Stevie Wonder Is Not Blind

[EnolaGaia]

... When someone wants to tell a joke about a generic blind person, they always say "Stevie Wonder" rather than, say, David Blunkett, Blind Lemon Jefferson, or Lennie Peters. Somehow, he is the only blind person who everyone knows and feels able to joke about. ...

For decades the paradigmatic acclaimed blind musician was Ray Charles. Before that, it was George Shearing.

Back in the Sixties I saw Ray turn the tables on Dean Martin (on Dean's own variety show). Ray had performed a number, after which Dean was leaning on the piano and casually interviewing him. Martin said something that could have led to an awkward reference to seeing or sight and noticeably paused as if trying to decide how to change the subject. Whereupon ...

Ray said, "You know, Dean, there's just one big problem with being blind ..."

Dean looked authentically shocked and confused, and finally answered, "Uhhhh, what's that, Ray?"

Ray responded, "I can't see!" and laughed heartily.

 

[AgProv]

So nobody's mentioned the one about the cheesegrater yet?

 

[escargot]

So nobody's mentioned the one about the cheesegrater yet?

 

[His Extremely DeLux Self]

Whazzalladiss aboudda cheesegrater?

There, i mentioned it. So, tell us about the cheese grater.

 

[Shady]

Yeah, what ^ said

 

[Mythopoeika]

Did you hear about the time Stevie Wonder got a cheese grater for Christmas?



He said it was the most violent book he'd ever read.

 

[Xanatic*]

I watched Eddie Murphy being interviewed on the Kinmel show the other day.
He mentioned that Stevie Wonder will walk around snapping his fingers, with people just assuming it's a musician thing. However he is actually doing echo location, to avoid walking into things.

 

[Kondoru]

Is he? Ive heard some folk can do it.

 

[Paul_Exeter]

I watched Eddie Murphy being interviewed on the Kinmel show the other day.
He mentioned that Stevie Wonder will walk around snapping his fingers, with people just assuming it's a musician thing. However he is actually doing echo location, to avoid walking into things.

It is a genuine thing:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/blind-people-can-echolocate-180953734/

I do like these sorts of conspiracy theories with 'Paul is Dead' being my favourite, but that microphone video with Paul (McCartney) isn't evidence to me as there is every chance he felt it falling against a part of his body and so reached out. Oddly enough I have a real aversion to Paul McCartney and his endless repititions of the tedious 'Hey Jude' but I do recognise the musical pedigree.

 

[Floyd]

It is a genuine thing:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/blind-people-can-echolocate-180953734/

I do like these sorts of conspiracy theories with 'Paul is Dead' being my favourite, but that microphone video with Paul (McCartney) isn't evidence to me as there is every chance he felt it falling against a part of his body and so reached out. Oddly enough I have a real aversion to Paul McCartney and his endless repititions of the tedious 'Hey Jude' but I do recognise the musical pedigree.

Hasn't real Paul got attached earlobes and Faul's are unattached? Or vice vesa.

 

[hunck]

Hasn't real Paul got attached earlobes and Faul's are unattached? Or vice vesa.

Yes, his earlobes float in the air. It’s a dead giveaway.

 

[Frideswide]

Is he? Ive heard some folk can do it.

I can do it - vocalising a sound repeatedly, somthing like da or pa with a sharp start. I can work my way around unfamilar places in darkness. I have appalling night vision so it's very useful.

 

[sherbetbizarre]

I can do it - vocalising a sound repeatedly, somthing like da or pa with a sharp start. I can work my way around unfamilar places in darkness. I have appalling night vision so it's very useful.

 

[Swifty]

Did you hear about the time Stevie Wonder got a cheese grater for Christmas?



He said it was the most violent book he'd ever read.

Stevie Wonder's recently revealed that he's wasted millions of dollars on a cure for blondeness.

 

[Analogue Boy]

Stevie Wonder isn’t blind. He is deaf though.

 

[Paul_Exeter]

A new take on the "Paul is Dead" and "Stevie Wonder isn't Blind"

"Joanne LOVES conspiracy theories… and there’s one she can’t get out of her head. Is it true that Avril Lavigne died, and was replaced by a body double? Joanne digs deep into the rumour mill, and the more she reads, the more she finds herself believing it. Who Replaced Avril Lavigne? Joanne McNally Investigates is a 6-part series produced by What’s The Story Sounds – for BBC Sounds and CBC"


https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p...e=Who_Replaced_Avril_Lavigne?&at_bbc_team=BBC

 

[John Fairclough71]

I was reading about Stevie Wonder last week. "Songs In The Key Of Life" was nominated for several Grammy awards but Wonder was unable to attend the ceremony due to charity commitments in Africa. According to Wikipedia:

"A satellite hook-up was arranged so he could accept his Grammys from across the sea, but when  Bette Midler announced the results during the ceremony, the audience was only able to see Wonder at a phone smiling and giving thanks, as the video signal was poor and the audio inaudible. Andy Williams went on to make a public blunder when he asked the blind-since-birth Wonder, 'Stevie, can you see us?'"

 

[Kondoru]

Thats lame.

(and curiously enough, many Blind people would find that funny).

 

[ramonmercado]

Thats lame.

(and curiously enough, many Blind people would find that funny).

Lame people won't find that misuse of the term funny.

 

[Swifty]

Lame people won't find that misuse of the term funny.

Adam Hill, presenter of TV's The Last Leg who was born without a right foot then named his TV show The Last Leg might do to be fair. Although he's a comedian.

 

[ramonmercado]

Adam Hill, presenter of TV's The Last Leg who was born without a right foot then named his TV show The Last Leg might do to be fair. Although he's a comedian.

Hop off!

 

[Kryptonite]

Slightly off-topic....but this line always makes chuckle.

View attachment 15649

So how many blind blues singers were there?

Off the top of my head I can think of Blind Blake, Blind Boy Fuller, the incredible Reverend Gary Davis and arguably Clarence Carter*, as well as the aforementioned Blind Lemon Jefferson.

I feel like I'm missing someone really obvious.

*- arguably that Carter counts as a bluesman, not arguably that he was blind, that is.

 

[John Fairclough71]

So how many blind blues singers were there?

Off the top of my head I can think of Blind Blake, Blind Boy Fuller, the incredible Reverend Gary Davis and arguably Clarence Carter*, as well as the aforementioned Blind Lemon Jefferson.

I feel like I'm missing someone really obvious.

*- arguably that Carter counts as a bluesman, not arguably that he was blind, that is.

Blind Willie McTell.

 

[Steven]

Not forgetting semi-mythical bluesman Short-sighted Seamus.

 

[Swifty]

So how many blind blues singers were there?

Off the top of my head I can think of Blind Blake, Blind Boy Fuller, the incredible Reverend Gary Davis and arguably Clarence Carter*, as well as the aforementioned Blind Lemon Jefferson.

I feel like I'm missing someone really obvious.

*- arguably that Carter counts as a bluesman, not arguably that he was blind, that is.

Ray Charles was another blind blues singer.

 

[hunck]

So how many blind blues singers were there?

Off the top of my head I can think of Blind Blake, Blind Boy Fuller, the incredible Reverend Gary Davis and arguably Clarence Carter*, as well as the aforementioned Blind Lemon Jefferson.

I feel like I'm missing someone really obvious.

*- arguably that Carter counts as a bluesman, not arguably that he was blind, that is.

Blind Willie Johnson, who has one of his songs on a Voyager spacecraft now somewhere in the Kuiper Belt.

 

[Kryptonite]

Blind Willie Johnson, who has one of his songs on a Voyager spacecraft now somewhere in the Kuiper Belt.

Hopefully it's Nobody's Fault But Mine- his version of that is so powerful it could probably power that spacecraft all on its own.

 

[hunck]

Hopefully it's Nobody's Fault But Mine- his version of that is so powerful it could probably power that spacecraft all on its own.

Agree - that’s fantastic, but it’s actually ‘Dark is the night’.

 

[Kryptonite]

Agree - that’s fantastic, but it’s actually ‘Dark is the night’.

Dark is the night, cold is the ground. Thanks for the info @hunck!

I just really really really want to live to see the day when aliens land on Earth, and start quoting that song back at us.

 

[Mikefule]

In the recent movie Hustlers, experienced stripper Jennifer Lopez tells her student that Stevie Wonder likes to go to expensive strip clubs

Braille strip clubs? My favourite place to go.