“There’s a song that I sing, and I believe if everyone would sing it, it would save the whole world.” —Solomon Burke, “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love” The righteous “Bishop” Solomon Burke died October 10 in Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport. He was 70, or 74, according to some sources. Burke was born in Philadelphia and raised [...]
Tag Archives: Atlantic Records
B.G., Too Hood 2 Be Hollywood (Koch)
January 1, 2010 – 12:01 am
In 1993, B.G. released his first solo album on a fledgling label called Cash Money Records. Since then, he’s been through enough industry drama and rap beef to create his own soap opera. Now he’s back with Too Hood 2 Be Hollywood, his first solo release in over two years. It opens up with the [...]
Obituary: Jerry Wexler (1917-2008)
September 1, 2008 – 12:01 am
“I love OffBeat,” legendary record producer and executive Jerry Wexler rasped in heavy New Yorkese over the phone several years ago to OffBeat management. “But can’t cha do something about the small type?” Wexler, who died from congestive heart failure on August 15 at the age of 91, was an OffBeat subscriber. He wasn’t afraid [...]
Solomon Burke
July 1, 1997 – 12:01 am
Aretha may be the Queen of Soul and B.B. is the King of the Blues, but Solomon Burke’s moniker stuck in two genres. Crowned “The King of Rock and Soul” by a Baltimore disc jockey, Burke’s title has never been disputed—except by James Brown, but more on that later. Larger-than-life singer, bishop, mortician, and raconteur [...]
subdudes Reincarnate
March 1, 1994 – 12:01 am
It is the Wednesday before Mardi Gras Day, and spirits and persons from the subdudes’ past mingle freely with those of the present and future on and around the Tipitina’s stage. The room itself figures prominently in the subdudes story. It was a happy accident on this stage seven years ago by which bassist Johnny [...]
Rockin’ Dopsie Rules
February 1, 1992 – 12:01 am
It’s Friday night at the Maple Leaf Bar in New Orleans. The pressed-tin walls of the Victorian-era dime store are being rattled royally by dark men with strange armor and instruments on their chests. The sound of a chanky-chank locomotive—chugging, crooning and hissing steam—blasts through the building while the engineer—a king leading his knights on [...]
