Scribbler's Throwback of the Week: The Nutty Professor Quartet, Part 2

Continuing in my four-part "Throwback of the Week" installment as a tribute to Sherman Klump's kitchen singing scene in the The Nutty Professor (1996), we come to the second person in what I've dubbed "The Nutty Professor Quartet": Peabo Bryson.  During a successful run on Capitol Records between 1977 and 1982, the Greenville, South Carolina native gave us R&B lovers Quiet Storm classics like "Feel the Fire", "I'm So Into You" and the beautiful duet with Roberta Flack, "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love".  To think that those can be considered humble beginnings for a singer that has always known how to strike the balance between silky smooth and powerhouse vocals. 

Scribbler's Highlight of the Week: Manu Ginobili's Big Time Shot

Up to this point, Manu Ginobili was not having his best game ever.  In fact, Tony Parker was a huge amount of the reason why the San Antonio Spurs erased a 16-point deficit in the fourth quarter and sent Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals against the Golden State Warriors, led by Stephen Curry's amazing 44-point performance with 11 assists, to two overtime periods.  Ginobili not only badly missed a shot that could've ended the game in the first overtime, but he took an errant three pointer when the score was 126-123 with about 48 seconds to go, which led to Curry scoring another one of his signature floaters and a later assist to Ken Bazemore after Parker missed a layup to give the Warriors a 127-126 lead with only 3.9 seconds.  Ahhh, but redemption can be so sweet...

Big Deal or Not? A Perspective on Jason Collins' Announcement

After weeks of discussions about the possibility of a male athlete in one of the four major sports in the United States coming out as openly gay, NBA free agent center Jason Collins has decided to carry that gauntlet.  In a joint article with Franz Lidz from last Monday's edition of Sports Illustrated, Collins stated this:

I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm black. And I'm gay...I didn't set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport. But since I am, I'm happy to start the conversation. I wish I wasn't the kid in the classroom raising his hand and saying, "I'm different." If I had my way, someone else would have already done this. Nobody has, which is why I'm raising my hand.

Mind you, this announcement comes nearly two weeks after former Baylor University women's basketball star and Phoenix Mercury No. 1 overall draft pick Brittney Griner admitted that she was a lesbian.  However, that neither received the same amount of fanfare nor--and I say this with the utmost respect--wasn't as much of a surprise on a couple of different levels--though equally encouraging for other female athletes who may have trepidations.  Ironically after the whole debate about whether Griner could be successful playing in the NBA, homosexuality may be the only arena where female athletes aren't susceptible to as much scrutiny as male athletes.  Thus, I believe that's one of the many reasons why Collins' willingness to be the first has been heralded as such a "landmark" event in American professional sports--even drawing strong comparisons to Jackie Robinson becoming the first Black player in Major League Baseball in 1947.  (I personally wouldn't go that far because racism was much more prevalent during Robinson's era whereas homosexuality is significantly more tolerated, accepted and/or celebrated in this day and age, but it's still an important event nonetheless.)

Scribbler's Throwback of the Week: The Nutty Professor Quartet, Part 1

For anyone that's a fan of Eddie Murphy's classic and hilarious remake of The Nutty Professor (1996), you may remember the part where he goes through his CD collection and says, "Lillo, Peabo, Lou Rawls, Teddy Pendergrass...TEDDY P!"  Hence, the reason for the name of this particular series of my "Throwback of the Week" installation.  Now if you're an avid R&B fan, you might just know all four singers; however, if you're just an average R&B fan, then I'm positive that you know nothing about the first name.  Let the learning and fun part begin...

Scribbler's Throwback of the Week: Jennifer Holliday, "Hard Times For Lovers"

A lot of people--old and young--may not know much about Texas native Jennifer Holliday outside of her Tony-winning performance as Effie White and her Grammy-winning performance of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" in the original Broadway production of Dreamgirls in 1981.  I bet that a lot more folks who are somewhat familiar with their 80s pop may not instantly recognize her voice toward the end of Foreigner's classic 1985 hit, "I Want to Know What Love Is".  For whatever reason, she was just one example of how certain women--and that can be equated with women of certain skin complexions AND sizes--with big voices weren't being pushed hard enough by or given the right material for their voices from their record companies in the 1980s.  (Think Shirley Murdock: it took Elektra almost a year to have their "eureka" moment and release "As We Lay" after her first two singles from her eponymous debut album did little in jump starting her solo career.)  However, I could write a separate dissertation of a post about music business politics; my throwback posts are about the actual music, so on with it...