Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 26 May 2000 — Page 22

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THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER

FRIDAY , MAY 216,2000

WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW

500 Festival Memorial Scrvlc* Monument Circle 11 a.m. Free Attend this service and honor the veterans of our country. Tina Turner with Lionel Richie Conseco Fieldhouse 8 p.m. $32.25 - $79.25 Catch the excitement when this diva and rock & roll legend perform live together. May 27 500Festival Parade Downtown parade route Noon

$12.50 bleachers; $15 reserved chairs; $25 VIP seating Experience the spectacular floats and 500 drivers up dose. Drumbeats The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. runs through spring 2001 Museum admission $8; $7 seniors; $3.50 ages 2-17 Take the children to watch this demonstration about percussion. Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra Race Eve Patriotic Pops Concert Hilbert Circle Theatre 8 p.m. $10, $16, $27, $34 Listen to the enchanting orchestral

sounds in honor of the holiday weekend. May 30 Indianapolis Indians vs. Scranton - WB Red Barons Victory Field 7 p.m. $6 • $10; $5 - $9 ages 14 and under Enjoy an evening game cheering on our Indians. May 31 Indianapolis Indians vs. Scranton - WB Red Barons Victory Field 7 p.m. $6 - $10; $5 - $9 ages 14 and under

ENTERTAINMENT Briefs

Community Day at YWCA On June 10fromnoonto4p.m., the public is invited to the YWCA ’ s annual Community Day Celebration at 4460 Guion Rd. for a full day of fun in the sun. There will be food, games, prizes and giveaways for the whole family. Kids and grown-ups alike will enjoy the free swimming and the hot tunes from the DJ. For more information call (317) 299-2750. 3-D designs on display At IUPUI University Library’s level one lobby, 755 W. Michigan St. through Wednesday, May 31, the community may view unusual works created by students studying 3-D design. The sculptures are made entirely of cardboard and tape. The hours are 8 a.m.- 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday; noon - 6 p.m. Sunday. For more information call (317) 278-0232. Everybody deserves a smile On June 2,3, and 4 Yoko Ono

and Legacy Productions present “In My Life” the Artwork of John Lennon at the Adam’s Mark Hotel & Suites, Indianapolis Ballroom, 120 W. Market St. This internationally acclaimed exhibit includes over 100 pieces of art created by Lennon between 1968 when he was with the Beatles, through 1980. A $2 donation at the door is suggested to benefit Operation Smile, a non-profit organization providing free reconstructive surgery to needy children with facial deformities. For more information call 1-888-278-1%9. Indy Jazz Fast Indy Jazz Fest, presented by Kroger and the YMCA of Greater Indianapolis, is preparing for this year’s event from June 14-18. Tickets are available at all TicketMaster locations or by visiting any Central Indiana Kroger store. You can find the artist lineup and other information on their Web site: www.indyjazzfest.org, or call (317)635-6630.

Benefit for domestic violence awareness The Greater Indianapolis Employers Against Domestic Violence presents “An Evening With Martina McBride’’ on Aug. 3 at 8 p.m. at the Hilton U. Brown Theatre at Butler University. Proceeds from the concert benefit Domestic Violence Network of Greater Indianapolis (formerly Safe Haven Foundation Inc.) Tickets are $40, $30 and $20 and are available through TicketMaster at (317) 2391000 or www.ticketmaster.com. Call-A-Pacer Through July 2, hear your favorite stories in children’s literature read by members of the Indiana Pacers during “Call a Pacer” on the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library’s free “Call-a-Story” phone line, sponsored by AT&T. By dialing (317)269-1717, children and families will hear a new recorded story each week by a different Pacer team member.

Ruth Brown was original R&B singer

Special.to The Recorder, , V things that I had to deal with in the

< Q ne - n Q $ er f es p^t. it says, ‘Got up early one

Editor’s Note: Ruth Brown’s Indy Jazz Fest appearance is cancelled. Ruth Brown was the first rhythm-and-blues singer. Every Black woman before her was either a jazz, blues or gospel vocalist. Ruth Brown was all of those with the added element of rhythm. Throughout the 1950s Brown churned out dozens of R&B hits, including her million-selling standards “Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean,” “5-10-15 Hours,” ‘Teardrops From My Eyes” and “So Long.” After falling from the limelight in the ’60s, Brown drove a school bus and scrubbed floors to support her young sons and keep her life together. Since the early ’80s, however. Brown has experienced a beautiful career renaissance that has seen her starring on Broadway in “Black & Blue,” winning a Tony award and her first Grammy award. Her sophomore Rounder Records album project, “A Good Day for the Blues,” finds Brown in superb voice and retelling her dramatic life story through a dozen poignant evergreens. Since no one tells a story like Ruth Brown, let’s let her tell you about her new album.. “It’s ‘A Good Day for the Blues’ anytime that you can sing the blues out of just caring about the music rather than having to experience the blues. The world is just starting to take a hold to the blues and what it was about when the people who were responsible for creating it were making it. “It’s a little different nowadays. There are a lot of persons who profess to beplaying orltaging the blues and they are dotafft from a different point of vttNr. In the years when the real blues artists were singing it, it came from a very personal place. They were going through aQ kinds of social injustices and the music had to be performed under real dire circumstances. “Now, the blues has been acsociety, mere ■re-oiues ctuos an over the world in so many numbers that I can’t name them. But this song’s lyrics fits into sortie of the Bn in sunn-nil—IMn ix

morning so I could walk the floor, I got to hit the street ‘cuz there’s a wolf outside my door.’ That happened to be the truth many times in my life when the music business turned its back on me. “And you find when you grow older and grab hold to tunes, you end up giving them a different meaning if you can deal with it from a personal point of view. When they brought that song to me, I said ‘Yes, I can do that. I believe I can do that with conviction.’ It turns out it was one of the best tracks and that’s why it’s track number one. “You gotta do a little everything to catch your ear. The rhythm patterns will catch your ear. That’s why we put ‘Can’t Stand a Broke Man,’ ‘Hangin’ By a Shoestring’ and Tee Water in Your Veins’ which Johnny Otis wrote, on there. The average person will automatically start shaking their shoulders

or dance.

“Just like ‘A Good Day for the Blues.’ Bill Easley, my tenor player who has been with me a long time, wrote that chart. It’s a great introduction but what I think of right away is Screaming Jay Hawkins coming up out of that coffin on the stage at the Apollo. He had that T Put a Spell on You’ and when they do that intro that’s what I think of. I think it’s important that that’s the fint track because if the DJ puts the needle down on the first track and don’t like it, he may not go no

further.

“For me, any day that people are kind enough to give me their attention after having done this for 53 years, it’s a good day for the blues. It’s a different kind of day for the blues. But fortunately, the young people don’t have to deal with it from the point of view that I did. “I’m hoping they’ll pay attention to it and know what really good music it is. In 1948 when I signed with Atlantic Records they really didn’t know what category to put me in because I was singing torch songs, country-and-westem, everything. But the year of 1953 brot^ht about a tune called‘Teardropa Froti My Eyes’ and then I did ‘S-10-15 Hours.’ It was a change in the rhythm patterns and it stayed high on the charts about

m, t ■

Ruth Brown 17 or 18 weeks, which was indeed a record at that time. “After that, I became known as an R&B singer and, mostly in the beginning, I was known as ‘R&B,’ which is Ruth Brown really. So I was dubbed the top R&B singer in the early ’50s, but prior to that I wasn’t known as that. I now say that R&B stands for rhythm-and-blues. But, first it stood for Ruth Brown. That’s very egotistical, but you got to find some materia] somewhere. “There’s another side to this now, sweetheart, and I’m very easy to say the blues ain’t black no more. It used to be. The blues now means green. That’s money. There’s a lot of money into it now and everybody’s decided that it’s now a respectable kind pf music. It wasn’t always that way?' “Nowadays, I’m not working as much as I would like to, but as much as I’m physically able to. I pick and choose at this moment. It gets a little harder to have to do 12 shows a week and give the kind of energy that I do. When I go to the stage and I have to work an hour-and-a-half to two hours, two times a night — that’s a lot of music. “But, that's historically what the rhythm-and-blues artists were about It was performance, not only performance but entertainment. The changing of the clothes, it was the rapport with your audience. You spend like an evening with Ruth Brown and not a moment You really get a fed for wbo I am and what I’m singing about.