![]() ![]() He made appearances at sit-ins targeting segregated lunch counters, and wrote opinion pieces for the Los Angeles Sentinel about the problems of the L.A. It was only natural that Otis became a dedicated civil rights activist and, at some point, he even became friends with Malcolm X. He understood black culture better than the Greek culture of his family. As an R&B musician, he was surrounded by African-Americans. Living as a “black” man, Otis became part of a world he felt more comfortable in. Credit: Twitter/ iamchriswmsįor Otis, identity was more a matter of culture than color. Identifying more with African-American culture than his own Greek background led him to adopting a new name, believing that it sounded more black. Growing up in an African-American neighborhood, he spent his early years immersed in black culture and music. Johnny Otis an Activist for African-American rights He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Blues Hall of Fame in 2017. Through the 1990’s and 2000’s, he continued touring and sporadically releasing albums. He reinvented himself once more in the 1980s, becoming a radio show host in California. In the early 1970’s, he started a Blues record label called Blues Spectrum. In the late 1960’s, early Rock and Roll and R&B were becoming passe, and Otis made less and less music every year, both in the studio and on stage. He released a string of successful records as The Johnny Otis Orchestra (1948-1957) and he headlined “The Johnny Otis Show” from 1958 to 1969. ![]() According to legend, Orpheus played his lyre so beautifully that the rocks stopped crashing together long enough for the Argonauts to sail through safely.Johnny Otis began his music career as a drummer and became a bandleader in the late 1940’s. On their journey, they encountered many challenges, including having to pass through the Symplegades-a pair of rocks that would crash together whenever anything tried to sail between them. The Argonauts were a band of heroes who sailed on a ship called the Argo in order to retrieve the Golden Fleece. Orpheus and the ArgonautsĪnother famous story about Orpheus is his involvement with the Argonauts. Orpheus quickly became renowned for his musical abilities, and he used his lyre to charm animals and rocks alike. He gave it to Apollo, who then taught Orpheus how to play it. The myth goes that Hermes, the messenger god, found a tortoise shell while he was out wandering and decided to make it into a musical instrument. Orpheus was said to have invented the lyre, which was a stringed instrument that was played with a plectrum.
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