Apropos of Jesse's list Estelle Axton died recently. She was the co-founder of Stax Records with her brother, Jim Stewart (Stewart + Axton = Stax). Stax had a distribution deal with Atlantic, which eventually bought the company. William Bell, Sam & Dave and Otis (whose records were released on the Atlantic subsidiary Atco) were Stax natives. Wilson Pickett's commercial breakthrough came when Atlantic VP Jerry Wexler dragged him to Memphis to record with the Stax house band, Booker T. & the MGs, whose guitartist, Steve Cropper, co-wrote said breakthrough, "In the Midnight Hour". Albert King's biggest success, "Born Under a Bad Sign", came out on Stax. One other point of trivia, "I've Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now)" was co-written with Jerry Butler, co-founder of the Impressions.

What a great life she had!

Axton enjoyed a second hurrah in the late Seventies, when her Fretone label issued Rick Dees' chart-topping "Disco Duck."

Ahh well. No one's perfect.

I jusst sold off a bunch of invoices from Phillips's Sun to Stax. I had to do a bunch of research on the label. Pretty cool. Sad to see her obit.

What a great life she had! "...her Fretone label issued Rick Dees' chart-topping "Disco Duck." Ahh well. No one's perfect.

Indeed. But my favorite "second act" story is Sylvia Robinson. She and Mickey "Guitar" Baker (cf. Little Willie John's "Need Your Love So Bad") had a big hit with "Love Is Strange" in the mid-50s. A decade later she & husband Joe Robinson started a record label & studio. Five years later Sylvia had another big hit of her own, "Pillow Talk". A couple years later she wrote & produced Shirley & Company's "Shame Shame Shame" (which was also Shirley Goodman's second act, the first being "Let the Good Times Roll" in the 50s). But Robinson's enduring claim to fame is probably founding Sugarhill Records. She's had a cool life.

Five years later Sylvia had another big hit of her own, "Pillow Talk".

I remember that one very well. Possibly the first three-minute female orgasm ever to make the charts.

Though I said I would do it this week, I just put Angus' and Moonlit's cds in the mail to you, Bicyclops. There was no note or anything, I was in a hurry. Sorry.

Moonlit, there are two tracks on your CD that aren't who they say they are. The song naming province/city/state song is actually the Billy Bragg song you mention as runner up, the Unrequited love song isn't the Midge Ure song you meniton but Vienna, but Ultravox. (Which was a fabulous surprise for me, because I LOVE that song.) I made notes on the liner notes to that effect, if anyone can read my scrawl.

Midge Ure was the lead singer of Ultravox, but maybe you knew that?

Anne's mix won't burn for me. :-( And it goes all skippy in my CD player; I was hoping it was just the one in the kitchen, but the one in my bedroom does it too. If anyone manages to make a better copy of it, can I request a burn? There's some great stuff on there that I'd love to have.

Jon, I should get to the PO today, so you'll have mail tomorrow or Friday.

you'll have mail tomorrow or Friday.

Yay! And I'll be able to hand-deliver them to Hayden next week!

I've got fancy burning software on my home 'puter so I may have more luck than you with Anne's CD. If so, I'll happily send you a copy.

Excellent, thank you!