Sugar Shack Records

On October 21, 1965, the Kingsmen appeared on Shindig!, where they performed "Louie Louie". Richard Berry had written the song in 1955. It has become a standard in pop and rock, with hundreds of versions recorded by different artists. The song is written in the style of a Jamaican ballad; and tells, in simple verse-chorus form, the first-person story of a Jamaican sailor returning to the island to see his ladylove. The Kingsmen's edition was the subject of an FBI investigation about the supposed but non-existent obscenity of the lyrics, an investigation that ended without prosecution. Louie Louie is ranked #55 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".

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On October 4, 1582, Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar. The Julian calendar had been in use since January 1, 45 BC, by edict of Julius Caesar. Caesar's calendar became the predominant calendar in the Roman Empire and subsequently most of the Western world for more than 1,600 years. According to most Roman accounts, their previosly accepted calendar was established by Rome’s legendary first king, Romulus, in the middle of the eighth century BC. It consisted of ten months, beginning in spring with March and leaving winter as an unassigned span of days before the next year. At the inception of the Gregorian calendar, Thursday October 4, 1582 was followed by Friday October 15, 1582. The Julian calendar is still used in parts of the Eastern Orthodox Church and in parts of Oriental Orthodoxy.

John Coltrane Draws a
Picture Illustrating the
Mathematics of Music

The “Coltrane Circle,” which resembles what any musician will recognize as the “Circle of Fifths,” but incorporates Coltrane’s own innovations. Coltrane gave the drawing to saxophonist and professor Yusef Lateef in 1967, who included it in his seminal text, Repository of Scales and Melodic Patterns.
Lateef sees Coltrane’s music as a “spiritual journey”.
Musician and blogger Roel Hollander notes, “Thelonious Monk once said ‘All musicians are subconsciously mathematicians.’ Musicians like John Coltrane though have been very much aware of the mathematics of music and consciously applied it to his works.”

Tonight!

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I know it’s still very summer-like, but the leaves are starting to fall, and the autumnal equinox for the northern hemisphere and the first day of fall begin at 7:44 a.m. CST Sunday Sept. 22, 2024…...and
on September 19, 1819 John Keats wrote "Ode to Autumn." "To Autumn" is the final work in a group of poems known as Keats's "1819 odes". Although personal problems left him little time to devote to poetry in 1819, he composed "To Autumn" after a walk near Wi******er one autumnal evening. The work marks the end of his poetic career, as he needed to earn money and could no longer devote himself to the lifestyle of a poet. A little over a year following the publication of "To Autumn", Keats died in Rome. One of the most anthologized English lyric poems, "To Autumn" has been regarded by critics as one of the most perfect short poems in the English language.

One of my favorite musicians turns 80 today--Michael Franks was born on September 18, 1944 in La Jolla, California. While teaching part-time at UCLA he began writing songs, starting with the antiwar musical Anthems in E-flat starring Mark Hamill. Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee recorded three of Michael's songs, including "White Boy Lost in the Blues". In 1976 Franks released his second album The Art of Tea, which saw Franks begin a long relationship with Warner Brothers Music. The Art of Tea featured Joe Sample, Larry Carlton and Wilton Felder of The Crusaders and included the hit song "Popsicle Toes". Franks has recorded more than 20 albums.

When the Architect is also a Pianist 🎹❤️

Hank Williams (Hiram King Williams) was born on September 17, 1923 inside a log cabin in Mount Olive, Alabama. He charted eleven number one songs between 1948 and 1953, though unable to read or write music to any significant degree. He was a superstar by the age of 25 and he was dead at the age of 29. In those four short years, he established the rules for all the country performers who followed him and, in the process, much of popular music.