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A collection of New Orleans musicians have recorded a fantastic updated version of Joe "Smokey" Johnson and Wardell Quezergue's "It Ain't My Fault" to benefit various causes in Louisiana related to the oil spill. Joining the Preservation Hall Jazz Band are Trombone Shorty, Lenny Kravitz and Mos Def. Get thee to the iTunes store and purchase this jam. (And, of course, we know whose fault it is.)
A lot has changed in South Africa since 1975--the year poet and proto-rapper Gil Scott-Heron released this great album, which featured the biting "Johannesburg." And now, with that being one of the host cities for the World Cup, I can't get the song out of my head. Apartheid may thankfully be a thing of the past, but societal challenges remain there. So, Gil, what's still the word?
Brazil doesn't play its first match until Tuesday, and even though this team has apparently strayed from the jogo bonito style, their followers will still be swaying to sambas everywhere from Rio to South Africa to the Little Brazil corridor in Culver City/Venice. This collection by Jorge Ben includes one of my favorites, "Taj Mahal," which you may remember was the basis of a successful plagiarism suit brought against Rod Stewart who ripped off the melody for "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?"
Sometime in 1974, while visiting family in El Paso, my cousin invited me along to a concert by Malo--the Latin rock band fronted by guitarist Jorge Santana (Carlos' brother). I was, like many other young Chicanos, a huge fan of the band, largely due to their breakout 1972 hit, "Suavecito." But at the show I noticed they had a new singer. Gone was the gruff-voiced Arcelio Garcia. In his stead was a singer whose voice was a perfect fit for the band's brown-eyed soul. One uptempo song, "Love Will Survive," in particular caught my ear, especially toward the end when the he sang these lines: Tell me that you love me / that you put nobody else above me / that you cross your heart. I'd heard those lines before but I couldn't remember where, and it drove me crazy for the rest of the night. I can't recall how much later it finally dawned on me: those were lyrics from "Smile Now, Cry Later," the seminal, '60s hit by San Antonio's Sunny and the Sunliners. It wasn't until years later that I realized Malo's singer that night, Little Willie G, was the famed, former lead singer of L.A.'s Thee Midniters. Sunny Ozuna and Willie Garcia were '60s contemporaries, layin' down the brown sound at opposite ends of IH-10. And on that night in El Paso, Willie G sang a shout-out from the East Side of LA to the West Side of SA. Orale!
Download 01 Smile Now...Cry Later