Are they bragging or complaining ? ; )

I just had to share this with everyone because I find it rather ironic and just a little bit off-putting. It was sent to me by Focus on the Family and is presented here verbatim:

Even if you don't follow pop culture, you've inevitably read or heard of the teen actress Miley Cyrus. Playing the wholesome character "Hannah Montana" on her popular Disney television show of the same name several years ago, Miss Cyrus was catapulted into entertainment's stratosphere. She quickly became a marketer's dream and was earning millions of dollars in TV, music and feature films. In the midst of her rapid ascent, though, she also found herself wrapped up in controversy, from being caught posing for provocative photographs to smoking a bong and taking hallucinogenic drugs.

Just another child actress given too much too soon?

Miss Cyrus, now 18, is the daughter of country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, perhaps best known for his hit, "Achy Break-y Heart."
Ironically, and sadly, that's exactly what Billy Ray is suffering from these days. He told GQ Magazine that he now wishes his daughter never went to Hollywood and found fame and fortune.

I don't know that I can sympathize with this very much, the reason being that he is in the country music business and knowing full well what he was allowing his daughter to do, he obviously didn't prepare her for the pitfalls. If he has successfully navigated the entertainment business well enough that he sees what is going on with his daughter, then he could have also given her real guidance so that her so-called downhill slide wouldn't have even occurred. The details are missing out of Focus on the Family's account and most likely for a good reason. You have to read between the lines and know a bit more about this particular case, obviously, than they do and I happen to know a bit more.

I wrote an entry on this web site back on December 9, 2008 about the merchandising of Billy Ray's daughter and it was all too obvious that they really wanted to clean up in the business. If you read it you'll see that I figured out what an average take on each consumer might be in modest terms and I don't know how she couldn't end up with quite a wad of cash and her promoters, to boot ! I know my entry was basically just a satirical piece of fun more than anything else. However, I do take the marring and scarring of a life a quite serious matter. I didn't see the likes of Billy Ray or his daughter at the Grammys this year and it was probably for this very reason.

Having said that, I think this is just drama queen theatrics designed to garner one more headline in an attempt to keep the limelight on themselves. Sadly, many people in the entertainment business tend to crave negative attention just as much as the positive kind. It explains the antics of Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton ( Happy 30th birthday, dahling ! ), Nicole Ritchie and the like. It's not just sad- it's pathetic.

It's all uphill with

The Castle Lady !

The World's a Stage...

This well-known quote of the English-speaking world has a ring of real truth in the public world which the media focuses on and exploits all too often. After watching the Grammys this year I started thinking about some of the subjects Lady Gaga talked about during her 60 Minutes interview prior to the airing of the awards show and I have come to some startling conclusions about fame. I have held some opinions about how people garner and keep fame without being completely aware of them and now I know I have been very naïve on the subject through my entire life.
First of all, I always have held the belief that you must do something worthwhile and useful in order to attain notoriety. To my way of thinking being notorious is not true notoriety. I'm sure I've been behind the times for more than a decade now but I still feel that way and I don't think I'll ever change my mind. Perhaps entertainers cannot live the type of exemplary lives which would lead an entire young generation down a brighter path. That- plus entertaining the crowds- may be asking a little too much. However, if someone knows the demographics of their fan base and they realize that their audience may be very impressionable then I think each and every parent should be able to expect these entertainers to be sensitive to that fact and curb their proclivities. In other words, if you can't be good then at least be discreet. It may not be gut-level honest but it may save someone from making wrong decisions which are irreversible way too early in life.
Good or bad, music is one of my loves which I cannot do without. I listen to music when I write, dance, go for a walk, drive some place or sit down to eat. I don't really have any musical preference except for one aspect- I have to like it. I don't like everything I hear today on the radio but I have a wide range of interests. I've heard good and bad in every category and genre of music that exists in this modern world. When I hear music on any stage which is off-key or doesn't fit the usual pattern for the genre of its particular occupation I generally change stations or channels- whichever the case may be. A good part of what I heard at the Grammys this year was not to my liking. I think Jeff Beck got gypped out of an award he deserved. I saw Cyndi Lauper there but I didn't get to hear her- talking or singing. Bogus.
George Beverly Shea was a gospel singer for Billy Graham throughout his entire career as an evangelist. This year, among several other recipients, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award. Like them, it was only mentioned in passing in the space of about one minute, at best. Next day my mother told me she waited all night wondering when they were going to give him the award. I had to explain that all the music she loves to hear (mostly classical) was side-stepped or marginalized because of the time involved in handing out so many awards. She didn't buy it. You know what ? Neither do I.
Does anyone out there know what the word Grammys even means? Let me enlighten you. It is a shortened version of the word gramophone which is what a lot of the best and finest music was originally recorded and played on. I guess they had to crank those babies by hand to get them to work but people had a lot of fun dancing to and playing the music they liked on them. Music has been around a long time and in Mozart's day he was the rock-n-roll guy. He was derailed a lot because, for a classical music composer, he really rocked their socks off. You know what I mean ?
There is a lot more to music than pop music and if you explore your options by radio, mp3s or internet music shopping you might find there is a whole wide world of music out there the likes of which you've never heard ! !

Why don't you go on a search right now ?

With love, The Castle Lady

The Legend of Mahalia Jackson

It is said at the time of her passing, in 1972, that Mahalia Jackson- the world's greatest gospel singer- had a larger white following than a black fan base. Whether or not this is true, she is revered the world over for her perfect sound in the jazz and blues based gospel she practically reinvented. Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, was known to have said that Mahalia was her favorite singer. She won three Grammy Awards, one posthumously, with Best Gospel Recording in 1961 for Every Time I Feel the Spirit and the next year for Great Songs of Love and Faith. Her posthumous Grammy came in 1976- four years after her death- for How I Got Over in the category of Gospel Soul Performance. This woman who redefined gospel for musical geniuses like Ramsey Lewis Jr. started out life in New Orleans. She was born on October 26, 1911 and was raised singing in church at Mount Moriah Baptist. Her religious training, both biblical and musical, was strict which means that the training was in hymns and spiritual music which did not carry over into Jazz or Blues. However, one can imagine that she was exposed to those genres and the singers which would have influenced her were most likely Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith. Those singers were probably important influences on her very early in life. By the time her career was well underway she had injected jazz and blues into the passionate spiritual in a way that had never before been achieved. In 1927, at the age of sixteen, she moved to Chicago and worked as a maid and then a nurse, but her love of gospel kept her at her true vocation. Even though Mahalia never sang secular music she was definitely influenced by the black secular music sound which helped her redefine gospel music in Chicago at the time. In 1935, after singing at a funeral, Decca Records talent scouts approached her about recording for them. Her records sold well and by 1937 she moved onto other independent recording labels one of them being Apollo Records. It was a natural progression of success which brought her to association with Thomas Dorsey, whom she recorded and toured with extensively. Their association eventually brought them both international acclaim. Her recording of the song, "I will move on up a little higher", sold more than two million copies. This particular song was one she would extend into as much as twenty-five minutes when singing live ! The recording available today is long at five minutes and 25 seconds. After being recognized in France for her recording excellence she made her first European tour in 1952 and two years later signed with Columbia where she made about thirteen more LPs. These recordings were made with Mitch Miller who used strings and choirs to back her and sold world-wide. This is unprecedented success considering that Mahalia's ambition was never cast outside her sacred music debut. In the beginning, her sound was perceived as rebellious by the more conservative black churches- even the one she grew up singing in. However, her long-time accompanist, Mildred Falls, most likely kept her to a standard which didn't restrict her musicianship and was a support to her early convictions as a gospel singer. One record executive, John Hammond, stated that Mildred was also, "the greatest gospel accompanist that ever lived." Later she appeared in films like Nat King Cole's St. Louis Blues, a big-budget melodrama Imitation of Life and a performance jazz documentary Jazz on a Summer's Day. Even though she was strictly gospel she did share the stage with such jazz greats as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, eventually helping Ellington record his own sacred music. There is no question that she set the standard that gospel music thrives on today regardless of the racial issue. She helped jazz cross color lines and brought sacred music to an emotional level which has never been achieved in any other genre of music. She once said, "If you don't like it, you're not human." By the 1960s she led the way toward advancing education for the black community and became a businesswoman with a chain of restaurants. She was a strong supporter of the civil rights movement including backing Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. She sang an unforgettable version of Thomas Dorsey's "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" at King's funeral and surprisingly enough, Aretha Franklin sang this very song at Mahalia's own funeral after her passing on January 27, 1972. The first recorded song I heard of Mahalia's was Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho, an upbeat jazz version which showed off a part of her stylistic range. Below is a recommended song list derived from the Columbia CD collection titled, Gospels, Spirituals, and Hymns. It came out in 1991 and I would suggest to start there, if you are not acquainted with her music. If you ever find a live recording of her 1951 performance at Carnegie Hall give me a call. Many pop singers today do over-the-top versions of a true technique employed by Mahalia across genre spectrums. Once you hear her voice you'll know that these were not mere vocal stylings but a truly inspired voice full of passion, sincerity and worship. All else is often just a copy of the original which does not understand the love that propelled her sound and not just of the music but the creator who inspired it all to begin with- our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Ain't nothing like the real thing baby...

All rights reserved by author, Evelyn M. Wallace (May not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission by author.)

The Castle Lady

Discography (in part)

My God is Real August 11, 1958

If I Can Help Somebody September 24, 1963

What a Friend We Have in Jesus August 2 & 3, 1965

You Must Be Born Again November 17, 1959

Elijah Rock (Stockholm, Sweden) April 18, 1961 (Live)

Roll, Jordan, Roll April 5, 1968

Calvary (New York) March 26, 1967

Trouble of the World

from the film Imitation Of Life N.Y. March 27, 1956

Take My Hand, Precious Lord (T.A. Dorsey) N.Y. March 27, 1956

He's Got the Whole World in His Hands

(Newport Jazz Festival w/ Mildred Falls Trio) July 7, 1958

Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen

(Hollywood March 12, 1963)

I'm Going to Live the Life I Sing about in My Song

Newport Jazz Festival August 11, 1958

Search Me Lord (Hollywood) January 31, 1969

Cyndi Lauper does e town ! ! !

Here's one for the record books. Cyndi Lauper has come back with a marvelous blues record Memphis Blues which came out in June without much publicity. Her Denver appearance with eTown along with Charlie Musselwhite, however, gave her a chance to really show what she's made of and with her usual dramatic flair that is the real Cyndi Lauper. The last time I had seen her in concert was back in 2003 when she had come out with an album of old torch-y standards like Unchained Melody, On the Sunny Side of the Street and Hymn to Love. The album was titled At Last and it was a stupendous breakout album even though her voice was showing a little wear by then. In concert she amazed me with her voice, however, and put to rest any fears that she might be tiring or had done damage. Her vocal range is almost inhuman and the emotion she conveys in her singing is overpowering. I think I danced more through that concert than any I've ever been to and I felt like I was at a disco ! ! Talk about fun.

She got a chance to show this Memphis side we hadn't seen yet and it was absolutely what I expected and more. She was a great compliment to Charley Musselwhite who I admit was unknown to me until this stint. On September 23rd at 9 p.m. at the Paramount Theater in Denver, Cyndi gave a blowout performance which was to be expected since her forte' has always been live performance. Some people who have not kept up with her career past her 80s pop singer days will be amazed at her range and power. Furthermore, when she was asked recently about this seeming about face she said, "The last record I did was a dance record and I want them to know what this is and I figure Memphis Blues can't get any more straightforward. The blues are the root of everything that we do on radio today so it's not a stretch if you're a singer singing pop music to hear the 1-4-5 chord and understand exactly what that is. It's part of our heritage and tradition."

When interviewed in the summer she said, "This is the music I listened to to learn how to sing. The great blues artists were the rockers, the jazzers, the hip-hoppers of their day. I wanted to be authentic so I went to Memphis. I said, "It has to be dirty. It can't be clean and pristine, 'cause that ain't what it's about for me."

"...I had a dream that Oscar Peterson told me that I should take old songs and make them modern. When I made this CD it was the closest I came to fulfilling what I was kind of told to do in the dream."

Cyndi is a 13 Grammy award winner who originally hailed from the Bronx in New York. She broke into musical stardom with her debut album titled She's So Unusual after many years of singing in musical circuits which required lots of musical covers. She became popular because she could mimic any female singer in the business. This 57 year old dynamo has had fortitude unmatched when she sang one year of her 80s stint singing nearly every single day of that year with one day off. I don't know of anybody in the world with that kind of energy, personally and I imagine my readers don't either.

She has also won 2 Emmys for work as an actress (!), 2 American Music Awards, 7 American Video Awards and no less than 18 MTV Awards ! She's better at reinventing herself than any entertainer you can name and her causes range from gay rights to Hurricane Katrina benefits and animal protection and she still looks like she's thirty-something which is not an easy achievement in and of itself with her schedule.

World- look out- Cyndi's back in town and she means business ! !

eTown that is....Evelyn's Town ! ! !

The Castle Lady

Stryper's Heaven and Hell on iTunes ! ! !

The news was just released to me yesterday that Stryper's new album can be downloaded on iTunes along with a lot of their older albums one of which is one of my favorites- To Hell with the Devil. Check it out and tell me how you are liking it. I got a new iPod last Spring and haven't had a chance to use it yet. I'm just too busy, busy, busy...

Check it out ! !

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/heaven-and-hell/id389229608

from The Castle Lady

with many iPod hugs coming your way !

Apples In Stereo Update

The Apples' upcoming release and seventh studio effort, Travellers in Space and Time follows their critically acclaimed hit album New Magnetic Wonder [more info] and is their second release in association with Elijah Wood's Simian Records. The official release date will be April 20th ! Robert Schneider, the mastermind behind both The Apples in stereo and Elephant 6 is quoted as saying, "I wanted to make a futuristic pop record, to reach out to the kids of the future. It is what I imagine their more highly-evolved pop might sound like: shiny soul music with robots and humans singing together. We are sending a pop music message through time."

They are keeping with their pop mastery with several potential hits similar to Energy which has been performed numerous times by American Idol contestants, but they are branching out with futuristic sounds adding dance vibes similar to ELO, Barry Gibb and the Beach Boys during their Wild Honey era and even Michael Jackson's Off the Wall.

For one week only (ends 3/9), you can listen to a full-album stream of Travellers in Space and Time for FREE. Click HERE to listen now. You can also see them on tour starting in April. Here are some of the tour dates and towns :

4/16 Lexington, KY @ Cosmic Charlie's

4/17 Morgantown, WV @ 123 Pleasant Street

4/18 Washington DC @ Rock and Roll Hotel

4/20 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's

4/21 NYC @ Bowery Ballroom

4/23 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East Underground

4/24 Ithaca, NY @ Castaways

4/25 Rochester, NY @ Bug Jar

4/27 Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop

4/28 Pontiac, Michigan @ Pike Room

4/30 Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall

5/1 St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club

5/3 Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall

5/4 St. Louis, MO @ Billiken Club

Check out their web site for more tour dates and info @ http://www.applesinstereo.com/

Tell them The Castle Lady sent you !

Jeff ~ The other Beck ~ is Back !

If you had the fortitude to watch the Grammys recently, you may have noticed that Jeff Beck performed with Imelda May and how great he sounded. His presence may be missed by those who are mainly pop enthusiasts. The sad part of this is that Jeff Beck has always been contemporary and if you paid attention you would know.
He also received the Best Rock Instrumental Performance and this happens to be his fifth Grammy award. If you haven't checked out his latest recording A Day in the Life I urge you to do so as you will be rewarded with the best guitar sounds you'll ever hear on this planet. Someday he's going to be God's right hand man during praise and worship so make sure you check this out. You won't be disappointed.

www.jeffbeck.com

www.FollyWildlifeReserve.org.uk

his latest cause....

The Castle Lady

Yep Roc Face Competition

As a kick-off celebration of a new decade the artists of Yep Roc have apparently agreed to let the company use their faces on a T-shirt in limited quantities and will sell from their Webshop until February 12th ! Along with the shirt you'll also get an exclusive 24 track sampler, featuring a song from all the artists pictured on the shirt. That's not all of it either ! You can enter the "Faces of Yep Roc contest for a chance to win 10 Yep Roc CD titles of YOUR CHOICE if you correctly guess all the names (first and last) of all the faces on the shirt !The first person to guess all 24 faces of the artists correctly- or whoever comes closest to getting them all right- wins the contest. Take a look at this and then send your answers in to:

yeproccontests@gmail.com

If you have never seen these guys before but you want to win all their great music then look around this web site and you're sure to figure out who all these eggheads a..- I mean Yep Roc artists are and maybe you'll learn something new tonight besides the fact that your cat seems to be gay!

www.yeproc.com

Happy hunting !

The Castle Lady

The Fab Four Ride Again !

www.thebeatlesrockband.com

Well, the word is out but you may not understand what a milestone it is to have a definitive, complete set of the entire catalogue of The Beatles. At any rate, here it is ! Enjoy a wonderful trip down memory lane or get ready to hear the most amazing music you will ever hear.

The Castle Lady with lots of love !

On Tour Soon !

Kiss always have M & M Dark Chocolates back stage when they tour.

Look for them in October in a city near you !

The Castle Lady with kisses and KISS !