Showing posts with label FRANKLIN H. STEWART. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FRANKLIN H. STEWART. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Frank would call me in the morning; sing a few of the lyrics from 'Hello'

Then Frank would call me at noon; sing some of the words from 'Three Times A Lady". We'd have dinner; put the moon-roof back - turn up his favorite cassette (back then it was cassettes), and drive for an hour or so, with the moon-light shining on us - singing....

In Memory of Frank Stewart; November 3, 1946 - October 11, 1984

I completed a blog for Billy Tipton; a woman born in 1914, but because of discrimination she chose to pose as a man all her life. She loved music (so do I). She wanted to play her music with 'the guys' - back then, women just didn't frequent night-clubs where the type of music she loved to play. There were 'torch singers', but like most 'good' ladies who probably envied them - they were just 'hussies'.
I thought about her masquerade; I remembered my own experience when dating and loving a black man, was just 'so wrong'. I remember Frank telling me that no one would accept a black and white couple. I remember a lot of things we did together; the joy and love we had, and I wish Frank were alive to see Obama as a candidate for president. I wish he could have seen Oprah and realized a black woman can be a huge success in this country of ours.
Frank died of a heart attack at the age of 38; I'll put a few memories here, but for now, I wanted to create a place of 'music' that Frank would have loved - the kind we used to dance to 30 years ago.