When Jerry Leader was growing up, he made himself a toy set of DJ equipment. Two empty cereal boxes were the turntables. For the records, he cut circles out of cardboard. The needle, a plastic spoon. He would sing to himself, “mixing” the tracks. Leader grew up in an 18-story apartment building in the Bronx, New York City, during the …
Game was her middle name: The world was never ready for Betty Davis
One of my favorite recordings of Betty Davis isn’t a song. In the summer of 1974, the funk singer/songwriter appeared on Al Gee’s Rap N’ Rhythm, a nationally syndicated interview program that was regularly pressed to vinyl and sent to radio stations by the U.S. Army Reserve. Betty had just turned 30 and was about to start her first tour …
The First 100 Videos Played On MTV
“Ladies and gentlemen, rock ‘n’ roll.” Those were the words spoken by Warner Cable executive John Lack on Aug. 1, 1981, at 12:01 am when MTV––Music Television––went on air for the very first time. It was accompanied by the image of an astronaut, modeled after Neil Armstrong, and an MTV flag planted on the moon’s surface. Comparing the station to …
The Great War
April 10, 11 & 12
on WJCT-TV
Africa’s Great Civilizations
Tonight at 9PM
