Omega Blue Logo

· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

View Comments likes 0 Shares: 0 Comments: 0

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

The Band, And The Staples - The Weight (The Last Waltz)

4 days ago

Here’s one to enjoy, The Band with The Staple Singers doing “The Weight, from the Last Waltz. #musicicons #musichistory #omegaliveproductions
... See MoreSee Less

bit.ly

Lyrics:I pulled into Nazareth, I was feelin' about half past dead;I just need some place where I can lay my head."Hey, mister, can you tell me where a man mi...

· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

View Comments likes 0 Shares: 0 Comments: 0

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

5 days ago

We lost Roy Orbison some 37 years ago. He was one of the most iconic artists we recorded over the years. #MusicIcons #musichistory #omegaliveproductions
bit.ly/4iHpQpi#OnThisDay December 6, 1988, Roy Orbison spent the day buying parts for model airplanes with his bus driver and friend Benny Birchfield and ate supper at Birchfield's home in Hendersonville (Birchfield was married to country star Jean Shepard). After the meal, Orbison went to his mother's house and chatted with his son Wesley. He went to the bathroom, but did not return for 30 minutes. He was found collapsed on the bathroom floor and was rushed to the hospital by ambulance, where he died of a heart attack at the age of 52.

He was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist known for his distinctive and powerful voice, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. Orbison's most successful periods were in the early 1960s and the late 1980s. Many of Orbison's songs conveyed vulnerability at a time when most male performers projected strength. He performed with minimal motion and in black clothes, matching his dyed black hair and dark sunglasses.

From 1960 to 1966, 22 of Orbison's singles reached the Billboard top 40. He wrote or co-wrote almost all of his own top-10 hits, including "Only the Lonely" (1960), "Running Scared" (1961), "Crying" (1961), "In Dreams" (1963), "Oh, Pretty Woman" (1964), "I Drove All Night" (1987), "She's a Mystery to Me" (1988), "You Got It" (1988), and "California Blue" (1988). ... See MoreSee Less

· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

View Comments likes 1 Shares: 0 Comments: 0

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

6 days ago

Play

Already missing Steve Cropper. Here’s some history and his induction into the Musicians Hall of Fame. #musicicons #musichistory #omegaliveproductions
bit.ly/4iLFhgt ... See MoreSee Less

· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

View Comments likes 1 Shares: 0 Comments: 0

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

1 week ago

Happy birthday to another artist we recorded in concert, the iconic, Tom Waits. We got stories. #MusicIcons #musichistory #omegaliveproductions ... See MoreSee Less

· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

View Comments likes 3 Shares: 0 Comments: 0

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

1 week ago

Honoring another of our artists on his Birthday, the late J. J. Cale. #MusicIcons #musichistory #omegaliveproductions
bit.ly/4rFquYHHonoring J. J. Cale on His Birthday
John Weldon "J. J." Cale was born on December 5, 1938, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Known for a relaxed vocal style and subtle guitar approach, he became one of the key figures associated with what became known as the Tulsa Sound.

Cale recorded with labels including Shelter Records and released numerous albums that featured a calm, steady approach to blues, country, and rock. His songwriting gained wide recognition when artists such as Eric Clapton and Lynyrd Skynyrd recorded his work. Songs like After Midnight, Cocaine, Call Me the Breeze, and Crazy Mama helped establish him as a respected writer and performer. In 2008, he and Eric Clapton received a Grammy Award for The Road to Escondido in the Best Contemporary Blues Album category.

J. J. Cale passed away on July 26, 2013. His work continues to be heard, learned, and appreciated by musicians and listeners. 💙 ... See MoreSee Less

· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

View Comments likes 0 Shares: 0 Comments: 0

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

Legendary '70s Rock Band's Next Tour Will Feature Performance of Their Most Iconic Album in Its Entirety

Having recorded Cheap Trick we saw this story about their upcoming tour. Legendary ’70s Rock Band’s Next Tour Will Feature Performance of Their Most Iconic Album in Its Entirety. #musicicons #musichistory #omegaliveproductions
... See MoreSee Less

bit.ly

It's considered one of the best live albums of all time.

· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

View Comments likes 2 Shares: 0 Comments: 0

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

Having produced one of the last live concert television specials on B B King, we ran across this. “B.B. King - Life Of Riley” The only documentary ever done on this last of the blues legends. #musicicons #musichistory #omegaliveproductions
bit.ly/4pxX2BYB.B. King - Life Of Riley
The only documentary ever done on this last of the blues legends.

For more information or to purchase, you can visit amzn.to/3CHTH04

By purchasing through this affiliate link, you help support this fan page and promote blues music - thank you! ... See MoreSee Less

· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

View Comments likes love 2 Shares: 0 Comments: 0

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

Who knew? A billion dollar company erased her legacy in seven words. At 80 years old, she sued- and won. #MusicIcons #musichistory #omegaliveproductions
bit.ly/4pDEIHIIn October 2020, Netflix released The Queen's Gambit.
The series captivated 62 million households in its first month. Chess sets sold out worldwide. Young girls picked up the game in record numbers.
It was a cultural phenomenon.
But in Tbilisi, Georgia, a 79-year-old woman watched the finale and felt something shatter inside her.
Her name appeared on screen. Her life's work was mentioned. And then came the lie.
"There's Nona Gaprindashvili, but she's the female world champion and has never faced men."
Never faced men.
The words hung in the air like an insult wrapped in fiction.
This is the true story of Nona Gaprindashvili—and why those seven words sparked a legal battle that shook Hollywood.
Nona was born in 1941 in Zugdidi, a small town in Soviet Georgia. She was the only girl among six children. Her five older brothers introduced her to chess at age five.
They made her play goalkeeper in their football games because she was a girl.
At the chessboard, they learned their mistake.
By age eleven, she was beating them all. When her brother couldn't attend a tournament, the team invited Nona to take his place. On the train to Tbilisi, she defeated the team's first board.
She was twelve years old.
A coach named Vakhtang Karseladze spotted her talent. Her parents sent her to live with an aunt in the capital so she could train with grandmasters.
At fourteen, she reached the semi-finals of the Soviet Women's Championship.
At twenty, she won the Women's Candidates Tournament.
At twenty-one, she crushed the reigning world champion Elisaveta Bykova by a devastating 9-2 score.
She was now the Women's World Chess Champion.
But Nona wanted more than a women's title.
She wanted to prove something no woman had proven before: that she could compete with the best male players in the world.
So she entered men's tournaments.
In 1963, she won the Hastings Challengers tournament. She faced Estonian legend Paul Keres. She played against Serbian grandmaster Svetozar Gligorić. She battled Latvian world champion Mikhail Tal.
By 1968—the year Netflix claimed she had "never faced men"—Nona had competed against at least 59 male players, including ten grandmasters.
She didn't just face them.
She defeated many of them.
For sixteen consecutive years, Nona held the Women's World Championship. She defended her title four times—three against Alla Kushnir, once against fellow Georgian Nana Alexandria.
Then came 1977.
At the Lone Pine International Tournament in California, Nona didn't enter the women's section. She entered the open competition against a field including grandmasters Oscar Panno, Pal Benko, Walter Browne, and Samuel Reshevsky.
She didn't just compete.
She tied for first place.
She won six games—more than any other player. In the final round, she defeated International Master John Peters to clinch her share of the title.
No woman had ever won an elite open tournament.
Until Nona.
The following year, FIDE made history. At their 1978 Congress, they awarded Nona Gaprindashvili the title of Grandmaster—not Woman Grandmaster, but the same title held by Bobby Fischer, Garry Kasparov, and every male chess legend.
She was the first woman ever to receive it.
She had finally proved what she set out to prove at age five, beating her brothers at the kitchen table: that a woman could play at the highest level of chess.
Then came The Queen's Gambit.
The show was supposed to celebrate female achievement in chess. Its fictional heroine, Beth Harmon, breaks barriers by competing against men.
But in building up their fictional champion, the show's creators tore down the real one.
The original 1983 novel by Walter Tevis had acknowledged Nona's accomplishments: "There was Nona Gaprindashvili... a player who had met all these Russian Grandmasters many times before."
The Netflix adaptation changed the line entirely: "has never faced men."
A complete reversal of documented history.
Nona contacted Netflix after the series aired. She demanded a correction, an acknowledgment of the truth, a retraction.
Netflix dismissed her concerns.
So at eighty years old, Nona Gaprindashvili filed a $5 million defamation lawsuit.
Netflix argued that The Queen's Gambit was fiction—that creators had artistic license to say whatever they wanted about real people.
A federal judge disagreed.
U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips ruled that Netflix had acted with "reckless disregard" for historical accuracy. She noted that the show referenced Gaprindashvili by name, showed an actor representing her, and presented the false statement as fact within a narrative that otherwise included real events and real people.
"The fact that the Series was a fictional work does not insulate Netflix from liability for defamation," the judge wrote.
In September 2022, Netflix settled.
The terms were not disclosed. There was no publicized apology. But for Nona, the settlement meant something more valuable than money.
It meant the truth was on record.
Today, Nona Gaprindashvili is eighty-four years old.
She still plays competitive chess.
In 2022, at age eighty-one, she won her eighth Women's World Senior Championship. She has won the title more than any other player.
In her home country, the main chess palace in Tbilisi bears her name. FIDE created the Nona Gaprindashvili Cup in her honor—uniquely awarded to the country with the best combined performance across men's and women's chess. She was inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame in 2013 and received Georgia's Presidential Order of Excellence in 2015.
Her success inspired a generation. Parents named their daughters Nona. Georgian women dominated international chess for decades, winning Women's World Championships and Olympic gold medals.
She was never forgotten.
She simply refused to be misremembered.
The next time you watch The Queen's Gambit, remember this:
Beth Harmon is fiction.
Nona Gaprindashvili is not.
She didn't just imagine breaking barriers. She shattered them—at twenty-one when she became world champion, at thirty-seven when she became the first female grandmaster, at eighty when she sued a billion-dollar corporation for lying about her legacy.
Some people play chess.
Nona Gaprindashvili changed what the game meant for half the world's population.
And at eighty-four, she's still making her moves. ... See MoreSee Less

· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

View Comments likes wow 2 Shares: 0 Comments: 0

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

From a friend. Los Lobos, the East Los Angeles band that helped bring Chicano music to the masses over the last 50 years, is the subject of the feature-length documentary, “Los Lobos Native Sons,” #musicicons #musichistory #omegaliveproductions
... See MoreSee Less