Those comments appear to have pleased all the white folk in the audience!
I was grooving on the shoes and the “tighten up” refrain but all I could think of during this was my favorite April Stevens song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWpA5iY2V1I
Look at the audience – middle-aged and at least middle class white people. They don’t want to be preached at or challenged, and the girls know it. The real telling would be how they performed in front of a younger and more ethnic crowd. Would it be “Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves?” and “I Will Survive” type stuff?
Bad points, like realizing that being a homemaker isn’t a real job. Sorry honey but no more “love in the afternoon” while folding my underwear . Can I get a hell yeah ?
Seriously, like Tonyola mentioned, I think she said “bad points” to appease the the older audience who wouldn’t understand why a woman would want to enter the male dominated workforce of the time. Just look at Mad Men.
Am I the only person, who had to look twice to check if these were men in drag?
Oh, come on, this is more than cow-towing to an audience, no? What are the “bad points” of women’s liberation, that it doesn’t allow a black woman to be a slave? That’s just weird, even taking into account the times.
And is that an audience of Brits? Do I detect an English accent of some sort in the MC’s voice? Is he a British Jackie Gleason?
I, too, thought they may have been trying too hard to make a point about being women, cliff. Still, this isn’t from 1964, or whenever Mad Men is set, but more like 1974. Thank you, though, for reminding us of some of the “bad points.”
It should be noted that the Three Degrees had been around since the early 1960s and these three particular women had been singing together since 1967. They’re seasoned pros who know how to read an audience.
BTW, tonyola, I know what your’e getting at. It’s not like anyone should have had high expectations for this lower-tier Sound of Philadelphia band, but that rap goes beyond “reading their audience.” Wearing short shorts and singing that nice song was enough of a read. I mean, should they have read the audience even more clearly and gone down on old guys in the front row? It’s just weird, if you ask me.
I don’t question that the performance is sexist and possibly a bit racist, but at the same time, this is not some quickie cheesecake trio of innocents thrown together by some svengali producer and tossed to the lions. These are performing artists with considerable experience (and not young girls either) and they knew the score before going in.
For better or worse, sex-kitten -fantasy female performers have been part of showbiz ever since Salome shed her seven veils and possibly well before. Is it right? Perhaps not. Will it ever go away. Not as long as there are men around to lap it up. At least Salome got a head on a platter for her trouble.
Yes, I know all that, but please, answer the main question: what are the “bad points” of women’s lib that she’s talking about?
Seriously, this was meant as a rhetorical point. I was enjoying the song and performance, but the rap took me completely out of it. I just want to make sure that no one in 2011 is nodding along in agreement with that nonsense. I could see the love slave stuff coming from someone at that time like Millie Jackson, but the Three Degrees were a “nice,” tame, outdated group in the mold of the Supremes. That rap came out of nowhere, for me.
It’s just a guess, but maybe she’s referring to the fact that equality means no more being “put on a pedestal”. No more pampering, no more having doors held, no more assumed protection, no more automatic free meals and drinks, and no more having men under their spell hoping of a chance for sexual favors.
I’m not EPG, but if you’re talking about the Clark Gable-Claudette Colbert film, I say: That may be the greatest romantic comedy ever!
I just got done watching Walkabout, the Nicolas Roeg movie set in the dessert of Australia. Like other Roeg movies I’ve seen, there are many interesting moments and cultural insights, awesome cinematography, but my god – barely a shred of humanity. Talk about your Man or Machine productions.
Surely any living, breathing human being has to love It Happened One Night. Mod, I agree about Roeg as well: interesting in theory but not in practice.
Mod, not to get all serious, but I think your own serious question might take it as a given that all women did and do support “women’s liberation” as it was called back in the day or feminism or whatever other term one applies to the efforts to insure equal rights and equal treatment for women. Even now, decades later, after much progress has been made and women (and men) benefit from women’s lib or feminism or what have you, you can find women who will say they are against feminism. I am not claiming it makes sense, but it is not a unique case of people becoming convinced that something in their best interests should not be supported. But maybe that’s a discussion for another blog.
A couple other “points”: When they take the jackets off, they are actually the starting front court of the San Antonio Spurs.
This performance launched the Hair Liberation Movement which was dedicated to freeing people from enormously oppresive and heavy hair styles that required hours of primping and attention.
I read up on him after watching the film and remembered that he got his start as a cinematographer, most notably on some of David Lean’s beautiful, big-screen epics. That made a lot of sense in terms of where he pushed the visuals.
Notice in the very last shot is an elderly woman giving the song and its sentiments a standing ovation. Not all sisters want to do it for themselves. Some have always been very happy to have things done for them. As noted women’s liberationist Lou Reed’s hero Delmore Schwartz wrote, “In Dreams Begin Responsibilities.”
Women’s liberation morphed into something far different than equal rights and opportunity. Men and Women are different… Thank God! It’s not a matter of one sex being better or worse than the other. We depend on each other for happiness not to mention existence. To dismiss that ss a “bad point”.
“A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle” – popularized by Gloria Steinem (NOW)
I’m (briefly) watching some horrible Ted Nugent concert from modern times on HDNet, and when he started playing the only song by him I like to any degree, “Stranglehold,” I was shocked to see that he did not sing it. I quickly looked up a vintage Nuge performance to confirm that he never sang it.
Does this make him worse than I’ve always thought, or does this make him a little bit like Carlos Santana or Elvin Bishop (didn’t Mickey Thomas sing his big hit song)?
I guess you’re referring to Neal Schon regarding Santana.
On those two cases I agree. Santana was lazy (or tripping) and Uncle Ted was a total asshole but Elvin Bishop is another matter. I must have seen him 10 times back in the day and he was a ton of fun. He was the personality and driving force live. I’ll put his guitar solo on “the big hit” up against Mickey’s vocals (as good as they are) any day. Mickey Thomas used to stand in the back and just wail for the whole show. I think it was a good move for Elvin to feature him, it seems to have paid off.
Funny, I had no idea about this Derek St. Holmes character. Great name, to boot! Regarding Santana and Elvin Bishop, I was trying to think of other “solo” artists who aren’t the lead singer in their own band. Jeff Beck Group almost qualifies, but he did present himself at that time as part of a band.
I agree, by the way, that “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” is a winner!
… until August 21. I was expecting to be extremely underwhelmed, but in the first few minutes, you get a Lennon solo/acoustic version of “Because,” which is pretty cool. Work prevented me from watching the whole darn thing, so I can’t offer a comprehensive review. Still, this is stuff that I assume hasn’t been seen for about 40 years.
Those comments appear to have pleased all the white folk in the audience!
I was grooving on the shoes and the “tighten up” refrain but all I could think of during this was my favorite April Stevens song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWpA5iY2V1I
Look at the audience – middle-aged and at least middle class white people. They don’t want to be preached at or challenged, and the girls know it. The real telling would be how they performed in front of a younger and more ethnic crowd. Would it be “Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves?” and “I Will Survive” type stuff?
Bad points, like realizing that being a homemaker isn’t a real job. Sorry honey but no more “love in the afternoon” while folding my underwear . Can I get a hell yeah ?
Seriously, like Tonyola mentioned, I think she said “bad points” to appease the the older audience who wouldn’t understand why a woman would want to enter the male dominated workforce of the time. Just look at Mad Men.
Am I the only person, who had to look twice to check if these were men in drag?
Oh, come on, this is more than cow-towing to an audience, no? What are the “bad points” of women’s liberation, that it doesn’t allow a black woman to be a slave? That’s just weird, even taking into account the times.
And is that an audience of Brits? Do I detect an English accent of some sort in the MC’s voice? Is he a British Jackie Gleason?
I, too, thought they may have been trying too hard to make a point about being women, cliff. Still, this isn’t from 1964, or whenever Mad Men is set, but more like 1974. Thank you, though, for reminding us of some of the “bad points.”
It should be noted that the Three Degrees had been around since the early 1960s and these three particular women had been singing together since 1967. They’re seasoned pros who know how to read an audience.
What were they playing, a Southern plantation? This performance is from the mid-’70s. This is embarrassing, even in those early days of women’s lib.
BTW, tonyola, I know what your’e getting at. It’s not like anyone should have had high expectations for this lower-tier Sound of Philadelphia band, but that rap goes beyond “reading their audience.” Wearing short shorts and singing that nice song was enough of a read. I mean, should they have read the audience even more clearly and gone down on old guys in the front row? It’s just weird, if you ask me.
I don’t question that the performance is sexist and possibly a bit racist, but at the same time, this is not some quickie cheesecake trio of innocents thrown together by some svengali producer and tossed to the lions. These are performing artists with considerable experience (and not young girls either) and they knew the score before going in.
For better or worse, sex-kitten -fantasy female performers have been part of showbiz ever since Salome shed her seven veils and possibly well before. Is it right? Perhaps not. Will it ever go away. Not as long as there are men around to lap it up. At least Salome got a head on a platter for her trouble.
Yes, I know all that, but please, answer the main question: what are the “bad points” of women’s lib that she’s talking about?
Seriously, this was meant as a rhetorical point. I was enjoying the song and performance, but the rap took me completely out of it. I just want to make sure that no one in 2011 is nodding along in agreement with that nonsense. I could see the love slave stuff coming from someone at that time like Millie Jackson, but the Three Degrees were a “nice,” tame, outdated group in the mold of the Supremes. That rap came out of nowhere, for me.
It’s just a guess, but maybe she’s referring to the fact that equality means no more being “put on a pedestal”. No more pampering, no more having doors held, no more assumed protection, no more automatic free meals and drinks, and no more having men under their spell hoping of a chance for sexual favors.
EPG,
It Happened One Night. Thoughts?
I’m not EPG, but if you’re talking about the Clark Gable-Claudette Colbert film, I say: That may be the greatest romantic comedy ever!
I just got done watching Walkabout, the Nicolas Roeg movie set in the dessert of Australia. Like other Roeg movies I’ve seen, there are many interesting moments and cultural insights, awesome cinematography, but my god – barely a shred of humanity. Talk about your Man or Machine productions.
Time to listen to “E=MCsquared” in which BAD mention all the N. Roeg movies. Yeah, great movie but what a sad, sad, sad one.
Mod said
I immediately thought of a respected West Coast entrepreneur who would disagree with you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIodVuPHUbU
This clip probably makes a lot more sense if we can assume the Three Degrees were still being managed by Rollo and Lamont at the time of this gig.
Surely any living, breathing human being has to love It Happened One Night. Mod, I agree about Roeg as well: interesting in theory but not in practice.
Mod, not to get all serious, but I think your own serious question might take it as a given that all women did and do support “women’s liberation” as it was called back in the day or feminism or whatever other term one applies to the efforts to insure equal rights and equal treatment for women. Even now, decades later, after much progress has been made and women (and men) benefit from women’s lib or feminism or what have you, you can find women who will say they are against feminism. I am not claiming it makes sense, but it is not a unique case of people becoming convinced that something in their best interests should not be supported. But maybe that’s a discussion for another blog.
I think the “bad parts” are that they’re still stuck singing a song about how great it is to be a woman that was probably written by a man.
A couple other “points”: When they take the jackets off, they are actually the starting front court of the San Antonio Spurs.
This performance launched the Hair Liberation Movement which was dedicated to freeing people from enormously oppresive and heavy hair styles that required hours of primping and attention.
I read up on him after watching the film and remembered that he got his start as a cinematographer, most notably on some of David Lean’s beautiful, big-screen epics. That made a lot of sense in terms of where he pushed the visuals.
Good stuff, magic man!
I hear you, and in the “post-plugs era” I think it’s cool to occasionally investigate this issue too.
Notice in the very last shot is an elderly woman giving the song and its sentiments a standing ovation. Not all sisters want to do it for themselves. Some have always been very happy to have things done for them. As noted women’s liberationist Lou Reed’s hero Delmore Schwartz wrote, “In Dreams Begin Responsibilities.”
Women’s liberation morphed into something far different than equal rights and opportunity. Men and Women are different… Thank God! It’s not a matter of one sex being better or worse than the other. We depend on each other for happiness not to mention existence. To dismiss that ss a “bad point”.
“A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle” – popularized by Gloria Steinem (NOW)
I got sucked into it last night, again. Couldn’t make it to the hitchhiking scene but it’s top notch.
BTW, a fact I learned from TCM’s Robert Osborne one night: Bugs Bunny was supposedly based on Gable’s character with the carrots in that scene.
I’m (briefly) watching some horrible Ted Nugent concert from modern times on HDNet, and when he started playing the only song by him I like to any degree, “Stranglehold,” I was shocked to see that he did not sing it. I quickly looked up a vintage Nuge performance to confirm that he never sang it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYOV8uu17t0
Does this make him worse than I’ve always thought, or does this make him a little bit like Carlos Santana or Elvin Bishop (didn’t Mickey Thomas sing his big hit song)?
I think Derek St. Holmes sang most of Nugents stuff but he was always in the background because Nugent is the alpha male. Last I heard they reunited.
http://www.hennemusic.com/2011/04/derek-st-holmes-rejoins-ted-nugent.html
I guess you’re referring to Neal Schon regarding Santana.
On those two cases I agree. Santana was lazy (or tripping) and Uncle Ted was a total asshole but Elvin Bishop is another matter. I must have seen him 10 times back in the day and he was a ton of fun. He was the personality and driving force live. I’ll put his guitar solo on “the big hit” up against Mickey’s vocals (as good as they are) any day. Mickey Thomas used to stand in the back and just wail for the whole show. I think it was a good move for Elvin to feature him, it seems to have paid off.
Funny, I had no idea about this Derek St. Holmes character. Great name, to boot! Regarding Santana and Elvin Bishop, I was trying to think of other “solo” artists who aren’t the lead singer in their own band. Jeff Beck Group almost qualifies, but he did present himself at that time as part of a band.
I agree, by the way, that “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” is a winner!
Oh, I get it. Sounds like a thread. Van Halen?
MORE JOHN LENNON THAN YOU CAN STAND DEPT:
Yoko Ono is running the entire (1:10) “Bedpeace” movie here:
http://imaginepeace.com/archives/15702
… until August 21. I was expecting to be extremely underwhelmed, but in the first few minutes, you get a Lennon solo/acoustic version of “Because,” which is pretty cool. Work prevented me from watching the whole darn thing, so I can’t offer a comprehensive review. Still, this is stuff that I assume hasn’t been seen for about 40 years.
HVB
This is the scariest song I’ve ever heard in my life. Kind of want Kathleen Hanna to do a modern response song.
Tell ’em, sister!