Rufus Thomas: Hero of The New Sincerity
Rufus Thomas was a legendary Memphis DJ, who became even more legendary through his novelty-soul recordings for Stax Records. His daughter, Carla Thomas, recorded Stax first hit side, and he contributed many of his own. He often performed in short pants, and sang comic dance numbers which were both funny and truly danceable. He passed a few years ago, but he remains a great hero of The New Sincerity.Learn more about Rufus and download his tune "Chicken Scratch" over at the Stepfather of Soul.
Like this post? Click here to subscribe to the blog.
posted by Jesse Thorn at Tuesday, March 28, 2006
5 Comments:
Hernando Street in Memphis, which intersects Beale, was renamed Rufus Thomas Boulevard. When I was there, I hoped to see someone walking the dog on it, but was disappointed.
I just watched Wattstax for the first time last night, and Thomas stole the movie. More by dress and attitude than actual musicality (and Isaac Hayes' vest is tough to beat), and preventing a dance riot on the 50 yard line.
Yeah, he's absolutely amazing in Wattstax. I presume you heard the Sound episode about Wattstax?
He also had a great career as a talking head in music documentaries. He's really a hoot.
I'm still working my way through the huge SOYA podcast backlog on my work machine since I kinda showed up late to the party. I've been picking and choosing according to guests and didn't even see that one. I'll check it out. Thanks for the heads up.
It's with Rob Bowman, who did the commentary on the DVD, and wrote the big Stax book that came out a few years ago (title escapes me). Corny white guy, lots of knowledge on Stax. It was a cool show -- actually, through a publicist hearing that show, I got Chuck D.
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home