LOS ANGELES (AP) Phil Spector, the eccentric and revolutionary music producer who transformed rock music with his “Wall of Sound” method and who later was convicted of murder, has died. He was 81. California state prison officials said he died Saturday of natural causes at a hospital. Spector was convicted of murdering actress Lana Clarkson in 2003 at his.
Phil Spector, the visionary record producer who revolutionized pop music in the early 1960s with his majestic sound and fierce ambition but became notorious
FAIRFIELD-SUISUN, CALIFORNIA
How to find joy in the time of COVID? One formerly homeless man dances daily through downtown L.A. [Los Angeles Times]
I’ve been on the hunt for joy lately. I’ll take any I can find right now.
With so many in our city and nation sick and suffering and struggling and sad, joy has seemed in far too short supply, even in what’s supposed to be the season for it.
So I was grateful for the chance this week to soak up the spirit of Steven Traylor, who, against all odds, finds his own joy and spreads it.
I’ve been on the hunt for joy lately. I’ll take any I can find right now.
With so many in our city and nation sick and suffering and struggling and sad, joy has seemed in far too short supply, even in what’s supposed to be the season for it.
So I was grateful for the chance this week to soak up the spirit of Steven Traylor, who, against all odds, finds his own joy and spreads it.
Each day, three times a day, Traylor puts on a Santa hat, grabs a tambourine and sets off from his apartment. Always eclectically dressed, maybe wearing a powder blue linen suit and a big beaded necklace and a long yellow scarf that flutters in the wind, he pulls a cart that holds a giant speaker with lights that flash red, green and blue. And as he blasts gospel and love songs and rap, this tall, skinny man prances and dances, skips and hops, twirls and struts in improbable moves that often seem entirely his own.
Photo by Bonnie Hobbs Photo by Bonnie Hobbs Photo by Bonnie Hobbs
Posing with Jim Smith (seated) are (from left) David Bulova, David Meyer, Chap Petersen, Page Johnson and Tom Scibilia.
As the Knights of Columbus marched past his Fairfax City home last week, Marine Corps and WWII veteran Jim “Horse” Smith raised his arm and saluted. But in reality, everyone participating in the Dec. 7 parade was there to honor him for his 100th birthday.
Organized by Al Leightley of the Knights of Columbus, it traveled from Old Post Road to Colony Road, where Smith and his family have lived for the past 70 years. And it culminated with proclamations from the Virginia General Assembly and the City of Fairfax.