James Newell Osterberg Jr., a/k/a Iggy Pop, turns 71 today. Who would have guessed that, of these three guys,
he would be the last man standing? How does he keep on going, when by all rights he should have been dead decades ago? Must be that… lust for life.
Iggy Pop turned 70 this week, which is just rude.
But he’s still got a lust for life.
Not that JC — I’m talking about John Cale. Not the one from Oklahoma, the one from Wales. Author of many great songs, “Cocaine” and “After Midnight” not among them. I’ll let him explain further:
An interesting confluence of birthdays today: Robbie Robertson and the RZA. You could say that both have spent considerable time as musical masterminds presiding over groups of formidable talents; would that make the Wu-Tang Clan the Band of hip-hop? I guess it would.
Since I just downloaded a groovy new table-making plug-in for WordPress, let’s look at them in table form, shall we?
| Robbie Robertson | The RZA | |
|---|---|---|
| Birth Name | Jaime Robert Klegerman | Robert Fitzgerald Diggs |
| DOB | July 5, 1943 | July 5, 1969 |
| Hometown | Toronto | Brooklyn |
| Personal Factoid | Mother was Mohawk, father was Jewish | Named after Bobby and John Kennedy |
| Professional Factoid | Produced Neil Diamond's "Beautiful Noise" | Appears on Shaquille O'Neal's "Shaq-Fu: Da Return" |
| Musical Groups | The Band, Levon & the Hawks, Little Caesar & The Consuls, Robbie Robertson and the Rhythm Chords, Robbie & The Robots, Thumper & the Trambones | Wu-Tang Clan, Gravediggaz, All in Together Now |
| Eccentric Musical Associate | Garth Hudson, Bob Dylan | Ol' Dirty Bastard |
| Best-Known Compositions | The Weight, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Up on Cripple Creek | Bring the Ruckus, Protect Ya Neck, C.R.E.A.M. |
| Movie Appearances | Carny, The Crossing Guard | Ghost Dog, Funny People, American Gangster |
I like this picture because the kitty on Lennon’s shoulder is a dead ringer for my cat Johnny. Don’t know who that lady standing next to him is, but she kind of gives me the creeps.
The great Otis Redding would have been 70 today if not for a spot of bad luck with an airplane, and I have no doubt he would still have been going strong. Otis was a force. I’ll never forget seeing the concert doc of his performance at Monterey Pop for the first time – at the UC Theater back in the day – and being utterly flabbergasted. Words like “dynamic,” “electrifying,” and “unbelievable” scarcely begin to describe what Otis could do on stage. If, by some dreadful misfortune, you haven’t seen it, well…
I thought that this was perhaps the greatest musical performance I’d ever seen by a human being…and then the second part of the bill, Jimi Plays Monterey, came on, and we entered the realm of something beyond human.
Six months after Monterey (and two months after your humble scribe was born), Otis would be gone at the tender age of 26. Thankfully he lived long enough (by three days!) to record “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay,” a truly beautiful song that showcases Otis’s sensitive side. It never fails to make any day better.
