Today's Tune: "Black Coffee" By Humble Pie And The Blackberries

Agatha Christie according to Wikipedia:

Dame Agatha Christie DBE (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976), was an English crime writer of novels, short stories and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but is best remembered for her 80 detective novels and her successful West End theatre plays. Her works, particularly those featuring detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple, have given her the title the 'Queen of Crime' and made her one of the most important and innovative writers in the development of the genre.

Christie has been referred to by the Guinness Book of World Records as the best-selling writer of books of all time and the best-selling writer of any kind, along with William Shakespeare. Only the Bible is known to have outsold her collected sales of roughly four billion copies of novels. [1] UNESCO states that she is currently the most translated individual author in the world with only the collective corporate works of Walt Disney Productions surpassing her. [2] Christie's books have been translated into at least 56 languages...


Christie wrote her play 'Black Coffee' in 1930. It was the first play she had written to be staged, and it started her successful second career as a playwright. The story in this play involves Agatha's popular detective, Hercule Poirot.

The song picked for this 'Today's Tune' shares the same name, although it has nothing to do with the play's subject matter. It was originally written, recorded and performed by Ike and Tina Turner, but I've chosen a performance by the English band that recorded the song in 1973.

This video shows Humble Pie playing live with The Blackberries, a singing trio that included Venetta Fields, Clydie King and Sherlie Matthews. Matthews was later replaced by Billie Barnum. The Blackberries had also performed with Tina Turner as the The Ikettes and with Ray Charles as The Raelettes.

Humble Pie with The Blackberries - "Black Coffee" (1973)

Humble Pie Band Members Included:

Steve Marriott - Lead Vocals
Greg Ridley - Bass
Jerry Shirley - Drums
Clem Clempson - Guitar

Today's Tune: "I'm In Love With My Car" By Queen

Colin McRae - Photo by McKlein ©.

Today I was thinking of the great and fearless racing car driver Colin McRae. He was born in Lanark, Scotland on August 5, 1968. McRae drove in various types of auto races, but mostly in World Rally Championship racing, and always at full throttle. He was almost always among the leaders, and won 25 races. Even though he only won the WRC Driver's title one time (1995), Colin was considered by many to be the best of his time. His co-drivers (navigators) for his days in the WRC included fellow Scot Derek Ringer and Welsh co-driver Nicky Grist. Together their teams helped win the Constructor's (Manufacturer's) title four times. McRae was my personal favorite racing driver of any type of racing. He and his co-drivers brought my mostly Scottish and Welsh American heart much joy before McRae died in a helicopter crash near his home in Lanark, Scotland on September 15, 2007. His five year old son Johnny and two family friends also perished. With Colin McRae in mind, I picked "I'm In Love With My Car" for 'Today's Tune'. The song was written by auto enthusiast and drummer for Queen, Roger Taylor.

Other August 5th birthdays include: 1906 - English actress Joan Hickson ('See How They Run', Miss Marple, 'Clockwise'), 1930 - American astronaut Neil Armstrong and 1975 - English actor Antony Cotton (Queer As Folk, Having It Off, Coronation Street).

Among those who have died on August 5th were Gruffydd ap Llywelyn (King Of Gwynedd) in 1063, American actress Marylin Monroe ('The Asphalt Jungle', 'The Seven Year Itch', 'Some Like It Hot') in 1962, Welsh actor Richard Burton ('Becket', 'Camelot', 'The Taming Of The Shrew') in 1984 and English actor Sir Alec Guinness ('The Lavender Hill Mob', 'The Horse's Mouth', 'Little Dorrit')in the year 2000.

Queen - "I'm In Love With My Car"