Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday

 

So, anything happen while I was gone?

Yeah, I know; taking a seven month sabbatical from a blog isn't the smartest idea, especially when you're attempting to build a regular readership. My bad, and I'll address what I've been doing, for those who care, in a subsequent posting.

However, there's no better reason to pick up "Sports and the World @ Large" than to mark the 58^th birthday of an American icon, Steveland Hardaway Judkins or Steveland Hardaway Morris.

Regardless the name on his birth certificate, the name of the man he became, Stevie Wonder, is synonymous with the best traditions of service and principles, not to mention being the best damn popular musician this country has ever produced.

Listing Stevie's humanitarian accomplishments would take all day, and listing his contributions to the musical culture would go on for a week or more. The combination of the two makes him the most potent force for good in American popular culture.

And he's still musically relevant. My wife and I saw him last year on tour in Washington, and I was amazed not only at his staying power ( 2 ½ hours without an intermission) but also at how rich and full his voice is more than 45 years after he first burst on the scene as "Little Stevie Wonder."

Though I said listing his songs would take a lot of time, I do want to suggest that if you must own one of his tunes, and one only, it should be "As" (third song, fourth side of "Songs In The Key of Life"). It is a seven minute ode to the power of pure love, with a dazzling Herbie Hancock keyboard solo in the middle.

Brilliant.

Just like Stevie.