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CNN’s Jim Acosta got into a heated exchange with a National Rifle Association (NRA) board member on Sunday afternoon over actions to counter gun violence following last week’s mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas. “I’m 51 years old,” Acosta said. “This has been going on for decades, and it just seems to me that the NRA just has to look into its soul.” “I’m sorry to say it that way, sir, but you and your other board members need to look into your souls and see what can be done for these kids. These kids who keep dying over and over...

As she turns 81, the singer whose intimacy matches her grandeur is the subject of a public television documentary, “Irma: My Life in Music.”The singer Irma Thomas has long been known as the Soul Queen of New Orleans, a title that feels both richly deserved and far too provincial. Her songs never topped the Billboard pop chart, but they did climb it. And even today, they’re covered by bar bands and in blues jams across the country. Still, if the title suggests a mix of regality and relatability, it makes decent sense. Irma Thomas is, first and foremost, a straight...

Wanda Young, one of the original Marvelettes on Motown’s Tamla label in the 1960s and later the group’s lead singer, has died. She was 78 and passed on Dec. 15 in Garden City, Michigan from complications of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, according to her daughter. Young joined the Marvelettes as they signed their first record deal with Motown. The group scored Motown’s first song to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1961. The song also was No. 1 on the R&B chart. “Please Mr. Postman” became the Marvelettes signature, and has since been covered by...

Melvin Parker, best known as James Brown's drummer, died at age 77 last week in Baltimore. He performed on a bunch of Brown's hits in the '60s and '70's, including "Out of Sight," "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag," "I Got You (I Feel Good)" and "Get Up Offa That Thing." "The Parker family is in the process of making arrangements for a final goodbye," read an obituary on the website of. R. Swinson Funeral Services, located in Parker's hometown of Kinston, N.C. "Let's keep the Parker family in our thoughts and prayers during this time of bereavement." "We lost...

Like many who collect and assimilate an ecclectic mix of music for listening throughout the day, I long ago chose to include "Polk Salad Annie" by Tony Joe White in my ever-shuffled audio from Brian Eno to Jerry Mathers, with classical, jazz, and rock in between. A month or two ago it crossed my mind to see if Tony Joe White had any live performances worth checking out. This evening there was time and opportunity, and what an eye opener it has been! Below I will post a couple links to his live performance of 1980 in Austin, TX. For...

The songwriter, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist was best known as the bandleader and arranger for the James Brown Orchestra during its most prolific and groundbreaking period. Published on September 24, 2021By Harry Weinger Pee Wee Ellis - Photo: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty ImagesPee Wee Ellis (L) and Maceo Parker perform as part of the 2011 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on May 5, 2011 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Photo: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images uDiscover Music - Facebook ShareuDiscover Music - Twitter ShareuDiscover Music - Email ShareuDiscover Music - Comments Alfred “Pee Wee” Ellis, the songwriter, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist best known as the bandleader...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media. I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ~ 1 Timothy 2:1-2 Religion Forum Threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 1 JOHN 5:14

Charles Connor, known for being Little Richard’s drummer who performed with other music greats including James Brown and Sam Cooke, has died. He was 86. Connor’s daughter, Queenie Connor Sonnefeld, said her father died peacefully in his sleep early Saturday while under hospice care at his home in Glendale, California. She said her father had been diagnosed with normal pressure hydrocephalus, a brain disorder that causes fluid buildup.Connor Sonnefeld called the drummer a “great father” who was always positive and a person who never gave up on his dreams.

If you’ve ever heard anything on the Stax Records label, then you’ve probably heard Steve Cropper's masterful guitar playing. He might well have written and produced it too The guitarist with Booker T. & The M.G.’s, Stax Records’ house band, Steve Cropper backed scores of soul greats during the 60s as well as being a go-to producer. He’s also a songwriter whose compositions include classics such as Wilson Pickett’s In The Midnight Hour, Eddie Floyd’s Knock On Wood and Otis Redding’s (Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay. He has also done studio work with John Lennon, Rod Stewart, Roy...

A new career-spanning box by the late Aretha Franklin will be released on July 30. The set, which gathers the bulk of its content from her celebrated decade with Atlantic Records, was originally scheduled for release last year. Aretha, which includes 81 newly remastered tracks and ranges from Franklin's earliest songs to her most recent recordings, will feature alternate versions of some of the Queen of Soul's biggest hits, demos, live performances and more. In addition to classic songs like "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)," "Do Right Woman - Do Right Man," "Respect" and "Chain...

Pervis Staples, a founding member of the Staple Singers, has died. According to a statement from a family spokesperson, he died suddenly in his home in Dolton, Ill, on May 6. He was 85 years old. Staples was born in Drew, Miss., in 1935, the second of five children. The family soon relocated to Chicago, Ill., where patriarch Roebuck "Pops" Staples worked in a steel mill. In order to keep his kids occupied while their mother worked the night shift at a downtown hotel, Pops had them sit around in a circle and sing. This is the seed of what...

If you've spent any time in Seattle, and I have over the past three decades, you will notice that something strange has occurred. I don't mean the socialist idiot city councilwoman Kshama Sawant and her raving minions. Nor is it the entire city council that echoes the latest and most progressive progressions of the progressed. Neither is it the homeless encampments defiling a once beautiful, clean cityscape with their needles, trash, and turds. No, this is much more subtle until it hits your cognitive center like a Tesla running out of juice before you get to your destination with no...

Turning points in music history are almost always more complicated than they appear at first glance. That's exactly the case with the Temptations' "Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)," which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 3, 1971. In a way, the history of the song goes back to 1969, when Motown producer Norman Whitfield and his frequent writing partner Barrett Strong penned it. At the time, though, it didn't fit with what the Temptations were doing; it was a ballad perfectly set up for a dreamy, romantic orchestration, and the group had moved away...

Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? (Proverbs 1:20-22)Wisdom cries out in the streets. There are many ways in which she does this, but one way Wisdom cries out, is in popular current culture and events. I believe that if anyone has ears to hear, they will perceive and perhaps even be able to interpret...

James Burke, whose shared lead vocals helped make “O-o-h Child” into a smash for his group the Five Stairsteps in 1970, has died at age 70. Word of Burke’s death first began to circulate on Saturday and was confirmed to Rolling Stone on Tuesday by brother and bandmate Dennis Burke, who said the cause of death was pneumonia. The Five Stairsteps are often thought of as a one-hit-wonder band because of the outsize popularity of “O-o-h Child,” which continues to rack up cover versions today, including one that was released just last month by KISS member Paul Stanley. But the...

In roughly 15 months, Wilson Pickett helped shape the history of recording in America. In 1965 and 1966, Pickett, one of the most dynamic R&B singers of all time, traveled to Stax Records in Memphis and FAME Recording in Muscle Shoals where he cut a series of classic hits at each studio. In the process — between his supreme talent and pugnacious personality — Pickett helped determine the fate and future of each company, as they became twin pillars of Southern soul and pop music in the coming years. Stax’s success with Pickett validated and emboldened the small company as...

He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings:...

“It was the third of September / That day I’ll always remember,” begins “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone,” the classic song by the Temptations. Though it became one of their biggest hits, the group initially rejected the song - and that opening line proved problematic as well. “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” was penned by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, two of the most successful songwriters in Motown’s arsenal. Whitfield created the song’s haunting melody, while Strong handled the lyrics. “Norman said he wanted lyrics that were fun, not serious, so listeners would have a good time with it,” Strong...

As I studied the Bible, I found another truth, too. There’s opposition to the reign of King Jesus, a false kingdom controlled by the evil one. Paul put it this way: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph. 6:12). It couldn’t have been plainer. The evil one had his own political system, his own false kingdom, and it stood in opposition to the rule and reign of King Jesus. Those powers influenced...

In his 1996 essay entitled “Sorry, But Your Soul Just Died,” the late essayist Tom Wolfe predicted that new technologies (such as functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, or fMRI) would soon render our traditional ideas about the “soul,” the “mind,” the “self,” and “free will” obsolete. In their place would be a “brilliant dawn” of “Ultimate Skepticism.” Today, to paraphrase another literary giant, it seems that Wolfe’s reports of the soul’s imminent death were greatly exaggerated. An fMRI is an instrument that measures brain activity by tracking blood flow. As with other parts of the body, “when an area of the...