By Hans Ebert
I was at Peel Fresco in Soho and the guy next to me stood up and cheered wildly. I asked him if he liked the performer and he shrugged his shoulders.
He was simply following the monkey see, monkey do shuffle and just being another brick in the lemmings wall and applauding Bobby Taylor. Why?
(Source: Infiltrated)
The same reason why people applaud like monkeys after every tedious and often crappy solo. It’s “the thing to do.” Goodness, you’re not gonna shout out, “Man, that really stunk!” So you clap like performing seals.
(Source: 123RF)
Outside of Hong Kong, Bobby Taylor could be Jimmy Bristol or Taylor Bobby or Billy Bob or Bobby Black.
No one would care and he’d be lucky to get a gig in the lobby of a fifth rate Vegas hotel opening for a hack magician.
But Bobby Taylor has managed to parlay his days with Motown in the Sixties into the stuff of legends.
The first time I ever heard of Bobby Taylor was when Michael Jackson passed away and the local media went into overdrive and in search of anyone who might have known the King Of Pop.
Among those who crashed outta the woodwork to grab their fifteen minutes of fame was one Bobby Taylor.
(Source: 7 Static)
In Beijing at that time, he took credit for discovering the Jackson 5, writing all their hits including “Ben” and then baffling me by announcing that he was going to form the Chinese Jackson 5.
Where was he gonna find the Chinese Michael Jackson? Who knew? He wrote “Ben”? That’s not what the songwriting credits say, but why let the truth get in the way of a good story?
(Source: Some E-Cards)
And so like some others in Hong Kong who claim to have recorded “with Michael Jackson” when they were actually one of many in a hundred-strong choir, the myth grows.
It’s like many others who come through Hong Kong and lob names from the Sixties and Seventies like grenades over Hanoi.
So you wrote for Philip Bailey? It’s 2013. Who gives a fuck?
(Source: We Know Memes)
Many do and suddenly Hong Kong becomes the golden goose and is milked for all it’s worth.
Has-beens and never-beens become flavors of the days, the days turn to months, the months turn to years and their charges for gigs reach ridiculous proportions.
Is this their fault? No. They have seen an opportunity and grabbed the golden goose with both hands.
(Source: Brett Daniel)
So, standing there at a packed Peel Fresco watching the crowd whoop and laugh and move to the antics of Bobby Taylor onstage who was celebrating his birthday that night, I realized the importance of shuck, jive and schtick.
And a helluva lot of corn.
(Source: Hong Kong Travel Tips)
Bobby Taylor played the token Vegas black performer- chatting, lobbing those name droppings and singing all those Motown classics which many in the audience probably thought were his- or just didn’t care.
In a city with a dire ‘live’ music scene for even those who want their music served up micro-waved, Bobby Taylor and a few others fill their needs.
At least it’s better than hearing some hotel lounge act. Or is it?
(Source: Mask 9)
As for Bobby Taylor, he’s onto a good thing, he knows what asses to kiss and has become a Hong Kong institution who will guard his territory with the same cunning as another shuck and jive local performer did- Danny Diaz.
And we all know what happened to Danny Diaz in the end: He became a cliche and bad parody. That’s what I think Bobby Taylor is.
Then again, I am not his audience and never will be- and Mr Bobby Taylor is mighty fine with that.
Source:
http://bitchback.we-enhance.com/2013/02/19/taylor-made-shuck-and-jive/