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Huey ‘Piano’ Smith, Session Man And Hit Maker, Dead At 89

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1 year ago

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piano Man

NEW YORK – Huey “Piano” Smith, a beloved New Orleans session musician who backed Little Richard, Lloyd Price, and other early rock stars and wrote the party hits “Don’t You Just Know It” and “Rockin’ Pneumonia and Boogie Woogie Flu” with his band, has died. He was 89.

Acquelyn Donsereaux, his daughter, told The Associated Press that he died in his sleep on Feb. 13 at his Baton Rouge home. She did not specify the cause.

Smith was one of the last survivors of an extraordinary scene of musicians and songwriters who helped make New Orleans a fundamental influence on rock ‘n’ roll. He was a New Orleans native who performed nationwide but always returned to Louisiana. He began playing professionally at age 15, and by his 20s had contributed to a slew of 1950s hits, including Price’s “Where You At?” and Earl King’s “Those Lonely Lonely Nights.” Among the many artists he collaborated with were Little Richard, Fats Domino, and David Bartholemew.

Huey “Piano” Smith and the Clowns charted in 1957 with “Rockin’ Pneumonia,” a mid-tempo stomp featuring John Marchin’s vocals and Smith’s buoyant keyboard playing, and the equally rowdy and good-natured “Don’t You Just Know It.” The Clowns were also known for their songs “We Like Birdland,” “Well, I’ll Be John Brown,” and “High Blood Pressure.”

One Smith composition became a major hit and rock standard for another performer. Smith and his group wrote, arranged, and recorded “Sea Cruise,” but Ace Records, as Smith learned bluntly from local record distributor Joe Caronna, thought the song would be more successful with a white singer and replaced the Clowns’ vocals with those of Frankie Ford, whose version became a million-seller.

Piano Smith’s Popularity Waned After The Beatles Arrived

“I was crying as he (Caronna) said that,” Smith told biographer John Wirt, whose 2014 book “Huey ‘Piano’ Smith and the Rocking Pneumonia Blues” was released. “I’d had a little bit to drink. It broke my heart when he told me he was taking that.”

John Fogerty, the Beach Boys, Aerosmith, and Jerry Garcia were among the artists who covered piano “Sea Cruise” and other Smith songs. Ford later denied “stealing” the song, claiming he had written the lyrics. “Huey went through a period where he ‘forgot’ many things,” Ford explained to Offbeat Magazine.

Smith’s popularity waned after the Beatles arrived, and by 1980, he had left the music business, moved to Baton Rouge with his wife, Margrette, and converted to Jehovah’s Witnesses. He fought to be paid and credited for “Sea Cruise” and other hits, and he spent decades in legal and financial trouble, as did many other rock musicians from the 1950s. Meanwhile, local musicians continued to cite him as an inspiration.

“He was the man in New Orleans who got more out of simplicity than anyone else,” drummer Earl Palmer told Wirt.

Smith received the Rhythm and Blues Foundation’s Pioneer Award in 2000, and the piano Louisiana Blues Hall of Fame honored him a year later. Admirers regard him as one of the most important performers not inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Smith Had 47 Great Grand Children

According to his daughter, he is survived by his wife, ten children, 18 grandchildren, and 47 great-grandchildren.

Smith grew up in New Orleans’ Uptown neighborhood, his father a roofer and his mother a laundry worker. Smith began playing the piano as a child, learning from his uncle, and quickly mastered the eight-bar progression that was the foundation for countless blues songs. He played obsessively, sometimes to the chagrin of his neighbors, and in high school, he helped form the Joy Jumpers band.

He was still in his teens when he met Eddie Lee Jones, a young New Orleans musician who, as “Guitar Slim,” influenced countless musicians and gave Smith his “Piano” nickname. Professor Longhair’s blues-boogie woogie influenced Lewis’s early work. But he would eventually absorb various styles, from Jelly Roll Martin’s jazz to Fats Domino’s rock rhythm and blues.

“I started trying a variety of music instead of just one individual style,” he told Wirt. “I like my style, but it’s nothing like rhythm-and-blues, calypso, or any of that. It’s just a deep funk.”

SOURCE – (AP)

 

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Photographer Alleges He Was Forced To Watch Megan Thee Stallion Have Sex And Was Unfairly Fired

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8 hours ago

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2024-04-24

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AP - VOR News Image

Los Angeles  – In a lawsuit filed on Tuesday, a photographer who Megan Thee Stallion employed alleges that he was compelled to witness her engaging in sexual activity, was unjustly terminated shortly after that, and experienced mistreatment as her employee.

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Photographer Alleges He Was Forced To Watch Megan Thee Stallion Have Sex And Was Unfairly Fired

Emilio Garcia, in his lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that on a night out in 2022 in Ibiza, Spain, he was present in an SUV with the hip-hop singer when she engaged in sexual activity with another lady near him. He was incapacitated from exiting the moving vehicle, and even if he could do so, he would have found himself stranded in an unfamiliar land. According to the lawsuit, Garcia experienced feelings of embarrassment, mortification, and offense during the entire incident.

Alex Spiro, Megan’s attorney, stated that she intends to contest the complaint through legal proceedings.

“This is a monetary employment claim, without any filed allegations of sexual harassment, but with scandalous accusations aimed at embarrassing her,” Spiro stated.

According to the lawsuit, Megan admonished Garcia the following day, instructing him not to disclose what he witnessed while also criticizing and body-shaming him. The complaint alleges that Garcia, who was experiencing excessive workload, low pay, and a hostile work environment due to Megan’s possessive and abusive behavior, was wrongly categorized as an independent contractor while being treated as an exclusive employee.

According to the lawsuit, Garcia discussed those concerns with Megan during their conversation and was terminated the next day after working for her for four years. Subsequently, he lodged a job discrimination lawsuit with the California Civil Rights Department.

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Photographer Alleges He Was Forced To Watch Megan Thee Stallion Have Sex And Was Unfairly Fired

The lawsuit, initially disclosed by NBC News, names Megan, legally known as Megan Pete, her enterprises Megan Thee Stallion Entertainment and Hot Girl Touring and her record label, Roc Nation, as the defendants. No defense answer has been submitted yet. A representative of Roc Nation should have responded more promptly to an email requesting comment.

Garcia is pursuing monetary compensation, which will be assessed during the trial. He claims to have had significant emotional and bodily harm as a result of his treatment at work, his termination, and seeing the incident in the SUV.

Megan, a 29-year-old woman, was previously embroiled in a significant legal controversy. She endured a deluge of online harassment after being shot by rapper Tory Lanez. A jury determined that Lanez had fired at her feet while they were on a street in the Hollywood Hills in 2020. She provided testimony throughout the trial, which led to the conviction of Lanez on three felony charges. Subsequently, a court imposed a 10-year prison sentence on him.

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Photographer Alleges He Was Forced To Watch Megan Thee Stallion Have Sex And Was Unfairly Fired

Megan was already a prominent emerging artist at the time of the shooting and has achieved immense success as one of the most prominent figures in hip-hop. In 2021, she won a Grammy for the best new artist category. Additionally, she attained the top position on the music charts with her tracks “Savage,” featuring Beyoncé, and as a featured artist on Cardi B’s “WAP.”

SOURCE – (AP)

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Yoko Ono To Receive Edward MacDowell Medal For Lifetime Achievement

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2 days ago

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2024-04-22

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NEW YORK — MacDowell, one of the country’s finest artist residence programs, has honored Yoko Ono with a lifetime achievement award. The trailblazing artist, filmmaker, and musician will receive the Edward MacDowell Medal this year, following in the footsteps of Stephen Sondheim and Toni Morrison, among others.

“There has never been anyone like her; there has never been work like hers,” MacDowell board chairman Nell Painter said in a statement Sunday.

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Yoko Ono To Receive Edward MacDowell Medal For Lifetime Achievement

“Over seven decades, she has pleased eyes, aroused mind, encouraged feminism, and supported refugees with imaginative works. Enduringly new and contemporary, her unusually powerful output resonates to our current times, which are in desperate need of her leitmotif: peace.”

In a statement, Ono’s son, Sean Ono Lennon, described the award as “an incredible honor.”

“The history and list of prior awardees are extremely impressive. It makes me very glad to see her work valued and celebrated in this manner,” he remarked.

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Yoko Ono To Receive Edward MacDowell Medal For Lifetime Achievement

Ono, 91, has made few public appearances in recent years and is unlikely to attend the July honors event at the MacDowell campus in Peterborough, New Hampshire. David Newgarden, Ono’s music manager, will receive the award on her behalf.

Ono first rose to prominence as a member of the avant-garde Fluxus movement of the 1960s, before becoming internationally famous after meeting John Lennon, with whom she married from 1969 until his death in 1980. Their many collaborations included the songs “Give Peace a Chance,” “Imagine,” and “Happy Xmas (War Is Over),” which served as the foundation for “War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko,” this year’s Oscar-winning animated short film.

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Yoko Ono To Receive Edward MacDowell Medal For Lifetime Achievement

Over the last 40 years, Ono has had a busy career as a visual and recording artist, with albums like “Season of Glass,” “Starpeace,” and “Take Me to the Land of Hell.” She was recently featured in a career retrospective at London’s Tate Modern.

SOURCE – (AP)

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Dick Van Dyke Earns Historic Daytime Emmy Nomination At Age 98

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3 days ago

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2024-04-21

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AP - VOR News Image

Los Angeles — Dick Van Dyke, 98, is contending for a historic Daytime Emmy.

The actor was nominated Friday as a guest star in a daytime drama series for his role as amnesiac Timothy Robicheaux on Peacock’s “Days of Our Lives.”

Van Dyke is the oldest daytime Emmy nominee. When producer Norman Lear won his final Primetime Emmy nomination in 2022, he was 100 years old. He died the following year.

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Dick Van Dyke Earns Historic Daytime Emmy Nomination At Age 98

Van Dyke is up against Guy Pearce, an Australian actor from Amazon Prime Video’s “Neighbours.”

Van Dyke earned four Primetime Emmys, including three in the 1960s, for his legendary comedy series “The Dick Van Dyke Show.”

Selena Gomez, an actor and singer, is nominated in the culinary series category for her Food Network special “Selena + Chef: Home for the Holidays.” The Food Network’s “Valerie’s Home Cooking,” hosted by actor Valerie Bertinelli and which concluded last year, is also nominated in that category.

People – VOR News Image

Dick Van Dyke Earns Historic Daytime Emmy Nomination At Age 98

CBS will cancel “The Talk” after its 15th season later this year. Akbar Gbajabiamila, Amanda Kloots, Natalie Morales, Jerry O’Connell, and Sheryl Underwood were nominated for daytime talk show hosting.

The main actress nominations are Tamara Braun of “Days of Our Lives,” Finola Hughes and Cynthia Watros of “General Hospital,” Katherine Kelly Lang and Annika Noelle of “The Bold and the Beautiful,” and Michelle Stafford of “The Young and the Restless.”

The lead actor nominees include Eric Braeden of “The Young and the Restless,” Scott Clifton, Thorsten Kaye, and John McCook of “The Bold and the Beautiful,” and Eric Martsolf of “Days of Our Lives.”

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Dick Van Dyke Earns Historic Daytime Emmy Nomination At Age 98

The Daytime Emmys will be broadcast live on CBS on June 7 in Los Angeles. The show is back to its regular schedule after being postponed until December due to strikes by Hollywood performers and writers. The hosts and Lifetime Achievement award recipients will be announced later.

SOURCE – AP

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