Ruth Brown was bigger than New York, where she cut her R&B chops and she was larger than Las Vegas, where she died from complications of a stroke and a heart attack on Nov. 17. Brown was 78 and she lived life at a full tilt 78 RPM/MPH/DIY.
She cast a rainbow with an endless pot of gold.
I met Brown in April, 1988 at the Atlantic Records 40th anniversary party at Madison Square Garden in New York. I was backstage doing interviews with seminal Atlantic R&B artists like Brown and the late LaVern Baker. Brown was the most commercially successful act at Atlantic between 1949 and 1962 and the label was often referred to as "The House that Ruth Built." I was more excited about seeing Baker and Brown than the historic reunion of Led Zeppelin (without John Bonham of course), the Bee Gees (who hadn't performed together since 1979) and Vanilla Fudge!
And Brown was on the cusp of something very big........
Washington, D.C. lawyer Howard Begle had befriended Brown. He was her lawyer and executor at the time of her death. When they met in 1983 Brown told Begle that despite the fact the market was full of Ruth Brown reissues and compliations, she had not received a royalty check since the early 1960s.
Brown introduced Begle to other R & B artists who were in the same boat: Big Joe Turner, Sam Moore, The Clovers, The Drifters and many others. There was a great Wilson Pickett story about how the Wicked Mr. Pickett visited former Atlantic producer and vice president Jerry Wexler on his yacht. Pickett took a rowboat to the yacht, where Wexler was sunning and drinking cocktails. Pickett asked about the claim of Warner Bros. (Atlantic's parent company) that Wexler was behind on royalty advances by $286,000. Wexler said, "Baby, I don't own the company any more--I can't help you." Pickett rowed back to shore.
The Atlantic party launched efforts to recover lost artist royalties that still exist today. More than $10 million from the concert's sponsorship deals and ticket sales were donated to the Atlantic Records Foundation, the upstart Rhythm and Blues Foundation and others. Atlantic pledged to erase all negative balances claimed against older artists and recalcuate royalties from 1970 to the present. (It was impossible to recalcuate pre-1970 royalties because of shoddy bookeeping).
This was an unprecedented effort.
At times Brown could be sassy, but she was glowing before she took the Garden stage on that spring afternoon. "There are some things you do in life that somewhere along the line you come to regret," she told me. "And there are some things you do in life that you regret you didn't do enough of. And this relationship with Atlantic Records has been sometimes hurting. But whatever was negative about my relationship, there was something so positive that I would forget what the negativeness was."
Brown then went on stage to sing "Teadrops From My Eyes" and her best known jump song "Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean." She also joined Baker for her hit "Jim Dandy." Her voice was still as big as the Empire State Building. "I'm just a flat-footed singer," she told me in a 1987 phone interview. "I'm not geared to backup singing, choreography and heavy instrumentation. It has to come very, very big. It seems that technology limits the performance. Once you're locked into a situation, you can't improvise and you can't move."
Stay tuned. Before moving on to royalty recovery with the increasing popularity of satellite radio, here's an oddball Ruth Brown sidebar you won't read in any other appreciations. [The most complete recap on her remarkable life was Jon Pareles' obit in the Nov. 16 New York Times.]
Brown was scheduled to appear with Bo Diddley, Etta James and others at a January, 1989 concert as part of the inaugural festivities for President George Herbert Walker Bush. She cancelled after suffering a heart attack. The event was organized by the late Lee Atwater, a major music fan who was the first President Bush's campaign director. Atwater also interned for segregationist Sen. Strom Thurmond while in college. I remember calling Atwater to remark about how "soulful" the Bush bash was. He chuckled and said, "Well, we'll have a lot more suprises," and hung up. [One surprise was that the event was co-chaired by Cheryl Ladd and Chuck Norris...those sure were more innocent times.]
Begle helped Atwater book the D.C. event, which acccounted for Brown's appearance as well as Dr. John and Koko Taylor. By 1989 Brown's career had been on the ascent after John Waters cast her as Motormouth Mabel in the film version of "Hairspray." As a result of the hit film, Brown was invited to a White House correspondents' dinner. She invited Begle to come along---that's how he met Atwater, as well as the camp of The Rev. Jesse Jackson, who was toying with a presidential bid. Atwater told me, "The four years I managed the campaign, I would jog and fantasize about the ultimate concert and how I would like to have everyone from Stevie Ray Vaughan to Ruth Brown."
I just spun away from my computer and headed to another room where my turntable sits from another time. I played the first track Brown ever recorded: "So Long," (May 25, 1949, Atlantic) with Amos Milburn on piano. Sometimes this his how I spend a Friday night. Brown had just spent nine months in a hospital as the result of an auto accident outside of Chester, Pa. She was supposedly singing on crutches. There is a sway and attitude in her voice that was unlike anything else of the period, the freedom of jazz washing up against big city blues. Ms. Brown sings, "...This can never be goodbye/we'll just say so long..." and you hear the determination of someone who had someplace to go.
ROYALTY UPDATE: Pass this on to musicians you know.
SoundExchange, the non-profit organization that collects and distributes royalties from various digital music services on behalf of artists and record labels has submitted its case to the Copyright Royalty Board charged with setting rates that XM and Sirius satellite music services will pay for their streaming of sound recordings during the next six-year licensing terms, ending in 2012.
Recognizing that music forms the foundation of the two satellite services, SoundExchange's request for royalties beginning at 10 percent of revenues and gradually increasing over the six-year term is a reasonable rate based on the findings of several leading experts.
In January, 2005 Milwaukee musician Paul Cebar told me that he was seeing $200 every quarter for songs that are getting played on satellite radio. At that time XM (disclaimer--I'm a subscriber) had 5.1 million subscribers. Today XM has more than 7 million subscribers.
SoundExchange is jointly governed by artists and record labels and has a strong record of protecting the interests of artists and record labels. Since its first distribution in 2001, SoundExchange has collected more than $53 million in digital royalties. It is the first performance organization in the United States to collect and distribute digital audio transmission royalties to artists and sound recording copyright owners.
All artists, labels, and/or representatives should check out:
http://www.soundexchange.com/
And remember, Ruth Brown got the ball rollling.
I just downsized my holiday road plans because I dropped $99 for a Rickey Henderson autograph at the Sun-Times sports collector's show held earlier today near O'Hare Airport in Chicago. The Style Dog--now there's a guy who always knew where he was going. I don't collect a lot of autographs, but Rickey is one of the most complete baseball players of my generation (1,406 stolen bases). Plus he was a colorful cuss, sometimes known as the "King of I" or "Rickey Flash." I've never paid that much for an autograph. Rickey signed a picture of himself screaming and holding up home plate after he hit a home run to become the all-time leader in runs scored (2,246). I said, "Thanks for the memories."
The Style Dog laughed and I walked away into the sweaty, unshaven sea of lonely sports collectors. I bought some wacky stocking stuffers, a 1976 Greyhound bus brochure promoting the art of the stolen base, a football card of a guy named Jerry Tubbs. My payback is that my final road trip of the year will now be spent in fleabag motels where a lone lightbulb dangles like a sad participle.
So it is time to share these tips for the Provident Traveler:
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The list of road trip tips was inspired by the Texas band Reckless Kelly, who over the summer released a live DVD and 2 CD set called "Reckless Kelly Was Here" (Sugar Hill Records). They're a great bunch of guys who early in their career sounded like a great bunch of gnarly Steve Earles. There's a common ground between that attitude and the attitude of Rickey Flash.
The DVD has some bonus footage where Reckless Kelly offers pointers from a well-seasoned touring band. Some of their better tips were:
MAKING COFFEE: Combine the decaffeniated and regular complimentary coffee filters offered in your motel room for a stronger brew.
KEEPING TRACK OF DIRTY LAUNDRY: Roll clean underwear up and secure it with a rubber band. Once the rubber band is removed, you know the underwear has been worn.
CLEANING UP IN A GAS STATION: Place your head under the sink, then use your t-shirt as a towel to dry off. Use the now-damp t-shirt as a wash cloth to clean other areas. Put on a new shirt.
That's disgusting.
BONUS TIP FROM DAVID HILDAGO OF LOS LOBOS: Turn your iron into a hot plate by placing it with the handle down on top of an empty tissue box. Turn the iron on and place the food on top.
PREVENT MOTEL ROOM THEFT: Turn the television on, raise the volume, and place the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door knob. Lots of people do that.
But here's some road trip tips that Reckless Kelly missed:
MIRRORS ARE UNDER UTILIZED: Get some eyeliner or lipstick and dedicate a haiku to your maid on the nearest mirror.
LOOK UNDER THE BED: During the 1985 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, I spent one night on the floor of a dive motel near the airport. When I awoke I saw a fedora and a perfectly good pair of slacks underneath the bed. The ensemble would have fetched at least $15 at a Chicago Salvation Army.
BEST CABLE STATION TO GET A LAUGH TO START YOUR DAY: Country Music Television, especially if you catch country music videos in the morning. They're cheesy-mini soap operas. No matter what mission you're on when you leave your hotel, it won't be as bad as this crap.
BE NEIGHBOR AWARE: When stopping at a roadside motel during the Holiday Season never get a room next to a unit where a Weber grill and lawn furniture are situated outside the front door.
FOOD THAT NEVER GOES BAD: Mountan Dew, Tostitos Light (with one gram of fat) and one Keebler's Chips Deluxe cookie before you go to bed.
OHHHH JESUS! It sounds like your neighbors in 202 are on their honeymoon night. Or on a sordid affair. The walls are knocking, the Thomas Kincaid artwork is tilting and you can't get to sleep. Call the front desk. Say YOU are in 202 and kindly request a copy of the Gideon Bible since 'yours' has been removed from the room. The front desk will always promptly deliver the Bible and you're off to dreamland.
Change leads to a world of possibility.
I recently got word that Iris Selene Alvarez became the first female diver from Acapulco to dive from the 59-foot height at the La Quebrada cliff. Iris was 12 when she dove off the historic cliff in December. She was recognized by Guinness World Records as the youngest person to ever dive from the cliff.
She opened her arms to tomorrow,
Tourists watch the cliff divers from the El Mirador Acapulco hotel. The lobby bar and La Perla nightclub features live music along with classic 1960s photos of when Acapulco was a getaway for the original Rat Pack, Lana Turner and others. Scenes from the hit 1963 Elvis Presley film 'Fun In Acapulco" were shot here and edited into the film, although the King never visited the Mexican nightclub.
I wondered about Raul Garica, who is to Acapulco cliff diving what Muhammad Ali is to boxing. I met Garcia on a 2002 trip to Acapulco. He was 74 years old. He had dove off La Quebrada (the break) 37,348 times in 50 years. Due to so many blows to the head on the water, he was punch drunk like Ali. I sent out some E-mails and learned that the legendary Garcia had died on July 17, 2004............
I have interviewed Michael Jordan, Timothy Leary and R. Kelly, but Raul Garcia is the only person I have met who knew what it was like to fly.
"Champion divers try to land in the water on the front part of their head, or from eyebrows the middle of the scalp," he told me in his tiny apartment in downtown Acapulco. "This prevents a broken neck. You also have to know how to open your arms as if you can fly. Today, they don't do anything different than I did. I never got nervous. I knew when I got nervous, it would be time to quit." He quit in 1986.
Timing is key for the cliff divers, who have offically been leaping from the rocks since 1934. They attempt to time their dives to correspond between incoming waves at peak depth. The divers must travel at least 30 feet horizontally to avoid crashing into the rugged rocks below. Divers travel at least 80 miles an hour and land in water 9 feet deep. The fall takes about three seconds.
Acapulco cliff divers pass the sport down through generations. Iris Selene Alvarez's grandfather was famous cliff diver Jose' Alvarez , a.k.a. "The Square." The cliff divers make five jumps a day and practice in the afternoon. Young divers start on smaller points of the cliff and work their way to the top. Before they jump, almost all cliff divers pray to the Virgin of Guadalupe shrine atop La Quebrada.
British journalist Barbara Kastelein told me about Garcia's passing. She is working on a book on the Acapulco cliff divers. She said he went down with a fever, was diagnosed with meningitis and died five days later in an Acapulco hospital. She said how proud Garcia was to have attended the inaugural ceremony of Mexican president Vincente Fox in 2000--but Fox made no mention of Garcia when he died, nor did he send concolences to his widow Myrna.
I met Myrna during my 2002 visit. Raul and Myrna Dalia Reyes were married in 1967. They met at the swinging 1960s Acapulco nightclub Tequila A-Go-Go (appropriately a hang for Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr.). Myrna was a switchboard operator at the now-defunct dance club. When she looked across the cluttered apartment at the old cliff diver she still saw a young man, "picaro y coqueto" (roughish and flirtatious).
During our conversation, Garcia's mind wandered now and then, kind of like our current American President, whose time has come and gone. But Garcia was proud to show me scrapbooks and clippings of his accomplishments. He stood 5 feet 8 inches and weighed 180 pounds in his prime.
Garcia was featured in ABC-TV's "Wide World Of Sports" revue. He became a sideshow attraction, appearing at early 1960s gigs such as Walker Dick's Water-Stage and Aerial Show at the Pleasure Pier in Galveston, Texas. Wearing a black cape for dramatic effect, Garcia dove into 15-foot Gulf of Mexico waters from a 125-foot steel tower.
In 1990 Garcia was featured in a color advertisement for the Timex Men's Fashion Collection. He sported a water resistant watch that was guaranteed to click in water as deep as 82 feet. And the watch never stopped. Time rolls on, from the highest cliffs to the heat of the desert. And today I can see tomorrow with the promise of Iris Selene Alvarez.
