MetaFilter posts tagged with martha

Martha Copeland, 20s-era blues singer

flapjax at midnite — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 05:06:20 -0800

Though Bessie Smith is regarded as the queen of the early blues singers, Martha Copeland was singing the blues and its variants (and doing a fine job of it) back in the 20s as well. Head over to Internet Archive to hear Martha sing her versions of two of the tunes that made Bessie so famous: I Ain't Got Nobody and St. Louis Blues, the latter with backing vocal chorus from the Hall Johnson Choir. Check out her Dying Crap Shooter's Blues and Sorrow Valley Blues. And there's plenty of Martha Copeland goodness for your ears (RealPlayer) here and here. I've only been able to find one photograph of Martha Copeland: it graces the jacket of this Document Records release. The Internet Archive links to "I Ain't Got Nobody" and "St. Louis Blues" in this post are originally from a radio show, year 1928, which you can hear at the 20 minute point of this WFMU "Thomas Edison's Attic" broadcast of The Eveready Hour. From the excellent Honey Where You Been So Long (prewarblues.org): "Martha Copeland was a highly successful artist, whose talents were mismanged and wasted by Columbia. Copeland’s wonderful voice was often used to record substandard sides and copies of current hits by Bessie Smith and others rather than promoting her own work. Copeland became famous - but never of the level that her talent would have allowed. Copeland’s body of work is also lessened by the choices others made for her, but on her stand out tracks you can see how much talent and skill she possessed." Meanwhile, here's more great Bessie Smith for your listening pleasure: Gimme a Pigfoot, Yellowdog Blues, Mountaintop Blues, Downhearted Blues and A Good Man is Hard To Find.

Martha's Daughters

rumposinc — Mon, 12 May 2008 17:59:33 -0800

A supportive blogging community of mainly women cross-linked on each other's blogrolls and leading an increasingly compelling marketplace of small-scale goods and handmade lives , green-living ideas , product promotion , and lifestyle-making suggest that the internet may be able to foster a localized economy model of living on an international scale--or at least gain the attention of that other idyllic-life icon. These artists, crafters, makers, photographers, and writers are promoting each other , and what they promote gets attention (check out the number of comments). There have been recent discussions about "mommy blogging" and craft/design blogs before, but these blogs also reveal the discussions these women are having with each other. These are great "curl up with the laptop and a cup of tea" blogs, and I've not linked to the half of them, so please investigate these bloggers' blogrolls. (first fpp! phew!)

Wrecking Ball

R. Mutt — Tue, 11 Oct 2005 07:52:34 -0800

Who Lost Gordon Bunshaft's Travertine House? 1) Widow of Lever House architect Gordon Bunshaft wills art filled modernist house (+ 2.4 East Hampton property) to The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). MOMA takes art, sells modernist house to Martha Stewart. MS guts house, lets rot, transfers ownership to daughter who sells it. New owner tears down modernist house, left with 2.4 acres of waterfront property.

Is it still a good thing?

moonbird — Thu, 11 Mar 2004 13:02:08 -0800

Here's a dainty can of pastel worms: The Democracy Now! show on Pacifica Radio is asking this question: "Was Martha Stewart Targeted Because She is a Major Democratic Contributor and a Woman? Where is Ken Lay?"
Article here, or watch the stream for low or high bandwidth.

Is it still a good thing?