When I walk out [onstage], whatever pain is gone. You forget about everything. There is no cancer. There is no sickness. You're just floating, looking in their faces and hearing them scream. That's all that is to me. | | | | | Sharon Jones, 1956-2016. (Sharese Ann Frederick) | | | | | | “When I walk out [onstage], whatever pain is gone. You forget about everything. There is no cancer. There is no sickness. You're just floating, looking in their faces and hearing them scream. That's all that is to me.”
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| | rantnrave:// SHARON JONES' hard-earned, heartwarming and heartbreaking life story—the rough childhood and the years of wedding-band gigs, tougher-than-tough day jobs and particularly unkind rejections—would have much less impact if not for the superhuman power of both her voice and her lifeforce. She was the kind of person who could light up a hospital ward when she was undergoing chemotherapy. And the kind of singer who could make a new song sound instantly classic and timeless, and an old one sound timely and relevant. She was one of the great soul singers to emerge in the 21st century, even though she was well into her 40s when the century began. (She was also one of the hardest-working, not unlike that other famous soul singer from AUGUSTA, GA.) It was the kind of relatively late-in-life success story that's nearly impossible to believe, almost magical, except that it's even more impossible to believe, in hindsight, that she wasn't discovered sooner. "It is hard, now, to imagine another contemporary artist with as broad and as undeniable an appeal," the NEW YORKER's AMANDA PETRUSICH wrote over the weekend. "To love Sharon Jones is simply to be a hot-blooded human." RIP... She blamed DONALD TRUMP for the stroke that sent her to the hospital for the last time, on election day... Jones in 2014, describing her long, painful search for a record deal: "Imagine people saying you’re too black, bleach your skin. You’re too fat, you’re too short, you’re too old." Dearest music industry: Please do try to imagine that... I would prefer to not have the cast of a BROADWAY show criticize me directly from the stage, same as I would prefer to not have KANYE WEST rant at me in the middle of a concert. But I'm not about to be vice president of the UNITED STATES and I'm not one of the world's biggest pop stars, so it's not something I have to worry about. And if I were, it's, um, not something I would worry about. I might even welcome it. Free speech, exchange of ideas, voice of the people, courage, all that. Things that matter, always. Bravo to LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA and the cast of "HAMILTON" for not throwing away their shot. Boo to the next US president and 10 million or so TWITTER users, including, bizarrely, STEVEN VAN ZANDT, for suggesting it was wrong of them to do so. Best Twitter reaction, from SAUL WILLIAMS: "Theater is not an apology"... RIP DON WALLER. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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| We meet in Tokyo for his first ever major interview. | | |
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| Viral videos are pushing songs such as Harlem Shake and Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae) into the charts. Now, record labels are looking to commodify trending tracks and the artists behind them. | | |
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| Jones’s stagecraft seemed so pure and instinctive it made every performer in her orbit appear calculated and sluggish by comparison. | | |
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| Is fake news worse than no news at all? | | |
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| Swet Shop Boys bring controversial, emotionally charged minefields to the mainstream in the form of stone-cold hip-hop bangers. | | |
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| RIP What.cd, one of humanity's greatest cultural achievements. | | |
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| Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip-hop musical, Hamilton, has reignited Broadway. But his talent doesn’t end there. | | |
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| In the late 1960s, a group of brave and irreverent artists revolutionized Brazilian music--and made an oppressive military regime quiver. | | |
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| With the impending release of Apple’s AirPods (not to be confused with the inexpensive wired EarPods) we are entering the era of wireless earbuds. And once again, while Apple is not the first to a market, it has brought attention to the category. | | |
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| Remembering David Mancuso - a social philosopher, a sound guru, a psychedelic humanist and a man who knew which records could move you. | | |
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| Jacky Sommer of Analog Soul interviews one of her heroes-plus scores THUMP an exclusive mix in celebration of his new album. | | |
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| Singer-songwriter Margo Price performs in studio from her album, "Midwest Farmer's Daughter." | | |
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| "Les Paul amplified his cat, Static, who became the unofficial spokescat of Booger Brothers Broadcasting, and was often heard meowing on air." | | |
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| He’s always said inflammatory things - but this feels different. | | |
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| The soul star and her Dap-Kings throw a holiday soul party with "Silent Night" and two spirited originals: one for Christmas and one for Hanukkah. | | |
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| Warner/APG's Mike Caren on signing artists, dropping artists and breaking artists. | | |
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| It wowed Sundance audiences and inspired Beyoncé's 'Lemonade' movie -- 25 years later, 'Daughters of the Dust' finally gets the release it deserves. | | |
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| Symbiosis Gathering's Kevin Kochen pens an open letter to event organizers to promote dialogue, exchange and understanding in a contentious political climate. | | |
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| When Portland deathgrind band Fornicator was dropped from an opening spot for Profanatica at the Highline in Seattle earlier this year as the result of objections from those in the local metal community, the immediate and predictable response was one of indignation and a self-righteous cry of violated first amendment rights. | | |
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| Former L.A. Weekly music editor John Payne remembers the outspoken writer, critic and scholar who "didn’t just love music, he really kind of was music." | | |
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| | live on "Later With Jools Holland" |
| | | | Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings |
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| © Copyright 2016, The REDEF Group |
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