NBA Quiz: Name the starting five for the great L.A. Lakers team
of 1971-72…the squad that went 69-13. Answer below.
Black History Month
Actually, I will start this in earnest on Wednesday. BHM was
founded by Carter G. Woodson. He first proposed Negro
History Week in the month that includes the birthdays of
Frederick Douglas and Abraham Lincoln. In 1976, this evolved
into BHM.
Katherine Drexel
Who is she and what does this white woman have to do with
Black History? Drexel was born in 1858 to the family of
investment banker Francis Drexel (a family which later formed the
firm that eventually became Drexel Burnham Lambert).
Katherine grew up in Philadelphia”s high society and she was a
true heiress.
Well, it turns out that last week Pope John Paul II removed the
last roadblock in the quest to make Drexel just the 2nd native-born
American in the history of the Catholic Church to be named a
saint (the other being Elizabeth Ann Seton).
After the Civil War, Drexel was drawn to help Native Americans
and African Americans, eventually founding the Bureau of
Colored and Indian Missions. When black Southern University in
New Orleans was driven from its white neighborhood, Drexel
bought the property and opened a high school for black children,
which evolved into Xavier University. In one famous story, Ku
Klux Klansmen threatened to burn down a school Drexel had
opened in Beaumont, TX. “No, we will not leave,” she said and
started to pray. That day, lightening struck the Klan
headquarters.
[Aside from her good works, Drexel also performed a miracle,
documentation of which is part of the process for becoming a
saint. Through prayer alone, a 7-year old deaf girl had her
hearing restored. This woman is alive today and church leaders
are satisfied that Drexel was the reason for the restoration.]
Led Zeppelin
The more I think of it, I was a little weird growing up. Born in
1958, I knew more about the 60s music scene than just about
anyone around. At age 5, my transistor radio was glued to my ear
(tuned to WABC in New York). But then after about 1970, I
stopped listening to most modern music for awhile. That”s my
way of telling you that only now do I appreciate Led Zeppelin.
Yes, only about 30 years late.
The heavy metal pioneers were founded by Jimmy Page, a
sought-after London session man and a member of one of the
best-known English rock groups of the mid-60s, the Yardbirds.
Page grew up in a working class section of London and
eventually landed work backing up such acts as the Rolling
Stones, the Kinks and Donovan.
Joining the Yardbirds in 1966, he shared lead guitar with Jeff
Beck. After the Yardbirds dissolved in 1968, Page formed his
own group, Led Zeppelin. [The name originally was coined by
Keith Moon, The Who”s drummer, who had often used the
phrase, “going down like a lead Zeppelin” to describe disastrous
gigs. Page liked the phrase and dropped the “a”.]
Page then approached John Paul Jones, one of the best rock
arrangers in England. [Jones arranged Donovan”s “Mellow
Yellow” and “Sunshine Superman.”] Drummer John Bonham and
lead vocalist Robert Plant then were recruited from local
Birmingham groups. Plant”s voice was so well suited to blues
shouting that Page recalled that it was so powerful “that when the
speakers broke down during our first date in Sweden, you could
still hear his voice at the back of the auditorium over the entire
group.”
The four assembled in a small rehearsal hall in late ”68 to see if
they worked well together. Page says of the first meeting, “Four
of us got together in this two-by-two room and started playing.
Then we knew – we started laughing at each other. Maybe it was
from relief, or maybe from the knowledge that we could groove
together. But that was it. The statement of our first two weeks
together is our album (Led Zeppelin, Vol. 1). We cut it in 15
hours and between us wrote 8 of the tracks.”
For their first U.S. tour, they primarily backed Vanilla Fudge. In
January ”69, they opened for Iron Butterfly and Butterfly was so
unsettled by the crowd”s positive reaction to LZ that they refused
to go on. Of course you might say they backed out because they
only had one song in their repertoire…In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida…
and you can look it up.
In 1970, following a threat by Eva von Zeppelin, a relative of the
airship designer, to sue if her family name was used in Denmark,
LZ played a gig in Copenhagen as the Nobs.
By 1971, LZ was up to Led Zeppelin IV (which featured
“Stairway to Heaven”).
In July ”73, while playing Madison Square Garden, the band was
robbed of $180,000 from New York”s Drake Hotel safety deposit
box. The money was never recovered. Their 1973 tour broke all
of the box office records (most held by the Beatles back then).
In January ”75, they sold 60,000 tickets for 3 MSG concerts in 4
hours. Between ticket and album sales, Zeppelin became the
most popular group in the world.
In May ”75, President Gerald Ford”s daughter tells Dick Cavett
that LZ is her favorite group.
In August ”75, Plant was seriously injured in a car crash while
vacationing in Greece. As both Page and Plant were fascinated
by mythology, Middle Earth fantasy, and the occult, speculation
developed that supernatural forces may have come into play with
Plant”s crash.
In 1976, as the group embarked on a U.S. tour, Plant”s 6-year old
son died suddenly of a viral infection.
By 1977, there were rumors the group had broken up but they
proved not to be true.
In June ”80, a concert in Nuremberg was halted after 3 numbers
when Bonham collapsed.
In September of the same year, John Bonham was found dead in a
mansion owned by Page. A coroner”s inquest concluded that
Bonham died from asphyxiation caused by his throwing up after
drinking an estimated 40 shots of vodka in 12 hours. Must have
been “Gordon”s.”
In December ”80, the remaining members confirmed that the band
had ceased to exist.
*One other side note, Zeppelin”s early guitar work drew heavily
on the Blues, including the work of Willie Dixon. Dixon won a
large settlement from LZ over the group”s failure to credit Dixon
as the writer of “Whole Lotta Love” (which was largely based on
his “You Need Love.”)
Flying Wallendas
Just saw a blurb that January 30 marks the anniversary of a
tragedy for this acrobat family. In 1962, two of the Wallendas
were killed when their 7-person pyramid collapsed during a
performance in Detroit. This is why at StocksandNews.com we
always say, “Kids, please don”t try this at home.”
Top 3 songs for the week of 1/30/71: #1 “Knock Three Times”
(Dawn.ughh) #2 “My Sweet Lord” (George Harrison…ripped
off) #3 “Lonely Days” (Bee Gees).
Quiz Answer: Lakers starting 5 – Gail Goodrich (25.9 ppg),
Jerry West (25.8), Jim McMillian (18.8), Wilt (14.8, 19.2 reb!)
Happy Hairston (13.1). This team averaged 121 ppg.
Next Bar Chat, Wednesday.
