There was only one Koko Taylor, and only one David Carradine. Both died this week, and I liked both of them for their performances, and their "balls to the wall" approach to life.

When folks talk about blues, and mention Howling Wolf, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy,
Slim Harpo, BB King, and the other greats, I always added Koko Taylor. Koko was a woman who,
like Janis Joplin, could really belt out a tune, and she had the verbal authenticity to "own" a song because you just knew she lived it. One of her best known tunes was Wang Dang Doodle, and if you want to nominate a tune that would make the Blues Brothers look whitebread in comparison, Wang Dang Doodle is it. A quick visit to http://www.kokotaylor.com/ loads up KOKO telling you that "Everything gonna be allright- Oh Yeah", which, when I went there, it sent a chill down my spine, that those grieving the loss, are being comforted from Koko from beyond the grave.

Koko died at age 80 from complications from gastrointestinal surgery.
I quote from the message on Koko's website about her life and death:
" Grammy Award-winning blues legend Koko Taylor, 80, died on June 3, 2009 in her hometown of Chicago, IL, as a result of complications following her May 19 surgery to correct a gastrointestinal bleed. On May 7, 2009, the critically acclaimed Taylor, known worldwide as the �Queen of the Blues,� won her 29th Blues Music Award (for Traditional Female Blues Artist Of The Year), making her the recipient of more Blues Music Awards than any other artist. In 2004 she received the NEA National Heritage Fellowship Award, which is among the highest honors given to an American artist. Her most recent CD, 2007�s Old School, was nominated for a Grammy (eight of her nine Alligator albums were Grammy-nominated). She won a Grammy in 1984 for her guest appearance on the compilation album Blues Explosion on Atlantic.

Born Cora Walton on a sharecropper�s farm just outside Memphis, TN, on September 28, 1928, Koko, nicknamed for her love of chocolate, fell in love with music at an early age. Inspired by gospel music and WDIA blues disc jockeys B.B. King and Rufus Thomas, Taylor began belting the blues with her five brothers and sisters, accompanying themselves on their homemade instruments. In 1952, Taylor and her soon-to-be-husband, the late Robert �Pops� Taylor, traveled to Chicago with nothing but, in Koko�s words, �thirty-five cents and a box of Ritz Crackers.�

In Chicago, �Pops� worked for a packing company, and Koko cleaned houses. Together they frequented the city�s blues clubs nightly. Encouraged by her husband, Koko began to sit in with the city�s top blues bands, and soon she was in demand as a guest artist. One evening in 1962 Koko was approached by arranger/composer Willie Dixon. Overwhelmed by Koko�s performance, Dixon landed Koko a Chess Records recording contract, where he produced her several singles, two albums and penned her million-selling 1965 hit �Wang Dang Doodle,� which would become Taylor�s signature song.

After Chess Records was sold, Taylor found a home with the Chicago�s Alligator Records in 1975 and released the Grammy-nominated I Got What It Takes. She recorded eight more albums for Alligator between 1978 and 2007, received seven more Grammy nominations and made numerous guest appearances on various albums and tribute recordings. Koko appeared in the films Wild At Heart, Mercury Rising and Blues Brothers 2000. She performed on Late Night With David Letterman, Late Night With Conan O�Brien, CBS-TV�s This Morning, National Public Radio�s All Things Considered, CBS-TV�s Early Edition, and numerous regional television programs.

Over the course of her 40-plus-year career, Taylor received every award the blues world has to offer. On March 3, 1993, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley honored Taylor with a �Legend Of The Year� Award and declared �Koko Taylor Day� throughout Chicago. In 1997, she was inducted into the Blues Foundation�s Hall of Fame. A year later, Chicago Magazine named her �Chicagoan Of The Year� and, in 1999, Taylor received the Blues Foundation�s Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2009 Taylor performed in Washington, D.C. at The Kennedy Center Honors honoring Morgan Freeman."

I personally will really miss her, but thank God her music lives on and on and on.

Now, another person died this week. He will forever be remembered by the character he played who , was seldom without a musical instrument, the flute. Of course I am talking about David Carradine, also known as the character "Kwai Chang Caine" from the Kung Fu television series.
I had a friend who met David once on a ranch in California. David had a half unbuttoned shirt,
tattoos and plenty, and of course, was barefoot. He told me David was really a very nice, down to earth guy, friendly and without artifice. He was impressed with David's genuineness.
I for one, was a huge fan of the Kung Fu series, not so much for the kung fu, because, for me, there wasn't enough shown. The first Kung Fu teacher was Kam Yuen, a praying mantis practitioner and the second was David Chow, and he stressed the joint lock techniques of Chin Na more, so that if you watch the series, you will note that the techniques changed a bit when there was a transition from the high kicking, mantis claw of Kam Yuen (who went on in real life to become a Chiropractic Doctor) to the more conservative, less flashy joint locks of David Chow. As a Taoist, I particularly enjoyed the philosophical aspects, and although, from a "purist" standpoint, the Shaolin temple was a Buddhist temple, Caine and his mentors at the temple, pepper each episode with Taoist sayings and philosophy.

David starred in many independent movies such as Death Race 2000, Circle of Iron, Bound for Glory, and on an on. It seemed to me that David's real love was acting and being IN a film, regardless of whether it would be a straight to video, or blockbuster. Perhaps that's a reflection of the fact he was literally BORN in Hollywood California (8 December 1936, Hollywood, California, USA ).

David's career was marked by many independent films. Perhaps the highest budget was the Kill Bill series from Tarantino. David starred, or was featured in over 100 films.
Born "John Arthur Carradine", acting came naturally to David, as he was the son of famous actor, John Carradine. His brothers also are actors, including Keith, Robert, and Michael Bowen. David had two daughters, Kansas and Ever.

As I write this, there is controversy about the circumstances of his death, and a website has published papers from his divorce, ostensibly trying to capitalize on the interest about his death. For me, I don't care. David Carradine may have died, but not his impact on millions of people worldwide. The example of the way Kwai Chang Caine treated others, and the way he
conducted himself, is not lessened by any facts which may come out about David Carradine.

For more, you can visit David's website at: http://www.david-carradine.com/
Here you will find his filmography and more.

So, from the old Code, my deepest condolences to the friends, families, and fans of
Ms. Koko Taylor and Mr. David Carradine. The world is colder and darker without
you two folks.

RIP- Koko and David
"So it goes."- Kurt Vonnegut (RIP)
~Code