I wish a Happier New Year To you all.
2013 ended like no other and at one point I thought it could be no worse. It literally
felt like a slooooooow motion train wreck. It was fast approaching as bad as things were when Bobby Jr. passed.
Thanks to all of you who’d sent get well wishes and prayers to my sister.
It worked!
She’s back! (Personally I think she was just a tad too hard headed…)
Her recent illness really hit deep. See, I blame my sister for a major part of my love of music.
Yeah, my father was into the music business and I got to meet some of the legends of Soul (performers and broadcasters) at the house and sitting around a table having a meal in Frank’s Restaurant. But this is really my sister’s fault. She struck the match.
That’s because my earliest music related memory involves my sister (then a teenager) playing “Please Mr. Postman” by the Marvelettes…Over and over and over and over again..on some dinky record player.
I can recall visually where we were trekking across Harlem’s Lincoln Projects headed to some girlfriend’s house where they’d listen to more music. (I got to go because my poor sister was stuck with me more often than not!)
I can still see those tan Tamla labels centered on red plastic 45 record adapters rotating in my mind’s eye to this day.
Later .. (a lot later) I learned that while the Marvelettes were wailing to the USPS, I was also listening to the Funk Brothers backing the Marvelettes.
Playing drums was none other than Marvin Gaye with the prolific James Jamerson on bass. Who is James Jamerson you ask? No worries, you’ve heard him already…might not know it but you have. But that’s a story for another day.
This is about my melon headed sister who I love dearly for the everything that she sacrificed for me.
She really doesn’t have a melon head but I am sure there are plenty out there who would need one to contain all of the wisdom that sister has parceled out to me.
Two of the greatest gifts she gave me was her twisted sense of humor and by playing all that music around me a love for it. I will always be thankful for that.
I remember debating (I’m now a 17 yr old wannabe bass player, she a mother of four) with her as to whether or not Graham Central Station‘s “Save Me” was sacrilegious. I remember shaking my head in bewilderment… I didn’t even know what the word meant!
But wait…
This is about the New Year. You know what? Upon reflection lately, I realized I didn’t feel I told her properly or often enough how much I appreciate her and what she did for me. (Except the time when I was a baby, you sucked on my cheeks until it looked like I had huge hickies on my face… you know babies feel embarrassment?). I know as people, we all go through time and manage to get all caught up in basically a lot of bullshit. Here’s a tip: We need to step back sometimes, yanno?
So one of my resolutions this year was to make sure I let her know what she did. In a sense all of this…WBPMNetRADIO the web site (the periodic written ramblings) and the internet radio station is her fault.
So, THANKS SIS! You are truly a Soul Sister.
I’ll be there soon.
P.s.: Learning to play Archie Bell & The Drell’s “Tighten Up” on the drums is your fault too. :p
