Podcasts about whipper snapper

" Whipper Snapper " | No Behaviour Episode 223 | Feat Billy Da Goat by Margs & Loons

Carson Taylor has been doing stand-up in the Mobile, Ala., area for almost a decade. He made friends with Zeke Buckhaults in high school, joined his band, Shropshire Collective, and followed him into the comedy scene. Taylor quit drinking six months ago and has noticed a big change in his stand-up -- mainly that he doesn't black out on stage anymore. He runs Whipper Snapper with Josephine Rivera and works all over the Gulf Coast.Follow Carson Taylor: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carsontaylorcomedy/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whippersnappercomedySupport the Show.

Greg and Nathan are at it again. This time one Isaac Dutcher joins the conversation on movies. 

Jeremy recounts his most recent weekend hosting at Go Bananas Comedy Club.

We review the infamous ECW Guilty as Charged PPV

We catch up with Jimmy from Whipper Snapper Distillery in East Perth! This episode we chat about finding mentors, what it's like to work in and own a distillery and of course, all things whiskey! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/perth-business-podcast/message

We’re not huge drinkers of whisky with an ‘e’, but Kat is joined by Lewis again to try something old and something new…Bond and Lillard Straight Kentucky Bourbon Whisky thanks to the lovely bitter folks at Campari, alongside something that started a century later here in Western Australia, with Whipper Snapper’s Upshot toasted virgin French oak.

Uncultured sits down this week to discuss Kodak black statements from Jail, Old Niggas , and Anime Games. Guest Appearance: John Intro Song: No Chorus (Dreezy, Buddy, Guapdad 4000). --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Tim and Ben like jobs where you can drink at work.  This week they get to do just that during their interview with Jimmy McKeown in the ‘Black Room' of Whipper Snapper Distillery.  Whipper Snapper is fast becoming a well-known brand amongst whiskey lovers and the go-to drink for many, and in this episode, Jimmy talks us through its amazing origins – and his equally amazing personal story.  From an illegal moonshine still run by a World War II bomber pilot to being recognised as a certified ‘Icon of Whiskey', the Whipper Snapper story is a cracker. Jimmy discusses his attitude towards risk and regret, both of which served as catalytic elements in starting the distillery, before taking us through the ingredients and distilling process.  He then talks about their range of spirits, from their flagship 'Upshot' to more experimental lines including quinoa whiskey, the soon-to-be released red corn whiskey and – of course – their 'Crazy Uncle Moonshine'. If you don't know who your crazy uncle is ... then it's you! Tellingly, one thing that Jimmy doesn't talk about is the fact that he had – just the week prior to the interview – been named as Master Distiller of the Year in the Icons of Whisky 2020 Australian awards. Truly humble, a truly great bloke and a truly tasty drop of whiskey – enjoy!   Intelligence Summary (INTSUM) 02:00 – Jimmy's early years 06:45 – Vic's story – Lancaster bombers and illegal moonshine 09:15 – Ben makes up some statistics about WWII Bomber Command attrition rates 10:25 – Jimmy on risk and avoiding regret 13:45 – What is an Australian whiskey? Jimmy talks grain and flavour profiles and the dream of making an Australian whiskey at scale 16:30 – “Full disclosure” 17:10- On the ‘microfactors' that help make Whipper Snapper different to mass produced whiskey 18:30 – What goes into Whipper Snapper's whiskey? 21:20 – Red Corn whiskey (coming soon!) – a crazy idea which highlights Whipper Snapper's close relationship with its grain growers XX:XX - Does anyone actually read the timeline in the Show Notes?! 23:20 – How to make whiskey 33:20 – The story behind the Whipper Snapper's logo – and its name! 39:40 – Quinoa whiskey – superfood! 45:10 – The whiskey environment in Australia 51:20- Signature Whipper Snapper cocktails 53:50 – Marketing Whipper Snapper 56:30- The Special Operations relationship 1:02:00- How many stories could be tyold over a glass of Upshot 1:03:00:– Quick Questions / Quick Answers! 1:08:00- Jimmy's favourite quote: From CS Lewis. 1:09:23 – Jimmy's toast to the entire world!   About Whipper Snapper https://whippersnapperdistillery.com/   Music As always music by The Externals. Hear more of The Externals on Spotify.

Welcome to episode twenty-seven of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs. Today we’re looking at LaVern Baker and “Tweedle Dee”. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. —-more—- Resources As always, I’ve created a Mixcloud streaming playlist with full versions of all the songs in the episode. The Patreon-only episode on Johnnie Ray I mention is here. There are no full biographies of LaVern Baker that I know of, but Blue Rhythms: Six Lives in Rhythm and Blues by Chip Deffaa devotes forty-three pages to her, and also has similar-length essays on five more important R&B pioneers. There are many compilations of Baker’s early work available. This set contains her first four albums in full, and is probably your best bet. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript   We talked a while back about how the copyright law in the 1950s didn’t protect arrangements, and how that disproportionately affected black artists. But that doesn’t mean that the black artists didn’t fight back. Today we’re going to talk about LaVern Baker, who led the fight for black artists’ rights in the 1950s, But she was also one of the most successful female R&B artists of the fifties, and would deserve recognition even had she never been a campaigner. LaVern Baker was born Delores Evans, but she took her father’s surname, Baker, as a stage name — although she took on many different names in the early stages of her career. Music ran in her family. Her aunt, for example, was Merline Johnson, the “Yas Yas Girl”, who had been a mildly successful blues singer in the thirties and forties, and had performed with musicians such as Big Bill Broonzy and Blind John Davis: [excerpt: “Sold it to the Devil”, Merline Johnson] Young Delores idolised her aunt, as well as her more distant relative, the blues singer Memphis Minnie, and by the time she was twelve she was recording with Lester Melrose, the producer at RCA who also worked with Baker’s relatives. However, those early recordings only produced one single, under another name, which sold so poorly that when she was interviewed in the 1990s Baker would say that she only knew of one person who owned a copy, and that person wouldn’t even make a cassette copy for Baker. When Baker became a full time singer in her late teens, she wasn’t performing as LaVern Baker, but as “Little Miss Sharecropper”. She was, in fact, basically a tribute act to “Little Miss Cornshucks”, a novelty blues singer whose act had her dressed as an innocent, unsophisticated, farm-girl: [excerpt: Little Miss Cornshucks “Waiting In Vain”] Little Miss Cornshucks seems to have had personal problems that limited her success — she was an alcoholic and married to a drug dealer — but she was hugely influential on a lot of the rhythm and blues artists who recorded for Atlantic in the early 1950s, as she was a favourite of the label’s owner, Ahmet Ertegun. In particular, Ruth Brown’s first hit single on Atlantic, “So Long”, was a cover version of Cornshucks’ local hit version of the song from the forties. Little Miss Cornshucks never did particularly well on the national scene, but she was popular enough in Chicago that the club owners wanted to put on an act who could capitalise on that popularity. And so, like Little Miss Cornshucks, Little Miss Sharecropper would go on stage carrying a straw basket, barefoot, in ragged clothes and a straw hat. She was not exactly happy about this act, but she still gave her all in her performances, and quickly established a reputation as an excellent blues singer around the midwest — first in Chicago and later in Detroit. She also recorded at least a few singles as Little Miss Sharecropper, including this early attempt at jumping on the rock bandwagon: [Excerpt: Little Miss Sharecropper, “I Want To Rock”] While in Detroit, she also played a big part in teaching a young singer named Johnnie Ray how to sing the blues. Ray went on to be the biggest teen idol of the early 1950s, and most of the gimmicks the young singer used to make his audience of teenage girls swoon for him were things that Lavern Baker had taught him how to do. Those of you who have heard the Patreon-only bonus episode on Johnnie Ray will know all about her connection with him already, of course, but for those who haven’t, the main thing she did for Ray was get him copying Al Jolson. Ray was a singer who many listeners thought at first was himself a black woman, and so there are a *lot* of racial dynamics at play there, in a black woman who had to perform as a caricature of ignorant black femininity teaching a white man who sang like a black woman how to perform by getting him to copy the stage presence of a blackface minstrel act. Both Ray and Baker were hugely influenced by another singer, Dinah Washington, as almost all R&B singers, especially women, were at this time. Washington is one of those people we need to discuss in this series, but who was only an indirect influence on rock and roll. She worked on the borders of jazz and R&B, but slightly over to the jazz side rather than to the R&B one, and so while she didn’t make rock and roll music herself, or even proto-rock and roll, without her we would have no Ray Charles or Aretha Franklin, no Etta James or Lavern Baker. Washington was the consummate blues stylist, but the music she sang was a combination of traditional pop, jazz, blues, R&B, and torch songs. Like so many of the early stars of R&B, she started out as a member of Lionel Hampton’s band, singing with him for a couple of years in the late 1940s, before she went solo and started performing her own music. Washington didn’t hit the pop charts with any regularity until 1959, but she was a regular at the top of the R&B charts right from the beginning of her career, and one thing you’ll notice if you read the biographies of any singer at all from this time period is them saying how much they wanted to sound like Washington specifically. Washington’s commercial peak came rather later than her peak in influence, and she only played a very indirect part in the history of rock and roll, but it was a very *large* indirect part. You can hear the influence that Washington had on Baker by comparing their performances of the song “Harbor Lights”. Here’s Washington: [excerpt: Dinah Washington, “Harbor Lights”] And here’s Baker: [Excerpt: LaVern Baker, “Harbor Lights”] While Baker was performing as Little Miss Sharecropper, she also recorded for a lot of different labels, under a variety of different names. But none of these records sold outside the cities Baker was playing in, and she remained unknown elsewhere until 1953, when she signed with Atlantic Records. Her first single for Atlantic had a song credited to Baker plus one of Ahmet Ertegun’s pseudonyms. “Soul on Fire” was, for the time, a remarkably intense record. [Excerpt: LaVern Baker, “Soul on Fire”] Before “Soul on Fire” was released, she got the chance to go overseas for the first time. She joined a touring show called The Harlem Melody in late 1953, and travelled to Europe with that tour. The rest of the acts eventually moved on, and moved back to the USA, but Baker decided to stay on performing in Milan, and occasionally also performing in France. She didn’t learn to speak the language, but was successful there until she got a telegram from her agent telling her to get back home because she had a hit record. “Soul On Fire” wasn’t actually a hit, but it *was* a successful enough single that Atlantic were convinced that Baker was someone worth investing in, and so they had called her back for another session. This time it was for a bit of pop fluff called “Tweedle Dee”: [Excerpt: LaVern Baker, “Tweedle Dee”] “Tweedle Dee” was a clear attempt at another “Ko Ko Mo” — an R&B record with a vaguely Latin beat, and with lyrics consisting of platitudes about love and gibberish nonsense syllables. And early 1955 was the very best possible time to release something like that. Baker turned in a great vocal on a song that didn’t really deserve it, but her conviction alone gave the record enough power that it rose to number fourteen on the pop charts. But Baker’s hit was another one to fall foul of Georgia Gibbs. We talked about Gibbs previously, in the episode on “The Wallflower”, when we heard about her remaking that song as “Dance With Me Henry”. But that wasn’t the only time she profited off a song originally performed by a black woman. Indeed, Gibbs’ version of “the Wallflower” came after the events we’re talking about. Gibbs was a popular singer from the big band era, who’d had hit records with things like “If I Knew You Were Coming I’d Have Baked A Cake”: [Excerpt: “If I Knew You Were Coming I’d Have Baked a Cake”, Georgia Gibbs] When musical fashions changed, Gibbs took to recording hits by black artists in soundalike versions. In the case of “Tweedle Dee”, Gibbs and her producers hired the same arranger and musicians who’d played on Baker’s record, and even tried to hire the same engineer, (Tom Dowd, of Atlantic Records, who turned them down) just in case they had a single scrap of originality left in their sound somewhere. They were attempting, as far as possible, to make the exact same record, just with a white woman as the credited artist. It’s a distinction I’ve made before, but it’s one that continues to need to be made — there is a continuum of cover versions, and not all are created equal. In the case of white artists in the fifties covering black artists, there is always a power imbalance there — there are always opportunities the white artist can take that the black artist can’t — but there is a huge, clear, distinction between on the one hand a transformative cover like Elvis Presley doing “That’s All Right Mama”, where the artist totally recasts it into his own style, and on the other hand… well, on the other hand hiring the same arranger and musicians to rerecord a track note-for-note. [Excerpt: “Tweedle Dee”, Georgia Gibbs] And Baker certainly thought there was a difference. She had nothing against white singers performing in black idioms or singing other people’s songs – again, she had helped make Johnnie Ray into the star that he became – but someone just straight out copying every single element of one of her records and having a bigger hit with it was a step too far. And unlike many of the other artists of the time, Baker decided she was going to do something about it. The thing you need to understand here is that while Baker later estimated that she had lost as much as fifteen thousand dollars — in 1955 dollars — on lost sales because of Gibbs, she was not particularly interested in the money. What she was interested in was the exposure that radio play, in particular, would bring her. And it was the radio play, more than anything else, that was the big problem for her, and for other black artists. Audiences weren’t finding out about Baker’s record as much as they should have, because the radio was playing Gibbs’ record and not Baker’s. Without that radio exposure, Baker lost out on sales, and lost out on new fans who might like her other records. Baker decided that she had to fight back against this. One thing she did was a simple publicity stunt — Baker had to travel on a long-distance flight, and before she did so, she took out a life insurance policy, putting Gibbs down as the beneficiary, because if Baker died then Gibbs would no longer have a career without having anyone to copy. But she did more than that. She also lobbied Congressman Charles Diggs Jr, for help. Diggs was the first black Congressman from Michigan, and he was a pioneer in civil rights in US electoral politics. He had only just been elected when Baker contacted him, but he would soon rise to national attention with his publicising of the case of Emmett Till, a fourteen-year-old black child who had been brutally murdered because he had been accused of whistling at a white woman. In her open letter to Diggs, Baker said “After an investigation of the facts, you might see some wisdom in introducing a law to make it illegal to duplicate another’s work. It’s not that I mind someone singing a song that I wrote or have written for me by someone, but I bitterly resent their arrogance in thefting my music note-for-note”. Now, I have to admit that here I’ve hit a bit of a wall in my researches, because I have found three different, contradictory, stories about what resulted from this, and I can’t find any evidence to distinguish between them in any of the books I’ve consulted or on the Internet. One version is that nothing followed from this as far as legislation goes, and that Diggs did nothing. Another, which I’ve only been able to find in the book “Blue Rhythms”, was that Congress passed a bill which stated that on any record released, sixteen to twenty-four bars of the arrangement had to be different from any other version. Now, frankly, I find this rather difficult to believe — it doesn’t fit with anything else I know about the history of the record industry and copyright law, and I can’t find any evidence of it anywhere else, but the article in that book quotes Baker as saying this, and as also saying that she kept a copy of the bill in her house for a long time after it passed. And the third story, which seems the most plausible, but which again I’ve been unable to confirm, is that Diggs set up a Congressional committee to look into changes to the copyright law, that it investigated what changes could be made, but that it ultimately didn’t lead to any laws being passed. But what definitely happened, largely as a result of the publicity campaign by Baker and the unwelcome attention it drew to the racism of the music industry, is that the practice of making white note-for-note cover versions began to fall out of favour. Georgia Gibbs’ record label announced that after “Dance With Me Henry” she wasn’t going to cover any more R&B songs (they claimed that this was because R&B was falling out of favour with the public and nobody liked it anyway, and anyway those grapes were sour), while WINS radio in New York decided it was going to ban copy records altogether. They said that they were going to continue to play cover versions – where an artist recorded someone else’s song in their own style, changing the arrangement – but that they weren’t going to play straight copies any more. Other stations followed suit. While Georgia Gibbs’ label had said after the “Tweedle-Dee” controversy that Gibbs would not be cutting any more material from this R&B fad, two years on things had changed, and they tried the same trick again, taking Baker’s new single “Tra La La” and having Gibbs record a cover version of that. “Tra La La” was a success, but Gibbs’ producers had rather missed the point. “Tra La La” wasn’t the side of Baker’s record that people were listening to. Instead, everyone was listening to “Jim Dandy” on the other side. While “Tra La La” was another song in the style of “Tweedle Dee”, Jim Dandy was something altogether rawer, and more… rock and roll: [excerpt: Lavern Baker, “Jim Dandy”] And this is, I think, the ultimate reason that the white copycats of black music stopped, at least in this form. They could see that people were buying the black musicians’ records, but they couldn’t see *why* they were buying them. None of the people who were making what amounted to photocopies of the black musicians’ records could actually understand the music that they were parasites on. They had no creativity themselves, and relied merely on being able to duplicate someone else’s work without understanding it. That’s no basis on which to build a career. “Tra La La” went to number twenty-four on the pop charts for Gibbs, but “Jim Dandy” went to number seventeen for Baker. Gibbs would never have another top thirty hit again. And so, as this story goes on, we will occasionally have reason to note a white cover version of a black record, but they will become less and less relevant. The dominance of acts like the Crew Cuts and Georgia Gibbs was a brief one, and while they were able to hold back the careers of people like LaVern Baker, they weren’t able to be anything themselves other than dead ends, both artistically and commercially. Gibbs’ version wasn’t the only cover version of Tweedle-Dee by a white person. Elvis Presley was regularly performing the song live as he started his touring career. He never cut the song in the studio, but he would perform it on the radio on occasion: [Excerpt: Elvis Presley, “Tweedle Dee”] Indeed, Baker’s influence on Presley seems to be rather underrated — as well as performing “Tweedle Dee” live in 1955, he also recorded two other songs that year which Baker also recorded — “Tomorrow Night” and “Harbor Lights”. While neither of those songs were original to Baker, it’s probably more than just coincidence that he would record so many songs that she sang. LaVern Baker had a whole run of hits in the late fifties, but she became dissatisfied herself with the material she was given by Atlantic. While she gave great performances on “Tweedle Dee”, “Tra La La”, “Ting A Ling”, “Humpty Dumpty Heart” and the rest of the songs she was ordered to sing, they were not really the kind of songs that she’d always wanted to perform. She’d wanted to be a torch song singer, and while some of the material she was given, like “Whipper Snapper” by Leiber and Stoller, was superior early rock and roll, a lot of it was novelty gibberish. You can hear what she could do with something a bit more substantial on “I Cried A Tear”, which went to number two on the R&B charts and number twenty-one on the pop charts. “I Cried A Tear” is still ultra-simplistic in its conception, but it’s structured more like the songs that Baker had grown up on, and she gives a performance that is more suited to a torch song than to fifties rock and roll: [Excerpt, LaVern Baker: “I Cried A Tear”] Having a hit with a track like that — a waltz ballad — gave Baker and her producers the confidence to branch out with her material. In 1958 she would record an entire album of old Bessie Smith tracks, which doesn’t quite match up perhaps to the quality of Smith’s recordings of the songs, but isn’t an embarrassment in comparison with them, which says something. Baker would have ten years of moderate chart success, never hitting the heights but making the hot one hundred with everything from the Leiber and Stoller gospel song “Saved” (another song which Elvis later covered) to “Fly Me to the Moon” to this great soul duet with Jackie Wilson, her last R&B top forty hit, from 1965: [Excerpt: LaVern Baker and Jackie Wilson, “Think Twice”] The hits dried up after 1965, and even a novelty song about Batman in 1966 couldn’t get her back into the charts, and even before that she had moved more into performing jazz and blues rather than her old rock and roll hits. After her second marriage, to the comedian Slappy White, broke up, she went on a USO tour to perform for troops in Vietnam, where she fell ill. A doctor advised her to stay in a warm climate for her health, and so she got a permanent position as a troop entertainer in the Philippines, where she stayed for twenty-two years. After the revolution which brought democracy to the Philippines and the subsequent closure of the base where she was working, Baker returned to the US. Much as she’d taken over from Ruth Brown as Atlantic Records’ biggest female star of the 1950s, now she took over from Brown in her role in the Broadway revue “Black and Blue”, singing blues songs from the twenties and thirties, and had something of a career renaissance. Her health problems got worse, and by the mid nineties she was performing from a wheelchair — both her legs had been amputated due to complications from diabetes. She never made as much money as she should have, but she was one of the first recipients of a lifetime achievement award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation (which she had helped Ruth Brown set up, though Baker was never as antagonistic towards the record companies as Brown), and she was the second female solo artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, after Aretha Franklin. For someone who prized recognition over money, maybe that was enough. She died in 1997, aged 67.

Welcome to episode twenty-seven of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs. Today we’re looking at LaVern Baker and “Tweedle Dee”. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. —-more—- Resources As always, I’ve created a Mixcloud streaming playlist with full versions of all the songs in the episode. The Patreon-only episode on Johnnie Ray I mention is here. There are no full biographies of LaVern Baker that I know of, but Blue Rhythms: Six Lives in Rhythm and Blues by Chip Deffaa devotes forty-three pages to her, and also has similar-length essays on five more important R&B pioneers. There are many compilations of Baker’s early work available. This set contains her first four albums in full, and is probably your best bet. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript   We talked a while back about how the copyright law in the 1950s didn’t protect arrangements, and how that disproportionately affected black artists. But that doesn’t mean that the black artists didn’t fight back. Today we’re going to talk about LaVern Baker, who led the fight for black artists’ rights in the 1950s, But she was also one of the most successful female R&B artists of the fifties, and would deserve recognition even had she never been a campaigner. LaVern Baker was born Delores Evans, but she took her father’s surname, Baker, as a stage name — although she took on many different names in the early stages of her career. Music ran in her family. Her aunt, for example, was Merline Johnson, the “Yas Yas Girl”, who had been a mildly successful blues singer in the thirties and forties, and had performed with musicians such as Big Bill Broonzy and Blind John Davis: [excerpt: “Sold it to the Devil”, Merline Johnson] Young Delores idolised her aunt, as well as her more distant relative, the blues singer Memphis Minnie, and by the time she was twelve she was recording with Lester Melrose, the producer at RCA who also worked with Baker’s relatives. However, those early recordings only produced one single, under another name, which sold so poorly that when she was interviewed in the 1990s Baker would say that she only knew of one person who owned a copy, and that person wouldn’t even make a cassette copy for Baker. When Baker became a full time singer in her late teens, she wasn’t performing as LaVern Baker, but as “Little Miss Sharecropper”. She was, in fact, basically a tribute act to “Little Miss Cornshucks”, a novelty blues singer whose act had her dressed as an innocent, unsophisticated, farm-girl: [excerpt: Little Miss Cornshucks “Waiting In Vain”] Little Miss Cornshucks seems to have had personal problems that limited her success — she was an alcoholic and married to a drug dealer — but she was hugely influential on a lot of the rhythm and blues artists who recorded for Atlantic in the early 1950s, as she was a favourite of the label’s owner, Ahmet Ertegun. In particular, Ruth Brown’s first hit single on Atlantic, “So Long”, was a cover version of Cornshucks’ local hit version of the song from the forties. Little Miss Cornshucks never did particularly well on the national scene, but she was popular enough in Chicago that the club owners wanted to put on an act who could capitalise on that popularity. And so, like Little Miss Cornshucks, Little Miss Sharecropper would go on stage carrying a straw basket, barefoot, in ragged clothes and a straw hat. She was not exactly happy about this act, but she still gave her all in her performances, and quickly established a reputation as an excellent blues singer around the midwest — first in Chicago and later in Detroit. She also recorded at least a few singles as Little Miss Sharecropper, including this early attempt at jumping on the rock bandwagon: [Excerpt: Little Miss Sharecropper, “I Want To Rock”] While in Detroit, she also played a big part in teaching a young singer named Johnnie Ray how to sing the blues. Ray went on to be the biggest teen idol of the early 1950s, and most of the gimmicks the young singer used to make his audience of teenage girls swoon for him were things that Lavern Baker had taught him how to do. Those of you who have heard the Patreon-only bonus episode on Johnnie Ray will know all about her connection with him already, of course, but for those who haven’t, the main thing she did for Ray was get him copying Al Jolson. Ray was a singer who many listeners thought at first was himself a black woman, and so there are a *lot* of racial dynamics at play there, in a black woman who had to perform as a caricature of ignorant black femininity teaching a white man who sang like a black woman how to perform by getting him to copy the stage presence of a blackface minstrel act. Both Ray and Baker were hugely influenced by another singer, Dinah Washington, as almost all R&B singers, especially women, were at this time. Washington is one of those people we need to discuss in this series, but who was only an indirect influence on rock and roll. She worked on the borders of jazz and R&B, but slightly over to the jazz side rather than to the R&B one, and so while she didn’t make rock and roll music herself, or even proto-rock and roll, without her we would have no Ray Charles or Aretha Franklin, no Etta James or Lavern Baker. Washington was the consummate blues stylist, but the music she sang was a combination of traditional pop, jazz, blues, R&B, and torch songs. Like so many of the early stars of R&B, she started out as a member of Lionel Hampton’s band, singing with him for a couple of years in the late 1940s, before she went solo and started performing her own music. Washington didn’t hit the pop charts with any regularity until 1959, but she was a regular at the top of the R&B charts right from the beginning of her career, and one thing you’ll notice if you read the biographies of any singer at all from this time period is them saying how much they wanted to sound like Washington specifically. Washington’s commercial peak came rather later than her peak in influence, and she only played a very indirect part in the history of rock and roll, but it was a very *large* indirect part. You can hear the influence that Washington had on Baker by comparing their performances of the song “Harbor Lights”. Here’s Washington: [excerpt: Dinah Washington, “Harbor Lights”] And here’s Baker: [Excerpt: LaVern Baker, “Harbor Lights”] While Baker was performing as Little Miss Sharecropper, she also recorded for a lot of different labels, under a variety of different names. But none of these records sold outside the cities Baker was playing in, and she remained unknown elsewhere until 1953, when she signed with Atlantic Records. Her first single for Atlantic had a song credited to Baker plus one of Ahmet Ertegun’s pseudonyms. “Soul on Fire” was, for the time, a remarkably intense record. [Excerpt: LaVern Baker, “Soul on Fire”] Before “Soul on Fire” was released, she got the chance to go overseas for the first time. She joined a touring show called The Harlem Melody in late 1953, and travelled to Europe with that tour. The rest of the acts eventually moved on, and moved back to the USA, but Baker decided to stay on performing in Milan, and occasionally also performing in France. She didn’t learn to speak the language, but was successful there until she got a telegram from her agent telling her to get back home because she had a hit record. “Soul On Fire” wasn’t actually a hit, but it *was* a successful enough single that Atlantic were convinced that Baker was someone worth investing in, and so they had called her back for another session. This time it was for a bit of pop fluff called “Tweedle Dee”: [Excerpt: LaVern Baker, “Tweedle Dee”] “Tweedle Dee” was a clear attempt at another “Ko Ko Mo” — an R&B record with a vaguely Latin beat, and with lyrics consisting of platitudes about love and gibberish nonsense syllables. And early 1955 was the very best possible time to release something like that. Baker turned in a great vocal on a song that didn’t really deserve it, but her conviction alone gave the record enough power that it rose to number fourteen on the pop charts. But Baker’s hit was another one to fall foul of Georgia Gibbs. We talked about Gibbs previously, in the episode on “The Wallflower”, when we heard about her remaking that song as “Dance With Me Henry”. But that wasn’t the only time she profited off a song originally performed by a black woman. Indeed, Gibbs’ version of “the Wallflower” came after the events we’re talking about. Gibbs was a popular singer from the big band era, who’d had hit records with things like “If I Knew You Were Coming I’d Have Baked A Cake”: [Excerpt: “If I Knew You Were Coming I’d Have Baked a Cake”, Georgia Gibbs] When musical fashions changed, Gibbs took to recording hits by black artists in soundalike versions. In the case of “Tweedle Dee”, Gibbs and her producers hired the same arranger and musicians who’d played on Baker’s record, and even tried to hire the same engineer, (Tom Dowd, of Atlantic Records, who turned them down) just in case they had a single scrap of originality left in their sound somewhere. They were attempting, as far as possible, to make the exact same record, just with a white woman as the credited artist. It’s a distinction I’ve made before, but it’s one that continues to need to be made — there is a continuum of cover versions, and not all are created equal. In the case of white artists in the fifties covering black artists, there is always a power imbalance there — there are always opportunities the white artist can take that the black artist can’t — but there is a huge, clear, distinction between on the one hand a transformative cover like Elvis Presley doing “That’s All Right Mama”, where the artist totally recasts it into his own style, and on the other hand… well, on the other hand hiring the same arranger and musicians to rerecord a track note-for-note. [Excerpt: “Tweedle Dee”, Georgia Gibbs] And Baker certainly thought there was a difference. She had nothing against white singers performing in black idioms or singing other people’s songs – again, she had helped make Johnnie Ray into the star that he became – but someone just straight out copying every single element of one of her records and having a bigger hit with it was a step too far. And unlike many of the other artists of the time, Baker decided she was going to do something about it. The thing you need to understand here is that while Baker later estimated that she had lost as much as fifteen thousand dollars — in 1955 dollars — on lost sales because of Gibbs, she was not particularly interested in the money. What she was interested in was the exposure that radio play, in particular, would bring her. And it was the radio play, more than anything else, that was the big problem for her, and for other black artists. Audiences weren’t finding out about Baker’s record as much as they should have, because the radio was playing Gibbs’ record and not Baker’s. Without that radio exposure, Baker lost out on sales, and lost out on new fans who might like her other records. Baker decided that she had to fight back against this. One thing she did was a simple publicity stunt — Baker had to travel on a long-distance flight, and before she did so, she took out a life insurance policy, putting Gibbs down as the beneficiary, because if Baker died then Gibbs would no longer have a career without having anyone to copy. But she did more than that. She also lobbied Congressman Charles Diggs Jr, for help. Diggs was the first black Congressman from Michigan, and he was a pioneer in civil rights in US electoral politics. He had only just been elected when Baker contacted him, but he would soon rise to national attention with his publicising of the case of Emmett Till, a fourteen-year-old black child who had been brutally murdered because he had been accused of whistling at a white woman. In her open letter to Diggs, Baker said “After an investigation of the facts, you might see some wisdom in introducing a law to make it illegal to duplicate another’s work. It’s not that I mind someone singing a song that I wrote or have written for me by someone, but I bitterly resent their arrogance in thefting my music note-for-note”. Now, I have to admit that here I’ve hit a bit of a wall in my researches, because I have found three different, contradictory, stories about what resulted from this, and I can’t find any evidence to distinguish between them in any of the books I’ve consulted or on the Internet. One version is that nothing followed from this as far as legislation goes, and that Diggs did nothing. Another, which I’ve only been able to find in the book “Blue Rhythms”, was that Congress passed a bill which stated that on any record released, sixteen to twenty-four bars of the arrangement had to be different from any other version. Now, frankly, I find this rather difficult to believe — it doesn’t fit with anything else I know about the history of the record industry and copyright law, and I can’t find any evidence of it anywhere else, but the article in that book quotes Baker as saying this, and as also saying that she kept a copy of the bill in her house for a long time after it passed. And the third story, which seems the most plausible, but which again I’ve been unable to confirm, is that Diggs set up a Congressional committee to look into changes to the copyright law, that it investigated what changes could be made, but that it ultimately didn’t lead to any laws being passed. But what definitely happened, largely as a result of the publicity campaign by Baker and the unwelcome attention it drew to the racism of the music industry, is that the practice of making white note-for-note cover versions began to fall out of favour. Georgia Gibbs’ record label announced that after “Dance With Me Henry” she wasn’t going to cover any more R&B songs (they claimed that this was because R&B was falling out of favour with the public and nobody liked it anyway, and anyway those grapes were sour), while WINS radio in New York decided it was going to ban copy records altogether. They said that they were going to continue to play cover versions – where an artist recorded someone else’s song in their own style, changing the arrangement – but that they weren’t going to play straight copies any more. Other stations followed suit. While Georgia Gibbs’ label had said after the “Tweedle-Dee” controversy that Gibbs would not be cutting any more material from this R&B fad, two years on things had changed, and they tried the same trick again, taking Baker’s new single “Tra La La” and having Gibbs record a cover version of that. “Tra La La” was a success, but Gibbs’ producers had rather missed the point. “Tra La La” wasn’t the side of Baker’s record that people were listening to. Instead, everyone was listening to “Jim Dandy” on the other side. While “Tra La La” was another song in the style of “Tweedle Dee”, Jim Dandy was something altogether rawer, and more… rock and roll: [excerpt: Lavern Baker, “Jim Dandy”] And this is, I think, the ultimate reason that the white copycats of black music stopped, at least in this form. They could see that people were buying the black musicians’ records, but they couldn’t see *why* they were buying them. None of the people who were making what amounted to photocopies of the black musicians’ records could actually understand the music that they were parasites on. They had no creativity themselves, and relied merely on being able to duplicate someone else’s work without understanding it. That’s no basis on which to build a career. “Tra La La” went to number twenty-four on the pop charts for Gibbs, but “Jim Dandy” went to number seventeen for Baker. Gibbs would never have another top thirty hit again. And so, as this story goes on, we will occasionally have reason to note a white cover version of a black record, but they will become less and less relevant. The dominance of acts like the Crew Cuts and Georgia Gibbs was a brief one, and while they were able to hold back the careers of people like LaVern Baker, they weren’t able to be anything themselves other than dead ends, both artistically and commercially. Gibbs’ version wasn’t the only cover version of Tweedle-Dee by a white person. Elvis Presley was regularly performing the song live as he started his touring career. He never cut the song in the studio, but he would perform it on the radio on occasion: [Excerpt: Elvis Presley, “Tweedle Dee”] Indeed, Baker’s influence on Presley seems to be rather underrated — as well as performing “Tweedle Dee” live in 1955, he also recorded two other songs that year which Baker also recorded — “Tomorrow Night” and “Harbor Lights”. While neither of those songs were original to Baker, it’s probably more than just coincidence that he would record so many songs that she sang. LaVern Baker had a whole run of hits in the late fifties, but she became dissatisfied herself with the material she was given by Atlantic. While she gave great performances on “Tweedle Dee”, “Tra La La”, “Ting A Ling”, “Humpty Dumpty Heart” and the rest of the songs she was ordered to sing, they were not really the kind of songs that she’d always wanted to perform. She’d wanted to be a torch song singer, and while some of the material she was given, like “Whipper Snapper” by Leiber and Stoller, was superior early rock and roll, a lot of it was novelty gibberish. You can hear what she could do with something a bit more substantial on “I Cried A Tear”, which went to number two on the R&B charts and number twenty-one on the pop charts. “I Cried A Tear” is still ultra-simplistic in its conception, but it’s structured more like the songs that Baker had grown up on, and she gives a performance that is more suited to a torch song than to fifties rock and roll: [Excerpt, LaVern Baker: “I Cried A Tear”] Having a hit with a track like that — a waltz ballad — gave Baker and her producers the confidence to branch out with her material. In 1958 she would record an entire album of old Bessie Smith tracks, which doesn’t quite match up perhaps to the quality of Smith’s recordings of the songs, but isn’t an embarrassment in comparison with them, which says something. Baker would have ten years of moderate chart success, never hitting the heights but making the hot one hundred with everything from the Leiber and Stoller gospel song “Saved” (another song which Elvis later covered) to “Fly Me to the Moon” to this great soul duet with Jackie Wilson, her last R&B top forty hit, from 1965: [Excerpt: LaVern Baker and Jackie Wilson, “Think Twice”] The hits dried up after 1965, and even a novelty song about Batman in 1966 couldn’t get her back into the charts, and even before that she had moved more into performing jazz and blues rather than her old rock and roll hits. After her second marriage, to the comedian Slappy White, broke up, she went on a USO tour to perform for troops in Vietnam, where she fell ill. A doctor advised her to stay in a warm climate for her health, and so she got a permanent position as a troop entertainer in the Philippines, where she stayed for twenty-two years. After the revolution which brought democracy to the Philippines and the subsequent closure of the base where she was working, Baker returned to the US. Much as she’d taken over from Ruth Brown as Atlantic Records’ biggest female star of the 1950s, now she took over from Brown in her role in the Broadway revue “Black and Blue”, singing blues songs from the twenties and thirties, and had something of a career renaissance. Her health problems got worse, and by the mid nineties she was performing from a wheelchair — both her legs had been amputated due to complications from diabetes. She never made as much money as she should have, but she was one of the first recipients of a lifetime achievement award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation (which she had helped Ruth Brown set up, though Baker was never as antagonistic towards the record companies as Brown), and she was the second female solo artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, after Aretha Franklin. For someone who prized recognition over money, maybe that was enough. She died in 1997, aged 67.

Welcome to episode twenty-seven of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs. Today we're looking at LaVern Baker and "Tweedle Dee". Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. ----more---- Resources As always, I've created a Mixcloud streaming playlist with full versions of all the songs in the episode. The Patreon-only episode on Johnnie Ray I mention is here. There are no full biographies of LaVern Baker that I know of, but Blue Rhythms: Six Lives in Rhythm and Blues by Chip Deffaa devotes forty-three pages to her, and also has similar-length essays on five more important R&B pioneers. There are many compilations of Baker's early work available. This set contains her first four albums in full, and is probably your best bet. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript   We talked a while back about how the copyright law in the 1950s didn't protect arrangements, and how that disproportionately affected black artists. But that doesn't mean that the black artists didn't fight back. Today we're going to talk about LaVern Baker, who led the fight for black artists' rights in the 1950s, But she was also one of the most successful female R&B artists of the fifties, and would deserve recognition even had she never been a campaigner. LaVern Baker was born Delores Evans, but she took her father's surname, Baker, as a stage name -- although she took on many different names in the early stages of her career. Music ran in her family. Her aunt, for example, was Merline Johnson, the "Yas Yas Girl", who had been a mildly successful blues singer in the thirties and forties, and had performed with musicians such as Big Bill Broonzy and Blind John Davis: [excerpt: "Sold it to the Devil", Merline Johnson] Young Delores idolised her aunt, as well as her more distant relative, the blues singer Memphis Minnie, and by the time she was twelve she was recording with Lester Melrose, the producer at RCA who also worked with Baker's relatives. However, those early recordings only produced one single, under another name, which sold so poorly that when she was interviewed in the 1990s Baker would say that she only knew of one person who owned a copy, and that person wouldn't even make a cassette copy for Baker. When Baker became a full time singer in her late teens, she wasn't performing as LaVern Baker, but as "Little Miss Sharecropper". She was, in fact, basically a tribute act to "Little Miss Cornshucks", a novelty blues singer whose act had her dressed as an innocent, unsophisticated, farm-girl: [excerpt: Little Miss Cornshucks "Waiting In Vain"] Little Miss Cornshucks seems to have had personal problems that limited her success -- she was an alcoholic and married to a drug dealer -- but she was hugely influential on a lot of the rhythm and blues artists who recorded for Atlantic in the early 1950s, as she was a favourite of the label's owner, Ahmet Ertegun. In particular, Ruth Brown's first hit single on Atlantic, "So Long", was a cover version of Cornshucks' local hit version of the song from the forties. Little Miss Cornshucks never did particularly well on the national scene, but she was popular enough in Chicago that the club owners wanted to put on an act who could capitalise on that popularity. And so, like Little Miss Cornshucks, Little Miss Sharecropper would go on stage carrying a straw basket, barefoot, in ragged clothes and a straw hat. She was not exactly happy about this act, but she still gave her all in her performances, and quickly established a reputation as an excellent blues singer around the midwest -- first in Chicago and later in Detroit. She also recorded at least a few singles as Little Miss Sharecropper, including this early attempt at jumping on the rock bandwagon: [Excerpt: Little Miss Sharecropper, "I Want To Rock"] While in Detroit, she also played a big part in teaching a young singer named Johnnie Ray how to sing the blues. Ray went on to be the biggest teen idol of the early 1950s, and most of the gimmicks the young singer used to make his audience of teenage girls swoon for him were things that Lavern Baker had taught him how to do. Those of you who have heard the Patreon-only bonus episode on Johnnie Ray will know all about her connection with him already, of course, but for those who haven't, the main thing she did for Ray was get him copying Al Jolson. Ray was a singer who many listeners thought at first was himself a black woman, and so there are a *lot* of racial dynamics at play there, in a black woman who had to perform as a caricature of ignorant black femininity teaching a white man who sang like a black woman how to perform by getting him to copy the stage presence of a blackface minstrel act. Both Ray and Baker were hugely influenced by another singer, Dinah Washington, as almost all R&B singers, especially women, were at this time. Washington is one of those people we need to discuss in this series, but who was only an indirect influence on rock and roll. She worked on the borders of jazz and R&B, but slightly over to the jazz side rather than to the R&B one, and so while she didn't make rock and roll music herself, or even proto-rock and roll, without her we would have no Ray Charles or Aretha Franklin, no Etta James or Lavern Baker. Washington was the consummate blues stylist, but the music she sang was a combination of traditional pop, jazz, blues, R&B, and torch songs. Like so many of the early stars of R&B, she started out as a member of Lionel Hampton's band, singing with him for a couple of years in the late 1940s, before she went solo and started performing her own music. Washington didn't hit the pop charts with any regularity until 1959, but she was a regular at the top of the R&B charts right from the beginning of her career, and one thing you'll notice if you read the biographies of any singer at all from this time period is them saying how much they wanted to sound like Washington specifically. Washington's commercial peak came rather later than her peak in influence, and she only played a very indirect part in the history of rock and roll, but it was a very *large* indirect part. You can hear the influence that Washington had on Baker by comparing their performances of the song "Harbor Lights". Here's Washington: [excerpt: Dinah Washington, "Harbor Lights"] And here's Baker: [Excerpt: LaVern Baker, "Harbor Lights"] While Baker was performing as Little Miss Sharecropper, she also recorded for a lot of different labels, under a variety of different names. But none of these records sold outside the cities Baker was playing in, and she remained unknown elsewhere until 1953, when she signed with Atlantic Records. Her first single for Atlantic had a song credited to Baker plus one of Ahmet Ertegun's pseudonyms. "Soul on Fire" was, for the time, a remarkably intense record. [Excerpt: LaVern Baker, "Soul on Fire"] Before "Soul on Fire" was released, she got the chance to go overseas for the first time. She joined a touring show called The Harlem Melody in late 1953, and travelled to Europe with that tour. The rest of the acts eventually moved on, and moved back to the USA, but Baker decided to stay on performing in Milan, and occasionally also performing in France. She didn't learn to speak the language, but was successful there until she got a telegram from her agent telling her to get back home because she had a hit record. "Soul On Fire" wasn't actually a hit, but it *was* a successful enough single that Atlantic were convinced that Baker was someone worth investing in, and so they had called her back for another session. This time it was for a bit of pop fluff called "Tweedle Dee": [Excerpt: LaVern Baker, "Tweedle Dee"] "Tweedle Dee" was a clear attempt at another "Ko Ko Mo" -- an R&B record with a vaguely Latin beat, and with lyrics consisting of platitudes about love and gibberish nonsense syllables. And early 1955 was the very best possible time to release something like that. Baker turned in a great vocal on a song that didn't really deserve it, but her conviction alone gave the record enough power that it rose to number fourteen on the pop charts. But Baker's hit was another one to fall foul of Georgia Gibbs. We talked about Gibbs previously, in the episode on "The Wallflower", when we heard about her remaking that song as "Dance With Me Henry". But that wasn't the only time she profited off a song originally performed by a black woman. Indeed, Gibbs' version of "the Wallflower" came after the events we're talking about. Gibbs was a popular singer from the big band era, who'd had hit records with things like "If I Knew You Were Coming I'd Have Baked A Cake": [Excerpt: "If I Knew You Were Coming I'd Have Baked a Cake", Georgia Gibbs] When musical fashions changed, Gibbs took to recording hits by black artists in soundalike versions. In the case of "Tweedle Dee", Gibbs and her producers hired the same arranger and musicians who'd played on Baker's record, and even tried to hire the same engineer, (Tom Dowd, of Atlantic Records, who turned them down) just in case they had a single scrap of originality left in their sound somewhere. They were attempting, as far as possible, to make the exact same record, just with a white woman as the credited artist. It's a distinction I've made before, but it's one that continues to need to be made -- there is a continuum of cover versions, and not all are created equal. In the case of white artists in the fifties covering black artists, there is always a power imbalance there -- there are always opportunities the white artist can take that the black artist can't -- but there is a huge, clear, distinction between on the one hand a transformative cover like Elvis Presley doing "That's All Right Mama", where the artist totally recasts it into his own style, and on the other hand... well, on the other hand hiring the same arranger and musicians to rerecord a track note-for-note. [Excerpt: “Tweedle Dee”, Georgia Gibbs] And Baker certainly thought there was a difference. She had nothing against white singers performing in black idioms or singing other people's songs – again, she had helped make Johnnie Ray into the star that he became – but someone just straight out copying every single element of one of her records and having a bigger hit with it was a step too far. And unlike many of the other artists of the time, Baker decided she was going to do something about it. The thing you need to understand here is that while Baker later estimated that she had lost as much as fifteen thousand dollars -- in 1955 dollars -- on lost sales because of Gibbs, she was not particularly interested in the money. What she was interested in was the exposure that radio play, in particular, would bring her. And it was the radio play, more than anything else, that was the big problem for her, and for other black artists. Audiences weren't finding out about Baker's record as much as they should have, because the radio was playing Gibbs' record and not Baker's. Without that radio exposure, Baker lost out on sales, and lost out on new fans who might like her other records. Baker decided that she had to fight back against this. One thing she did was a simple publicity stunt -- Baker had to travel on a long-distance flight, and before she did so, she took out a life insurance policy, putting Gibbs down as the beneficiary, because if Baker died then Gibbs would no longer have a career without having anyone to copy. But she did more than that. She also lobbied Congressman Charles Diggs Jr, for help. Diggs was the first black Congressman from Michigan, and he was a pioneer in civil rights in US electoral politics. He had only just been elected when Baker contacted him, but he would soon rise to national attention with his publicising of the case of Emmett Till, a fourteen-year-old black child who had been brutally murdered because he had been accused of whistling at a white woman. In her open letter to Diggs, Baker said "After an investigation of the facts, you might see some wisdom in introducing a law to make it illegal to duplicate another's work. It's not that I mind someone singing a song that I wrote or have written for me by someone, but I bitterly resent their arrogance in thefting my music note-for-note". Now, I have to admit that here I've hit a bit of a wall in my researches, because I have found three different, contradictory, stories about what resulted from this, and I can't find any evidence to distinguish between them in any of the books I've consulted or on the Internet. One version is that nothing followed from this as far as legislation goes, and that Diggs did nothing. Another, which I've only been able to find in the book "Blue Rhythms", was that Congress passed a bill which stated that on any record released, sixteen to twenty-four bars of the arrangement had to be different from any other version. Now, frankly, I find this rather difficult to believe -- it doesn't fit with anything else I know about the history of the record industry and copyright law, and I can't find any evidence of it anywhere else, but the article in that book quotes Baker as saying this, and as also saying that she kept a copy of the bill in her house for a long time after it passed. And the third story, which seems the most plausible, but which again I've been unable to confirm, is that Diggs set up a Congressional committee to look into changes to the copyright law, that it investigated what changes could be made, but that it ultimately didn't lead to any laws being passed. But what definitely happened, largely as a result of the publicity campaign by Baker and the unwelcome attention it drew to the racism of the music industry, is that the practice of making white note-for-note cover versions began to fall out of favour. Georgia Gibbs' record label announced that after "Dance With Me Henry" she wasn't going to cover any more R&B songs (they claimed that this was because R&B was falling out of favour with the public and nobody liked it anyway, and anyway those grapes were sour), while WINS radio in New York decided it was going to ban copy records altogether. They said that they were going to continue to play cover versions – where an artist recorded someone else's song in their own style, changing the arrangement – but that they weren't going to play straight copies any more. Other stations followed suit. While Georgia Gibbs' label had said after the "Tweedle-Dee" controversy that Gibbs would not be cutting any more material from this R&B fad, two years on things had changed, and they tried the same trick again, taking Baker's new single "Tra La La" and having Gibbs record a cover version of that. "Tra La La" was a success, but Gibbs' producers had rather missed the point. "Tra La La" wasn't the side of Baker's record that people were listening to. Instead, everyone was listening to "Jim Dandy" on the other side. While "Tra La La" was another song in the style of "Tweedle Dee", Jim Dandy was something altogether rawer, and more... rock and roll: [excerpt: Lavern Baker, "Jim Dandy"] And this is, I think, the ultimate reason that the white copycats of black music stopped, at least in this form. They could see that people were buying the black musicians' records, but they couldn't see *why* they were buying them. None of the people who were making what amounted to photocopies of the black musicians' records could actually understand the music that they were parasites on. They had no creativity themselves, and relied merely on being able to duplicate someone else's work without understanding it. That's no basis on which to build a career. "Tra La La" went to number twenty-four on the pop charts for Gibbs, but "Jim Dandy" went to number seventeen for Baker. Gibbs would never have another top thirty hit again. And so, as this story goes on, we will occasionally have reason to note a white cover version of a black record, but they will become less and less relevant. The dominance of acts like the Crew Cuts and Georgia Gibbs was a brief one, and while they were able to hold back the careers of people like LaVern Baker, they weren't able to be anything themselves other than dead ends, both artistically and commercially. Gibbs' version wasn't the only cover version of Tweedle-Dee by a white person. Elvis Presley was regularly performing the song live as he started his touring career. He never cut the song in the studio, but he would perform it on the radio on occasion: [Excerpt: Elvis Presley, "Tweedle Dee"] Indeed, Baker's influence on Presley seems to be rather underrated -- as well as performing "Tweedle Dee" live in 1955, he also recorded two other songs that year which Baker also recorded -- "Tomorrow Night" and "Harbor Lights". While neither of those songs were original to Baker, it's probably more than just coincidence that he would record so many songs that she sang. LaVern Baker had a whole run of hits in the late fifties, but she became dissatisfied herself with the material she was given by Atlantic. While she gave great performances on "Tweedle Dee", "Tra La La", "Ting A Ling", "Humpty Dumpty Heart" and the rest of the songs she was ordered to sing, they were not really the kind of songs that she'd always wanted to perform. She'd wanted to be a torch song singer, and while some of the material she was given, like "Whipper Snapper" by Leiber and Stoller, was superior early rock and roll, a lot of it was novelty gibberish. You can hear what she could do with something a bit more substantial on "I Cried A Tear", which went to number two on the R&B charts and number twenty-one on the pop charts. "I Cried A Tear" is still ultra-simplistic in its conception, but it's structured more like the songs that Baker had grown up on, and she gives a performance that is more suited to a torch song than to fifties rock and roll: [Excerpt, LaVern Baker: "I Cried A Tear"] Having a hit with a track like that -- a waltz ballad -- gave Baker and her producers the confidence to branch out with her material. In 1958 she would record an entire album of old Bessie Smith tracks, which doesn't quite match up perhaps to the quality of Smith's recordings of the songs, but isn't an embarrassment in comparison with them, which says something. Baker would have ten years of moderate chart success, never hitting the heights but making the hot one hundred with everything from the Leiber and Stoller gospel song "Saved" (another song which Elvis later covered) to "Fly Me to the Moon" to this great soul duet with Jackie Wilson, her last R&B top forty hit, from 1965: [Excerpt: LaVern Baker and Jackie Wilson, "Think Twice"] The hits dried up after 1965, and even a novelty song about Batman in 1966 couldn't get her back into the charts, and even before that she had moved more into performing jazz and blues rather than her old rock and roll hits. After her second marriage, to the comedian Slappy White, broke up, she went on a USO tour to perform for troops in Vietnam, where she fell ill. A doctor advised her to stay in a warm climate for her health, and so she got a permanent position as a troop entertainer in the Philippines, where she stayed for twenty-two years. After the revolution which brought democracy to the Philippines and the subsequent closure of the base where she was working, Baker returned to the US. Much as she'd taken over from Ruth Brown as Atlantic Records' biggest female star of the 1950s, now she took over from Brown in her role in the Broadway revue "Black and Blue", singing blues songs from the twenties and thirties, and had something of a career renaissance. Her health problems got worse, and by the mid nineties she was performing from a wheelchair -- both her legs had been amputated due to complications from diabetes. She never made as much money as she should have, but she was one of the first recipients of a lifetime achievement award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation (which she had helped Ruth Brown set up, though Baker was never as antagonistic towards the record companies as Brown), and she was the second female solo artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, after Aretha Franklin. For someone who prized recognition over money, maybe that was enough. She died in 1997, aged 67.

In the 100th episode of Liquid Kernedge, Scott and Jason talk about the unique world we live in where four generations of workers can be together at the same time.  What do the Baby Boomers and Millenials bring to the table in the workplace and our society.  We thank you so much for continuing to listen to Liquid Kernedge, and we hope you enjoy our 100th episode.  

 Society has a lot of rules, but being that I live in the Land Of The Free, society around me likes to bend them, and there’s nothing I can do about it. Laws are different, so don’t get the two confused. It’s a RULE of society that you shouldn’t play the music in your car so loud at 3 am that you wake everybody in the neighborhood as you pass through. But it’s a LAW that I can’t install a tire spike system in the road in front of my house that I can access at the push of a button the next time some thug does that.  We’re going to have a look at some of the rules society likes to scoff at and I’ll put in my two cents about what I think you should think society should think about doing differently. We’ll tackle the Pants Hanging Down and Shorts Too Short issues, I’ll remind guys about the proper behavior in a public restroom, and I’ll give you a play-by-play of my frustration about people being too slow.  I’m Michael Blackston and that’s all ahead as we take an opinionated look into my Funny Messy Life. __________________________  I never wanted to be THAT GUY - you know, the geezer who puts up a sign in the yard that screams, “STAY OFF THE GRASS!” or that fella who hates any new music for no better reason than because it’s not the same as his, (although don’t even get me started about the stuff kids listen to these days that bears no resemblance to music.) I wanted to stay hip and NOT sound like every older generation that ever cringed at the younger one. What I’ve learned is that there are some things that aren’t trends, but ought to be lasting rules we follow as decent people. That’s why I’ve adopted the self-description of ...  The Trendy Curmudgeon  If I were asked to describe myself in terms of my outlook on world culture, I’d have to say I’m a complicated mess of trendy-slash-curmudgeon. I’m the forty-something man in McDonalds sitting at a table typing away at a laptop and drinking a steaming cup of java while surrounded by other, much younger, people typing away at their laptops and drinking steaming cups of java.  Yay me. I’m with it, man. I’m hip.  But I’m also the guy who looks up from his laptop with a scowl decorating his otherwise merry face every time a thug walks in with his trousers around his ankles or a girl that can’t be more than twelve is at the counter with shorts on so tight around her bottom that she’ll need a window scraper or possibly some sort of paint thinner to get them off. In both cases, I feel ashamed to even be in the same room.  It’s a tightrope walk being the kind of guy that believes in a strict system of morals but also enjoys watching the world progress in positive ways. I just have old-fashioned (and, I believe, correct) views about a lot of things that the younger generation either pays no attention to or would make a Facebook meme about, nicknaming me, “F. Duddy.”.  You’d probably call me pretty darn progressive for the most part. I love change when it brings the positive. I like the variety that human imagination is capable of and the invention that science has gives us. But some things should be sacred, don’t you think? And I’d have thought they’d be common sense.  For instance, men, if your pants could hold an entire army of Zulu warriors, including the spears, and you’re not wearing a belt, then your britches are going to fall down. Now, I would say that common sense and decency should win out every time. No one wants to drag their pants around like they’re on the chain gang while the cheeks of their butt are segregated from the almighty real world by only a very thin covering of under-fabric. NO SANE PERSON WANTS THAT! But just take a look at the current climate and you’ll see that sanity doesn’t have a place in the world any more. Some young men would have it no other way but to do deep knee bends to get to their pockets. I’d hoped that the fad would go away like most do, but it hasn’t.  It wasn’t long ago that I walked into a local retail store and witnessed an older teen sitting on a community stool at the customer service area with his pants so low around his thighs that only his underwear made contact with the padding. It got my dander up because here was a young man who had crossed a line. This was no longer a matter of my being an old fogy with my old fashioned ideas. The man’s BUTT was pretty much at liberty to do no telling what all ungodly manner of offenses to that stool. The fabric separating cheek and orifice from the same surface somebody else would soon unknowingly sit on is no match for a mighty wind or an unwashed … I can’t even say it.  It rhymes with Hut Bowl.  It amazes me that no laws seem to have been broken here. There ought to be a fine that goes along with the first offense; a hefty one. People caught walking around like that in public ought to be made to pay a lot of money and they should have to lick the seats where others have committed the same offense.  The ladies wearing painted on shorts need to think before they step out as well. While there is a difference in the reasoning for this look and the one mentioned above - one is meant to look sexy and the other is meant to make you look like you’re asking to be the victim of a drive-by shooting - there’s still cause to mention the dangers of it.  First, to speak on the sanity issue, there’s usually not much more material between your cheeks and the public seats you’re sitting on than the thug. A thong is NOT proper enough under girding to be considered any sort of a barricade against the craftiness of a determined crack germ.  So if I can see your chutt beeks hanging below the bottom of your shorts, you’re showing too much and they’re too tight, young lady. And you’re probably too young to be showing that kind of skin anyway. If I ever see my daughter walk into a room wearing something that revealing, I’m shooting her with a tranquilizer dart and telling her grandmother, who will then swoop in with a new outfit and a guilt trip she’ll spend weeks digging out from under.  The problem with the stuff that’s too revealing isn’t only that it leaves nothing to the imagination, but that there are people walking around in that sort of get up who have no business wearing it.  Don’t argue that it’s comfortable. It’s cutting off your circulation. So take that and stick it in your pocket that’s hanging below the hem of your shorts. If, that is, you can manage to squeeze anything thicker than a strand of fishing line into those pockets.  I know I sound like your dad, your granddad, or an old man on a park bench feeding the pigeons and using phrases like, “Back in MY dayyyyyy ……”, and I’m sorry. I do like a lot of the stuff that teens and twenty-somethings are into and I tend to get along well with that age group. I can play a first person shooter with the best of them. Actually, my son Noah kills me at HALO, so never mind that.  Looking back at the beginning of this, I suppose maybe I’m not that trendy after all. I’ve just reached the age where I can say curmudgeonly things and mean them. I don’t yet have to trim my ear hairs, even though I do have that one that grows rebelliously in an impossible curl straight out of my ear. At least I can grab it with my fingers and yank that puppy out like a boss. I don’t currently use the word Whipper-Snapper in any way other than comical, and nothing is, to me, new-fangled.  I just have a sense of decency that’s always been there, thanks to my raising, even in my teen years.  Ladies, you are beautiful and special, so please treat your body that way. A God-made pearl is rare and valuable. It’s kept chaste inside the shell where it’s being created until it is ready to be found and presented in its true glory. A man-made pearl is fashioned by hands too eager to be handled and sold and is thus, not nearly as valuable.  You’re the God-made pearl. Don’t allow the world to convince you to show too much of yourself too early.  I’m not saying to close yourself off and be a fashion hermit. Just see the value of who you really are – who you were wonderfully made to be – and don’t just give it away.  And guys, pull up your stupid pants. You look like idiots.  Remember … Thugs just take whatever they can get for free. A real gentleman prefers a real pearl. __________________________  I don’t claim to have all the answers, but I know I’m too opinionated to open my mouth on a lot of issues in the public forum. That’s why I rarely engage in political discussions. I’ve been told my tongue is wicked and has a habit of being hurtful when I’m opposed, so in order to be a kinder, gentler Michael, I stay away from that sort of thing. There are some things, though, that almost every person inside of a specific group will agree on. The following is one example of what I’m talking about. They are ...  The 8 Commandments Of How To Behave In The Men's Room  An interesting conversation took place last Sunday at my grandmother’s house over the fried chicken and mashed potatoes. By the way, I’m not a concerned about etiquette at Grandma’s. I eat with my elbows on the table because it never hurt a thing to do so. I also drink from tiny glasses without stretching my pinkie finger way out because I feel no need to prove how quaint I am and whatnot.  However, as rough around the edges as I can be, I do recognize scenarios which require the practice of preordained etiquetty stuff and one of these is where the conversation went around the dinner table over the butter beans and corn bread. Specifically, my cousin Chuck, my uncle Greg, and I discussed the rules of engagement in regard to the expected behavior in a public men’s restroom.  They are rules that have stood the test of time and have served as canon for all men. Call it whatever you want to, but breaking the commandments of the men’s room is dangerous territory. Personally, I identify exactly as God made me, man parts and all, and so I can’t speak on the rules of the women’s restroom, especially about special machines that offer special products for special things. But I’ve visited my share of men’s facilities for a long time now and I can tell you horror stories. So now I shall list these commandments, which were chiseled in a tablet somewhere after the first awkward encounter between two dudes relieving themselves in the same vicinity.  The commandments are as follows:  The First Commandment: Thou shalt not SPEAK to another human person or yourself while standing at a urinal or sitting in a stall.  The original text would have used the terms “bush” and “tree”, respectively, but has been changed to reflect modern times. Some scholars suggest that medieval texts may have replaced the original words with “hay bale” and “on a peasant”. Whatever words are used, the understanding is clear that no spoken word is to be uttered from one man to the next whilst amid relievement activities. The introduction of the smart phone and blue tooth has placed an uncomfortable wrench in the cogs as now it’s possible to hear one side of a conversation from the man in the next stall or urinal. For the first little bit, it was hard to figure out whether or not you were being spoken to and the sturdiest portion of this commandment was being broken. Now it’s usually easy to know that you’re just being made privy to a private conversation in the privy.  The famous Can You Spare A Square episode of Seinfeld still gives me nightmares. While I don’t know if that sort of things actually goes on in a ladies room, I can say with fiery-eyed certainty that it should never happen in the men’s room. What would I do if I forgot to check the state of the toilet paper inventory in my particular stall and found out there was none? I would sit quietly and wait until the place shut down for the night, then I could freely get up and find something to finish the job with. What if it was one of those 24 hour places that never closes? I’d sit in silence, lamenting my stupidity, and wait to die.  The Second Commandment: Thou shalt look neither left nor right whilst standing upright at the urinal while others are about.  Staring only straight ahead is permitted. If you’re alone at the urinal bank, looking left or right to be aware of all who may enter is permitted, but once you‘ve been joined by others, the only area of interest is directly in front of you. Looking around means you’re interested in something else and probably scoping out the goods. You automatically become the creepy guy in the trench coat waiting in the alley. At least that’s what you think it looks like. Staring straight up at the ceiling is also acceptable. Larger convenience store chains that offer long banks of urinals understand this and have taken it to higher levels by marketing to men who’re in the trap. They post posters of all the cool guy stuff you can get in the store like CB radios and remote control helicopters. Some pages show the junk food options available. With such a captive audience, it’s a smart move because I have to admit that the last power inverter I bought was due to the sale I noticed they had on satellite antennas. Don’t ask me why, but it made sense at the time.  The Third Commandment: If thou accidentally looketh in the direction of another man at the urinals, thou must quickly look away and clear thy throat all manly-like.  We’re human and sometimes we don’t think. In these cases we might absentmindedly look around. If that happens, you are to bow out your chest to seem as large as you can and grunt. Cocking one eye up as if you think you’re All That can help too, and you might also take on a bit of a strut like a cowboy as you zip up and walk to the sink to wash your hands. If you have a lazy eye or happen to resemble a Chinese Pug, you might consider wearing a patch over the eye that is the loose cannon. This will enable you to only have to deal with controlling one eye and should that get slippery on you, at least you can “Yar!” like a pirate as you do your overtly cowboy style walk. Nobody messes with a bow-legged pirate.  The Fourth Commandment: Thou shalt ALWAYS leave at least one empty urinal between you and whomever goteth there before thee.  My cousin added that if it’s filling up and there isn’t that option and all the stalls are taken and someone would notice you peeing in the corner, then, and only then, do you fill in at an empty urinal between two other dudes. And even then, you make sure one of the dudes is shorter than you. I have to admit that it’s easy for him to say because he’s tall. I’m not that tall, so it becomes a harder task for me. Tall, dark, and handsome will never apply to me because not only am I not tall (I’m average height) but I don’t tan. I break out in skin cancers or simply burst into flames when exposed to sunlight.  The Fifth Commandment: Thou shalt wash thy hands after touching thyself.  And you better be touching yourself, dude, because if you ain’t holding it, you ain’t aiming.  I saw a man at a QT leave the bathroom without washing his hands recently and the only thing that stopped me from saying anything to him was that I was afraid he might smack me with his unwashed having-recently-touched-his-junk hands. He was also wearing an eye patch and walked like he thought thar wan room enough in the bathroom far th’ both of us. The plain fact of the matter is that if you don’t wash afterward, you’re telling your fellow man that no matter what kind of funky goo you have on your hands, you don’t care about their well being and are willing and ready to spread your filth hither and yon. Don’t doeth it. Thou art swine if thou doeth it.  The Sixth Commandment: Talking at the sink is permitted only if the “Man Nod” shall not sufficeth.  Personally, I don’t need your thoughts about the weather or gas prices. I don’t want your opinion on the Braves or the Yankees. If you need acknowledgement, I will nod at you. In that nod I will convey all that needs to be conveyed, which is, I acknowledge that you exist and that is all. Now wash that stank hand of yours and allow me to leave this place. Ask me “How’s it goin’?” when we’ve broken the plain of the exit door.  The Seventh Commandment: Getteth out quickly.  Don’t stand in anyone’s way. Everything should be accomplished with quickness and precision. Lingering only makes you seem like a weirdo and let’s face it, if you’ve executed your directive in full and still feel the need to stay in there, you’re a weirdo.  The Eighth Commandment: Thou shalt not buyeth a condom or a spritz of cologne from the dispenser on the wall unless thou art the only one in the room.  Doing so in the presence of others will only let everyone around you know that you’re creepy and you’ll start to notice fathers holding their daughters closer to them as you pass outside. Both purchases also insinuate an urgent need and it will be assumed that you have recently made or are about to make another purchase from a person in the parking lot.  Now that these protocols are out there, maybe you’ll understand why men usually get in and get out of a public restroom. I say usually because there are always exceptions. And if a man you’re with comes out of the restroom with a sudden need to buy a mag light the size of a telephone pole or an antenna that can pick up sounds from the dark side of the moon, you’ll know why. Lastly, if he comes out suddenly smelling like Stetson, keep a close eye on him.  I’d imagine there are other rules I’ve forgotten and so if I left anything out, please feel free to chisel them in stone and add them to the list. __________________________  Aaaaaand sometimes it’s just me being me. Like Banner turns into Lou Ferigno painted green when he gets angry, I too, have a rage monster that shows its ugly face in certain situations. Only my man-boobs are flabby, not sweet pectoral muscles like Lou Ferigno’s. No, I get right beside myself when I get behind someone going slower than me. That’s because ...  My Slow Is Faster Than Your Slow  Blackston’s Log …  October 2015 – Universal Studios – Orlando, FL  Day 1  We arrived at our destination early and made our way into the World Of Harry Potter where alien childlike creatures with plastic wands and round glasses flit to and fro like Cornish Pixies. There are plenty of little Rons and Hermiones too, shouting Wingardium Leviosa in my face. Right away, I notice the flow of movement is very different from that of my own realm. The beings that surround us seem to be utterly baffled by the two protrusions they are being expected to use to propel themselves; protrusions we humans have come to call “legs”. They apparently don’t know how to use them. Some of these organisms, from appearances, could possibly be weighed down by gravity as their bodies have need to consume large amounts of unreasonably priced fuel, yet this observation does not account for the slow progress of those whose bodies have not taken in as much of the caloric fare as their wider counterparts.  It is a puzzle. My wish was to glide swiftly along between the “attractions”, but I and my party cannot. We are constantly delayed by beings who would ease on down, ease on down the road and we are forced to tippy-toe ever so slightly among the crowd.  They gawk at the displays around them, often stopping completely to engage their own party in a group photo-documentation via their communication devices. It would seem they find this behavior, and possibly my annoyance at having to be delayed, quite humorous. I know this by way of their constant smiling and laughing as the devices are pointed their direction. I also gather that most of these creatures are very fond of cheese, as they often tend to be invited to say the word by their leaders and the group obeys. Perhaps cheese is a code word for “Here comes that guy that wants to get around us. Let’s annoy him by our slow progress and merry disregard for everyone else in the vicinity.” If Day 2 is as difficult to traverse as Day 1, I may have to buy one of those $20 bags of candy I keep seeing on the side of the walkway as an incentive for patience.  Blackston’s Log - Day 2  We re-entered the realm this morning, hoping for less of a crowd and easier foot travel. I was encouraged when employing the use of the moving sidewalk near the ticket booth and I found it curious that I had missed this wonderful feature the day before. As we stepped onto the surface of this conveyance, we were met with a slight disruption in our stride, but were quickly able to adjust our stance to accommodate the fact that the ground was now managing for us, our progress forward. Other beings around us feel the satisfaction of allowing this mode of carriage to be the whole of their propulsion while my party and I have discovered that if we walk at a goodly clip upon this surface, we are able to achieve a sort of super-speed and shorten our travel time by quite a bit. An unfortunate calculation on my part has led to the scientific discovery that a body in sustained motion will continue that motion after the flooring has discontinued its aid in travel. In other words, when the moving sidewalk stops, I do not. As a result of my not paying heed to the change in pace beneath my feet, I nearly flew face first onto the ground. A child-beast behind me holding a lollipop and with a snot bubble blowing dangerously large out of one nostril pointed and remarked, “HAHAHAHAHAHA!” I have found this world’s young to be rather aggressive and have steered as far from them as possible; a feat I do not find easy, yet worth the effort.  As the day progresses, we notice the crowd is bigger than the day before and the mosey factor is at an all-time high. Elderly versions of these beings are employing the use of battery propelled vehicular units called "scooters" to get around and upon seeing this, I at first delighted that they should move with swift, mechanical aid and not impede our progress. But this is not the case. The scooters must be governed to only allow the pace of a three-toed sloth with a gimpy leg. These scooters seem to be made to drive best when pointed headlong into oncoming foot traffic and must be charged on the energy created when the riders say, “Excuse me,” or “Sorry,” or “Coming through!”  These scooters apparently alter the mind of the operator so that they begin to think they are a part of a race. One such operator, an elder female, drove one that boasted an emblem on the back that read NASCAR. She complained to the people around her that she felt that everything looked the same no matter where she went, as if she were going in circles. After watching her for a while, I suggested perhaps making a right turn every now and again might help change her view of things. But in reply, the lady creature spat at me what I could only describe as a tribal grunt. "VROOM VROOM!", followed by, “YEE HAW!” and puttered off to the left.  The day seems to be coming to a close and I’d like to not walk now.  Blackston’s Log …  Late December 2015 - The Mall  It was difficult to park our craft as we once again find ourselves at the mercy of those surrounding us and their slow-stepping ways. Inside the mall, we are greeted by beings with large bags draped about their entire bodies. Crowds squeeze into the stores on either side and the travel lanes outside are bottle-necked with people not caring that I am behind them and cannot get around to reclaim the speed I wish. Entire families walk side by side at the clip of a drunken turtle, taking up the whole path. When I communicate my desire to get by, they snarl and offer a hurtful look as if the phrase, “Move it, Grandma!” is somehow offensive.  Blackston’s Log …  January 2016 - Gatlinburg, TN  Our thought was that a weekend getaway to a small town in the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee would see our small party of two able to do touristy stuff without a bunch of hustle and bustle and people walking too slow in front of us.  This territory is, as well, a hub of movement - all slow. We have found that the passage of the Christmas season has not halted the visitation of this place and the creatures who gather here are varied with the exception of the commonality of being in front of me too often. I had hoped the memo would have been received by those in charge that I was coming and would not wish to be delayed by beings around me “looking” at things.  This destination is popular with groups of people, all of them crowding at once into the walking path and stopping there to engage in something called, “Fellowship”, so that I am frequently found at an idle between points A and B. I understand the allure toward this activity, however I detest the placement of it. I assume there are places with tables and seats where groups may assemble and partake instead of being in what I have come to know affectionately as “my way”.  The only things that have served to soothe my savagery thus far due to the constant delay are the candy shops in abundance. Just as I feel my teeth clench, I am able to smell the aroma of chocolate covered everything and I am sated for at least a moment.  At this entry, my navigator is asleep in the queen bed next to me enjoying what creatures with no children call, “a nap.” In a while, we will again embark during suppertime into the foray of the masses and attempt to be at peace with a leisurely pace.  But my slow is faster than their slow. And because I’m hungry, I’m afraid harm may soon befall them. Godspeed to us.  As a note of update, since the logging of these things in later 2015 and early 2016, my wife had surgery on her achilles tendon and was in recovery when we made a trip to Disney World. She ended up in one of the scooters and I have to say, it was awesome. People jumped out of our way when they saw her coming. It might have had something to do with the train horn I installed on the thing. ___________________________  I wish I could say I wasn’t so open with my opinions - that I have a filter that works all the time, but I can’t. My filter is pretty good most of the time, but if you catch me at the wrong time, the lava flow of nasty that comes out of me can burn. That’s why I try to contain it in places like this podcast and blog.  

Elise’s guest on today’s Because of Horses is… herself! Today is May 18th, her birthday, so it’s the perfect time to “interview” herself and respond to listener emails! Elise answers frequently asked questions such as, “Why did you decide to do a podcast?” “How exactly do podcasts work?” and “How do you select guests?” She talks all about her early childhood adventures riding horses, about her horse of a lifetime, and up to her current experiences and involvement with horses. Summarizing Because of Horses in a nutshell, Elise talks about how it came into being, why she decided on the podcast format to help materialize her dream, all of the people that helped make this possible for her, and the guests who have told their inspirational stories on the podcast. Tune in to the week’s episode to hear more about the person behind the mic — Elise!   Topics of Discussion: [:48] About this week’s episode! [1:21] About Elise’s earliest memories about loving horses and about her first lessons in riding. [5:20] Some of Elise’s early adventures with her dogs and horse as a young girl. [8:00] Elise’s teenage highlights from the Shenandoah Valley Pony Club. [9:33] Elise’s experiences at Caveland Farm in Boyce, Virginia. [12:14] Elise’s college experience and the retirement of Whipper Snapper, and the beginning of her journalism career on Capitol Hill — then Human Resources. [16:08] The story of how Elise came to purchase her next horse — and her next horse, and her next horse! [18:53] How Elise’s Andalusian stallion, Novelisto, became a movie star. [19:55] About the people and motivational clarity that sparked Elise’s inspiration to begin her podcast, Because of Horses. [26:55] What Elise sets out to accomplish with Because of Horses, and about the types of guests she features. [31:25] Looking back and reflecting on previous episodes of Because of Horses. [33:32] Why Elise chose the podcast format to make her ideas come to life. [34:14] What sets Because of Horses apart from other horse podcasts. [36:53] Some of the exciting guests Elise is looking forward to interviewing in future episodes. [37:44] How Elise selects and finds future guests for the podcast. [39:28] So, what is a podcast? [41:25] About the production behind the podcast. [42:29] How long it takes to produce one episode and the process behind it. [46:36] Want to get the word out about an upcoming horse-related event? Email elise@becauseofhorses.com and it may be included on the events calendar at BecauseofHorses.com — it’s free! [46:46] More behind-the-scenes info on the production effort that goes into creating each week's Because of Horses podcast! [51:11] Travel plans coming up for Elise.   Know Someone Inspirational, Whose Life Has Been Forever Changed Because of Horses? Because of Horses would love to get to share their story! To recommend someone please send an email to elise@becauseofhorses.com.   Mentioned in this Episode: Breyer Horses Shenandoah Valley Pony Club Caveland Farm Baylor Scott & White Health Yum! Brands Mary Kay A Parent's Guide to Riding Lessons: Everything You Need to Know to Survive and Thrive with a Horse-Loving Kid, by Elise Gaston Chand Mayo Clinic Pediatric Rehabilitation Ben Masters The Plaidcast Dr. Niobe Thompson Equest Podfly Rev Because of Horses Facebook Page Because of Horses Facebook Group Royal Ascot Andalusian World Cup   Past Episodes and Guests Mentioned: Alan Day Kiki and Don Teague Jessie Haas Charles Hilton Templeton Thompson and Sam Gay Brandi Lyons Stacy Westfall Christoph Hess Al Dunning Donna Barton Brothers Wendy Williams   Like what you hear? Because of Horses would love to hear your feedback! Please email elise@becauseofhorses.com to send Because of Horses your thoughts.   To Support the Podcast: ● Donate on Paypal to help keep Because of Horses running — all amounts are welcome! ● Subscribe: RSS Feed, iTunes, Google Play, TuneIn, Stitcher, and Player FM

In this episode we are joined by Fist of Rage. All the members sat down with us to discuss their new album 'Giddy Up', the CD release show (which was Josh's final show behind the kit), Josh's plans once he gets to Chicago with The Parallax Effect, their search for a new (13th) drummer, the possibility of a second guitarist (who may or may not be in this interview), Andy wearing less costumes and one that was not to be, words that we hate, Blistex, Reliance Code, Black Stone Cherry, Metallica, Peter Cetera, Chicago, Karate Kid, and a ton more that may not be suitable for all listeners.) We kick off the episode with talk about the CD release show that also included Wither, Grind and Whipper Snapper, and the LA Guns / Down For Five show at the IDL Ballroom. Thanks for listening, and please share! Become a Thunder Underground patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thunderunderground Listen to us every Monday night at 7pm CST on 102.7 WSNR, and stream us anytime everywhere podcasts are heard.

Tim Hosken is a distiller at Whipper Snapper Whiskey who drops by with some amazing Upshot Whiskey and Crazy Uncle Moonshine. We talk about the distilling process of whiskey, the differences between scotch and bourbon, subtleties in flavour, using unique ingredients, his early days in Narrogin, creating a grassroots community and much more! Check out Whipper Snapper at http://www.whippersnapperdistillery.com --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/themissioncontrolpodcast/message