He’s the blackest white man you’ll ever encounter: Studs Terkel, at 93, speaking this morning about his memories of Mahalia Jackson, about the difference between spirituals and gospel songs, about interviewing Louis Armstrong and listening to his favorite jazz tune, Armstrong’s gorgeous recording of “West End Blues” (listen to it yourself), made with Earl Hines on piano, about James Baldwin and what Bessie Smith meant to him.
Terkel, left, who underwent open heart surgery six weeks ago, showed up at the downtown Manhattan firehouse that serves as Democracy Now!’s broadcast studio and put the broadest smile on DN anchor Amy Goodman’s face that we’ve ever seen. Besides his cultural commentary, we loved his political remarks. In fact, there’s no way to separate them. Of “the clown,” his term for the Bullshitter-in-Chief, he says: “This guy is a burlesque of Ronald Reagan. He makes Reagan sound like Abraham Lincoln.”
As soon as Goodman’s interview with this national treasure is posted, we’ll put up the link. In the meantime, listen to this (give it time to download) for the pleasure of fabulous talk from a fabulous character who happens to be real. It’s a WFMT Chicago radio interview with Terkel. And if you really want to explore, listen to this radio drama: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, featuring Terkel and the novelist Nelson Algren — another black man who happened to be born white — from way back in 1960.
— Tireless Staff of Thousands
Postscript: It’s up. Here he is this morning being interviewed on Democracy Now! (Full disclosure: Studs is a friend.)
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