The FAT LADY sang Sunday at Candlestick Park - heartbreaking loss dealt the 49ers in NFC playoff against The New York GIANTS. Dag! Thought sure they would win - you know, destiny kind of thing! Rookie coach Jim Harbaugh and the team STILL winners for they surprised fans with a great season, to go on to final championship playoff game, giving us hope for next season!

Last week the Rhythm and Blues world lost two GIANTS - JOHNNY OTIS, (Tuesday) ETTA JAMES Friday. When I heard news of her passing (which interrupted a cut on the radio), while driving through the rain, fighting traffic, my heart sadden. TODAY, she would have celebrated her 74th birthday.

Early last year Etta was diagnosed with Leukemia; hospitalized during the holidays in grave condition, terminal in December. She was on a respirator; any day expected to hear she had passed. The lady fought to survive (perhaps a rage to live!). Good news when it was announced she was off respirator machine, going home; but the diagnosis for recovery dim.

Etta was born in L.A. on January 25, 1937, moved to San Francisco while still a youth. Etta was a sultry rhythm and blues singer who worked with band leader Johnny Otis band, known for her signature song “AT LAST, ” for which she will always be remembered. Etta eventually went out on her own, belting out some high energy hit songs. She was THE ROCK AND ROLL QUEEN! Caught her performance several years ago at SFJAZZ Festival at Masonic Temple on Nob Hill. Happy for the opportunity through the years to briefly converse with her. SHE WAS SPECIAL!

Ironic, Etta would pass within two days of bandleader and icon JOHNNY OTIS, the man who discovered her in 1954 when she was a young girl. He was 91. Born in Vallejo. CA., Otis had an extraordinary passion for the music of R&B; a bandleader who launched the careers of Black artists - Esther Phillips, Big Mama Thornton, to name a few. Otis helped shape rhythm and blues in the late 1940s and played a key role in the music for the next 30 years.

I don’t care how much the GOPs rag him, HE OPENLY SURVIVES in good spirits! PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA IS SOME COOL GUY! Doo-woppin’ in old school groove, an Al Green’s hit, The ROCK STAR made his singing DEBUT at The famous Apollo Theater in New York City’s Harlem district at a fundraising event in his honor last Thursday night. Soul/gospel singer AL GREEN performed prior to him taking the podium. President Obama surprised the crowd when mischievously singing the first line “I’m so in love with you” (lyrics from Green’s ‘Let’s Stay Together’ hit), blushing, flashed that handsome smile, as the crowd went wild! WATCH OUT FOR A CD!

HEY, IT’S NICE TO BE NICE AND TO ALL OF YOU OUT THERE ... LOOK FOR ME ... I’LL BE THERE ...
E-mail Rochelle at iheard@earthlink.net