Are you going to read all this shit? Probably not, as it's all kinds of raggedy, but what the hell.
So, I may have touched on this before, but my favorite artist bar none living or dead pretty much for all time is Stevie Wonder.
Stevie Wonder's a musical genius? You're goddamn right he is - it's a considerable understatement. 22 grammy awards. Three for album of the year:
Innervisions, on which he played bass, harmonica, drums, and a variety of keyboard-type instruments;
Fullfillingness' First Finale, which features guests including the Jackson 5, Minnie Riperton, Michael Sembello, James Jamerson, Sneaky Pete Kleinow, and Paul Anka; and
Songs in the Key of Life, his be-all and end-all, which basically wrapped up everything he had to say about the 70s in a double album plus a 45, because he had that much to say. It's not hard to argue that
Talking Book should have won in '73, except that it was up against
The Concert for Bangla Desh (which was pretty unlikely to lose), as well as his own
Music of My Mind.
You say "
I Just Called to Say I Love You is absolute crap"? Well, DeNiro got a pass from everyone alive for the execrable
15 Minutes. Willem Dafoe was in
xXx: State of the Union. Even Dylan recorded with Kurtis Blow (which is ok, but at least a little odd). There aren't too many folks out there who don't mail at least one in, now and then - and really,
I Just Called isn't terrible, it's just that he's such an incredible artist and so talented that the bar is extremely high. Shit, he's in the Hall of Fame, having been inducted (in his first year of eligibility) along with the Stones, Otis Redding, the Temptations, and Dion. (I know, I know, OJ and Ty Cobb are in their respective Halls of Fame. It's different. Because.)
His work has become a little spotty as of late, due at least in part because he's in such high demand for work with other artists. He's appeared on recordings by Dave Mason, BB King, Jeff Beck, Billy Preston, Herbie Hancock, John Lennon, Flying Burrito Brothers, Buddy Miles, James Taylor, Peter Frampton, Sergio Mendes, Jimi Hendrix (yes, really), Chuck Berry, Quincy Jones, Smokey Robinson, Dizzy Gillespie,Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra, Lionel Hampton, Burt Bachrach. Also, Eurythmics, Prefab Sprout, Steel Pulse, Sting, Don Henley, Cyndi Lauper and all the folks you know about like Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson, and Eddie Murphy. You are going to say "Nabu, what about
Steven Seagal's album? Well, see, that doesn't exist. Plus, the only redeeming point of that album is Stevie's harmonica playing, so it's sort of a charity thing.
There are some perhaps ill-advised moments working with
other folks (although dig that harp), but who else is going to give you duets with
Uncle Ray,
Queen Latifah,
Gilberto Gil,
Glen Campbell,
Bonnie Raitt,
Tony Bennett,
Bobby Darin,
Stevie Ray Vaughan,
Stevie Ray Vaughan again,
Stephen Marley & Ben Harper,
Dick Dale(!),
Howard Jones/Herbie Hancock/Thomas Dolby(!!),
Grover, motherfucker(!!!), and, oddly,
Barack Obama? (Apologies for the poor quality of some links.) There's a metric fuck-ton of links out there to him performing in the 70s. I thought about putting them in here, but you can find them just as well as I can and besides, that sweet
Superstition from Sesame Street's already been posted.
Ok, so at long last, what's my point? Well, it's just this. Or rather:
This. Yes, Stevie Wonder is putting on a show about 20 minutes from my house, on August 30th. We wander over to the convenient TOUAMB calendar, and we note that August 30th is my birthday. Whoo-HOOOOO! Sweet action.
Excepting the fact that I'm going to be at fuck
ing work, right in the middle of my two-week hitch. To my wife's everlasting credit, when I told her about it, she said "noooooooooooooooo!" And when I told her that she should get tickets and go with one or more of our friends, she said that if she went to see Stevie without me, she'd be miserable the whole time. She's quite a gal.
Ah well, enjoy the links, if you're interested. I guess there's always next year, or whenever he tours again.
If one of you fuckers posts about how you saw Stevie and Marvin together for a four hour show in Kingston, Jamaica or some such crap, I'll hunt you down and kill you.
Author
Topic: Stevland Hardaway Judkins (Read 3241 times)