The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #98087 Message #1956942
Posted By: GUEST,ira rogers aka inman and ira
03-Feb-07 - 07:02 PM
Thread Name: BS: Hello - from new member Actress Wendy-memories
Subject: RE: BS: Hello - from new member Actress Wendy-memories
yo art willie wright was special with a special voice . so sad how he passed ,agallon of paint fell on his foot causing gangrene , it killed him at age 26 of course every knows ella jenkins talked to her a few months ago . she's still doin it. few know that she was an original advocate for civil rights. she gave inman and ira a classic song "LONG TIME" I BEEN PICKIN YOUR COTTEN FOR A LONG TIME BUT WHEN FREEDOM COMES I'M GONNA BE FREE FOR A LONG LONG TIME". pete seeger had just signed 60,000 dollar contract with columbia records. lots of people put him down but he seemed to have maintain ed his integrity except ,it is a fact that he and the brothers four with others snubbed inman and ira when we sang "LONG TIME" at the columbia convention 1961 in the southern city of miami.you could hear a pin drop as we defied convention and let everybody know where we were comin from. thats when i realized how phony all of the so called folkies were . josh white and odetta warned us but i was naive. i thought this country was on yhe verge of waking up to racism 40 yrs later nothings really changed terry collier had to go to europe to get the recognition he deserves. by the way wendy were you referring to terry collier or terry rebenaur. that was a time when lou gosset came through chicago as an actor in Genet's,"THE BLACKS" few know that he was an accomplished guitarist and folk singer. we got to be pretty tight helped him get gigs . cicely tyson and the others went back to n .y.few know he wrot a folk classic made popular by ritchie havens oh by the way the columbia convention launched tony bennett back into the spotlight with "I LEFT MY HEART etc etc. sorry didnt mean to ramble on with respect ira