Podcasts about in black

"The mission of a nonfiction writer is to get the damn thing done," says Wil Haygood, author of several books, including his latest The War Within A War: The Black Struggle in Vietnam and at Home.I'm so thrilled to welcome back Wil Haygood to the show to talk about and celebrate his latest book The War Within a War: The Black Struggle in Vietnam and at Home. It's published by Knopf.Wil is one of the most accomplished journalists and authors working in American letters and just a good-ass dude. He's the author of several books including The Butler (which was made into a movie), Showdown, The Harlem Renaissance, In Black and White, Sweet Thunder, and Colorization.He and I both have ties to the Goucher College MFA in Creative Nonfiction Program and he was generous enough to blurb my first book, Six Weeks in Saratoga, and it's those little things like that that can make an insecure, low-on-confidence person like myself feel like a king for a day.Had a great time catching up with Wil. He was on the podcast back on Ep. 295 when I interviewed him as part of Goucher's winter residency, so that's a fun one to check out. When we spoke, the U.S. had just started bombing Iran in a senseless barrage of violence that appears to have been a monumental loss for the U.S., so that is some of the context of this conversation as we talk about Vietnam and how this country still wrestles with the legacy of it. Wil is one of the good ones and so happy you get to hear him chat about: How he needs the research to be finished before he writes Exploring the riddles of America His encounters with the late great David Halberstam How luck and fortune come into play Shoeleather reporting Tape recorders and notebooks The stirring cover of this book Why this country still grapples with the Vietnam War Highlighting untold stories of women who served during Vietnam And what kept him going through the doubtStick around for a parting shot Chuckanut conference prep and an update on the forthcoming audio magazine.

Part 2 – John Shanghai Singer, Author, Entrepreneur John moved to China in 2005 and became the Official MC and part of the management team at Shanghai's iconic Bar Rouge. In 2006, he launched Johnjamsession, a live music concept that became a key part of Shanghai's music scene and later partnered with the French Consulate's La Fête de la Musique. Beyond music, John managed Anar restaurant and co-founded Karma cocktail bar. In this episode, we discuss:

Leon Black's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein extended well beyond conventional financial advising and into deeply personal territory that raises serious questions about the nature of their association. Epstein was not only handling tax and estate matters for Black, but also acting as an intermediary in arranging and directing large payments to multiple women, some of whom had personal or sexual relationships with Black. These payments, totaling tens of millions of dollars, were facilitated through Epstein's network, suggesting a level of involvement that blurred any clear line between professional services and private dealings. The scope and structure of these transactions have drawn renewed scrutiny to why Epstein remained so closely tied to Black even after his 2008 conviction.The details paint a broader picture of Epstein operating as a behind-the-scenes fixer for powerful clients, managing sensitive situations that extended far beyond finance. In Black's case, that included discreetly coordinating payments and navigating complicated personal arrangements in a way that relied heavily on Epstein's connections and secrecy. Black has continued to assert that his dealings with Epstein were legitimate and financially focused, but the depth of Epstein's role in personal matters complicates that claim and reinforces concerns about how Epstein maintained influence among elite figures long after his criminal conduct was widely known..to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:How Epstein Helped Solve a Billionaire's Problems With Women - The New York Times

Leon Black's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein extended well beyond conventional financial advising and into deeply personal territory that raises serious questions about the nature of their association. Epstein was not only handling tax and estate matters for Black, but also acting as an intermediary in arranging and directing large payments to multiple women, some of whom had personal or sexual relationships with Black. These payments, totaling tens of millions of dollars, were facilitated through Epstein's network, suggesting a level of involvement that blurred any clear line between professional services and private dealings. The scope and structure of these transactions have drawn renewed scrutiny to why Epstein remained so closely tied to Black even after his 2008 conviction.The details paint a broader picture of Epstein operating as a behind-the-scenes fixer for powerful clients, managing sensitive situations that extended far beyond finance. In Black's case, that included discreetly coordinating payments and navigating complicated personal arrangements in a way that relied heavily on Epstein's connections and secrecy. Black has continued to assert that his dealings with Epstein were legitimate and financially focused, but the depth of Epstein's role in personal matters complicates that claim and reinforces concerns about how Epstein maintained influence among elite figures long after his criminal conduct was widely known..to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:How Epstein Helped Solve a Billionaire's Problems With Women - The New York TimesBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-moscow-murders-and-more--5852883/support.

Leon Black's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein extended well beyond conventional financial advising and into deeply personal territory that raises serious questions about the nature of their association. Epstein was not only handling tax and estate matters for Black, but also acting as an intermediary in arranging and directing large payments to multiple women, some of whom had personal or sexual relationships with Black. These payments, totaling tens of millions of dollars, were facilitated through Epstein's network, suggesting a level of involvement that blurred any clear line between professional services and private dealings. The scope and structure of these transactions have drawn renewed scrutiny to why Epstein remained so closely tied to Black even after his 2008 conviction.The details paint a broader picture of Epstein operating as a behind-the-scenes fixer for powerful clients, managing sensitive situations that extended far beyond finance. In Black's case, that included discreetly coordinating payments and navigating complicated personal arrangements in a way that relied heavily on Epstein's connections and secrecy. Black has continued to assert that his dealings with Epstein were legitimate and financially focused, but the depth of Epstein's role in personal matters complicates that claim and reinforces concerns about how Epstein maintained influence among elite figures long after his criminal conduct was widely known..to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:How Epstein Helped Solve a Billionaire's Problems With Women - The New York TimesBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

Leon Black's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein extended well beyond conventional financial advising and into deeply personal territory that raises serious questions about the nature of their association. Epstein was not only handling tax and estate matters for Black, but also acting as an intermediary in arranging and directing large payments to multiple women, some of whom had personal or sexual relationships with Black. These payments, totaling tens of millions of dollars, were facilitated through Epstein's network, suggesting a level of involvement that blurred any clear line between professional services and private dealings. The scope and structure of these transactions have drawn renewed scrutiny to why Epstein remained so closely tied to Black even after his 2008 conviction.The details paint a broader picture of Epstein operating as a behind-the-scenes fixer for powerful clients, managing sensitive situations that extended far beyond finance. In Black's case, that included discreetly coordinating payments and navigating complicated personal arrangements in a way that relied heavily on Epstein's connections and secrecy. Black has continued to assert that his dealings with Epstein were legitimate and financially focused, but the depth of Epstein's role in personal matters complicates that claim and reinforces concerns about how Epstein maintained influence among elite figures long after his criminal conduct was widely known..to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:How Epstein Helped Solve a Billionaire's Problems With Women - The New York Times

Leon Black's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein extended well beyond conventional financial advising and into deeply personal territory that raises serious questions about the nature of their association. Epstein was not only handling tax and estate matters for Black, but also acting as an intermediary in arranging and directing large payments to multiple women, some of whom had personal or sexual relationships with Black. These payments, totaling tens of millions of dollars, were facilitated through Epstein's network, suggesting a level of involvement that blurred any clear line between professional services and private dealings. The scope and structure of these transactions have drawn renewed scrutiny to why Epstein remained so closely tied to Black even after his 2008 conviction.The details paint a broader picture of Epstein operating as a behind-the-scenes fixer for powerful clients, managing sensitive situations that extended far beyond finance. In Black's case, that included discreetly coordinating payments and navigating complicated personal arrangements in a way that relied heavily on Epstein's connections and secrecy. Black has continued to assert that his dealings with Epstein were legitimate and financially focused, but the depth of Epstein's role in personal matters complicates that claim and reinforces concerns about how Epstein maintained influence among elite figures long after his criminal conduct was widely known..to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:How Epstein Helped Solve a Billionaire's Problems With Women - The New York Times

Leon Black's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein extended well beyond conventional financial advising and into deeply personal territory that raises serious questions about the nature of their association. Epstein was not only handling tax and estate matters for Black, but also acting as an intermediary in arranging and directing large payments to multiple women, some of whom had personal or sexual relationships with Black. These payments, totaling tens of millions of dollars, were facilitated through Epstein's network, suggesting a level of involvement that blurred any clear line between professional services and private dealings. The scope and structure of these transactions have drawn renewed scrutiny to why Epstein remained so closely tied to Black even after his 2008 conviction.The details paint a broader picture of Epstein operating as a behind-the-scenes fixer for powerful clients, managing sensitive situations that extended far beyond finance. In Black's case, that included discreetly coordinating payments and navigating complicated personal arrangements in a way that relied heavily on Epstein's connections and secrecy. Black has continued to assert that his dealings with Epstein were legitimate and financially focused, but the depth of Epstein's role in personal matters complicates that claim and reinforces concerns about how Epstein maintained influence among elite figures long after his criminal conduct was widely known..to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:How Epstein Helped Solve a Billionaire's Problems With Women - The New York Times

Leon Black's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein extended well beyond conventional financial advising and into deeply personal territory that raises serious questions about the nature of their association. Epstein was not only handling tax and estate matters for Black, but also acting as an intermediary in arranging and directing large payments to multiple women, some of whom had personal or sexual relationships with Black. These payments, totaling tens of millions of dollars, were facilitated through Epstein's network, suggesting a level of involvement that blurred any clear line between professional services and private dealings. The scope and structure of these transactions have drawn renewed scrutiny to why Epstein remained so closely tied to Black even after his 2008 conviction.The details paint a broader picture of Epstein operating as a behind-the-scenes fixer for powerful clients, managing sensitive situations that extended far beyond finance. In Black's case, that included discreetly coordinating payments and navigating complicated personal arrangements in a way that relied heavily on Epstein's connections and secrecy. Black has continued to assert that his dealings with Epstein were legitimate and financially focused, but the depth of Epstein's role in personal matters complicates that claim and reinforces concerns about how Epstein maintained influence among elite figures long after his criminal conduct was widely known..to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:How Epstein Helped Solve a Billionaire's Problems With Women - The New York TimesBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-moscow-murders-and-more--5852883/support.

Leon Black's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein extended well beyond conventional financial advising and into deeply personal territory that raises serious questions about the nature of their association. Epstein was not only handling tax and estate matters for Black, but also acting as an intermediary in arranging and directing large payments to multiple women, some of whom had personal or sexual relationships with Black. These payments, totaling tens of millions of dollars, were facilitated through Epstein's network, suggesting a level of involvement that blurred any clear line between professional services and private dealings. The scope and structure of these transactions have drawn renewed scrutiny to why Epstein remained so closely tied to Black even after his 2008 conviction.The details paint a broader picture of Epstein operating as a behind-the-scenes fixer for powerful clients, managing sensitive situations that extended far beyond finance. In Black's case, that included discreetly coordinating payments and navigating complicated personal arrangements in a way that relied heavily on Epstein's connections and secrecy. Black has continued to assert that his dealings with Epstein were legitimate and financially focused, but the depth of Epstein's role in personal matters complicates that claim and reinforces concerns about how Epstein maintained influence among elite figures long after his criminal conduct was widely known..to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:How Epstein Helped Solve a Billionaire's Problems With Women - The New York TimesBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-moscow-murders-and-more--5852883/support.

Leon Black's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein extended well beyond conventional financial advising and into deeply personal territory that raises serious questions about the nature of their association. Epstein was not only handling tax and estate matters for Black, but also acting as an intermediary in arranging and directing large payments to multiple women, some of whom had personal or sexual relationships with Black. These payments, totaling tens of millions of dollars, were facilitated through Epstein's network, suggesting a level of involvement that blurred any clear line between professional services and private dealings. The scope and structure of these transactions have drawn renewed scrutiny to why Epstein remained so closely tied to Black even after his 2008 conviction.The details paint a broader picture of Epstein operating as a behind-the-scenes fixer for powerful clients, managing sensitive situations that extended far beyond finance. In Black's case, that included discreetly coordinating payments and navigating complicated personal arrangements in a way that relied heavily on Epstein's connections and secrecy. Black has continued to assert that his dealings with Epstein were legitimate and financially focused, but the depth of Epstein's role in personal matters complicates that claim and reinforces concerns about how Epstein maintained influence among elite figures long after his criminal conduct was widely known..to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:How Epstein Helped Solve a Billionaire's Problems With Women - The New York TimesBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-moscow-murders-and-more--5852883/support.

Leon Black's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein extended well beyond conventional financial advising and into deeply personal territory that raises serious questions about the nature of their association. Epstein was not only handling tax and estate matters for Black, but also acting as an intermediary in arranging and directing large payments to multiple women, some of whom had personal or sexual relationships with Black. These payments, totaling tens of millions of dollars, were facilitated through Epstein's network, suggesting a level of involvement that blurred any clear line between professional services and private dealings. The scope and structure of these transactions have drawn renewed scrutiny to why Epstein remained so closely tied to Black even after his 2008 conviction.The details paint a broader picture of Epstein operating as a behind-the-scenes fixer for powerful clients, managing sensitive situations that extended far beyond finance. In Black's case, that included discreetly coordinating payments and navigating complicated personal arrangements in a way that relied heavily on Epstein's connections and secrecy. Black has continued to assert that his dealings with Epstein were legitimate and financially focused, but the depth of Epstein's role in personal matters complicates that claim and reinforces concerns about how Epstein maintained influence among elite figures long after his criminal conduct was widely known..to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:How Epstein Helped Solve a Billionaire's Problems With Women - The New York TimesBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

Leon Black's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein extended well beyond conventional financial advising and into deeply personal territory that raises serious questions about the nature of their association. Epstein was not only handling tax and estate matters for Black, but also acting as an intermediary in arranging and directing large payments to multiple women, some of whom had personal or sexual relationships with Black. These payments, totaling tens of millions of dollars, were facilitated through Epstein's network, suggesting a level of involvement that blurred any clear line between professional services and private dealings. The scope and structure of these transactions have drawn renewed scrutiny to why Epstein remained so closely tied to Black even after his 2008 conviction.The details paint a broader picture of Epstein operating as a behind-the-scenes fixer for powerful clients, managing sensitive situations that extended far beyond finance. In Black's case, that included discreetly coordinating payments and navigating complicated personal arrangements in a way that relied heavily on Epstein's connections and secrecy. Black has continued to assert that his dealings with Epstein were legitimate and financially focused, but the depth of Epstein's role in personal matters complicates that claim and reinforces concerns about how Epstein maintained influence among elite figures long after his criminal conduct was widely known..to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:How Epstein Helped Solve a Billionaire's Problems With Women - The New York TimesBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

Leon Black's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein extended well beyond conventional financial advising and into deeply personal territory that raises serious questions about the nature of their association. Epstein was not only handling tax and estate matters for Black, but also acting as an intermediary in arranging and directing large payments to multiple women, some of whom had personal or sexual relationships with Black. These payments, totaling tens of millions of dollars, were facilitated through Epstein's network, suggesting a level of involvement that blurred any clear line between professional services and private dealings. The scope and structure of these transactions have drawn renewed scrutiny to why Epstein remained so closely tied to Black even after his 2008 conviction.The details paint a broader picture of Epstein operating as a behind-the-scenes fixer for powerful clients, managing sensitive situations that extended far beyond finance. In Black's case, that included discreetly coordinating payments and navigating complicated personal arrangements in a way that relied heavily on Epstein's connections and secrecy. Black has continued to assert that his dealings with Epstein were legitimate and financially focused, but the depth of Epstein's role in personal matters complicates that claim and reinforces concerns about how Epstein maintained influence among elite figures long after his criminal conduct was widely known..to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:How Epstein Helped Solve a Billionaire's Problems With Women - The New York TimesBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

Throughout history, the concept of Blackness has been remarkably intertwined with another color- blue. In daily life, it is evoked in countless ways. Blue skies and blue water offer hope for a life beyond the current conditions. But blue is also the color of deep melancholy and heartache, echoing Louis Armstrong's question, ”What did I do to be so Black and blue?” In Black in Blues, celebrated author Imani Perry uses the world's favorite color as a springboard for a riveting emotional, cultural, and spiritual journey-an examination of race and Blackness that transcends politics or ideology. Fund Drive Special — For a donation of $110, support KPFA and get a copy of the book.  Make a donation at kpfa.org/support   ___ Subscribe to this podcast: https://plinkhq.com/i/1637968343?to=page Get in touch: lawanddisorder@kpfa.org Follow us on socials @LawAndDis: https://twitter.com/LawAndDis; https://www.instagram.com/lawanddis/ The post Black in Blues w/ Imani Perry — Winter Fund Drive appeared first on KPFA.

February 9, 2026 Hello and Happy Day! This is Dr. MaryAnn Diorio, Novelist and Life Coach, welcoming you to another episode of Winning with the Word. Today is Monday, February 9, 2026, and this is episode #2 in Series 2026. This episode is titled, “The Great Deception.” Some of you may know that I am an author as well as a blogger. Recently in the publishing world, writers have reported a phenomenal increase in fraudulent offers promising wealth and fame for varying amounts of money. I myself have received several of these offers. All of them were generated by people using Artificial Intelligence. All of these offers were deceptive. Deception has taken over the world. But to the Christ-follower, this is not a surprise. Jesus Himself predicted that deception would abound in the last days. While Jesus was on the Mount of Olives with His disciples one day, they asked Him what would be the signs of the last days. Listen to His reply, as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 24, verse 4. Jesus said, “Take heed that no one deceives you.” I find it quite interesting that the very first sign of the last days that Jesus mentioned was deception. He warned His disciples not to be deceived. In other words, Jesus foretold that deception would be the major signpost of the closing age of human history. In case you don’t know, my friend, we are living in that closing age today, and, just as Jesus predicted, deception is rampant. Fake videos depict fake images of celebrities speaking things they never said. These fakes, called deepfakes, clone human voices, alter human faces, and change written content to serve purposes that are deceptive, if not downright sinister. It is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between the truth and the lie. So, what are we to do? Let me answer by telling you a story. Years ago, I spoke with a friend of the family who was an executive at a local bank. I asked him how bank tellers recognize counterfeit money. His response surprised me. He said that in their training program, bank tellers never handle counterfeit money. They handle only real money. And they handle real money so well and so thoroughly that when a counterfeit bill passes through their hands, they immediately recognize it as counterfeit. Bottomline, the bank tellers first had to recognize real money in order to recognize counterfeit money. They had to know the truth in order to recognize the lie. The same principle applies regarding deception. In order for us to recognize deception—or the counterfeit to the truth—we first need to be able to know and recognize the truth. The problem is that today, few people know the truth, although most think they do. You may be asking, “So, Dr. MaryAnn, what is the truth?” Contrary to popular opinion, the truth is a Person, and His Name is Jesus Christ. In the Gospel of John, chapter 14, verse 6, Jesus made this profound statement: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Jesus identified Himself as the Truth. From this it logically follows that to know the Truth, one must know Jesus, and unless one knows Jesus, one cannot know the Truth. Sadly, most of the world today does not know Jesus. Hence, they do not know the Truth. When one does not know the Truth, one ends up, by default, believing and embracing the Lie. The Lie is what Satan peddles in order to steal, kill, and destroy you. When one believes the Lie, one loses his ability to think straight. The Bible tells us as much in Romans 1: 28: “. . . since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind . . . .” A debased mind is a mind that has lost its ability to think logically and truthfully. A mind that easily succumbs to deception. “Well,” you might say, “I have my truth. You have yours. What’s the problem?” Consider this. Suppose you hired two men to build you a tool shed. One man believed that a foot was twelve inches long while the other man believed that a foot was nine inches long. Each man was adamant that he was right. Do you think they’d get very far in building your shed? Moreover, logically speaking, both of the men could not be right. If you yourself did not know for sure that a foot consists of twelve inches, you wouldn’t know which man was right. You would not be able to determine who was telling the truth and who was not. Building a shed may not be a life-or-death matter, but knowing the truth is a life-or-death matter when it comes to your eternal destiny. For if you do not know the truth about what happens after death, you could spend forever in Hell instead of Heaven. So, “What is the Truth?” Simply put, the Truth is what God has said it is. And what God has said is the Truth is found in the Bible. Plain and simple. Because God alone is God, He alone has the right, the authority, and the wisdom to determine what is true and what is not true. We humans do not have that right. Nor do we have the authority and the wisdom to determine what is true and what is not true because we are not as smart as God. He is the Creator; we are the created ones. The created ones are not smarter than the One who created them. Now, most people don’t want to hear this. Why? Because they don’t want to be subject to a higher authority than themselves. Most people don’t want anyone telling them what truth is because most people don’t want anyone telling them what to do. Most people want to make up their own rules and live by them. Why? Because they want to continue in their sin. They want to set their own standards for right and wrong so that when they do wrong, they won’t feel guilty and condemned. But God has set the standards for right and wrong, and those standards will never change, no matter how much man tampers with them. Why won’t they ever change? Because they are the Truth, and Truth never changes. You see, my friend, we can reject the Truth, we can rebel against the Truth, we can mock the Truth, but we can never change the Truth. A foot will always equal twelve inches. Two plus two will always equal four. Good will always win out over evil. And Truth will always overcome the Lie. You can try to change this until you are blue in the face, but it will never work. Oh, it may look as though it’s working for a while, but in the end, Truth will overpower the Lie because God, Who is Truth, is more powerful than Satan, who is the Lie. Perhaps you’ve been living in your own self-made concept of truth. How is that working for you? You may say, “It’s working great.” But, friend, I will tell you that one day, you will discover it no longer works. At some point, the foundation of your life will crumble because it is built on a lie. Only a life built on the Truth will last. Only a life built on Jesus Christ will bring you true life. If you have never had an encounter with Jesus Christ, Truth Himself, I invite you to meet Him now. Pray this simple prayer with me: Lord Jesus, I want to know You because I want to know Truth. I’ve been living a lie, and it has gotten me into places where I don’t want to be. So I choose now to turn away from the lie and to embrace You. I invite You into my life and receive You as Truth, as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for saving me. Thank You for revealing to me that You are Truth. In Your Name I pray. Amen. If you sincerely prayed this prayer from your heart, you are now a born-again child of God. Welcome to the Family of God! Write to me at drmaryann@maryanndiorio.com, and I will send you a free PDF e-booklet titled After You're Born Again. In case you are not aware, I write heart-mending fiction that deals with the deepest issues of life. In my stories, you will find characters just like you who struggle with what seem like impossible problems and situations. Check out my books at my online bookstore at https://maryanndiorio.com/bookstore. That's https://maryanndiorio.com/bookstore.My featured book for this week is a story about the overcoming power of truth titled In Black and White. It is the love story of a young white woman and a young black man trying to sustain their love in the whirlwind of racism, prejudice, and family tradition. First Place Winner in Historical Fiction in the 2020 Christian Indie Book Awards Contest, In Black and White reveals the power of truth in overcoming the lie. Get your copy at one of the links in the show notes. Winning with the Word is available on Apple Podcasts and other major podcast venues as well as on YouTube. Check out my YouTube channel at youtube.com/drmaryanndiorio. Until next time, remember that God loves you just as you are and just where you are. Yet He doesn't want to keep you there. As you live in Him, He will help you to keep on winning with the Word.________________________________ Copyright 2026 by MaryAnn Diorio, PhD. All Rights Reserved. Featured Book for This Week:IN BLACK AND WHITE – A Gripping Christian Historical Romance First Place Winner in Historical Fiction – 2020 Christian Indie Awards A Forbidden Love. A Divided World. A Redeeming God. In Black and White is a poignant and powerful Christian historical romance that dares to explore the depth of love between two souls separated by culture, color, and the crushing weight of racial prejudice. Set against the backdrop of academic life and ancestral heritage, this award-winning novel weaves faith, endurance, and restoration into a story that transcends time and speaks to the heart of humanity's greatest struggles—and God's greatest triumphs. PRINT EBOOK _____________________________________________SUBSCRIBE HERE to Winning with the Word VISIT MARYANN'S ONLINE BOOKSTORE « Older Entries

Ep. 177In this episode of The Zen Effect Show…We sit inside a deeply human story of heartbreak, choice, and spiritual reclamation. This is a conversation about what happens when a woman decides not to let her past define her and instead writes a new one from the heart.Raised in an environment that required survival before softness, Tamala Baldwin found herself broken open by heartbreak. But instead of staying stuck in the story she was handed, she picked up the pen and rewired her inner world through long-form writing, visualization, and intentional imagination.What began as personal healing became a hero's journey. What healed her heart became a nonprofit. And what rewrote her story is now helping adults, children in foster care, and countless others cultivate inner harmony through storytelling, writing, and creative expression.This episode is a reminder: Your story is not finished and you hold the pen.How heartbreak became the doorway to her hero's journeyThe internal clearing required to heal from the environment you were raised inHow long-form writing reprogrammed her heart, mind, and nervous systemThe heart–mind relationship explained in a grounded, accessible wayHow  visualization + long form writing is a powerful tool for rewiring your inner narrativeHow one aligned decision can ripple into collective healingTurning personal healing into purpose through the Becoming Love ProjectHow storytelling can help you experience “heaven within” even after pain. So many of us are walking around with chapters we never chose. Carrying heartbreak, trauma, and inherited survival patterns like they're permanent truths.Zen's Closing Note: This conversation speaks to the quiet power of choice.In Black communities, especially, healing is often postponed in favor of endurance. But this episode disrupts that pattern. It honors softness as strength. Creativity as medicine. Storytelling as liberation.It shows what's possible when healing the inner world becomes the foundation for changing the outer one  when a single heart healed creates a space for many more to do the same.This is for anyone who has experienced loss, disappointment, or emotional rupture and knows there has to be more than surviving the aftermath.Healing doesn't always announce itself loudly. Sometimes it whispers: “Rewrite this.”You don't need permission to rewrite your story and rewire your inner self You don't need to fully understand the how. You just need the courage to choose again from the heart.Your story is alive. Your heart is intelligent. And one aligned decision can shift generations.Keep choosing love. Keep writing to yourself home to your power. This Episode is Sponsored by: Antlanta Eats Thank You Antlanta Eats for Sponsoring this episode and Supporting culture, community, and connection Follow⁠ and connect with @antlantaeats ⁠Connect with TamalaNon- Profit: ⁠The Becoming Love Project⁠ Film & TV production company: Soul Kisses ProductionsHer Instagram: @tamalabaldwinClick here⁠⁠ ⁠For all things mentioned—and all things Zen Effect ⁠⁠⁠ and tune into my LIVE Broadcast on⁠⁠ ⁠WBNC⁠⁠⁠ Tuesdays at 6pm EST.

In the news this week, the President's birthday was added to the list of free entry days at the National Parks, meanwhile Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth were removed from the list. On today's show, host Allen Ruff is joined by activist and scholar Nicholas Powers to talk about the Trump administration's attacks on Black history and his latest article for Truthout, “Black History Has the Power to Ignite Movements. That's Why the Right Fears It.” Powers says that the Trump Administration is waging attacks on Black history at three levels: the economic, the cultural, and through voting rights. The closed doors of the African American History Museum in DC are both a symbolic and material closing off of Black history and culture. And that's added to the mass firings of more than 300,000 Black employees from their federal positions. The Trump administration is also criminalizing the teaching of Black history in schools. Attacking school curriculum gives permission to conservative activists who are now rewarded for promoting greater and greater acts of racism. The softening or erasing of the historical reality of American slavery and racism creates what Powers calls “a cartoon image of the nation,” one in which the US is presented as a nation always living up to its values. In Black history, Powers says, there is an opposing grand narrative to the American Dream, that of the American nightmare. He says we need a vision of “American realism” that is taught by Black history: that Black Americans belong here through their blood sweat and tears and that we're all equal in the eyes of god. Moreover, Black history has a transformative effect, empowering people to see more clearly the strategies and tactics that Black people used to gain greater freedom. Powers previews that there's another social movement, another wave, on its way to counter the reactionary work of the Right. When it arrives, we should add ourselves to it so that it becomes stronger.  Nicholas Powers is the author of Thirst, a political vampire novel; The Ground Below Zero: 9/11 to Burning Man, New Orleans to Darfur, Haiti to Occupy Wall Street; and most recently, Black Psychedelic Revolution. He has been writing for Truthout since 2011. His article, “Killing the Future: The Theft of Black Life” in the Truthout anthology Who Do You Serve, Who Do You Protect? coalesces his years of reporting on police brutality. Featured image of the facade of the National Museum of African American History and Culture by Ron Cogswell via Flickr.  Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post The Transformative Power of Black History with Nicholas Powers appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Alex and Toonz are here to talk about anime characters invited to the cookout..and those who are uninvited!In Black culture, we have allies, confidants. People who have proven their loyalty and are cool enough to come to the cookout! But there are others who have shown...the opposite. The boys are here to show their knowledge of the cookout etiquette.Who are some characters you'd invite/not invite to your cookout?Thanks to Toonz for joining me:https://www.youtube.com/@UCFx9IxBzfZuXxDJH6MaQiRA Thanks to Ty'ren for the thumbnail:https://x.com/Tyren_X

IM Willy Hendriks is an award-winning chess author, historian and chess trainer. He has just released his fourth book, The Philosopher and the Housewife:Tarrasch, Nimzowitsch and the Evolution of Chess. This book is the completion of a trilogy which casts a new light on chess history and looks at the evolution of chess ideas. Willy's newest book focuses on the early 20th century, with a particular emphasis on Aron Nimzowitsch and Siegbert Tarrasch. We tackle questions such as: Was Aron Nimzowitsch the most pretentious chess player of them all?  What does Willy think of My System?  Have the stylistic differences between Tarrasch and Nimzowitsch been exaggerated? What can we learn about engines and modern chess through reading about these players?  Our conversation is filled with fun stories and reflections about these players, along with the contributions of the third “main character,” Semion Alapin.   We also discuss Willy's own competitive career and his potential next projects. It is always a pleasure to read Willy's work and to speak with him.   Timestamps of topics discussed are below.  Perpetual Chess Improvement Audiobook information- The links for where to order the Perpetual Chess Improvement audiobook are on this page. It is now available on all platform except for Audible/Amazon (hopefully coming soon): https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/book 0:02- Where did the title The Philosopher and the Housewife come from? 0:06- Willy tells a few stories to illustrate why he considers Aron Nimzowitsch to be “the most self-aggrandizing chess player of all-time.” 10:00- What were the chess stylistic differences of Nimzowitsch and Tarrasch? Mentioned: Modern Ideas in Chess by Richard Reti  18:00- Patreon mailbag question: “What does Willy think of the book My System?”  Mentioned:  Book Recap #18- My System with IM Christof Sielecki  Book Recap #37- My System (fast track edition) with GM Alex Fishbein  Aron Nimzowitch: A Reappraisal by GM Raymond Keene https://www.amazon.com/Aron-Nimzowitsch-Reappraisal-Raymond-Keene/dp/0713484381 23:00- Where does the third character in the book, Semyon Alapin fit in? 31:00- How are engines connected to the themes of Willy's writing? 34:00- What is the “Trainer's fallacy?”  42:00- Patreon mailbag question: “What ideas does Willy have for upcoming books?”  Mentioned: Kasparov's My Great Predecessors, Mihail Marin's Learn from the Legends 1 and 2 45:00- Does Willy follow modern chess and chess drama? Does he like freestyle chess? 48:00- What has Willy been reading? Mentioned: Daniel Dennett Tarrasch's 300 Chess Games, the Works of Edward Lasker and Milan Vidmar, The Essential Sosonko, In Black and White  52:00- Has Willy been competing OTB lately?  54:00- Thanks as always to Willy for visiting the pod and for advancing our knowledge of chess history!  You can get his books here: https://www.newinchess.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=Willy+Hendriks You can also get a physical copy in the US from Chess4Less: https://chess4less.com/products/the-philosopher-and-the-housewife-willy-hendriks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People Imani Perry studies the color blue in all its history and hues in this remarkable analysis. From West Africa to the American South, Black in Blues examines the color's relation to Blackness and culture. Perry joins us to talk about the symbolic history of the color blue, her research process, the role of storytelling in identity and more with Miwa Messer, host of Poured Over.  This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang.                     New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app. Featured Books (Episode): Black in Blues by Imani Perry South to America by Imani Perry Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison A Little Devil in America by Hanif Abdurraqib Cannibal by Safiya Sinclair The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison Native Son by Richard Wright Black Boy by Richard Wright Looking For Lorraine by Imani Perry

In this episode of "In Black & White," Pastor James D. Gailliard speaks with Allison Riggs, North Carolina candidate for Supreme Court Associate Justice. Allison shares her vision for justice in North Carolina, focusing on issues such as protecting individual rights, ensuring fair representation, and upholding the rule of law. They explore her journey in the legal field, her commitment to an impartial judiciary, and the significance of an independent court system.Join this impactful conversation on the role of the judiciary in our lives, the responsibilities of a Supreme Court Justice, and the values that drive Allison's candidacy. Whether you're interested in legal issues, state politics, or justice reform, this episode offers valuable insights into North Carolina's highest court and what's at stake.*This interview was recorded September 2024*#Election2024 #Interview #VoteSupport the showThank you for listening to this podcast! Follow Pastor James D. Gailliard on all social media @jdgailliard and get connected with Word Tabernacle Church by going to https://wordtab.net/ #EveryoneThriving

In this episode of "In Black & White," Pastor James D. Gailliard sits down with Maurice "Mo" Green, North Carolina candidate for Superintendent of Public Instruction. They dive into Mo's vision for education in North Carolina, discussing crucial issues like educational equity, teacher support, and resources for students across the state. Mo shares his perspective on overcoming current challenges in public education and his commitment to shaping a school system where every child can succeed.Whether you're a parent, educator, or concerned community member, this episode offers an insightful look at the future of NC public schools and the values driving Mo's campaign.Don't miss this conversation on faith, leadership, and the power of education in transforming lives.*This interview was recorded January 2024*#Election2024 #Interview #VoteSupport the showThank you for listening to this podcast! Follow Pastor James D. Gailliard on all social media @jdgailliard and get connected with Word Tabernacle Church by going to https://wordtab.net/ #EveryoneThriving

In this episode of In Black & White, Pastor James D. Gailliard sits down with Jaime Harrison, the Chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party, for a powerful discussion on political leadership, the future of democracy, and the role of faith in public life. Tune in as they dive into Harrison's journey, his commitment to justice, and how he believes communities of faith can engage with the pressing social and political issues of today. Whether you're passionate about public service, curious about the intersection of faith and politics, or just want to hear two leaders in conversation, this episode is packed with insights that will inspire and inform.Don't forget to subscribe for more impactful interviews, critical conversations, and transformative teachings.*This interview was recorded May 2024*#Election2024 #Interview #VoteSupport the showThank you for listening to this podcast! Follow Pastor James D. Gailliard on all social media @jdgailliard and get connected with Word Tabernacle Church by going to https://wordtab.net/ #EveryoneThriving

In this episode of "In Black & White," Pastor James D. Gailliard welcomes North Carolina candidate for State Treasurer, Wesley Harris. They delve into Wesley's vision for the financial health of North Carolina, discussing critical issues like state investments, managing public pensions, and transparency in budgeting. Wesley shares his approach to ensuring that taxpayer dollars are used effectively to benefit all North Carolinians, emphasizing the importance of fiscal responsibility and long-term economic planning.Whether you're curious about the state's financial future or interested in how the Treasurer's office impacts communities, this episode provides an insightful look into the role and why Wesley Harris believes he's the right person for the job.*This interview was recorded September 2024*#Election2024 #Interview #VoteSupport the showThank you for listening to this podcast! Follow Pastor James D. Gailliard on all social media @jdgailliard and get connected with Word Tabernacle Church by going to https://wordtab.net/ #EveryoneThriving

In this episode of "In Black & White," Pastor James D. Gailliard sits down with Civil Rights Activist Martin Luther King III and his wife, Arndrea Waters King, for a heartfelt conversation on justice, legacy, and activism. Together, they discuss the ongoing fight for equality, voting rights, and social justice, sharing personal stories and insights on continuing the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The Kings delve into their experiences as leaders in today's civil rights movement, the importance of preserving history, and how they inspire others to take meaningful action in their communities.Join this inspiring episode to hear their perspectives on bridging past and present efforts in the fight for a fairer, more just world. Whether you're passionate about civil rights, community activism, or honoring legacies of change, this conversation is both moving and motivating.*This interview was recorded September 2024*#Election2024 #Interview #VoteSupport the showThank you for listening to this podcast! Follow Pastor James D. Gailliard on all social media @jdgailliard and get connected with Word Tabernacle Church by going to https://wordtab.net/ #EveryoneThriving

In this episode of "In Black & White," Pastor James D. Gailliard sits down with North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Josh Stein. As they discuss Stein's vision for the state, they cover pressing topics including economic development, healthcare access, public safety, and education reform. Stein shares insights from his experience as NC Attorney General, highlighting his commitment to community-focused policies and what he believes it will take to create a more equitable and prosperous North Carolina.This in-depth conversation sheds light on the values guiding Stein's campaign and his approach to addressing the challenges facing North Carolinians. Whether you're a resident of NC or simply interested in impactful state leadership, this episode is a must-watch for anyone passionate about the future of our communities.*This interview was recorded September 2024*#Election2024 #Interview #VoteSupport the showThank you for listening to this podcast! Follow Pastor James D. Gailliard on all social media @jdgailliard and get connected with Word Tabernacle Church by going to https://wordtab.net/ #EveryoneThriving

In this episode of "In Black & White," Pastor James D. Gailliard engages in a powerful conversation with U.S. Senator Laphonza Butler. Senator Butler shares her journey, vision, and priorities as a leader, delving into key issues like economic equity, healthcare access, and empowering communities. With a deep commitment to advocating for marginalized voices, she discusses her approach to policy-making and the importance of representing the needs of all Americans in the Senate.Tune in for a meaningful discussion on public service, the power of leadership, and Senator Butler's insights into the critical work happening in Washington to create a fairer and more inclusive society. This episode is essential for anyone passionate about the future of our country and the impact of bold, compassionate leadership.*This interview was recorded September 2024*#Election2024 #Interview #VoteSupport the showThank you for listening to this podcast! Follow Pastor James D. Gailliard on all social media @jdgailliard and get connected with Word Tabernacle Church by going to https://wordtab.net/ #EveryoneThriving

It's time for a new episode of Fans On The Run! Joining me today is a true one-of-a-kind musical talent, sometimes he's under the alias of "Chissum Worthington", but today's he's just Mike Schnee!    In a wide ranging chat, we talk The Lemon Twigs, One Hand Clapping, Mike's system of identifying Beatle albums before he could read, The White Album at Christmas '68, the genesis of Chissum Worthington, the similarities to some Beatle album-track-bookends, "The Beatles: An Illustrated Record", seeing the Magical Mystery Tour film at a "revival theatre", the strange reality of The Beatles playing Baby's In Black live, and a new jingle for the show!   With all that AND more? You won't wanna miss it!   This episode is available to stream wherever good podcasts can be heard!   Keep up with Mike: https://wormstew.bandcamp.com/ https://www.youtube.com/@chissumworthington   Follow us elsewhere: https://linktr.ee/fansontherun   Contact: fansontherunpodcast@gmail.com

In the very last of our great history stories, we turn to Harry Houdini, one of the great magicians in history, and his time in Australia. His tale is told by Andrew McConville, from State Library Victoria. There are almost 280 stories in the In Black and White show, and they're all available for free in this podcast feed. As we say goodbye after five ears unearthing colourful stories from our past, we would like to sincerely thank our listeners for tuning in and sharing your ratings and reviews. Tune in to the final episode for some final thank you and a farewell message from the host, Jen Kelly. Like the show? Read more at heraldsun.com.au/ibawSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the very last of our great history stories, we turn to Harry Houdini, one of the great magicians in history, and his time in Australia. His tale is told by Andrew McConville, from State Library Victoria. There are almost 280 stories in the In Black and White show, and they're all available for free in this podcast feed. As we say goodbye after five ears unearthing colourful stories from our past, we would like to sincerely thank our listeners for tuning in and sharing your ratings and reviews. Tune in to the final episode for some final thank yous and a farewell message from the host, Jen Kelly. Like the show? Read more at heraldsun.com.au/ibawSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Though the Lennon & McCartney songwriting team found it harder and harder to truly write songs together from scratch as they got busier and busier, with "Baby's In Black," they were able to get "nose-to-nose" and write something truly different from what was expected at the time. A 3/4 time waltz with a melancholy lyric (possibly inspired by Astrid Kirchherr's mourning for Stu Sutcliffe), the first song they recorded for the Beatles For Sale album was a far cry from the uptempo Beatlemania rave ups of A Hard Day's Night or the Cavern-era screamers on their first two LPs. The song shows tremendous growth and bravery for daring to do the unexpected, and gives a brilliant example of John and Paul's best Everly Brothers-esque harmonies. It's a song they were very proud of, as evidenced by the fact that that once it was out, it stayed in their live show until the end of their touring days. Even in the jaded-slugging-it-out-un-enthusiastically shows of 1966, John and Paul seem to genuinely delight in being so close on one mic and singing in harmony for the entire song. It's a real gem that likely doesn't get it's due since it's a waltz in the 3rd song slot on what some consider their "worst" album. This week, we close the circle on the RTB X 2Legs meet up by welcoming Andy Nicholes to the show! After having his co-host Tom Hunyady on the last episode, it only seemed appropriate to have Andy on as well. We love 2 Legs, and Andy was great on the panels we saw him on at the Fest for Beatles Fans, so we're big fans. He joins us to talk about bootlegs, solo fandom, growing up as fans in the 90s, and so much more! Be sure to check out 2Legs anywhere you get podcasts and follow them on Facebook! For you Julia stans, she's not with us this week unfortunately. She'll be back we promise. To make it up to you, be sure to listen through to the end of the episode for a little bonus treat. What do you think about "Baby's In Black" at #86? Too high? Too low? Or just right? Let us know in the comments on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Be sure to check out ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.rankingthebeatles.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and grab a Rank Your Own Beatles poster, a shirt, a jumper, whatever you like! And if you're digging what we do, don't forget to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Buy Us A Coffee⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rankingthebeatles/support

Jen Kelly, host of the In Black and White podcast joins Andrew Rule to discuss the tragic case of Jean Lee, who was executed for murder in 1951. To listen to part 2 of The Last Woman To Hang, search for In Black and White wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe to Crime X+ to hear episodes early and ad free, unlock bonus content and access our slate of award-winning true crime podcasts Have a question for one of our Q+A shows? ask it at: lifeandcrimes@news.com.au Like the show? Get more at https://heraldsun.com.au/andrewruleAdvertising enquiries: newspodcastssold@news.com.au  Crimestoppers: https://crimestoppers.com.au/ If you or anyone you know needs help Lifeline: 13 11 14Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Singles Going Around- Sunshine & ThunderEverly Brothers- "Gone, Gone, Gone"Link Wray- "Juke Box Mama"Nirvana- "Love Buzz"Shocking Blue- "Long and Lonesome Road"Flying Burrito Brothers- "High Fashion Queen"Jack White- "Fly Farm Blues"The Byrds- "Captain Soul"Magic Sam- "All Of Your Love"Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazelwood-"Elusive Dreams"The Beatles- "Baby's In Black"Simon & Garfunkel- "Richard Cory"Neil Young- "Lost In Space"Aretha Franklin- "Save Me"The Doors- "L.A. Woman"The Beach Boys- "The Warmth Of The Sun"Johnny Cash- "Folsom Prison Blues"Led Zeppelin- "Rock and Roll" (Live)

www.LeRoyBell.com is an American singer and songwriter. He and friend Casey James formed the duo Bell and James, composing songs that were hits for other artists most notably two charting hit singles for Elton John. Later Bell with bassist Terry Morgan formed the group, LeRoy Bell & his Only Friends. In 2011, Bell auditioned for the American The X Factor and was chosen for the Final 16 and went on to the live shows being mentored by Nicole Scherzinger. He was eliminated after the fifth live show finishing 8th overall in the inaugural season of the American The X Factor. BELL AND JAMES Bell and James was a duo soul group formed by LeRoy Bell (on drums and guitar) and Casey James (on guitar, bass and keyboards). They both had played in other bands together before they decided to team up as Bell & James. The duo released three albums: Bell & James (1978), Only Make Believe (1979) and In Black and White (1980), and had a number of singles, the most successful and well-known being “Livin' It Up (Friday Night)” released on A&M Records. It reached #15 on the U.S. Hot 100. SONGWRITING LeRoy Bell also co-wrote many songs for others in partnership with Casey James. They were encouraged by LeRoy's uncle Thom Bell who owned Mighty Three Music, a music publishing and production company along with Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. The latter were a famous composing duo collaboration Gamble and Huff to whom Bell and James provided some of their compositions. Their songs were recorded by a number of groups including: The Spinners The O'Jays (notably in “This Time Baby”) The Temptations Rita Marley Gladys Knight & the Pips Freda Payne The Three Degrees WITH ELTON JOHN Most notably, two of the LeRoy Bell songs were recorded by Elton John. One was “Mama Can't Buy You Love” and the other “Are You Ready for Love”. The songs, a LeRoy Bell-Casey James co-composition appeared in the The Thom Bell Sessions in 1977. Elton John's song version of “Mama Can't Buy You Love” went to the Top 10 in the general charts and #1 the Adult/Contemporary chart and in the fall of 1979, earning Elton a Grammy Nomination for “Best Male R&B Vocal Performance”. His song “Are You Ready for Love” was even a bigger hit. Tracklist of Elton John singles: Side 1: “Are You Ready for Love” (LeRoy Bell, Thom Bell, Casey James) (8:31) Side 2.1: “Three Way Love Affair” (LeRoy Bell, Casey James) (5:31) Side 2.2: “Mama Can't Buy You Love” (LeRoy Bell, Casey James) (4:03) In February 1989, The Complete Thom Bell Sessions was released by MCA Records, although it had been recorded in 1977. In addition to “Mama Can't Buy You Love” and “Are You Ready for Love”, it featured three additional songs, including “Country Love Song” also co-written by LeRoy Bell. 1. “Nice and Slow” (Elton John, Bernie Taupin, Thom Bell) 2. “Country Love Song” (LeRoy Bell, Casey James) 3. “Shine on Through” (Elton John, G. Osborne) 4. “Mama Can't Buy You Love” (LeRoy Bell, Casey James) 5. “Are You Ready for Love” (LeRoy Bell, Casey James) 6. “Three Way Love Affair” (LeRoy Bell, Casey James) In 2003, Fat Boy Slim mixed Elton John's single version making it to the British Singles Chart. The song also charted in many European charts. WITH TEDDY PENDERGRASS LeRoy Bell had a long-running cooperation with Teddy Pendergrass for whom he wrote 5 songs in three different albums: 1979: “I'll Never See Heaven Again” on the album Teddy 1979: “Set Me Free”, also on album Teddy 1982: “Loving You Was Good” on album This One's for You 1983: “Heaven Only Knows” from the album Heaven Only Knows (lead song) Pendergrass album 1990: “Glad to Be Alive” from the album Truly Blessed OTHERS 1979: Lou Rawls: “Bark, Bite (Fight All Night)” on the album Let Me Be Good to You 1980: Lou Rawls: “Heartache (Just When You Think You're Loved)” and “You Are” on album Sit Down and Talk to Me 1988: Kimiko Kasai: “Love Talk” from album Love Talk (lead song) 2001: Me and You: “You Never Know What You Got (Til It's Gone)” 2002: Jennifer Lopez: “Still” cowritten with James and Jennifer Lopez herself in the latter's album This Is Me… Then 2005: The Freemasons: “Love on My Mind” that appears on albums Shakedown, Unmixed and Shakedown 2 He has also written for Phyllis Hyman SOLO CAREER Starting in the 2000s, he worked solo and toured extensively. In the process, he released various albums including his debut solo EP Spending Time (on his own  

Lucy Worsley travels back in time to revisit the unthinkable crimes of 19th century murderesses from the UK, Australia and North America.In this episode, Lucy is joined by Alexandra Wilson, a barrister specialising in criminal and family law and author of ‘In Black and White', to explore the case of Mary Ann Brough in 1854. Mary Ann lives in the picturesque county of Surrey, close to London. She's married to George, who lives and works at the stately home nearby, while Mary Ann stays at home looking after six of their children. It sounds like an idyllic family life. But there are cracks beneath the surface. George suspects Mary Ann of having an affair and even hires a private detective to follow her to see if his suspicions are correct. After the detective reports back, George confronts Mary Ann and declares he will be starting legal proceedings to take full custody of their children. After he leaves, Mary Ann puts the children to bed, but later that evening she commits a drastic act. She slits the throats of each of her children before trying to kill herself. She is discovered the next day still alive, fully admitting to what she did. But why did she do it? Was it a cloud of insanity that took over her in a flash? Or was it to stop her husband gaining custody of the children and taking them away? Lucy Worsley is also joined by Professor Rosalind Crone from the Open University. Together, they visit the village Mary Ann lived in and the stately estate nearby. In the studio with Alexandra Wilson they discuss the circumstances surrounding Mary Ann's crime and how the custody laws at the time may have impacted her actions. Lucy asks, has the way society treats custody disputes changed since Mary Ann's time and does it view each parent equally? Produced in partnership with the Open University.Producer: Hannah Fisher Readers: Clare Corbett, Jonathan Keeble Singer: Olivia Bloore Sound design: Chris Maclean Series Producer: Julia HayballA StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4New episodes will be released on Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts. But if you're in the UK, listen to the latest full series of Lady Killers first on BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds - Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley - Available Episodes: http://bbc.in/3M2pT0K

This week we get to catch up with one of the original and most popular Perpetual Chess guests, GM Jan Gustafsson. Jan, of course, is a renowned opening theoretician, commentator and trainer, who has worked on GM Magnus Carlson's World Championship team, and is currently the coach of the German National Team. Jan has recently released a highly anticipated Chessable course, Gustafsson's  Aggressive 1. E4 (co-authored with CM Vjekoslav Nemec).   In our conversation, we discuss the lines Jan selected for this course which often belie his reputation as a "chicken", but also catch up on a wide variety of topics including life after Team Magnus, life after Chess24, life after the Chicken Chess Club podcast, chess cheating, the Bundesliga and the FIDE Candidates. It is always amusing and informative to chat with Jan, and this time is no exception! Timestamps of topics discussed can be found below.  0:00- Thanks to our sponsor, Chessable.com. Chessable has tons of new offerings in addition to GM Jan Gustafsson brand new course on 1. E4!  If you use the link below to sign up for Perpetual Chess, it helps to support the pod!  https://www.chessable.com/pro/?utm_source=affiliate&utm_medium=benjohnson&utm_campaign=pro 0:01- Welcome back Jan! Patreon mailbag question: what chess generation does Jan identify with?  0:05- Jan recently competed in the renowned German Chess League, the Bundesliga. How were the games, and what was his schedule like?  Mentioned: GM Viswanathan Anand, Nakamura, GM Vincent Keymer  9:30- How did Jan enjoy the Chess.com Team Challenge match, where he and Peter Svidler lost to a team with GM Robert Hess and GM Daniel Naroditsky  You can watch the match replay here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Pl3TNUTtqQ 11;00- Will Jan be playing his aggressive 1. E4 repertoire in the Bundesliga? Was it challenging to work on this course as a lifelong 1. D4 player.  14:30- Why did Jan decide to focus on the Dubov Italian within his course?  20:00- Why did Jan pick the classical against the Pirc?  24:00- Patreon mailbag question: Why did Jan make an aggressive repertoire rather than a “chicken” repertoire?  27:00- Did Jan have a secret blitz account to try these lines?  28:15- Patreon mailbag question: Why does Jan stream in German rather than English?  30:00- What does Jan miss most from Chess24?  32:00- Will Jan do a banter blitz for Chess.com ?  33:00- Patreon mailbag question: Whither the Chicken Chess Club Podcast?  36:00- What are Jan's thoughts about the upcoming FIDE Candidates? 41:00- Is Jan still working with GM Anish Giri?  42:00- Patreon mailbag question: What emotions did Jan feel when Magnus announced his stepping down from the World Championship cycle?  46:00- What does Jan think of Chess960/Freestyle chess?  50:00- Jan's 2024 calendar including coaching the German Olimpiad team  57:00- Jan asks me for chess book recommendations Mentioned; Think Like a Super GM, In Black and White  59:00- Has any seen any good movies or TV shows lately?  Mentioned: Mr and Mrs. Smith, Shogun, Blue Eyed Samarui, The Bear,   1:02:00- How are Magnus' Carlsen's Fantasy Basketball skills?  1:04:00- Has Jan seen GM Hans Niemann's vlog?  Mentioned: GM Hans Niemann's YouTube  1:06:00- What does Jan think of all of the recent cheating accusations?  Mentioned: Episode 368 with Erik Allebest  1:10- Thanks to Jan for rejoining! Check out his course here: https://www.chessable.com/gustafsson-s-aggressive-1-e4-part-1/course/207313/ If you would like to help support Perpetual Chess, you can do so here: https://www.patreon.com/perpetualchess Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week's guest is two- time Dutch Champion, eleven-time Olympian, author and former candidate for the World Championship Title, GM Paul Van der Sterren. Paul had an unusual career trajectory, in that after 15+years as a chess professional, his “breakout” year occurred at the age of 37. What happened that year(1993)? That is one of the many questions tackled in his fantastic, newly-translated game collection/memoir In Black and White: The Chess Autobiography of a World Championship Candidate. In New in Chess Magazine, GM Matthew Sadler calls this book “simply the finest chess book I've ever read.” After retiring from professional chess, Paul became a meditation teacher. His new book, Mindful Chess, traces the development of his mindfulness practice and offers reflections and tips for chess players interested in the topic. In addition to reflecting on the lessons from these books, Paul shares wonderful stories about his clashes with the Polgar sisters, Korchnoi, Tal and many others. I cannot recommend Paul's books highly enough, and I think that this interview will give you a good sense of the lessons they contain. Timestamps of topics discussed are below.   0:00- Thanks to our presenting chess education sponsor, Chessable.com. Be sure to check out new courses like FM Dalton Perrine's The French Simplified.  If you use the link below to sign up for Perpetual Chess, it helps to support the pod!  https://www.chessable.com/pro/?utm_source=affiliate&utm_medium=benjohnson&utm_campaign=pro 0:01- Free previews of Paul's books are available from New in Chess here:  In Black and White Mindful Chess  0:03- GM Van der Sterren achieved a legendary chess breakthrough in 1993 at age 37 . What changed?  10:30- In his one career Candidates' match, Paul lost to a young GM Gata Kamsky. How does he reflect on that match now?  16:00- For Chess in Black and White, how did Paul remember so many details from throughout his chess career?  24:00- Aging comes across as a major theme of the book, Chess in Black and White.   Was this by design?  Mentioned: GM Matthew Sadler, Sasha Chapin's All the Moves That Matter, GM Ben Finegold  32:00- Patreon mailbag question: “What is Paul's opinion as to why adults struggle to improve at chess?” Mentioned: The Facebook Chess Book Collector's Group  41:00- We discuss Mindful Chess. When did Paul become interested in meditation and Western philosophy?  Mentioned; The Bhagavad Gita, Praggnanandhaa, Gukesh, Vidit 50:00-  Patreon mailbag question: “Does GM Van der Sterren have any recommendations for connecting psychology and chess?”  Mentioned; Mental Toughness in Chess, The Rider by Tim Krabbe, The Essential Sosonko  55:00- Story time! What was it like to play the young Polgar sisters, Jan Timman, Korchnoi and Jan Timman?  1:22:00- One more Korchnoi story! 1:24:00- Paul discusses his work at the historic Max Euwe Chess Center.  Mentioned: You can help support the Max Euwe via this link: https://steunactie.nl/actie/het-max-euwe-centrum-gaat-verhuizen-the-max-euwe-centre-is-moving/-29071 1:30:00- Will there be an update to Paul's excellent opening encyclopedia, Fundamental Chess Openings?  Thanks so much to GM Van der Sterren for joining me!  If you would like to help support Perpetual Chess via Patreon, you can do so here: https://www.patreon.com/perpetualchess Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

WARNING: DISTURBING CONTENT. In the depths of the 1930s depression, a grusome find shocked the nation. And it would take a true detective and some brand new technology to crack the case. Host of the In Black and White podcast, Jen Kelly, joins the show with more. Get the In Black and White podcast:Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/in-black-and-white/id1466009446Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2hTeZWwNn4tog31decnE4z Website: https://heraldsun.com.au/ibaw Like the show? Get more at https://heraldsun.com.au/andrewruleAdvertising enquiries: newspodcastssold@news.com.au Crimestoppers: https://crimestoppers.com.au/ If you or anyone you know needs help Lifeline: 13 11 14Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The jury hands down its verdict in the William Burns murder trial, newspapers discover the existence of his sparrow, a poet is stirred to write verses about what follows... and two more Douglas crew members meet horrible deaths.Apple - http://apple.co/forgottenaustraliaPatreon - https://www.patreon.com/ForgottenAustraliaCheck out my new book The Murder Squad: https://affirmpress.com.au/browse/book/Michael-Adams-Murder-Squad-9781922863836/If you want to hear my interview with Jen Kelly of In Black & White:https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/in-black-and-white/id1466009446?i=1000622413263If you want to hear my interview with Meshel Laurie of Australian True Crime:https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/a-real-life-monster-from-australias-great-depression/id1217681421?i=1000622030689 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At his December 1882 murder trial William Burns pleads self-defence, even as fellow shipmates testify he'd committed cold-blooded murder. But what can his past reveal about his actions?Support Forgotten Australia:Apple - http://apple.co/forgottenaustraliaPatreon - https://www.patreon.com/ForgottenAustraliaCheck out my new book The Murder Squad: https://affirmpress.com.au/browse/book/Michael-Adams-Murder-Squad-9781922863836/If you want to hear my interview with Jen Kelly of In Black & White:https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/in-black-and-white/id1466009446?i=1000622413263If you want to hear my interview with Meshel Laurie of Australian True Crime:https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/a-real-life-monster-from-australias-great-depression/id1217681421?i=1000622030689 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In September 1882, on a British ship on the high seas bound for Australia, English sailor William Burns stabs and kills a superior officer. For this capital crime, he'll face justice in Adelaide – and await his fate in the company of a baby sparrow.Support Forgotten Australia to get early and ad-free episodes and bonus shows:Apple - http://apple.co/forgottenaustraliaPatreon - https://www.patreon.com/ForgottenAustraliaCheck out my new book The Murder Squad: https://affirmpress.com.au/browse/book/Michael-Adams-Murder-Squad-9781922863836/If you want to hear my interview with Jen Kelly of In Black & White:https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/in-black-and-white/id1466009446?i=1000622413263If you want to hear my interview with Meshel Laurie of Australian True Crime:https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/a-real-life-monster-from-australias-great-depression/id1217681421?i=1000622030689 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Exclusive to Forgotten Australia listeners, this episode comprises the first 20 pages of The Murder Squad, my new book about homicide investigation in Sydney and NSW during the worst years of the Great Depression. We start with Detective-Sergeant Tom McRae in Albury in September 1934 as he investigates the Pyjama Girl, before flashing back to the triple tragedies he endured in his early life and as he started his rise through the ranks.Check out The Murder Squad's awesome cover:https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-murder-squad-michael-adams/book/9781922863836.htmlHere's what some very nice folks have been saying about The Murder Squad:‘The Murder Squad is a cracking decade-long history of crazed killers and cunning cops – a triumph of true crime storytelling backed by exhaustive research.' – Stephen Gibbs, Daily Mail‘Michael Adams has that rare ability to drop the reader right in the heart of the action. He gives such precise and evocative detail that the reader can almost see, hear and smell each crime scene. Murder Squad is a riveting read, bringing Australia's Great Depression era to life through a series of cracking true crime stories starring the ingenious Sydney detective Tom McRae.' – Jen Kelly, Herald Sun, In Black & White column and podcast‘Michael Adams takes you on a tense journey into Sydney's historical badlands. Compelling, rich and meticulous: this is Australian true crime at its very best.' – Candice Fox, author of Fire With Fire, The Chase and Crimson Lake‘Michael Adams is a master true crime storyteller. His mastery is firstly, in digging out intriguing historical crimes – many of which have long been forgotten – and secondly, in recounting them in the most compelling way. The Human Glove Mystery, The Pyjama Girl and The Park Demon all get the Michael Adams treatment, but so too the stories that didn't attract the sensational headlines, but are no less intriguing. And all of it against a backdrop of historic Australia and the men of the Murder Squad who hunted out the killers and tried to bring them to justice. So thoroughly researched, this is the ultimate reference for true crime in Australia during the depression years.' – Mercedes Maguire, The Daily Telegraph Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Artist Nel Law became the first Australian woman to set foot on Antarctica in 1961 after she was smuggled on board the supply ship Magga Dan. The story is told in today's new episode of the free In Black and White podcast on Australia's forgotten characters, with author Rachael Mead.More about Rachel at: https://affirmpress.com.au/publishing/the-art-of-breaking-ice/ Like the show? Get features, backgrounders and more at heraldsun.com.au/ibawSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the previous episode of In Black and White, writer Roy Maloy told how Melbourne was gripped by fears that a copycat was trying to imitate Victorian England's most notorious criminal. In this episode, Maloy joins the show again to outline more claims that Jack the Ripper came to our shores. Learn more about Roy at Roy Maloy - Author | Facebook Like the show? go to https://heraldsun.com.au/ibaw for more    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the first of In Black and White's summer series, we open the vault to retell three stories of amazing animals who went to war. Like the show? Go to heraldsun.com.au/ibaw for more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Yet another day graces us with a question from one of our listeners. Today: how can we use our agency to help others practice their agency for good? So many of us get caught up in taking care of ourselves that we forget to let other people help when we might need it most. Sometimes... The post Agents of Persuasion (S5 Ep.14) #98 appeared first on In Black & White Show.

The secret to a happier life may just be gratitude. In today's episode, the fellas dig into gratitude and the question of Hour can we develop lifestyles of gratitude, especially when it's hard to see the good around us amidst our trials. Good is good and he always provides for us in some way!—Please subscribe... The post Gratitude for the Ungrateful (S5 Ep.13) #97 appeared first on In Black & White Show.

Howdy friends! Hope you are all well and good and hearty, especially after Thanksgiving last week! This week's episode tackles a discussion about primary, secondary, and tertiary sources of testimony, in essence. Really looking into the different places and ways we feed our testimony and how some provide much more substantial foundations than others. This... The post Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources of Testimony (S5 Ep.12) #96 appeared first on In Black & White Show.

Episode one hundred and forty of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “Trouble Every Day" by the Mothers of Invention, and the early career of Frank Zappa. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on "Christmas Time is Here Again" by the Beatles. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Resources I'm away from home as I upload this and haven't been able to do a Mixcloud, but will hopefully edit a link in in a week or so if I remember. The main biography I consulted for this was Electric Don Quixote by Neil Slaven. Zappa's autobiography, The Real Frank Zappa Book, is essential reading if you're a fan of his work. Information about Jimmy Carl Black's early life came from Black's autobiography, For Mother's Sake. Zappa's letter to Varese is from this blog, which also contains a lot of other useful information on Zappa. For information on the Watts uprising, I recommend Johnny Otis' Listen to the Lambs. And the original mix of Freak Out is currently available not on the CD issue of Freak Out itself, which is an eighties remix, but on this "documentary" set. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Just a quick note before I begin -- there are a couple of passing references in this episode to rape and child abuse. I don't believe there's anything that should upset anyone, but if you're worried, you might want to read the transcript on the podcast website before or instead of listening. But also, this episode contains explicit, detailed, descriptions of racial violence carried out by the police against Black people, including against children. Some of it is so distressing that even reading the transcript might be a bit much for some people. Sometimes, in this podcast, we have to go back to another story we've already told. In most cases, that story is recent enough that I can just say, "remember last episode, when I said...", but to tell the story of the Mothers of Invention, I have to start with a story that I told sixty-nine episodes ago, in episode seventy-one, which came out nearly two years ago. In that episode, on "Willie and the Hand Jive", I briefly told the story of Little Julian Herrera at the start. I'm going to tell a slightly longer version of the story now. Some of the information at the start of this episode will be familiar from that and other episodes, but I'm not going to expect people to remember something from that long ago, given all that's happened since. The DJ Art Laboe is one of the few figures from the dawn of rock and roll who is still working. At ninety-six years old, he still promotes concerts, and hosts a syndicated radio show on which he plays "Oldies but Goodies", a phrase which could describe him as well as the music. It's a phrase he coined -- and trademarked -- back in the 1950s, when people in his audience would ask him to play records made a whole three or four years earlier, records they had listened to in their youth. Laboe pretty much single-handedly invented the rock and roll nostalgia market -- as well as being a DJ, he owned a record label, Original Sound, which put out a series of compilation albums, Oldies But Goodies, starting in 1959, which started to cement the first draft of the doo-wop canon. These were the first albums to compile together a set of older rock and roll hits and market them for nostalgia, and they were very much based on the tastes of his West Coast teenage listenership, featuring songs like "Earth Angel" by the Penguins: [Excerpt: The Penguins, "Earth Angel"] But also records that had a more limited geographic appeal, like "Heaven and Paradise" by Don Julian and the Meadowlarks: [Excerpt: Don Julian and the Meadowlarks, "Heaven and Paradise"] As well as being a DJ and record company owner, Laboe was the promoter and MC for regular teenage dances at El Monte Legion Stadium, at which Kip and the Flips, the band that featured Sandy Nelson and Bruce Johnston, would back local performers like the Penguins, Don and Dewey, or Ritchie Valens, as well as visiting headliners like Jerry Lee Lewis. El Monte stadium was originally chosen because it was outside the LA city limits -- at the time there were anti-rock-and-roll ordinances that meant that any teenage dance had to be approved by the LA Board of Education, but those didn't apply to that stadium -- but it also led to Laboe's audience becoming more racially diverse. The stadium was in East LA, which had a large Mexican-American population, and while Laboe's listenership had initially been very white, soon there were substantial numbers of Mexican-American and Black audience members. And it was at one of the El Monte shows that Johnny Otis discovered the person who everyone thought was going to become the first Chicano rock star, before even Ritchie Valens, in 1957, performing as one of the filler acts on Laboe's bill. He signed Little Julian Herrera, a performer who was considered a sensation in East LA at the time, though nobody really knew where he lived, or knew much about him other than that he was handsome, Chicano, and would often have a pint of whisky in his back pocket, even though he was under the legal drinking age. Otis signed Herrera to his label, Dig Records, and produced several records for him, including the record by which he's now best remembered, "Those Lonely Lonely Nights": [Excerpt: Little Julian Herrera, "Those Lonely, Lonely, Nights"] After those didn't take off the way they were expected to, Herrera and his vocal group the Tigers moved to another label, one owned by Laboe, where they recorded "I Remember Linda": [Excerpt: Little Julian Herrera and the Tigers, "I Remember Linda"]  And then one day Johnny Otis got a knock on his door from the police. They were looking for Ron Gregory. Otis had never heard of Ron Gregory, and told them so. The police then showed him a picture. It turned out that Julian Herrera wasn't Mexican-American, and wasn't from East LA, but was from Massachusetts. He had run away from home a few years back, hitch-hiked across the country, and been taken in by a Mexican-American family, whose name he had adopted. And now he was wanted for rape. Herrera went to prison, and when he got out, he tried to make a comeback, but ended up sleeping rough in the basement of the stadium where he had once been discovered. He had to skip town because of some other legal problems, and headed to Tijuana, where he was last seen playing R&B gigs in 1963. Nobody knows what happened to him after that -- some say he was murdered, others that he's still alive, working in a petrol station under yet another name, but nobody has had a confirmed sighting of him since then. When he went to prison, the Tigers tried to continue for a while, but without their lead singer, they soon broke up. Ray Collins, who we heard singing the falsetto part in "I Remember Linda", went on to join many other doo-wop and R&B groups over the next few years, with little success. Then in summer 1963, he walked into a bar in Ponoma, and saw a bar band who were playing the old Hank Ballard and the Midnighters song "Work With Me Annie". As Collins later put it, “I figured that any band that played ‘Work With Me Annie' was all right,” and he asked if he could join them for a few songs. They agreed, and afterwards, Collins struck up a conversation with the guitarist, and told him about an idea he'd had for a song based on one of Steve Allen's catchphrases. The guitarist happened to be spending a lot of his time recording at an independent recording studio, and suggested that the two of them record the song together: [Excerpt: Baby Ray and the Ferns, "How's Your Bird?"] The guitarist in question was named Frank Zappa. Zappa was originally from Maryland, but had moved to California as a child with his conservative Italian-American family when his father, a defence contractor, had got a job in Monterey. The family had moved around California with his father's work, mostly living in various small towns in the Mojave desert seventy miles or so north of Los Angeles. Young Frank had an interest in science, especially chemistry, and especially things that exploded, but while he managed to figure out the ingredients for gunpowder, his family couldn't afford to buy him a chemistry set in his formative years -- they were so poor that his father regularly took part in medical experiments to get a bit of extra money to feed his kids -- and so the young man's interest was diverted away from science towards music. His first musical interest, and one that would show up in his music throughout his life, was the comedy music of Spike Jones, whose band combined virtuosic instrumental performances with sound effects: [Excerpt: Spike Jones and his City Slickers, "Cocktails for Two"] and parodies of popular classical music [Excerpt: Spike Jones and his City Slickers, "William Tell Overture"] Jones was a huge inspiration for almost every eccentric or bohemian of the 1940s and 50s -- Spike Milligan, for example, took the name Spike in tribute to him. And young Zappa wrote his first ever fan letter to Jones when he was five or six. As a child Zappa was also fascinated by the visual aesthetics of music -- he liked to draw musical notes on staves and see what they looked like. But his musical interests developed in two other ways once he entered his teens. The first was fairly typical for the musicians of his generation from LA we've looked at and will continue to look at, which is that he heard "Gee" by the Crows on the radio: [Excerpt: The Crows, "Gee"] He became an R&B obsessive at that moment, and would spend every moment he could listening to the Black radio stations, despite his parents' disapproval. He particularly enjoyed Huggy Boy's radio show broadcast from Dolphins of Hollywood, and also would religiously listen to Johnny Otis, and soon became a connoisseur of the kind of R&B and blues that Otis championed as a musician and DJ: [Excerpt: Zappa on the Late Show, “I hadn't been raised in an environment where there was a lot of music in the house. This couple that owned the chilli place, Opal and Chester, agreed to ask the man who serviced the jukebox to put in some of the song titles that I liked, because I promised that I would dutifully keep pumping quarters into this thing so that I could listen to them, and so I had the ability to eat good chilli and listen to 'Three Hours Past Midnight' by Johnny 'Guitar' Watson for most of my junior and senior year"] Johnny “Guitar” Watson, along with Guitar Slim, would become a formative influence on Zappa's guitar playing, and his playing on "Three Hours Past Midnight" is so similar to Zappa's later style that you could easily believe it *was* him: [Excerpt: Johnny "Guitar" Watson, "Three Hours Past Midnight"] But Zappa wasn't only listening to R&B. The way Zappa would always tell the story, he discovered the music that would set him apart from his contemporaries originally by reading an article in Look magazine. Now, because Zappa has obsessive fans who check every detail, people have done the research and found that there was no such article in that magazine, but he was telling the story close enough to the time period in which it happened that its broad strokes, at least, must be correct even if the details are wrong. What Zappa said was that the article was on Sam Goody, the record salesman, and talked about how Goody was so good at his job that he had even been able to sell a record of Ionisation by Edgard Varese, which just consisted of the worst and most horrible noises anyone had ever heard, just loud drumming noises and screeching sounds. He determined then that he needed to hear that album, but he had no idea how he would get hold of a copy. I'll now read an excerpt from Zappa's autobiography, because Zappa's phrasing makes the story much better: "Some time later, I was staying overnight with Dave Franken, a friend who lived in La Mesa, and we wound up going to the hi-fi place -- they were having a sale on R&B singles. After shuffling through the rack and finding a couple of Joe Huston records, I made my way toward the cash register and happened to glance at the LP bin. I noticed a strange-looking black-and-white album cover with a guy on it who had frizzy gray hair and looked like a mad scientist. I thought it was great that a mad scientist had finally made a record, so I picked it up -- and there it was, the record with "Ionisation" on it. The author of the Look article had gotten it slightly wrong -- the correct title was The Complete Works of Edgard Varèse, Volume I, including "Ionisation," among other pieces, on an obscure label called EMS (Elaine Music Store). The record number was 401.I returned the Joe Huston records and checked my pockets to see how much money I had -- I think it came to about $3.75. I'd never bought an album before, but I knew they must be expensive because mostly old people bought them. I asked the man at the cash register how much EMS 401 cost. "That gray one in the box?" he said. "$5.95." I'd been searching for that record for over a year and I wasn't about to give up. I told him I had $3.75. He thought about it for a minute, and said, "We've been using that record to demonstrate hi-fi's with -- but nobody ever buys one when we use it. I guess if you want it that bad you can have it for $3.75."" Zappa took the record home, and put it on on his mother's record player in the living room, the only one that could play LPs: [Excerpt: Edgard Varese, "Ionisation"] His mother told him he could never play that record in the living room again, so he took the record player into his bedroom, and it became his record player from that point on. Varese was a French composer who had, in his early career, been very influenced by Debussy. Debussy is now, of course, part of the classical canon, but in the early twentieth century he was regarded as radical, almost revolutionary, for his complete rewriting of the rules of conventional classical music tonality into a new conception based on chordal melodies, pedal points, and use of non-diatonic scales. Almost all of Varese's early work was destroyed in a fire, so we don't have evidence of the transition from Debussy's romantic-influenced impressionism to Varese's later style, but after he had moved to the US in 1915 he had become wildly more experimental. "Ionisation" is often claimed to be the first piece of Western classical music written only for percussion instruments. Varese was part of a wider movement of modernist composers -- for example he was the best man at Nicolas Slonimsky's wedding -- and had also set up the International Composers' Guild, whose manifesto influenced Zappa, though his libertarian politics led him to adapt it to a more individualistic rather than collective framing. The original manifesto read in part "Dying is the privilege of the weary. The present day composers refuse to die. They have realized the necessity of banding together and fighting for the right of each individual to secure a fair and free presentation of his work" In the twenties and thirties, Varese had written a large number of highly experimental pieces, including Ecuatorial, which was written for bass vocal, percussion, woodwind, and two Theremin cellos. These are not the same as the more familiar Theremin, created by the same inventor, and were, as their name suggests, Theremins that were played like a cello, with a fingerboard and bow. Only ten of these were ever made, specifically for performances of Varese's work, and he later rewrote the work to use ondes martenot instead of Theremin cellos, which is how the work is normally heard now: [Excerpt: Edgard Varese, "Ecuatorial"] But Varese had spent much of the thirties, forties, and early fifties working on two pieces that were never finished, based on science fiction ideas -- L'Astronome, which was meant to be about communication with people from the star Sirius, and Espace, which was originally intended to be performed simultaneously by choirs in Beijing, Moscow, Paris, and New York. Neither of these ideas came to fruition, and so Varese had not released any new work, other than one small piece, Étude pour espace, an excerpt from the  larger work, in Zappa's lifetime. Zappa followed up his interest in Varese's music with his music teacher, one of the few people in the young man's life who encouraged him in his unusual interests. That teacher, Mr Kavelman, introduced Zappa to the work of other composers, like Webern, but would also let him know why he liked particular R&B records. For example, Zappa played Mr. Kavelman "Angel in My Life" by the Jewels, and asked what it was that made him particularly like it: [Excerpt: The Jewels, "Angel in My Life"] The teacher's answer was that it was the parallel fourths that made the record particularly appealing. Young Frank was such a big fan of Varese that for his fifteenth birthday, he actually asked if he could make a long-distance phone call to speak to Varese. He didn't know where Varese lived, but figured that it must be in Greenwich Village because that was where composers lived, and he turned out to be right. He didn't get through on his birthday -- he got Varese's wife, who told him the composer was in Europe -- but he did eventually get to speak to him, and was incredibly excited when Varese told him that not only had he just written a new piece for the first time in years, but that it was called Deserts, and was about deserts -- just like the Mojave Desert where Zappa lived: [Excerpt: Edgard Varese, "Deserts"] As he later wrote, “When you're 15 and living in the Mojave Desert, and you find out that the World's Greatest Composer (who also looks like a mad scientist) is working in a secret Greenwich Village laboratory on a song about your hometown (so to speak), you can get pretty excited.” A year later, Zappa actually wrote to Varese, a long letter which included him telling the story about how he'd found his work in the first place, hoping to meet up with him when Zappa travelled to the East Coast to see family. I'll read out a few extracts, but the whole thing is fascinating for what it says about Zappa the precocious adolescent, and I'll link to a blog post with it in the show notes. "Dear Sir: Perhaps you might remember me from my stupid phone call last January, if not, my name again is Frank Zappa Jr. I am 16 years old… that might explain partly my disturbing you last winter. After I had struggled through Mr. Finklestein's notes on the back cover (I really did struggle too, for at the time I had had no training in music other than practice at drum rudiments) I became more and more interested in you and your music. I began to go to the library and take out books on modern composers and modern music, to learn all I could about Edgard Varese. It got to be my best subject (your life) and I began writing my reports and term papers on you at school. At one time when my history teacher asked us to write on an American that has really done something for the U.S.A. I wrote on you and the Pan American Composers League and the New Symphony. I failed. The teacher had never heard of you and said I made the whole thing up. Silly but true. That was my Sophomore year in high school. Throughout my life all the talents and abilities that God has left me with have been self developed, and when the time came for Frank to learn how to read and write music, Frank taught himself that too. I picked it all up from the library. I have been composing for two years now, utilizing a strict twelve-tone technique, producing effects that are reminiscent of Anton Webern. During those two years I have written two short woodwind quartets and a short symphony for winds, brass and percussion. I plan to go on and be a composer after college and I could really use the counsel of a veteran such as you. If you would allow me to visit with you for even a few hours it would be greatly appreciated. It may sound strange but I think I have something to offer you in the way of new ideas. One is an elaboration on the principle of Ruth Seeger's contrapuntal dynamics and the other is an extension of the twelve-tone technique which I call the inversion square. It enables one to compose harmonically constructed pantonal music in logical patterns and progressions while still abandoning tonality. Varese sent a brief reply, saying that he was going to be away for a few months, but would like to meet Zappa on his return. The two never met, but Zappa kept the letter from Varese framed on his wall for the rest of his life. Zappa soon bought a couple more albums, a version of "The Rite of Spring" by Stravinsky: [Excerpt: Igor Stravinsky, "The Rite of Spring"] And a record of pieces by Webern, including his Symphony opus 21: [Excerpt: Anton Webern, "Symphony op. 21"] (Incidentally, with the classical music here, I'm not seeking out the precise performances Zappa was listening to, just using whichever recordings I happen to have copies of). Zappa was also reading Slonimsky's works of musicology, like the Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns. As well as this "serious music" though, Zappa was also developing as an R&B musician.  He later said of the Webern album, "I loved that record, but it was about as different from Stravinsky and Varèse as you could get. I didn't know anything about twelve-tone music then, but I liked the way it sounded. Since I didn't have any kind of formal training, it didn't make any difference to me if I was listening to Lightnin' Slim, or a vocal group called the Jewels (who had a song out then called "Angel in My Life"), or Webern, or Varèse, or Stravinsky. To me it was all good music." He had started as a drummer with a group called the Blackouts, an integrated group with white, Latino, and Black members, who played R&B tracks like "Directly From My Heart to You", the song Johnny Otis had produced for Little Richard: [Excerpt: Little Richard, "Directly From My Heart to You"] But after eighteen months or so, he quit the group and stopped playing drums. Instead, he switched to guitar, with a style influenced by Johnny "Guitar" Watson and Guitar Slim. His first guitar had action so bad that he didn't learn to play chords, and moved straight on to playing lead lines with his younger brother Bobby playing rhythm. He also started hanging around with two other teenage bohemians -- Euclid Sherwood, who was nicknamed Motorhead, and Don Vliet, who called himself Don Van Vliet. Vliet was a truly strange character, even more so than Zappa, but they shared a love for the blues, and Vliet was becoming a fairly good blues singer, though he hadn't yet perfected the Howlin' Wolf imitation that would become his stock-in-trade in later years. But the surviving recording of Vliet singing with the Zappa brothers on guitar, singing a silly parody blues about being flushed down the toilet of the kind that many teenage boys would write, shows the promise that the two men had: [Excerpt: Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart, "Lost in a Whirlpool"] Zappa was also getting the chance to hear his more serious music performed. He'd had the high school band play a couple of his pieces, but he also got the chance to write film music -- his English teacher, Don Cerveris, had decided to go off and seek his fortune as a film scriptwriter, and got Zappa hired to write the music for a cheap Western he'd written, Run Home Slow. The film was beset with problems -- it started filming in 1959 but didn't get finished and released until 1965 -- but the music Zappa wrote for it did eventually get recorded and used on the soundtrack: [Excerpt: Frank Zappa, "Run Home Slow Theme"] In 1962, he got to write the music for another film, The World's Greatest Sinner, and he also wrote a theme song for that, which got released as the B-side of "How's Your Bird?", the record he made with Ray Collins: [Excerpt: Baby Ray and the Ferns, "The World's Greatest Sinner"] Zappa was able to make these records because by the early sixties, as well as playing guitar in bar bands, he was working as an assistant for a man named Paul Buff. Paul Buff had worked as an engineer for a guided missile manufacturer, but had decided that he didn't want to do that any more, and instead had opened up the first independent multi-track recording studio on the West Coast, PAL Studios, using equipment he'd designed and built himself, including a five-track tape recorder. Buff engineered a huge number of surf instrumentals there, including "Wipe Out" by the Surfaris: [Excerpt: The Surfaris, "Wipe Out"] Zappa had first got to know Buff when he had come to Buff's studio with some session musicians in 1961, to record some jazz pieces he'd written, including this piece which at the time was in the style of Dave Brubeck but would later become a staple of Zappa's repertoire reorchestrated in a  rock style. [Excerpt: The PAL Studio Band, "Never on Sunday"] Buff really just wanted to make records entirely by himself, so he'd taught himself to play the rudiments of guitar, bass, drums, piano, and alto saxophone, so he could create records alone. He would listen to every big hit record, figure out what the hooks were on the record, and write his own knock-off of those. An example is "Tijuana Surf" by the Hollywood Persuaders, which is actually Buff on all instruments, and which according to Zappa went to number one in Mexico (though I've not found an independent source to confirm that chart placing, so perhaps take it with a pinch of salt): [Excerpt: The Hollywood Persuaders, "Tijuana Surf"] The B-side to that, "Grunion Run", was written by Zappa, who also plays guitar on that side: [Excerpt: The Hollywood Persuaders, "Grunion Run"] Zappa, Buff, Ray Collins, and a couple of associates would record all sorts of material at PAL -- comedy material like "Hey Nelda", under the name "Ned and Nelda" -- a parody of "Hey Paula" by Paul and Paula: [Excerpt: Ned and Nelda, "Hey Nelda"] Doo-wop parodies like "Masked Grandma": [Excerpt: The PAL Studio Band, "Masked Grandma"] R&B: [Excerpt: The PAL Studio Band, "Why Don't You Do Me Right?"] and more. Then Buff or Zappa would visit one of the local independent label owners and try to sell them the master -- Art Laboe at Original Sound released several of the singles, as did Bob Keane at Donna Records and Del-Fi. The "How's Your Bird" single also got Zappa his first national media exposure, as he went on the Steve Allen show, where he demonstrated to Allen how to make music using a bicycle and a prerecorded electronic tape, in an appearance that Zappa would parody five years later on the Monkees' TV show: [Excerpt: Steve Allen and Frank Zappa, "Cyclophony"] But possibly the record that made the most impact at the time was "Memories of El Monte", a song that Zappa and Collins wrote together about Art Laboe's dances at El Monte Stadium, incorporating excerpts of several of the songs that would be played there, and named after a compilation Laboe had put out, which had included “I Remember Linda” by Little Julian and the Tigers. They got Cleve Duncan of the Penguins to sing lead, and the record came out as by the Penguins, on Original Sound: [Excerpt: The Penguins, "Memories of El Monte"] By this point, though, Pal studios was losing money, and Buff took up the offer of a job working for Laboe full time, as an engineer at Original Sound. He would later become best known for inventing the kepex, an early noise gate which engineer Alan Parsons used on a bass drum to create the "heartbeat" that opens Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon: [Excerpt: Pink Floyd, "Speak to Me"] That invention would possibly be Buff's most lasting contribution to music, as by the early eighties, the drum sound on every single pop record was recorded using a noise gate. Buff sold the studio to Zappa, who renamed it Studio Z and moved in -- he was going through a divorce and had nowhere else to live. The studio had no shower, and Zappa had to just use a sink to wash, and he was surviving mostly off food scrounged by his resourceful friend Motorhead Sherwood. By this point, Zappa had also joined a band called the Soots, consisting of Don Van Vliet, Alex St. Clair and Vic Mortenson, and they recorded several tracks at Studio Z, which they tried to get released on Dot Records, including a cover version of Little Richard's “Slippin' and Slidin'”, and a song called “Tiger Roach” whose lyrics were mostly random phrases culled from a Green Lantern comic: [Excerpt: The Soots, "Tiger Roach"] Zappa also started writing what was intended as the first ever rock opera, "I Was a Teenage Maltshop", and attempts were made to record parts of it with Vliet, Mortenson, and Motorhead Sherwood: [Excerpt: Frank Zappa, "I Was a Teenage Maltshop"] Zappa was also planning to turn Studio Z into a film studio. He obtained some used film equipment, and started planning a science fiction film to feature Vliet, titled "Captain Beefheart Meets the Grunt People". The title was inspired by an uncle of Vliet's, who lived with Vliet and his girlfriend, and used to urinate with the door open so he could expose himself to Vliet's girlfriend, saying as he did so "Look at that! Looks just like a big beef heart!" Unfortunately, the film would not get very far. Zappa was approached by a used-car salesman who said that he and his friends were having a stag party. As Zappa owned a film studio, could he make them a pornographic film to show at the party? Zappa told him that a film wouldn't be possible, but as he needed the money, would an audio tape be acceptable? The used-car salesman said that it would, and gave him a list of sex acts he and his friends would like to hear. Zappa and a friend, Lorraine Belcher, went into the studio and made a few grunting noises and sound effects. The used-car salesman turned out actually to be an undercover policeman, who was better known in the area for his entrapment of gay men, but had decided to branch out. Zappa and Belcher were arrested -- Zappa's father bailed him out, and Zappa got an advance from Art Laboe to pay Belcher's bail. Luckily "Grunion Run" and "Memories of El Monte" were doing well enough that Laboe could give Zappa a $1500 advance. When the case finally came to trial, the judge laughed at the tape and wanted to throw the whole case out, but the prosecutor insisted on fighting, and Zappa got ten days in prison, and most of his tapes were impounded, never to be returned. He fell behind with his rent, and Studio Z was demolished. And then Ray Collins called him, asking if he wanted to join a bar band: [Excerpt: The Mothers, "Hitch-Hike"] The Soul Giants were formed by a bass player named Roy Estrada. Now, Estrada is unfortunately someone who will come up in the story a fair bit over the next year or so, as he played on several of the most important records to come out of LA in the sixties and early seventies. He is also someone about whom there's fairly little biographical information -- he's not been interviewed much, compared to pretty much everyone else, and it's easy to understand why when you realise that he's currently half-way through a twenty-five year sentence for child molestation -- his third such conviction. He won't get out of prison until he's ninety-three. He's one of the most despicable people who will turn up in this podcast, and frankly I'm quite glad I don't know more about him as a person. He was, though, a good bass player and falsetto singer, and he had released a single on King Records, an instrumental titled "Jungle Dreams": [Excerpt, Roy Estrada and the Rocketeers, "Jungle Dreams"] The other member of the rhythm section, Jimmy Carl Black, was an American Indian (that's the term he always used about himself until his death, and so that's the term I'll use about him too) from Texas. Black had grown up in El Paso as a fan of Western Swing music, especially Bob Wills, but had become an R&B fan after discovering Wolfman Jack's radio show and hearing the music of Howlin' Wolf and Sonny Boy Williamson. Like every young man from El Paso, he would travel to Juarez as a teenager to get drunk, see sex shows, and raise hell. It was also there that he saw his first live blues music, watching Long John Hunter, the same man who inspired the Bobby Fuller Four, and he would always claim Hunter as the man whose shows taught him how to play the blues. Black had decided he wanted to become a musician when he'd seen Elvis perform live. In Black's memory, this was a gig where Elvis was an unknown support act for Faron Young and Wanda Jackson, but he was almost certainly slightly misremembering -- it's most likely that what he saw was Elvis' show in El Paso on the eleventh of April 1956, where Young and Jackson were also on the bill, but supporting Elvis who was headlining. Either way, Black had decided that he wanted to make girls react to him the same way they reacted to Elvis, and he started playing in various country and R&B bands. His first record was with a group called the Keys, and unfortunately I haven't been able to track down a copy (it was reissued on a CD in the nineties, but the CD itself is now out of print and sells for sixty pounds) but he did rerecord the song with a later group he led, the Mannish Boys: [Excerpt: Jimmy Carl Black and the Mannish Boys, "Stretch Pants"] He spent a couple of years in the Air Force, but continued playing music during that time, including in a band called The Exceptions which featured Peter Cetera later of the band Chicago, on bass. After a brief time working as lineman in Wichita, he moved his family to California, where he got a job teaching drums at a music shop in Anaheim, where the bass teacher was Jim Fielder, who would later play bass in Blood, Sweat, and Tears. One of Fielder's friends, Tim Buckley, used to hang around in the shop as well, and Black was at first irritated by him coming in and playing the guitars and not buying anything, but eventually became impressed by his music. Black would later introduce Buckley to Herb Cohen, who would become Buckley's manager, starting his professional career. When Roy Estrada came into the shop, he and Black struck up a friendship, and Estrada asked Black to join his band The Soul Giants, whose lineup became Estrada, Black, a sax player named Davey Coronado, a guitarist called Larry and a singer called Dave. The group got a residency at the Broadside club in Ponoma, playing "Woolly Bully" and "Louie Louie" and other garage-band staples. But then Larry and Dave got drafted, and the group got in two men called Ray -- Ray Collins on vocals, and Ray Hunt on guitar. This worked for a little while, but Ray Hunt was, by all accounts, not a great guitar player -- he would play wrong chords, and also he was fundamentally a surf player while the Soul Giants were an R&B group. Eventually, Collins and Hunt got into a fistfight, and Collins suggested that they get in his friend Frank instead. For a while, the Soul Giants continued playing "Midnight Hour" and "Louie Louie", but then Zappa suggested that they start playing some of his original material as well. Davy Coronado refused to play original material, because he thought, correctly, that it would lose the band gigs, but the rest of the band sided with the man who had quickly become their new leader. Coronado moved back to Texas, and on Mother's Day 1965 the Soul Giants changed their name to the Mothers. They got in Henry Vestine on second guitar, and started playing Zappa's originals, as well as changing the lyrics to some of the hits they were playing: [Excerpt: The Mothers, "Plastic People"] Zappa had started associating with the freak crowd in Hollywood centred around Vito and Franzoni, after being introduced by Don Cerveris, his old teacher turned screenwriter, to an artist called Mark Cheka, who Zappa invited to manage the group. Cheka in turn brought in his friend Herb Cohen, who managed several folk acts including the Modern Folk Quartet and Judy Henske, and who like Zappa had once been arrested on obscenity charges, in Cohen's case for promoting gigs by the comedian Lenny Bruce. Cohen first saw the Mothers when they were recording their appearance in an exploitation film called Mondo Hollywood. They were playing in a party scene, using equipment borrowed from Jim Guercio, a session musician who would briefly join the Mothers, but who is now best known for having been Chicago's manager and producing hit records for them and Blood, Sweat, and Tears. In the crowd were Vito and Franzoni, Bryan Maclean, Ram Dass, the Harvard psychologist who had collaborated with Timothy Leary in controversial LSD experiments that had led to both losing their jobs, and other stalwarts of the Sunset Strip scene. Cohen got the group bookings at the Whisky A-Go-Go and The Trip, two of the premier LA nightclubs, and Zappa would also sit in with other bands playing at those venues, like the Grass Roots, a band featuring Bryan Maclean and Arthur Lee which would soon change its name to Love. At this time Zappa and Henry Vestine lived together, next door to a singer named Victoria Winston, who at the time was in a duo called Summer's Children with Curt Boettcher: [Excerpt: Summer's Children, "Milk and Honey"] Winston, like Zappa, was a fan of Edgard Varese, and actually asked Zappa to write songs for Summer's Children, but one of the partners involved in their production company disliked Zappa's material and the collaboration went no further. Zappa at this point was trying to incorporate more ideas from modal jazz into his music. He was particularly impressed by Eric Dolphy's 1964 album "Out to Lunch": [Excerpt: Eric Dolphy, "Hat and Beard"] But he was also writing more about social issues, and in particular he had written a song called "The Watts Riots Song", which would later be renamed "Trouble Every Day": [Excerpt: The Mothers of Invention, "Trouble Every Day"] Now, the Watts Uprising was one of the most important events in Black American history, and it feels quite wrong that I'm covering it in an episode about a band made up of white, Latino, and American Indian people rather than a record made by Black people, but I couldn't find any way to fit it in anywhere else. As you will remember me saying in the episode on "I Fought the Law", the LA police under Chief William Parker were essentially a criminal gang by any other name -- they were incompetent, violent, and institutionally racist, and terrorised Black people. The Black people of LA were also feeling particularly aggrieved in the summer of 1965, as a law banning segregation in housing had been overturned by a ballot proposition in November 1964, sponsored by the real estate industry and passed by an overwhelming majority of white voters in what Martin Luther King called "one of the most shameful developments in our nation's history", and which Edmund Brown, the Democratic governor said was like "another hate binge which began more than 30 years ago in a Munich beer hall". Then on Wednesday, August 11, 1965, the police pulled over a Black man, Marquette Frye, for drunk driving. He had been driving his mother's car, and she lived nearby, and she came out to shout at him about drinking and driving. The mother, Rena Price, was hit by one of the policemen; Frye then physically attacked one of the police for hitting his mother, one of the police pulled out a gun, a crowd gathered, the police became violent against the crowd, a rumour spread that they had kicked a pregnant woman, and the resulting protests were exacerbated by the police carrying out what Chief Parker described as a "paramiltary" response. The National Guard were called in, huge swathes of south central LA were cordoned off by the police with signs saying things like "turn left or get shot". Black residents started setting fire to and looting local white-owned businesses that had been exploiting Black workers and customers, though this looting was very much confined to individuals who were known to have made the situation worse. Eventually it took six days for the uprising to be put down, at a cost of thirty-four deaths, 1032 injuries, and 3438 arrests. Of the deaths, twenty-three were Black civilians murdered by the police, and zero were police murdered by Black civilians (two police were killed by other police, in accidental shootings). The civil rights activist Bayard Rustin said of the uprising, "The whole point of the outbreak in Watts was that it marked the first major rebellion of Negroes against their own masochism and was carried on with the express purpose of asserting that they would no longer quietly submit to the deprivation of slum life." Frank Zappa's musical hero Johnny Otis would later publish the book Listen to the Lambs about the Watts rebellion, and in it he devotes more than thirty pages to eyewitness accounts from Black people. It's an absolutely invaluable resource. One of the people Otis interviews is Lily Ford, who is described by my copy of the book as being the "lead singer of the famous Roulettes". This is presumably an error made by the publishers, rather than Otis, because Ford was actually a singer with the Raelettes, as in Ray Charles' vocal group. She also recorded with Otis under the name "Lily of the Valley": [Excerpt: Lily of the Valley, "I Had a Sweet Dream"] Now, Ford's account deserves a large excerpt, but be warned, this is very, very difficult to hear. I gave a content warning at the beginning, but I'm going to give another one here. "A lot of our people were in the street, seeing if they could get free food and clothes and furniture, and some of them taking liquor too. But the white man was out for blood. Then three boys came down the street, laughing and talking. They were teenagers, about fifteen or sixteen years old. As they got right at the store they seemed to debate whether they would go inside. One boy started a couple of times to go. Finally he did. Now a cop car finally stops to investigate. Police got out of the car. Meanwhile, the other two boys had seen them coming and they ran. My brother-in-law and I were screaming and yelling for the boy to get out. He didn't hear us, or was too scared to move. He never had a chance. This young cop walked up to the broken window and looked in as the other one went round the back and fired some shots and I just knew he'd killed the other two boys, but I guess he missed. He came around front again. By now other police cars had come. The cop at the window aimed his gun. He stopped and looked back at a policeman sitting in a car. He aimed again. No shot. I tried to scream, but I was so horrified that nothing would come out of my throat. The third time he aimed he yelled, "Halt", and fired before the word was out of his mouth. Then he turned around and made a bull's-eye sign with his fingers to his partner. Just as though he had shot a tin can off a fence, not a human being. The cops stood around for ten or fifteen minutes without going inside to see if the kid was alive or dead. When the ambulance came, then they went in. They dragged him out like he was a sack of potatoes. Cops were everywhere now. So many cops for just one murder." [Excerpt: The Mothers of Invention, "Trouble Every Day"] There's a lot more of this sort of account in Otis' book, and it's all worth reading -- indeed, I would argue that it is *necessary* reading. And Otis keeps making a point which I quoted back in the episode on "Willie and the Hand Jive" but which I will quote again here -- “A newborn Negro baby has less chance of survival than a white. A Negro baby will have its life ended seven years sooner. This is not some biological phenomenon linked to skin colour, like sickle-cell anaemia; this is a national crime, linked to a white-supremacist way of life and compounded by indifference”. (Just a reminder, the word “Negro” which Otis uses there was, in the mid-sixties, the term of choice used by Black people.) And it's this which inspired "The Watts Riot Song", which the Mothers were playing when Tom Wilson was brought into The Trip by Herb Cohen: [Excerpt: The Mothers of Invention, "Trouble Every Day"] Wilson had just moved from Columbia, where he'd been producing Dylan and Simon and Garfunkel, to Verve, a subsidiary of MGM which was known for jazz records but was moving into rock and roll. Wilson was looking for a white blues band, and thought he'd found one. He signed the group without hearing any other songs. Henry Vestine quit the group between the signing and the first recording, to go and join an *actual* white blues band, Canned Heat, and over the next year the group's lineup would fluctuate quite a bit around the core of Zappa, Collins, Estrada, and Black, with members like Steve Mann, Jim Guercio, Jim Fielder, and Van Dyke Parks coming and going, often without any recordings being made of their performances. The lineup on what became the group's first album, Freak Out! was Zappa, Collins, Estrada, Black, and Elliot Ingber, the former guitarist with the Gamblers, who had joined the group shortly before the session and would leave within a few months. The first track the group recorded, "Any Way the Wind Blows", was straightforward enough: [Excerpt: The Mothers of Invention, "Any Way the Wind Blows"] The second song, a "Satisfaction" knock-off called "Hungry Freaks Daddy", was also fine. But it was when the group performed their third song of the session, "Who Are The Brain Police?", that Tom Wilson realised that he didn't have a standard band on his hands: [Excerpt: The Mothers of Invention, "Who Are the Brain Police?"] Luckily for everyone concerned, Tom Wilson was probably the single best producer in America to have discovered the Mothers. While he was at the time primarily known for his folk-rock productions, he had built his early career on Cecil Taylor and Sun Ra records, some of the freakiest jazz of the fifties and early sixties. He knew what needed to be done -- he needed a bigger budget. Far from being annoyed that he didn't have the white blues band he wanted, Wilson actively encouraged the group to go much, much further. He brought in Wrecking Crew members to augment the band (though one of them. Mac Rebennack, found the music so irritating he pretended he needed to go to the toilet, walked out, and never came back). He got orchestral musicians to play Zappa's scores, and allowed the group to rent hundreds of dollars of percussion instruments for the side-long track "Return of the Son of Monster Magnet", which features many Hollywood scenesters of the time, including Van Dyke Parks, Kim Fowley, future Manson family member Bobby Beausoleil, record executive David Anderle, songwriter P.F. Sloan, and cartoonist Terry Gilliam, all recording percussion parts and vocal noises: [Excerpt: The Mothers of Invention, "Return of the Son of Monster Magnet"] Such was Wilson's belief in the group that Freak Out! became only the second rock double album ever released -- exactly a week after the first, Blonde on Blonde, by Wilson's former associate Bob Dylan. The inner sleeve included a huge list of people who had influenced the record in one way or another, including people Zappa knew like Don Cerveris, Don Vliet, Paul Buff, Bob Keane, Nik Venet, and Art Laboe,  musicians who had influenced the group like Don & Dewey, Johnny Otis, Otis' sax players Preston Love and Big Jay McNeely, Eric Dolphy, Edgard Varese, Richard Berry, Johnny Guitar Watson, and Ravi Shankar, eccentric performers like Tiny Tim, DJs like Hunter Hancock and Huggy Boy, science fiction writers like Cordwainer Smith and Robert Sheckley, and scenesters like David Crosby, Vito, and Franzoni. The list of 179 people would provide a sort of guide for many listeners, who would seek out those names and find their ways into the realms of non-mainstream music, writing, and art over the next few decades. Zappa would always remain grateful to Wilson for taking his side in the record's production, saying "Wilson was sticking his neck out. He laid his job on the line by producing the album. MGM felt that they had spent too much money on the album". The one thing Wilson couldn't do, though, was persuade the label that the group's name could stay as it was. "The Mothers" was a euphemism, for a word I can't say if I want this podcast to keep its clean rating, a word that is often replaced in TV clean edits of films with "melon farmers", and MGM were convinced that the radio would never play any music by a band with that name -- not realising that that wouldn't be the reason this music wouldn't get played on the radio. The group needed to change their name. And so, out of necessity, they became the Mothers of Invention.