This edition of Saturday Evening Blues was inspired by an experience I had during the last Easter Triduum. I was practicing with the choir in the church sacristy, and I noticed the super-cool keyboard that the music director had brought along in case we needed it for rehearsal. It had a lot of gizmos and gadgets on it, so I joked with the music director that she could play it while channeling Billy Preston. The response: a blank stare, along the lines of “Billy Who?” After a few conversations with a few other choir members, it became apparent that in the entire room, I was the only one who knew who Billy Preston was.
Oh dear! What to do about such a tragic situation? The answer came to me today: Post a Billy Preston double feature for Saturday Evening Blues. If you’ve never heard of this man, please peruse the Wikipedia article about him and his official web site. Or just watch these videos of two of his many hits. The first is Will It Go Round in Circles, complete with old-school ’fro. The second is my favorite Billy Preston song, Outta Space.
Now you have an idea who Billy Preston was and is. My work here is done.
This clip is worth a lot just to see what 20 lbs of hair might look like.
Posted by: Bill Strickland | June 22, 2009 at 05:20 PM
Did they have any clue who the other 4 Beatles were?
Posted by: peter | June 23, 2009 at 01:00 PM