This morning’s NY Times had an obituary for Jerry Leiber, who along with Mike Stoller visited Johnny Otis as teenagers and heard Big Mama Thornton sing “Ball and Chain.” Inpired, they went home and wrote “Hound Dog,” in about 12 minutes and brought it back for Big Mama Thornton! The list of their songs reads like the contents of my teen-age brain. After reading the obituary, Larry brought out his autographed copy of the team with Elvis, the same photo featured in the obit:
Neat to have something touched by their hands. Just another reason breakfast around here is an interesting event.
Also, I had the thought that Leiber and Stoller had the perfect kind of fame: anonymous to the public and renowned among the cognoscenti.