News & Updates — documentary

Happy birthday to the Italian-American sculptor and sound artist Harry Bertoia! He was a jewelry-maker and designer who hit big with some finely crafted chairs. This allowed him to concentrate on creating these unique sound sculptures that lived in his barn that doubled as a mini concert hall. He would strike or "play" these things and the sound would reverberate into my amazed eardrums. I first heard these otherwordly sounds when a cache of self-produced "Sonambient" albums were found and distributed to the public in the mid-1990s. I bought a few of these records and still treasure them to this...

Happy birthday to "Mama Africa" Miriam Makeba, civil rights and anti-apartheid activist, singer, actress, UN delegate, Black Panther and warrior. From her birth in jail (where she spent the first six months of her life with her incarcerated mother) to her death immediately following a concert to raise awareness of mafia control, Miriam was a freedom fighter and compassionate voice throughout. One of the first stars of the African continent to be recognized internationally (after her big 1957 hit "Pata Pata"), she survived breast cancer in the '50s and founded an all-woman group The Skylarks (a rarity for the time)....

Ernest Kador, better known as Ernie K-Doe, is a New Orleans legend. Famous for his hits "Mother-In-Law", "Later For Tomorrow" and "Here Come The Girls", he was a singer, wacky performance character, club owner, radio personality and Drum Buddy ally. "Here Come The Girls" became a hit after his death but remains a popular DJ cut and dance groover. A NOLA native and son of a Baptist minister, he started singing in church at seven and sang in gospel groups as a teen. In the early '50s he moved to Chicago and broke into the scene there, singing with the...

Part Mexican-American and part Santee-Dakota Sioux, the inspired poet/musician/actor/activist John Trudell grew up on a reservation in Nebraska and became heavily involved in the Red Power & American Indian Movements and was also a hemp advocate (alongside Willie Nelson). In '69 he was the spokesman & broadcaster for the All Tribes Occupation of Alcatraz Island, which put him right in the FBI's crosshairs. His entire family (including his children) all died in a suspicious fire the day after Trudell burned an American flag on the steps of the FBI building in '79. Soon after, his poetry career started. His first...

Passing just two months after Charlie Parker was another genius of the saxophone, tenor player Wardell Gray. He was one of the bright lights of the West Coast scene of the late '40s/early '50s and it's a shame how relatively little-known he is compared to some of the other titans of the era, of which he surely should rank alongside. His style was flowing and melodic, not too heavy. He was one of the players who straddled the line between the swing and bop eras. His first instrument was clarinet but he was inspired upon hearing Lester Young to switch to...