Jerry Portnoy
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Jerry Portnoy
Jerry Portnoy (born November 25, 1943 in Evanston, Illinois, United States) is an American harmonica blues musician, who has toured with Muddy Waters and Eric Clapton. Biography Portnoy grew up in Chicago. He first heard the blues played outside his father's carpet store in the Maxwell Street market in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Maxwell Street was a mecca for blues musicians, who would play on the street for tips. Little Walter, Jimmy Rogers, Johnny Young, Big Walter Horton and many others all played on Maxwell Street. Portnoy began to perform professionally in 1970, touring the Midwest with the band of Johnny Young (guitar/mandolin). Two years later, he left Johnny Young, but continued to perform around the Midwest in the bands of guitarist Johnny Littlejohn and, later, drummer Sam Lay. For a time, he was also a member of the house band at the Checkerboard Lounge. He joined the Muddy Waters Blues Band in May 1974 and appeared on the albums ''I'm Ready'', ''Muddy 'Miss ...
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Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anchor of the Golden Horseshoe, an urban agglomeration of 9,765,188 people (as of 2021) surrounding the western end of Lake Ontario, while the Greater Toronto Area proper had a 2021 population of 6,712,341. Toronto is an international centre of business, finance, arts, sports and culture, and is recognized as one of the most multicultural and cosmopolitan cities in the world. Indigenous peoples have travelled through and inhabited the Toronto area, located on a broad sloping plateau interspersed with rivers, deep ravines, and urban forest, for more than 10,000 years. After the broadly disputed Toronto Purchase, when the Mississauga surrendered the area to the British Crown, the British established the town of York in 1793 and later designat ...
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Johnny Littlejohn
John Wesley Funchess (April 16, 1931 – February 1, 1994) known professionally as John (or Johnny) Littlejohn, was an American electric blues slide guitarist. He was active on the Chicago blues circuit from the 1950s to the 1980s. Biography Born in Lake, Mississippi, Littlejohn first learned to play the blues from Henry Martin, a friend of his father's. In 1946 he left home and traveled widely, spending time in Jackson, Mississippi; Arkansas; Rochester, New York; and Gary, Indiana. He settled in Gary in 1951, playing whenever possible in the nearby Chicago area. Through his connections in Gary, he was acquainted with Joe Jackson, the patriarch of the musical Jackson family, and Littlejohn and his band reputedly served as an occasional rehearsal band for the Jackson 5 in the mid- to late 1960s. Littlejohn played regularly in Chicago clubs (he was filmed by drummer Sam Lay playing with Howlin' Wolf's band about 1961) but did not make any studio recordings until 1966, when he c ...
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Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded on August 10, 1846, it operates as a trust instrumentality and is not formally a part of any of the three branches of the federal government. The institution is named after its founding donor, British scientist James Smithson. It was originally organized as the United States National Museum, but that name ceased to exist administratively in 1967. Called "the nation's attic" for its eclectic holdings of 154 million items, the institution's 19 museums, 21 libraries, nine research centers, and zoo include historical and architectural landmarks, mostly located in the District of Columbia. Additional facilities are located in Maryland, New York, and Virginia. More than 200 institutions and museums in 45 states,States without Smithsonian ...
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Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplace of the Nation", it is the headquarters for the Rockettes. Radio City Music Hall was designed by Edward Durell Stone and Donald Deskey in the Art Deco style. Radio City Music Hall was built on a plot of land that was originally intended for a Metropolitan Opera House, although plans for the opera house were canceled in 1929. It opened on December 27, 1932, as part of the construction of Rockefeller Center. The 5,960-seat Music Hall was the larger of two venues built for Rockefeller Center's "Radio City" section, the other being Center Theatre (New York City), Center Theatre; the "Radio City" name later came to apply only to the Music Hall. It was largely successful until the 1970s, when declining patronage nearly drove the theater to bank ...
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Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57th Streets. Designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill and built by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, it is one of the most prestigious venues in the world for both classical music and popular music. Carnegie Hall has its own artistic programming, development, and marketing departments and presents about 250 performances each season. It is also rented out to performing groups. Carnegie Hall has 3,671 seats, divided among three auditoriums. The largest one is the Stern Auditorium, a five-story auditorium with 2,804 seats. Also part of the complex are the 599-seat Zankel Hall on Seventh Avenue, as well as the 268-seat Joan and Sanford I. Weill Recital Hall on 57th Street. Besides the auditoriums, Carnegie Hall contains offices on its t ...
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White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. The term "White House" is often used as a metonym for the president and his advisers. The residence was designed by Irish-born architect James Hoban in the neoclassical style. Hoban modelled the building on Leinster House in Dublin, a building which today houses the Oireachtas, the Irish legislature. Construction took place between 1792 and 1800, using Aquia Creek sandstone painted white. When Thomas Jefferson moved into the house in 1801, he (with architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe) added low colonnades on each wing that concealed stables and storage. In 1814, during the War of 1812, the mansion was set ablaze by British forces in the Burning of Washington, destroying the interior and charring much of the exterior. Reconstruction began ...
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From The Cradle
''From the Cradle'' is the twelfth solo studio album by Eric Clapton released on 13 September 1994 by Warner Bros. Records. A blues cover album and Clapton's follow-up to his successful 1992 live album, ''Unplugged,'' it is his only UK number-one album to date. Although he had long been associated with the blues, ''From the Cradle'' was Clapton's first attempt at an all-blues album. He would subsequently record ''Riding with the King'' with B.B. King; a tribute to Robert Johnson, ''Me and Mr. Johnson''; and a collaboration with J. J. Cale, ''The Road to Escondido''. Critical reception ''From the Cradle'' has prompted a wide range of critical response. The title actually comes from the last line of a four-line poem written by Clapton in his own handwriting (which he never set to music), printed on the second page of the CD booklet: "All along this path I tread / My heart betrays my weary head / with nothing but my love to save / from the cradle to the grave." Stephen Thomas ...
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Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no government funding. It can seat 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres have appeared on its stage. It is the venue for the BBC Proms concerts, which have been held there every summer since 1941. It is host to more than 390 shows in the main auditorium annually, including classical, rock and pop concerts, ballet, opera, film screenings with live orchestral accompaniment, sports, awards ceremonies, school and community events, and charity performances and banquets. A further 400 events are held each year in the non-auditorium spaces. Over its 151 year history the hall has hosted people from various fields, including meetings by Suffragettes, speeches from Winston Churchi ...
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Ronnie Earl
:''This article refers to the musician. For the district attorney of Travis County, Texas, see Ronnie Earle.'' Ronnie Earl (born Ronald Horvath, March 10, 1953, Queens, New York, United States) is an American blues guitarist and music instructor. Career Earl collected blues, jazz, rock and soul records while growing up. He studied American History at C.W. Post College on Long Island for a year and a half, then moved to Boston to pursue a Bachelor's Degree in Special Education and Education at Boston University where he would graduate in 1975. He spent a short time teaching handicapped children. During his college years, he attended a Muddy Waters concert at the Jazz Workshop in Boston. After seeing Waters perform, Earl took a serious interest in the guitar, which he had first picked up in 1973. His first job was as a rhythm guitarist at The Speakeasy, a blues club in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In addition to playing in the Boston blues scene, Earl traveled twice by Greyhound Bus ...
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The Legendary Blues Band
The Legendary Blues Band was a Chicago blues band formed in 1980 after the breakup of Muddy Waters' band. Biography In June 1980, Muddy Waters' backing musicians Willie "Big Eyes" Smith (drums), Pinetop Perkins (piano), Calvin "Fuzz" Jones (bass guitar), Luther Johnson (Guitar Junior) (guitar), Bob Margolin (guitar) and Jerry Portnoy (harmonica) quit over a salary dispute. The year before, Smith, Jones, Johnson and Perkins backed John Lee Hooker and Big Walter Horton in the film ''The Blues Brothers'', playing a live version of "Boom Boom" in the Maxwell Street Market. Smith was the only band member to appear in close-up. In 1981, Portnoy, Jones, Smith and Perkins formed the Legendary Blues Band, using a monicker Muddy Waters used to introduce them when on stage. Guitarist Bob Margolin chose not to join them and formed his own band and was replaced by Louis Myers on harmonica and guitar. The Legendary Blues Band recorded their debut album ''Life of Ease'' for Rounder Records. ...
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Calvin "Fuzz" Jones
Calvin "Fuzz" Jones (June 9, 1926 – August 9, 2010) was an American electric blues bassist and singer. He worked with many blues musicians, including Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, the Legendary Blues Band, Mississippi Heat, James Cotton, Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson, Little Walter and Elmore James. He contributed to the collaborative 1996 album ''Eye to Eye'', which also featured Pinetop Perkins, Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, Ronnie Earl and Bruce Katz. Life and career Jones was born in Greenwood, Mississippi, and raised on a farm near Inverness, Mississippi. In his childhood he learned to play the violin and the acoustic bass, later switching to the electric bass guitar, which became his instrument of choice. He joined the backing band of Muddy Waters in 1970 and played with the group until 1980. He played on the albums ''They Call Me Muddy Waters'' (1971), '' Muddy "Mississippi" Waters – Live'' (1979), and '' King Bee'' (1981). He became known for his "strong electric bass ...
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Willie "Big Eyes" Smith
Willie Lee "Big Eyes" Smith (January 19, 1936 – September 16, 2011) was an American electric blues vocalist, harmonica player, and drummer. He was best known for several stints with the Muddy Waters band beginning in the early 1960s. Biography Born in Helena, Arkansas, Smith learned to play harmonica at age 17 after moving to Chicago, Illinois. His influences included listening to 78's and the KFFA King Biscuit radio show, some of which were broadcast from Helena's Miller Theater, where he saw guitar player Joe Willie Wilkins, and harmonica player Sonny Boy Williamson II. On a Chicago visit in 1953 his mother took him to hear Muddy Waters at the Zanzibar club, where Henry Strong's harp playing inspired him to learn that instrument. In 1956, at the age of eighteen he formed a trio. He led the band on harp, Bobby Lee Burns played guitar and Clifton James was the drummer. As "Little Willie" Smith he played in the Rocket Four, led by blues guitarist Arthur "Big Boy" Spires, and ...
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