![]() They had invented themselves in Hollywood, using the momentum of stubborn hope and daydreams, and they were the life of the party. What mattered most is that they were there and had witnessed that other America. ![]() ![]() They were fearless, fearsomely exploited, vengeful and devoted to the image of them that could be sold. Even the ability to retain such a fantasy was unspeakably bold at the time, but the gall to act on it is what made some of the first stars: Sam Cooke, Tina Turner, Sammy Davis Jr. My father fit the description he was among those men and women who heard about Hollywood while working the field and refused to relent until he belonged to its star-making engine. Hollywood, California, wasn’t just a muse in the minds of residents in the Deep South where my father grew up it was where you could self-exile from that destitution and turn work songs and praise songs into pop songs in exchange for access to the materialism that was at once owed and dreaded, glorious and taboo. ![]() There are lost years between his upbringing as a sharecropper in the Delta and his arrival at Ray Charles Enterprises in Los Angeles, and I invade those years with a remix of his own music and the Technicolor acoustics of films from the ’50s and ’60s, which is to say I occupy that absence with myths.Īfter half a century of hard living and hustle, the flamboyant storyteller from Pomona is learning to live with regrets and find peace. Jimmy moved from place to place in the style of an unapologetic and relentless fugitive, trying to escape what he knew in order to do justice by it. Instead, it became home to those who were brave enough to audition for leading roles in their long-harbored fantasies. Had it not been cast as a land of second chances in a state with an idyllic climate, Hollywood may have remained a splendid desolation of abandoned studio lots. At the time he moved to Hollywood, it was one of the few coastal destinations that promised Southern Black sharecroppers like him, one generation away from chattel slavery, a chance at the so-called American dream they had been sold on the radio. Jimmy Holiday was a Black cowboy-musician who migrated from the Mississippi Delta to New Orleans to Hollywood in the late 1950s. I grew up knowing that anything you create that becomes too famous is no longer yours, even your father and especially his music. Into the streets We're coming down We never sleep Never get tired Through urban fields And suburban lights Turn the crowd up now We'll never back down Shoot down the skyline Watch it on primetime Turn up the love now Listen up now, turn up the love Who's gonna save the world tonight? Who's gonna bring it back to life? We're gonna make it, you and I We're gonna save the world tonight Who's gonna.? Who's gonna.? Who's gonna save.? Who's gonna bring.? We're gonna save the world tonight It's far from home It's for the better What we dream, it's all that matters We're on our way, united Turn the crowd up now We'll never back down Shoot down the skyline Watch it on primetime Turn up the love now Listen up now, turn up the love Who's gonna save the world tonight? Who's gonna bring it back to life? We're gonna make it, you and I We're gonna save the world tonight Who's gonna.? Who's gonna.(Photo of Jimmy Holiday courtesy of Harmony Holiday) ? Salveremo il mondo stanotte È lontano da casa È per il meglio Quello che sogniamo, è tutto ciò che conta Stiamo arrivando, uniti Alza la folla ora Non ci tireremo mai indietro Abbatti l'orizzonte Guardalo in prima serata Accendi l'amore adesso Ascolta ora, accendi l'amore Chi salverà il mondo stanotte? Chi lo riporterà in vita? Ce la faremo, io e te Salveremo il mondo stanotte Chi sta per. Nelle strade Stiamo scendendo Non dormiamo mai Non stancarti mai Attraverso i campi urbani E luci suburbane Alza il volume ora Non ci tireremo mai indietro Abbatti l'orizzonte Guardalo in prima serata Accendi l'amore adesso Ascolta ora, accendi l'amore Chi salverà il mondo stanotte? Chi lo riporterà in vita? Ce la faremo, io e te Salveremo il mondo stanotte Chi sta per.
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