In Tribute to Lena Horne

Today I'd like to pay tribute to a lady that I’ve admired for a great portion of my life…Ms. Lena Horne. She passed away yesterday in New York at the age of 92.

 

When I was a little girl, I loved spending my Sundays watching the classic movies on television, especially musicals, from the golden age of Hollywood. I would watch and be transported to another world of beauty, make-believe, and elegance. I imagined myself dancing around with Fred Astaire or making an entrance like the great Bette Davis. I was absorbed into that world and it was part of my 'play' when I was growing up. It fueled my imagination. Then one day, I saw her…Lena Horne, and I was a fan from that moment on (smile). There she was…elegant and beautiful and talented. She could do something that I wanted to do so much…she could sing! And she got to wear beautiful clothes while doing it…hey, I was a baby fashionista back then (smile). 

When I saw Ms. Horne, I was pleasantly surprised to see a lady that looked like she could be a relative. I had always watched all of the MGM musicals and various movies and loved them no matter who was starring in them. But it was a revelation in my young life then to see this beautiful, talented lady on film who looked like me. She was rare then, as the first black performer to be signed to a long-term contract with a major Hollywood studio. So she was not only talented…she was a trailblazer too. Sadly though, she was held back in the 1940s, because of the color of her skin. She would perform one or two songs in various MGM movies that could be easily edited out of the film in order for it to be played in certain areas. What garbage I say! I should use the other word I thought of. LOL. Anyway, she had two movies where she was given the spotlight that she deserved, in 1943, with all-black casts. 

She made “Cabin in the Sky” for MGM and was loaned to 20th Century Fox for my favorite, “Stormy Weather”. And one of her signature songs was the beautiful “Stormy Weather” that she sang in the film. Please take a look at her performance here. So no matter what she had to deal with, she is still going to be remembered always, and she triumphed despite the odds. I love that! I feel like watching “Stormy Weather” right now. I’m going to have to buy a copy somewhere (smile). Besides her movie career, she was a very popular singer in elegant clubs, onstage, and on many recordings. In 1981, she was the toast of Broadway with her one woman show, “Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music” , for which she won a Tony Award.

 

I wanted to go to see her onstage back then, but I was a young teen who couldn’t be out on a school night (smile) and I didn’t have the money to go to New York. This was the time in my life when I couldn’t wait to be grown, so I could just go where I wanted, when I wanted. Of course I learned later, like we all do, that we shouldn’t rush growing up. But it was still fun to fantasize (smile). I grew up as a typical child and teen of the 70s and 80s, with lots of love for my faves of those days…like Michael Jackson, Prince, and Madonna…just like a lot of kids my age. However, I also had lots of love for the ladies and gents who paved the way in those early days, not just as entertainers, but also as important threads in the tapestry of the American culture. They made change in their own way.

 

           Photo credit: Garth Vaughan/AP 

                                                       

Lena Horne was a great performer, a trailblazer, and a civil rights activist also. I honor her memory today. Rest in peace…Ms. Horne. Thank you for shining your light in this world!

Mini Cam Moments #6 and A London Trip

Brit Boy and I had a great weekend. On Saturday, we relaxed around home and watched movies that evening. Earlier in the afternoon, going into evening, we watched a Dolly Parton special of her performing and telling about her rise to fame. It was very interesting. I love biographies and things like that. It’s so intriguing to learn about peoples’ paths in life. I really enjoyed watching the special.

We rested up a bit and relaxed on Saturday in preparation for our outing on Sunday. We went into London to go to see the Michael Jackson Memorabilia exhibit at the O2, where we would’ve seen him perform back in July. We were quite disappointed like many others that we didn’t get to see him perform, so this was a way to still be a part of things.

At the beginning of January, I was sitting around watching videos on Youtube, and there was an ad that popped up advertising the exhibition and I said to myself, “Oh yeah.” I knew in the back of my mind that the exhibit was going on, but I hadn’t really brought it to the front of my mind and thought about going until then.

So after my “oh yeah” moment, I mentioned the exhibit to Brit Boy and we decided to go. Once we got the tickets, we realized that they were going to be doing work on the tube line that we needed to take to get to the O2 Arena, so we had to figure out another path. Here’s the thing, every time we plan to go to London lately, there is some kind of shutdown or strike. It’s like they know we’re coming. LOL. They love us there ;-)

Anyway, we decided on taking another route and it was a great adventure. We took the train into Paddington as usual and then we hopped onto the tube and took it to the Elephant and Castle stop (I’ve got to research why it’s called that) :-) And then we took the tube to the London Bridge stop.

At this point we walked over to the River Thames to catch a catamaran to the O2 Arena. This was a cool way to travel! We loved it! Here are a couple of short videos of us floating along down the river to our destination.

The first one is when we went under Tower Bridge. You can see my camera and I do one of my things, which is twist the camera to get the action. LOL. So I hope you all don’t get dizzy. The second video was taken when we were at a stop. I thought that the sun shining on the water was just so beautiful. I hope you enjoy them!

Here’s Mini Cam Moments #6 to continue my series ! :-)





We really enjoyed traveling this way and we’ll have to do this again :-) The Michael Jackson exhibit at the O2 was great. We weren’t allowed to take photos, but it was very nice. They charted his early career with his brothers in the Jackson 5 all the way up to him preparing for the concerts in London. They had: several of his outfits, past and present; an early contract from when he was a boy; several awards; plaster replicas of his hands and face that were used for his Ghost mini movie; and various other personal items. The "Ghost" mini movie was quite long, but here's a link to a portion of the film. If you don't have time to watch it all, I totally understand, but if you get a minute please check this out from about 1:25 to 5:00 in this video to see some of his best choreography in my humble opinion. We also saw this white shirt he wears in this piece at the exhibit.

My favorite bits of the exhibit were the handwritten lyrics to one of his greatest hits, “Beat It” and a video that they showed of his influences and how he incorporated them into the style that was all his own. I got the sense even more that his musical genius came from an acute understanding and appreciation of performance history. It is clear to see his homage to James Brown and the Nicholas Brothers and Fred Astaire. He was a true student of performing and an innovator in his own right for sure. I also thoroughly enjoyed the various quotes from him that were scattered about the exhibit.

The thing that gave me a lump in my throat though was a small, unassuming exhibit in the corner of the room. Inside the case there were two plastic containers and a water bottle. These three pieces were from Michael’s children. You see, his children packed him a snack everyday in containers like these while he was in rehearsals for his “This Is It” shows. And I know that people say all manner of things about Michael Jackson, good and bad, but at the end of the day, he was a father to these beautiful children and my heart just broke for them all over again when I saw this simple part of the whole exhibit. A cynic might say that it was put there for effect, but I don’t choose to see it that way at all. To me, this signified love and a part of Michael Jackson that we will never know, but a part of him that his children will carry with them forever. So that’s good enough for me :-)

I came away from the exhibit being very glad that we went. We loved it. The exhibit can never replace the fantastic show that Brit Boy and I could’ve seen, but it was nice to see the exhibit on the very last day on a beautiful Sunday. It was a great weekend :-)

Please check out Brit Boy's take on our day at his blog :-)

Tributes

Brit Boy just wrote a final tribute to Michael Jackson on his blog. As MJ is finally laid to rest tomorrow, I am thinking back to my favorite song of his of all time, which was "Rock With You". It takes me back to my girlhood and reminds me totally of a specific place and time in my life. I hold those memories so dear. He was truly talented and I so regret that we won't be going to his show in London now. Still, Brit Boy and I will be playing his music and dancing to it for the rest of our lives...thanks for the music Michael...now sail onward...and rest in peace.

Three That We've Lost

It has been a surreal morning. When I went to bed late last night, I went to bed with this thought. A great chunk of my American life’s popular culture memories are shifting right before my eyes.

Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson as we all know by now, have died recently and it has really got me in a pondering mood today. It’s eerie because they always say these things come in threes. Yesterday afternoon, Brit Boy and I were sitting watching Wimbledon on television and I was sort of in my own world a bit with headphones on listening to my music. Then the Jacksons’ song came on, “Blame It On The Boogie”, and I said to Brit Boy, ‘I can’t wait to see Michael next month and I hope that on our night he just happens to bring his brothers onstage for a reunion.’ We both laughed and thought how cool that would be. Brit Boy and I were going to one of the Michael Jackson concerts in July and we were so looking forward to it. I want to pay tribute to all three of these iconic people in my life. So here goes.

Ed McMahon was a staple of American life. He was best known as Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show sidekick, but he also hosted Star Search which was a predecessor of some of the talent shows that we see on television now. My greatest memories were of being a kid in the 70s and watching The Tonight Show. I would get a chance to see it on Friday nights and during the summer. I was probably the only kid in my elementary school getting excited around midnight about watching Ed McMahon, Johnny Carson, and Doc Severinsen welcoming guests to the show. (smile) Before discovering The Tonight Show, I thought that everyone went to bed after all of us kids were sleeping. I thought the world stopped. LOL. Ahh, innocence. (smile)

Farrah Fawcett was an icon of my 70s childhood. Brit Boy and I often relish our memories of our 70s childhoods and 80s teen years. What a great time it was. (smile) We always say that those 70s shows of our childhood were truly iconic and really define the era. To us, and I’m sure many others, those shows will never get old. I wanted to be a Charlie’s Angel and the Bionic Woman when I was a little girl. I would act out each episode after I saw them. I loved it because these shows had women doing things that I would love to do. They were so cool. (smile) When I found out that Farrah was married to Lee Majors(the Six Million Dollar Man), and realized how that fit with him being the Bionic Woman’s television boyfriend, I was in 70s kid girl heaven. (smile) It was my own mini “six degrees of Kevin Bacon” with a few less degrees. I just loved her.

And last, but definitely not least, there’s Michael Jackson…the King of Pop. I am like most people in the world today….completely stunned. Brit Boy and I found out about him going into cardiac arrest on Twitter, right after we learned of Farrah Fawcett’s passing. And incidentally, we found out about Ed McMahon on Twitter too, so social media is really making its presence know. Once we heard about it, we turned on CNN, Sky News, and the BBC to get the latest and we watched until late into the night. We were both absolutely stunned.

Brit Boy and I had bought tickets to one of his London comeback shows and were to see him exactly four weeks from today. I was getting ready to share the news here on my blog today in fact. Neither of us had ever seen Michael Jackson perform live and now that will never be.

I grew up hearing his music with his brothers and his solo work and it truly was a soundtrack of my life. I had my “Big Three” of my teen years that I had always wanted to see and in the last couple of years, I had finally seen two of the three…Prince and Madonna. I hate that that circle won’t be completed, but I hate more that a musical legend is gone. No matter what some may think about the controversies in his life, you can’t deny his sheer talent and his musical contributions.

I have one more memory about Michael Jackson and his brothers. When I was a little girl and my dad was still alive, he used to always think that everyone was the Jackson 5. My dad didn’t watch much television and so when he would walk through and we were watching a music group on television, he would ask, “Is that those Jackson boys?” (smile) It didn’t matter who it was as long as they were male and singing. (smile) My dad was a character.

So I just wanted to give my two cents on the passing of three people who were a big part of my collective memories as I grew up in America. But I know that I’m not alone in my memories around the world. Michael Jackson and his brothers have had me dancing my whole life.

Thanks to Ed, Farrah, and Michael for entertaining me and many others for all these years. Rest in peace to all.

Please check out Brit Boy's post too for his Michael Jackson tribute.