Time to get excited. On Friday, I am going up to see the Reverend Al Green at the Hammersmith Apollo! Yaaayyy!!!!That is exciting enough, but in support is a jewel of gospel and queen of southern soul, in the form of Candi Staton!
There's more! Other soul alumni likely to be present behind-the-scenes include Al Green's musical director, Norman West, formerly of The Soul Children. I wonder if he is ever tempted out on stage? What would a rendition of Hearsay featuring Norman, Al, and Candi be like?
Hang on, did the title of this post say I could win a ticket?
Yep! I bought a ticket for my good friend Will, but unfortunately he will have to travel for work. I've asked around, and nobody else I know seemed excited about the idea! So... that means I may have a spare ticket available! I will try to give it away to some deserving reader of this blog!
How To Win The Ticket!
I am going to set some simple questions about Al Green, Candi Staton and Norman West. You can probably google the answers! Email the answers to me at robertwhatman@hotmail.com, and then i will randomly pick a name out of the hat on thursday at 7 o'clock GMT. Include you name and a contact phone number, so I can contact the lucky recipient on Thursday evening!
Here are my questions three...
1. What is the name of Al Green's church in Memphis, Tennessee?
2. What was the name of Candi Staton's famous soul-singing second husband, who took her to FAME Studio?
3. Which two Stax songwriters put Norman West's group The Soul Children together to replace Sam & Dave?
Don't worry if you get stuck on a question! Google it, and if you still can't work it out, just tell me why you really, really want to go see Al Green! Tell me you favourite Al Green song, or your favourite soul artists. I'll put you in the hat!
Today, I'm going to serve up some Alabama funky soul from Candi Staton's FAME albums, and some Al Green, each with a good luck message to help you get that ticket:
Al Green - Wish You Were Here (from LP 'Al Green Is Love') 1975
Candi Staton - Get It When I Want It (on 'I'm Just A Prisoner' FAME LP 4201) 1970
P.S. I have now fixed the Al Green link - sorry!
So much has been written about Candi Staton's life and music. Visit Candi Staton's website and bio here, or this short bio from divastation. Heiki Suosolo of Soul Express magazine did a good interview with Candi here. Candi's autobiography is called This Is My Story. Equally, what can I add to the story of Al Green? Visit his website here.
1 comment:
That was one great evening! I'll post about it this week.
Meanwhile,go visit The B Side blog (www.redkelly.blogspot.com), for his post about going to the Stax Anniversary Concert, AND then going to pop in on Willie Mitchell at his tudio, AND then meeting J Blackfoot of the Soul Children - all in one day!
I can't beat that for excitement!
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