Skip to main content

Soul Great Jerry Lawson

Soul Great Jerry Lawson - What if American Idol had been around in the 1950s and Elvis Presley entered the competition? Would the judges have simply crowned him the winner after one episode? The new season of The Sing-Off (Monday, 7 p.m., NBC) faces a similar situation.

The a cappella competition features more of the usual flavorless ensembles, harmonizing with intense but pointless energy. Then comes Jerry Lawson & Talk of the Town. As the former lead singer, arranger and resident genius of the Persuasions, Lawson is to a cappella music what Elvis was to rock 'n' roll: the king, with the power to break or lift your heart at will. It's a talent he shares with Otis Redding, Stevie Wonder and other soul greats, though he's not as famous as they are.

You'd think that would make The Sing-Off an unfair fight, but 66-year-old Lawson is not the singer he used to be. As he admits in his intro segment, he fell on hard times and left the Persuasions. Indeed, the last time I heard him live his voice was tattered and his stage presence shaky. I worried he'd make a fool of himself in this comeback attempt and face censure from a panel of pop-star judges who aren't fit to tie his shoes.

I won't tell you how Jerry Lawson & Talk of the Town fare in their debut performance. I'll only say that it took three hits of smelling salts to revive me.

Soul Great Jerry Lawson

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Contactless Debit Cards

Contactless Debit Cards - Contactless debit cards will make their formal debut in Canada next year with the launch of Interac Flash from Acxsys Corp.’s Interac Association, Canada’s national debit network. Interac’s first two Flash issuers are Scotiabank and RBC Royal Bank, which will roll out their first contactless cards next summer. The first acquirer is TD Merchant Services, a unit of Toronto-Dominion Bank. More issuers and acquirers are on the way, an Interac spokesperson tells Digital Transactions News, though no announcements have been made yet. Interac and the banks tested Flash this summer at some high-volume, small-ticket merchants in downtown Toronto. The spokesperson expects national merchants will be making formal announcements about acceptance. “There’s a lot of excitement in the merchant community,” she says. “Merchants are looking for that faster throughput.” In a statement, the Retail Council of Canada endorsed the new card. “Interac Flash is a welcome and needed

The Craigslist Killer TV

The Craigslist Killer TV - Lifetime last night turned the Craigslist killer headlines into a much watched and even more talked about TV movie. The movie told from Ms Megan McAllister’s point of view is chilling, even if it didn’t have her consent. For those who don’t know the story, Philip Markoff a Boston University medical student and fiancé of Ms McAllister met Julissa Brisman on Craigslist and murdered her. Markoff met Brisman on Craigslist, arranged a meeting for a massage. Police at the Boston Marriott Copley Place hotel found Brisman, shot dead and a massage table set up in the room. Brisman, who was 25 at the time, was pursuing a modeling career. Four days earlier a Las Vegas prostitute reported being attacked and robbed by an armed man at a nearby hotel, a stripper at the Holiday Inn in Warwick, Rhode Island reported a similar incident, as well as two more in the area. The Craigslist Killer TV Megan Mcallister, loved and almost married Philip Markoff. The question of thi

'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' Home on the Market for $1.65M

'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' Home on the Market for $1.65M - "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" fans listen up! A home from the iconic '80's film is on the market for $1.65 million, reports the Huffington Post. Starring as the modern digs of character Cameron Frye in the movie, the glassy house is located in Highland Park, Illinois and has been on the market for a little over a year. More photos reveal the glass-wrapped home features floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking a spacious tree-filled lot, according to the listing on Realtor.com. 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' Home on the Market for $1.65M With four bedrooms, three bathrooms and 5,300 square feet of living space, the home served as the setting for the oddball hijinks in the 1986 film. Architects A. James Speyer and David Haid designed the house, built in 1953, with a specialty glass-enclosed garage to store Ben Rose's collection of vintage cars, reported Luxist.com when the home or