Zero to 180 – Three Minute Magic
The skydiving phonograph is just one of many indelible images from the Oscar-nominated documentary, Soundtrack To A Coup D’Etat, a film that boldly illustrates, through juxtaposition, the entwinement of jazz music and colonial politics in mid-twentieth century Africa. And yet when you Google the term “skydiving phonograph” (using quotation marks),
Billboard displayed a startling lack of judgment when it made light-hearted reference to Plessy vs. Ferguson — the 1896 United States Supreme Court decision that codified segregation — in an educational piece from 1969 that attempts to demarcate the difference in mission between the Country Music Association and the similarly-named
Penny Von Eschen‘s Satchmo Blows Up the World — observes Muneer Nasser in 2017’s Upright Bass: The Musical Life and Legacy of Jamil Nasser (in the chapter entitled ‘Getting the Soviets to Swing’) — “reinforces the myth that [Benny Goodman] introduced jazz to the Soviet Union”: Benny Goodman became the first
This piece updated in 2019, 2020 & 2025 As you may have already gathered, Zero to 180 has a soft spot for music history related to Silver Spring, Maryland. We now know, for instance, that Track Recorders (with help from its chief engineer, Bill McCullough) was an important recording facility
Even less seems to be written about Allen Toussaint‘s final A-side for Bell, 1969‘s populist anthem, “We the People“: “We the People“ Allen Toussaint (1969) Imagine the magnitude of our collective output if we all directed our energies toward constructive ends instead of squabbling amongst ourselves. Help me understand exactly
Wilson Simonal‘s tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr., a single that was released – eerily enough – the year before his assassination: “Tributo a Martin Luther King“ Wilson Simonal de Castro (1967) “Tributo a Martin Luther King” was the A-side of a single released in 1967, around the same
As Martha Ross writes in The Mercury News/Contra Costa Times, cartoonist Morris “Morrie” Turner broke racial barriers in the 1960s when he became the first African-American to have a syndicated comic strip – Wee Pals – that still runs daily, despite Turner’s death this past January at the age of
In Wilson Pickett‘s town, universal respect for the humanity common to us all allows for an enlightened self-governance to rule the day. “This Old Town“ Wilson Pickett (1970) “This Old Town” from Pickett’s 1970 Atlantic album, Right On, was never to appear on a 45, which is a shame, since
Not Jimi, but rather Jon — he of jazz vocal trio, Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. In 1967 Jon Hendricks and The Grateful Dead composed music for the soundtrack of a Jerry Stoll documentary entitled, Sons and Daughters, in which students from the University of California at Berkeley march to the
COPYRIGHT © 2012-2025 ZERO TO 180. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Recent Comments