógyvíz a nőgyógyászati panaszokra meg a meddőségre), de szóval azért egy ilyen dolog, hogy orvosi előírásra hevergetsz egy gyönyörű kastélyban a teraszon a jólevegőn és leveleket írsz a barátaidnak, amit majd egy hét múlva kapnak meg, szóval semmi sietség meg kapkodás, vagy naplót írsz, regényt, verset, receptet, hogy ha meghalnál – dehogy halsz meg – akkor hagyj valami nyomot magad után, nagyon vonzó gondolat!

Lemegy ez a mostani megpróbáltatás, és a dokival is beszéltem végre, én eskü itt hagyok mindent és elmegyek pár napra valahova, ahol kényeztetnek, kiszolgálnak. Annyi pénz van a szépkártyámon, hogy dubaiba is mehetnék, ha lehetne szépkártyázni az Arabok tornyában. :D Francot mennék oda. Rohadtul nem érdekel. Valami olyan kéne ahol süt a nap, és kellemesen meleg van, de nem hőség, nincsenek sokan, van tenger és Magyarországon van :D Ugye.

[csacskamacskamocska]

Mindjárt megírom

a kötődéses sorozat folytatását is, de most gyorsan lejegyzem. A főnököm azt mondta, hogy ha találna másik melót, mert ezt elunja, én lennék helyette mert senki más nem alkalmas. Vigyorogva mondtam, hogy szó sem lehet róla utálok minden adminisztrációt és a melója sok adminisztrációval jár, de azért nagyon tetszett, hogy rám gondolt. Aztán volt egy meeting ahol bebizonyosodott, hogy sajnos valóban csak én gondolkodom. Nem akarok főnök lenni, de nem baj, ha a főnökség úgy gondolja, hogy nagyon kell rám vigyázni. A pszichológusom azt mondta legutóbb, hogy nem érti miért nem akarom elfogadni, hogy vezető vagyok. Nem olyan vagyok amilyen szerintem az ideális vezető. nem ideális meg nem akarok lenni. Amúgy is félelmetes még nekem is amit csinálok. Másoknak meg irritáló, ijesztő. Picit jobban viselem magam meg a világot, ha egyedül vagyok. Múltkor egy sráccal beszélgettem, hogy kit kérjek fel szerkesztőnek egy munkámhoz. Azt mondta, hogy XY-t mert ő szelíd. Egy kemény szerkesztővel megennénk egymást, már ne is haragudjak, de amilyen vagyok... Rohadtul szíven ütött a dolog. Milyen vagyok? Milyennek lát ő, akinek mindig segítettem fizetség nélkül, viszonzás nélkül, akivel mindig türelmes voltam. Azt is mondta, hogy jó, ők ilyennek szeretnek engem. Lófaszt szeretnek. Ha szeretnének, akkor először az jutna eszébe rólam, hogy segítőkész és megbízható vagyok. Én nem tehetek róla, hogy mókás kis játékautó lényembe egy repülőgéphajtóművet szerelt a mindenható. Jól kibaszott velem. És akkor a főnököm azt mondja, hogy vannak hibáim, látja ő, de az értékeim pótolhatatlanok. Az egyik kurvanagy értékemnek azt tartja, hogy türelmes vagyok a hülyékkel. Ilyenkor egy picit fellélegzem. Lazul az elfogadhatatlanság érzése. Valahol, valamikor találni fogok egy férfit, aki imádja ezt. Aki bírja a lendületet, az inspirálódást, élvezi a lubickolást a sodrásban, szereti a színeket és ki-be járni világok között. Kell, hogy létezzen ő.

[csacskamacskamocska]

Másféle befejezés

Valaki mondta, hogy várta a hepiendet Logannel és én válaszoltam, hogy ez is hepiend ahhoz képest ahonnan indultunk. És most felbukkant egy bejegyzés, hogy második esélyt adni olyan, mint nézni egy filmet és más befejezést várni. Ezek a mondatok a ketrecek amikbe bezárjuk magunkat. Azért lesz ugyanaz a befejezés, mert ugyanazt játszuk végig, ragaszkodunk a forgatókönyvhöz miközben minden szabadságunk meglenne, hogy ne ugyanaz történjen. Hogy is lenne... fekszünk egymás mellett és én édesen búgva odabújok, hogy szerelmem, Logan, hogy is volt az négy éve, amikor annyira paraszt voltál velem, azt miért is csináltad? Akkor még nem szerettelek. Ja... tényleg. Na jó, de akkor is, az bennem maradt, az tüske, hogy lehettél annyira paraszt valakivel, aki kedves volt veled? Hát, mittudomén.... És az ember eldönti, hogy mivel úgyis ez történne, ezért esélye nincs a boldogságra. Közben meg, miért kéne így történnie? Miért gondoljuk, hogy tudjuk a válaszokat?  Nézne a világ... ez a valaki tényleg azzal van, aki annyira paraszt volt vele? Nézünk másokat... ez az ember tényleg azzal van, aki így meg úgy? Én nem védeni akarom a rossz megoldásokat, nem hiú reményt kelteni, csak valahogy elmondani, hogy azért szar minden, mert kibaszott rugalmatlanok vagyunk és mert sémákban gondolkodunk és nem tudunk elég szabadon kezelni dolgokat és mert nem látunk rá a saját szenvedéseink forrására. Mindenki próbálja manipulálni a másikat. A dominanciaharc állandó, csak az azonos szinten lévőknél nem annyira érzékelhető. Erről eszembe jutott egy sztori. Logan lebaszott, hogy valamit nem intéztem el, és hogy ez a nem elintézés ez valójában dominanciaharc, mert én tudom, hogy őt idegesítik a lezáratlan dolgok. és ő úgy érzi ilyenkor, hogy én becsapom őt. Nekem akkor rohadtul nem volt időm semmire, nemhogy egy ilyen nagyobb falat intézésre. Az ő kirohanása nagyon heves volt, pláne annak fényében, hogy csak egy barát, nem a pasim, élettársam, akinek reggel a konyhaasztalnál megigérem, hogy elintézem a valamit, aztán megbízhatatlan módon nem intézem. Végigsirdogáltam a napot, átérezve a megalázottság, szeretetlenség, legyőzöttség és kiszolgáltatottság minden fájdalmát. Pedig lehetett volna egy jó nap is. Mondhattam volna azt, hogy nem akarom őt bántani, mocskosul nincs időm és bocsánat, de valójában az érzelmi pozíció amiből most éppen lebasz engem, az elég fura. Mi  baj valójában? Aztán megbeszéljük, aztán beszélgetünk és nevetgélünk. (jó, ehhez két ember kell, egyedül nem könnyű végigvinni ezt, de nem lehetetlen) jah, ebben az esetben akkor nincs az illúzió, hogy úgy vagyok lebaszva, mintha mi nagyon szoros kapcsolatban élnénk, ahol ha nem is szép az ilyen lebaszás, de jogos a folyamatos igérgetés miatt. Akkor ott a veszély, hogy logan azt mondja, “ja, ha te kihangsúlyozod, hogy nem tartozik rám, akkor ez se meg az se tartozik rám, jónapot!” Szóval nincs megírva, na, ez a lényeg, hogy nincs megírva semmilyen történés előre! csak hisszük a csökött kis agyunkkal, hogy tudjuk a sztori végét, de ha nem ugyanazt csináljuk, akkor más a vége! És a regényekben meg filmekben is, hát nem azt szeretjük, amikor felhördülünk egy váratlan fordulaton? Amit nem gondoltunk volna. Mi meg éljük az életünket egy forgatókönyv szerint, amit kigondolunk. Valójában gyávák vagyunk.

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Fred Shuttlesworth

Frederick Lee "Fred" Shuttlesworth ( born Fred Lee Robinson, March 18, 1922 – October 5, 2011), was a U.S. civil rights activist who led the fight against segregation and other forms of racism as a minister in Birmingham, Alabama. He was a co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, initiated and was instrumental in the 1963 Birmingham Campaign, and continued to work against racism and for alleviation of the problems of the homeless in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he took up a pastorate in 1961. He returned to Birmingham after his retirement in 2007. He helped Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement.

The Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport was named in his honor in 2008.

Early life

Born in Mount Meigs, Alabama, Shuttlesworth became pastor of the Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham in 1953 and was Membership Chairman of the Alabama state chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1956, when the State of Alabama formally outlawed it from operating within the state. In May 1956 Shuttlesworth and Ed Gardner established the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights to take up the work formerly done by the NAACP.

The ACMHR raised almost all of its funds from local sources at mass meetings. It used both litigation and direct action to pursue its goals. When the authorities ignored the ACMHR's demand that the City hire black police officers, the organization sued. Similarly, when the United States Supreme Court ruled in December 1956 that bus segregation in Montgomery, Alabama, was unconstitutional, Shuttlesworth announced that the ACMHR would challenge segregation laws in Birmingham on December 26, 1956.

On December 25, 1956, unknown persons tried to kill Shuttlesworth by placing sixteen sticks of dynamite under his bedroom window. Shuttlesworth somehow escaped unhurt even though his house was heavily damaged. A police officer, who also belonged to the Ku Klux Klan, told Shuttlesworth as he came out of his home, "If I were you I'd get out of town as quick as I could". Shuttlesworth told him to tell the Klan that he was not leaving and "I wasn't raised to run."

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

In 1957 Shuttlesworth, along with Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph Abernathy from Montgomery, Joseph Lowery from Mobile, Alabama, T. J. Jemison from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Charles Kenzie Steele from Tallahassee, Florida, A. L. Davis from New Orleans, Louisiana, Bayard Rustin and Ella Baker founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The SCLC adopted a motto to underscore its commitment to nonviolence: "Not one hair of one head of one person should be harmed."

Shuttlesworth embraced that philosophy, even though his own personality was combative, headstrong and sometimes blunt-spoken to the point that he frequently antagonized his colleagues in the Civil Rights Movement as well as his opponents. He was not shy in asking King to take a more active role in leading the fight against segregation and warning that history would not look kindly on those who gave "flowery speeches" but did not act on them. He alienated some members of his congregation by devoting as much time as he did to the movement at the expense of weddings, funerals, and other ordinary church functions.

As a result, in 1961 Shuttlesworth moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, to take up the pastorage of the Revelation Baptist Church. He remained intensely involved in the Birmingham campaign after moving to Cincinnati, and frequently returned to help lead actions.

Shuttlesworth was apparently personally fearless, even though he was aware of the risks he ran. Other committed activists were scared off or mystified by his willingness to accept the risk of death. Shuttlesworth himself vowed to "kill segregation or be killed by it".

Murder attempts

When Shuttlesworth and his wife Ruby attempted to enroll their children in a previously all-white public school in Birmingham in 1957, a mob of Klansmen attacked them, with the police nowhere to be seen. His assailants included Bobby Frank Cherry, who six years later was involved in the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing. The mob beat Shuttlesworth with chains and brass knuckles in the street while someone stabbed his wife. Shuttlesworth drove himself and his wife to the hospital where he told his kids to always forgive.

In 1958, Shuttlesworth survived another attempt on his life. A church member standing guard saw a bomb and quickly moved it to the street before it went off.

The Freedom Rides

Shuttlesworth participated in the sit-ins against segregated lunch counters in 1960 and took part in the organization and completion of the Freedom Rides in 1961.

Shuttlesworth originally warned that Alabama was extremely volatile when he was consulted before the Freedom Rides began. Shuttlesworth noted that he respected the courage of the activists proposing the Rides but that he felt other actions could be taken to accelerate the Civil Rights Movement that would be less dangerous. However, the planners of the Rides were undeterred and decided to continue preparing.

After it became certain that the Freedom Rides were to be carried out, Shuttlesworth worked with the Congress of Racial Equality to organize the Rides and became engaged with ensuring the success of the rides, especially during their stint in Alabama. Shuttlesworth mobilized some of his fellow clergy to assist the rides. After the Riders were badly beaten and nearly killed in Birmingham and Anniston during the Rides, he sent deacons to pick up the Riders from a hospital in Anniston. He himself had been brutalized earlier in the day and had faced down the threat of being thrown out of the hospital by the hospital superintendent. Shuttlesworth took in the Freedom Riders at the Bethel Baptist Church, allowing them to recuperate after the violence that had occurred earlier in the day.

The violence in Anniston and Birmingham almost led to a quick end to the Freedom Rides. However, the actions of supporters like Shuttlesworth gave James Farmer, the leader of C.O.R.E., which had originally organized the Freedom Rides, and other activists the courage to press forward. After the violence that occurred in Alabama but before the Freedom Riders could move on, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy gave Shuttlesworth his personal phone number in case the Freedom Riders needed federal support.

When Shuttlesworth prepared the Riders to leave Birmingham and they reached the Greyhound Terminal, the Riders found themselves stranded as no bus driver was willing to drive the controversial group into Mississippi. Shuttlesworth stuck with the Riders and called Kennedy. Prompted by Shuttlesworth, Kennedy tried to find a replacement bus driver. Unfortunately, his efforts eventually proved unsuccessful. The Riders then decided to take a plane to New Orleans (where they had planned on finishing the Rides) and were assisted by Shuttlesworth in getting to the airport and onto the plane.

Shuttlesworth’s commitment to the Freedom Rides was highlighted by Diane Nash, a student activist in the Nashville Student Movement and a major organizer of the later waves of Rides. Nash noted, "Fred was practically a legend. I think it was important – for me, definitely, and for a city of people who were carrying on a movement – for there to be somebody that really represented strength, and that’s certainly what Fred did. He would not back down, and you could count on it. He would not sell out, [and] you could count on that." The students involved in the Rides appreciated Shuttlesworth's commitment to the principles of the Freedom Rides – ending the segregationist laws of the Jim Crow South. Shuttlesworth's fervent passion for equality made him a role model to many of the Riders.

Project C

Shuttlesworth invited SCLC and King to come to Birmingham in 1963 to lead the campaign to desegregate it through mass demonstrations–what Shuttlesworth called "Project C", the "C" standing for "confrontation". While Shuttlesworth was willing to negotiate with political and business leaders for peaceful abandonment of segregation, he believed, with good reason, that they would not take any steps that they were not forced to take. He suspected their promises could not be trusted until they acted on them.

One of the 1963 demonstrations he led resulted in Shuttlesworth's being convicted of parading without a permit from the City Commission. On appeals the case reached the US Supreme Court. In its 1969 decision of Shuttlesworth v. Birmingham, the Supreme Court reversed Shuttlesworth's conviction, determining that circumstances indicated that the parade permit was denied not to control traffic, as the state contended, but to censor ideas.

In 1963 Shuttlesworth was set on provoking a crisis that would force the authorities and business leaders to recalculate the cost of segregation. This occurred when James Bevel, SCLC's Director of Direct Action and Director of Nonviolent Education, initiated and organized the young students of the city to stand up for their rights. This plan was helped immeasurably by Eugene "Bull" Connor, the Commissioner of Public Safety and the most powerful public official in Birmingham, who used Klan groups to heighten violence against blacks in the city. Even as the business class was beginning to see the end of segregation, Connor was determined to maintain it. While Connor's direct police tactics intimidated black citizens of Birmingham, they also created a split between Connor and the business leaders. They resented both the damage Connor was doing to Birmingham's image around the world and his high-handed attitude toward them.

Similarly, while Connor may have benefited politically in the short run from Shuttlesworth's and Bevel's determined provocations, they also fit into Shuttleworth's long-term plans. The televised images of Connor's directing handlers of police dogs to attack young unarmed demonstrators and firefighters' using hoses to knock down children had a profound effect on American citizens' view of the civil rights struggle, and helped lead to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Shuttlesworth's activities were not limited to Birmingham. In 1964 he traveled to St. Augustine, Florida (which he often cited as the place where the civil rights struggle met with the most violent resistance), taking part in marches and widely publicized beach wade-ins.

In 1965 he was active in the Selma Voting Rights Movement, and its march from Selma to Montgomery which led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Shuttlesworth thus played a role in the efforts that led to the passage of the two great legislative accomplishments of the Civil Rights Movement. In later years he took part in commemorative activities in Selma at the time of the anniversary of the famous march. And he returned to St. Augustine in 2004 to take part in a celebration of the fortieth anniversary of the St. Augustine movement there.

1966-2006: After the Voting Rights Act

Shuttlesworth organized the Greater New Light Baptist Church in 1966.

In 1978, Shuttlesworth was portrayed by Roger Robinson in the television miniseries King.

Shuttlesworth founded the "Shuttlesworth Housing Foundation" in 1988 to assist families who might otherwise be unable to buy their own homes.

In 1998 Shuttlesworth became an early signer and supporter of the Birmingham Pledge, a grassroots community commitment to combating racism and prejudice. It has since then been used for programs in all fifty states and in more than twenty countries.

On January 8, 2001, he was presented with the Presidential Citizens Medal by President Bill Clinton. Named President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in August 2004, he resigned later in the year, complaining that "deceit, mistrust and a lack of spiritual discipline and truth have eaten at the core of this once-hallowed organization".

In 2004, Shuttlesworth received the Award for Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards.

During the 2004 election that overturned a city charter provision that prohibited Cincinnati's City Council from adopting any gay-rights ordinance, Shuttlesworth voiced advertisements urging voters to reject the repeal, saying "The thing that I disagree with is when gay people ... equate civil rights, what we did in the '50s and '60s, with special rights ... I think what they propose is special rights. Sexual rights is not the same as civil rights and human rights."

Family

Although he was born Freddie Lee Robinson, Shuttlesworth took the name of his stepfather, William N. Shuttlesworth.

Shuttlesworth was married to Ruby Keeler Shuttlesworth, with whom he had four children: Patricia Shuttlesworth Massengill, Ruby Shuttlesworth Bester, Fred L. Shuttlesworth Jr., and Carolyn Shuttlesworth. The Shuttleworths divorced in 1970, and Ruby died the following year.

Shuttlesworth married Sephira Bailey in 2007.

After retirement

Prompted by the removal of a non-cancerous brain tumor in August of the previous year, he gave his final sermon in front of 300 people at the Greater New Light Baptist Church on March 19, 2006—the weekend of his 84th birthday. He and his second wife, Sephira, moved to downtown Birmingham where he was receiving medical treatment.

On July 16, 2008, the Birmingham, Alabama, Airport Authority approved changing the name of the Birmingham's airport in honor of Shuttlesworth. On October 27, 2008, the airport was officially changed to Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport.

On October 5, 2011, Shuttlesworth died at the age of 89 in his hometown of Birmingham, Alabama. The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute announced that it intends to include Shuttlesworth's burial site on the Civil Rights History Trail. By order of Alabama governor Robert Bentley, flags on state government buildings were to be lowered to half-staff until Shuttlesworth's interment.

He is buried in the Oak Hill Cemetery in Birmingham.

Wikipedia

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Wilson Pickett

Wilson Pickett (March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006) was an American R&B, soul and rock and roll singer and songwriter.

A major figure in the development of American soul music, Pickett recorded over 50 songs which made the US R&B charts, many of which crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100. Among his best-known hits are "In the Midnight Hour" (which he co-wrote), "Land of 1,000 Dances", "Mustang Sally", and "Funky Broadway".

Pickett was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, in recognition of his impact on songwriting and recording.

Early life

Pickett was born March 18, 1941 in Prattville, Alabama, and sang in Baptist church choirs. He was the fourth of 11 children and called his mother "the baddest woman in my book," telling historian Gerri Hirshey: "I get scared of her now. She used to hit me with anything, skillets, stove wood — (one time I ran away) and cried for a week. Stayed in the woods, me and my little dog." Pickett eventually left to live with his father in Detroit in 1955.

Early musical career (1955–1964)

Pickett's forceful, passionate style of singing was developed in the church and on the streets of Detroit, under the influence of recording stars such as Little Richard, whom he referred to as "the architect of rock and roll.

In 1955, Pickett joined the Violinaires, a gospel group. The group accompanied the Soul Stirrers, the Swan Silverones, and the Davis Sisters on church tours across the country. After singing for four years in the popular gospel-harmony group, Pickett, lured by the success of gospel singers who had moved to the lucrative secular music market, joined the Falcons in 1959.

By 1959, Pickett recorded the song "Let Me Be Your Boy" with Florence Ballard and the Primettes as background singers. The song is the B-side of his 1963 single "My Heart Belongs to You".

The Falcons were an early vocal group bringing gospel into a popular context, thus paving the way for soul music. The group featured notable members who became major solo artists; when Pickett joined the group, Eddie Floyd and Sir Mack Rice were members. Pickett's biggest success with the Falcons was "I Found a Love", co-written by Pickett and featuring his lead vocals. While only a minor hit for the Falcons, it paved the way for Pickett to embark on a solo career. Pickett later had a solo hit with a re-recorded two-part version of the song, included on his 1967 album The Sound of Wilson Pickett.

Soon after recording "I Found a Love", Pickett cut his first solo recordings, including "I'm Gonna Cry", in collaboration with Don Covay. Pickett also recorded a demo for a song he co-wrote, "If You Need Me", a slow-burning soul ballad featuring a spoken sermon. Pickett sent the demo to Jerry Wexler, a producer at Atlantic Records. Wexler gave it to the label's recording artist Solomon Burke, Atlantic's biggest star at the time. Burke admired Pickett's performance of the song, but his own recording of "If You Need Me" became one of his biggest hits (#2 R&B, #37 pop) and is considered a soul standard. Pickett was crushed when he discovered that Atlantic had given away his song. When Pickett—with a demo tape under his arm—returned to Wexler's studio, Wexler asked whether he was angry about this loss, but denied it saying "It's over". "First time I ever cried in my life". Pickett's version was released on Double L Records and was a moderate hit, peaking at #30 R&B and #64 pop.

Pickett's first significant success as a solo artist came with "It's Too Late," an original composition (not to be confused with the Chuck Willis standard of the same name). Entering the charts on July 27, 1963, it peaked at #7 on the R&B chart (#49 pop); the same title was used for Pickett's debut album, released in the same year. Compiling several of Pickett's single releases for Double L, It's Too Late showcased a raw soulful sound that foreshadowed the singer's performances throughout the coming decade. The single's success persuaded Wexler and Atlantic to buy Pickett's recording contract from Double L in 1964.

Rise to stardom: "In the Midnight Hour" (1965)

Pickett's Atlantic career began with the self-produced single, "I'm Gonna Cry". Looking to boost Pickett's chart chances, Atlantic paired him with record producer Bert Berns and established songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. With this team, Pickett recorded "Come Home Baby," a duet with singer Tami Lynn, but this single failed to chart.

Pickett's breakthrough came at Stax Records' studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he recorded his third Atlantic single, "In the Midnight Hour" (1965). This song was Pickett's first big hit, peaking at #1 R&B, #21 pop (US), and #12 (UK). It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.

The genesis of "In the Midnight Hour" was a recording session on May 12, 1965, at which Wexler worked out a powerful rhythm track with studio musicians Steve Cropper and Al Jackson of the Stax Records house band, including bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn. (Stax keyboard player Booker T. Jones, who usually played with Dunn, Cropper and Jackson as Booker T. & the M.G.'s, did not play on the studio sessions with Pickett.) Wexler said to Cropper and Jackson, "Why don't you pick up on this thing here?" He performed a dance step. Cropper explained in an interview that Wexler told them that "this was the way the kids were dancing; they were putting the accent on two. Basically, we'd been one-beat-accenters with an afterbeat; it was like 'boom dah,' but here was a thing that went 'um-chaw,' just the reverse as far as the accent goes."

Stax/Fame years (1965–1967)

Pickett recorded three sessions at Stax in May and October 1965. He was joined by keyboardist Isaac Hayes for the October sessions. In addition to "In the Midnight Hour," Pickett's 1965 recordings included the singles "Don't Fight It," (#4 R&B, #53 pop) "634-5789 (Soulsville, U.S.A,)" (#1 R&B, #13 pop) and "Ninety-Nine and a Half (Won't Do)" (#13 R&B, #53 pop). All but "634-5789" were original compositions which Pickett co-wrote with Eddie Floyd or Steve Cropper or both; "634-5789" was credited to Cropper and Floyd alone.

For his next sessions, Pickett did not return to Stax, as the label's owner, Jim Stewart, had decided in December 1965 to ban outside productions. Wexler took Pickett to Fame Studios, a studio also with a close association with Atlantic Records, located in a converted tobacco warehouse in nearby Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Pickett recorded some of his biggest hits there, including the highest-charting version of "Land of 1,000 Dances", which was his third R&B #1 and his biggest pop hit, peaking at #6. It was a million-selling disc.

Other big hits from this era in Pickett's career included two covers: Mack Rice's "Mustang Sally", (#6 R&B, #23 pop), and Dyke & the Blazers' "Funky Broadway", (R&B #1, #8 pop). Both tracks were million sellers. The band heard on most of Pickett's Fame recordings included keyboardist Spooner Oldham, guitarist Jimmy Johnson, drummer Roger Hawkins, and bassist Tommy Cogbill.

Later Atlantic years (1967–1972)

Near the end of 1967, Pickett began recording at American Studios in Memphis with producers Tom Dowd and Tommy Cogbill, and began recording songs by Bobby Womack. The songs "I'm in Love," "Jealous Love," "I've Come a Long Way," "I'm a Midnight Mover," (co-written by Pickett and Womack), and "I Found a True Love" were Womack-penned hits for Pickett in 1967 and 1968. Pickett recorded works by other songwriters in this period; Rodger Collins' "She's Lookin' Good" and a cover of the traditional blues standard "Stagger Lee" were Top 40 hits Pickett recorded at American. Womack was the guitarist on all recordings.

Pickett returned to Fame Studios in late 1968 and early 1969, where he worked with a band that featured guitarist Duane Allman, Hawkins, and bassist Jerry Jemmott. A #16 pop hit cover of the The Beatles' "Hey Jude" came out of the Fame sessions, as well as the minor hits "Mini-Skirt Minnie" and "Hey Joe".

Late 1969 found Pickett at Criteria Studios in Miami. Hit covers of the Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On" (#16 R&B, #92 pop) and The Archies' "Sugar Sugar" (#4 R&B, #25 pop), and the Pickett original "She Said Yes" (#20 R&B, #68 pop) came from these sessions.

Pickett then teamed up with established Philadelphia-based hitmakers Gamble and Huff for the 1970 album Wilson Pickett in Philadelphia, which featured his next two hit singles, "Engine No. 9" and "Don't Let the Green Grass Fool You", the latter selling one million copies.

Following these two hits, Pickett returned to Muscle Shoals and the band featuring David Hood, Hawkins and Tippy Armstrong. This lineup recorded Pickett's fifth and last R&B #1 hit, "Don't Knock My Love, Pt. 1". It was another Pickett recording that rang up sales in excess of a million copies. Two further hits followed in 1971: "Call My Name, I'll Be There" (#10 R&B, #52 pop) and "Fire and Water" (#2 R&B, #24 pop), a cover of a song by Free.

Pickett recorded several tracks in 1972 for a planned new album on Atlantic, but after the single "Funk Factory" reached #11 R&B and #58 pop in June 1972, he left Atlantic for RCA Records. His final Atlantic single, a cover of Randy Newman's "Mama Told Me Not to Come," was culled from Pickett's 1971 album Don't Knock My Love.

In 2010, Rhino Handmade released a comprehensive compilation of these years titled Funky Midnight Mover – The Studio Recordings (1962–1978). The compilation included all recordings originally issued during Pickett's Atlantic years along with previously unreleased recordings. This collection was sold online only by Rhino.com.

Post-Atlantic recording career

Pickett continued to record with success on the R&B charts for RCA in 1973 and 1974, scoring four top 30 R&B hits with "Mr. Magic Man", "Take a Closer Look at the Woman You're With", "International Playboy" (a re-recording of a song he had previously recorded for Atlantic), and "Soft Soul Boogie Woogie". However, he was failing to cross over to the pop charts with regularity, as none of these songs reached higher than #90 on the Hot 100. In 1975, with Pickett's once-prominent chart career on the wane, RCA dropped Pickett from the label. After being dropped, he formed the short-lived Wicked label, where he released one LP, Chocolate Mountain. In 1978, he made a disco album with Big Tree Records titled Funky Situation, which is a coincidence as, at that point, Big Tree was distributed by his former label, Atlantic. The following year, he released an album on EMI titled I Want You.

Pickett continued to record sporadically with several labels over the following decades (including Motown), occasionally making the lower to mid-range of the R&B charts, but he had no pop hit after 1974. His last record was issued in 1999, although he remained fairly active on the touring front until falling ill in 2004.

Pickett appeared in the 1998 film Blues Brothers 2000, in which he performed "634–5789" with Eddie Floyd and Jonny Lang. He was previously mentioned in the 1980 film Blues Brothers, which features several members of Pickett's backing band, as well as a performance of "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love."

Personal life and honors

Pickett's personal life was troubled. In 1991, he was arrested for allegedly yelling death threats while driving a car over the front lawn of Donald Aronson, the mayor of Englewood, New Jersey. Pickett agreed to perform a benefit concert in exchange for having the charges dropped. The following year, he was charged with assaulting his girlfriend.

In 1993, Pickett struck an 86-year-old pedestrian, Pepe Ruiz, with his car in Englewood. Ruiz, who had helped organize the New York animation union, died later that year. Pickett pleaded guilty to drunken driving charges and received a reduced sentence of one year in jail and five years probation.

Throughout the 1990s, despite his personal troubles, Pickett was repeatedly honored for his contributions to music. In addition to being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, his music was prominently featured in the film The Commitments, with Pickett as an off-screen character. In 1993, he was honored with a Pioneer Award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation.

Pickett was a popular composer, writing songs that were recorded by many artists, including Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, the Grateful Dead, Booker T. & the MGs, Genesis, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Hootie & the Blowfish, Echo & the Bunnymen, Roxy Music, Bruce Springsteen, Los Lobos, the Jam and Ani DiFranco, among others.

Several years after his release from jail, Pickett returned to the studio and received a Grammy Award nomination for the 1999 album It's Harder Now. The comeback resulted in his being honored as Soul/Blues Male Artist of the Year by the Blues Foundation in Memphis. It's Harder Now was voted 'Comeback Blues Album of the Year' and 'Soul/Blues Album of the Year.'

He co-starred in the 2002 documentary Only the Strong Survive, directed by D. A. Pennebaker, a selection of both the 2002 Cannes and Sundance Film Festivals. In 2003, Pickett was a judge for the second annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.

Pickett spent the twilight of his career playing dozens of concert dates every year until 2004, when he began suffering from health problems. While in the hospital, he returned to his spiritual roots and told his sister that he wanted to record a gospel album, but he never recovered.

Pickett was the father of six children.

On September 10, 2014, TVOne's Unsung aired a documentary on him.

Death

Pickett died from a heart attack on January 19, 2006, in Reston, Virginia. He was 64. He was laid to rest in a mausoleum at Evergreen Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky. Pickett spent many years in Louisville after his mother moved there from Alabama. The eulogy was delivered by Pastor Steve Owens of Decatur, Georgia. Little Richard, a long-time friend of Pickett's, spoke about him and preached a message at the funeral. Pickett was remembered on March 20, 2006, at New York's B.B. King Blues Club with performances by the Commitments, Ben E. King, his long-term backing band the Midnight Movers, soul singer Bruce "Big Daddy" Wayne, and Southside Johnny in front of an audience that included members of his family, including two brothers.

Discography

SinglesAlbums

It's Too Late (1963, Double L)

In the Midnight Hour (1965, Atlantic)

The Exciting Wilson Pickett (1966, Atlantic) US: #21

The Best of Wilson Pickett (1967, Atlantic) US: #35

The Wicked Pickett (1967, Atlantic) US: #42

The Sound of Wilson Pickett (1967, Atlantic) US: #54

I'm in Love (1967, Atlantic) US: #70

The Midnight Mover (1968, Atlantic) US: #91

Hey Jude (1969, Atlantic) US: #97

Right On (1970, Atlantic)

Wilson Pickett in Philadelphia (1970, Atlantic) US: #64

The Best of Wilson Pickett, Vol. II (1971, Atlantic) US: #73

Don't Knock My Love (1972, Atlantic) US: #132

Mr. Magic Man (1973, RCA) US: #187

Wilson Pickett's Greatest Hits (1973) US: #178

Miz Lena's Boy (1973, RCA) US: #212

Pickett in the Pocket (1974, RCA)

Live in Japan (1974, RCA)

Join Me and Let's Be Free (1975, RCA)

Chocolate Mountain (1976, Wicked)

Funky Situation (1978, Big Tree)

I Want You (1979, EMI) US: #205

Right Track (1981, EMI)

American Soul Man (1987, Motown)

Wilson Pickett's Greatest Hits (1987, Atlantic)

A Man and a Half: The Best of Wilson Pickett (1992, Rhino/Atlantic)

It's Harder Now (1999, Bullseye Blues)

Live and Burnin' – Stockholm '69 (2009, Soulsville)

Live in Germany 1968 (2009, Crypt Records 2009)

Funky Midnight Mover: The Atlantic Studio Recordings (1962–1978) (2010, Rhino)

Wikipedia

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