Mademoiselle Mabry

In 1968 Miles Davis had a whirlwind romance with Betty Mabry that resulted in a major turning point in his music. She introduced him to the world of Funk, tailored him for the 60s and became the inspiration for his album Filles de Kilimanjaro. One of the songs was devoted to her. You can't say it is anywhere near as funky as the album Betty Mabry would later produce under Betty Davis, but it has a nice Sunday morning feel to it with Chick Corea and Dave Holland filling in on electric piano and bass. Apparently, Ron Carter was none too happy about giving up his double bass. Miles' second greatest quintet broke up shortly thereafter, and he formed an electric band inspired by the music of Betty's world that resulted in one of his greatest albums, Bitches Brew. She is credited for coming up with the title.

It is a decidedly more hip album that combines jazz and funk in his own inimitable way. The album was well received by Baby Boomers. He soon landed gigs at the Fillmore East, giving up the night club circuit as there was much more money to be made in concerts. Miles didn't like to play second fiddle to anyone, and probably considered himself the main act when his electric band traveled out west to open up for the Grateful Dead in San Francisco. That would have been one hell of a concert!

Miles was riding high in his yellow Ferrari, but unfortunately their marriage didn't last long. Miles could get very paranoid due to a combination of cocaine and alcohol, and was convinced Betty was cheating on him with Jimi Hendrix. She wasn't taking any of that shit and soon dumped him so that she could devote herself full time to music. She was tired of being his muse.

She teamed up with members of Sly Stone's band and the Pointer Sisters to produce her first album in 1973 and fired off several more albums thereafter. She had a truly unique sound that garnered her a lot of attention at the time, but with the advent of disco her music became lost, only to be dug up again in the early 2000s when Light in the Attic reissued all her old albums including one that had been left in the vaults. Mike Judge similarly became infatuated with her and devoted one of his animated episodes from Tales from the Tour Bus to her.

Betty is still around to enjoy this rediscovered fame, which has resulted in a full length documentary Betty - They Say I'm Different. This is similar to the resurgence of Rodriguez a few years back, also inspired by a documentary, Searching for Sugarman, only Betty had a far greater impact on the music of her time, and it is refreshing to see her finally getting the attention she long deserved. So here is to you, Betty, may you never be forgotten again!

O Pioneers!

It is hard not to think of Nebraska without thinking of its greatest writer. Here is a marvelous piece by Capote, Remembering Willa Cather . I remember seeing a stage production of O Pioneers! and being deeply moved by its raw emotions. I had read My Antonia before, and soon found myself hooked, like Capote was by the simple elegance of her prose and the way she was able to evoke so many feelings through her characters. Much of it came from the fact that she had lived those experiences herself. Her father dragged the family from Virginia to Nebraska in 1883, when it was still a young state, settling in the town of Red Cloud. named after one of the great Oglala chiefs. Red Cloud was still alive at the time, living on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, in the aftermath of the "Great Sioux Wars" of 1876-77. I don't know whether Cather took any interest in the famous chief, although it is hard to imagine not. Upon his death in 1909, he was eulogi

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

Welcome to this month's reading group selection. David Von Drehle mentions The Melting Pot , a play by Israel Zangwill, that premiered on Broadway in 1908. At that time theater was accessible to a broad section of the public, not the exclusive domain it has become over the decades. Zangwill carried a hopeful message that America was a place where old hatreds and prejudices were pointless, and that in this new country immigrants would find a more open society. I suppose the reference was more an ironic one for Von Drehle, as he notes the racial and ethnic hatreds were on display everywhere, and at best Zangwill's play helped persons forget for a moment how deep these divides ran. Nevertheless, "the melting pot" made its way into the American lexicon, even if New York could best be describing as a boiling cauldron in the early twentieth century. Triangle: The Fire That Changed America takes a broad view of events that led up the notorious fire, noting the gro

Colonel

Now with Colonel Roosevelt , the magnum opus is complete. And it deserves to stand as the definitive study of its restless, mutable, ever-boyish, erudite and tirelessly energetic subject. Mr. Morris has addressed the toughest and most frustrating part of Roosevelt’s life with the same care and precision that he brought to the two earlier installments. And if this story of a lifetime is his own life’s work, he has reason to be immensely proud. -- Janet Maslin -- NY Times . Let the discussion begin!

Dispatches from Vilnius

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