Corey @ I'll Keep You Posted

Keepin' It Real ... Keepin' It Real ... SHARPTON!

The Boy Wonder!  Rev. Al Sharpton - circa 1960.  Photograph by Bert Smith.

EDDIE GRAY: Minstrel Man from Covington Kentucky!

As a native of Covington, Kentucky I had never heard of Eddie Gray until a few years ago.  And I've been itching to do this post ever since!  However, I doubt very seriously if I'm alone in not being familiar with Mr. Gray.  I'd say that most Covingtonians have probably never heard of him and most of those who make up the African American community could probably care less!  I'm not going to attempt to suggest that we even should have heard of him.  I'm just saying that Eddie Gray provides a bit of color, texture and unique history to an otherwise non-descript geographical blot in the Northern Kentucky - Greater Cincinnati region.  And THAT'S WHY Eddie Gray is proudly featured on this blog TODAY!

All of the indicators suggest that tenor Eddie Gray was not really a big star, but he was at least partly known to early African American record buyers when Blacks first started making significant waves in the recording industry in the 1920's.

During the first few years of that decade, Gray was a featured recording artist with the very first (and for a very long time the only) African American-owned record company in the states, Black Swan Records. 

Headquartered in Harlem, Black Swan was an outgrowth of the Pace & Handy Music Publishing Company, which was the issue of the famous composer W.C. Handy - the "Father of the Blues" and his partner Harry Pace.  By 1920, Mr. Pace looked around and saw that the major recording labels still wasn't about recognizing the fabulous black talent that could be found right there in Harlem.  So right before the first sonic boom of the female blues singers exploded, Pace broke off his association with Handy, and organized Black Swan in the basement of his own home at 257 W. 138th St.  

Black Swan took its name from the beautiful 19th-century slave-born opera singer, Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, who was called The Black Swan, and that was the initial sound and image that Harry Pace wanted his company to represent.  Realizing that he was cutting off his nose to spite his face, Pace soon welcomed the blues and more jazz-oriented artists to his label.  Miss Ethel Waters cut her recording teeth there! Essie Whitman, one of the famed Whitman Sisters joined the company.  Eddie Gray was there, too!

Biographical information on Eddie Gray is very scarce.  It is said that Gray was born sometime in the early 1890's and "ran away" from Covington, Kentucky with the Primrose and West Minstrels at the tender age of just nine years old.  That company was very well-known and supposedly took a somewhat unique, unorthadox approach to minstrelsy which can be gauged by this company poster.  Minstrelsy was still minstrelsy and it was never meant to depict Black folks with any accuracy or dignity whether portrayed by whites pretending to be black or by blacks pretending to be white pretending to be black.  Black characters still cut the fool, the coon, the moron, the buffon and the idiot!

Throughout the 1920's, (and not always in blacface) Eddie Gray made a living performing in high-toned New York area restaurants, nightclubs and revues.  He had a featured role in the landmark Black 20's musical, Runnin' Wild - which also showcased other then well-known Black stars such as Ralph Cooper, Elida Webb, Adelaide Hall, Monte Hawley, Miller & Lyles, and Black Swan labelmate Revella Hughes.  In this production, Elisabeth Welch introduced the Charleston - the song and the dance! Gray was also hired as the MC for Lew Leslie's Blackbirds of 1928, the musical which catapulted Adelaide Hall to stardom! 

 

As seen in this video, Eddie Gray at some point went back to his roots as part of a minstrel-type trio of entertainers called The Three Eddies.  The tall one in the middle is certainly not Eddie Gray and I'm not even sure the others were named Eddie at all.  Like it or not, we are fortunate to have footage of them.  Whatever you may think about them, they were undeniably talented dancers. 

Unfortunately, as the 20's drew to a close, the curtain was also drawn on Eddie Gray's life.  He died in New York on October 27, 1930.  I don't know much more about Eddie Gray.  But as much as I do know, I present to you what should be a BONAFIDE COVINGTON KENTUCKY LEGEND!

 

JACKIE WILSON: Sweat and Lonely Teardrops, circa 1960

A HOLDER BROTHER BY ANY OTHER NAME!

Family lore has it that one of my diva aunt's five husbands was a man named Carl Holder.  That much we know to be true!  She had already been married twice before she left Kentucky and moved to Brooklyn in the 1950's, but after she moved to New York the family lost track of the various husbands.  It was my grandmother who told me that Carl Holder came from Trinidad and was the brother of Broadway star, Tony Award-winner, choreographer, dancer, costume designer, painter, photographer, singer, author and cola-nut man GEOFFREY HOLDER! 

She said so because she knew him!

In this self-portrait from 1957, you will recognize Geoffrey Holder on the left.  The gentleman perched lovingly at his shoulder is his brother. His name is not Carl! THIS brother's name is Boscoe! And he is younger while Carl would certainly have been an older brother IF he was a Holder brother AT ALL! 

We also know that Carl was a thug and not quite the idea relative a rising black star in the 50's would want the press to know about - especially after he was gunned down in broad daylight as he sat with my aunt in their new Caddy.  Obviously, Holder was definitely the bulls-eye target while my aunt was NOT!  Immediately after the massacre, still with blood splattered on her silver-blue mink, my aunt called home screaming THEY SHOT HIM! THEY SHOT HIM!

SHOT WHO?  Who was Carl Holder?  Was he a Holder brother?  Or wasn't he?

I cannot find any personal information, biographical sketch or any such thing to suggest that Geoffrey Holder ever had a brother named Carl.  I am told that my aunt could tell some doozies in her day, like having folk believe that she was a schooteacher when in fact she worked at the Baby Grand - a nightclub in Brooklyn & Harlem!

Maybe my grandmother got the story wrong?  Maybe Carl was a cousin or an uncle?  Some years ago, in my quest to learn the truth, I actually wrote to Geoffrey Holder fully expecting to get a reply.  I did not! 

In time, my aunt married another gangsta'-like brother with a reputation either named or nicknamed Sam Booty - yeah right!  She passed away in Brookly in 1967.  I don't know what ever happened to Boscoe Holder but we all know that Geoffrey Holder went on to become a BROADWAY ICON!  And whether any of what my aunt & her husband Carl told my family is true or not, I couldn't have made up the real life facts that sometimes make the truth more strange than fiction.

Regardless, this tender portrait from 1957 suggest a brotherly love and affection that not all of us get to experience.  It suggests a Holder brother is still a brother no matter what!

*This post exemplifies the type of blog posts that I want to do on my new "family blog", Diary Of A Mad Genealogist!  I want to take the flava of Corey @ I'll Keep You Posted and present it to my extended family with material that would appeal specifically to US!  I started out very excited about the prospect, but so far, the feedback has been less than enthusiastic.  Hump!

 

MAURICE MURRELL: THE LAST CLICK!

Actor/Model Maurice Murrell passed away last night! The full details of his death have not yet been released to the public other than the fact that he passed away in the early a.m. hours. 

Murrell first appeared on the cover of the January 2006 edition of the legendary, now defunct CLIK Magazine, and the images from that landmark shoot solidified his status as a rising star in the black LGBT community. Under the title Bare Essentials, the brief introduction not only layed Murrell bare under the camera, but also revealed him to be a conscientious young man of character, heart and humor.

From the initial photos by Karen Detrick, a respectable modeling career was launched that included more magazine covers, book covers, glossy calendars and more fashionista profiles.  Murrell eventually made his film debut in the popular film Finding Me and is featured in its sequel, Finding Me: Truth.

I did not know Maurice Murrell!  But it's not because we didn't have the opportunity.   Aside from a few very brief, very friendly exchanges on Facebook, we just never held much conversation!  Still, I admired Mr. Murrell from afar based on more that just his obvious physical beauty. 

Yet I find it ironic that that is the only way I can pay tribute to another beautiful brotha gone too soon ... ... ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

On behalf of Corey@ I'll Keep You Posted, I'd like to offer my condolensces to Maurice's family members, his friends and to his admirers.  May God be with you in your time of loss and reflection. 

R.I.P. Maurice!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AN APPOINTMENT WITH BEAUTY

 

WHEN YOUR FRIENDLY, TRAINED LENA HORNE BEAUTY CONSULTANT COMES TO VISIT, YOU MAY AS WELL SHUT THE DOOR IN HIS OR HER FACE!

NO AMOUNT OF MAKEUP ...  COSMETICS ... OR COLD CREAM CAN MAKE YOU LOOK LIKE LENA!

And don't even let them pull out the hair extensions & start talkin' 'bout BEYONCE!

THOSE GIGS HAVE ALREADY BEEN FILLED!

Look Like YOU!

MASTER CLASS: SUNDAY AND SISTER WINFREY!

GIBBIN' HONAH TO GAWD THIS MAW'NIN FOR WAKIN' ME UP CLOTHED IN MY 'RHAT MIND AND GRATEFUL THAT MY BED WASN'T MY COOLIN' BOAD AND MY BLANKET WASN'T MY WINDIN' SHEET.  LAST NIGHT DE LAWD 'DEALT WID SISTER OPREY AND DIS MAW'NIN WE NEEDS TO GIRD OUR MINDZ AND WELCOME 'HUH AS SHE COME 'FOTH IN 'HUH OWN WAY ........................

 

 

 

 

 

 

DID YOU HAB CHUCH' THIS MAW'NIN PEOPLES?  IT'S TIME TO PASS THE PEAS ... I MEAN PASS THE PLATE AND TAKE UP A LUB OFFERN'. 

REBBIN' CHICKENWHANG WILL BE BACK NEXT WEEK AS HE  TALKS ABOUT BEIN LEFT BEHIND FROM THE RAP'CHA! 

 

 

I KNOW WHAT BOYS LIKE

7up "floats" are great! 

But how is she at tea-bagging? 

And can she toss a good salad? 

NEGROES PREFER BLONDES

I'M WITH MARILYN ... BITCHES!

One exciting night in 1952, Marilyn Monroe hung out till the wee hours of the morning at the Club 5-4 in South Central LA with her friend, costume designer William Travilla.  And 20th Century Fox hated her for it!  Slated to create Monroe's wardrobe for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Travilla was promptly fired for being a "bad influence."  She said IF HE GOES I GO and he was promptly rehired.  However, the studio was successful in pulling this photo out of circulation, and the relatively few times that it had been seen - the brotha was conveniently cropped out of the festivities.

Who wouldn't want to hang out with Marilyn?  But judging from the dynamics captured in the photo, Travilla looks like he might dump her at any minute so he can hang with that brotha!  And I can't say that I blame him!

 

THE LOOK OF LOVE

... is saying so much more than words can ever say!

Best Actor, 1963

MADELEINE "SAHJI" JACKSON

Other than the fact that she appeared in the 1947 movie Jivin' in Bebop with Dizzy Gillespie, not much else is known about the beautiful exotic dancer known as Sahji.  That film, no more than a string of musical performances, presents Sahji in all of her "exotic" otherness doing a dance that reminds me very much of what "praise dancers" now do in church.   Hmm ... are they the original exotic dancers?

Sahji was also known as Madeleine Jackson, and is known to have been married to musician Leroy Harris, a saxophonist with the Earl Hines Orchestra.

This collection of photos originally belonged to a Cotton Club chorus girl, reportedly a headline dancer by the name of Margot, who appeared at the club between 1933-39.    

One inscription reads "To Margot, You are tops as a dancer.  And as a lady, you are even higher.  Best wishes for your present & future happiness.  Sincerely, Madeline Sahji Jackson." Under that it says "Sahji" Cousin Madeleine. 

The inscription on the last photo says "To Margo, my country cuz.  Wish you would join me again in this mess.  'Best Always, Madeleine .. Sahji."

 

Madeleine "Sahji" Jackson ... NOT YOUR EVERYDAY COUNTRY COUSIN!

 

STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

William Shakespeare originally said something about misery making for strange bedfellows, but then somebody later revised it to Necessity Makes For Strange Bedfellows.  Unfortunately, there are many brothas who stand witness behind the meanings of both adages!

Yes, misery and necessity often compel us to take desperate measures and try new & different things.  Sometimes they feel right, and sometimes they work for us, but many times they just don't! No matter how you try to force it, it often feels contrived and ends up being an unbalanced, unmitigated disaster.  So, if it don't fit don't force it!

This is not to say that you shouldn't go with what you know to be real, true and beautiful.  However, the truth is no matter how it slices down the middle, sometimes you still just have to BITE IT!

DON LEMON'S TRANSPARENT INTERVIEW WITH JOY BEHAR

 

I was born gay just like I was born black!  CNN News Anchor, Don Lemon tells media commentator, Joy Behar.

That should be the END OF THE STORY!  But it's NOT!  Don Lemon's first book, Transparent, due out June 16, promises to further address his decision to share the truth of his sexuality with the general public, as well as other topics like racism.   

Some months ago, during the Bishop Eddie Long fiasco, Mr. Lemon revealed that he, too, had been molested as a youth by someone he trusted.   Transparent will also no doubt address that aspect of Lemon's past.  However, both he (and Behar) want us to know that molestation and sexuality have nothing to do with the other.

"People [always] want some way to EXPLAIN being gay"Lemon remarks.    Indeed, it's not about CHOICE!  It's not about DOMINEERING MOTHERS!  It's not about being MOLESTED!  It's not about hanging around GIRLS, being WEAK, being EFFIMINATE - whatever that really means - or anything else.  IT JUST IS! 

THAT MUCH SHOULD BE SO CLEAR AS TO BE TRANSPARENT!

"I abhor hypocrisy ... ... I think if you're going to be in the business of news, and telling people the truth, of trying to shed light in dark places, then you've got to be honest. You've got to have the same rules for yourself as you do for everyone else."  - Don Lemon

WILL SHERIDAN, FORMER VILLANOVA ATHLETE SPEAKS HIS TRUTH!

 

BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE ! ! !

"Maybe there's a kid out there who doesn't think he's OK, and he can look at me and say, 'OK, he played college basketball. He went overseas. He has a music career and now he's living his life. Now he's who he wants to be and he's happy and confident and comfortable.' It's my responsibility to talk about that" says Will Sheridan.

In response to both Sheridan's and CNN anchor Don Lemon's "coming out" just yesterday, someone else said "When it rains it pours."  I say YES!  Let it rain and let it pour! Let it SATURATE those who need to see it and hear it the most - and that includes the fathers who sometimes need a little more time to absorb it.

Thank you Will Sheridan and Don Lemon for standing up like MEN!  Thank you for being the examples and helping to change the image that so many in our community desperately need to see!

 

 

NORA HOLT WHIPS IT BACK AND FORTH!

So what if she was satirized under pseudonyms in Harlem Renaissance novels, or known throughout that period as a bronze venus, dusky diva or outrageous party girl.  She held many titles but Nora Holt was Nora Holt!  She served drama from New York to Chicago.  She gave 'em glamour in Paris, London and Shanghai, too!  She was a definite handful as well as an eye full.  But there was so much more to "The Mama That Can't Behave" than what met you at face value. 

She knew how to handle her business! 

Nora Holt was born Lena Douglas sometime around 1890 in Kansas City, KS.   She had five or six husbands but decided to keep the name of her fourth husband, the elderly (but very wealthy) hotel owner George Holt.  In the meantime,  she graduated Western University at Quindaro, KS in 1917 with a bachelor's degree in music.  In 1918, she added another degree from Chicago Musical College, thus becoming the first African American woman in the United States to earn a Master's Degree! 

When her fifth marriage to Joseph Ray, the African American assistant to millionaire tycoon Charles Schwab ended in divorce, Nora moved to Harlem and carried on uptown and hung out downtown with her very good friend, the infamous novelist and Negrophile Carl Van Vechten.

She co-founded the National Association of Negro Musicians, and became an editor and music critic for the New York Age and the Amsterdam News.  Nora Holt composed over 200 works of orchestral & chamber works, but all of her manuscripts were later stolen and she never returned to composition.  Undetered, she continued to study and teach music for decades.  In 1950, Jet Magazine announced that Nora Holt was in the process of writing her memoirs which promised to be even more spicy than the recently published autobiography from singer Ethel Waters.  The book never materialized, but every note, every decade just went higher and higher until she passed away in 1974.  

In 2008, a man inherited a collection of African American memorbilia stored in an old garage - included in the collection is a most intriguing autograph book filled with the signatures of some of the most prominent names of the early 20th century.  History Detectives, the popular PBS fact-finding show becomes involved and produces one of their most-watched segments, and thus renews interest in Nora Holt - the original owner of the book.

More than just another Harlem socialite, international jet setter, or quick study on History Detectives, Nora Holt was an intelligent, shrewd and BRILLIANT BLACK BUSINESS WOMAN!  She knew how to whip the double whammy of beauty and brains back and forth.

Photograph by James Marquis Connely, 1930

 

 

 

 

 

 

HEAVEN MUST BE LIKE THIS

 

It doesn't matter who you are or where you are, YOU WILL HAVE A REACTION!  Rev. Q's message about How To Reach Heaven may challenge your RELIGIOUS BELIEFS, or it may resonate with your total SPIRITUAL experience up to this point.  Spiritual experience?  That very well may be the key phrase here.  I'm not going to attempt to sway you one way or the other.  You have to be on your own JOURNEY to GET IT! 

And if this message is about heaven, Rev. Stroud certainly makes a very deft, if very brief revelation about HELL!

I think the message is urgent and BRILLIANT and so is the messenger!

 

Reverend Quenton Stroud has been on his own journey since the age of 14, when he first realized that he "had the ability to sense psychic impressions and effect psychic energy in others."  Over the last 17 years, he has worked with many spiritual teachers to fine hone his own unique gifts and sensibilities in order to be of service to others.  Those gifts include Spiritual Healing, Oracle Intuition, and raising ones' Emotional Tone Level. 

Today, Rev. Stroud is a Licensed and Ordained New Thought/Metaphysical Minister. 

To learn more, visit his websites here: http://www.AskTheOracleNow.com and here http://www.InsightIntoYou.com

Life is a giant invisible scale with two sides good and bad.  You and your beliefs are the weights.  The things you do each day determine the balance.  Your conscience is a flawless judge and jury that only questions you when your wrong ... these are the natural facts for what it's worth - YOU MAKE YOUR OWN HEAVEN AND HELL RIGHT HERE ON EARTH!  - The Temptations

 

 

 

"BABE" WALLACE: Still In Post-Production!

If you've seen Stormy Weather - and I know you have, then you've seen Emmett "Babe" Wallace as Chick Bailey.  Maybe you just didn't know who the brotha was!  Despite having a major role in the landmark 1943 movie starring Lena Horne, the Nicholas Brothers and Cab Calloway, Wallace wasn't listed in the credits.  It had something to do with role reversals, attitudes and politics.  The suave debonaire Babe Wallace was originally slated for the male lead as Lena's romantic interest in the movie - and what a sizzling pair they would have made.  But the legendary Bill "Bojangles" Robinson came on board with the bigger name draw and Wallace was unceremoniously relegated to the second male lead - and they didn't even credit him.   What resulted was one of the most glaring miscasts in the history of movies when old, crusty ashy Bill Robinson, almost 60 at the time, stepped in to woo & coo the sultry and delicious Lena Horne.  WHOA!

About a year ago, I was hosting my own pity party and feeling most underappreciated when I started deleting my blog posts one by one.  I started at the very beginning (2008) and just started wrecking havoc on my own work.  But when I got to this one (Meet EMMETT "BABE" WALLACE ~ A Fine And Mellow Fellow!) I stopped!  I knew it was too good to destroy. That's why the beginning of my blog now starts off as if it's been there all time with no introduction.

I'd like to share it again because Wallace's grandson, musician Jimy Bleu, told me that the documentary he is producing on his grandfather is still coming along very nicely in post-production, thank you very much!  Once an international star, now mostly forgotten except by affionados of black film histoy, the late Emmett "Babe" Wallace will once again have a major film role - and this time he won't have to play second fiddle to nobody.  He'll get TOP BILLING!

In the meantime ... check this out .....................  

 

TWEEDLE DEE AND TWEEDLE DUMB: LaVern Baker & Georgia Gibbs!

DON'T F@CK WITH ME, FELLAS!  We laughed when Faye Dunaway delivered that memorable line in Mommie Dearest.  But I can assure you when LaVern Baker had cause to deliver it, you knew it was the TRUTH!  Just ask poor Georgia Gibbs!  Gibbs built a whole career on ripping Miss Baker off, and it's a good thing LaVern never actually got her hands on her.  But I would have loved it if she had!

LaVern Baker was one of the most successful of the pioneer R&B singers of the 50's - one of the architects of what would become known as Rock & Roll.  Like her or not, she had a big booming system right in her throat as she belted out hits like Soul on Fire, Jim Dandy and Saved.  Her biggest hit was probably Tweedle Dee, a latin-flavored novelty song from 1953 for which she AND Georgia Gibbs will always be remembered.

I shouldn't have to rehash how in the 50's, black artists recorded hit songs that were often relegated to the "race" charts, and how they were only played late in the a.m. if they were played at all on mainstream American radio stations.   Most (if not all) of these songs were landmark recordings that received more attention when white artists like Pat Boone and Georgia Gibbs covered them.  The white artists made all the money, appeared on all the television shows, topped the record charts and got all the recognition with lame watered-down versions of songs like Tutti Frutti, Good Golly Miss Molly, Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On, Hound Dog, and Tweedle Dee.   Miss Gibbs became the Queen of Cover & Rip Off and Miss Baker wasn't having it!

She took Georgia Gibbs' ass to court and tried to sue her!  Georgia recorded her version note-for-note and employed many of the same musicians from Baker's home base, Atlantic Records.   She used the same exact chart arrangements and it wouldn't be the last time she did it.  Fed up, Baker petitioned congress for a law making it illegal to flat-out steal her shit like that without permission.  She failed in her efforts, but she is the first known entertainer to have brought a suit of that kind. 

In January of 1957, Miss Baker was invited to go on tour with The Platters, Big Joe Turner and Bill Haley & The Comets.  Before leaving for Australia, she took out a little flight insurance and sent Georgia Gibbs the policy with a letter.  "Since I'll be away and you won't have anything new to copy, you might as well take this."  That's all she wrote and that's all she had to!  And why shouldn't she have it?  Gibbs had taken everything else, she might as well have the insurance too!

 

Birds of a feather flock together, and Baker was a favorite of the fiery Dinah Washington and a friend to Della Reese, who said "I had to fight her for friendship."  LaVern Baker was not to be messed with.  Just listen to how she curses Jackie Wilson out and tells him not to F@CK WITH HER NO MORE on the X-rated version of their 60's hit THINK TWICE!   I suspect that was some damn good advice!  *Catch the line at the end about somebody being a "stone queer??"

 

 

 

 

 

 

ANOTHER NINA MAE McKINNEY PHOTOGRAPH? HELL YES!

Almost every black same-gender identified and old vintage black Hollywood-lovin' blogger has a Nina Mae McKinney post on his or her blog.  I originally did mine when I first started out in 2008, and it remains one of my most popular blog posts.  I decided to revisit that post (NINA MAE MCKINNEY: A BLACK DECO FILM GODDESS!) because I wanted an excuse to use the two photos here, and because I'm trying to channel another lost Nina photo to finally come my way. 

Way back before Kevin E. Taylor told me that I should think about becoming a blogger, before I ever knew how to copy an online image, I saw a rare photo on Ebay of Nina Mae McKinney.  I'd never seen it before and I've never seen it since.  It was an early shot of McKinney sitting in a studio makeup room getting her face beat by big-time Hollywood make-up artists.  If I'm not mistaken, there was a large Kleig light shining on her face and it just left me FLOORED!  I'm not sure if George Hurrell ever photographed McKinney but it was THAT GLAMOROUS! 

The bidding started at big money and you can bet it sold for big money, but is that buyer the ONLY ONE with a copy?  Universe, bloggers, drive-by visitors, McKinney devotees ... ARE YOU LISTENING?  If you've ever seen this photo, heard about it, know where I can find it, have a copy, want to share it, want to tease me - LEAVE A COMMENT!

5/12:  Two different readers just sent me these today.  I think they're most interesting and they look to have been shot at the same session.    I've seen them before and they're really quite unusual!  Thanks Joseph and Mychaeltodd!

Joseph came through with another one!  Thanks DUDE!  And this one is from his personal collection of autographs!

WOW!  I had THIS ONE in my OWN collection and forgot to include it!  She looks caucasian here.  At times, McKinney photographed weird!

These last two were added today (5/13).  I found them myself and they are SERIOUS!  Wouldn't you agree?  I was going to sit on them but I couldn't resist!

KEEP THEM COMING!  KEEP THEM COMING!  KEEP THEM COMING!  UNTIL I FIND THAT ELUSIVE ONE!

CARLY SIMON'S FACE ... A Quadroon's Confession!

It's pretty interesting. It didn't matter as much because I'm a singer, not an actress, but my face is more acceptable in a way now than when I first came on the scene, because I'm part black. My mother's mother was black.   - Carly Simon, 2004

She's so vain.  She probably thinks this blog post is about her.  When Carly Simon revealed her racial heritage to designer Michael Kors for Interview magazine back in 2004, nobody seemed to care very much.  I didn't hear it until a few days ago.  I always find these things interesting.  I remember very clearly sitting at my grandfather's kitchen table as a little boy when out of the blue, he launched into a discourse on how to "spot" and "classify" folks with a little more color in their background than most people would think.  He would've known what he was talking about - he was born into such a family!

This "conversation" was most unusual since Grandaddy was in his last days and not quite used to having one-on-one conversations with me.  Since then, there have been times - seemingly from out of the blue or the distant past - when Grandaddy's words have come rushing back to me.  Like when I clocked that secretary at work who didn't want to be clocked.  I guess she figured if I could tell what time it was - everyone else could too! But the truth was they couldn't and they didn't.  Or if they did they didn't care!

Who cares?  That's the question!  What's the answer? 

*It suddenly occured to me that my grandfather probably received this same lesson as a child from his own mother.  Late 19th Century America would have classified her as a Quadroon and she would have known the drill.  Perhaps it was an attempt to be sociable with his grandson?