The Harlem Globetrotters and STOMP Make Sweet Music Together

When I was little, my mom would always take me to see the Harlem Globetrotters whenever they came to town. I am talking about the days of Curly Neal, Sweet Lou Dunbar, and Meadowlark Lemon.

It was an incredible spectacle. They did things with a basket ball that was just mesmerizing for me as a kid. The dribbling, the far out shots, the crazy passes, the pranks. It was almost too much for a kid like me to handle.

And then there was the music. The Globetrotters would run out on the floor and do their warm up to "Sweet Georgia Brown". I was in heaven. Here they were passing the ball back and forth in ways that would make your mouth just hang open, the whole while to the beat of this song with a crazy whistle to it.

That song was lodged in my head as a kid (still is). Whenever I heard it, I thought about the Harlem Globetrotters (still do). The marketer in me can't

help but acknowledge what an effective piece of branding that was. I remember going to see them one time, and my mom bought me a 7" record of the song from the souvenir stand. I played it constantly, the whole while trying to recreate the moves I had seen them doing. I could never get it right, but I had fun trying.

Now there is a whole new generation of Globetrotters, and a whole new generation of fans. And the magic is still there. I catch them on TV every now and then and they are still just as fun to watch as it was when I was just a kid.

And then I ran across this video of the Globetrobbers with the percussion performers from STOMP, it was such a spot on win. It falls right in line with what I think of musically when I think of the Harlem Globetrotters. And the video is a one shot take. Big bucket of win for whoever came up with this idea. Enjoy!

The Anti-Nazi Teen Gang that Beat Up Hitler Youth and Danced to Jazz

If you are a fan of music (and I assume you are if you somehow landed here at my blog), and particularly jazz, no doubt you have run across stories of a counterculture of jazz loving young people that formed in Nazi Germany.

Like young people all over the world, these German youth fell in love with the sounds that began in New Orleans, and they wanted to listen to it, play it, and dance to it. Rules be damn!

MessyNessy over at messynessychic.com shared a great post that tells their story - complete with incredible pictures.

If you have ever wondered why the people of Germany didn't stand up and fight back, these young badasses did. They broke all the rules, hanging out in the mixed company of boys and girls, listening to banded music, and even taking delight in beating up their mainstream counterparts, the Hitler Youth.

Here's an excerpt of MessyNessy's post:

"A band of adolescent music-lovers, swing dancers and snappy dressers– not exactly the type you’d expect to take on the Nazi Hitler Youth. But in pre-WWII Germany, the Nazi regimentation of society inadvertently gave rise to massive teenage street gangs who beat up the Hitler Youth, tagged anti-Nazi graffiti at train stations– and listened to jazz.
Aged 12 to 17, these non-conforming youths were usually referred to as Edelweiss Pirates by the Gestapo, an anti-authoritarian subculture of kids rebelling against the system– in this case, the Nazi regime.

When membership of the Hitler Youth became mandatory in 1936, thousands of youths, particularly from Cologne and of working class families, wanted no part in it. The strict paramilitary and gender segregated organisation didn’t exactly fit in with their teenage lifestyle of hanging out on street corners, listening to jazz and swing music and flirting with the opposite sex.
Jazz music was considered “degenerate music” by Nazi ideology, because it was often performed by black and Jewish musicians and promoted free love."

For the rest of the post, and more pictures and stories of these cool jazz loving kids, go to: http://www.messynessychic.com/2015/10/29/the-anti-nazi-teen-gang-that-beat-up-hitler-youth-and-danced-to-jazz/

Mixtape: Roger Riddle - Back Scratchy

I have a really itchy back. If you ever want me to do something for you, just scratch my back. I'll do whatever.

That has nothing to do with this mix other than the fact that my back was itchy as I was trying to come up with a name for the mix.

This is just a nice little collection of songs I have been listening to lately and a handful out of the past that I threw in for good measure.

Enjoy. Track list after the jump.

Back Scratchy by Roger Riddle on Mixcloud

Jamie Lidell - A Little Bit More (Luke Vibert Mix)
Discovery - Swing Tree
Phantogram - Fall In Love
Arcade Fire - Here Comes The Night Time
Electric Wire Hustle - Tom Boy
Beck - Que' Onda Guero
Eric B. & Rakim - Eric B. Is President
Jaylib - The Official (Instrumental)
Mos Def, Pharoahe Monche, & Nate Dog - Oh No
Lyrics Born - I Changed My Mind (Stereo MC's Rattlesnake Mix)
Modest Mouse - Float On
Nightmares On Wax - You Wish
Broken Social Scene - Major Label Debut (Fast)
The Strokes - Someday
Benny Sings - For Your Love
Common - I Am Music
Bjork - Human behaviour
Brian Eno & David Byrne - Strange Overtones
De La Soul - Let, Let Me In
LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great
Andrew Bird - Imitosis
TV On The Radio - Crying
Tegan and Sara - Alligator [Dave Sitek Remix]