WVAS, MONTGOMERY CELEBRATES NATIVE SON NAT KING COLE • HITMAKER WALTER BECKER DEAD AT 67

Nat King Cole in 1948

Memories of Nat King Cole loom large in Montgomery, Alabama. He was born there as Nathaniel Adams Coles in 1919. 

Cole went on to stardom and became one of the first African Americans to host a national television variety show, The Nat King Cole Show, on NBC-TV in the early 1960s.

Cole reportedly had bittersweet feelings about the city of Montgomery.  

Though Cole began his career there, and some of his descendants still live there, he never got over an incident that occurred in nearby Birmingham just as he was becoming famous. Just as the concert started Cole was roughed up by members of the Klan.  Cole’s injuries prevented him from finishing the show.

WVAS [link], Alabama State University’s jazz, blues and news, decided several years ago to turn the page and honor Cole.   

In 2015 the station, the university and local businesses established the first Nat King Cole Society Jazz Festival. It was a terrific success.

This year, the folks at WVAS decided to have a bigger and better festival. 

WVAS, in coordination with the Alabama State Division of Continuing Education, the Montgomery County Commission, Hyundai and McDonald’s to sponsor a second Nat King Cole Society Jazz Festival on September 3rd at the Riverwalk Amphitheater in downtown Montgomery. 

WALTER BECKER OF STEELY DAN HAD NO STATIC AT ALL

Walter Becker (left) with Don Fagan in the late 1970s 

 

 

During the years I worked on-air at Top 40 and Album Rock stations, I always loved playing tunes by Steely Dan, founded in 1969 by Walter Becker and Don Fagan. 

Steely Dan’s hits such as Reeling In the Years, Do It Again and Rikki Don’t Loose That Number never lost their instant thrill.  These songs were composed and mixed perfectly for radio airplay. Though many of Steely Dan’s songs were pop hits, they seemed more elegant than most other songs of the day. Then there was the sense of mystery.

The stories told in the songs were small slices of life, the lyrics were often obtuse and the vibe was sexy and smart. After all, the band’s name Steely Dan was also the name of a dildo in the William Burroughs novel Naked Lunch.

When radio folks think of Steely Dan, the first thing that comes to mind is the 1978 megahit and movie FM – No Static At All. Steely Dan was nominated for a Grammy for the song.  Michael Brandon, Eileen Brennanm Alex Karras, Cleavon Little and Martin Mull starred in the film which was shown at many station-sponsored movie events.

I recommend John Pareles’ obit of Becker in the New York Times [link].