Wanda's Picks Radio Show Special: Bill Withers & Dr. King . . . Aṣẹ

We celebrate William Harrison Withers Jr. "Bill Withers," today.  Born in Slab Fork, West Virginia, July 4, 1938 in a family of 13, he the youngest, most people know him as an American singer-songwriter and musician who performed and recorded from 1970 until 1985. He recorded several major hits, including "Ain't No Sunshine", "Grandma's Hands", "Use Me", "Lean on Me", "Lovely Day", and "Just the Two of Us." However, he was so much more and we learn about these other dimensions of a man who stopped recording for 33 years to have a family and a life with that family. The film, "Still Bill," co-directed by friends and colleagues, Damani Baker and Alex Vlack, is a wonderful portrait of this complex man's life from growing up in a coal mining town, to joining the navy to working in the air force making toilets, to fame in his 30s.  I am going to play a little of the audio here this morning following an interview with director, Damani when the film was debuting in a free community screening at the Kabuki Theatre in San Francisco 11 years ago.  We open with Amikaeyla Gaston singing "Lovely Day." We then shift to a conversation with Simone Missick, who portrays the character Camae in Katora Hall's play "The Mountaintop" (2013) at TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, CA.  We play Nina Simone's moving Why did they kill the man of peace? After that song, well what could anyone say? So we play about 30 minutes of "Still Bill." Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wdizl63aols  In between the two segments I read a review of the play. The show is Wanda's Picks tribute to two great men from a generation of men and women slipping into other dimensions so quickly we need to pay attention and enjoy their gifts now before they return to the earth. .  Aṣẹ, Aṣẹ, Aṣẹ-o.