In 1964, legendary jazz musician Dizzy Gillespie ran for President as a write-in candidate. Some of the more interesting details about his campaign:
- If elected, he’d rename the White House to the Blues House.
- Running mate was slated to be Phyllis Diller. “She seems to have that sua-a-a-a-ve manner; she looks far into the future. She’s looking into the future. So I’m a future man, I said to her.”
- His nominees for a stacked cabinet: Duke Ellington (minister of foreign affairs), Charlie Mingus (minister of peace), Peggy Lee (minister of labor), Malcolm X (minister of justice), Louis Armstrong (minister of agriculture), Ray Charles (Librarian of Congress), and Miles Davis (head of the CIA). Of Davis, Gillespie said: “O-o-oh, honey, you know his schtick. He’s ready for that position. He’d know just what to do in that position.”
Gillespie dropped out before the election, paving the way for Lyndon Johnson’s victory over Barry Goldwater, who Gillespie said “wants to take us back to the horse-and-buggy days when we are in the space age”.
I linked to this in the recent David Bowie post, but it’s worth pulling out separately: the 100 greatest BBC musical performances. This is an incredible trove of late 20th and early 21st century musical greatness. Some selections just off the top of my head:
Blondie – Atomic/Heart of Glass (The Old Grey Whistle Test, 1979):
Talking Heads – Psycho Killer (OGWT, 1978):
Daft Punk – Essential Mix (Radio 1, 1997):
Hole – Doll Parts/He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss)/Violet (Later, 1995):
Joy Division – Transmission (Something Else, 1979):
Radiohead - Paranoid Android (Later Archive 1997):
The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Sunshine of Your Love (Happening for Lulu, 1969):
Patti Smith Group – Because the Night (OGWT, 1978):
Arlo Parks and Phoebe Bridgers – Fake Plastic Trees (Radio 1 Piano session, 2020):
Bob Dylan – live at BBC studios (BBC One, 1965), apparently Dylan’s last acoustic concert:
Dizzy Gillespie – Chega de Saudade (Jazz 625, 1965). Don’t miss the musician intro at the ~13:15 mark:
Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit (TOTP, 1991):
And Rihanna (Umbrella, 2008) and Prince (1993) and Lorde (Royals, 2013) and and and… If you’re anything like me, this list will keep you busy for a few hours.
Carl Van Vechten moved to New York in the early 20th century and became “violently interested in Negroes”. As part of that interest, Van Vechten got to know many of the leading black figures in the city and photographed them, first in black & white but later in vibrant Kodachrome. Almost 2000 of his color photos are available at Yale’s Beinecke Library (direct search). Pictured above are Van Vechten’s photos of Ella Fitzgerald, Eartha Kitt, W.E.B. DuBois, Dizzy Gillespie, and a young James Earl Jones. (via the new yorker)
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