>>>>>>>>(ok, preaching to the quire here
>>>>>>
>>>>>>You're preaching to a stack of paper?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Tamar
>>>>>
>>>>>Actually, "quire" is an alternative, if archaic, spelling for "choir". In fact, the choir in which I perform is called:
>>>>>
>>>>>Hullabaloo Community Quire
>>>>>
>>>>>http://www.hullabaloobrighton.org.uk/
>>>>>
>>>>>And, Dragan, you don't have to get religion to be in a choir.
>>>>
>>>>No, but which part of "preaching" is secular?
>>>
>>>Sure. Mums preach to their kids all the time. I do to mine, eg about not flushing the toilet, or leaving their room lights on wehn they're not there, or leaving my 'puter on and the broadband router when they're watching a movie (mind you. they're converted on consewrvation now and are pretty good at this)
>>>
>>>>
>>>>Anyway, I'd need to believe that my voice was uplifted to bearable levels. I know I don't like it when I try to sing. I went to about four or five rehearsals while in high school, and was sent out for good (as a comfort, I wasn't the only one).
>>>
>>>You look like you could do a Joe Cocker.
>>
>>Ech. If it weren't for Leon Russell, nobody ever would have heard of Joe Cocker.
>
>
>Are you serious? He didn't write many of the songs he recorded but I could listen to him sing all day and all night. It's unfortunate that so many people know him only from the John Belushi parodies on SNL.

No he didn't write them. He also didn't do anything that Leon Russell didn't tell him to do. I still say that if it hadn't been for Russell, Cocker would still have been kicking around second rate venues and he'd have gotten nowhere. Russell wrote for him, organised albums for him, arranged music and tours for him. Leon Russell was brilliant. I don't like to throw the work 'genius' around, but if it applied to anyone, it applied to Russell. He could have made a star out of a turnip had he been so inclined. Having been around when Cocker was popular, I don't think that Belushi's parodies were far off the mark. Cocker was also fortunate to have Russell's tutelage at a time when screeching was popular.

Hmmm... I guess we're not so much on the same page on this one huh? ;)