Celebrity

Huey ‘Piano’ Smith, Session Man And Hit Maker, Dead At 89

Published

2 years ago

2023-02-21

NEW YORK – Huey “Piano” Smith, a beloved New Orleans session musician who backed Little Richard, Lloyd Price, and other early rock stars and wrote the party hits “Don’t You Just Know It” and “Rockin’ Pneumonia and Boogie Woogie Flu” with his band, has died. He was 89.

Acquelyn Donsereaux, his daughter, told The Associated Press that he died in his sleep on Feb. 13 at his Baton Rouge home. She did not specify the cause.

Smith was one of the last survivors of an extraordinary scene of musicians and songwriters who helped make New Orleans a fundamental influence on rock ‘n’ roll. He was a New Orleans native who performed nationwide but always returned to Louisiana. He began playing professionally at age 15, and by his 20s had contributed to a slew of 1950s hits, including Price’s “Where You At?” and Earl King’s “Those Lonely Lonely Nights.” Among the many artists he collaborated with were Little Richard, Fats Domino, and David Bartholemew.

Huey “Piano” Smith and the Clowns charted in 1957 with “Rockin’ Pneumonia,” a mid-tempo stomp featuring John Marchin’s vocals and Smith’s buoyant keyboard playing, and the equally rowdy and good-natured “Don’t You Just Know It.” The Clowns were also known for their songs “We Like Birdland,” “Well, I’ll Be John Brown,” and “High Blood Pressure.”

One Smith composition became a major hit and rock standard for another performer. Smith and his group wrote, arranged, and recorded “Sea Cruise,” but Ace Records, as Smith learned bluntly from local record distributor Joe Caronna, thought the song would be more successful with a white singer and replaced the Clowns’ vocals with those of Frankie Ford, whose version became a million-seller.

Piano Smith’s Popularity Waned After The Beatles Arrived

“I was crying as he (Caronna) said that,” Smith told biographer John Wirt, whose 2014 book “Huey ‘Piano’ Smith and the Rocking Pneumonia Blues” was released. “I’d had a little bit to drink. It broke my heart when he told me he was taking that.”

John Fogerty, the Beach Boys, Aerosmith, and Jerry Garcia were among the artists who covered piano “Sea Cruise” and other Smith songs. Ford later denied “stealing” the song, claiming he had written the lyrics. “Huey went through a period where he ‘forgot’ many things,” Ford explained to Offbeat Magazine.

Smith’s popularity waned after the Beatles arrived, and by 1980, he had left the music business, moved to Baton Rouge with his wife, Margrette, and converted to Jehovah’s Witnesses. He fought to be paid and credited for “Sea Cruise” and other hits, and he spent decades in legal and financial trouble, as did many other rock musicians from the 1950s. Meanwhile, local musicians continued to cite him as an inspiration.

“He was the man in New Orleans who got more out of simplicity than anyone else,” drummer Earl Palmer told Wirt.

Smith received the Rhythm and Blues Foundation’s Pioneer Award in 2000, and the piano Louisiana Blues Hall of Fame honored him a year later. Admirers regard him as one of the most important performers not inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Smith Had 47 Great Grand Children

According to his daughter, he is survived by his wife, ten children, 18 grandchildren, and 47 great-grandchildren.

Smith grew up in New Orleans’ Uptown neighborhood, his father a roofer and his mother a laundry worker. Smith began playing the piano as a child, learning from his uncle, and quickly mastered the eight-bar progression that was the foundation for countless blues songs. He played obsessively, sometimes to the chagrin of his neighbors, and in high school, he helped form the Joy Jumpers band.

He was still in his teens when he met Eddie Lee Jones, a young New Orleans musician who, as “Guitar Slim,” influenced countless musicians and gave Smith his “Piano” nickname. Professor Longhair’s blues-boogie woogie influenced Lewis’s early work. But he would eventually absorb various styles, from Jelly Roll Martin’s jazz to Fats Domino’s rock rhythm and blues.

“I started trying a variety of music instead of just one individual style,” he told Wirt. “I like my style, but it’s nothing like rhythm-and-blues, calypso, or any of that. It’s just a deep funk.”

SOURCE – (AP)

Celebrity

Jason Kelce Smashes Football Fan’s Phone

Published

3 weeks ago

2024-11-02

Geoff Brown

Jason Kelce Smashes College Football Fan's Phone

Retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce destroyed a Penn State football fan’s phone after the alleged heckler called his brother, Travis Kelce, a fag.

In now-viral footage published on X (previously Twitter) on Saturday, Nov. 2, the retired Philadelphia Eagles great was seen accompanied by football fans outside Beaver Stadium in State College, Pa., for the Penn State-Ohio State game.

As the individual capturing the tape lifted a fist to Jason, 36, and called his name for a fist bump, another man nearby hurled the homophobic slur at the retired Philadelphia Eagles star.

Hey, Kelce. How does it feel that your brother is a queer dating Taylor Swift?” the man questioned, referring to Travis, 34, who has been seeing Swift since 2023. Jason turned around seconds later, snatched the man’s phone, and crushed it to the ground.

“Looked like a Penn State student was getting in Kelce’s face for no reason,” the original X user who submitted the video remarked. “Wild scene in State College.”

“Kelce how does it feel that your brother is a f****t for dating Taylor Swift?”

Jason Kelce proceeded to slam this kids phone on the ground.

Looked like a Penn State student was getting in Kelce’s face for no reason. Wild scene in State College pic.twitter.com/3PEdZXWhSg

— Chives (@jarrett_daveler) November 2, 2024

Additional footage on X shows Jason smashing the phone on asphalt before picking it up and walking away. The phone’s owner, wearing a Penn State hoodie at the time of the incident, was shown in many videos strolling closely behind Jason and recording him before the conflict occurred.

Another footage published on X, which appears to have been filmed after Jason shattered the man’s phone, showed the hooded Penn State supporter trudging through a mob to pick up his phone off the ground.

“Give me my phone, bro,” he seemed to say to Jason.

The NFL alum seized the gadget first, then stood in front of the man and asked, “Who’s the fag now?” Others appeared to interfere.

The incident occurred while Jason was at Beaver Stadium for an appearance on ESPN’s College GameDay. The Ohio State Buckeyes won Saturday’s game 20-13 over the Penn State Nittany Lions.

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s Romantic Date Night

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s Romantic Date Night Has Alarming Details.

Celebrity

Shaun White’s Proposal To Nina Dobrev Was Romantic Gold

Published

3 weeks ago

2024-10-30

Kiara Grace

Shaun White, the Olympic snowboarding champion, already has an impressive medal tally, but his surprise proposal to Nina Dobrev deserves a gold medal.

On Wednesday, the couple announced their engagement on Instagram. Dobrev posted photographs of the two hugging under an arch of white roses and showing off her five-carat Lorraine Schwartz engagement ring.

“RIP boyfriend, hello fiancé,” Dobrev said in the caption.

However, the photographs only tell half the tale, as Shaun devised an elaborate plan to surprise Dobrev with his proposal.

Shaun White’s Proposal To Nina Dobrev Was Romantic Gold

According to a Vogue interview published Wednesday, Shaun said he assembled a team of people from the couple’s inner circle and Vogue personnel to trick Dobrev into thinking she had been invited to an intimate dinner party with Anna Wintour.

White claimed that his publicist emailed Dobrev a forged invitation to the event, which was scheduled to take place at the Golden Swan in New York City.

Dobrev accepted the invitation, joking that Shaun made it “look so legitimate.”

He even asked Dobrev’s stylist to outfit her in Chanel for the event.

Dobrev said she recognized what was happening when she entered the venue and saw White standing beneath the flowery arch.

Shaun’s Proposal To Nina Dobrev Was Romantic Gold

“I went into shock,” Dobrev admitted, later adding that White “said all the right things” before she agreed.

According to the publication, after Shaun proposed, the couple partied into the early morning hours with close friends and relatives.

“Best night of my life,” Shaun captioned his Instagram story on Wednesday.

The duo first became romantically involved in 2020, and they have since publicly recorded their relationship, globe vacations, and White’s Olympic farewell on social media.

SOURCE | CNN

Celebrity

Hollywood Actress Teri Garr Passes Away at 79

Published

3 weeks ago

2024-10-30

Geoff Brown

Hollywood Actress Teri Garr Passes Away at 79

Teri Garr, known for her roles in classics like "Young Frankenstein" and "Tootsie," has passed away at 79.

Hollywood actress Teri Garr, known for her roles in classics like “Young Frankenstein” and “Tootsie,” has passed away at 79. She died Tuesday of multiple sclerosis “surrounded by family and friends,” said publicist Heidi Schaeffer.

Admirers took to social media in her honor, with writer-director Paul Feig calling her “truly one of my comedy heroes. I couldn’t have loved her more” and screenwriter Cinco Paul saying: “Never the star, but always shining. She made everything she was in better.”

Throughout her career, the performer, often known as Terri, Terry, or Terry Ann, seemed destined for show business from a young age.

Her father was Eddie Garr, a well-known vaudeville comic, and her mother was Phyllis Lind, one of the original high-kicking Rockettes at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. Their daughter began dancing classes at six and was performing with the San Francisco and Los Angeles ballet companies by age fourteen.

She was 16 years old when she joined the road crew of “West Side Story” in Los Angeles, and she began starring in small roles in films as early as 1963.

In an interview from 1988, she described how she landed the role in “West Side Story.” After being rejected at her initial audition, she returned the following day dressed differently and was accepted.

Teri Garr, a comedian

Teri Garr then found steady work as a movie dancer, appearing in the chorus of nine Elvis Presley films, including “Viva Las Vegas,” “Roustabout,” and “Clambake.”

She has also appeared on various television shows, including “Star Trek,” “Dr. Kildare,” and “Batman,” and was a featured dancer on the rock ‘n’ roll music show “Shindig,” the rock concert performance “T.A.M.I.,” and a cast member of “The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour.”

Her breakthrough role was as Gene Hackman’s girlfriend in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1974 thriller The Conversation. This led to an interview with Mel Brooks, who offered her the Gene Wilder’s German lab assistant role in Young Frankenstein if she could speak with a German accent.

“Cher had this German woman, Renata, making wigs, so I got the accent from her,” Garr once said.

The film established her as a great comic performer, with New Yorker film writer Pauline Kael calling her “the funniest neurotic dizzy dame on screen.”

Her big smile and off-center appeal helped her land roles in “Oh, God!” with George Burns and John Denver, “Mr. Mom” (as Michael Keaton’s wife), and “Tootsie,” in which she played the girlfriend who loses Dustin Hoffman to Jessica Lange and discovers he has dressed up as a woman to revive his career.

A gift for spontaneous humor

Teri Garr, best known for comedy, has shown in films such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Black Stallion, and The Escape Artist that she can also tackle drama.

She had a gift for spontaneous humor, frequently playing David Letterman’s foil during early guest appearances on N.B.C.’s “Late Night With David Letterman”.

Her appearances grew so frequent, and the pair’s good-natured bickering so convincing that rumors of romantic involvement circulated for a while. Years later, Letterman acknowledged those early appearances with helping the program become a success.

During those years, Garr began to experience “a little beeping or ticking” in her right leg. It started in 1983 and expanded to her right arm, but she thought she could handle it. By 1999, her symptoms had gotten so bad that she saw a doctor and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

After disclosing her diagnosis, Garr became a spokesman for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, giving hilarious remarks at events in the United States and Canada.

Source: AP
“