Peckerwood Manor

Aren't you lucky! Tonight at Peckerwood's "Meat Whistle" after-hours club, DJ Li'l Scratch will be playing Teresa Graves. Who, you may ask, is Miss Teresa? Before we get to that, watch her performance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1971. And brace yourself. It's a wowza.  Phew! Can you believe? If you're an old, you may recognize Teresa from " Get Christie Love ," a groundbreaking 1974 TV series in which she played the namesake undercover agent. Teresa was only the second Black female actor to lead a series - and the first to star in a one-hour series - and though the show lasted just one season, that was enough to burn her image into the nation's consciousness.  The show was hoping to ride the wave of sassy, sexy Pam Grier movies, like "Coffy" and "Cleopatra Jones," but it was perhaps too hot a potato for many, including TV critics, who regarded the show's premise of a Black female undercover agent as "p

Are you freaking out about the election tomorrow? Me, too. Or maybe you're having a more generalized "It's Monday, oh-my-fucking-gawd" freak out? In either case, please allow Peckerwood Manor's esteemed DJ Li'l Scratch to take you away. Many of you already know about Li'l Scratch, as he regularly lays tracks at "Heavy D's," the Manor's exclusive after-hours club.  Today he's spinning Teri Thornton, a vibrant, husky-voiced jazz singer and piano player who hailed from Detroit. In 1961, she exploded onto the scene with her debut LP, "Devil May Care," demonstrating show-stopping vocal prowess. The reviews were through the roof and so was the public reception, yet just as suddenly - poof - she vanished after a few more LPs, her career thwarted by market changes given the rise of rock 'n' roll. And that was that. She was all but forgotten, reduced to driving a taxi to make ends meet.  But in a jaw-dropping comeback, she re