Comments on: The Friday Fierceness: Angel of Harlem Edition

By: Danielle

Danielle — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 20:35:11 +0000

Also a big fan of Billie. Her instrument has limited in the technical sense but her ability to emote and make your feel something is matched by few. One of my vocal role models.

By: theDiva

theDiva — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:20:18 +0000

Also, it would have had to happened before ’47, because that’s about when she lost her cabaret card.

By: theDiva

theDiva — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:59:17 +0000

If it was Fran, she was no older than 9 at the time.

By: raincoaster

raincoaster — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 04:25:36 +0000

I’ll retell here something I posted on Facebook.

One night, decades ago, a writer (I think it was Fran Lebowitz) was in Harlem watching Billie Holiday perform at a club. Some guy was hassling her, the writer, for being white and being in that part of town, calling her names. Lady Day stopped the show and said, “No, leave that woman alone. She is my sister. She can be raped.”

By: theDiva

theDiva — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 12:01:51 +0000

Excellent post, Plummy. Lady was simply the best.

By: megaera

megaera — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 05:54:09 +0000

I will not lie. I, who as a child laughed through Freddy and Jason movies, was creeped to the nth degree by this song. (I should point out for fairness’ sake, that I also heard this song as a child.) Her phrasing, alternately halting and crooning, over those graphic lyrics managed to keep me up at night for a lot longer than any slasher flick could ever hope to do. About the only thing I can think of that gave me such severe shivers was a weird comic about the Holocaust (no not Maus) where the Nazi’s were dancing with lampshade made from human skin that I found in the Smithsonian Collection of Comics book.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 02:50:22 +0000

One of the things I forget sometimes is just how very, very , very pretty she was, in addition to her talent. Look at her with her flowers in her hair!

By: SusanC

SusanC — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:54:39 +0000

She was the first singer of that genre that I feel in love with, plain and simple. And nothing beats singing along with her “I gotta right to sing the blues” when you are feeling down.

By: Beth C.

Beth C. — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:48:37 +0000

Lady Day. Man, there is no one else. Not just her voice, everything. I remember seeing a documentary on the Savoy and someone told a story about Billie Holiday. She was at the club wearing her very first, brand new, white fur coat. Two sailors on leave started to hassle her and one of them put his cigarette out on the coat. She followed them outside and beat both of them to a pulp with her bare fists. One of them ended up in the hospital. I just loved her more after hearing that, she was quite a woman.

By: gina

gina — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:02:51 +0000

A (very wise) friend hipped me to Billie when I was in high school. We sat on her bed and listened to her mom’s CD of greatest hits. When Strange Fruit came on, I could hardly sit still for wanting to cry and shiver and run out of the room, it was so haunting. I went out and bought that CD the same day. But I still can’t listen to SF all the way through. “You go to my head” and “Until the Real Thing Comes Along” are my favorites.