E. C. (Gene) Ayres Blogspot

  Time will tell.  Or so it is said. But time is a surprising phenomenon.  One can go forward in time, or backward, or freeze in motion. Not with our physical bodies (at least not yet!) but with our minds, our imagination, and our creations. And, through the creation and history of civilization, we humans have found remarkable ways of captivating a moment in time in ways that can last, if not forever, at least as long as there is civilization to record, regard, and admire it. Even adore it. And how many ways have moments in time been captivated? Let me count the ways:  1. Through natural phenomena:  The dinosaurs' demise took place in a relative instant of time when a giant meteor smashed into where is now the Gulf of Mexico 66 million years ago. The wildlife of the Cretaceous Period, great and small, ceased to exist in the flash of a moment. But paleontologists today are able to determine, from the thousands--perhaps millions--of fossils preserved under mountains of dust and ash w

In no particular order:           Etta James    Damn Your Eyes    Her deep, guttural voice was made for the blues. Mamie Smith Crazy Blues She was the first to break the color barrier with this song in 1920. However, white pressure groups demanded that all of her backing musicians were white. Ma Rainey    See See Rider , with Louis Armstrong Paramount marketed her extensively, calling her the "Mother of the Blues", the "Songbird of the South", the "Gold-Neck Woman of the Blues" and the "Paramount Wildcat". Bessie Smith      St. Louis Blues No less a legend than Janis Joplin considered Bessie Smith the world's greatest blues singer. She became known as "The Empress of the Blues, so clearly, there's room for one more title. She died in a car crash. Ethel Waters     Stormy Weather Born as a result of her mother’s rape, she led a tragic life. Ethel was never shown any love by her family. She married into what would become an abusive r