Remembering Lady Day

Source: Down Beat magazine, February 1947

Today is the 53^rd anniversary of Billie Holiday’s death. She died in a hospital in NYC at the age of 44, supposedly with $750 strapped to her leg. Ms. Holiday lived a tragic life of degradation and abuse. She could sing the blues because she lived them. No other popular singer in the English language has been able to express the depths and harrowing pitch of sadness like Lady Day. Her ability to embody and share the pain of living in song came from experiences so horrifying they almost seem unreal. She was forced into prostitution by her mother as a child, dropped out of school at the age of 11 and served at least three stints in juvenile detention facilities. We celebrate her talent and lament that it was destroyed by addiction. We don’t recognize that her ability to get up every day and live with the terror of memory was a feat of courage.

Her music touched people so deeply because she was not alone in experiencing melancholy so damaging it would make you want to get high, or at least forget entire parts of your existence.  

Lady Day will not be forgotten. May her soul be at rest.

"Good Morning Heartache"

"I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm"

"A Fine Romance"

Nina Simone Sunday

It is that time again. Enjoy.

"Four Women"

If you can't get enough of Aunt Sarah, Safronia, Sweet Thang and Peaches, The Black Girl Project is selling  "Four Women" t-shirts. The Black Girl Project shop also has t-shirts for sale of your favorite real and fictional black heroines.

"I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl"

"Cotton Eyed Joe"

Nina Simone Sunday

Nina Simone had a singular voice; lush and deep with a bit of a warble.  She was an incredibly talented songwriter and musician. Ms. Simone also had an unparalleled ability to transform beloved songs from Standards to Classic Rock.

In celebration of this gifted artist, enjoy these three songs she made her own.

“Suzanne”

“I Loves You, Porgy”

“Don’t Let Me Be Understood”

Boxing: A Love Story

Bert Sugar was under the spell of the pugilistic arts. His scholarship of the art and science of boxing was rigorous and amorous. He had the gruff voice and the sweet smile of a man who spent decades ringside smoking cigars and joyously watching two men beat the shit out of each other. Bert Sugar will be missed.

Read Like You Mean It

If you love good books and rap parody videos, today is your day.

Chez Panisse at 40

40 Years of Chez Panisse: The Power of Gathering by Alice Waters and Friends

It is a good thing Alice Waters decided to celebrate 40 years of Chez Panisse with this beautiful book. In words and pictures, it recounts the story of how a little restaurant on Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley helped change the way people eat in the United States. Before the terms ‘locavore,’ ‘artisan’ and ‘seasonal’ became staples of restaurant menus, Ms. Waters and her collaborators prepared the freshest most local food they could find with simple precision. Chez Panisse borrowed from the food culture of Provence to create a place with a sense of community. Friends could gather at the restaurant for good simple food, good wine and great conversation. They could also revel in the artistry of beautifully illustrated menus, exquisitely prepared flower arrangements, and gleaming furnishings in the Arts and Crafts style.

‘40 Year of Chez Panisse’ celebrates the restaurant, Ms. Waters and her influences, and the power of collaboration. It is amazing to see how an idea became a movement. 

Library Building Boom in New Orleans

Congratulations to the people of New Orleans.  The city will open one library this week and three more within the next month. Click here to read the full story.  If you would like to support the New Orleans Public Library, please visit the Friends of the New Orleans Public Library or the New Orleans Public Library Foundation.

Jonathan Gold: LA Weekly to LA Times

The Great Gastronome of the West, Jonathon Gold, is the new restaurant critic for The Los Angeles Times. His new piece ‘Los Angeles’ reflections in a plate’ lightly traces the way  Susan Feniger and Sue Milliken (owners and chefs of Border Grill) incorporated the city’s great diversity into their menus at City Restaurant in the 1980’s. Gold’s best line sums up the true magic of Los Angeles:  “But this is Los Angeles, where you hear a hundred different languages on the streets and smell the cooking of a thousand different food cultures, a city so diverse that the study of postmodern urbanism is often called the L.A. School for short, …”

Here is the extensive archive of Jonathan Gold’s feature stories and reviews for LA Weekly.