Happy Monday, Everyone! This Week’s featured artist is Roberta Flack.
Roberta Cleopatra Flack (born February 10, 1937) is an American singer, and musician who is notable for jazz, Pop, R&B, and folk music. She is best known for her classic #1 singles “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”, “Killing Me Softly with His Song”, and “Feel Like Makin’ Love”; and for “Where Is the Love” and “The Closer I Get to You”, two of her many duets with the late Donny Hathaway.
Flack was the first to win the Grammy Award for Record of the Year two consecutive times. “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” won at the 1973 Grammys and “Killing Me Softly with His Song” won at the 1974 Grammys. She remains the only solo artist to have accomplished this feat and only U2, who did it in 2001 and 2002 with “Beautiful Day” and “Walk On”, has done it since
Flack lived with a musical family, born in Black Mountain, North Carolina to parents Laron LeRoy (October 11, 1911 – July 12, 1959) and Irene Flack (September 28, 1911 – January 17, 1981) a church organist,on February 10, 1937 and raised in Arlington, Virginia. She first discovered the work of African American musical artists when she heard Mahalia Jackson and Sam Cooke sing in a predominantly African-American Baptist church.
When Flack was 9, she started taking an interest in playing the piano, and during her early teens, Flack so excelled at classical piano that Howard University awarded her a full music scholarship.[5] By age 15, she entered Howard University, making her one of the youngest students ever to enroll there. She eventually changed her major from piano to voice, and became an assistant conductor of the university choir. Her direction of a production of Aida received a standing ovation from the Howard University faculty. Flack is a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority and was made an honorary member of Tau Beta Sigma by the Eta Delta Chapter at Howard University for her outstanding work in promoting music education.
Roberta Flack became a student teacher at a school near Chevy Chase, Maryland. She graduated from Howard University at 19 and began graduate studies in music, but the sudden death of her father forced her to take a job teaching music and English for $2800 a year in Farmville, North Carolina.
8 of the Youngest Black College Graduates You Should Know
Some of these gifted children started taking classes before they could even legally drive.
http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/08/_8_of_the_youngest_black_college_graduates_you_should_know.html
https://twitter.com/jazziz2/status/501434746376036353/photo/1
Isn’t she a doll though? I like her confidence!
Georgia Man Charged After Stray Bullet Kills Texas Woman
ByCatherine ThompsonPublished
August 18, 2014, 8:10 AM EDT
Police said a Georgia man was charged with involuntary manslaughter after he accidentally fired his gun Saturday, shooting himself in the hand and killing a woman walking by him with the stray bullet.
Officers were responding to a shots fired call in Helen, Ga. when they found Glenn Patrick Lampien, 53, sitting on a bench with a gunshot wound to the hand, according to Atlanta TV station WSB.
Police said the bullet had traveled across the street and struck a woman in the side. The woman, who police said was a Texas resident, was found dead at the scene.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/georgia-man-charged-after-shooting-self-killing-texas-woman
Plum Line
Morning Plum: The Dem plot to jam GOP on deportations
By Greg Sargent August 18 at 9:11 AM
Whatever Obama announces when it comes to executive action to ease deportations, Republicans will claim he is basically shredding the Constitution into kindling to light a fire under the Dem base in advance of the 2014 elections. But what if the White House can build a coalition behind coming actions that would allow Dems to portray them as an effort to solve problems for multiple constituencies, including GOP-aligned ones?
The other day, I reported that Dems were eying the possibility of enlisting business, agricultural, and tech interests who might want changes to the visa system as part of whatever Obama proposes. These changes could be accomplished administratively, along with action on deportations.
Today Politico reports that discussions are underway over broadening the executive actions to win over those interests:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/08/18/morning-plum-the-dem-plot-to-jam-gop-on-deportations/
https://twitter.com/amk4obama/status/501343363392495616/photo/1
LOVE me some Roberta Flack. This week should be terrific.
Good Morning Everyone
Good Morning, I went to be early last night, and I see waking up this morning into a fucking nightmare.
Good Morning,
It is so upsetting to see the escalation of what could have been avoided from day one if the Police Chief had released the autopsy report instead of closing ranks and protecting his own.