Goodbye to the Funky Beat

Yesterday, March 24, Uriel Jones died. He was the last surviving drummer of the Funk Brothers. They were the house band for Motown Records' Detroit period. When Motown moved to LA in 1972, the Funk Brothers were broken up.

They played on more Number 1 hit records than Elvis, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Beach Boys combined. Aside from the Motown hits, they moonlighted on sessions that produced, Boom Boom Boom, by John Lee Hooker, (Your Love Keeps Liftin' Me) Higher & Higher, by Jackie Wilson, Cool Jerk, by the Capitols and many others. 

Gleaned from the best jazz musicians in Detroit, the Funk Brothers created the music that became the Motown sound. They were the label's unsung heroes as the company's policy was not to list the musicians on the album. It wasn't until one of the last, and best,  Detroit Motown albums, Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, did they receive credit on the album sleeve.

Rock & Roll heaven just got funkier - as ever BB

"A good groove releases adrenaline in your body...That's what good drumming is all about." - Mickey Hart 

Vernal Equinox

Friday, March 20 at 7:44am EDT is the vernal equinox in the northern hemisphere. Below the equator, it will be the autumnal equinox. From the Latin equal (aequus) and night (nox), the amount of day time to night time is virtually equal. This date marks the beginning of astronomical Spring. Meteorologists divide the seasons by months, so Spring for them began on March 1. 

A religiously significant day, the vernal equinox was New Year's day to the Persians, and a holy day to the Baha'i and Zoroastrian religions. Jewish Passover is the first full moon after the new moon after the equinox. Christian Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the equinox. The ancient Egyptians built the Great Sphinx so it faces the rising sun on this day.

A popular folk notion is that you can balance an egg on its point during the equinox. I believed and have done this experiment in the past. The theory being that on the equinox the world is upright on its axis, the fluid in the egg will be level, thus allowing it to sit on its end. Alas, this is not true. With patience and a steady hand, an egg can be stood on its end any day of the year. - as ever BB

"It's spring fever...you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so." - Mark Twain

Wearing of the Green

St. Paddy's Day approaches. It's Paddy, from the Gaelic Padraig, not Patty. Across the land, people will be wearing green to show pride in their Irish heritage, or just to join the party.

Until the 20th century, blue, more than green, was the color associated with St. Patrick and Ireland. Early paintings  depict him in blue robes. The Presidential Standard (flag) of Ireland is a gold harp on a blue field. Blue is the color of the Irish coat of arms and the flag of Connacht.

In the 1830s, the Irish diaspora brought thousands to America. In Ireland St. Patrick's Day was a holy day of obligation filled with prayer and church services. But in America, the day took on more secular overtones. Originally, the "wearing of the green" meant donning a shamrock. Now, face paint, dyed hair and outrageous green attire are de rigueur on March 17. Parades fill the streets and merry-making fill the pubs. 

So hoist a pint of Guinness and a dram of poteen - Erin Go Bragh!- as ever BB

"The great Gaels of Ireland are the men that God made mad. For all their wars are merry and all their songs are sad." G.K. Chesterton