Is the blues singer, Etta James, still alive? She's 70 years young today, and there's a new movie about her life, played by Beyonce, and the legendary blues singer, Muddy Waters, called "Cadillac Records" which just hit the movie theaters.
Etta James has often claimed that Minnesota Fats is her natural born father, and this movie includes that little tidbit in it.
She was born Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles on Jan. 25, 1938, to her 14-year-old mother. Her mother reportedly claimed her father was a white man named Rudolph Wanderone, better known as "Minnesota Fats," though there doesn't seem to be any documentary evidence to support that contention.
Beyonce is beautiful in the movie. I'm not sure if this will be a big hit or not, but just listen to her wail this Etta James song: "At Last"
Now for the movie reviews: Alcohol, drugs, violence and chain-smoking seem to be as much a part of this record business as the music is. And with it brings its talented but volatile artists, lugging with them heaps of emotional baggage.
Continuing: The daughter of a child prostitute, James struggles to find acceptance from the man she believes is her father (pool player Rudolph "Minnesota Fats" Wanderone), but when that doesn?t come, she turns to drugs and alcohol.
Knowles takes no shortcuts here: her Etta is raw and frazzled. She's only taken out of character during three long music recording scenes, as Etta records classic tracks, such as "At Last."
Etta James has won three Grammys since 1994 and is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Recently, she has lost over 200 pounds and has a new slimmed-down look, and she still sure does look a little like Minnesota Fats to me: http://www.etta-james.com
Here's one interesting reviews of this flick: Cadillac Records chronicles the success of Chess Records owned by shrewd business man Leonard Chess and the rise and fall of its Negro blues recording artists with race, sex, violence and drugs as the backdrop. The film follows the exciting but turbulent lives of some of America's greatest Negro musical legends in Chicago during the 1950s and 60s and how the Blues shaped rock and roll music. It begins at a dive on the South Side of Chicago in 1947, where an ambitious young Polish migrant bar owner, Leonard Chess (played by Academy Award-winner ADRIEN BRODY), hires a talented blues ensemble that includes the booze drinking, guitar prodigy, Muddy Waters (played by my boy JEFFREY WRIGHT) and crazy gun slinging, trigger happy, city slicker, Little Walter, a harmonica player from the streets of Chicago (played by COLUMBUS SHORT). Fascinated by the sound of what was called "Race" music - and eager to cash in on the record business - Leonard Chess arranges to have his club burned down for the insurance money to start Chess Records where Muddy Waters' early recordings start moving up the R & B charts and receiving heavy radio play due to Chess' unscrupulous habit of sliding DJ's a little payola for radio spins. Chess treats his musicians like he is their "White Daddy" -- he buys them a fancy Cadillac when they record their first hit record - which is how the name Cadillac Records began. Chess' need to lie about profits and royalties causes much suspicion and conflict with his talented, popular and stable artists because they found themselves constantly broke and having to continuously come to him for the basic fundamentals of life...
...But it's not until 1955 when a Chess Records artist finally "crosses over" into the realm of mainstream "white" America - a skinny colored man with a big conk, from St. Louis named Chuck Berry (play by the smooth, MOS DEF), whose unique "duck walk" and catchy, fast paced tunes, mark the birth of rock-and-roll. Berry's affinity to under aged white girls lands him in jail at the height of his career. Then Chess finds the rough talking, whisky swigging, smack shooting, but very talented cross over singer, Etta James (played by the uber talented, musical phenomenon, BEYONCE KNOWLES); the emotionally scarred and confused bi-racial colored girl. She is the Daughter of her white father, famed pool shark Minnesota Fats, who refuses to acknowledge her, which feeds her insecurities and exposes her vulnerability.
The roles that actor Eamonn Walker plays always makes me feel proud to be black. He is never no punk! He is always aggressive and confident. Just as the characters he played in Oz and Othello, he brought that same cockiness to his role as Howlin Wolf and it was very refreshing. Negroes didn't stand up to white folks much in the 50's and 60's but Howlin let Chess have it and did it fearlessly! I have to admit, I had no idea who the hell Adrien Brody was until his role in the Spike Lee hit film, Summer Of Sam. And that is when I decided that interracial dating was for me! Sexy! Sexy! Sexy! So when I found out he was playing Leonard Chess in Cadillac Records, I knew exactly what he was bringing. In order for Chess to be the lying, stealing, snake that he was, he had to endear himself to people. And Brody brought the levels to the role that were needed to show Leonard Chess' human side. You couldn't hate the man even though he was sleazy.
Full Article Review: http://www.nj.com/newark/index.ssf/2008/12/cadillac_recordsa_small_film_w.html
Movie Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QJyAXfG8NM
I think I am going to like this flick!
Etta James has often claimed that Minnesota Fats is her natural born father, and this movie includes that little tidbit in it.
She was born Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles on Jan. 25, 1938, to her 14-year-old mother. Her mother reportedly claimed her father was a white man named Rudolph Wanderone, better known as "Minnesota Fats," though there doesn't seem to be any documentary evidence to support that contention.
Beyonce is beautiful in the movie. I'm not sure if this will be a big hit or not, but just listen to her wail this Etta James song: "At Last"
Now for the movie reviews: Alcohol, drugs, violence and chain-smoking seem to be as much a part of this record business as the music is. And with it brings its talented but volatile artists, lugging with them heaps of emotional baggage.
Continuing: The daughter of a child prostitute, James struggles to find acceptance from the man she believes is her father (pool player Rudolph "Minnesota Fats" Wanderone), but when that doesn?t come, she turns to drugs and alcohol.
Knowles takes no shortcuts here: her Etta is raw and frazzled. She's only taken out of character during three long music recording scenes, as Etta records classic tracks, such as "At Last."
Etta James has won three Grammys since 1994 and is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Recently, she has lost over 200 pounds and has a new slimmed-down look, and she still sure does look a little like Minnesota Fats to me: http://www.etta-james.com
Here's one interesting reviews of this flick: Cadillac Records chronicles the success of Chess Records owned by shrewd business man Leonard Chess and the rise and fall of its Negro blues recording artists with race, sex, violence and drugs as the backdrop. The film follows the exciting but turbulent lives of some of America's greatest Negro musical legends in Chicago during the 1950s and 60s and how the Blues shaped rock and roll music. It begins at a dive on the South Side of Chicago in 1947, where an ambitious young Polish migrant bar owner, Leonard Chess (played by Academy Award-winner ADRIEN BRODY), hires a talented blues ensemble that includes the booze drinking, guitar prodigy, Muddy Waters (played by my boy JEFFREY WRIGHT) and crazy gun slinging, trigger happy, city slicker, Little Walter, a harmonica player from the streets of Chicago (played by COLUMBUS SHORT). Fascinated by the sound of what was called "Race" music - and eager to cash in on the record business - Leonard Chess arranges to have his club burned down for the insurance money to start Chess Records where Muddy Waters' early recordings start moving up the R & B charts and receiving heavy radio play due to Chess' unscrupulous habit of sliding DJ's a little payola for radio spins. Chess treats his musicians like he is their "White Daddy" -- he buys them a fancy Cadillac when they record their first hit record - which is how the name Cadillac Records began. Chess' need to lie about profits and royalties causes much suspicion and conflict with his talented, popular and stable artists because they found themselves constantly broke and having to continuously come to him for the basic fundamentals of life...
...But it's not until 1955 when a Chess Records artist finally "crosses over" into the realm of mainstream "white" America - a skinny colored man with a big conk, from St. Louis named Chuck Berry (play by the smooth, MOS DEF), whose unique "duck walk" and catchy, fast paced tunes, mark the birth of rock-and-roll. Berry's affinity to under aged white girls lands him in jail at the height of his career. Then Chess finds the rough talking, whisky swigging, smack shooting, but very talented cross over singer, Etta James (played by the uber talented, musical phenomenon, BEYONCE KNOWLES); the emotionally scarred and confused bi-racial colored girl. She is the Daughter of her white father, famed pool shark Minnesota Fats, who refuses to acknowledge her, which feeds her insecurities and exposes her vulnerability.
The roles that actor Eamonn Walker plays always makes me feel proud to be black. He is never no punk! He is always aggressive and confident. Just as the characters he played in Oz and Othello, he brought that same cockiness to his role as Howlin Wolf and it was very refreshing. Negroes didn't stand up to white folks much in the 50's and 60's but Howlin let Chess have it and did it fearlessly! I have to admit, I had no idea who the hell Adrien Brody was until his role in the Spike Lee hit film, Summer Of Sam. And that is when I decided that interracial dating was for me! Sexy! Sexy! Sexy! So when I found out he was playing Leonard Chess in Cadillac Records, I knew exactly what he was bringing. In order for Chess to be the lying, stealing, snake that he was, he had to endear himself to people. And Brody brought the levels to the role that were needed to show Leonard Chess' human side. You couldn't hate the man even though he was sleazy.
Full Article Review: http://www.nj.com/newark/index.ssf/2008/12/cadillac_recordsa_small_film_w.html
Movie Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QJyAXfG8NM
I think I am going to like this flick!
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