Friday, March 29, 2024

Amazing Grace


I was going for a robust walk to the top of the Dom Cathedral yesterday

I was going for a robust walk to the top of the Dom Cathedral yesterday. The beautiful church beckons because it's just a short distance from my hotel in Cologne, Germany. It is one of the few original buildings in this area that survived WWII. Amazing Grace.

Just as I was about to leave for my walk I remembered that I had arranged an important conference call with Grace Jones. Yes, that Grace Jones. The original queen of Avant-garde Underground Groove Music and Stylism.

In 1977, she changed my life by not leaving my name at the stage-door of Studio 54, causing them to refuse me entry which resulted in me writing "Le Freak," my biggest hit single. We've been friends ever since and I've never known anybody quite like Grace. She's absolutely one-of-a-kind.

After talking to Grace, who makes everyday chit-chat exciting, I was struck by the thought that she and I are still here. Many extraordinary death defying things have happened to us both. We've lost many mutual friends.

While I'm still breathing, I'm going to create as much as possible. I want next year to be the best and most productive year of my life. If I'm lucky enough to get another year after that I want it to be even better. If I can reach my goal, it will be Amazing Grace.

 


Cologne Cathedral in May 1945


Grace Jones "Pull Up to the Bumper"


CHIC "Le Freak" (US 12 Inch)


Andy Warhol - Mutual Friend


Keith Haring - Mutual Friend


Jean-Michel Basquiat - Mutual Friend


I'll talk to the Amazing Grace today and get to the Amazing Cathedral tomorrow

 

 

 

Le Freak:
An Upside Down Story of Family, Disco, and Destiny
Written by Nile Rodgers

Category: Biography & Autobiography - Personal Memoirs; Biography & Autobiography - Composers & Musicians; Music - Popular
Format: eBook, 336 pages
On Sale: October 2011
Price: $ 12.99
ISBN: 978-0-679-64403-3 (0-679-64403-2)

Available as a hardcover and eBook.

You will hear a Nile Rodgers song today. It will make you happy.

Today's pop music—genre-crossing, gender-bending, racially mixed, visually stylish, and dominated by dance music with global appeal—is the world that Nile Rodgers created. In the 1970s and 1980s, he wrote and produced the songs that defined that era and everything that came after: "Le Freak," "Good Times," "We Are Family," "Like a Virgin," "Modern Love," "I'm Coming Out," "The Reflex," "Rapper's Delight." Aside from his own band, Chic, he worked with everyone from Diana Ross and Madonna to David Bowie and Duran Duran (not to mention Mick Jagger, Debbie Harry, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Michael Jackson, Prince, Rod Stewart, Robert Plant, Depeche Mode, Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel, Grace Jones, Bryan Ferry, INXS, and the B-52's), transforming their music, selling millions of records, and redefining what a pop song could be.

Read more about order the memoir here:
"Le Freak: An Upside Down Story of Family, Disco, and Destiny"