{"id":2167,"date":"2012-01-19T14:42:21","date_gmt":"2012-01-19T19:42:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/funky16corners.lunarpages.net\/?p=2167"},"modified":"2012-02-21T14:38:04","modified_gmt":"2012-02-21T19:38:04","slug":"jimmy-castor-1940-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=2167","title":{"rendered":"Jimmy Castor: 1940 – 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong>\"Example\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Listen\/Download -Jimmy Castor Bunch – Prelude\/It’s Just Begun <\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/del><\/p>\n

Listen\/Download -Jimmy Castor Bunch – LTD (Life Truth & Death) <\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/del><\/p>\n

Greetings all.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

I hope that you\u2019re all still with us following the black-out yesterday, and that you took the time to educate yourselves on the importance of a SOPA\/PIPA<\/strong> blackout.<\/p>\n

If something like that gets written into law, the days of music blogs (as you know them<\/em>) let alone the vast majority of what you read\/enjoy on the internet will be over.<\/p>\n

Also, a while back someone in Canada sent a request for a Funky16Corners<\/strong> sticker, and the envelope got lost in the maelstrom of our house. Please resend the request and I’ll send the sticker along with something extra.<\/p>\n

________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

This has been an especially tiring and emotionally draining week.<\/p>\n

Things on the health front are status quo, and remain optimistic.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s just that the cumulative effects of what has been a radical change\/redirection in our lives is always daunting and sometimes, especially when physical and emotional fatigue start to catch up with you, difficult to deal with, at least as the future is concerned.<\/p>\n

We are extraordinarily<\/em> lucky that we have family and friends that we can depend on in times of crisis.<\/p>\n

If we did not, an already difficult time would be a logistical nightmare.<\/p>\n

If you know someone that is dealing with cancer, or any other major health crisis, take the time to extend your hand, whether it involves offering a ride somewhere, or watching the kids for a day, or even cooking a meal.<\/p>\n

Every act of kindness makes a difference.<\/p>\n

As I said, we are very, very lucky. Not everyone is as fortunate.<\/p>\n

________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

That said, speaking strictly in the realm of soul and funk, this has been another really bad week, with the passing of not only Jimmy Castor<\/strong> (to whom we pay tribute today) but also the legendary Johnny Otis<\/strong> (on whom I have a post planned for Monday).<\/p>\n

I know that I just put up the Benny Gordon<\/strong> post this morning, but I didn’t want to wait to put up some Jimmy Castor, so here you go.<\/p>\n

Jimmy Castor had one of the most interesting careers in soul and funk, having started in doo-wop (he went to school with Frankie Lymon<\/strong> and later replaced him in the teenagers), moved on to Latin soul and boogaloo and then on to funk and disco in the 70s.<\/p>\n

I first heard Jimmy Castor when I was but a wee lad of 10, when my next-door neighbor (oddly, also named Larry<\/em>) and I thought that \u2018Troglodyte\u2019 was the funniest thing we\u2019d ever heard. There was something about the name \u201cBertha Butt\u201d<\/strong> that had us rolling on the floor.<\/p>\n

It was years later when I got into soul that I heard \u2018Hey Leroy, Your Mama\u2019s Callin\u2019 You\u2019 and \u2018Ham Hocks Espanol\u2019*, but I had no idea how deep a cat Jimmy Castor was until a few years ago.<\/p>\n

The fam and I were down in DC doing our tourist thang and I managed to snap off a few minutes of time to dig for vinyl.<\/p>\n

I stopped into my favorite DC wax repository, Som Records<\/strong><\/a>, and while I was browsing the stock, my man Neal<\/strong> (the proprietor) whipped a record on the in-store turntable and in the course of a few short minutes I was all \u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d<\/em> and discovered that the sounds that were blowing my mind were none other than those you see before you today.<\/p>\n

I knew of \u2018It\u2019s Just Begun\u2019 as a heavily sampled classic, but never actually got around to picking myself up a copy of the record. In that I was undoubtedly remiss, and the situation was remedied forthwith.<\/p>\n

If all you ever heard before was \u2018Troglodyte\u2019 or even \u2018Hey Leroy\u2019, which in its own way was a solid dose of comedy, the sophisticated orchestral opening to the LP version of \u2018It\u2019s Just Begun\u2019, or the stylistic mix of \u2018LTD\u2019 could come as quite a surprise.<\/p>\n

The LP \u201cIt\u2019s Just Begun\u2019 shows that Castor was much deeper than any novelty might indicate.<\/p>\n

Where he started with a base of solid, early-70s funk, your also getting bits of Hendrixian<\/strong> psychedelia, and a rocked up take on his earlier Latin sounds.<\/p>\n

Castor went on to place a number of records into the R&B (and occasionally pop) charts well into the 80s.
\nHe will be missed.<\/p>\n

I hope you dig the tunes, and make sure you check out the Funky16Corners Radio Show<\/strong>, Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio<\/strong><\/a>, or pick up the MP3 here at the blog over the weekend.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Peace<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Larry<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/strong>\"Example\"<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>*If mid-60s boogaloo is your bag, make sure you check out Castor’s Smash records material, which is excellent.
\n<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>\"Example\"<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Listen\/Download -Jimmy Castor Bunch – Prelude\/It’s Just Begun Listen\/Download -Jimmy Castor Bunch – LTD (Life Truth & Death) Greetings all. I hope that you\u2019re all still with us following the black-out yesterday, and that you took the time to educate yourselves on the importance of a SOPA\/PIPA blackout. If something like that gets written into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[46,11,14,90,30,67,12],"tags":[163,166,167,164],"class_list":["post-2167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-digging","category-funk","category-funky16corners","category-latin","category-lp-tracks","category-obituary","category-soul","tag-funk","tag-funky16corners","tag-funky16corners-radio","tag-soul"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMKgo-yX","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2167"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2368,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2167\/revisions\/2368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}