|
|||||||
Arts and Music |
The Prater's Creek Gazette 8th Issue Winter 2005 Page #7 |
||||||
|
Farewell To Richard Pryor My next door neighbor, where I grew up, always bought lots of 8-tracks of dirty jokes. We’d sit around for hours listening and memorizing these jokes. When I was in the sixth grade I was the undisputed dirty joke teller. “Gene Tracy’s Truck Stop Tapes ” were a favorite. He had a couple of Richard Pryor tapes, but he didn’t like them as much because they were not just “dirty jokes”. So he gave them to me, and I could only play them when my parents weren’t home. I would get lost in Pryor’s stories. Richard Pryor was a brave, fierce storyteller. His routines always had lots of great characters: winos, drug addicts, and lots of women. While most people have things about themselves they hide from the world, Pryor brought all of his insecurities and weaknesses on stage with him. When he started out in the 1960’s he was a Bill Cosby wannabe, and was marginally funny. But when he came into his own, he became the greatest standup comedian ever. His stories always had that moment when something is so tragic it is funny. On the 1976 album Bicentennial Nigger, my favorite, he has the routine of taking acid for the first time. Hilarious! “I can’t breath! I forgot how to breath!” “Hal, open the door Hal.” The album ends with him talking about America’s 200th birthday that year. He says he’s just so happy to be here, and he is so thankful his people were shackled up in the bottom of a boat. Something like “they’s 400 of us, 350 died!” The audience gets quieter and quieter. A few people nervously laugh. The audience wonders: “Is this funny?”
He had been sick for years now and we had to go without new recordings and
movies of his standup act. And we missed them. And we’re going to miss
Richard more than ever now. Richard Pryor, one brave genius. The
Coolest Looking
Bands To
Have Been
In I
always liked bands that had a certain look all of their own. Below is a list
of these bands in no particular order. This is a list of groups, so
individuals such as Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Loretta Lynn, PJ Harvey,
Hank Williams, David Bowie,
etc. are not included.
Bill Monroe &
The Bluegrass Boys - Bill didn’t want his band looking like comic
hayseeds, as all of the other acts on the Opry did. He and his band
dressed in suits to show they were serious. The Clash - From
the first, spiked hair, album to the greased back, bolo tie wearing days,
(greatly influenced by hanging around Joe Ely), they were too cool. The Stanley
Brothers - They wore regular suits, which
wasn’t groundbreaking or anything, but come
on!, it’s Carter and Ralph!!
Flatt and
Scruggs - Earl and Lester in matching outfits, Curly Seckler and Paul
Warren in same color as Earl and Lester, but different outfits, and then
Josh Graves and bass player in comical get-ups. They had it down. Buck Owens and
The Buckaroos - Those Nudie suits and the matching silver metal flake
Telecasters of Buck and Don Rich. Awesome! The Beatles -
Mop Tops and matching suits to the psychedelic clothes of Sgt. Pepper. Has
their ever been four white guys who had a bigger influence on all aspects
of youth culture? No. James Brown and
The Fabulous
Flames Alice Cooper
(the band) The White
Stripes - With their three-color scheme (red, white, and black) they have
a distinct look. And no female musician is hotter than Meg White. Jim and Jesse
and the Virginia Boys Led Zeppelin -
Jimmy Page in his wizard outfit. The coolest rock star ever. Run-DMC - Black
tracksuits and fedoras, and of course, Adidas without shoe strings. Roy Acuff and
The Smokey Mountain Boys - Dapper Roy, Bashful Brother Oswald in his
overalls and big watch chain, and Pappy with his chin whiskers, were the
ultimate Opry personalities. Parliament/Funkadelic
- A band led by a black dude with a long blond wig and wearing a white
mink coat landing onstage and emerging from a space ship. Another guy on
guitar and vocals wearing nothing but a diaper, Bootsy on bass with those
outrageous Starchild glasses……Yeah! KISS - I
couldn’t finish this list without mentioning these guys!
|
Home | About the Band | The Legend | Concert Listings | Discography | News | Gazette | General Store Photo Gallery | Grandpa-Cam | Video Clips | Press Clippings | Diamond Cuts | Contact Us | Favorite Links The Drovers Old Time Medicine Show © 2004 - 2008 All Rights Reserved Designed and Maintained by AJs Web Solutions and powered by AJs web hosting |