Rock legend Little Richard has died

[deurbano]

55. I brought the "The Very Best of Otis Redding" to the hospital to play in the background

as I gave birth to my son. If it’s possible to have one favorite artist, he’s probably it for me.

I’m a little bit younger than you, and I hadn’t discovered Otis Redding when he died, but I consider that the year of my awakening, too. My family had moved from the Mississippi Delta to Bakersfield when I was two, and I learned (much later) that my dad had been a member of the White Citizens’ Council in MS. My parents hated King, and they became Republicans (to support Goldwater) because they thought Democrats (including JFK, then LBJ) were too supportive of civil rights and the “outside agitators” stirring up the South. We disagreed about racial issues pretty early on, but it was the assassinations of King and RFK (and the aftermath of those murders) that really sent me in the opposite direction. I had secretly been supporting RFK (after hearing him on the radio), and was still up watching the CA election results and his acceptance speech at the Ambassador Hotel when the tragedy unfolded. He died on the day of my junior high graduation, and a teacher – who knew my parents’ politics—for some reason felt compelled to tell me, “You must be happy.” (That was painful.) At any rate, that was the year I really began to think for myself… and predictably became the black sheep of my family.

Yes, what a time!