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THE ENIGMATIC PHIL SPECTOR

The first presidential debate of Donald Trump and Joe Biden ended up in a near tie.  Both lost.  However, it was an unmitigated disaster for Biden, who just might be too old to win this re-election. For Trump, it was a reinforcement of what he does all the the time, lie.  

There will be significant calls for the Democratic Party to work out "something" to replace Biden as their presidential candidate.  Suddenly, Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom and Michelle Obama are added to the spotlight.  But what can "legally" occur at the August Democratic Convention?

The situation is different on the Republican side, as Trump is the Republican Party, and no matter if he gets 4 years at his felony sentencing on July 9, or even if the Supreme Court determines he is not immune next week or later, he will be the presidential candidate. Trump is a damned boastful liar and convicted felon, but that is the only option for Republicans.  His vice-presidential choice now becomes crucial.

The nation will be challenged over the next 129 days.  Trump could well be facing prison time and Biden might need to be moved to a nursing home.  It will most likely be Biden vs Trump on November 5.  But our country will lose democracy if Trump gets elected.  What can the Democratic Party do to prevent this looming disaster?  Well, Biden seemed to have recovered from his miasma in North Carolina today, and perhaps that debate was just a bump in the road.

Oh well, things surely will improve for the USA in the coming days.  About my topic of the day, I was watching Prime Music on TV, and at the end of each song, listed is the person or people who wrote it.  Time and again, I saw the name, Philip Spector.  There is a book about him, Phil Spector:  Sound of the Sixties, 1985 by Sean MacLeod.  Another,  He's a Rebel:  The Truth About Phil Spector - Rock and Roll's Legendary Madman, 1989, by Mark Ribowski.  And another, Wall of Pain:  The Biography of Phil Spector, 2004, by Dave Thompson.

I was long aware of his "wall of sound," and previously wrote about him many times.  Here is one posting.  I did not realize until a half century after his Teddy Bears days that not only was he one of the three, with the hit, to Know Him is to Love Him, but he actually wrote that song and many others.

Spector's songs (one hour documentary), alphabetically (there are many more):
You say, big deal, Irving Berlin and many others wrote more hits.  Ah, but not many lived the life of Phil Spector.  I wrote about him in 2013 (became one of my most viewed postings--see the column to the right in the original format) and again only two years ago.  So as you can read these articles, I'll only summarize.
    • Born Harvey Philip Spector to Russian-Jewish immigrants on 26December1939 in the Bronx.
    • Father commited suicide in 1949.  On his gravestone was inscribed:  To Know Him Was To Love Him.
    • Formed the Teddy Bears with that hit in 1958, which reached #1 on Billboard and sold a million copies.  This was his only band ever, never again actually being recorded.
    • At the age of 21 became the youngest-ever U.S. label owner and was dubbed the First Tycoon of Teen.  
    • He controlled every phase of the recording process.
    • Married in 1963 Annette Merar, lead vocalist of the Spectators Three.
    • Began an affair with Ronnie Bennett, lead singer of the Ronettes.  
    • Divorced Merar in 1966.
    • Married Ronnie in 1968.  Adopted three children.  She escaped Spector's mansion in 1972, and they got divorced in 1974.
    • In her 1990 memoir, Be My Baby, Ronnie alleged being imprisoned by Phil and subjected her to years of psychological torment.
    • In the 70's produced Let It Be of the Beatles, and several solo records by John Lennon and George Harrison's My Sweet Lord.
    • Won the 1973 Grammy Award for Album of the Year.
    • In 1974 was seriously injured in a car crash, and was thrown through the windshield.  He almost died from head injuries.  Got 700 stitches.  Later began wearing outlandish wigs.
    • Got involved in 1977 with Leonard Cohen's Death of a Ladies' Man.
    • Became reclusive from the 1980s on drugs and an increasingly erratic behaviour.
    • Re-emerged in 1981, co-producing Yoko Ono's Season of Glass. That is the entire album.
    • Had twins with girlfriend Janis Zavala in 1982.
    • Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 and Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1997.
    • Gun was used to kill actress Lana Clarkson in 2003.
    • In 2004, was ranked #63 on Rolling Stones's greatest artists in history.
    • While awaiting trial, in 2006 married his third wife, Rachelle Short, who was 26 and he was 67.
    • First trial in 2007 ended in a hung jury.
    • Produced a hit by Mutya Buena and Amy Winehouse that year, B Boy Baby.  Also did Amy Winehouse's To Know Him is to Love Him.  She died of substance abuse in 2011.
    • In second trial sentenced to 19 years in prison, where died of COVID-19 in 2021.
    ***********************************************************************y
    Good time clean out the photos on my desktop, so some photos on my lifestyle at 15 Craigside.  First, spaghetti lunch.
    We get shave ice every so often in the summer.
    Artichoke, tomato soup and sashimi for lunch.
    Sashimi and Pork Tonkatsu for dinner.
    A Hawaiian Luau.
    Truffles carpaccio on buttered croissant toast, with salad and soup.
    My weekly golf.  The first two are bad.  Oleander and Monkey Pod pollen.
    June is a time for colored shower and other types of flowering trees.
    This is the national tree of Thailand.
    I rode a cart, but still walked 6791 steps.  When golfing, my steps are only around 30 inches long, so I walked around 3 miles.

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