Jerry Lee Lewis has died
rollingstone.com
rollingstone.com
His morals were controversial, but his talent was anything but.
While that shows absolutely reprehensible morals if true, it does not relate to his musical skills.
FWIW, it's a nice live album, but doesn't strike me as one of the great live albums of all times. Unless there's some other bootleg with more. The only one I've found is... 8 songs. Tame audience (or they just weren't recorded?)
If you can find a boot of Led Zeppelin's '69 recordings for the BBC you'll have the same impression: after each song the audience claps politely, as if they'd just heard some chamber music. I had an image of them all in short hair, dressed up, and sitting politely in wooden chairs or folding chairs.
Perhaps they new the recording was for BBC broadcast (was it broadcast?) or perhaps that's just how things were in those days. OTOH, I visited London as a small child in 67 or 68 and my memories, even now, are of a pretty swinging place.
Here's the songs on the original release: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXRKTcRs-Xs7RqWKl8hqt...
> “I was raised a good Christian,” he told Rolling Stone in 1979. “But I couldn’t make it. … Too weak, I guess. I can’t picture Jesus Christ doin’ a whole lotta shakin’.”
;-)))
>Yes, it was 1958. But even back then, a 22-year-old marrying his 13-year-old cousin while still married to another woman was scandalous. And yet that's exactly what Jerry Lee Lewis, one of rock ’n’ roll's most important pioneers, did. It was in 1958 when British journalists learned of the tender young age of Myra Gale Brown, and the ensuing uproar caused Lewis to cancel his tour and spoiled his chance to dethrone Elvis as the king of rock.
>At 14, the couple had a child, who would die in a swimming pool accident three years later. Lewis' infidelity and drug use further strained the marriage, and they got divorced in 1971. Lewis, who is still alive, married for a seventh time in 2012. He kept it in the family again — she was reportedly his cousin's ex-wife.
The current decade is probably going to beat out all others in the number of famous musicians dying.
I was glad that he was still with us. Today I mourn his passing.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/28/arts/music/jerry-lee-lewi...
(We changed the URL above from variety.com to the article that seems to have the most background)
Much further down, the article clarifies that to "third cousin": "reporters learned that Lewis had married his third cousin, Myra Gale Brown, the daughter of his bass player."
Third cousin marriage is a) legal and b) not genetically risky.
So the 13yo part is the dodgy part.
I get an immediate sense of place and culture that was more similar to the victorian age than our modern world, or indeed other parts of the country at that same time.
it wasn't about people going to hear Mother Teresa singing
> "[Mother Teresa] was not a friend of the poor. She was a friend of poverty. She said that suffering was a gift from God. She spent her life opposing the only known cure for poverty, which is the empowerment of women and the emancipation of them from a livestock version of compulsory reproduction." -Christopher Hitchens [0]
> In 2013, in a comprehensive review[8] covering 96% of the literature on Mother Teresa, a group of Université de Montréal academics reinforced [criticism of medical care], detailing, among other issues, the missionary's practice of "caring for the sick by glorifying their suffering instead of relieving it, ... her questionable political contacts, her suspicious management of the enormous sums of money she received, and her overly dogmatic views regarding, in particular, abortion, contraception, and divorce". Questioning the Vatican's motivations for ignoring the mass of criticism, the study concluded that Mother Teresa's "hallowed image – which does not stand up to analysis of the facts – was constructed, and that her beatification was orchestrated by an effective media relations campaign" engineered by BBC journalist Malcolm Muggeridge, who shared her anti-abortion views. [1]
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Teresa#Criticism
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Mother_Teresa#Qua...
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/1175241-once-you-ve-been-to...
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/06/anthony-bourdain...
Edgar Allen Poe married his 13-year old cousin when he was in his mid-20s, and no one seemed to bat an eye. Of course, that was in 1836 and not 1957.
Lewis' first marriage was when he was 16.
I guess he came from an old-fashioned background?
In case anyone gets confused, his first marriage was not to a 13 year old. His "marriage" to his 13 year old cousin happened when he was 22.
Good thing I never said anything of the sort.
Oh sorry I used the word “normal” and you used the word “common” it’s true those are totally different - i was way off base there
Predating eye bats is Marie of Brittany's late 14th century marriage.[1] In 1937, Eunice Winstead (aged 9) married Charlie Johns, but it was noticed. Life Magazine did a story on it, "The Case of the Child Bride."[2] In 1971, at least one of two Florida judges would grant a marriage license for a pregnant 11yo bride and rape victim (which goes without saying).[3]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_of_Brittany,_Lady_of_La_...
[2] https://yesterdaysprint.tumblr.com/post/143251401189/life-ma...
What is more problematic wasn't the marrying to a 22 year old where both agreed to and loved each other, but much older people just sleeping with girls of same or close age (which, in rock, includes Led Zeppelin, The Beatles (yes, those), the Stones, and others), or arranged marriages of similar girls to 40 or 50 year old "respected" rich persons (also a common thing for poor families to ease their burden of supporting many childs and/or get some dowry and connections)
I don't know how this is controversial, but I don't think 13 year olds are emotionally and intellectually mature enough to know if they love someone enough to marry them, especially considered that their statements can very easily be pressured by family members who quite literally would still have legal authority over them at the time because they're minors.
Back in the day perhaps was different, as people aged faster. Now, for example, the common person marries somewhere around 30 (and many even later). Back then you could very commonly be married with the first kid on the way (or ready) at 18-20, and that's for both men and women.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Gilley
This wasn't a "oh, and they are cousins" thing. They played together as children.
Fun Fact: I took "Mickey Gilley Boulevard" as part of my route to a motorcycle dealership last month.
```Kissinger still alive``` (200 comments)
Kissinger is 99. Jimmy Carter is 98. Charlie Munger is 98. Warren Buffett is 92. Mel Brooks is 96. Roger Penrose is 91. Willie Nelson is 90. Ed Thorp is 90.
Kissinger just published a book:
https://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Six-Studies-World-Strategy...
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15061018
I didn't remember that I made a bad joke replying to that. My second born child was a handful of days old at the time, must have been in that sleep deprived dad joke state.