Blues, Soul & Rock 'n' Roll

Remembering Etta

2012-01-24T05:49:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, I wasn't surprised when Etta James passed away , after reading about her health problems over the past few months. I'm left with disparate images of the woman and the artist.

My understanding of Etta James the woman is largely shaped by Beyonce's portrayal in "Cadillac Records", the most compelling image being when Adrian Brody's Leonard Chess finds her lying naked on the floor of her totally empty house, enlisting Jeffrey Wright's Muddy Waters to revive James before her heroin addiction claims her life. The movie character is bitter, tough, contemptuous and suspicious of Chess's romantic overtures. James' origins are alluded to in another powerful scene, an ill-fated lunch in a posh restaurant with legendary pool hustler Minnesota Fats, whom Etta thinks is her father. Her attempt at finding her roots ends with James bellowing at the waiter for another drink, determined to go on a bender after Fats categorically denies parenthood, the same bout with booze and drugs that ends up with her eating the carpet. The most poignant scene intercuts between Etta singing "I'd Rather Go Blind" in the studio as Leonard Chess drives away from 2120 South Michigan Avenue, having just revealed that he has sold the label, but he never makes it to the end of the street, dying from a heart attack in his signature Cadillac.

Etta James' music helped define rthymn and blues, a body of work that ranges from recognized classics like "Trust in Me", "All I Could Do Was Cry", and "Tell Mama" to her straightforward embrace of classic down home blues. My personal favorite is "That's Alright" from her 2004 compilation "Blues to the Bone" on RCA. Her voice reflects the right note of tired resignation combined with sarcasm, the rejected lover accepting the fact yet slyly questioning who her replacement might be. James' voice is permanently enshrined for the audience in "At Last", the rich, smooth tones soaring in front of lush orchestration, each perfect note dripping with emotion, Etta's timeless tribute to love. She was at home in a wide variety of styles, but on "Bone", James reinvents classics like Howlin Wolf's "Smokestack Lightining", "Got My Mojo Workin" from Muddy Waters, and a particularly ominous version of John Lee Hooker's "Crawlin Kingsnake."

Etta James is gone, but will never be forgotten, and will be remembered for her art, not her life. Her voice, the way it cut through the medium as if Etta James was right there in the room with you, is her legacy.

Deja Blues -Sugar Ray and the Bluetones Sweeten Things Up At Chans, 1/14/12

2012-01-17T06:43:00.000-08:00

I really did think Little Walter had come back to life for a few moments last Saturday night when Sugar Ray Norcia sang "It's a mean old world - when you're livin' by yourself" to a dedicated, standing room only audience at Chan's in Woonsocket. Little Walter's career was popularized to a wider audience in the movie "Cadillac Records" - playing on a Chicago streetcorner, discovered by Muddy Waters, hits the top of the charts with Chess Records, finally dies in Geneva Waters' arms from a beating received over a gambling debt. Sugar Ray Norcia and the Bluetones paid homage to Little Walter with "Mean Old World" among others, but the show wasn't just about craftsmanship.

Norcia was born in Stonington, Connecticut and started playing blues harp in high school. He officially formed the Bluetones after moving to Providence, and the band started paying its dues in the 1970s, doing regular gigs as well as backing up Big Walter Horton, Roosevelt Sykes, Big Mama Thornton and Big Joe Turner. Sugar Ray joined Roomful of Blues as lead singer in 1991, touring and appearing on three albums, Norcia leaving the band in 1998. He has played with the blues best-known harpists - James Cotton, Billy Branch and Charlie Musselwhite on 1999's "Superharps", and is getting ready to hit the road as part of Billy Hummel's Harmonica Blowout with John Mayall, Billy Boy Arnold and Charlie Musselwhite again. The Bluetones have changed lead guitarists repeatedly, but "Monster" Mike Welch has been part of the lineup for about 10 years, along with the rthymn section of Neil Gouvin and Mudcat Ward and pianist Anthony Geraci.

Norcia and Welch traded riffs throughout the show at Chan's, the "Monster" taking over for a couple of tunes, his vocals sounding a lot like Howlin'Wolf, his playing - like Sugar Ray's harp - straight out of Chicago, the notes fluid and melodic, but still tough and penetrating just the same. Both musicians have a symbiotic relationship as if they can anticipate each other's musical moves, a tight but seamless classic low down groove that had the audience clapping until their hands hurt. Listening to the sound of Sugar Ray's blues harp evokes the legendary players - Butterfield, Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Walter - as well as his own originals, like "Too Many Rules and Regulations."

The band released "Evening" in 2011, which has resulted in four nominations for the Blues Music Awards coming up in Memphis this May, including best album. The music has the feel of a live show, most songs done in one take according to Sugar Ray, reminiscent of the Chess record sound that spawned Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf and Chuck Berry among many others.

Sugar Ray and The Bluetones not only keep on touring, but Norcia also plays regular gigs in Europe as well as the upcoming Harmomonica Blowout tour. To buy the CD, read more about Sugar Ray and find out where and when the band is playing, check out http://www.sugarrayandthebluetones.com/.

Music, Money and Luck: The Casino Soundtrack

2012-01-11T10:10:00.000-08:00

The first time I made the connection between gambling and music was lying by the pool at the Luxor in Las Vegas, amazed to hear Bob Marley wafting from the vast array of hidden speakers, plus ZZ Top, REO Speedwagon, Journey and the rest of the rock and roll anthems that strike a nostalgic chord with the baby boomers. I'm not a successful gambler, but I do know a bit about marketing. With "Sin City" intent on becoming a "family" destination, it made perfect sense to make Mom and Dad feel comfortable by spinning their favorite oldies so they would keep feeding the one armed bandits.

Music is an important part of the casino environment, an extra added attraction to placate the losers, along with free drinks and cheap food. Both gaming resorts in Connecticut not only have live "cover" bands churning out the tunes nonstop, but also provide a canny mix of over the hill rockers to the extent that, when I see the listings, my first reaction is to assume the band members have squandered their fortunes to the point where they'll take any gig they can get. The casinos on the Strip are no exception, the most notable in my memory being a kick ass funk fusion group set on a stage in the middle of "Central Park", the huge main floor of New York, New York, with the slots tucked away between artificial trees and fake shrubbery. I still have a gray plastic microphone that I got from the Motown Cafe, a short walk through the "park" , further enhancing what the gaming gurus like to call the "casino experience" with a perpetual tribute to the power of soul. The other ironic aspect of this cultural shift is that while Vegas grew up on the slick sophistication of the Rat Pack, Dino & Frank & Sammy & Joey have been shoved aside by boomer favorites like Michael MacDonald, ZZ Top themselves and the other aging rockers still able to hit the road.

I experienced the linkage between gaming and music this past New Year's Eve at Rhode Island's own Twin Rivers. The massive open building was mobbed with revelers wearing ersatz top hats. Between the seemingly endless rows of nickel, penny and quarter slots and the central bar, management had planted a "cover" band, perhaps designed to keep the adrenalin up, belting out (What else?) "Don't stop BEE-LEEV- IN!" and the other Glory Days rock anthems while the patrons eagerly fed the machines.

Maybe it's time for a dose of reality in the casino mix. I think most people would appreciate Snoop Dogg's musical advice - "Got my mind on my money and my money on my mind- " before they bet the family farm. As P. Diddy points out -"It's all about the Benjamins baby!"

Sliding Into January

2012-01-10T06:46:00.000-08:00

Despite the fact that Elvis Presley (January 8, 1935) and the man who first recorded him at Sun Records Sam Phillips (January 5,1923) were both born in January, two acknowledged "masters" of the blues slide guitar also arrived during the same month - Mississippi Fred McDowell (January 12, 1904) and Elmore James (January 27, 1918). Ever since I saw Tom Rush press down on his guitar strings with a regular kitchen knife during a performance at the Mooncusser in Oak Bluffs, I've been a fan of the note-stretching style that has a down home feel to it, the molasses thick lazy chords seeming to hang in your ears the way the last note of the Beatles' "A Day in the Life" just seems to reverberate forever.

Elmore James is better known than Mississippi Fred, primarily for his "hit" song," Dust My Broom", first recorded in 1951. I had assumed it was his tune until I heard the Robert Johnson version, but the distinctive riff that propels the song became James' signature. Some of his other classics include "Baby Whar's Wrong?", "Strange Kinda Feeling" and "Can't Stop Lovin'" as well as Elmore's take on Hawaiian slide in "Hawaiian Boogie" but his place in musical history is cemented in place by the opening chords of "Broom".

I've only ever seen one Mississippi Fred McDowell CD , a live performance at the Gaslight in New York on November 5, 1971 called "Shake 'Em On Down" ( Tomato Records). His slide is powerful and strident, a throbbing, pulsating sound that gets under your skin. Before playing "Shake", I had only heard Bonnie Raitt doing a McDowell tune, and a brief live segment of McDowell at the Newport Folk Festival, discovering that Mississippi Fred wasn't able to quit farming in the Delta and devote himself full time to music until he was over 60. The Gaslight appearance is a relaxed, funky, spine-tingling mix of McDowell's commentary and his bottleneck slide on "John Henry", "Shake 'Em On Down" , "Baby Please Don't Go" and "You Got To Move", which was also "covered" by Mick Jagger. This was one of his last performances, allowing Mississippi Fred McDowell to give the audience a little insight into his craft""...I hope you're all enjoying my type of playin'...And that's the blues...Blues is a feelin', you understand. And I really feel what I'm playin'."

Of course more people know about Elvis Presley than have ever heard of Elmore James or Mississippi Fred McDowell, but their contribution is obvious every time you hear that distinctive melodic whine.

Auld Lang Syne Exposed

2011-12-31T07:40:00.000-08:00

You'd expect me to wrap up the year with a salute to the musicians we lost in 2011 (Clarence Clemmons, for example) or to highlight artists that had an impact on the types of music I prefer (Like Tommy Castro or Smokin Joe Kubek and Bnois King playing the blues) or to make lame predictions about the music biz in 2012 (Definitely "The end of the world as we know it" as the music industry continues to reinvent itself in order to survive). However, after hearing numerous versions of "Auld Lang Syne" in the background of the morning news today - from heavy metal to strings to horns to slow, medium and fast tempos - I decided to find out the real meaning of this "only-played-every-New-Year's-Eve-anthem."

I knew it was Scottish (Like me, partially) and I always have the Guy Lombardo version playing in my head as the midnight hour approaches. But I didn't realize the song comes from a poem written by Robert Burns in 1788. It is said to mean : "Old long since", long,long ago" , "days gone by, " old times" and - as in the refrain of the song -"For (the sake of) old times." I think I gew up believing the song was only sung when adults were inebriated, so the words didn't have to make sense.

In fact the phrase was also used by poets who pre-dated Burns, as well as appearing in older folk songs. Singing it became a Scottish custom, which then spread throughout the United Kingdom and to other parts of the world as the Scots emigrated to other countries, becoming a popular Scottish import along with shortbread and kilts. Although the song's popularity is still attributed to Guy Lombardo's Royal Canadiens beginning to play it as a New Year's Eve theme in 1929 (Released as a single in 1947), there are several references that date it through the years as the official "Out with the old" anthem.

The original version is thought to be "Old Long Syne" by poet James Watson in 1711 and then appropirated by Burns. Watson's lyrics suggest lost love, always a good reason to have another round:
Should Old Acquaintance be forgot,
and never thought upon;
The flames of Love extinguished,
and fully past and gone:
Is thy sweet Heart now grown so cold,
that loving Breast of thine;
That thou canst never once reflect
on Old long syne.

So if you end up singing "Auld Lang Syne" at the stroke of midnight, drink a toast to James Watson, Robert Byrnes and Guy Lombardo, and honor Scotland's contribution to party animals everywhere.

The Anchor Recovery All Stars: Music And A Message

2011-12-14T04:35:00.000-08:00

The Anchor Recovery All Stars actually got started around Christmas of 1999 in Rhode Island, with Frank Spicola and Jim Chapin playing guitar and Jim Gillen on flute, tin whistle and Native American flutes."We were dealing with women who were in various stages of detoxing, some quite ill," Jim Gillen recalls. "As we played and passed around the tambourine and such, we noticed that the women started to play along...A light went off in our heads that this was a way to reach folks." Gillen, Spicola and drummer Paul DaSilva went on to form the nucleus for Friday afternoon jam sessions at CODAC,which is an opiate treatment facility, Gillen estimating that over 100 musicians came and went. The All Stars fame gradually spread, leading to gigs at treatment centers, nursing homes and community events, eventually winning them the designation of official band for RI Rally 4 Recovery, which marks its 10th anniversary next September. "We play a variety of music," Jim Gillen explains," Pretty basic blues, rock and roll, world, jazz,percussion and some Native American flute songs."These days the All Stars lineup still includes the original three -Gillen,Spicola and DaSilva - along with Nick McPhail on lead guitar, "Boxcar Ed" on bass, and vocals by Leslie Miller as well as occaisonal guest appearences by Doreen Collins of WJAR TV's "Unreal Deal" show. The band still sponsors an open mike nite on the last Friday of the month at Anchor in Pawtucket. They never charge for their performances, but they do accept donations to help cover expenses.

According to Merriam Webster's dictionary, the word recover means: "A return to a normal state of health, mind or strength." What makes the All Stars unique is the fact that Gillen uses his talent as a storyteller to motivate the audience: " I also throw in a story or two...and we mix in a recovery message, showing people that its OK to follow their dreams and be part of something."

The Recovery All Stars brought their message to Mathewson Street United Methodist Church in Providence for a performance on December 1 , World Aids Day, which got rave reviews from the audience. "Why we are different," Jim Gillen points out," Is because its about more than music, its about engagement, giving back to the community and allowing people to live their dream or at least chase it."

The next time you hear that the Recovery All Stars are playing a gig, go check them out or, if you're interested in hiring them, contact Jim Gillen at 401-261-1446 or check out www.anchorrecovery.com.

Tommy Castro: Sitting on Top of the (Blues) World

2011-11-25T12:02:00.001-08:00

I first heard of Tommy Castro during my trade show career, when an exhibitor from California by way of Chicago decided I needed to expand my musical knowledge, and started bringing me cassettes of the newer blues artists. Castro's wry sense of humor and exceptional guitar stood out immediately, his playing fluctuating between sizzling blues riffs and extended Jimi Hendrix style psychedelic solos.

My next Tommy Castro experience was 2009's "Hard Believer", a meticulously crafted mix of hard driving instrumentation and Castro's own philosophical reflections on love, money and everything in between. For a month, I kept playing "Monkey's Paradise" over and over, managing to do my usual massacre of the lyrics, belting out -"phone keeps ringing " - "standing in the checkout line" - "really should quit but it AIN'T that simple!!!" - as I paced through my cold, empty house, convinced I knew exactly where he was coming from. You can envision Castro chuckling into the microphone through the ironic refrain of his anthem " Trimmin Fat" celebrating the 10% unemployment rate , which chronicles the pratfalls of today's economy as the singer is bumped from a live music gig by the bar owner in favor of karaoke, comes up short trying to buy the basics at the local grocery store, and ends up losing his day job when the factory moves to China, constantly repeating: "Everybody's - trimmin' fat". "Definition of Insanity", "Back Up Plan", and the Wilson Pickett (by way of Creedence Clearwater) standard "Ninety-Nine and One Half" all deal with good/bad love, while "It is What It Is" and "Hard Believer" reveal Castro's more vulnerable side with a bit of introspection.

Fast forward to 2011, and the latest Castro CD - "Tommy Castro Presents The Legendary Rhythm & Blues Revue". Not only is it entirely live (The tour stopped at the Narrows in Fall River last summer) but it showcases some of Castro's best guitar work, especially "Gotta Serve Somebody" and "Serves Me Right To Suffer" - AND - pays homage to a solid line up of artists like the legendary Joe Louis Walker ("It's A Shame") or breakout vocalist Janviva Magness ("Think") or the incredible guitar work of Michael "Iron Man" Burks ("Voodoo Spell"). Debbie Davies contributes "All I Found", while Sister Monica Parker leaves the audience breathless with her compelling rendition of "Never Say Never", and the other artists include Rick Estrin ("My Next Ex Wife"), Trampled Under Foot, and Theodis Easley. I respect artists like Castro and Bonnie Raitt who pay homage to the original performers that made their careers possible (In Raitt's case, Sippie Wallace and Mississippi Fred McDowell) not just because imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but also acknowledging their timeless talents. If you want to rock around your Christmas tree, "Legendary" is an easy pick for a stocking stuffer (Find it at Alligator Records).

Tommy Castro is doing his part to keep R & B alive and kicking. I'm just waiting to see what's next.

Check out "Blues With A Feeling" Tuesdays from 8:00 - 10:00 PM on WQRI, 88.3 FM.

(Got Them) Power Outage Blues

2011-09-14T05:27:00.000-07:00

The last thing I remember before Hurricane Irene started tearing down trees and electric lines was waking up on that Sunday morning, peering warily at the cacophony of wind and rain outside, checking the digital clock on my stove to verify that it was about 8:00 AM, and then diving back under the sheets to catch a little more. When I woke up an hour later, the power was off, and didn't come back on for six days.

We really are addicted to electricity. We take it for granted that high speed Internet, cable and the myriad of household appliances that we rely on will always function, so the effect of the shut off was akin to a junkie trying to go cold turkey - no 24/7 news, no Facebook, no phone calls, just a lone cell phone and a battery powered laptop. Most nights were spent marshalling a supply of candles to hold back the pitch blackness - because the night really is incredibly dark without streetlights or background illumination - venturing miles beyond my semi-remote location to garner fast food, then watching an hour of something before the laptop died, assuming my daughter had been able to charge it at her friend's house where the lights had never gone out. Finally, after struggling to be cheerful, my daughter decided to flee to her sister's apartment in Boston for luxuries like hot water and real food, leaving me alone.

I usually look forward to semi-isolation. I like to write, which requires solitude. I enjoy silence on occasion so I can collect my thoughts and emotions or simply peel back the layers of my consciousness. The only problem was, after four nights of trying to write and read by candlelight, I was totally disgusted and pretty much braindead, not to mention dirty, sweaty and frustrated. I turned to the only form of non-electric entertainment I could think of: my harmonica.I have had an affair with the mighty mouthharp since the age of 19, when I was the lead singer for the Phoenix Blues Band on Martha's Vineyard, my playing restricted to struggling to find the right note and then simply holding it so I wouldn't sound off key. Through the years, I've fantasized about taking the time to sit down and really learn how to play.

Thus it was as the night came on and my supply of candles dwindled, I attacked a C harp, bound and determined to play the riff from Lil Walter's "Blues With A Feeling" perfectly. I really suck as a musician since I can't read music - I'm simply imitating what I hear. Consequently, I spent about an hour playing and re-playing the tune, every once in a while actually hitting the right sequence of notes, but mostly scaring my dogs with the irritating noise. I finally admitted to myself that I really can't play very well, that Lil Walter really was a talented musician, and that my forte should be restricted to listening rather than playing. The next time the lights go out, I'll try beating on the drums.

NB: Tuesday, 9/20/11: Tinsley Ellis is at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northhampton, MA
Friday, 9/23/11: James Cotton plays at the Shailin Liu Center in Rockport, MA
Sunday, 9/25/11: Roomful of Blues is at Effin's Last Resort in Smithfield, RI

Local Live: Violin River at Maguire's Tavern 6/17/11

2011-06-20T04:46:00.000-07:00

I used to say that the best bar bands were in Boston. I can't come up with any objective reasons now to prove that assertion besides the fact that Boston has a lot of bars, but I've listened to a lot of musicians struggling unsuccessfully to be heard above the crowd. Violin River, whose music is inspired and influenced by the Grateful Dead, won't ever have that problem. The crowd at Maguire's Tavern in Smithfield,RI on Friday night June 17 couldn't get enough of the long guitar solos, the flawless vocal harmonies, and the familiar singalong Deadhead anthems like "Uncle John's Band" and "Turn On Your Lovelight".

Violin River describes themselves on their myspace page as a "RI based Grateful Dead/Classic Rock Cover Band which performs acoustic and electric selections." The term "cover band" typically conjures up the "lounge lizard" image of tired musicians frantically trying to sound "just like the record" - straight imitation, pure and simple. "Tribute" is a better term. It implies respect for the original musicians, which is very evident in Violin River's music. Lead/Slide guitarist Rich duplicated Jerry Garcia's style but made it his own in long , melodic, endless riffs as well as some spine -straightening slide.

The rest of the band are: Joe, vocals and guitar; Paul, vocals and keyboards; Carleen, vocals and percussion - who did a crowd-pleasing rendition of " Me and Bobby McGhee"; Kenny, bottom; Gary,drums; and Rich,lead/slide,vocals. The musicians' credentials are pretty impressive, as band members have performed with Bo Diddley and Lowell George, as well as opening shows for artists including Bonnie Raitt, Robert Palmer, Little Feat, Jorma Koukonen (Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna), and Eminem - which is, as Violin River puts in, "to name just a few."

Their musicianship is exceptional, an eclectic mix of rock, blues, r & b, and folk music, as Violin River does both acoustic and electric sets. Don't take my word for it - check them out and support your local live musicians.

The End of The World As We Know It?

2011-05-21T05:25:00.000-07:00

You've probably heard by now that today the world will end, apparently by dinner time. I discovered this morning that the prediction is based on approximating how long ago the flood and the story of Noah took place, which has been calculated to have occurred 7,000 years ago today. The fact that I am writing this blog might lead you to the conclusion that I am a little dubious. However, the publicity has benefited REM, since chances are many of us will be repeating their signature - world-ending- verse over and over, that is, BEFORE supper.

Apocalyptic rock is hard to pin down. I tend to associate Pearl Jam and Kurt Cobain with world-ending tunes, because their music feels like the end, the combination of plaintive vocals and thundering chords suggesting either that Armageddon is imminent, or that it has already happened, and Kurt and Eddie are simply mourning the loss. Some of Ozzy Osborne's songs evoke chaos, as well as a long line of "devil" - ish performers from Alice Cooper to Marilyn Manson, Judas Preist to Metallica. Besides their twisted but marketable genre, mainstream pop has also produced "prophetic" hits like "In The Year 2525".

I guess I'll spend my last few hours listening to the blues, possibly Robert Johnson's fervrent odes to the Devil and Judgment Day. In general, I don't think blues musicians spent a lot of time obsessing about the "end". They were a lot more preoccupied with issues like food, money and love.

I've enjoyed the world as we know it, so I'm going to miss it when it disappears sometime after dessert tonight. Why is it I get the feeling that - 24 hours from now - I'll be thinking about food,money and love?

Accordion Power: Rhodes on the Pawtuxet, March 5,2011

2011-03-14T05:16:00.000-07:00

Most people probably still associate the accordion with musicians like Myrin Florin, the virtuoso who was the star of the Lawrence Welk band, his fingers deftly manipulating the keyboard to produce the robust melodies that were an integral part of the "orchestras" that were featured on Fifties television. Although the rich sound of the accordion was popularized in familiar tunes like "Lady of Spain", it has always been closely associated with Cajun music, blended with bluegrass, blues and traditional tunes to form the distinctive sound that originated in the Louisiana bayous. The sound is happy and upbeat, a celebration of Cajun culture that comes to life in Rhode Island every year at the Mardi Gras Ball, held this year on March 5 at Rhodes-on-the-Pawtuxet. I was hesitant at first when my friend Sue suggested we go to the concert. I like the Cajun sound, but I just wasn't sure if I was ready for a six hour immersion in Mardi Gras, including Cajun food, a costume contest, and three bands - Leroy Thomas and the Zydeco Roadrunners, Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, and CJ Chenier and the Red Hot Louisiana Band. In retrospect, I'm glad I took Sue's suggestion.

Ironically, Rhode Island has long held a premier reputation as a "home away from home" for Cajun performers. Various reasons have been offerred for the Ocean State's obsession with accordion power, some attributing it to a break out performance by legendary Cajun fiddler Dewey Balfa at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival , said to be the first time the music was showcased outside Louisiana. Most agree that Little Rhody's fondness for "les bon temps" is primarily due to Chuck Wentworth and Lagniappe Productions, producer and promoter of the state's premiere Labor Day weekend event, the Rhythm and Roots Festival as well as this year's nineteenth annual Mardi Gras ball. I was gratified to discover that the event benefits Very Special Arts Rhode Island, an organization that provides artistic outlets for physically or mentally challenged individuals, and one that I was briefly involved with at its inception - but that's another story,

Rhodes-on-the-Pawtuxet is an old fashioned dance hall, with a roomy stage, strategically-placed bars, lots of seating, and plenty of space to move. The festive atmosphere was heightened by the mosaic of costumes created by the inventive crowd, the themes running from the topical - a black shell supported by two shoulder straps intended to represent the spill in the Gulf, festooned with pictures of idle shrimp boats and oil soaked wildlife - to the fanciful, with both the Queen of Hearts and the Queen of Diamonds in attendance, a cadre depicting characters in The Phantom,a profusion of harlequin faces, joker hats, boas, Hawaiian shirts, and a giraffe (Which earned top honors in the costume contest) , with a pair of dancers representing the front legs and towering head.

Leroy Thomas and his band were already playing by the time Sue and I got there , the robust melodies already luring partygoers onto the dance floor even though it was barely seven o'clock. We quickly joined them to start a pattern that would last all night - dance until you're about to drop, rest , then dance again. It wasn't hard to move to the energetic upbeat sound.

For Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys,the performance was bitterwseet, marking the official "retirement" of fiddler David Greeley (see the ProJo article published 3/3/11). Their latest CD is a testament to the BP disaster, entitled "Grand Isle", depicting an oil soaked bird, and the title tune is a sampling of Greeley's memories of the way things were before the spill. The Playboys' set featured spirited trade offs between Riley on the accordion and Greeley's fiddle, with a special presentation for Greeley from Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chaffee at the end.

By the time C.J. Chenier and the Red Hot Louisiana Band took the stage, I was just about boogied out, but C.J.'s frenetic playing had me quickly back on my feet. Unfortunately, after just a few of their red hot licks, I began to remember how much my body ached and quickly caved in.

It was a memorable night full of music and merriment, a fitting salute to Mardi Gras and the Cajun culture. I'm already looking forward to next year.

Hot Tuna, Charlie Musselwhite,and Jim Lauderdale: Legends Come To Life on the Road (Garde Art Center, New London, CT, 2/12/11)

2011-02-24T04:49:00.000-08:00

Concerts are becoming harder to find. Tickets are more expensive, the audience is more fickle, and the music industry never seems to know what combination of artists will draw a crowd. Luckily, that doesn't apply to road warriors , who keep on touring the smaller venues like New London's Garde Art Center. As the MC pointed out just before ushering Hot Tuna onstage on February 12, there were a grand total of 1100 people in the audience, which was, as he put it, pretty good for downtown New London. I can't vouch for the other 1099 in the audience, but the chance to see Jorma Kaukonen, the original lead guitarist for the Jefferson Airplane, Airplane bass player Jack Casady, blues harmonica virtuoso Charlie Musselwhite and country/bluegrass giant Jim Lauderdale made it a command performance.

Hot Tuna opened up with the acoustic trio of Kaukonen, Casady and Barry Mittendorf on mandolin, warming up the crowd with traditional blues tunes like "Know You Ryder", "Wining Boy Blues" and "Hesitation Blues", Jorma pointing out that he and Jack Casady had been playing together for 53 years. Musselwhite, who was born in the Delta, raised in Memphis and graduated with sold blues harp credentials after sitting in with artists like Muddy Waters and Little Walter in the Chicago blues clubs, joined the trio for "Sad and Beautiful World" and " Where Highway 61 Runs", two of the cuts from his latest CD, "The Well" ,on Alligator Records. He was followed by top Nashville performer and songwriter Jim Lauderdale, who closed out the set with his ironic country flavored tunes.

The second set was electric , Jorma, Jack and Barry joined by guitarist C.E. Smith, trading solos on Hot Tuna blues standards like "Rock Me Baby", "I Wish You Would" and "Hot Jelly Roll Blues ". I was overwhelmed by the "wall" of music, the musicians flawlessly riffing off each other, one memorable lead after another. The conversion from acoustic to rock was the most dramatic on "Candy Man" and "Death Don't Have No Mercy",both adapted from the racuous but powerful streetcorner performances of intinerant South Carolina bluesman/preacher Reverend Gary Davis. Musselwhite's return onstage featured one of his most unique tunes, the instrumental " Christo Redemptor", the haunting sound of his blues harp demonstrating not only Musselwhite's ability to master the instrument but also his willingness to take chances.

After the show, as I waited in line with my friend Sue (a longtime Hot Tuna fan) to have Charlie Musselwhite autograph a copy of "The Well", I realized that the "fusion" of musical titans like Tuna, Musselwhite and Lauderdale was the only way to guarantee continuing "road" revenue, playing the smaller but appreciative venues mostly attended by baby boomers. After all, arena rock sounds hollow and hyped compared to over two hours of carefully constructed tunes from the music industry's living legends.

Give The Gift That Keeps on Giving - Recession Proof Blues

2010-12-16T10:17:00.000-08:00

Let's face it - the recession's not over until everybody gets a job, Christmas seems a bit lamer and more tightly stretched this year (Most shoppers report they'll spend 4% more...wait...make that 2% more than last year?), charitable donations are down, food banks are running out and sometimes it seems like the Fools epic anthem "Life Sucks and Then You Die" is coming true. This year, however, you the consumer have an option - you can support musicians who are willing to tell the true - the true talking bluesmen whose latest CDS would look great under the tree.

My two favorite tell it like it is cuts for 2010 are "Please Mr. President" by Guitar Shorty (Bare Knuckle, Alligator) and "Edge of the Ledge" by the Holmes Brothers (Feed My Soul, Alligator). Guitar Shorty is renowned for his sizzling, take no prisoners licks and this CD is loaded with penetrating riffs, but when he combines his spine straightening notes with lyrics like "I need a GOOD job - I need to support my wife and family- please Mr. President - lay some stimulus on ME!" you have no doubts about where he's coming from (Plus Shorty delivers on tunes like "True Lies", "Temporary Man" , "Neverland" and all the rest). The Holmes Brothers' have a gospel feel in their soothing, friendly harmonies (Title cut being the best example) and a definite sense of humor in songs like "Rounding Third", "You're The Kind of Trouble", and "Edge of the Ledge". The refrain reads like the Wall Street Journal headlines: " Standing on my head on the edge of the ledge...I lost my job, they even repossessed my bed - Standing on my head on the edge of the ledge." "Dark Cloud", the first cut is another topical look at where it's supposedly at today.

"Keep A Dollar in Your Pocket" was actually written and done originally by Roy Milton in Memphis, as the legendary BB King explains when he sits in on Elvin Bishop's version. The chorus explains that a dollar can be "your very best friend"
(The Blues Roll On, Delta Groove). Elvin assembled an impressive roster of musicians including Tommy Castro and George Thorogood, John Nemeth and James Cotton and it shows with the variety of styles and blues musicianship in each cut- definitely worth a listen even if I did recommend it last year as well. Cotton has his own CD out, "Giant", (Alligator) which is dedicated to the late great Koko Taylor and has some standout versions of blues classics - "How Blue Can You Get?"- "Sad Day" -"That's Alright"- among others, proving conclusively that James is a "giant" at the age of 75.

"Payday in America" is Smokin Joe Kubek and Bnois King's salute to the almighty dollar (Have Blues Will Travel, Alligator) but, instead of dwelling on the lack of jobs,money and incentive, the lyrics dwell on getting a motel room and partying until the grind starts all over again on Monday (Check out "Sleeping With One Eye Open", "My Guitar", "Have Blues Will Travel" and the usual collection of muscular Texas roadhouse blues). The Blood Brothers never fail to deliver.

Albert Collins probably delivers the best tunes about money or the lack thereof. His live version of "If Trouble Was Money (Then I'd Be a Millionaire)" on Albert Collins Deluxe (Alligator) is his signature combination of stinging finger picking and wry lyrics. My favorite is "Mastercard", Collins' tribute to the mall, the chorus consisting of the two words "Mastercard, BankAmericard" repeated over and over while Albert laments his wife's choice of earrings "made from real African wood" among other things, along with "When the Welfare Turns It's Back On You". Maybe one of the reasons Collins' songs have that authentic touch is that he worked construction most of his life until he could finally earn a living from doing gigs.

One thing's for sure: no matter what the economy does, you can always count on the blues if you want to know about hard times.

Don't forget to check out "Blues With A Feeling" Sundays 3-5PM on WQRI FM.

Happy B-Day Dr. John, Bonnie,Berry,Tina,Duane,Ike and Bonnie

2010-11-21T09:06:00.000-08:00

November seems to have been a prolific month for the birth of musicians, as I discovered in doing my blues birthdays research for next Sunday's widely anticipated (Well, not really WIDELY anticipated - maybe SOMEWHAT anticipated?) resurrection of "Blues With A Feeling" on 88.3 FM, WQRI, 3:00-5:00 PM ( Also on the web). At first glance, the November birthday honors could be more or less equally divided between Bonnie Raitt, Tina Turner, and Bonnie Bramlett.

Bonnie Raitt has long standing blues credentials, as evidenced by "Give It Up (Or Let Me Go)", her knock down, drag out rendition of "I Know (You Don't Love Me No More)", her homage to Mississippi Fred MacDowell in "Mean Old Kokomo" (Raitt's generosity towards her R&B idols like LaVern Baker is well known) and her own take on lesser known but just as powerful ballads like "Stayed Too Long At The Fair" or "Love Has No Pride" - all of this long before Bonnie finally got big time recognition! There's nothing small time about Tina Turner. From the moment she abandoned the obviously hick country girl Annie Mae Bullock persona, out in front of Ike Turner's band, Tina jumped from " Nutbush City Limits" to "Proud Mary" to "Acid Queen" to "What's Love Got To Do With It?", eclipsing Ike, managing to force America to confront the nasty spectre of wife beating. Her relationship with the opposite sex is aptly explained in "You Better Be Good To Me." Turner has outlived her husband, and her R&B roots, from belting out the funk in St Louis 1950s era roadhouses to chatting it up with Oprah. Bonnie Bramlett's name isn't immediately recognizable unless you remember "Delaney and Bonnie", and the lineup of musicians including Eric Clapton who joined the pair on the road for the memorable album with the two boots hanging out of the Rolls Royce driver's side window on the cover. Their frantic renditions of Little Richard classics are best known for propelling late 1960s'-early 70s audiences to their feet, but Bonnie's contribution goes far beyond that, to holding up the vocal foundation behind some of rock's best known performers.

Joni Mitchell and June Pointer were also born in November, along with Puff Daddy - I mean P. Diddy -, Roy Rogers, whose real child-molester-sounding name was Leonard Sly, Lawrence Welk's ace accordion player Myrin Florin, Aaron Copeland, Scott Joplin and Jimi Hendrix, but the man whose impact was equal to if not greater than theirs was Berry Gordy, the man who founded Motown. His vision and commitment brought us Marvin Gaye, The Supremes, Smokey Robinson and The Jackson Five, just to name a very few.

Duane Allman was a November baby as well. His prowess on the guitar was the driving force behind the Allman Brothers, and his appreciation of the blues is evident in songs like "Done Somebody Wrong". I always wondered where he would be today if his life hadn't been cut short by his tragic motorcycle accident. Not as well known but equally potent in the music world is Mack Rebenneck, better known as Dr. John, whose contributions range from his numerous solo efforts to producing to preserving to playing some of the best boogie woogie piano riffs I've ever heard.

Last but definitely not least is Ike Turner. Most of us think of him as an abusive husband and coke fiend based on his portrayal in the media, but his contribution to the blues was substantial. Ike's early career included scouting talent for Sun Records, discovering Howling Wolf among many others, and laying the foundation for rock and roll by promoting and developing artists.

Happy birthday to November's musicmakers, and Happy Thanksgiving to you !

Selling Christmas By The Pound

2010-11-11T15:13:00.000-08:00

I got the impression this year that retailers could barely wait for Halowe'en to be over so they could flip to Christmas merchandise. I understand that - with the recession being over and all - we are gearing up to go spend money for the holidays but starting holiday promotions in October? True, the situation is a bit desperate this year, since, even though the recession is absolutely, positively over, America's megastores are hungry for shoppers with deep pockets, as well as being worried that they won't get their share of the alleged loot, so who can blame them for ruining yet another holiday by starting the frenzy early?

Along with the tacky, overblown decorations comes my most despised sign of the season- Christmas music. True- with the recession being definitively, without-a-doubt, take my word for it, over - we have a lot to celebrate, so I shouldn't be surprised if some radio stations cranked up the carols right after playing "Monster Mash" for the 300th time. But, after you relive those comforting memories evoked by Bing Crosby, Johnny Mathis, Nat King Cole, Gene Autry. etc., what's left? Programming the "hottest" carols in rapid Top 40 rotation, backed by "recurrent" carols (The term is supposed to mean songs that are so monumental the audience always likes to hear them again) or "solid gold" carols? I can just envision the Billboard Christmas music charts - "O Little Town of Bethlehem" Number 7 with a bullet. I don't mind listening to carols on Christmas morning from, say, 10:00 to 11:00 AM, but not around the clock , 24/7, commercial free.

Probably, my aversion to Christmas music just means I'm cranky and nasty and out of step with the fact that - now that the recession has been officially declared over by leading economic experts - we have a lot to be happy about. Music aside, I really think the only who'll be jovial this season is Santa, assuming his mortgage compsany doesn't foreclose on the North Pole and he's not forced into early retirement. In all honesty - even though the recession is sort of, kind of, almost, maybe over?- despite the happy tunes and mindless markdowns, Santa's sleigh will probably be a little less full this year. Just remember, the recession IS over, right?

As Seen On TV

2010-10-23T07:03:00.000-07:00

I remember the late night television music commercials, the ones you would catch in the wee hours of Sunday morning, the double album-slash-CD collections of Boxcar Willie or Roger Whittaker for example, all of their greatest hits now together in one awesome disc. Except for one thing - who is Boxcar Willie? I never recognized him from the picture in the ad, have never seen any Boxcar Willie hits on the charts or as a jukebox selection or on the radio. Roger Whittaker's name is a bit more familiar perhaps because of the cheesy Christmas songs that play in the background as the announcer promises you'll get all his hits in two great CDs for just $9.99.
Your first reaction is to chuckle sarcastically and mutter to yourself something like - who would be stupid enough to buy this?

The answer is that both of these alleged artists are truly laughng all the way to the bank. Whether it's Boxcar, Roger, Monster Metal Hits, or the latest assemblage of Number One blasts from the 70s,80s or 90s, the late night pitches represent the flip side of Billboard, the music which turns a huge profit without ever making it to the "Top Ten."

No matter how cheesy infomercials may seem, they have a function that sets them apart from regular commercials - instant results! Major advertisers spend millions each year pushing fast food, soda, cars and other consumer products with no indication whether the commercials have any measurable results, except the assumption that, if they don't advertise, their share of the marketplace will quickly dissipate. Infomercials generate immediate income via the oft repeated phrase - "operators are standing by." Consumers call as soon as the pitch ends, put the purchase on a selected credit card and the advertiser - hopefully- laughs all the way to the bank.

All Talk

2010-09-27T05:18:00.000-07:00

The insertion of popular music riffs into radio talk shows seems to be increasing beyond the few examples I mentioned a year ago in relation to Michael Savage, Sean Hannity and the rest. After all, those music bites were relatively predictable heavy metal chords, destined to straighten the listener's spine just in time for the host's next diatribe, but the repertoire has widened considerably. For example:

Rush Limbaugh seems to be hung up on one Pretenders' riff - the opening to "My City Was Gone" - since it plays ad nauseum throughout his show, making me wonder what Chrissie Hynde would think. He also likes to throw in the baby boomer anthem - Mick Jagger pointing out that "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" - which in Rush's case, probably applies to his view of the Obama administration.

Tom Petty's "Learning to Fly" has cropped up repeatedly apparently in relation to ongoing political campaigns, while "Rock the Boat (Vote)" by the Hues Corporation is the prevalent theme on one prominent Boston station relative to those pesky mid terms.

A Providence based talkfest routinely resurrects Ronnie James Dio and Triumph while occasionally kicking back and surrendering to Foghat's "Slow Ride", a ditty guaranteed to make yours truly scream at the top of his lungs: "TAKE IT EEEEE -ZZZEEE!" even in a traffic jam.

During a sports talk show last week, I heard the opening to Led Zep's "Travelling Riverside Blues", several cleverly inserted James Brown grunts, and more Tom Petty riffs. A promo for another station has a brief snatch of a Chuck Berry ditty.

Not to be outdone - I've noticed - is the inclusion of rock and blues on TV programming. The History Channel is promoting IRT: Deadliest Roads with Aerosmith's "Living On The Edge", while another one of it's programs - Pawn Stars - has a soundtrack that is a steady stream of blues and rock instrumentals. I was surprised the other night to hear Howlin Wolf's "Smokestack Lightnihg" all over a car commercial - innovative, but it didn't give me the same chill down my spine as the use of Jimi Hendrix' "Voodoo Child" a couple of years back in a Nissan Xterra spot.

I predict the next musical invasion of the media will crop up during newscasts. For example, lead ins to homicide stories might use Pat Benatar's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot", arson stories with the Talking Heads' "Burning Down The House" or "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash, business news could be dramatized with "Money" by the O'Jays, and there would be numerous choices for the weather - "Rain" and "Good Day Sunshine" by the Beatles, "Blowing in the Wind" from Bob Dylan, "Starry Starry Night" by Don Mclean,not to mention dozens of lesser known blues/soul/rock n roll tunes - Muddy Waters' "40 Days and 40 Nights" and "Flood Down in Texas" by Fenton Robinson just to name two of them.

Luckily, I've concluded that, as far as "music with a message" is concerned, that there's only one viable lead in to the nightly news - "Ball of Confusion" by the Temptations because their lyrics are succinct: "Ball of confusion -that's what the world is today!".

Sleeping With One Eye Open - The Blood Brothers' "Have Blues Will Travel"

2010-09-19T13:41:00.000-07:00

Chances are that, somewhere in America, Smokin' Joe Kubek and Bnois King are getting ready for a show, living up to the title of their latest from Alligator: "Have Blues Will Travel". Bnois King's melodic voice combined with Smokin' Joe's stinging solos identifies the duo's dependable blend of straight ahead Texas style blues combined with solid rock and delivered with a sly twist.

The title tune tells the story - the best way to escape the blues is to get back on the road again, the ironic lyrics underscored by hard driving guitar licks. "RU4 Real?" is a sardonic look at the effects of Botox, collagen and silicone,the story of a pick up in a dim bar that goes sour when the singer finds out he's got a woman with a rebuilt body. "My Guitar" is underscored with Smokin' Joe's virtuoso turns on slide guitar combined with fluid picking, ample evidence that the guitar is always your best friend.

My favorite is "Sleeping With One Eye Open", a cautionary tale about cheating and being unlucky in love, the title implying that the singer is afraid to take his eyes off his woman, punctuated by more cutting edge riffs. The Blood Brothers' wry sense of humor shines along with Smokin' Joe's slide on "Payday in America", their tribute to Johnny Paycheck's "Take This Job and Shove It".

"Have Blues Will Travel" is another example of why Snmokin' Joe Kubek and Bnois King are two of the hardest-working bluesmen on the circuit today. They combine muscular guitar, traditional blues riffs and a little bit of sarcasm to come up with their own blues brand. Go see them the next chance you get.

Turning 100

2010-08-28T06:53:00.000-07:00

The anniversary snuck up on me - I've just passed the 100th (?) blog post mark and I didn't even know it. So before I blow out the candles on the cake, I just wanted to share a few thoughts on passing the century mark.

I started doing BSRR because James Brown died. It's too bad that JB will be remembered by some as a prime contender for Worst Mugshot Contest, as well as an alleged wife beater, as opposed to "The Godfather of Soul " or "Soul Brother Number One" or "The Man With The Crown" or any one of the other hip titles the Famous Flames would run through just before JB took the stage. I am not condoning his behavior toward women, but time has taught me to judge a musician by their output-their art - a rationale that was applied to Michael Jackson repeatedly. Artists are not necessarily pleasant people; Picasso in particular was supposedly a real sob in relationships, and Hemingway - whom I admired as a teen - a nasty macho drunk. I forgive the Godfather for ignoring public relations. Hopefully, his musical career will be remembered as opposed to the domestic violence charges.

James Brown is indicative of the kind of artist I respect - performers who are true originals, faithful to their "roots". I rank George Jones right up there with Peter Tosh, Chuck Berry and Tony Bennett - they are all "originals" with a definitive style and an unmistakable sound. Music to me has to have integrity and - hopefully - originality. The only tunes I really detest are the orchestral versions you hear on the supermarket loudspeakers or in an elevator or wafting through an office, the bland, innocuous blend of strings and horns that reduces all musical forms to easily digestible pap.

The most original blogs so far have involved friends like Bruce Burnside, Joe Auger, "Shade" Melton, the Cutlass Three, Led Balloon Jug Band and L'Esperance. It's always a privilege to give friends a boost as well as educate the audience. The blogs causing the most response were about Robert Johnson and Craig Roche. I've learned that it is a big mistake to write about Robert Johnson because the only thing people agree on is that nobody really knows where he was born, or exactly how he died or exactly where he is buried. Craig Roche was a lifelong friend who died suddenly - way too soon. He was a versatile musician with an infectious sense of humor and a big heart to boot. I'm glad I could pay him homage.

I've gotten a lot of comments - most of which seem to be promoting something else online - but the most significant and surprising entry appeared after I wrote a review of the film "Crazy" , about the life of guitarist Hank Garland. The movie was perfect - the soundtrack is authentic, the character portrayals are flawless, the plot is straight out of Billboard and Garland's story takes so many twists and turns that it holds your attention. A few days after I wrote the blog, a comment appeared which turned out to be a thank you from the Garland family. I always think I'm writing in obscurity, a tiny speck in the big celebrity/business/government blogosphere, so to have this validation arrive out of nowhere was a bit of a shock. The bottom line is that Hank Garland is a true original, the movie is excellent and you should go see it.

I've questioned whether or not to continue this blog many times, but somehow I always come back to it. I guess that means it's time to start the second 100 posts because apparently I'm not finished just yet.

Music With A Message: A Tale of Two Commercials

2010-08-11T05:15:00.000-07:00

You know the credit card couple. Their smug, self-centered expressions dominate TV these days, strangely disconnected from the job creation figures, foreclosure rates, and steadily rising bankruptcies. Back in the nostalgic 90s, they would have been super yuppies, revered for an urban lifestyle encompassing exotic restaurants, excessive gadgetry, cutting edge fashion and serious if-you've-got-it-flaunt-it attitude. In 2010, it just seems frayed around the edges, irritating and unrealistic, but this portrait of excess - like a lot of the commercials forced down our collective throats - is also dependent on the choice of music.

Frank Sinatra's talent and persona were the first cultural contraband grafted on the opening chapter in the contrived lives of the credit card couple, Sinatra crooning "The Way You Look Tonight" as the Dragon Lady (The woman) tells Shallow Man (The man) that she's just screwed him out of his bonus points by picking up a new dress. Apparently, 21st century relationships in commercials are based on exploitation, one partner constantly trumping the other by seeing how much money they can spend on pointless luxury. Sinatra conveys the right "feel" - the lush music accenting his tribute to beautiful women, evoking that Rat Pack sensibility which - in contrast to rap content - celebrated the "ladies". There must be people just like the cc's - a lot of them, or the company wouldn't have made the commercial. I'm probably reading too much into it , but it does illustrate what Jean Paul Sartre meant when he said: "Hell is other people." The other portrait of excess celebrates the great American tradition of giving money to newlyweds, using John Sebastian's "Do You Believe In Magic?" as background while the new husband and wife spend their first night depositing checks and adding up the loot. Is this the best American culture has to offer - excess and greed?

At the other end of the spectrum , light years away from urban smugness, is the peaceful, comfortable, Baby Boomer - friendly portrait of sunshine, beautiful mountains by pristine lakes,kids and nature, underscored by Harry McClintock's wistful description of "The Big Rock Candy Mountain". The song sounds at first like a Depression era lament for those imaginary places where suffering and hunger don't exist, but it is closer to a friendly tribute - glorifying the hobo life, always wandering off on another adventure, whistling down the railroad tracks. The familiar imagery in the commercial evokes tradition, security and comfort enhanced by the bouncy, optimistic tune that encompasses the magic of childhood. Some days when the Dow is plunging, the jobless claims are rising and the creditors are calling, it seems we could all use a trip to the Big Rock Candy Mountain.

The most obvious rationale for the choices of music in both ads is the most familiar - age. The cc couple are the new faces of the 21st century - supposedly - while the content of the Baby Boomer friendly commercial is a reminder that childhood endures.

By the way, I was surprised to find out that this is my 101st post - a milestone I guess, especially when I always think my next one will be my last. Thanks for your support.

The NEW Talking Blues - Guitar Shorty / Holmes Brothers

2010-07-15T04:49:00.000-07:00

Listen to artists like Big Bill Broonzey or Bessie Smith or any one of the leading blues musicians from the 1930s and you'll hear political commentary as well as economic misery set to music - the so-called "talking" blues. Bessie Smith's lasting contribution to hard times -"Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out"- never sounds dated, including Bessie's wry observation -"no man'll want you when you're down and out" - a harbinger of women's lib. Big Bill Broonzy's "Mule Riding Blues" is a sardonic look at poverty and class distinctions that characterized the Depression.

Fast forward from the 1930s to the 2010s. The "talking' blues are alive and well. The best example is Guitar Shorty's "Please Mr President" from his CD Bare Knuckle (Alligator) released a year before Occupy Wall Street, with the poignant refrain "Please Mr. President- lay some stimulus on on me!." Shorty's guitar solos make your eardrums bleed - his playing is supposed to have influenced both Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Guy - but singing is not his forte. It's the lyrics that get the point across: "Now I sure don't mind workin' - I'm not scared to break a sweat - I'm not lookin' for a bailout - but I gotta pay my debts!" (Guitar Shorty on Amazon). Shorty, whose real name is David Kearney, was "on message" months before the occupiers started pitching their tents, upholding the talking blues tradition of telling it like it IS!

The Holmes' Brothers have a somewhat similar lament on their CD Feed My Soul (Alligator), which was recorded in North Brookfield, Massachusetts. Instead of cutting right to the bone, they try to grin and bear it in "Edge of the Ledge" with the satirical refrain: "Standing on my head at the edge of the ledge/tryin' to figure out how to keep my family fed/I lost my job, they even repossessed my bed/standing on my head at the edge of the ledge" (Wendell Holmes, 2009). Wendell and Sherman Holmes' music ranges from blues to gospel,especially the title tune, but "Ledge" stands out as "black" humor, no pun intended.

The rebirth of the talking blues stems from the Sixties, when artists from Bob Dylan to Phil Ochs to Jim Kweskin began reviving the genre, but instead of mixing humor and irony in describing the human condition, they started a new tradition of getting right to the heart of the matter. I'm wondering if we should make "Please Mr. President" required listening for the House, the Senate and the White House the next time they decide to bail out the banks. Maybe they'll finally get the message!

The Search For Soul

2010-04-30T05:26:00.000-07:00

I've been seeing promos for "Soul Train" on my local cable channels, the vistas of huge Afros, vintage Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gay, Billy Paul, the Jacksons and the rest reviving funky musical memories, as well as the soul drenched ,basso profondo voice of Don Cornelius, the hippest MC of all time, which made me start thinking about "soul". It is one of those terms like "sustainability" that people use but never really define."Soul" to me has always been synonymous with Motown, the lush orchestral backgrounds and soaring vocal harmonies combining in plaintive ballads about lost loves.

In search of clarification, I turned to that pinnacle of internet knowledge - Wikipedia - to see what soul is. The article quotes the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame , defining soul music as: "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rt hymn and blues into a form of funky, secular testifying." Wikipedia says soul began in the US in the late 1950s and flourished from the 1960s to the 1980s. The most interesting aspect of the entry to yours truly was that (the) "Motown Sound" is defined as a "sub genre" while "Memphis soul, Philly soul" etc., are all called "regional scenes." The article goes on to document the soul sound "spectrum" but my eyes glazed over pretty quickly once I started drowning in terminology. For example, the Stax/Volt sound - Booker T, Steve Cropper, Wilson Pickett - is closer to what I would call funk - but then James Brown is included as a subset of soul as well and if JB isn't funky, then what is? There's also something called "blue-eyed soul" which must be a catch-all term for people like Michael McDonald and all those other white guys with "soul".

After all this in-depth research, I still don't know exactly what soul is, but I feel the closest I may have ever come to hearing soul raw and unplugged was at a South Carolina church service. I volunteered one February to go with both my daughters to Hollywood, South Carolina as part of a mission trip to rehab houses for residents of the Sea Islands. We all stayed in a day care center attached to a church, and Sunday was the first full day on site, so we began with a marathon three hour church service. Besides piano and electric organ, the church had a bass player and a drummer and a chorus that all sounded exactly like Aretha -soul live and in person from the heart.

Bottom line, no matter what soul really is, you either have it or you don't, which applies to artists from Tom Jones to Usher to Patti Labelle to Beyonce. Say amen, someone.

Live From 1964: The TAMI Show

2010-04-09T05:47:00.000-07:00

Jan & Dean ! The Beach Boys ! James Brown! Chuck Berry! Marvin Gaye! Lesly Gore ! Gerry and the Pacemakers! The Barbarians ! (?) As the hype read back in 1964, when the Teen Age Music International concert was staged in Santa Monica, "It's The Greatest,Grooviest,Wildest, Most Exciting Beat Blast Ever To Pound The Screen!!!!" Looking at the show the other night with my longtime musical amigo "Shade" Melton, I was amazed at how well the performances were captured relative to technology c. 1964. Apparently, various disputes over - you know - money held up release of the DVD until last month.

I've seen Chuck Berry three times and James Brown twice, so I'm familiar with the energy they exude in every show. Both of these musical legends were in rare form. I've already documented what made JB bigger than life - his spins, his shrieks, his grunts, growls, groans and his soul-drenched ballads of thwarted love balanced by the uptempo funk dedicated to sex - "Hot Pants", "Cold Sweat"- or the occasional political commentary - "Say It Loud- I'm Black and I'm Proud", "Funky President". All the moves are captured here for future generations, including my favorite "cape" routine - the Godfather of Soul is so overcome with misery, begging his woman to take him back, that he sinks to his knees, collapsing, exhausted, every last drop of angst squeezed out of his soul, only to suddenly stumble to his feet, throwing off the fur fringed cape that his handler has placed reverently on his shoulders, ready to beg for his love just one more time - a routine that would be repeated at least twice at the end of JB's extravaganza, the first farewell occurring when Soul Brother Number One finally allows himself to be guided offstage before the audience screams for more. Chuck Berry opened the show , already a legend in 1964, grinning slyly as he waltzes through "Johnny B. Goode", "Maybelline" and - ironically - "Sweet Little Sixteen." As if to illustrate the music industry practice of constantly stealing other performers' material, The Beach Boys open up their segment a few minutes later with "Surfin' USA" , set to the melody of - guess what? - "Sweet Little Sixteen." The movie "Cadillac Records" chronicles Berry's discovery that he has been ripped off, the implication being that black artists can never be popular without a white artist "covering" their tunes.

The Wilson Brothers, Mike Love and Al Jardine are pure California, striped shirts, white jeans and floppy hair advertising sun, fun and surfing. They run through"I Get Around" as well as one of the best slow dancing tunes from that era - "Surfer Girl" ("In My Room" is even better). Brian Wilson is front and center, grinning and strumming, and - according to Shade - about six weeks away from freaking out and retreating to his bedroom sandbox, his fifteen minutes effectively over.

The Barbarians were included in the line-up much to my surprise, although not performing their biggest hit "Are You A Boy or Are You A Girl?" , but featuring their star one-armed drummer Moulty, the best known member of the Cape Cod based band. Motown is ably represented by a young Marvin Gaye as well as Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, both performers at the beginning of their long and successful careers, the most remarkable part of their appearances being the fact that black and white artists are together in the same show, breaking the racial barriers that were still firmly in place in the mid 1960s. Lesley Gore's New Jersey teenaged angst is amply represented with an appearance that seems to go on interminably until she finally sings "It's My Party". The TAMI show also included the Rolling Stones, a last minute addition, along with Gerry and the Pacemakers.

TAMI was hosted by those bleached blonde California endless summer surfing dudes Jan & Dean. It was worth watching TAMI just to hear "The Little Old Lady From Pasadena" again, but I would have preferred "Deadman's Curve". The show predates music videos, sampling and the other trends in today's music, showcasing live, unedited talent, which to me is the best test of a performers' ability. You can do anything in the studio, but once you're live and onstage, there's no turning back. These performers demonstrated that they never lost sight of one of those important components in the music business that is frequently neglected these days - the audience.

Joe Auger Unplugged

2010-03-18T05:41:00.000-07:00

Joe Auger doesn't have much time to spare from his duties as Media Services Manager at Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island. When he isn't handling and troubleshooting equipment, Joe devotes his spare hours to his second love: music. He is an unabashed Monkees and Beatles fan. BSRR managed to get Joe to slow down long enough recently to explain:

JOE AUGER:
My first musical memory is of Mickey Dolenz singing "I'm A Believer" and I would have been almost 2 years old when it first came out. As my sister was a big Monkees and Beatles fan, I was exposed to both groups both musically and visually.

BSRR:
What was it about the Beatles/Monkees sound that attracted you as a kid?

JOE AUGER:
The things that caught my ears for both bands were the vocals and harmonies especially and also the drums which were my first instrumental obsession! Vocally, between all of the members , there are very distinct sounds and styles of singing that when harmonizing together create this whole other unearthly sound that is like food from the Gods! I could subsist eternally on the harmonies of "Nowhere Man" or "Pleasant Valley Sunday"!

BSRR:
What instruments do you play beside the drums?

JOE AUGER:
Primarily guitars and other stringed instruments but also bass,drums, keyboards,saxes, flute,clarinet, and cello.

BSRR:
I guess when it comes to studio time, you are sort of a one man band.

JOE AUGER:
I know the rudiments of how to play most instruments so though I am not proficient on any one thing I can create a part and then learn to play it for the recordings.

BSRR:
How would you describe the local music scene in Rhode Island?

JOE AUGER:
The local scene is fairly scattered as there are not the venues to play that there used to be. There is a bit of an open mike culture.

BSRR:
How often do you practice?

JOE AUGER:
I don't practice a lot to be frank. I rehearse with the band Anne's Cordial that I play percussion for but my own stuff tends to get worked out at the open mike that I host on Wednesdays at the Everyman in Providence

Speaking of recordings, Joe has four available on his my space page - "Love (And Such)", "The Invisible Years", "Taken Monaurally" and "Taken Aurally". Before you categorize Joe's musical tastes as "totally pop", you might want to check his "desert island" list of top 20 albums ranging from The Moody Blues to Black Sabbath. He also pays homage to Tim Buckley's "Happy Sad" , Syd Barrett's "Madcap Laughs", and "We're Only In It For The Money" by the Mothers of Invention. All three artists have subcultural status, Buckley drowning in - of all places - the Mississippi River outside Memphis just as his career was starting to take off, Barrett teetering between insanity and genius as co-creator of Pink Floyd, and Zappa's relentless pursuit of stitching together musicians and modes to come up with something original.

Check out Joe Auger's extensive collection of music,musings ,videos and a lot more at www.myspace.com/joeauger. With the music industry fragmenting and the availability of social media, talented independent artists like Joe Auger are creating a very viable alternative to the Billboard "charts".

Just remember that, when it comes to Joe's "day" job, - as Bo Diddley puts it:" Don't judge a book by looking at the cover" !!!

February Blues

2010-02-21T05:45:00.000-08:00

There are a lot of different topics that come to mind that I wanted to write about this month but I just couldn't settle on one subject. I started writing about love songs, but it was really just an excuse to repeat the lyrics to "Love Stinks". I actually just got two new CDS by Guitar Shorty and the Holmes Brothers - courtesy of Alligator - that I'm going to review. But it is hard to go through February without reconsidering the Station nightclub fire.

Seven years after the fact, I still can't believe it happened. It still seems surreal, unbelievable, unfathomable that so much carnage could happen so fast and so stupidly. A settlement has been reached for $176 million to be divided among the various parties - according to the Providence Journal - which is society's way of saying: "It's not important whose fault it is - take the money and run." Funny how nobody's responsible for anything any more - no one has to apologize or admit or acknowledge guilt. Every time there is a needless tragedy these days, the cause and effect become swallowed up by a tidal wave of empathy. We seem to spend more time absolving ourselves than being accountable.

To me, someone needs to be accountable for the 100 lives that were snuffed out, one of them being Mike Gonsalves, better known as "Gonzo" , renowned for his sense of humor, his zest for life , his willingness to help others, and - of course - his addiction to "metal" music. If you've read previous posts, you know that I hired Gonzo as an intern from Rhode Island College at WHJY. I guess the only way to rationalize his too short existence is to say that he died doing what he loved best. That doesn't excuse the laid-back mentality that allowed Great White's "crew" to think that they somehow had permission to fire off explosives directly into flammable material in a closed space, the slipshod chain of communication supposedly conveying permission from club management.

As with most Great American Tragedies, the media initially milks it for all it's worth, wringing out every graphic ounce of flesh, squeezing blood from every pore until the next horrific nightmare commands its attention, the newest calamity hopefully topping the last one. Seven years later, all that's left for the Station victims/survivors is a lot of sleepless nights, pain, suffering and eventually, once the lawyers skim off the fees, a little cash. The attention has been diverted from the fact that devastating fires, shootings and riots still occur routinely in cramped, windowless , crowded clubs around the world, making me wonder how many other Station - type disasters are simply waiting to happen.

Elvis: The Low Point?

2010-01-25T04:58:00.000-08:00

After unsuccessfully resisting the urge to begin this post with a really bad Elvis Presley joke ( "What was Elvis' last hit?" - "The floor" (I don't have to explain that, do I?) ) I decided I should be charitable and try to address Elvis' impact on culture. Ironically, the textbook I use for my mass media classes identifies Elvis' appearence on Ed Sullivan as the high point of "low" culture. You've probably heard the "high" and "low" labels before but the labels are pretty transparent - "high" means museums, dance recitals, symphonies , Shakespearean plays - culture with a capital "C" - while "low" means professional wrestling, pop music, reality TV - culture for the so-called masses. This model held up pretty well when there was a vast socio-economic gap between the "high" and "low" classes, but it doesn't carry as much weight with the advent of the dominant middle class. Most of us are trapped in the morass of "middle" America, the suburban stew of credit cards, college loans and adjustable rate mortgages.

I certainly would never label Elvis Presley as "low" culture, mainly because I've always felt that any successful artist needs recognition in the marketplace to be respected; from my point of view, that makes Elvis' transition from a Mississippi shack to a Memphis mansion more significant than Michelangelo fawning for the Pope so he could finish the Sistine Chapel. Presley's stage persona appealed to wholesome white kids in the 50s because he was the personification of "race" music - a white man with a black voice.

The mushrooming middle class ( its growth fueled by the plethora of consumer products and the American postwar economy) adapted Elvis. They watched him grow from the skinny kid who just happened to cut "That's Alright" on the flip side of a record he was making for his Mama at Sun Records to a relentless performer enthroned in that mecca of middle class dreams - Las Vegas. Presley's life mirrored their experiences - he got drafted, he got married, he settled down with children, he got divorced, he dabbled with alcohol and drugs - reinforcing their shared identity.

When the crowd gathered at Graceland earlier this month to celebrate Elvis Presley's 75th birthday, they weren't concerned with "high" or "low" culture. Instead, they were mourning the death of a true middle class icon, the first man to bring the sound of the ghetto to Levittown.

L'Esperance Mandolin Ensemble 12/31/09

2010-01-01T12:10:00.001-08:00

With all the confusion in the music industry as the record labels continue to grapple with the impact of i-Pods, ringtones, downloads and the demise of radio, it's refreshing to hear a local live performance like that of the L'Esperance Mandolin Ensemble, who played on New Year's Eve as part of Bright Night Providence at the Mathewson Street Church. This is pure entertainment, music without the incessant hype, people who play together on their own time strictly for enjoyment. The concert was an electic mix of genres and styles adapted for strings, presided over by Josh Bell , Concertmaster of the Providence Mandolin Orchestra and Director of the L'Esperance Mandolin Ensemble. BSRR spoke with Josh after the show.

BSRR:
Can you tell me how the orchestra started and when you got involved in it?

JOSH BELL:
Hibbard Perry was a mandolin and guitar teacher back in the late "Teens" and early 1920s. Starting in 1923, he began to conduct the first version of the Providence Mandolin Orchestra which he conducted until the popularity of the mandolin faded in 1939-1940. It was his dream from 1940 on to re-form this kind of music and we started playing together in 1971-72.

BSRR:
I've been told that Providence has a long standing association with the mandolin.

JOSH:
Giuseppe Pettini came to this country in the late 1880s as one of the first Italians to emigrate to America. He was already an accomplished mandolinist in Italy and when he arrived here (in Providence), he was probably in his late teens. He lied about his age and continued to lie about it until he was in his late 90s or early 100s. He died in 1966. In fact, his grandnephew is a member of our ensemble.

BSRR:
What are the different components of the mandolin orchestra?

JOSH:
Very much like a string orchestra. We have the second mandolins (which) play the same parts as first and second violins. We have a section of mandola players and a mandocello which is tuned the same as a cello in a string orchestra. A mandobass is tuned the same as a bass in string orchestra. We also have a guitar section.

BSRR:
How much classical material do you perform?

JOSH:
We do a lot of classical stuff. This program was designed more for a New Year's Eve celebration. The biggest market for classical music today is in TV and movie scores and commercials so it's not a stretch for us to be playing music that becomes popular in that way.

BSRR:
Just like John Williams.

JOSH:
I first played a John Williams number when I was in the seventh grade. He had written a piece for high school band that we played back in the 60s. He's just kept going.

BSRR:
One of the selections you did tonight was the "James Bond theme". What was the lawsuit you referred to during the introduction?

JOSH:
That piece was originally written for an Indian picture "A House For Mr. Biswa". The song from that movie featured that "dum de dum - dum" riff. When it was brought over to the James Bond theme, it was never actually given a name.

BSRR:
How about the theme from "The Magnificent 7"?

JOSH:
I think Duane - one of our mandolin players - found it first and said - 'Hey, why don't we play that one'?

(Other selections included "Ghostbusters", "Lady Madonna", and "Nutcracker Suite" - Editor's Note)

BSRR:
What message do you have for mandolin afcionadoes in relation to the future of the instrument and the popularity of the music?

JOSH:
The number one thing about the mandolin is it's an instrument that's accessible for people who want to play music. It's mostly about the joy of playing with other people. It's a very welcoming community of players. Within a year or two, almost anybody can find a group that they can play with and have a lot of fun making music.

Come to think of it, especially as we embark on a new decade, isn't that really what music is about?

Blue(s) From Santa

2009-12-08T05:42:00.000-08:00

What - still confused over what to get your favorite blues fan for Christmas ? Here's some suggested stocking stuffers that might be a better choice than that tie with the really irritating color scheme or another reindeer sweater:

1. Hard Believer - Tommy Castro - Alligator
I first heard Tommy Castro's music back in the 90s courtesy of an exhibitor in the trade shows I used to run and liked his music from the start - uptempo, bluesy and tongue-in-cheek lyrics. His latest ranges from the energetic mix of horns and guitar solos a la Jimi Hendrix on "Monkey's Paradise" to the straight ahead, flat out road runner flavor of "Make It Back To Memphis" with solid blues ballads like "Backup Plan" and "It Is What It Is", not to mention my favorite new theme song of the economic meltdown - "Trimmin' Fat". or Castro's soul drenched version of "Ninety Nine and a Half".

2. The Blues Rolls On - Elvin Bishop - Delta Groove
Elvin Bishop probably deserves an "I'm Still Here" lifetime award , or at least a few pats on the back for outliving most of the members of the original Paul Butterfield band, not to mention his stint on the Billboard charts with "Fooled Around and Fell In Love". Bishop knows how to put a song together as evidenced by the presence of - surprise - Tommy Castro, James Cotton, George Thorogood,B.B. King and others on his latest. My personal favorite is "Who's The Fool?" featuring John Nemeth and Kid Anderson. BB King and "Lucille" help Elvin pay homage to Roy Milton and a bit of BB's past in "Keep A Dollar in Your Pocket". Bishop's rendition of Ray Charles' "Night Time Is The Right Time" , "Yonders Wall" , and the title cut are all worth a listen.

3. Acquired Taste - Delbert McClinton - New West Records
Delbert McClinton is another blues survivor, although my favorite Delbert tune - "Shakey Ground" - is more funk than blues. The tune that first caught my ear from"Acquired" is one called "Can't Nobody Say I Didn't Try", featuring a tear-drenched vocal accompanied by a Nashville sounding slide guitar that punctuates the late night lyrics about love lost. "I Need To Know" , "Mama's Little Baby" , and "Starting A Rumor" are just a few examples of Delbert's ability to borrow from country,blues , soul and even a little jazz, a testament to his extensive talent.

More next week - I have to go shopping.

MJ RIP ?

2009-11-24T06:29:00.000-08:00

I haven't written a single thing about Michael Jackson's death, but I probably should have (out of guilt? neglect?). Unfortunately, the sequence of events just seemed a bit too orchestrated, as if the death was a promo for the BIG public celebration which was a promotion for the movie release which cross -promoted all of MJ's music, all of which promoted the funeral. Germaine and Tito had their 15 minutes all over again - even LaToya got another sixty seconds. The only one still bitching is Joe Jackson, who always seems venomous even when he's pretending to be human. The family drama always seemed to nearly eclipse and submerge MJ's considerable talent, the tabloid tsunami revelations sweeping away his ability to emote, move and most of all entertain.

I would venture to say that our collective memories began with a beaming kid who looked just old enough to be singing about "A-B-C - easy as 1-2-3", and ended with an emaciated semi-white nose less freak. What happened in between has been the source of perpetual debate - the fame, the kids, the trials, the lifestyle - so adding anything would just be redundant. Michael Jackson was unlucky enough to grow up in a fishbowl under a microscope surrounded by constant volleys of flashbulbs and chattering stalkerazzi. He never seemed evil - confused, maybe, but not malicious - but low key, shy and - thanks to the autopsy report - possibly stoned out of his gourd. Could be he just drifted through life - comfortably numb -and let everybody else make decisions for him, which would explain the trail of bad business deals, broken promises and lost assets.

The final irony for Michael Jackson is the fact that this really was a good career move. Not only are his CDs suddenly hot commodities after all these years, but also "This is It" shows that he still has - HAD - all the right moves. Once the court battles are resolved, and the tabloids no longer have any Jackson family exposes, MJ's legacy will finally stand alone, reaffirming his impact on popular culture as a mega-talent.

Bnois King Speaks:The RI Return of the Blood Brothers

2009-11-08T15:17:00.001-08:00

It may be a little hard to believe that most of Rhode Island's best blues shows are held at Chan's in Woonsocket, but don't just take my word for it - check it out for yourself, especially when Smokin' Joe Kubek and Bnois King are in town. The Blood Brothers' latest Blackstone Valley gig happened last Friday night (November 6), featuring penetrating guitar solos as Bnois and Smokin' Joe traded leads on standards like "Two Trains Running", "Ain't Superstitious" and "Stop Drinking", which is on their latest Alligator CD "Blues Brothers". BSRR caught up with Bnois between sets:

BSRR:
Tonight sounded a lot like fusion to me.

Bnois King:
It was kind of fusion a little bit, you know. Some nights you just play differently. It's got a lot to do with how you feel each night, you know.

BSRR:
So how do you pick what you're going to play?

Bnois King:
We have a set but we don't necessarily go down the set depending on how we feel - we might not go verbatim down the line, you know.

BSRR:
Are you heading back to the studio?

Bnois:
We were supposed to go back this month but I don't think it'll happen. It might happen in December.

BSRR:
Will it be a lot like what we heard tonight?

Bnois:
We probably won't be doing any of the stuff we played tonight. We haven't had a chance to really rehearse them with the band, you know. The material has been presented to the record company and they're reviewing it, they're checking it out.

BSRR:
We talk about Chicago blues, Memphis Blues, but if somebody asked you how to describe Texas blues, what would you say?

Bnois:
I would say more high energy, more aggressive.

The Blood Brothers are in the area twice a year, according to Bnois King, so make sure you catch them next time around. The combination of Bnois' melodic vocals, Smokin' Joe's spine straightening slide guitar, and the stinging riffs they trade off during sets is blues at its best. Chan's offers a year round "buffet" of blues -check Chan's website to see who's next. For more Blood Brothers' music , visit the gator - http://www.alligator.com/.

Excavating The Blues

2009-10-23T16:14:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to think of myself as an archaeologist when I go to the - can't call it record anymore -to the music store. I'm still willing to dig through the mounds of bargain CDs searching for the discarded gems of Chicago, the Mississippi Delta, Detroit, the whole universe of blues, jazz, funk and soul that barely exists in the chain store galaxy. True, they do relegate tiny categories in distant aisles to the genres, but the real action takes place out front.

You can spot them as you approach the corporate logo mounted on some giant neon arch that is visible halfway across the mall, the rows of hastily assembled wire bins brimming with this week's offerring of already obsolete DVDs and CDs priced to move at 3.99 - 7.99 (funny how nobody ever says 4.00 or 8.00 - it's like the .01 makes a big difference ?). In preparation for a dig last week, I steeled myself with firm resolve - I would not buy anything that cost more than ten bucks. Armed with only my debit card, I began my methodical examination of the glittering plastic sea arrayed in the CD repository beneath, orange dots across their spines tossing like whitecaps in an ocean of "loss leaders" - basically artists dumped unceremoniously by the labels.

Forty five minutes of intense scrutiny unearthed Little Walter's Greatest Hits for about five bucks, plus Leon Russell's and Tina Turner's Greatest Hits at seven each. A word about alleged "hit" collections - make sure you read the back carefully to ensure it's not the typical scam of including one decent song with lots of sort of hits - a vicious fraud perpetrated on me in numerous purchases of James Brown collections or - even worse - Canned Heat.

Case in point - Henry Vestine passed away in October, so I thought I'd try to find some really good Vestine/Canned Heat licks to play on my show. The guy's face went blank when I asked innocently at the music store in what turned out to be a vain attempt to find anything by the group at all - I wanted "Evil Woman" and "Fried Hockey Boogie" off the one and only Heat album I ever bought. My new found buddy searched his database only to announce that the tunes in question were available on a French re-release of the original (ironically, I found out later that Henry actually passed away at the end of the band's tour in France- is there a link??) which nobody in the Western Hemisphere has a copy of.

Over the years, my expeditions have uncovered lost treasures in the hundreds: Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker back to back, dozens of re-released, re-mastered versions of Robert Johnson, not to mention Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Howling Wolf, or Paul Butterfield, Buddy Guy, Albert Collins, Lonnie Mack, or Albert King, Leadbelly, and Lightnin' Hopkins - just to name a very few - plus all of those Motown Golden Hits compilations - the Temps, the Miracles, Jr Walker , Stevie, etc - , as well as all the Jukebox collections, the Blues one being superior for its inclusion of artists like Champion Jack Dupree, Memphis Slim, Roosevelt Sykes, Jimmy Witherspoon, Lowell Fulsom, Bessie Smith , Big Joe Williams- the greats that rarely get the recognition they deserve- if any at all.

There's a great big wilderness of unexplored low price bins out there waiting for intrepid explorers just like you. I say - forget the Pyramids, the Acropolis and the Taj Mahal - head for your local record - I mean - music store instead.

Chilling With The Iceman

2009-10-05T05:51:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure when I first heard Albert Collins, but once I did, I couldn't get enough. His style is unmistakable - the stinging notes ripped out of his guitar to hang in the ear like icicles - so hot they're COLD - hence the nickname Iceman. Born outside Houston in October, 1932, Collins' career spanned session work (He replaced Jimi Hendrix in Little Richard's back up band) and years of patiently waiting for his turn to step into the spotlight. It took so long that Collins had to keep working construction jobs to make ends meet.

Could be that's why the Iceman's songs are so down to earth. "The Lights Are On But Nobody's Home" deals with mundane marital issues - his mother-in-law, infidelity, money - showcased by some of the best, sharpest "chicken picking" leads contemporary blues has to offer. "Too Many Dirty Dishes" not only features Albert actually "washing" pots and pans by sliding his fingers up and down the guitar's neck - as well as the sound of water filling a glass - but also depicts the suspicious husband getting home to find dirty dishes in the sink, his wife's infidelity also evidenced by the residue of steak and caviar and other delicacies that she never serves him. Despite Collins' musical musings on infidelity, he was married to the same woman for most of his life.

Besides love, Albert Collins' best tunes deal with another familiar topic - money. Songs like "Master Charge", in which the Iceman makes fun of his wife for constantly overloading the credit card (The refrain simply repeats "Master Charge - Bank Americard" over and over), "When the Welfare Turns Its Back on You ", or "Travellin' South" , the lyrics pointing out that the singer "has no money for the telephone", heading "back down to Texas" on the shoeleather express. "If Trouble Was Money" features one of the best refrains in blues in my opinion, pointing out that: "If trouble was money / I'd be a millionaire". Last but not least, Collins first came to prominence with his instrumental tunes - "Frostbite", "Don't Lose Your Cool", and "Meltdown" , just to name a few.

Albert Collins died in Las Vegas of lung cancer , way too soon. Fortunately, he left behind some of the coldest blues tunes ever recorded - too bad it was just the tip of the iceberg.

Happy Birthday Riley King

2009-09-23T05:30:00.000-07:00

I've seen B.B. King (Born September 16, 1925 in Itta Bena, Mississippi) perform twice. The first venue was in the middle of downtown Waterbury, Connecticut at Loew's , a relic of the golden age of cinema, when people flocked to the "movie palaces" in search of affordable entertainment. It seemed entirely fitting to enjoy BB's blues in that particular setting, the faded curtains and chipped balustrades and badly stained seats evoking distant memories of prosperity. King's lyrics seemed to match the city's woes, the word pictures of lost loves and lost opportunities mirroring the grim sidewalks and empty buildings. The bluesman had just released what amounts to his "hit" record - "The Thrill Is Gone." BB's voice and guitar work are as dependable as ever, honed from years of one night stands, but what really flavors "Thrill" is the insertion of strings in the background, the orchestration providing a full-bodied sound that smooths out the rough edges. The other signature tune that BB always delivered was "Lucille", the story of his guitar.

The second time I heard him was at the end of the Newport Jazz Festival in 1985. I had dragged my poor pregnant wife just to see Miles Davis play, figuring it was one of those "see him before he dies" type opportunities. Unfortunately, after finally seeing the jazz great on stage, some idiot in front of me babbled about her summer escapades over most of the solos. As BB was starting up, my wife was melting down. I ended up helping her back to the car with the strains of "Everyday I Have The Blues" tickling my ears.

You've probably heard by now that young Riley King made his way from the Delta to Beale Street in Memphis and was originally known as Beale Street Blues Boy King, which eventually became BB King. He just celebrated his 84th birthday. In a way, King is similar to Picasso because he has lived long enough to experience his own fame and success. The only problem is that most TV viewers - who know nothing about his music - will associate BB with ads for Wendy's and/or blood sugar measuring devices. Check out BB's latest - "One Kind Favor". He still plays flawlessly, his voice shows no signs of aging, and he is still touring. The month of September unfortunately marks the passing of blues legends Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown (9/10/05) , Jimmy Witherspoon (9/18/97), Canned Heat's Al "Blind Owl" Wilson (9/3/70) and Bessie Smith (9/26/37). At least BB King is still alive and well and singing the blues.

("Blues With A Feeling" is back on 88.3 FM, Sundays from 3:00 -5:00, or at wqri.rwu.edu)

Taking Stock of Woodstock

2009-08-18T10:14:00.000-07:00

The 40th anniversary of Woodstock seemed like a good idea until the media got hold of it. As all those images of newly-revealed-but-still-moonwalking-junkie Michael Jackson fade from our collective memory, they've been replaced by scenes of glassy eyed hippies jerking convulsively to the music as the lyrical giants of the 60s propel waves of feedback across Max Yasgur's farm. Unfortunately, I was there ,too, but only after a last minute whim prompted all 5 of us to leave Martha's Vineyard on a perfect August weekend to go to upstate New York for something - I wasn't exactly sure what.

We parked in some nondescript field and joined the hordes wending their way to the main stage. One of the first things I saw was a 7 UP truck that had apparently gotten stuck in a roadside culvert. People were standing atop the soda truck, handing out free 7 UP, a harbinger of the anarchism that pervaded the event, a stirring indictment of capitalism - or something like that. The pretense at crowd control seemed to have been abandoned by the time we reached the famous hill of mud, the fence having been trashed. So there we were, totally clueless that it was an historic event.

The first performer we saw was Melanie, barely visible over the mists of pot smoke, which, of course, gave rise to that famous comment: " Who gives a f___k about Melanie?" Fortunately, we had more than enough weed to make " I got a brand new roller skate" sound almost palatable. She was followed by Tim Hardin, who I had always looked up to, except that he started nodding out, like, during his songs, which gave rise to that other famous remark: "You don't know? Tim Hardin's a junkie, man."

Unfortunately, we seemed to have picked the bargain basement performers hour, but the scene was somewhat enlivened by the entrance of Ravi Shanker, who proceeded to coax cosmic sounds out of the sitar in concert with the hurried pace of the tabla. Just as I thought I could stretch out next to my similarly entranced girlfriend, the skies began belching rain. We pretended it wasn't happening for a few minutes before the lethal mix of upstate New York farm mud with water began to create a distinctive coating. By the time we gave up and staggerred back to the van, it was like cement.

It would have helped when we opened our bleary eyes early the next morning, limbs cramped and filthy from the combination of dirt and trying to stretch out in the narrow van , if someone had reminded us that we were at the pivotal event of the Sixties and that all the memorable performances were yet to come. Unfortunately, it just seemed like mass confusion. We resolved that we needed to leave immediately or face showing up late for work Monday morning. Consequently, we missed all the legendary artists and got drunk in a nearby bar instead, followed by swimming in an adjacent lake.

Fortunately, we made it back to a halfway point in Connecticut in time to see Midnight Cowboy. Jon Voight and Dustine Hoffman had a bigger impact on me than Woodstock at the time. I'm glad that there's so much nostalgia about the event, but most of my memories revolve around the agony as opposed to the ecstasy. So much for making history.

Music To Rant and Rave By

2009-07-31T10:06:00.000-07:00

My personal theory of success in the music biz involves the supermarket, in respect to the fact that whenever I was hovering over the deli counter or stalking the frozen aisles of prepared meals, if I heard an instrumental version of an artist's song, then I concluded that that particular artist had reached the peak of success. Now I'm beginning to think that radio talk shows are providing a new outlet.

Listen to Sean Hannity's show opening and you hear a burst of country, specifically a song called "Let Freedom Ring" , which has become a conservative anthem. Hannity even does concerts for his listeners, a unique form of cross promotion. Listen to the whole show, and you'll hear instrumental bridges that range from heavy metal to vintage rock and roll riffs, as if the "conservatives in exile" - as Hannity refers to his listeners - are still energized by the sounds of their youth .

Michael Savage's show "Savage Nation" is frequently punctuated with commanding guitar chords, probably as a gonzo reference to music soothing the savage beast. The intent seems to be that ripping off a powerful chord progression will make Savage sound even more important, the prophet of doom "skanking" over a bed of shrieking feedback.

The fact of the matter is that all AM radio talk shows use music. Many stations would routinely carry specific vinyl compilations of anonymous musical "bridges" to use as on air transitions as well as commercials and on air promos. Despite the spectre of fair use, the trend has been to use familiar, high profile music in place of the old timey jingles. The air of authenticity provided by real artists singing their own work can almost be a mystical experience for the boomers.

As long as the Fairness Doctrine remains a quaint memory, it's a sure bet that the right wing talkmasters will continue to dominate AM, which means that the music they use will continue to be significant. As the recording industry continues to collapse, the marriage of rock and talk may result in increased sales for the artist, truly an off the wall collaboration between fire-breathing conservative commentators and extreme left wing rockers. Politics does indeed make strange bedfellows.

Led Balloon Rises To The Occaison: May 2, 2009

2009-05-06T03:27:00.000-07:00

In contrast to Twitter, Kindle, the IPhone and IPod ,YouTube and all the other high tech applications eagerly consumed in search of entertainment and/or diversion, a live concert in front of a crowd seems quaint and archaic. Even more shocking, in respect to the Led Balloon Jug Band concert at Northfield -Mount Hermon's newly dedicated arts center last Saturday, was the fact that there were no amplifiers or electronic devices, no software to enhance the sound, no technical wizardry to cover up human error with the exception of a few microphones. Jug band music is, after all, a sound that originated on streetcorners during the late 1920s , raucous, funky, energetic and meant to be played loudly.

The Led Balloon Jug Band was the brainchild of musicologist/songwriter/performer/educator Bruce Burnside, inspired in part by the Jim Kweskin Jug Band "revival" in the mid 1960s. He assembled a diverse group of fellow NMH students including Chris Crosby (banjo, kazoo, vocals) , Will Melton (mandolin, vocals,special sound effects), "Max" Millard and James McBean (harmonicas), Craig Roche (washtub bass, guitar, mandolin, vocals) , "Sam" Schreiber (special guest vocalist) and yours truly (jug, mediocre humor). As the band developed a following, one of the LBJB's "Special Assistants" - Deborah Wiggin - suggested to Bruce that the band should cut an album, which happened in 1967.

Flash forward to 2009, the third time the Led Balloon has re-united for a special occasion concert. This time it was different in respect to the fact that Craig Roche was no longer part of the lineup; he passed away unexpectedly last November. In order to preserve his larger-than-life memory, the concert was dubbed For The Benefit of Mr. Kite , reflecting Craig's alter ego as Mr. Kite (and lifelong love of the Beatles!). The LBJB featured two new members: Matt Snyder - replacing Craig on washtub bass - and Susan Hessey on guitar and vocals.

Thanks to Bruce's talent for arranging our generally ragged - but enthusiastic- ensemble, the audience had no idea that the entire band had not actually all played together until that particular moment. Fortunately, the charter members - who have most of these songs permanently imprinted in their memory banks by now -and the newest additions pulled off respectable versions of "Jug Band Music", "Fishin", "Morning Blues", "Whoa Mule" , "KC Moan", "Mobile Line" as well as Sam Schreiber's still flawless vocals on "Richland Woman". Susan Hessey made her official debut as the LBJB's latest chanteuse, contributing a bluesy, tongue-in-cheek rendition of the Sippie Wallace classic "You Got To Know How" (Oh, my!)". The newer tunes included "Viola Lee Blues", featuring "Shade" Melton on vocals, the jug band classic "Stealin" and the Beatles' "When I'm 64". It was Mr. Kite's idea to adapt the song to a jug band format, but the LBJB turned it into a duet, with Sam Schrieber and yours truly adding a few "dinner theatre" routines.

Ironically, the band was supposed to be embracing new technology this time around - videotaping the performance and uploading it on YouTube - but there wasn't enough time to pull it off. The Led Balloon sold commemorative tee shirts celebrating Craig Roche's life and contribution to the band, as well as Led Balloon CDs - if any of you reading this are interested in a shirt or a CD, then just respond to this blog - there are a few left. Most importantly, the band was able to make a significant contribution to the school in Craig's memory.

The LBJB would never make it on "American Idol". We're not lounge lizards or aspiring megastars, just a collection of average people who enjoy playing together. As this point in our lives, the companionship and camaraderie are just as important as the music itself, the chance to catch up and compare notes, to relive the spark of creativity that ignited back when we were 17. Although the Led Balloon has no idea where or when its next performance will be, I'd venture to say that most of the band members are already looking forward to it.

Your comments are always welcome, like this one from "Shade " himself:

In the 19th century there were lots of ways in which we built community; in fact, there were few leisure activities that did not contribute to our sense of belonging. As for music, aside from occasional troubadours appearing at the local opera house, Americans' only exposure to music was what we made ourselves. Before the advent of radio, families often doubled as musical ensembles, singing hymns, playing fiddle tunes, entertaining after dinner on the piano or Estey organ. Now we barricade ourselves behind walls of speakers and solitary headphones. No wonder we are fragmenting. Those of us in Led Balloon formed a community, preserved on vinyl thanks to our recording date in April, 1967, and it's a meaningful connection for every one of us.

Back to the Future in Newport

2009-04-18T05:09:00.000-07:00

A sea change of sorts is taking place for the 2009 Newport, RI Folk and Jazz Festivals with respect to the fact that newly minted corporate sponsors have pulled out (JVC sponsored the Jazz Festival, while Dunkin' Donuts sponsored the Folk Festival) to be replaced by the venerable George Wein, who started the two events. Ironically, besides returning to the original promoter, both venues are bringing legendary talent back to Rhode Island.

Headlining the Folk Festival from 7/31/09-8/2/09 for its 50th anniversary are four giants of the folk world. Pete Seeger returns to the concert he helped to create, underscoring his lifelong commitment to change the world for the better through his music. Joan Baez, Judy Collins and Arlo Guthrie will join Seeger in a nod to the Festival's traditions, evoking the earnest, unjaded quality of the protest movements that characterized the early 1960s, the forced complacency of the white middle class in the 50s fractured by racism, sexism and the other institutional barriers which the Boomers decided to decimate. The "pure" folk music of these particular artists was clean and respectful, suggesting that the need for change could be lifted out of the isolated "beatnik" cultural pockets of the era and injected into the mainstream without the scruffiness and anarchism; it was OK to protest even if you were a product of the prep school/Ivy League circuit. The groundswell of change that would topple the Patti Pages, Doris Days and Frankie Laines who lulled America into the musical coma of the 1940s-50s started at the Newport Folk Festivals.

George Wein's Jazz Festival turns 55 with Tony Bennett, Etta James, The Dave Brubeck Quartet and Branford Marsalis topping the bill at Fort Adams from 8/7/09-8/8/09. Bennett has become an American icon, the top "brand" of jazz influenced vocalists, his mellow phrasing and rich voice instantly recognizable. I don't think I've ever heard another blues/jazz singer who can infuse lyrics with more power than Etta James. She is able to mutate a song into a rich vocal tapestry, cajoling, demanding, lamenting and prying the mood out of the melody. Dave Brubeck looks like the quintessential 1950s geek, bespectacled, short-haired,well dressed and well spoken , the most unlikely portrait of a musical innovator. Yet he and Paul Desmond among others lifted jazz out of the inner city and dropped it in the nation's living rooms, a bridge between black music and the white middle class, similar in a way to the rise of Elvis Presley. Branford Marsalis brings a rich New Orleans traditional background to blend the past with the present, personalizing the style to insure it survives the 21st Century.

The overwhelming sense of irony is reflected in the Folk Festival lineup. Although the "folkies" have been pushed aside by age and their "quaint" form of protest music, the recent economic and social upheavals have revived some of that sentiment. You'd have to go to to Fort Adams in Newport this summer to see if that's true, if the quintessential "old" has become new again.

Happy Birthday Muddy

2009-04-01T04:06:00.000-07:00

Although April is a popular month for blues birthdays - including Billie Holiday, Buddy Guy, and Albert King among others - the most significant date in the month is the 4th, because that's the day that McKinley Morganfield - better known as Muddy Waters - was born. The year was 1915 and the place was Clarksdale, Mississippi.

In the opening scenes of the late great film Cadillac Records, we see McKinley/Muddy sitting in front of a tiny shack dwarfed by a vast plain, cradling his guitar, an epic scene that personifies the Delta blues journey, using Muddy's character as the narrative line. A tanklike sedan appears in the distance, moving relentlessly across the sea of mud, in fact carrying blues historian Alan Lomax. Waters is mystified by the contraption Lomax pulls out of his trunk -a 1940s era vintage reel to reel tape recorder - which Lomax powers by using his car battery, but Muddy is even more amazed to hear himself on tape. The actual meeting happened in 1941, and the recording was called "I Be's Troubled". Waters was 26 years old, driving a tractor on the plantation.

By 1943, Waters leaves for Chicago, where, after trying unsuccessfully to play acoustic guitar on the streetcorner, he discovers a new sound - electric guitar, apparently suggested and/or inspired by Muddy's future wife Geneva. His popularity begins to climb based on Chicago club dates until Waters attracts the attention of Chess Records' owner/founder Leonard Chess. Together they cut a wide swath through the music industry, quickly recording and releasing "I Can't Be Satisfied", "Honeybee", "Mannish Boy", "Hoochie Coochie Man" and others. Waters finds blues harp virtuoso Little Walter Horton playing on a streetcorner,incorporating him into the band. Their partnership propels Muddy to new heights, with more songs - "40 Days and 40 Nights", "Got My Mojo Working", and a solo hit for Little Walter called "Juke" among many others.

Unfortunately, Muddy Waters' career is more or less eclipsed by rock and roll. Leonard Chess is depicted in the film as providing royalties to Waters even when he hadn't earned any, Muddy's music is relegated to smaller venues and clubs. Little Walter ends up a heroin addict and bad drunk, dying in Geneva Waters' arms, apparently an oblique reference to the harmonica player's lifelong "crush" on his best friend's wife.

Ironically, just when the blues seems to be on life support, the English rockers - Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, John Mayall, Mick Jagger - start listening to Waters' music and recording his songs. The aging blues legend is suddenly back in vogue, no one apparently more surprised than Muddy himself as he plays for crowds of infatuated young white fans overseas. Waters' musical revival leads to sessions with younger musicians, the best product of this association being a partnership with guitarist Johnny Winter. Waters dies in his sleep on April 30, 1983.

Ordinarily, McKinley Morganfield's life would have been just another footnote in American music were it not for a series of circumstances that bridged the gaps in his career. As depicted in "Cadillac Records" , Muddy Waters becomes a mythic figure, the personification of Delta blues adapting and changing to meet the demands of the urban environment, a pioneer who blazed a new trail to preserve and invigorate a true American art form.

RIP Sonny Terry

2009-03-20T05:32:00.000-07:00

One of the most surprising segments of a unique blues DVD I saw recently (Provided - of course - by the ubiquitous "Shade" Melton) shows harmonica virtuoso Sonny Terry and guitarist Brownie McGhee playing "Stranger Blues" to a crowd of eager listeners who are actually dancing - at one point - to Terry's solo harp playing, punctuated by Terry's whoops and hollers in place of percussion. What surprised me the most was that this single , rather diminutive instrument was creating as much sound as a dance band, but the clip is not so much a testament to the blues harp as it is to the talent of Sonny Terry who died during the month of March.

Saunders Terrell was born in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1911. Although I've always heard he was born blind, apparently (According to The BluesHarp Page: Legends) "Sonny" lost sight in one eye when he was 5 and the other when he was 18. Consequently, Terry's options for making a living were limited, so he began playing harmonica on streetcorners. This lead to a partnership with Blind Boy Fuller, ending with Fuller's death in 1941. At that point, Sonny Terry began a long-lasting partnership with Brownie McGhee.

Unlike numerous other blues musicians, the duo became an integral part of the folk movement of the late 1950s - early 1960s. Some of the songs specifically attributed to Terry include "Old Jabo", which recounts the story of a man who dies from a snake bite, the harmonica carrying the rthymn as well as the melody, producing an authentic "country blues" sound. One of my favorites is "Walk On", a tribute to the importance of never giving up, which features both McGhee and Terry harmonizing. The only solo Terry effort I've run across is an obscure instrumental called "Harmonica Hop", which is understandable, since it doesn't emphasize Terry's unique style - he just plays along. "Brownie's New Blues" , a cut on a CD collection of blues artists, features the duo in a new collaboration, abandoning their folk tradition to dabble in urban blues. The musicianship is excellent, but it rings hollow compared to the "pure folk" sound of "Old Jabo."

Sonny Terry's distinctive harmonica sound has been used for the soundtracks of several films, as well as commercials. Terry died in March of 1986, the same year he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. Unlike many other blues giants who struggled for recognition, Sonny Terry rose from a hardscrabble childhood and a serious handicap to achieve fame , fortune and praise.

The Obligatory St. Patrick's Day Irish Music Blog

2009-03-11T06:46:00.000-07:00

Irish music is not my strong point. I don't mean U2, Van Morrison, Sinead O'Connor or The Hothouse Flowers - I mean Riverdance, Celtic Women and the other purveyors of "traditional" Irish music. I admire the precision, the technique, the desire to preserve a traditional culture - the content is what bothers me. I don't think I've ever heard a happy traditional Irish tune, with the exception of "Irish Eyes" - but even that isn't entirely upbeat. I always think of Irish music as being incredibly mournful, tales of lost loves and lost lives sung by long haired women with sad eyes playing harps. Jigs and reels are happy and upbeat, but I've heard more ballads than blowouts , which explains my built-in prejudice.

Besides , Saint Patrick's day isn't really a holiday - it's an opportunity to get wasted. which seems incredibly un -PC, not to mention the image it creates of the Emerald Isle. The schizophrenic nature of the annual whatever was amply illustrated during one forgettable period in my broadcasting career when I spent St. Pat's doing live "drops" from an Irish watering hole in scenic Framingham. No one wanted to be interviewed since they had blown off work and were afraid their bosses might recognize their voices. I couldn't drink with them since I had to stay alert, so I simply watched them get slowly trashed. The high point was interviewing one extremely wasted barfly who finally agreed to talk on the air only so she could unleash one of those words you're not supposed to say, thus earning me a blistering phone call from the station manager. The final indignity on that particular occasion happened a few minutes after my shift ended, pulling over to retch on the side of Route 9, the result of eating a free sandwich.

I'm not arguing about the nobility of suffering and the need for poetic expression through song; I'm just wondering why the dominant emotion has to be despair. Ironically, there is a definite parallel between the legacy of American blues music and my perception of Irish music - the same bleak view of romance, the feeling of being trapped by your unalterable circumstances. I'm reminded of a picture I saw on the wall of an excavation outside Williamsburg, Virginia, part of an exhibit documenting one of the earliest English settlements, which depicted a bug-eyed, long haired being identified as a wild Irishman. The captured Celts were imported from the Auld Sod as slaves to the colonists in the same way Africans were kidnapped to work on Southern plantations. Perhaps this is the link, the cross-cultural emotional core that links the two seemingly divergent forms, proof that suffering produces great art.

However, even though I am supposedly part Irish, I'm not about to let that wave of emotion wash me away this Saint Patrick's Day. Chances are better that I'll take a few swallows of (green) beer to remind myself that the glass is never half empty but in fact, half full.

The Clock is Ticking

2009-03-05T03:56:00.000-08:00

Ever stop to consider the schizophrenic relationship that we have with time? When you're a teenager, you can hardly wait to turn old enough to drink or drive; when you're uncomfortably close to the big six - o, you would jump at the chance to lose a few decades. However disconcerting it may be, we all have to face the fact that - as Mick Jagger put it so succinctly - "Time waits for no one and it won't wait for me." Consequently, as I am acutely aware that time is running out for me and my alleged lifestyle, I've come up with a few "time" lines.

One of the great Sixties anthems is "Time" by the Chambers Brothers - who could forget the psychedelic impact of the group chanting: "Time! " as the clock ticks ominously in the background. Yet the message was: "Time has come today" , as in the moment is now, change is in the air, we can't turn back. From a different perspective - but approximately the same era - we have Tyrone Davis' soulful lyric (re-done by R Kelly) lamenting:"If I could turn back the hands of time," a more commonly accepted view of having the time back that you squandered so you can re-write the past. I've frequently wanted to join Jethro Tull "Living in the Past" - seriously,what's the point of being paralyzed by the wreckage in the stock market when you can delude yourself with visions of "Glory Days"?

Ray Charles' "Night Time is the Right Time" is another angle on when it's "time" to fall in love, as opposed to Dr. John's familiar (and oh-so-true refrain) : "I was in the right place/But it must have been the wrong time." However, as Pete Seeger and the Byrds remind us: "There is a time for every purpose under heaven" ("Turn,Turn,Turn"). There's always as a first time - as in Lou Gramm and Foreigner reminding us that: "It feels like the first time " - and there's always a last time - Jagger and the Stones pointing out: "This could be the last time - baby the last time - I don't know-oh no -no no no (etc)."

Mick and company win the BSRR Best Time Song for March,2009, mainly because they've managed to express the hope of us aging boomers that: "Time is on my side - yes it is."

The Great Harmonica Crisis

2009-02-16T09:49:00.000-08:00

It all started innocently enough. If you've read this blog more than once, then you may have picked up on my desire to play harmonica like Paul Butterfield or Rod Piazza. I did in fact play blues harp for the Phoenix Blues Band's brief rise and fall during one memorable Martha's Vineyard summer (1968? I think). My virtuosity consisted of playing any note that sounded vaguely appropriate as long as possible before risking the chance of switching to one that was obviously flat, and I destroyed quite a few Hohner Marine Bands. Since America doesn't seem to want me for anything serious right now, I thought I'd take it up again - who knows, maybe add a tin cup and a dancing monkey and viola! - head for the nearest street corner and show the recession who's boss. Consequently, I headed for a music store that I've driven past for years, walked inside and asked if they had any harmonicas.

You would have thought I asked the guy to donate a kidney. He immediately launched into a major lecture that incorporated floods and (I think) political unrest in Thailand , which meant that the reed farms had been flooded so that the supply of reeds from Southeast Asia had dried up, so that if I wanted a harmonica, it was AT LEAST a three week wait unless there was a coup in Bangkok - and not only that, but the new harmonica would set me back thirty five bucks. As I pondered the discovery that component parts for harmonicas are actually imported and subject to the vagaries of the global marketplace like most other products, I realized how naive I was, having not bought a Hohner since the 1960s and somehow being simple-minded enough to think the price was still five bucks. After more debate over the price and the delay, I beat a hasty retreat , surprised that I was shut out of the harmonica industry.

Back home, I realized I couldn't give up that easily. Promises had been made, expectations had been raised - failure was not an option. Fortunately, in a charitable attempt to encourage my explorations on the mouth harp, "Shade" Melton provided me with a G, an A and an E. Thus fortified, I took the major step of actually spending my own money on one of those "learn at home" programs which, for only $19.99 ,promises to transform the average person into a world class player in 10 east lessons. I eagerly ripped open the CD when it arrived, grabbed my mouth harps, and proceeded to try and play along, until I realized that every tune in the lesson used a C harp. I began to understand why everything sounded off key.

My new career as a mouth harp master is at a crossroads. Do I ignore the recent political unrest and fly to Bangkok for my own supply of reeds, or continue to practice (and sound wretched) until I stumble upon a C? Only time and my own desire to actually learn how to do something musical will tell the final tale. Meanwhile, hang on to your harmonicas - you never can tell if there's going to be another coup attempt in Thailand.

Bruce Burnside's "Unsung Stories of the Civil War"

2009-02-02T08:20:00.000-08:00

Musician/musicologist Bruce Burnside has a lifelong affinity for the Civil War which began in his childhood , thanks to encouragement from his father: "..My dad introduced me to the Civil War when I was 5 or 6...Our house was FULL of trapdoor Springfields, cartridges and various pieces of military stuff...Being able to put coins in my pocket that existed during the Civil War, hold guns, ammunition, swords and knives from the period made it seem real..." The strongest connection between Bruce and the War Between The States is the fact that he is descended from Union General Ambrose Burnside (The General cast a long shadow in Rhode Island, as evidenced by the number of streets named after him as well as his statue - but that's another story).

Bruce Burnside decided to transform his love of Civil War history into a series of musical vignettes called "Unsung Heroes of the Civil War" , to make history come to life in an educational setting. The National Endowment for the Arts, in recognition of Burnside's work, has recently awarded him a Challenging America Grant to orchestrate the songs and do two local performances with a 24 piece chamber orchestra. BSSR caught up with Bruce recently to find out more about the project and the grant.

BSSR:
How is the work structured?

BURNSIDE:
The stage presentation has three actors.. who have a script memorized. They deliver their lines and sing songs. They play guitar, fiddle,banjo and penny whistle in different combinations while the sing. For this project, the chamber orchestra plays as well.

BSSR:
Do you see any parallels between the Civil War era and today?

BURNSIDE:
What I teach fifth graders in my school residencies is the similarity of peoples' behavior then and now. WWII veterans said exactly what Civil War vets said. Getting to the sources allows us to see the parallels in political behavior, the economic exploitation, the poor, young soldiers escaping their dead end opportunities, etc. "A rich man's fight and a poor man's war."

BSSR:
What message do you want to convey?

BURNSIDE:
What I want to convey is that people have the potential to use their energy to achieve great things. War takes away the energy and changes the person into a less positive individual.... Walking the battlefields gives me the perspective of the massive forces, but I look at it one face at a time. I guess I want to remind us that we've already tried this and it isn't a solution.

For more information on "Unsung Heroes" plus Bruce's music, performance schedule and insight, just Google his name.

Tom Joad's Top Ten

2009-01-16T03:54:00.000-08:00

I've become inundated with so many disturbing media prognostications about the US economy being on life support that I'm convinced this recession is being staged to sell more newspapers and boost ratings. There may be some validity to the suggestion that bad times are enhanced by great press coverage, each dire report relentlessly trumped by the next, until readers/viewers are convinced that the economic end times are here and act accordingly. The "Grapes of Wrath" syndrome has already turned millions of once contented Americans into angry Tom Joads, shut out of the economy for reasons that no one can really explain, the "new" Okies, c. 2009. How long will it take until we see modern day caravans of down on their luck families searching from state to state for the next low wage job?

Since I'm waking up at 4:00 AM most mornings wondering how many more months I can survive, it occurred to me that us latter day Joads might best amuse ourselves by devising our own "hit" lists of tunes that seem to describe the (don't use that word) Depression of 2009. First and foremost and nearly synonymous with Tom Joad is Pete Seeger's 1930s era ditty about: "If you ain't got the dough-ray-me, boys..." , basically a warning that California doesn't want you if you're broke, thus puncturing the "pie in the sky" dream of prosperity that gave hope to the Dust Bowl refugees.

But economic chaos in the new century bears little resemblance to the Thirties; we don't have dramatic collapses, we have more gradual - and predictable - progressions into bankruptcy. My pick for the 2009 theme song is "Going Down Slow" as sung by Howling Wolf, because that's really what it's all about - slowly sinking into the quicksand of poverty and fear. Speaking of the blues, given the music's origin, there are some excellent hymns to the power of money, my favorite being Ray Charles' "I'm Busted", but "A Nickel's Worth of Liver" by Edith North Johnson is a definite dark horse, since it combines poverty and domestic violence. As Albert Collins puts it :" ..If trouble was money / I'd be a millionaire.." on his spine-tingling live version of "If Trouble Was Money", but he also knows how to make fun of over-extending your credit limit in "Master Charge" - the chorus sounds like the first example of "brand placement" in the blues since all Albert says is: "Master Charge / Bank Americard.." Probably the funniest but relatively most obscure odes to the Almighty dollar is "Broke" by Mitch Woods and Rocket 88s", the sad tale of an almost penniless dude who tries to impress a date by buying her a drink - only to find out that she orders everything in the Bartender's Guide as in: "Pina Colada/Vodka with a twist/A shot of whiskey/And an Irish Mist " (These are MY lyrics by the way, but you get the idea!).

Doesn't take much to see how money ends up in most forms of popular music - like the O'Jays' "Money" (Money-Money-Mon-AH!) or Boz Scaggs' version of "Brother Can You Spare A Dime?, or the rap refrains of: " If it ain't about the Benjamins/Then Puffy just don't care" or Fitty Cent' words to live by - "Get rich or die tryin" . Then there's movie titles, from: "Three Coins in the Fountain" to "The Color of Money ", TV, of course, with "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?", where hapless contestants were routinely savaged by a smug Regis Philbin, to "Deal or No Deal", where hapless contestants are routinely trashed by a smirking Howie Mandell, and the socially acceptable dreams that are expressed in timeworn aphorisms every day."A penny saved is a penny earned " (Advice that certainly was not heeded until last September), "Find a penny/Pick it up/All day long/You'll have good luck", "You look like a million", "What's your two cents?", etc.,etc.,etc.

Remember - the next time you wake up feeling like Tom Joad in the agonizing pre-dawn hours, there are a few tunes that may calm you enough to go back to sleep. Try humming "Pennies From Heaven" and counting sheep.

Deconstructing Delta Blues

2009-01-06T04:32:00.000-08:00

The more I write about music, the more I realize how little I know about the various genres. Fortunately, my blues education is finally developing; a friend sent me a copy of Ted Gioia's new book, "Delta Blues" (2008) published by W.W. Norton , New York and London. It seems fitting that, as I approach the second anniversary of BSRR, I am finally beginning to learn about the music.

The best thing about this extremely comprehensive work is in the details. The facts about these legendary Delta musicians dispel the outlandish mythology that has grown up with the spread of the music, in the same way that Sixties rock rumors mushroomed through word-of-mouth - Paul McCartney's barefoot on the Abby Road cover because he died , Mama Cass Eliott choked to death on a ham sandwich, Jimi Hendrix' drummer's heart exploded because of an overdose of speed, etc.,etc. The best known Delta blues tall tale is - of course- Robert Johnson's legendary deal with the devil, and Gioia chases down every tenuous thread of information about the cryptic musician, exposing the "Me and the Devil" story as an early form of image management, designed to enhance Johnson's career, and demonstrating that the same manufactured "hype" has been applied to other blues giants, including Howling Wolf. Johnson's untimely death is described in detail, but, as is the case with most stories about the cryptic musician, Gioia's research can't substantiate the circumstances with official accounts; instead, as is the case of most of the stories about Delta artists, he faithfully repeats the remembrances of other players . The truth about Robert Johnson is that he encouraged the linkage with the devil, elevating his reputation in the back country juke joints and the sleepy Delta hamlets, the pre-cursor to the demonic rock industry, personified by Ozzy Osborne; it was said that he paid for this association by a slow, agonizing death. Ironically, the spectre of religion seems to haunt a lot of the back country bluesmen with Gioia pointing out that many were ashamed to admit, when "re-discovered " in the Sixties ,that they had ever played the "evil" blues.

Delta Blues meticulously documents the alleged beginning of the "popularization" of the genre, when W.C. Handy sees a musician playing by a Mississippi train station and turns it into "The St. Louis Blues" in 1902. As interesting as the early tales of Charley Patton, Tommy Johnson, Son House, Lonnie Johnson and many others are, Gioia delves into de-mystifying some of the commonly-accepted Delta imagery as well through detailed descriptions of Parchman Farm , the Dockery plantation among others, the Delta itself, and a myriad of facts documenting such blues aficionado trivia as the origin of the expressions "dirt poor" and "where the Southern cross the Dog". The early pioneers who popularized the music are woven into the story as well , the most notable being H.C.Speir's record shop - slash - recording studio in Jackson, Mississippi where many of the masters were first immortalized, and the rise and fall of the various struggling blues labels - Paramount, OKeh, Victor and - of course - the legendary sessions in a San Antonio hotel when two British expatriates infatuated with the emerging American blues recorded Robert Johnson on the ARC label in 1936.

The transition from Clarksdale to Chicago is personified by the larger than life figures of Muddy Waters , first recorded in front of his Delta shack by Alan Lomax using a recording device powered by his car battery which propelled Muddy to worldwide fame and a lucrative career playing clubs and making records for Chess; Howlin' Wolf, older but much wilder, his towering stage presence enhanced by tricks like shaking up a Coke bottle, sticking it in his pants and popping the top during the climax of a song ; John Lee Hooker, whose feet barely touched the Delta mud at birth before his family fled, a musician who nobody could follow because he never played a song the same way twice but Hooker's music didn't really have a beat, but a throbbing pulse which nobody could duplicate; and last but certainly not least, B.B. King, whose talent bridged the gap into jazz, rock and classical, and whose longevity has made him the Mount Rushmore of the blues.

There are very few stones left unturned by the end of this four hundred - plus page tome, which includes a detailed discography. If you want to dispel the myths and delve into the grit about this truly American art form, then check out Delta Blues .

Cruising With Cadillac Records

2008-12-21T05:41:00.001-08:00

The best movies about the recording industry stay faithful to the genre - they tend to let the music speak for itself which is the case with Cadillac Records, the recently released cinematic story of the rise and fall of Chicago's Chess label. It moves seamlessly through the mosaic of blues musicians that made Chess famous, touching along the way on racism, drug addiction, marital infidelity, all the subjects that define the genre.

The story is told by Willie Dixon, played reverently by Cedric the Entertainer, but the "soul" of the story is really Muddy Waters. From the moment Muddy is "discovered" in Clarksdale, Mississippi by an earnest Alan Lomax until he steps off the plane to an icon's welcome in England, he is a towering figure. Waters moves to Chicago and eventually attracts the attention of - at that time - club owner Leonard Chess. Chess decides to start a record label, complete with a unique revolving disc and tone arm mounted above the door, in a black neighborhood of Chicago, an improbable feat for a Polish immigrant who knew next to nothing about the blues.

The first few releases in the early 1950s - like "Honeybee"- feature Muddy's unique style of plucking away at the guitar , creating a resonant, commanding tone that takes his Delta roots to new levels. His early records are an instant hit, but Waters' musical journey twists in another direction with the addition to the band of a nearly destitute Little Walter, discovered playing harmonica on a street corner. Muddy takes him in, little realizing that his protege' will eventually fall in love with his wife Geneva, and the two go on to cut classics like "40 Days and 40 Nights", and "Got My Mojo Working". In 1952, Little Walter records "Juke" , a solo instrumental with a backing band, that goes on to be a hit but, as with so many bluesmen, as Walter's career begins to rise, his personal life sinks, into a morass of heroin and booze. Little Walter becomes the underside of the Chess story, his life coming apart throughout the course of the movie - driving around with all the doors taken off his Cadillac, which earns him a beating at the hand of racist police - ramming another Caddy into Chess's front office, demanding that the label buy him a new one - and finally beaten to death, dying in Geneva Waters' arms.

A parade of musicians pass through the doors at Chess - Howlin Wolf, with his raspy wail of a voice, depicted as strong-willed but mesmerizing - Chuck Berry, played "def"-ly by Mos Def - and of course Etta James, portrayed flawlessly by Beyonce'. Unfortunately, as the Fifties draw to a close, Muddy Waters' music is eclipsed by rock and roll and he begins to rely on Leonard Chess' generosity. Chess is finally sold much to the dismay of its artists. In one of the movie's most poignant scenes, Etta James is singing "I'd Rather Be Blind" as Leonard passes through the studio for the last time, gets into his Cadillac, drives to the end of the street and dies from a heart attack.

Thanks to English fans, Muddy's career abruptly takes off in the early Sixties, and "Cadillac Records" ends with Willie Dixon's wry commentary as he and Muddy arrive in London. Even if you are a marginal fan of the genre, the movie documents the impact of the blues in a straight forward, uncompromising way, which makes you believe that this is the way it really happened.

Death by Decibels

2008-12-13T07:14:00.000-08:00

There's a vintage comedy by Billy Wilder in which Horst Buchholtz is tortured by being forced to listen to "Itsy Bitsy Tiny Weeny Yellow Poke A Dot Bikini" over and over again until he cracks and confesses to whatever he was supposed to confess to. Over time this technique has been perfected until the ugly truth can now be told: one of the most potent weapons of torture at Guantanamo Bay is rock and roll. According to a recent Associated Press article, detainees are routinely subjected to a 24/7 ear-splitting musical diet of "decadent" American artists like Metallica, AC/DC, Eminem, Aerosmith, Drowning Pool and Nine Inch Nails.

This is understandable - after all, I'm pretty sure I'd wither under the constant pressure of "Sandman", "Dream On" or listening to Eminem repeat "Will the REAL Slim Shady please stand up ?" over and over again - but the Defense Department has added a bizarre twist by including the theme song from "Sesame Street" as well as the national anthem of 3 and 4 year olds, "I Love You" , by Barney the Dinosaur. Bob Singleton, the author of the dinosaur ditty, told the AP that he thinks whoever decided to diss Barney must have a few screws loose: " A song that was designed to make little children feel safe and secure was somehow going to threaten the mental states of adults and drive them to the emotional breaking point?" Don't be surprised if Al Queda releases a rash of Barney beheading videos - after all, they're just getting revenge.

If you want to find out what's it's like to be locked up in Cuba, just grab a pair of headphones and put on AC/DC, crank it up until your eardrums ache, and just sit there until your brains turn to jelly. It'll make waterboarding seem like a good idea.

American Idolatry

2008-12-09T11:25:00.000-08:00

I was struck by a peculiar thought as I watched American Idol winner Taylor Hicks descend in a silver lame platform from heaven as "Teen Angel" in the road show of Grease last Friday night. Hicks probably got as many votes as Barack Obama. Whether he did or not - probably not- it may cross somebody's mind someday that this would be a great way to elect a President - sing your best soulful, ear-caressing ballad or that kick ass rock and rock anthem, and you're on your way to that big soundstage recently installed in the Oval Office. No more Fireside Chats or Saturday morning radio addresses - switch it to Classic Rock, Rap and HipHop, Reggae, Reggaton, Techno, Alternative, etc., and occasional retro forays into Disco Night or Soul Power Hour.

Hicks has a big, soothing voice that was perfect in the best doo wop fashion as Teen Angel consoles poor Frenchy that she can still "...go back to high school.." even if she is a "Beauty School Dropout." It was a perfect Burger Palace serenade, in keeping with the show's overall flawless execution, making the Fifties musical journey from the token car song - "Greased Lightnin" -to the token teen aged angst ballad - " It's Raining on Prom Night" - to the bulletproof, onetime AM radio hits - "Hopelessly Devoted To You" and "Grease". The show opens with a Four Seasons intro, four of the actors emerging from separate doorways, although no one had that necessary Frankie Valli falsetto. Danny Zuko (Eric Schneider) came across in that big John Travolta style, while Sandy Dumbrowski (Emily Padgett) was eerily reminiscent of Olivia Newton John. The other key roles - Koneicki, Rizzo, Frenchy and the rest - featured individual vocalists who captured the elements of Fifties music and dance to a proverbial "t". By the time they were collectively rocking out to "You're The One That I Want/We Go Together", most of the audience was following suit.

The only odd thing was that Taylor Hicks gets so much billing in the pre-show hype that you think he dominates the whole show as opposed to a cameo in the second act. I guess Teen Angel would always be considered the equivalent of an American Idol anyway, the divine reincarnation of that carefree Fifties spirit - but would he get us out of the economic mess?

Craig

2008-11-23T06:48:00.001-08:00

The one quote about death that always sticks in my mind - and I don't remember who said it - was something about most people either dying too late or too soon. In the case of my late friend Craig Roche, it was way too soon.

He was a true original, an elf, a self-made man who refused to take anything too seriously. He loved music. Craig's talent extended from acoustic to electric, from the traditions of jug band blues to the spectrum of rock and roll, playing in both musical worlds throughout his life. It was a privilege to help hold up the rthymn section in the Led Balloon Jug Band with Craig, observing first hand his amazing agility to coax and occasionally beat sound out of an inverted washtub, a pole and a string. He was equally adept on washboard, kazoo, vocals and - of course - guitar.

Our friendship had solidified at two class reunions in the recent past, since, for those of you reading this who wouldn't know, school was where Craig and I first got to know each other. I would always show up and immediately want to leave, but then he would calm me down with his infectious humor. As a matter of fact, Craig Roche's laugh is immortalized on one track of the original Led Balloon Jug Band Album, punctuating my teen aged coughing fit.

One of our functions besides struggling to maintain the "foundation " of the band's sound, was to provide humor, in terms of spoken asides , shout-outs (Craig's specialty) and general patter that fluctuated between a dismal Vegas lounge act and what passed for vaguely hip in the Sixties but now sounds like a rehearsal for the assisted living center talent show. I would always pull back in the middle of an idea, but Craig would push the envelope, carrying the thought to the most insane extreme, fearlessly jabbing our funny bones - I haven't seen too many people in my life that were capable of getting away with that lind of controlled insanity.

A few weeks back I wrote about Jim Kweskin and Geoff Muldaur in this space, and thoughtlessly implied that perhaps jug band music had somehow disappeared. At 12:57 PM on November 9,2008, there was a comment from Craig "The Bassman" Roche who wrote: "Good God, man, jug band music never left - so how can it come back? It still sounds so sweet, it certainly is a treat to me." Nine days later, Craig died at the age of 59.

Funny - I have a quiz to write, two exams to compose, plus go buy food and a radio show in a couple of hours, but I had to drop everything to get this done. He wouldn't want this to be too serious, so I'll just close by echoing the same sentiments - hanging out and playing music with Craig Roche certainly was a treat to me.

The Devil Makes Three

2008-11-08T06:36:00.000-08:00

For two weeks now, I've been driving back and forth listening to The Devil Makes Three. Now that the economic meltdown has set in , this is the only way I can catch up with new tunes, in between my jobs, careening down the interstate. I've come up with a thousand excuses why I'm not ready to write the blog. Meanwhile, in the middle of my ongoing obsession with trying to write quality reviews about lesser known musicians, the strangest thing happened: their music began to grow on me.

The Devil Makes Three's combination of guitar, tenor banjo, upright bass and vocals renergizes a range of musical genres from cowboy strumming to country and western alcohol-fueled laments to Appalachian harmonies to sea chanteys to tongue-in-cheek talking blues. Besides the superior musicianship, the lyrics to their original compositions are clever, catchy and world weary. My two favorites, which seem vaguely autobiographical, are "Graveyard" , with plaintive vocals that evoke REM's Michael Stipe - especially the haunting refrain of "That's me" - and "Beneath the Piano" - studded with those whispered nuggets of small town gossip suggesting the return of tarnished prodigal son. "Black Irish", the first song on their live CD "A Little Bit Faster and A Little But Worse" , is a driving blend of strings and vocals enhanced by the addition of a fiddle.

It was recorded at Don Quixote's in Felton, California which is evident by the way the crowd greets the raucous chorus from the Devil's tune "Shade" , especially the line about " What the hell am I doing drunk in the middle of the day?"

The Devil Makes Three is Cooper McBean and Pete Bernhard playing guitar and tenor banjo as well as sharing vocals, Lucia Turino on upright bass and vocals, and Chojo Jacques on fiddle. They have three CDs which you can find out more about at http://www.thedevilmakesthree.com/. You'll be surprised at how fluid their playing is, but don't be surprised if you find yourself tapping your toes and humming along and chuckling over the lyrics - their music is infectious.

The Return of Geoff Muldaur and Jim Kweskin

2008-10-13T05:25:00.000-07:00

The original Jim Kweskin Jug Band was as big as the Beatles. If you find that hard to believe, just remember that Paul and John started out as - guess what? - a jug band named the Quarrymen Skiffle Band. Kweskin assembled an exceptional group of musical innovators in the early 1960s, most of whom went on to pursue solo careers, including Maria (D'Amato) Muldaur, eclectic banjo player Bill Keith, bluesman Geoff Muldaur and Jim Kweskin himself. Before last Saturday night in Framingham, I hadn't seen Muldaur and Kweskin on stage since the days of the Mooncusser Coffee House on "Circus" Avenue in Oak Bluffs. Thanks to that ever vigilant traditional music aficionado Will "Shade" Melton , those days came back to life , if only for a couple of hours.

Going to the Amazing Things Art Center in downtown Framingham was also nostalgic in respect to my own alleged career. I spent six years of my life working at an AM radio station in Natick, convinced that fame and fortune would be mine once the Boston stations decided to hire me, but - in the interim - had the distinction of covering the Framingham selectmens' meeting every Monday night. I never forgot the train station roof. You couldn't help but notice the sagging, nearly collapsed canopy of rotten shingles as you drove by, a symbol of small scale urban blight. Surprisingly, the concert was in a converted firehouse in the middle of downtown with an excellent Brazilian restaurant across the street, where Shade and I relaxed with an impressive buffet. Although Framingham's new look was commendable, I never did get to see if they fixed the train station roof.

Geoff Muldaur's voice is truly unequalled, coaxing out a long slow blues, adding a little vibrato, or just singing gently along with his guitar. Muldaur was the opening act. He joked easily with the audience between songs, his bemused expression indicating that we were all in the same age bracket, complete with the quip about the stock market, a far cry from the Vineyard. It was a pleasure watching him run through a fluid mix of blues and folk, including a slow Lonnie Johnson blues , the late Eric Von Schmidt's "Light Rain", and a Vera Hall tune that gave Geoff another chance to show off his vocal range. When Jim Kweskin arrived on stage, the Jug Band rose briefly from the ashes as they ran through some of the most familiar tunes, including, of course, "Fishing" with both guitars ably incorporating the melody. I quickly reverted to being a gawky fifteen year old cradling a cup of flavored coffee back in the day in Oak Bluffs.

When Jim Kweskin came out to start the second set, he added a fiddle player and a stand up bass. His penchant for folk music covers a wide range, from the talking political commentary of the Deperession strummers to the high energy ditties of the 1920s flappers, giving each song his own ironic twist. Once Geoff Muldaur returned , they were off and running, racing through jug band tunes like "Papa's On The Housetop" and "The Blues My Naughty Sweety Gives To Me", the fiddle player's hair-raising licks boosting up the energy level. The image that stays with me was the encore, Muldaur and Kweskin driving through a spine-straightening version of "Minglewood Blues" with Muldaur bellowing: "Well I was born in the desert/I was raised in a lions' den". The grand finale found all of us oldsters crooning:" Stealing/Stealing/Pretty mama don't you tell on me/Cause I'm stealing back to my same old used to be."

I wonder if this means jug band music is coming back - or - more to the point - did it ever go away? Besides, how often can you escape these days from the election or the stock market or the price of food for a few hours and actually have a good time - in downtown Framingham, of all places. I guess this means I'll have to go back now. After all, I still don't know if they ever fixed the damn roof!

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings

2008-10-07T05:01:00.000-07:00

Most bands at weddings end up being a polite disappointment - they play too much"
cover" music or not enough, they sound too loud or too soft, or the tunes are endless jams of Lawrence Welk favorites fronted by a so-so lead singer, so I expected "the usual" at a wedding I went to earlier this year. It quickly became apparent that Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings were not only a real band, but a dynamic blend of soaring vocals (Sharon has been nicknamed the female James Brown) and a solid foundation of funk, just the right act to get the reception cranking. Sharon even got down and danced with the lucky couple.

Fortunately, one of the pre-wedding presents left in guests' rooms days before the ceremony (this wedding happened at a posh Jamaican resort) was a copy of "100 Days, 100 Nights" on Brooklyn's Daptone Records. I kept glancing at the cover, but didn't listen to it until I was back home. The title tune "100 Days, 100 Nights" caught my ear from the first riff - a quiet almost orchestral introduction - to the last soul-drenched vocal, Sharon Jones' powerful voice fronting a "gospelized" chorus (The Voices of Thunder) as she describes why it takes so long "to know a man's heart."

Turns out Sharon was born in Augusta, Georgia, and grew up imitating the "hardest working man in show business" JB himself, who hails from Augusta as well. Like many R & B acts, including Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin, Jones started out performing in church, branching out into singing with local funk groups and appearing in talent shows. She headed North to New York , supporting herself as a prison guard at Riker's Island as well as an armored car guard for Wells Fargo between session work. Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings officially formed in 2001. "100 Days, 100 Nights" was recorded at Daptone Records in Bushwick, which is their own independent label. According to their site, the "Daptone Soul Sound" has attracted the likes of Kanye West and Amy Winehouse among many others, while Sharon Jones continues to record for artists as diverse as Lou Reed and They Might Be Giants.

Besides the title tune, "100 Days" , the band delivers a consistent blend of James Brown induced funk, gospel and a hint of Motown soul, but clearly putting their own mark on tunes like "Something's Changed", "Be Easy", "Tell Me", and "When the Other Foot Drops, Uncle ". Sharon Jones' voice soars behind the solid musicianship. Check out their recordings and the Daptone Soul Sound at http://www.daptonerecords.com/.

The (Dave) Hole Story

2008-09-14T05:06:00.000-07:00

I first heard Dave Hole's sizzling slide guitar on one of Alligator's compilations, "Crucial Guitar Blues", doing a tune called "Phone Line." These CDs are a boon to us deejays because you get twelve different artists and because somebody else has already picked out the "best" tunes - at least, that's the assumption. I got addicted to his frenetic edgy vocal styling and the sounds he conjures up out of the guitar. My new favorite is "Short Fuse Blues", off - I admit it - yet another compilation, but this cut stretches the limits of the instrument, making it scream, wail, and drift off into the gray area between blues and rock, echoing Clapton and Hendrix.

As it turns out, "Short Fuse" was the name of Dave Hole's band as well as his first recording in 1990, the result of 20 years touring the Western Australian pub circuit. Hole moved Down Under with his family at the age of 4. His fascination with the blues started when Dave heard a friend's Muddy Waters album at the age of 6, finally picking up the guitar when he was 12. Since there were a few thousand miles separating Hole from the Mississippi Delta, he taught himself by listening to Elmore James, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Mississippi Fred McDowell and - naturally- Robert Johnson. Breaking a finger in a football accident actually lead to his unique style - he was left-handed, so Dave Hole simply switched to playing right handed, putting the slide on his index finger and letting his hand hang over the neck - a method that stuck even when his finger healed.

"Short Fuse" proved to be Hole's breakthrough. He sent a copy to Guitar Magazine, which gushed over his music to the extent of comparing the unknown Australian to Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughn, which got the attention of Alligator Records president Bruce Iglauer and resulted in a contract for the first non US resident in the label's history.

I picked up a copy of "Under The Spell" at the North Atlantic Bluesfest last July, little realizing it was the Australian Recording Industry Association's top pick for Blues/Roots in 1999, the only one of Hole's ten albums to win that designation. The integration of his expressly modern lyrics - as evoked by titles like "Holding Pattern" and "More Love, Less Attitude" - with his outstanding runs and frequent meltdown solos will have you on your feet plucking away at your air guitar - not that I would do anything like that. Some of my other favorites are "Bird's Eye Blues", "Yes or No", and "Blues is the Truth", but I actually listened all the way through, resisting my radio induced temptation to just play one or two cuts.

Dave Hole has done the global circuit, appearing at blues festivals from Brazil to Belgium. When he's not on the road, Hole holes up in Western Australia for six months out of the year. As I begin scouring the racks for more of his CDS, I am reminded of the fact that Dave Hole has raised my level of appreciation for Australian imports to new heights - a definite improvement over Fosters and dwarf -tossing ,mate.

Crazy About "Crazy" , or Here Come The Judge

2008-08-19T04:42:00.000-07:00

By now we are all aware of the "face in the crowd" movie format - kid comes out of nowhere with unbelievable talent, soars to the top and sinks down dramatically in a sea of drugs and booze, ultimately ending up penniless and pointless. The story of guitarist Hank Garland doesn't follow that pattern exactly in the feature film "Crazy" (One of the entries in this year's Rhode Island International Film Festival) but the elements seem all too familiar.

From the moment the story unfolds as Garland gets advice from Hank Williams seconds before Garland's first Grand Old Opry performance, the film is speckled with legendary performers who relied on Garland's "session" playing - Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley, Patsy Cline. The detail is remarkable, from the clothes to the cars to the old-fashioned recording studios and clubs, but the soundtrack stands out in relation to the story, as it makes the transition from the emerging country and western sound of the late 1940s to the brash rock and roll of the mid-1950s to the legendary jazzmen beginning to make their mark during the same era. One of the film's pivotal moments occurs when Garland goes to a "black" club in New York to hear a rising star named Wes Montgomery. The seasoned country picker abruptly shifts his focus to jazz, a monumental transformation in an era when desegregation was alive and well.

Ironically, Hank Garland doesn't sink into a morass of booze, drugs and one night stands - he actually marries the girl of his dreams, moves to the "suburbs" and stays faithful, even on the road. But his flirtation with African-American performers drives an unexpected wedge in their relationship, a gap that widens even further when Garland decides one day to claim his share of the royalties from "Jingle Bell Rock", a song that he co-wrote, setting up a confrontation with the so-called Nashville Mob . His career goes rapidly down the tubes, compounded by the fact that Garland's skittish wife takes up with his chief rival. Hank ends up in a mental institution, his will broken by shock treatments that render him helpless, left to spend endless hours mindlessly picking at the instrument that defined his life, relegated to one last performance at the place where it all began - The Grand Old Opry.

"Crazy" is just about perfect, between the reverence for the different genres of music it presents so well , and the film's uncompromising portrayal of Hank Garland's unique life. In a way, the film elevates the unsung heroes of the music biz, the studio players that provide the backbone riffs and hooks that help define a "hit" record.

Thrills and Chills With Rod Piazza and The Mighty Flyers

2008-08-04T04:09:00.000-07:00

I first heard Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers doing "Night's End" on a Blacktop Records' blues instrumental compilation. I couldn't get enough of the song - the harmonica playing was uncomplicated but overpowering, the lyrics were fresh, and the song just had a late night, low light, end of the line feel to it - plus people like me who do radio shows like songs that mention radio shows. The next tune that caught my ear was Rod and the MFBQ playing "Mellow Down Easy", bringing out the contrast between Paul Butterfield's nimble harmonica playing as opposed to Rod Piazza's mouth harp on steroids, but his mastery of the instrument comes out full force along with the band on their latest CD "ThrillVille" available from http://www.deltagroovemusic.com/ .

The first thing that strikes you is how much music is being generated by just 4 people: Rod doing lead vocals and mouth harp, his wife Honey on piano and thunder bass (Named 2008 Pinetop Perkins Piano Player of the Year), Henry Carvajal on guitar and Dave Kida on drums. I also like the way they blend in a variety of styles, from straight up Chicago blues riffs to a hint of fifties bop and sixties rock with a West Coast flavor. The opening cut - "Hate to See You Go/Shake Your Hips" - shows off Rod's ability to switch styles from a penetrating Little Walter riff to Slim Harpo, sticking a little discography lesson in between, paying homage to past players while putting his own twist on their music. "Westcoaster" reminds me a little of this record my mother bought from Columbia back in the day by the Harmonicats, featuring the - to my little kid ears, anyway - "massive" sound of the chromatic, sometimes suggesting the accordion a la Lawrence Welk, or a saxophone, or a sort of harmonica orchestra - it's a big , smooth, soothing sound , a musical wave that carries you along nicely with a jazzy flavor.

Piazza's version of Junior Wells' signature tune "Hoodoo Man Blues" is flavored with hard core blues harp and sizzling piano runs, reportedly prompting veteran bluesman Billy Boy Arnold to tell Rod: "..Junior ain't never played it that good." That same harmonica/keyboard interplay lights up "Get Wise" , while "It Can't Be True" follows a more traditional R & B approach. "Stranded" gives Honey Piazza yet another opportunity to tickle those ivories, as well as on "Stranger Blues." "MFBQ" pays homage to James Brown and those gutbucket Stax/Volt rhythms, while "Sugar" sounds like a salute to the classic late 40s/early 50s crooners.

Every time I write about a bluesman who's relatively new to me, I realize how far behind the curve I am - after all, Rod Piazza's been recording music for over 40 years, has cut 25-30 CDS and played on 5 or 10 more. Check out "ThrillVille" - you won't be disappointed. As far as my lack of blues education is concerned, all I can say is : "Better late than never."

(PS: I've gotten some good feedback on "Mondegreens" which is great, but I forgot my most renowned examples - Paul Butterfield's singing on "Born in Chicago" . What IS he really saying on the chorus: "My first friend went down/ When I was seventeen years of age/ Best thing I can say about that boy/ (Mondegreen portion) "He got laid? He got brave? He got paid? "(Anybody know the answer?)

Catching Up With The Blood Brothers: Smokin' Joe Kubek and Bnois King Rule The Road

2008-07-28T05:05:00.000-07:00

I've always liked the sound of slide guitar from the first time I saw folksinger Tom Rush slip an empty lipstick case on his little finger in order to play "Galveston Flood", right up through George Thorogood's tear-jerking version of "The Sky is Crying" to just about everything recorded by Dave Hole, especially "Short Fuse Blues", but nobody masters that distinctive down home sound like virtuoso guitarist Smokin' Joe Kubek, as well as serving up straight ahead rock and roll. His blistering runs and piercing solos, coupled with the distinctive blues baritone and nimble picking of the equally talented Bnois King, had the crowd on its feet during most of the band's ninety minute set at Chan's in downtown Woonsocket, RI, part of their nationwide tour supporting the Blood Brothers CD on Alligator. Fortunately, I managed to sit down with Smokin' Joe for a few minutes before he and Bnois King started chewing up the scenery:

BSRR:
What's the response been out on the road to Blood Brothers?

Smokin' Joe Kubek:
It's been real great, man, the CD's been doing good. We tried the stuff out before we actually recorded just to make sure the fans were going to dig it. It was road tested. I try to be very loyal to my fans. They're all family, know what I mean?

BSRR:
Speaking of the CD, the cut I've been playing the most on my show is "Don't Lose My Number." Can you tell me a little about that song?

Smokin' Joe:
You can tell we're Jimmy Reed influenced, definitely influenced by "Going To New York." We listened to that song so many years. We have a lot of fun playing it with a little slide guitar - that's our specialty - we love playing shuffles like that. I could play that kind of stuff all night long.

BSRR:
Another song off "Blood Brothers" that always gets me is "Stop Drinking." Tell me about that one.

Smokin' Joe:
It's a long story. We used to drive around a lot in our earlier years and listen to Lightnin Hopkins play. Bnois and I just got lit up whenever we heard that song. We've been messing with that song for nineteen years. We started playing it again and I decided I wanted to record it. That's it right there. I just think it's a cool song. We've just got to do it our own way.

BSRR:
Then there's my theme song " Midlife Crisis, Midnight Flight."

Smokin' Joe:
That was written by myself, Bnois and Phil Petty, who's the bass player with a Texas band called Point Blank. They've got a lot of blues roots. We're homeboys. We all grew up together. That's kind of our little rocker.

BSRR: Who would you say your primary influences are - I know you always mention Freddy King.

Smokin' Joe: Oh man, we could go on for hours on that. It's the flavor of the day, you know. I love Albert King, anything Albert did. I love the way BB King played on "Live At The Regal". I could go on and on.

BSRR: When do you think you're going back in the studio?

Smokin' Joe: That's a good question. I'm not sure as of yet. Bnois and I have been kicking around a few songs here and there. We got some skeletons but it'll be a while. This CD's still doing good. We're working it. We want to give everybody as chance to get it before we even think about the next one.

The other thing that comes across loud and clear when you see Smokin' Joe and Bnois onstage is the rapport they've built up over nineteen years, flawlessly trading off lead riffs and seguing from one song to the next. The Blood Brothers' tour isn't just two great musicians displaying their considerable talent, it's living proof that the blues are alive and well and coming soon to a club near you.

The Rockland Report Part II - Artist Sampler

2008-07-19T05:03:00.000-07:00

One of the reasons I started doing "Blues With A Feeling" last year on WQRI was to continue building an audience for an authentic musical genre that always seems to be teetering on the brink. It makes you wonder which blues artists are strong and versatile enough to pull in new listeners while still paying homage to the tradition. Here's a look at some of the crowd pleasers at The North Atlantic Bluesfest in Maine July 12 and 13, and their individual styles of music:

Wayne Baker Brooks is crafting a new approach to the blues, blending elements of soul,
rthymn and blues, hip hop and rock into a dynamic mix that had the crowd on its feet during his set. He has solid credentials , being the son of bluesman Lonnie Brooks , which prompted me to break into a few bars of "Too Old To Get Married " when I shook Wayne's hand backstage, a rocking duet between Lonnie and Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater on Clearwater's 2008 Alligator CD "West Side Strut." My personal favorite during Brooks' live set was his version of the Muddy Waters classic "Long Distance Call", but I didn't really start to appreciate his music until I started listening to his "Mystery" CD, available on Brooks' own label, Blue Island Records. The title tune is a soulful approach to the blues that picks up in intensity, delving into those endless guitar solos reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, while "Baby Stop", the second cut, is uptempo funk that reminded me of Sly & The Family Stone. "Exiled" evokes the vocal styles of Otis Redding and/or Solomon Burke, a soul-drenched love song that gradually builds to a crescendo. Baker Brooks points toward the future in "Nu Kinda Blues", a blues rap tune that puts together harp on steroids with a dance beat, churning out a solid rhythmic base with playful vocals bridging the gap between old and new. "She's Dangerous", "It Don't Work Like That" and "Your Turn (To Talk To The Blues)" also caught my ear. As Wayne explains : "Some people say I'm rock but I say I'm blues rock with a contemporary feel. I also add a little hip-hop to the equation." Check out http://www.waynebakerbrooks.com/

You can hear elements of Blues Traveler, Paul Butterfield and especially Stevie Wonder's wizardry on the chromatic harmonica when you listen to Sugar Blue , who says it all in "Bluesman", one of the standout tracks on his CD "Code Blue" ( Find it at Sugar-Blue.com), - "I'm a bluesman/That's what I am/ And if you don't like it/I don't give a damn" (Whiting-Lantieri). Blue, whose real name is James Whiting, was raised in Harlem by a mother who performed at the Apollo in the 1930s and 1940s, so he grew up around legendary performers like Billie Holiday and Big Maybelle. He plays homage to the originators with tunes like "Bad Boys Heaven", a tongue-in-cheek ballad combining barrel house piano with mouth harp, and "Chicago Blues", a brief history of the blues punctuated by Sugar's harmonica mimicking a saxophone and an accordion between the blistering runs up and down the scales. Blue - slash - Whiting really excels on "Krystalline", which describes a love affair with the "White Lady", the lyric perfectly capturing the insidious addiction. Sugar's talent has earned him the nomination for the 2008 Blues Music Award for Instrumentalist-Harmonica by the Blues Foundation.

Melvia "Chick" Rodgers doesn't waste any time in letting you know where she's coming from on her CD "Essentially Yours" (Spellbound Records) - she pays homage to both Muddy Waters, in Koko Taylor's twist on "Mannish Boy" - "I'm A Woman" - and segues into BB King's anthem "The Thrill is Gone" as part of her version of Albert King's "I'll Play The Blues For You". Her R & B credentials are firmly established in "Let's Make A Deal" , as well as Rodgers' handling of the Aretha Franklin standards "Baby I Love You" and "Ain't No Way". Chick's voice soars on her interpretations of "Over The Rainbow" and "Summertime" , breathing powerful new life into both classics. Rodgers' debut on Spellbound is due to her friendship with Koko Taylor, who asked Chick to play at her wedding in 1999. As Taylor says in the CD notes: "Chick Rodgers always respected me as a person and for my legacy. I've always called her my 'Little Chicken' ."

Some of the other artists who were new to me that took over the stage included Andrew Jr. Boy Jones, Lurrie Bell, Ruthie Foster and Lil Dave Thompson. As far as festivals are concerned, this is one of the best for variety and overall organization. I'll definitely make it next year.

The Rockland Report - North Atlantic Bluesfest 2008

2008-07-15T03:44:00.000-07:00

I tend to think that I'm living in a vacuum when it comes to propagating the blues. When I started this blog over a year ago, as well as doing "Blues With A Feeling" on WQRI 88.3 FM, I felt it was my duty to preserve the music, to make sure that the audience not only survives but expands. I was surprised to find out that people actually listened to the show; I figured I was sitting there playing the tunes for myself. Fortunately, last weekend in Rockland, Maine, I discovered not only the North Atlantic Bluesfest but also the fact that the blues are definitely alive and well.

The event has been staged for the past 15 years in and around Rockland's Harbor Park, a setting that provides a picture perfect snapshot of "the way life should be"- sails swelling with the wind as boats criscross the harbor, framed by the azure sweep of summer sky and shifting shades of blue green ocean, a far cry from the cramped clubs and modest venues that first exposed me to the likes of Paul Butterfield, BB King and Muddy Waters. It seemed incongruous at first, blending a uniquely American form of music that is typically associated with pain and sufferring into a New England postcard setting, but I was happy to see the blues getting the respect it deserves as well as an audience that cut across all ages and lifestyles.

As I sat through eight different acts over two days, I started thinking about the music industry in general, the fact that it is getting harder and harder for performers to earn a living, not to mention the liability issues that seem to sink most large outdoor events. In a world of ringtones, downloads and cookie-cutter pop "stars", authenticity and musical integrity are outmoded concepts. The blues survive because of their hardcore following, as well as those who realize the unique place the music occupies in American history. Festivals like the North Atlantic Bluesfest give the audience a chance to get up close and personal with the legends as well as the up and coming players, since each performer would hang around right after their segment to sign their CDs and meet the fans.

The best known "name" at the event was veteran guitatrist Elvin Bishop, who closed out the show on Sunday, but the lineup featured some lesser known acts that I'll be profiling here over the next couple of weeks. Meanwhile, blues aficionadoes should start planning now for North Atlantic Bluesfest 2009 - you won't be disappointed.

Meet "Mondegreen"

2008-07-07T06:30:00.000-07:00

"Mondegreen" is a word that lends itself to many different interpretations - it could very easily serve as the name for a heavy metal band, or a new type of ecologically-focused rock music - but it refers to one of my lifelong sources of frustration. It is analogous to W.C. Fields' famous malapropisms - like "I resemble that remark" - as well as other verbal faux pas, like "interrogation" for "integration", or numerous other examples you hear mangling English every day. The term stems from an old Scottish ballad which contains the lyric: "laid him on the green" - BUT - to many listeners, it sounds like: "Lady Mon - dee - Green", apparently evoking an obscure but titled aristocrat. The word has been added to the latest edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, a sign that it has finally "arrived."as an official word.

Musical mondegreens are numerous, perhaps owing to the way lyrics are usually mumbled, muffled or screamed and loaded with incomprehensible slang, rendering them almost unintelligible to begin with. For example, one of my own personal mondegreens stems from my own daughter. She grew up listening to the occasional reggae tune, one of them being "Rivers of Babylon" by the Melodians, from the soundtrack of the ground-breaking reggae epic "The Harder They Come." The chorus goes: "By the rivers of Babylon...", but my daughter substituted the word "polliwogs" for Babylon, singing along with the Melodians by warbling: "By the river of polliwogs."

There are some very well known mondegreens sprinkled throughout some of the most popular rock anthems. Those of us who grew up with Creedence Clearwater and Jimi Hendrix in the Sixties may have really thought that John Fogarty was singing: "There's a bathroom on the right" rather than "There's a bad moon on the rise" , or that Hendrix really said: "'Scuse me while I kiss this guy" in place of "'Scuse me while I kiss the sky."

Even when I had to learn lyrics during my extremely forgettable stint singing with a rock band for a couple of months, I struggled with deciphering Robert Plant, trying to figure out which squeals equated to which words, or Paul Butterfield's "Born in Chicago", where one of the lines always sounded like: "Best thing I can say about that boy/He got laid". I still don't know the right word. Maybe that's why I like Wilson Pickett and Chuck Berry - their verses are pretty straightforward and comprehensible.

I'm sure you've got your own personal mondegreens. Feel free to submit them and I'll compile a more extensive list for a future blog.

Big Noise From Little Rhody

2008-06-30T09:25:00.001-07:00

You would think the "Truth in Music Advertising Act" recently passed by the Rhode Island State House should have originated in New York or California, since most of the retired , decidedly over the hill performers affected by this landmark legislation live in those two states. However, the big question becomes - why is this bill so important?

Back when my generation was so obsessed with the Beatles that any kind of merchandise even vaguely suggesting the Fab Four was instantly devoured by legions of fans, an album came out called something like "Best of the Beatles" . Not only did the title allege that this particular piece of vinyl contained all their greatest hits, but also the price of the record was extremely reasonable (which should have been the first clue that something was rotten in Denmark). It was only when eager consumers actually looked at the record that they discovered the rip -off - the "Best" was actually the last name of the Beatles first drummer - so "Best of the Beatles" was a stroke of marketing genius, probably earning somebody a fast buck or two at the time, but now the record is listed the way it should be: "Pete Best: Best of the Beatles." However, truth in labelling when it comes to the recording industry is fleeting, as evidenced by a CD I bought a few years back that was jam packed with some of my favorite oldies, the cover emblazoned with the slogan "All The Original Hits". It was only when I started listening to it and discovered to my dismay that it did contain all the "original songs" - just not performed by the "original artists."

The act, which slipped through last week's dumpster diving for dollars in Providence - the result of an ever widening budgetary black hole - is a boon to the long suffering fan, since it mandates that what is loosely referred to as "the performing group" must have some artistic integrity. Specifically, the band has to include at least one person who is on a recording made by that particular group, or by the same token, have some kind of guaranteed right to the name. Sadly enough, this kind of restriction severely impacts the clubbing habits of baby boomers drawn to see a "legendary" band perform only to discover that the original members were six feet under.

The Rhode Island legislation was heavily influenced when Sha Na Na's "Bowzer" - Jon Baumann - lobbied for passage last February, stating at the time that groups like The Drifters, The Platters and the Coasters are constantly victimized by promoters and performers stealing their names. After all, how could so many state fairs, oldies clubs and other venues seemingly claim to have the same bands playing at the same time?

I think the only drawback is that this truth in oldies initiative will not be aggressively enforced, but is intended to provide pissed off audience members with the opportunity to file a complaint if they feel they've suffered an artistic rip off. The intimidation factor is the dominant force here, so the promoter out there somewhere getting ready to advertise a " Jimi Hendrix - Janis Joplin - Back From The Dead Concert" might think twice.

Unfortunately, and I do mean unfortunately, I was involved with enough nearly expired oldies acts in my short dalliance as a promoter to become totally disgusted with the entertainment business in general. Most of the acts with one or two original members have to rent extra tour buses to carry their egos; the agents talk down to you in advance, sensing that they are dealing with a "rube", warning that so and so has a reputation for not showing up, or that someone else has a wicked temper, or -most commonly - that so and so gets the souvenir revenues.

If this bill has any meaningful impact beyond the nation's smallest state, it may very well save us from a horrendous future, when Rolling Stones concerts happen simultaneously, featuring Mick Jagger's eighth cousin and Keith Richards' stepbrother appropriating the name, or Roger Daltrey's illegitimate son and Pete Towensend's ex-wife's stepbrother's cousin are the mainstays of The Who. As far as the performers are concerned, it really is a dead issue.

Blues Planet

2008-06-16T05:06:00.000-07:00

As I get ready to wrap up another year in the life, I like to look back musically on the past 365 days to catalogue those songs which had the most impact on me. No question that the blues have kept me sane in 07-08, especially these standout tunes:

"The Lights Are On" - Albert Collins
The piercing, precise picking that characterizes Collins' guitar playing defines this virtuoso run, as if it would be impossible to coax another stinging riff to top the last one, but he manages to rip right through the song. The lyrics are sparse but evocative, perfectly matched to a bluesman whose mastery of the mood and the melody was legendary. In his own way, Albert Collins was the Jimmy Page of the blues.

" That's Alright" - Etta James
I forget all about Etta until I was trolling through the CDS in a mall music emporium and found "Blues To The Bone", the diva's collection of classic blues standards. James' immense vocal range gets a workout, from the throbbing sexuality of "You Shook Me", "Little Red Rooster" and "Crawling Kingsnake" to the uptempo versions of "Got My Mojo Working" and "Driving Wheel". The song that "sticks" in my mind is a tune attributed to Jimmy Rodgers called "That's Alright". Etta's bigger than life vocals swallow the lyrics whole and spit them back out as smooth as silk, the tale of infidelity and heartbreak smoothed over by her sense of acceptance. Her penetrating voice hits just the right tone in the sardonic chorus: "Some times I wonder / Who's loving you tonight."

"Come On In My Kitchen" - Keb Mo
Keb was someone whose name had been mentioned, so I was pleasantly surprised to discover his traditional style and deep, commanding voice. The spare mix of guitar, harmonica and drums keeps repeating the same enigmatic riff in "Kitchen", perhaps in homage to the song's cryptic author, Robert Johnson. Keb's rough, powerful vocals flesh out the lyrics, the tune ending in the same abrupt, mysterious way it begins.

"Damn Right I Got The Blues" - Buddy Guy

Damn right I know who the hell Buddy Guy is, but the OLD Buddy Guy of "You Sure Can't Do", "Sweet Little Angel" and " The First Time I Met The Blues". The NEW Buddy has kept right in the groove , easing those razor sharp notes out of his axe as he wails and bellows the title tune of yet another Grammy winning CD. "Damn Right" is the main course of this gourmet blues buffet, but side dishes like "Five Long Years", "Black Night" and a re-worked, bluesy version of Wilson Pickett's classic "Mustang Sally" are lovingly prepared in the studio to near perfection.

"The Celebrated Walking Blues" - Taj Mahal

I've never really been sure about Taj Mahal since I bought his first album, the one with him sitting in a chair on the front lawn, cradling his guitar, surrounded by cartoon animals. The music was overpowering but I was dubious about his authenticity - was he the real McCoy or some ambitious college student simply playing the role? Taj's music has ranged from foot-stomping solid blues tracks to flirtations with reggae and zydeco to the simple acoustic combination of vocal and guitar. This particular song moves like molasses slowly spreading across a plate, starting out with the basic six string and rough vocals, then slowly adding in slide guitar, harmonica, bass and drums until it flows. I decided it doesn't really matter who Taj really is and what he represents. The music speaks for itself.

A few other standouts....Bonnie Raitt teaming up with Sippie Wallace on "Women Be Wise" ..."It Hurts To Love Someone" by Earl King..."Too Old To Get Married" where the blues meets good time rock and roll in the persona of Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater joining forces with Lonnie Brooks...."Black Night", "Big Mamou" and just about all the rest of the songs on Roomful of Blues' "Raisin' A Ruckus"...the list goes on. However, I have to admit as I peer fearfully back to last year that Martha Davis' "Only The Lonely" still resonates, still summarizes yet another year in the life.

Bye Bo

2008-06-03T05:24:00.000-07:00

One of the first real rock and roll albums I bought was a Bo Diddley disc on sale at the Bunch of Grapes in Vineyard Haven. I had graduated from the folkie wave and gotten swept up in the psychedelic tsunami of the 1960s, but that old time rock and roll kept pulling me back, especially Chuck Berry's Golden Decade, a Chess double album set that tracks nearly every Berry hit, on which I had spent most of my meager summer job earnings one week, adding the Diddley album as an afterthought .

I thought Bo was boring at first. Most of the tunes had that trademark "thumpa-thumpa-thump- THUMP THUMP". True, it was lively and bouncy but redundant. I liked Bo's sense of humor - you could tell from titles like "Mushmouth Millie", "Bo Diddley's Hootenanny" and one song that features him mocking an English accent that he didn't take himself too seriously. I've always felt that the rock and roll pioneers had the right attitude about the music - big and bold and laced with tongue-in-cheek humor. Two of Diddley's signature tunes stood out: "Can't Judge A Book" and "Who Do You Love?" Both tunes have been covered by The Fabulous Thunderbirds, George Thorogood and Tom Rush, just to name a few. The lyrics combine that brash sense of satire with a hint of menace, especially the latter, with one of Bo's most famous refrains: " Got a brand new house on the roadside/Made out of rattlesnake hide/Little bitty chimney up on top/Made out of a human skull" and "Got a cobra snake for a necktie." I lost my Diddley album somehow in the chaos of constantly shifting from one apartment to the next, and proceeded to pretty much forget about Bo. His distinctive guitar musings would crop up when I least expected it, most notably using the single "Bo Diddley" as the soundtrack for the depiction of Harlem in the R. Crumb classic "Fritz the Cat".

Then I picked up a 4 CD set of blues tunes that just happened to be sprinkled with some outstanding live performances featuring Diddley at his finest. Since the songs were on one of those minimally-labelled, deeply discounted collections of music randomly thrown together, there is absolutely no information about where or when the cuts were recorded, so it's impossible to provide any details about the flawless performances of "Can't Judge..." (In which Bo actually stops the tune in the beginning to laugh at the audience), "Mona" (Standard thumpa-thumpa-thump-THUMP-THUMP, packed with exceptional guitar and sax solos) " Road Runner" (I grew up listening to Junior Walker's version) and a vaguely psychedelic "Dr. Jeckyll". Probably the best collection that really covers most of Ellis McDaniel's (Bo's real name) output is another CD I borrowed from a friend that was called (I think) "Rare and Well Done". I always thought that "I'm A Man" was a Muddy Waters composition, but it turns out it was the flip side of the "Bo Diddley" single released by Chess in 1955.

Ironically, the day before Bo Diddley died in Florida at the age of 79, I had been thinking about trying to find the "Rare" CD to add to my collection. I was actually hoping to see Diddley and his trademark rectangular guitar in person, but I'll have to settle for his legacy.

Jah Mon

2008-05-29T05:04:00.000-07:00

I set myself up when I picked the name for this blog, mainly because I've also been listening to reggae and ska for decades AS WELL as blues,soul and rock and roll, which is why it was such a privilege to spend the last week in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Not only was the weather idyllic (although incredibly hot and HUMID!) but the sounds of the island were everywhere.

The first surprise was how much the nation has embraced Bob Marley. There are Marley hats, tee shirts, wristbands, keepsake boxes, athletic socks, underwear, rolling papers and of course, CDs. I found it ironic that the Jamaican government has decided to promote a Rasta artist who came to prominence singing songs like "Burning and looting tonight / Burning all pollution in sight" or "Get up/Stand up/ Stand up for your rights", the anthems of the "rude boys." In effect, it's as if reggae's best known rebel has been co-opted as the national brand. The next time you are mesmerized by the technicolor images of cobalt sea and milk white sand, with Marley warbling: "One love/ One heart" , listen to the original song lyrics, which have very little to do with harmony. Personally, I've always thought that Peter Tosh deserves more credit for his role in the Wailers as well as a solo artist. His commanding voice, outlaw persona, and obvious contempt for Jamaican society, plus his confrontational compositions - "Legalize It", "Get Up Stand Up", "Wanted Dread or Alive" - seem to make Tosh a little too controversial for marketing overseas.

I've always felt that reggae was partially the precursor to rap. Toots and the Maytals have taken credit for naming the music, Toots explaining that the term means "regular" , or , as he puts it, "coming from the people". The content of reggae songs , excluding the ubiquitous love ballads, is mostly about political oppression, social issues, and the Rastafarian philosophy, one of the primary outlets for Jamaican artists to comment on their lives to a worldwide audience. In addition to using the music to advocate social change, many reggae performers would experiment with vocal rhythms and nuances as well. Although the connection between the two is tenuous, it is further evidenced by the various rappers who have incorporated reggae beats and intonations into their music.

I am a personal fan of what is called "dub" music. Dubbing refers to taking a familiar melody, stripping away the words and inserting your own commentary ( also referred to as "skanking") as well as utilizing intense reverb, echo, feedback, and any other musical device that comes to mind after consuming copious amounts of ganja. I managed to pick up a copy of "Superdub on Overdrive", featuring the superior talents of Robbie Shakespeare and Sly Dunbar. Besides doing covers of "Peter Gunn", "Roxanne" and "If I Were A Rich Man", they seem to have produced most of the CD trapped in an echo chamber, experimenting with turning the melodies inside out and then drifting wherever the music takes them.

Of course you can still hear the strains of the traditional Caribbean ballads made famous by Harry Belafonte, the familiar refrains like: "Daylight come and me want to go home" or "Sad to say/I'm on my way/Won't be back for many a day", right up there with rum punch, jerked chicken and duty free shopping. The "music of the people" tells a different story, the "riddims" of a Third World nation struggling with devastating poverty, uncontrollable crime and defining the true Jamaican identity.

Personally, I still wanted to find anything by The Mighty Diamonds, Big Youth, Max Romeo and a few others, but the clerk at the El Paso in Montego Bay was clueless when I asked for specifics, gesturing instead at the wall of reggae CDs. In retrospect,this was a fortunate development. Now I'll absolutely positively have to go back.

The Jughead Chronicles, Part 3: Memphis Rules

2008-05-11T06:18:00.000-07:00

The advent of the phonograph in the early decades of the Twentieth Century helped to spread jug band music from the South to the rest of the country, according to amateur musicologist Will Melton, who is BSRR's special guest for this short series on the jug bands. The Dixieland Jug Blowers from Louisville recorded "Love Blues" in a Chicago studio in 1926.

BSRR:
That's a great jug band tune, but the record features horns as well.

WILL MELTON:
"Love Blues" is one of the early jug band recordings, but by this time the bands had been around for more than two decades. They were experimenting and adding more traditional instruments, and this band was one of the most technically sophisticated. Most of us don't associate Cincinnati with musical innovation, but there were some great jug band musicians there in the 1920s, especially Kid Cole, whose real name was probably Bob Coleman. He was the leader of King David's Jug Band.

BSRR:
You don't normally think of Cincinnati and Louisville as Southern towns. Where else were the bands coming from?

MELTON:
The Birmingham Jug Band was the best known in Alabama. This band featured the harmonica, which became an important jug band instrument. The band's leading musician was Jaybird Coleman, often using his voice and harmonica in a call and response pattern.

I like to say "The jug bands taught the blues to dance". That was especially true with the Memphis bands. And Memphis was where the jug bands most influenced the blues. Memphis is the gateway to the Delta. As one writer put it: " The Mississippi Delta begins in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel in Memphis." Today Memphis calls itself Blues City and Beale Street is the legendary hub. In the 1920s, the area around Beale Street was a center for prostitution and gambling and a very dangerous place after dark. This is where the jug bands held forth. Though they hung around the seediest part of Memphis, wealthy white businessman would hire the bands to play for barbecues and stag parties, even in the stuffy old Peabody Hotel. One of the great jug bands for dance rhythms , for example , was Jed Davenport and his Beale Street Jug Band.

BSRR:
Did the Memphis jug bands pick up on the sounds of the great Delta guitarists?

MELTON:
You bet. Many of those Delta guitarists came to Memphis, the biggest city in the Delta to play and record. One band that comes to mind with that distinctive Delta sound is Jack Kelly and the South Memphis Jug Band.

BSRR:
What was the first Memphis jug band?

MELTON:
Will Shade was the pioneer and he formed a band called The Memphis Jug Band. They recorded dozens of songs under that name for the companies recording in Memphis. It was a loose ensemble and he was quite a crafty band manager. He took advantage of every recording company he could and avoided contract problems by changing the name of the group. The Carolina Peanut Boys, The Dallas Jug Band, and The Memphis Sheiks are just a few of the names he used. And he didn't hesitate to switch between male and female singers, helping to launch the career of singer guitarist Memphis Minnie McCoy, among others. They had a terrific mix of vocals, kazoos, harmonicas, wash tub bass, strings, and, of course, jug. One of their classic songs dates from 1928, called the Overseas Stomp, which was written for dancers doing the Lindy Hop, a dance craze that celebrated Charles Lindberg's solo flight across the Atlantic.

BSRR:
You've said that the jug bands influenced lots of the bands that launched the music revolution of the 1960s. What are some examples?

MELTON:
There was a revival of the jug bands in the 1960s in America. The Lovin' Spoonful and the Grateful Dead started out as jug bands. In England, they were called "skiffle" bands and some of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones were fans of the music. Folk guitarist Dave Van Ronk was one of the first 60s musicians to cover a song by the Memphis Jug Band called "Stealin', Stealin'".

BSRR:
What about the new jug band documentary?

MELTON:
It is by an indie film maker and it is called "Chasin' Gus' Ghost". It is making the rounds of music festivals in Cleveland and Louisville among other places. The film features John Sebastian of the Lovin' Spoonful, Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead and Jim Kweskin, the leader of the most famous of the 1960s jug bands, which showcased a young Maria Muldaur as lead singer. Google the title to learn more - Chasin' Gus' Ghost. It refers to Gus Cannon, who lead another one of the famous Memphis jug bands, Cannon's Jug Stompers. When The Rooftop Singers covered Gus Cannon's song "Walk Right In" in 1963, the record shot to #1 in the charts and jug band music was back in the news.

BSRR:
Did that make Gus Cannon famous?

MELTON:
I wouldn't say that. Will Shade and Gus Cannon were still alive in 1963 and they tried to capitalize on the song by recording an album of the music they'd played years before. It was a modest success. But the Jim Kweskin Jug Band recorded dozens of songs over the next decade, many of them by Gus Cannon and Will Shade, joining in the folk music revival.

( Editor's Note: Many thanks to Will Melton for his insights on jug band music. More on this topic in future posts. )

The Jughead Chronicles, Part 2 : Will Speaks

2008-05-05T06:35:00.000-07:00

The quest to document and preserve the musical output of the jug bands that rose and fell in the South during the opening decades of the Twentieth Century is being partially undertaken by a self styled aficionado and performer of the music by the name of Will Melton. Not only is he a walking encyclopedia of names and dates but he also plays and sings in several musical groups, plus constantly researching and acquiring new tunes. Will was a guest on BSRR's radio show last Sunday and shed some light on the genre:

BSRR:
So what is a jug band?

WILL MELTON:
It's one of the roots of the blues in this country, and a music style of the pre-war era that appealed to both black and white audiences. The basic idea was to start with some string instruments - fiddle, guitar, banjo, mandolin, and enrich the sound with homemade instruments. A bass fiddle might cost too much, but an old washtub would do if you turned it upside down, attached a cord to it with a broomstick connected to pull the string tight. And the sound of the tuba could be made by blowing into a large jug (that) you blow into like a soda bottle. A toy kazoo serves well as a low cost trumpet, and other things you have lying around the house, like a washboard, could be sounded with thimbles or spoons to create new percussion ideas. So the jug band was the poor man's orchestra. Then you add to that lots of hokum - jokes, double entendre and horsin' around and the result was a very entertaining act.

BSRR:
Who was the first jug band?

MELTON:
In 1898, two banjo players from Kentucky were looking for work in southwest Virginia. They were playing on a porch with their friends, the Anderson brothers, when a neighbor came over with an empty jug and started laying down a bass line, like a tuba part. When they finished playing they asked the old man about his instrument and all he could say was " I just picked it up and started blowing." Then he gave them some advice: " Look around for the right jug; a jug is a jug if you want whiskey, but if you want to blow on it, find one that's got music in it." They headed for Louisville and formed the Cy Anderson Jug Band. Soon they were making real money playing for Kentucky Derby crowds and on riverboats along the Ohio River. So the Cy Anderson Jug Band made Louisville their base but spent much of the next seven years playing the Ohio River towns and the jug band craze was born. It lasted for much of the next 30 years. But Louisville was where it first got rooted, followed soon after by Cincinnati, a city upriver on the Ohio. The Louisville bands like Whistler's Jug Band had a sound that bridged the blues and jazz. They had a Dixieland banjo sound.

BSRR:
What happened when the phonograph was invented? What kind of impact did that have on the jug bands?

MELTON:
From the 1910s to the 1930s, Jug Bands were hot and some of the most often hard ensembles in the small towns across the South. But the phonograph opened the whole country to the sound. Once again, Louisville was the originator. In 1926 Louisville's own Dixieland Jug Blowers made the first jug band recording in a Chicago studio.

Next - Jug Bands and the Blues Meet in the Memphis Sound

The Jughead Chronicles, Part 1

2008-04-22T07:01:00.000-07:00

I've resisted telling the truth about my musical ability - or lack of - for over a year, but I can't hide it any longer - I'm a jug player.

I'm sure many of you are asking yourselves: "What is a jug and how do you play it?" The term "jug" - in fact - refers to an actual jug as in " Hand me that jug of moonshine, Billy Bob". Although it is not advisable to begin jug lessions with a full container of white lightning, the shape remains the same whether made of plastic, ceramics or whatever. Jug players simply blow across the open top of the requisite jug to produce sound and voila! - you have an instrument. However, the list of jug virtuosos who've met sudden death from inhaling a mouthful of bleach is fairly long, so, if you're thinking about pursuing the jug for fun and profit, make sure that your chosen instrument is totally empty and preferably washed before you use it.

Producing sound from the jug is problematic. You generate one type of tone by blowing across, but something entirely different by blowing - or spitting - into the jug itself. I guess you could say that one approach is more melodic while the other is closer to rthymn. It requires quite a bit of air and constant stomach motion to play the jug, which illustrates another occupational hazard associated with the instrument - never eat before a performance. In addition, vigorous playing typically generates spittle, so the conscentious jug player should avoid standing too close to anybody, and remember to empty the instrument regularly.

Embarking on a career as an itinerant jug virtouso has its drawbacks - you will, for example, never be able to pass the hat as you play on a streetcorner as the spray tends to keep people at a distance. Yet, there are some advantages. As long as you don't lose your hearing, you'll never have to tune up before a performance. You won't have to worry about buying any expensive instruments - just visit the local landfill to find a ready supply.

Personally, playing the jug has been rewarding. It has allowed me to pretend to be a musician, and lose weight in the balance from not eating those gluttonous special occaision dinners. I'm not sure if young jug players coming up these days are finding the profession lucrative, but I hope the tradition continues. Meanwhile, I'm hard at work finishing up my masterpiece- Quartet for Jug and Harpsichord Minus Two Instruments. Who says that Mozart or Beethoven wouldn't have turned to the jug if it wasn't so much easier to play a keyboard? One day the lowly plastic empty Clorox bottle will get the respect it deserves.

Deejay's Disease

2008-04-16T05:07:00.000-07:00

I have been trying hard in my latest radio reincarnation to avoid the affliction, but it appears to have snuck up on me. Nevertheless, I am determined to fight the curse of repitition, the almost incurable condition of playing the same song at the same time in the same show. For example, I worked with one former personality who shall remain nameless who played "Jumping Jack Flash" every day approximately halfway through his show. The upside was a benefit for those who like the song as well as people who don't wear watches, because the timing was reliable, but ultimately, his preoccupation with the song began to destroy his credibility.

In most cases these days, song selection relative to on air product is tightly controlled which, based on the slow motion collapse of the recording industry, is totally understandable. Consequently, repitition is not eradicated but is used as a tool to drive sales. However, those of us in the lower echelons of broadcasting who can still pick and play their own cuts are not subject to the vagaries of program and/or music directors, which means people like me have to really pay attention to the on-air product.

I started keeping playlists a few months back. I was scared that I was falling into the same trap. Despite this attempt at keeping the tunes fresh, my lists clearly show that I played Keb Mo's version of Robert Johnson's "Come On In My Kitchen" during the last half hour of my show two weeks in a row. I've really broken the rules with "The Lights Are On" by Albert Collins, mainly because I can't get enough of Albert Collins, but the evidence shows that I've played this song nearly every program. The same can be said of Buddy Guy's " Damn Right I've Got The Blues" or "Got My Mojo Working" by Etta James or "Don't Lose My Number" from Blood Brothers by Smokin' Joe Kubek and Bnois King or "Blues With A Feeling" from Paul Butterfield's first album (also the name of the show) or "Mother In Law Blues" by Little Junior Parker. I find myself still unable to resist playing these songs even though I know what I'm doing. In order to manage my addiction, I've come up with a long list of rationalizations: I don' t get paid so who cares - nobody listens - the show's only once a week - but none of these excuses help the poor listener.

I'm not sure what will cure this habit. Certainly new product always helps. But the other concern is that blues songs tend to be covered by various artists thus adding to that "I keep hearing the same song" feeling. For example, I've got versions of "The Sky Is Crying" by Elmore James, Stevie Ray Vaughan, George Thorogood and Etta James; "Black Night" in my modest music library is performed by Roomful of Blues, Charles Brown, James Cotton, and Buddy Guy.

What's a poor unpaid, unassuming air personality to do? I'll try my best to fight my instincts and remember the most important factor in radio - the audience.

Raisin a Ruckus With Roomful of Blues

2008-03-31T17:11:00.000-07:00

For a little state, Rhode Island is big on the blues, and the best example of that is Roomful of Blues. BSRR caught with them last weekend at Chan's in Woonsocket for a sold out show, and spent a few minutes talking to lead guitarist Chris Vachon:

BSRR:
It's been a rough year for you guys. Can you tell us what happened and how the benefit went a couple of weeks ago?

CHRIS VACHON:
Most people know that Bob Enos passed away on the road with us. He had been in the band for 28 years. It was a big shock to us. It really took a lot out of us. We still haven't really gotten over it. We just had a benefit for him at Rhodes-on-the-Pawtuxet in Providence, Rhode Island. It went over really well. About 850 people showed up. It was to benefit his family. We're proud about that.

BSRR:
How's the response so far to "Raising a Ruckus"?

CHRIS VACHON:
It's been very good. We've been on the Billboard charts since it came out. We've charted every week.

BSRR:
How long ago and how did you guys form originally?

CHRIS VACHON:
It was Duke Robillard and Al Copley that started the band. That was around 1971. Just kind of a straight up Chicago blues band without horns. They added horns a couple of years later. It's been going on ever since, so I guess it's probably 39 years now, something like that.

BSRR:
All the years you guys have played and now, finally, fame's catching up with you.

CHRIS VACHON:
Yeah, right.

BSRR:
I wanted to ask you about the song "While I Can". Tell me a little bit about that song.

CHRIS VACHON:
That's my wife's song. She wrote that. She wrote the words and I had an idea what to do with it. I helped her out with music and the band chipped in and that's how that came about.

BSRR:
What are some of your favorite cuts on "Raising a Ruckus"?

CHRIS VACHON:
"While I Can." No, seriously, I like everything on it. That's why we recorded these songs. We like them all. So I don't really have a particular favorite.

BSRR:
I'm a big fan of your break on "The Love You Lost Along the Way" (from Roomful's CD "Standing Room Only"). What guitarists would you say influenced you growing up?

CHRIS VACHON:
I started with B.B. King when I was about 12. Just went through Guitar Slim, Albert King, Albert Collins, all of those guys, there's way too many to name. I guess that's how I came up with what I do - whatever that is.

BSRR:
How many nights are you out on the road now?

CHRIS VACHON:
200 a year. We're still at it. That's what we do.

BSRR:
What do you have coming up for the future?

CHRIS VACHON:
We're building a schedule for the summer. We've got a framework of some festivals so we'll be out in the Midwest, go to California and do the same stuff we always do when we tour to support a CD.

Roomful played two sold out shows at Chan's with its solid mix of tight horns, flawless guitar and vocals, and rocking keyboards , the band's trademark R & B with an emphasis on the "B". But don't just take my word for it - pick up a copy of "Raising a Ruckus" on Alligator Records and see what the ruckus is all about. (http://www.alligator.com/)

Jery's Jazz

2008-03-20T05:02:00.000-07:00

My late wife Jery loved jazz. She introduced me to the music along with Otis Sutton, who had a long standing show called Night Train on the former WCIB in Falmouth back in the day. Once Martha's Vineyard's first FM station got off the ground in 1975, I convinced the owner to see if Otis was still available, which lead to the creation of jazz weekends. Otis was on for several hours both Saturday and Sunday. His signature albums at the time included "Headhunters", Herbie Hancock's breakout explosion of funk, and " Swiss Movement", Les McCann and Eddie Harris live at the Montreux Jazz Festival with their anthem of alienation -"Compared to What".

Jery's favorite jazz tune was another Sutton staple at the time, "Land of Make Believe" which is a Chuck Mangione composition sung by Esther Satterfield. It is a symphonic blend of horns and strings that rise and falls in several crescendos with Satterfield's strong, clear voice leading the way. I liked it but found it a bit too polished and smooth - if you read this blog at all, you know by now my preferred sound is rougher and more primitive. I always wondered why she was so attracted to it. I think the song was an island of peace for her , a refuge from the emotional pain of stressful relationships that wore Jery down in the past , a chance to drift off into blissful fantasy if only for a few golden moments. We all need a song like that, a place where we can go to heal by ourselves.

Jery introduced me to Yusuf Lateef, especially "Nubian Lady", with its never ending flute solo and of course, from Swiss Movement, "Compared to What", with McCann's commanding piano riffs and Harris' swooping sax, not to mention the biting lyrics and the radical use of the word "goddamn". She still had a Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" album when we got married , along with Glen Miller and several other swing records, Roberta Flack, even Santana, but Jery stayed faithful to Chuck Mangione.

She's gone now. I'm not quite sure what I'll do with her records, but I'll never be able to listen to Chuck Mangione again - well, not for a while, anyway. I just hope Jery finally found the peace she was always seeking in the "Land of Make Believe."

West Side Struttin' with Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater

2008-03-12T16:29:00.000-07:00

The first thing that amazed me about Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater is that he is 73. At an age when most people might settle for shuffleboard, Eddy is out on the road, still playing hard from the West Side of Chicago to the ends of the earth, having toured in places like Russia, Turkey, Romania and Brazil. The second thing is that Eddy is part Cherokee, which manifests itself in the Indian headdress Clearwater frequently sports onstage. But the most remarkable thing about The Chief is the energy and style that comes to life on his new Alligator CD West Side Strut.

Edward Harrington was born in Macon, MS in 1935, and moved to Birmingham, AL in 1948 where Eddy taught himself to play his axe left-handed and upside down as well as gigging with gospel groups that included The Blind Boys of Alabama. Eddy moved to Chicago in 1950, starting out as a dishwasher, but at first limited to playing behind groups in local churches before finally making a name for himself as "Guitar Eddy" in 1953. Seeing Chuck Berry perform in 1957 had a lasting influence on Eddy's music , welding Clearwater's solid blues credentials with a touch of raucous rock and roll. In 1958, Guitar Eddy was renamed "Clear Waters" for his debut 45 on his uncle's label - "Hill Billy Blues" - his name thought up by his manager as a word play on "Muddy Waters" . The name Clearwater stuck, and the Chief was born. Fortunately, Eddy explains why in "They Call Me The Chief", featuring his jagged fuzz tone "drums" in the beginning as he spins a tongue in cheek ballad (Allow me to introduce myself..) laced with chopping guitar chords and mystical lyrics.

The CD opens with "A Good Leavin' Alone", Eddy's solution to good loving gone bad, a mixture of rough vocals and hard driving guitar. Clearwater's rock and roll persona comes to life in a high-powered duet with Lonnie Brooks on "Too Old To Get Married" in which both veteran bluesmen trade sizzling leads, reminding each other that they're: "Too old to get married / too young to be buried" . Eddy takes a Muddy Waters tune - "Walkin' in the Park" - and injects his own particular brand of blues and funk, turning it into an anthem. . "Blue Over You" is a more familiar ballad with cutting edge guitar and driving harp. Lowell Fulsom's tune "Trouble, Trouble" gets a workout as well, the relentless guitar laying it on the line. And that's just to name a few.

Lucky for us Eddy is aging graciously, because he's still earning his living out on the road. The Chief will be at Chan's in Woonsocket,RI April 17-18, but you can listen to him now at http://www.alligator.com/ . See if you don't start doing the West Side Strut.

Blood Brothers (Smokin' Joe Kubek and Bnois King): The Blues on Steroids

2008-03-05T08:26:00.000-08:00

The first time I ever got up close and personal with Texas style electric blues was introducing Stevie Ray Vaughan at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1985. I already knew what he was capable of, but it was amazing to experience his blues power live, those blistering guitar runs and the razor sharp picking that had the crowd on its feet halfway through the first song. That tradition of muscular roadhouse guitar coupled with strong, soulful vocals comes alive thanks to the dynamic duo of Smokin' Joe Kubek and Bnois King on their debut Alligator CD , Blood Brothers.

Smokin' Joe has been honing his craft since the age of 14, when his prowess on the guitar earned him steady gigs at Dallas night clubs as well as leading his own band. Kubek became a close friend of Stevie Ray's as well as rubbing elbows with blues legends like Albert King and B.B. King, even getting a rare opportunity one night to play B.B.'s famous guitar - Lucille. "When times got hard," Kubek recalls, " I always remembered how B.B. had given me some encouragement."

Smokin' Joe met up with Bnois King at a Dallas jam session in 1989. King hails from Delhi, LA. where he was introduced to the guitar by his high school music teacher. Bnois recalls his first meeting with the blues on "Coleman Avenue" one of the stand out tracks on Blood Brothers . King's wistful vocals evoke those early days, coupled with the realization that his life has been dedicated to the blues since then.

Kubek and King cut their first CD for Bullseye Blues in 1991, and started touring nationwide, eventually racking up more than 150 nights a year including gigs in Canada and Europe. "Don't Lose My Number" , another spine straightening cut from Brothers , is a testament to their status as "roads" scholars, combining Kubek's relentless, take-no-prisoners slide guitar with King's clear, commanding vocal. Both of these virtuoso players bring distinctive playing styles to their (almost) 20 year collaboration. As Smokin' Joe puts it: " I pull the blues out of him (Bnois) and he pulls the jazz out of me."

Blood Brothers features 13 original tracks including "My Dog's Still Walkin'" music with a message that Kubek and King can still rock the house, "Flamethrower", and "Freezer Burn" - just to name a few. It might be a good idea to pick up a copy because chances are pretty good that Smokin' Joe Kubek and Bnois King won't be back in the studio anytime soon. They're out doing what they do best - moving from roadhouse to concert stage to any hall big enough to hold blues aficionados, proving every night that Texas blues power is alive and well and still kicking. For more info, go to http://www.alligator.com/

Backing Up Is Hard To Do

2008-02-26T18:20:00.000-08:00

What got me thinking about the importance of back up singers was seeing The Pips on that TV car insurance commercial. There was some short-lived variety show I can vaguely recall that also featured The Pips without Gladys Knight, another example of the fact that the backing vocals are just as important as the lead.

Merry Clayton moved from the back to the front when it comes to her vocal parrying with Mick Jagger on "Gimme Shelter" from the Stones' "Let It Bleed ", but she had plenty of practice behind artists like Tom Jones, Joe Cocker and Carole King. No question that, without Clayton's powerful, soaring voice, "Gimme Shelter" would never have become a signature anthem for Mick, Keith et al. Merry Clayton has had a long and successful career, including a stint as a regular on TV's "Cagney and Lacey", but switched musically from rock to gospel.

Bonnie Bramlett actually got her start at age fifteen behind blues greats Albert King and Little Milton, among others, but made back-up history as the first white Ikette, transforming the Ike and Tina Revue. She came into her own with Delaney Bramlett, whom she married in 1967. My first connecion with them was "The Original Delaney and Bonnie " on the Electra label in 1969. The duo was propelled to super stardom after linking up with Eric Clapton and recording - appropriately enough - "On Tour With Eric Clapton" on the Atco label in 1970. This was one of my favorite records of that era, mainly because of its' butt-kicking live performances - the best being - in my opinion- the Little Richard covers as well as their "Tribute to Robert Johnson" -bursting with energy and virtuoso musicianship. Unfortunately,Delaney and Bonnie split in 1972. Although Bonnie Bramlett went on to appear as a character on "Roseanne" and in the Kevin Costner film "The Guardian" (2006) - not to mention appearing with Delaney in the enigmatic "Vanishing Point" (1971) - as well as still touring and recording today, she has never equaled the impact she had on the music business with the Clapton tour.

Native American Rita Coolidge first achieved fame as "The Delta Lady", immortalized by Leon Russell, an offshoot of her dynamic backing vocals behind Leon, Joe Cocker and Eric Clapton. She married Kris Kristofferson in 1973, going on to record several duet albums with Kristofferson which earned them Grammies in 1974 and 1976. Coolidge stayed consistently on the "charts " through the 1970s, hitting the Number Two slot in 1977 with her cover of Jackie Wilson's classic " (Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher and Higher" . She returned to her Cherokee roots by helping to found a Native American trio in 1997, called "Walela" or "hummingbird" in Cherokee. Rita Coolidge's most recent album was a foray into jazz called "And So Is Love", released in 2006.

Of course, I don't mean to forget the talents of the Raylettes, the Famous Flames or the Ikettes among many,many others. Just remember when you're watching those back up singers onstage that they're always just a few steps away from the spotlights.

The Blame Game

2008-02-19T05:57:00.000-08:00

Ironically, there are two anniversaries this month that involve BSRR - one being the fact that the blog began a year ago and the other that five years have passed since Rhode Island's Station nightclub fire.

I was heartened by last week's story in the Providence Journal announcing that WHJY FM's parent company - Clear Channel - is going to donate a substantial chunk of money to the Station survivors' fund. Mike Gonsalves was mentioned in the story as well, since he represented HJY at the event, introducing Great White onstage just minutes before fire swept through the crowded room, taking his life and the hopes and dreams of 99 others as well. If you read my post a year ago, then you'd remember that I first "hired" - maybe "exploited" is a better word - Mike as an intern back in the mid 80s, and was always impressed by his enthusiasm and good nature. If you read between the lines of the article, the implication is that WHJY and Mike were partially responsible for what happened. Unfortunately, despite the goodwill, the fire survivors have received almost nothing. With the exception of the acts set to do a benefit concert next week, the music industry has turned its collective back on the tragedy. I wonder if this has to do not only with the fact that people instinctively shy away from bad news, but also that so many bands and MCs - for that matter - can recall a time in their careers when they were trapped in a club in a situation that could have turned out the same way.

I remember at least two instances at clubs in Plainville, Mass and Providence in which the crowds were so massive - and messed up - that I never would have made it out alive without clawing my way through a drunken mob. The attendance at these venues certainly demonstrates the power of radio promotion. In that respect, I can see Clear Channel's rationale for tacitly acknowledging that WHJY was responsible for creating a successful event. Yet I got the impression that somehow Gonzo was responsible for not stopping the show when, in fact, he was just doing what we got paid to do - hype and introduce the band. It's a little like the Nuremburg defense - Mike Gonsalves was just following orders. The blame for what happened lies between the band and the club's owners, who admitted that they felt guilty but seemed to have avoided any real accountability for overcrowding the club and allowing pyrotechnics in a confined - and flammable - space.

I hope that justice really is served one of these years, but first and foremost, leave Mike Gonsalves out of the blame game and focus on taking care of the survivors. Their lives have been on hold for five torturous years with very little light at the end of the tunnel.

Friend of the Devil

2008-02-13T05:02:00.000-08:00

Playing Robert Johnson's tune "Up Jumped The Devil" on my radio show last Sunday started me thinking about how often Satan turns up in the title and lyrics of traditional and popular music. Peruse the Internet and you'll find lists and lists of songs that mention Beelzebub. Of course the sheer volume of gospel, hymns and symphonies that celebrate God and the victory of good over evil far outweigh devil music, but the personification of Satan is more complex and multi-faceted than the typical portrayal of the divine. In Robert Johnson's case, contemporaries have claimed that Johnson fostered the image of his relationship with evil, perhaps to enhance his status, perhaps as a reaction to the Bible thumping religion of his day that strictly defined right and wrong.

The most sophisticated image of the devil - in my opinion - is the Rolling Stones' "Sympathy For The Devil", which combines a sardonic review of great evil moments in history with its cynical refrain: "Pleased to meet you/Hope you guess my name". In this case, the evil one morphs from hairy, goatfooted spirit of darkness to suave, sophisticated well-dressed charmer. This devil is the temptor that dwells in all of us, just waiting to be unleashed by mob mentality or incited by totalitarian brutality that eradicates individual identity, suppressing justice in the name of absolute power.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels' "Devil With a Blue Dress" seems harmless, a paen to that beautiful temptress that beckons to hapless males on the dance floor. Yet, when you look at the song a little more closely, it unconsciously evokes the image of Eve, the Biblical personification of the original sin that caused the human race to be evicted from the Garden of Eden. When Van Halen's David Lee Roth howls: " Runn-IN with the Dev-ILL", he is not only celebrating living on the edge - one misstep away from falling into the pit of flames - but also harkening back to Robert Johnson walking with Satan side by side. Charlie Daniels, Jerry Garcia, AC/DC and numerous others have incorporated the devil and "hell" into their lyrics.

So why is Beelzebub so popular? Is it like looking at a bad accident - so gruesome yet so compelling that you can't turn away? Is it because evil is so fascinating - so accessible - that we aspire to it ? Or is it simply an attempt to associate onself with a powerful, commonly-accepted image in the public's eye, so that a musician will seem truly bigger than life?

Race Music

2008-02-07T05:24:00.000-08:00

I have no idea which politician first came up with the idea of using pop music for a campaign theme, but I associate the trend with both Clintons bouncing onstage to the strains of Fleetwood Mac singing: " Don't stop/Thinking about tomorrow". At the time it seemed quaint, but I couldn't escape the thought that McVie, Buckingham and the rest were being co-opted, their lyrics misconstrued to symbolize societal change. This year's crew of office seekers just lends itself to certain songs and lyric. For example:

1. John McCain: Etta James' "At Last" maybe the best testament to the Arizona senator's quest for the nomination, but he needs to convince voters in the long run that he's not - as Chuck Berry once sang - "Too pooped to pop/ To old to stroll..."

2. Barack Obama: The Scorpions' "Like a Hurricane" pretty much describes the way Obama's campaign has swept across the country, but the candidate can legitimately agree with James Brown : "Say it loud/I'm black and I'm proud." The Illinois senator's long term viability may depend on whether he is able to deliver - as David Bowie would say - "Ch-ch-changes" in the mind of the electorate.

3. Mitt Romney: As Leslie Gore puts it: " It's my party/I'll cry if I want to/You'd do it too if it happened to you" - a natural refrain for the Republican with the deepest pockets and a disappointing return on his 20-35 million dollar investment. Based on the results so far, Romney's new campaign song may end up being (Massachusetts' own) Aerosmith's anthem "Dream On."

4. Hilary Clinton: It seems her long held lock on the nomination has become" Just My Imagination" as the Temptations might say, but Hilary's made it pretty clear that she's in it for the long haul, so the message to Obama is not to rest on his laurels, but to: "Get ready baby/Cause here I come".

5. Mike Huckabee: Although voters might have first asked themselves - in the words of Pete Townsend and crew - "Who ARE you?" , Hukabee has managed to snare those voters who agree that : "I don't care if it rains or freezes/Long as I've got my plastic Jesus".

Unfortunately, this campaign is so long and so torturous and so confusing that I hope the average voter doesn't end up disillusioned - or, as bluesman Buddy Guy puts it, losing faith in the democratic process and saying: " You're damn right I've got the blues."

Deconstructing Elvin

2008-01-28T11:00:00.000-08:00

I was actually pretty excited when I found an Elvin Bishop CD in my local blues bin. I always liked his sense of humor and stinging blues guitar, having tracked his career with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, his gradual shift from backing Mike Bloomfield to fronting the band. His contribution to SuperSession - No More Lonely Nights - and Elvin's one actual Top Ten tune - Fooled Around and Fell in Love - were the extent of my knowledge about his musical output.The CD in question was supposed to be a compilation of his greatest hits - The Millennium Collection - identifying Elvin as a Twentieth Century Master, a title which Elvin himself would probably snicker over. It's obvious I need to expand my blues collection to keep doing the Sunday radio show without playing the same cuts over and over, so I could hardly wait to add the music,eagerly tearing through the package and slapping the disc into my mini boom box.

The first tune I listened to was "Let It Flow", which left me scratching my head. It isn't very bluesy - it's closer to mediocre hippy music, one of those Haight Ashbury anthems that sound mindless and misguided in retrospect. Next was "Groundhog", which has some built-in funk. I started feeling positive , that maybe this would be the Elvin I was waiting for - irreverent, able to rip some fiery riffs out of his guitar, characterized by those piercing, penetrating solos that seem to go on forever - until the lyrics compared his girlfriend to a groundhog's hole. A few years ago I would have found this acceptable , even humorous, but now it just seems childish and pathetic - haven't we moved beyond this dead end depiction of women ?

Chagrined, I pressed on through Bishop's greatest, still seeking that blistering single that was going to enliven the show. "Stealing Watermelons" has great rthymn, but I can't ignore the fact that songs about watermelon on a blues show featuring mostly black artists just don't fit in. I think Elvin's just poking fun, but racism is no joke. The final straw was reached during the next tune - "Travelin' Shoes". The musicianship is first class. I really figured I'd found my tune until Bishop reached the line about his woman not understanding what he said, so it was time to go get a baseball bat and "tenderize" her head. My reaction went from mild disgust to outright anger. Considering the effect that domestic violence has on society, the emotional toll it takes on both adults and children, I am simply not going to play a tune that overtly advocates beating women.

Don't get me wrong - I still like a lot of Elvin Bishop's music - I ended up playing "Juke Joint Jump" on the show. I am not going to condone lyrics that celebrate sexism and suggest prejudice - even if they masquerade as someone's idea of humor.

Ike Without Tina

2008-01-19T06:41:00.000-08:00

One of the blues compilations that I've picked up recently surprised me with some vintage Ike and Tina Turner tunes, sort of on the border of blues and Fifties rock and roll, giving me a new appreciation for how much the duo has contributed to the genre. I played a couple over my last two radio shows. "I Smell Trouble" is vintage Tina blues, her voice trading dominance with Ike's penetrating lead guitar, while "Poor Fool" is closer to a standard doo-wop ballad, although it is hard to tell if Tina is singing lead or one of the "Ikettes."

Ike Turner was pushed into the background once Tina left the band and the marriage, tarnished by his depiction as a wife-beating monster on the big screen (What's Love Got To Do With It?), as well as his admitted fondness for cocaine. According to the San Diego Country Medical Examiner, it was "cocaine toxicity" that was the primary cause of Ike's death at the age of 76 on December 12,2007. Turner was already suffering from "hypertensive cardiovascular disease" and "pulmonary emphysema" as well, certainly a sad end to a controversial life.

He was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi in 1931 but Ike's career didn't get off the ground until the late 1940s, when he started playing with his band The Kings of Rhythm. The band is credited with recording what some say was the first actual rock and roll record - "Rocket 88" at Sun Studios in Memphis in 1951. Ironically, while enjoying his first taste of fame with the Kings in the St. Louis area, Ike Turner was busy signing up artists like Sonny Boy Williamson, Elmore James and Howlin' Wolf for Sun and other independent labels - meaning Ike's "Svengali" persona existed long before Tina. They first met in St. Louis , when a teen-aged Tina - better known at that time as Anna Mae Bullock from Nutbush, Tennessee - belted out a B.B. King song in front of Ike.

She was hired as an Ikette, but became the lead singer after "A Fool in Love" made it to the top three R & B singles in 1960. Ike wasted no time in showcasing her talent by changing the band's name to the "Ike and Tina Turner Revue", and changing Anna's name to Tina Turner. Although Ike claims they never actually got married, another version of their story claims they tied the knot in Tijuana in 1962. Ike and Tina proceeded to churn out several number one R & B hits like: "It's Gonna Work Out Fine", "River Deep - Mountain High" and "Nutbush City Limits". Fed up with Ike's constant abuse, Tina walked out in 1976 and was granted a divorce in 1978. In Ike's 2001 autobiography "Takin' Back My Name", Turner admitted that he slapped and punched Tina but never beat her - although that sounds like beating.

Ike's career has been rocky to say the least, as he blamed his offstage behavior on his addiction to drugs and alcohol. He was in jail on drug charges in 1991 when he and Tina were inducted into the the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Ike no sooner got out of jail in 1993 than he was back touring and recording.

Was Ike Turner a consummate artist/promoter who knew how to recognize talent or a coked-out monster with a towering ego? Like most artists, he was multi-faceted; like many performers, it may be preferable to judge Ike Turner on his public contribution and downplay his private life. One way or the other, the minister's son from Clarksdale made his mark on the evolution of blues/soul/funk.

Don't Touch That Dial

2008-01-09T04:30:00.000-08:00

Much to my surprise I'm back on the radio for the first time since the mid-1980s. I offerred to do a blues program Sundays from 3:00 - 6:00 PM on WQRI FM, the Roger Williams University FM radio station in Bristol, Rhode Island.

Ironically, I first went on the air with WOBC AM/FM, the Oberlin College radio station in Oberlin, Ohio. The great thing about college radio is that it doesn't depend on overbearing advertisers to keep the lights on, so you can take some chances. My first shift was afternoon drive on the AM, which allowed me to play some of my favorite Motown artists as well as spitting out a lot of the hip phrases I had grown up listening to on New York radio. After a year I made the transition from AM soul brother wanna be to laidback FM rocker - almost like the shift in the industry itself at the time- and switched from Curtis Mayfield, Gladys Knight and the Temptations to Jeff Beck, the Jefferson Airplane and Country Joe and the Fish. This rather inauspicious beginning lead to over a decade in commercial radio behind the microphone, which I would have done for nothing but fortunately got paid for. I suppose I've come full circle - starting out in college radio and ending up in college radio.

The strangest part of the experience was the method in which I played the music. To think that I spent years meticulously placing needles in vinyl grooves, even taping a coin to the stylus so the needle wouldn't skip, not to mention yelling at people to walk softly in the studio, only to find that now I can use my Ipod. All I had to do was plug a jack into the earphone hole. At first this was a great discovery - I could program the entire show in advance, listen to it over and over to make sure the sequence was right, then finally put it on the air with enough time to say something that sounded intelligent.

Consequently, I showed up at the appointed hour, relying on the janitor to let me in, plugged in the jack, and pressed the Ipod button at the start of the program. But then -much to my dismay - the technology began to unravel. The Ipod began "eating" the songs so they would start halfway through, or skip a song entirely or - even worse- pause for an inordinate amount of seconds before seguing between tunes. I got hyper - I hate dead air. I had brought along a few CDs in case I needed a Plan B, and I ended up resorting to them so I could tighten up the music and cross fade from one song to another. It almost started to feel like the old days,bringing back the overriding fear of not knowing what's going to happen next. The Ipod made me so comfortable I forgot that the show was supposed to be work.

Anyway, I'll be back on this coming Sunday at 88.3 FM or at wqri.rwu.edu for streaming audio - that is, as long as the janitor shows up. My Ipod will be part of the mix, but it won't replace my own efforts at putting songs together. Technology is beneficial as long as you control it, thus proving that human beings are not totally irelevant - yet.

That's The Spirit

2008-01-02T10:42:00.000-08:00

Originally, I was going to come up with something clever about musical New Year's resolutions, but I only came up with one. My resolution is to give more exposure to lesser known talent, people who play for the love of the instrument, who focus on dedicating themselves to the craft and forgetting about recognition. The validity of this resolution was amply illustrated by the last live music I saw in 2007, a performance by my friend, mandolin player Will Melton.

He appeared as part of Bright Lights Providence, the successor to First Night, playing with a segment of the Providence Mandolin Orchestra, a group called L'Esperance (Hope). Will is more or less dedicated to the mandolin, having played since he was a teenager, but he is also a walking encyclopedia of early Delta blues and old timey jug band music (He sings well, too, but that's another story!). This is the context in which I typically view the mandolin - raunchy, funky, bluegrassy - so the concert was a real ear-opener.

The first piece was the overture to an opera by a lesser known nineteenth century German composer. It was surprising to hear a group of mandolins mimic a full-fledged orchestra, right down to percussion. Will and one of the other players contributed both the melody and the "tremolo" effect, strumming their instruments to give the song a sort of Neapolitan flavor. The band then tackled a series of dance tunes, each with a slightly different character, but the overall impression was stately and formal, making the mandolins sound as if they had been expressly for the purpose of entertaining royalty. The dances were followed by an Oriental piece that again illustrated the diversity of the instrument, the strings painting a delicate musical tapestry. L'Esperance wound up with their own version of the theme from "Ghostbusters" (Who you gonna call? The mandolin players!). I knew it was familiar but the only tune I could come up with was "Lady Madonna" until Will explained over coffee after the concert.

I've seen incredible blues and jazz shows, major rock concerts, produced two major concerts and seen a lot of club performances, but the enthusiasm and dedication of these individuals was much more impressive than watching the so-called "supergroups" . It had depth and texture and a unique quality that stayed with me. Besides , what better way to enter the new year than with a little hope?

Will Melton speaks:
L"Esperance is grateful for your coverage of our Bright Night performance in Providence. It is fitting that we featured some classical mandolin compositions because Providence has been an important center for the study of the mandolin since the instrument's introduction to America. When Giuseppe Pettine (1872-1966) arrived in Rhode Island from Isernia, Italy in 1888, most Americans had never heard the instrument played. Soon he was recognized as the most successful mandolin virtuoso of his time, teaching, performing, and composing for the instrument. Our most senior member of L'Esperance was a student of Pettine's in 1947. Today most people think of the mandolin only as a bluegrass instrument because of legendary mandolin player Bill Munroe, who invented the "high and lonely" country sound that became known as bluegrass. But don't overlook the mandolin as a blues instrument. The great blues mandolinist Yank Rachell (1910-1997) came out of the Memphis jug band scene and composed many country blues classics including She Caught the Katy and Divin' Duck Blues. He was also the first to record blues classics like Milk Cow Blues and Poor John Blues. He played with dozens of blues legends including John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson and Big Joe Williams. Some of his most important work was done with guitarist Sleepy John Estes who was his partner in the 1920s and 1930s. When they were reunited as a duet in the 1960s, they made the rounds of the college scene during the blues revival, also touring Japan and Europe and all the American folk festivals. Like Rachell, Estes enjoyed a long career, finishing as a featured artist of the Jefferson Airplane spin-off Hot Tuna. Much of Rachell's work is available on CD so check it out!

Happy Holidays - Be Back Next Week!!!

2007-12-21T08:08:00.000-08:00

Christmas Presence

2007-12-09T06:17:00.000-08:00

If you're getting ready to write to Santa (hopefully, you were good this year) then BSRR would like to suggest you ask for the following musical gifts under your tree:

1. Bruce Burnside: Sample the output of this talented musician - singer - songwriter and you'll find a wealth of carefully crafted traditional music. Bruce's dedication to the various musical genres he enjoys is obvious and infectious. For Bruce's music and musings, visit: http://www.bruceburnside.com/

2. Scott Allen: "Doc" Allen's lyrics range from biting commentaries on the hypocrisy that poisons the public sector to his innermost reflections on love and life. His approach is reminiscent of Dylan, but his voice is melodic and his playing effortless. For more, check out Scott Allen at http://www.milomusic.com/.

3. William Topley: His voice is bigger than life - from soulful wails to soft litanies -, his music ranges from blues to ballads to reggae to rock, and his band changes seamlessly from style to style. Topley is a commanding presence. Find out at http://www.williamtopley.com/.

4. Robert Johnson: Hard to believe the extent of this Delta bluesman's influence on the modern music world based on two recording sessions in Texas in the 1930s. His exceptional guitar playing - picking, sliding, strumming as if two people were playing at once - combines with his powerful plaintive voice to create an indelible impression that inspired Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton among others.

5. The Cutlass Three: Their music is far from low key, but it is surprising that these three relatively young musicians can produce such solid, textured and driving rock. Not only is most of their music original, it is also road-tested, which bodes well for the band's promising future. Check out www.myspace.com/thecutlassband.

More next week - have fun at the Mall, if that's possible.

The (American) Eagles

2007-11-30T04:57:00.000-08:00

Although the Eagles' music played a pivotal role in my former radio career, it never occurred to me to write about them until I saw a TV ad for their latest album at Wal Mart. It's not a bad fit - their music was always fairly mainstream - it just seems incongruous that a band whose members brought us songs like "Smugglers Blues" ,"Life in the Fast Lane" and "Tequila Sunrise" would end up being showcased along with the other Christmas merchandise at America's leading discounter.

I suppose I could argue that the first taste of the Eagles I got was being at Kent State from 1972-1974 when Joe Walsh and the James Gang were storming through the greater Cleveland area bar scene, but it would still be a few years before Walsh made the transition from Pacific Gas & Electric to join Frey, Henley et al. My relationship with their music formally started on Martha's Vineyard from 1974-75, fresh out of school and hired at the former WVOI FM, the island's first attempt at a full time radio station. I would wander into the production studio during segments of the classical music program I was supposed to engineer at night, and listen to "Already Gone", a song which I've re-discovered thanks to my IPod. When the station finally caved in to become a rocker, the Eagles quickly became a staple, adding "On The Border", "James Dean", "Lying Eyes", and "Heartache Tonight" among others. I didn't think of them as country rockers , but saw them as an outgrowth of the California music scene, the evolution of the surfer sound combined with a touch of San Francisco. It was "clean" music with crystal clear harmonies and smooth guitar solos.

The next barrier was crossed when I heard Big Dan Ingraham - a staple of New York's legendary WABC AM - introduce "Hotel California" as the longest song ever played on the station, a testament to the band's power to overcome the three minute "box" most AM hits were supposed to fit into. Ingraham's skill at talking right up to the beginning of the vocal was sorely tested due to the length of the intro. The song itself is sort of like a postscript on the West Coast phenomenon from Monterey Pop to Altamont to the Manson family to the celebrity dilettante lifestyle , a dream that sank into the abyss of drugs and dissolution. Being able to play "New Kid in Town" sustained me through a truly dismal job at a Connecticut AM, since the only tunes I could stomach in between megadoses of Tony Orlando and Dawn were "New Kid" and "Bohemian Rhapsody", although Queen was just a bit too pretentious for my taste.

Glenn Frey and Don Henley paced my final reincarnation on a Rhode Island rocker. Frey achieved the ultimate cool by not only co-starring on the hippest TV show of the 80s - Miami Vice - but also summarizing most of the plot lines in "Smugglers' Blues". Henley's powerful lyrics and plaintive vocals haunted the airwaves with "Boys of Summer" and "Sunset Grille" among others, proving that the groups' talent was the sum of its members. When they finally reunited,
I was pleasantly surprised by the freshness of the new tunes on "Hell Freezes Over", most notably "Learn to Be Still ", but honorable mention definitely goes to "Get Over It" - in the same vein as "Dirty Laundry" - and the Nashville twang of "The Girl From Yesterday".

I guess it's fitting that the Eagles newest great American album debuts during America's greatest retail selling season - the holidays - at America's greatest retail outlet. Just like Mom, apple pie, the flag, the Fourth of July and hot dogs, the Eagles have been inducted into the ranks of popular culture icons. I better got out and get my copy now while supplies last.

Replusive Christmas Music

2007-11-20T04:02:00.000-08:00

I feel vindicated; yesterday, at a store, I actually heard one woman say to another: "...And they're already playing that (expletive deleted) Christmas music!" For years, I thought I was the only one who couldn't stand the onslaught of Yuletide tunes that spew out of all those speakers in the Mall or pollute the airways from - in some extreme cases - before Thanksgiving until New Year's Day. Actually, in case you haven't noticed, the retail version of Christmas now starts sometime between Labor Day and Halloween. I guess it's good that Johnny Mathis, Perry Como, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole and all the other holiday music giants get their annual shot in the arm (hopefully, the Crosby estate donates all those excess royalties to domestic violence agencies) but how many times can you hear "White Christmas" or "Walking in a Winter Wonderland" without grinding your teeth and muttering under your breath ?

The low point for yours truly was back in the depths of my sordid radio career when I drew the Christmas Eve AND Christmas Day shifts at a country & western station in Waterbury, Connecticut. The format was nothing but country Christmas tunes, so I had to hear Ernest Tubb singing "Christmas Island" and Johnny Cash doing "Little Drummer Boy" over and over again. Every so often, I had to say stuff like "Johnny's Twin Oaks wishes you and yours a real country Christmas" - which means you best be hitting the barroom right after opening your presents, or "Dave's Auto Parts hopes you have a happy and prosperous New Year" - so you can continue to afford all those expensive truck parts. I ended up so depressed that I got totally wasted for Christmas Day.

In the Fifties, those Yuletide carols had more of a limited shelf life - Christmas Eve and Christmas Day maybe. But now, it's all part of the military/industrial/retail complex. The big scam is that, even if your house is being foreclosed on or the boss cut out the Christmas bonus or your car is making one of those "I'm-about-to-burst-into-flame" noises, you - collectively, WE- are all expected to spend money we don't have to buy things that we think we need, thus driving up holiday sales and giving the economy a boost. Consequently, the Christmas tunes are intended to evoke a Pavlovian response, unlocking a subliminal desire to buy stuff. Years of seemingly innocuous , cheesy melodies have finally been subverted to yet another nefarious purpose.

That's why I like Thanksgiving. All you have to do is drink and eat.

Tina and Me

2007-11-13T13:03:00.000-08:00

I haven't been entirely honest about my obsessions. I've always fantasized about being with Tina Turner. I realize there are some obvious drawbacks. First of all, she has no idea who I am, although I frequently feel the same way what with my ongoing identity crisis. I doubt if the six degrees of separation theory would work here; chances are better I'll see Ike Turner playing for dimes in some rundown bar before running into Tina. Secondly, I can't dance like she does. Sure, I try but my body -although marginally limber despite all the miles on it - just wouldn't make any one's liver quiver, except people with really bad vision. Third of all, I can't sing like Tina. Most people would in fact pay me to keep quiet.

But how can you ignore a woman who just exudes sexuality, who bellows and growls and belts out R & B while she prowls across the stage? "Better Be Good To Me" should be the anthem of disgusted women everywhere - the lyrics and the way Tina bites off the words against the simple but powerful guitar riff are enough to back any disrespectful creep up against the wall. Tina's version of "Can't Stand The Rain" is light years away from Ann Peebles, bending the phrases to squeeze out every last ounce of blues. You may very well ask yourself: "What's Love Got To Do With It?" and you're right, this obsession I have with Tina is probably closer to lust but I'm still convinced after one night that she'd be insisting "Let's Stay Together."

I guess the conclusion is, based on" Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome", that you don't stand a chance with Tina unless you're Mel Gibson, and even then it's debatable if you'll score. I suppose I'm destined to admire her from a distance. Of course, there's always the chance we might bump into each other or she might issue an urgent appeal for available old white men, but chances are better that I'll just listen to "Proud Mary" or "Honky Tonk Woman" or even "Nutbush City Limits" one more time, although I'm probably better off sticking with "Dream On" by Aerosmith.

About those links:
John Mayall - www.johnmayall.com
Bruce Burnside-www.bruceburnside.com
Scott Allen - www.milomusic.com
Motels/Martha Davis - www.marthadavis.com
William Topley - www.williamtopley.com
The Cutlass Three - myspace.com/thecutlassband
The Rhode Island International Film Festival - www.RIIFF.org

BSRR'S Top Five Musical Fantasies

2007-11-07T05:15:00.000-08:00

I think the roots of our celebrity-obsessed culture probably started with the royal rock stars and spectacular soul singers of the Sixties, when they commanded the same adulation and awe as movie stars did in the preceding decades. Although there's been no official research whether us baby boomers suffer from rock and roll fantasies, the number of over fifty types who still play air guitar and try to dance to Motown hits is a clear indication that at least some of us have refused to let go of our youthful delusions of grandeur - like:

1. Playing guitar like Jimi Hendrix or Jimmy Page: How many times have you - in private of course - picked up a broom or a tennis racket and duplicated the stinging riffs from "Red House" or the spine-straightening break from "Whole Lotta Love"? Luckily, you don't have to suffer the callouses on top of callouses that would result from practicing the same notes over and over again.

2. Dancing onstage like James Brown or The Temptations or Michael Jackson: James was the king of dropping, spinning, sidestepping, whirling and just plain punctuating his gut bucket soul with raw funk in human form; The Temps were the kings of flawless execution of soul-drenched choreography, moving smoothly to their own melodies; Michael Jackson's moonwalk simply defined cool.

3. Drumming like Ginger Baker: This gaunt Englishman was probably the first rocker to make the drums a staple of endless solos, although honorable mention goes to the percussionists who backed Carlos Santana.

4. Singing in a high falsetto like Stevie Wonder or Phillip Bailey or Michael Jackson again: All you have to do is put on "Fingertips Part I & II" and let Steve's 12 year old voice tickle your eardrums, or nearly anything by Earth, Wind and Fire that showcases Bailey's crystal clear tones, or "Thriller" - maybe even some of the Jackson 5 hits - to experience one of the multi-million selling voices of the twentieth century.

5. Writing lyrics like Bob Dylan: Who else could spit out angry metaphors and trainwrecks of images that managed to capture and keep pace with the sweeping changes of the life and times of the "Now" Generation, from the commanding folkieness of "The Times They Are A Changin'" right on up to "Someday Baby" on Modern Times?

I'm sure you have your own musical fantasies. My advice is to nurture them and, if somebody questions your lunacy, just remind them that age is a state of mind.

Thank You, Robert Johnson

2007-11-01T12:33:00.000-07:00

My own personal theory of rock and roll goes something like this -first, Hank Williams, whose rockabilly inspired people like Chuck Berry, Little Richard and the like, which eventually translated into Elvis Presley, a black man's voice in a white man's body, and then mushroomed into an industry, branching out into Motown, San Francisco rock, surfer music and so on. Ironically, the mysterious, legendary Delta blues guitarist and singer Robert Johnson may very well be the true father of rock. The Rolling Stones have recorded "Love in Vain" and "Stop Breaking Down"; Cream made "Cross Road Blues" famous; I've heard various versions and variations of songs like "Stones in My Passway" , "Travelling Riverside Blues" and "Rambling on my Mind" from artists as diverse as Led Zepplin to John Mayall to - of course - Eric Clapton. Johnson's lyrics and blues riffs echo throughout Twentieth Century popular music.

The facts of his life are sparse: born in Hazleton, Mississippi in May, 1911; married twice, his first wife dying in childbirth at age 16, his second wife an older woman with three children whom he later abandoned; poisoned to death - supposedly - by drinking a bottle of whiskey laced with strychnine at the age of 27 near Greenwood, Mississippi. It seems that nobody really knows where he was buried - there are three different markers . Johnson spent most of his life as a performer travelling up and down the Delta, playing on streetcorners, with a woman in every town.

The myth of Robert Johnson revolves around a story that he cultivated, at least according to his fellow musician Johnny Shines. Johnson went to a crossroads at midnight to meet up with the devil, and handed his guitar over to Satan. The devil tuned it so Robert could play anything he wanted and then handed it back to Johnson in exchange for his soul. It is known that he started playing the guitar at the tender age of three and was also proficient on the harmonica.

Whether he took music lessons from Beezlebub or not,there is no question in my mind that Robert Johnson coaxed sounds out of his Gibson guitar that still resonate strongly from the grainy recordings he made in 1936 and 1937 at two different sessions in Texas. His biggest "hit" - Terraplane Blues" - sold about 5,000 copies. His ability to play rthymn and melody at the same time, coupled with sliding up and down the neck, create a unique, spellbinding sound, combining with Johnson's mournful wail to define Delta blues, at least for a generation of 60s and 70s musicians. His lyrics - as in "Stones in My Passway" - "Where did you stay last night? / Your hair's all messed up and you ain't talkin' right" - or "Come On In My Kitchen" - "The woman I love took her from my best friend/Some joker got lucky, stole her back again" - are just a few of the verses that have been incorporated into countless blues tunes.

Ironically, were it not for Keith Richards, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page - among others - deciding to emulate Johnson, he would have ended up a relatively obscure figure. Instead, Robert Johnson's life and legacy have made him into an icon, a towering but cryptic fixture of early Twentieth Century blues music.

Radiohead's Revenge

2007-10-23T05:20:00.000-07:00

Change is constant, especially when it comes to 21st century media, and the past few weeks have proven how true this is relative to the recording industry - actually, I'm not so sure you can call it that anymore - how about the "music content" industry? First, the big mean labels zero in on poor Jammie Thomas for those dastardly downloads, and now Radiohead throws down the gauntlet by offering their new recording "In Rainbows" online for whatever price fans want to pay. Consequently, depending on your conscience, you can pay 2 cents or $10 or nothing at all.

"Pay what you want" is not a new concept for the nonprofit arts world. Providence's Trinity Rep theatre company typically offers a similar structure for the opening night of a show. Their aim is to give people a chance to see a play who normally wouldn't attend. This is an excellent way to build audience and break down the perceived barriers that exist between people and the arts - the idea that only the wealthy can afford to see live theatre.

If the arts are to fulfill their mission of accessibility for all, then Radiohead's gesture is truly inspired. It becomes a question of how much do the "music content" companies really need to make. One of the best and worst aspects of 21st century media is the fact that the technological tools that were once in the hands of the few are now available to anyone. People know how much it costs to dub a CD as well as the labelling and packaging so, when you see a CD on sale for $20, you begin to wonder just exactly how much of that is profit. In the past, the labels would chalk it up to distribution and marketing, but the Internet has wiped out most of that function.

The implications of Radiohead's dramatic gesture are unclear at this point, but it has achieved one goal already. People who knew very little about the band before are now very aware of their music. Consequently, Radiohead's stature - and audience - may have expanded enough to overcome any monetary loss from their bold new venture. Perhaps the "music content"purveyors will sit up and take notice.

Buying the Blues

2007-10-14T13:16:00.000-07:00

I just spent about an hour in a large chain record store looking for blues CDs, and I can understand why the music is so undervalued.

There are miles and miles of aisles full of rap and hip hop - which is understandable - and a fairly hefty assortment of pop,rock and rthymn and blues - which is also predictable. This particular big national multi-multi-location retailer even had decent slices of jazz - half an aisle - and classical - the other half of the same aisle. Unfortunately, the blues section seemed to be a carefully guarded secret, compelling me to ask a clerk where it was. He lead me to a measly few rows of CDs tucked behind a pillar. I was a little dubious, but began dutifully examining the selection anyway. After all, maybe I'd luck out and find some decent Albert Collins, or a Chicago anthology or some boogie woogie piano.

It was bad enough that the category was so small, but even worse when I discovered that most of the CDs were B.B. King or John Lee Hooker - at least one row of each artist. I like both of them quite a bit, but the assumption is the record store realizes that the long, rich history of the blues encompasses more than two players, whose product had already taken up 30% of the paltry space devoted to the genre. The next biggest category was the anthologies, occupying another 30% of the selection. I always get excited when I see titles like "Masters of the Blues Guitar" or "Greatest Hits" but my enthusiasm quickly dissipates when I took at the list of cuts, and discover that there are maybe two - possibly three - good songs, the rest being fill.

I was down to the remaining 40% of the blues content, except I began finding other CDs mixed in that had nothing to do with blues, apparently dumped there either by mistake or because the record store staff didn't know the artists. There were quite a few Taj Mahals but most of them looked like remixes of remixes, and, of course, a whole stack of Robert Johnsons. No Paul Butterfield, a couple of copies of Albert King's greatest hits, a little Howling Wolf, and that was about it. True, there was one Buddy Guy CD - one - and a couple of Muddy Waters, but no Albert Collins, or Memphis Slim, or Jimmy Reed or Elmore James or Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee or even Sonny Boy Williamson. I'm beginning to understand why so many kids think Eric Clapton is the original blues guitarist.

After much reflection, I ended up with a Robert Johnson - since I never have bought a Robert Johnson CD - an Albert King CD and one called "The Great Women Blues Singers", which actually looks pretty good. It makes me wonder, though, how much shelf space will be left when I come back, and if I'm the only one buying these CDs.

How about those links:
John Mayall - http://www.johnmayall.com/
Bruce Burnside - http://www.bruceburnside.com/
Scott Allen - http://www.milomusic.com/
Martha Davis and the Motels - http://www.marthadavis.com/
RI International Film Festival - www.RIFF.org
The Cutlass Three - myspace.com/thecutlassband
William Topley - www.williamtopley.com

Meltdown in Minnesota

2007-10-06T12:33:00.000-07:00

You've got to hand it to the record companies. Their PR departments must be run by mentally challenged chimpanzees. Witness the latest blow for freedom in beautiful downtown Duluth, where the corporate giants singled out poor Native American Jammie Thomas and whacked her with a $220,000 judgement for file sharing of songs off the Internet. After all, she makes $36,000 a year and also supports two boys on her own, so the labels probably figured she'd be able to pay it off in no time. What WERE they thinking- or, better yet, WERE they thinking?

According to the news reports, this worked out to $9,250 per song for 24 songs, probably all by Metallica (You remember when they whined about the Web a few years back). I'd love to know where this $10,000 figure came from - certainly not royalties, or the industry is making a lot more money than they claim they are. Strangely, not a single member of the recording industry has spoken out to even explain how this bizarre turn of events illustrates the problem.

No question, as I say in my Intro to Mass Media classes, that the Web has altered the media landscape into a brave new world. Anyone can be a reporter, a novelist, an artist, a - as they say - content provider because the technology is available to everybody. It's just that simple. Yet there are a couple of relevant observations that might help frame the debate.

First of all, how many years have the major labels extracted as much profit as possible from the hapless consumer, not to mention the absurd ticket prices for even a marginal tour? If the best the recording industry can do is "cookie cutter" pop stars - Debbie Gibson leads to Britney Spears to Hilary Duff to the next teen aged pop queen - then how can they expect loyalty or sympathy? Talent seems to have disappeared , swallowed up by marketing and promotion. Our so-called pop stars are interchangeable.

Secondly, what about exposure? What if Jammie and the millions of others who do likewise downloaded new up and coming artists? This is the double-edged sword of exposure - if you don't have it, you'll do anything to get it, but, once you get it, you'll do anything to protect it.

Finally, how about the millions of talented musicians out there who are totally passed over, ignored by the juggernaut? What are they supposed to, wait for some miracle to drop out of the sky, the dude chomping on the cigar who rolls up in a Cadillac with a contract ? For them, Web exposure is a make or break situation.

Unfortunately, I'm better at defining the problem then I am arriving at a solution. In some countries, you pay an annual fee to the government to use your radio or television. Although it seems onerous at first, this approach in fact gives the media greater independence by cutting the slavish desire to please the almighty advertiser. The fees can be split up among the artists ( This really is the model for satellite radio - paying a fee to get the product you want). Maybe the labels should somehow code their CDS so they can't be played on a computer. Maybe they should just resign themselves to smaller profits .

What they should NOT do is lash out indiscriminately at single mothers to make themselves look nastier than they already do. Maybe the government should get involved, have some kind of major conference to flesh out the issues instead of this ongoing guerrilla warfare approach. After all, in the final analysis, we don't need them - they need US.

Kings of the Keyboard: Memphis Slim

2007-09-24T05:56:00.000-07:00

"Started out in Memphis in 1932
Playing blues and a little boogie, too
But I left that town...."

Harlem Bound, Memphis Slim

Memphis Slim's sinuous piano playing and soulful vocals have cast a long shadow over the history of Twentieth Century blues. He cut over 500 recordings with more than 20 albums under his own name. As the lyric says, Slim , born John Len Chatman in 1915 in Memphis, started out tickling the ivories at the Midway Cafe on Beale Street in 1931. He emulated the "barrelhouse" style of players like the legendary Roosevelt Sykes. One of the best examples of this style is Slim's rollicking "Joogie Boogie" on Smithsonian's Folkways label. The same collection showcases his sense of humor , as well as his collaboration with bassist Willie Dixon, on "Beer Drinking Woman"

" Walked into a beer tavern
To show a girl a good time
When I entered I had 45 dollars
When I left I had one thin dime
Wasn't that a beer drinking woman.."

Beer Drinking Woman, Memphis Slim

Chatman/Slim moved to Chicago in 1934, where he ended up recording for both Okeh Records - as Peter Chatman and His Washboard Band - as well as the Bluebird Label under the name Memphis Slim. He accompanied legendary bluesman Big Bill Broonzy until 1944, and came into his own with his band the House Rockers in 1947. Slim moved to France in 1962 where he died in Paris at the age of 72 in 1988.

One of my favorite Slim cuts is "Three Woman Blues", a plaintive lament about how hard it is to love somebody "when they don't love you.." accompanied by superior and very melodic keyboard work . The same lyric is echoed in Bessie Smith's "Empty Bed Blues". Another standout is the classic blues standard "Key To The Highway", which Memphis Slim renders in the same mournful vocal style, a song also covered by Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee as well as rocker Steve Miller.

But the winner in my book is "Harlem Bound", in which Slim sums up his musical career in less than three minutes of frantic but smooth piano playing , ending with a mock conductor's call as the pianist travels closer to his ultimate destination:

"Cleveland...Pittsburgh...Newark, New Jersey...125th Street - that's where I get off !"

Harlem Bound, Memphis Slim

Sometimes there's nothing better than a seamless and rocking piano tune, the hallmark of Memphis Slim's extensive contribution to the blues.

(The) Monumental (John) Mayall: Bluesbreakers With Eric Clapton

2007-09-14T08:55:00.000-07:00

John Mayall's 1966 classic "Bluesbreakers With Eric Clapton" is special to me because it was the first record I ever stold - not as in shoplifted, but as in borrowing it from someone and then forgetting to ever give it back. I was the (alleged) lead singer for the legendary Phoenix Blues Band on the Vineyard, and had to learn the words to Robert Johnson's "Ramblin' On My Mind" so I "borrowed" the disc from lead guitarist John Early ( Easily one of the best players I ever met, by the way) and hung onto it. I even tried to imitate Mayall's high pitched vocals.

The album is monumental first of all because of his incredible talent. From his high-powered version of Ray Charles' "What'd I Say?" to "Little Girl" to his rhythmic harmonica on "Parchman Farm", John Mayall showed that he was a force to be reckoned with. "Parchman Farm" pales in comparison to Mayall's legendary mouth harp tour de force - "Room To Move" . His style is totally different from Paul Butterfield's piercing notes and melodic runs as well as Bob Dylan's ragged chords, much closer to the country harmonica made famous by Sonny Terry.

The second monumental feature of Bluesbreakers is the introduction of virtuoso Eric Clapton, making a break from the Yardbirds. Although Clapton only stayed with Mayall's band for about a year, his contributions on songs like "All Your Love", with its innovative riff, and the instrumentals "Hideaway" and "Steppin' Out" give a glimpse of what he was capable of playing and the legend he would become.

Perhaps the most amazing thing about John Mayall is the number of musicians who either played or started with him before going on to fame with other bands. For example, Jack Bruce played bass with Mayall before he and Clapton linked up with Ginger Baker to form Cream; John McVie played bass with Mayall before joining drummer Mick Fleetwood - another Mayall alumnus - in Fleetwood Mac; and Canned Heat's Larry Taylor also contributed bass guitar to Mayall's efforts as well. Some of the other musical luminaries that appeared in Mayall's various sessons included lead guitarists Peter Green, Mick Taylor and Harvey Mandel; the unbelievable Dr. John the Night Tripper (Better known these days as New Orleans' Mack Rebennack) on keyboards; and Paul Butterfield himself on harmonica. Mayall and band also backed blues legend Albert King in 1971, a session which was finally released in 1986 as - believe it or not - "The Lost Session."

John Mayall is still going strong at age 73 - check out his latest efforts at http://www.johnmayall.com/

Since we're on the subject of links:

Get Bruce Burnside's music, touring schedule and philosophy at http://www.bruceburnside.com/

Hear the incredibly talented Scott Allen at http://www.milomusic.com/

Find out about the latest Rhode Island International Film Festival stuff at www.RIFF.org

Martha Davis and the Motels are alive and well at www.marthadavis.com

By the way, summer's not over until September 20!

Catching Up With Cutlass Three

2007-09-09T08:00:00.000-07:00

I ran into Steve Cannella last week on the RWU campus - profiled in an earlier post about the group Cutlass Three - still skateboarding and still playing. The band has a regular Thursday night gig at the Beach House in the Island Park section of scenic Portsmouth, RI where the elite meet and greet. Thursdays are now College Nights with Beer Pong and the Cutlass Three, and the action starts at 9:00 PM. If you want to hear some straight up rock that never lets you down, with echoes of rockabilly, blues and legendary English rockers The Clash, then check out the Cutlass Three Thursday nights at the Beach House. For more info on the band, go to:
www.myspace.com/thecutlassband

Radio Daze Part II

2007-09-06T18:06:00.000-07:00

Since Van Halen really is going on tour - at least, this week - I couldn't resist telling the tale of the dreaded "Drop Dead Legs" contest after all, which , in its own sexist, haphazard way was in fact much worse than the ill-fated Springsteen food drive. The event was cooked up at the last minute to coincide with a stop in Providence on the 1984 tour promoting the record of the same name. The same rock and roll station that I worked for was given the alleged privilege of finding women with great legs to appear in a video Van Halen would cut while in Rhode Island showcasing the tune -believe it or not - "Drop Dead Legs". WHJY's favorite club at the time - JR's Fastlane - was immediately chosen as the venue for the so-called contest, and the station rushed on the air with a hot promo as soon as possible. As Promotions Director, I was left with the dubious task of somehow structuring the contest.

Normally, most rock and roll promotions were fairly routine. You would give away the tickets or the movie passes or the merchandise to caller number whatever, or simply plug into an existing vehicle created by a record company, a multi-location retailer or a travel agent. I really had no idea why anybody would want to lend their legs to Van Halen and get squat in return except perhaps the privilege of telling their grandchildren someday " Remember videos? You know, MTV? Well, Grandma was in one once..." However, I dutifully made up some entry forms so we would have sort of a structure and headed off to the club at the appointed hour.

It was pretty much a mob scene. I waded through a crowd of women who seemed to have thighs up to their armpits and established myself at a convenient table, handing out and collecting the entries until every form had been filled out. I then beat a hasty retreat to the upstairs office to await the arrival of the so-called Van Halen "people", wondering if David Lee Roth himself was going to show up and judge the golden gams, but his "people" turned out to be a trio of scruffy, nasty LA types who demanded Jack Daniels before they would utter a word. My carefully collected entry forms were quickly relegated to the trash. " But," I appealed to the California scumbags, "what about all the women who filled these out? Mean, aren't you going to like, call them up on stage or something?" I was informed that my role was simply to keep the crowd entertained; the "people" would hand pick the lucky legs.

After waiting until the Fastlane had literally run out of enough room in which to take a deep breath, I was ordered downstairs, where a bouncer the size of a three story building plowed through the throng, clearing a path for us to get onstage. I tried to say something clever, but - fortunately - everything was drowned out by the headbanging music and the roar of the now wasted crowd. Several women whose legs apparently fit the "drop dead" criteria ( which seemed to be how much whiskey can you drink and still see the contestants) were summoned off to the side and given instructions on where and when the shoot would take place. It seemed that all of the women who had dutifully filled out my precious little forms were now too far gone to pay any attention. Back at the office, I had a few ritual shots with the gang, forcing myself to smile at their mindless anecdotes of wasted nights on the tour before managing to slip out.

Speaking of 1984, as George Orwell himself might have said, " Everyone who entered the "Drop Dead Legs" contest was equal, but some of them were more equal than others."

Radio Daze Part 1

2007-08-24T18:29:00.000-07:00

The news that Bruce Springsteen is coming out with another album somehow inspired me to think about a really pathetic contest that I helped to run at a rocker in my dismal past that was designed solely to suck up to Bruce. It was 1985 and he would be doing two shows at the Providence Civic Center. The station was intent on somehow getting Bruce's endorsement either in the form of an exclusive interview or by participating in some manufactured event. Rather than make the listeners identify a string of Eddie Van Halen solos - which was the case when we had given away Van Halen tickets - or just being in the right place at the right time to hook up with a "ticket raid" - which meant we were dumping Ratt or Skid Row tickets or some other marginal act that was having trouble filling a club - we decided to do something socially responsible.

Springsteen was using that particular tour to encourage food donations, collecting for shelters in the different cities he was playing, so the contest would promote that humanitarian theme - the audience would bring food to designated locations where they would then be eligible to participate in a raffle for a pair of tickets. We didn't really stop to consider the fact that most of our listeners lived on fast food or cocaine and bottled water, so the idea of, like, actually buying canned goods was an alien concept. Since the salesmen immediately jockeyed their best clients into position as ideal collection points, the ill-fated promotion managed to combine the wrong demographic with the wrong businesses, as well as working in the wrong times.

Consequently, I found myself collecting cans at a foreign car garage at noon, and holding a raffle at a music store in the morning - when the majority of our core rockers were still sleeping off the night before. Half the fans showed up at these dismal gatherings with one whole can, since we didn't specify how many or exactly what they were supposed to bring. By the time I finished giving away the coveted seats, we probably had enough to maybe feed one homeless person for a few nights, provided they didn't mind eating canned peas.

Aware that we were flirting with disaster, the station came up with a final desperate measure: awarding Springsteen the key to the city, assuming that such an honor would draw him out for invaluable free publicity. The mayor was only too happy to get involved, his office quickly agreeing to hold the dubious ceremony a few hours before Bruce's first concert. I was pleased to see several local TV stations in attendance at the appointed hour, but no sign of the great one. Several seconds before the mayor was about to get seriously pissed, the record company promo guy showed up, graciously accepting the honor before pulling us aside and excoriating the station for not only being stupid enough to think we could actually get Springstreen to make an appearance but also pulling him away from dinner with the wife and kids in some Boston suburb, taking pains to imply that the record label he worked for didn't really need us - we needed them.
Fortunately, Bruce sold out both shows, actually giving the Civic Center a profit for the first time in its history, the promo guy continued to visit the station, and I was left to concentrate on more imaginative contests - that is, until the dreaded Van Halen "Drop Dead Legs" competition - but that's another story.

Favorite links:
Rhode Island International Film Festival: http://www.riiff.org/
William Topley's "Feasting With Panthers" : http://www.williamtopley.com/
Traditional music from a virtuoso practitioner": http://www.bruceburnside.com/
Scott Allen's contemporary tunes:http://www.milomusic.com/
Martha Davis and the Motels: http://www.marthadavis.com/
Read all about the "Land of Lincoln(s)" at:
http://rantsfromrockyhill.blogspot.com/
The latest Cutlass Three gigs: http://www.myspace.com/thecutlassband

Judgemental

2007-08-14T03:35:00.000-07:00

I did something a little out of the ordinary last week- I served as a judge for best musical "score" as part of the 11th Annual Rhode Island International Flm Festival - a total of over 275 films from 70 countries over six days, according to the official RIIFF poster. I keep thinking that there should be a variation of the Groucho Marx joke about "...any festival that has me as a judge is not a festival I want to be part of..." or something along those lines, but the fact is that it was a privilege to be involved in such a high quality event.

I watched five different films. Based on BSRR's avowed musical orientation, the one that most closely fit the type of tunes typically profiled here was "The Front Runner", an animated story of a Southwestern showdown, a 2007 festival world premiere film directed by John Macdowell. The Ennio Morricone themed soundtrack (You remember those Sergio Leone/ Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns - where Clint, Lee Van Cleef and others would stand, hands poised over their pistols as those stirring, echoey guitar chords thundered through the theater speakers!) documents the revenge of a young motorhead after his idol dies in an abortive drag race, played out in comic strip frames with a desolate desert background. The prelude of tentative strumming eventually devolves into the Hollies' "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress" underscoring the fact that the only woman in the film - the one who waves the checkered flag - is, in fact, a blond in a black dress.

"Salim Baba" , 2007, directed by Tim Sternberg, is a documentary about an Indian vendor who drives a "cinema cart" through the streets of North Kolkata, showing scraps of film strung together and powered by a projector hooked up to bicycle pedals. Although the score does feature some mindless, high energy Bollywood pop, it is secondary to Salim's commentary. The same could be said of "Quincy and Althea" , 2006, directed by Doug Lenox, the story of a feisty African American couple basically bitching each other out , stuck in the remnants of Katrina ravaged New Orleans. You are privy to some good old fashioned Dixieland, but it seems needlessly discordant and irrelevant.

"Secondhand Pepe", 2006 world premiere, directed by Hannah Shell and Vanessa Bertozzi, is an innovative portrait of the underside of the global economy, answering the question of exactly what happens to the clothes Americans routinely discard. Using Haitian talk radio as a thread of commentary mixed with excerpts from the diary of an early Twentieth Century Jewish immigrant, the film expertly parallels the evolution of "secondhand pepe" (term for clothes in Haitian patois) from the castoffs plucked from the streets of the lower East Side in Manhattan to the modern day equivalent in the sidewalk markets of Haiti. The music cleverly mixes the frenetic violins and tempo of Eastern European dance tunes with the "junkanoo" percussion of the Caribbean basin, making a musical bridge between the two disparate worlds.

But the winner (The envelope, please!) hands down for best score - in my exceedingly humble opinion - was an animated 2007 world premiere film called "Voodoo Bayou", directed by Javier Gutierrez. This lushly but funky detailed short is told entirely without dialogue, the story of a swamp mosquito struck by lightening in a ghostly bayou. The bug wanders into the eerie shack of a voodoo "shaman" , its' electrified bite bringing a doll to life whose antics lead to a fiery confrontation with the cigar-smoking witch doctor. The music combines the classic Hollywood horror elements of guttering violins and heart pounding percussion with the essence of voodoo incantations and hair-raising chants to create a unique ambiance, the dark side of Walt Disney.

Congratulations to RIIFF Executive Director George T. Marshall and his hardworking team for making the Ocean State the ninth wave for the best in independent films, and don't forget to start making your plans for next year's event - you won't be disappointed.

Feasting On William Topley

2007-08-05T06:02:00.000-07:00

(BSRR would like to acknowledge Louis Santos, Comm 210.01, RWU, without whose help - specifically, three WilliamTopley CDS - this column would not have been possible).

The first and most obvious thing you notice about Englishman William Topley is his voice - the accent that sounds vaguely Jamaican, or maybe Deep South, or possibly Motown Soul - the way he stretches and bends a syllable to fit it flawlessly to the lyric, just as he modulates it from a drawl to a howl on the 12 standout tracks that make up "Feasting With Panthers". He actually has six solo CDs to his credit as well as three more under the name of his original band, The Blessing.

The second thing is the lyrics, like his musical trip to Cuba, "La Habana":
"Saw you stand in the street beneath a poster of Che
Watching young couples kiss in the Malacon...
All the girls in the Tropicana, they roll their own cigars
I stand there in the dressing room, just drinking it in...
Down at Papa's Marina the old man drinks alone
Writing notes to his son a thousand miles away..." (c) 2001 Trinifold Music/BMG Music Pub. Ltd.

The third and most confusing aspect of Topley's music is the fact that it simply can't be characterized. Besides " La Habana", there is the Spanish-flavored "Los Largos" with its soaring promises of love as well as a more mundane chorus:
"What you gotta do to get ahead these days it seems
You gotta rock Manhattan and Staten, Long Island, Jamaica and Queens..." (c) 2001 BMG Music Pub. Ltd.
"Excuses" is a funky, reggae-flavored "dancehall" tune, a lecture to a former lover who wants him back:
"And I've lost sweet time loving you
I said I've been heartbroken, angry
But now I've found somebody, too
So don't you give me excuses...(c) BMG Music Pub. Ltd./Dalmatian Songs (PRS)

"Drake's Drum" features a combination of blistering slide guitar, quavering tremolo and a little bit of Jimi Hendrix wah-wah style thrown in. That's just a taste of William Topley, hailed by the likes of Barry Beckett (Who's produced both Aretha Franklin and Paul Simon) who said: " He's the best singer I've ever heard."

As far as Topley himself is concerned: "...But often the most moving moments have happened to me in Belfast or Hamburg or on the lonely highways of the Midwest. I've ridden shotgun on the private jet and washed my hair on a cold street in Chicago...When you're Feasting with Panthers, you witness the extremes of the feast. But you don't get to eat." If you've got an appetite for exceptionally tight instrumentation, intelligent lyrics and a voice that simply transcends the genre, then feast on William Topley - you won't go away hungry.

Go to http://www.williamtopley.com/

Don't forget - the 2007 Rhode Island International Film Festival starts this Tuesday with 230 screenings around the state - world premieres, vintage Harold Lloyd, standout documentaries, even Elvis in the rough! Get the scoop at http://www.riiff.com/.

For Bruce Burnside's music: http://www.bruceburnside.com/.

For Scott Allen's "The Evidence" : http://www.milomusic.com/

For yet another twisted commentary: http://rantsfromrockyhill.blogspot.com/

Big D's Top Forty - The Beat Goes On ?

2007-07-24T04:55:00.000-07:00

The Gambler - Kenny Rogers

Could be it's the world weary, ragged tone of Kenny's voice, or maybe my memories of riding trains at night, when you look out the window into the darkness and see your pale, lonely face staring back. Somehow, the lyrics, the imagery, the tone capture the right mood, the sense of resignation that pervades us when we hit a low point and we find we need someone to talk to. Life is a gamble after all, a calculated bet that we'll get through another day and survive long enough to enjoy the ride before we all "break even."

James Dean - The Eagles

A tongue-in-cheek rocker that characterizes the band's energy when it burst onto the scene, paying homage to the original rebel himself, appearing in just three movies (Of course, you know what they are - right?) but speaking for every frustrated Fifties teen who felt compelled to look beyond Levittown. After all, thanks to Hollywood, we've all thought at one time or another, that: "I know my life/Would look alright/If I could see it on the silver screen."

Got My Mojo Working - Muddy Waters

Probably the closest thing to a Top 40 blues tune I've ever heard, Muddy's rough but commanding voice giving the song authority, the harmonica meshing perfectly with the driving lead guitar. Often imitated but definitely never equalled.

Don't You Feel Like Crying - Solomon Burke

Burke is truly one of the unsung heroes of soul, still playing and still preaching. This is the song that states the case for companionship, the vocal soaring above the depths of despair, reminding us that loneliness is "such a waste of time." It's epitomized for future generations in "Dirty Dancing", when Patrick and Jennifer slow dance, a long prelude to their first sexual encounter.

Shake Your Moneymaker - Paul Butterfield Blues Band

Incredible slide guitar from Mike Bloomfield, tight backing from the original lineup with drummer Sam Lay combine with Butterfield's hoarse shout to make this one of the stand-out cuts from the band's first album. Talk about energy - this is the kind of music that makes yours truly want to get back into it (but then there's the question of, you know, talent).

Voodoo Child - Jimi Hendrix

Also heard in the background of an Xterra commercial about a year ago. Nobody but nobody can get those sounds out of a guitar like the very late but very great Jimi. Saw him once in Cleveland - there was a bomb threat during the concert but nobody left. So much for the Sixties. Great tune when you're doing 75 in the left lane.

Drake's Drum - William Topley

Without a doubt the most galvanizing, spine straightening electric guitar yours truly has run across in a long time, coupled with his incredible voice. Sounds a little like Mystery Train. Next week, BSRR will take an in depth look at Topley's CD "Feasting With Panthers" (Thanks to Louis Santos, Intro To Speech Communications 210.01, RWU Summer School.

Here's those links:

What? The RI International Film Festival is coming up August 7-12, 2007 and you don't have your tickets? Well, what's wrong with you? Go to http://www.riff.org/

For some of the best traditional music in America today, check out Bruce Burnside's CDs and philosophy at http://www.bruceburnside.com/

For Scott Allen's insightful music and commentary: http://www.milomusic.com/

For the Cutlass Three: www.myspace.com/thecutlassband

For Martha Davis and the Motels: http://www.marthadavis.com/

For a new twisted commentary on the Bush Legacy: http://rantsfromrockyhill.blogspot.com/

Later on, yawl - better go to the beach because time is running out!!!

Bruce Burnside's Musical Genius

2007-07-14T05:02:00.000-07:00

Look closely and you'll see that America is fast disappearing; the sense of place, of regional identity that has created the rich mosaic of our culture is rapidly being swallowed up by the relentless quest for consumerism - the bleak but ubiquitous landscape of asphalt and corporate logos. Music is no exception. The days when musicologists like Alan Lomax and John Hammond and others penetrated the Appalachian hollows, the vast Western plains and Native American reservations, the prisons, the Delta cotton fields, and the other nooks and crannies of our shared musical experience are long gone.

Fortunately for future generations, a modest, unassuming and extremely talented musician/author/musicologist/educator named Bruce Burnside is hard at work keeping this aspect of our culture alive. Bruce has dedicated his entire life to playing, recording and respecting these important traditions. Recently, BSRR caught up with Bruce to ask a few questions about his work and all important goal of preserving our musical culture.

*************************************************************************************

BSRR:

Why is preserving traditional music so important? What is that our culture gains by making sure that the music remains intact for future generations?

Bruce Burnside:

Traditional music for any culture is a reflection of the different social levels within that culture. For America, the diversity of the land and living experiences along with the expanse of years created songs. These songs, with their origins in distant lands, were created to tell the American experience. It's important for us to keep the wisdom in these songs alive to teach us about our lives today. The daily interpretation of old melodies and stories gives us, as a culture, free will and creativity to put music in our hearts. That experience gives traditional music life for each generation and provides a national idiom of social communication.

BSRR:

What got you interested in traditional music to begin with?

Burnside:

I got interested through learning to play guitar. The techniques of playing took me from Chicago blues to Delta blues, from Johnny Cash to Jimmie Rodgers , from what a guitar's role was in a string band, bluegrass band, jug band, blues band, jazz band, and rock band to the folk revival of the Sixties when traditional music resurfaced. I didn't learn everything but at least became aware of all of it.

BSRR:

How many instruments do you play? Which one do you prefer and why?

Burnside:

I'm still learning to play the instruments I play, which includes the banjo family, the mandolin family, electric and acoustic guitar and assorted others. The banjo family includes the five string instruments of banjeaurine, piccolo banjo, banjo, cello banjo, mandolin banjo, and ukulele banjo; different banjos are set up to play different styles, such as claw hammer or "frailing", bluegrass and classic, using nylon or gut strings as do the first four I mentioned. Mandolin, mandola and mando-cello are the mandolin family instruments I play. In addition, if I need a dobro, auto harp or dulcimer part for a recording, and I can't find anyone who plays, then I'll try to locate the instrument and practice enough to record the part. Actually, I don't really feel accomplished on any instrument. I just play and most of the time it sounds good; I have learned my limits and what not to attempt.

Different instruments inspire me in different ways. I write melodies for the banjo that are "banjoesque"; in other words the sound and physical placement of the notes contribute to the melody that gets written. Learning from the classic banjo compositions of the period from 1850-1910 along with the techniques found in the fiddle/banjo music of the Southeast, has helped give me a foundation to work from. The same idea applies to mandolin and guitar. Certain instruments have certain sounds that bring out different responses from my heart to the instrument. I write with my heart, by the way. It's something I've learned to trust and I let it take the lead in guiding me from the beginning to the end of a melody. My entire inner body projects the rhythm. Rather than prefer one instrument, I let them all have their place.

BSRR:

Speaking of writing with your heart, there are two songs in particular on your CD " Three Stag To An Oak" ((c) Bruce Burnside, 2004, Tortoise Humor Recordings) that touched my heart, "Oh My Little One" and "A Path Towards Erin". What inspired you to write these songs?

Burnside:

"Oh My Little One" is a lullaby to us all. It is about life's journey and was inspired by being a child, an adult and a parent. "A Path Towards Erin" is in the classic banjo tradition of the 1880-1890 period of five string banjo. I wrote it with an Irish sound, hence the title.

BSRR:

How did you devise the name Tortoise Humor Recordings?

Burnside:

The name Tortoise Humor was a phrase that one of the members of the band I've been in for 27 years used to describe my sense of humor. I studied herpetology as a young person and kept hundreds of turtles, tortoises, snakes,horned toads, etc. The phrase fit - the motto is "A winning way at a slower pace". It also means that it is my studio. I work on projects that I choose. It is not commercially available. I designed it to do multiple acoustic tracks. The hand time is set for an acoustic sound. I don't have to do something I don't like or a poor job because it's rushed.

BSRR:

What is the purpose of Forgotten Wisdom? How does it fit in with your mission of preserving the past?

Burnside:

Forgotten Wisdom is a 501 (c) 3 (IRS designation for nonprofit - Editor's Note) which allows me to write and receive grant money and donations. The mission statement includes preserving fretted string instrument techniques that are lost or endangered.

BSRR:

What musicians have you played with that impressed you the most?

Burnside:

The most impressive musician I've worked with is Vassar Clements. His playing always had great power, vitality and surprise. ...A person I got to know a little, initially through Vassar, was Jethro Burns who was the greatest player I ever heard. No matter who he was on stage with, Jethro could raise the intensity effortlessly...There is a very long list of other musicians I have stood next to that have impressed me - Johnny Cash for his focus and simplicity, Willie Nelson for his ability to pull in an audience, Steve Goodman for his showmanship and musical versatility. Remember, I play, listen and compose with my heart. All the sounds that touch me make a deep impression - Sonny Boy Williamson, The Band, Eva Cassidy... the entire New Grass crew of Sam Bush, Bela Fleck , Edgar Meyer, Jerry Douglas and the next generation like Chris Thile and Bryan Sutton.

BSRR:

What projects are you currently working on? What projects are you planning for the future?

Burnside:

Currently I'm writing, recording and composing for a radio documentary about the area of Wisconsin I live in. It's a small, remote valley settled by the mixed blood descendants of French Canadians and Ojibwa Indians in 1884 after the final treaty was signed. The original families are still the residents. I have collected information for over twenty years. Last year, I wrote a presentation on the area and recorded the elders, funded by the Wisconsin Humanities Council.

In the future, I hope to complete a musical history of westward expansion through the Midwest. Some songs have been written and some research done. I'm also near the end of an instrumental CD. I have at least two more CDs worth of material written. I'd like to write something for children in hospitals and am considering researching and writing a play for kids to perform about health, nutrition and weight.

I do what I do because it makes people happier, helps kids learn and develop, and it makes me happy as well.

*************************************************************************************

There is absolutely no question in my mind that long after the latest "manufactured" pop star self destructs in some trailer park tragedy, the work and the music of Bruce Burnside will help define and enrich our culture for generations to come. But don't just take my word for it. For complete information on the Tortoise Humor catalog, performance schedules and general information, go to http://www.bruceburnside.com/ . You'll discover the work and the philosophy of a true musical genius.

Helpful Links

2007-07-05T07:38:00.000-07:00

Just to keep you all well informed:

For info on the Rhode Island Film Festival, go to: www.RIFF.org

For The Cutlass Three's latest gigs: www.myspace.com/thecutlassband

For Scott Allen's music, info, and downloads: www.milomusic.com

For more on Martha Davis and The Motels: www.marthadavis.com

For truly twisted humor: http://rantsfromrockyhill.blogspot.com

For Dick's incredibly insane sci-fi novel (I get $3 a copy!!!):
Go to www.Xlibris.com
Got to homepage, click on bookstore
Enter title: Winworld

I'll keep adding to this in the future.

Shameless Self Promotion Part 1

2007-07-02T05:09:00.000-07:00

In recognition of the fact that the two things I like to write about are music and humor, I've begun another blog (After all, it's free, and there's no freelance markets anymore anyway). The title is "Rants From Rocky Hill. The correct web address is http://rantsfromrockyhill.blogspot.com/

I've decided that, in order to maintain quality, I will now do posts on both blogs in two week intervals (For the two or three of you who read this !).

I am also going to focus the music blog on artists I know that I think deserve more exposure, so, in two weeks, you can read all about a truly gifted practioner of traditional music, a friend since the age of 18 named Bruce Burnside.

Last but not least before I get off the soapbox and get back to reality, if you'd like to contribute to the Big D. Retirement Fund, why not check out my totally insane scifi epic "Winworld" and maybe even buy your own copy. Just go to the Xlibris site and search by the title.

That's it for now - peace out from your trusty correspondant.