When we substitute guest-co-hosted the Mondo Mundo show with our pal DJ Berrytone the week before, I told Ali there was no chance I'd ever be awake to hear her live on the airwaves. And looks like I lied, but still didn't get to check her out. What's up with WXDU not making it possible for listeners to download some shows off the station's website? They do a great job of archiving each DJ's individual setlists, and the shows are automatically recorded on servers. I'm jus' sayin', Duke - how 'bout giving a little somethin' somethin' more back to the community. Free the downloads!
(UPDATE 6/23 - I ran into Ali HiFi the other day, and apparently, she's no longer on air over at WXDU! Oh well...too bad, especially since I never actually got to hear one of her shows. Becuz seriously, for me to be awake at 8 am on a Sunday morning would probably mean I hadn't gone to sleep yet from the Saturday nite before. But she was my new favorite DJ for a hot minute there anyway...)
I'm gonna pretend like I did hear her show, and give her a shout-out with today's Joint Of The Day. This track was introduced to me by Ali HiFi, it's the opening cut off Esther Phillips' classic LP Black-Eyed Blues, an album I was totally unfamiliar with. It was released in 1973 on Kudu, produced by Creed Taylor, engineered by Rudy Van Gelder, written by Bill Withers, with strings arranged by Bob James, and backing vocals by Tasha Thomas, among others.
In 1950, at the age of 14, Esther released her first records (as "Little Esther Phillips") and made a huge impact on the R&B charts. Two of her songs reached #1 (Cupid Boogie and Mistrustin' Blues), and at least five others cracked the top ten. It was quite a debut, but then she switched record labels and producers, the hits stopped coming, and she got hooked on hard drugs. While playing small clubs throughout the South, she was re-discovered in 1962 by Kenny Rogers, of all people. She cleaned up enough to stage a comeback in the mid-60s, hitting #1 R&B again with the beautiful Release Me, but she would continue to struggle with heroin addiction throughout the decade.
After finally kicking the habit, she went on to enjoy a prolific recording career throughout the 70s and early 80s. Esther Phillips died in 1984, her life cut short at age 48 due to illness from her former chronic drug abuse.
- Dyn-O-Mite
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