SEARCHING FOR SUGARMAN'S HONORS

Note: As the Kennedy Center controversy over the exclusion of Latinos from their Honors program continues to unfold, the Center's reasons for this being the case become more and more ridiculous. Take the case of the legendary musician Sixto Diaz Rodriguez. In a recent Washington Post article , Michael Kaiser, the foulmouthed President of the Kennedy Center, cxplained that, "One of the challenges with Latino artists is that so many are so young and it's a lifetime achievement award." Oh really?

Rodriguez, a 70 year old Detroit native, who is Mexican-American, became a major musical influence in South Africa beginning some 30 years ago without being aware of his music's impact in that country until relatively recently, and whose musical career in the United States didn't take off until only a few years ago. His story is documented in the critically-acclaimed film, "Searching for Sugerman," by Swedish director Malik Bendjelloul.  On Sunday, 60 Minutes  featured a profile of Rodriguez. Below we post an article on his life.

Journalist Stephen Robert Morse is circulating a petition to get the Kennedy Center to honor Rodriguez thrugh change.org. If you would like to sign on, click here .

Special thanks to our good friend, Joe Torres of DC, for bringing the phenomenon that is Rodriguez to our attention.

---Angelo Falcón

Rodriguez (musician)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (October 6, 2012)

Sixto Diaz Rodriguez (also known as Rodriguez or as Jesus Rodriguez; born July 10, 1942) is a Mexican-American folk musician, born in Detroit , Michigan . He was named 'Sixto' (pronounced six-toe) because he was the sixth child in his family. Rodriguez's parents were middle-class immigrants from Mexico , who left in the 1920s. In most of his songs he takes a political stance on the cruelties facing the inner city poor.

Background information

Birth name: Sixto Diaz Rodriguez

Also known as: Jesus Rodriguez, Rod Riguez

Born: July 10, 1942 (age 70) Detroit, Michigan

Genres: Rock, folk, psychedelic

Occupations: Singer-songwriter, guitarist, poet

Instruments: Guitar

Years active: 1967-1971, 1981, 1998-present

Labels: Sussex, RCA, Impact, Light in the Attic

Website: Official website

Career

In 1967 (under the name Rod Riguez) he released the single "I'll Slip Away" through the small label Impact. He did not produce anything for another three years until he was signed to Sussex Records, an offshoot of the Buddah  label. It was after the move to Sussex that he changed his professional name to just Rodriguez. Rodriguez recorded two albums with Sussex- Cold Fact in 1970, and Coming from Reality in 1971. But after mixed reviews and low album sales he was dropped from the label, which later folded in 1975.

Political career

Sixto registered and ran for city council in Detroit. The county spelled his name wrong on the ballot. ^[1]

Belated fame

After failing to make an impact in North America, he gave up his career as a musician. However, although he was relatively unknown in his home country, by the mid-'70s his albums were starting to gain airplay in South Africa , Zimbabwe , New Zealand  and Australia .

After imported copies of his Sussex albums ran dry, an Australian record label, Blue Goose Music, bought the Australian rights to his back catalogue in the mid-'70s. The label released his two studio albums plus a compilation album At His Best (featuring unreleased recordings from 1976 "Can't Get Away", "I'll Slip Away" (a rerecording of his first single), and "Street Boy"). Unbeknownst to Rodriguez, it went platinum in South Africa, where he achieved cult status. South Africa at one stage was the major disk-press interest supplying his music to the rest of the world.

With a new buzz around Rodriguez, in 1979 he toured Australia with the Mark Gillespie Band as support. Two shows from the tour were later released on the Australian-only album Alive-the title being a play on the rumours caused by his public obscurity that he had died years ago. After the '79 tour, he returned to Australia for a final tour in 1981 with Midnight Oil  before quietly slipping back into normal life, gaining a degree in philosophy while working as a demolition man. ^[2] He earned a bachelor of arts in philosophy from Wayne State University's Monteith College in 1981. ^[3]

Recent success

In 1991, both his albums were released on CD in South Africa for the first time. His fame in South Africa was completely unknown to him, until 1998 when his eldest daughter came across a website dedicated to him. ^[4] In 1998, he played his first South African tour, playing six concerts in front of thousands of fans. A documentary about the tour Dead Men Don't Tour: Rodriguez in South Africa 1998 was later screened on SABC  TV in 2001. Later he played in Sweden  before returning to South Africa in 2001 and 2005.

In 1998, his signature song, "Sugar Man", was covered by the South African rock band Just Jinjer . In 2002, this song was added to DJ David Holmes'  mix album Come Get It I Got It, gaining Rodriguez airplay again on Australian radio station Triple J . "Sugar Man" had previously been sampled in the song "You're Da Man" from rapper Nas ' 2001 album Stillmatic . ^[5] In 2007 he returned to Australia  in April, to play the East Coast Blues & Roots Music Festival , ^[6] as well as shows in Melbourne  and Sydney . His song "Sugar Man" was in the 2006 film Candy , starring Heath Ledger . Cornish singer-songwriter, Ruarri Joseph , covered Rodriguez's song "Rich Folks Hoax" for his third studio album. Rodriguez now continues to tour in various countries.

Rodriguez's albums Cold Fact and Coming from Reality were re-released by Light in the Attic Records  in 2009. ^[7]

Rodriguez appeared as a musical guest on the Late Show with David Letterman on August 14, 2012. Also in mid-August 2012, CNN  aired a feature story with interview of Rodriguez discussing his life and career resurgence.

On September 3, 2012, Labor Day in the United States, journalist Stephen Robert Morse launched a Change.org petition  to have Rodriguez awarded a Kennedy Center Honor.

Searching for Sugar Man

Main article: Searching for Sugar Man

The 2012, the Sundance Film Festival hosted the premiere of the documentary film   Searching for Sugar Man , from Swedish director Malik Bendjelloul, detailing the efforts of two South African fans to see if his rumored death was true-and if not, to discover what had become of him. The Simon Chinn- and John Battsek-produced documentary went on to win the World Cinema Special Jury Prize and the Audience Award, World Cinema Documentary. ^[8] In February, 2012, the film played at the True/False Documentary Film festival in Columbia, Missouri and director Malik Bendjelloui was in attendance and did an extended Q & A after the film. The film opened the 2012 Traverse City Film Festival  on July 31. The film opened in New York and Los Angeles on July 27, 2012. ^[9] It is also screened as part of cinema programs in some European music festivals during the summer of 2012, including the Way Out West  festival in August, where Rodriguez is also scheduled to perform. In July 2012 he performed at the Newport Folk Festival  in Rhode Island .

The Searching for Sugar Man soundtrack features a compilation of Rodriguez tracks from his Cold Fact and Coming from Reality albums. The album was released on July 24, 2012. ^[10]

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

• 1970: Cold Fact
• 1971: Coming from Reality

Live albums

• 1981: Rodriguez Alive (Australia)
• 1998: Live Fact (South Africa)

Compilations

• 1976: After the Fact (reissue of Coming From Reality) (South Africa)
• 1977: At His Best (Australia)
• 1982: The Best of Rodriguez (South Africa)
• 2005: Sugarman: The Best of Rodriguez (South Africa)

Singles

• 1967: "I'll Slip Away" b/w  "You'd Like to Admit It" (as Rod Riguez)
• 1970: "Inner City Blues" b/w "Forget It"
• 1970: "To Whom It May Concern" b/w "I Think of You"
• 1977: "Sugar Man" b/w "Inner City Blues" (Australia)
• 1978: "Climb Up on My Music" b/w "To Whom It May Concern" (Australia)
• 2002: "Sugar Man" b/w "Tom Cat" (by Muddy Waters ) (Australia) 

Comeback Discography

Albums

References

1.        ^ Searching For Sugar Man

2.        ^  Hopkins, Ben (July 16, 2012). "Here Is The Resurrection" . Clash Magazine (London). http://www.clashmusic.com/feature/here-is-the-resurrection-rodriguez . Retrieved July 16, 2012.

3.        ^ "Wayne State University" . Honors.wayne.edu. http://www.honors.wayne.edu/monteith . Retrieved 2012-09-015.

4.        ^  Petridis, Alexis (October 7, 2005). "The singer who came back from the dead" . The Guardian (London). http://arts.guardian.co.uk/filmandmusic/story/0,16373,1586094,00.html . Retrieved May 23, 2010.

5.        ^ Rodriguez - The Music: "...You're Da Man, Sugar Man..."

6.        ^ East Coast Blues and Roots Festival (Also known as Byron Bay Bluesfest Archive)

7.        ^  Stevenson, Mark (2009-03-12). "Rodriguez 'Coming From Reality' gets new lease of life" . altsounds.com. http://hangout.altsounds.com/news/106134-rodriguez-coming-from-reality-gets-new-lease-of-life.html . Retrieved 2009-03-17.

8.        ^ Sundance: The Electrifying Search For Sugar Man

9.        ^ "Searching for Sugar Man || A Sony Pictures Classics Release" . Sonyclassics.com. http://sonyclassics.com/searchingforsugarman/ . Retrieved 2012-08-29.

10.     ^ [1] ^{[ dead link ]}

11.     ^ SwedishCharts.com: Rodriguez page  

External links

• Official website of Rodriguez
• Official fan website
• September 2008 interview  with the L.A. Record
• Guardian (UK) article
• Sydney Morning Herald article
• Official reissue 2008
• Cold Fact review
• Interview  on RocknRollDating
• Craig Bartholomew interviews Rodriguez - Mail & Guardian 1998