In these times it is important to know the strength of one voice: a clarion of dignity, grace, and conviction. When delivered on note it becomes a sound that can move others forward.
That was the sound of Chicago musician Gene Barge.
Barge died Sunday of natural causes at his home in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago. He was 98 years old.
He achieved national fame in 1961 with the Gary U.S. Bonds hit “Quarter to Three,” on which he produced and played saxophone. Bonds sang how “I danced ‘til a quarter to three, with the help last night of Daddy G.” That was Barge’s nickname.
Barge was arranger, producer, and sax player [...]
Michael Brewer (L) and Tom Shipley (Dirty Linen cartoon 2005)
Perhaps it would be a reach to call the 1971 folk-rock ballad “One Toke Over the Line” a “one-hit” wonder, but singer-songwriters Brewer & Shipley were mellow about that. During the early 1970s, Michael Brewer and Tom Shipley were based out of Rolla, Mo., a town on a beautiful winding stretch of Route 66 about 100 miles west of St. Louis.
Michael Brewer died on Dec. 17 at his home outside of Branson. Mo. He was 80 years old. He was born in Oklahoma City, OK. No cause of death has been announced.
Brewer & Shipley did have other [...]
“In Lieu of a Carrot” by the great Jonathan Winters
Comedian-actor-artist Jonathan Winters would have turned 99 years old today.
Over the last week, I returned to Winters’ books, artwork, and a conversation with him. I needed an elixir.
Winters was very kind, very funny, and a curious listener. Just before the election, I re-read his 1987 book “Winters’ Tales (Stories and Observations for the Unusual).” The book is a collection of 25 years of Winters’ essays and thoughts. I bought “Winters Tales” for my father who was a huge Winters fan. They are both gone now but their considerable [...]
New Morells music! From left, Lou Whitney, D. Clinton Thompson, Ron Gremp and Maralie. Photo taken in Columbia, MO.
Musical archeologist and retired mapmaker Glenn Steinkamp first heard the Morells in 1980. The Morells-Skeletons were one of the great American rock-punk-soul-country bands of that era.
They were based out of Springfield, Mo. They are featured on a beautiful mural in downtown Springfield. They made such an impression on me that we had to make a full-length documentary on them.
The Morells radiated the joy that everyone is searching for today.
In 1982 the Morells released [...]
