Bottoms Up

This summer, we saw Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms on the news quite a bit. There was unrest in her city and grumpy governor Kemp of Georgia got all up in her business when she required all within the city limits of ATL to wear masks during a virulent virus outbreak and Kemp ruled that no mayor had the right to do so, even though other cities in GA had similar rules and Kemp pretended he didn't know that. As it turned out, Kemp threw out his own dumb rule, making himself look quite the fool.

I have been impressed with her handling of major issues in her town but it came as a whole shock to me when I was listening to the 60s on 6 channel and heard them play the classic Major Lance song from 1962, "The Monkey Time" (#8 Billboard in 1962.) DJ Dave Hoeffel mentioned that Major's daughter Keisha was the mayor of Atlanta, and I hereby forgive all my friends in ATL who kept this vital information from me.

To be fair, some of those friends are way too young to remember Major Lance and his two hits. His other Top Ten Hit, "Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um," was #5 Billboard in 1963. Major Lance grew up in Chicago, hanging around with future stars Jerry Butler and Curtis Mayfield of The Impressions. Mayfield wrote both of Major's hits. Their style of music was called "Northern Soul," and it became very popular in England, so much so that when his records weren't selling here in America, Major moved to England in the late 60s, backed up on tour by a band called Bluesology, whose piano player was a fellow named Reg Dwight.

After returning to America, Major Lance did not know success or peace; he wound up in prison for four years for cocaine possession and distribution, and also lost his sight due to glaucoma. He died in 1994 at age 55, just after daughter Keisha's law school graduation and just before her marriage.

About the funeral, she says, "a group of “eccentric-looking white men” attended Major's service, and Bottoms didn’t realize that one of them was Elton John until he left.

For the record, Elton John was Reg Dwight until he changed his name. I love how the story hangs together in the end!