Pag? 2
(Thr JJcrtiaub (Dliäerurr
August 9, 2000
Music
Focus
E a rth ,
Wind & F ire
m u sic . “ T im e s are d if fe r e n t,”
V erdine said. “M ost o f that stu ff
w as o f its tim e. W e found that we
can still put on fabulous concerts
w ithout all the hoopla. Look, even
Elton gave up his w ild glasses and
outfits. K ISS took o f their m ake­
up. W ait a second, check that.”
Y ear after year, tour after tour,
c o n c e rt v en u e s w o rld w id e are
packed w ith fans w ho converge
upon Earth, W ind & Fire shows. *
T he w arm feelings o f love that
perm eate the celebratory concert
extravaganzas exude from both the
band and the audience and have
forged a lasting bond. VH1 and
H BO have both aired a p air o f
concert perform ances over the last
CONTRIBUTED STORY
tO KltiK_EiJRrLA>J)_Q BiLKVJ.R
A
S U P P L E M E N T
OF
“D o you rem em ber” the first tim e
you ever heard Earth, W ind & Fire?
D o you rem em ber sm iling, singing
a
lo n g , s h a k in g y o u r ru m p o r
^ n rtla n h
cuddling w ith your loved on w hile
(© b se rü e r
listening to their album s? Do you
rem em ber the energetic rhythms,
sultry love songs, feel-good vibes
and lyrics that w ere intelligent,
E d ito r in C hief,
positive and uplifting?
P ublisher
M aurice W hite knew exactly what
C h arles H. W ashington
he w anted to accom plish w hen the
M e m p h is-b o rn , C h ica g o -rea re d
drum m er left his gig as a m em ber o f
Editor
ren o w n ed ja z z p ia n ist R am sey
L arry J . Ja ck so n , Sr.
Lewis ’ quartet and session drummer
fo r the fam ed C h ess R ecords.
Sim ply put, he w anted to form a
Copy Editor
b a n d th a t a b o lis h e d th e lin e s
betw een m usical genres. He wanted
Joy Ramos
to be able to freely borrow from all
styles o f m usic w ithout regard to
convention.
Business Manager
A fter heading w est to Los Angeles,
G ary A n n T aylor
M aurice coaxed his younger brother
V erdine, then nineteen, to join him.
Creative Director
V erdine w as a classically trained
Shaw n S trahan
bassist w ho previously had never
been outside o f Chicago. The first
grouping initially took the nam e
4747 N E M artin L u th e r
“ T he S alty P e p p e rs.” M au rice
renam ed the band Earth, W ind &
K ing, Jr., Blvd.
,
F ire , w h ic h h e to o k from his
P o rtlan d , O R 97211
astrological chart (he’s a Sagittarian
- no water). A t first, EW & F was
503-288-0033
loose and som ew hat unfocused.
Fax 503-288-0015
' T hey even tried u n su ccessfu lly
using female singer in the m ix. After
his vision w asn ’t quite realized on
e-mail:
tw o 1971 a lb u m s for W a rn e r
thefocus@ portlandobserver.com
B r o th e rs R e c o r d s , M a u ric e
subscriptxxi@p()rtlaiïdobsravBr.com
d e m o lis h e d th e b a n d to its
foundation an d rebuilt the unit,
a d d in g a f o u r- o c ta v e s in g e r-
Deadlines lor
percussionist from D enver nam ed
subm itted material:
P h ilip B ailey an d a d ru m m er-
p erc u ssio n ist-v o c alist from Los
Articles: Friday by 5 p . m .
A ngeles nam ed Ralph Johnson.
Ads: Monday by Noon
V erdine stuck around. G ood thing.
M aurice’s charism atic tenor and
Focus w elcom es freelance
P h ilip ’s s tr a to s p h e r ic fa ls e tto
subm issions. M anu scrip ts and
help ed ch isel the b a n d ’s vocal
p h o to g rap h s can be re tu rn e d
identity. T he tw o fit together and
if accom panied by a self-
c o m p lim e n te d o n e a n o th e r
rem arkably w ell. In the studio,
ad dressed stam ped envelope.
M a u ric e flo a te d a th ic k e t o f
elaborate vocal arrangem ents over
All created display ads
a stream o f m usical rivers. Philip
becom e th e sole p ro p e rty o f
brought an innate sense o f melody
th e new spaper a n d ca n n o t be
to their songw riting efforts.
used in other p u b licatio n s or
Earth, W ind & Fire created the
soundtrack to a pioneering black
perso n al usage w ith o u t the
film, “Sweet Sweetback ’s Badassss
w ritten consent o f th e general
Sssong,” then prom ptly sw itched to
m anager, unless the ch en t has
Colum bia Records, w hich becam e
p u rch a sed th e com position of
the hom e for so many Earth, W ind
th e ad.
& F ire’s classics. The albums “ Last
I W The Portland Observer
Days and T im e,” “H ead To The
(P lease see E a r th W in d & F ire ’
p ag e 5)
Sky” and “O pen O ur Eyes”
propelled the group onto the
radi and w ere back ed w ith
concert dates w herever they
could play including clubs,
c o lle g e s an d th e a tre s . A n
underground follow ing began
to am ass. It was a soundtrack
to an ill-fated film that busted
them w ide open. “T h at’s The
W ay O f The W orld,” w as a
total stiff at the box office
(twice), but it did huge business
at record stores. Earth, W ind
& Fire got their first #1 single
(“ Shining Star”), first G ram m y
A w a rd a n d f ir s t d o u b le
platinum sales aw ard. They
w ere ju st getting started.
T he huge group - fourteen or
m ore on stage at-a-tim e was
o u tf itte d
in
o u tla n d is h
costum es. In the early days,
they w ore tights (serio u sly
folks), w hich w ere replaced by
magni ficently colored African-
in f lu e n c e d a ttir e . F la s h y
s e q u in e d , m e ta llic
an d
futuristic spacesuit num bers
also w ere the regular. Earth,
W ind & Fire w as the first to
bring the A frican culture into
p ro m in e n c e an d in to p o p
culture. O ne o f M aurice’s and
E W & F ’s tra d e m a rk w as a
handheld A frican thum b piano
c a lle d a k a lim b a , w h ic h
seaso n ed so m any o f their
recordings. Philip explained,
“It was im portant to us to make
a connection to our heritage
and to introduce our culture to
a w ide audience.”
Then and now, Earth, W ind &
F ire p u t on u n fo rg e tta b le
shows. These days how ever, it
is done w ith less pom posity
and greater focus on the actual
KENN M E etiam
DYS ins CHO oi
TH EA TER
M O V IE S
N ightly
WITH
WEEKEND MATINEES
For sch ed u le £/ in fo rm a tio n call:
2 8 8 -2 1 8 0
McMenamins
Kennedy School
5736 NE 33rd • Portland, O regon
(5 0 3 )2 4 9 -3 9 8 3
www.m cm enam ins.com
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